Free Area 51: The Grail-5 by Robert Doherty Page A

on the outside.
    Kelly was thirty pounds lighter than she had been when she'd arrived on Easter Island. Even the relative stasis invoked on her body by the guardian was not enough to keep the body from breaking down, consuming itself to stay alive. The guardian was hardly aware of her presence anymore. She had served her purpose and she might serve a purpose in the future, but right now the guardian had many higher priorities.
    Although the guardian was hardly aware of Kelly Reynolds, the opposite was not true. Kelly had managed to divest her body of the nanovirus by slipping a command into the guardian that went unnoticed by the higher echelons of control. Kelly could still tune in to much of what was going on with the guardian, but the flow of information and commands that her mind tapped into was like trying to take a drink from a rushing mountain stream, so much went by her that she had no clue about or could not reach. She had managed to get a single message out to Area 51, but beyond that, she had accomplished little, other than try to keep track of what the guardian was doing.
    One thing was clear from what she had picked up on—the rebuilding of the Washington, the adaptation of the attack submarine Springfield, and the spread of the nanovirus among the captured humans—the guardian was preparing for all-out war. It would take time for it
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    to have its forces ready, but war was coming. She knew that those outside the shield could not see what was going on, cloaked by the alien technology.
    She could also pick up some of the messages the guardian was sending out, contacting other Guides, contacting The Mission, talking to the Airlia trapped on Mars, coordinating their efforts. All with one goal in mind.
    All-out war was coming. And at the end, the guardian planned only to have its chosen slaves alive.
    WESTERN CHINA
    The Chinese air force lieutenant had never seen a similar radar signature. It was smaller than a commercial airliner, and the way it moved about sharply indicated it might very well be a helicopter. If it was, it was a very large one.
    He grabbed the mike to broadcast on the emergency band in Chinese.
    "Unidentified aircraft entering Chinese airspace, identify yourself. Over."
    He counted silently to three, correct procedure, then keyed the mike once more. "Unidentified aircraft, you must turn back immediately or you will be shot down. This is your only warning."
    The lieutenant watched the screen for three more seconds before dialing the number for the local Air Force base.

    Two SU-27 fighters scrambled in response to the call, afterburners blazing.
    With the recent events at Qian-Ling and the fragmenting of the world's countries
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    into Isolationist and Progressive camps, the Chinese military, particularly those stationed in the predominantly western Muslim section, had been on a high degree of alert.
    Lead pilot Major Fukang Jimsar's name represented the ethnic mix of the people in that part of China. A mixture of Chinese and Mongolian, he should not have been assigned to the Kashi air base. It was standing policy in the Chinese military to send personnel to assignments outside of their home area, thus ensuring it would be more likely that they would be willing to fire on rioters and keep the civil peace. Because Jimsar was one of the few pilots trained by the Russians in the SU-27, there had been little choice.
    As soon as he was clear of the runway and had some altitude, Jimsar kicked in the afterburner, accelerating his fighter to Mach 2. He checked his radar to make sure his wingman, Captain Hanxia, was right behind him, then followed instructions as the lieutenant vectored them toward the bogey infiltrating Chinese airspace from the west, out of Afghani airspace. Jimsar knew that meant it could be coming from anywhere, as the anarchy in that neighboring country left it wide open for overflights.
    The bogey flew along the northern foothills of the Himalayas as the two fighters closed the