Free Flight by Bernard Wilkerson Page A

hand, Eva boasted, “If border guards stop us this
time, they’ll never know what hit them.”
    “That’s the spirit,
Gilliam.”
     
    It was easier finding their way
along the dirt roads and back to the freeway with light to guide
them. Everything had looked eerier, spookier, in the
dark.
    In the daylight it was no big
deal, and Eva enjoyed the ride.
    Back on the freeway, they only
traveled a few miles before they passed the old Las Vegas Motor
Speedway. They couldn’t see the speedway itself, just signs, until
they got up on an overpass. She wondered if it would ever be used
again, and for some reason the loss caused by the alien attack
struck her hard. She started to cry. Twice in two days she cried
(had it only been a day since she had been trapped in the Agency
safe house?), and Eva felt weak.
    Perhaps that’s why her boss always
sent her on recruiting trips. He knew she was too weak for anything
else.
    If Mark noticed her crying, he
kept his mouth shut, and she quickly recovered her composure. She
didn’t say anything to him. She just kept watch.
    A couple of miles later and Mark
pointed off ahead of them and to the left.
    “Nellis. I was told not to look
for any help there, though. The Air Force had to abandon all their
bases.”
    “How could these aliens be so
powerful?”
    “Who would have thought meteors
could be used as weapons? Do you know we landed a space ship on an
asteroid once? It took ten years to catch it. The Hrwang somehow
caught hundreds of the things and then used them to attack us. How?
That’s what I want to know.”
    “Do you think the Skunk Works will
still be there?”
    That’s where they were headed; the
Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. Space ship
development went on there, and the Agency was using it as one of
its rally points for agents. At least it had been a rally point
when Mark received his orders. Edwards Air Force Base was also
nearby, although Mark said they expected that had been hit by the
Hrwang also.
    “If not, we’ll find some way to
fight E.T.,” he replied.
    “How do you fight meteors?” Eva
asked. It bothered her. What could two people with a fancy rifle
and a few pistols do?
    “They’re human. Which means they
can be shot.”
    “Unless they have some kind of
super alien armor or something.”
    “Speaking of which, I wish you’d
had some body armor in that safe house. Snipers could be up on
these buildings,” Mark said.
    They were into North Las Vegas
now. Eva had been watching at street level and realized she needed
to watch the rooftops also. There were no other vehicles on the
freeway, but the buildings didn’t look completely abandoned.
‘Hunkered down’ felt like a better description.
    They passed a major freeway
exchange. Eva saw several vehicles in the distance, heading east on
the other freeway, away from them. But it was still good to see
life.
    “Who is Oran K. Gragson?” Mark
asked.
    “Why would you ask
that?”
    “That’s the name of the other
freeway. See?” He pointed up at a sign. Eva looked up at the sign,
then was flung forward when Mark slammed on the brakes. He
swore.
    She looked in front of them and a
row of concrete barriers blocked the road.
    Mark started driving slowly
forward, and Eva watched all around them for snipers.
    “We can take the on-ramp, go back
that way,” he suggested.
    Eva wasn’t listening. Watching all
the buildings, the overpasses, and along the edge of the freeway
consumed all of her attention.
    Mark made a u-turn down the
on-ramp.
    The on-ramp split, with the right
side also blocked by barriers.
    Mark took the left ramp
down.
    “Dornbush, doesn’t this feel like
a trap to you?”
    “Nah. Probably a bridge or road
out, or something.”
    There were low warehouses to their
left and Eva watched them, scanning along the roofs, in the
windows, everywhere a gunman could be hiding. She wanted to have
Mark’s confidence, but didn’t feel it. The concrete barriers felt
like a trap. Why else would