DEADLY DILEMMA by Dan Stratman (story read aloud .txt) 📗

the cheek, and landed a devastating blow on the junction box.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Sparks shot out of the box as the wires shorted out.

The heavy doors rocketed up their rails.

Cyndi and Lance closed their eyes, clutched each other tightly, and waited for the inevitable.

Seconds ticked away.

They cracked opened their eyelids to sneak a peek at the missile.

The fact that they were still alive took a few moments to register in their brains.

When it finally did, they jumped up and down, still clutching each other.

“You did it!” Lance shouted, ignoring his pain. He turned to look at the diverter tunnel.

A six-foot-wide opening in the wall had appeared. Beautiful, golden beams of sunlight lit up their path to safety. The nightmare was over. Soon, they would be above ground again.

They rushed to the opening.

“You first,” Cyndi said, pointing up the tunnel.

Lance shook his head. “No. I’ll follow you.”

“You’re injured. If you need help, I’ll be right behind you.”

Before Lance could object, Cyndi planted her hands on her hips and barked, “That’s an order.”

After all that had happened that day, Lance knew better than to get into a contest of wills with Cyndi. “Okay, I’ll go first.”

Before he started up the tunnel, they heard a loud moan coming from the direction of the flame pit.

“He’s still alive,” Lance said.

“I’ll see you in hell, sweet cheeks!” Pierce wailed from the pit.

Gunfire erupted from below.

Cyndi and Lance ducked down and pressed themselves into the opening.

Oddly, the bullets weren’t hitting anywhere near them.

Cyndi looked over at the missile. Pierce was firing at the first-stage fuel tank.

“That lunatic is trying to detonate the solid rocket fuel!” she shrieked in horror. “Go! Go!”

Rungs had been built into the wall of the diverter tunnel to allow maintenance crews to crawl through it when they inspected the concrete for cracks.

Lance grabbed the first rung and scampered up the tunnel.

Cyndi was right behind him. She couldn’t help having the dispiriting thought of making it this far only to be incinerated just as they reached the top of the tunnel. “Faster!”

Lance got to the top of the tunnel and poked his head above ground. Bright sunlight forced him to shield his eyes and turn away. He took in a deep, satisfying breath of the fresh Wyoming air.

The opening above the missile was to his left, only four feet away. Lance leaned over the opening. He could see the tip of the Minuteman missile. It was made from an exotic material that could survive the searing heat generated by traveling at hypersonic speeds through the thick atmosphere.

Lance climbed out and reached back down into the tunnel to lend Cyndi a hand. Once she was topside, Lance cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled back down the tunnel. “Take that, Rambo! A couple of missileers just beat you at your own game. It’s over. You lost!”

Lance planted his hands on his hips and surveyed the site with a triumphant smirk.

His celebration of beating Pierce was short lived.

A frown formed on his face. “Shit.”

Thirty-mile-an-hour winds had dropped the windchill to a perilous minus twenty degrees. Bitterly cold air slapped Lance’s face like a scorned wife. His exhalations instantly crystalized after blowing past his chattering teeth.

By design, the site was located miles from civilization. Gently rolling countryside, covered in deep snow, stretched out before him. Not one single building was in sight. Cows that normally roamed the verdant pasturelands had been safely tucked away in warm barns.

The thin Nomex flight suits they were wearing were no match for a Wyoming winter. Their bodies shivered uncontrollably. Without parkas or gloves, severe hypothermia would set in long before they could reach the nearest farmhouse.

The wide-open spaces prized by those hardy souls still infused with the pioneering spirit—and that Cyndi had grown to like—had now become a lethal enemy.

What the skilled Delta Force team had failed to do, Mother Nature would accomplish in only fifteen minutes.

Chapter Forty

Cyndi briefly considered climbing back down into the warm silo to escape the deadly low temperature. Knowing that Pierce was still alive quickly eliminated that option. She looked over at the building they’d entered when they arrived at Alpha One. It was in shambles. The C-4 had blown out the front of the building and collapsed the roof. Taking shelter in the ruins of the building would shield them somewhat from the wind but not the subzero temperature.

And they would still be nearby a malfunctioning Minuteman IV missile that might explode or launch at any moment.

“We’ve got to find a way to get back to base and get a crisis response crew out here,” Cyndi said.

“Maybe we could hitchhike.” Lance looked for the country road that ran parallel to the site. Two feet of undisturbed snow made it impossible to distinguish it from the grassland.

Cyndi rotated around, searching for a solution. She froze.

A pair of AH-6M Little Bird helicopters sat quietly on the helipad outside the perimeter fence.

Without saying a word, she sprinted through the snow and toward the breach in the fence.

Lance did his best to keep up with her.

Cyndi lay on her back and pushed herself under the fence with the heels of her boots. Once her top half was outside the fence, she sat up and scooted backward until her feet cleared.

Lance lay on his back and imitated her move. Halfway through the opening, his flight suit got caught on a jagged barb. He reached back over his head. “I’m stuck. Pull me.”

Cyndi grabbed his hands and yanked.

The barb ripped open his flight suit. He pulled the fabric free and got on his feet outside the fence.

They raced over to the nearest helicopter and climbed into the cockpit. Cyndi took the right seat while Lance took the left.

Doors were a luxury most small military helicopters lacked. Weight saved by not having doors could be put into more bullets, rockets, and high-tech avionics.

With only a partial reprieve from the howling wind, Lance asked, “Now what? I don’t know how to fly one of these.”

“I do.” Cyndi felt the need to