Now Luke shrugged. I was suspended from duty this morning. Im under investigation for alleged felonies I committed while investigating this case.

The lieutenant colonel stared at Luke. Is that all?

Luke shook his head. Theres also a warrant for my arrest in Baltimore.

Whats it for?

Murder.

The entire room went silent. All eyes were on Luke again.

Ive had a busy day, he said.

Chapter 25

Howd it go down there? Ed said.

They stood at the edge of the helicopter pad, watching a crowd of people climb off a just landed chopper and run for the safety of the Mount Weather entrance. Luke recognized the United States Representative from Vermont among them.

He shrugged. I told them what I know. They told me thank you very much, we prefer to believe something else.

Sounds about right, Ed said.

They dont want to go to war with Iran, Luke said.

Ed shrugged. Cant say I blame them. War is hell.

The signalman on the helipad waved to Luke and Ed with bright orange wands, giving them the green light. They ducked low and ran for the helicopter. There was only one active pad at this entrance, and they were moving the choppers in and out, two minutes or less.

No sooner were Luke and Ed inside the chopper than it took off again. Ed yanked the door shut twenty feet above the ground. Luke sank into the seat and clipped his safety belt. They were alone inside a machine built to carry eight passengers. A lot of people in civilian government were flying out of Washington, DC, to Mount Weather. Not too many were flying back into the city.

He glanced at his watch. It was 12:35. More than eleven hours since Don had called him. About thirty hours since he had awakened yesterday morning. Counting the couple of times he had dozed off, he probably hadnt slept thirty minutes since yesterday.

They rose above the sprawling bunker complex. It fell away behind them and soon the view was of green woods and low, rugged mountains. The sky was black with helicopters waiting for their turn to land. Looking east, there was an almost unbroken line of helicopters in the air, single file, all the way to the horizon. Luke glanced at the ground. There was a highway down there. The westbound lanes were bumper-to-bumper, choked with traffic. In the eastbound lanes, a handful of cars zoomed along.

Itll be a good night for the motel business in West Virginia, Ed said.

Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Luke said. There probably wont be an empty room for two hundred miles.

Ed nodded. And a lot of people sleeping in cars.