“We can find them,” Bill said and dashed over to help Specialist Young, who was already throwing laptops into a bag.

“We’ll find them, Corbin,” Jed said. “Good work.”

“Everyone,” Ben called, addressing the hangar, “grab your gear and get to the jet. We’re taking off right now.”

Joshua Bravo ran as a group to their gear staged by the door, Eli squeezing Jed’s shoulder and heading off to join them.

“And then what?” Jed asked.

“What do you mean?” Ben said, jogging to grab his gear.

“They’re in the air, Ben. Are we supposed to shoot them down? What I mean is, what’s the plan here, boss?” He grabbed his own weapons and kit and jogged to catch up to Ben.

“We’ll do what we need to do, Jed. We adapt and overcome. We find a way,” Ben said, heading out the hangar door. “But, Jed . . .”

“Yeah?”

“Probably a good idea to make sure we have a couple of those F-16s riding shotgun with us.” Ben nodded at a pair of fighters on the tarmac. “Just in case.”

CHAPTER
THIRTY

GULFSTREAM G700 N828RP

CLIMBING THROUGH 8,000 FEET JUST SOUTH OF ATLANTIC CITY

SOUTHBOUND

1555 HOURS LOCAL

“We found ’em!” Nisha announced.

Jed looked across the aisle at where Captain Bill Nolte, Nisha, and Specialist Wanda Young were crowded around four laptops on the table between them in the oversize, leather club-style airplane seats.

“Already?” Jed said, looking over at Ben and David. Ben gave a calm, knowing nod, and David pumped a fist in the air. They’d only been airborne for two minutes and were still in the steep climb out. “Where?”

“You’ve got ’em?” one of pilots said, walking aft out of the cockpit. The flier had gray close-cropped hair, a rugged face, and wore cargo pants and a black sports shirt with an embroidered symbol on the breast Jed had never seen. “I’m Terry and I’m flying left seat up front.”

“Um, shouldn’t you be flying the plane?” Jed asked, unstrapping and moving across the aisle rapidly.

“There’s two of us,” the man said with a shrug. “No big challenge getting us up to altitude, especially in this high-tech beast. More important to know where we’re going. We filed a flight plan to Philadelphia, so we’ll need to update that pretty soon.”

Jed slid a knee onto the rearward-facing seat behind Bill. The screen Bill and Nisha were crowded in on was a moving display—an aeronautical map—with a red triangle in the middle of the screen, surrounded by dozens of other blips and green squares.