Project: Night Bird Chapter 8 Part 2

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Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, before the events at Flagstaff:
Cora, Captain Burns, and Samantha arrived at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base late in the afternoon. There were military police there investigating what had happened to the men. When the morning shift came in to relieve the third shift, they found them passed out in a hangar and out in the field.

Samantha and Captain Burns were talking to the military investigator in charge of the investigation. Captain Burns had a better rapport with the Military Investigator and MP’s than Samantha did. While he spoke with the investigator, she spoke with the mechanics and personnel, that had been on duty that night.

Cora had to show her private investigator badge to get access to the place. They gave her a hard time accessing the aircraft graveyard until they heard from the US Marshal service. Her name popped up on their system and they called to get her access to the place. She had one of the MP’s take her out to where the people had been found. She examines the area and notices that there were vehicle tracks leading from where the passed out military people had been found.

They belonged to a vehicle with a large wheelbase. Her and the MP followed the tracks to where an Apache helicopter had been stored.
They followed another set of tracks to where a CH-53E Super Stallion had been stored. It had just arrived a few days ago and hadn’t been touched yet. Which meant they could fly it out.

“Why would a bunch of thieves go through the trouble of stealing An Apache helicopter missing most of its parts and a retired super stallion?”
Cora was puzzled as she started following the tracks.

She looks back at the MP that had been assigned to her “go back and tell my companions, I’m going to follow these tracks.”

“Mrs. Black, I can’t allow you to run off on your own.” Corporal Carter watched as Mrs. Black starts following the tracks.

He calls back to the main building and afterward chases after her. He couldn’t believe how fast she was moving. He was surprised how quick for a short petite Native American woman could move. He follows behind her until she stops where a large section of the fence had been removed to allow a wide vehicle to come in.

She follows the tracks out to the roads and kneels down. He observes her pulling something out of a bag that hangs across her body. It looked like she was putting some sort of mask on.

Cora pulls her fox mask out of her bag and put it on. She looks at the road and could tell in which direction it had gone. She pulls the mask off and looks towards Corporal Carter “tell my companions I won’t be returning with them, please.”

“Where are you going?” Corporal Carter was curious.

“I’ll be following some tracks.” Cora starts running down the road following the ghost tracks her mask allowed her to see.

Corporal Carter watches as Mrs. Black ran down the road. He wonders if there really were tracks to follow. He walks over to where she had been and could see some dirt tracks, but they disappeared after a while.

It takes Cora well into the night to follow the tracks her mask had picked up. By the time she gets to her destination, she was tired and thirsty. It was late at night by the time she found the place. It looked to have been some sort of airbase from the remains of several crumbling buildings still standing.

Cora approaches it carefully and scouts around. She saw at least twenty people working on the Apache, putting it back together. There was a woman among them, that looked like she was the chief mechanic.

Cora pulls her camera out of her bag and puts her mask back inside. Her camera had a night vision lens she could take pictures with. Throughout the night, she takes photos of the crew working on the Apache. They get most of the work of the Apache done, before moving onto the Super Stallion.

During her scouting, she spots where they kept their supplies and snag several bottles of water. She kept a handful of beef jerky, dry fruits, and nuts in her pouch on her waist. She pulls her cellphone out to call Captain Burns, but she had no signal.

“I really need to get a satellite phone.” Cora puts her cellphone back into her pouch.

The next few days, she stays and observes what these people were doing. She notices that the female mechanic was dressing differently and was being mistreated by the guys. As she watched the group, the following day. A box truck had arrived and a strange looking device was unloaded from it.

The three helicopters that the group had been working on were done and flew off. She notices the Apache had been fully armed. So, had the other attack helicopter that looked similar to the Apache was armed as well. The bigger one, looked like it had some weapons on it.

“Now, where are you guys going?” Cora looks back towards the hangar the crew had been working out of.

Night of the Attack on Flagstaff:
Cora watches as the box truck drives off and as the female mechanic is thrown inside some sort of dog cage. She continues to watch and take photos. After a while, Cora puts her camera away and puts her mask back on. She was going to break the woman she saw toss into a dog cage out.

Lucy sits in the corner of the cage she had been thrown into. She has kept her end of the bargain and now wonder what they were going to do with her. They didn’t need her help anymore. She reaches into the hole she had made to pull out a wrist band she had designed to jam the signal to the receiver she managed to locate.

Her so-called husband had it implanted inside her body and arm. She managed to find the frequency, without Ted and them knowing. She made it look like she was working on the instruments inside the helicopter and used its equipment to send a signal to her body until she found the right frequency that triggered the shocks.

She used parts from a walkie talkie and one of the other guy's cellphone to build a jammer for herself. It took some creative situations to find time to build the jammer, but she managed. She was just waiting for the right time to make her escape. Ted still held her passport, but she might be able to get the Australian embassy to get her a replacement passport after she informs them about what she has done so far.

Just as Lucy was about to make her move she hears a voice “if you want out of here, stay quiet.”

Cora pulls her lock picks out and unlocks the cage. She looks at the woman “come, with me and move as I move.”

Lucy looks at the fox face woman and wonders who she was and why she was helping her. She follows her movement, after the stupid boots on her feet are removed. The fox looking woman gives her a pair of black moccasins to wear out of her bag hanging on her side. They felt nice on her sore feet.

“Wait here.” Cora runs off into the shadows.

Lucy could hear several muffled sounds and a thud as something hard hit the ground. The fox woman comes walking back to her.

“What were those sounds?”

“Your jailers, I knocked them out and secure them. They should be out for a while. Now, let's get you somewhere safe, so you can tell the
proper authorities what is going on.” Cora guides Lucy away from the hangar while wiping their tracks away.

Ted returns to the hangar and finds the men he left to guard the place, gone. The cage that held Lucy was empty. He pulls his remote out and
presses the button to shock her. Lucy felt a tingling sensation and watched as the led lights on the jammer lit up.

“I can’t believe he is back so soon?”

“You can’t believe who is back so soon?” Cora was curious.

“Ted. He works for my husband and they went to set off an EMP device.”

“Where?” Cora has heard of an EMP device. She always thought they were something out of a James Bond movie or the one that was in the movie Ocean's Eleven.

“Don’t know. They didn’t tell me or mention it around me.”

“Where did those helicopters that you were working on, go?”

“To another hangar, they are keeping them hidden in. That’s all I know. Once I got them operational and loaded up with the specialized weapons they wanted to be mounted on them. They took them to another location, so they can prepare for whatever plans they have for them.”

“Who’s financing these people?”

“My supposed husband is financing this whole operation. Why I have no idea, but he tricked me and remade me over without my consent.” Lucy couldn’t figure out why she was telling this woman about what has happened to her.

It takes them a while to get to a place where Cora’s cellphone had a signal. She pulls it out and dials Murray Webber’s number. She hopes
he can send someone out to her and this woman.

Aero Flight Industries, Coconino County, Arizona:
Murray Webber was busy coordinating all the activities at the Coconino County branch when his cellphone starts ringing. He picks it up and notices Cora Black was calling him. He had been informed by Samantha, that she had run off to chase after some tire tracks. The tracks she had followed lead to a highway, but when they went to look for her, they couldn’t find her. Now all of sudden he hears from her.

“Where are you?”

“Down at a Circle K on State route 89.”

Murray Webber brings her location up on the computer “alright, I’ll get a helicopter over to you as quickly as possible.”

“Thanks.” Cora ends the call and waits for the helicopter.

Cora spots Lucy eating a microwaved hamburger. They had to move fast and quickly, so they hadn’t stopped to eat anything. The news about Flagstaff being attacked had hit the news. It was on every channel. She noticed how the attack affected Lucy. Lucy told her that she was the one responsible for getting it to work. She had no idea they were going to use it. All she knew, they were going to test it.

She had rigged it with four pieces of flare to melt the frame after the EMP went off. That way Ted couldn’t use it again. The thing was, she was hoping it would catch Ted as well. She overheard some of the guys talking about what they were going to do to her, once the plan was
completed. She did manage to remove the barbed dildo that had been shoved up inside her body.

Twenty minutes later a black and gold helicopter lands near their location. Inside was a woman with red hair and a gentleman wearing a sheriff's uniform. Cora approaches the helicopter “did AFI send you to us?”

Patricia looks at the woman dressed in a skin-tight black jumpsuit. There was another woman wearing a skintight black leather bodysuit. She had a thick black leather collar going around her neck.

“Yes, Mr. Webber sent me and my husband to pick you up and take you back to AFI.” Patricia had received a phone call from Sam to come to the Mountain.

They needed her help with Flagstaff. Antonio wasn’t going to let her go out without him by her side in the condition she was in. He also figured, that with him being a deputy sheriff would help with any legal problems.

Cora and Lucy climb into the helicopter. Once they were in, Patricia flies them back to AFI in Arizona, instead of the mountain complex. Sam said that law enforcement and the Army Captain in charge of the emergency was going to be there by the time they get back.

Cora noticed that the pilot was pregnant. She wonders why a pregnant woman was flying. She sits back and enjoys the flight back to AFI airfield.

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Comments

Plans starting to crumble?

Jamie Lee's picture

Now that Lucy is free whatever plan Ted and his buddies have might be facing failure once Lucy talks.

And Lucy's husband, dead meat?

Others have feelings too.