Then the soldier turned on his heel and climbed into the Geo Metro. They rolled away from the curb, did a U-turn, and were gone almost as quickly as they had appeared.

  Scala whistled. “Tell you what, Carson. Denver was a mess and I’m glad to have it behind us. But I don’t really like the feel of this place either.”

  Carson grunted. “Let’s get to the Air Force base and do what we came here to do. We don’t need any side tracks, not this close to our goal.”

  They walked on for another hour. Carson noticed Scala getting quieter and more fidgety as they came nearer to the airport. When they arrived at a junction with another highway that led east, she finally stopped in her tracks. They were within a mile of the Air Force Base, but she turned away from it.

  “Carson, I want to go east before we have our run-in with the general. I want you to come with me and check on my daughter first. I’m serious about this, and I’m not going into the base to submit to more military demands until I get a chance to see my daughter.”

  Carson stopped and stared at her for a full minute. She gazed back defiantly as her dark brown hair played about her head in the cool breeze.

  Finally, Carson held out a hand, palm up.

  Scala looked at his hand and back into his eyes. “What?”

  “Your flash drive. Hand it over and I’ll be on my way.”

  Scala shifted her feet and eyeballed him. “Carson. You need to think through this.”

  “I just did. You can’t be relied on to complete your objective. I’ll do it. You go to your daughter, you make sure she’s safe. There’s no reason we both need to go into the base. Not since you decided to turn your back on your job.”

  Scala frowned. “I can’t deliver the message yet. Do you see? My daughter is a sure thing—I’m almost there! But the message could turn into a disaster.”

  “Scala, I may be a little slow, but I can see now why you needed me to come south with you. Not only was I your ticket through the roadblocks, but you wanted to pawn your objective off on me as well so you could slip away and focus on your daughter without risking anything more on your objectives. Well, I may not like it, but I’m not fighting it. Give me the drive. I’ll go.”

  Scala’s frown deepened. “That may have been partially true, but things are different now. I really don’t think either of us should go into that base. I’m telling you, I have a bad feeling about delivering anything to these guys, let alone a coded message.”

  Carson snorted. “Your feelings aren’t part of the equation, Scala. You had a job to do. If you’re not willing to do it, then give the drive to me.”

  “Carson, if we go in there, I don’t think they’ll let us out again. Aren’t you picking up on the vibe around here?”

  “I don’t have to enjoy the local vibe, Edith. There’s nothing that will keep me in town a minute longer than it takes me to have a chat with this General Tamare and get on my way.”

  “You’re not listening. Didn’t you pick up on the dynamic of the militia goons running this town? The paramilitary leader you’re supposed to be going after is in league with the general, and this ‘arrangement of convenience’ stinks of corruption and betrayal!”

  “Yeah. Haven’t decided what I’m going to do there yet. It would have been awfully nice of you to have leveled with me sooner about my objectives.”

  “I told you everything I knew about Masters. I never lied about that. But disregarding all of that for the moment, what are you going to tell this general and his men when you go walking into their base with a story about being an undercover federal agent? They’ve never heard of Deep Thaw! How’re you going to authenticate? What’s to stop some paranoid, trigger-happy private from dusting you at the gate?”

  “Nobody’s going to dust me,” Carson said. “You’re just trying to pull me away from my objectives yet again for your own personal ends. I’m not falling for it. I won’t try to stop you from going for your daughter, and I’m happy to complete your objective for you. It occurs to me that I’d feel pretty dumb walking in there and saying ‘Hey, I just came to see the sights, I’ll be back later with a delivery’. So I’ll deliver your message. One of us has got to try, no matter the risks. This is what we were sworn to do, and the sooner we fix the military, the sooner we can start fixing the rest of this country.”

  Scala shook her head. “Carson, don’t do this. I’m sorry I’ve treated you badly. I’ve only been thinking of my daughter. But if you—”

  “Give me the drive, Scala. This has to be done.”

  Scala stared at him. Then she sighed. “It’s a bad idea, Carson.”

  “Gotta try.”

  She drew the flash drive out of her blouse, coiled its lanyard and handed it over. “It’s a bad idea.”

  “Right. I got that part. You feel guilty, you want me to make you feel better, it’s not going to happen. By the way, is this really your primary, or just another secondary?”

  “Secondary,” Scala admitted. “My only viable secondary, after your black box up north.”

  “What’s your primary?”

  “That I will never tell you.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, so long.” He turned and started walking south, toward the base. “Tell your daughter hello when you find her. Best of luck.”

  Scala stood at the crossroads for a long time, watching him go.

  Peterson Air Force Base loomed ahead. It looked, if not ready for a general inspection, at least serviceable and maintained. Soldiers in crisp BDU’s manned the gate.

  The sky was a dark gray to the southwest, and a cold wind was blowing from Cheyenne Mountain. Autumn was in the air. Dried leaves and tumbleweeds swirled across the road, tangling in the perimeter fence. It was the kind of day where you stayed home, built up the fire, ate a nice meal, and read a book by a window, while the leaves died outside and long V’s of geese honked southward.

  Carson really didn’t want to be here, in spite of his bold words to Scala. He found himself thinking of Dana, far to the north. He hoped she was safe, and warm, and happy.

  END of Part Three of the Denver Burning series: Deep Thaw

  Read on for a sneak peek at Part Four of the Denver Burning series, Assault on Cheyenne Mountain:

  Sneak peek at Part Four of the Denver Burning series: Assault on Cheyenne Mountain

  The gate barrier opened, coils of razor wire rattling along the top, and a duty sergeant trotted up, rifle ready. Two privates kept close behind.

  “Howdy, Sergeant,” Carson said, eager to show he was a friendly. The rapid armed response was a little disconcerting, considering he was alone and obviously unarmed. “I’m here to see the base commander.”

  The sergeant was a big man, African-American, looked tough as nails. His voice was low and gravelly. “Are you armed, sir?”

  “No. They took everything at the freeway entrance.”

  “Name, sir?”

  “Carson Anders. Department of Homeland Security.” One of the privates covered Carson while the other slung his rifle and approached. For the third time in twenty-four hours, Carson was frisked, but at least it wasn’t a strip search like Scala had pulled on him the night before. “I have an urgent message for the base commander.”

  “I’ll see that he gets it, sir, if you’ll give it to me.”

  “No can do, Sergeant. I have orders to deliver it to the base commander or highest ranking officer, in person.”

  The sergeant thought this over for a moment. When the private came up empty of any contraband in his search of Carson, the sergeant shrugged. “Okay. Follow me.”

  They walked several hundred feet through the base, which was built adjoining the Colorado Springs airport. Then they entered a building and Carson followed the sergeant down a long corridor, still flanked by both privates. Everything was dim inside the buildings; if they had working generators on base, they seemed to be saving the fuel nighttime operations. The only light came from windows, and the approaching storm outside dimmed it even further.

  They went up a few flights of stairs and came to a halt outside a door with a name stenciled in a nameplate to one side: General Marcus E. Tamare. The sergeant knocked, and voice inside called, “Enter.” The privates waited in the hall while the sergeant escorted Carson inside.

  The room was fairly spacious. Carson couldn’t help noticing, here and outside, that the Air Force had a nicer budget than the Marines had back in his day, which showed in every aspect of base life. It probably helped that this was the home, or former home, of NORAD.

  The man across the desk was a wide, broad person. Not fat. Thick with muscle. Sideburns so close they might as well have been shaved off entirely. Thick eyebrows overshadowed a pair of dark eyes, very intent, missing nothing.

  The sergeant saluted. “Sir, the intruder at the front gate. He states that he is DHS, with a classified message for your eyes only. He was alone but we are conducting searches along the perimeter to verify.”

  “That’s fine, Sergeant. Dismissed.”

  “Sir.” The sergeant exited.

  Carson was bemused for a moment, unsure why the hypervigilance of the men that had met him at the gate would give way now and leave him alone with the general. Then his eyes adjusted to the gloom inside the office, and he noticed three other soldiers standing silently in the room with him. One was obviously an adjutant, the boss’s right hand. The other two looked to be base security. Real MP’s, not contract agents or militia goons. Both men looked tough and ready to jump on Carson if he made a wrong move.

  The base commander looked at Carson and spoke in a neutral tone. “So, Department of Homeland Security?”

  “Yes, sir.” Carson spoke slowly, trying to feel the mood in the room, figure out where he stood. “My name is Carson Anders. I’ve been with DHS for eight years, a clandestine program known as Deep Thaw. Before that, a hitch in the Marines.”

  “That’s interesting. We haven’t had any federal people show their faces around here lately. Why do you come now?”

  “I’ve been stuck in Denver for a while, sir. It’s pretty bad there.”

  “So we’ve heard. All right, let’s have your message.”

  Carson stepped forward, and immediately the MP on his right did the same. The adjutant, a major as Carson now saw, followed suit. Carson smiled reassuringly. “Relax, gentlemen. We’re on the same side.”

  He drew the flash drive on its lanyard from his shirt and handed it to the adjutant, who took it to the base commander. The MP eyeballed Carson steadily, and Carson began to feel a crawling sensation on the back of his neck. The whole thing was a little off. Scala’s warning played in his mind.

  The base commander accepted the lanyard, swinging it idly from a finger, studying Carson without once looking at the device. Carson stared back, trying to project humility and strength at the same time, struggling to keep the growing sense of unease from his face.

  “What does this device contain?”

  Carson shook his head. “No idea. I believe it’s encrypted.”

  “Are you able to confirm your identity and your mission for me, Mr. Anderson?”

  “Anders. The program I am with doesn’t issue badges, sir. We’re clandestine. But I have come at great risk to place that in your hands, and I trust you will know what to do with it.”

  “Ah. Yes. But I am sure you’ll understand my reluctance to accept an unexpected drive brought by an agent from a program I’ve never heard of, and plug it into the last working pieces of our hardened computer infrastructure.”

  Carson swallowed. “I understand. My mission was to deliver it, nothing more. You’ll have to handle its contents as you see fit, sir. I can only assure you that I am no saboteur, and I’m on your side.”

  “What side is that?”

  Carson didn’t dare say anything. He was aware of the adjutant behind him motioning to the MP’s, perhaps mouthing words at them just outside his peripheral vision. He felt like a fly stuck in a web, with multiple spiders converging on him.

  The general gazed at Carson with a tired look, as if contemplating some great tragedy. “You know, Anderson, I think I believe you. You’re probably just a good soldier doing his job. Like me.” He glanced at the adjutant and raised one eyebrow. Carson felt the MP’s step up behind him. “But for all you or I know, this flash drive could be some kind of cyber-bomb, the last straw to completely take this base back to the Stone Age. Our computer networks are not as resilient as they once were, as I’m sure you can imagine. So I’m sure you’ll be willing to wait while we take our time to investigate.”

  “Of course, General.” Carson chose his words very carefully. “I have business back in the Denver area. Further mission objectives. But I can wait here for a few hours.”

  “Oh, I’m afraid it will take more than a few hours,” the base commander said. “Substantially more.” He dropped the lanyard on his desk and gestured to the MP’s. “Take him to the holding cells.”

  Carson lunged for the door. It was a bold and desperate move, but unfortunately not an unexpected one. The MP’s batons crashed down on the back of his head simultaneously and the last thing he saw was the carpeted floor coming up fast to meet him.

  He woke up in the holding cell. It was a six by eight foot room with a toilet, a cot, and nothing else. No window, no air ducts, nothing that might allow the remotest chance of escape. Floor-to-ceiling steel bars comprised the front wall, which allowed guards to keep an eye on him at all times, and pass his food and other necessities in to him. They left his clothes on him, but he was missing everything he had carried in his pockets, including the electronic key he needed to retrieve 905T4.

  Carson was silent for the first several hours, hoping for the best and thinking good behavior might show his captors that he needn’t be treated as a hostile. When a private finally came down the hall to push an MRE packet through the bars, Carson asked him if he had any idea how long the incarceration would last.

  The private shrugged his shoulders. “For the duration, man. As long as it takes. Look, I don’t know why you’re in here, and I don’t really care. But I’ll tell you this: we haven’t received orders to let anyone out since the system went down. That was six weeks ago. So get comfy, all right?” With that, he turned and left, ignoring Carson’s curses and continued pleas for information.

  For the next couple of days Carson tried every psychological ploy he could think of to get some sympathy from the guards and a chance for another audience with Tamare. But the duty officer in charge of the holding cell block seemed entirely disinterested in that specific duty, and the rank and file that were assigned to feed prisoners and maintain the place knew nothing and weren’t interested in speaking to Carson. He thought there were a few other holding cells on either side of his, but they seemed to be empty.

  Later his frustration gave way to rage and he began to threaten the soldiers that came in and vowed an eternal lack of cooperation. But no one stuck around to listen for more than thirty seconds at a time. Just long enough to toss another roll of toilet paper or an MRE packet through the bars, and then they left. Carson wondered what else was going on at the base that kept them so busy they couldn’t treat prisoners with more respect.

  After the first three days in a holding cell, Carson began to realize just how much trouble he was in. Scala’s intuition had proven correct in every detail, and Carson gradually accepted the fact that he had stumbled directly into the last place on earth he wanted to be. The utter lack of further information about his captors’ intentions drove him nearly mad with constant wondering.

  They only let him out once during the first week to stretch his legs. It was a ten-minute jaunt around the building with hands cuffed, and he saw nothing of interest during the excursion. The base looked exactly as it had when he got in. It appeared to be running with a skeleton crew, and without power most of the goings and comings seemed to be happening in other parts of the base he didn’t see.

  Back in his cell, he had to rely on pushups and jumping jacks to stay fit. The lack of reading material and external stimulation was almost enough to sink him into deep depression. It was only by daydreaming that he got by at all: what he would do when he finally got out, how Dana Ryan was faring with all the food he’d left her, and visions of Edith Scala having a joyous reunion with her daughter.

  There was one guard that came through periodically whose name was Brunson, and it was this man that kept Carson from losing all touch with reality during his solitary confinement. Carson noticed a devil dog tattoo and Brunson admitted that he had been in the Marines for several years, stationed in D.C., and had only been at Peterson for three weeks on a temporary cross-training assignment when the national infrastructure went down. He had opted to stay put, since a cross-country trek to Washington D.C. in the absence of working transportation wasn’t something he was eager to try. But he was not relishing the responsibilities the Air Force officers had found for the leatherneck stranded among their ranks. He couldn’t say much to the prisoner, but Carson got more out of him than any of the others. The man was nearly as frustrated with his situation as Carson was with his own.

  They came to an unspoken agreement that Carson wouldn’t be pushy with questions, and Brunson would be as candid as situations warranted. So when breakfast and lunch were skipped one day and Brunson brought a bowl of bland oatmeal for dinner (no spoon), he admitted that the base was having difficulty obtaining supplies.

  “It’s that P.O.S. militia guy, Masters,” Brunson said. “The guy’s throwing his weight around, putting pressure on General Tamare to concede to his petty demands. He’s like a little girl throwing a fit.”

  “Well, do his men outnumber you guys?” Carson asked.

  “Probably. But none of them could stand up to a real soldier for ten seconds if it came to a fight,” the short, muscular Marine spat. “I don’t know why the general doesn’t just throw his butt in jail next to you! Somebody ought to take care of him.”