Arisen, Book Six - The Horizon by Glynn James, Michael Stephen Fuchs Page A

Charlotte got her head out of her heavy, high-tech helmet, while the canopy lifted around her. Before climbing out of the cockpit, she unholstered her HK MP7 personal defense weapon from where it was nestled under her arm, then hopped down to the tarmac.
    There was no ground crew rushing forward to meet her and to block the wheels. No techs from the Aviation Maintenance Company shoving aside refuelers and rearming guys to clip in computers, run checks, and make sure the bird was ready to go back out and deal more death. This was nothing like the normal Indy 500 pit stop routine.
    Squinting slightly in alarm and confusion, she moved forward in her Nomex flight suit across the tarmac. Directly ahead of her was the aviation hangar. She checked that first, along with the attached offices, as well as the pilot ready room. Nothing; nobody. Then she actually ran across the open helipad to the officers’ and NCOs’ mess – now everybody’s mess, since the enlisted one got destroyed by that Hellfire mishap a week ago. She even did a run by the half-destroyed and boarded-up hospital.
    Nobody – anywhere.
    She knew that at any given time, and particularly lately, many or most of the operational teams could be outside the wire on deployment. And she’d already heard that more and more of them were being pulled into the defense of the southeast. But even if every single operator were out in the field… where the hell was everyone else? The support people, the command element, the TOC jocks, medical, comms? She’d only been gone two days. Yet they’d all vanished without a fucking trace.
    Her beloved home had become a ghost town.
    “This makes zero fucking sense.” She quickly realized that not only had she stopped and was standing in place – but that she was speaking aloud again. Maybe she was spending too much time in her own company. Logging too many hours without a gunner.
    Fuck it . She decided to go to the top.
    She found the Colonel’s office unlocked, and empty. Stepping forward, the short barrel of her MP7 seeming to rise up under its own power, she pushed her way in. Loose papers covered the desk, as if he’d left in a hurry. Normally the Colonel was a fiend for OPSEC – he certainly observed a clean-desk policy in Charlotte’s experience.
    Fuck . She shook her head again. This was like a bad dream. Exiting the command shack, she ran toward the operators’ quarters and ready rooms. Echo’s area was locked. She tried around the other side, and found an unlocked door, which led to the Alpha billets and team room. She entered, pointing her weapon ahead of her, the screaming silence ringing in her ears. Hot tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes.
    She was being abandoned – again.
    Inside Alpha’s area, everything was squared away – not as if anyone had left in a hurry, much less a panic. More as if they had been setting off on a long journey. Which they had – Charlotte knew Alpha was on some kind of extended (and top-secret) deployment. Her mind began to scream, desperate for a clue of any sort. She opened one of the lockers at random. Inside was some clothing, load-bearing equipment, a few empty pouches. And taped to the inside of the door…
    …a brilliantly lit photograph. It showed a man, a woman, and two boys, in some kind of beautiful green space. She recognized the man as Captain Ainsley, commander of Alpha team. She had to fight back a half-sob, shoving it back down her chest. The image was so alive and lovely and peaceful, it only underscored Charlotte’s aloneness. Her abandonment. But wherever Captain Ainsley was right now, she prayed he was safe. And wherever his family was… well, she prayed the same thing for them.
    Not only had Fortress Britain been breached, but now, somehow, even Hereford had gone. Which meant no place was safe. Nothing could be more obvious to her.
    On her final walk back to the helipad, just on a hunch, she ducked into the Quarantine Shack. No doctor was there