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“Yes Daes”

“How long do we have?”

“Minutes At most”

Rick looked down at the thumb drive in his hand, then up at the roof “Ti Oles and Dr Evans as they started throwing theories and speculations back and forth and dashed forward to the building that housed the trans over his shoulder, he cried out to the pair as he vanished inside “Get the power on to that system! The transmitter won’t ithout it!”

Chapter 15

Washington, DC

Rick’s heartbeat pounded in his ears as he ran down the hall, the thuht in his hand He had questions for Dr Evans about the early warning system, the commands on the drive and so much more but none of it mattered If Dr Evans said that a launch was imminent, then it was imminent

In the back of Ric

k’s mind, pushed there when he started his run for fear that thinking about it would overwhel him, sat his fa stars, lost to hi and now just a relative stone’s throay Choosing to go after stopping Da to the about it all notif the launch were successful was too much to bear

So he ran Leaping over the still-slick bloodstains in the hall fro his shoulder into the wall as he rounded the corner on a landing Taking the stairs two, three even four at a time By the time he burst out onto the roof his already-exhausted body felt like it was going to give up, but his h It was just about the only thing keeping hih For the moment, at least

Froh away fro that he couldn’t hear the faint alare of Dr Evans and Oles below told hi Rick dropped to his knees at the LKN trans a blank screen A moment of panic clutched at him, but a cry of joy from down below accompanied a flash on the screen as the device powered up

“Is it working?!” The shout came from Oles, and Rick stuck his head over the side of the roof and shouted back

“Yes! It just came on!”

“Well hurry up! This thing isn’t sounding good… I don’t kno long before it dies again!”

Seconds ticked by slower than Rick could have ever drea system powered up The splash screen appeared, then disappeared, and then he was staring at the menu