Within half an hour they were back on the highway and heading towards the capital. Tanya had turned on the car radio to see there were any updates on the search for Will and Debra. As they drove, they’d occasionally see a military hoverjet passing low over the highway. Debra sat beside Tanya in the front seat while Will was in the back.

At first the highway was surrounded by trees, but as they continued on this gave way to business and industrial buildings. A number of the buildings looked like they’d been closed for some time with broken windows and empty parking lots.

At first there weren’t many cars on the road, but as they continued on the highway grew more crowded. Will and Debra slouched down as other cars passed.

“How long until we reach the capital?” asked Will.

Tanya looked down at the dashboard controls. “Another two hours.”

“We’ll need to get off the highway soon,” said Will.

Tanya nodded and looked at the map shown on the dashboard display.

“Do you think they’ve set up roadblocks?” asked Debra.

“That’s standard procedure when searching for fugitives,” answered Will. “They’ve likely also got patrols covering the backroads.”

Tanya turned off the highway a couple of exits later. “This will eventually take us around the back side of the spaceport. We can get to my house from there.”

The road they took appeared as if it’d once been a major four-lane thoroughfare with a number of large buildings located along it. However, most of them were boarded up and several appeared to be in the process of being demolished. A few smaller businesses still seemed to be in operation, but they were mostly used car lots and garages. The few cars they saw were all headed for the highway.

“How long?” asked Debra.

Tanya glanced at the map. “This takes us on a wide loop around the city. We should reach the spaceport in three hours and it will take another half hour from there to get to my house.”

As they moved away from the highway, the buildings gave way to forest on either side of the road. Occasionally through the trees they could see a house. However, by the time the road went from four lanes to two, there was no further evidence of any manmade structures. Large outcroppings of rock could now be seen and the road began to curve back and forth to make its way around them.

The travelled on in silence listening to the sporadic reports on the radio about the ongoing search. However, they didn’t provide much information. After a while Will just shook his head. “Might as well turn it off,” he said. “I doubt the government would provide any detailed information.”

As they crested a hill, they could see a valley below through which a river ran. A two lane bridge crossed the river and a chill went through the car as they saw a military vehicle sitting in front of the bridge. Two military officers stood in front of the vehicle holding plasma rifles. They were less than a half mile away.

“What do we do?” called Tanya. “There’s not enough room to turn around. Should I pull over?”

Keep going,” instructed Will. “They’ve already seen us and if we stop they’ll get suspicious and come up after us.” He looked at the road ahead of them. “There’s a dip up ahead where we’ll be out of sight. Debra and I can slip out there.”

“But …” began Tanya.

“No time to argue,” snapped Will. “You go through the checkpoint and find someplace out of sight to stop. Debra and I will catch up to you.”

She nodded and pulled a phone out of her pocket and handed it to Debra. “Five will reach my car phone.”

Tanya slowed the car as they went down into the dip. Will grabbed the backpack and he and Debra jumped out of the car being sure to close the doors behind them.

They hurried over to the side of the road and worked their way into the forest. They stopped to watch as Tanya’s car approached the military officers.

Tanya stopped about five feet in front of the officers and leaned out of the driver side window. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Several fugitives have been reported in the vicinity,” answered one of the officers. “We’re searching all cars leaving the area.”

The two officers started walking towards the car. “Please step out of the car,” ordered the officer.

“Of course,” she said getting out of the car.

The officers looked in the front and back seats and then one of them pulled the trunk release and they looked inside. They quickly closed it. “Okay,” called one of them to another officer who was sitting in the vehicle. He backed it off the road.

“You’re all set, ma’am,” said one of the officers.

Tanya got back in the car. “Thank you,” she called as she drove off.

Seeing Tanya drive off, Will and Debra headed deeper into the forest before starting to move down towards the river. “We’ll need to wait for at least another car to go by before we do anything,” explained Will. “That should throw off any suspicion of Tanya.”

It wasn’t an easy trek as the floor of the forest has knee deep in underbrush and they had to push branches out of the way to get through the thickly packed trees. Every few minutes they stopped and listened for the sounds of cars or of pursuit. However, all they heard were birds and small animals scurrying through the underbrush.

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It took a while, but they could finally see the river through the trees. It was wide and flowing rapidly. Plus there was a rapid drop off from where the trees ended to the river bank. “Looks like we’ll have to take out the soldiers on the bridge,” concluded Will looking down at the river below.

“And I was so looking forward to a nice cool swim,” Debra said with a laugh as she wiped sweat from her brow.

They slowly began moving towards the soldiers. As before the stopped every occasionally to listen. At last they heard a car coming up the road. Crouching down, they continued listening. There was the soft sound of brakes followed by the sound of voices. However, they were too far away to make out what they were saying.

Suddenly, they heard a shout of “Okay,” followed by the sound of an engine starting and the sound of tires moving over rough ground. That was followed by the humming sound of tires on metal as the car went over the bridge.

“Must be a third officer in the vehicle,” observed Debra as they got to their feet.

Will nodded. “We’ll have to make sure they can’t get a message off.

The two of them carefully continued moving towards the soldiers. As they got closer, they crouched down and moved more slowly. Fortunately, the underbrush became less dense as they drew nearer to the road. Reaching a small stand of trees where they could get a look at the soldiers, they stopped. They could see two men holding plasma rifles by the vehicle while a third sitting inside. The three of them were talking quietly.

“Still too far away to get a clean shot,” said Will. “We’ll have to get closer.”

They began moving forward, being careful to not make any noise. Every few feet, they stopped and listened, but didn’t hear anything that would indicate they’d been discovered. At a large tree about fifty feet away from the road they stopped.

Debra looked up the road. “No cars in sight.”

They drew their blasters.

“I’ll take the one in the vehicle and you take the other two,” said Will.

Debra nodded and peered around the tree.

“Now,” hissed Will as he swung around the tree and fired.

The man in the car gave a slight gasp and fell forward onto the steering wheel. The other soldiers spun around at the sound of the blaster fire, each bringing up their rifle. However, before they could fire, two quick flashes of light hit them and they collapsed to the ground.

Debra and Will ran to the road with Will heading to the vehicle. He opened the driver’s side door and pulled out the unconscious soldier. Meanwhile, Debra ran to the back of the vehicle and opened the rear door to the storage compartment. Will carried over the driver and put him inside. Soon the other two soldiers joined him. After tossing the plasma rifles in the backseat of the vehicle, Will and Debra got it and drove off after Tanya.

Debra pulled out the phone and pressed five.

“Hello,” said an anxious sounding Tanya.

“We’re on our way.”

“I found a turnoff about a mile past the bridge,” answered Tanya. “You should see it on your left.”

“Got it,” replied Debra.

Within about five minutes they found the turnoff and turned into in. After going a short distance, they saw Tanya’s car. Will pulled the military vehicle behind some trees out of sight of the road.

Once he and Debra had gotten out, he pulled his blaster. “Don’t want these guys going anywhere or contacting anyone,” he explained as he fired at the dashboard. Soon it was just a mess of melted metal and plastic.

Debra hopped in the back of the vehicle and dug around until she found a medikit. She pulled out three tubes and injected one into each soldier. “They should be out for at least eight hours,” she called as she got out.

After Will and Tanya tossed the plasma rifles into her trunk, they were back on the road.

“Hopefully there aren’t any more checkpoints,” said Debra as she gulped down the water she’d taken out of the backpack.

“Don’t think there will be,” answered Will. “Although I suspect once they find the vehicle back there they’ll increase security around the capital complex.”

By the time they were back on the road it was starting to get dark. It was another hour before the lights of the spaceport came into view. “Won’t be long now,” announced Tanya with a yawn. Debra had fallen asleep earlier and softly snored in the front seat.

Will sat quietly in the back his frustration building as he still hadn’t figured out how they were going to get to Grandle. However, as the spaceport came into view, he had a sudden inspiration.

He leaned forward. “Do you know anyone who could get us a couple of jetpacks?”

Tanya was quiet for a moment. “Last I heard, Earl Johnson was in charge of the armory at the spaceport. He might be able to come up with something.”

Will thought for a moment. “Don’t know him. Can he be trusted?”

Tanya nodded. “He was my weapons officer when I commanded the Granston. We’ve been through a lot together. I trust him.”

“Excellent,” replied Will. “We need to act fast before they can make too many changes to security at the capital. See if we can get the jetpacks tomorrow.”

Tanya shook her head. “That might not be easy, but I’ll try.”

A few minutes later, Will leaned forward again. “We’ll also need two emergency oxygen masks.”

Tanya smiled and shook her head. “You haven’t changed a bit, Will. You always were gung ho when preparing for a mission.”

“Not there yet,” he answered, frustration in his voice. “Still need to find a way to get Grandle to tell the people of Earth what he’s been up to.”

“Couldn’t you get him to admit what he’s doing and record him?” asked Tanya.

Will shook his head. “There’s no guarantee we’d be able to …” He suddenly stopped talking as he remembered Nancy Willis. She was a communications technician in the Capital building whose office was in the basement not far from Will’s so he’d gotten to know her. One time she’d told Will about the equipment they used to transmit the President’s speeches when he was away from his office. It might be just what they needed.

“Something wrong?” asked Tanya.

Will shook his head and smiled. “No, just thinking about something.”

Tanya gently shook Debra. She shot upright and looked around before settling back down. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“It’s okay,” said Tanya. “We’re nearing the city limits so you two might want to duck down a bit.” Both of them slid down in their seats.

Tanya’s home was on the edge of the city in a neighborhood of older homes closely packed together. Most of the home were well kept although there were a few which showed signs of being abandoned. Pulling into her driveway, Tanya pressed the control to open the garage door and drove inside. Shutting off the car, she immediately closed the garage.

The house was dark when they entered and Tanya set about shutting the blinds and turning on lights. Will and Debra found themselves in a small neat kitchen which had a breakfast nook off to one side. Once she’d finished, Tanya led them into to living room.

“Have a seat,” she said gesturing at the couch. The room was slightly than the kitchen with the couch, a couple of chairs, and a coffee table. Mounted to the wall was a viewscreen. Tanya sat down in one of the chairs. “I’ll try and contact Earl about the equipment you asked for,” she said.

Debra looked at the two of them with confusion. “What equipment?”

“I’ll explain later,” said Will as Tanya got up and headed to another room. “Right now I need you to contact an old friend of mine.”

“Who?”

“Nancy Willis,” answered Will. “She works in the Capital building and has access to some equipment that might help us get Grandle. It’s what they use to transmit his speeches when he’s away from the Capital.”

“Can she be trusted?”

Will shook his head. “Don’t know. She’s someone I’ve gotten to know, but I have no way of knowing if she’d be willing to help. So feel her out and decide if it’s worth pursuing.”

Debra pulled Tanya’s phone out of her pocket. “I’ll give it my best shot.” She walked over to the nearby den and sat at the desk.

Will leaned forward on the couch and held his head in his hands. It was all up to Debra and Tanya now. If the two women couldn’t get the equipment they needed, he had no idea what to try next. However, at the moment there was nothing he could do but wait.