The Spears of Laconia (Purge of Babylon, Book 7) Read Online Free PDF

maybe she felt it first. It could have very well been both simultaneously.
    The country road actually seemed to be vibrating as it appeared, and it was impossible to miss its gray belly against the clear morning sky.
    A plane.
    Not just any plane, but a warplane.
    It blasted overhead, the sound unlike anything she remembered—until she realized it had been almost a year since she’d seen a plane in the sky, much less been close enough that her teeth chattered slightly as it went by. By the time she had turned her head, it was already behind her and getting smaller. If the pilot had seen her or Nate, or Danny at the back of the F-150, it hadn’t shown it by stopping or turning.
    She unslung her rifle on instinct and flicked off the safety, belatedly realizing how dumb the move was. What exactly did she think she was going to do against that? Shoot it?
    The plane was fast, but her perception of its initial speed was off because it had been such a long time since she had seen planes in the air. All this time, they had wondered what had happened to the U.S. Air Force. Or the Army. Hell, all those weeks on the ocean without a single sign of the U.S. Navy had been disheartening for everyone, so much so that they simply stopped talking about it one day because the conversation always became so depressing.
    And she was definitely looking at some kind of military plane. Even a civilian like her, who had never been anywhere close to a warplane, could make out the very distinctive shapes of bombs under the craft’s fixed wings. Or were those missiles of some type?
    “Shit,” Nate said. “Is that what I think it is?”
    “Warthog,” Danny said, walking back to them.
    “I’ve never seen one of those live before.”
    “Warthog?” Gaby said.
    “A-10 Thunderbolt,” Danny said. “I haven’t seen one since Afghanistan. Word of advice: If you hear something that sounds like Godzilla blowing a massive fart, run and hide while you still can, though the chances are it’s already too late.”
    The plane had kept going until she could barely make out its shape in the distance. Gaby wasn’t entirely sure what she was feeling at the moment. Maybe elation at the sight of the aircraft, quickly followed by massive disappointment that it had kept going as if she, Nate, and Danny didn’t exist at all.
    “You think it saw us?” she asked.
    “Definitely,” Danny said. “We’re the only things moving down here for miles. The pilot’d have to be blind not to see us, and last time I checked, Uncle Sam doesn’t let blind folks fly his warplanes.”
    “Uncle Sam,” Nate said, looking at Danny. “You don’t think…?”
    “That the U.S. government’s back in play?” Danny shrugged. “I’ll be honest with you kids. I don’t know if I want that to be true or not.”
    “Why not?” Gaby asked.
    “Because it’s been a year since everything went tits up, and the Uncle Sam that shows up now isn’t going to be the one I remembered. Or necessarily want.”
    Gaby pulled out her map and laid it on the truck’s warm hood, the engine still churning underneath the paper. She glanced down at it, then in the direction the plane had gone.
    “Where’s it headed?” Nate asked. “Starch?”
    “If it keeps going in that direction and turns right,” Gaby said. “But why would it be headed there? No one knows we’re out here.” She looked back at Danny. “Right?”
    He nodded. “Last time I checked.”
    “So what’s it doing out here?” Nate asked, looking in the direction of the plane.
    Danny opened his mouth to answer, but he hadn’t gotten a word out when they heard something that sounded like a mechanical roar in the distance. It was a long string of noises, so distinctive and loud that even though it had clearly originated miles away, they could still hear it as if it were right in front of them.
    Brooooooooooorrrrttttttttt!
    “Danny,” Gaby said, breathless. “What the hell is that?”
    “The Warthog,” Danny said,