Dead Zone Read Free Page B

“Au-brey.”
    “I was not,” he said, though he could feel his face flush. “If you must know, I was listening to them talk about this mission. They might be canceling it.”
    Rich leaned back and swore. “You’re kidding me. After all of this? After missing out on the real training?”
    Jack shrugged. “The Russians have something that can knock planes and missiles out of the sky. You really want to try to fly a helicopter behind enemy lines?”
    Josi let out a breath. “I’ve been thinking about that.”
    “Good,” Krezi said. “Maybe we’ll be somewhere safe. In case no one noticed, Rich and I aren’t even old enough to be drafted, and yet here we are.”
    “You’re a girl,” Josi said. “You wouldn’t be signed up for selective service anyway. Jack is the only one who could get the call from Uncle Sam.”
    “I’m seventeen, Photographic Memory Girl. You’re the eighteen-year-old.”
    Josi rubbed her eyes and sighed. “Just because I know everything doesn’t mean I remember it.”
    “I’ll use that excuse the next time I’m taking a test.” Jack laughed and bumped her arm. He only had eyes for Aubrey, but he couldn’t help noticing how Josi could make even the battle-dress ACUs look good.
    “Can I ask a question?” Josi said through red, tired eyes. “Why the Russians? I mean, does this feel a little Red Dawn to you?”
    “I overheard General Penrod and Colonel Montgomery talking about that yesterday,” Jack said. “It sounds like the Russians’ goal isn’t to conquer us and make us bow before them. Their goal is to make America cry. It’s to make us not be a superpower anymore—to bring us down a few notches. They figure if we’re weak, then maybe Mexico will come over the borders in the South and claim land. Maybe Cuba will go after Florida. And we’ll be too dang busy stopping an invasion to plug the leaks everywhere.”
    “Okay, but back to the here and now. What are we doing instead of rappelling out of helicopters?” Rich asked. “My skills are kinda limited.”
    “They want you most of all,” Jack said, wondering how much of this he should be telling them. It probably didn’t hurt anything—their commanding officers had to know that Jack overheard everything. They’d never told him not to listen. “The Russians have some device that can disable planes and ships. You’re a mechanical genius. They want you to figure out what that is.”
    “Oh, perfect,” Rich said. “That doesn’t sound like I’ll be a target at all.”
    “Or on the front lines,” Krezi said.
    “Speaking of which,” Jack continued, “they want you involved, too, Krezi. This device can disable electronics, but there’s no reason to think it can disable you. You’ll be the best weapon we have.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Better than a gun? Those don’t have electronics.”
    “Depends on the gun,” Josi said, still rubbing her eyes.
    “You can cut through a tank,” Jack said. “That beats an M16.”
    “I can cut through a tank if I’m right next to it and focus on it, like a welding torch. How many tanks am I going to get close to?”
    “It’s still better than a gun.”
    “And don’t forget,” Rich said, with more than a twinge of disgust in his voice, “we don’t get guns. You and me, I mean.”
    Krezi and Rich were still considered too young to be trusted with rifles or sidearms. It was a decision that made the younger lambdas furious; they were being asked—forced, some said—to help the army, but they weren’t allowed to defend themselves.
    Not that Krezi needed a gun to defend herself. Jack had seen her blast a tree to splinters using just the power that came out of her hands. He’d seen her cut through half-inch steel plate, and blow a cement wall to pieces.
    And Rich could innately understand and use any machine, be it a calculator or a backhoe. Jack had to assume the same skill would apply to understanding and using a rifle, if Rich ever got his hands on