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Jason jogged over behind Lily and Lachlan, catching up to them. Bellum was already on board. Jason climbed the stairs of the Learjet with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. He’d never been on a private jet before and was intrigued by the lavish appointments in the small cabin. There was plenty of room for the six of them.

Jason and Lily sat in plush leather seats facing each other on the same side of the aisle. There was a small, low table between them. Lachlan sat across from them, clipping his seatbelt in place as the pilot closed the cabin door. Bellum went to the cockpit with the pilot.

As they began taxiing for takeoff, Lachlan said, “This plane makes the run to Portland twice a week for a mining corporation executive operating out of Albany. It’s important that we blend in with routine activities. The NSA will be trawling public records for any anomalies that might tip our hand, so it’s critical we stay in the shadows.”

The Learjet accelerated down the runway, lifting smoothly into the air.

Once they reached cruising altitude, Lachlan made some coffee in the galley as Jason and Lily talked idly. Jason found it strange to talk about mundane things, like the shape of a cloud or the small farming communities dotted across the countryside beneath them, but Lily was chatty.

“Latte?” Lachlan said, holding two cups and offering them to Jason and Lily.

“Thanks,” Jason said, taking the cup and sipping at the coffee.

Lachlan returned with a cup of coffee for himself and Stegmeyer, sitting down across the aisle from Jason and Lily.

Jason wanted to say something, but he waited as Lachlan sipped some coffee. Lachlan picked up on his anguish, and continued the conversation they’d started in the RV. Jason smiled. Lachlan picked up almost exactly where he’d left off, with little or nothing in the way of segue, as if there had been no interruption.

“Don’t worry about the reactor complex. The main building is designed to withstand precisely this kind of attack. We’ll be flying an unmanned Learjet into a twelve foot thick wall built out of reinforced concrete and steel. Nothing short of a fully laden 747 is going to make anything more than a scratch on the outside of that thing. That structure will outlast the pyramids!

“Now, if we were to hit the old dome that would be a different story. We’d punch straight through the shell, but the main building has been hardened on three separate occasions over the past fifteen years. We’ll leave a nasty, ugly black scar, but not much else.

“The plane is carrying 1500 gallons of avgas in addition to the 900 gallons in the fuel pods. It’s going to create a fireball a thousand feet high and bring emergency services pouring in from all across the city, and that’s what we want. We want the world’s attention on North Bend. We want federal investigators crawling all over that site, asking all kinds of uncomfortable questions.”

Bellum wandered out of the cockpit, clearly wanting to join the conversation.

“But,” Jason countered. “What about the law of unintended consequences? What if something goes wrong? What if the wall collapses? What if the fire spreads?”

“She’s a class four reactor,” Lachlan replied. “The core is built on a gravity failsafe. If there’s no power, the uranium rods sink back into their lead shell and the reaction is over. This isn’t Fukushima or Three Mile Island. There’s no chance of a meltdown.”

Jason didn’t like it.

“Is this really necessary?”

“North Bend is a private nuclear power plant,” Lachlan replied. “They’re answerable to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and no one else. It’s the perfect cover for DARPA. The image of a glowing mushroom cloud billowing above a nuclear power plant will ensure there’s no room to hide. They’re going to have to open the gates to local fire crews, and that will allow us to drive straight through to the dome.”

As a reporter, April Stegmeyer added her perspective. “The media focus will cripple them. It will take weeks, maybe even months to convince the public the explosion was superficial and didn’t damage any of the critical infrastructure.”

“Then after that,” Bellum added, “they’re going to have to deal with every conspiracy nut in the country alleging that they’re hiding the truth.”

“And they are,” Lachlan said. “Only the truth is more bizarre than anyone could ever imagine.”

“We’ll leak the footage of our investigation,” Stegmeyer said. “Once we get inside that dome and get shots of you interacting with the craft, they’ll have no way to hide. We’re going to force their hand, force them to admit this to the public.”

“I hate to throw a wet towel over all this,” Jason said, resting his coffee spoon on the table in front of him. “But I don’t know what you think I can do with this thing. I’m not even sure I believe you guys. Hell, for all I know, you’re all crazy and this is some delusional group construct.”

No one answered him.