Tarizon: Desert Swarm Read online

  Chapter 50

  Air Strike

  When Linkh returned to the Independence Site he was impressed with how well Jack had done communicating with the Nanomites. After establishing a connection with them himself he confirmed that they had agreed to return to Bat Mountain. The only question was what to do with the Independence Cathedral now that it had been discovered.

  “The President wants it destroyed,” Mo advised. “The treaty only provides for one home and it will be hard enough keeping an eye on one site. We don’t need another one to worry about.”

  “So, how do you propose we get rid of it? It’s so hard and durable I doubt I could bulldoze it down,” Jack advised.

  “I’ll call the Air Force in to take it down,” Mo replied. “I’m sure they have some pilots who could use some target practice.”

  “How are you going to explain that to the press?” Jack asked.

  “It will happen during the night and will be over before anyone knows anything is happening.”

  “Still. There will be questions,” Agent Sanders said.

  “I guess you could blame it on me. I’ve got a slab to pour and right now the cathedral is sitting right on top of it.”

  Agent Sanders nodded. “That’s a good reason as long as Reverend Little doesn’t give us any hassle over it.”

  “He won’t. Not if he wants to keep control of the Bat Mountain site.”

  It the early hours of the following morning two F-117A Nighthawks reduced the Independence site to a pile of rubble and Jack had four bulldozers clearing the rubble by noon the next day so he could begin construction on his warehouse project as soon as possible. Before the fighters came in during the night, Jack and Linkh made sure there were no Nanomites lingering about.

  When all the Nanomites were safely back at Bat Mountain they asked if Linkh could stay with them so they’d have a line of communications open with the humans to avoid problems in the future. Linkh, however, could not accept that assignment as he had duties and responsibilities back on his ship, so he suggested Jack do it.

  “But I don’t speak Tari and it’s so hard to communicate with pictures.”

  “You can come back to the ship and with the advanced learning techniques I’ll have you speaking Tari within a week. I doubt you’ll need to communicate with the Nanomites but once or twice a month. There isn’t much trouble they can get into.”

  Jack laughed. “Yeah. Right.”