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they’ll let us in,” Mulligan said. Which was hardly the truth; he just hoped someone would have a heart and send the lift up for the rig, even though the operating procedures stated just the opposite. Anyone who wasn’t in the base before it was fully locked down wasn’t getting in, at all.
    “Scott, that might not be the case,” Peter said gently.
    “I’ll figure it out,” Mulligan said. “Don’t worry about me. Just get ready to hit the deck running as soon as we get to Bravo.”
    “No,” CJ said.
    “Sergeant Lopez, now is not the time to start arguing with me,” Mulligan warned her. There was no pleading in his voice now, just one hundred percent Special Forces kickass.
    “I’m not arguing.” As she spoke, CJ turned in her wing seat and looked past the bulkhead that separated the cockpit from the second compartment. Mulligan noticed it, and wondered if she was trying to urge Peter into restraining him. With his right hand, he loosened his shoulder straps, despite the SCEV’s swaying. He knew Peter didn’t have what it took to get through a stand-up fight, but there was no law that said he might not get lucky with Mulligan strapped into his seat.
    “Don’t get any ideas, guys,” he said.
    “Even a good one?” CJ said.
    It was an odd response, so Mulligan said, “Tell me what’s on your mind, Sergeant.”
    “You’re wasting a lot of time running us to Bravo, only to have to turn around again.”
    “Making sense is not optional right now, CJ.”
    “She’s saying we’ll go with you,” Peter said.
    Mulligan barked out a surprised laugh. “The hell you say.”
    “We will,” CJ said. “It’ll be safer with all of us on board. These rigs are pretty simple, but trying to pilot one solo with what’s about to happen probably isn’t going to register very high on the smart meter.”
    “Guys, thanks a million, but you’re going to un-ass at Bravo.”
    “Scott, you’re wasting time. Tess and the girls need us to get there, fast.” CJ looked at him evenly from across the cockpit.
    “I’m not getting through,” Peter said. “Either the civilian mobile system is clogged up, or there’s been a failure. Maybe the Russians detonated a bomb in orbit or something, and the satellites are down. CJ’s right, the quicker we get there, the quicker we can get back and throw ourselves on the mercy of whoever’s going to listen to us.”
    “What about Rachel?” Mulligan asked. “She’s down in Harmony, and she’s probably scared shitless. She’s going to need you guys.”
    “Yeah,” CJ said, and her voice was small. “She will. But she’s safe, and that’s what’s important. We can have a happy homecoming when we get back.”
    Mulligan glanced over at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
    “No, I’m not kidding! Are we going to do this, or not?”
    “Come on, Scott. Let’s get on with it,” Peter said.
    Mulligan didn’t know what to do. He very much wanted to spin the rig around and charge off toward Scott City, but he didn’t want to bring the Lopezes with him. Good intentions aside, they didn’t have any skin in this game. He was touched by their concern for him—more deeply than he could possibly express, under the circumstances—but he thought they were acting even crazier than he was, at the moment.
    “This is nuts,” he said, finally.
    “What’s nuts is burning up time talking about it,” CJ said. “We’re willing to go and help out. But you have to go now , Sarmajor.”
    “Peter,” Mulligan said. He didn’t know if he was asking for additional confirmation, or if he was giving the man a chance to overrule his wife in a last chance bid to allow sanity to prevail.
    “I still can’t get through to them on the phone, Scott. Let’s get this done—we’re here for you, man.”
    Mulligan shook his head and sighed cavernously. Taking them with him on a personal mission was not just dumb, it was almost criminal. And criminal might be exactly the case: what he was