Room 9 by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 22

The Blue Ridge Mountains were beautiful no matter what the season. But on one particular day, the serenity of what could easily be compared to as heaven was disturbed by a silver-white streak blazing down from a royal blue sky. Anyone in the area would have heard a loud boom, followed by the rumbling of an explosion as an unseen wave marched across the earth. Had there been eyes to witness the sight, they would have seen a white jet fall out of the sky, its engines still thundering, stopping upon impact. The cries of those inside would not be heard over the prolonged scream of the experimental aircraft just before colliding with its intended target, sending up plumes of smoke and debris. Everything in the cabin was incinerated as the fumes from its fuel tanks violently combusted. Any onlooker, standing close enough, might have become blind or burned from the brilliant flash that scorched the earth, taking the lives of one adult and four teenagers.