Chapter Forty-eight
Friday, October 24
8:17 AM
Dreamland
One of the air force helicopters came low to the ground, kicking up sprays of water and sand; a cloud of mist swirled around the heavily armed behemoth as it bumped to a landing, settling onto the soft ground.
Two armed security policemen jumped down from the passenger compartment and spread out, fanning the area with their automatic weapons—but they didn’t leave the immediate vicinity of the craft.
Dressed in white protective gear with hoods, three members of the NEST response scrambled out. One carried a radiation detector and held up a gloved hand, sweeping it from side to side, focusing on the site of the explosion, while the others drew up short. They stood warily back from the remains of the blasted land rover and the rui
