​     The missiles hit. ​

     Claudia's force field contained the blast. 

     No way, however, could it contain the glow. 

     The glow turned night into day for miles around. Part of the collateral damage were a series of car wrecks, two fatal, because Adam's compound suddenly glowed as bright as the sun. SMASH! CRASH! The night filled with the sounds of crunching metal and screaming voices. Fifty miles away, people could see the glow. 

     And at the center of all that light and incredible heat? 

     Katy and Gramps sat in an enclosed room. Katy saw nothing on the monitor but piercingly brilliant bright light. Sweat dampened her forehead. She licked her suddenly dry lips. "You're certain this force field is strong enough to protect us from the..." 

     "Absolutely," Gramps replied. "Again, this is Bok Thai technology. Claudia could put us at the center of a star in this force field and we'd never burn." Yet, even as he said it, Gramps felt a drop of sweat on his forehead. Purely psychological, he thought. We're perfectly safe.

     Damn it, I want to get this over with. 

CONTINUE