that's a mistake. the room quiets. all eyes on.
baird's intensely competent assistant.
aviation week has been following this plane's development for years. they have stringers who spend their vacations sitting in lawnchairs all night long by the whiteman perimeter fence just in case one of these things takes off. the boys in those lawnchairs know one took off tonight. they're going to know when it doesn't come back.
hell, sir. sometimes i scare myself. and out giles goes.
colonel wilkins? i'm giles prentice. my word from your search and rescue team?
i'm sorry. picked up any radiation? wilkins shakes his head.
that's kind of strange -- if there's an exposed core out there.
probably nothing. i asked for a transcript of the last cockpit transmission? wilkins nods to a corporal who hands some papers to giles. giles reads them quickly.
you know these guys? the pilots?
what if this wasn't pilot error?
in the last transmission from the plane, colonel deakins said major hale lost it and made the plane crash. we all assumed that meant pilot error. but what if deakins meant hale made the plane crash. murmurs of "that's insane" "no way" fill the room.
two nuclear weapons would be worth a hell of a lot of money.
i meant they'd be worth a lot of money to us. how much would we pay to get them back? to make sure they weren't used in this country? a flurry of looks around the room.
you think i'm nuts. you don't think nest or the satellite will find anything weird.
oh, shit.
that's all we need. a goddamn earthquake.
i have to get out of here.
how do you know?
we'd just like to ask you a few questions.
what about her?
colonel! how about this? wilkins looks back, sees hale holding the gun to giles' head.
salt lake is north.
but you said it would be salt lake. you found that hospital tag.
the president. wilkins' finger stops.