Chapter 53: Revealing the Location

Hearing that he would cooperate. Adrian smiled and proceeded back to the office.

He planned to knock some sense into him before going to bed yesterday as he knew as a soldier, he’ll do everything to save the people as it was their pledge.

"Good thing we have this settled, Sir Herrera. Truly, your cooperation will ensure the safety of the personnel and the civilians. Now, back to our main questions, where did you take off? Where was your base?"

"Fort Magsaysay," he said.

Ryan’s head turned slightly.

Adrian didn’t react outwardly, but his attention sharpened.

"That’s where I took off," Herrera continued. "It’s where most of the remaining ground forces regrouped. Army units, air assets that could still fly, anything that made it out of the initial collapse."

Adrian pulled the chair back slowly and sat.

"Fallback position," he said.

Herrera nodded once.

"Yeah. When things started going bad—really bad—units were ordered to consolidate. Fort Magsaysay had the space, the infrastructure, and enough defensive depth to hold."

Ryan crossed his arms.

"And the air assets?"

"Limited," Herrera said. "Some aircraft were lost early. Others couldn’t be maintained. What’s left is being rotated carefully. Every sortie counts."

Adrian leaned forward slightly.

"Chain of command there?"

"Still intact," Herrera replied. "At least more than anywhere else I’ve seen. Officers from different units pulled together. It’s not clean, but it’s functioning."

Adrian nodded once, absorbing it.

"So Fort Magsaysay is acting as a central node," he said. "Military presence, coordination, fallback for surviving units."

"That’s the idea," Herrera said. "Doesn’t mean it’s stable."

Ryan glanced at Adrian.

"Fort Magsaysay, where is it?"

"I don’t even know," Adrian said, shaking his head. "It’s not like we can google it when the internet infrastructure is down now."

Herrera stared at him.

For a second, he didn’t even respond.

"You don’t know where Fort Magsaysay is?" he said, disbelief clear in his voice.

Ryan shifted slightly, but didn’t speak.

Adrian leaned back in his chair, calm.

"No," he said. "Why should we?"

Herrera blinked once, processing that.

"It’s one of the largest military installations in Luzon," he said. "Central Luzon. Nueva Ecija. That’s basic."

Adrian gave a small shrug.

"We’re not military," he said. "We didn’t grow up memorizing bases and command structures."

Herrera looked at him like he was trying to find a crack in the statement.

"You’re running a Patriot battery," he said. "You’ve got tanks, aircraft, organized units—and you’re telling me you don’t know where Fort Magsaysay is?"

"Yeah we don’t really know..." Adrian said.

"Our objective isn’t to invade anything," he continued. "It’s to stay alive. Keep this place running. Keep those people you saw outside fed and protected."

Herrera’s eyes shifted slightly, recalling the civilians.

Adrian leaned forward again.

"You came in here thinking we were some foreign force taking advantage of the situation," he said. "We’re not. We’re dealing with the same problem you are."

Ryan added quietly from the side, "Just better equipped for now."

Herrera exhaled slowly.

That edge in his posture softened just a little.

"Still," he said, "not knowing your own terrain is a liability."

Adrian nodded once.

"Which is why we’re asking," he replied. "You have the information. We don’t. That’s the gap."

Herrera looked between the two of them.

"Fort Magsaysay is in Nueva Ecija," he said. "Roughly north of your current position. If you’re in Basa, you’re looking at a few hours by land, depending on route conditions. Now that you know where I came from. What are you planning to do with it?"

"Well, I’m thinking of informing them that we are here so that they won’t attack us and that we are also friendly and willing to work with them if they allow," Adrian said.

"Hmm...I don’t think they’ll trust you that easily. It will be just me firing a missile on your base since you are an unknown paramilitary force," Herrera said.

"Which is why you’ll come with our special forces to make contact with them. That way, you can identify yourself and they don’t get shot down."

"You want me to walk back into Fort Magsaysay with you?" he said.

"Yes sir, but not literally walking, you’ll take a helicopter with you. We have the Blackhawks, similar to the one we used to extract you after you got shot down," Adrian said.

"You understand what that looks like from their side?" he said. "I disappear on a sortie, then show up again with an armed group no one recognizes, running foreign hardware, asking for cooperation."

"That’s exactly why you’re going," he said. "You’re their pilot. Their officer. You speak, they listen long enough not to pull the trigger."

Herrera shook his head slightly.

"Or they assume I’ve been compromised," he said. "Captured. Turned. Used."

Ryan stepped in a bit closer.

"Then you make it clear you’re not," he said. "You saw the civilians. You saw the base. You know what we’re doing here."

Herrera’s jaw tightened.

"That’s not how it works," he said. "They don’t take chances anymore. Not after what’s been happening out there."

Adrian leaned back slightly in his chair, still calm.

"And what happens if we don’t go?" he asked. "You think this ends with just one aircraft?"

Herrera didn’t answer.

"You already said it yourself," Adrian continued. "You were sent to identify and assess. You fired when things didn’t line up. Next time, they won’t send one."

Ryan added, "And next time, we won’t just sit and take it."

"Even if I go with you, it’s not guaranteed," he said. "They might still light you up the moment you enter their airspace or get within range."

Adrian nodded once.

"We’re aware."

Herrera sighed. "Fine, I’ll come with you but don’t expect a guarantee. Things are tense in there and they don’t want to add you to their problems."

Adrian didn’t push further. He just gave a small nod, like the answer was enough for now.

"It doesn’t have to be clean," he said. "It just has to not end in a firefight."

Ryan shifted slightly beside the wall, already thinking ahead.

"We’ll need to prep the approach," he said. "No heavy assets. One bird. Minimal team."

"It’ll be you again, Ryan, as I have another concern. You handle this."

"Yes sir."