by G. R. Carter
Nicole shrugged. “We’ll see. Supposedly it contains more background on everything that has happened since the Reset. And even before…like the reason the world went dark.”
“Why’d he wait until he was almost dead to tell you?” Essie asked. She realized how insensitive her question was as soon as she asked. Spite quickly pushed away the regret.
Nicole’s eyes teared a bit, then hardened again. “Tony was learning new information up to the very last moment. I’ll tell Alex and Bek everything he learned. You too, if you want to know.”
“Doesn’t much matter to me why it all happened. I’m not like the rest of you, pining to have the ‘good old days’ back. I remember it some. But I don’t remember anything I really miss.”
Nicole grinned. “Yes, I suppose those of us old enough to remember life with unlimited resources do get a little nostalgic. Well, that and the days when we didn’t have hordes of religious fanatics trying to kill us…at least, not here in the middle of the United States. Oh, and then there are the Nuevo Tejanos pushing at us from the south and west.” She readjusted herself and her daughter. “So yeah, Essie, I do get a little sentimental about days when we didn’t worry about that.”
The unfamiliar name got Essie’s attention. She thought she’d heard it brought up before by Alex or Sam, but couldn’t remember any of the details.
“Nuevo Tejanos, loosely translated into New Texas,” Nicole explained. “Not the other Texas, mind you. According to Tony the ‘real’ Texans still exist, but they’re fighting a losing battle against what was the Mexican drug cartels, which declared themselves New Texas and claimed the entirety of Central America up through the plains. Just as viscous as the Caliphate. They’ve got a religion based on death, too. We would have called them devil worshipers once. Now it just seems run-of-the-mill.” Nicole could see Essie soak in the information. She was the type of warrior who longed to know every detail about her adversary – present or future.
Nicole paused and shook her head. “This is still the United States in my mind. Not ARK, not the Red Hawk Republic. What I take for granted you all take as a history lesson.”
“I still remember the United States,” Essie defended. “My dad talked about the Founding Fathers all the time. Geez, why do you think my brother is named Alexander Jefferson Hamilton? Duh, subtle much, Mom and Dad?” she asked sarcastically. “But I also remember him saying the country was no longer what they had intended.”
“Many felt that way. There just wasn’t enough left to make a difference,” Nicole said. “Mostly, people just wanted to be entertained. Plenty of food, drugs, sex, whatever their urges were – as long as no one took that away, there wasn’t much dissent.”
Essie’s icy glare was back. “And the Diamante family was right there to cash in on it all.”
Nicole leaned her head back again and closed her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood to be insulted. The conversation was over.
The rest of the descent took several minutes, all in cool silence, only slightly thawed by the assumed truce.
Her eyes opened again with the sudden roar of the airship’s engines filling the cabin with sound. Windows rattled and the floor vibrated. There was brief pause as the ground crew secured the tethers suspending from the nose and tail. The remaining descent was smooth until a bump announced their arrival back on terra firma.
Neither woman bothered to get up as the crew scrambled to get ready for everyone to disembark. A crewmember stopped by their chairs, looking slightly frazzled.
“Mrs. Diamante,” he stammered, “I’m afraid I have to ask you and Miss Hamilton to hurry off. There’s a bit more damage to the skyship than we thought.”
Without another word Nicole handed the white satchel to Essie and then grabbed her children. Essie was stunned for a moment at Nicole’s trust, then shook it off as she followed them out the door. Bright sunshine made her squint as she stepped out into a cold wind. They were in a large meadow, several football fields wide as well as long. Everyone began to trot across the long grass towards the hangars about fifty yards away. Unknown danger urged them forward; training and a desire not to look foolish kept them from panic.
Not until they reached the hangar door did they turn to look at the craft that had just carried them to safety. Essie was a pilot and an engineer both. Looking at the skyship nearly took her breath away.
A large chunk of the lower fin was missing along with the rear port-side engine nacelle. There were tears in the metal skin, like the ones she had opened with her guns when sending sister ships to their doom over Mt. Horab.
“I have no idea how that thing stayed in the air,” Essie muttered to no one in particular.
“Maybe it was a miracle,” Nicole said, then turned and walked in the hangar. “Welcome to Columbia, Essie,” she shouted over her shoulder. “You’re in the heart of ARK now. You’ll be nearly as safe from the Black Flags here as you would be in the Okaw.”
“It’s not the Black Flags I’m worried about,” Essie said under her breath. “It’s you.”
Chapter Two
Renaissance Place
The White City (Formerly St. Louis)
Bitter winds tormented the twisted wreckage atop Renaissance Tower. Broken metal groaned to complain of its former beauty – protesting for the sake of the smoldering city that lay below under a fog of burning dreams. Timothy Maxwell soaked it in. He struggled to decide if he, the instigator of the destruction, felt true joy at the sight.
He’d delivered the deathblow to the mighty ARK Empire with just a few keystrokes. The same technological hubris responsible for killing the electronic world 14 years before made ARK believe it was smart enough to avoid the real power in the universe. Its error in judgment was its ultimate demise. There could be only one truth, one path, any usurpers deserved to be dealt with harshly. It had taken months, years even, of planning to make it happen.
But he’d done it. Timothy Maxwell. The one they all looked down on and despised.
Now if I could just get rid of the Red Hawks. Continuity would give me all I ever wanted.
He hoped – maybe prayed, if that was really a thing – bringing down the White City might be enough. How could it not be? But Continuity demanded more. Demetrius told him so. There would be no Eternity for him without bringing the Red Hawk Republic to ruin. If they survived, they threatened Continuity. Taking out ARK’s capital city was a big step toward isolating the unbelievers. But the Republic was a pesky bunch. They seemed to have all the luck. Like something larger was looking out for them… he thought briefly, then pushed the doubt out of his mind.
Very soon he’d put the next phase of Continuity’s orders into place. Demetrius would return, and he’d strut right in here and start bossing all of Maxwell’s people around. Like he held the keys to Grapevine itself.
Which I suppose he does.
Demetrius would want to know what progress he’d made finding the inner secrets of ARK. They all knew there was a second capital city, concealed somewhere to the west. The Diamantes kept that hidden that from him – the location, at least. All he knew was that it existed, and Continuity wanted to know all about it.
“Premier Maxwell,” a black-clad Peacekeeper called out to him. “The prisoners are here now.”
Maxwell allowed himself a small smile. He liked the sound of “Premier” – ruler of his own empire. I’ve earned every bit of it.
People would be talking about this morning for generations. Timothy Maxwell would be the stuff of legends. He practiced the opening phrase, his tone and words, as he waited until everyone was settled into the room behind him, keeping his back turned to build the suspense.
“I need answers, Mr. Diamante,” Maxwell said, still staring out the open space. The whistling wind made it difficult to hear anything, but he was pretty sure someone chuckled. Furious at the insult, he turned to face the group.
Bobby Diamante stood slumped, bloody and bruised but still defiant. Next to him Tony Diamante lay propped up in a hos
pital bed. The mastermind of ARK clung to life by a thread. His skin was mottled, eyes sunken and hollow. His hair, once thick and shiny black, was nearly gone, a response to both stress and to the treatments for the cancer ravaging his body. Maxwell had kept his promise, utilizing every resource to keep Tony alive just for the sake of torment.
Two lesser Diamante cousins stood with their hands bound behind their back. The quartet was surrounded by Peacekeepers who had either helped the White City fall or switched sides quickly when the end outcome became inevitable.
Still enraged at Bobby’s disrespect, Maxwell motioned to one of the Peacekeepers with a wave of his hand toward the opening. He kept his eyes locked on to Tony’s, still not saying a word. A Peacekeeper pushed one of the Diamante cousins forward. The man started to yell something at his captor, but before the first word even finished he was thrown through the opening and out of the building, screaming as he plummeted fifty stories to his death below.
Agonized cries of the surviving trio brought a little warmth to Maxwell. “Glad to see I finally got your attention,” he said to the remaining Diamantes. It seemed impossible Tony could be in greater pain, but maybe, just maybe, there was just a little more there to be wrung.
Maxwell continued as the sobbing died down. “I just needed you to know I was serious. We could have avoided that,” he pointed out the opening, “if you wouldn’t insist on being so damn stubborn.”
He took in a deep breath and pulled on the collar of his coat for effect. “Now all I want is find out more about where your wife went. Come on, Tony, don’t be a hero. She left you here to die! Along with your cousins. Your Peacekeepers, too. All dead because of her.”
Tony closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth on the stained pillow propping him up. He missed his wife and kids. Maxwell was wrong; Tony was happy his wife and kids escaped without him. At this point he was a liability to them. In fact, he’d felt like a liability to them for a while. He hadn’t counted on still being alive to witness his life’s work torn apart, or the people he cared about tortured. All he could hope was that Nicole could convince Alex Hamilton to come to her aid.
Maxwell sighed and waved his hand again. The next cousin was dragged towards the opening, and as she was pulled forward, she begged, “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Please don’t kill me! I’ll tell you where they’re at!”
Maxwell saved her life with a simple nod. The Peacekeeper pushed her to her knees in front of him. She sobbed and wiped tears and snot from her face. Maxwell looked up at Tony and smiled. “See, I promised I’d be merciful to your family. I just need some information, that’s all.” He looked down at the woman and lifted her chin towards his face. “Tell me where,” he said.
“Kansas City,” she said through the sobs. “There’s a big underground complex there…”
“No!” Bobby screamed and lunged at her. The bull of a man got two steps towards Maxwell before being tackled. Peacekeepers pinned him down while others kicked at his ribs, finally subduing him. Maxwell smiled at the sight until he realized just how close he was to the broken floor leading to the open air below. If Bobby had made a couple of more steps he’d have been pushed to his death. His pulse pounded in his ears from the sudden terror that ebbed just as quickly as it flowed, replaced by a surge of adrenaline.
Furious, Maxwell smacked the woman kneeling in front of him. The anger grew as he realized he hadn’t even hurt her much with his hardest blow; he was pretty sure she even giggled at him. “We’ll see how funny this is!” He motioned for the Peacekeepers to grab her, satisfied at the look on her face as she recognized impending doom.
“No! No! No! No!” she cried as she beat and grabbed at the much larger and stronger men. She found a piece of metal jutting out and held on with all her might. Even as the sharp edge sliced her hand and caused blood to spurt onto the floor, she refused to let go. “No! No! No!” came her scream through gritted teeth.
Frustrated by the woman’s struggle, one of the Peacekeepers lifted his foot and extended his leg into her chest. The brute force was just enough to dislodge her grip. Her face froze in disbelief as she flew backwards into the clear sky, finally silent.
Maxwell found himself panting along with his men. This was harder work than he expected. “All right, Diamante, final chance to save your last cousin. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll spare Bobby’s life. At least there’ll be one Diamante to survive this.”
Tony’s eyes burned with hatred.
“I already know the general location. Grapevine will figure the rest out. It’s inevitable, Tony. We’ll find them. Just tell me what she’s got in Kansas City. It will help me negotiate her surrender.”
Tony finally spoke. “I…can’t trust…your word,” he stammered. “You’ll…still…kill…them all.”
“You know for sure I’ll kill them if you don’t help me. I’ll find this underground complex. I’m sure there’s maps in the library. Maybe I’ll just bury them in their little bunker, how about that?” he sneered.
Tony couldn’t say a word. He was trapped.
“Come on, Tony. Help me out. Maybe we can work out a deal. Just get Nicole to hand over this place. How long could she possibly hold out? It can’t be that big, right?” He sighed and tried to play as sympathetic as he could. “You don’t want your kids’ new home to become their grave, do you?”
Tony said nothing, made no attempt at compromise. Maxwell had no way of knowing what Nicole’s hidden city held. The miles of passageways were jammed with supplies and men still loyal to their cause. Maxwell also didn’t know about the supercomputer modeled after the one here in the White City. It wasn’t a rival for the artificial intelligence of Grapevine, but it had the advantage of remaining hidden from the network even now. If Nicole could just keep Independence operating until the Red Hawks arrived to help, maybe they might still have a chance at survival.
Tony burned with regret for not having told Alex Hamilton everything he knew about the Caliphate and Continuity from day one. All up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, civilized settlements were being overrun by thousands of jihadists making their way to their promised homeland in what used to be the southern states of the old United States. People were fighting for their lives, trying to hold off an unstoppable force that believed in converting or killing.
Even Nicole hadn’t known the full extent of what he’d learned. He doubted Maxwell knew much about the much larger plans he was a simple puppet in. Instead of making the invasion a rallying cry for the free peoples of the Midwest, Tony approached it as an opportunity. Blind faith in ARK’s superiority led him to believe they’d stand like an island in the river as the jihadist hordes flowed around. After the Caliphate devastated his rivals, the rest of North America would fall under his influence and control.
But his own hubris and greed had destroyed what he and Nicole built. He’d been embarrassed by the war with Mt. Horab. It was a hollow victory; ARK losses were astronomical for the little they’d gained. Afterward he’d wanted revenge on the Red Hawks for helping the Buckles, for encouraging Nicole to defy his ideas. Tony knew now, on his literal and figurative deathbed, he’d been terribly wrong – dead wrong.
Would his belligerence cause Hamilton’s Red Hawks to refuse to come to Nicole’s aid? Would those funny-looking tanks and airplanes of theirs be content to watch ARK disintegrate from a safe distance? He just couldn’t believe they’d stand by. His only hope was the information he’d passed to her before she escaped would convince Hamilton to attack the Caliphate. She’d have to hold out that long.
Maxwell could see the thoughts running across Tony’s tortured face. “You’re really not going to tell me anything, are you?” he asked. “Even after Nicole left you here to die.” Maxwell shook his head. “Loyalty is admirable, I suppose. Too bad your Red Hawk buddies don’t feel the same way. Hamilton isn’t going to come to your rescue, Tony. Just think, you save his life when he needs you most, and he just turns his back when the tables are turn
ed…you say I’m cold-hearted? Man, that’s just mean!”
Maxwell was gloating. He always imagined this moment – it was even sweeter in real time. “You think Texas will come for you?” he huffed. “They’re almost done, it’s just a matter of time before the Nuevos finish them off.” Sarcasm dripped off his voice. “Nope, the only ones capable of saving your precious ARK are sitting this out.”
He gave a faux friendly smile and walked over to Tony’s bed. He began to pat him on the shoulder, a little harder each time. The smile turned to a sneer. “Tell you what I’ll do. I’m going to keep you and your idiot cousin alive just a little longer. Then, when I find your woman and dig her out of her rathole, I’ll bring her back so you can see her one last time. And I guarantee you, Tony, it really will be the last time for both of you.”
Chapter Three
Shelbyville, Okaw Province
Capital of the Red Hawk Republic
The heavy wooden door of Sam Hamilton’s house closed behind him, slamming a little harder than he intended against its freshly painted wooden frame. He didn’t bother to lock it here, at least not while empty inside. The warm three-bedroom cocoon he’d left behind was a luxury, a neat and tidy resting place while he was in the capital, too busy to make it back to his estate a few miles outside the city walls. Seldom was he anywhere for long. Most days and nights he spent traveling the wide range of the Red Hawk Republic, helping oversee the defense of his homeland.
He set his broad-brimmed hat on his head. The dark green-gray cloth was punctuated only by the Republic’s infamous bright red hawk symbol, small yet distinct as it peered over the front brim. Underneath, the stubble of a high and tight hair cut was graying a little on the temples. Part of the silver was due to Hamilton family genetics, the other to the horrors of close-quarter combat.
He pulled the collar of his duster up around his neck, mostly similar in color to the hat, yet streaked in distinctive vertical camouflage patterns – cornfield camo, as it was known by most. The design dated back to the first homemade attempts at concealment by the militia of the Okaw Valley Self Defense Cooperative, a retrospective nod to the Republic’s predecessor: a tiny group of farmers trying to survive the terrifying day the lights went out and the electronic world ended.
