“What the hell is this?” she asked.
The scene showed a toy pickaxe standing next to a representation of an asteroid piece. The digger had legs, a face, and two arms so it looked a little human. The shovel character talked to a small child who stood next to the giant rock. “What do we need to help dig away this dirty old thing?”
The child jumped up and down. “I know what it is, Pickaxe Petteri!”
She and Asher shared a confused look, prompting her to speak. “Did TKM make a cartoon TV show about their boss? This is absolutely insane.”
“It’s a public service message. I’ve seen these sorts of things back on the rez. Usually it’s for the dangers of drug use or telling kids to stay in school. I’m not sure how their cartoons will play back home.”
“Why don’t you come inside and find out?”
Grace spun around to find herself looking down the barrel of a rifle. While she’d been distracted with the TV, three men with guns had come in through the side flap. Two had on the typical TKM blue, but the leader was dressed in olive-drab pants and shirt, more like he’d been on safari. Behind the trio, scores of men and women dressed in blue walked down the street like they were part of a parade. Gunfire kicked up as if it were the musical score for the marchers.
“My name is Major Ignatius Howard,” he said over the din. “You must be Asher Creighton and Grace Anderson. Pleased to finally meet you.”
She didn’t believe it for a second. The barrel of the rifle remained pointed at her face.
He went on. “Drop your weapons and this won’t be painful at all.”
St. Charles, MO
“Your boyfriend?” Ezra asked with shock. “Did you just use us?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I was going to get you some guns, we were going to swing by the empty house to pick her up, then you’d be on your way and I’d have my darling Victoria again.” She looked at Butch with particular concern. “I swear to you I didn’t think anything this messed up could ever take place. It was supposed to be fun.”
“Now what do we do?” he asked, unsure if he should surrender or run out the back door.
“I can make this right. Let me talk to him.” Haley gripped the backpack like the cat inside was about to jump out.
“What do we do in the meantime?” he replied.
“Hide in the other room. I’ll tell him I got caught up in the shootout at Bass Pro, I stole the truck, and didn’t know what else to do but come here since it was close.”
“Open up!” the officer shouted.
He saw a million holes in her plan, but he couldn’t think of a better alternative to violence. If there was a chance she could talk her way out of the encounter, he figured it was worth the risk.
He looked at his buddy, who still hadn’t said anything. “You with me?”
Butch nodded. “I don’t want to get in the middle of a…situation.”
“We’re not together,” Haley said with desperation. “Please, hide.”
He and Butch retreated to a side bedroom, figuring it was the best they could do in such a short time. By the time they closed the door, Haley opened the front.
Heavy footfalls came into the entryway. “Where are they? The radio said you were with two men.”
“I was. They were a couple of ass dumplings from that dumb mining company. I told them to run when I parked the truck. I figured you would have passed them on the way in.”
Ezra immediately saw the flaw in her logic. They would have taken their own truck to get away. He cut her slack since she was under a lot of pressure.
“What’s that?” A shuffle sound was followed by a grunt from Haley.
“Don’t!” she said with pain in her voice.
“Victoria? You came here to steal my cat?”
“She’s mine!” Haley squealed. “You took her without asking!”
For the next few minutes, the conversation became nothing short of an episode of Cops. The officer boyfriend asked her questions that ticked her off. She hadn’t expressed any anger in the short time he and Butch had been with her, so he figured the guy really knew how to push her buttons. They both shouted at each other with various expletives until there was a final yelp and heavy thud on the ground. Liam barked several times.
“You pushed me down.” Haley sounded defeated.
Butch moved toward the door, seemingly agitated with the escalation.
He held out a hand to stop him from going. “She said she could handle it.”
Butch pursed his lips. “I don’t know, E-Z. It sounds like she could use a friend.”
The cop spoke loudly. “I didn’t mean to, but this is my cat, dammit. You got to keep the dog. Don’t you dare try to take her again or I’ll give you more than a sore tailbone.”
Haley sobbed softly in the other room. Ezra’s fatherly instinct went ballistic as he listened, and he was soon tempted to open the door himself, but still he waited.
“Don’t you know what’s going on, Haley? You can’t pretend this is a minor inconvenience to your workout schedule. The city has gone to shit. There are robberies everywhere. Half of St. Louis is living on our front porch. Everything is out of control. And here you are, playing the victim with a stupid cat!”
“She’s not stupid,” the girl replied, fighting the sorrow in her voice.
“It’s just a damned cat.”
“Then let me have her.”
“Hell no,” he snapped.
“I’ll come back,” she insisted with snark.
Ezra wanted to go out there and scold her for being so insane over her pet. Yeah, he loved animals as much as the next guy, but she’d obviously broken and entered into the home of a police officer. The boyfriend cop was right: the rules outside had changed. She needed to lie low, not jump into trouble. It was a lesson difficult to teach to young people such as her and Grace.
“You are such a—” Outside, tires screeched, and car doors slammed. The cop halted his insult. “What now?”
“Someone’s here,” Haley shot back.
“It’s the ass dumplings you mentioned. Maybe I’ll tell them you stole their truck, so they’ll get you out of my hair.” He laughed in an unfriendly manner.
“Xander, please don’t open the door,” Haley begged. “They’re not who you think.”
“Shut it. I’ll take care of these guys.”
Ezra and Butch stood ready with their new rifles. He scooted toward the drapes, interested to see how many had come to the house. Three pickup trucks sat on the lawn next to the lone police cruiser.
“Well, there goes the neighborhood,” he drawled.
Denver, CO
Petteri saw himself as both a mining tycoon and admiral of business acumen. His face was constantly on the news, he was asked to come on all the best nighttime talk shows, and you couldn’t walk past a magazine rack without seeing his million-dollar smile. Unlimited money had given him a business empire that made the Rockefellers look like they did nothing more than run a mildly successful lemonade stand. He secretly enjoyed one aspect of his job above all the others: having absolute power over dangerous men with big-ass guns.
The men with the firepower stood in the hallway, awaiting his orders. Three of them, all dressed like they’d recently arrived from the battlefield. Weapons hung off every shoulder, on every hip, and lashed to ankles. Making money was a lovable byproduct of his business empire, but in another age, he would have been Julius Caesar himself. As soon as his guys had regained control of the battlespace around the fragment of rock, he wanted to go down there and walk the carnage.
“I’ve sent Major Howard down to the street to lead the big sweep of TKM security against those damned miners.” Inside, he laughed. The “sweep” would be more like cutting wheat with a scythe. “I have good intel suggesting a terrorist is moving closer to these headquarters, and I believe he is targeting me specifically. Until things are cleaned up on the streets, you three are going to be my shadows up here.”
&nb
sp; They nodded in understanding.
“For now, wait in the hallway. Cover the stairs, or whatever you guys do.”
The three men chatted quietly amongst themselves, then spread out. One went down the hallway, one went toward the stairwell, and the third hung out by his office.
Diedre stood a bit inside the doorway, waiting for the guards to disappear. He intended to have someone else go in and pull her from under the table, but it proved unnecessary. As soon as he and Dorothy left the room, the woman crawled out on her own. He figured after giving away her brother, there was no point in lying on the floor.
“You stay in there,” he said dryly.
He went into his office, plopped into the executive chair, and spent the next half hour on the phone with gunfire on the streets outside as his background music. Howard was certainly earning his pay.
Petteri mostly spoke with team leaders at the other dig sites as they, too, did their “sweeps” against non-TKM mining and construction crews. He’d been given the blessing of the US government to claim ownership of all the rock which had fallen to Earth, and he intended to take every ounce of that authority and put it to good use. Howard was implementing his plan in Denver. Other brave men would do the same at the numerous sites across the country.
After noticing the gunfire had become more sporadic and distant, he climbed out of his chair and went to the window. There were no longer any people within a few hundred meters of the rock. Well, living people. Bodies were strewn along the avenues, even on the street which had been torn up by the rolling meteorite. Men in blue shirts fanned out down each of the four streets, ever farther from his prize. They gunned down anyone who wasn’t smart enough to run from the fight.
His people were on the move, except for a clump standing by the abandoned tents. He leaned against the window, straining to see what was happening. As he watched, his mobile phone rang in his pocket, beeping the theme song of TKM. To his delight, it was Howard.
“Yes?” he said.
“Sir, we’ve got them. They came through the sewers, but we found them hiding in our old comms tent.”
Three people walked out from under the blue canopy. From ten floors up, he easily made out the two dressed like park rangers; he’d recognize them from space. The third guy was a mystery. “I’m looking at you right now. Bring them into the lobby. A serviceable job cleaning up the streets, Howard. I feel safe coming down to see it for myself.”
“Very good,” Howard said, hanging up.
Petteri called the three soldiers to his side and invited Dorothy to join him. She’d been there since the start of his damage control efforts and she’d passed his loyalty test with flying colors. He’d been hesitant to show her how the sausage got made in his organization, but he was short on people he could trust. Normally, it would take years to work someone into his inner circle, but calamity sped things up. He desperately needed her competence and expertise at his immediate disposal.
Finally, he brought Diedre out into the hallway.
“Well, it seems your brother was as close as he said, but he was also quite stupid. We easily caught him on the street right outside my building. I’m bringing you down to meet him.” Obviously, there would be no need for her once he got rid of the bothersome brother. With hundreds of bodies in the streets, who would notice a few more? He was pleased with himself for suggesting he meet them down below. They wouldn’t have to drag the bodies very far.
“Don’t hurt him,” she begged, sounding nothing like the self-assured woman who’d ducked under the table to warn her brother. “Please.”
He started for the elevator but glanced over his shoulder to her. There was no harm in giving her a smidgeon of false hope. At least it would encourage her to get in the elevator. “It all depends on you.”
Chapter 21
Denver, CO
Grace hated being held prisoner, though in hindsight it seemed they were always headed for capture if they expected an audience with the super-wealthy president of TKM. There were no doorbells or receptionists around to announce their arrival. Even if there were, they weren’t going to be let inside the building with their weapons, given all the chaos outside.
“Wait here,” Major Howard said.
They were inside the once-beautiful lobby of an office building. A fancy steakhouse took up most of the interior, save for the elevators and a small welcome desk. Every window was broken out of the place, which invited the heavy coat of black dust in to blanket the chairs, floor, and wall décor.
“Let me do the talking,” Shawn whispered.
It wasn’t long before the elevator doors opened. Two men dressed entirely in black came out with their rifles sweeping back and forth for threats. A pretty young woman with straight black hair came out next, wearing a white skirt and black top. She looked around like she was out of place, as if she’d gone up for a normal day of work but come back down to the lobby to find Armageddon. The last person to emerge was a plain-looking, middle-aged man. His brown hair was perfectly cut in a businessman’s style, but the effort was wasted due to the man’s wrinkled black suit. Judging from the creases, he might have slept in it the previous few nights. Despite his mixed appearance, he carried himself with poise and confidence.
Asher got excited. “That’s Tikkanen. The head guy.”
Shawn Runs Hard held up his hands. “We surrender. We only want to talk to you about the rock that fell on the tribal lands of the Crow people.”
The two men dressed like assassins walked up to her and Asher and began patting them down.
“Where’s my sister?” Asher shouted.
“I already searched them and stowed their weapons,” Howard said with impatience, ignoring Asher.
The businessman waved him off. “Send your men back out. We’ve got the miners on the run. We can take care of things here.”
Howard motioned to his small band of TKM goons, and they ran back toward the tents and the rock. Their leader didn’t go with them. The major stayed in the lobby, about ten feet to Grace’s left.
When the men finished checking Shawn for weapons, they retreated to stay close to the boss and the woman. Only when everyone was in their place did the man speak.
“I’m Petteri Tikkanen, but I’m sure you all know that already—”
“Where’s my sister, you horse’s ass?” Asher interrupted.
Petteri smiled and went on with his speech. “You’re Asher Creighton and Grace Anderson.” He turned toward Shawn. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re the Crow leader recently on television?”
Shawn bowed in recognition. “That’s me. I was on my way to Washington DC to discuss the ownership of the meteorite on our lands, but there are no planes flying. Me and my friends decided to drive here, to talk to you, instead.”
“Uh-huh,” Petteri answered, obviously not believing it was accurate. “And why all the weapons?”
Grace snickered but sobered up when he cast an iron gaze at her. She replied, “Are you serious? Have you been out there? Everyone has guns. Everyone is dangerous.”
Gunfire resonated in the distance outside. Echoes bounced from building to building nonstop. Whatever shooting had taken place in the tunnels, it must have been much worse on the surface. No one could possibly suggest it was a bad idea to be able to defend yourself out there.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security has ordered all weapons be confiscated if found outside the home. Surely, you know about the rules?”
“Do you?” Asher spit out. “Your men must have missed the memo. And my sister—”
It was Petteri’s turn to interrupt. “Ah, Mister Creighton. I’ve waited a long time to meet you. I’m not sure if I should be impressed by your progress getting here or disgusted with you for making this meeting necessary. My friend Misha tried to make contact with you several times to save me the trouble, but he was unsuccessful.”
She noticed how he studiously avoided calling it what it was. “You mean you’re disappointed we avoided the killer you sent
out to put bullets in our heads?”
“Tsk tsk. Such a poor interpretation of events. I don’t wish to harm anyone.” He flashed a knowing glance to one of his warrior partners. Then he positioned himself closer to her and Asher. “But you two did an enormous disservice to the facts when you broadcast your little video from Yellowstone. It caused me a great deal of trouble with the press.” Grace noticed how he practically ground his teeth together. He was holding back what he really felt, and she wanted to see what it would take for him to lose his equanimity.
“If you mean Misha the loser, we bested him multiple times. I had a gun to his head. I could have pulled the trigger and ended him, but I’m not a murderer like you. That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? You want to murder us.”
Shawn gently pulled her shoulder. “No, no one has to get hurt. This is merely a discussion.”
Denver, CO
Petteri’s heart rate churned along much faster than he would have liked. It caused him to breathe hard and sweat to dribble down his temples. The blonde park ranger knew how to poke and prod him into losing his cool. It was probably a skill she’d learned at her stupid, useless job out in the woods. He would have offed them all in a heartbeat, but the native guy had been on TV. If anyone knew he was coming, it could create a problem if he was found with a bullet in his head.
“There’s no need to worry. In fact, to answer Mr. Creighton’s concern, I’ve taken good care of your sister throughout all this. Your video made it dangerous for her to be out and about. We had to bring her in to prevent her from being targeted by ignorant people looking to blame someone for this disaster.” He’d left one man, and his guns, trained on Diedre in a nearby room. He would have brought her out, but he was a man who liked meetings to absolutely go the way he wanted. If he needed any final leverage, she would be on standby.
Creighton scoffed. “I bet you say that to all your prisoners. Where’s my damned sister, Grandpa?”
Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 76
