by Mike Kraus
“Are you kidding?” Linda dropped the cloth from her face and immediately coughed before grinning with delight. “Who else could it be?”
The back ramp of the Osprey slowly lowered as the pair walked closer, revealing two figures standing side by side at the back of the craft. They began walking forward just as the ramp hit the ground with a soft thud and Frank shook his head and raised his hands as he called out to the pair standing in front of him and Linda.
“Nope! Whatever you’re selling, we don’t want any!”
Linda backhanded him in the stomach and he choked on a laugh as she jogged forward, wrapping her sweat-stained arms around Sarah Callahan. Sarah returned the greeting, breaking from her usual professional demeanor to smile and laugh at the sight and embrace of her friend.
Frank, meanwhile, walked forward and stuck out his hand. “Lieutenant? How’s it—wait. Major? Major Jackson now, is it?”
Jackson couldn’t repress a smile as he shook Frank’s hand and pulled him into an embrace. “Richards. You’re looking good for being an old farmhand.”
Frank chuckled, his eyes sparkling with happiness at the sight of Sarah and Jackson. “Hey, I went from accountant to truck driver to terrorist killer. I’m enjoying the off-time.”
“Mhm.” Sarah walked over to Frank who ignored her proffered handshake and went straight for a hug while Jackson and Linda embraced as well. When the greetings were settled, Sarah spoke.
“Are you sure you’re enjoying it?” The question immediately set off alarm bells in Linda’s head and she crossed her arms.
“Sarah.”
“Mhm?”
“Why did you two fly all the way out here? You could have called, you know.”
“We could have, yes.” Sarah raised an eyebrow. “If you had phone service. Which you don’t. And your satellite phone goes directly to voicemail, oddly enough.” She ran her tongue over her teeth as she glanced at Frank. “And your parents, who have phone service, always seem to not know who either of you are when we try calling them.”
Frank and Linda looked at each other, sharing a mischievous smile. “Eh,” Frank shrugged, “we like our privacy.”
“So I see.” The faintest shadow of a smile was back.
“All right, Sarah.” Linda took a step closer to Frank. “What’s this all about? And why are you here with Jackson?”
“DOD assigned him to me at my request.”
“I’m her errand boy.” Jackson replied with a grin. “We’re working on reconstruction efforts, passing off law enforcement work back to local officials, gathering evidence of the whole plot.”
“You’re still gathering evidence?” Linda’s eyes widened. “How’s that possible?”
“Omar turned a lot of people, including those in senior positions.” Sarah reached into the bag on her shoulder and retrieved a thick manila file folder. “And that’s why we’re here.”
Jackson took the folder and handed it over to Linda, who immediately handed it over to Frank. He cracked it open and they both looked at it while Jackson spoke. “We’re pretty sure that we’ve got nearly all of his accomplices and the people that he’s turned rounded up. Trials are starting in three months and the government would like for you,” he gestured at Linda, “to act as a key witness. Frank, you’d also be helping with some testimony given how closely you worked with Linda after the event occurred.”
Linda opened her mouth to respond, but Sarah cut her off. “I know your first response is going to be a ‘no’ but hear me out. We’re obviously not allowed to offer you anything in exchange for your testimony, but as your actions—and yours, Frank—have come to the attention of those higher up the food chain, they’ve authorized me to offer you a few things as a thank you for what you did to stop Omar before he could detonate the bombs.”
“Without you two,” Jackson interjected, “there would be nothing left.”
“What kind of ‘thank you’ are we talking about here?” Frank asked.
Jackson pulled a few small documents from his breast pocket and passed them over for Frank and Linda to see. “A bank account with the details there has already been created in your names, with that balance applied to it. If you look at the second card you’ll see an address and a satellite picture of some land in Maine and in Tennessee that belonged to—”
“My parents and I.” Linda spoke softly as she finished his sentence.
“Yes. Everything’s been taken care of, fixed and upgraded to be self-sufficient at both locations. Both properties are in your names, just like the bank account.”
“Thank you again for what you did, Jackson.” Linda looked up from the cards with tear-filled eyes, then cast a glance to the small plot with the pair of gravestones behind the house. “You didn’t have to bring them here.”
“Sarah insisted on it and it was the least we could do. But now we can do more.”
“So this,” Frank raised an eyebrow, “is what? Some kind of a bribe for her—for our—testimony?”
“It’s a thank you. From an old friend to another old friend.” Sarah looked at Linda, then over at Frank. “And to a new one.”
“What if they ask what happened to Omar?” Linda’s eyes were dry, a fire slowly burning in them that made them sparkle in the sunlight.
“You tell them the truth.” Sarah replied. “Nothing more and nothing less. You tell them that a man who slaughtered millions was brought to justice, and anything that happened to him during his capture couldn’t be avoided.”
Frank wrapped the fingers of his left hand around Linda’s right hand and squeezed as she took a deep breath before responding. She looked Sarah dead in the eye, looking for any hint that the request was anything but genuine and forthright. “Is this legitimate, Sarah?”
“It is. No strings. No traps. No tricks. I’ll be with you both the entire way. Regardless of your decision, though, the properties and money are yours to keep, along with the thanks of a grateful nation.”
“I don’t know, Sarah. We’re building a life out here. The country’s doing its own thing but we’re self-sufficient, near Frank’s parents—who, to be fair, are a bit of a pain in the ass but still fantastic.”
“Hey!” Frank shoved her in the side with his elbow as she laughed. “Be nice!”
“My parents are resting properly and things…” she looked at Frank and smiled. “Things are good.”
“Things will still be good, Linda.” Jackson looked at Sarah. “I promise you both that things will still be good. And better. It’ll be a long process, but you’ll be helping to solidify cases and ensure that every single person behind this plot is brought to justice.”
Linda nodded slowly, then turned and looked at Frank. His hand was still in hers and she rubbed the band on his ring finger, turning it as she considered what Sarah and Jackson had to say. The offer was tempting, but it was one that she couldn’t make on her own.
“So, Frank.” She asked with a slight smile.
“Oh no.” He groaned. “Don’t you put this on me, too.”
The wind picked up again, sending the scent of fresh cut grass, fertilizer, earth and warm sunshine cascading over her face. Linda broke out into a grin as she closed the folder and looked at him, seeing her helper, her equal and her friend standing before her.
“What do you think we should do?”
THE END
Author’s Notes
April 23, 2018
No Sanctuary has been an interesting series. It started out as a by-the-books post-apocalyptic adventure and turned into a cross between post-apocalyptic and a thriller somewhere around the halfway mark. I don’t know how or why the story took that turn, but I sure am glad that it did because it has been crazy fun to write.
Building up to Linda meeting Omar was tough and I hope that I did it justice. Between the final set of backstories for him and his initial encounter with Linda, I wanted him to feel like someone who was both deeply troubled and deeply, unreservedly evil. I didn’t base him off of anyone in
particular; he’s a creation formed completely internally, and he represents what I think someone could really become and do if they were given sufficient resources and motivation.
If you’re wondering about the ending and why I don’t definitively say whether or not Linda killed him or let him live… that’s a hard question to answer. I’ve been planning the ending for a few months now and I just couldn’t decide whether I wanted to have her kill him or let him life. The former felt like a “good” ending where the bad guy gets killed by the person he tormented and who was chasing him. Letting him live, though, felt like it would show growth on Linda’s part, because she would be giving up her personal revenge in favor of having justice performed.
In the end, I couldn’t decide. So I left it ambiguous and that ended up feeling right—but not in the way that you might be thinking about.
See, once I decided to leave it up in the air about what she did, I realized that something more important came forward: her relationship with Frank. She started as an adversary of his, leaving him in the middle of the night after he rescued her. As she grew to trust him, though, a bond formed, and the story wasn’t about two separate people traveling alongside each other, but about how they worked together. One pushing when the other was falling behind. One pulling when the other was struggling. Ensuring that, no matter what, they would make it to the next goal. Together.
I wanted to really reinforce this in the epilogue, again by leaving Omar’s fate ambiguous, but also by showing the pair together. Working side by side. Two imperfect people helping each other to become better each day.
In stories of the apocalypse, a great deal is made about the events that happen. The bombs or the viruses or the solar flares or the weapons or the political drama.
None of that matters. None of it. They’re all just set pieces.
What matters—what always and only matters—are the stories of the people. Their struggles. Their hopes. Their dreams. Their nightmares. Their road from disaster to survival that reflects in us our belief that, no matter what, we can press on and survive whatever happens. Those stories speak to us and connect with us and make us feel a connection with the characters in the story because we see them and shout and cry and sing and feel sorrow alongside them. The characters matter more than anything else.
I love Frank and Linda and the small cast of supporting characters that I built up around them. And I hope you do as well. I’m not a Marine or an accountant or a trucker or a soldier or a CIA spook. But I am a human, and I feel a human connection to these characters.
I hope, on some level, you felt some sort of connection to them as well. And if you did, then I did my job.
I love my job.
All the best,
Mike Kraus
P.S. If you enjoyed this story and/or any of my other stories, please leave a review for them on Amazon. Just go to the book you purchased or checked out through Kindle Unlimited, scroll down to the review section and click the button to write your own review. It only takes a minute, but it seriously makes a world of difference to an independent writer like myself.
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Books from Mike Kraus
Final Dawn: The Complete Original Series Box Set
Clocking in at nearly 300,000 words with over 250,000 copies sold, this is the complete collection of the original bestselling post-apocalyptic Final Dawn series. If you enjoy gripping, thrilling post-apocalyptic action with compelling and well-written characters you’ll love Final Dawn.
Final Dawn: Arkhangelsk: The Complete Trilogy Box Set
The Arkhangelsk Trilogy is the first follow-up series set in the bestselling Final Dawn universe and delivers more thrills, fun and just a few scares. The crew of the Russian Typhoon submarine Arkhangelsk travel to a foreign shore in search of survivors, but what the find threatens their fragile rebuilding efforts in the post-apocalyptic world.
Surviving the Fall
Surviving the Fall is an episodic post-apocalyptic series that follows Rick and Dianne Waters as they struggle to survive after a devastating and mysterious worldwide attack. Trapped on the opposite side of the country from his family, Rick must fight to get home while his wife and children struggle to survive as danger lurks around every corner.
Prip’Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl
Two teens and two Spetsnaz officers travel to the town of Prip’Yat set just outside the remains of the Chernobyl power plant. The teens are there for a night of exploration. The special forces are there to pursue a creature that shouldn’t exist. This short thriller set around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will keep your heart racing right through to the very end.
THE BATTLE
No Sanctuary Series
Book 6
By
Mike Kraus
© 2018 Mike Kraus
www.MikeKrausBooks.com
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