by Bobby Akart
The room burst into a combination of tears, laughter, and conversation as everyone began telling their stories.
Finally, Lucy stood and waved her kitchen towel over her head. “Now do you see why I wanted y’all to wait until after Christmas? There is so much to talk about. I wanna know about Coop’s ride. Riley has been dyin’ to talk about this Red Rover truck. Duncan has one heckuva whopper to tell us about his exploits in North Korea. And I wanna get to know this angel who brought him back to us.”
Major took Lucy by the hand and gave it a loving squeeze. After the emotional moment, the rodeo kids took the sofa relinquished by Preacher, who readily took a seat on the king’s throne, as Major called his leather La-Z-Boy recliner near the fireplace. Duncan and Sook, who were inseparable, holding hands everywhere they went, remained on the hearth.
Duncan squeezed Sook’s hand, and she kissed him on the cheek to give him strength to tell his story. “I guess I’d better start because, without exaggeration, I believe this whole thing is my fault.”
“Son, whadya mean?” asked Major.
“Dad, you know I’m not supposed to discuss my job, but the world has turned upside down, and I couldn’t tell you at this point if I work for the United States government or if I’m a citizen of Texas or what.”
“You’re a Texan,” Riley chimed in.
“I guess so,” said Duncan with hesitation. “I really don’t know where I stand with Washington, the CIA, or my handlers. All I do know is they left me to die.”
Lucy sat up on the edge of her seat. “What? Son, why don’t you tell us what you can, you know, without giving up state secrets or whatever.”
“Listen, Momma. I don’t work for them anymore. I quit the day they left me and my partner, Min Park, behind in North Korea.”
“Fair enough, son,” interrupted Major. “Why don’t you tell us what happened and why you think everything from the EMP forward is your fault.”
Duncan gulped and looked around the room at his family. They were all listening intently to his next words.
“Yes, Duncan,” Sook encouraged.
He nodded and began. “I was sent to assassinate Kim Jong-un.”
His words exploded into the room, but nary a sound could be heard. Everyone looked at one another in disbelief and then back to Duncan for further explanation.
“Park and I were assigned to a patrol vessel in the Persian Gulf region when we suddenly received orders to report to a military facility in Japan. We were tasked to take out Kim Jong-un as he oversaw a missile test in the western part of North Korea. Y’all, there are so many details, this story might take hours to tell.”
“I reckon you missed, huh?” said Riley with a chuckle.
“No, actually, I hit the target, but it must have been a body double,” replied Duncan. “Park and I left the sniper hide thinking mission accomplished, at least the shooting part of it. After the shot, we had to get out of the country without getting caught or killed.”
“It sounds like a suicide mission to this old man,” grumbled Preacher.
“In a way it was, Preacher,” said Duncan, who immediately looked to his mother, whose eyes began to well up in tears. “Momma, there was a viable plan of extraction. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gone in. Again, without going into long details, I sensed something was off when the place was crawling with North Korean soldiers within minutes of the shot.
“They had us surrounded, but Park and I fought our way through to the extraction point at Sinmi-do, a tiny island on the Yellow Sea. We managed to hit the beach ahead of schedule where the pickup was to take place. But they never came. He and I decided to find our way back to South Korea by taking a boat from the village where Sook lived.
“That’s when we ran headfirst into a North Korean patrol. Park got hit, and I tried to carry him to safety. They shot at us moving through the woods. Park was hit four times in the back, killing him. The impact of the rounds knocked me down, and I fell thirty feet off a cliff into a river.”
Duncan shook his head and took a deep breath. He gave his mother, who had Major’s hand in a death grip, a reassuring smile.
“I should’ve died that night, but Park shielded me from the bullets, and then Sook, together with her father, pulled me out of the water. They kept me safe and nursed me back to health.”
“Sounds like a Rambo movie,” quipped Riley.
“How’d you get out of the country?” asked Cooper.
“Sook’s father led us out to sea with a fishing boat, which we then drove toward South Korea. After a brief skirmish with a North Korean patrol, we made our way to the south. The rest is a long story too.”
Major leaned back on the settee and put his arms around Lucy. She quizzed Duncan. “Why would they leave you behind?”
“That’s how these things go sometimes,” Duncan replied. “You know the drill—deny, deny, deny, and then if that doesn’t work—disavow. They probably had some type of dirty dossier on me that linked me to a radical group in South Korea that was acting independently of the Seoul government and certainly without any U.S. government authority. Dad, you can imagine, right?”
Major raised his eyebrows and nodded.
“But, honey, this never made the news,” continued Lucy. “If you killed a man who was supposed to be that dictator, why didn’t he throw it in our faces that we shot the wrong guy?”
Sook spoke up for the first time. “May I answer that question?”
“Yes, honey, please,” said Lucy with a smile and a nod of approval.
“The Kim dynasty has ruled our people with fear and intimidation for many years. Any attempt on his life would be seen as a sign of weakness. He attended his parades and public appearances as if nothing had happened.”
“And although Park and I had deep cover stories, it wouldn’t take long for his team of hackers to determine that my partner was an American of Korean descent,” Duncan added.
Major shook his head and grimaced. “Kim Jong-un responded, but not publicly. He orchestrated the EMP attacks and sent us back to the nineteenth century, except for Texas, of course.”
“Here’s what I don’t understand,” said Cooper. “If Kim wanted to settle the score with us by using the EMPs, then why did everybody start firin’ off the nukes?”
“We may never know, Coop,” said Duncan. “I will, however, find out who left me there to die. Somebody made that call, and I wanna find out who it is.”
Chapter 3
Christmas Day
The Armstrong Ranch
Borden County, Texas
The rodeo kids took their turn at describing their month-long journey home. It started with Riley’s dramatic play-by-play of Cooper’s ride atop One Night Stand. Riley jumped up and down, spun around on the floor and then jumped into the air with his arms raised in victory as if he’d ridden the beast himself. The hilarity lightened the mood, so they could begin to relay what they’d seen during their journey from Calgary to the ranch.
To an extent, Cooper, Riley, and Palmer kept their promise to shield their mother from the ugliest aspects of the trip, especially the kills made by Riley and Cooper. As agreed, Coop, the oldest of the three, was allowed to discuss it with their father. It would be left up to him whether their mother found out.
Preacher thanked Lucy for a wonderful meal, and he left to check on security. Duncan and Cooper walked outside to get some fresh air. It was the first time the two had been alone together since their return.
“Coop, I wanted—” started Duncan before stopping.
“Can we talk for a minute?” said Cooper simultaneously.
“You first,” they said together nervously. The two brothers began to laugh.
Cooper put his hand up and smiled. “No, please. Age before beauty.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Duncan with a laugh. “I’ve heard the buckle-bunnies throw themselves at you bull riders. Is it true?”
“Yeah, sorta,” replied Cooper. “I’m real focused on the road, so I don’t pay
them any mind. There was one girl in Calgary. I got her number but lost it, I think. It was before the lights went out.”
“Well, brother, congratulations on your ride. It sucks that the Vegas thing was cancelled. Heck, everything’s been cancelled.”
“No doubt,” said Cooper. “Duncan, um, I had a lot of time to think while we were on the road home. It’s amazing how you see things differently when there aren’t distractions to clutter your brain.”
Duncan laughed. “You mean insignificant distractions like the apocalypse?”
“Right, the apocalypse ain’t nothin’,” Cooper answered with a laugh. “Nah, I’m talkin’ about what a jerk I’ve been to you over the last few years. Duncan, I’ve missed my big brother, and I realized it when we were on the road. I was afraid I’d never see ya again.”
“No such luck, Coop. Y’all can’t get rid of me that easy. It’s like I’ve got nine lives.”
Duncan got suddenly quiet and began to kick at the gravel in front of the house. They needed to address the elephant in the room.
“Coop, I have a lot of regrets in my life, and taking the shot to kill Kim Jong-un isn’t one of them. I wish I could take one of those nine lives I just mentioned and give it to Dallas. I’d give anything to bring him back.”
Cooper started to get emotional and kicked at the same rocks Duncan had swatted with his boot earlier. “I know, Duncan. I’ve always known that you took his death as hard as I did. But it wasn’t your fault, just as shooting the phony dictator didn’t trigger this war. People with more power than we have are responsible for both.”
“Thanks, Coop, but the fact is I could’ve discouraged Dallas from entering the service. I knew what war was like. One of the reasons I became a special ops guy was the promise that I could fight the enemy without the gloves on. If you’re gonna fight a war, you do it balls to the wall. Dallas was over there doin’ police duty. He never had a chance against roadside bombs or fools wearing suicide vests.”
Cooper moved to hug his brother. He comforted Duncan as he realized the wall between them over the death of Dallas had just been torn down, never to return. The guys hugged it out, then, to show they were still macho men, pounded each other on the chest.
“So we’re good?” asked Duncan.
“Yup,” replied Cooper with a nod. “But I need help on something.”
“You name it.”
“Duncan, I killed two guys over in Patricia when our truck ran out of gas. They were attacking—”
“I know all about it, Coop. Sook and I came upon them on the road back to the ranch. Y’all tied one of ’em to the sign, right?”
“Yeah,” Cooper answered. “Duncan, I wanted to kill him too.”
“I don’t blame you,” said Duncan. “After the idiot told me the whole story, it was all I could do to get on that horse and not beat him to death myself. Listen, you were protecting Riley.”
Cooper returned to kicking rocks. “Defending Riley was actually easy. After a while, I thought back on what happened. It was all so fast. Amazingly, I hit those guys exactly where I aimed.”
“That’s good,” said Duncan with a laugh. “Especially with Riley and Palmer nearby. I need to talk with you about the concept of friendly fire.”
“But listen. It really messed me up, you know? I wanted to shoot the third guy. Just kill him in cold blood.”
“Yeah, but you showed restraint and didn’t,” interjected Duncan.
“I threw up instead.”
“Coop, we’re in the midst of a war, believe it or not,” started Duncan. “There may not be tanks rolling through the countryside or bombs falling from jets over our heads. There are, however, desperate people out there, and I’m not just talking about outside the Texas borders. People are in trouble here too, and we’re gonna have to deal with them.”
“Daddy and Preacher already have,” added Cooper.
Duncan continued. “There are mental breakdowns that soldiers experience as a result of getting shot at and killing others. Post-traumatic stress disorder is very real. Some guys get PTSD really bad. Others don’t. Truthfully, I can kill without doubt or remorse. It’s a curse, not a gift, trust me.”
“Riley’s the same way,” said Cooper. “He killed while we were on the road, and it didn’t even faze him. I kill two guys and I blow chow all over the highway.”
Duncan put his arm around Cooper’s shoulder. “We’re not wired to kill each other. You ever heard the word posturing before?”
“Yeah, like a couple of cowboys about to fight over a girl,” Cooper began to reply. “They get all bowed up, sticking their chests out, lean forward, and ball up their fists.”
“Exactly, Coop. Animals do the same thing. Heck, even rattlesnakes, which will kill a human without hesitation, avoid killing another rattlesnake if possible. People think PTSD comes from a fear of dying, but really, it comes from the memories of killing another human being.”
“How do you do it?”
“Coop, it’s my job. Plain and simple. Now, it helps that the person in the line of fire is the enemy, or at least perceived to be the enemy. The day a human being decides to kill for fun or sport, then they lose their soul and become a murderer.”
Major approached them from the house, and Cooper decided to cut the conversation off. “Can we talk some more about this later?”
“Absolutely, just between us,” replied Duncan.
“Hey, fellas, am I breaking something up here?” asked Major.
“No, Dad,” replied Duncan. “As a matter of fact, there’s something I want to discuss with you and Coop in private.”
Chapter 4
Christmas Day
The Armstrong Ranch
Borden County, Texas
“Are you boys all right?” asked Major. He’d tried unsuccessfully for years to get Cooper to let go of his animosity toward his brother. Dallas’s death had been an emotional blow to the family, but it was exacerbated by Cooper’s resentment. As he approached his two oldest sons, his reading of their body language indicated a thaw in the chilly relationship they’d endured for a while.
“Yeah, Daddy, we’re good,” started Cooper with a smile. “Right, Duncan?”
“Yessir,” Duncan said as he grabbed his brother’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. He turned his attention back to Major. “Daddy, I’m glad the three of us are alone.”
“Is there somethin’ else, Duncan?” asked Major.
“I believe so, but I didn’t want to mention it earlier. We had two encounters on the road. One was near Winslow, Arizona, which involved me killing a couple of thugs. The other was in New Mexico as we looked for a safe way across the Pecos River.”
Major looked back toward the house and pointed toward the barn, indicating the boys should follow him. All the hands had cleared out and were on the ranch tending to the cattle or performing security functions.
“Were they related somehow? There’s a lot of geography between those two points.”
They settled in the barn and sat on top of the picnic tables, which had been cleared of their Christmas decorations. As Miss Lucy had predicted, after Christmas dinner, it was immediately back to living life in a post-apocalyptic world.
“When I relayed what happened in Winslow earlier, I failed to mention that the men who attacked the convoy were Koreans. I’m no expert on the demographics of Northern Arizona, but I doubt there are many Koreans.”
“Agreed, go on,” interjected Major.
“When Sook’s horse died on the highway, a convoy of trucks was heading south from Roswell. I wasn’t sure they’d be friendlies, so I hoisted Sook on my horse, and we found a place to hide. The convoy stopped to check on her dead horse and began shouting instructions to one another.”
Duncan hesitated, so Cooper urged him on. “What is it, Duncan?”
“Coop, they were Koreans, too. North Koreans, to be exact.”
Cooper asked, “Did you get a close look at ’em? How would you know that?”
; “Sook immediately recognized their Pyongyang dialect, as she called it. Koreans are able to differentiate North from South by the different Korean dialects.”
Major took a deep breath and let out a noticeable exhale. “Is there any chance it was part of the same group? I mean, that would be a heckuva coincidence.”
“I don’t know, ’cause I never really got a good look at them during either encounter. I know this, however, there aren’t a lot of Koreans in America anyway. Running across the same group twice would be highly improbable. If it’s two different groups, then don’t you think it’s pretty bold for Koreans to be running around attacking and commandeering convoys?”
Major nodded in agreement. “Something’s wrong with this picture, and we need to send it up the chain of command, so to speak. I reckon we oughta make a trip to Austin, sooner rather than later.”
“I’m in, too,” started Cooper.
Major patted Cooper on the shoulder and shook his head. “No, Coop, I’m gonna need you to stay here at the ranch.”
“Why?”
“Son, we’re gonna begin making some changes around here,” replied Major as he addressed both of his sons. “Boys, I believe we’ve been very fortunate that Texas maintained a separate power grid. Just because we have power doesn’t mean we’re sleeping on a bed of roses. We’ve had incidents here at the ranch, and I imagine you two have seen things outside our borders you haven’t fully disclosed to me yet. Until things settle down, which may take years, I need to delegate some of my responsibilities so I can attend to the whole operation.”
“Whadya mean, Daddy?” asked Cooper.
“Coop, I’m gonna start grooming you to take over for me and run the ranch,” replied Major, who then turned to Duncan. “Duncan, I’m putting you in charge of security. We have a good thing going here, whether the power stays on or not. I’m entrusting Cooper to maintain the status quo, and then make it better using the energy that he has and I don’t anymore.”
