The Minnesota Candidate

by Nicholas Antinozzi

  “Do ya think?” replied Tom, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

  “You three,” grunted one of the Secret Service Agents, “down on the ground, face down. Lace your fingers behind your heads. Do it, now!”

  “One of you,” growled Peabody, “stay with them. The rest of you, get in there and bring me whoever is poking around in there. We have to find out how much they know. Am I making myself clear? I want them alive.”

  Tom and Sam did exactly as they were told. Tom felt the cold steel of a gun barrel pressed against the back of his head. “Don’t either of you move,” whispered a male voice. Behind him, Tom heard the sound of running feet. Through the clutter, Tom tried to see Chona, but she was at least twenty feet away. With the lone Secret Service Agent guarding him and Sam, would Chona try to escape? Tom hoped so. There was the sound of a door being thrown open and the footsteps quickly faded away.

  “Hi-ya!” grunted Chona from across the room.

  “Get away from me,” shrieked Peabody. “Get back on the floor! That’s an order!”

  Tom felt a thrill of adrenaline as it ran through him. But, that thrill lasted barely a nanosecond. There were two thundering explosions, just over his head. Tom twisted around and saw the Secret Service Agent, crouched in a shooter’s stance. His ears ringing, Tom kicked his leg up and caught the man’s arm, sending the third shot into the gutted ceiling.

  Suddenly, Sam was climbing over Tom, trying to get at the shooter. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The Secret Service Agent calmly leveled his gun at Sam, just as Tom kicked out with his leg. But this time his leg felt like it weighed two tons. Tom watched in horror as the shooter, a blonde-haired man who looked like a clean-cut Owen Wilson, pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into Sam’s chest and Tom began to scream.

  Doris reached down into the empty chasm and she felt a small steel case. Anxiously, she jerked it free of the hole and she began working at the clasps. The case was roughly the same size as the one that held Tommy’s band instrument, a clarinet. “Get back here!” she shouted at Marie, but Marie was still clumsily plodding toward the door. “Marie, I found something!”

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” cried Marie. “Get up and run!”

  Doris fumbled with the clasps. Her fingers acted as if they were sausages and she grunted in frustration. Finally, she unlatched the first latch. She then attacked the second. After what seemed like ten minutes, Doris pried open the small case. “Shit!” she growled. Inside the velvet lined case was what could only be a gun. Doris had seen many handguns over the years, but this gun was unlike anything she had ever laid her eyes on. She picked it up and examined the stainless steel weapon. The end of the barrel tapered to a point and it was solid. Doris turned it over in her hands, but she could see no place to load ammunition. On the bottom of the grip, Doris spotted a switch. She flicked it to the on position and in shock, she nearly dropped it. The gun made a low humming sound and pulsed with some type of kinetic energy.

  “Freeze!” shouted a man’s voice from the open door.

  “Please, help me!” cried Marie. “That woman has been keeping me against my will!”

  “Get down on the floor!”

  “But I didn’t do anything! She’s the one you’re after!”

  Still on her knees, crouched behind the fallen shelves and ruined machines, Doris felt a rage like none she had ever felt before. And while Marie had betrayed her a thousand times in the past, none of those betrayals had held a candle to this one. Her eyes were wild and Doris bared her teeth. She grasped the gun in both hands, just as her father had taught her, and she rose up from her hiding position. Doris leveled the gun at Marie’s broad back and pulled the trigger. The butt of the gun felt as if it held a million watts of electricity. Blood-red light, obscene in color and brilliance, exploded from the end of the barrel. Marie was swept off her feet by the red light, and she was sent tumbling across the tile floor. The five men across from her were flattened against the far wall.

  Still, the gun continued to fire the widening laser beam across the room. Doris released the trigger and the red light disappeared. “Holy crap,” she muttered, keeping the gun pointed at the men against the wall. One at a time, the men in suits slumped to the ground. Doris began to advance on them. “Don’t anyone move!” she shouted. “There’s more where that came from!”

  Something was snapping and sizzling and Doris smelled smoke. The machines that had been in the line of fire were burning. Doris stared down at the little weapon, amazed at the power it packed. The men against the wall appeared to be either dead or out cold. Still, Doris wasn’t taking any chances. She advanced upon them as if they were playing possum. Marie had come to rest just a few feet from the well-dressed men. She was sprawled out in an awkward position, with her face down and her big caboose in the air. Marie’s pants were split wide open. Suddenly, Doris was ashamed at what she had done. She hadn’t wanted to kill Marie, or so she told herself. She reached down and was about to check Marie for a pulse, when gunshots exploded from close by. Doris jerked her hand away and charged out of the room.

  There was a pause of silence and then there was another shot. Doris ran down the corridor to the open doorway. Holding her weapon in both hands in front of her, Doris charged into the room. She then pulled the trigger and fanned the gun around the room. The red neon light blasted two men off of their feet. Each was thrown back as if they had been hit by a runaway train. Doris continued squeezing the trigger as she bullied her way through the wreckage. Machines burst into flames as the gun thrummed in her hands. Doris spotted Sam’s Asian girlfriend and she let go of the trigger. “Oh no,” she cried.

  Chona lay face down on the tile floor. Her back was covered in blood and she wasn’t moving. Doris ran to her, but then she spotted her son. “Tommy!” she cried. “Oh Tommy, are you alright? I got here as soon as I could.”

  There were tears in Tom’s eyes and he pointed to the floor. “He shot Sam,” Tom whimpered, pointing to one of the fallen men.

  Doris felt another blast of rage and she ran to the man that Tom had pointed to. She stuck the gun in the man’s pale face and she pulled the trigger. “This is what you get!” she screamed. The man writhed in agony, twisting and turning, thrashing his arms. “How do you like that?” cried Doris, still blazing away with the electronic weapon. More machines crackled and popped and burst into flames. Tom staggered over to his mother and grabbed her by the arm. Doris released her pull on the trigger.

  “Let me out of here!” cried Levitz.

  “Shut up!” replied Tom. “We have badly injured people out here!”

  “But I’m a doctor!”

  Tom and his mother stared at each other. Tom clawed his way to the back of the ruined laboratory. And that was when he noticed that the giant hatchway was also burning. “Holy shit,” he groaned. From beneath the hatch, Tom could hear the sound of frantic pounding. He tried to ignore the sound. If Sam and Chona were to survive, he would need to get Levitz out of the cell. His nostrils were filled with the acrid smell of burning wires. Tom reached the door to the cell and he gave it a pull. The door was locked, but it didn’t look like it had been locked by a key. Tom pointed at the cell door. “Senator Levitz,” he shouted. “Get down on the ground! Mom, give this door a quick blast!”

  Doris nodded her head. “Out of the way, Tommy!” she shouted. She waited a few seconds and she blasted a torpedo shot of red light at the cell door. Sparks flew from the locking mechanism. Slowly, the door fell open. Doris held the barrel of the gun under her lips and blew on it.

  With flames licking up at the twenty foot ceiling, Levitz fought to stabilize Sam. He had been shot twice. The first bullet had grazed his left side, catching him just above the hip. The second shot had slammed into the right side of his chest. The bullet had passed through Sam, collapsing his lung. Blood bubbled out from both sides of the wound and Sam’s breathing came in short gasps. Levitz explained that if Sam had any hope of surviving, they would have
to stop the bleeding. “See if you can find a first aid kit,” said Levitz. “I need some gauze and bandages!”

  Tom looked around the burning room. He scanned the walls, but everything seemed to be burning. He turned back to Levitz, but found himself staring into the face of President Peabody. “My car!” shouted the President. “I have everything we need in my car. We have to move!”

  “You’re responsible for this!” shouted Tom. “Why should we trust you?”

  “Because you don’t have a choice! This place is burning up!”

  Tom knew that was true. He spotted his mom with the Secret Service Agent who had done all of the shooting, and they were helping Chona to her feet. The Agent had taken off his shirt and it was now tied around Chona’s bloody forehead. None of this made sense. And then he remembered the ray gun. Tom spun around and pushed Levitz out of his way. He then grabbed Sam and hefted him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Without another word, he followed Peabody out of the burning laboratory. Somehow, Tom found the strength to run.

  Marie and the other Secret Service Agents were waiting for them in the garage. Peabody opened the trunk of his limousine and removed a black valise. He flung it at Levitz. Black smoke billowed out from the loading dock doors. Sam lay on his back, next to the black car, writhing in pain and fighting for air. His prison tattoos were in sharp contrast to his pale skin. Levitz worked quickly, plugging the wounds with thick pads of gauze. With President Peabody’s assistance, he then wrapped a white bandage around Sam’s bloody chest. “Stay with us, honeybuns!” shouted Chona.

  Tom ran to his mother and Marie. The two women were locked in an embrace. “Doris,” cried Marie, “I thought you were dead. I just realized that my life would be meaningless without you in it!”

  “Blow it out your ass, Marie,” replied Doris. “Who are you trying to kid?”

  “I mean it,” sobbed Marie, who was now clinging to Tom’s mother like a frightened toddler. “I’ve never said this before, but I love you!”

  Doris pried herself away from Marie and then she slapped her across the face. “Stop it, Marie!” she shouted. “You’re scaring me!”

  Tom stared at the ray gun stuffed into the waistband of his mother’s nylon slacks. He then looked up to Marie. She held her arms wide and was trying to hug his mom. “You’re my entire world,” she continued, undaunted by the slap to the face.

  Tom turned to face the Secret Service Agents and he shook his head. The men were acting like lost children, suddenly reunited with their families. Like Marie, they were crying and hugging and carrying on in a most shameless manner. Tom thought about the ray gun. Everyone except himself, his mother, and Levitz, had been blasted by the little weapon. The ray gun had completely changed these people, or so it seemed. He was going to have to shoot Shari with that same ray gun. How would she respond? Tom had no idea.

  Somehow, Peabody and Chona loaded Sam into the back of the limousine. “Everyone,” shouted President Peabody, “into the cars! We’ve got to get out of here!”

  Tom rode in the back of one of the SUV’s with his mother and Marie. The motorcade barreled down the smoky tunnel, around several tight corners, winding up from the subterranean laboratory. The lights inside the tunnel began to flicker and then they blinked out. The tunnel seemed endless, but just as Tom was thinking that, he saw stars twinkling ahead of them. The motorcade bounced out of the tunnel and into the night. Tom had no idea where they were. Tall fences topped with concertina wire ran along both sides of the dirt road. They passed through two gates before reaching the highway.

  “No, shouted Tom, “you’re going the wrong way!”

  “We have to stay with President Peabody,” said the driver.

  “Then stop and let me out of here!”

  “We can’t do that, sir,” said the Secret Service Agent riding shotgun.

  “You have to,” pleaded Tom, “my wife is dying! I have to get back to her.”

  The two agents exchanged worried looks and suddenly the SUV’s tires were screeching on the asphalt. Tom’s mother handed him the ray gun. “Good luck,” she said. “I’m going to ride with these guys. Hey, I saved the day and deserve some kind of a reward.”

  Tom took the ray gun and kissed his mother on the cheek. “We love you, Tommy,” said Marie, who was sitting on the other side of his mother.

  “Will you stop being such a sap?” asked Doris.

  Tom barely heard her. His door was already open and he was climbing out into the night air. He had no sooner slammed the door when the SUV roared ahead, chasing the fading taillights in the distance. Clutching the ray gun, Tom began to run down the shoulder of the road. Up ahead, the sky glowed in shades of orange and red. Tom had never felt so physically drained. Still, he pushed himself to previously unimagined levels of exhaustion. He became lightheaded and for the first time in his life, Tom experienced a runner’s high. He was happy for this, but he felt the buzz was highly overrated. By the time Tom reached the driveway, the flames were shooting a hundred feet into the night sky.

  And then Tom tripped. He tumbled to the ground, scraping his shins and elbows, but somehow he retained his grip on the ray gun. Panting, he staggered to his feet. Suddenly, careening around the bend in the road, Tom saw a pair of headlights. The vehicle was nearly upon him before it screeched to a halt. Tom shielded his eyes, wondering who was in the car. He was then hit with a spotlight and bathed in flashing red and blue lights. “Oh shit,” he groaned. He jerked his gun hand behind his back.

  Two police officers leapt from the cruiser. What they said next chilled Tom to the bone. “Allah Akbar!” one man shouted, “Allah Akbar!” replied the other.

  Flames erupted from the muzzles of their guns, just as Tom flung himself to the ground. Bullets pinged off of the asphalt as he twisted out of the spotlight. Without thinking, Tom leveled the ray gun in their direction and he pulled the trigger. The little gun shuddered in his hand and neon red light illuminated both the car and the police officers. The men were knocked off their feet and the lights of the car exploded in a shower of sparks. A mere second later, the car burst into flames.

  Tom rolled down into the ditch, the ray gun trained on the burning car. A moment later, Tom heard male voices. “Probasco, are you alright?”

  “Bouchard, is that you? What the hell happened?”

  “I don’t know… is that our car?”

  “Holy shit… God help us.”

  Tom didn’t wait to hear the rest. He sprang to his feet and he ran towards the gate. Ahead, the fire was raging out of control. Tom ran around the gate and back to the driveway. His feet felt like cement blocks and his breath came is pattering gasps, but Tom pushed on. He plodded around the S curves and clomped over the hill. The firelight threatened to blind him. Staggering, choking, cursing, Tom fought his way through the smoke. Tom plunged blindly down the driveway, until he crashed into the fallen tree. The ray gun flew from his hands. “No!” he cried.

  Tom struggled to get to his knees. Thankfully, he was below the thick black smoke and he gulped mouthfuls of the fresh night air. He probed a bloody knot on his forehead and gathered his senses. He had to find the ray gun, but the light from the fire had been blotted out by the heavy smoke. He crawled around on his hands and skinned-up knees, fighting against the angry branches of the fallen oak. Tom screamed in frustration. He had come so close.

  “Freeze!” shouted a familiar voice.

  Tom was illuminated in the beam of a powerful flashlight. Wild with anger, he gnashed his teeth at the police officers. “Don’t you move,” said the cop Tom recognized as Bouchard. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, buddy.”

  Tom howled like a rabid dog, clawing his fingers into the night air.

  “He’s one of them!” shouted Probasco. “He’s been converted!”

  “No, I haven’t!” cried Tom. “You guys were converted and I’m the guy who saved you! Think about it. How did you get here?”

  “I don’t know,” said Bouchard. “We don’t
remember.”

  “Don’t listen to him!” shouted Probasco.

  “No, wait a minute, Probasco. I remember you saying Allah Akbar. I thought you were a Christian?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure that was you, buddy. I don’t know… everything is kind of fuzzy.”

  Furiously, Tom shook his head and continued searching for the fallen ray gun. Gnarled branches raked at his skin and one nearly caught him in the eye. Tom thrashed around, his hands and knees grinding down upon the broken sticks and twigs.

  “What are you looking for?” asked Bouchard, lowering his gun.

  Just then, Tom found the ray gun. He picked it up and thrust it into the air. “Yes!” he cried.

  “He’s got a gun!” shouted Probasco.

  “Freeze!” shouted Bouchard.

  “What’s going on out here?” asked the sweet old lady voice of Alice Kindersley. “Tommy, is that you?”

  Tom was about to reply, when he heard a popping sound. The next thing he knew, Tom was writhing in the broken branches as electricity was pumped into his body. The ray gun flew from his hand as Tom convulsed like a fish out of water. On some level, Tom realized that he had shot by a Taser. And then the entire world went black.

  Tom opened his eyes and realized he was now stretched out on the patio. Painfully, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Alice stood over him with her hands on her hips. “Where have you been and what have you done?” she squawked. “I didn’t tell you to burn the house down and I know Norma didn’t write that in her journals. I expected you back here, several hours ago. Your wife could be dead by now, for all that I know.”

  “The police?” asked Tom, as he staggered to his feet.

  “I took them up to your bedroom and they took off running. I don’t know where they ran off to. But that was almost an hour ago. Naamah is gone. I don’t know what happened, but Shari is back. She’s still mad as a hornet. You had better get upstairs with that ray gun, Tommy.”