“Would you believe me if I told you it was divine intervention?”
“Wait a minute. Are you a believer now?”
Josiah smiled. He couldn't remember the last time he smiled. “Yes. I've been saved by Grace.” Rick’s smile covered his entire face. Josiah continued, “And I believe I’ve been saved for a specific reason, which these formulas are a part of. I need you to go double time, Rick. We need to expand, and based on one of those formulas, we’re going to migrate toward all-crystal structures rather than a steel-crystal hybrid.”
“What’s this formula?” Rick asked. A moment later he answered his own question. “Shielding?”
“I knew you’d figure it out.”
Rick shook his head. “How? What?”
“God,” Josiah answered.
“Okay, you sold me, but we’ll need more funds, boss.”
“Let me take care of that. I’ll check back in a couple days. Continue to stay off the radar.”
“Roger that.”
Josiah logged on to several financial servers that the elite used to monitor the rigged stock market. Between the real-time market news and several underground news articles surrounding his supposed death, he was able to decipher how his wealth had been attacked. It was clear that the government had grabbed a lot of his money under the death tax, but there were still dozens of accounts no one knew about that he could still access.
More underground news reports confirmed that Bradley, with the help of Lewis and Carolyn, had taken over Sector One and Spotlight News. Bradley now resided in Josiah’s penthouse. The anger he felt toward Bradley and Lewis rushed back like an allergic reaction, but then he remembered the mathematical miracles he experienced throughout the takeover. Josiah knew he had been shown mercy when he deserved death. He knew he had to show mercy and let go of the anger, and pushed the thoughts from his mind.
At some point he would need to get into the public’s eye. It would be key to staying alive and completing the task he had been spared for: to create a safe-haven for God’s children. A storm was coming that was unlike anything the human race had seen since the days of Noah. A storm with one part economic collapse, one part world war, and all of it compounded by shortages of medicine, food, and clean water.
A loud squelch from the data pad screen awoke him from the nightmare daydream. The data pad’s screen was dark. Josiah tried to reboot it, but it was dead. It had been fully charged a minute ago and hadn’t shown any signs of moisture or corrosion. He took out the backup data pad and logged back on the web. Within a minute he realized someone, or something, had picked up on his hack and sent a worm in to destroy the first data pad. There must have been an algorithm out there that would pick up on anyone snooping around Josiah’s finances. Bradley was schizophrenic in his panic.
Josiah logged off, then logged on to the oil rig’s mainframe. Rick had installed a test AI program he called Tessa, named after Rick’s late mother.
The data pad spoke to him in a female voice. “Welcome back Mr. Saunders.”
“Tessa, I need you to trace a pulse that was sent to this lat-longitude a moment ago. The surge would be in the form of a worm.”
Within seconds she said, “You are correct. It was bounced off five satellites, but I have been able to track it back to Sector One’s location.”
“Was the worm traced to my location?”
The long pause was painful, but Tessa finally said, “Yes.”
His hand was being forced. He had to act. “Lock on this data pad’s location and prepare to initiate extraction 4215 through coded channels.”
“Affirmative.”
Josiah took a deep breath. His world was about to change yet again. “Activate.”
He rushed out the bedroom door to warn his new family that their world was about to change as well.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Underneath New Sacramento 2077
Landon came to a large break in the tunnel where sunlight washed into the gloomy space. The exoskeleton suit lights adjusted to the introduction of natural light and reduced the lumens. About six feet of dirt and roots were between the tunnel roof and the open air. Decades earlier it must have been ground zero for a missile strike. Beneath him was a deep hole filled with water. A quick scan of the area with the suit’s data pad revealed the damage was, in fact, the impact zone of where a rocket had once landed. The narrow tunnel had been opened up into a small cavern from the ancient explosion.
Along the perimeter of the space were bleached white human bones. He recognized both child and adult bones. Surrounding the bones were what appeared to be dried-up brown blankets from where the snake had shed former layers of skin.
“Lord in Heaven,” he whispered.
With a single, angled jump, he launched himself out of the tunnel and onto grass. Outside, the air was warm and clean. He was about a half mile inside the city. Broken-down buildings were interspersed with vastly overgrown vegetation. He checked on the drones via the data pad. Kyle’s signature reappeared. The red dot was only a mile away. Literally 5,280 feet northwest of Landon was his son, alive and moving.
Jane’s voice whispered inside the audible fibers woven into the hood. “What’s the plan?”
“Even without the body armor I can’t just walk in there. My black fatigues, rucksack, and firearms would give me away. I need to be the grey man to pass through without drawing attention, or I need a distraction. Nova, can we hack into their grid and create a distraction? Maybe take their power offline in the area I need to get to?”
“There is no software attached to their infrastructure.”
“Come again?”
“It is all mechanical and hardwired, with few utilities affected by computers.”
“Amazing. It’s like they were blown back into the nineteenth century.”
Landon used the goggles's zoom function. In the distance, hundreds of people dressed in worn-out clothes moved about old roads and buildings. Many seemed to be bartering or conducting a rudimentary form of trade on the streets. A bright flash lit up the space in front of Landon, blotting out the people. Half a mile away, a three-block section of street exploded in a sea of fire.
“What the—”
A few seconds passed before waves of heat and sounds of explosions reached Landon. He activated the body armor’s shielding and curled into a ball on the ground. The temp went back to a tolerable level, but the mask could only filter out little of the fumes and smoke. He pulled out the rebreather, already recharged, and stuffed it into his mouth. Jane’s shouts over the earpiece compounded Landon’s anxiety, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying.
On the suit’s data pad, Kyle’s red blip was still active. Sirens blared like wails of mourning women. Jets flew overhead, and the sounds of antiaircraft rockets launched into the air. The heat increased, and fire fast approached. Landon crawled on all fours through smoke until he found the remnants of a cinderblock garden shed. He rushed into the tiny shelter and pulled his knees up to his face.
Fire and heat slammed into the cinderblock structure and wrapped around it like the fiery grip of a devil. The data pad showed two hundred degrees Fahrenheit and climbing. The suit’s shielding held it at bay. For a brief moment he thought of giving up. Take out the rebreather and within a couple of smoke-filled breaths he’d be asleep.
A female’s scream woke him from his hallucination. Jane’s voice came over the microfiber earpiece of his hood again.
“I don’t see Kyle’s signature!”
Landon checked the data pad again and picked up Kyle’s red dot moving just beyond the explosion. He was still alive. He typed the text message on the data pad and sent it back to Jane, along with a note that he could not talk.
“I’m taking Nova to come get you.”
Landon typed, Hold off. Wait for me.
He stood up and used the exoskeleton to punch a fist-sized hole in the cinderblock wall, sending pieces of rubble toward the impact site. Through the small hole he could see
a vast plain of fire and smoke. Every person who had been there moments earlier was now gone. Disintegrated in one instant. The heat inside the cinderblock shelter was at an uncomfortable level.
Landon sprinted out of the shed. A wave of fire and heat chased him back toward the break in the tunnel. He jumped down into the deep pool of water. Above, fire covered the opening to the underground tunnel like a flaming blanket. Ash and debris floated down, sizzling in the water.
Landon got out of the pool and put the rebreather back in the utility belt. He started to trot back toward the sled.
“Nova, you read me?” he said into the data pad.
“Affirmative,” came her calm female voice laced with static.
“What’s happened?”
“An attack from New America.”
“Did you detect any nuclear radiation from that blast?”
“Negative.”
Landon picked up the pace. “I need you prepped and ready to come get me. How long to remove the mining duct?”
“A half hour.”
“Can you cut it free and leave it?”
“Negative.”
“Dang. Okay, start the process.”
“If I removed the mining duct the underground tunnel will flood from the river.”
“I should get back to the sled in time.”
“The chances of you reaching the sled in time are—”
“Just do it.” Landon sprinted as fast as the suit would allow him. If there was ever a time he needed the suit not to fail, it was now.
He reached the tunnel exit and jumped down to the sled. In the distance he could hear the explosion of water coming from the direction of the mining hole. The water table was already halfway up the sled. He got in and the sled automatically evacuated the excess water from inside the unit. Through the soundproof crystal hull, he could feel the rumble of water. The main power came online and he hit the thrusters, jumping the sled up into the smaller tunnel he had just come from.
Within thirty seconds the sled reached the break in the tunnel and shot up into the fiery plains. Without slowing down, Landon activated the shielding and headed for the heart of the fires. The smoke and flame diminished enough to show machine gun turrets on the roofs of buildings that earlier had looked abandoned. The guns fired into the smoke-filled sky in random bursts.
As the sled rushed through the streets, Landon could see charred bodies littering the area. The sirens blared in-between explosions and buildings crashing. A brick, two-story building toppled down in front of him. The sled was going too fast to avoid the collision. The shield absorbed the hit, but the sled was pinned to the ground. A moment later the electric engine went offline.
Jane’s voice chirped over the dashboard and simultaneously in his ears. “Your shields are offline, and it's six hundred degrees outside the sled’s shell!”
The heat inside the sled started to reach uncomfortable levels. The crystal shell of the sled would protect him for a little while, but he had never tested it against fire, only pressure from ocean depths. If the engine did not come online, he’d be baked alive in a crystal coffin.
“Come on. Come on!”
“Nova, what’s probability of my survival outside the sled with the exoskeleton’s shielding at full?”
“About ten seconds until shield failure. You are surrounded by fire for a quarter-mile radius. If you ran at full speed, the chances of reaching a break in ten seconds are low.”
“Other options?”
“I am still retracting the mining tubing. It will take another twelve minutes before it is complete.”
A new siren sounded. This one was lower, as if the earth was groaning. The low tone was deafening. The ground shook next to the sled. A moment later it fell away, revealing a gaping hole. The sled was positioned on the precipice of a missile silo. The alarm continued and a missile started to rise up out of the pit. It was a late-twentieth-century nuke.
“Landon, your heart rate is elevated too high,” came Nova’s voice over the dashboard.
“It’s gonna get worse if you don’t get here soon.” He looked skyward. “Lord, I need one more miracle.”
“You need to get out of there!” Jane yelled.
The heat was intense, and breathing became hard. The rumbling from the nuke increased. The sled shook, and the boulder pinning it down slid off. The sled powered up, righted itself, and rose a few feet. The shields came back online, and the heat in the cramped sled dispersed. Landon hit the thrusters and raced through the flames toward the blip of a red dot on his screen.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” he shouted. “Thank You, thank You, Lord.”
He had to get to Kyle or risk being stuck in the heart of a war between New America and whatever power was in control of this area. Time was not his friend. Explosions, crumbling buildings, and debris knocked the sled back and forth as he navigated through the flaming gauntlet of fire. It was as if he was racing into hell itself to rescue his child, his only son.
Chapter Twenty-Six
New York 2040
Josiah burst into the small kitchen where Clarke was prepping food with Faith. “We need to leave. I’ve put you all in danger.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been tracked. Just trust me. Get your things and we need to get out of here.”
Faith’s eyes widened. “Where’s Agape and Joy?”
“Checking traps on the roof.” Clarke said.
He must have seen the panic on Josiah’s face and moved toward the door. “Faith, get the go-bags and meet us in the hallway. Remember the food, water, and the weapons.” Josiah nodded to Clarke as he sprinted out of the apartment into the hallway. “Come on.”
Clarke raced up the steps three at a time toward the roof exit. He burst through the door, with Josiah struggling to keep up. The sun hung in a cloudless sky, and the air was unnaturally warm for the early hour. Agape and Joy were in the process of taking a pigeon out of a snare at the edge of the roof. The bird flew from Joy’s hand.
“Dad, you scared me.”
“Kids, red moon!”
With those two code words, Joy and Agape both turned and ran toward the stairwell. Faith was already in the hallway with three backpacks. She handed one to Clarke and one to Josiah. It was clear the family had prepared for such an incident. Faith handed both handguns to Clarke, who checked the magazines and handed one to Josiah.
“I’m so sorry for this,” Josiah said, placing the gun in the backpack. “This is all my fault.”
After they started the descent to the street level, Clarke said, “Talk to me, Josiah.”
“The individuals who took over my company have been monitoring my servers and some of my assets. I tried to virtually snoop around and someone noticed.”
“How confident are you?”
“Hundred percent they saw me, and a hundred percent they traced the signal here.”
They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Faith stopped everyone before the front door. “I don’t understand. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“If the media finds out I’m alive, then the takeover of my company and all its assets revert back to me. That’s a trillion reasons for my enemies to make sure I’m not found alive.”
Agape whistled.
“Okay, let’s go to the clinic and wait it out,” Clarke said.
“No.” Josiah shook his head. “We’d be putting everyone there in danger.”
“Then we’ll separate,” Faith said.
Josiah shook his head again. “I can’t let you. If they traced the signal to your apartment, then you’ll be daisy-chained to my punishment.” Joy and Agape were both visibly scared. “These people won’t leave witnesses. I’m sorry.”
“Where do we go then?” Faith asked.
Josiah touched the data pad in his hand and peered out the front door. The street only had a few people on it. “I have a ride coming to get us out of the city.”
“Wait a minute,” Fait
h said. “I’m fine leaving for a day or two, but we’re just gonna abandon everything? And go where?”
“I have one place left that’s safe.”
Joy latched on to Clarke. “Daddy, I’m scared.”
“It’s gonna be fine hon—”
Automatic gunfire outside interrupted the conversation. Faith and the kids screamed and fell down on the ground inside the foyer, covering their ears. Clarke pulled them up one by one and started to usher them back up the stairs toward the apartment.
“No!” Josiah shouted. “The gunfire’s upstairs.”
The gunfire was, in fact, upstairs. In the direction of their apartment. People started rushing out of the second- and first-floor apartments, pushing past them and running out onto the street. Josiah peeked out the door and saw two light-blue drones hovering outside the windows of the third story, spraying bullets in through the walls and windows of their home. Bricks rained down onto the sidewalk. More people filled the streets from different buildings.
Josiah pulled a baseball cap out of his back pocket. He waved Clarke to follow him. “We have to get out of here. Follow me.”
The kids hung on to Faith and Clarke like infants. The five of them rushed out of the building as fragments of brick fell down around them. Within seconds they had blended into the crowds of people on the sidewalks rushing to find safety.
The explosions of gunfire reminded Josiah of the fireball that had chased him out of his headquarters, and the horrors that followed.
“This way,” he said, ushering them around and behind the building.
The brothel’s flashing light was blinking in the bright sunlight as if to mock its brick neighbor being shredded with gunfire. Josiah pushed through the small crowd standing inside the entrance. The interior of the brothel was dark, smoke-filled, and smelled of alcohol and body odor. Heavy metal music played to an empty stage and bar area.
Josiah checked his data pad. “We need to get to the roof.”
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