by Frank Klus
“He must have slipped him a mickey,” Ray said.
“What time is it?”
“About three,” Ray said.
“They had a clock in there, but no windows. I could never be sure if it was night or day. I guess I smell like shit.”
“What happened in there?” Cassandra asked.
Ray offered him some more water while he inspected Eugene’s wounds.
Eugene told his story as best he could, but he was still groggy, tired, in pain, thirsty, and hungry. They were on the highway now, about twenty minutes from the hospital.
“We’re here now, sir,” the driver said.
“Good. Pull into emergency.”
“Mr. O’Reilly, I’m Doctor Ulysses Phillips. I’ve been assigned to look after your friend, Eugene Sulke. Could you please tell me what happened to my patient?”
“He was stuck in a small holding pen with no food or water for many hours, then beaten. I’m still trying to get more information from him. He was in Lightning Squad territory, and we were able to rescue him.”
“He’s severely dehydrated and traumatized. He was also drugged. We’re still running tests on the drugs used. I’ve treated his lacerations. There were no broken bones. We’ve hydrated him intravenously to get fluids to all the cells more quickly. A little longer and he may have suffered organ damage. He should be fine now.”
The three got back in the car, and Ray turned to Eugene. “Feel any better now?”
“Yeah. Thanks you guys for rescuing me. Are we going to my home now?”
Ray and Cassandra just looked at each other curiously, and then Ray turned to Eugene. “We’re taking you to our friend’s house. You’ll be safe there. You can rest up, get a bath, a change of clothes, and then we’ll take you to your parents’ home.”
Eugene stared at him, and said, “My parents’ home? Why?”
“They need to know what happened to you,” Cassandra said.
“No!” Eugene yelled. “I don’t want mom and dad to know what happened to me. I wasn’t gone long enough for them to worry, and if they complain that they tried to call me I’ll tell them that I dropped my cell phone, and that it was probably broke.”
“Eugene,” Ray said. “The world has irretrievably changed for you. You can never return to your old life. Dennis knows where you live, where you work, where your parents live; hell, everything about you.”
Eugene looked frightened. “What’s going to happen to me? What can I do?”
“Have you ever wondered about the New World, Eugene?” Cassandra said.
Eugene looked puzzled, and then sat back in the seat, contemplating an uncertain future. Still smarting from all that happened to him, he fell asleep.
Cassandra turned to her husband. “Do you want me to call Pamela?”
Ray thought about it a moment. “No, I’ll call her.”
Ray looked pensive, and then turned to his wife. “We have to go too.”
“Give up?”
Once again, Ray delayed answering. He seemed to take a deep breath, and then turned to his wife. “They know we’re involved. If they catch us we’ll probably be Hell House’s next victims. Cass…this is the first time I’m genuinely scared.”
“Mr. O’Reilly, Mr. Casimir wants to see you,” Dennis’s secretary, Faith said.
“Thank you.”
Dennis just looked up at Faith with a sardonic smile. “Well, let’s see the big guy.”
Dennis made his customary three sharp raps on the door and entered. Casimir was pacing the floor behind his desk. He was tall, wiry, and about seventy years old. He was bald with taut but wrinkled skin. He turned to face Dennis as he entered and saluted.
“What the hell happened, O’Reilly?”
“Sir, I was just informed of this. Apparently the attack took place around 2:30 this morning. One of our squadrons came to Hell House in response to gunfire. They too came under attack. It was well-coordinated, sir. Whoever engineered the attack must have known what it was, and who was in it.”
“Which leads you to believe what, Mr. O’Reilly?”
“That my brother was involved, sir.”
“Not just involved, but my guess is he engineered the attack and kidnapping of our most valuable asset.”
“Yes, sir. That’s very likely, sir. Some of the guards, rotated before the attack, told me that some of Ray’s old Blues were snooping around the house days before the attack.”
“Why the hell didn’t you do something then?”
“I only came to realize who they were when they showed me a picture of them. They didn’t know them.” There was a pause, and then Dennis dropped the other shoe. “They killed Sistrunk in the attack, and burned the house down. They destroyed everything.”
Casimir stopped pacing, and turned to Dennis again. “I heard about the fire, but I didn’t know about Sistrunk. Christ, O’Reilly, he’s irreplaceable.”
“But his son got away, sir; Peter Sistrunk. He knows the whole operation.”
“Still, it’s going to set us back.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“I want a full report on what happened on my desk tomorrow morning. Now, what are you doing to recapture our prize?”
“We have an all points on them. One of the squad members got a partial license plate, and a description of one of the vans used to get my brother and his team out. We tracked the vehicle down, but there was no sign of any Blues or Sulke. My guess is that they are outside Squad territory.”
“Just fucking great,” Casimir growled. “I don’t blame you, Dennis. It’s that fucking security leader. What was his name?”
“Crawl, sir.”
“Crawl?”
“Yes, sir. That’s what we call him; John Viecrawl.”
“You picked him?”
“Yes, sir. His resume seemed impressive. I monitored his plans. He had about three dozen men under him.”
“That seems like overkill to me. One thing I know is if you don’t want someone knowing your business you learn to keep a low profile. If you have a safe, you don’t advertise it with a lot of no trespassing signs.”
“Yes, sir.” Dennis was downcast.
“Find him, Dennis.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dennis looked at the charred house the Squad bought just for “treatment”. “How many dead?” Dennis said to Squad leader Foulker, who witnessed the attack and carnage.
“Fifteen men, sir, plus the doctor.”
“Why the hell did they have to kill Sistrunk?”
There was no answer.
“Let me have a list of every member of the security team still alive?”
“Just give me a few minutes, sir.”
When Dennis got back to the office he began calling each member of the team. Most heard about what happened, but they couldn’t provide any additional details. Only Marvin Goodspeed, a squad leader and a volunteer for watch duty, heard from Taylor Albright the night of the attack. He relayed the conversation to Dennis.
A pall fell over him as he came to realize that his computer must have been hacked by Ray’s team. The way they knew where everyone was could only come from my own documents. I failed again, he said to himself as he started beating himself in a mocking gesture. They knew what was going on better than most Squad members who helped set up Hell House. I can’t have that. CAN’T HAVE THAT! I’m going to kill him, goddamnit. Kill him. He’s fucked with me for the last time. I will kill him if it’s the last thing I do.
Part 2:
Escape from old America
Chapter 12:
On to the Future
“Come on in.” Dean said it like he was hoping they would leave. They all went in and Joanne made some sandwiches for everyone. Dean just sat there stoically, and then he turned angry as he looked at Gene. “What in the hell is going on, Eugene? A couple weeks ago you come in looking haggard with Dennis O’Reilly, telling me how he rescued you from the prison that you two put him in.” He was staring at Ray and Cassandra
now. “Now you come home in worse shape, and you two are supposed to have rescued him from a house. Do I have that about right?”
“Be nice, dear, until we know what’s happening,” Joanne pleaded.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Gene dove into his sandwich, and recounted the horrifying details of his kidnapping and imprisonment. Joanne reacted with shock, while Dean was stoic but angry.
Ray understood the tenuous nature of his being there and gulped before countering Dean. “Mr. and Mrs. Sulke, if Eugene is recaptured they will either kill him or put him back in Hell House. They know where he lives, works, where you live—well, you know what I mean. There’s really no other choice—all of you have to leave for New America.”
“Leave?” Dean asked with clear incredulity.
“Leave our home?” Joanne repeated. “But why?”
“Because you’re both in danger,” Ray said.
“You mean, because they could use us to get to Gene?” Dean said.
Ray nodded. “Exactly!”
“What can I do?” Gene said, rhetorically. “I’m screwed. Everything I ever wanted I’ve lost. First Catherine, and now I can’t ever go back to work. I can never enter Squad territory again. I don’t want to do anything that would lead me back to that house again.”
Dean looked at his wife. He was silent for a few minutes, but he had a look of determination. “I’m not leaving my home. This is still America. We have laws, and that Casimir guy has no jurisdiction here. We’re staying. Eugene can stay here with us. He’ll work here in neutral territory. He can come to work for me; prepare to take over fully. I’m nearing retirement anyway. Eugene can sell his home and buy a new one. He could even change his name. There are things he can do. There are people who can help him.”
“I wish I could make you understand that staying here is not an option,” Ray said. “No place is safe. You’re not safe. There are no people you could ever know that could keep your family safe. Please reconsider, Mr. and Mrs. Sulke. You must get away.”
“Can you get him a visa into New America?” Dean asked.
“Absolutely!” Ray said. “They’re given to anyone not on their non-approved list, and this is a list of American Party leaders in government and a few media moguls they accuse of being extremists in their hatred of New America. The real problem is getting an exit visa.”
“An exit visa? What the hell is that?” Dean said.
“It is approval from the government to travel anywhere outside of the state you live in,” Cassandra said.
“Wait!” Dean said. “This is the kind of stuff these commie countries do. We’re a freedom-loving country.”
“You might want to rethink that freedom-loving stuff,” Cassandra said.
“Well, it’s a fact, nevertheless,” Ray said. “They’ll also revoke his passport. Now, the exit visa generally isn’t enforced if you drive across state lines. Technically, you need one, but very few states ask for it. Busses, trains, and planes are different, however. You can’t buy a ticket that takes you across state lines without showing an exit visa on the ticket.”
“When did this start?” Joanne asked.
“About three years ago,” Cassandra said.
“Most exit visas are given automatically,” Ray said. “Buy a ticket to Paris, no problem. Buy a ticket to Florida, no problem. This is why most people never heard of an exit visa. They never really see it. Yet it’s there on any ticket you have in the form of a stamp. In this day and age, where the ticket is usually an e-ticket, you never see it. You’re in the computer.”
“Then what’s it for?” Joanne asked.
“To keep people they don’t like in,” Ray said.
“Who is ‘they’?” Joanne said.
“Powerful people,” Ray said.
“You mean the government,” Dean said.
“More powerful than them,” Cassandra said.
“I don’t suppose Gene can get an exit visa,” Dean said. Ray and Cassandra nodded their heads. “Then how does my boy get out of here if he isn’t going to get an exit visa?”
“There is a way,” Cassandra said. “Do you remember Pamela Piper?”
“Redd’s sister,” Dean Sulke said, stoically.
“Exactly!” she said. “She still lives in Michigan; never did move to the New World. Instead, she helps people who are being persecuted. She’s expensive. It will cost Gene about twenty-five grand, but she can get him there.”
“I’ve got the money,” Gene said.
“Oh, God,” Joanne cried. “Will I ever see you again?”
“I don’t think he’ll ever be allowed to return,” Ray said.
“You really need to go as well; along with your other son,” Cassandra said.
Joanne turned to Dean with a look of disdain. “Leave our home? No. I won’t go.”
“We’re staying,” Dean said. “We have laws in this country. They can’t come here and just kidnap us.”
Ray’s cell phone rang. It was Sean. “Ray, there’s a car out front. I think it belongs to the Squad. I recognized it from Daniel’s research.”
“Thanks, Sean. Keep an eye on it.”
Ray hung up and gestured to Cass. “They’re out there.”
“Please,” Cassandra said, “you must leave. We won’t be able to protect you for long.”
Dean and Joanne looked frightened, but remained adamant. “Son, do you want to leave?” Joanne said.
“No, I don’t want to leave—I have to leave. I can’t ever be dragged back to Hell House again.”
“But,” Dean said, “didn’t you tell me that other guy burned the house down after destroying the lab?”
“That’s true,” Ray said, “but they’ll just rebuild it. They’re training doctors all over the country to use the brain probe. They’re building more labs all over as we speak. If they recapture Gene, they’ll bring him back to a new Hell House—”
“And I’m sure it will be tougher than ever to find it,” Cassandra said.
“I’m afraid,” Eugene said. “What if those guys break in and grab me?”
“They’re just here to report on what’s going on,” Ray said.
“But what if several squads are on the way here, now?” Eugene said.
“I can’t rule that out,” Ray said. He got on his phone and called Sean. They talked for a few minutes and then he hung up. “There’s no sign of activity from the Squad; nevertheless, we should get out of here.”
“Why can’t he just move to Canada? Or even Europe? Why does it have to be that commie place?” Dean asked.
“It’s too risky,” Ray said. “The U.S. has an extradition treaty with those countries. They’ll declare Eugene a fugitive and demand his return.”
“They’d just deport him; just like that?” Joanne asked.
“Maybe; probably,” Ray said. “If they refused, they’d come under retaliation from our government: reduced trade; increased tariff costs; even restrictions on travel to any country that refused to turn over Gene. The New World is really the best hope for Gene. They don’t have an extradition treaty; they speak English—no foreign language to learn; they have no unemployment, so finding a good paying job similar to what he had shouldn’t be hard to find. There’s no question about it, New America is the place to go. I wish you would reconsider your position.”
“What about your house, son?” mom said.
“I guess you’ll have to sell it for me.”
“And all your furniture, possessions, memories—oh God,” she gasped.
“I don’t want to go back to that house. There is nothing but bad memories for me there. These people took Catherine and then me. Even if the Squad left me alone, I think I’d still move.”
“Where will you go, now?” Joanne asked.
“I called Bo. He’s home now. We’re going over there next to try to talk him into going with us. Then we’ll be—”
Ray interrupted him. “It’s best if they don’t know.”
“We know how to throw off followers,” Ray said.
“Will we ever see you again?” Joanne asked, turning toward her son.
“I don’t suppose so. I’m going to have to leave pretty quickly. I wish you’d come with me. We can start a new life together; we’d still be a family—just in a different place.”
“Maybe one day that’ll happen,” Dean said.
“We can have some men watch your house,” Ray said. “At least until Eugene is safely away.”
Joanne gave her son a tearful hug, and said her final good-bye to him. Even Dean hugged him.
“Will he even be able to write or call?” Dean asked.
“I don’t know,” Ray said. “They pretty much terminated all communication with New America. They cut off land lines into and out of the country. They block cell phone transmissions, and the post office won’t accept mail from or to New America. There may be ways around it, but not many.”
This shocked Joanne, who put her hands to her mouth and gave a feeble shriek. Dean just stared blankly ahead. “Nothing lasts forever,” he finally said. “I know some people. They won’t shut my son away for all time. We’ll find a way.”
“Don’t worry, mom, dad. Until I cross over I’ll call nightly.”
Joanne hugged her son and began crying again. Dean put his arm around her. “There, there, Joanne. We have to let him go.”
“Please mom, dad, come with me. We’ll still be a family. Oh, please.”
“Not now, son. Maybe, someday. Maybe someday you’ll be able to return, but I won’t be run out of my home. We have good police here. They don’t side with Squads or RAC’s. We’ll be protected. We’ll be all right.”
With that, Gene said his final farewell to his mom and dad, and began a journey he would not soon forget.
“Mr. O’Reilly,” Stevens said from Eugene Sulke’s house. “We’ve entered the house and it appears to have been empty since the morning you picked him up. The car is still in the driveway. There’s still a tracker on it.”
