Project Armageddon

by Michael Stephens

  Abbie complied. Her eyes scanned the results. “There are thirty-nine books in the old testament and twenty-seven in the new testament.”

  “That’s not it.” He said disgustedly. “The first part of your dad’s riddle… seventy-three minus seventy-two. That could be last—of the first seventy-three, subtract the first seventy-two it leaves one. The last one.”

  “That’s it, Josh,” Abbie said with delight.

  “No.” He gestured to Abbie to lower her voice. “You said there are only sixty-six books.”

  “In the Protestant Bible,” said Abbie. She pointed to the screen.

  Josh’s eyes followed her finger to a point on the page. “The Catholic Bible has forty-six in the old testament. Forty-six and twenty-seven is…” Abbie looked up, expecting Josh to finish her sentence. He did.

  “Seventy-three. Brilliant.”

  “What’s this other crap?” She pointed to the last part of the equation that included the exponent.

  “Sixteen squared,” answered Josh. “Two fifty-six.”

  Abbie gave Josh a strange look.

  Josh had seen that look before. It was a how-the-hell-did-you-know-that look.

  “Computer Science major… or was.”

  Abbie was puzzled. “You drive for Lyft, and you’re a Computer Science major?”

  “Long story. Revelation two fifty-six.” Josh thought. “Chapter twenty-five, verse six?”

  Abbie quickly performed an Internet search. “Nope. Only twenty-two chapters…wait.”

  “How about chapter two, verse fifty-six?”

  Abbie quickly typed Josh’s new search.

  “Nope, only twenty-nine verses in chapter two.”

  Abbie grabbed scratch paper and pencil from the computer station. She wrote out sixteen raised to the power of two. “Sixteen squared is the same as sixteen times sixteen.” She wrote out two sixteens and put a small ‘x’ between them.

  Josh and Abbie shared a hopeful look. She searched for Revelation, chapter sixteen, verse sixteen. Seconds later, her search returned a phrase that exactly matched the password hint. The page showed “Rev 16:16” at the top.

  Abbie and Josh shared a celebratory moment. Abbie did not know whether to hug him or high-five him. It was the first time she took notice of his facial features. He had a charming smile when you saw it under his beard and mustache. His strong facial features moved Abbie in a way she had not felt in a long time.

  A small commotion at the library entrance snatched Abbie’s attention. FBI Agent Walker and a group of her men stood at the door. Walker had her back to Abbie, barking out orders to each smaller group of her entourage.

  Abbie quickly ducked behind the computer station. “It’s the wicked red-headed bitch of the west,” said Abbie. She pointed to the entrance.

  Josh stooped up a little—just a glance. His sudden reaction to sit confirmed Abbie did not imagine what she saw. Agent Walker was there… and closing in on their location.

  “We need to leave,” said Josh.

  “That’s the only entrance.” Abbie pointed toward the direction from which Walker was approaching. She closed the laptop and tightly cradled it under her arm like a football.

  Josh glanced around the tables and shelves.

  “Not exactly.” He said.

  Chapter 35

  Josh nearly dragged Abbie between a pair of tall bookshelves. He lowered his shoulder, like the football player he resembled. His hand pressed on the push-in bar precisely as his shoulder connected with the emergency door.

  An alarm rang out loudly in the University Library and the surrounding campus grounds. The loud, obnoxious sound deafened the library’s occupants and transformed them from the quiet and orderly populous into a swarm of people searching for exits.

  Agent Walker and her team of FBI agents fought their way against a swarm of people using the front exit. She and her teams continued to push through. Once cleared of the next wave of people, Walker scanned the library and saw an emergency exit door left open in the back far corner of the library—and no one was using it.

  She led her team toward the door in the back corner by the windows.

  “Search the shelves!” She barked out.

  Her team of agents scattered, following her command.

  She scanned the busy courtyard where many of the library’s users fled for safety. Walker spotted Josh like he was wearing an arrow that pointed at him. He towered over the swarming student body and faculty.

  Walker pulled the microphone attached to her FBI vest. She keyed the button on the handheld mic. “Regroup. They’re heading toward the sports complex. Move.”

  The swarm of men and women wearing FBI vests with the familiar large yellow letters, assembled in front of the opened emergency door and then exited it in two-by-two formation with Walker following her team.

  Chapter 36

  Josh and Abbie raced toward the university Sports Complex, hoping the crowd from the fire alarm and sports complex would provide them enough cover to escape. Unfortunately, they had an unwelcomed guest waiting for them the moment they arrived.

  Josh and Abbie ducked through a side room attached to the indoor basketball court. A couple of Sayid’s men at the entrance saw them enter the room. They followed them around the court’s perimeter toward the room entrance.

  Josh flipped the light switch of their new hideout. To his discovery, it was an empty weight room prepped with various sized free weights. Josh quickly shut off the lights. He navigated his way through the weight equipment with Abbie right behind him.

  Josh spotted a small alcove behind a butterfly weight machine, which was big enough to block even his large frame when the lights would turn on. He directed Abbie between the various pieces of weightlifting equipment when the sleeve of Abbie’s pink shirt caught on an empty barbell. Her shirt pulled as Abbie’s forward momentum tugged on it further. A large piece of her sleeve ripped away and stayed attached to the barbell.

  Josh guided Abbie around the machine into the alcove as they both hid behind it. He kept a keen eye on the weight room door when he saw the pink piece of Abbie’s sleeve stuck to the barbell, waving in the air like a big flag pointing in the direction where they hid.

  “Stay here.” He whispered. He leaped from behind the big weight machine toward the barbell that had the small swatch of Abbie sleeve attached to it.

  The weight room door slowly opened, and two men scanned the room that was dimly light from the light that poured in from the basketball court. Josh barely made it out of view behind the alcove, but not behind the weight machine. If the men made it to the piece of Abbie’s shirt, they would easily see Josh.

  It's you or her, and you have a good chance against those boneheads, he thought. Josh was ready. If he needed to be a diversion for Abbie, he would do it. He hoped that if it did come to that, he would make out better than any of Abbie’s past friends. He stood behind the wall of the alcove by the rack of various sized weight plates, ready to rush the intruders if they got close.

  One of the men flipped on the light. They each took a few steps into the room and then scanned the area looking between the equipment and the reflections in some of the mirrors that lined the wall. Abbie was well hidden. Josh stayed hidden unless the men reached the dreaded piece of pink fabric. That’s when one of the men tapped the other on the shoulder and pointed at the pink swatch on the barbell.

  Shit. Josh thought.

  They methodically walked through the weight room carefully searching the surrounding areas and behind the equipment. There was not much Josh could do. Sayid’s two goons were forcing his decision to rush them while Abbie made a run for it. He prepared himself, hugged the wall tightly.

  The men slowly reached the barbell that gave away Abbie and Josh’s position. Josh was about six feet to their left, but semi-hidden from view by one of his soon-to-be assailants. He had seconds to prepare his surprise rush when a better idea slammed into his immediate thoughts.

  One man grabbed the
pink fabric that stuck to the barbell. They spoke to each other in a foreign language. They both pivoted, dividing the room in half as each scanned their side of the room. The man that had his back to Josh would be facing him once he rotated another ninety degrees.

  It was as if Josh predicted the future. His assailant slowly rotated his torso as he looked for any sign of Josh or Abbie. That’s when his eyes focused on Josh performing throwing motion. The man’s vision of Josh quickly blurred as the circular ten-pound weight plate that spun through the air like a Frisbee came into sharp view only seconds before the plate crunched into his upper teeth. The plate’s sudden stop and its forward momentum forced it to flip over, landing squarely flat on the man’s nose.

  Abbie never saw Josh throw the weight. She only heard a loud crunch as she heard the plate hit the man’s skull, and the small moan before the man fell to the ground face-first, where he lay lifeless. She watched from behind the weight machine as she saw Josh Frisbee-toss another ten-pound weight plate. In seconds, the weight struck the other man in the back of the head only this time it made a loud thud rather than a crunch. Abbie returned her view toward Josh, where they both made eye contact.

  “C’mon. Let’s go.” He called out.

  Abbie circled from behind the weight machine where grabbed hold of Josh’s outstretched hand. The gravity of the situation weighed on her. She was sure that Josh killed the first man with the weight. If the second man was not dead, his skull was most certainly fractured.

  Abbie’s throat heaved. She thought she was going to vomit but nothing came up. She was thankful for that. She shook all over. People around her… her friends, her family were dying all around her. People were shooting at them. Each decision they faced… she faced was life or death. She did not judge Josh for what he did. She envied him. Abbie knew without question—she was not capable of making such decisions. She knew that without him, she would likely be dead.

  Josh tugged on Abbie’s arm, which broke her honest introspection and returned her to reality. He helped her between the equipment and over the two men’s motionless bodies. Abbie looked down. She saw blood pooling on the floor as it flowed from the man’s face and jaw. She saw bits of bone, and several teeth decorated the small crimson puddle like they were footstones that led to a shoreline.

  Josh peeked into the basketball court and then quickly pulled Abbie and the laptop inside. Together, they cautiously walked to the end of the court and through the double doors.

  Chapter 37

  Josh turned from closing the doors and faced the large Olympic sized swimming pool with dividing boards of varying heights on the far end. Josh performed a few quick glances to realize that he and Abbie stuck out amongst the sea of people wearing white towels.

  Josh pulled Abbie close to the near wall. He scooped up a couple white towels and threw one at Abbie. “Blend in.”

  Abbie quickly noticed nearly everyone around the pool wore a white towel—either around their waist, over their back, or draped over their heads. She quickly swirled the towel around and placed it over her head, as did Josh.

  She followed Josh down the pool line of the near wall. Unfortunately, there was no towel big enough to hide Josh’s six-foot four-inch body. They passed the fifty-meter mark of the hundred-meter pool when Sayid and his men busted through the same entrance from which Abbie and Josh entered.

  The uninvited guests quickly assessed their new environment. It did not take long for one of them to notice a large toweled figured pulling behind a smaller toweled figure as they headed toward the opposite side of the pool.

  Sayid and his men opened fire without regard for what they were doing, who saw them doing it, or the innocent people that got in the way of their bullets. Josh and Abbie ducked while running. They turned the corner when Josh pulled Abbie and himself behind the wall that supported a ten-foot diving platform.

  Josh held Abbie close, inserting her between the wall and his massive body. Bullets rip into the concrete wall of the diving platform, whizzing chunks of concrete past Abbie. Shots that missed the wall, lodged or went through the outside wall of the building structure.

  Abbie did not hear the concrete debris spreading all over or the bullets that found their way into the outer wall. Abbie did not hear the gunfire echo throughout the enclosed pool area. All Abbie heard were the screams of the innocent as bullets ripped through flesh of the bodies as if they were the cheese in a cheese grater.

  Men and women of all ages fell where they stood. Some of the victims writhed in pain. Others laid lifeless on the concrete as their wounds leaked trails of a reddish fluid that stained the concrete. The water was no longer clear in many areas of the pool as several victims floated lifelessly on the surface while dark maroon-colored clouds bloomed in the water beneath the pool’s surface.

  The door about fifty yards away from where Abbie and Josh took refuge burst open with FBI agents. Josh peered around the corner to see Agent Walker and her team come to the rescue. The FBI carefully returned fire as different members of the group called out to any survivors to exit out the door from which the team had entered. Everyone swarmed toward the exit as the FBI used their semi-automatic weapons to provided cover fire for the innocent.

  The firefight between Sayid’s men and the FBI was the perfect diversion that Josh needed but would have never asked for. He saw the bodies, the innocent blood that darkened the concrete deck of the swimming pool. This was their chance.

  Josh turned to Abbie. She had her eyes closed and her hands over her ears. Her body jumped with each loud burst of gunfire, regardless of who fired. Josh gently shook Abbie to get her attention.

  He leaned close to her ear and yelled. “We need to go.”

  Abbie cried. She could not believe what was happening. It was worse than any nightmare she could have ever dreamt of. She answered Josh by shaking her head. “I can’t.” Fear of the moment overruled any logical response.

  There was no time. Josh realized they only had a few moments before everything would be over. He and Abbie could not be around when the dust settled, regardless of who was left standing.

  Josh knelt and gingerly put Abbie over his shoulder without asking. She did not weight much, but her kicking and wiggling made it challenging to run. Nevertheless, Josh was into a full sprint within seconds of Abbie clearing his shoulder. He had twenty-five yards before he turned the corner and then another twenty-five yards to the exit door. But no cover.

  He saw the FBI was slowly eliminating Sayid’s men. There was only one way to the exit, and that involved getting wet. In mid-sprint, he veered to the left and dived in the pool with Abbie on his shoulder and the laptop his hand.

  Abbie took in a gulp of air just before she hit the water. She clutched her arms around Josh’s neck as he swam underwater with Abbie on his back to an imaginary spot he plotted would be close to the exit.

  Josh broke the surface of the water used the pool’s ledge to pull himself and Abbie, who held tightly to his neck, out of the water. His plot point was spot on. The door was less than five feet away. He ducked under Abbie's arms and pulled her up to her feet. He pointed to the door.

  “Go.” He yelled.

  “Not without you,” she answered.

  “I’ll be right behind you.” He got to his knees as he urged her forward. Josh looked down at the laptop he still clutched in his hand. Fat chance this thing ever works again, he thought. He decided to keep it with him.

  Abbie was not leaving Josh. She knew he was the only thing keeping her alive. She helped him to his feet as the two of them ran hard through the exit door and away from what remained of the gunfight.

  Chapter 38

  Josh entered the low-budget motel room carrying a few plastic bags and take-out as he closed the door behind him. He passed the closed door to the bathroom, crossed the room, and placed the bags on the dresser next to the TV.

  Abbie exited the bathroom with wet hair. She casually took her time wrapping the large, stiff towel around her wet, nake
d body until she realized Josh stood at the dresser. She hastened to secure the towel around herself, but in her slight panic… it fell.

  Josh saw Abbie in his peripheral vision, but the quick movement of the large white object dropping to the floor caught him off guard. He looked.

  There Abbie stood, wet and naked…vulnerable. Josh admired her curves and her beauty.

  Wow, he thought. Of course, Wow, you dumb-ass. She’s naked.

  Josh remembered his manners—character traits his mother drilled into him since he was little. With no father figure, she was determined not to raise another male asshole in the world. Josh averted his eyes and turned.

  Abbie quickly squatted and snatched the towel from the floor. When she stood, Abbie saw gentlemen-like behavior surface in Josh as he already turned his back toward her.

  “Sorry,” said Abbie as she secured the towel tight around her body. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Josh stood tall and stiff. He spoke to the wall, deliberately not turning his head toward Abbie.

  “I’m sorry. I should have said something or made some noise.”

  He moved laterally, purposely keeping his eyes, his entire field of vision for that matter, away from Abbie. He bent at the knees as he pulled out a shirt and a pair of jeans from one of the plastic bags and handed Abbie the clothes, stretching his arm and hand behind him.

  Abbie took comfort in the gesture. After all, she was in—by her definition—a sleazy hotel with a large man she just met, and she was wearing nothing but a towel.

  “I’m covered. It’s okay to turn around.”

  Josh slowly turned his head with his eyes closed. He squinted—to peek between his eyelids barely enough to see a blurry white something covering Abbie. He opened his eyes completely and turned, stepping forward to hand the clothes to her.