by RH Fox
Intentional Darkness
Book One: Alexandreia Bennett
RH Fox
Copyright © 2018 by RH Fox
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Quotes
Washington D.C
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Sneak Peak at Matt’s story
Who wants even more?
Acknowledgments
Message to Readers
“Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self-preservation.”
~ Albert Einstein
Hunger, pain and fear are fleeting. A mother’s love is a force to be reckoned with.
~ Alexandreia Bennett
Washington D.C
Thursday, May 9th - 6:32am
“Sir, we have a situation.”
President Rowe glanced at the digital display and sighed. Not even half way to his daily goal again. He powered the treadmill down and stepped off. Grabbing a towel, he swiped the back of his neck before addressing his Chief of Staff.
“I’ll be in the office in twenty minutes, Todd.”
“It can’t wait, sir. General Allen’s in the Situation Room now and he said it’s urgent.”
President Rowe dropped the damp towel into the waiting basket and exited his private workout space without hesitation. A member of his secret service detail was waiting outside the small, third floor room and discretely stepped into the elevator with the two men. The President raised his eyebrows. Security wasn’t usually under foot in his private quarters.
“Did the general give any indication of what’s happening?”
“He said he’s received an encrypted message with a direct threat to the United States.”
“How credible?”
“I’m not sure. But he was so adamant about seeing you directly that I had to insist he not follow me.”
The elevator chimed softly as it came to a stop on the lower level where the three men briskly entered the secured room. They found the general pacing the length of a massive conference table that dominated the far end of the space. Technicians working the computers and communication stations at the other end remained impervious to everything except the tasks in front of them. General Allen wasted no time with formality and simply motioned for the newcomers to follow him, pivoting into one of the smaller breakout rooms lining the back wall.
Todd looked questioningly at President Rowe, who nodded for him to follow, and the secret service agent took up position outside. As soon as the door closed they looked expectantly at the senior military advisor.
“At 0600 this morning we were contacted by General Pak Ung, claiming that North Korea performed a successful launch and reentry over the Pacific at 0530.”
Both men facing him remained skeptical.
“What does NORAD have on that?” President Rowe asked.
“Not a damn thing. Which would normally mean the North Koreans are full of shit, as usual. However, when NORAD reviewed the satellite images, they claimed something appeared off.”
“Something appeared off?” The President’s eyebrows almost disappeared into his graying hairline. “We don’t invest billions of dollars in the defense budget for ‘something appeared off’. What the hell does that mean?”
“NORAD originally found there to be no sign of any activity from the Korean peninsula. However, a junior analyst insisted there’s something wrong with the time stamp on at least two of the relevant images. He’s new, but already highly respected. Enough that they’re currently pulling in additional experts to go over the images with a fine-tooth comb. In the meantime, General Ung has demanded a video conference with you at 0900 this morning. If it doesn’t happen, he’s threatening to launch at Hawaii as proof of their ability.”
“Do you believe it’s a credible threat? Could they have somehow interfered with our satellites?”
General Allen rubbed his temples and leaned back in his chair. “I have a hard time believing they managed to pull off something on that kind of scale, based on the current intelligence we have. But until the images are analyzed further, we won’t know anything concrete. I’ll admit that Ung reaching out privately, versus their normal media posturing, has me concerned.”
“Who do we have here to analyze the data simultaneously? Someone who can walk me through the information and be on hand for the call.”
“Dr. Eppison is our normal advisor for this kind of situation. I spoke to his office on the way here, though, and he’s currently in Tel Aviv at a cyber security conference.”
“Damn! What’s our next option?”
“It’s an odd one. One of Eppison’s assistants is repeatedly insisting we need to speak to a former Marine Corp Major that he worked with several years ago. He’s currently a civilian contractor living about three hours away.”
“Can he be here before the call?”
“It’ll be tight, but I think it’s doable if we put him on an Osprey in Norfolk.”
“Do it. Get Eppison’s assistant here, too. Just in case.”
General Allen picked up the phone in the middle of the table and made two calls, putting the orders into immediate motion.
“What game is North Korea playing? Why tell us what they’re doing when they know we’ll immediately scramble our defense?” President Rowe mused out loud.
“Surely it’s just another bluff,” Todd answered, after listening in silence thus far.
General Allen was the one to respond. “Probably, and they know they’re playing a dangerous game. The time is swiftly coming for us to decide how much more subterfuge we’re going to tolerate before we answer with force.”
“No one agrees more than I do,” President Rowe said, voice more astringent than usual. “In the meantime, what about the potential threat in the Pacific?”
“We’ve already began shifting Naval assets and put the necessary personnel on high alert.”
“I should issue some sort of public statement.”
“After the shitstorm that false alert stirred up a few months back? Hell no. We’re still dealing with the media fallout from that. The last thing we need is widespread panic when the threat appears to be contingent on the video conference. I recommend waiting until we talk to Ung and find out what they’re up to. It’s probably best if the public stays in the dark for now.”
President Rowe nodded slowly.
“Alright. I’m going to go clean up. I’ll be back down in twenty minutes for an update.”
The other two men stood and watched the secret service agent follow the President to the elevator, silently contemplating what the day ahead held. They’d both spent their entire adult lives serving and protecting the United States of America, but the magnitude of what was about to unfold never crossed either of their minds.
And that’s exactly what the enemy was counting on.
1
Chesapeake, Virginia
“Please put your library books in your backpack and meet me on the carpet for science,” Alexandreia Bennett instructed her first graders in the hall.
When the final child walked through the door, she moved to a small circular table near the front of the room to make sure the projector was still on. Dreia didn’t dare open the sliding door yet, allowing it to project onto the big screen at the front of the room, or she knew she’d spend more time fielding questions about every step of the startup process than it would take to actually watch the short video. Seventeen years in the classroom and she was pretty good at avoiding those kind of rookie mistakes.
“Marky, will you turn the lights off, please?” she asked the light monitor. The request prompted the last few students to hurry to the carpet, worried about missing something.
“Are we watching a video, Mrs. Bennett?” Bella called out.
“Yes, Bella,” she answered, the patience in her voice also due to the years of experience working with children. “While it’s loading, raise your hand if you can name the three different states of matter?”
Almost every hand in the room shot up. Several students rose to their knees as well, hoping added height improved their chance of being picked. Dreia scanned the room before settling on a student sitting properly.
“Todd?”
Disappointed groans from all the not-Todds almost drowned out his answer. “Solid, liquid and gas.”
“Good job! Now, today we’re going to watch a quick video about gas, and . . .”
“My mom calls farts gas,” Gage yelled out. The class dissolved into giggles.
Dreia closed her eyes briefly and released a long sigh before continuing. “Please make sure you raise your hand when you have something to share, Gage. Now, before we start I need everyone to make sure you’re sitting all the way down flat on your back pockets, with your hands in your lap.”
Once they were settled, she opened the projector door and simultaneously hit play. The students quieted as the video grabbed their attention. Meanwhile, Dreia moved to her desk hoping to check her phone while they were occupied. Mom guilt from working so far from home reared its ugly head pretty often. Even though Abbie and Chase were both teenagers now, being over an hour away from them made her more aware of keeping tabs on her phone. Dreia realized she hadn’t had a spare moment to check it all morning.
Picking up the bright purple case, she entered the security code to illuminate the home screen. No calls registered, but she did have three text messages. Two were from her sister and one from her husband. Dreia glanced down at the carpet to ensure everyone was still engaged with the video.
“Elsie, put your hands in your lap and leave Kate alone. Trent, sit all the way down please. Gage, stop that! If you need a tissue, get up and get one.”
Satisfied they were following directions, Dreia tapped the text from Matt first.
“hey babe going over to bates today to finish some stuff up want me to pick up pizza from that new place we liked on my way home”
Dreia smiled and shook her head at the complete lack of capitals or punctuation. He was as bad as their teenagers.
“Sounds good! I have a staff meeting after school, so I’ll be home late. You and the kids eat and I’ll warm some up later.” She couldn’t bring herself to forego the grammar rules, even in a simple text, and chalked it up to the excessive amount of time she spent nagging her students to remember them.
Once she hit send, she backed out of Matt’s message thread and touched her sister’s name. Before she had a chance to read anything, the screen at the front of the classroom went black.
“Mrs. Bennett! Mrs. Bennett!! The video stopped!” Several students yelled the obvious.
Dreia set her phone down and hurried over to see what had gone wrong. She was puzzled to find the laptop connected to the projector was completely off as well.
“Class, stay where you are. It’ll take a minute to power back up and log in again.”
The students wasted no time taking full advantage of the unplanned lull in instruction. Most first graders are incapable of whispering, so the noise level in the room quickly began to rise.
“What in the world?” Dreia muttered to herself when the computer wouldn’t respond to the power button. She checked to make sure all the cords were still connected, including the one that ran under the carpet where the kids sat. It often got wiggled out. Everything appeared fine, then she paused to listen. Tuning out the excessive talking, as only mothers and teaches can, she realized the obnoxiously loud heating and air unit wasn’t blowing. It never seemed to shut off.
“Marky, can you turn the lights back on, please?”
Dreia watched as he flipped the switch, but nothing happened.
“They won’t turn on,” he unnecessarily called out.
The noise level in the classroom continued to climb.
“Class, I need you to lower your voices. If you can whisper,” she emphasized the word, “you can continue talking to your friends. If you don’t know how to whisper, you need to seal your lips and keep them that way. I’m going to open our door and check the hallway.”
Dreia knew the slight drop in volume would only last seconds, since six and seven year olds have no concept of what a sustained whisper sounds like, on top of very short memories. Quickly crossing to the door she stepped into the hall, careful to stay where she could still see every student sitting on the rug. She found several other teachers doing the same thing.
“This is the third outage this month!” Dreia complained to her friend Katy in the next room.
“I know! And it’s too dark to do anything until it comes back on.”
Lauren spoke up from across the hall. “It’s a shame they had to close off so many windows when they installed the new air conditioning. I know, I know, it helps cool more efficiently. But, have you seen the studies proving natural light is better for children?”
Dreia ignored the question, not wanting to listen to yet another long winded lecture on the subject. Katy was right, though, it was pointless to attempt teaching until the power came back on.
“Sounds like a good excuse for extra recess to me,” she suggested cheerfully.
“Good thinking!”
“Count me in. I’ll see you two out there,” Lauren agreed, and both women disappeared into their dark rooms.
Dreia turned back to her own room and paused to observe what normal people would consider utter chaos. Admitting that twenty-one kids all talking at the top of their lungs could be a bit overwhelming, she raised her voice to be heard.
“First graders, if you’re wearing blue you may line up at the back door.”
A chorus of pleased noises accompanied the mad dash to line up, since recess was the only time they used that door. Belatedly realizing her blunder in calling such a popular color first, she demanded Gage stop flashing his blue underwear at the girls behind him. That quieted their shrieks somewhat, and it didn’t take long to go through enough colors for everyone else to be lined up. Dreia grabbed her whistle and sunglasses, stuck her phone in her back pocket, and led the kids outside.
Thankfully a breeze and plenty of trees made the playground bearable, because it was already on the warm side for early May. Dreia knew she wouldn’t be the only one to think of extra recess and, sure enough, half the school was already out there. She joined the group of teachers congregating in the shade as her students ran off screaming with their friends.
Dreia grinned broadly at her frequent observation that teachers on recess duty resembled animals on the savannah. They stood in groups close enough to chat, but facing different directions to continuously scan for trouble. But instead of being on the lookout for hungry lions, they monitored for rule breaking and skinned knees.
“What are you smiling at?” Katy asked.
“Nothing, zebra. Carry on.”
“What?
” Katy looked perplexed.
Dreia just chuckled, and her eyes joined theirs in sweeping the playground for trouble as the group chatted. Humidity was already on the rise, thanks to the recent rainfall, and her neck started to feel sticky under her thick hair. Unfortunately, the deep red waves were long enough to make her hot, but not quite long enough to get up in a ponytail again. One that looked decent anyway. Turning thirty-eight the previous summer had put her in a temporary funk, and thinking a new hairstyle might help, she’d had it cut into the short bob most women her age now sported. Consequently, she was still irritated with her hairdresser for not warning her the style didn’t always compliment naturally curly hair. Being forced to get up even earlier to straighten the rebellious strands was not worth staying trendy in her opinion. Dreia lifted the mass, silently cursing its slow growth, and tried to fan the back of her neck. An office aide heading their direction caught her roving eyes.
“Hey, ya’ll. Do any of you have your cell? We’re trying to reach district office and find out when someone’s coming to fix the power, but no one’s phone is working.”
Dreia pulled hers out and pushed the home button along with everyone else in their circle. She realized she’d been distracted from reading her sister’s text earlier and was frustrated when the screen stayed black.
“I think my battery’s dead,” Katy offered up first, and a chorus of similar comments followed.
“That’s so weird. Okay, I’ll let the office know.”
As Dreia watched the office aide walk away, goosebumps broke out on her arms despite the warm breeze and an uneasy feeling sent her heart fluttering a little faster.
