The Divide

by Scott B. Williams

  Eric did, but he wasn’t going to let it get to him. He knew that’s what this guy was trying to do, but despite the fact they’d been arrested on the spot, Sheriff Morgan seemed like a somewhat reasonable man to him. Like he’d jokingly mentioned to his own brother Keith when he still had his personal M4, he knew that unlicensed possession of a fully automatic rifle was a felony back in normal times. And he knew too that in many areas, especially around the bigger cities, possession of any firearm could get you shot. But he had to believe that out here in a place like this, where most folks owned and carried guns even before, it would be considered foolish to go around without one now. He hoped too that Sheriff Morgan would give some thought to what Sergeant Connelly had told him and at least try to verify their story. Whether he would or not and how long it might take him to do so was anybody’s guess. In the meantime, they were simply stuck. It gave him and Sergeant Connelly lots of time to get to know each other though, swapping war stories and recounting their experiences here in the States since the breakdown began.

  “After seeing what my brother, Keith has been dealing with since this happened, I can understand the need for law enforcement to take a hardline approach,” Eric said, as he told Sergeant Connelly what he’d seen in south Louisiana. “Most of his department was wiped out, including the sheriff.”

  “We’ve heard the rumors about the Gulf Coast. You’re the only one I’ve gotten a first-hand report from down there though, and certainly the first I’ve talked to that’s seen the aftermath of that storm in south Florida. You’ve been through hell since the day you came ashore, haven’t you? I feel even worse than I did before about you risking everything all over again to get me out. Now you’ve gotten yourself into a situation there may not be a way out of.”

  “There’s always a way out,” Eric said. “We just bide our time and see what happens. I may be wrong, but I don’t think we’re in line for the gallows just yet. But while we’re here with nothing else to do but talk to pass the time, I’d want to know everything you can think of that might help me when I head out West.”

  “I wish I could share your optimism that you’ll get to make that trip, and I suppose I should, considering what you’ve accomplished so far. It’s just that I have my doubts about Sheriff Morgan bothering himself to make a radio call.”

  “Well, he can’t keep us in here indefinitely. He doesn’t have room for that, so either he lets us go or he does away with us. If he picks the second option, there’s nothing else to plan for. But if I get out of here, I’m getting you back to your post and then I’ll be carrying on to Boulder. I hope Shauna and Jonathan are still waiting on me, but if they aren’t, it’s because they’re already on their way there.”

  “So, you really think she and that Florida kid will go on without you, huh?”

  “I know Shauna will, and Jonathan hasn’t got anything better to do, so he’ll go with her. Lieutenant Holton damned sure better honor his word to help them, though. I’d hate to think about just the two of them trying to ride all that way alone.”

  “Knowing the lieutenant like I do, I’d say he will. He’s not one to go back on his word, even if he doesn’t always make the best decisions. He’s gotta cover his ass doing something as unorthodox as sending a civilian on a recon mission like the one you just did for him though. You know how it works.”

  Eric did, and he was over being pissed off about it. What was done, was done, and the real problem now was getting out of this shithole jail in the middle of nowhere. But it was getting harder to think about that or anything else while he was locked in there with the sergeant because their new friends in the neighboring cells wouldn’t shut up with their questions and their dire predictions of the fate that surely awaited them here. Days of this dragged by until they turned into a week and then two. Then one morning shortly after sunrise, when Sheriff Morgan himself, accompanied by two deputies came to open their cell door, the other inmates burst into a frenzy.

  “I told you what was going to happen,” the most vocal of them said. “You’re going swinging this morning! Isn’t that right, Sheriff Morgan? You’re still stretching in that new rope, aren’t you?”

  “You might get your chance to help me with that yourself, Hollis, if you don’t mind your own business,” Sheriff Morgan said, as he slammed the door shut on the empty cell and led Eric and Sergeant Connelly out to the main door.

  Eric smiled at that but said nothing. He didn’t get the feeling they were being marched to the gallows, especially since they weren’t even put in handcuffs when they were let out of their cell. He saw that he was right when they continued around the block to the courthouse, where they were taken inside to the sheriff’s office.

  “Well, I guess it turns out you boys weren’t lying were, you? No matter how much of a tall tale it seemed like y’all were telling.”

  “You used the radio frequencies I gave you?” Sergeant Connelly asked. “It sure took you long enough to get through. Did you speak to Lieutenant Holton?”

  “Yes sir, I did, Sergeant Connelly. He was mighty surprised to find out you were still alive, you and your Navy SEAL buddy both. You see it turns out that another game warden from the neighboring county saw a military-looking patrol boat come up the river just a couple days after we brought you boys in. He didn’t know the story here at the time and didn’t think too much about it. Then he ran into one of the guys from my county—one of the fellows who was with us that day—and when they got to talking, the subject came up. When our warden came and told me, I drove up there and got the one that saw the boat to give me the details of it, and it sounded just like the one you described that you said those terrorists down at the lake stole from you. He said it had a machine gun and everything, and that the crew looked like Army or Marines or something, he wasn’t sure. They didn’t see him because he wasn’t in his boat. He was watching the river from up on a bluff that day and not knowing what those fellows were up to, he stayed out of sight. Once I had that information, I decided I’d better try those frequencies and see if they amounted to anything. The radio operator there finally put that lieutenant on and when I described you fellows to him he about blew up. He’s sending a helicopter down here this morning to pick y’all up.”

  Eric felt like punching the dumbass sheriff, but nothing he could say or do would bring back those lost days—days that by now would have seen him in Colorado, possibly already reunited with Megan. The prospect of a helicopter ride back to the post was great, but would Shauna and Jonathan still be there when he arrived?

  “I do apologize for any inconvenience your stay in my little county hotel might have caused. You’ve got to understand though, in the situation we’re in, I’ve got to keep a close eye on that river and the roads that run through my jurisdiction. I can’t begin to tell you about all the trouble we’ve had here since this damned country started blowing up all around us. I know you fellows are the good guys now, the ones trying to do something about it, and applaud your efforts, I really do. I’m sorry about the men you lost down there too, Sergeant Connelly.”

  Sheriff Morgan returned their confiscated belongings, including the M4 and the Beretta and the remaining hand grenades that were in Eric’s bags. Eric had no further use for the compound bow nor the boat, outboard and gasoline he’d paid dearly for, so there was nothing to do but leave them. A helicopter ride back to the post was worth far more than the alternative. When the bird arrived and landed in an empty parking lot across from the courthouse at 0930, Eric saw that it was a UH-72 Lakota, and he naturally thought it was the same one aboard which he flew to the lake that night. He realized his mistake when he saw the unfamiliar flight crew, however, and he and Sergeant Connelly both were a little let down that they didn’t get a chance to have a word with the pilot that turned tail and ran at the first sign of hostile fire from the lake that night.

  When Lieutenant Holton met them upon their arrival at the post, Eric learned immediately that Shauna and Jonathan had left nearly ten days prior,
just as he’d feared would happen while he was sitting in jail all that time. Before he could get all the details about that though, he had to sit through a debriefing with Lieutenant Holton and Sergeant Connelly, retelling the sequence of events from the time he left that helicopter until he and the sergeant were arrested. When that was finally done, Sergeant Connelly was taken away to get medical attention for his knee, leaving Eric alone with the lieutenant to iron out what was going to happen next.

  “I know they arrived in a place called Westminster, between Denver and Boulder. They were dropped off by a truck from Fort Carson. They had two of the three bicycles that you had with you on the towboat, and I made sure they were supplied with all the MREs they could carry.”

  “What about weapons? Please tell me they weren’t dumped out there unarmed.”

  “Of course not, Branson. I supplied your wife with a Glock 19 and plenty of mags. I would have given her a rifle too, but she couldn’t have hidden it. I’m sure the two of them are just fine. From what I was told they would only have to ride a short distance on a bike path to reach that campus, and from word I got back from Fort Carson, the city of Boulder is locked down tight by local security forces. I’ll bet they’re with your daughter already, and that all three of them are just fine.”

  “I’ve got to get there yesterday!” Eric said. “After all I’ve done for you, Lieutenant, I expect to find my ass on a plane or helicopter, ASAP!”

  “I anticipated that Branson, and I’ve been working on arrangements all morning. You’ll be in Boulder before this time tomorrow. As soon as it’s refueled, the UH-72 that brought you and Connelly back will take you north to the Air Guard base in Springfield. There’s a C130 leaving this afternoon for another Air Guard base in Cheyenne. From there, you’ll get a helicopter ride to Boulder first thing in the morning. They’ll set you down at a checkpoint as close to that campus as possible, and someone there will drive you the rest of the way in. After your wife and nephew left here, I wasn’t in direct communication with the various units they were traveling with. I didn’t know that last truck driver was going to drop them off as far from the campus as he did. They had their bikes though, so I’m sure it didn’t take them long to get there. Given the situation, I think it turned out as good as anyone could hope for, but you’ll get there even faster.”

  “I appreciate it, Lieutenant Holton. I’m going to need some gear though—weapons, food, and a rucksack—I’d rather travel light and not bother with the bike since I’ll have a ride all the way to the campus. I’ll just leave it here if you don’t mind.”

  “Suit yourself. We’ll find someone who can use it, and I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t want to be out on the roads on a bicycle these days either, I’ll tell you that. I don’t think you’ll have to worry that your wife will be either. From the little I talked to her, she seems pretty level-headed. If she found your daughter there at that refugee center, I’ll bet they’ll settle in for a while. She hadn’t given up on you when she left here either, she just knew it didn’t make sense to stay here waiting. She’ll do her waiting out there instead, if I had to guess.”

  Eric knew that whatever the lieutenant might think she’d do, he didn’t know Shauna. She was level-headed, at least most of the time, but she wouldn’t sit around and wait anywhere for long unless she knew it was the best option available to her. If she did find Megan at that refugee center, she was going to do everything in her power to convince her that they needed to get to Keith’s if at all possible. Shauna would know there was strength in family sticking together, and besides, she wouldn’t want to leave Keith and Bart hanging any longer than necessary, much less Daniel and Andrew. Lieutenant Holton had told her Eric was missing in action, and as likely dead as not. Eric didn’t think she would give Megan false hope that her dad was on his way and sit there hoping. She would tell her the truth; that they both had to assume he wasn’t coming unless proven otherwise. That’s why Eric had to get there fast. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t too late to intercept them before they were lost on the road somewhere in the middle of nowhere, leaving him with no idea of where to even begin to look at that point.

  Before he left to go sort out the rest of his gear, Lieutenant Holton set him up with more magazines for the M4 and the Beretta he’d carried on the lake mission, as well as a large MOLLE pack and a 14-day supply of MREs. He was also given a Gore-Tex parka, gloves and boots and a cold weather sleeping bag. Eric had already seen the first cold front of the season down at that lake, and he knew he’d be facing far worse in the mountains. The rucksack was large enough that he could break the rifle down and stash it inside while in places where he didn’t want the attention that would come from looking like he was on combat patrol, but even so, he knew that he had to be ready for whatever he ran into.

  When he was taken to the unit where his other gear was stashed, Eric sorted through it to narrow down the essentials. It was in one of his smaller bags that he found a letter from Shauna, expressing her hope that he was alive and would read it soon. She told him what he already knew, that she and Jonathan couldn’t wait any longer if they were to have any hope of finding Megan, and she also told him to be sure and check the toolkit he’d assembled for the bikes. It was in that small kit bag that he’d hidden his passport as well, so Eric did, and he smiled at what he found inside. Shauna had hidden three of his one-ounce and two half-ounce Krugerrands in there, knowing that he’d left most of what he had with her and that he might very well somehow loose the few he had with him. How he ever let a woman as smart and thorough as Shauna get away, he still wasn’t sure. All he could think of was that he’d simply been an idiot. That had become more self-evident every day he’d been around her in this crisis. He had been concerned until now since he’d blown the gold he had on him on the boat and motor. Like the weapons he carried for fighting, the gold was an essential tool, one that opened doors and options that might otherwise be closed to him.

  Just as Lieutenant Holton had promised, Eric landed in Cheyenne, Wyoming that evening. He would have an overnight wait and then the short helicopter flight would carry him on the last leg the next morning. In his conversation with some of the soldiers on the base, he gleaned bits of information about the ongoing operations in the region. Just as was happening in the south, there were terrorist cells that were proving elusive and difficult to contain and destroy, and efforts to do so were limited to the most accessible areas. Given the terrain considerations out here, it was going to take a lot longer to bring this region under control with resources as limited as they were. From what Eric gathered, the Midwest areas he’d flown over that day were among the most secure of anywhere in the nation at this point. The plan was to expand this central command area over time and quell the remaining pockets of resistance, but some of these men that had seen what was happening first hand had their doubts that the country could ever be restored to normalcy. Eric did too, having seen the same thing abroad more than once. Change happened, and then when it was sorted out many of those changes were permanent.

  The next morning, he was airborne again at sunrise, staring out in the windows of a Blackhawk at the peaks of the Front Range as they flew south to Boulder. The pilot set the helicopter down at a checkpoint on Interstate 25 east of the city, and from there Eric was driven in a Humvee to the university, which he now learned had been converted into a refugee center. The driver and the other two soldiers accompanying them would wait nearby while he went to the processing building, keeping his weapons and other gear secure in the vehicle until he was ready to leave. Eric had no idea if he’d even be permitted to enter, but when he approached the gates he was carrying nothing but his passport for identification and the coins Shauna had left him, hidden in a small interior pocket he’d sewn inside the front flap of his trousers. The first man he encountered in the processing building was in a foul mood, and clearly uninterested in checking the system for Megan. Their conversation turned heated when Eric wouldn’t let up or simply turn around and leave, until
they were interrupted by a woman who overheard them through her open office door across the hall.

  “Did you say you were looking for Megan Branson, sir?”

  Eric spun around to face the woman speaking to him, completely ignoring the irate officer at the desk in front of him. He could scarcely believe his ears, but he knew for certain he’d just heard his daughter’s name.

  “Come into my office for a moment. I believe I may be able to help you.”

  Fourteen

  WHEN HE HEARD THE woman mention Megan’s name and invite him into her office, Eric lost no time going in there. She shut the door behind them and was about to take a seat behind her desk, but Eric stopped her before she had a chance.

  “Is Megan Branson here? Do you know her?”

  “Are you Eric Branson? Megan’s father?”

  “Yes! Did she tell you my name? Where is she?”

  “No, she didn’t tell me. Your wife did.”

  “Shauna told you? Is she here too? Where are they?” Eric could barely contain his excitement at the thought of an imminent reunion with this family that very day.

  “No sir, Mr. Branson. I mean, yes, your wife told me, but no, she’s not here, and neither is your daughter, Megan. Your wife and nephew, Jonathan, came here looking for her though.”

  “Megan’s not here? Was she here before? Do you know where she is?”

  “No sir. She was never here since the refugee center was established. I have no idea where she is.”

  “Well, what about my wife? Where did she go if she’s not here?”

  “I’m not sure exactly. When she was here she asked about Megan’s friends, and it turned out that one of them is being held here, in the detainment sector. Your wife went in and spoke with her and I think she must have learned something of your daughter from her. They left here to go somewhere else in search of her.”