End of the Road

by LS Hawker

  As they sat down to dinner, Jade was surprised at how high everyone’s spirits were. Maybe the idea of doing something so naughty, of defying the National Security Agency, energized them, the thought of sneaking out in the middle of the night. And maybe having all their secrets revealed lifted a weight from them too.

  They tried to eat, but nerves got the better of them and they couldn’t quite seem to choke down much, except for Elias, who ate everything on his plate, and then everything left on Jade’s and Olivia’s plates.

  “You’re a beast,” Jade said to him. He smiled and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

  Jade and Olivia cleared the table and did the dishes while Elias and Berko set up the board game The Settlers of Catan. Through the rest of the evening, they argued over anime and comic books, sending each other into giggle fits every so often.

  Jade couldn’t quiet her heart, which was on full alert, banging away in her chest. She could practically hear it thumping and thudding.

  She’d give anything to talk to her mom. To Dad. To Clem. But especially to Dan. He’d know what to do. But she consoled herself that she would be talking to him in a few hours, once they were safely away.

  Olivia glanced at her phone. “I’m exhausted,” she said. “I’m going to bed.”

  “Good night,” Jade said. “I think I’ll hit the hay too.”

  They all nodded at each other, eyes terrified and alert.

  “Good night,” Elias said, stretching melodramatically, so much so that Jade worried he’d dislocate his shoulder. “See you in the morning.”

  “I’m tired too,” Berko said. They trooped up the stairs and they gave each other meaningful glances as they each disappeared into their rooms.

  Jade paced her room. Set her phone alarm for one forty-five a.m. Then she took off her shoes and stretched out on her bed, but she expected sleep to elude her.

  Next thing she knew, her phone was buzzing silently in her pocket. She had indeed fallen asleep, but now she was as awake as she had ever been. She slipped on her shoes and admired her room. This had been home for weeks, and now she was leaving it. She despaired as she realized she’d have to leave her posters, family photos, and books. But all those could be replaced. She was sad to leave, but sadder she’d been fooled into doing this at all.

  She slowly and quietly opened her door and tiptoed out into the dark hall. Elias and Berko were already there. Elias tapped his watch and pointed at the other door. Jade went to Olivia’s and knocked as softly as she could. The door opened and Olivia held up a one-minute finger in Jade’s direction. She put her phone in her pocket and tightened her shoelaces, then followed Jade out the door. They filed down the stairs as silently as possible.

  Jade feared the door would trigger an alarm, but Elias opened it with abandon. No noise erupted and they left the house. Berko peeled off from them and went behind the house, having been tasked with creating a diversion. The other three walked toward the office building. They’d predetermined they would take the stairs, since the noise of the elevator could have woken up their jailers. Jade didn’t even know where the stairs were, but luckily Elias did. They all followed him to the door, and he placed a silencing finger to his lips before slowly turning the doorknob. For some reason, Jade was afraid she would burst into laughter.

  She also started to wonder how they were going to get away. They were miles from anything, and very little traffic went by the Compound. She’d seen a propane truck or two, some tractors, some pickup trucks, but not much else. She should have packed some food and water. She guessed they could raid the conference room refrigerator.

  The eerie hum of the lab, electronics and fans, met their ears as they exited the stairwell. Elias went to flip on the lights, but Olivia put a hand on his arm and shook her head. They’d need to work by monitor light. They stole into the lab and sat at their workstations. Jade booted up her computer.

  A new password screen appeared. Apparently the higher-ups had been busy little bees last night. Jade brought up the terminal and typed several different commands into it, which took her into the back end of the system. Did they really think they could stop her from getting in? She navigated to the work directory where they stored all their files.

  It was blank.

  Empty.

  Nothing.

  She typed in the command to access her and Elias’s system back door. It was gone. The NSA files.

  All gone.

  “Oh, shit,” she murmured. She turned to Elias, who was typing. He turned and met her gaze. He’d discovered the disappearance too.

  Olivia wheeled over to her. “What is it?”

  Jade pointed at the screen.

  “What does that mean?” Olivia whispered.

  “It means they’ve removed our files. They’re not here.”

  Olivia stared at her, the glow of the monitor making her skin appear dark green. “You must be looking in the wrong place.”

  “No. This is the directory.”

  “Can you do a search?” Olivia said. “Surely the files aren’t gone, just moved. After the near-mutiny today, maybe they figured they’d better move everything in case we tried something like this.”

  Jade did a search and found nothing. She opened her drawer to pull out the backup drive, but to her horror, it too was gone.

  “Elias,” she whispered. “Do you have your backup drive?”

  He opened all the drawers of his desk. “No,” he whispered. “They’re all gone.”

  “Does this mean they have other coders and engineers shadowing us?” Olivia asked.

  “Doing their own tests with the program? Have they figured out how to use it and don’t need us anymore?”

  “That would mean we’re dead already,” Jade said. The poisonous thoughts that circled her brain threatened to immobilize her. “There’s nothing we can do. We have to go now.”

  She traded glances with the other two, and the haze of fear strangled her.

  “Okay,” Olivia whispered. “Let’s go.”

  They shuffled out of the lab and to the stairwell and ascended the staircase to the ground floor.

  Outside, they trooped around to the back of the office building, where Berko stood with a controller in his hands.

  What was he planning to do? Jade couldn’t think about it, had to trust he’d come up with a suitable diversion.

  “Ready?” he whispered. “This is going to get loud, but don’t let it distract you, no matter what you hear. As soon as you hear the noise, proceed.”

  Olivia nodded. “As soon as you do whatever you’re going to do, I’ll go first, and Jade, you’re second. Wait until I’m over and out of sight before you start for the fence. Got it?”

  She turned to leave, but Jade caught her arm. “Maybe—maybe we shouldn’t—”

  Olivia smiled at her. “It’s going to be okay. Trust me. It’s going to be fine. No matter what happens. You’ll see.”

  Berko walked away from them to the east side of the building and Jade heard the whir of drone blades moving away from them toward the other end of the Compound fence. Berko came back into view, guiding the drone with his controller.

  They watched as Olivia walked toward the house and go around it. She reappeared again on the other side.

  BOOM!

  Jade retracted her head into her shoulders, looking around, and realized Berko’s speaker was blasting out the sounds of warfare high over the Compound. Immediately several sets of feet were pounding off in that direction, away from them.

  Jade whirled around and watched Olivia run toward the fence, away from the racket that had easily drawn all the guards.

  Olivia approached the fence, and glanced over both shoulders before she rubbed her hands together and reached for it.

  At that moment, with the sounds of automatic gunfire, TNT blasts, rocket explosions, and atomic bombs detonating behind her, Jade was overcome with fear the fence would electrocute her friend. She opened her mouth to shout, but Berko slapped a hand over her mout
h, painfully.

  Olivia reached out, grabbed hold of some links, and hoisted herself up.

  Jade began breathing again as Olivia ascended quickly higher and higher. And then she was at the top and jumping to the ground on the other side of the fence. She ran and disappeared into the darkness.

  Elias watched in the opposite direction. “Hurry,” he said to Jade. “They’re not going to be fooled for long. Go!”

  Euphoric, Jade pushed off and ran. Halfway to her goal, Olivia burst from the darkness, running back toward them, sprinting really, a look of terror on her face. Her blue hair flew out behind her.

  “Someone’s out there!” she shouted and sprang onto the fence, climbing faster than the first time and made it all the way to the top.

  Then Olivia went rigid, and Jade spun around, expecting to see guards running toward them, but she saw nothing. Turning back, she saw Olivia clinging to the top of the fence. A Rorschach of red fanned out on her chest, her mouth wide in a silent scream.

  Time stood still as Olivia hung there. A spotlight illuminated from across the Compound, and in that bright light, Jade watched the Rorschach grow on the front of Olivia’s white shirt. Olivia stopped moving, and then she dropped to the ground beyond the fence.

  In the chaos of the fake explosions, Jade hadn’t detected the real gunshots that had ripped into Olivia’s torso.

  Jade screamed and the boys yelled. They all ran toward the fence when an electrically amplified voice said, “Stop! Don’t go any farther. Stay where you are.”

  Jade couldn’t stop screaming. Her friend. Her friend needed help.

  When Jade ran out of breath, the Compound went eerily silent. No more explosions or detonations. She now heard footsteps coming from the northeast and two men in fatigues ran toward her. One of them shouted, “Go in the house!”

  They did as they were told, stumbling in shock toward the back door of the house.

  Martin was coming in the front door as they came in the back.

  “Are you all right?” he asked them. “What happened? Where’s Olivia?”

  Berko stared dumbfounded at Martin. “She was . . . shot! She’s shot!”

  Jade looked out the kitchen window, trying to ascertain what was going on out there.

  Martin’s face clouded. “I warned you. I told you to stay in the Compound. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you—there are people out there who are trying to stop this project, and they’ll do anything to accomplish that goal. Up to and including—I thought I made this clear—killing you all if necessary.”

  “You never,” Jade said, turning away from the window, her words coming out in bursts, “ever said they would try to kill us. You never said that.” She wanted to bash his face in. She wanted to destroy something. Her friend had been shot.

  He pulled out his phone and dialed. “Did you find them?” he demanded, then his eyes tracked back and forth as he listened. “What? No. Oh shit.” His eyes flicked to Jade’s and then away again. He turned and murmured something into the phone she didn’t catch. “All right. Keep me posted.”

  From a distance, Jade heard chopper blades.

  Martin listened. “Good. The medevac is almost here. They’ll take her to the nearest hospital.”

  “Who were you talking to just now?”

  “Guards,” Martin said tersely.

  Jade stood crying, uncomprehending what had just happened. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be happening.

  Berko put his arms around her, and Elias looked enraged, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides. Veins throbbed at his temples and sweat covered his face. Jade collapsed against Berko and sobbed.

  “Why was she trying to climb the fence?” Martin asked them.

  “Take a wild guess,” Elias said. “How can you even ask that?”

  Jade heard the helicopter land, its bright lights shining through the back windows, and Jade ran to them and peered out.

  The bright beams blinded her and, for an interminable time, the blades sliced up the light as they presumably loaded Olivia into the chopper. Finally, the helicopter lifted off and the roar and light lessened until they disappeared altogether.

  “I want to go home,” Jade said. She grabbed at Martin’s shirtfront, twisted the fabric in her fists. She was a little girl and she couldn’t think or speak coherently. “I want—to—go—home! Let me go home. Please!”

  “Jade,” Martin said gently, “I’m sorry about this. I am. It’s horrible.”

  The anguish on his face scared her more. He took her wrists in his hands and she let go. Elias stood behind her and she turned toward him and he held her.

  Forty-five minutes later, they were all sitting in the living room, waiting for news, and Jade’s sobs had devolved to gulps and stupid noises she couldn’t stop making. She sat between Berko and Elias, holding both their hands, and Elias whispered alternating Our Fathers and Hail Marys. No one had said anything else since Jade had begged to go home.

  Martin’s phone buzzed and he jumped to his feet. He pressed it to his ear. “Yes?” He listened, nodding. “I see. Thank you.”

  He clicked off and sat back down. “They located the sniper in the field across the road,” Martin said, then hesitated.

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?” Berko said. “What is it?”

  Martin’s face contorted. “They couldn’t save Olivia. She’s gone.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jade struggled to take a breath. But as if she’d been left outside of the airlock without atmosphere, she failed.

  Olivia was dead.

  Berko stood with his arms wrapped around his midsection, breathing in gusts and spurts, trying not to cry and failing. His glasses were fogged up and sweat beaded on his forehead.

  Jade clawed at her throat, trying to force it open and let in oxygen, but her body had been shocked into forgetting how to function.

  Elias put his arms around her. “Breathe, Jade. Just breathe.”

  Oxygen hit her lungs like poisonous gas, burning, and Jade let out a wail. “No!”

  Elias glared at Martin. “What did you get us into?”

  Martin’s barely controlled fury made him talk through clenched teeth.

  “What did I get you into? After the girls were run off the road, it didn’t occur to you that going beyond the fence was dangerous? I made it abundantly clear you were to stay here, but apparently, you four kids put your heads together and decided the guards were here to keep you prisoner, when I expressly said they were here to protect you. Olivia’s death is on your head. On all your heads.”

  Elias’s face fell. “You’re right,” he said. “I should have gone over first. Why didn’t I insist on going first?”

  “Because Olivia always made the rules,” Jade said. She addressed Martin. “Did you call her folks?”

  Apologetic, Martin said, “We can’t until . . .”

  “The project is complete,” Berko said.

  “That’s right. But they may be able to take some comfort that their daughter died in service to her country. We won’t mention she was AWOL.”

  “She wasn’t AWOL because she wasn’t a soldier,” Elias shouted. “She was a med student. She was . . .” He broke down crying.

  “Our friend,” Jade finished for him. She put her arms around his shaking shoulders. He clasped her to his chest, nearly squeezing the breath out of her. But she let him until he was cried out. Then he drew away from her as if embarrassed.

  “Why is all our work gone?” he demanded. “Why did you take it off the server?”

  Martin turned to him. “Because we knew what you were planning to do.”

  Icy fingers wrapped themselves around Jade’s nerves. The NSA had been watching everything. All their plotting now seemed like a child’s fantasy destroyed by the real world.

  “The tests are still running,” Martin said. “We locked you out and moved the files. Your log-ins will be restored, and we’ll restore the files because, Jade and Elias, you�
�ll need to determine how long the program will need to propagate. We’re not going to wait for September eleventh—as soon as it’s ready, we’re going to inject it.”

  “Berko’s done his part,” Jade said. “Why don’t you let him go?”

  Martin shook his head. “Until the project is successful, no one is going anywhere. He’ll be intercepted by the terrorists, and no telling what they’ll do with him. Once it’s over and the Chinese attack is thwarted, you’ll all be national heroes. We’ll let you tell your story.”

  “But wait,” Berko said. “We’ll still be hunted by these domestic terrorists, right? Why would they suddenly lose interest in us? We’re going to be targets for all time.” His fists clenched. “You should have told us. You should have told us.”

  This sank into Jade’s brain. What did that mean? Did it mean they’d never be safe again? That her family wouldn’t be safe?

  “How are you going to protect us once it’s all over?” Jade said. “You can’t. What are you going to do, put us in the equivalent of witness protection? That’s why you’re paying us so much—because our careers are all over. We’ll have no careers, no lives. This is it for us. You son of a bitch.”

  “In wartime,” Martin said, “sacrifices must be made. In any event, until the project is completed, there will be guards posted at the front and back doors of the house. They will walk you to the other buildings as necessary. No one is to go out alone. Do you understand?”

  They all nodded.

  “Now get some sleep,” Martin said. “I’m going to restore the system so it’ll be ready for you in the morning.”

  “But what if the program doesn’t work?” Elias said.

  Martin shrugged. “You’d better pray it does.” And he walked out of the house.

  Jade walked over to Berko and put her arms around him and hugged him. He was stiff at first but he relaxed and returned the hug. Then they went upstairs to their rooms.

  Olivia was gone. Her friend.

  Jade couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think. She kept walking in circles in her room like a dog trying to find a place to bury a bone. She finally lay down on her bed, staring at the poster of Imperator Furiosa, because every time she closed her eyes she saw Olivia dangling from the fence, blood spreading like ink over the front of her shirt. Exhaustion won out around sunrise.