“Go ahead,” Lockship replied.
“I thought you were just destroying the data?” Koran asked with a concerned look on his face.
“Can’t leave that building standing,” Lockship replied.
Hunter clicked the detonator and seconds later an enormous explosion rattled the ground. A plume of smoke slithered into the air as the communications building crumbled in on itself. They watched the destruction for a few seconds then turned and made their way to the helicopter.
“Welcome back,” Frank smiled as they crawled into the cabin.
“So, what did you find?” Lockship asked.
“Not what…who.”
CHAPTER 6
BED OF SPIES
“I don’t get it,” Hunter said as he dropped to one knee. “Why kill this guy and leave him here? If you were trying to cover up something you’d think they’d be a little more careful.”
Lockship scratched his head as he surveyed the scene in confusion. A gray Chevrolet Malibu was smashed into a tree with the door open. The hood was bent in and the shattered windshield was covered in blood.
Inside, a man in a navy-blue suit was slumped over in the driver’s seat with a gunshot to the side of his head. His thin, silver hair was slick with blood and a pair of glasses balanced on the end of his hooked nose. He had a security ID for the command center still clinging to his coat and a wrinkled piece of paper was clutched in his right hand.
“They panicked,” Lockship said. “They must’ve heard the helicopter coming and they got the hell out of dodge.”
“Maybe,” Koran added as he reached over the body and unraveled his fingers, slipping the piece of paper away. “But this could mean a lot of things.”
Casually he straightened up, then held the bloodstained piece of paper to his eyes and swallowed.
“They know…get out!”
It read in a haphazard scribble. Koran furrowed his brow then looked up and found Lockship and Hunter gazing at him with interest.
“What’s it’s say?” Lockship asked.
Koran handed him the paper and he read it aloud in an overly dramatic tone.
“What the hell does that mean?” Hunter barked. “Who knows? What do they know?”
“None of this is making any damn sense,” Lockship said and pulled the ID badge off the dead man. “Why the hell is…Tom Barker dead on the side of the road in the first place?”
“This guy isn’t Tom anything,” Randall suddenly said in a shocked voice.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You don’t know who this is? His face has been plastered all over the news for the last few months. Sergey something or another…the Russian ambassador.”
“What?” Lockship gasped.
“Yeah. How could you have missed it? I swear every morning they had this guy up here complaining about peace talks and economics. You can’t forget a nose like that.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” Lockship asked sternly, inching closer to Randall.
“Look, this dead guy right here, is the same guy they had on the news. I’m positive about that. He’s lived on my TV with a little label under his head that said Russian ambassador every morning.”
“Fuck!” Lockship yelled and banged his fists on the roof of the car.
“Do you think they know?” Hunter asked.
“I…I don’t know.”
Randall shifted uncomfortably, his eyes jittering around like pinballs. “What’s going on? What does this mean?”
“We’ve gotta find them,” Lockship said, continuing his conversation with Hunter. “They’re probably still be in the area. They didn’t get what they came for…we gotta make sure they don’t.”
“Whoa, whoa slow down cowboy,” Koran jumped in. “We came to destroy some documents and you guys more than did that. We didn’t come to go on a wild goose chase, looking for…what the hell are we even looking for?”
“A convoy? A tactical unit?” Hunter replied. “Enough people to take out a base.”
“Did you see that fucking base Hunter? They had to have air support and some major ordinance to do that. What the hell are we gonna do when we find a unit like that?”
“This isn’t rocket science, it’s the fucking Russians, but they aren’t gonna move until they know the location.”
“That’s enough Hunter,” Lockship stepped in.
“Let him finish. We deserve to know what the hell is going on.”
“This isn’t a debate,” Lockship said.
“Oh, it is,” Koran snapped. “I agreed to this boy scout trip, so we could get to the Mayflower. That’s what we need to do. The clock is ticking, ain’t it? We need to forget about all of this and get back to the naval base before they leave us.”
“Not that your opinion matters, cause it doesn’t, but if the location of the Mayflower is compromised, what do you think happens then? There’s no army there, hell there’s barely an armory. We can’t allow the location to get out. It’s that simple. So, we’re gonna track down this group of assholes and kill them.”
Koran shot him daggers then turned around and stormed off.
“Where the hell are you going?”
“I’ll be waiting on the helicopter,” Koran shouted back.
Randall frowned then shrugged his shoulders. He grabbed his bag from the ground and followed Koran.
“Are we on the same page here?” Hunter asked after Randall was out of earshot.
“Yeah, I don’t trust either one of those assholes.”
“You really think we can track them?”
“Lockship took a deep breath and nodded. “I hope so. At least we know what happened to the cutter.”
“The Russians…this whole time, right under our nose.”
“Come on,” Lockship said and started back to the helicopter. “Koran was right about one thing, the clock is ticking.”
CHAPTER 7
MANHUNT
“Did you make the call back to the base?” Lockship asked as the helicopter rose higher into the air.
“Yes sir. I don’t think they were all too happy, but they’re holding,” Frank replied.
“Good…good.”
“This is bullshit,” Koran shouted. “We’ve been out here long enough.”
“It’s been ten minutes,” Hunter replied.
“Ten minutes too long. We don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
They circled the surrounding area, hovering just above the tree line. Staring down in the fields, they searched for any movement, any sign of life. But the world was a much colder and lonelier place than it had been before.
Narrow streams carved across the land like they’d been drawn with pencils. Empty roads and deserted buildings speckled the motionless landscape. An orange glow danced across the horizon. There was only an hour or so of daylight left and even that was fading fast.
“We should head back,” Randall said after a long silence. “We need…I need to check on my family.”
No one responded, and Randall slumped back in his seat. Huffing, he bit his nails then turned to the window and looked down into the murky water as they passed over a small pond.
“Set us down,” Lockship suddenly shouted.
“What?” Frank asked.
“Land this fucking helicopter Frank! Right now!”
“Jesus, Roger that sir!”
Without another word, Frank made a wide pass over the trees and spun around. The helicopter shook then quickly started to descend toward a clearing across the pond in some sort of nature park.
As soon as they touched down, Lockship swung open the door and jumped out. He rushed across the field and sped down a trail that snaked back toward the area they’d just flown over.
“Captain!” Hunter screamed. Scrambling, he grabbed his bag and jumped out of the door. His feet had barely hit the ground and he was off, chasing after Lockship.
“What the hell is this?” Koran groaned. “Frank?”
“No clu
e. He gives orders, I take them,” Frank replied with a shrug.
Koran grumbled then tapped Randall on the shoulder. “I think we better follow them.”
Randall begrudgingly stood up and followed Koran out of the helicopter. Frank and Jacob started to power down the bird, wondering just how long they’d be waiting this time.
“We’ll be here,” Frank called out.
Koran smirked then hurried across the field and started down the trail. Lockship had run pretty far ahead and by the time they cleared the wide spanning branches they could barely see Hunter as he tried to chase him down.
“What the hell is going on?” Koran shouted after him.
Without a response, Hunter vanished around the bend. Koran and Randall sped up as their confusion turned to fear and anger. After running all out for nearly five minutes they found Hunter and Lockship standing in a clearing, looking at something across the field.
“Lockship!” Koran yelled.
Lockship looked over his shoulder and growled through clamped teeth, “Shut the fuck up!”
He turned back and stared into a cluster of wild, twisted bushes. His eyes were wide, the expression on his face unreadable. Methodically, he gripped his rifle and brought it to his shoulder. He stared down the sights then slowly moved forward.
“What the fuck?” Randall whispered to Koran.
Koran shrugged then quietly fell in line as Hunter mimicked Lockship’s movements. Randall hesitantly did the same.
Stealthily they moved across the field toward an unknown fate, relying completely on Lockship. As they inched closer and closer to the thicket Randall could make out an object hidden deep behind the leaves and intertwined branches.
“What is that?” Randall mumbled.
Lockship suddenly paused and took a knee. “Get down!” he quietly screamed to the rest of the group.
Crouching, they looked to Lockship with confused faces. He shook his head from side to side then made a circular movement with his finger. Koran and Hunter simultaneously spread out and started to scan the area around them. Randall held is hands in the air and wrinkled his face in bewilderment.
“Just keep your head down you idiot,” Lockship mumbled.
Turning back toward the bushes, Lockship moved forward with his rifle aimed into the brush. With one hand gripping his weapon, he reached out with his other and clawed through the branches as he forced his way deeper.
He tore and ripped at the branches, carving a narrow trail through the thick, jungle-like vegetation. Up ahead a beam of light glanced off the sideview mirror of a car and he knew it was what he’d seen from the helicopter.
“Keep watch,” Hunter turned to Koran and said then followed after Lockship.
The black sedan had been hastily hidden. Someone had stowed the car there in a hurry, but if it hadn’t been for the mirrors angled upward it probably would’ve never been found.
“Sir,” Hunter called out as he approached.
“Look at this,” he replied.
Hunter stumbled down the cleared path then rounded the back of the car. He had his rifle ready as he scanned the surrounding bushes. He knew something wasn’t right, but he swallowed and started pacing around the vehicle.
“Government plates,” he announced.
Breathing heavily, Lockship pressed his face up against the glass and looked inside. The car was empty, except for a duffle bag on the back seat. He stepped back and pulled at the door handle, but it was locked.
Raising his gun, he bashed the stock into the window and it shattered with an echoing crash. Koran and Randall whipped their heads around in an anxious blur.
“Everything okay?” Koran yelled to them.
“Keep watch!” Lockship shouted back.
Koran mumbled angrily under his breath then turned back toward the field and looked around. There was nothing, no animals, no birds, just an eerie silence that seemed to follow them everywhere they went.
Lockship took a deep breath then reached into the backseat of the car. He brushed the shards of broken glass off the bag then pulled it out.
“What’d you find?” Hunter asked.
“Not sure yet.”
Kneeling, he dropped the bag and yanked open the zipper. He reached inside and pulled out a stack of thin, folded pages. He opened them slowly and read over the first few lines of writing.
“Schematics,” he said in a low voice. “Of the command center…and some coast guard base in Baltimore.”
“What?”
“They have the communications building circled.”
Hunter stepped around the car and knelt next to Lockship. He looked over the schematics in confusion. They didn’t even make sense to him, so he turned his attention to the tattered duffle bag on the ground.
“What’s this?” he asked and reached inside. He pulled out a stack of passports held together by a rubber band.
Lockship grabbed them and ripped the rubber band off. He thumbed through the pages, staring at each picture and scrutinizing the stamps that would’ve fooled someone else. “They’re fake,” he said angrily.
Hunter took them back and stared at the pictures. Middle-aged white men in gray suits that would’ve blended into any crowd. “You think these guys are Russian?” he asked. “Maybe Randall was right.”
Lockship didn’t respond. He continued looking through the papers, mumbling curse words under his breath. He flipped another page then stopped and jumped to his feet like the ground was on fire.
“They’re heading to the base!” he spat angrily.
“What base? What are you talking about?” Hunter asked.
Fuming, Lockship shoved a wrinkled piece of paper at him. Hunter straightened it out against his chest and flipped it around. It was the schematics for the Naval base in West Palm. Hunter gasped then looked up at Lockship.
“How the hell could they know? We just got there.”
Lockship didn’t respond. He dropped his rifle and let it hang from the harness around his neck. With a blank look, he replayed everything in his head. Every chance encounter, every off-cuff remark. Every suspicion he’d ever had, but chose to ignore.
Cursing, he turned around and glared back toward Randall and Koran. His hands were shaking as he pulled his pistol from its holster and racked the slide to chamber a round.
“Captain?” Hunter said in an unsure voice. “Lockship what are you doing?”
Lockship fumed and contorted his face then stormed back through the bushes toward the clearing. “Hey!” he shouted angrily. “Hey you asshole!”
“Captain?” Hunter yelled desperately and took off after him.
“It was you wasn’t it?” Lockship roared as he aimed his gun at Randall. “It was you the whole time.”
CHAPTER 8
THE LONG ROAD
“What are you guys up to?” Melinda asked as she poked her head inside of the room.
“Just talking,” David replied with a stoic look on his face.
Melinda smiled then stepped inside. She kissed him on the head then did the same to Charlie, swallowing back her sorrows.
“What’s wrong mom?” Charlie asked.
“Nothing,” Melinda lied as she wiped the tears from her face.
She’d cried herself to sleep nearly every night and succumbed to her depression every time she had a few moments of silence. The quiet moments always killed. That was the time for reflection, the time that memories crept their way out of the corners of her mind and shouted down every hope she had for survival.
As she watched David and Charlie she realized how close she’d come to losing them. She realized that no matter how hard she tried, there were some things she couldn’t protect them from. Sniffling, she kissed them again and headed for the door.
“I’ll be right back,” she said.
Closing the door behind her, she turned and leaned her back against the wall. She let her face fall into her hands and for a moment she tried to empty her mind and forget everything. It didn’t work.
“Mom?” Alistair called out.
She opened her eyes and found him walking down the corridor towards her. She forced a smile onto her face and straightened up.
“Hey honey. I thought you and Ashley were with the other kids in the cafeteria.”
“Yeah, they’re still there. Everything okay?”
Melinda nodded. Reaching out, she opened her arms and Alistair stepped forward and hugged her. She buried her face into his shoulder and sighed.
“I just don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”
Alistair swallowed. “It’s gonna be okay mom,” he said in a quivering voice. “We’re all still together.”
“I know, I know.”
Sniffling, Melinda pulled away and rubbed her hands on his shoulders. She stared up into his eyes and felt a sense of pride at the man he had become. He wasn’t her baby anymore, but behind his stoic gaze there was still an innocence that she hoped he could cling onto.
“I’m gonna see what’s going on with everything. How is Ashley doing…and the other kids?”
“She’s confused. Scared…everyone is scared. I just wish we knew more.”
“I’ll come check on you guys in a little bit.”
Alistair smiled then turned and headed back down the walkway. Melinda stared after him, her head swimming with mixed emotions from pride to complete failure. She was supposed to keep them safe, she was supposed to take the pain from them. She felt like she’d failed them.
“They can take anything can’t they?” a voice said from behind her.
Melinda turned and found Thomas standing a few feet away, leaning against the wall. He swept the wild strands of black and silver hair from his face then rubbed his hand across the stubble on his chin
“What?” Melinda asked.
“Kids. Doesn’t matter what happens, they bounce right back. You know?”
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Not too long. I didn’t want to intrude.”
“What’s your name again?”
Thomas straightened up and held out his hand. “Sorry, Chief…Thomas, just Thomas.”
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