by Kenny Soward
Unfortunately, he would never get to ask the woman if his assumptions were true.
“If it is far,” Boris said in his thick German accent, “I may only be a burden on the operation. Perhaps I should stay here. I could stay and look after Sam.” Boris gestured to the woman. “She may come out of it yet. And it would be good to have her should you lose any more soldiers.”
Yi studied the German doctor. He was worse than Katrya in many ways. A predator. A coward who waited on the strong to become incapacitated before inflicting his sick proclivities upon them.
“Unfortunately, our final mission has only one possible outcome. We will not be coming back.” Yi spun and snapped his pistol up, pointing it at Boris’s head. The doctor gasped and raised his hands as if the flesh of his palms could stop the inevitable.
“And, as you said. You will only be a burden on our operation.”
“No, don’t—”
Yi squeezed the trigger and put a bullet between the doctor’s eyes.
Before Boris’s body hit the floor, Yi turned to Sam and trained his sights on her forehead.
For a moment, he wondered if he should let her live. Worst-case scenario, she would remain in a coma and slowly die of starvation. Best case, she’d wake up dazed and disoriented, but with a slim chance of survival.
He imagined her finding food, clothing, and shelter by the graciousness of some kind citizen. Perhaps she could somehow slip into American society, find a new identity, and start her life over. Maybe if she was far enough away from the Box, the implant in her head could not be triggered to explode.
Yi shook his head. It was silly to dream of such things for Sam, or any of them. They’d chosen how they would honor their own lives through their actions. Changing that would only bring dishonor. As their leader, Yi could give his soldiers only one choice. Follow orders and die with honor.
Yi straightened his arm and squeezed the trigger.
Chapter 21
Jake, Gatlinburg, Tennessee | 7:01 p.m., Wednesday
“I really appreciate your hospitality,” Captain Stern said, looking back and forth between Jake and Sara.
The captain sat at the kitchen table across from the hacker, Spitz. Sara sat to her right, although Barbara and Todd had been asked to leave the cabin due to the sensitivity of the operation. The fact that Sara and Jake had been allowed to stay made Jake nervous, since it could potentially put them in danger. Jake paced the room, sometimes playing with the dogs, sometimes topping off everyone’s coffee or making a fresh pot when necessary.
While he genuinely appreciated the military protection, he hoped they would be leaving soon. He wanted his home back, some peace and quiet, and time to sort out what had happened to all of them. The weather was growing colder, so they had to make preparations for the winter months and figure out what they would do in the spring if grocery stores weren’t resupplied by then.
If Jake was being honest with himself, he didn’t want to ever rely on the “system” again. This was the push they needed to become fully self-sufficient and live off the grid.
They just needed the space to do it.
And what about all of Sara’s new friends? Dion, Natasha, Karen, Kayla, and the rest of the Good Folk? Would they be going home after this? Would they stay? What about the entire Tennessee Valley? Jake and Sara would do everything they could for the people of the area. After all, Jake and Sara would likely abandon their home in Alabama and call Tennessee home. Though, they would need to carefully balance helping others with keeping their own family safe and sound. While they hadn’t officially talked about it yet, he was sure Sara would agree.
“It’s really rustic and cozy,” Captain Stern continued. “I love the high ceilings.”
“Thanks,” Sara replied. “It was nice having complete control over the process from beginning to end. While we’re not construction experts, Jake and I did a lot of reading on how to build a cabin from scratch. Everything from the foundation to the top of the roof is as solid as can be. And we did it at a fairly low cost, too.”
“You’ll have to give me some advice.” Captain Stern leaned her tall form back. “I think my husband and I will be going off the grid after this.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Jake chuckled. “I mean, really off the grid.”
“We have to keep our SatFi though,” Sara said. “I’ll be thankful when you folks give us our service back. I didn’t realize you could just turn off the internet.”
Captain Stern nodded apologetically. “Certain articles allow us to do so during times of martial law. Don’t ask me who gave the order, because I’m not allowed to tell you. Just know that we wouldn’t be able to do it unless the circumstances were dire. Keeping the crawlers from communicating via normal radio transmissions was crucial, especially when we found out many of them were working as organized units within our own borders.”
“That’s unreal,” Sara said.
“You can believe it,” Jake said, recalling when he and Marcy had been captured by X-Gang. “One gang leader I met was talking about some new order. And on the way to Tennessee, I passed several clashes between citizens and crawler sympathizers.” Jake’s face turned red with embarrassment. “I made the mistake of driving right through the middle of one in Harrisburg.”
Stern’s jaw clenched slightly, then she grinned with equal grace. “Rest assured, anyone who initiated violence or sympathized with the crawlers in any way will be sorted out. It might take years, but we’ll see it done.”
“No offense, Captain,” Spitz said, “but anyone who helped the crawlers will simply melt back into regular society when it’s all said and done.”
Jake had just been thinking the same thing, and he wasn’t sure the captain could live up to the promise she’d just made.
“We’ll figure it out,” Jake said, wanting to sound encouraging. “Just like we always do.”
Stern gave Spitz a long look before her eyes fell to her cup again. Even though the kid wasn’t an expert on foreign and domestic terrorism, his words seemed to hit home with the captain. She seemed about to say something when Spitz held up his hand.
“Incoming message,” the hacker said, leaning closer to the screen.
Jake moved to stand behind the kid, looking over his shoulder at the incoming message.
“Please forward it to me,” Stern said as she lifted her digital tablet from the table and woke it up by touching her finger to the screen.
“You got it, Captain.” Spitz struck a few keys to push the message across to her. “Sent.”
“Got it, thanks.”
Jake read the message as it came through. “Central command to Dragon Team via X-82 encryption.” There were a few patterns of unidentifiable code before the message returned to English. “Message start. Yi Peng is promoted to Operations Leader and has full control of remaining team. New mission objective is to take remaining team to coordinates—33.7490° N, 84.3880° W—and deliver the Final Strike contingency. Team is expendable.”
There was more that talked about the pride of the mission and how the soldiers’ names would be remembered forever. Also, the operative named Katrya would go down as a disgrace. From what Sara had told him, that might be an important piece of information for the new operations leader, Yi. Especially considering Yi had tried to kill Katrya.
“What in the world does “Final Strike contingency” mean?” Sara asked, her brow wrinkled in question.
“It means they’re going all in,” Stern said.
“A final mission.” Jake nodded. “Something big.”
Captain Stern was still staring at her tablet screen, eyes going over the words once more before she began shaking her head in what Jake thought was disbelief.
“What is it, Captain?” Jake asked.
“That’s a Chinese contingency from the Cold War,” Stern said, her words growing distant as her eyes narrowed. Then she seemed to come to a conclusion, and she started tapping on her tablet with haste. “I’m going to
forward this up the chain. The president needs to see this.”
Jake and Sara exchanged a look, and Sara mouthed the word “president” with wide eyes. Rex came over to sit next to Jake. The dog gave a slight whine, and Jake reached down to rustle Rex’s fur absently.
After Stern was finished forwarding the message, Jake asked, “What do you think it means, Captain?”
“It’s a nuclear option,” Spitz offered, then he shrank under Stern’s withering glare. “Hey, we’re among friends here, right?”
“I’m not worried about Jake and Sara,” Stern said. “I’m just surprised you know so much.”
“History and foreign policy are hobbies of mine,” Spitz straightened in his chair. “Especially espionage, obviously. This kind of thing is right up my alley.”
“You could have told me that when we picked you up,” Stern said, flatly.
“It wasn’t like I had a lot of time. A chopper landed in my backyard. Soldiers busted into our house and yanked me out of the basement. They scared the crap out of my parents by the way.”
“Sorry about that,” Stern conceded, then she turned to Jake. “He’s right. It could be a nuclear option.”
“What, like another dirty bomb?”
Stern’s eyes grew cold as she looked at Jake, sending a shudder of fear through his heart. “No. I’m talking a real nuke. One that could wipe out a city. All we can do is wait for word from the top.” Stern gestured helplessly.
It didn’t take long for US Central Command to get back to them. Captain Stern’s tablet buzzed quietly as a new message came in. The captain read it two or three times before laying the device on the table and straightening in her chair. Then she folded her hands on the table and addressed everyone present.
“Intelligence agrees they have a nuke,” the captain said. “Those coordinates are for Atlanta, Georgia.”
“Great,” Jake said with a sinking heart. Rex licked at his hand, and Jake knelt down to ruffle the animal’s head and pull him closer as he processed the information.
“How many people are in Atlanta?” Sara’s voice was small.
“Half a million in the city,” Jake said, standing again. “I was at a tech conference in Atlanta less than a year ago, so I know a few useless facts about the city. It’s probably closer to six million in the metropolitan area.”
Captain Stern nodded just as her tablet buzzed again. “Ah, here are our orders.” Stern’s eyes scanned the words all the way to the bottom of the screen, then she gave the message one more read before she tapped a few things on the pad and stood quickly.
Spitz stood with her and started to pack up the laptop and crawler transmitter.
“What’s going on?” Jake asked, putting his hands on his hips. He figured this was the end of his time with the United States military. Captain Stern would take her troops and leave the area, presumably to head off the crawlers on their way to Atlanta.
“We’re deploying several special forces units to the greater Atlanta area,” Stern said. “Including my forces stationed at White Pine. In the meantime, the government is authorizing all internet and cellular providers to bring their services online if they can. We need to get word to everyone in Atlanta that they need to evacuate ASAP.”
Jake nodded as his suspicions were confirmed. “That’s great news about communications coming back online. I’m sure it will help. I wish you luck in Atlanta, Captain. A lot of people are depending—”
“Want to take another helicopter ride?” she asked, brow raised in question.
Jake and Sara shared a look of equal dread. Jake turned back to the captain to immediately reply, but Sara was one step ahead of him.
“My husband just came back to me, Captain Stern,” Sara said. While nearly a foot shorter than the captain, Jake’s wife was no less imposing. “So, I’m afraid you can’t have him. His family needs him. I need—”
“A half a million people in Atlanta need him.” Stern’s tone was flat and commanding, and Jake could see how she’d earned her captain’s rank. “Not to mention the millions in the metropolitan area who might be affected by a large nuclear blast. I’m not even sure you’ll be safe all the way up here on Pine Bluff Road.”
“I understand,” Sara said, her tone almost pleading. “But Jake isn’t military. He’s not a soldier.”
“I’ve got a nuclear bomb specialist stationed in Washington to assist,” Stern said, “but he’s never seen crawler wiring, much less played around in it. Jake has. He got their transmitter working. He may be the only one who can dismantle this bomb.”
“I understand, but—”
“I’m afraid it’s not a request,” Stern added. “It’s an order. You’ve got fifteen minutes until the chopper arrives to take us to Atlanta.”
The tall captain opened the front door and strode outside without looking back.
Sara turned away, her eyes wide and glazed over with moisture. She stepped forward with a look of defeat, slowly putting her arms around Jake and squeezing. He hugged her back, relishing how she felt against his body.
“I’m sorry, honey,” Jake apologized, although his own insides felt like they were being torn out. “I really am. The last place I want to go is Atlanta.”
“Captain Stern is right.” Sara’s words were muffled as she spoke into his shirt. She lifted her face to reveal her cheeks were wet with tears. Yet, there was a stoic hardness in her eyes. “You’ve got a duty to those people, and I’m being selfish for wanting you to stay. For wanting you all to myself.”
Jake hugged her tighter. “You’re not being selfish, and I love you, Sara.”
“I love you, too. Just please come back to me. I can’t—”
“I will, honey,” Jake assured her. “I will.”
“Hey, if you guys are all done, I could use some help.” Jake turned his head and saw Spitz standing by the kitchen table where he was packing up the laptop and crawler transmitter. He flexed his arm and then gestured at Jake. “This stuff is a little heavy.”
“Right,” Jake said with a sigh.
Chapter 22
Rita, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Rita’s Uncle Tex lived not far from his boot shop on the outskirts of Sevierville. The simple, two-story home sat upon the side of a hill nestled away from the road. Her uncle enjoyed the seclusion without being too far from the city and his place of business, and Rita hadn’t appreciated that strategy until now.
By the time she pulled up the isolated driveway, the main road had disappeared, and she felt instantly safer. The driveway wound around to the back of the house where Rita pulled in behind an old, beat-up Ford truck. She put her Honda in park and looked around.
She remembered the old Ford from her last visit. It hadn’t run in years, and Uncle Tex’s other car was gone. That meant he probably wasn’t home. There were no signs of a break-in—all the windows were intact—and the back door was tightly closed.
“Think it’s safe, Mom?” Bobby Junior asked as he glanced around the yard and up into the woods.
“It looks like it.” Rita took one more look around before quietly opening her door and sliding out, saying, “You know the drill, Bobby Junior.”
Approaching Uncle Tex’s house carefully, Rita crossed a concrete patio to a set of sliding glass doors. The last time Rita had been here, there’d only been a single back door, so the sliding doors must have been semi-recent. She put her hand to the glass and peered inside. She could see into the kitchen area and most of the living room. Tex still owned his old green furniture and squeaky, wobbly recliner, but his kitchen looked refurbished, and there was a new breakfast bar dividing the two rooms.
“Looks like you’ve been a busy bee, Uncle Tex,” Rita said. She tried to slide the back door open and wasn’t surprised to find it was locked.
Rita began trying all the windows on the back and sides of the house to see if she might find one open. She used a patio chair to stand on to reach the higher windows, but everything was locked down tight. Rita went out to t
he edge of the patio and picked up a decorative brick that had been shaved down to a fist-sized fragment. She turned and looked at all the windows along the back of the house, trying to decide which one would be best to smash. Rita wasn’t particularly athletic, so the best choice would be something low that she could climb into without too much trouble.
Deciding upon one of the basement windows, Rita stepped back and cocked the brick.
“Sorry again, Uncle Tex,” she said before letting the brick fly with a grunt. It struck the mulched ground and bounced harmlessly against the glass, much to Rita’s dismay. With a soft curse, she picked the brick up and tried again.
This time, the brick fragment blasted through the glass and into the basement with a thud.
“Yes!” Rita hissed and pumped her fist, then she went to Uncle Tex’s storage shed and found a broom with which she swept all the glass away.
She took off her jacket and placed it across the bottom of the window frame so she wouldn’t scratch her stomach trying to get in. Rita turned around, backed up to the window, and went down on all fours. She started to put her feet through the opening but then looked up and saw Bobby Junior watching her with his mouth hanging open. Both of the girls’ faces were pressed against the glass as they looked on.
Rita gave them a thumbs-up and a smile before crawling backwards into the hole. She wiggled and squirmed until her .357 got caught on the lip, so she rolled to the side a little bit in order to liberate the weapon, holding it in her hand as she slid the rest of the way inside.
Having no idea how far it was to the floor, Rita used one hand to anchor herself while her feet kicked out over the open space. Finally, she could hold on no longer, and she let herself drop. The ground met her feet hard, and she stumbled away from the wall, windmilling her arms until she regained her balance.
“Not bad balance,” Rita said to herself, feeling pleased that she had not fallen and busted her tailbone. She got out her flashlight, turned it on, and looked around.
