by E S Richards
“Dixon,” Mr. Wilson hissed from beside him, the man unarmed and unprepared for this sort of incident. “What’s going on?”
“Hard to say, sir. Sounds like a break-in.”
“A break-in?” Wilson was notably surprised, the reasons why anyone would want to break into the White House rapidly escaping him in the sudden moment of confusion. He paused for a second, letting his mind revert back to his official role and thinking through the correct procedure. Straightening his tie, he nodded to Dixon, the plan falling into place. “Activate protocol LIMA, TANGO, ECHO.”
Furrowing his brow for a second, Dixon let the words wash over him. He knew better than most what that protocol stood for. The tours he had served on in the past dealt specifically with terrorist cells. After a quiet moment of contemplation, Dixon realized that what Mr. Wilson was suggesting could very well be right. Now would be the perfect time for a terrorist cell to try and break into the White House. He was impressed a group could have banded together and executed something so quickly, but he also knew how well those kinds of groups tended to perform under pressure.
Looking to the other soldiers in the room, Dixon saw a mixture of determination and fear in their eyes. He hadn’t worked directly with any of them before, but he knew they would be prepared to do their duty for their country, just like he was.
“Ready?”
Dixon asked the question to none of them in particular, but each of the other three men nodded their heads in response. With one last look back at Mr. Wilson, Dixon started forward toward the door, pulling it open with his left hand while his right remained wrapped firmly around his pistol.
The hallway outside was in almost complete darkness, the web of rooms that encompassed the White House meaning several of them were without outside windows. Gripping his 9mm, Dixon led the other three soldiers out of the room and turned right. The sound of gunfire was louder in that direction and so he knew that was where they had to go. Adrenaline started to seep into his veins as he thought back to his time in active duty before. His injured knee twitched involuntarily, the reason for his job within the White House. Well, it wasn’t going to hold him back this time. If someone was threatening his country, Dixon Daniels was going to help put a stop to it.
***
Mary cowered in her seat, her hands clasped over her ears as she took several deep breaths to try and stop the throbbing headache she’d been battling all morning. She had planned to spend the day in the library preparing for her midterms, but that morning she’d woken up with a terrible migraine. Her head was pounding and her vision spotted if she moved her head too quickly, causing her to feel dizzy and lightheaded. As a result it had taken her a lot longer to drag herself out of bed and make her way to catch the subway across town.
Dixon was supposed to meet her outside the campus library at the end of the day, but Mary knew that wouldn’t be happening. She’d tried to message him earlier to let him know she was heading to the library later, but hadn’t been able to get any cell signal. Now she knew why. The screams coming from around her were terrifying. Mary wasn’t sure what had happened but could only assume it was some sort of mass power outage. Her subway train had ground to a halt and the entire carriage was now filled with panicked people. This sort of thing happened from time to time, but the power had been out for almost an hour and things were starting to get crazy.
“I’ve got to get out of here!”
A man screamed as he pushed past people in the dark carriage. Without any lights or the power from people’s cells, the subway had been plunged into complete darkness. If it wasn’t for the screaming people, Mary would’ve actually quite enjoyed the dark; bright lights often only made her headaches worse. Sadly though, she couldn’t ignore the pained cries that echoed up and down the subway tunnel, people growing more and more frightened with each passing minute.
The sound of the door being yanked open silenced the cries for a moment, followed by a rush of cool air coming into the carriage from the subway tunnel.
“What are you doing?”
“You can’t go out there!”
“Close the door!”
“Wait, I’m coming too!”
Different shouts bounced off the walls of the metal room where Mary sat as she managed to just make out someone jumping down from the carriage and walking out into the subway tunnel. Her eyes had slightly adjusted to the darkness so it was possible to make out the shapes of bodies, but she had no way of discerning who the voices belonged to.
They kept shouting though and people started to push around Mary’s seat at a faster rate, banging into her legs as she struggled to pick them up out of the way. It was obvious what was going on. Half of the carriage wanted to make a break for the open door while the other half desperately wanted to stay inside. What if the subway started working again and everyone who had left was crushed to death in the tunnels? But what if the power never returned and they were trapped on the subway forever?
Mary squeezed her eyes shut in the darkness and tried to remember the training her father and Dixon had taught her. She focused on the throbbing of her headache and somehow let the dull thud calm her, concentrating her energy on one point rather than the madness unfolding around her. She was trapped in an underground tunnel with a group of strangers and no way of knowing what had caused the problem or what was going on outside. Her father had always told her one thing and one thing repeatedly since she was a young girl.
Knowledge is power, and there is nothing more powerful than the power of speech.
Pushing herself to her feet among the crowd, Mary knew what she needed to do. She needed to find out what was going on and, to do that, she needed to get outside. Fighting her way through the people in her carriage, Mary started to pick her way towards the open door hoping with all her might she was making the right decision. Of all the people trapped in the subway, she had probably received the most training for a situation like this. Now all she had to do was put it to good use.
Chapter 18
Watching her son as he slept, Amy had never wanted to wake him up more. Giles had done an incredible job stitching up James’s shoulder and now the young boy lay peacefully on the bed, his chest moving softly up and down as he recovered. Amy knew they had to discuss what had happened; who had fired at her son and where that person was now? But for the time being, she just wanted to watch her son and thank her lucky stars that he was still breathing next to her.
“How’s he doing?”
Giles poked his head around the bedroom door and leaned against the frame. He had cleaned himself up now too, changed his shirt and discarded the one that was covered in James’s blood. Amy knew she would never be able to thank the man enough for what he had done for her son. Without him her life could already be on a very different path.
“Still asleep,” Amy whispered as she shuffled off the bed and walked towards Giles, the two of them backing out of the room and leaving the young boy alone.
“Thank you so much Giles,” Amy continued once they had moved into the living room. Both of them took a seat on the sofa, which faced away from where James had been shot. “I know I’ve said it already, but you saved my son’s life. For that, I owe you my own.”
“Amy, please,” Giles placed a hand on her knee in a friendly manner. “You don’t need to thank me, I did what was needed. That boy deserves to have a future and he will. He’ll get through this; we all will.”
Amy smiled back at Giles. She wasn’t certain whether the man was referring to the bullet wound, or the greater problems that were unfurling around them, but she channelled his enthusiasm nonetheless. When James was strong enough they would have to leave the resort, just like they had at the country club and South Haven before that. Amy wondered if her life would now turn into a continuous journey, always searching for somewhere safe to spend the night. She had always carried hope for the future and clung onto it with all her might, even in the most difficult of times, but with each passing day, her grasp was gett
ing weaker and weaker.
“How much longer can we stay here, do you think?”
“Hmm,” Giles thought for a moment, lifting his hand from Amy’s knee and bringing it to his face in contemplation. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone when I went out to get the medical supplies, but that doesn’t mean the shooter isn’t still here.”
“Do you think it was someone acting alone?” Amy questioned, finally letting herself think about what had happened. It had been so unexpected, the resort where they hid seeming completely abandoned to them.
“I couldn’t even guess,” Giles sighed. “Why anyone would shoot at a little boy is a complete mystery to me. I don’t know whether perhaps they were aiming at something else and they missed or something weird happened with the gun? I have no idea. It seems so out of place here.”
“But what if it wasn’t an accident? What if someone was trying to hurt James for real?”
Giles turned slightly where he sat and looked toward the open bedroom door. James was surely still asleep; the drugs he had taken were guaranteed to knock him out for hours. Still, he didn’t want to take any chances and shuffled slightly closer to Amy, lowering his voice.
“If it wasn’t an accident, then we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I don’t want to meet the person or people who would willingly do that.”
Amy swallowed. Giles was right. Even though they couldn’t tell whether what had happened to James was an accident or not, they needed to assume the worst. That was the result of this new world they now inhabited; very few people could be trusted, and almost nowhere was safe. As soon as James was awake, they would leave the Dunes Resort. And this time, they wouldn’t be going anywhere unprepared.
***
“Have you got everything?”
“I think so,” Amy nodded, pulling the strap down on her rucksack to fasten everything securely in place. In the final few hours while James slept, Giles had worked absolute wonders in getting them ready to leave the resort. He had snuck out of their lodge several times, gathering supplies from around the area and bringing them back to Amy.
The first thing he collected were two large rucksacks, stored in the expedition room among various other pieces of hiking equipment. There were several beautiful nature trails behind the Dunes Resort and Giles knew there would be ample supplies for guests who wanted to wander along them. After bringing those back to Amy where she waited in the lodge, he had continued to scour the resort in silence, gathering everything the three of them could need for the next part of their journey.
“James,” Giles knelt down on one knee, lowering himself to eye level with the young boy. “Let me check those bandages once more before we head out. How are you feeling? Any pain or discomfort?”
James shook his head, still slightly groggy from the effects of the medicine. Amy was keeping a very close eye on him and would have preferred to allow him bedrest at least through the night, but she and Giles had discussed this. It was best for them to get moving sooner rather than later. If the shooting had indeed been intentional, then nighttime was the perfect time for them to strike again. That meant the three of them needed to be out of the resort and back on their journey before the strangely colored lights revisited the night sky once more.
“It looks good,” Giles nodded. “The stitches are holding together and the skin around them is clean. Let’s make sure it stays covered up outside and I’ll check on it again once we’re out of here.”
“Thank you,” Amy smiled at Giles, once again reminding herself how different things could be for her and her son if Giles hadn’t joined them after the country club. She still hadn’t given him a real chance to talk about what had happened back there with Mel and she could only guess at how difficult everything was for him. She was just thankful he was holding himself together—undoubtedly better than she would in his position.
“You ready, James?”
“Yep,” this time James replied, looking up at his mother and nodding. “I’m ready.”
Gushing with pride, Amy reached down and picked up her rucksack, slinging it over her shoulders and fastening it securely in place. She paused for a moment and remembered her own rucksack, lost in the fires of the country club. A small knot formed in her chest as she thought of the little wooden box that had been inside it and all the things that had been inside there. Gone. She fought to stop tears welling in her eyes as she looked down at her son and sniffed slightly. Now was not the time. Now she had to remain strong. She had to get her son out of the resort where he had been shot and get him on the path to safety. The wooden box was gone but she still had her memories and the chance to make new ones. The future was what was important to Amy now; she couldn’t afford to live in the past.
“Okay then,” she nodded, “let’s go.”
***
As the three of them crept through the resort, Amy kept a firm grip on her son’s hand. Giles was leading their group, apparently taking them out a different way than how they’d come in, but Amy was still on high alert. Her eyes scanned the surrounding trees and lodges, searching for any small movement that would signal another person being around. She tried to shield James’s body from the direction of the other lodges, imagining that if there was someone else in the resort that is where they would be.
“Watch your step here,” Giles whispered from in front of her, “the leaves are a bit slippery.”
Amy heeded the warning and focused more on her own footsteps rather than the surrounding area. It had been weeks since the country had seen any rain and that meant the leaves underfoot were dry and crunched any time someone stepped on them. Unfortunately, that also meant they moved all over the place and on the steep downhill path Giles was taking them on, Amy desperately didn’t want to take a tumble.
With her mind focused on her footing and making sure James made it down the hill okay, it took Amy longer than it should have for her ears to pick up the sound of nearby voices. Immediately she froze, pulling James to a stop beside her. Giles heard the voices too and spun around to face her, a look of worry etched across his own.
Raising a finger to his lips Giles then pointed to a collection of large trees a few feet to their left. As quietly as he could, he started picking his way across to them, doing his best not to make a single sound among the leaves. Once he was safely in position and much more hidden from view he turned back around and beckoned Amy and James over to him. Holding her breath, Amy led her son out into the open, her ears strained all the time and searching for the voices.
“…can’t believe he missed.”
“I know. Seth has been watching that lodge though, and last he said they were still inside it.”
Amy held her breath. It didn’t take a genius to realize the voices were talking about them and they were the people who had shot at her son. In a matter of seconds her blood started to boil and her breathing increased; how could such people fire a gun at her little boy? It took all of Amy’s self-control to remain hidden and not charge out toward the men in a mess of fists and anger.
Forcing herself to calm down, Amy processed what she had just heard. The men were continuing to talk from wherever they were, but merely about their friend Seth who had been watching the lodge. With a slight smirk Amy reminded herself to thank Giles once more when they could speak again. He had the idea of exiting the lodge through the large windows around the back, rather than fleeing through the front door. As a result, the Seth guy who had been watching them seemed to think they were still inside. That could only be a good thing.
As the voices faded into the background, the two men moving further away from where the three of them remained hidden, Amy allowed herself to think deeper about what had transpired. Were there people physically searching for them? Did that mean they had shot James on purpose? What were their intentions in the resort?
Questions continued to spin around in Amy’s head as Giles gestured for her to stand up and continue walking, the voices now impossible to hear. They put one fo
ot in front of the other as they moved, Amy doing what was needed of her but her mind very clearly elsewhere. Eventually the three of them made it down onto what resembled more of a road and Giles paused to remove a water bottle from his rucksack and take a long sip. Amy copied him, offering it first to James before she quenched her own thirst.
“What was that?” She finally whispered as Giles replaced his bottle in the side pocket of his bag. “Who were those people?”
“I don’t know,” Giles shook his head, “but I think we made the right decision in getting out of there.”
“Definitely. I don’t understand how…” Amy trailed off, her words lost as she thought more about what kind of people they’d left behind in Dunes Resort. “I just don’t understand,” she sighed. “Where are we going to go now?”
“Well,” Giles kneeled down in front of James. “Let me just double check this bandage of yours, young man. Then, I suggest we keep heading north. I reckon we walk for a couple of hours before it gets too dark and then find somewhere to spend the night?”
