Sniffling, Amber smiled then reached out and hugged MJ. “Thank you,” she mumbled.
MJ gave her an odd look then hugged her back. She patted her head softly and glanced back to Max and shrugged.
“Everything is gonna be okay,” MJ told her.
Amber nodded then headed back to her table. MJ turned and walked off with Max following along behind her.
“You know there is no way any of their families are still alive. And even if they are, finding them after this is over is impossible.”
“Yeah, I know that. She doesn’t need to.”
Back at the table, Amber sat in silence as she poked her food around with her fork. Daniel reached out and grabbed her hand and she looked up and smiled.
“That’s good news, right?” he asked. “I mean there are other places they could be, safe places.”
“Yeah, it’s better than I thought.”
“It’s good news,” Chase said firmly.
“This is just crazy,” Trevor announced as he swallowed his last bit of food.
“What?”
“Being here…all of it. Is this what you thought it was? I mean, I almost wish we were back on that island.”
“The island that fell apart?” Daniel asked.
“You know what I mean. At least it made sense. And for a while it wasn’t that bad was it?”
There was a wave of silence as each of them thought back to their time on the island. Alistair watched them for a moment then looked away. He was starting to realize that he had as much in common with them as he had with the adults.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he said as he grabbed his tray and stood up.
“Me too,” Ashley added.
“Where you going?” Daniel asked him. “There’s nothing to do around here anyway.”
“Yeah…just looked like you guys were having a moment.”
Daniel laughed at him. “Sit down man, we’re the last teenagers on Earth. We gotta stick together.”
Alistair grinned then sat back down. Frowning, Ashley stared at him.
“Well, I gotta, I just need to go,” she said then walked off.
“That your girlfriend?” Trevor asked. “Because if not…”
Alistair shrugged. “I don’t know what we are.”
“So, what’s your story anyway?” Chase asked. “How’d you guys end up here?”
“Same as everybody, I guess. We’re the lucky ones, right?”
“Yeah, we are, but you must have a pretty kick ass story. Gunshot and all.”
Alistair reached down and brushed his hand over the spot where he’d been shot. He winced as his mind flashed back to the moment it happened. It didn’t feel kick ass at all, it felt like the scariest moment of his life.
He could smell the saltwater, feel it splashing against his face, mixing with tears. He could hear everyone yelling frantically, bartering with fate to keep him alive. He could feel the heartbreak in his mother’s voice and that more than anything sent chills through his arms like he’d been zapped with an electric rod.
The thought of that moment nearly brought him to tears. He thought he was gonna die that day, but it wasn’t the fear of death that scared him the most. It was the fear of leaving, of not seeing his brothers or his parents anymore. It was the fear of not being there when they needed him.
“End of the fucking world,” Antonio said, breaking the silence.
Alistair looked up and wiped a tear from his eyes.
“End of the world and I’m stuck here with you guys. Figures.”
“No one else would have you anyway,” Keyon laughed.
“What about you guys?” Alistair asked. “You all seem to have made it out okay.”
Daniel looked around the table at his group of friends. He hadn’t known them at all when they stepped aboard that cruise ship, but now he felt like he’d known them his entire life.
“It wasn’t all sunshine,” he replied.
Alistair could feel the sadness in his words, so he didn’t press him anymore. “Yeah…I know what you mean.”
Biting his lip, Alistair looked over his shoulder at the table where his parents were sitting. Charlie and David were laughing and giggling like nothing ever happened. Smiling, his parents watched them, but Alistair could see the worry in their eyes. He wished he could be more like his little brothers, more oblivious to the grim reality they faced, but that innocence had been washed away with everything else.
“I can’t do this anymore!” Sherry suddenly snapped as she jumped to her feet.
“What is wrong with you?” Chase growled.
“Seriously? You know exactly what’s wrong. We’re gonna sit here and pretend like our families are still alive. Like we’re gonna go out on some little mission and find them. That’s such bullshit.”
“Sherry,” Daniel said and held his hand in the air. “Come on.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I can’t just sit here and act like it isn’t. Why are we all pretending? You know better than we do, Daniel.”
Daniel shook his head from side to side and took a deep breath. He started to reply as Amber covered her face then suddenly got up and stormed off.
“Great,” he groaned and followed after her.
“Don’t look at me,” Sherry said defensively. “I’m just saying what no one else has the balls to say. You can keep pretending all you want. But the truth is, we’re all gonna die here.”
CHAPTER 14
COUNTER INTELLIGENCE
“You didn’t think to tell me this yesterday?” Craig said in an irked tone.
“Yesterday?” Hunter repeated. “You tried to shoot me yesterday then we nearly had a riot. Didn’t really have much time for a sit rep.”
Craig made a droning noise as he leaned back into the wall. “Okay…so they had the naval base schematics and the Russians were involved. What did Lockship make of it?”
“He figured there had to be a mole. They knew too much, and it was up to date information.”
“Did he have any leads?”
“Well, he was gonna shoot Randall.”
Craig laughed. “The paper pusher? I don’t see him as a spy.”
“Me neither. I’m talked him out of that.”
“What about this Koran fella? He seems like a problem.”
“He’s an asshole and a pretentious son of a bitch, but deep down he’s a patriot. He’s bled in the same sandbox as us. Can’t be him.”
Craig straightened up and tilted his head to the side. “So, you think you have a mole? And no one knew where you were flying to, just you and Lockship?”
“And the pilots of course,” Hunter replied.
“Keep your eyes open. If there really is a mole they’re gonna have to get a message out.”
“Will do,” Hunter replied and headed for the door.
“I hope you’re wrong,” Craig said. “We can’t defend this place.”
Hunter walked out and left Craig alone with his thoughts. He stood there for a few minutes then walked into the hall and headed toward MJ’s room. She was the one person in the facility that knew exactly how spies operated.
Craig stopped outside of her door. He tucked his t-shirt into his pants and ran his fingers through his hair. Swallowing, he reached out and knocked on the door.
There were few moments of silence then some rustling inside.
“Just a second,” MJ called out.
The door swung open and MJ was standing there in a sports bra and sweat pants. Craig dropped his jaw then began to stumble over his words.
“I um…I, I wanted to I,” he stuttered.
MJ smiled. “You want to come in?”
He nodded and followed her inside.
“Sorry, I was just getting out of the shower,” she said as she tied up her wet hair. “Grayson say hello to Major Craig.”
Grayson smiled and waved his hand.
“Hey buddy,” Craig said and gave Grayson a hi-five.
“In here,” MJ
said and headed into the kitchen.
The facility had two hundred hotel-like suites spread out under the mountain. They were like small apartments suited for short-term family living. Each one came with a kitchen, a dining area, two to four bedrooms, a small living room, and at least two bathrooms.
MJ pulled two chairs out then turned to the cabinet and grabbed a cup. “You want some coffee or something?”
“I’m good,” Craig replied and sat down.
“Well, how can I help you, Major?”
“I hate when you call me that,” Craig said with a frown.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be such a girl about it.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“That’s the spirit, Craig. So, you’re here about your mole, huh?” MJ asked as she sat down and sipped the steaming black coffee.
“What? How did you know that?”
“It’s what I do Craig. What do you want me to do about it?”
“Find out if it’s true.”
MJ started to laugh. “You say it like that’s any easy thing to do.”
“You knew why I came over.”
“That’s not the same thing and Hunter has a big mouth.”
Craig grumbled and lowered his head. “We have to figure this out MJ. If this place gets compromised,” he paused and look back toward the living room where Grayson was sitting. “If this place gets compromised we won’t be able to protect it.”
“Okay…I’ll help. Why do you think there’s a mole in the first place?”
“Because Hunter does. They ran into a team back in Florida. A team that had been tracking them. Russians apparently.”
MJ took another sip of her coffee. “Fucking Russians,” she mumbled. “What kind of fight can we put up…worst case?”
“There’s an armory here. Small arms mainly, biggest problem is our lack of operators. We can’t afford to let it get to that point.”
“I understand. Well, if there’s a mole, it’s obviously one of the new guys.”
“Obviously.”
“You trust Hunter?”
“He’s the one that told me about what happened.”
MJ raised her eyebrows. “That’s convenient.”
“Why?”
“Because if he tells you there’s a mole you won’t be looking at him.”
“He’s not the mole, MJ, I know that much.”
“You bet your life on it?”
Craig grinned and stood up. “Just find out who it is, MJ. Sooner than later.”
He headed back outside and started down the hall. It was quiet, everyone was likely sleeping and once MJ’s door locked behind him, he was cast into a tunnel of silence.
Craig swallowed a gulp of air and coughed. His lungs were still getting accustomed to the sting of sterile oxygen. The filtration system was state of the art and removed all impurities from the air. And while they hadn’t sealed off the facility yet, the oxygen farm was producing enough that they didn’t need to pump in any air from outside.
Blindly, Craig let his feet lead the way as his mind wandered. Nothing good ever came from that, but in the dark silence there wasn’t much else to do. Thoughts of the plans that fell apart made his blood boil. The sacrifices he made that were never appreciated. Instead of a reward, he was left to die on a planet that had lived much longer than it should.
“Mars,” he grumbled angrily.
He didn’t know just how many people had made it on the Mayflower. He didn’t know if something had happened that made them leave early. But he knew he was angry, he knew that somewhere above him a ship was now hurdling away from the Earth and he should’ve been on it.
“Craig,” a voice called from behind him.
He stopped and casually looked over his shoulder. Randall was standing a few feet away, staring at him with an awkward grin.
“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.
“How can I help you, Randall?” Craig replied stoically.
“I, um, I’d been trying to catch up with you. Things have been so busy, you know?”
Craig didn’t respond.
“Anyway, a lot of things happened before we got here. I…I don’t know how much they’ve told you.”
“What things happened?”
“There was an um, a mission I guess you’d call it. To destroy some documents at the command center.”
“Lockship took you with him?” Craig asked angrily.
“Yeah. Guess you can’t be too picky these days. Is that a problem?”
“Just surprising.”
Randall shrugged. “After we took care of that, we found a wrecked car with that Russian ambassador guy, Sergey whatever. He was dead inside.”
Craig narrowed his eyes and bit his bottom lip. “The Russian ambassador? You sure about that?”
“I’m sure.”
“That’s interesting. What else went on?”
“Well Lockship is fucking crazy. I mean he was. Thought I was some kind of spy or something. Guy was gonna shoot me, but Hunter talked him down.”
“Hunter told me.”
“I don’t even know why. He screams to land the helicopter then gets out and runs across some park. Next thing I know I’ve got a gun to my head. Then people start shooting, Hunter takes a round in the arm, and Lockship and Koran cover us, so we can get back to the helicopter.”
“Koran was with Lockship when he died? No one else saw it?”
“Yeah, I helped Hunter back to the chopper. Ten minutes later Koran makes it, tells us Lockship got gunned down. Hunter tries to go back, but those guys show up again and we barely get off the ground.”
“Koran was with Lockship?” Craig asked again.
“Yeah…why? You, you think he’s the mole?”
Craig didn’t reply. He was staring at the wall with a blank look on his face.
“That’s it isn’t it? You think he was the guy Lockship was looking for. That means, that means you think he killed Lockship.”
CHAPTER 15
FACE OFF
“I’m telling you he killed him,” Randall said as he paced the room.
“Okay…let’s just say he did Randall. What do you think he’ll do to you when you confront him?” Melinda asked.
“I don’t’ know, but someone has to do something. You heard Hunter, if this location gets out we’re all dead.”
“So, let Hunter and Craig handle it. That’s what they do.”
“You don’t think that’s what I’d prefer? But Craig wants to wait and find proof and Hunter doesn’t think it’s him.”
“Well maybe they’re right.”
Randall shook his head. “I wish you’d just listen.”
“Come on, we’ve gotta get to the meeting,” Melinda said dismissively and walked out of the room.
Everyone was gathered in the main atrium. Max had called the meeting the other night and declared it was urgent. With everyone on edge, it didn’t take much convincing that whatever he had to say was life or death.
“Thanks to everyone for showing up,” Max started. “I know a lot of you are still trying to get accustomed to this. I called this meeting…well because there’s some work that needs to be done and we’re all gonna have to pitch in to do it.”
There were a few groans and grunts, but no one objected.
“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but its necessary. We’re a week out from locking this place down and once we do that, there’s no turning back.”
“So what type of work are we looking at?” Frank asked.
“Everyone will be different. You’re a pilot, right?”
“Sure am.”
“I’ll need help maintaining a lot of the machines around here, the actuators and things like that.”
Frank nodded.
“What about the rest of us? I don’t know a damn thing about machines,” Livingston said.
“There’s enough work to go around. We have to keep this place running.”
“How long will we be under here?”
Melinda asked.
Max shrugged. “No way to know for sure. The surface will be uninhabitable. Could be weeks, probably months…maybe years.”
“Years!” Melinda echoed.
“I…I’m not sure if I framed this right. I think we can survive, I hope we can survive. But there’s no guarantee. This is real end of the world shit we’re talking about.”
“I get that, but,”
“No…I don’t think you get it. We started out with this facility. This was all there was. This place was made to withstand what we thought would be the worst of it.”
“So, what happened?” Randall asked.
“We got more information and that’s when the Mayflower project was launched. We built an identical site on Mars and that became the plan.”
“Except nothing went as planned,” Randall jabbed.
“You’re right. As soon as they could launch, they launched. Left us all here to die.”
“That’s what you were gonna do isn’t it?” Melinda asked angrily. “All of you were going to just leave us. You’re just as bad as they are. You didn’t have a plan to save anyone except yourselves,”
“That’s not true!” MJ shouted and jumped out of her seat. “Could we save everyone? Of course not. But the plan was to save as many as we could. This…this happened two years before we thought it would. This wasn’t some conspiracy to let everyone die.”
“It doesn’t even matter anymore,” Max said in a booming voice, trying to bring order. “We are here now. This is what we have to do to survive. We have to work together, all of us.”
There was a silence in the room as everyone fell into their own thoughts. Randall grabbed Melinda’s hand and cupped it in his. She was shaking and holding back a waterfall of tears.
“We’re gonna be okay,” Max said then sat down.
“We appreciate everything you’ve done here, Max,” Randall said reassuringly. “This couldn’t have been easy.”
“Thanks, Randall. I’ve made a chart” Max said and pulled out a large dry erase board. “I’ll keep this up in the cafeteria. It’ll show weekly work rotations and job assignments. To start, myself, MJ, and Craig can help you get acquainted with things.”
Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set Page 76
