Zero Hour: Where are our Children (A Serial Novel) Episode 5 of 9

by Gary Sapp

our care, but one or more of them die from one aspect or another from their ordeal—“

  “That is unacceptable to us as well.”

  “We do want these children returned alive.” Grace kept her tone respectful, but serious. “Our first goal is to bring these children home alive to their families…sir.”

  He nodded after a moment of muted thought. “Of course I want them back alive,” He said if any other thought on the matter was ridiculous. “But I want them to be left unharmed physically. It will already take these boys decade to mentally store away what they have already been through. I’m not unreasonable, Grace…not yet anyway, but we will demand more from the authorities in compensation if the children are returned in anything less than ideal condition.”

  Grace returned to writing her notes, satisfied with her leader’s reasoning. Scar was something that could not be undone…once it was started.

  Quincy Morgan looked intrigued with the idea of compensation. “What do you have in mind as a payment, Number One?”

  “It is more in line of who I have in mind.” Xavier replied.

  “Alright,” Warren said. “I’ll take a stab at that one…Hugh Keaton in the flesh, or Danielle Rohm would be an early Christmas present.”

  Xavier nodded. The Circle was getting at the core of his thought process at last. “Those two would be nice for starters,” He put his hands on the table in front of all of them. “I was thinking along the lines of finding out the identity of this Caretaker.”

  Quincy laughed.

  “Did I say something funny?”

  “I wish you were, Number One.” Quincy tossed his penny up a single time. “You were correct when you mentioned insanity during this entire presentation of yours. Serena will never give you or anyone else that man’s identity while she lives. If Scar is what you truly want out there…you are guaranteeing yourself that it will come about asking that question right there.”

  “So will you carry out my orders, Quincy?” The One had been surprised and a little disappointed that his Number Two hadn’t questioned him further in matters of state concerning the incursion of Carver. “A few days ago you questioned my decision to go into armed conflict with the Choir Boys to take Carver back.”

  It was Quincy’s turn to look to all the others. He slowly got to his feet. “I am prepared…and most willing to carry your orders to the letter if you can do one thing, Number One.”

  “And what is that?”

  “I haven’t always agreed with you or your methodology that controls your decision making. But I know one thing that is for certain: You are not a liar, Xavier. You have never done so the members of this Circle. I don’t think that you know how to do so. I’m going to ask you to look me in my eyes and tell me that this decision on Scar has nothing do with what has been said about your brother Chris.” Quincy put his penny away. “Scar is the nuclear option. Once it is unleashed, most of the responsibility and most of the burden of the operation falls on my shoulders. I can live with that. I can also live with the consequences and the scrutiny that is sure to follow…the eternal scrutiny.”

  “And so you think that I haven’t thought this all the way through?”

  “What I think, Number One is this,” Quincy cast a large lean silhouette over his leader. “I think that Lucy Burgess untimely revelations about your older brother carry the potential to cloud every decision you are making in the short term.”

  Xavier swung his head around. “Do the rest of you share Quincy’s fears?” Xavier waited semi patiently for answers. When no one spoke he answered his own question by asking: “Do any of you believe that I have the capacity to exercise better judgment about such a lethal matter without me casting emotion out of the equation.

  Percy spoke up first. “You’ve never given us a reason to doubt your motives before, sir,” He stood up. “I support this decision with every fiber in my being.”

  Warren shifted his one good eye back from Quincy to Chris. “Things change, Percy…people change, especially under the strain that our One has been under. Quincy’s concerns…are my concerns.”

  Xavier inhaled deeply. He knew there would be resistance from these two but…what if one of the others failed to support his call to action. “Alright, I tell you again…we are governing a House in Chains in a civil manner the way my father once did. It may even be more so that way now. The Circle of Five was initiated by me so that I could not rule our House as an absolute authority with the four of you impotent to challenge my rulings on any matter. The next leader of this house may choose to rescind the privileges that Circle enjoys and become an absolute ruler like my father was. I believe that a majority rules.” He sat on the table and folded his arms. “I have heard from Percy and it verifies to me that we have two votes for unleashing Scar is our conditions aren’t made by the Zero Hour we impose on Pandora. We also have two voices against the offer as I’ve presented it.” He spoke to Grace Edwards without looking at her. “Your vote, once again, is the tiebreaker, Grace.”

  Grace methodically removed her eyeglasses and laid them flat against her notes. When she looked up she’d found four sets of male eyes locked on her as if she were sitting there nude. Xavier felt for the position he had put this woman, for he was beginning to have true feelings for, the terrible burden he was lying at her feet. And how will these feelings in their infancy stages change if you vote against me, Grace? Xavier Prince thought back to what he had asked his brother Chris in that stinky bathroom after Denise Lovings’ funeral. He knew that he was going to lose a part of her no matter how she voted. If she mouthed a no the change would be obvious.

  And if she had voted with her leader, Grace Edwards would watch her deadly plan roll out for the entire world to witness. Society as a whole would condemn Scar and all of the lives, on both sides, for which it claimed. And what the Circle itself would see when it visualized the future—

  Grace voiced her support for unleashing Scar.

  Four hours later, Xavier Prince concluded his short speech on the grounds outside the Fox Theatre by saying: “…I can’t answer all of the questions to how we exactly got to this point. What has happened over the past hours, the past weeks and through all of the years has brought People of Color and all of our enemies to the brink of conflict. What has been perpetrated against our people is unforgivable. Yet, the Circle has considered every alternative. I can only best give my best answer to the most rotten choice of scenarios. And I know that someone once told me to stand on the side of what is righteous and true. If civic authority fails us, then 24 hours from now we will all learn how righteous our cause really and truly is. We will teach Atlanta. Our nation will learn this lesson. The whole world will be educated.”

  Xavier Prince looked out over the crowd of well over 10,000 people strong who had attended to hear his words in person. “Brothers and sisters, what do you see when you visualize our people’s future?”

  The crowd, slightly disjointed in their response, but powerfully all the same said back to him: “We see nights filled with misery and pain.”

  This reply grew louder…and louder…and louder still.

  Xavier began to stomp where he had once stood still.

  And 10,000 People of Color stomped with him.

  Serena

  She watched the flames rise in front of her as the night of the vipers rolled on.

  Xavier Prince appeared first. He casted a silhouette of pride and insolence that even his burning would not destroy. She could smell the charred flesh of a dead child charred and blackened to the bone. The sound of Rohm’s gun firing a round into the back of the head of one of the agents who had betrayed her…betrayed Caretaker’s vision caused the embers to pop and flicker in anticipation.

  The flames suddenly swooped up, chastising Serena Tennyson like a child who’d gone astray. Xavier was still standing and had cemented his otherwise feeble frame against her will. Where did I go wrong? Caretaker had once told her to be happy that it was the younger Prince Brother she was facing a
nd not Chris. He had said that Xavier would fold as the stakes grew.

  Perhaps they both had misjudged him.

  Could even her great mentor been wrong—

  “Hey there, Serena, I’m sorry to disturb you.” Rohm had eased up behind her without the older woman knowing. Tonight, the baby faced assassin was dressed…as she dressed every night before. Tonight her black outfit almost looked oblique on her body. “I thought that you could use the company.” She must have seen something in Serena’s eyes. “Perhaps I was wrong.”

  “Rohm,” Serena surprised herself by reaching out for the other woman’s hand. “Danielle…I’d like you to stay. Your company would be appreciated. Today has been the longest of days.”

  Rohm squeezed both of Serena’s hands with her own.

  “I’m here for you, Serena. You can talk to me. You can trust me.”

  “Trust has never come easy for me. I have my faith…my flames…and little else.”

  “You are our leader. All great leaders share the same similar path of isolation and loneliness. I know that you have to measure every decision you make with so much thought and care. You have some of the same responsibilities that our Savior did.”

  Serena nodded once. She was no closer to believing in Rohm’s god or any other tall tales or superstitions, but some things were better yet unsaid. Since the day that her father voluntarily