Minus America | Book 5 | Hostile Shores

by Isherwood, E. E.

  She was exhausted from the crash and running across the rocks, but she still smiled wryly. “Do I look like I’m a woman who can be threatened? I’m sitting next to a nuclear freaking weapon.” To make her point, she slapped the remains of the wooden box, which crumbled to reveal more of the metal machine ticking away.

  Another guard tried to get his buddies to lower their weapons. “You can’t let it go off. The island is to feed David’s reboot weapon. You can feel it about to launch, can’t you? If it shuts off now, his attack will fail.”

  Priscilla cackled. “Hey, dummy. You honestly think I don’t know that?” She scoffed with disgust. “You people must have a lot of geniuses pulling the strings, because you guys are the useful idiots of this enterprise.”

  The men raised their weapons again. She expected jerks like them to shoot her out of spite, even though they were going to die with her twenty seconds later. However, she didn’t bother with them any further. She peered outside the wreckage, admired the sunset out over the water, and thought of her new husband.

  “Kinkaid, I hope you survive this war. I did love you.”

  She sighed, holding her phone. To her shock, it vibrated with an incoming message.

  Her eyes danced over the words. “I’m alive! David is my prisoner. We are destroying his weapon in Colorado. He’s pissed you are nuking him, so good work. I might not make it out, but thanks for closing the loop on the personal side. We’re good now. T.”

  Priscilla laughed. “You always did have to one-up me.” This time, his gamesmanship didn’t offend her or send her running out of a marriage. It was simply the way he was. He’d also given her confirmation that her death would mean something. He’d given her purpose.

  She stood up to meet her fate.

  The three men had begun the run back to their trucks.

  “Don’t bother running… You’ll only die tired.” She laughed, remembering the old sniper joke.

  Seconds later, she and David’s secret island base went up into the heavens.

  CHAPTER 32

  Reboot Legion Headquarters, Lamar, CO

  “He’s not going to turn it on,” Ted commented, as if watching a dramatic sporting event.

  “It won’t matter,” David said glumly. “He’ll get out of here. We won’t.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked the man in gold.

  David had gotten up off the floor and shuffled next to Ted as they both watched the action outside the glass cube. Dwight stood there looking like a lost child. He held the tablet but couldn’t seem to decide whether to hit the button or not.

  Whenever the man in the loose-fitting suit looked up at them, everyone in the box would wave, alternately shouting for him to hit the button or come inside with them. Tabby seemed most distraught the man was on the outside.

  David faced him. “I guess I should come clean. The tablet has a thumbprint override built into it, and I activated it the moment I touched it, to ensure my own safety. If I was ever forced into this machine, I wanted to make sure it couldn’t be used on me.” He smiled brightly, though not in the eyes. “You may not know this, but as a very rich man, I always assume someone is out to get me.”

  Ted was shocked. “But you know your weapon is about to go off!”

  The white-haired man let out a fatalistic chuckle. “Ironic, isn’t it? I’d planned to shut the door before you all could get in the cube, then unlock the override and travel to safety, but Kyla here ruined my plan by beating me to the entrance.”

  “Sorry, not sorry,” Kyla sassed.

  David went on. “And then I was going to actually take you away, once I knew I was stuck in here, but than that jackass used his street skills to steal the tablet and escape the closing door.”

  “So, what’s going to happen when he hits the button?” Tabby asked. “Can he still climb back in?”

  “Nothing’s going to happen. We aren’t going to be magically whisked away. You aren’t going to continue your fight against me. I’m not going to continue my crusade against Europe. We’ll simply stop existing, or we’ll jump dimensions. Truth is, I never studied the where of it. I only needed the ability to snap my fingers and make people disappear.”

  Ted clenched his fists. “I swear I’m going to kill you—” He was interrupted by his phone rattling his pocket. Who could possibly be calling him?

  He pulled it out, eliciting a bemused glance from David. “I’ll give you some privacy.”

  If there’d been room to wind up a swing, he might have punched the guy. As it was, they were too close together. Still, he had to see who’d sent the message.

  “It’s my freaking ex-wife,” Ted said with a blend of curiosity and disappointment. He’d wanted to see if she was okay after the blast in London, but he’d been swept up in events beyond his control. It appeared as if she’d made it, after all. For that, he was glad. But why had she chosen now to text him? He scanned the message in seconds, barely able to grasp the implications. “It says she’s nuking some island in the Indian Ocean…”

  “Son of a bitch!” David fumed. “Can’t you people die for me?”

  His mind was a mixture of emotions. He had to reply to David. “This means something to you?”

  The man turned around, giving Ted his answer.

  He typed a short message back to Priscilla, momentarily forgetting their past fallout. He wanted to assure her she was doing good work down there. Both bases of the superweapon were about to blow up. A few seconds later, he hit send, hoping he’d said the right thing.

  Emily stayed close but said nothing, as if he needed that moment to close that chapter of his life. Much as she’d done with her dead husband back in her New York apartment.

  David pointed outside. “Who are those guys?”

  Ted reoriented on the happenings around him. About a dozen men ran by the door to the auditorium. They weren’t wearing the typical black pajamas of the Legion. Instead, they were dressed in olive drab fatigues. Ted recognized them instantly.

  “You should know who they are,” Ted chided. “They came to NORAD on your orders.”

  David’s face lit up. “Oh, right. I brought in members of every failed narco-state south of your country. You know, I do wish the range on my weapon was greater. I would have taken care of those countries, too. However, they pose no threat. They can’t even follow basic orders and have the decency to die in their assigned location.”

  “You can blame me for that. I kept them alive. I’m as surprised as you to see them here, though I’ll take credit for it. We were supposed to meet them here to take you down. I got them fired up about getting even with you.” Ted almost laughed at the stupidity of talking to David in such a casual manner, but they were both trapped in a phone booth underneath the world’s deadliest superweapon. A laugh was exactly what he needed.

  Emily hugged him from his side. He intended to say something heartwarming and eternal before the end, but he was distracted by Dwight. The man looked right at him.

  “Dwight!” he shouted. “Behind you!” He gestured for the man to turn around.

  He finally turned his back on the box, noticing the armed men coming inside the auditorium.

  “Oh, shit,” Ted complained, “it’s Rando. He’s clever.”

  Everyone became quiet, as if trying to hear what Rando and Dwight were talking about. There was no sound at all, however. The only thing interrupting the quiet was a rumble under their feet.

  “What was that?” Kyla asked from behind him.

  “The energy is here,” David said glumly. “It’s hitting the SACA. It’s coming back down on us. You can see it out there.”

  Ted saw the hallway turn red.

  “Shit!” David raged. “We need the bum to come in here.”

  Over the next few seconds, Rando had closed the distance toward Dwight. It put the man in the loose suit on the defensive, and he stepped back several paces. Rando pointed his weapon at Dwight, which for some reason made him turn to face the box and shout
something.

  The red lights in the hallway flooded into the large auditorium and was soon joined by a giant crayon box of every color imaginable. The walls, high ceiling, and floor seemed to glow, as if they were bright floodlights.

  “This is it!” David yelled, seemingly bracing for death.

  Emily squeezed Ted’s waist. He pulled her close and met her eyes.

  Kyla put her hand on his shoulder.

  He still couldn’t think of anything profound to say.

  The kid, Peter, seemed to have no such problems. “I love you, Audrey!”

  Tabby sobbed a little, but for some reason, it sounded happy.

  The lights overwhelmed his vision, so he had to close his eyes. Even shut, the dancing lights pierced his optic nerve. For a few magical seconds, he saw alternating waves of color. It seemed like he was going to be beamed up into the skies with the rest of his friends in America. He was ready for it, with his new love and best friend at his side. While he’d failed to keep Kyla safe, he took comfort in the fact that she would soon see her mother again…

  Then the lights went back to normal.

  The door of the cube popped open.

  “What the…” David croaked.

  Reboot Legion Headquarters, Lamar, CO

  Kyla reveled in the rush of air coming through the door of the cube. It was wonderful to feel anything at all, given she’d expected to die in there. She patted Uncle Ted on the back, then let go of him. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her.

  Lambert also smiled at her on his way out.

  Everyone seemed glad to be alive, except David.

  He moaned. “You guys really did it. You killed all my people here.”

  Ted pushed out the door with Emily close behind.

  When Kyla filed out, she’d expected to see bodies, but was instead met with piles of clothing. She walked directly to Dwight’s suit, which had fallen in a long trail. She picked up the tablet a second before David could get to it.

  Meechum grabbed the man and yanked him back. “Good catch, dudette,” she remarked.

  The tablet was still active, but she powered it down. It saddened her Dwight had been on the outside when the light came through, but she silently thanked the man for being brave enough to steal it. Had he not done it, David might have gotten away to harm more Americans. That was hero stuff, for sure.

  “What do we do now?” she asked the room.

  Ted spoke to David. “Well? Are we safe? How did we survive inside that thing?”

  David seemed confused. “We should be dead. I knew the cube provided some protection against the effects of dark energy because the same energy gathers inside the box. You don’t want to stand next to it and get zapped, right?” He’d tried to make it a little joke.

  No one seemed impressed.

  He kept talking. “But it wasn’t built to withstand the effects of a long exposure from the weapon. From what I can tell…we didn’t get a full dose.”

  Uncle Ted snapped his fingers. “Priscilla, my ex-wife, blew up her nuke. She cut off the energy at the source. I need to tell her—” He abruptly stopped talking, as if remembering she was gone.

  “I need to check on my pilots,” Avery said apologetically, edging toward the door.

  Emily replied to him. “Take your guys. We can keep an eye on the prisoner.”

  The commando led his three men out at a run.

  Kyla expected to hear gunfire momentarily, but there was nothing but silence. David seemed to notice her listening.

  “Don’t bother. There’s no one left. I’ve got to hand it to you. Moving my own plane on top of us was a stroke of genius. I should have had you on our team.”

  “I would have never joined you!” she barked, thinking back to Ben, her programmer partner who’d apparently felt the opposite way. How many Bens were still alive out there? Men and women who’d taken up David’s offer to wipe out the rest of the country? She spat at his feet as emphasis.

  He shrugged. “Don’t be so sure. I bought off Tanager. He was the most powerful man in the world. I also owned the pope. Most members of the EU. Various world leaders. All those men from Central America were bought and paid for. Money buys everything. Never forget it.”

  She scoffed at him. “I wouldn’t help you for a hundred billion dollars. You’re a murderer and a monster.”

  He smiled. “Perhaps. But history will remember my name for eternity.” He lazily swung his finger at the others. “None of you will even be a footnote in five years. Death is the price of immortality.”

  She wasn’t sure if he meant his own or the rest of the world’s.

  Her uncle pulled her away from David. “Don’t engage with him. It’s like talking to a wall. I don’t think he even understands he’s lost.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Kyla agreed.

  “He got one thing correct, however, Kye. You were brilliant to maneuver the plane over the hole. Even though Priscilla stopped the full blast of energy, it was still enough to erase the men in this bunker. If it had gone where it was meant, who knows how many would have been lost? You singlehandedly saved perhaps hundreds of millions of people. Maybe billions. Your mom would be prouder of you right now than words can express.”

  Emily stepped next to her, putting an arm over Kyla’s shoulder. “And that jackass is wrong about something else. People might remember his name for a time, but they’ll never forget yours. When we rebuild the country, don’t be surprised if there are some things named in your honor. We’ll make sure history gets it correct.”

  “Thanks, guys, but I’m not worried about being famous. I have a family again. Not many of us can say that. I have my favorite uncle, a new aunt, and—” She looked at Meechum. “—a new sister.”

  The Marine nodded, having heard the discussion, but she remained singularly focused on guarding David.

  Kyla also cast a snappy glance over to the door where Lambert had run out…

  Back in the hall, Tabby and her two friends hadn’t moved from Dwight’s clothing, as if they were honoring the fallen man. She hated to break it up, but she was ready to get out of the bunker.

  “Shall we go up to the top?”

  Uncle Ted nodded. “We’ve still got to get away from the rest of David’s men. They’re probably surrounding the bunker as we speak.”

  She pointed to the cube. “Should we try escaping in this again?”

  “No!” several people yelled, including Tabby.

  Kyla laughed, understanding the sentiment.

  “Let’s go see what awaits us up there.”

  Reboot Legion Headquarters, Lamar, CO

  Tabby found herself at the head of the line once more. She led the small group of survivors through the hallways of David’s bunker toward the surface. Her role of tour guide was becoming a profession. She figured it might be what she was going to do in the war against David. Lead friendly forces through tunnels, mines, and bunkers to surprise the enemy. There were worse things to do.

  Many piles of clothing littered the halls, confirming both David’s people and the raggedy band of drug lords had been erased, or rebooted, or whatever. She was going to lead them up the levels and out the front door, but she stopped at the room with the artifacts, inspired to check on them. After what David had said, she was curious about the one piece that started everything.

  “Is this the way out?” Ted asked from behind.

  Tabby was impressed he’d recognized she’d taken them off course. He’d make an excellent tour guide, too. “No. You’re going to want to see this.”

  David huffed. “Those are my things.”

  She opened the door to the trophy room and spread her arms as if revealing a magician’s big entrance. “Here’s his super technology gizmos!”

  Everyone came inside the forty-by-forty-foot metal room. The same ten pedestals were along the back wall, so she walked everyone to them. The cancer-curing paddle, the light-bouncing gun, and the miniature tank replica were all in their glass cases lik
e before, as were the seven others he hadn’t explained. She wasn’t sure which of them was David’s prized piece.

  “It’s gone!” David cried out.

  “Oh, please,” Tabby snarked. “You said it was here.”

  “And it was,” he pleaded. “I showed it to you. It was on that pedestal.”

  She looked where he pointed. Had the pedestal been empty the last time she was there? Thinking back, she wasn’t paying attention to him spew his BS about his little prizes. She’d had other, more important issues on her mind, like finding her missing friends.

  It was impossible to know if he was telling the truth.

  Ted looked at her. “We have to keep moving. Avery might need help.”

  She glared at David, sure he was pulling something, but she wasn’t going to let him get the best of her. She purposefully strode out the door, never looking back.

  Minutes later, after passing the room with the pit inside and taking the stairs up, she got them to the massive vault door at the front of the bunker. As before, it was wide open. Indirect light came in from the tunnel outside the bulkhead. If they stepped out, they’d be in the sloped tunnel to the surface of the airfield.

  “This way,” she suggested, not anxious to go back into the thick of battle.

  She held a rifle, but it was almost part of her now. She didn’t feel like she was playing soldier or merely pretending to be able to shoot it. If the enemy showed up once they were out in the sunshine, it was game on. Her mom and dad would be super proud of how she’d taken care of the last members of her tour group. They would forgive her for losing Donovan. She was sure of it.

  Ted asked her to hold up before she made it to the end of the tunnel, but she’d already gone farther than he’d wanted. She had a clear view of the entire airport.

  “Uh, guys. You might want to see this.” She waved everyone to stand by her.

  Ted ran up. “Stay down!”

  She laughed. “There’s no one there. Just our guys.” Tabby pointed to Avery and his three men. They came trotting over immediately.

  “Status?” Ted asked.

  “We lost both helicopters, I’m afraid. Probably Jacob’s force, too. However, as you can see, we lost all the Blackouts in this base, too.” He pointed toward the busier part of the airfield. Lines of black uniforms lay on the ground, like scattered graves of the people who’d been wearing them.