“I’m sorry you’re so upset, but this is our system.”
“Well, your system sucks.”
“You wouldn’t be sitting here if Brock, the man your friend murdered, hadn’t saved you.”
“Hold on, hold on, what did you just say?” Nicholas asked, his temper almost reaching a boiling-over point.
“Brock saved you.”
“No, the other thing.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Tom said.
“You said murder.”
“Yes, murder. Mr. McNeil, your friend will be charged with the murder of the mayor’s son, Brock, later today. A swift trial will commence after that.”
“And what if she’s found guilty?” Sophie asked, her breathing rapid.
“Why, she’ll be given a sentence, and that is…” Tom paused, knowing the next thing he said would not go over well. “Death.”
Vista, CA
Vincent woke at first light to hear Noah playing in Zach’s old room. Not wanting to disturb him, he peeked in and smiled. It was good seeing him be a kid.
A tinge of pain came from his head. It could only be one thing, a hangover. Wine wasn’t his favorite alcoholic beverage, but when there’s only so much to choose from, you take what you can get. He didn’t mind the taste of it; it was the headaches he’d almost certainly get.
Down in the kitchen, he downed two tall glasses of water and hobbled around the house, checking the doors and looking outside.
Upon completing his tour of the house, he found Bridgette in the kitchen.
“Good morning,” Vincent said, smiling. He had enjoyed his evening with her and felt like he had come to know her a bit better. He was also excited to talk about his plan to help her and Noah.
She didn’t say anything, but stood staring out the window.
He hopped to the kitchen island and took a seat on a stool. “I’m feeling that wine this morning.”
She still didn’t say anything and didn’t even turn to face him.
Concerned, he asked, “Do you have a raging headache like me? I hope not.”
Finally speaking, she gave him a clue of where her mind was. “What has the world become?”
“The world has gone to shit,” he replied.
“I was never one of those people who believed this could happen. I just never imagined that something this huge could happen. How did we allow this to happen? How?”
Her back still faced him, but he didn’t need to see her face to know she was crying. He could hear the tears in her trembling voice.
Vincent knew, but he didn’t want to really talk about it.
“I’m a fool for thinking this perfect little life I had with my husband and child could last. I was lost in the lie of our lives. It was all just a big lie. I never thought it was this fragile. I just don’t understand how it could all fall apart so fast, so goddamn fast.”
He stood and walked up next to her and saw the tears streaming down her face. He placed his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.
“Please don’t touch me!” she snapped and wiped her cheeks. “I don’t need your sympathy, and I certainly don’t need your affection.”
“Sorry.”
She turned and in a vicious tone said, “And what do you think this is, you and me? Do you think you’re some sort of hero? I’m a woman who has just seen her husband die and her son almost sexually assaulted. I’ve been raped and beaten since all of this began. Do you think you can help me and somehow all of that goes away? You think that we might have something, that I’ll just open my legs for you?”
“Hold on a second, I was just trying to give a bit of comfort, nothing more,” Vincent said, defending himself.
“No, you weren’t. Men are fucking pigs. You only think with your cocks.”
Vincent was in total disbelief at her outburst.
“I don’t know you, and what I do, if it’s true, isn’t all that impressive.”
Hearing enough, he hopped away from her and grabbed his crutches. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Noah standing in the doorway.
She continued her emotional diatribe, but Vincent wasn’t listening, he kept staring into Noah’s sad eyes.
After a few minutes of yelling and crying, she stormed off. On her way out of the kitchen, she almost knocked Noah over but took no notice and raced upstairs.
Vincent hurried to Noah and asked, “You all right, little buddy?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry you had to hear that.”
“I’m used to it.”
“Your mommy yells a lot?”
“Especially when she doesn’t have her medicine.”
Then it became a bit clearer for him. “Did your mommy run out of it?”
“Yes, when we went to get stuff for my dad, she was also trying to find medicine for her emotions.”
“I see.”
“Do you want to play?” Noah asked.
“Um, sure, what were you thinking?”
Noah held up a deck of cards and said, “Go Fish?”
“I love that game, c’mon.”
Carlsbad, CA
Karina woke to find Michael still going through items in Nicholas’ office in the hopes it would clear the fog that had covered his recent memories.
“Good morning,” she said, standing in the doorway.
“Hi,” he replied, looking up briefly, his eyes heavy and bloodshot.
“I suppose if you found something, you would have woken me,” she said as she sauntered in and knelt next to him.
“I was thinking, I remember sending him something, I just wish I could remember what. I keep looking at everything around the house, and I just know it’s not here.”
“You need some rest now; otherwise you’re no good to us.”
“Anatoly must be pulling his hair out,” Michael said as he rested into the leather office chair.
“You have to ignore him. He’s always been high-strung.”
“So you’ve known him for a long time; how is it I don’t remember him?”
“Did you ever meet every boss or manager a girlfriend had from work?”
Michael thought and it made sense, but when he reflected on everything—the story of the spear and its magical powers and a powerful secret organization hunting for it—he couldn’t help but feel it was a fairytale. It just didn’t seem legit, but again, he did remember Karina, and he was there on that ship, trying to stop Viktor. The other odd element of everything was why they were all Russians. Massive conspiracies had to be more international in scope and reach beyond one nationality. He had these questions but feared asking. He had become more trusting, but he wasn’t at a hundred percent yet, and that included Karina.
“I mean it, you need to get some rest,” Karina said as she tugged at his arm to get up.
“I will later, I need to keep searching, plus I’ll catch some sleep on the ride to Montana later today.”
“Then let me get you something to eat. You must be famished.”
“That I’ll take, whatever you have will work.”
Karina kissed him on the cheek and left the office.
Michael couldn’t get past how everything fit, and a nagging feeling kept tugging at him. Was this for real, and was the spear, if it were real, the real reason for them to have these coordinates? He had been thinking that if something so powerful existed, its hiding place would be not only difficult to find but highly protected. He wondered how they thought they could just walk in and take it.
Suddenly, an idea came to Michael. He sprang up out of his chair and raced out of the office, nearly bumping into Karina.
“Where are you off to?” she asked.
“We’re not the best investigators. How about asking Nicholas’ neighbors where they went? They might know or give us a clue.” Michael said as he put on his gear.
“I’m coming with you,” Karina said and went to go get her things.
After two hours of finding neighbors who would talk to them, a cle
arer picture of what had happened to Nicholas during the initial days after the lights went out became clear. Something else also became clear; they would have to leave soon. The community had slowly gathered around the helicopter, asking for help. Each attempt they made to seek assistance was met with a rifle muzzle and a firm denial. Francis and two of his team stayed at the house while the others protected the helicopter.
At each house they went to, they found people who were starting to show the signs of neglect and desperation. As they asked for information concerning Nicholas, their questions were answered with questions about how they could help them. Some people were even hostile once they were told they couldn’t help them in return. Civility was gone for many of them and replaced with a hunger for survival.
Seeing how the interaction with the neighbors went, Francis warned Anatoly that the time to leave needed to be soon.
Anatoly agreed but asked for more time to sort through things.
Back at Nicholas’ house, Michael, Karina and Anatoly sat to discuss the stories they had been told.
“Your brother sounds like he’s cut from the same cloth,” Anatoly said.
“He’s a McNeil, that’s for sure,” Michael said.
“And from the pictures I’ve seen, he’s also handsome like his older brother,” Karina said, winking at Michael.
“You mentioned that my family has been protecting these relics for a long time.”
“Yes, the McNeils have been protectors for many centuries.”
“How is it again that I was the only one with the knowledge of the whereabouts of the spear?”
“After World War Two, General Patton, also a Knight, captured the spear from Hitler. He had heard of its power and wanted to procure it for the United States, so he immediately had a copy made and gave that to the Austrian government. The real spear was sent to its current location somewhere in the United States. One of a small team of men who took it there was your grandfather. He recorded its location and kept it secret until you discovered it. You never told us how you discovered the secret but told us it was safe.”
“But someone has to have it besides me—those other men who escorted it back from Europe.”
Karina looked at Anatoly, shocked that Michael wasn’t piecing it all together. “They all died in a plane crash, including your grandfather.”
“Those who have possession of the spear will have great power; once it leaves their possession, they soon die. Patton died not long after giving it to your grandfather and his team. They soon died after hiding it. Only they knew where it was placed. We thought it would be gone forever until you said you had discovered its whereabouts. Right after that, Viktor heard, and here we are.”
“But you said Viktor did everything to get the spear, so how could I have been trying to stop him from getting it before I knew I had it?”
“Viktor has always desired to destroy the world so he may rise from its ashes and take control. His plan to cause a world war between Russia and the United States was something he was already working on; however, when he heard you knew the location of the spear, he accelerated his plan and placed his focus on obtaining the spear to ensure his dominance,” Anatoly explained.
Michael cracked a smile.
“What is so funny?”
“Spears, magic, knights, it just seems like a fantasy story,” Michael said.
“But a vast conspiracy, where a group gets a nuclear weapon specifically designed to emit higher gamma radiation to create the super-EMP that has paralyzed the United States, is something that happens every day. Then your president starts a nuclear war with Russia, and now several of your cities are lying in ruin from a Russian nuclear counterattack. That too is fantasy and only happens in movies,” Anatoly shot back.
“But magical powers, really?” Michael smirked.
“I wouldn’t have wasted my life protecting those ancient relics if it weren’t so, and let’s establish this, Michael, you were the one—you, my friend—who mentioned you had discovered the spear’s location. That discovery led to Viktor’s pushing his plans up and getting this whole thing started. You might have been able to stop them, but they moved quicker and deployed many diversions. Your government and your intelligence community failed. You even managed to get yourself in a position that found you on the ship but unable to communicate the location of the ship. The rest is history.”
Hearing he might have been to blame or was the one person who helped to ignite the destructive plan made him sad. Looking back on the memories he did have from his earlier years, he knew his life had been to serve and protect. If his acknowledging the location of the spear sped up Viktor’s diabolical plan, it would haunt him.
“Anatoly, you reminding him of that doesn’t help. We need him only thinking about what he sent to his brother, not this playback of things that make no sense. Whatever he sent his brother might be right in front of us; it could be as simple as a token, a coin, a book…” Karina said.
“It could be anything; it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. We should go find my brother and see exactly what I sent him,” Michael said, his voice had dropped as he took on a more somber tone.
“Your brother left with a group of people. They had vehicles and most likely would have gone to what they considered a safe place, and from what Michael said, that would be Montana. Let’s finish up here and head there,” Anatoly said.
As if on cue, the sound of small-arms fire sounded outside.
All three jumped to their feet and ran towards the front door.
The door burst open, almost hitting them as Francis came running in. “We’re under attack!”
“By who?” Anatoly asked.
“The community, we have to get you somewhere safe, now!”
The crack of fully automatic fire from the helicopter roared.
“Why are they attacking the helicopter?” Michael asked.
Francis took Michael by the arm and said, “Because it’s a helicopter, they want to take it.”
“That’s our ride; we need to protect it!” Michael blurted out.
“I told them to leave and come pick us up farther away. We have to get moving!”
Michael pulled away from Francis and ran to see for himself what was happening. He ran to the end of the driveway and could see a mob of people, nearly forty, had converged on the helicopter. They were armed and returning fire.
The large twin propellers of the CH-47 Chinook began to wind up.
The situation was completely out of control. Michael could see the crew chief firing his sidearm while trying to raise the rear ramp. The slide to his pistol locked; in fear, he threw it at five men who charged onto the helicopter.
The propellers were fully engaged and the helicopter lifted off.
People on the ground continued to fire what small arms they had.
Michael watched the helicopter bank hard to the left and erratically jerked hard, its nose pointed near the ground. He now had a clear view of the cockpit and could see the men had gained access there.
Francis came out and grabbed him. “We have to go!”
“Watch out!” Michael said and pushed Francis to the ground.
The helicopter flew over just forty feet above them.
They both looked up and in shock watched the helicopter collide with the top of a house three doors down. The collision spun the helicopter three hundred and sixty degrees and into a house across the street. It slammed sideways and exploded in a fireball.
The explosion shook the ground and sent fiery debris hundreds of feet.
Michael looked up and saw the remnants of the mob coming towards them. He looked at Francis and said, “I think it’s time to go.”
Wellsville, Utah
Back at the house, Nicholas found several armed men standing guard. His blood boiled at the sight of them. Not frightened, he marched over and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“The mayor ordered us to come and protect you.”
“Protect u
s from what?”
“Brock was well liked, and some townspeople are upset,” the man replied.
Nicholas knew this was a lie; the mayor was letting them know they couldn’t leave. “Well, we don’t need you, so leave.”
“Sorry, sir, we have our orders.”
“It won’t be necessary; they’re leaving except for me.”
Sophie was standing next to Nicholas and said, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“And her too, so we don’t need your protection.”
“No one is allowed to leave until the trial is over,” the guard informed him.
“Now you’re telling me we can’t leave?”
“No, sir, it’s for your protection.”
Nicholas found his temper rising to a point he’d lose it but kept his cool. He looked squarely into the man’s eyes and in his mind told him where to stick it. He looked at Sophie and said, “Let’s go inside.”
As soon as he and Sophie came inside, Becky and Abigail rushed them. “What did the man say?” Becky asked.
“That we can’t leave,” Nicholas answered.
Colin walked in and said, “At least they’re sticking to the same story.”
“Did you manage to see her?” Becky asked.
“What about Rob?” Abigail interjected.
“Neither,” Nicholas replied. He was tired and the fatigue showed on his face.
Becky took his face in her hands and rubbed his stubble-covered cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
“None of this would have happened if we had just listened to you.”
“We’ve already discussed that; it’s water under the bridge. Our focus needs to be on getting Bryn back. I fear this trial is nothing more than a formality that will lead to her execution.”
“Huh?” Becky said.
The Defiant: An Unbeaten Path Page 12