Capture Tomorrow

by Ann Heathman

  “It’d be my pleasure. The grand opening is in two weeks. I hope you’re still home to attend the big event.”

  “I will be. I can’t wait.”

  Lisa smiled and moved over next to Tony. “There’s something else I need you to save the date for.” She leaned forward and flashed an engagement ring which she had managed to conceal until this moment. “It’s official, everyone. Tony and I are engaged.”

  Arianna squealed with delight and dashed over to congratulate her. “Oh, this is awesome.” She alternated between admiring the magnificent diamond ring and lavishing Lisa and Tony with excited hugs.

  “Congratulations, man,” Zach said, giving Tony a high-five. He also leaned down and gave Lisa a hug and kiss. “Really happy for you.” Turning back to Tony, he quipped, “But you. You’re marrying way above your pay grade, buddy. Don’t know who you had to bribe to get such a hot girl. Feel bad for her… marrying your sorry ass.”

  Tony tossed a throw pillow at him, and everyone laughed.

  “Hey, have you guys set a date?” Arianna asked.

  “Not yet.” She looked over at Tony. “Maybe around Christmas time? We haven’t decided.”

  “I’ll make sure I’m home whenever it is,” Arianna said.

  “You’d better be. I’m counting on you to be my maid of honor.”

  “Oh. I would love that.”

  “And Zach, you’re on the hook to be my best man,” Tony added, “despite the fact you’re a pathetic friend.”

  “Despite the fact I hate to be a witness to this poor girl’s demise,” Zach said, winging the pillow right back at him, “I’ll do it. Count me in.”

  “Hey, what’s all the excitement?” Juan asked, as he and Lorena joined them on the patio.

  “Another one bit the dust,” Zach kidded. “Looks like Tony’s going to be a married man.”

  “Hey, man! That’s great,” he said, giving Tony a quick hug and slapping him on the back. “Lisa, congratulations.”

  “Sounds like it’s party time.” Arianna raised her glass. “I think we need to plan an engagement party to celebrate this occasion. What do you say?”

  Lisa clinked glasses with her, and said, “I’m all for it. I’d love that.”

  “YOU HAVE to decide,” Veritas said, responding to Zach’s request to investigate the content of Arianna’s promo piece. “Someone has a tight lid on this thing. Our people haven’t been able to get any eyes on it. We can kill it entirely, but you’ll never know whether you killed something harmless or not. Of course, if you let it run, and it reveals too much info or brings too much attention to Arianna, it’ll be too late to do anything about it. It’s your call.”

  An internal battle raged within Zach. He was a very private man, mostly out of necessity, but also because that’s the way he wanted things. He worried about all the possible repercussions of being in the spotlight, both for himself and for Arianna. Then again, she was already on a Jihad hit list, so what harm could this new promo piece bring that didn’t already exist? In the end, he decided to let the segment air. Fingers crossed, he hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.

  ON THE evening of the broadcast, everyone gathered in the screening room of the mansion. Pilar had prepared trays of sandwiches, fruits and vegetables, chips and dips, and also a beautifully decorated cake to celebrate Arianna’s new job.

  First came the 60 Minute’s regularly scheduled program… an hour-long show, covering the Pope’s visit to the US. At the end of the broadcast, they cut away to a piece honoring Christina Carson for her years of service as their foreign correspondent. Finally, the time came to introduce Arianna.

  When she appeared on screen, the men let out several loud woofs while the women clapped and hugged each other with excitement.

  Zach sat watching her. Man she looks beautiful. To say she was photogenic was an understatement. He squeezed her hand and pulled her close as the people in the room cheered. He had to admit, it was thrilling to see his beautiful girlfriend on the TV screen.

  They introduced Arianna and featured some highlights of her Afghanistan documentary. It spoke about the poor treatment of women under the Taliban and Islam’s strict adherence to Sharia law. The commentator praised her courageous work in capturing these interviews under dangerous circumstances.

  “I get chills every time I see this,” Lisa said, shuddering. “You were so brave to go over there and film this story.”

  Others in the room murmured their agreement.

  As the show continued, the segment switched to a different commentator. “Arianna nearly didn’t make it out alive,” the man said. “A local Taliban warlord was assassinated while she was in Afghanistan, and she, herself, was drugged and kidnapped from this place. A very harrowing experience for her.”

  A hush fell on the room, and Arianna sat up in her chair. “I’ve never seen this footage before. I never taped this. I’ve never talked about this with these people.” She turned and looked at Zach. “I have no idea where this came from.”

  “The day after she was taken,” the person continued, “Arianna came out of a drug induced coma and found herself on the island of Costa Luna where she lives today. Her arrival there still remains a mystery.”

  The segment then segued back to the present. “So, welcome aboard, Arianna. I can see you’re battle-tested and will be an asset to our team. We’re looking forward to your exciting reports from abroad.”

  The program ended and cut to a commercial.

  “Wow! You looked amazing,” Lisa said, when the piece wrapped. Lorena and Pilar also came over and gave her a hug and congratulated her on her new job and TV debut.

  Tony and Juan offered perfunctory congratulations as they looked at Zach and knew they were all thinking the same thing. This story had all but brought the world and anyone who hated Arianna’s view of the Taliban or who might be searching for the killers of Ali Hamdra Fasi, right here to the island.

  Zach’s phone buzzed. He looked down and saw it was Veritas.

  “Congratulations,” he said, hugging Arianna. “You looked beautiful, but excuse me a minute.” Holding up the phone, he said, “I have to take this call. I’ll be back in a second.” He stepped out onto the veranda to speak privately with the Agency chief.

  “What the hell was that?” Veritas asked when Zach picked up. “You may as well have taken out a front page ad. My friend, this could bring a world of hurt down on you guys if someone puts two and two together.”

  “Roger that,” Zach said. “Someone did some real digging to put that story together. Arianna said she never taped half of what aired. Should have followed my instincts and killed this interview, too.”

  “If we have any more moles in the Agency,” Veritas continued, “they’re going to connect the dots pretty quick. Hopefully, we eliminated our mole problem last year. If so, we might get lucky and this will pass unnoticed. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

  “Copy that,” Zach whispered.

  Veritas continued. “This show airs later in different time zones. Just to be on the safe side, I have someone working on killing this segment in the Central and Western time zones. I think they’re expecting some power outages in those areas. Already aired in the Eastern zone. Can’t fix that, so watch your six.”

  “Copy,” Zach said, hanging up.

  He stood on the veranda, trying to wrap his head around the potential deadly ramifications of this viewing. Why couldn’t she aspire to be a nurse, or a singer, or something mundane like that? Have some safe career here in the States. It was ironic that one of the reasons he had fallen for her was because of her fearless personality. Seeing footage of her tonight in Afghanistan reminded him of the tenacious girl he’d met in the heart of Taliban country, boldly there, risking everything to get her story. It didn’t get any gutsier than that. Her moxy drew her to him like none before, but now, his stomach twisted with worry for her safety… maybe even his own if the wrong people saw this.

  Shortly after Arianna was introduced a
s the network’s new foreign correspondent, she received a call from the director of security, Dan Miller. They exchanged pleasantries, and then Miller said, “I’ll get right to the point. I don’t want to scare you, but we’ve gotten a couple of anonymous letters threatening your life. Seems like it’s some radical nut who thinks you’ve offended the Islamic religion. Must have seen parts of your documentary or something. This happens from time to time in our business. Probably nothing to worry about, but I wanted to give you a heads up.”

  Her heart caught in her throat. This didn’t sound good at all. She’d been through this scenario before, and it hadn’t turned out well. She was consoled by the fact she lived in a gated and guarded compound. Also, either Zach or Raul accompanied her whenever she was out and about, so overall, she felt safe, but this was still a worry.

  The question was whether to inform Zach of these new threats. She actually was afraid of what he would do or rather, what he would insist she do, which would be to quit this TV job. But this threat was nothing new. After all, it was commonly assumed she was on a Jihad hit list so why bother Zach with something he already knew about. She decided to keep this latest news to herself.

  While Zach and the men were away golfing, Arianna sat out on the veranda trying to study up on the migrant situation in Europe. As a correspondent, it would be her job to know all the related history behind the influx of people into Germany and other European countries. She needed to know where these people came from and why they sought refuge. As an experienced analyst, she was doing her homework.

  Pilar brought her a sandwich and a soda and asked if she needed anything else.

  “No, this is great. Thank you.” She moved her papers around so Pilar could set the food down. “I feel like I’m back in school doing all this studying.”

  “Yes, I see,” Pilar said. “You will make a very good correspondent. I will miss you while you’re gone.”

  “I’ll miss you, too. Short jaunts are what I was guaranteed. They promised no long term assignments, so I plan on being home a lot.”

  Pilar returned to the house, and Arianna continued reading some news reports she’d printed off. Her attention was diverted when she heard some yelling and what sounded like gunshots. Frowning, she looked back at the house, listened a minute, but when she heard nothing more, resumed reading again.

  Seconds later, Pilar burst through the door and yelled, “Run and hide, Arianna. Someone is shooting at the front gate. Quickly! Go! I’m going to warn Lisa.” She turned and ran back into the house.

  Arianna grabbed her purse which was lying nearby, jumped to her feet, and ran down the lawn toward the stables. As she ran, she fumbled in her bag for her phone, wanting to call Zach. Not finding it, she remembered she’d left it on the charger on her desk. A small consolation was the fact her gun was in the purse. She looked back toward the house and saw three masked men, dressed all in black, storming through the front door. She quickly ducked behind a tree hoping they hadn’t seen her.

  Once they were out of sight, she ran as fast as she could and caught up with José, the gardener, who was working on one of the mowers. Not able to hear the gunshots because of the running motor, he looked up in surprise when he saw Arianna sprinting towards him.

  “We need to hide,” Arianna yelled. “Some gunmen,” she wheezed, nearly out of breath, “have broken through the front gate. They’re shooting. Hurry, let’s hide in the barn.”

  Together they ran into the stables and paused, conflicted about where to hide. There weren’t many good choices, but being out in the open was not a good choice either.

  “Here. Let’s hide in the tack room,” José said. “I don’t think they can see us behind all the equipment in there.”

  They concealed themselves behind a rack of saddles and some bags of feed. As they listened, they heard several gunshots coming from the house.

  “This is not good,” José whispered. He picked up a pitchfork that was lying nearby and pulled it next to him.

  “I have a gun,” Arianna whispered back, pulling the Sig Sauer out of her purse.

  José’s eyes popped wide open. “You know how to shoot a gun?”

  Arianna nodded. “I do.”

  José scrunched in tighter. “Who are these people, and what do they want?”

  “Me, I’m guessing.” Arianna let out a ragged shudder and tried to calm her breathing.

  She heard the crunch of gravel and the frantic barking of Duke and Ebony across the way, penned in one of the horse stalls. Their barking told her someone was approaching… someone who didn’t belong here. There was the sound of stall doors opening and closing, as the unknown assailant moved closer and closer to the tack room. Arianna steadied the gun and clicked the safety off as Zach had taught her. In a matter of seconds, the tack room door creaked open and through a small hole in their hiding place, she saw a man in the doorway, brandishing an assault rifle.

  Her heart thundered in her chest. Fear so real she could taste it welled up inside her. The man lowered his gun, looking like he was ready to spray the room with bullets on the odd chance someone was hiding in there. Arianna’s mind was spinning. She wasn’t sure what to do. Should she try to shoot him before he shot them or was it better to continue to hide and hope he moved on?

  He took one more step toward their position when out of nowhere, Duke came charging at the man and latched onto his arm with his powerful teeth. The dog had scaled the five foot gate of his pen and now had the guy on the ground, screaming in agony.

  The gun fell out of the assailant’s hand as he tried to wrestle Duke off him, but the trained attack dog refused to let go. Above the menacing sound of Duke’s fierce growl, Arianna heard the man’s bloodcurdling screams of pain.

  With the intruder pinned to the ground, Arianna thought she saw a chance to grab his gun. She ran towards the door, but before she got to the entrance, she heard the guy scream, “Dimitri! Help me! Get this dog off me.”

  She came to a screeching halt, realizing a second man was in the stables. She heard a gunshot and the yelp of a dog. Duke had been shot.

  Finding courage she didn’t know she had, she moved out into the stables where she saw Duke crawling away on his belly and saw the gunman shoot the dog again.

  Bastard! Assuming a shooter’s stance, she lined the intruder up, pulled the trigger, and shot the guy in the shoulder. He turned, surprised to see her. She fired a second time, and he dropped to the floor. She fired again and was ready to shoot a fourth time, when Zach came running around the corner, his gun drawn.

  “Stop, Arianna. Stop! The man’s down. Hold your fire.”

  She froze in position, her gun still aimed at the man on the ground. The first assailant, his one arm mangled and useless, raised his weapon toward Arianna. Before he could get off a shot, Zach fired and shot him in the head.

  Turning back toward Arianna, who still had her gun leveled at the man on the ground, Zach said, “Give me the gun, Arianna. He’s down. He’s not a threat anymore. Let me have your weapon.” Reaching out, he took hold of the gun and slowly pulled the Sig Sauer out of her hand.

  She stood there staring at the guy who was covered in blood and had half his face missing where one bullet had caught him in the cheek. Suddenly, she turned and threw up.

  Zach stepped up beside her and held her hair back as she vomited. “It’s okay. Just breathe.” He led her over to a garden hose hanging on the wall, turned on the water, and began rinsing her face off. “You did what you had to do. Take some deep breaths and relax.”

  He held her close and tried to comfort her while yelling for José to get something to wrap Duke in. Releasing her, he said, “We have to move, Arianna. We have to get Duke to the vet, and I’ve got to get back to the house to see what’s going on.”

  “Yes. I’m okay.” She stepped out of his embrace, and let out a long cleansing breath. “We need to help Duke.”

  They moved over to where the dog lay, whimpering and covered in blood. José stood waiting wit
h a blanket.

  “Now, listen,” Zach explained. “Dogs in severe pain can become aggressive, so I’m going to hold Duke’s muzzle while you guys wrap him up in this blanket. Understand?”

  Arianna nodded. José lifted the dog as gently as he could as she slid the blanket under and around him. Finished, Zach and José picked him up and carried him to an ATV which had a bed on the back.

  They laid him down, and Zach looked over at Arianna. “We’re going up to the house. People are hurt. You’re going to see some ugly stuff. Can you handle that?”

  She squared her shoulders and gave a resolute nod. “I’ll be fine. We need to hurry. Duke’s in bad shape.”

  She hopped on the back while Zach drove the utility vehicle up to the house. Arianna looked around and saw bodies everywhere. One guard sat leaning against a tree, wounded, but alive. Another guard lay face down by the gate, not moving. Raul was bent over one of the gardeners, wrapping a shirt around his head to stem the flow of blood.

  A grim-faced Juan met them. “I think all the intruders are down,” he said as he helped Zach hoist Duke’s nearly lifeless body into the back of an SUV. “I’m afraid Pilar’s in bad shape. Lisa’s with her, waiting on the ambulance.”

  “Oh, no! Is she all right?” Arianna moaned, starting for the house. Zach grabbed her arm. “Don’t go in there. There’s nothing you can do to help.”

  A forlorn look crossed her face. Looking at Juan, she asked, “How bad is she?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t honestly know. She’s lost a lot of blood, but she’s alive. Whether she makes it, I’m not sure.”

  Zach tossed the car keys to Juan. “Here. Take off, and get Duke to the vet. Give me a call when you know something.”

  Tears began to flow as Arianna stood there, traumatized by the horrific scene in front of her. “This is all my fault. These men came here to kill me. I caused this. It’s all my fault.” She began rubbing her hands up and down the top of her thighs as she paced back and forth. “I should never have done that TV interview. This would have never happened if I hadn’t taken that job. Look what I’ve done,” she sobbed. “This is all my fault. This is all my—.”