Tempest Rising: Where are our Children (A Serial Novel) Episode 8 of 9

by Gary Sapp

completed itself he said: “I can certainly believe that you thought that it was real, Serena. I know that you felt that it was. But ultimately, I believe that your visions as you see them are nothing but dreams. I think that your prophecies are little more than metaphors.” He took a deep breath but she did not interrupt. “Your own self-conscious knew of what your conscious self was capable of. The option of turning away was a conflict of character from within. I guess my role as the genesis of the speaker for yourself conscious came from the time we spent together in my townhouse, nothing more—“

  Dozens more pipe bombs explode in rapid succession as an angry wind simultaneously blows by. Thomas slid down the wall screaming in anguish as he frees Serena’s hand.

  And yet it is she that finds her voice first.

  “What have I done, Thomas?” A single tear burns her eyelids as it runs down her exposed flesh. “What have I done?”

  Thomas sits there and bites at his balled up fist.

  “You have made some grave errors in judgement, Serena,” Thomas Pepper said. He found enough of his own strength and dignity to rise to his full height. “But you were not alone. The Prince Brothers, the FBI, all of us involved in this have made terrible mistakes, Serena. Many lives have been lost as a result. I wish that I could put on a single reason why that came to be.”

  “We were misled,” Serena said simply.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Once, a friend of mine told me with her last dying words something that I will always remember,” She heard herself say. “And she told me something that I will never forget.”

  “Tell me,” Thomas urged her to continue.

  “I will always remember her telling me that your God…that our God forgives us no matter how severe our sins if we submit ourselves to his will and ask forgiveness.”

  “I believe that as well, Serena.” Thomas darted his eyes away again. “Although I have not spoken to him in a great number of years.”

  “But even more, I will never forget what she told after that. She told me that she truly believed that her lord was working through me. And then she told me…” Serena no longer hid her tears from Thomas Pepper. “In her very last breath Danielle Rohm told me that she’d been misled.”

  Both of them paid heed to the dozens upon dozens of heavy footsteps marching on the floor towards the hotel’s room door.

  The FBI wasted little time bursting in and sliding to their knees and finding cover as they entered.

  Special Agent Christopher Prince had taken the point.

  Serena Tennyson released Thomas Pepper’s hand quickly as she found the will and the way to slide to her knees as quickly as Prince ordered her to. She could see out of the corner of her eye as the large silhouette of Thomas as he obeyed the order as well. We are caught in a time loop, Thomas. We are at your place again before my Rapture—before Tempest Rising, before the Whirlwind consumed Atlanta with its hunger.

  Agent Prince barked instructions out to the other agents to secure Thomas as he was not to be considered a combatant at this time. All of the remaining agents—too many for Serena to count—surrounded her and closed in step by step. All of my past charades have caught up to me at last. And yet, the mere thought of her sore, aching wrist suffering though a new round of being shackled caused her to slide back as far as the wall would allow her to.

  They twisted her body until her lips kissed the floor beneath her as they cuffed her once again over her body’s vibrant objections.

  Thomas protested.

  Serena screamed.

  They stood her up quickly and Serena found herself facing out of the window one final time at a Whirlwind feasting on the countryside as far and as wide as her one good eye could see as Agent Christopher Prince read her rights to her once again.

  It was glorious indeed.

  It was haunting for sure.

  The long prophesized Dragon had taken flight had feasted on the impurity of those below…but where the resurrection and order that was promised to her was.

  Danielle Rohm had paid a terrible price for being misled. What price would she pay?

  And as the agents walked her towards the hotel’s door and her pending destiny—she learned that the Dragon had not forsaken her completely as the flames had provided her one final vision:

  Serena Tennyson saw her own face in the flames and then the Dragon’s betrayal was at last complete.

  And then her flames extinguished themselves forever and the world went dark and cold. She could no longer see and she felt herself began to tremble.

  Serena’s death was mere heartbeats away and it was nothing left she could do to prevent it from happening.

  Thomas

  “Relax, Serena,” Thomas Pepper watched Agent Nicholas Sheridan step towards Serena Tennyson who had escaped from the agents who had her in custody. She had dove towards the ledge where she’d shot out the window earlier. Several agents had drawn their guns but Agent Christopher Prince had instructed everyone in the room to hold their fire.

  Sheridan held up a hand for peace: “I want you to listen to what Mr. Pepper has said, Serena and I want you to listen what I am saying. These men are not executioners. I will not sanction that sort uncivilized behavior here. Our job is to bring you to justice in a manner that protects you and my people. Your fate is to be decided by a jury of your peers. Do you understand me, Serena?”

  “Forgive me, Agent Sheridan, if I am not comforted by your words.” She leaned over the ledge further and Thomas gasped in horror. Everyone gun in the room was drawn on her, every safety lifted. “I saw Hugh Keaton’s demise myself on TV or should I just ignore how he was brought to justice?”

  Thomas shook off the agents holding him back and took a step forward. He could see Agent Prince shaking his head in a dangerous factor…but he did not most of his focus of a Pandora’s field leader.

  “What happened to Keaton was unfortunate, Serena, but I want you to remember that those were an independent body out of anyone’s chain of command. And we also had an outside source of the media which contributed to his demise. Those factors don’t exist here.” Sheridan gave the room and Prince’s room a once over. Thomas knew the seriousness and the volatility of this situation. Everyone in this room, including Thomas himself, had lost someone to Serena’s schemes and treachery. Two police helicopters could be heard…and then Thomas could see them as they clearly came into view. Serena looked as if she heard the birds as well—but she looked as if she were struggling to see where they were at all. Serena’s condition has worsened. My God, I think she has gone blind.

  “Serena, do not panic, do you hear me?” Sheridan shouted to be heard over the already blistering wind being stirred up worse by the twins’ thundering blades. “Those birds are mine. They are under my command. I am in command of every man and woman in this room. I know what happened to Hugh Keaton. I was informed of what nearly befell you in that holding cell while in the custody of the APD. I give you my word that you will leave this room alive. I also give you my word that you will make it to trial alive and unharmed. But I do need your help. I need you to surrender peacefully and without further incident right now.”

  Serena looked in the general direction of where the copters should have been. They hovered nearby but never penetrated past a certain barrier. He had not doubt that Sheridan meant every word that he said.

  But he was not the one that Sheridan had to convince.

  And Sheridan’s men—including Agent Prince had Serena’s spectacular escape from that same Atlanta courthouse that she was nearly raped at. Each of these men and women would also remember the deaths of each and every death that was caused at his townhouse by the mines that were laid on the path there at her instruction. They weren’t privy to the conversations that you and I just had, Serena. They didn’t see you remorse. And if they needed any further reminders of who Serena Tennyson was a what she had been about before—all they needed to do was look past those helicopters out there and look the hellfire that she ig
nited.

  “Step back off that ledge, Serena.” Sheridan said to her in a lower tone. He frowned with his bushy brows, frustrated, flustered…and then turned to the one woman who could possibly bring this all back from the brink.

  Dr. Angel Hicks Dupree had entered the room.

  “Serena,” She stepped in the room and moved past a gathering of agents and then pushed past Chris Prince until she was standing next to Agent Sheridan. “I heard what you said. I heard you when you mentioned Hugh Keaton. I know that you know that I was there with him at the end. He fought all of his demons so that those boys that he had put in so much danger would survive. He was very brave in the face of so much uncertainty.” Angel eyed Sheridan, he caught her meaning and he silently gave her the okay to take the lead here. “You relish control above all things, Serena. I know that you are hurting. I also believe that for the first time in your life you are truly afraid. I want you to use your control to aid you in getting through this.”

  “I…I don’t want to die here, Angel.”

  “If you truly believe that your path was the righteous one then you should live long enough to defend your actions in a court of law.” Thomas could hear Agent Prince grown at the mere thought of such a thing. “I know that you and your enemies have ordered all types of unforgivable actions from those who have served under your causes. But I know that you truly believe that suicide is a