Tempest Rising: Where are our Children (A Serial Novel) Episode 8 of 9
Page 17
months, Serena.” Thomas reminded her of her coming trial. He tried his best to concentrate on the beautiful woman that the right side of Serena Tennyson’s face that still showed through—but the other side would not be ignored…
“There won’t be a trial, Thomas.” She said after a long silence that stirred Thomas heartstrings and tested Sheridan’s patience. “I’ve seen it in the flames. I won’t live long enough to see a trial. More importantly to me, right now, I’m going to die without ever feeling what romantic love is like. I want that now more than anything else in the world, Thomas. I wish I could have had that with…you.”
Thomas heard the agent sitting on the passenger side of the van speak into his radio and heard the engine fire up as a response to whatever was said to him.
“Serena,” Sheridan spoke up over the van’s engine and the helicopters that had renewed their presence on the scene. Thomas watched as six more vans that looked just like the one in front of him took their place on the next street. Thomas got the plan at once. Three of the cars would be placed in front of the one escorting this one, while three would be set behind it. “Once again, you have my word that you will be protected every step of the way in the coming process.”
The officer carrying the radio said: “Agent Sheridan, the prisoner’s escort convoy is ready and at your disposal, sir.”
“Very well,” Sheridan pulled Thomas aside so that he wouldn’t be threatened by the onslaught on vehicles that were passing him at a rapid pace. Something caused Thomas to look skyward—and he saw snipers there as well. He imagined them atop the buildings lining the route all the way to the courthouse. Thomas belief that Serena’s anxiety was just that, anxiety with little substance to support her claims of imminent danger comforted him at least. “I will be in car four. Mr. Pepper, if you will join me, I will need you to make an official statement for the record.”
Thomas nodded automatically.
“Of course, Agent Sheridan,”
The helicopters took their own strategic positions around the caravan as well. And then Thomas saw Agent Christopher Prince and Dr. Angel Hicks Dupree step out from the stairwell of the hotel as well. The doctor had her arms wrapped around her friend’s torso and he guessed that she was whispering her own words of comfort and support to him as he had to Serena moments earlier.
Serena’s van begins moving slowly and Serena is asked to sit in the seat that had been assigned to her.
“I’m asking your forgiveness for my sins, Thomas,” And then she said louder a voice so that all who occupied the area would hear her clearly. “I am asking you all to forgive me for my sins. I won’t live long enough to pay for them by your definition of justice. I’ve seen it in the flames—“
“I forgive you, Serena,” Thomas wasn’t sure why he said it. He was even more unsure when he heard himself say it again.
On the main street, Thomas could see the first three cars of the caravan starting up. Serena’s van had some catching up to do to match their speed and make up the distance—
“I’m going to die, Thomas,” Serena screamed. He could hear her crying now. “I don’t want to die, Thomas—and I don’t want you to die either—“
Serena’s van straightened itself into traffic and Thomas watched the wheels turn right ever so slightly as it began to bend the corner. Serena’s pleas for mercy drew down in volume as the van drove out of range—
And then the van exploded and the fireball licked one of the two helicopters that was hovering above the way a lizard would welcome an unrespecting fly to be the honored guest to dinner.
The eruption knocked Thomas Pepper and everyone who was previously standing on the street down to the ground.
No—no—no—no—no—no--
There was a moment of confusion…a second moment of madness… and a last moment of mad confusion until Thomas Pepper saw dozens upon dozens of agent approaching the fireball from all sides. Agent Christopher Prince was one of the first people on the scene standing as close to this massacre would allow. Angel limped as fast as her diseased left leg let her—until it failed her at last and she ungraciously tumbled back to the ground from which she came. Agent Nicholas Sheridan lost it: He pulled out his gun and the one he’d extracted from Agent Prince inside Serena’s hotel room and unleashed a barge of bullets into the smoky air above until both clips were empty. The copter that had barely escaped the fireball circled back and forth over the wreckage of van and its dead sister.
Thomas Pepper didn’t move.
He couldn’t move.
All of his extremities had gone numb and were unresponsive. He wished his feet to walk and they would not.
But he knew what was working just fine indeed.
Thomas could feel the hot tears running down his face, he could feel the snot spilling out of his nose.
But what he crying simply for her—or was he desperate to know if her prognosis she’d revealed to him with her last breath was true.
And he could hear his voice…oh yes, he could hear the words, however faint, coming from out of his mouth slow and repetitious.
“I forgive you, Serena…I forgive you…I forgive…I…”
End of Episode 8
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Sneek Peek at Whirlwind
Stop.Look. Listen.
But don’t you dare inquire any further
You don’t want to see what I’ve seen.
You don’t want to know what I know.
Xavier Prince, Louis/Hugh Keaton and Serena Tennyson are dead but their legacy of belligerence, unpredictability and ruthlessness cast a large, dark shadow of uncernity over the lives of those that were left behind.
Atlanta has paid a heavy price and now lies in ruins. And the country that all three loved so much teeters ever closer to the edge of an abyss from which it may never fully recover.
And yet, the worse is still to come.
Dr. Angel Hicks Dupree and Thomas Pepper have learned the Whirlwind’s secrets—all of her secrets.
The two of them have discovered a plot far more calculating, harrowing and audacious than anyone of them would have possibly imagined.
And they already be too late to stop it.
Exposing the truth about the Whirlwind may be the one thing that sets it free.
Dedication
As I’ve said before, this one is for…well, for me. This tale has been in my pipeline for a long time.
Nest Egg Publishing Note:
This was a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are use factiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Nest Egg Presents: Where are our Children
Episode 1: 411 (Available Now!!!)
Episode 2: Deliverance (Available Now!!!)
Episode 3: Rapture (Available Now!!!)
Episode 4: Past Prologue (Available Now!!!)
Episode 5: Zero Hour (Available Now!!!)
Episode 6: Betrayal (Available Now!!!)
Episode 7: Scar (Coming Soon)
Episode 9: Whirlwind (Coming Soon)
Available in Trade Paperback
Episode 1: 411 (Available Now!!!)
Episode 2: Deliverance (Available Now!!!)
Episode 3: Rapture (Available Now!!!)
Episode 4: Past Prologue (Available Now!!!)
Episode 5: Zero Hour (Available Now!!!)
Where to find this author online:
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