“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. She got really worried when I was downstairs alone with those assholes.”
He glanced back outside. Carl looked relaxed on the hood of the car. Ted was standing next to Jeff, looking over some paperwork on the hood of Ted’s car.
“Let’s get Ryan inside and upstairs. I’m gonna carry all of the computer stuff outside and sign whatever papers I need to sign to get them out of here. I’m really sorry about all this. I had no idea this would happen. Unreal.”
“Unreal is right,” she whispered, walking down the stairs to call Ryan inside. She walked to the sliding screen door and called him into the house.
Alex checked on the guys again.
All in the same places. Good.
He walked into the kitchen and picked up the laser printer, walked it over to the open door, and placed it on the walkway in front of the granite steps.
I’m really going to miss that printer.
Ryan walked up to him as he returned for the rest of the gear.
“Everything okay, Dad?” he asked before he spotted the shotgun leaning against the wall next to the front door. “Whoa, what’s that for? Is it real?” he said, pushing past Alex to get a closer look.
He grabbed Ryan by the shoulder. “Don’t touch that, just head upstairs. We’ll talk about it later,” he said, putting himself between the shotgun and Ryan.
“I didn’t know we had a shotgun. What is that, a Mossberg?” he asked, peeking around Alex while backing up to the stairs.
“How do you know what a Mossberg is?”
“Modern Warfare. Whenever I use a shotgun, I like to use the Benelli because—”
“Yeah, I know, semi-automatic instead of pump,” he said, ruffling Ryan’s hair. “Get out of here. We can talk guns later.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Kate added from the kitchen. She poured a glass of water from the sink and walked past Alex by the island.
“Why don’t you all stay upstairs until these bozos are out of sight,” he suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” she said, heading for the stairs.
“Come on, does he have to sit there smoking in front of our house?” she asked, standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking out at Carl.
“I’m just glad he’s sitting out there where he won’t make any trouble. That guy looked unstable, and he’s not in the least bit happy that I got the better of him,” he said, walking by Kate with a large stack of promotional material that Ted had dug out of his office closet. “He has a bad look to him,” he whispered back to her as he placed the material on the walkway.
Kate looked out at Carl again and shook her head before walking up the stairs. Alex made three more trips, offloading the computer tablet and the rest of the peripheral equipment associated with the computer. The last item he handled was Ted’s brown leather briefcase. He assembled the paperwork sitting on the island and stuffed it into the briefcase. He picked up Ted’s cell phone from the island and started to put it into a side pouch on the briefcase, when a better idea came to mind.
He scrolled through the BlackBerry’s contacts and found the regional manager’s contact information. He selected her cell phone number and pressed send. Michelle answered on the first ring.
Perfect.
“Hey, Ted, I assume the deed is done. Did you recover the samples?” Michelle asked.
“Actually, it’s Alex. I just killed Ted and the two thugs you hired. Shot them dead in my basement and beheaded them. I’m about to bury their heads in the backyard,” he said and paused. A few seconds went by. “Are you still there, Michelle?”
“Alex? Is this some kind of a joke?” she said.
He could tell she was unsure.
“Yes, this is a joke, Michelle. I didn’t kill Ted. Or the two criminals you hired. I did have to eject them from my house, after they broke in and roughhoused my wife and daughter. You might want to schedule a little HR review session for Ted. Somehow, he got it into his head that he could bust into my house when I wasn’t here, have his thugs restrain my wife, and ransack my house. This could have ended very badly, Michelle,” he said and motioned for Ted to come retrieve his gear.
Ted hesitated and started to edge around the front of the car.
“Come on, man, I don’t have all day! Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. Sorry about that, Michelle. It seems that I gave Ted quite a fright. He looks a little scared,” Alex said, stepping forward from the doorway and away from the hidden shotgun.
“We should have this wrapped up in a few minutes, Michelle, then you and Ted can chat. Unless you’d like to talk with him right now?”
“No, that’s all right,” she said blankly.
“As for the samples, you can contact Dr. Wright at Maine Coast Internal Med, and see if he’d be willing to return them. Or even better, you could hire ten more meatheads like the two here and bust some heads over at Dr. Wright’s office. Hey, Ted, Michelle wants to talk to you,” he said and threw the phone to Ted, who was standing about ten feet away from him.
Ted barely caught the phone, juggling it a few times before gaining control. He put the phone to his ear.
“Michelle?” he asked and started nodding his head.
Alex could hear her yelling over the phone.
“I know, I know. No, no, everything was done by the book…look, the policy isn’t exactly clear about the verification process…no, I didn’t touch his wife…I don’t know. No, I didn’t see the….can we talk about this when I’m done here? He’s standing right here watching…yes, I’ll call you as soon as I’m on the road.” He disconnected the call and closed the phone, cursing under his breath.
“That didn’t sound like a career enhancing phone call,” Alex said, standing with his hands on his hips in front of the pile.
“Fuck you,” Ted muttered, barely making eye contact with Alex.
“This is everything, so let’s get this over with. Where do I sign?”
Ted took the paperwork out of his briefcase, located the inventory sheet, and matched the listed items with the array of equipment sitting on the red concrete pavers.
“Looks like it’s all here,” he said, “except for the samples you stole.”
Alex walked over to sign the inventory sheet. As he started to enter the date, he caught movement in his peripheral vision and spotted Carl halfway across the front lawn, heading directly for the two of them.
Alex froze for a few seconds, unable to react, giving Carl enough ground to make it impossible for him to retreat into the house. Shit. Carl’s face was deep red, snarled in a malicious glare. His intentions were clear, so Alex pushed Ted directly into Carl’s path. Ted’s stiffened body collided with Carl, causing Carl to stumble forward, off balance. As he pitched forward, he desperately aimed the pepper spray canister in his right hand in Alex’s direction and activated the canister. Carl trampled Ted’s body as he staggered.
The direction of the spray was not accurate, and the unit shot a thick fog in his general direction, which, if better aimed, would have enveloped Alex’s entire upper body in a caustic pepper spray cloud. Instead, the majority of the blast saturated the air to Alex’s left, getting caught in the strong breeze flowing through the front door. The wind dispersed the pepper spray fog over all three of them.
He instantly felt burning in his eyes and nose as he rushed to neutralize Carl. He knew that he had to move quickly, before Jeff reinforced the group.
Carl whirled around, still unsteady, trying to aim the canister at Alex again as he slid alongside Carl’s right. Carl was still focused on using the spray, which gave Alex an advantage. He slid his own right arm under Carl’s right arm and reached up across his massive chest. Simultaneously, he placed his right leg behind Carl’s legs and twisted his own core to the left, toppling Carl onto his back.
Alex quickly put Carl’s pepper spray arm into an extended lock and pushed down on the elbow, creating an unbearable pressure on Carl’s shoulder. Despite the
size and strength of Carl’s arm, he immediately dropped the canister.
“All right, that’s enough!” he yelled through the grass, coughing and rubbing his eyes with his other hand.
Alex coughed as the pepper spray made breathing more painful. His eyes were burning and nearly closed. He kept Carl’s arm under pressure with one hand and picked up the pepper spray canister with the other. His hands, neck and face felt like they were on fire.
Pissed off and in pain, Alex aimed the pepper spray canister at Carl’s face near the ground and released a point blank blast of pepper spray fog. The effects were immediate, as Carl groaned and started to scream. He aimed casually at Ted, who was on the ground behind Carl, and dispensed the rest of the canister. The fog enveloped Ted’s body and caused his former manager to start pounding the grass while squealing.
Alex disengaged the arm lock and ran toward the open front door, tossing the canister behind him. He looked back and saw Jeff walk slowly over to Carl and Ted, his hands in the air.
Alex closed the door and watched the scene unfold, barely able to keep his own eyes open for more than a few seconds at a time. Jeff helped Carl back to Alex’s old Forrester, having to restrain him a few times from charging the house again. Ted continued to cry out in pain and barely rose to his knees. His hands appeared glued to his eyes. He looked pathetic on his knees in a crumpled navy blue suit, hunched over, coughing.
I hope he doesn’t have asthma. Alex could see grass stains on the chest of Ted’s blue shirt. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that to him. Now how am I going to get all of this junk off my property?
He opened the front door and yelled out to Ted. “Ted, I’d like all of this trash out of here immediately,” he said, coughing.
He shut the front door and locked it, doing the same in the mudroom, and closed the garage door. He then ran over to the sink to get a drink of water and to try and flush the pepper spray out of his eyes. He was fortunate that he had really only gotten just a dusting of it. He walked over to the door with the glass of water and saw Jeff picking up all of the equipment and loading Ted’s car. Alex bet they’d all have to sit there for a while before Ted could drive again. He’d keep a close eye on them until they were gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Alex and Kate snuggled together on the couch to watch a recording of the FBC Evening News. The anchor, Kerrie Connor, appeared on the screen alongside a large flat-screen monitor. The studio monitor showed an image of an American aircraft carrier plowing through rough seas. Alex stifled a cough and shook his head.
“Good evening. Tonight’s top stories: Tensions with China increase as the fate of several hundred World Health Organization health workers remains unknown. At least two more U.S. aircraft carriers and an additional battle group are dispatched to the region.
“In Jakarta, the death toll rises as the killer flu burns unhindered throughout Java Island and spreads to Sumatra. The first reporters on scene describe the sight as cataclysmic.
“Worldwide, the Jakarta flu continues to spread. Reports of large flu outbreaks in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have world health officials concerned that the pandemic cannot be contained.
“Here at home, the number of flu cases continues to rise, as the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services race to stay one step ahead of the pandemic. Earlier this afternoon, the CDC reported that the number of lab-confirmed cases in the U.S. reached thirteen thousand yesterday, only six days into the crisis. Several hundred deaths have been associated with the Jakarta flu, mostly due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. The high incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome has raised serious concerns that the Jakarta flu may have characteristics similar to the 1918 Spanish flu, where apparently healthy young adults died of massive respiratory complications shortly after developing symptoms of the flu. Health officials are keeping a close eye on this potentially devastating characteristic, given the surprising fact that no treatment has ever been shown to be effective in halting or reversing the effects of the syndrome.
“Shortages of food and medical supplies have caused considerable disruption throughout the nation, as most Americans hurried to the stores over the weekend to stock up on groceries and essentials. Most had to wait hours to buy groceries, or were turned away altogether.
“But first, a closer look at the crisis developing in China. Department of Defense officials acknowledged today that an additional carrier battle group, comprised of ships from Hawaii and Southern California, will join naval forces already deployed to the South China Sea. A battle group centered on the nuclear aircraft carrier George Washington, based out of Japan, is already on station in the area. And rumors of another carrier being recalled from the Arabian Gulf for service off the coast of China, have not been confirmed by the Pentagon. Jennifer Moskowitz reports from United Nations headquarters in Manhattan.”
The screen changed to a live broadcast of a blonde woman with medium-length hair, wearing a rather non-descript black ensemble, standing in front of a spectacularly illuminated United Nations Secretariat building. Several member nation flags waved in a light breeze, bathed in spotlights.
“Kerrie, I’m standing in front of the United Nations Secretariat building, where the mood today can only be described as tense and desperate. Chinese delegates continued to deflect questions regarding the status of WHO teams within their borders, stating only that these teams are consumed by the task of containing and mitigating the pandemic within Chinese borders and have no intention of abandoning their heroic efforts on behalf of the Chinese people. Tempers flared as delegates from at least a dozen nations accused the Chinese of holding the teams hostage. Delegates from Germany and Australia went so far as to blame China once again for exacerbating the pandemic situation, a reference to China’s mishandling of the 2008 avian flu pandemic.”
“Jennifer, was there any mention of sanctions against China, or the use of force to expedite the release of the WHO teams?”
“There was no discussion or suggestion of sanctions today by the assembly; however, it is no secret to any of the members that several nations have assembled outside of the U.N. to discuss options in response to China’s actions. Chinese delegates repeatedly lobbied the assembly to formally denounce the growing coalition outside of the U.N. They are particularly alarmed by the deployment of an additional U.S. carrier battle group to the region, calling this an aggressive and warlike action.”
“Thank you Jennifer.”
The screen next to Kerrie showed a Google Earth map of Indonesia, which began to slowly pan closer to the city of Jakarta on the northwestern tip of Java Island.
“Reporters and a limited number of aid workers landed during daylight hours at Jakarta’s International Airport to assess the worsening situation on Java Island. Flights are unable to land during nighttime hours, due to a complete blackout on Java Island. Initial reports from Indonesian health officials puts the official death toll at nearly 85,000, with over a million cases estimated on Java Island alone.
The screen cut to a commercial, and Alex started to fast-forward past them.
“I’m sure the Mullahs will blame the West for this somehow. Unfortunately for them, they’ll be preaching to empty mosques. This pandemic is going to clear their bleachers.”
“Honey, that’s not cool. It’ll clear the bleachers everywhere.”
“I know, but facts are facts. Modernized societies with modern health care systems will suffer a much lower casualty rate than any of those shitholes,” Alex said.
“It’s still sad,” Kate said.
“And they’ll still find a way to blame it all on us somehow. I’m just glad there won’t be as many of them left to hear their nonsense.”
“That’s enough. I don’t want to hear that kind of talk anymore. Are the kids up in the attic?” Kate asked.
“Ryan was up there on the Xbox. They’ll love the new games. I got a bunch we can all play, and a couple for Ryan an
d me.”
“Let me guess, Call of Duty Future Warrior and Insurgency Three?”
“You peeked,” he said flatly.
“The other games look fun, I guess, but I’d have to be really bored.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Alex said and stopped fast-forwarding.
Chapter Sixteen
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Alex walked up the stairs to the attic, coughing several times on his way up, still feeling the effects of the pepper spray. He reached the top of the stairs and saw Kate walking on the treadmill. Her pace was slow, but he could see that the treadmill was set to the highest incline possible. Kate was wearing maroon running shorts and a black cutoff running top, which to him resembled a bra. She was sweating and breathing heavily, as she struggled to keep her pace on the incline. She shot him an annoyed glance and didn’t say a word. Alex knew she didn’t like to talk during her workouts. He walked over to her and checked the time on the treadmill. Four minutes left. He decided to do a set of pull-ups. As he turned around, he heard the treadmill start to grind, as the incline was automatically lowered for her warm down.
He walked over to the freestanding pull-up bar and began a declining set, starting with twelve pull-ups. Halfway through the set, Kate interrupted.
“Hey, did you see that Portland’s considering school closures next week?” she said, out of breath.
Alex finished a few more pull-ups and hopped down to the floor. “No. Did they say anything about any of the other towns?”
“Falmouth closed today. They made the decision last night at an emergency school board meeting. They have six confirmed cases at the high school and a few more at the other schools in town. School officials made the decision because they suspect that there might be a dozen or more unconfirmed cases present at the school. I guess one of the original cases identified last week was a guy from Falmouth, who travels back and forth from New York every week for business. He has a son and a daughter at Falmouth high school. Had a son and daughter. He died early in the week,” Kate said.
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