The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken

by S. M. Armstrong

Julie was hopeful that the village might have made it, but when she scrolled over to that area, there was nothing but a crater.

  "It must have had multiple warheads," said Helen.

  "Nothing we can do about it now, I suppose."

  "Yeah, but if we don't get the all clear pretty soon, I'm going to go crazy."

  Julie said, "Well, if we can't do anything now, we need to be making plans for when we can. We still need to get those tech companies up and running. It's home work time."

  They spent the rest of the day doing research and planning. By the end of the day they had determined their first purchase would be a solar panel company that was located near Kingman, an easy drive from their location. By the end of the day they had completed their business plan and were lining up necessary resources.

  Helen got their real estate agent on the phone and gave instructions to set up the purchase.

  LAS VEGAS

  Jim had set up an emergency session of congress with no reporters allowed. He explained the situation of the launches and of Walker and Kemp.

  "The bottom line is that we didn't know he had the missiles and the only way to have prevented the launch would have been to have hit it with a nuclear bunker buster first. Once the Russians had committed to launching, there was no choice but to take them out.

  "Unfortunately, part of the strike protocol was to hit the Russians with a high altitude EMP. This took out the power grid and electronics across a good part of Northern Europe.

  "This is where we stand. We are in the process of tracking Kemp and hope to have him captured or killed in the next few days. We have lost Flagstaff entirely and it will take us months to have the I-40 fully usable again. We are turning over every stone to determine if there are more hyperkinetic missiles in conspirator hands, but I don't believe there are at this point.

  "The Russians are no longer a force to be considered and Northern Europe is worse off than it was at the end of World War Two. We are evacuating as much of the European population as is willing to go. Already, flights are flying between European countries and the East Coast around the clock. We will transport those who wish to return at a later date.

  "As you know, I'm a pragmatic son of a bitch, and I intend to keep as many of those folks here as will stay. We will take some pressure off of Europe for now by pulling enough of the people to allow the damaged infrastructure to meet the needs of the rest.

  "We are still in contact with our bases in Europe and are using them for the rescue efforts.

  "Our long term agenda now includes rebuilding Europe as well. I believe that it must also include the prevention of use of nuclear weapons ever again."

  "I need to get back to the Whitehouse now but will be meeting with many of you over there as events develop."

  Later that night, Jim was relieved to finally get to talk to Susan. After a long hug and some tears, she said, "It looks like we lost Stewart, Teresa, and their daughters, along with Frank and Rita's kids, Angie, and some forgiven volunteers who were working the greenhouses and providing security. Denise was back in Vegas when it hit, thank God."

  "That's a relief, but I'm devastated over losing the rest. Angie was a good kid, too. But we'll have to mourn the dead later. Things are just moving too fast right now. I don't trust my own people after that assassination attempt. I want to stash you at Julie and Helen's for a while. Are you okay with that?"

  "That sounds good."

  "Give them a call and have them fly in tomorrow morning."

  They talked for a short while longer before Jim said he had to sleep. Susan was just happy to have him there.

  MONTANA

  SEPTEMBER 16th

  The men stayed in an abandoned house eating canned food for three days, waiting for the search for them to move elsewhere. Just before dark, they took the car the five miles remaining to the marina, put on their wetsuits, and launched a small houseboat. Kemp had one of the men operate the electric trolling motor to keep them out into the center of the river and they let the current do the rest.

  They would travel to the small plane he had stashed and take a trip up to Canada. From there it would be easy to catch a commercial flight to South America. The only danger was in getting caught in the next several hours, but that shouldn't be a problem.

  HILL AIR FORCE BASE

  "Looks like we have him, sir."

  Rob looked at Green and said, "Show me."

  "Here, sir. Looks like a fishing barge or small houseboat. They're using a small electric motor to get them to the middle. If my guess is right, they'll use that to keep them in the middle and ride the current for as far as they can. Once that doesn't work anymore they'll either leave the boat or start the main engines."

  Rob looked at the Colonel in charge of the operation and said, "I'm going to get out of the way Colonel. It's your show.

  Colonel Stevens gave the order, "Take it out."

  ON THE HOUSEBOAT

  Kemp had a gut feeling that something wasn't right, almost the point of nausea. He had learned to trust such feelings long before.

  He snapped his fingers, opened the trap door he'd prepared in the floor between the pontoons, and pointed down. Each of them put on their diving gear and rebreathers, attached their dry bags to their belts, and lowered themselves through the floor into the water. Kemp handed each a hand held diver propulsion vehicle that looked like a hand held torpedo.

  As soon as they were all in the water, they attached themselves to each other with a guide rope, powered up the DPV's, and rapidly left the boat behind. They were almost a mile downriver before the Apache helicopter tore the houseboat to pieces with its machine gun.

  Kemp watched his oxygen levels carefully. They should be able to get several hours out of their rebreathers and two hours out of the DPV's. The cold water would be a concern before air would be, but their suits would keep them warm enough for now.

  He could hear the choppers overhead looking for them. Whoever was doing the hunting was good. Maybe too good. I told that asshole not to go after the president. Everything since had derived from that one stupid decision.

  There was a tug on the rope and Kemp shut down his DPV. One of the men indicated that his battery was dead. They dumped it and carried on with the other three units, dumping each of them in turn as the power ran out.

  From here on out they would be swimming on their own power. They still had a couple of miles to go to the next shelter. Kemp hoped they would make it.

  HILL AIR FORCE BASE

  The reports were coming in from the operation. The boat was empty, though it hadn't been for long. Colonel Maybry said, "They went in the water before we hit. We need coverage everywhere they could be, including if they're underwater using scuba motors. Get me that B1 to drop ordinance right up the river. Get me a few more and we'll carpet bomb the entire area if we have to. Let's go fishing."

  IN THE RIVER

  Kemp was starting to worry. The pursuers were too good. They were almost to the shelter, but it would be a close thing. He could see it up ahead now. Two quick tugs on the rope and he swam for it like there was a great white shark behind him. It was everything his men could do to keep up. In the distance he could hear heavy bombing.

  He detached from the rope and pulled off his fins as he found the shore. He sprinted into the woods and over to the hidden shelter entrance with his men right behind. They opened the hatch and scrambled in with his gear. The last man in closed it behind them. It was a close thing.

  Taking a deep breath, he started walking down the eight foot round tunnel. There was a safe room at the end with two other exits. As long as they didn't take a direct hit, they should be okay for now.

  Bombs hit above them and part of the tunnel collapsed, filling the room with dust and dirt. Kemp coughed and choked but he was unhurt. He called out but his men didn't respond. When the dust cleared he saw that all three had been crushed, along with their supplies. Oh, my brothers. I'm so sorry. They were all former Mossad and had worked with hi
m for years. But perhaps you can save me one more time, he thought, as he realized that the bodies would not be recognizable. Hopefully the hunters will believe that I am one of you.

  Kemp picked up the pair of fins he had dropped and his dry bag and continued to the safe room where he picked up one of the bags of supplies. Leaving by an alternate tunnel, he worked his way back to the river entrance a quarter mile down. Within minutes he was back in the water once again swimming downriver.

  HILL AIR FORCE BASE

  Rob was there when the reports of the bombed out shelter came in. There were at least two bodies in the shelter, but they wouldn't know the full count until the debris was removed. Even then, identification would be difficult unless the men had ID on them.

  Rob told the Colonel he would be borrowing Green for a special project.

  "Looks like you won the pool, Airman Green," said Rob. "Now I want you to look at something more for me. Assume that Kemp survived and it's his men who died. What did he do and where did he go?"

  Without missing a beat, the airman said, "Back in the water sir. The bombing had passed and the woods would be full of soldiers soon. The water is the only safe place."

  Rob paled. "Okay where would he go?"

  "He has an aircraft somewhere, would be my guess. There's an airstrip off of Lake Fort Peck, but he doesn't really need one. If that won't work, he has a plan B and a plan C. I'd look at a motorcycle or 4x4 to get up to Canada, and then blend in with the local population."

  "Keep working on it and let the Colonel or me know what you come up with."

  "Will do, sir."

  I think the son of a bitch just got away, thought Rob, grimly.

  LAS VEGAS & ARIZONA HOUSE

  SEPTEMBER 17th

  Julie and Helen were thrilled to pick up Aunt Susan at Nellis. They had lunch with her, then refueled, loaded her bags, communications gear, and some supplies, and were soon airborne again.

  Susan was delighted to see the new house. She loved the enclosed pool and spa, and said, "If we have to be tucked away someplace, it might as well be comfortable." The girls couldn't agree more.

  They brought Susan up to date on their plans to start companies in solar power, high tech, and shipping. Susan listened carefully and commented, "You need to be grabbing up some of the immigrants flying in from Europe, India, and Australia. There's a lot of talent there just waiting to be tapped and they'll be happy to have good work."

  Helen said, "You're right! And the first place they'll go will be to the web. We have work to do."

  Helen and Julie spent the rest of the day working on websites while Susan kicked her feet up in the TV room eating ice cream and watching movies. When they teased her about it she answered, "You can't imagine what it's like to have people watching you every minute. You can almost feel them judging everything you do. I haven't been able to do anything like this in forever. You have any chips?"

  MONTANA

  Kemp eventually made it out of the water and found shelter in a small boat house. He slowly ate an MRE, thinking about his next steps. When he finished, he filled his canteens with filtered river water and changed into woodland camouflage with infrared protection and put a ghillie suit over the top of his pack. There were still Predators high overhead. Whoever was hunting him really was persistent. And smart, he thought. He dumped the wet suit, rebreather, and related gear under the boathouse. Hopefully it would not be found for some time.

  The next leg of the journey would be brutal because of the infrared reflecting suit. It meant that he would be at serious risk of overheating and heatstroke, but it would cut his heat signature down to almost nothing.

  He started out, staying within the trees. At this point he would have no choice but to make it to the next safe house on foot, and he was not looking forward to the thirty mile trek.

  MALTA, MONTANA

  SEPTEMBER 18th

  Rob was positive that Kemp hadn't yet been found. Two of the three bodies were crushed and could not be identified, but his gut feeling was that there was no way Kemp was out of the game, yet. Rob moved his temporary headquarters up to Malta and contacted the Canadian prime minister's office to give them everything they had on Kemp. The Canadians were mobilizing and would be watching for Kemp crossing the border.

  Rob brought Will, Julio, Dave, Ann, and Airman Green up to Montana and gave them a Black Hawk to hunt down Kemp. It didn't take long before Green said, "I don't know where he came out of the water, but I think he's going to use this valley over here to try to get out of the area quickly. He'll have this entire area memorized and he'll have some sort of GPS device operating. Plus it gives him hard top to follow where he might find a vehicle."

  Will said, "That's where I'd go. Let me call it in."

  Soon troops were landing all over the area.

  A FEW MILES AWAY

  Kemp could hear the choppers over head and knew they were landing troops nearby. It didn't matter how they figured out where he was headed, the reality was that he was trapped. It would be special ops troops scouring the area, he was sure.

  He pulled out his tablet and brought up a map of all the mines in the area. To his relief, there was one just within a half mile. He started moving in that direction, grateful that he had the foresight to download those maps.

  Forty five minutes later he found it. The entrance had partially collapsed and was obscured by brush, so much so that if he hadn't known where to look, he never would have spotted it. He pulled out his silenced 40 caliber pistol, turned on his flashlight, and entered the cave.

  To his relief, the bear he'd been imagining wasn't in the mine. Walking forward slowly, he was careful to look at the floor before each step. He turned a corner, walked ten feet and found a shaft going straight down. He carefully peered over the side and saw that the shaft dropped about thirty feet down. There was a wooden ladder there, but he wasn't about to trust that. He hoped he wouldn't have to retreat down it.

  He thought about it for a moment and set up camp around about five feet away from the shaft so that he couldn't be seen from the entrance. It wasn't ideal, but it was about the best he could do for now. He ate part of an MRE, turned off and pocketed his flash light, and went to sleep.

  When he woke it was just past midnight. He turned on his tablet and pulled up the maps he had downloaded back when he was making contingency plans. He started memorizing the local area. Mostly, he hoped that this old mine wasn't on the maps of those pursuing him.

  He finished the MRE by the light of the tablet and shut the tablet down once he had finished. He did a mental inventory of his equipment. He had another six MRE's. Water shouldn't be problem with the snow on the ground outside. If anything, his clothing, infrared shielding, and ghillie suit was too hot. He wouldn't be freezing to death any time soon. The AR-15 rifle with its collapsible stock and the five thirty round clips was the largest amount of weight, but he didn't expect to use it any time soon.

  He estimated that he could last five days in the cave without too much difficulty, though it wouldn't be fun.

  His mind kept drifting to his family back in Israel, all of them dead from the nuclear and biological attacks. They were now just dead people from a country would never again exist.

  He hated to admit it, but he liked President Ambrose's response to the Muslims. Perhaps if someone had responded that way sooner, there would have been some limits on the blood thirsty religion. Maybe if things had been different, he would have shot Walker, collected the reward, and made his place in the new world here.

  I can't start thinking that way. Today I need to think only about surviving. If I leave this cave too soon, I will die.

  Kemp knew it was time to rethink his escape plan. It was as though the Americans were three steps ahead of him. He would get to one of the caches and sit for a while before moving on to South America. Brazil would wait for now.

  IN THE MINE

  SEPTEMBER 21st

  It's only been three days and I'm going crazy in this damn m
ine, thought Kemp. I don't know how in the hell I'll last two more days. He had visions of what would be done to him if he was caught. None involved a quick, pleasant death.

  Worse, he was having hallucinations. He found himself talking to his dead father this morning. I thought you weren't supposed to know it when you were going crazy. When he had a conversation with his dead wife and kids, it was just too much. She blamed him for abandoning them. She left me and took the kids to Israel. She wouldn't leave Israel. I know she's dead. I know that for a fact. It's not my fault. But she accused him incessantly.

  He turned on his light and crawled to the front of the mine. He needed to see outside.

  The stars were beautiful and so very bright. It was awe inspiring, but he could still hear Devri in the back of his head accusing him of killing her and the kids.

  He lay there with his head outside the mine for an eternity before coming back to his senses. I can't stay in this mine any longer or it will kill me. I'm leaving tonight. Now.

  Kemp crawled back into the mine and turned on his light. He collected his things, donned his infrared protection and ghillie suit, and walked to the exit, leaving the demons behind. But he could still hear them screaming at him from the mine behind him.

  ARIZONA HOUSE

  SEPTEMBER 23rd

  Julie and Helen were glad to take a break. Susan had been grilling them all morning long on their plans with a level of brutality that would make any business professor proud. She pointed out flaws at every turn and at times would send them back to the drawing board with a sharp rebuke. They were no longer dealing with Aunt Susan. This was the First Lady and let no one doubt that she had teeth and they were sharp.

  Each time, Julie and Helen would come back with something better, until Susan agreed that maybe it might be adequate.

  Before long, it was clear that Susan was looking for revival of an economy rather than just business plans. They looked at industries to get the country back on its feet and how to interconnect companies to develop synergistic effects. Shipping, construction, food production, power production, clean energy, computers, robotics, different areas of high tech, and talent recruiting companies to funnel people into work were some of their starting concepts.