“Oh, Beans,” I said, dropping into the chair behind Mr. Trundle’s desk.
He must have been so scared—it was my fault he had been forced to go through all this on his own. He probably hated me for abandoning him and who could blame the kid. As if it were not bad enough to lose your parents at such a young age, but then to have your own sister fail to protect you. I choked on the guilt as I swiped away my tears, and I read on.
Lucas began therapy this week. Despite his initial resistance, his therapist says he is already making great progress…Lucas asked about his sister, one Olivia G. Larson, today…
After about a month with the Fosters, things really started to turn around for Beans. I smiled to myself as I scanned through the progress updates.
Lucas’s grades continue to improve, and his guidance counselor says he is making new friends…Lucas has requested visitation with his sister…Lucas began Thai Kwan Doe lessons this week. His instructor says he is a natural, very disciplined…only one asthma attack in nearly two weeks…Lucas Larson, c/o Sandra Foster, legal guardian- Written Request for Visitation, Entered by R.J. Trundle. See attached document in appendix C.
I dug through the file, searching frantically for appendix C, whatever that was, and hoped I would find more good news.
As grateful as I had been to the Tates for taking me in, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had slipped through the cracks, somehow. In the months since being placed in foster care, I had not seen a single doctor or therapist. There had been no follow-up visits, no letters from my teachers, and certainly no meetings about my well-being. In fact, there was a very good chance my file was completely empty. Thankfully, the system had not forgotten my brother as it had me.
His file was thick with notes and updates, cataloging his progress over the last few months; doctor’s visits, hand-written notes from his teacher and guidance counselor, even drawings he had done in therapy. I flipped past them all until I found what I was searching for.
The form requesting a visit was pretty typical. I scanned through the information on each of the pages before laying it face down on the pile. When I placed the last sheet onto the pile, I noticed a small sheet of paper stuck to the back of it. I peeled it away carefully and held it up in front of me.
It was a drawing and I immediately recognized my brother’s handiwork. In the middle of the page, he had drawn two figures; the shorter of the two had a mop of yellow hair and wore an Avengers t-shirt over heavily exaggerated muscles. The taller one had long brown hair that reached almost to the spindly grass on which they stood. The girl was dressed as Cat Woman. The two of them were holding hands.
In red crayon at the top of the paper, were the six words that inadvertently shaped our destiny…EVEN IF THE SKY IS FALLING.
“Let’s go,” I said, closing the file, and shoving it under my arm. “I have somewhere I need to be.”
***
“Exactly!” Eli shouted as we emerged into the parking lot.
“It was right in front of us the entire time,” Jake said, pointing furiously at the map that now lay stretched across the hood of the truck.
“What was right in front of us?” I asked, approaching the crowd that had gathered around them.
“There you are,” Eli said, throwing his hands up.
“Get over here, Liv,” Jake said, his voice a mix of frustration and excitement. “You have to see this.”
“What’s going on?” Zander asked his hand in mine as we approached.
“Look, here,” Eli said, pointing to a page in Gunther’s Bible.
There was a black star at the bottom of the page, right in the middle. From it, came a thick black jagged line. It spanned almost the entire vertical length of the page, before curving slightly to the top left corner. The next page had a similar line, though its shape was different than the first. It looked as though the bible had been defaced; perhaps a child had gotten a hold of it.
“I don’t get it?” Riley said, confused by the smiles around her.
“Don’t feel bad, darlin’,” Ty said, smiling down at Riley. “I didn’t get it at first, neither. Poor Jake, here, had to explain it a few times before the light blinked on.”
“Just watch,” Eli said, his smile broadening, as he gestured for us to come closer.
He opened the Bible to the first page, the one with the star, and separated it from the rest of the pages, peeling them back to the binding. When the starred page stood alone, he laid it down on top of the map, lining up the black star on the Bible page, with the one Zander’s father had drawn on the map.
“No way!” I said, moving in closer. “It lines up perfectly.”
The thick black line on the bible page fell directly over the red line on the map and followed every jut and curve until it disappeared from the page. The first page covered a stretch of highway from Rockford, Illinois to Madison, Wisconsin. The lines and markings on the next page went from Madison to Black River Falls, which was marked by another star.
“Where do they lead?” Riley asked, leaning in closer.
“The last one ends in the Northwestern Territory of Canada,” Eli said.
“What the hell is in Canada?” Falisha asked.
“I’m not sure, exactly,” Eli said, cocking his head down at the map and scratching his head, “but it has to mean something. All roads lead to Yellow Knife. There has to be something there he wanted us to find.”
“Salvation,” I said, pounding on the hood of the truck. “Jesus, how did I miss this? He said it, over and over again; seek salvation, seek salvation.”
“That doesn’t make sense, kid,” Eli said, closing the Bible and setting it down on top of the map. “I happen to know for a fact that Gunther Jacobson wasn’t a religious man and he sure as hell didn’t believe in God.”
“What if it wasn’t about God,” I said, looking up into a sea of raised eyebrows as I slid the book away from the map. “Gunther said that salvation was at the end of the trail of blood, right?”
I ran my finger along the bright red line that Zander’s dad had drawn on the map. It stretched all the way from Rockford, Illinois into Northern Canada. I stopped at the spot on the map where the corresponding bible pages ended their collective trail and tapped on the landmark on the map. “Eli, he said we would find salvation at the tip of the golden blade.”
“Yellow Knife?” Eli sounded confused. “But there’s nothing there.”
“Maybe there is,” Zander said, dropping his father’s journal onto the middle of the map. He flipped it open to a page marked by the yellow ribbon and handed it to Eli, who read it aloud.
“The site was beautiful; more than I could have ever dreamed possible— a virtual Heaven on Earth. I wish its purpose were more than a means of escaping Hell. As much as I hope and pray the worst never comes to be, I take solace in the fact that my son will have a future. GJ assures me that all assets (including JL and EG) are on board and working toward the same goal. My manipulation and revival of this tainted project will ensure my son has a life far away from the kind of devastation that makes such a place necessary. Substation S will be more than just a sanctuary. It will be our salvation…a bright spot in a world that may one day be without light.
“Holy Crap, Z,” Jake said. “Your father wasn’t just part of the E99S Ghost project, he was the project. Dude…Your dad was Harley.”
“Oh for Christ’s sake…Harley,” Zander said, clenching his fingers in his hair. He paced in a circle for a moment muttering under his breath, before turning to me with wide eyes. “That’s why he was so paranoid, and why he kept so many damn secrets. It’s why he taught me to defend myself and why he spoke in code. Liv, My dad wasn’t crazy.”
“Not even close, kid,” Eli said. “More like he was trying to take down a top-secret government conspiracy and save the human race.”
“Damn, Z,” Falisha said. “That’s intense.”
“Intense doesn’t even come close,” Eli said, his hands on his hips. “If we have any hop
e of getting to Salvation and surviving this mess, we need to find your dad.”
“I have no idea where they took him,” Zander said, his jaw clenching, “but I promise you, when I find the bastards that took my father, they are going to wish they had burned to death when Icarus hit.”
There was no doubt in my mind that the group of rogue soldiers we had left behind was connected to Salvation, to Gunther, and to Zander’s dad. I also had a very strong feeling that they would soon be bringing the fight to us. As if to confirm my suspicions another explosion shattered the night sky, sending a bright orange fireball up into the blackness. I slid my hand into Zander’s and laced our fingers together.
“Speak of the devil,” Riley said. Her intuition was undeniable.
“Okay, guys, that’s our cue,” I said, gently pushing Zander toward the cab of the truck. “Pack it in, and let’s get out of here. We have places to go, and people to see.”
“I’m in,” Eli nodded grimly as he shoved the map and the books into his pack and shouldered it. He offered Riley an elbow on the way to the back of the truck, which she smiled and accepted.
“Me too,” Ty said, his face a mask of determination as he lifted Christa into the flatbed and climbed in after her.
None of them questioned my leadership or our mission and no one complained about the unknown. I suppose part of me wondered if their loyalty was because of my new defect, but in my heart I knew the truth; that we had somehow become a family.
“You ready for this?” Falisha asked as she climbed into the cab ahead of me.
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we,” I said, smiling after her.
“One thing is for sure,” Jake said. “Things just got a hell of a lot more complicated.”
THE END
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Acknowledgments
For the six months it too for me to create, Killshot was my baby. Like the rest of my children, that baby has brought me both joy and pain and would not exist without the love of my life. Babe, I can never express to you how truly grateful I am for your love and support. Thank you for encouraging me, being my sounding board, and dealing with the children and their chaos when I was stuck in the zone. Thank you for reminding me to eat, for dragging me to the gym, and for making sure I survived to see my little apocalyptic baby grow. Know that I will always choose you as my partner when the zombies take over the world.
For my children, who have inspired both myself and my characters. Alex, thank you for always being excited for me, even when you had no idea what I was blathering on about. For Jacob, for knowing exactly what I was blathering on about, and for being my favorite beta. To Lucas, thank you for making me smile, and for letting me borrow your name. Noah, your unwavering rightness echoes through in Eli, and I know some day you will appreciate that. Elijah, your eyes shine on in the cover and in my heart. And Evan, for being the glue that binds the whole crazy mess together. I love you guys!
For my mom, who always encouraged my talents, my artistic abilities, and my overall weirdness. You were my rock, before I even knew what that meant, and for that I could never come close to repaying you.
There were many others, outside the bonds of family that both inspired and supported me on this exciting (though scary) journey. Team Abbott, you guys kept me sane(ish) when I was trapped in that box, and for that I will always be grateful.
Meredith Wild, you were the best mentor, and long-lost-high-school-art-friend a nervous newbie author could ask for. I thank you for your endless patience, advice, and for trading analogies with me when my brain was fried. Your readers and family, are very lucky to have you, and so am I. Kari Ayasha, I heart you indefinitely, and appreciate your artistic vision and patience during the creation of my beautiful cover.
For my friends and advisors, character namesakes, and biggest fans, I send you a giant hug, and a huge debt of gratitude. For Uncle Jim, our eccentric, toy-hunting savior, and for Sheri, you are my own little Riley and the bestest bestie beyond the boundaries of time and distance. To Nick Foster for your military expertise and Trista Foster for your overall awesomeness. To Nyner, Chelle, Corey, Matt and Jenn, and all the rest of my friends and family…I heart you all and thank you for your infinite patience. To my current and future fans, I owe you everything because without you all, none of this would be possible.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Prologue
Before the Sky Fell
Chapter 2
Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 3
Three’s Company
Chapter 4
The Writing on the Wall
Chapter 5
Sidetracked in the Sun
Chapter 6
A Moment of Peace
Chapter 7
Trapped
Chapter 8
Prozac and Pocketknives
Chapter 9
Uncommon Commonality
Chapter 10
First Do No Harm
Chapter 11
Homeland Insecurity
Chapter 12
The Loop
Chapter 13
Battle Lines
Chapter 14
Lights Out
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Turning Pages
Chapter 17
Twinkies and Tanks
Chapter 18
Balance and Burns
Chapter 19
Mission Impossible
Chapter 20
Man Down!
Chapter 21
Battered, but not Broken
Chapter 22
Roll Out
Chapter 23
Out of the Frying Pan
Chapter 24
Senses
Chapter 25
Kindred Spirits
Chapter 26
Coincidence and Connection
Chapter 27
Moving On
Chapter 28
With a Bang
Chapter 29
Picket Fences
Chapter 30
Patients and Patience
Chapter 31
Haven
Chapter 32
…Here’s Johnnie!
Chapter 33
Leader of the Pack
Chapter 34
Antiques and Engines
Chapter 35
Small Victories
Chapter 36
Smoke and Mirrors
Chapter 37
Recon and Redemption
Chapter 38
Tactical Invasion
Chapter 39
Search and Rescue
Chapter 40
Burning Questions
Chapter 41
Rendezvous and Rally
Chapter 42
Ghosts
Chapter 43
Maps and Missions
Acknowledgments
Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) Page 45