“Text a reply to Mr. Williams, please. Tell him I’m still on the road and will do everything in my power to get the shipment to White Plains.”
It was a powerful admission to know he probably couldn’t make good on that statement, but family came first. After he had Garth back in the fold, he could worry about coming through for his boss.
But not a second before.
CHAPTER 19
Search for Nuclear, Astrophysical, and Kronometric Extremes (SNAKE). Red Mesa, Colorado
Faith finally had enough data to go to General Smith and present her case for how energy flowed inside the powerful bubble surrounding the Earth. She strode down the hallway with confidence, until she saw Benny the reporter leaning against the wall as if waiting for news to drop in his lap.
“Hey! Dr. Sinclair. You have something for me?”
“Not right now,” she replied, sounding chipper. She didn’t want to give him any reason to doubt her. “But I might have news soon.”
Benny blocked her way, although it didn’t appear deliberate. “Thanks, by the way, for helping my wife come here.”
Faith stayed there for a moment. “She’s doing okay? No problems getting in?”
He shook his head. “Nope. They didn’t even give her a once-over to collect her phone, like they did for me. I guess they didn’t think she was a reporter.” Benny winked.
“Is she?” Faith whispered.
“Naw. I’m just being silly.” He scanned the hallway. “This place has become too serious, if you ask me. It’s great I’m here, but hardly anyone is willing to talk to me, as if I’ll get them fired.”
“Everyone’s paranoid,” she agreed. “That’s the price of having a general of the Army in your house.”
“Maybe,” he replied.
When Benny didn’t volunteer anything more, she made to leave. “I have to go see the general. Hang around, okay? If he clears me to say anything publicly, you’ll be the first one to know.”
“And the only one!” he added as he stepped aside.
“That’s our arrangement,” she assured him.
Faith walked past several more offices until she got close to the one being used by the General. His aide stood outside the closed door, which usually meant the general was inside.
Pull it together, Faith.
“Hello. Is the general available? I have some data to show him.”
The aide smiled while he checked a digital tablet. “I’m showing he is free in a few minutes. Will that be okay?”
For once she wasn’t in a life-or-death rush.
“Yes. I can wait.”
“Very good,” the man replied.
She looked back at Benny. He remained in the same spot, but he had his eye on her. With luck, she’d have a good meeting with the general, get the okay to tear into one of the Four Arrows boxes, and then have something interesting to share with the reporter. It would relieve everyone in his audience to know there was a solution being worked out.
After waiting a few minutes, the guard let her in.
“Hello, General Smith,” she said in the presence of the aide.
The old soldier waited until his helper had shut the door, then addressed her informally. “Come in and sit down, Faith.”
He had his top buttons undone, and he was covered in sweat like he’d been doing hard labor since she last saw him on the parking lot. He got up and strode toward the plastic chairs in front of his desk.
Faith looked him up and down because he was a mess.
“I know. I’m soaked from running around outside. Don’t tell anyone I’m a normal human,” he joked. “It would ruin the image.”
“The rumor I hear is your nickname is ‘Obi-Wan,’ after the Star Wars movies. Were you out there working your magic?” The relaxed mood caused her to lower her guard and try a little small talk.
“Who told you that? I’ve been trying to stamp that nickname out for years. Back in Iraq, I—”
The ground shook under her feet as a fiery orange light erupted from the parking lot. She was sideways to the windows, so she turned in that direction to see what it was.
“Down!” the general bellowed.
He slammed into her.
“Shit!” she yelled as she fell.
The glass of the windows shattered and allowed the full fury of the explosion into the room as she dropped to the floor. The roar was deafening, and it got momentarily hotter, but the impact with the floor hurt her the most.
Tiny pieces of broken glass splashed against the back wall and fell to the floor as a cascade of tinkling crystal. She shielded her head from the flying shards.
She gasped for air as powerful gasoline fumes filled the office.
“What the hell was that?” she yelped.
General Smith had his arm draped over her midsection, and for a few seconds, he didn’t move. She thought he might have been injured, so she tried to shift it away.
“Don’t,” he said. “We need to stick together. Go for the door.”
The smoke made it hard to see inside the office, but it wasn’t completely dark.
“This way,” the general declared as he used his arm to push her toward the hallway door.
“I’m with you,” she replied as best she could.
“Watch the glass,” Smith announced as he began to crawl toward the door.
“Can we get up?” she asked with obvious fear in her voice.
“Stay down!” he ordered. “We don’t know who’s out there. We may be targets.”
Oh, shit.
They made it over the broken glass and through the door.
His aide was absent, and the hallway was filled with chaos and screaming.
He got her situated on the inside wall, away from any windows.
“Was it a bomb?” she inquired.
“Damn right it was a bomb. Someone blew up a car out on the lot.” He picked at his scalp as if checking for shrapnel.
“I don’t want to stay here, sir. I’ve got to get my people out of this hall.”
He stopped his self-triage. “Stay low, and go with me down the hall.” He pointed toward the research area, which was at the end of an intersecting hallway. “We’ve got to get everyone deeper into the facility.”
It wasn’t dignified to be crawling the hallway in her blouse and dress pants, but she followed the general without complaint. Along the way, she checked on some shaken people, including Benny.
“You okay?” she asked the reporter.
He rubbed his head like he was hurt, but there was no obvious blood or bruising.
“Yeah. Fine. A wheel came through the wall about five feet from my head, and I saw my life flash before my eyes.”
She smiled. “We were at the front windows. The glass could have cut us down, but the general knew enough to push me out of the way.”
“Wow. Two damned miracles. Hey, can I report this?”
“No!” the general snapped. “We have to know who did this first. They might be waiting for reporting to determine if they killed anyone of importance.”
She and Benny exchanged glances, but she wasn’t going to argue with the man who had saved her.
Before she and General Smith could move on, an armed contingent of soldiers ran into the hallway and came right up to her and the general.
“Are you okay, sir?” one of them asked.
“We’re just fine,” she snarked.
European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), Switzerland
Phil watched intently as the Fox drove up to the front steps of the main building at CERN. The driver parked it so when the back doors opened, they were shielded from the target by the body of the six-wheeled truck. Two soldiers hopped down from the back and took up positions at the rear corners. The rest of the unit went past them and bounded up the well-lit marble stairs.
Ethan went up too. He walked through the double doors like he owned the place.
“Now we wait some more,” Phil said quietly.
H
e’d begun to think the energy disturbance was simple nerves. Maybe the bomb blast at his command bunker back in Bagram had done more damage than he wanted to admit, because it was unusual for him to feel such anxiety during an op.
“Sir, look at this,” Corporal Grafton whispered.
Phil didn’t want to take his eyes off the mission. “What is it?” he said without turning around.
“I’m getting more of that static. I can actually see a blue spark if I hold two pieces of metal close to each other. It’s like my whole body has been dragged across a shag carpet and now I’m super-charged.”
He glanced back as fast as he could. Sure enough, there was a two-inch line of electrical charge between the barrel of his rifle and a spare mag he held in his hand.
“Ignore it,” he suggested. There was nothing to be done about it while they huddled in the cover of the leafy hedge.
Grafton’s radio came to life. “This is Blue 7 actual. We’re inside. Situation appears normal. Rally on me. Over.”
Phil went to key the mic and noticed that a burst of static came off his fingers as he touched it. “This is Blue 6. We’ll be there in two mikes. Out.”
“Shit, I don’t know what’s going on, guys, but this electrical discharge is pissing me off. We’re going to cross this parking lot and rejoin the unit. If your hair starts standing on end and your helmet rises with it, try cinching it down, okay?”
“Hooah,” they all replied.
The three men prepared to move out, standing and adopting fields of fire while engaged in movement to contact, even if the contact was supposed to be friendly. Phil planned their route. Ethan said everything was good, and he had no reason to doubt him, but it was his job to plan for the safety of his men. As far as he was concerned, there were snipers in every window across the lot.
“Keep your eyes on those windows and report if you see a weapon, but do not engage. My order only unless we’re fired upon, and then I want you to make them sorry they were ever born. Follow me,” he said dryly as he stepped out of the hedge and headed for the nearest parked car.
The crackling of electricity was as loud as a swarm of bees by the time he made it halfway across the lot, but he followed his own advice and kept it to himself.
What did I get myself into?
I-80, Wyoming
After hearing from Mr. Williams, Buck became interested in the news again. He and Connie listened to the radio. She pressed the preset button each time a broadcast went to commercial, so they kept up on multiple sources at the same time.
All of the old news was still being discussed, including the Presidential speech and the time anomalies, but he soon became consumed by a story only mentioned on local Wyoming stations. Sections of Interstate I-25 in eastern Wyoming were being closed off for construction projects.
“This ain’t good,” he said when he heard the words “I-25” again.
“What does it mean? Are they doing construction on the whole highway?”
“We’ve heard reports of closures in three towns now. I figured it was more buffalo crossing up there, but they didn’t mention animals.”
Buck reached next to his seat for the atlas.
“So? Maybe time is out of whack, and construction is happening all at once.”
He briefly gave her a smile. “Yeah, it’s one possibility. Here, open this to Wyoming. Let’s take a look.”
She grabbed the atlas and flipped it open. “What do you want to know?”
“Interstate 25 goes through Denver. That’s a fact. I bet if you follow it north through Wyoming, you’ll find it goes into Montana, and probably close to Great Falls.”
“The air base on the news is in Great Falls, isn’t it?” she asked while leafing the pages.
“Yep,” he answered.
She paged through the atlas until she had Montana and Wyoming bookmarked with her fingers. As she switched back and forth, he began to wonder if he remembered the geography correctly. Since it was his job, he wanted to sound like he knew his stuff.
“Well,” she said with hesitation, “you are right and wrong. I-25 goes through most of Wyoming, but then it turns into another highway.”
“Does that highway go to Great Falls?”
She traced her fingers on the page. “It winds around, but you can get there. I-25 is the only major interstate linking Colorado and Montana, though. You think that airbase has something to do with the road shutdown?”
He wasn’t sure he was right, but the pieces seemed to line up.
“Yeah. Malmstrom is in Great Falls. They’ve been talking about it being on lockdown, but they don’t give any other information. Now the main highway between the base and that SNAKE place near Denver is being shut down for construction. If I were running an operation between the two cities, I’d make sure I owned the interstate.”
She put her elbow on the armrest and held her chin while looking over to him. “We’re heading right for I-25, Buck.”
“I know.” He sighed.
CHAPTER 20
Princess Anne, Maryland
“Garth, can I ask you a personal question?”
They sped along Hwy 13 going south, and he kept it at the sixty-five-miles-per-hour speed limit. Lydia had her window most of the way up because the blast of air between the two open front windows was too much even for her.
His window was still broken, however, so they both had to speak loudly.
“Sure, go ahead.”
She shifted in her seat, pulling one leg under her body so she sat on it, allowing her to face him.
“If we can’t get me back to where I came from, could I stay with you?”
“Like, get married?” It fell out of his mouth.
She shrugged, seemingly unconcerned about his etiquette fail. “I will need to find somewhere to stay so I don’t become a burden.”
Secretly, it was flattering, but he was only fifteen. He imagined what it would be like to walk into Mrs. Anderson’s math class and have to explain that he was married to a pioneer girl who dressed like it was 170 years ago. It would be deliciously scandalous. Sam would never talk to him again, or maybe he would. “Take my eyes off you for two minutes and look what happens?”
Not to mention what his dad would say.
“I, uh, don’t know what will happen, but I promise you won’t be a burden to my dad or me. He will make sure you get somewhere safe, maybe with family living in our time. Hell, I wonder…”
His mind journeyed down a strange road that led him to imagine the possibility he was her descendant.
Yuck. Gross.
“Your last name isn’t Meadows, is it?” he asked.
She smiled. “My family name is Masterson.”
Phew! Not related.
Upon reflection, he couldn’t quite grasp why that was important to him. He didn’t want to marry her, certainly, but she was pretty in her own way. If she wore modern clothes and learned a few things about modern life, such as using smartphones, he wouldn’t be embarrassed to be around her. He found that he wouldn’t mind that at all.
And he wouldn’t be embarrassed. She needed a knight in shining armor to protect her from his world, and that was the most embarrassing thing of all.
“Anyway, you wouldn’t be a burden. Girls, uh, women today can do whatever they want. You could go to college and be a doctor if you felt like it.”
“Wow,” she said in a distracted way.
The roadway was lined with tall, straight trees until they ended at the edge of a new town. A tasteful brick welcome sign greeted them.
“We’re entering Princess Anne,” he announced. “I think we should try to get some more gas. Two gallons didn’t get us very far, and the line shows we are sitting on empty already. I hate stopping so much.”
She giggled. “You amaze me, Garth. We’ve crossed more land in the past hour than Pa and I would have crossed in two days with our wagon.”
“I think I would have killed myself if I had to move so slow.”
L
ydia huffed. “You shouldn’t talk like that. It brings bad luck.”
“No, it’s a joke. I never would do it. It only means I hate it more than anything.”
“Oh, well, still. I would hate to see you hurt yourself.”
Once again, he imagined being in school and explaining the weird things she said. Sam would never let him live it down. He’d look for ways to confuse the poor girl with modern sayings. Not because Sam would be mean about it, but because he was always joking with everyone. And then Garth would have to fight him.
Where did that come from?
The town of Princess Anne came up fast, and he saw a few gas stations right away. However, he picked a location closest to one of his favorite fast food joints because he wanted to show the pioneer teenager real modern dining.
“I’ve got a treat for you,” he said as he pulled into the lot. “Wait just a minute.”
Garth stopped next to the drive-through order board, giddy with anticipation. “If you think those candy bars were good, wait until you taste this. We can eat in the car.”
He ordered and drove around the side. Lydia leaned almost over his lap as she tried to look inside the drive-through window. The smartly-dressed workers moved from station to station, doing their jobs.
“Wow. They are making our food?”
“Yeah, sort of. The food is already there. They assemble it, I think.” A couple of schoolmates worked in fast food restaurants. He’d heard horror stories about cleanliness, but he wasn’t going to ruin the moment. He figured she probably ate with her hands over campfires, so this couldn’t be any worse.
The clerk took his money and handed over his order. Garth maneuvered into a parking space. The gas station next door looked extremely busy, so the food gave them an excuse to wait for things to die down.
“I give you…the Big Mac.” He pulled the cheeseburger out of the bag and handed it to her with a couple of napkins. “This is my favorite burger in the whole world. I hope you like it.”
Broad America: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure (End Days Book 3) Page 15