“I’ll see if I can’t talk to him about it after the election,” Liam said. “I could use some help with my administration with someone who’s able to get Jared back in line.”
“I’ll…I’ll think about it,” Julia said nervously. “But you need to win first.”
“I think I have that under control,” Liam said.
The next day, the first of November, Liam was already back in the Northeast, hosting the first of five rallies that day. He was scheduled to hold twenty more rallies across the nation by the end of Monday night, after which he would go to New York for Election Day to vote and host his victory party.
The crowds had seemingly grown even larger as the week before the election had gone on. People, it seemed, had decided that Felicia Hall was just another corrupt politician and were flocking to the only “pure” candidate that they knew. Liam reveled in it and the vision he had of himself standing at the White House was growing more and more real with every rally he hosted.
“For months, you have seen how the political establishment has contented itself to ignore the problems facing you, the people, and tried to duck responsibility for the growth of organizations like the Black Hand,” Liam said at one rally in Maine. “That will not happen anymore under my administration. Under my leadership, these people will be forced to do what they were meant to do all along, and that is to help take care of the people that put them into power in the first place.”
“Under my administration, there won’t be any need to fear the Black Hand anymore. You will be safe in the new regime. You will be able to live your lives as you please, as long as it does not threaten society in general. For the first time in decades, you, the people, will be free once again. With the jobs, care, and education that my administration will provide, you will be able to live longer and happier than you would have in a so-called market society, which is often rigged against common folk like yourselves. You won’t have anything to fear from bosses under my administration.”
“But you have to make your voice clear that you are choosing peace and prosperity. The way to do that is to go out and vote if you haven’t done so already. On Tuesday, we as a nation can make it clear to the world that the old system is no longer acceptable. You can make it clear to the world that we are a strong people, united under the Globalist Party. We will lead a resurgence in global peace, safety, and security. Under my administration, we will finally achieve world peace.”
It did not matter to the crowd how ludicrous that he sounded. They had suffered enough already and they saw in Liam someone who was willing to pull all the stops to end the pain, as opposed to half-measures as others had tried. The crowds were willing to accept what Liam was putting out, no matter how dangerous it seemed under the surface.
“With your voice on election day,” Liam continued, “You will say to Washington that enough is enough and that it is time for them to do their jobs or else suffer the consequences. By sending me to the White House, you would be guaranteeing that result. I will make Washington work for you, not make you work for Washington.”
“I know that many of you have suffered greatly over the past few years and even decades. Some of you have had your entire livelihood wiped out by the economy or the Black Hand. This is your chance to do something about it. With one voice, you can say that you have had enough of the old and that you want the new. All you have to do is vote for the Globalist Party on Tuesday.”
The crowd cheered. Liam felt the excitement leap up in his throat. In his heart, he knew that his moment had finally arrived and Tuesday would be a confirmation of that. With Felicia’s campaign in chaos, he knew that there was little that could threaten his ascent now.
Chapter Forty-Five
Eclipse
Greg was looking at his empty apartment. His fixtures and most of his belongings had gone ahead to Kansas City and put in storage. He only had a few days’ worth of clothes with him in the apartment, plus a sheet so he could eat on the floor with his dwindling food supplies. Ashley had moved her stuff out at the same time as Greg and had gone ahead with Christine, Charles, Eric, and some of Zach’s troops for protection. They would be waiting for the rest of the Continental forces when they came later in the week.
There was a knock on the door and Zach walked in. His voice echoed slightly in the empty apartment as he asked, “Just saying goodbye?”
“I’ve lived here for over half a decade,” Greg replied. “I got this apartment when I was with Veronica.”
“That long?” Zach asked. “Well anyway, there was a package for you at the front desk. The receptionist insisted that I give it to you.”
Greg took the package and opened it up. It was a tablet that had a post it note on the front, saying “Play me.”
“What the hell?” Greg asked. “Where did this come from?”
Zach looked at the remains of the packaging and said, “There’s no return address.”
“What should I do?” Greg asked.
“Play it. It can’t hurt,” Zach said, weighing the tablet in his hand. “It’s no heavier than normal so it’s not rigged to blow or anything.”
Greg took the tablet back and pressed play. The video opened on a woman tied to a chair and gagged. He recognized the woman immediately. “This can’t be,” he breathed, shock rippling through him.
“What? What is it?” Zach said, alarmed at Greg’s reaction.
“It’s…it’s Veronica,” Greg said. “When is this video from?”
“She’s been dead for years right?” Zach asked. “This has to be old. This is someone’s sick idea of a joke.”
“No it isn’t,” Greg said, noticing a new person in the video.
“What?” Zach asked, before he realized who had walked on screen.
Jared Bennett had walked into view of the camera and started speaking. “Greg Carlton. I know that you are the leader of the Continental Army and I know that this person is someone very near and dear to you. I’m going to give you a chance to rescue your dear Veronica. Come to the house where we were holding Liam Hensen by yourself, unarmed. Then we’ll see if we can’t get you your fiancée back.”
Greg was frozen in shock. “What the…what the FUCK do we do?” he asked hoarsely.
“We?” Zach asked. “He asked for you specifically. What is this we?”
“Are you seriously going to make do this by myself?” Greg asked.
“This is a hostage situation, Greg. That is not my area of expertise. And besides that, Jared wants to lure you out specifically because you are the leader of the Continentals and he has leverage over you because he has Veronica,” Zach explained.
“How did he get her though?” Greg asked. “The Feds told me she had been killed. I don’t see how she could even be alive and how Jared somehow got her.”
“Play the video again,” Zach advised. “Make absolutely sure that it’s her.”
Greg played the video again, looking very carefully at the woman. There was no doubt about it; it was Veronica. Her image still haunted his dreams at night, despite his relationship to Ashley and he was never going to forget her face because of it. “I still don’t know how this is possible. But it’s Veronica. I…I have to do something.”
Zach sighed. “Look, this is a horrible idea. A good third of my forces is out in Kansas City already and Jared’s going to have the building filled to the brim with Black Hand soldiers. I don’t know how much help will be in this situation.”
Greg was thinking frantically, trying to think of a way to get Zach’s forces to help. “What if…I go in by myself and let myself be captured…and let me distract Bennett, then you can attack while they’re focused on me?”
“There’s way too much variability in that,” Zach said. “Look, you are too important to this movement to risk on something like this. I think we need to just quit New York while we can.”
“But what about Veronica?” Greg asked.
“You’ve thought she was dead for a long time anyway,” Zach asked.
“Abandoning her doesn’t change that.”
Greg shook his head. “No, I can’t do that.”
Zach groaned. “You are going to get yourself killed, you know that right?”
“No, I’m not,” Greg said. “Not with you covering my ass.”
Zach was thoroughly annoyed. “Fucking goddamn it, Greg. Look, we’ll escort you to this place. We’ll stay outside to cover you. We’re going to give you fifteen minutes and then we’re storming the building. Is that clear?”
“Fine,” Greg said. “Let’s go already.”
It was early in the afternoon when Greg finally began to make his way to the building in Queens where Veronica was being held. It was a bright clear day and Greg noticed that part of the sun was missing. He suddenly remembered that there was a partial solar eclipse ongoing that day, which unsettled him somewhat. It was an ominous sign.
As more and more of the sun went dark, Greg drew steadily closer to the building. He could see Zach and his soldiers following a bit of a distance behind him, staying far enough away to make it look like they were not together. The plan was to have Zach drift off in a different direction when Greg arrived at the location so that the Black Hand would not know that they were nearby. It was a daring plan that required a lot of luck, something that Zach preferred not to rely on. Greg knew his concerns, but the stakes were too high for him to consider any alternative.
Greg arrived at the building. He looked around and saw that Zach was nowhere to be found. Banishing a sinking feeling that he may have just abandoned him, Greg got out of the car and strode purposefully towards the building, hands up in the air.
A derisive laugh filled the cold November air. “Are you fucking serious?! I can’t believe you actually came here by yourself! I can’t believe a dumbass like you has caused me so much trouble this entire year.”
Greg looked up and saw Jared Bennett looking down at him from a window. He was flanked by two Black Hand soldiers with guns trained on Greg. “Where’s Veronica?” Greg demanded fearlessly.
“Oh, of course, where are my manners, let me take you to your beloved fiancée,” Jared said derisively.
Greg walked up to the door and was grabbed roughly by several Black Hand soldiers. One of them punched him in the face and the others dragged him up one flight of stairs and threw him into a dark room. He wiped the blood from his face and turned to see that the room was empty expect for him. “Fuck,” Greg said to himself.
“Yeah, I did have Veronica here earlier,” Jared said, walking into the room and shutting the door. “But I thought that you would have come with the full force of your Continental Army and I didn’t want her to be around such violence.”
“So…” Greg started slowly. “You’re Jared Bennett.”
Jared smiled brightly and said, “At your service.”
“I heard you were a real prick,” Greg continued.
“I do what I need to do to people that deserve it,” Jared said airily, fingering a handgun that he had in his holster. “And you’ve got a lot of punishment coming your way for what you’ve done to me.”
Jared pulled out his gun and pistol-whipped Greg with it. Greg felt a bone in his cheek break under the pressure and grunted in pain, but kept his composure and stood back up.
“Wow,” Jared said, feigning respect. “You know, you’re a lot tougher than Bob Pates was.”
Greg spat. “Is that how you found out who I was?” he asked.
“Yes,” Jared said. “He gave up your whole leadership team. But I needed you above all because you are the one holding this whole chicken shit outfit together. And it just so happened that I knew someone who had some leverage over you.”
“Where…is…Veronica?” Greg demanded furiously.
“Oh, don’t you worry about your dear fiancée,” Jared said. “She’s far away from here and quite safe from you.”
“Safe from me?” Greg asked. “Why would she need to be safe from me? You’re the one torturing and killing God knows how many people!”
“I did what was necessary!” Jared shot back. “And don’t act like your hands are clean you son of a bitch. How many people have died because of you?”
“Only Black Hand people, so what does it matter?” Greg asked.
“Oh, it matters,” Jared said. “Some of those people were just following orders. They had families, Greg.”
“They were following YOUR orders,” Greg retorted back. “You aren’t going to make me feel guilty for people who were murdering other people on YOUR orders.”
Jared shook his head. “Veronica would be so disappointed in how you’ve changed.”
“What the fuck do you know?!” Greg shouted back. “You don’t know her! You just abducted her!”
“Oh, I didn’t abduct her, she was delivered to me by my boss,” Jared said slyly. “But she did talk while I did have her. She was thoroughly convinced that the sun shined out of your ass and that you were finally going to come rescue her. I honestly have never seen someone so…in love with someone else.”
Greg sneered, but was hiding the burning guilt he was feeling. Veronica had not given up on him as easily as he had given up on her. “Where is she, you son of a bitch?”
“Look, I’m not going to waste time telling you that,” Jared replied. “You see, I’m going to take you to somewhere else in the city and then I’m going to have an associate of mine torture you for a few months, then if there is anything left after that, I’ll kill you.”
“Seems a bit extreme,” Greg replied.
“Well, you got my best lieutenant killed,” Jared said angrily. “I’ve been waiting a long time to get you. You and this Captain Zach Gates.”
“He’s a colonel now,” Greg sneered at him.
“I don’t give a fuck what you call him. I’ll tell you what, you tell me where he is and I’ll take less time to kill you than I planned,” Jared told him.
Gunfire suddenly rang out outside the building. Greg looked at his watch and saw that his fifteen minutes were up.
“He’s coming for you right now,” Greg replied.
Jared looked infuriated, but nodded. “Good. Now I can get both of you at once.”
Zach had pulled his forces two blocks away from the building upon arriving in the area. He looked at his watch and waited for the fifteen minutes to be up.
“What the hell are we doing?” David asked.
“We’re going to rescue the leader of the Continentals out of a situation I told him to not get into,” Zach said impatiently.
“And why are we doing that?” David asked. “Why did you let him go in there?”
“He insisted on going,” Zach said. “And you know we can’t leave anyone behind. Especially the leader.”
“Is he really the leader though?” David asked. “It seems to me that you’re the one doing all the work.”
“That’s because you see me in charge of the military wing of the Continentals. Greg has a lot more responsibility than that,” Zach said.
David sighed. “This is still a really bad idea.”
“I know, captain. Just sit tight for five more minutes,” Zach said.
The time crawled on. After the minutes were up, Zach said, “Let’s move. If we’re really fucking lucky, Greg will still be alive.”
The Continentals got out of the car and moved across the two blocks towards the building. Once Zach saw the target in his sights, he did not waste any time, instead opting to open fire on the building. He aimed at anyone he could see moving in the building and saw many of them fall. His fellow soldiers joined in, spraying the building with bullets.
Inside, it was chaos. Jared had told the Black Hand soldiers to stand down when Greg had seemingly come up alone. The insurgents had not been looking around for any Continentals interlopers as a result and were caught off guard by the attack. Jared had left Greg alone in the room and gone out to command the firefight.
Greg did not waste his opportunity. He got up and looked around outside the room and saw t
hat the hallway was abandoned as the Black Hand had moved to the other side of the building to stop the Continental attack. Unguarded, Greg went downstairs and thought about leaving the building, but decided better of it. Jared Bennett was still in the building and he had a chance to take out the leader of the Black Hand. It was a chance he could not pass up on.
Greg snuck back upstairs and heard a grunt in front of him. A Black Hand soldier fell backwards out of a room, clutching his shoulder. He saw Greg and tried to point his handgun at him, but the Continental leader closed the gap quickly and hit him in his hurt shoulder. The Black Hand solider howled in pain and dropped his gun. Greg grabbed the weapon and put the solider out of his misery.
Greg looked around for any sign of Jared or other Black Hand soldiers. He suddenly heard a voice shouting from upstairs, saying, “Go secure Carlton and get him the fuck out of here!”
“If you were going to do that, you shouldn’t have left me unguarded,” Greg shouted back up the stairs.
There was a pause upstairs and Greg heard the gunfire from the building stop. There were footsteps above him and Greg fired up at them, putting holes in the ceiling above him.
“Greg, don’t be a dumbass,” Jared shouted from above. “You’re going to get Veronica killed.”
“What, do you expect me just to sit around and wait for you to torture me and her to death?” Greg shouted.
“I don’t think you have any other option. It’s not like your situation will get any better even if you somehow get away from us today,” Jared said.
“Well since Liam Hensen is about to get elected President, I’m not really sure what you think you can do,” Greg taunted him.
“Oh, you’ll see what I can do after Liam gets elected,” Jared replied. “This doesn’t end on Tuesday just because somebody else becomes President.”
“Haven’t you heard what Liam is going to do to you pricks?” Greg shouted, listening for any further movement upstairs.
Jared laughed. “If you mean his plan to use the Black Hand to enforce his policies, then I don’t think I’m worried about it.”
Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1) Page 42