“What do you mean?” I asked.
“They know who he is,” he said. “They’re coming for him.”
THIRTY-ONE
SONNY
Out of all of my relatives, I always disliked my Uncle Water the most. I had a hard time believing that he and my father were brothers, because they were complete opposites. My father was a strong man, but good, never cared if he showed his weaknesses and would cut off his arm for someone. My Uncle Walter, on the other hand, would cut off someone else’s arm if it served his agenda.
He was mean and spiteful. Never a kind word and I hated that my father pretended to like him then complain all the way home in the car about him. I always said when I was a grown man I was going to tell my Uncle Walter he wasn’t very nice.
I never got the chance—he died three days before my high school graduation. Not that it mattered, he wasn’t coming anyhow, I was the family criminal.
Suffice to say, I was pretty surprised when I finally did fall asleep. I really didn’t feel as tired as my body just felt drained. And then I dreamt of my Uncle Walter.
It wasn’t one of those ghostly apparition dreams where a lost loved one was trying to get a message.
What Walter said to me was pretty much what he had said to my father. My own self-doubt and hatred for what I knew lurked inside of me was probably the reason for it.
My subconscious dug deep to find my punishment.
Uncle Walter.
“Sonny, you are a worthless, spineless piece of shit. You’ll never amount to anything and only cause hurt to people. You might as well die.”
“I think that’s for the best, but no one will let me.”
“Then you don’t really want to die. Doesn’t take much to jump off a bridge or put a gun to your head.”
“True,” I told him. “I shouldn’t have had to ask Beck to shoot me.”
“No you shouldn’t. It’s not too late.”
“You’re not very nice.”
“Never said I was.”
Not sure what else happened in that dream, but that portion stood out to me. I don’t even remember dreaming much after that, only that I slowly woke up and was shocked I even slept. Not as shocked as I was to open my eyes and see Stacy sitting on the bottom of my bed.
I actually shrieked when I saw her and she giggled.
It was creepy—she sat there, staring at me, like some obsessed ex-girlfriend. If I didn’t know better I swore she was rubbing my feet, but that could have been my imagination.
I inched back away from her, sitting up. God, I hoped she wasn’t there to seduce me. Not that she wasn’t attractive, but I just wasn’t ready for that, not with all I was going through. “Hey, Stacy…um, what’s up? Why are you in my room?”
“Well, Sonny, I realized today…” She smiled and touched my foot again. “There’s something about you.”
“What…what would that be?”
Stacy just smiled.
THIRTY-TWO
ALEX
Beck and his military mode. It was a part of his life before the event and I supposed he was going to do all that he could to keep it that way. Habit maybe, who knew? But he was at his most relaxed when he was talking strategy.
Plus, in all the time I knew him, never had I seen him so optimistic.
His map of our little region was replaced with one of the United States. Complete with red marker. I wondered if we should have gotten Sonny, but Beck said he wasn’t needed.
Me, Danny and Miles were enough.
We were just hashing out details. Somehow I think Beck had that already done in his head.
“How many are we talking?” I asked.
“At the ARC?” Beck clarified. “About two thousand and another thousand out doing the Reckoning.”
I whistled. “Can it sustain that many people?”
“Eventually we’ll move a good bit here,” Beck said. “We’ll work on sustainability. We’re in a good region, good farming, the ocean.”
Danny asked, “How many soldiers are you keeping out there at all times?”
“Rotation of a thousand,” Beck answered. “Like we’ve been doing. Only now…now it will be more effective.”
“Was there ever a time frame on the Beckoning?” I asked.
“We never put a time frame on the…Reckoning,” Beck corrected. “Just that it would keep going until we got them all. Years, a decade. Make no mistake, this isn’t going to take weeks, it is still going to take a while.”
“You know, Beck,” Danny said, “you don’t need to be out there the whole time overseeing, You have that other guy, and I’d like to go. Miles said he’d like to go.”
“Hell, maybe even me,” I added. “Point is, buddy, you rotate command leaders as much as you rotate soldiers. Okay? No one person needs to be away from the family for that long. In the Doctrines you stopped because we were always on the run. That’s not the case now.”
“I don’t plan on being out there for long periods,” Beck said. “So thank you and I will utilize you all. Like I said, it will be more effective this time. Before, it was a matter of finding them, taking them out. But they are so scattered, we never had a way to pull them together and eliminate mass amounts.”
“Now we do,” Danny said. “We’re going to use both Michael and Sonny.”
“Absolutely, they are better weapons than anything we have. Plus,” Beck said, “we’ll still carry on the normal Reckoning routine to catch stragglers.”
“The stragglers,” I said, “were probably a lot at one time. I mean, in the future we read about, and after you stopped the Beckoning, that left them open to go around the Great Divide with the help of the Sandman.”
“Now,” Miles added, “They’ll just drop right in.”
“That’s the plan,” Beck said.
With a bang, the door was flung open and Mera blasted in, startling us all. She was out of breath, her face white and sweaty, and she clutched a rolled up poster in her hand so tight, she was smashing it.
“Mera,” Beck rushed to her. “What’s wrong? More Sleepers?”
She shook her head and wheezed. “No, no, we…me, Alex…maybe…” she spoke through strained breaths. “We messed up.”
“Is that Sonny’s Tom Selleck poster?” I asked. “He’s gonna be pissed that you ruined it.”
“Sonny…. We have to protect him.” She gasped. “My God.” She slammed her hand to the counter. “I am not cut out for this exercise shit. I ran all the way from the pier.”
“Mera,” Beck remained calm and walked to her. “Calm down. We will protect Sonny.”
“Now. We have to do it now.”
“Why?”
“Okay, wait. Give me a second.” She raised her hand.
“Do you want a drink?” Beck asked.
“Yes, please, thank you. While I catch my breath.”
He walked to his desk and grabbed a bottle of water, handing it to Mera.
“Oh, water.”
“You want something stronger?” Beck asked.
“Is that even a needed question?” I said.
“Alex.” Beck walked back over to his desk, opened the drawer, pulled out a bottle and poured Mera a shot.
“Better?” Beck questioned.
“Yes.” Mera nodded. “Okay. So, I was talking to Sonny and we were talking about the fourteen clone assassins. Everyone knows something is up, the way you guys have heightened security. I figured one of them or more were here.”
“So did we,” Beck asked.
“Then I started thinking. Clone. Tom Selleck. The only reason I would see Tom Selleck is if one of those fourteen was a clone of Tom.”
“We thought the same thing,”
Mera gave a grimaced look. “Well, jeez.”
“Is that it?” I asked. “You ran all the way from the pier to
tell us Tom Selleck was one of the fourteen and you ruined Sonny’s poster?”
“No, I ran because I went across the bay to get confirmation from Peter and…show him Allie’s phone. Phoenix was taking pictures left and right of everyone today. I figured if one or more of them were here and acting part of the community Peter may recognize them.”
I nodded, impressed. “Mera, that’s good thinking.”
“He said if they are on base, they know who he is or have their suspicions.”
I shook my head. “They don’t know. No way.”
“I’m telling you they do,” she said. “That’s when I had the thought. I thought, what if Tom Selleck wasn’t the only celebrity they cloned. What if one more was here.”
“Here?” Beck asked. “On base?”
Mera nodded.
“Mera,” I held back laughing. “I’m pretty sure if there was another famous person on base, we’d know it. Unless you just spotted David Hasselhoff running around, there are no more celebrities on base.”
“Yeah, Alex,” she said seriously. “There is.”
It took a second and then it hit me and I blurted out, “Fuck.”
“Shit,” Beck spat.
“Goddamn it,” said Miles.
“Stacy,” I said.
“Did Peter confirm?” Beck asked.
“He confirmed,” she replied.
“Well, damn it Mera, why didn’t you say so in the first place?” I scolded. “Going round and round and all you had to do is come in here and tell us Peter said Stacy is one. And you tried to fix them up, telling her…ah, son of a bitch. You told her all kinds of shit.”
“I know.”
“Alright.” Beck pulled his pistol and checked it. “I don’t think we have an issue yet, but let’s get Sonny into our fold. Danny, just in case, you and Miles grab two others and take a sniper position on building G, F, E and L.”
“Got it.”
“Alex, you come with me to get Sonny,” Beck said. “Mera, you stay put.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Can I help myself to your bottle?”
“Yeah. Alex.” Beck motioned his head.
I looked back at Mera as we left. She was worried. I was too and knew what she had to be thinking. Her and I had both rattled off information to Stacy about Sonny just the day before. Information that someone as ditzy as Stacy or anyone else wouldn’t get.
But Stacy really wasn’t ditzy, it had to be an act, and she wasn’t anyone else.
That information was confirmation to her.
It had to be.
The plan was to head over to the housing building and rustle up a slumbering Sonny. All that changed when Beck called out on the radio all call, “Under no circumstances does anyone get in or out. No one.”
“Major, does that include Sonny?” one of his soldiers replied. “He’s headed toward the North gate with that former reality star and three others.”
“Shit.” Beck lifted the radio. “Stop them. He does not get out.”
“Roger that.”
“Danny, did you hear that?” Beck called on the radio.
“I did. Almost to the roof.”
“All four of you to L, that’s our best shot.”
The north gate area was located behind the medical building and it wouldn’t take long for us to get there. We both ran, but Beck and his giant stride was forcing me to give it all I had to keep up.
“Major,” the soldier came back on, “I have them. But you have to see this.”
“In a second I will,” Beck replied.
What did he have to see?
We rounded the building and sure enough, one of Beck’s men held the four of them at gunpoint. Two men I didn’t know, plus Tom Selleck and Stacy. Only one of them was armed, the one on the end, but Tom held a contraption in his hand that looked like a controller to a drone.
Sonny stood before them wearing a thick collar that had a series of lights blinking.
Beck, gun raised and propped all professional in his hand as he lined up his shot, stepped forward. “Drop it. Now.”
“No,” Tom said. “We came to do a job.”
“I repeat, drop it. You are surrounded,” Beck said. “This doesn’t need to be a bloodshed. Sonny, step back.”
“It won’t be. You outgun us, we know,” Tom said. “We have him. That collar assures he will not call any Sleepers to help. Quite an ingenuous invention. It came from this time.”
“Sonny,” I said. “Back away from them.”
Sonny looked over his shoulder at me. “Like he said, Alex, it doesn’t matter. They got me.”
“In a dog collar. You’re covered.”
“It’s more than that,” Tom said. “Do you think we’d rely on your weapons to take down the Sandman? We need to ensure his death—this is our way.”
When he said that, that was when I knew the contraption in his hand had something to do with the collar around Sonny’s neck.
“Sonny?” I questioned.
“They’re gonna blow my head off, Alex,” Sonny replied.
I moved forward with a rush.
“Back up.” Tom held up the controller. “We aren’t the bad guys here, really, we’re not. We’re doing your world a favor by eliminating the threat of what he will do in the future.”
“You think that helps us?” Beck asked. “We need him. There are still millions of them out there.”
“They’ll die off without his direction,” Tom said.
“You’re wrong. They’ll still evolve, they aren’t dead. They’re human beings and they will evolve,” Beck said, strong. “With him, the Reckoning will be effective. With his control we can gather them, bring them into one area, take them out, drop them over the Great Divide. All a hell of lot easier than the Doctrines said we did.”
Tim laughed. “The Doctrines said the Beckoning stopped.”
“The Beckoning?” Beck questioned, then mumbled, “Thanks, Alex.”
“If you’re doing the Beckoning,” Tom said, “then for sure you’ve won. With no Sandman, the Beckoning, we’ve all secured the future for your families.”
“Sonny is our family. And I cannot let you walk out of the gate with him.”
“You can shoot us all,” Tom said. “I get that. We have no intention of hurting any of you. Just him. We wanted to take him out of here to do it, but I will do it here.” He stepped back with the controller.
Beck lifted the radio and in a very matter of fact, calm manner, he spoke into it. “Danny.”
The second syllable of Danny’s name barely crossed Beck’s lips when a single shot rang out. Tom’s head flung back when the well-aimed shot landed at the center of his forehead.
Stacy screamed.
I watched that controller drop from Tom’s hand and to the grass, then I watched the unarmed man go for it.
I couldn’t let him get it. I knew there would be zero hesitation to press whatever button on that thing that would take Sonny from us.
It just all happened so fast.
I charged forth, fully intending on doing my best all-star wrestling take down. But I didn’t make it far.
Beck wasn’t letting the guy get it either. Without hesitation, Beck fired a shot into the unarmed man as he reached down for the controller, and I guess because I was there and I was close and running toward them, the only clone with a gun chose me.
He fired.
“Alex!” Sonny yelled my name.
I felt the bullet sear somewhere in my chest. It hurt like hell when it went in, then all I felt was pressure as I sailed back and to the grass.
Dropping hard to my back caused the pain to radiate through my body.
I rolled to my side just in time to watch my gunman fall to the ground with Beck’s arm still extended in a firing
mode. He pivoted toward Stacy.
But he didn’t shoot.
“Alex,” Sonny said, dropping down to me. “Hey, lay back. Someone!” he shouted. “We need to get him in the med building.”
“God damn it.” I brought my hand to my chest. “I’m bleeding.”
“No shit,” Sonny said. “We’re getting help.”
“I know.”
“Alex,” Sonny said, lifting my head as he placed his hand firmly to my wound. “Thank you for doing that. You’re gonna be fine.”
I wanted to agree, I really did. But when I didn’t feel any pain, and everything started to fade, I questioned if I would be fine or if this was it.
All the hell I went through, everything I had seen and done, and I was gonna die on the grass in Sonny’s arms.
Not the way I wanted to go out. Really, though, did I have a choice?
I didn’t die.
I don’t know how long I was out, but I woke up in a cozy hospital room with dim lights and Mera sitting in a chair by my side.
“Hey,” she said softly. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“A little sore, but good,” I told her and tried to adjust myself in the bed. “How long was I sleeping?”
“A few hours. You had surgery. Levi said it was simple, the bullet lodged in your lung and it was easy to take out. You’ll be sore for a while.”
“No doubt.”
“I’ll tell you what, I was worried. Because I’m not sure I could bring you back again.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “Not when our son told us that I only have ten or fifteen years to wait until you leave Beck and we get our shot.”
She smiled at that. “I heard about what you did for Sonny, Alex,” she said. “That was very awesome.”
“But was it…Heston like?”
“No, Heston dies in all his heroic films.”
“Damn it, that’s right.”
Our quiet little moment was done when Beck and Sonny came into the room. Levi was funny, hustling in and squeezing his way between them.
“No. No. Only a few minutes, you hear?” Levi said. “He needs rest and to heal.”
Sleepers | Book 8 Page 15