by Connor Mccoy
“Shit!” Domino reached out and slammed the back passenger side door shut while Jacob rushed into the driver’s seat. Brandon piled inside through the front passenger side door.
Through the side mirror, Cowell’s car came to a stop at the outer fence. He was far away. In fact, he was nearly on the opposite side of the property, but if Jacob lingered for too long, Cowell was sure to spot them and demand an audience. Cowell likely would take a refusal as evidence that Jacob was hiding something.
“The back road,” Jacob said as he turned the ignition key. “We’ll take that, and then use it to get to Road 219.”
He started up the truck, not caring if Cowell heard it. He always could make up a story later about what he was doing. The less Cowell actually saw, the better.
Jacob hit the gas. He sped down the driveway onto the dirt road that ran past the back of his crops. He had driven through the back of his property many times to transport building material for his fences as well as for his crops, but not recently. The dirt path was uneven and grown over in spots. Jacob really had to pay attention to discern where the actual road was, which wasn’t easy with the adrenalin rushing through his body. He had to take Jubilee to the hospital while escaping Cowell. That was more than enough to rattle him.
The road turned left. Jacob turned with it. However, he expected the road to keep going and not lead right into a wooden fence. Jacob slammed on the brakes. The front bumper of his vehicle stopped inches short of the fence.
“Damn it!” Jacob released the wheel. His hands shook. “I forgot I put up that fence a few years ago.” He opened the door and dove out of the truck. Of course he had. He had wanted to fence off his property to protect against animals and people like Cribber. He had forgotten that he actually succeeded in fencing off the very back of his land as well.
Even so, Jacob remembered he had installed a gate here as well. He still was transporting materials through here while he was erecting the fence.
“Gate! Gate! Where’s the gate?” He ran along the fence, searching for anything, a lock, a set of hinges, anything to mark the gate’s separation from the rest of the fence. Why couldn’t he remember? Was he so terrified of Cowell and his daughter’s injury that thinking straight just wasn’t an option.
Finally, his hand grazed a solid brass hinge. Here it was! Jacob had located the gate’s lock. One of the keys on his ring unlocked it with no problem.
“Dad!” Brandon shouted. The boy had left the truck and was pointing back the way they had come. “I think I see Cowell!”
Blood rushed Jacob’s arms and face as he pushed open the gate. Had the bastard actually climbed over his fence to get onto his property? Jacob wouldn’t put it past Cowell.
“Into the truck!” Jacob cried. Brandon obeyed, reaching his seat just as Jacob sat down on his. At least they had their way out. Jacob wasted no more time driving the truck through the gap.
Common sense told him to stop and shut the gate, but Brandon’s warning kept his foot on the gas. He couldn’t see Cowell through the rear-view mirror, but Jacob refused to take the chance that Cowell could approach them and demand they stop. He didn’t want to confront Cowell face to face and be forced to show Jubilee with her arrow injury. Better to have plausible deniability.
Soon Jacob’s fence was long gone. The truck sped down a dirt road that whipped through tall grass and sporadic trees. Cowell was no longer an immediate problem. Jacob now could focus on getting his little girl to a hospital.
Domino let out an anguished breath. “This has been the worst day ever,” she said as Jubilee moaned against her.
“What is Cowell’s deal?” Brandon asked, “Why does he keep showing up?”
Jacob rubbed his lips together to burn off some frustration. “He believes he’s protecting you from your psycho father,” he said, juicing his words with sarcasm. “He doesn’t care about anyone but his own ego.”
“I think he’s a cyborg in disguise.” Brandon folded his arms. “He’s from the future and he wants to kill us one day because we’re destined to save the world.”
Brandon’s remark was almost enough to fully melt Jacob’s anxiety and anger—almost. “Well,” he finally said, “I can buy that he’s not human.”
Jubilee moaned again. “Mom…it hurts so bad.”
“Speaking of the world,” Domino said, “how about we put on the radio? Maybe it’ll distract Jubilee until we reach the hospital.”
Jacob switched on the radio. As the speakers crackled to life, the dirt road turned off onto Road 219. Jacob made the turn. Now they were truly on their way to Sheryl’s hospital.
The radio had been tuned to a news talk station, so instead of music, a slightly gravel-throated male voice poured through the speakers.
“...so, this is definitely the first time the White House has expressed concern about the recent solar phenomenon. White House Spokesman Conrad Watters said the President has endorsed the McKinney-Shepherd bill that would upgrade the country’s electrical grid. But some believe the government should have undertaken these measures as far back as last year, when telescopes first started detecting the solar bursts. But some in Congress still contend this is a waste of time and resources, and that most electrical grids are sufficiently hardened from solar activity.”
Brandon groaned. “Bor-ing. Can we listen to music, please?”
Jacob obliged his son and turned on a classic rock station, slightly embarrassed that he had listened for so long. Then again, solar activity had blanketed the news for almost a year now. It was hard not to miss it.
Domino flicked a strand of hair out of Jubilee’s face. “Hey. Hang in there. We won’t be too much longer.”
Jubilee nodded. “Thank you.”
As long as the traffic doesn’t get too bad, Jacob thought, though he kept his thoughts to himself. They were past lunch, so they should be past the lunch crowd. However, Jacob had heard news reports of construction activity in the area. If a lane or two was coned off, that could create a bottleneck and delay them considerably.
“How do you think we’re going to explain this to Aunt Sheryl?” Brandon asked, with a nervous laugh. “You know she thinks we’re weird already.”
Jacob shared Brandon’s concern, if only slightly. Sheryl shared Jacob’s dislike of the neighborhood they grew up in, but unlike Jacob, Sheryl prized education and career advancement as the way out of it. She thought Jacob’s plan to relocate into the countryside was insane. She claimed repeatedly that Jacob did not have the skills to handle it. Jacob protested that he could learn. Sheryl believed Jacob, with his average-at-best school grades, should have sought something like a college degree in engineering to set him up. She feared that he would be a failure. Even now, she carried great doubts about Jacob’s lifestyle, and the two had a bittersweet relationship as a result.
She still cares about my kids, Jacob thought. She would do whatever it took to help them.
“Hey Dad, we got trouble!” Brandon suddenly cried.
“Trouble? Where?” Jacob asked.
Brandon was looking at the side mirror attached to the right side of the truck. Jacob checked his rear-view mirror. Brandon was correct. Trouble was approaching in the form of Alex Cowell.
“Damn it!” Jacob squinted to be sure he wasn’t seeing things. No, there was no mistake. Cowell’s black four-door was far behind, resembling a large toy, but there was no doubt it was Cowell’s vehicle, judging from the decaying paint job on the vehicle’s roof.
“Cowell? How?” Domino asked.
“That’s crazy!” Jubilee shouted before groaning in pain.
Jacob’s mind raced. How did Cowell catch up with them? “The back road,” he said, seething. “It’s got a wide loop. It joins up with the highway, but it eats up a few miles to do it. Cowell could have checked out our place, got in his car, and drove up to the highway. Hell, he might have been lying in wait at the intersection!”
It seemed silly, but it was the only thing that made sense. If Cowell had l
eft their home shortly after he arrived, he should have been out ahead of them, not behind. Cowell must have suspected that Jacob and his family had departed through the back and drove up to the turnoff to the highway to wait for Jacob’s truck to pass.
“He really is a cyborg,” Brandon said.
“Is he really going to follow us all the way to the hospital?” Domino asked.
“No doubt about it. He’s hunting for our scalps.”
Cowell seeing Jubilee would be incredibly bad, but Jacob also didn’t want Cowell to talk to Sheryl. Cowell had been questioning people who knew the Averys, and more than once had expressed his desire to speak to Sheryl. It was part of the reason Jacob had urged Sheryl to steer clear of his house for a while. Sheryl thought Jacob was being a little paranoid, but Jacob believed the less Sheryl knew about his life, the better. It meant Sheryl would not be a credible witness for Cowell.
“We’ve got to get rid of him,” Jacob said.
However, that might be easier said than done. The traffic on this highway still was light, so Jacob couldn’t lose Cowell amid a sea of cars, and there were few alternative routes to Sheryl’s hospital. It was not like Jacob easily could lose Cowell along the way.
“I have an idea.” Jacob pressed on the gas. The speedometer roared to sixty miles per hour, then sixty-five, then seventy.
“Jay!” Domino cried.
“Don’t worry! I just need to buy some time. Then you’re going to take it from here.”
On the side of the road, very close to the painted white stripe that bordered the road’s edge, Jacob waved the white towel high in the air. If he was right, Cowell would pass by any moment.
It didn’t take long for Cowell’s black car to approach. Jacob stepped out into the lane, waving the towel even faster. Cowell slowed his vehicle until it halted a few paces from Jacob.
Gotcha, Jacob thought.
Cowell turned off the car’s ignition. The driver’s side door opened. Jacob waited. His plan was working perfectly. Now he simply had to deal with the man who was exiting the vehicle.
Alex Cowell would have been shorter than Jacob except for his well-heeled shoes. The man’s brown jacket appeared a dingy yellow in this sunlight, which almost made Jacob laugh. But humor seemed to be an alien concept to Cowell. The man’s stone face was made more implacable by his reddish-brown beard and dark glasses. With his white shirt, blue tie, and dark brown pants, the man was the picture of the bureaucratic professional. How this guy got to be a social worker, Jacob could not say. He projected no warmth and, in all of Jacob’s experiences, slighted the life that Jacob and his wife chose to lead.
Cowell slowly approached Jacob with all the grace of a police officer who just had pulled over a speeding motorist. “Mister Avery,” he said, “well, isn’t it interesting to suddenly meet you out here in the middle of the road?”
“I thought I’d go for an afternoon jog,” Jacob said. “It’s quite nice out here.”
“Really? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were avoiding me.”
Jacob grinned. “Well, talking with you is the highlight of any day, Mister Cowell.”
“Where’s your family? You’re not fooling me, Avery. You were in your truck. You must have pulled over for some reason.”
“Actually, they’ve gone on ahead. They’re pressed for time. If you had something very important you wanted to speak to me about, well, I thought I’d go ahead and meet up with you so we can chat.”
“Cute. Real cute.” Cowell’s lips curled into a snarl while saying “cute.” “I told you I’d be in touch regarding your children.”
“Yes, but such visits generally require the courtesy of a phone call, don’t they?” Jacob put as much sarcasm into his voice as he could. “You seem to think you can show up on my lawn any time you want.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a surprise visit, Mister Avery. It’s to make sure you’re not putting on a show for my benefit. Some people have expressed concerns about your children, particularly your daughter’s current state, and I aim to make sure she is not being unlawfully deprived or detained on your property.”
“Really?” Jacob tried swallowing his anger. “You know, all my friends, doctors, people who I talk to say you’re, well, pushy with your questions. You throw out accusations instead of trying to get to the truth, and you lead people on to hunt for the answers you want.”
“You can call it whatever you like. I will, however, speak to your daughter and son.”
“Fine, schedule an appointment. We’ll do lunch.”
“Where are they, Mister Avery? I’m beginning to suspect something’s amiss. Is your daughter quite alright?”
Jacob’s anger threatened to boil over. “Mister Cowell,” he said through grinding teeth, “Do you have a court order in those fancy clothes of yours to come into my home and talk to my family? Because if you don’t have a legal basis to talk to my kids, you’re going to have to go through the law of the magic word.”
Cowell frowned. “Magic word?”
Jacob nodded. “Please.” He advanced one step on Cowell and said with a little mockery, “Mister Avery, may I please speak with your children at a convenient time?”
Now Jacob’s mood was improving. Cowell just stood there like a statue. Jacob was enjoying this.
“If you don’t, I might just go to court and start throwing words around like ‘stalking’ and ‘harassing.’ And then you may hear the word ‘fired’ from your bosses soon afterward. You know, there are groups out there who don’t take to the government harassing people who live off the grid. I don’t think your bosses want the publicity.”
Cowell chortled. “You’re not nearly as clever as you imagine yourself to be, Mister Avery. There are people who knew you back when you were younger. Seems you weren’t exactly an angel.” He backed up toward his car. “Make no mistake, there is a substantial case against you. All you have to do is mess up just once, and you’ll have that court order. No, you’ll be in court yourself.”
Cowell climbed back into his car and started up the motor. With a hearty sigh, Jacob wiped his face with the white towel. He did it. Cowell could not hope to catch up to his family now, even if he knew where they were going.
As Cowell started up his car, Jacob fished out his cell phone. He would not ask his wife to turn around and pick him up. None of his friends were nearby. Hey, maybe he could dial an Uber driver. He never had done that before. Could be interesting.
Before he could look up Uber, he heard a car engine suddenly begin puttering out. Cowell’s car was decelerating rapidly. The brake lights weren’t even on. It was as though someone had pulled the plug on Cowell’s vehicle.
Jacob scratched his head. Cowell’s car had come to a complete halt. He obviously had suffered a breakdown, perhaps due to a bad battery.
“Just my damn luck,” Jacob said as he returned his attention to his phone. He still planned to call that Uber driver, although with Cowell stopped close by, he might receive another earful from the social worker while he waited.
However, Jacob’s phone was dead. The screen was black. Jacob tapped it several times, to no avail.
“What the hell?” Jacob whispered.
Chapter Four
Though Domino’s eyes remained on the highway ahead of them, she couldn’t help but glance back at the cell phone in Brandon’s hand. It had not stirred in the past twenty minutes.
She shouldn’t be so nervous. Her husband could deal with Alex Cowell. The important thing was to get Jubilee to Sheryl’s hospital. If Jacob was successful, he might be able to drive Cowell away for the rest of the day.
She glanced at her daughter in the back. She was awake, but clearly miserable. Her lip was curled up and she kept a hand on her wound.
Silence was out of the question. Domino had to keep everyone’s spirits up and Jubilee’s thoughts off her ordeal. “Hey! Roddie in the afternoon’s coming on. He’s going to be talking about the MMA fight this weekend.” She turned to Jubil
ee. “Bet you’re going to love that, huh?”
Jubilee smiled weakly. “Sure.”
Brandon switched on the radio. But instead of Roddie’s all-too excited voice spilling from the speakers, the trio was treated to a news broadcast in progress.
“…as a result of the sudden increase in solar activity. Also, it is estimated that forty thousand passengers have cancelled their flights amid news that the government will order flights to be grounded. The White House insists this is a precautionary move and there is no actual threat to air flight operations. There is also a sudden rush on faraday cages. Sales have been robust in the past few months, but with today’s news, sales have skyrocketed.”
Jubilee groaned. “We can’t get away from this!”
Domino switched the channel to a music station, which was also overlaid with the same news broadcast. “Damn. This is serious,” she said.
“They’re worried about electromagnetic disruptions in the atmosphere,” Brandon said, his tongue nearly tripping over the word ‘electromagnetic.’
“But what does that mean?” Jubilee cried out. It was painful, but she stifled it so she could speak further. “I understand what ‘electromagnetic’ means, but why is everyone making it such a big deal?”
Domino studied the traffic outside as she answered. The lanes were starting to fill up. “Well, baby, a solar burst in the atmosphere sends out electromagnetic pulses. The government is just worried that if those pulses are too strong, they can damage power grids. They also can shut down electronic devices.” Domino pointed to her phone in Brandon’s hand. “Like phones.”
“Hey, maybe we should call Aunt Sheryl to let her know we’re coming,” Brandon said.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. If it’s not your dad talking to her, it’ll go easier,” Domino said.
“Why…do they…hate each other?” Jubilee asked through her moans.
“They don’t hate each other. They’re just a little awkward around each other. They’re very different people,” Domino responded.