There was no reason for the others to be lying, but Danny didn’t want to kill anyone without cold, hard proof of wrongdoing.

  It was getting later in the day; the sun was beginning to set in the west, painting the scenery ahead in a golden hue. It helped cover much of the destruction the EMP had left behind but didn’t completely erase it.

  Danny slowed on his approach to the wreck they found earlier and kept off the road and to the woods. When he first arrived, he didn’t think anyone was still there, but then he watched the father step out of the massive truck bed and hop down.

  “Don’t move while I’m gone,” Edward said, bellowing to his kids, no doubt hiding in the back.

  The father swayed left and right, almost as if drunk, but then he took a breath and steadied himself. He removed the pistol in his waistband, made sure it was loaded, and then left his children in the back of the semi-trailer.

  Danny wasn’t sure where the father was going, but if he wanted the truth about what was happening to those kids, now was the time to uncover it.

  Danny hurried toward the semi-trailer; the doors were shut but not locked. And when he opened the door and the fading daylight shone inside, he found the two children huddled by some pillows in the far back.

  “It’s okay,” Danny said. “I was here before. Your friends came with me, remember?”

  Neither child moved.

  “I came back to check on you guys. Are you all right?” Danny asked.

  Still, the children refused to respond. They were frightened, but he’d come prepared for that. Danny reached into his pocket and grabbed a candy bar. “Do you guys like Snickers?”

  The children eyed the candy as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks, practically salivating as they crawled toward him.

  “It’s okay; take it,” Danny said.

  The children only moved close enough to snatch the candy and then retreated out of reach of Danny. But they didn’t return to the rear of the truck. They stayed near the doors.

  “Where did your dad go?” Danny asked.

  “To find a drink,” the boy answered.

  “Water?” Danny asked.

  The boy shook his head, and Danny understood what the boy meant. The father was hunting for booze.

  “Does he go look for a drink a lot?” Danny asked.

  Both children nodded.

  “Does he hurt you?” Danny asked.

  The children stopped eating and then looked at one another. They didn’t speak, but their silent glances at one another were a practiced form of telepathy, something both of them had gotten used to over the years.

  “You can tell me,” Danny said. “I promise you won’t get into trouble.”

  “He always says he’s sorry afterward,” the little girl said. “And sometimes he gives us food to apologize.”

  “Sometimes,” Danny said, the words tasting sour on his tongue. “When was the last time you ate?”

  The pair stared at the Snickers they shared, then looked at one another and shrugged. “A few days.”

  It was the casual nature of how they described their situation as if nothing was wrong with it, and they were so used to being starved. Danny believed he had everything he needed to make his decision. He wouldn’t leave the children here, not alone and without protection.

  “Would you want to come with me?” Danny asked. “We have plenty of food and water; you could have a bed.”

  The children wanted to come with him, but no matter how terrible their father might have been to them, the man was still their parent. And those roots ran incredibly deep.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  The father’s voice boomed behind Danny, and he spun around a half second too late, taking a stiff right hook to his face and knocking him to the ground.

  “Sick pervert trying to hurt my kids?” The father immediately kicked Danny in the stomach while he was on the ground.

  He could barely move to evade the kicks but did everything he could to scurry away from farther blows. By the time Danny did stand, the father had already pulled his gun and had it aimed at Danny with his finger on the trigger.

  “I’ll put a fucking bullet in you—”

  “Daddy, no!”

  “Shut up!” the father barked and turned to look at his children as he did it, which provided Danny with the opening he was looking for.

  Danny charged forward while the father was distracted, knocking him into the doors of the semi-trailer. Danny immediately reached for the gun, wanting to disarm the father before he was shot.

  The pair grappled with one another, kicking, punching, kneeing, aiming for anything and everything within reach. It was a brawl, scrappy and violent.

  Danny slammed the father’s hand against the door, repeatedly banging the weapon into the solid metal until the father finally released the gun. Danny then kneed the father in the stomach, and he buckled forward, and Danny kicked him onto his back on the asphalt.

  “Enough!” Danny shouted.

  “You know how many assholes I’ve seen like you in my lifetime?” Danny asked. “I’ve worked for them, called them my brothers. But I never stopped thinking of who they might be at home, their wives and children, and their family. I imagine a lot of them were like you. But I was too blind to see it. But I’m not blind anymore.”

  “Fuck off.” The father lay on the pavement, bloodied and exhausted but still alive. “You stay away from my kids.”

  “These kids don’t deserve you as a father,” Danny said. “They’re coming with me. And if you try to stop me, I will kill you, understand?”

  The father remained on the ground, but his anger transformed into fear, and he cried. “Please. Please, no.”

  Danny looked back to the kids, who were also on the verge of tears. But as Danny helped them out of the trailer, they willingly took Danny’s hand as he led them away from their father.

  “It’s okay,” Danny said to them. “Everything’s going to be okay—”

  The father tackled Danny from behind, knocking him to the ground again, but this time retained the upper hand, pummeling Danny with all his strength.

  Danny did his best to block the blows, but it wasn’t very effective. Between the father’s screams, Danny heard the children crying for their father to stop, but when Danny caught a look at the bloodlust in the father’s eyes, he knew this fight was only going to end one way.

  Before Danny could act, the gunshot ended the assault, and Danny paused to look up and see the father standing still on top of him. He looked surprised, and then his shirt bloomed with blood.

  Danny heaved the father off of him and then looked to see the young boy holding the gun with both hands, shocked at what he’d done.

  “Hey,” Danny said, looking to the boy. “It’s okay.”

  The boy turned the gun at Danny, but then he lowered it and started to cry. Danny rushed to the young boy’s side and held him as he cried, the little girl joining him.

  “It’s okay,” Danny said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Danny never looked back at the dead father and scooped both of the children up in his arms. He carried them away, both of them crying into his shoulders.

  After they’d walked for a little while and the kids had calmed down, Danny stopped and set them down. They were afraid, especially the boy.

  “I didn’t mean to,” the boy said. “I’m sorry.”

  Danny crouched near them and looked them both in the eye. “Listen to me very carefully,” Danny said. “I will never do to you what your father did to you. And I will always protect you from anyone like him, okay? You’ll never have to do anything like that again.”

  The children were still crying, but they nodded.

  “Good,” Danny said.

  Danny could have killed their father the moment he showed up, but he didn’t want the children to see that kind of violence against their father. And now, the young boy had done what Danny should have done from the beginning. There would come a day when the young boy would have to reckon with his decision, but Danny would be there to help guide him.

  “Is Daddy gone?” the little girl asked.

  “Yes,” Danny answered. “He’s gone.”

  25

  Charlie waited outside the cabin while his family was inside. Tanner stood with him. He kept glancing down the path into the woods, waiting for the town or the enemy to come after them and finish what they had started.

  “You trust those people?” Tanner asked.

  “I do,” Charlie answered.

  “Are you sure?” Tanner asked. “Because you don’t look like you trust them.”

  Charlie gave Tanner a heavy side-eye, but he didn’t engage further. He needed to trust the situation was handled. But he would feel better if Thompson returned and told him that Mueller was either dead or in custody.

  “He was a shit, wasn’t he?” Tanner said. “That man leading the mob. All bluster and no wits about him. I wouldn’t be worried about him.”

  “I’m trying not to be,” Charlie said. “But the enemies I’m making are starting to stack up.”

  Charlie had done everything he could to keep his family safe. He’d taken all the precautions, but they were still in danger. Albeit, they were in better shape than most people around the country, it was maddening to him that all of this was still happening. All because of one man.

  “Maybe I should have killed Sir,” Charlie said. “I’ve had more than one opportunity. But I thought….” He sighed. “I don’t know what I thought.”

  Tanner looked at Charlie. They were almost the same age, but Tanner seemed older than him. It had always been that way between them.

  “You did what you thought was best,” Tanner said. “And it wasn’t unwarranted. Sir knows things that even I don’t know. But it would be hard for anyone to pry the truth out of him. He’s too good at manipulating people. That’s what he does.”

  “Did he ever manipulate you?” Charlie asked.

  Tanner scoffed. “Of course he did. How do you think I joined The Bunker in the first place?”

  “I don’t know what I thought I could gain from him,” Charlie answered. “I don’t know why I thought keeping him here was a good idea. I just thought… I thought that if I could keep an eye on him and knew where he was, I could keep him from doing anything to hurt my family. But even from a cell, he conjures up a mob to try to kill them.”

  “He’ll never stop,” Tanner said. “So, long as he has a breath, he’ll use it to his advantage. All of the bullshit he peddles about making the world safer, and the country stronger, it’s a lie. He only wants to secure himself in a better position. He wants to make himself safe no matter the cost. He doesn’t care about you.”

  “I thought if I could find something from his past, something he cared about, then I could gain some leverage to make him stop,” Charlie said. “But there are no layers to peel back, no center. He’s just… who he is.”

  “Someone’s coming,” Tanner said.

  Charlie snapped out of his daydreaming and saw Sheriff Thompson on the path. Cash wasn’t with him. Charlie walked out to meet Thompson, eager to hear the news.

  “Well?” Charlie asked.

  “We didn’t find Mueller,” Thompson answered. “He took off in his boat.”

  “No one went after him?” Charlie asked.

  “Why would we?” Thompson asked. “The man’s gone, Charlie, and he’s not welcome back. Mueller isn’t a threat to us anymore.”

  “I’ve been around long enough to know that loose ends always come back to bite you in the ass, Sheriff,” Charlie said. “Which direction did he go?”

  “You’re not considering going after him?” Thompson asked. “Let it go, Charlie. We have other problems, mainly the man in the cell.” Thompson looked to Tanner, eying the man. “Who’s this?” Thompson asked.

  “An old colleague,” Tanner answered.

  “More trouble from your past?” Thompson asked, looking at Charlie.

  “He’s on our side,” Charlie answered. “Has Sir said anything else?”

  “No, and I don’t plan to let him out to give him an opportunity, but right now, we need to figure out how to proceed with your little device,” Thompson said. “People are calm now, but it won’t be long before they have more questions, and we’ll need to provide them with answers. We can’t afford to keep things hidden from them anymore. We need to air it out. All of it. That includes your little project in there.”

  Thompson pointed to the cabin where Shelly was with Benji, bringing the drones she got back to life using the Phoenix device.

  “All right,” Charlie said. “But people need to understand that even if we’re able to turn their phones and computers back on, they still won’t be able to access the internet. Those satellites and power bases are still turned off. The infrastructure is still down.”

  “That’s fine, so long as we give them something,” Thompson said. “Are they almost done in there?”

  Charlie motioned for Thompson to follow him into the cabin, and when they stepped inside, the entire floor was covered with drones, making it impossible to pass without stepping on one of the devices.

  Benji, Shelly, Maggie, Harry, Kayla, and the dog, Peanut Butter, were all in the kitchen, watching Benji fiddle with wires that he was feeding into what Charlie assumed were the controls.

  “How are we looking?” Charlie asked.

  “I’m trying to connect the interfaces for all of the devices to respond to one remote to make them easier to control,” Benji answered. “It’s simple but time-consuming.”

  “Yeah, really simple,” Kayla said sarcastically.

  “How much longer until it’s done?” Charlie asked. “We still need to retrofit the drones with weapons, test them—”

  “He’s working as fast as he can, Charlie,” Shelly said.

  Sometimes it was hard for Charlie to remember that his son was still so young. He had the mind of a genius well into his forties and even possessed some of that hard-earned wisdom. But he was still a boy.

  “Right,” Charlie said. “Shelly, we need to talk.”

  It took his wife a little while to maneuver through the field of drones while Benji worked, but when she reached the door, Charlie pulled her outside so they could speak privately. He gave her an update on the Mueller situation and how the town wanted answers about the Phoenix device.

  “We can talk to them right now if you want,” Shelly said. “The faster we can show them we’re not a threat, the better off we’ll be. People need to understand that we’re all on the same side, especially if there’s a threat coming.”

  Shelly looked to Tanner when she said it, but whether that was intentional or not, Charlie didn’t know.

  “Right,” Charlie said. “Then we stick to the plan. We keep our guard up and ensure that everyone has a full rotation of security duty around the island. We should know what’s coming at us at all times.”

  “Everyone is still at their posts,” Thompson said. “That was the first thing I attended to after the mob ended.”

  “Good,” Charlie said. “Then we should know if—”

  “Command, this is sector three.” The radio crackled, and Charlie reached for it first.

  “Go ahead, sector three,” Charlie said.

  “We have something you should take a look at,” sector three replied.

  The blinds they’d set up around the island’s perimeter had been broken into ten sections, and sector three was on the island’s north side.

  “On our way,” Charlie said.

  Tanner, Shelly, and Thompson were in close pursuit, but Charlie remained in the front the entire way. He was the first to reach the beach, and the guards watched the shoreline.

  The two shooters they had positioned on the coast kept their eyes to the north. “There, do you see it?”

  Charlie raised the scope of his rifle to look better at the waterline and saw a string of boats out in the water. They were the same inflatable tactical vessels he would use on his missions for The Bunker.

  “They’re here,” Charlie said as the others caught up with them. He turned to Shelly. “We need those drones airborne.”

  “I don’t know if they’re ready—”

  “Get them ready, now!” Charlie said. “We don’t have any more time!”

  It didn’t take as long as Charlie feared for Benji to finish the drones. He was able to get one airborne immediately. It already had a camera attached to it, and while it wasn’t retrofitted with any weapons yet, Charlie only needed it to see the enemy on their approach.

  “Keep it high,” Charlie said, looking at the viewfinder while Benji navigated the machinery. He had been hesitant to include his son, unsure of what they would find when they finally saw the boats, but Benji was better versed in handling the device than anyone else, and time was of the essence.

  The drone moved quickly over the water, heading to the boats that their two shoreline guards were still watching.

  Charlie, Benji, Shelly, Tanner, and Thompson stayed hidden from the shore behind the tree line. Charlie didn’t want to reveal to the enemy that they had drone capacity. He tried to keep that card close to his chest for as long as possible.

  “There,” Charlie said, pointing to the screen. “How close can you get without drawing any attention to yourself?”

  “The manual said these drones were quiet, only sixty decibels, which with the wind blowing, we should be able to get close without them noticing,” Benji answered. “So long as they don’t look up.”

  Benji started a slow descent, and the boats below came into focus. But the closer Benji moved toward the ships, the more concerned Charlie was over the situation.

  “They’re empty,” Charlie said.

  The inflatables were all tied together and looked like they’d been anchored so they wouldn’t move. Charlie realized they could be surrounded now and might not even know it.

  “Get everyone ready,” Charlie said. “Anyone who can shoot should be armed, and everyone else should be locked down in their home.”

  Charlie grabbed Benji by the shoulders and looked his son in the eyes. “I need you to return to the cabin and ready these with as many explosives as possible in the next fifteen minutes,” Charlie said. “Your mother will help you do it.”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22