Torn (46 page)

Jovial, joking, sarcastic Colin had lost all inspiration to smile or crack a joke. He dreaded it. The moment that Darius and Bret walked into the
house
.
He
dreaded it.

Never in his entire
life
, with all his
accomplishments
,
had he felt like such a failure.

No words of
consolation
were helping
,
d
espite
what Grace said. His black eye was only a war wound of his
valiant and
failed effort.

Casper’s tears
were like salt on a wound.

The sound of the car
pulling into the driveway was like a gunshot
.

Grace turned from the
window
. “They’re here.”

Colin
swallowed
and took a deep bre
ath. He stepped from the living
room into the foyer an
d waited. He wanted to be there
facing them when they walked in.

The door opened.

Colin’s stomach dropped.

God
, they were laughing. All smiles.

B
ut they stopped. Did they know? Was it that evident on his face
?

“What’s wrong” Darius asked.

Colin choked. The words wouldn’t emerge. He watched Bret’s eyes shift to the so
und of
Casper
’s
sob.

“What?” Bret asked.

With an extended hand, he handed a sheet of paper to Bret. “Cell phones are off. I couldn’t call you. Darius didn’t take the
s
atellite
phone. There
was no way to inform you.”

A
quiet
scream emerged from Bret as her eyes skimmed the paper.

“What is that?” Darius looked.

“Information on what to do. Where to go,” Coli
n answered. “I tried. I tried, g
ood God, I tried.”

The magazine
s
fell from Bret’s arms and she turned into Darius.
He
embraced
her.

“She was picked,” Colin said. “They came and took Andi.”

T
he letter simply stated that: “Y
our child has been selected for the Country Survival Lottery. As the parent of this minor child, it is your right to visitation while he or she is in the detainme
nt facility. Visiting hours are
. . .
”

To Bret it was blah, blah, bla
h
and a blur.

In the city of Pittsburgh, 146 people were chosen for the lottery.  There were three facilities.
Bret and Darius went to them all.
The first one didn’t have her, nor did the second. She had been moved to the smallest detainment center. Housing only eight of the 146, Andi was in a small abandoned office building that had been speedily redone to hold the occupants.

After all, they were expected to fly out to the GEP complex
within a day or two of the Tundra
Plan
failing
,
i
f it failed.

A military truck
and a
J
eep were parked outside. The office building
was
set in a large parking lot
on
a small winding road off the
m
ain drag of Rt. 8.

The detainees were hidden for their own safety
,
t
he whereabouts given only to the parents of a minor child.

Andi was the only
minor
child in Pittsburgh chosen to go.

How many times did Bret pray to hit the lottery?

This was not the lottery she intended on hitting.

She was worried, but not too much. After all, it was her daughter. She would just go pick her up.

The
Captain
in charge seemed nice enough and sympathetic, but he still said, “Sorry.”

“
What do you mean you ca
n’t release her
?
I’m her mother. That’s h
er birth certificate, my l
icense
. . . .
”

He
held up his hand. “I understan
d. But the lottery is mandatory, meaning
she has to go. Ma’am, this is the world’s survival. This is vital. Now you can visit up
u
ntil
we take her. Visiting hours are
. . .
”

“I know what the visiting hours are.” Bret snapped.

“Who’s in charge?” Darius asked. “Someone above you maybe. Who can we go to about this lottery?”

“Sir, I can give you the list of
people
you can call. But they estimated 75,000 children 12 – 17 have been chosen to go. So there are 100,000 par
ents, just like you
right now.”

“Can you get me that
information?
” Darius asked.

Almost as if he was ready, he reached back to his desk and handed Darius the sheet. “All the way to the
P
resident. As I
said,
you can visit up until we take her. We’ll even inform you so you can say goodbye. But I’ve been advised to advise you that if we’re moving her to the survival city, then things are bad and you should plan to go somewhere else than up here.”

Bret wanted to say, ‘no
shit
you moron, we spent
eight
million dollars preparing
for
our survival’. But she didn’t.  She asked to see her daughter.

Andi had been crying. Her brown eyes
were
red,
her
lips puffy. There was a nice soldier with her trying to calm her, but it didn’t help.

“I don’t wanna go, Mommy. Don’t let them take me. Please.”

Andi’s
tears caused Bret’s tears and all she could do was hold her daughter for the two hours she was permitted. Hold her and promise
her that
if it was the last thing she did, she would get Andi out.

Darius immediately went to work on
those
calls. He was
fortunate
enough to have a satellite phone, but he was getting voice mails. But not a machine passed him without him leaving a message. And with each message of “I need some help’ he left, he’d shift his eyes to Bret.
Trying
to convey confidence. Trying to c
onvey to her ‘we’ll fix this.’
Darius had to be
confident;
he had to try everything he could, because the look on Bret’s face said no less than she was counting on him.

The last phone call Colin received from Darius, Darius didn’t sound happy, but he did say,
“P
ack the
car;
we’ll meet you at the airport.
”

That was encouraging.

Until they showed up.

Without Andi.

Bret had been crying and sank into the embrace Grace offered.

“I’m sorry,” Colin said.

Darius shook his head. “We’re not done fighting yet. I figure we have three days until the
Tundra
and a couple after that before they move her.”

“You’re staying up here?”
Colin
asked
.

“What choice do I have?” Darius asked.

“Then
I can’t
go, Dare-Dare.
I
c
an’t. I’ll stay here with you. Stay and fight to get that girl back. There are weapon
s
and tranquilizer guns at the bunker. Bruce has it loaded.
We’ll pull a mission. We’ll steal her
, we’ll
. . .
”
He silenced at Darius’ shaking head.

“I have no intention of not doing
everything
I can
,
e
ven if it means pulling an
attack
on the detainment center to get her back.
Hell, there
’re
only four guards there.
But
. . .
you go.”

“No,” Colin said, strong
ly
. “I will not leave you. If that storm hits we have the bunker, we’ll be good.
We built that
bunker
should we need to
weather
out the storm. We will need.
…
”

Again, Darius shook his head. “You can’t. We need you for
something
else.”

From Grace’s
embrace
, Bret stepped forward. “I signed over guardianship to you for
Casper
.”

“You’re
. . .
you’re staying here with Darius?” Colin asked.

“It’s my daughter, Colin. We’re
gonna
fight every battle to get her back. But if we get stranded up here, I want to know that my other children are gonna be fine. I
trust
you
,
Colin
,
with my children. I need you to be there, so I can be s
ure
that they’ll be fine.”

“Bret
. . .
”

She stepped to him, grabbing his hand, whispering. “If something should happen to me
,
I know my kids will be loved and
protected
. Please do this for me.”

Colin swallowed the lump in his throat, nodded and embraced her. Then he embraced Darius.

He was frightened for them. He knew. He kne
w that the Tundra wouldn’t work
and knew that there was no way, if that storm came, that Darius and Bret would make it down south
.
Not
at least until the storm was o
ver.

He
gained his composure and stepped back. “Keep the satellite phones charged,” He ordered. “That is our only me
ans of communication. We may lo
se them for a spell if the storm hits, but after that, they’ll be back.”

Darius nodded.

“Dare-Dare, that storm is gon
n
a
be bad. We’ll find a way to get you guys. O
kay
?”

Darius forced a closed
-
mouth smile.

“Your one means of monitoring
the
storm
will
go out for a spell
,
too. But after
that
, you’ll be back,” Colin said. “Once the
T
undra fails
,
o
nce the current shifts,
m
ove your ass to the bunker. Got that? Do not leave without the special vehicles. You don’t want to get stranded if it
hits
fast and with a vengeance.”

“Colin, I know.”
Darius
paused. “
I
. . .
know.”

Out on the runway, t
he final thirty people lined up to board the
plane
,
e
ach
tu
r
ning over their papers to the government official. The goodbyes were hard. Bret hugged Casper as if it
were
the last time she would see her. But they didn’t have too much time. Rain clouds were forming. She watched Casper walk, holding Colin’s hand
,
until she
disappeared
i
nto the plane.

Casper looked back
,
waving the whole time.

The last to board should have been the fi
r
st, but he wasn’t. Winslow was
wheeled
and stopped at Darius and Bret.

“Well, so much for riding in a
spaceship
,
”
h
e said.

That made Bret smile. “Yeah.”

“Ice age, huh?” he
whistled
. “Well, at least we’re prepared up here.” He reached out his hand, grabbing B
r
et
’
s. Cold and wrinkled as it was
,
it was a warm touch that went
though
her
body
. “I got two helicopter pilots down there
,
w
aiting for adventure. But they’d like to see the new north frozen over. We’ll get you guys. We’ll
get you
. I promise.”