Striker (The Alien Wars Book 2) (3 page)

Kenneth took one
look at the trucks before he raced to the front door, swung it open, and rushed
down the path.

The teens
followed Kenneth but at a much slower pace. By the time they joined him by the
side of the road, he had managed to attract the attention of someone in the
back of the third and final vehicle. Within seconds, the truck rolled to a
stop.

As the first two
vehicles continued on their way, Kenneth hurried up to the third one. “Thanks
for stopping. Where are you heading?”

The lieutenant
rolled down his window and, with his steely blue eyes, gazed at the
disheveled
-looking man.
“Sparks.”

“Great. Can you
give us a lift?” Kenneth asked.

“Please! Can you,
please?” Molly asked.

The lieutenant
looked at the two teens and then back at Kenneth. “Is it just you and your
children?”

“These aren’t my
children, but yes, it’s just me and them.” Kenneth gazed at the middle-aged
man. “We don’t have food, transportation, anything. Plus, I need to speak to
General Loreto urgently.”

The lieutenant
frowned at Kenneth.
“You?
You have business with the
general?”

Exasperated,
Kenneth quickly explained. “I’ve been to hell and back these past two days. I
encountered a soldier who gave me a briefcase, which he stole from the Seods—”

“A briefcase?”
The lieutenant quickly
climbed down from the vehicle and gazed earnestly at Kenneth. “Was it a white,
rectangular one?”

Kenneth nodded.
“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Was it Captain
Williamson who gave you it?”

Kenneth turned to
the teens. “Did the man tell you his name?”

The teens shook
their heads. “By the time we found him he couldn’t speak that much,” Derek
said.

“Do you still
have the briefcase?” the man asked, looking between the three.

Kenneth shook his
head. “The Seods took it last night.”

“Damn!” The
lieutenant paced back and forth, clearly annoyed.

“How did you know
about the briefcase?” Derek asked.

“That’s not
important right now,” the lieutenant stated as he stopped pacing. “Do you have
any idea where the Seods took it?”

“No, sorry,”
Kenneth said.

“Get in the
back,” the lieutenant ordered, climbing back into his seat. “I’m taking you to
see the general. I’ll explain everything once we get to
Sparks
.”

“Can we get our
stuff? It’ll only take a few moments,” Kenneth asked.

The man frowned.
“Okay, but be quick.”

The three rushed
back to the house and grabbed the backpacks and rugs. Then, after having a
quick look around in the bedrooms to make sure they hadn’t left anything
behind, they hurried to the truck.

A soldier gave
them a hand as they climbed into the back of the vehicle. The three barely had
enough time to sit down before the truck started moving again.

As it rumbled
through the town, Kenneth looked at the worn-out faces of the soldiers sitting
beside them. Most, if not all of the twenty or so men that were beside them,
had bloodied uniforms. Almost all of them were half asleep.

Kenneth turned to
the soldier beside him and gave him a smile. “It’s good to see you.”

The man nodded
and closed his eyes. Kenneth contemplated asking him a question about the
Seods, but seeing that he looked half asleep already, he decided to let him
enjoy the quiet. Whatever they had been doing had clearly worn them out.

Kenneth turned toward
the teens and found that Molly was leaning against Derek and had her eyes
closed.

Derek made eye
contact with Kenneth. “Thanks for helping us.”

“No problem.”
Kenneth sighed, leaned back, and closed his eyes, wanting to get as much sleep
as he could. He had no idea what lay ahead for him and the teens. Hopefully
their parents would be in
Sparks
and he’d be able to make his way back to
Stinson
Beach
straight
away, but the chance of that happening was slim, very slim.

On the other
hand, the chance that they’d have to visit one town after another, all the
while being pursued by the Seods, was a very real possibility. Only time would
tell what happened next.

Kenneth was torn
from his long-overdue slumber by the convoy of trucks bouncing through the
rubble-strewn streets of
Sparks
. He peered out from under the canvas tarp as they raced down

The trigger-happy
guards waved the battle-scarred convoy through without delay, but they only
rolled on for a few seconds before hitting a traffic jam. A bored soldier
guided them into a small opening between two even larger convoys of idling
trucks.

Kenneth leaped
out first and gave a hand to Derek and Molly. He and the teens spent the next
few moments staring around in amazement. Thousands of shell-shocked survivors milled
around a raggedy tent city just outside the checkpoint.

Although none of
the refugees looked hostile, most seemed too exhausted to even care about
themselves. Kenneth noticed quite a few grim men by the entrance to the
military compound.

And they were all
armed to the teeth.

As this place had
previously been the headquarters for some high-tech electronics company, a wire
fence enclosed it, for all the good that would do.

“Come with me,” someone
barked.

Kenneth looked
around and spotted the lieutenant they'd met earlier. “We’re coming.”

They followed the
man as he made his way toward a building. They entered the building and strolled
behind the man as he moved down a hallway and past a couple of doors before
pausing.

The man held up
his hand. “Wait here.”

He showed his
pass to the two guards standing beside the door. One held his weapon at the
high ready, safety off, while the other examined the card with a
jeweler’s
eye for a solid minute before grudgingly letting
them pass.

The group waited
in silence for a few minutes before the door opened and the man beckoned for
them to come in.

Kenneth went
through first and found himself in a large room flanked by a row of computer
screens on either side. In the middle of the room, three men were bent over a
huge map of the
United
States
. The man in
the
center
cocked his head, smiling gingerly.

With a limp, the
gray
-haired man approached them. He thrust his hand out to
Kenneth. “I’m General Loreto. Welcome to my command
center
.”

“Nice to meet
you,” Kenneth said as he shook the man’s calloused hand. “I’m Kenneth, and
these are two friends of mine, Derek and Molly.”

The general checked
his watch. “I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll get straight to the point.
Lieutenant Davidson told me you were handed a briefcase by Captain Williamson,
which the Seods stole from you last night. Is that correct?”

Kenneth simply nodded.

“While it was in
your possession, did you see what was inside?” Loreto asked.

Kenneth shook his
head.
“Of course not.
Impossible.” At the officer’s
puzzled expression, he rushed through everything that had happened in the last
two days.

General Loreto interrupted
with the occasional question while a staffer kept careful notes. The whole time
he never took his eyes off the depressing strategy map on the table.

Only when Kenneth
finished did Loreto cock an eyebrow. “Thanks for taking the time to debrief.
Lieutenant Davidson will escort you to the relief
center
.
We don’t have much to go around, but we’ll find you and your people a bed and
rations somewhere. Lord knows you’ve earned it.”

Kenneth frowned
as the man turned away. “That’s all? You’re not going to tell me what’s so
special about this godforsaken briefcase?”

Loreto studied
the fidgeting junior officers before pivoting back. He raked his hands through
his
graying
hair. “I don’t have a definitive answer.
I’ll just say that if you do get your hands on it again, you come to me and me
alone.
No one else.”
He crossed his arms.

Lieutenant
Davidson walked up to them. “Follow me, please.”

Without saying a
word, the teens followed the lieutenant through the door. Kenneth hesitated a
moment longer before he followed them.

As soon as they
were out of the building, the lieutenant rubbed the bags under his eyes. “Do
you want me to take you to the relief
center
, or can
you find your way there?”

“Do you know why
the general wants the briefcase?” Kenneth asked. “Has he seen what’s in it?
Does he—”

“I know you
probably expected the talk to last longer, but the general does have a lot
going on at the moment, as you can imagine, and—”

“Just answer one
question,” Kenneth pleaded. As the lieutenant hesitated, Kenneth continued. “I
just want to know what’s in it and whether it was worth George and Doug dying.”

The lieutenant
frowned. “George? Doug?”

“They helped us
escape when the Seods were chasing us. Had I thrown the briefcase away, they
would still be alive.” Kenneth kicked the dirt in frustration. “I just want to
know that I was doing the right thing.” He leaned against a military
Humvee
and stared up at the sky. “I just need to know.”

Lieutenant
Davidson put a hand on Kenneth’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I can’t answer that
question, but only because I don’t know the answer. However, I can help you get
some food and a place to rest.”

Kenneth sighed at
the teens as he remembered what he had promised. “Sir, we need a little more.
Can you get us to
Boise
?”

The lieutenant tensed.
“
Boise
?
What for?”

Kenneth eyed the
man’s stiff neck. Even the teens picked up on it.

“What’s wrong
with
Boise
?” Derek piped in.

“It’s a ghost
town,” the lieutenant replied.

“We passed
through a bunch of towns that were empty of people,” Kenneth said, a thin smile
appearing.

“No, I mean it’s
a ghost town. As in, ghosts live there.” The lieutenant darted his eyes around
and dropped his voice to a whisper. “The townsfolk fled the place about a week
ago. Said they saw strange lights and heard strange noises.”

“Well, we’re
going there anyway. We’re looking for someone who lives there,” Molly said. “We
need to ask him if he knows where our parents are.”

“Well, there’s a
group of people over by the relief
center
who came
from
Boise
. Maybe the person you're looking for is there,” the lieutenant
said.

“But there are
thousands of people over there!” Derek cried out. “Can you help us?”

The lieutenant
hesitated. “It wouldn’t matter. I’d have the same chance of finding your friend
as you. Granted, most people register when they get here and put down their
names and addresses, but the size of the compound is so large they could be
anywhere. We’ve also had a huge influx of people from
California
.”

Kenneth sighed. “I
guess we’ll just have to go to
Boise
then.”

“Well, I could
help you there,” the lieutenant said. “I’m taking a convoy up north to check on
things and we’ll actually pass close to
Boise
on the way, though
we’ll be going a different way back.”

“Great! We’ll go
with you,” Molly said, smiling for the first time in a while.

“But how will we
get back?” Kenneth asked, turning to Molly.

Derek clutched
his sister’s hand. “I’m sure we’ll find a way. Anyway, you don’t have to go
with us.” He ran both hands through his dirty hair. “Is it all right if just
me
and my sister come?”

“I suppose so,”
the lieutenant replied.

Kenneth threw up
his hands. “Okay, I’ll come. After all, you’ll need someone to protect you.” He
slapped the lieutenant's Kevlar-clad shoulder. “Our backpacks are still in the
truck. Will you be using that one or another one?”

“Let’s go see.”
Lieutenant Davidson led the way back to the trucks. Reaching them, he saw that
the backpacks had been thrown off the vehicle.