The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (35 page)

The next leg of
the journey would be brutal because of the infrared reflecting suit. It meant
that he would be at serious risk of overheating and heatstroke, but it would
cut his heat signature down to almost nothing. 

He started out,
staying within the trees.  At this point he would have no choice but to make it
to the next safe house on foot, and he was not looking forward to the thirty
mile trek.

MALTA, MONTANA

SEPTEMBER 18
^th

Rob was
positive that Kemp hadn't yet been found.  Two of the three bodies were crushed
and could not be identified, but his gut feeling was that there was no way Kemp
was out of the game, yet.  Rob moved his temporary headquarters up to Malta and
contacted the Canadian prime minister's office to give them everything they had
on Kemp.  The Canadians were mobilizing and would be watching for Kemp crossing
the border. 

Rob brought Will,
Julio, Dave, Ann, and Airman Green up to Montana and gave them a Black Hawk to
hunt down Kemp.  It didn't take long before Green said, "I don't know
where he came out of the water, but I think he's going to use this valley over
here to try to get out of the area quickly.  He'll have this entire area
memorized and he'll have some sort of GPS device operating.  Plus it gives him
hard top to follow where he might find a vehicle."

Will said,
"That's where I'd go.  Let me call it in."

Soon troops
were landing all over the area. 

A FEW MILES AWAY

Kemp could hear
the choppers over head and knew they were landing troops nearby. It didn't
matter how they figured out where he was headed, the reality was that he was
trapped.  It would be special ops troops scouring the area, he was sure.  

He pulled out
his tablet and brought up a map of all the mines in the area.  To his relief,
there was one just within a half mile.  He started moving in that direction,
grateful that he had the foresight to download those maps.

Forty five
minutes later he found it. The entrance had partially collapsed and was
obscured by brush, so much so that if he hadn't known where to look, he never
would have spotted it.  He pulled out his silenced 40 caliber pistol, turned on
his flashlight, and entered the cave. 

To his relief,
the bear he'd been imagining wasn't in the mine.  Walking forward slowly, he
was careful to look at the floor before each step.  He turned a corner, walked
ten feet and found a shaft going straight down.  He carefully peered over the
side and saw that the shaft dropped about thirty feet down.  There was a wooden
ladder there, but he wasn't about to trust that.  He hoped he wouldn't have to
retreat down it.

He thought
about it for a moment and set up camp around about five feet away from the
shaft so that he couldn't be seen from the entrance.                                         It
wasn't ideal, but it was about the best he could do for now.  He ate part of an
MRE, turned off and pocketed his flash light, and went to sleep. 

When he woke it
was just past midnight.  He turned on his tablet and pulled up the maps he had
downloaded back when he was making contingency plans.  He started memorizing
the local area.  Mostly, he hoped that this old mine wasn't on the maps of
those pursuing him.

He finished the
MRE by the light of the tablet and shut the tablet down once he had finished. 
He did a mental inventory of his equipment.  He had another six MRE's.  Water
shouldn't be problem with the snow on the ground outside.  If anything, his
clothing, infrared shielding, and ghillie suit was too hot.  He wouldn't be
freezing to death any time soon.  The AR-15 rifle with its collapsible stock
and the five thirty round clips was the largest amount of weight, but he didn't
expect to use it any time soon.

He estimated
that he could last five days in the cave without too much difficulty, though it
wouldn't be fun.

His mind kept
drifting to his family back in Israel, all of them dead from the nuclear and
biological attacks.  They were now just dead people from a country would never
again exist.

He hated to
admit it, but he liked President Ambrose's response to the Muslims.  Perhaps if
someone had responded that way sooner, there would have been some limits on the
blood thirsty religion.  Maybe if things had been different, he would have shot
Walker, collected the reward, and made his place in the new world here. 

I can't start
thinking that way.  Today I need to think only about surviving.  If I leave
this cave too soon, I will die.

Kemp knew it
was time to rethink his escape plan.  It was as though the Americans were three
steps ahead of him.  He would get to one of the caches and sit for a while
before moving on to South America.  Brazil would wait for now.

IN THE MINE

SEPTEMBER 21
^st

It's only
been three days and I'm going crazy in this damn mine
, thought Kemp. 
I
don't know how in the hell I'll last two more days
.  He had visions of what
would be done to him if he was caught.  None involved a quick, pleasant death.

Worse, he was
having hallucinations.  He found himself talking to his dead father this
morning. 
I thought you weren't supposed to know it when you were going
crazy.
   When he had a conversation with his dead wife and kids, it was
just too much.  She blamed him for abandoning them. 
She left me and took
the kids to Israel.  She wouldn't leave Israel.  I know she's dead.  I know
that for a fact. It's not my fault. 
But she accused him incessantly
.

He turned on
his light and crawled to the front of the mine.  He needed to see outside. 

The stars were
beautiful and so very bright.  It was awe inspiring, but he could still hear
Devri in the back of his head accusing him of killing her and the kids. 

He lay there
with his head outside the mine for an eternity before coming back to his
senses. 
I can't stay in this mine any longer or it will kill me. I'm
leaving tonight.  Now
. 

Kemp crawled
back into the mine and turned on his light.  He collected his things, donned
his infrared protection and ghillie suit, and walked to the exit, leaving the
demons behind.  But he could still hear them screaming at him from the mine
behind him.  

ARIZONA HOUSE

SEPTEMBER 23
^rd

Julie and Helen
were glad to take a break.  Susan had been grilling them all morning long on
their plans with a level of brutality that would make any business professor
proud.  She pointed out flaws at every turn and at times would send them back
to the drawing board with a sharp rebuke.  They were no longer dealing with
Aunt Susan.  This was the First Lady and let no one doubt that she had teeth
and they were sharp.  

Each time,
Julie and Helen would come back with something better, until Susan agreed that
maybe it might be adequate. 

Before long, it
was clear that Susan was looking for revival of an economy rather than just
business plans.  They looked at industries to get the country back on its feet
and how to interconnect companies to develop synergistic effects.  Shipping,
construction, food production, power production, clean energy, computers,
robotics, different areas of high tech, and talent recruiting companies to
funnel people into work were some of their starting concepts. 

Helen suggested
starting a holding corporation named Kunoichi, and Julie loved it.  Susan
didn't know what it meant, making Julie love it even more.  Finally they let
Aunt Susan on the joke that the kunoichi were female ninjas.  Susan said it was
perfect.

"Aunt
Susan, we have a problem that we're not sure how to resolve," Julie said. 

"Lay it on
me, kiddo."

Julie looked at
Helen.  Helen took over, saying, "We have all this money that we
essentially confiscated from an enemy of the state after we took him out.  It's
not going to stand up to any kind of scrutiny at all, and we don't want it to
look like we got rich out of Uncle Jim's position."

Susan thought
for a moment.  "So why not make some of the companies nonprofit?  You put
in basic seed money in the form of a loan to the company and we arrange for
government loans for the rest.  You two get to look like the selfless
superheroes you are.  Any more problems you want me to fix?"

The two of them
sat there, stunned.  "That's absolutely crazy, but it could work,"
said Julie after a moment." 

Susan added,
"But keep the most profitable companies privately owned.  The public will
forgive one or two.  Might as well bring in some cash for a rainy day, if you
know what I mean." 

Helen said,
"And we get to look like we threw away an empire for the good of the
country.  My God, you're brilliant!"

Susan said,
"I'm glad you recognize that.  Now get back to work." 

CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

SEPTEMBER 25th

Greg pulled the
women aside.  "We're getting out of here and you whores are going to help
make it happen."  By now, the young women knew better than to show any
signs of defiance.  They remained silent.

"We're
going to take over a boat and take off to the mainland.  Once we're there, I'm
going to let you go.  Okay?"  The girls all nodded to keep him from
exploding into a rage.  "Pam, get your mouth over here and help me relax
while I tell all of you how this is going to work."

He explained
how a couple of the girls would invite themselves aboard a yacht to party with
the crew and then do whatever they had to do to get them drunk and sleepy.  The
guys would then board and hijack the boat and they would all leave the island
and live happily ever after. 

He locked the
girls up in their room again afterward.

Pam ran to the
bathroom to throw up.  When she came out she said, "I just want to
die," and sat on the bed.  Sandy sat next to her and put her arm around
her.

"If we get
on a boat with Greg, he'll kill us," said Lisa. "We need to get away
before then."

"Or kill
them," said Sandy.

"I vote
for kill them," said Sonya. 

Maria said,
"Me, too."

Greg threw open
the door.  "Get your asses out there, you whores.  We have a
customer."

The women stood
and walked out to the living room to see the next client who brought a couple
cans of beans or whatever.

HONDURAS

SEPTEMBER 28
^th

Julie and Helen
flew down to Honduras with another military shipment of vaccines for the
civilian population.  They were amazed at the number of people who came to see
them at each vaccination site, even though there was only a few hours notice. 

As usual there
were news cameras there all day.  When they finally finished with the
vaccinations and interviews at one site they were relieved to get a few minutes
to themselves in a back room of the clinic.  A young mother rushed back into
the room followed by one of the marines providing their security.  Helen waved
him off.

The girl
couldn't have been more than seventeen.  She said in Spanish, "Senora!  My
boy is very sick," pushing the baby at Julie. 

Julie took the
infant in her left arm and brushed back his hair with her fingers.  She looked
into his eyes for a moment.  They were glassy and the baby was feverish, but
his breathing was regular.  Helen put her hand on his head for a moment as
well.

Helen looked up
and said in Spanish, "He'll be okay now.  What's your name?"

"Dina."

"And
what's the baby's name."

"Diego,
senora."

"Let's get
him in to see Dr. Valdez."  Julie carried the baby into the next room and
called for one of the navy nurses that accompanied them.  Helen and the young
mother followed. 

The American
nurse placed an IV and gave the baby IV fluids.  She said, "He's just
dehydrated.  He'll bounce back quickly."  Julie thanked her and repeated
that to the mother in Spanish.

Once the IV was
completed, they packed up and flew on to the next site.

The next day
one of the male nurses they were working with came to them with a laptop,
saying, "You need to see this clip."

It was a hidden
camera video from the back room of the clinic showing Julie holding the baby
and Helen with her hand across its forehead saying, "He'll be ok
now."  The video jumped to the young woman with a very healthy looking
baby a few hours later saying, "Helen and Julie healed him!"  The
video then repeated the clip from the clinic back room. 

Julie thanked
the nurse for showing them and said to Helen, "This is bad.  First because
it was a hidden camera and second because the video is edited to make us look
like faith healers."

"I think
whoever did it was shooting for a little more than faith healers," said
Helen.  "It's a good lesson about hidden cameras, if nothing else."  She
sighed.  "What I don't understand is how the girl can really believe we
did anything more than hand the baby off to the nurses.  The video only works
because of how deeply the girl believes it.  I wonder if she's not a little
nuts."

"This
freaks me out.  We're going to have people praying to us.  I'm an engineer, not
some kind of religious figure."

"It's my
fault, Julie. When I deliberately chose religiously charged words such as
forgiven,
fallen,
and
forsaken
I knew I was running this risk.  We've
essentially ordered executions just by declaring a group to be
fallen
.  I
don't know why I wasn't expecting the flip side of the coin.  The girl probably
is a bit psychotic, but she won't be the last mentally ill person we'll face
before this is done."