The Orphans (Orphans Trilogy Book 1) (26 page)

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

The orphans headed
west, back toward the Bay Area. As ready as they were to do battle with Terry’s men, they still couldn’t help but be somewhat rattled by JP’s final words, which continued to dance in their heads.

“I was thinking about what JP said, and it doesn’t really make any sense,” Charlie said a half hour into their drive, breaking up the silence.

“Why not?” Eddie said.

“There are only two options,” Charlie said. “Either we’re too late to save our parents, or like Antony pointed out, we’re too late to stop the attack on Heaven.”

“But we can’t be too late to save our parents,” Antony said.

“Why?” Naomi said. “Because you already saved yours?”

“No,” Antony said. “Because Malika said that even if they attacked first, it wouldn’t stop us from saving them.”

“That’s right,” Charlie agreed. “She said that we still could, but that it would just be a lot more challenging.”

“So it has to be that we’re too late to stop the attack on Heaven, like Antony said,” Eddie concluded.

“Except that doesn’t make complete sense, either,” Charlie said. “After all of the souls we freed, that should delay the attack at least a little. Not to mention, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem like anything is going on just yet.”

“It really doesn’t,” Antony said. “You’d think the skies would open up or something.”

“It can’t be too late if nothing has happened.”

Eddie twisted the radio knobs, but all he got was static. “If only this thing worked, we could check the news.”

“So what do we do?” Naomi said.

“The only thing we can do is keep our eyes peeled and be ready for anything that happens,” Antony said. “Everything else is out of our control.”

The orphans continued down the interstate in silence, their heads on swivels, searching for any signs from the outside world that the attack had begun.

◆
◆
◆

After a couple hours and not even the faintest hint of trouble, all of the orphans were starting to feel the effects of their sleepless night. The rising sun gave them temporary boosts of energy, but less than ten minutes after the light first crept up over the mountains behind them, those jolts were all spent.

Antony squinched his eyes a couple times in hopes that ocular exercise would correct his vision, and he would stop seeing double. The results were minimal. “Any chance someone else wants take a turn at the wheel?” Antony asked.

All of the others passed on the invitation. They were in no position to drive, either.

“Maybe we should just pull over,” Charlie said.

“But we’re only a couple hours away,” Eddie said as he fought off a yawn.

Naomi yawned in reaction to Eddie’s yawn. “We could get some food,” she suggested. “That might help wake everyone up.”

Eddie scanned the area around them. They were a couple miles outside of Davis, California. Both sides of the freeway were flat farmlands. “I don’t know that we’re gonna have much luck around here,” he said. “Looks like mostly grains. Nothing we can just pick and eat.”

“I was thinking we’d go to a restaurant,” Naomi said.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that was even an option.”

“I can treat,” Charlie said.

“I never turn down a free meal.”

Antony turned off at the next exit. He passed through a couple lights before pulling into the Dixon Diner. The orphans stumbled out of the van and plodded toward the ’50s-style restaurant that looked like a large silver lunchbox.

“What happened to your shirt?” Naomi asked, noticing the tears in the back of Charlie’s shirt.

Charlie ran his finger across on the holes. “I guess my wings must have ripped through,” he said.

“No way!” Eddie said, his eyes practically bugging out of his head. “You did grow wings!”

“Keep it down!” Antony said.

“I thought that was a dream,” Eddie said, still worked up but opting for a more appropriate volume.

“You seriously grew wings?” Naomi asked Charlie. She was clearly as excited as Eddie, but did a much better job containing her emotions.

“Yeah,” Charlie said with a shrug, playing it off.

“You gotta teach us how you did that,” Eddie said.

“I don’t really know how I did it. I just did it.”

“You ‘just did it’? What are you, Nike?”

“No. I mean, that’s just what I did. After I healed myself, I figured that I didn’t have time to run down to the station to save you. So I just believed that I could fly, and before I knew it, I had wings.”

“That’s it?” Eddie said, skeptical.

“Yeah.”

Eddie shook his head. He stopped in the parking lot while the others continued toward the diner. He closed his eyes and worked to focus all of his energy letting out a few grunts.

Antony turned to Eddie. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Eddied said, keeping his eyes shut. “I’m about to grow some dope wings.”

“You might want to reconsider that.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just assume you’re successful. Don’t you think that might draw a little unwanted attention, maybe make some of the nice, small town people around here freak out?”

Eddie finally opened his eyes and scanned the area. A handful of cars passed by; even without wings, the obvious out-of-towners were already drawing attention. “You might be on to something,” he said.

“I think I am.” Antony took off his coat and handed it to Charlie. “That’ll cover the holes in your shirt, too. Might as well try keep any suspicions to a minimum.”

“Thanks,” Charlie said as he threw on the jacket.

They continued toward the restaurant and headed inside.

A hostess in her fifties waited at the stand by the entrance, watching a small
tv
that hung in the corner and was playing the news. “Four?” the hostess asked, holding up four fingers as the orphans entered.

“Yeah,” Charlie said with a nod. He glanced at the
tv—
everything appeared to be normal—and then at the hostess’s nametag. “Any big news today, Gillian?”

“Well, the Cowboys lost last night,” Gillian said.

“Nice,” Eddie said. He could tell by the scowl on Gillian’s face that she didn’t agree with his assessment. “Well, for me, at least. Go ‘Skins!”

“Nothing else, though?” Antony said.

“Just the same old, same old,” Gillian said.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Charlie said. He shared a knowing glance with the others. Whatever JP was talking about hadn’t happened yet.

Gillian led them to a red-and-white faux-leather booth in the back. She handed them menus and silverware, ran down the daily specials, and then went to grab their waters.

“I’m so hungry, I could probably eat everything on this menu,” Naomi said as she opened her menu.

“The old me would have really loved a lot of these options,” Eddies said as he perused the options before him. “But I’ll probably just get the garden omelette.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Charlie said, putting his menu down. “I’m gonna need some coffee, too. A lot, actually.”

“Totally,” Naomi agreed. “If I don’t get half a pot soon, I’ll probably fall asleep in my food.”

“I can go put that in right now. How do you like your coffee?” Charlie said as he started to get up from his seat. “Cream? Sugar? Anything?”

“Just black.”

“Me, too,” Charlie said. “I usually get a lot of crap for it.”

“So do I,” Naomi said and then smiled at Charlie.

Charlie smiled back.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Eddie said, breaking up their small moment. “Slow down. You guys aren’t gonna do this now. Not with me and Antony right here.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Charlie said.

“Of course you don’t,” Eddie said, not buying what Charlie was selling. “We were all born yesterday and have no idea what’s going on. And don’t even get me started on the fact that Antony totally dropped the ball and should have said you guys like your coffee like you like your men.”

“That joke is tired,” Antony said. “No one uses it anymore.”

“I do.”

“Maybe your jokes need to be updated.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“What are you even talking about?” Naomi said.

“This whole little cutesy thing between you two,” Eddie said, gesturing to Charlie and Naomi. “The numbers don’t work anymore, and we saw how the last hookup ended. I say no dating or grouping up.”

“Don’t be so close-minded,” Antony said as he rested his hand on Eddie’s thigh.

Eddie chuckled. “Okay, that was actually funny. But I’m serious. There aren’t enough of us. We can’t have factions.”

“I agree,” Naomi said.

“Me, too,” Charlie said, not wanting to concede but knowing that Eddie was right, they didn’t need any distractions.

“See,” Eddie said, “that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Right there, you were just a little too quick to agree.”

Charlie shook his head and sighed. “Whatever. We’re all on the same page. I’m gonna go put in the order for the coffee, okay?” He made his way back down the narrow aisle to the front of the restaurant. “We’re gonna have four coffees,” he said to Gillian, who was back at her stand.

Gillian didn’t respond.

“Excuse me?” Charlie said firmly, trying to get her attention, but Gillian remained silent. Charlie studied her face. It was frozen. Her eyes were completely glassed over and stuck on the tiny
tv
. Charlie matched her gaze.

breaking news
flashed on the screen. A network anchor explained that they had just confirmed that the president of the United States had passed away that morning from a heart attack. The co-anchor noted that he was the thirteenth world leader to succumb to a heart attack in the past two weeks.

“Guys,” Charlie called to the others, “you’re gonna want to see this.”

The rest of the orphans joined Charlie in the front of the restaurant. They all shared in his shock as they read the details on the scrolling ticker. But that was only the beginning.

Seconds later, one of the reporters jumped in with another breaking story: the new president had already selected his vice-president. The reporter added that a confirmation hearing would be required before the newly appointed vice-president could officially take office, but that it wasn’t believed to be a problem given the bipartisan popularity of the pick.

The news program cut to the White House press room. Camera flashes exploded as the new vice-president stepped to the podium. It was none other than Terry Heins. As usual, Cain and Max were right by his side.

The orphans watched in stunned silence as Terry nodded solemnly to the crowd, and then delivered a generic speech, asking for prayers and thanking the recently deceased president for his service before moving on to the standard campaign platitudes. And then, as it all seemed to be winding down, Terry’s message and tone took an unexpected turn.

“There is one last thing that the president asked me to address,” Terry said. “And that is the fact that certain unnamed countries have felt the need to dock their nuclear submarines on the edge of our borders for far too long. Our leaders have repeatedly advised them to reposition their fleets, but they have refused to stand down. We view this to be a clear act of aggression. Now, I’ve learned a lot during my years in the corporate world, and the president and I agree that people, and countries, work better with deadlines. Which is why we have decided to give these unnamed nations until noon Eastern Standard Time to remove all of their submarines from our waters, or we will have to remove them by force. That is all. And again, prayers for the late President Griffin.”

To the average viewer, Terry’s closer would have appeared to be nothing more than the usual political posturing. Surely there would be no escalation. However, Charlie and the orphans knew better. They knew what Terry was capable of, and that his threats were anything but empty.

Terry’s speech had answered all of the questions that JP’s last words had raised. While there would undoubtedly be an attack on Heaven at some point, it wasn’t the first target. The first strike would be against Earth.

Naomi turned to Charlie. “What are we gonna do?” she asked, the weight of her words worn equally on her face.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Charlie said as he narrowed his eyes, which remained aimed at the
tv
and the image of Terry Heins that it displayed. “Whatever it takes to stop them.”

end of book one

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to read
The Orphans
. I really appreciate your support. Hopefully you were able to get as much joy from reading the book as I received writing it. If you have a second, please rate the book on Amazon, and if you have two seconds, write a short and honest review.

My deepest thanks to …

My parents and siblings for their love and guidance. My wife for being my sounding board and biggest cheerleader. Brian Levy for sticking with me even after I gave up screenplays to focus on novels. Kristie Minke for her amazing illustrations. Lauren Leibowitz for cleaning up my grammar and teaching me the difference between blonde and blond.

My beta readers (in alphabetical order) for helping make the book the best it could be: Daniel and Julia Descalso, Michael Diliberti, Christine Gamlen, Tod Gamlen, Chris Gauthier, Dave Hartung, Kristin Moak, Carrie Sullivan, John Sullivan, Joseph Sullivan, Maura Sullivan, Michelle Sullivan, and Dilshad Vadsaria.

And all of the members of the Sullivan Street Team (also in alphabetical order) for pounding the pavement and getting the word out: Isaiah Aguilar, Maggie Astolfi, Ron Babcock, Eric Barker, Maia Bentz, Amanda Bernal, Chad Bernal, Tim and Michelle Bower, Scott Bowser, Shawn Carlow, Jill Carter, Brian Clark, Tony Cortez, Brian Daniels, Paul Danke, Ray Dara, Raj Desai, Daniel and Julia Descalso, Steph Descalso, Meg Dolny, Gretchen Domek, Eric and Ginny Dorflinger, Stephanie Dorsey, Tom Ebnet, Kate Ellingson, Casey Feigh, Ryan Feigh, Keith and Casey Florance, Bob Flury, Gina Forte, Marisa Forte, Tony Forte, Barbara Gamlen, Christine Gamlen, Marie-Jose Gamlen, Tod Gamlen, Victoria Gamlen, Andrew Gettens, Josh Goldenberg, Tia Gonsior, Sean Green, Ed Greer, Talin Gregorian, Danielle Guidry, Dave Hartung, Jared Hasbrouck, Jon Hofeller, Eugene Huang, Michael Huber, Kristian and Carmen Hughes, Khalid Itum, Chris and Dorothy Jackman, Adam Jacobs, Nandini Jayaprasad, Allison Johnston, Tim and JoAnn Johnston, Walton Jordan, Soo Kong, Mike Kong, Marcus Krause, Beth and Greg Lewis, Katie Lochte, Garrett Logan, Chris Lutz, Scott Maciej, Katie Martin, Blair Marshall, James Mastroianna, Mollie McCurry, Ryan McKee, Mike and Amanda McQuigg, Aaron and Kristin Moak, Hormoz Moaven, Leonard Monfredo, Bryan Mosko, Jenna Pfannenstein, Evan Phillips, Jon Post, Sarah Potthoff, Dave Prakash, Neil and Laura Prakash, Kiera Reilly, Brent Salner, Andrew Schmidt, Natalie Seufferlein, Shawn Shaffie, Nick Straiter, Brendan and Sarah Sullivan, Dan and Erica Sullivan, John Sullivan, Joseph Sullivan, Lise Sullivan, Maura Sullivan, Michelle Sullivan, Mike and Carrie Sullivan, Brendan Taylor, Heather Taylor, Laura Taylor, Mary Clare Taylor, Mellany Walia, Trevor and Trish Wetterling, Caren Williams, Courtney Woods, Avi Yashchin, and Satra Zarghami.

Thanks!