Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels (28 page)

"This is in your hands," Evan challenged Jon. "Which way do you wish to go? Will you allow Mr. Knox to blow out the brains of an elected Senator here, in this mansion, on the hollowed grounds of humanity’s rebirth? Or are you more than a lion who eats antelope?"

Jon sighed and held his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"Gordon, put that damn thing away."

Knox considered for a moment, and then holstered his gun. The room breathed a collective sigh of relief. Jon retreated to his chair and sat.

"You’ve heard what I’ve said," Godfrey spoke to the entire room again.  "If Trevor Stone is off on a secret mission, fine. I look forward to seeing him when he comes back. I can be patient. But if he isn’t coming back then know that I—and many like me—will not accept a new monarch. If Trevor is gone, then so is the Emperor."

Evan turned and faced Gordon Knox.  "I won’t forget this. Trust me."

Gordon smiled and his eyes widened menacingly. "Good. Remember. Especially when you go to sleep at night…all safe in your bed. Just like that Hivvan governor in Richmond…"

Evan scowled and ascended the stairs to the exit.

Nobody said a word for nearly a full minute until Stonewall spoke.

"Well, I dare say this has been a productive gathering. I think I shall head back to the front. The monsters there are much more pleasant."

---

Lori Brewer turned off the desktop lamp and the dining-room-turned-office went dark with only a trace of light eking through the windows from the dying day outside.

With another bad day behind, she planned to steal her daughter away from the nanny and head to their small, lakeside home. Alas, she found her escape blocked by Ashley standing in the doorway.

Lori said, "Hello, Ashley" but also gathered her papers into a bundle to send another message:
I am leaving.

Ashley ignored the body language and said, "I know you don’t like me very much."

Lori could not deny that she had not liked Ashley in the old world. However, since her ark ride, Ashley seemed a changed woman. Quieter, stronger, and surprisingly resilient.

Armageddon tended to change people.

Still, she stumbled, "Huh? What? Ashley, what are you talking about?"

"That’s why I came to you. Maybe you’ll tell me the truth."

"The truth? The truth about what?"

"You know, being married to…," she stopped, considered her words, and then re-phrased: "Being
with
Trevor has its advantages. While the rest of you play coy I went straight to one of Gordon Knox’s assistants and got hold of Shepherd’s report summary. I don’t think the poor woman knew I wasn’t supposed to see it."

Lori eased back against her desk, a defensive posture.

Ashley went on, "There’s a bunch of stuff Jon didn’t tell me about what happened in Ohio. Like Trevor knew the commandos were missing before he left and that one of the people in the building was a twin of Nina Forest."

Lori did what she always did when on the defensive; she tried to go on offense. Mrs. Brewer was not the type to drop back ten yards and punt.

"Alllrriiigghty then. It must be big conspiracy. Do you hear yourself? No one is keeping you from anything. Trevor did what he always does; he took control of the situation. That’d be just like him, wouldn’t it?"

Ashley nodded in agreement. "It would be just like him. I guess you’re right. That would be something he would do," Ashley smiled but it was not a very friendly smile at all. "I guess those people who wanted to snatch him knew that, too. I guess that’s why they lured our Nina Forest into a trap. Apparently they thought that was going to get Trevor’s attention."

Lori suddenly wished she had punted. Exactly when did Ashley get clever enough to maneuver people into a conversational corner like this?

Ashley went on, "So now you believe these people were from some kind of parallel Earth? And there was a Nina Forest from that other world, waiting for Trevor."

Lori gathered her things again. Denial served as good a fallback position as any.

"We don't know what happened. Everything is guess work."

"So your best guess is that people from the other universe thought Nina Forest would make a good lure for Trevor? That he would go behind enemy lines just to save her? Tell me, Lori, what happened in the year I was gone that would make anyone think that?"

"I don't know, okay? Now, excuse me," and Lori finally navigated around Ashley.

"Tell me something, Lori. The year I was gone…after I disappeared…did Trevor ever go searching for me?"

Lori blinked and answered, "Ashley, everyone—even the U.S. government—thought the people who disappeared were vaporized. He thought you were dead."

"So the answer would be no."

            Hints of frost remained on the trees, but the sun shined intently through a clear blue sky, baking away all but the most stubborn patches of ice and snow despite sub-freezing temperatures.

            Frost or not, the trees looked familiar to Trevor. Towering Maples, thick Oaks, legions of thin White Birch, and finally rows of evergreens standing like sentries atop the mountains surrounding the lake basin.

            He did not ask Major Nina Forest what they called the lake on this Earth. However, based on maps she provided, he found the correct coordinates and, from the navigator's seat on the lead ship, directed a trio of 'Skipper' helicopters to the place known on his world as Harveys Lake.

            The threesome descended and banked over the half-frozen waters.

            "Should be on the western edge," Trevor pointed out the large cockpit window.

            Nina followed his gaze and steered the craft in that direction. Her wingmen did the same as they neared the end of a ninety-minute flight.

            Trevor felt goose bumps ripple along his arms. He spent two days arguing with Nina to convince Director Snowe to authorize the expedition. Trevor felt certain that after a week of intense training, the troops could handle a real mission. After all, these were not rookies but battle-hardened veterans who merely needed a reminder of what they could accomplish.

            Nina initially opposed the idea for two reasons. First, the Chaktaw were over due for an attack. Second, she explained that none of them were familiar with the estate. She said her Trevor never mentioned any such place and that—in another point of differentiation with his world—by the time she met him, her Stone had already assembled an army.

That army apparently did not include K9s. Indeed, Nina's people did not even know what a 'dog' was, although she did know wolves. Yet another difference and perhaps another avenue to unlocking the secrets he might find answers to on this parallel world.

The Skippers circled the western bank. Trevor pressed his nose against the cockpit glass and searched with both his naked eye and binoculars.

At first glance, the area did not appear developed but as he surveyed the hillsides he saw what had to be homes, albeit of a much different architecture. These appeared built almost directly into the side of the mountain with only a portion of the dwelling sticking out. It made him think of how he utilized the cave behind his mansion to shield the runes.

Very few of those homes remained intact. He saw more burned and blasted rubble than standing structures.

            Regardless of the difference in building style, everything felt familiar. He could nearly see the humans of this Earth, before the invasion, spending summer days on the banks of the lake, splashing in the water, fishing by the shore.

            That made him remember Jerry Shepherd, and how he fished these waters during that first year after Armageddon.

            He turned to Nina and asked, "Okay, so far I've met you, saw my statue, and I know there's a Jon Brewer here, and you had a Gordon Knox who was killed. What about other duplicates? Anyone else I'd know?"

            She steered the craft into a sharp bank and replied, "Probably. Give me some names."

            "Jerry Shepherd. He was a police officer and a friend of yours and is a General in my army."

            "Knew a Jerry Shepherd back when I was a cadet. Haven't seen him in years."

            "Okay, what about Garrett 'Stonewall' McAllister? Or my friend who's with me, Reverend Johnny?"

            "Nope and no. Never heard of either."

            Trevor turned his head and spied Johnny sitting in the passenger area with a squad of soldiers and mumbled, "Well, probably not enough room in eight universes for more than one of either of those guys. Wait a second, there it is."

            He pointed at what had to be his estate on this Earth. At least, it matched the location and it certainly looked the part: a big residence, this one surrounded by a wooden barrier instead of an iron fence, sturdy-looking stone walls comprised the main house, and he saw a second floor balcony that easily passed for the twin of his own.

            Like the rest of the homes around the lake, this mansion was built into the mountain side, meaning it stood further from the water's edge. It also lacked a landing pad, forcing Nina to steer the three Skippers to a clearing among the evergreen trees at the foot of one of the mountains on the southern bank, about half-a-mile from the mansion.

            As they flew toward the landing zone, Trevor felt a sense of déjà vu; the same sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as when he returned from the airport flying an Apache for the first time only to find that his estate had been attacked by Red Hand tribesmen. This time, instead of seeing K9 and human bodies on the grounds, he saw a hole smashed in the barrier wall, burn marks on the stone balcony, and bomb craters across the grounds.

            A dead place.

Before they landed, he already wrote the script. The Trevor of this world had been chased from his lakeside sanctuary but managed not only to survive, but to build an army and then a city.

Major
Forest
eased the ship to a gentle landing. The other two set down to either side.

            As she shut off the controls, Nina warned for the third time, "This is hostile territory. We can’t stay long and at the first sign of trouble we got to bug out, you know?"

            He barely heard her. His mind focused on the mansion and what he might find there.

Soldiers, including Corporal Brewer, disembarked the Skippers, scouts fanning out while the main body marched across the field and through the woods at a fast pace. Something shadowy and slimy scurried off; a bird of some kind cawed from a high branch.

Trevor walked in big strides with Johnny on one flank and Major Forest on the other. They exited the woods and found rubble where a church stood on Trevor's world. As they rounded the pile of debris and approached the road, Trevor stopped.

Two carcasses lay there. Big bodies, scavenged to the bone. He recognized the skeletons by one of the few parts remaining intact: circular rows of teeth that easily identified the cadavers as Jaw-Wolves.

"Dear Lord in Heaven," Reverend Johnny gaped at the bones.

Trevor said to Johnny more so than anyone else, "If Jaw-Wolves had attacked the estate on our Earth in the first few months, we would not have stood a chance, either."

Johnny pointed at the holes in the road ahead and remarked, "Jaw-Wolves don't make bomb craters so they must have had help."

"This whole thing," Trevor said, "it stinks like The Order to me."

He led them forward again, this time at an even faster clip. They walked along the wall protecting the estate until reaching a breach and entering the grounds where they found another Jaw-Wolf carcass.

Major
Forest
barked orders, "First squad, form a security perimeter. Second squad, split into teams and enter the structure. We’ll wait—"

            Trevor did not listen. He chambered a round on his bullpup assault rifle and marched to and through the arch-shaped front door. Nina could do nothing other than follow.

Things differed from his home a universe away. Rougher interior textures, slightly larger doorways with an arched look as opposed to straight rectangles, lighting fixtures shaped like hour glasses, and moist air due to half the building being inside the mountain. The furniture lacked flare—much more utilitarian—but made to fit a human form. The walls had been picked clean of any decorating and the remains of battle—bullet holes, burn scars—littered each room.

Nonetheless, the place felt the same in spirit. A home converted into a bunker; a place big enough to store the seeds to rebirth a world, isolated but still in close proximity to civilization.

Regardless of what had driven him from this place, Trevor's counterpart on this Earth started here. He felt it. He knew it. And that meant answers might remain.

Stone moved quickly through the first floor, his flashlight shining over damaged walls and smashed furniture, chasing away bugs and small mammals. Whatever ghosts lurked here, they guarded their secrets stubbornly.