Final Dawn: Escape From Armageddon (3 page)

     Hannah was very brusquely escorted into Anthony Pacheco’s office and told to sit at a chair directly in front of his desk. Harvey Unwin and Tom Mize stood behind her.

     She was confused and didn’t know what was going on, but she started to feel like a criminal.

     “Good morning, Miss Jelinovic.” Pacheco said. “Do you remember this form you completed when you took the job with us?”

     He placed her nondisclosure agreement on his desk in front of her.

     “Yes.” She was starting to feel very uneasy.

     “Is that your signature at the bottom?”

     “Yes, sir, it is. What’s this all about?”

     “Miss Jelinovic, would you read aloud the second paragraph for me?”

     Hannah read the paragraph in a shaky voice.

     “I agree that any and all information or data I work with is the property of the United States government, and that it is not to be shared or discussed with any other entity or individual. This provision applies during the entire term of employment, and extends for a period not less than ten years after termination of employment. Violation of this agreement is punishable under U.S. Code 45-101 by a fine up to $10,000 or up to ten years in prison, or both.”

     She looked directly at Pacheco. “I still don’t understand what this is all about.”

     “What this is all about, Miss Jelinovic, is that you have put us in a rather untenable position. You had absolutely no reason to rewrite that computer program, nor to gather the data from it. Listen very carefully to my next question, Miss Jelinovic, because your freedom could very well depend on it. Have you shared any of this information with any of your co-workers?”

     “No, sir, I haven’t.”

     “Miss Jelinovic, I suggest you remember the statement you just read to me. If you breathe a word of your findings to anyone, inside or outside of this building, I will make sure that you spend the next ten years of your life in a maximum security prison. You can count on that.”

     “But why?”

     “Because, Miss Jelinovic, this is a matter of national security. And until we get a handle on Saris 7 and what to do about it, no one outside the highest levels of government need to know about it.”

     Hannah suddenly felt like a little girl being chastised for not eating her vegetables.

     “I’ve already got one of our computer techs restoring the Polaris II program to its original state. You are being transferred to the classification section. Mr. Unwin will escort you back to your old office to gather your things.”

     Hannah got up without a word and walked sheepishly toward the door.

     “Oh, and Miss Jelinovic,” Pacheco called behind her. “I’d strongly suggest you leave the computer programs in your new section the hell alone.”

     Hannah placed her belongings in two boxes, and she and Unwin carried them to another floor in the building. He showed her to her new cubicle without saying a word to her. They placed the boxes on her new desk and he left her there, again without uttering a sound.

     Hannah sat down and cried.

-
6-

     While Hannah was spending her afternoon getting accustomed to her new office, Mark was on his way back from Austin. He’d left early that morning to beat the traffic, and had spent three hours filling out forms at the state lottery office.

     He was told that his final payout was just over
$221 million, and that it would be deposited into his account within four to six weeks. He asked if he could remain anonymous and was told that he didn’t have to do any television interviews, but that his name was part of the public record.

     They gave him the opportunity to pose for a photograph holding a big check. For a souvenir, they said. He chose not to. He had the money. He didn’t need a souvenir.

     He stopped at the Exxon station on his way home to buy a soda. As he walked in the door he shouted across the store to Joe Kenney.

     “Hey, Joe!
You’ll live in lonely rooms I know and watch for my love’s tenderness.”

     A little old
lady cast an evil eye in Mark’s direction.

     Joe was hanging new price label
s. He paused for a moment, thought, and then responded “Steppenwolf, ‘Tenderness’”

     The old
lady decided she didn’t need cat food after all and left the store.

     Joe walked over to Mark and said “So, what are you doing here? I figured you’d have butlers and servants and stuff to come and buy your sodas for you now.”

     Mark said “Nope. I think it’s important that I mingle with the little people now. You know, to keep my perspective and remember where I came from.”

     Then, in a moment of sadness, Mark told his long-time friend “You know, if there’s ever anything you need, all you have to do is ask.”

     Joe said “Hey, I’m not one of those so-called friends who’s going to start sponging off of you just because you got lucky and got rich. The only thing I’ll ever want from you is your promise not to change as a person.”

     “You got it, Joe. I’ll be the same old self-serving jerk I’ve always been.”

     Joe laughed. “Good boy.”

-7-

     Mark pulled into the drive and saw Hannah’s car inside the garage. He was glad she beat him home. He was looking forward to hearing what her bosses said when she told them about Saris 7.

     He walked into the house and immediately smelled spaghetti sauce cooking on the stove.

     Hannah, bless her heart, was like most women in their mid twenties. Her cooking abilities were limited. But she tried hard, and with a little help from Ragu, she made a pretty good plate of spaghetti. And Mark was starving, so spaghetti was just fine with him.

     When he walked up behind Hannah in the kitchen, though, his hunger pangs vanished. She turned off the sauce and turned around to hold him. She was sobbing and looked a mess, and he could tell from her puffy eyes and lack of mascara that she’d been crying all day.

     “Honey, what’s wrong?”

     “I told them, baby. I told Unwin, and he told Pacheco, and they should have been glad but instead they got angry. They demoted me. They moved me down to the third floor, where all I have to do each day is assign names and numbers to new stars that Hubble is finding. It’s
the same work that interns do. They told me that maybe I won’t do any damage down there.”

     Mark held her close and tried his best to comfort her.

     “I just don’t understand, baby.” She sobbed. “I don’t understand any of this.”

     She told Mark how she spent most of the day organizing her new cubicle and trying to avoid the stares of her new co-workers in the cubicles around her. She said that some of them looked at her with sympathy. Others looked at her with accusatory eyes, as though she were guilty of something. But all of them, except her friend Sarah Spear, seemed to want to avoid her at all costs. They stared but didn’t approach her, didn’t offer to help her, didn’t try to console her. She felt like an outcast in this new world, like she’d brought the plague in with her, and like the others didn’t want to be infected by her.

     “Except for Sarah.” She said. “Sarah, God bless her, came by and asked if I was okay. She said she understood what I was feeling. She helped me hang some photos of you, and even hung one upside-down to make me laugh. She said you look better that way. She asked if she could come by and visit us later tonight to check up on me. Is that okay?”

     Mark said “Yes, as long as y’all don’t make me stand on my head.”

     And Hannah smiled for the first time. “Okay, deal.”

     They ate in near silence. Each was deep in their own thoughts, trying to figure
out what was going on, and why Hannah would be punished for her discovery. And Mark was careful not to push her. She was starting to calm down now, and he didn’t want to reopen the wound before Hannah was ready to talk about it.

     And as much as Mark liked Hannah’s spaghetti, on this occasion it was tasteless and bland.

     The doorbell rang about 7:30, as the couple was snuggling on the couch watching CSI. Mark answered the door and said hello to Sarah, and invited her into their home.

     He’d
talked to Sarah a couple of times at office functions, but didn’t know her well. Didn’t even know what she did, really, except that she worked for the same company as his Hannah. So he really had nothing to add to the girls’ conversation. He’d just take a back seat and listen.

     He fixed the girls a drink as they sat down in the living room and talked about Hannah’s experience at work earlier that day.

     “I felt so bad for you today,” Sarah started. “So did a couple of the other people who knew what happened.”

     “But how did you know? Did Harvey Unwin tell you?”

     Sarah continued. “No, honey. We knew because the same thing happened to us.

     “Not all of us, of course, but myself, Pete D’Ambrosio, Velma Greer, and Steve Weed. Steve discovered Saris 7 more than a year ago. He got sent down to our office the next day. We followed him two days later because he told us about it. If you told anyone else in your old office, they’ll be coming down to join us soon.”

     “I didn’t tell anyone. Except Mark.” Hannah said.

     Sarah said “That’s good. Don’t tell anyone at work, or they’ll suffer the same fate. Do they know you told Mark?”

     “No.”

     “For God’s sake, don’t tell them. They can’t threaten him with jail time like they do to us. I don’t know what they can do to keep him quiet, but I wouldn’t put anything past them.”

     Hannah suddenly felt chilled. And afraid.

     “But why are they keeping this secret? And how long have they known?”

     Sarah replied “I don’t know how long they’ve known. But somebody in Washington, and I’m guessing the President, made the decision to classify it and keep it from the public. The rumor I heard is that they fear a worldwide panic if the word gets out. People will start rioting and killing each other and marching on Washington to demand they do something to prevent the collision. And they know there’s nothing they
can
do.”

     Mark spoke up. “So they’re not even going to try? They’re just going to keep it a big secret and let everybody on earth die?”

     Sarah went on. “Not quite everybody. I’ve heard that they plan to stockpile food and water into the old underground bunkers that were built under Washington during the cold war. They were built to accommodate the entire Congress and their families, the White House staff and their families. And key members from the Pentagon.

     “Word is that they’ve made r
oom for Pacheco, Mize and Unwin - the three stooges, too. And their families. In appreciation for their keeping this whole thing hush hush for them.

     “
So you have maybe four thousand people in Washington that will be safe. And a similar number in other countries, like China and Israel and England and Japan. Because they all know about it too.

     “So worldwide, you have maybe 50,000 people who will survive the collision. And everybody else will die.”

     Hannah looked at her friend and said “Why didn’t you tell me all of this?”

     Sarah said “For the same reason you won’t tell anyone. Because if you do, they’ll throw you in prison. And you’ll spend the last two years of your life away from Mark and everyone else you love. And that’s where you’ll die when the collision happens, and you’ll spend eternity locked in a cell. It’ll become your tomb. That’s not for me. I want to spend my last months with the ones I love.”

     Sarah went on. “
Chris asked me to marry him the day after Steve discovered Saris 7. I told him no and then broke up with him. Because I loved him too much to watch him die.

     “
Most of the rest of us have already decided that we’re going to commit suicide just before it happens. The other options are freezing or starving to death, and they’re both supposed to be very agonizing.

     “
I’ve already asked Steve to shoot me in the back of the head before he shoots himself. Quick and painless. I’m sure we won’t be the only ones.”

     “Oh, my God,” Hannah cried. “How can you even think of such a thing?”

     “I’ve had no choice. I’ve lived with this thing hanging over my head for a year now. You think of all kinds of ugly things. You two will think the same things.”

     “No.” Hannah stated emphatically. “There’s got to be a way to survive. And we’ll find it.”

-
8-

     Sarah left an hour later, and Mark and Hannah slept fitfully. While laying in bed looking at the ceiling at 3 a.m., they made a pact to find a way to survive the collision, and to save as many of their loved ones as possible.