New America 02 - Resistance (8 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

General Richard Dupree had debated for months whether or not to tell his fourteen-year-old son what had happened to his sister.  Timothy Dupree had been operating under the assumption that Chrissy was staying with her mother.  Quite frankly, Richard didn’t know his son well enough to determine if he could handle the truth.  Richard had spent most of his children’s lives behind bars, and he was still getting adjusted to being a father.  His son had suffered the trauma of a lifetime, thanks largely in part to him.  When Richard was reunited with his son, he was overjoyed to learn that Timmy’s youthful mind had blocked out all memory of that fateful morning. The events that had unfolded in the church nursery—the pedophile who abused him and his father’s role in the pervert’s demise—had been tucked neatly away somewhere in the deepest recesses of Timmy’s ripening brain. With Richard back in his son’s life, however, those lurid mental footnotes were beginning to resurface.

Richard kept telling himself that the time would come when Timmy would be able to cope with the news about his sister. Weeks turned into months, but with the good news Hal had shared with him this morning, Richard new today was the day. Richard had just finished preparing lunch when his son returned from school.

“Dad!  So glad you’re
back!  I missed you!”  The strength of his son’s embrace brought tears of joy to Richard’s eyes.

“I missed you, too!  I hope you were good for your grandparents.”  Richard made a mental note to thank his children’s surrogate grandparents for their help.

“I was! Grandpa and I watched all the
Star Wars
movies.  Uncle Howard says the
Star Trek
movies are much better.  He says I’d like them and should watch them soon.”

“
Star Wars
is much better. 
Star Trek
has some good movies, too; I think you’d like them.”

“Cool. W
anna watch ‘em with me?”

“I’d love to
, buddy, but uh… I…”

Timmy pouted.
  “You’re leaving again?  But you just got here!”

“I
’m not leaving till next week. We can knock out a few of them before then. Son, I need to have a talk with you.  Sit down and eat your lunch.”

“A
m I in trouble?”

“No, silly, should you be? We need to talk about your sister.”

“Is she finally comin
g home?  When can I see Mom?”

“That’s just it;
it’s time you knew the whole story.  With everything that’s been going on since we got here, your grandfather and I didn’t think you could handle the truth.  You’ve gotten a lot better in the past few months, so I think you’re ready to hear it.”

“Know what?
What’s going on?”

“The truth is, I don’t know where your sister is.”

“What happened?”

“Timmy, your sister was never with your mother.  I’m not sure where
they are.”

“I don’t understand.” 

“We’ve never talked about your mother’s boyfriend.  What do you think about him?”

“Chad could be nice sometime, but mostly he was mean…to me and Mom.”

“I saw your mom right before I came here.  She wasn’t doing well.  Did you know your mother had problems with drugs?”

“Yeah, Dad.  Kinda hard
not to notice.  Is she okay?”

“I honestly don’t know, son.  After we settled in here, I went back to get her and she wasn’t there.  No telling what happened to her.”

“What about Chrissy?  When is she coming back?  Somebody must be taking care of her.”

“Timmy, the family
Chrissy left with…well, they weren’t very nice people.”

Richard’s son began to cry.

“Chad was a horrible person.  He sold your sister to them.”

Richard watched, helpless,
as the dreadful reality registered on his son’s face.

“
I’ve been trying my best to find her.  It’s really hard to find out anything with the situation like it is now.  The Pulse Zone is getting worse and worse every day.  The UAE might not be able to keep it together much longer.  I think we have a real shot at finding her.  Hal gave me some good news this morning.  I don’t think it will be long now and…”

“I hate you!  This is all your fault!  Why ha
ven’t you been looking for her?”  Timmy pushed his father aside as he ran from their quarters.  Richard was hurt by his response but it could have been much worse. The boy was angry, which meant he was dealing with the news in his own way.

“Hal?”

Beck Castle’s resident A.I. responded.  “Yes, sir.  How can I help?”

“I’m sure my son is headed to Morris’
s quarters.  If he doesn’t get there, please tell me.”

“Of course, sir.  I could discern from your conversation that you wanted privacy.  Now that your son has departed, I have some reports from the UAE for you to review.”

“Anything of relevance?”

“Yes, sir, there is.  One of the reports concerns a group of liberated slaves in Florida.  There is a child
there by the name of Christina.  No last name given, no images available.”

“Do we have any
way of contacting them?”

“Not by traditional means, sir.  The slaves were liberated by a community taking up residence at Walt Disney World under the leadership of a man named Benjamin Black.  The community is quite impressive
, based on the report, but they have no means of long-term communication.”

“This is the best lead we’ve had in over a year.  If I can’t figure out a way to contact this Benjamin Black, I’m going to Florida.”

“Very good, sir.  What about the invasion of California?  Will it proceed on schedule?”

“I don’t know
, Hal.  If we can’t get that cruise ship in Seattle, it might be awhile.  I’m going to discuss this with Max.”

“I understand, sir.”

***

“Why is this even a question, Richard?” 

“Max, I really don’t want to go on a wild goose chase.  This isn’t like the old days.  I can’t just hop on a plane and fly to Orlando.  The UAE restricts travel, and they know I’m the commanding general of the PSA; I’m sure they’d love a chance to torture me for information.  It could take me months to get to Orlando.”

“I take it your stealth jet won’t take you that far?”

“The stealth jet has a range of about a thousand miles.  It’s three and a half thousand roundtrip to Orlando.”

“Why can’t you just refuel?”

“Howard won’t allow any of the stealth jets to land outside the PSA.”

Max was amused
.  “If Howard deems it so, then your pilot, Hal, must certainly agree.”

“Exactly.”

Max grunted as he reached for his pill bottle.  When he married Elizabeth, he promised to never take Vicodin or any other narcotic again.  He’d been taking Tramadol to manage his pain.  Healthcare in the PSA put the UAE’s system to shame.  “Look, Richard, I know you’ve been planning this invasion for quite some time, but I’m sure you can delegate your plans to your second-in-command.  All of us will understand if the rescue of your daughter takes priority.”

“It’s a h
uge risk; I’d like some definitive proof that it’s her.  A girl named Christina could be anyone.  I don’t even have an approximate age on this girl in Orlando.”

“Richard, you’re forgetting one very important resource.”

“What?”

“We do have a mole inside Sterling’s camp.”

“Stacy Reid! How could I forget?”

***

Stacy Reid was sitting at her desk trying not to think about her former boss, President Malcolm Powers.  Today was Malcolm’s birthday. She doubted she’d be able to stop reminiscing about past celebrations they’d shared and what she might have done today had he still been alive.  She missed him terribly. 

Stacy wondered how much longer she could keep this up before she lost her mind.  She was terrified of Simon Sterling and what he migh
t do to her if he discovered she was a spy.  The only way she could ease her troubled mind was to keep telling herself that the UAE was crumbling from within and she was, in large part, instrumental in its welcomed demise. She was in constant contact with Howard and fed him valuable intelligence.  Howard had programmed Hal to connect with his sibling computer, now under President Sterling’s watchful eye. It enabled Howard to watch Simon’s every move, listen to all phone calls, and read all his digital communication.  Howard Beck was the President of the Pacific States of America and didn’t have time to watch his nemesis every minute of the day, counting on Stacy to alert him whenever Sterling was up to something.

Stacy called up the holographic display on her desk and opened a window that showed the hallway leading to her office.  The second window connected to the command center in Beck
Castle.  The face of Howard Beck stared back at her.

“Mr. President.”

“Good morning, Stacy.  How are things in my home?”

“Everything’s fine.”

“How’s my wife’s cat?”

“Nala is fine.  Sterling hates the animal
, but he leaves her alone. He knows I adopted her as my own so he tolerates her.”

“Good.  Anything to report?”

“Yes, something very big.”

“Do tell, please.
”

“I’m sure you’ve heard the news of Regional Governor Weygandt’s unfortunate accident?”

Howard rolled his eyes.  “And so soon after his declaration against the slavers. I’m sure his untimely demise had nothing to do with that.”

“Everyone knows Sterling had him killed
, but no one dares breathe a word.  You’ll be interested to know that Sterling and all the regional governors will be attending his funeral in Miami.  Sterling has restricted all travel south of Orlando for a week.  Miami and the surrounding areas are on full lockdown.”

“A wise precaution.  T
he entire leadership of the UAE will be gathered in one place.  A very tempting target, to be sure.”

“I thought you might see it that way.  I’ll send you the details.”

“When’s the funeral?”

“A week from today.”

“I just might have to send my condolences.”

“It’ll be rough; security will be iron-clad.”

“I’ll see what I can do.  On another topic, I have a request for you.”

“Anything.”

“General Dupree has some credible evidence regarding the location of his daughter, Christina.  A man by the name of Benjamin Black runs a community at Disney World. Recently, they murdered a group of slavers and liberated the slaves.  The report mentions a girl named Christina, but that’s all it has.  No last name, age, or image.”

“I’m on it.  I’ll doctor some orders from Sterling requesting detailed identification of all liberated slaves.”

“Thank you, Stacy.  Richard extends his gratitude as well.  What can you tell me about Benjamin Black?”

“He’s a force to contend with.  There are men li
ke him all over The Pulse Zone. They set up large communities and provide protection, food, shelter, everything.  I have to go, Howard. I’ll get the funeral details to you soon.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”  Howar
d terminated the link. His brilliant mind sped into high gear, exploring a number of scenarios that all closed with the same grand finale: the deaths of Simon Sterling and his miserable lackeys. 

“An interesting turn of events, wouldn’t you say, sir?”

“Hal, we have a week to figure out how to take them out.  We could end this struggle and begin taking back the country in less than a day.”

“I will endeavor to formulate
a suitable plan of attack, sir.”

“I know you will, Old Man.”

“Sir, General Dupree is waiting outside.”

“Send him in, please.”

“What’d she say?” Richard asked as he strolled into the command center.

“Stacy is going to send out orders under Sterling’s name to properly ID all liberated slaves.”

“Excellent.  Thank you
, Howard.”

“We had a deal, Ri
chard—you command my army, I help you find your daughter.”

“Would you be opposed to Max leading the inv
asion force?  If I find out my daughter is in Florida, I’ll be leaving immediately.”

“Max has my
full confidence.  I’m also certain your senior officers will be able to carry out their duties in an efficient and timely manner.”

“What are you going to do about the cruise ship in Seattle?  You think you can convince those people to live somewhere else?”

“I have no idea what will happen.  I’ve never been the sociable type, and I hate public speaking with a passion.  I’ll probably just get pissed and start yelling.”