Breakdown: Season One (2 page)

Chapter 2 - You’re Fired

Ducking into his work station (“cubicle” wasn’t a word that people who manage cube-farms liked to use) about 15 minutes late without much notice, Thom logged into his terminal. He launched his email and the call lead management tool and started dialing the phone.

Most of the calls ended up with him leaving voicemails to people he’d most likely never reach, but as he dialed, he perused his email and noticed that one of his students, a member of the Air Force stationed in South Korea, had called and left several voicemails. That wasn’t unusual, and Thom decided that he’d give them a listen on his break so that he could make up for a few missed dials caused by his late start.

During his break at 10:00, Thom was called into Rick’s office.

“Thom, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you into my office this morning,” his manager said with a straight face.

“If it’s about me being late this morning, I apologize, I hit a deer on the way to work, and my car just barely managed the commute. I can make up the 15 minutes on my lunch.”

“Oh, that’s quite all right, we won’t be needing you to do that,” he said with a smug grin.

Thomas waited for the other shoe to drop, and it did just a moment later.

“Thom, are you aware that the budget write-up you did for the company parties this year has been audited?”

He nodded. “I assumed it would be, Rick. I attached all of the necessary paperwork and receipts. The whole thing was well below the max budget allotted.”

“That’s where things get iffy, Thom.” Rick let his false smile slip into a frown, and he pushed a stack of papers Thom’s way.

“Thom, the auditors found some unexplained expenses on the company card that coincide with the time you were planning the parties. Can you explain this?” He stabbed a finger into the stack of paper in front of Thom, where several figures had been underlined and circled in a bold red marker.

There was one phrase that was especially startling:
$10,000 missing from admissions annual budget.

Thom’s heart started to race. He’d learned his lesson about theft when he stole a Jolly Rancher candy from his 3rd grade teacher’s candy jar. She went to pass them out later and was one short, so someone didn’t get a piece of candy. Sitting there with two in his hand was more than Thom could handle, so he came clean. To be accused of such a thing, even indirectly, got his blood pumping.

His palms started to sweat, and his mouth went instantly dry.

“I-I’m not sure where those numbers came from, but they’re—not…they’re not right!”

“Calm down, Thom. There’s no need to get upset. I’m sure there’s a very good explanation of where that money went. I just need you to tell me.” He looked at Thom, slick as a greased pig, a small grin hiding under the surface of his too-cool face.

A nervous Thom Monroe nodded, “I copied all of the receipts and scanned them to you. You should have them all. Let me check our company drive. They should still be there. IT has a 180-day purge policy for our quarterly audits.”

Rick just shook his head. “They’re not there, Thom. Trust me, I’ve looked.” He checked the time on his wrist.

Thomas knew that look, and he had a fairly good idea exactly where at least some of the money went as he caught a flash of his boss’ new watch, but he knew better than to say anything yet.

Catching Thom’s eye, Rick nodded toward him.

“Let’s wrap this up, Thom. I’ve got a plane to catch. Haven’t had a vacation in quite some time.”

“I’m going to need to contact my lawyer before we continue this conversation,” Thom said with an uncharacteristic amount of steel in his voice.

Rick’s sigh was a bit over the top. “I was afraid you were going to say that. You’ve grown increasingly unreliable and belligerent since the passing of your wife a few months ago. There have been reports that you’re growing unstable and rude to our students. One of your co-workers, who will remain anonymous, even reported that you might be abusing certain illegal contraband.”

Well, that explained the “random” drug test Thom had been given last week.

“Thom, I’m afraid at this point I’m going to have to ask you to leave the building. You’ll find a box on your desk. Gather your things. You’re fired. The authorities will be contacting you soon to complete their investigation.”

Rick must have assumed Thom’s red face was from fear, not anger, and he couldn’t help twisting the knife in his back just a little further.

“Thom?”

“Yes?” he asked hesitantly.

“You can leave the picture of your wife and daughter at the beach from a couple of years ago. I particularly like the two-piece your daughter—”

He never even had time to see Thom’s fist coming before he hit the ground. The two men who must have been waiting to escort Thomas back to his desk ran in just in time to see Rick’s unconscious body tumble backward out of his expensive office chair. The next ten minutes were a blur, but at one moment, Thom could swear he heard people cheering as he was escorted out to his car.

Chapter 3 – Lecture Hall

Anna hurried across campus to her next class in the engineering building, accidentally bumping into a man handling out ad sheets on the corner and sending a stack of yellow papers flying.

“Sorry!” she exclaimed, picking up a fistful and handing them back to the obviously frustrated man.

Rushing into the lecture hall, Anna quickly found a seat toward the front and just had time to get her notebook and pen out before the professor began his lecture. It was a low-level astronomy course, and for the last couple of days they had been discussing a few really interesting topics; sun spots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections.

Today, they were set to talk about something called the “Carrington Event,” in which a large solar storm, accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, fried most of the telegraph systems in Europe and North America. Apparently, the geomagnetic storm was so intense, some of the telegraph operators were still able to send and receive telegraphs while disconnected from their power source.

Anna had managed to take the majority of her general education requirements in high school, which was great for financial reasons, but it did mean jumping straight into a pretty heavy course load her first semester, and she was having trouble balancing her time.

Astronomy now, then a break for lunch. After that, a 100-level engineering course, then a one-hour self-defense class to round out her Phys. Ed. requirement.

She hadn’t told her Dad about the part-time job she’d taken at one of the campus dining halls, and she hoped to keep that secret for a while longer, which meant she needed to bring her grades up in a hurry. She didn’t want her dad to worry but knew from experience that he wasn’t the most reliable person in her life. She loved him dearly and knew it wasn’t his fault, but she also knew she had to take care of herself as much as possible while he healed.

She hoped that one day, he’d once again be the man who had raised her.

For now, it was time to set those thoughts aside as best she could and focus on the lesson at hand.

Worries could wait until she had more time.

Chapter 4 - The Sky is Falling

Praying the car would start as the two security goons stared at him through the car windows, Thom fished the key out of his pocket and inserted it into the ignition.

He turned the key, and the car sluggishly came to life. Thom put it into reverse and backed out of his spot, offering curt nods to the fellows as they watched him leave the parking lot.

Once he was safely out of view, Thom pulled into a nearby lot and had a bit of a breakdown. Deep down, he knew he’d be okay. His brother-in-law was a lawyer with experience in wrongful termination cases. He’d be all over this. Besides, there had to be backups of the data. Thom knew the physical copies had been shredded; he’d done it himself on his boss’ orders.

“No sense in Compliance seeing these and laying into us for leaving financial documents lying around for anyone to see.”

That smug bastard had played Thom for a fool. He’d figure a way out of this, though.

Monroe’s hand throbbed, and he actually took comfort in the pain and smiled. He doubted Rick would press charges for that after what he’d said. He was skating on thin ice anyway and would want any extra attention diverted away from himself, especially after getting knocked out by a mild-mannered phone jockey.

Thom was worried, though, and started to cry when he thought of the financial burden this would place on his family. There’d be a settlement eventually, if he won, so that’s something, but it would take months, perhaps years to get to that point. In the mean time, he was out of work, and they were already paycheck-to-paycheck after the passing of his wife. College tuition was taken care of through Anna’s scholarship, but room and board weren’t covered. She had a part-time job she didn’t think he knew about and could take out loans if necessary, but Thom had hoped to get her off on the right foot financially. The fact that she might start her adult life deeply in debt hurt him more than his injured hand, or his pride.

Thom sniffed and scrubbed a hand across his eyes, wiping the tears away. He smiled. Things would be okay. They were a family. They’d find a way to get through this together.

It wasn’t quite noon when he pulled the car onto the highway and started the long drive home in the slow lane, hazard lights flashing. He’d call and look for an auto body shop in the morning. Now that he didn’t have a job to drive to, there was really no reason to start the search tonight.

The engine started knocking heavily, and the car lost power a few hundred yards after it passed the sign welcoming Thom back into Missouri. He’d had just enough time to pull over to the shoulder, as close to the concrete barrier as he could.

Steam bellowed up from the hood, and Thom had to use a pair of leather gloves he kept in the glove box in order to keep from burning himself when he propped it open. He scratched his head and looked at the engine without a clue what to do next. He wasn’t a car guy. He could change the oil, check the tire pressure, and top off the fluids, but that was the extent of his automotive talent. So he closed the hood and grabbed his cell. Before he could dial, though, it rang in his hand. Thom checked the number and didn’t recognize it, but he answered anyway. If it was a telemarketer, he’d tell them about his day and vent a bit. Heck, he knew what it was like to be on the other end of that line.

“Thomas Monroe. What can I do for you?”

There was a slight delay, and then a static-filled voice answered.

“Thom, this is Andrew Jackson.”

Thom grinned. Andrew was the Air Force student stationed over in Korea. They’d spent the last two years working together to get him through the program and had grown quite close. He was graduating in May and had invited Thom to visit him at his family farm south of Columbia. Thomas always got a kick out of his name, and Andrew knew it.

“Mr. President, great to hear from you. If you’ve got questions about your tuition assistance, I’m afraid I can’t help you. I got the sack today.”

“You
what
? Thom, I’m sorry to hear that, but I don’t have much time. There’s something going on here, and I’m scrambling. I’m not sure how much time we have, and not sure exactly what’s happening yet, but—” Static filled the line for a moment. “—need to get home as soon as you can. If you have time, get to the store—stock up on things like rice and beans and garden seeds. You’re going to want a firearm and some ammunition, a rifle or shotgun, a pistol for a sidearm. Make sure they’re chambered for common rounds, and stock up on as much ammo as they’ll let you carry out. If there’s more time, get the heck out of the city. Go get your daughter and head for the hills. If you’ve got family in the country, go there. Better yet, since my family is about a 30-minute drive south of Columbia, head there, Jackson Nurseries off of 63. You’ll see the signs. They’ll take you in.  I’ve told them about the man who helped me get my degree.”

“Andrew, what in the world are you talking about? You turning into one of those doomsday survivalist types?”

“Thom, this is serious. I’m not sure if it’s the North Koreans, Iran, or some third party mercs, but something big is cooking. We’re being sent home. All of us. The entire base.  I’m jeopardizing my career to help you. You need to—”

The phone didn’t so much click as it just stopped working.
Must have been a bad connection
, Thom thought. He checked his screen, hoping to see the number so he could call Andrew back, but the phone had shut off, which was confusing, since he’d had nearly a full battery when the call started.

Thomas pounded his fists on the car hood hard, over and over again, adding dent upon dent to the growing collection. He pounded his fists until he’d worn himself out, and then he collapsed facedown on the car.

The first thing that clued him in that something was off was the thrumming sound the power lines started to make. Thom looked up just in time to see the first car hit another.

The other cars on the road were all slamming into one another, the drivers wearing looks of panic on their faces. Thomas jumped over the concrete barrier just in time for his car to be slammed from behind by a pickup truck. Dazed, he lay next to the barrier, staring into the clear blue sky, and noticed a single engine Cessna fall from the air onto the road. It must have been headed toward the downtown airport on glide. It might have made it if the road had been clear.

The explosion was close enough that he could feel the rush of super-heated air suck the wind from his lungs.  Thom felt a sharp pain in his head briefly before the world abruptly faded to black.