Project Terminus (23 page)

Heather’s bombs killed thirteen children ages six to eleven and injured twenty-four more. Three adults were killed and an additional six injured. Heather felt nothing except a sense of accomplishment. Nina would be proud of her. That’s all that mattered. The next day, she informed the gate guards she didn’t feel safe at Fort Hope and was leaving. She told them she’d managed to survive on her own for three years and didn’t intend to hide behind a fence while terrorists tried to kill her. She thanked them for the hospitality and wished them good luck.

Using a series of backtracks and random movements, she headed back to Nina.

******

The bombing of the school changed
everything
at Fort Hope. People were frightened. They were angry. They were heart-broken. Some of them wanted to leave.

Wade calmly addressed his troops. “I know you’re frustrated. I am too. She always seems to be one step ahead of us. How she managed to get someone inside the fort to blow the school, I have no idea. But she did. The question is, what are we going to do about it? We have to find her. Not just The Light. We have to find Nina. Without her at the helm, they’ll be a ship without a rudder.”

Randal said, “Dad, we have extra patrols out around Fort Hope, Gateway, and Zion. They’ve been effective. There’ve been no new attacks anywhere for a couple of weeks. I suggest we continue them and use every available man to search for their base. I don’t think they’re in Knoxville anymore. I think she moved back into the woods. Let’s start looking there.”

“All right, Randal, set it up. Anyone else have any suggestions?”

“Wade,” said Bill, “I want to go on record as acknowledging I was wrong about her. She is good. But she’s lucky too. And I predict she’ll screw up sooner or later. We have to be ready to take advantage of the screw-up when it happens.”

******

Nina and Heather were going over the school mission. “You exceeded my expectations, Heather. And very soon we’re going to accomplish what we set out to do. Coltrane will be dead.”

“What do we do when he’s dead?”

“I don’t know. We’ll figure that out when the time comes.”

The next thirty days were a continuous series of guerilla attacks by The Light with an occasional takedown of some of their snipers as they were skulking away after an attack.

Nina and Heather were lying in bed when Nina said, “It’s time to unleash the secret weapon. Go get Olivia.”

Olivia returned with Heather moments later and looked at Nina expectantly, but didn’t say a word. Nina just looked at them both, and then started crying. Tears ran down her cheeks and her sobbing intensified to near hysterics.

Olivia was frightened. “Nina, what’s wrong?”

With effort, Nina gained a measure of control and said, “I won’t see you after today. I am going to die for you, Olivia. I am going to die for Heather…and for my family.”

Heather and Olivia simultaneously exclaimed, “No!”

Then, Heather said, “What are you talking about?”

“There is only one way we can get Coltrane. I have to kill him myself. And I will, but I’ll die in the process.”

“Please, Nina. Whatever you’re planning, don’t do it. Not if it means your life. There has to be another way,” said Olivia through her own tears.

“If there was another way, don’t you think I’d take it? There
is
no other way.”

“There has to be,” wailed Olivia. “You can’t die, Nina. You just can’t.”

“Nina, please. I’m begging you,” Heather cried. “For both of us…for all three of us, whatever you’re planning, please…please don’t do it.”

But Nina was adamant and refused to reconsider. After several minutes, with tears flowing freely, Heather asked what she was going to do.

“I’m going to surrender to them.”

Heather’s mouth dropped open. “No! You
can’t
. Why?”

“Why? Because there’s no other way, that’s why. I’m going to dress in my ceremonial garb and under a white flag, I’m going to Fort Hope and ask to speak to their commander. I’ll pretend I don’t know who that is. They’ll search me, of course, but they won’t find anything. Then they’ll take me to Coltrane. He’ll have every one of his lieutenants with him. Trust me, they won’t be able to resist. They’ll want to meet the bitch who has made their lives so miserable. It’s just human nature. They’ll actually treat me with a degree of respect. And they’ll want to hear what I have to say. Just as curiosity killed the cat, curiosity will kill Coltrane. With a bit of luck, most of his men will die with him.”

Olivia was aghast. “No, Nina, I can’t lose you. You’re my life. Please, no. There has to be another way.”

Heather said, “Nina, neither one of us will want to live if you’re gone. Please.
Please
don’t do this.” But Heather’s curiosity was also piqued, so she asked, “How are you going to kill him? You’ll be unarmed. You’ll be in a room with God knows how many capable soldiers and—”

“Do you both remember when I suggested we start doing Kegels on a daily basis?”

In unison they replied, “Yes.”

“Well those exercises
were not
for Horst’s benefit, I assure you of that. They aren’t going to search me for tattoos. Why would they? They’ll know who I am, and I will be sitting right in front of them with two pounds of C4 up my ass and a wired pressure switch in my vagina. One good squeeze and they’re history.”

Olivia and Heather silently stared at her in astonishment, mouths hanging open.

Olivia knelt and said, “Nina, you don’t have to do that. I can do it. I look just like you. They’ll never know the difference.”

“I can’t let you do that, Olivia. You’re going to take my place here, and you and Heather will run The Light. I don’t want you to die. I want you to live. This is something I have to do. I’m going to do it for you, for Heather, and for the family. It’s my responsibility.”

Heather and Olivia spent the next hour attempting to convince Nina she needed to live. The family would wither and die if she wasn’t there to guide them. Both of them repeated over-and-over that Olivia could carry out the mission. Buckets of tears were shed until reluctantly, Nina said, “Okay. Okay, Olivia. I’ll let you do it, but how will I live without you?”

Olivia replied, “You know I will die for you. You’ve always known that. I simply can’t allow you to be killed, Nina. And when I’m gone, you’ll still have Heather.”

Nina said, “Then we only have one more night together. Let’s make it memorable.”

The three of them cried long into the night. In the dark, Nina Lutrova was smiling.

Chapter Twenty

The Meeting

That night Nina decided Olivia would leave in three days. She wanted confirmation Coltrane and his men were dead, so the next morning, she dyed and cut Heather’s hair and told her to go back to Fort Hope. She was to tell the gate guards, or anyone else who asked, she was almost captured by the cannibals and came back for protection. “Tell them you’re scared to death. They won’t deny you entry, and you don’t have the tattoo, so you will get in. After Olivia kills those bastards, get as many of the details as you can and leave under the pretext we talked about. Just make sure you come back to me.”

When KCD (Kill Coltrane Day) arrived, Olivia, dressed in Nina’s black ceremonial costume with her sword on her back and a white flag perched on her thigh, sat on Hades five hundred feet from the gate. Three riders came out to meet her. She told them who she was and that she wanted to meet with their commander. Just as Nina predicted, they did a pat-down and took her sword, but did not strip search her. She waited while one of the men took the message to Coltrane. Five minutes later, she was escorted under heavy guard to the command center where she found Wade, Randal, Bill, Stuart, and six other men, waiting for her.

Wade said, “Under any other circumstances, I would say it was a pleasure to meet you. But that’s not the case. You have pretty big stones coming here, Nina. Talk.”

Following the script Nina prepared for her, Olivia said, “All right. Perhaps I came to discuss the terms of your surrender, Captain. Or maybe I grow tired of the conflict, and want to see if there’s a way to end it amicably.”

“Go on.”

“Unfortunately for you, neither one of those scenarios is the reason I’m here. Do you really think you can outsmart me? Do you really think, in the end, you can beat me? I assure you, Captain, that is not going to happen. To begin with, I am much more devious than you could ever imagine.”

“Surely you didn’t come to brag about how great you are. What would prevent me from killing you right now? If I do that, it’s game over and lights out for you and your clan.”

“Well for starters, Captain Coltrane, I am not Nina. My name is Olivia and I’m Nina’s twin. And the look on your face tells me you’re wondering what I have up my sleeve, but oops, I don’t have sleeves.” An evil grin slowly spread over her face and she said, “The real question you should be asking yourself is,
what’s up her ass
?”

~~**~~**~~**~~

I hope you enjoyed reading this first book in the Terminus series as much as I enjoyed writing it for you. Your feedback is important to me, so please take a moment to write a review and tell me what you thought.

Writing a book is no easy chore. The effort can be consuming. Frustrating. Even alienating. Good novels, at least coherent ones, would never see the published light of day without significant help and input from many people. A book is a collaborative effort. The author, the teller of the tale, gets the kudos, and if the book does well, he or she makes a few bucks. The fact of the matter is, the heart and soul of a good, well-written book is the editor. Good editors are scarce. Exceptional ones are rare. Fortunately for me, and for you, dear reader, Project Terminus is the beneficiary of an editor who took what was an immature yarn and transformed it into a good read. Thank you, Debra L Hartmann. You are that rare, exceptional editor and I am proud to call you friend. And thanks to Glen and the team at Streetlight Graphics. You are beyond talented.

Nathan Combs, US Navy veteran, also spent many years as a deputy sheriff. He has hunted and camped throughout the United States and operated a successful survival website until July of 2015. He is retired in Cape Coral, Florida where he continues to write novels.

You can find out more at: nathancombsauthor.com