The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (49 page)

"We have
to be going now, but you can stay and finish your lunch if you would
like."

"You're
really going to let me go?"

Luke sighed.  "The
choice is between killing you and letting you go.  I don't think we're capable
of keeping you a prisoner given your training and skills, and I'm very tired of
killing people, anyway.  The rest of my family might choose differently, and we
have dear friends who would make your death last for weeks, but I just want
your agreement to leave the country, never come back, and not to engage in any
kind of war against the United States or my family."

Kemp said,
"I want nothing more.  Agreed."

Jamie asked,
"We need to know if there are there more missiles out there?"

"I believe
I got all of them, but almost everything I know is in the hard drive." He thought
for a moment and then pulled a flash drive out of his pocket.  Handing it over
to Luke, he said, "This is for you two alone.  It's not on the hard drive,
but I trust you to do the right thing with the information and resources.  Now
you have everything."

He paused for a
second before saying, "May I say one more thing?"

"Are you
sure that you want to do that?  It would seem foolish to jeopardize our
arrangement."

Kemp said,
"I want you to know that I believe in your family.  I will grieve to my
dying day that I was not on your side from the beginning."

Luke stood,
leaving a tip on the table and taking the bill.  "We have to get back to
work rebuilding the country.  Safe travels to you, my friend.  Perhaps I shall
look you up some day and we'll enjoy a long talk over a good steak."

Kemp felt
himself tearing up for the second time in his adult life.   "I would be
grateful for such an opportunity."

Luke and Jamie
paid the bill at the counter and left the restaurant. 

Kemp just sat
there, stunned.  Bill came over from across the room and said, "They have
that effect on a lot of people.  Aren't they amazing?" 

Kemp said,
"I had no idea how much."

"You've
got that right, brother."

Kemp separated
from the convoy and pulled into another truck stop to sleep in the van.  When
he woke, he took his bag into the truck stop bathroom to catch a quick shave
and shower.  He felt much better afterward, though he was still stunned by the
encounter with the first family.  He bought a Kunoichi hat at the register and hit
the road again soon after.

He continued
south with the goal of getting to the Gulf Coast by his deadline.  For the
first time, he was completely sure he would make it.

By the next
morning, Kemp was leaving Corpus Christi behind in his new forty-five foot motor
yacht with a hired crew.  "Next stop, Jamaica," he said to himself as
he gratefully left the United States for the last time.

MIAMI, FLORIDA

Jim and Robs'
meeting with the governors of the new states went extraordinarily well, with
only a slight delay to target two Colombian snipers with a couple of
tranquilizer guns.  Rob took great pleasure in showing the footage of their
capture at the conference as it was humorous to watch the hunters become prey,
and rather pathetic prey at that.

Will would make
sure that the men would talk, and Jim looked forward to hearing what they might
have to say. 

NORTHERN UTAH

MARCH 15
^th

Larson woke in
a hospital air bed.  He looked up to see two men and a woman looking down at
him. 

The woman said,
"Senator Larson.  Someone hit your house with a missile and you were badly
injured.  Can you hear me okay?"

Larson glared
and nodded.

She said,
"Good.  You can talk.  Your throat just hurts because the doctor took out
the breathing tube this morning.  Here, let me give you some cold water."

Larson tried to
reach up with his right hand but his arm wasn't working.  Ann put the straw to
his lips.  He drank and the cold water felt good on his throat.  He remembered
the car and knew damn well he hadn't been hit in the missile attack.  He
swallowed then said, "I'm a senator.  You can't hold me here."

Ann said,
"Why would we do that?  The door is right over there.  You're free to
leave any time you want."

"I want. 
Now."  He tried to sit up and throw is legs over the side of the bed, but
they weren't working.  "What's going on, damn it?"

Ann looked him with
cold eyes and said, "Do you think you can kill indiscriminately and not
pay a price?"

Larson was starting
to panic.  His limbs weren't responding to his attempts to move.

Julio raised
the head of his bed so he was sitting up at a better angle, and the woman said,
"And here is your down payment on that price."

Will pulled
back the sheets and Larson looked down to see all of his limbs missing, a
feeding tube emerging from his abdomen, and a catheter where his penis used to
be.  He screamed.

They listened
for a while then, Will said with a smile, "Sounds like he's in pain. 
Let's get him some pain medication." 

Ann said,
"Good idea," then drew up medication from a clear vial. As she
injected it into his IV line, she told him, "We're out of regular pain
medications, so we're kind of stuck making do.  The good news is that this you
will soon feel a lot better.   The bad news is that we're using heroin."

He kept screaming
until he drifted off to sleep from the drug.  As they walked into the next room,
they saw Rob standing in front of a wall monitor.  Rob said, "Great work. 
He's all yours.  Get the information about the conspiracy out of him however
you want, but I want him alive for now."

Ann smiled and
said, "I think we can work within those parameters."

"And
remember, the longer this job lasts, the more satisfied I'll be with the
information," said Rob. 

Will said,
"I'm thinking this could take a while, boss.  We may all have to retire
after this, it could take so long."

Rob nodded and
said, "Well, quality takes time." He walked out, almost feeling sorry
for Larson.  Almost.   

SOUTHERN UTAH

MARCH 20
^th

Luke and Jamie
pulled up to the last of the caches listed on the flash drives.  They found the
doorway described and the mechanism to open it.  Soon they were loading palates
of cash onto the rollers on the floor of the trailer.  The money filled most of
the trailer. 

After securing
the load, they parked the forklift in the vault and closed the camouflaged
entrance behind it.

"What do
you think was the take this time," asked Jamie.

Luke answered,
"That's easily over a billion dollars."

Jamie shook her
head.  "You realize we now have billions of dollars in cash.  What the
hell do we do with that much?" 

"Whatever
the hell we want."

"Seriously,
though."

"I want to
push technology ahead as fast as possible.  Let's fix some problems.  Let's
cure as much of the environment as we can.  Plant trees.  Stock the oceans. 
It's time to quit being a cancer on the planet.  We can accomplish so much.  Let's
work to turn Central America into a paradise."

"Someone
will ask where the money came from."

"Uncle Jim
passed a bill eliminating income tax for the next five years.  Until six years
down the road, no one has to declare anything.  He did it to keep from
complicating the current mess, but it means that we don't ever have to explain
where we got the money."

"That's
crazy."

Luke laughed. 
"Think about it.  Anyone who knows how to open a bank vault has been
emptying their local banks out.  In a few years, they'll have blown most of
that money and the economy goes back to normal.  Meanwhile, they're spending
the money and putting it back into circulation.  If you can't control
something, you might as well let it work to your advantage."

"That's
crazy."

"But it
works.  We put a good chunk of the money into our bank accounts and we start
investing in good ideas.  We push industries with something to offer, and we
promote our agenda."

"What's
our agenda?"

"Prevent
humans from becoming extinct.  And we should get married one of these days,
too."

Jamie smiled. 
"I was wondering when you would get around to that.  Let's do it right, though."

"No rush,
but you're not getting away."

"And
neither are you.  Plus you still have to meet my parents."

Luke said,
"I hear Alaska is nice this time of year."

They kissed and
Jamie said, "Perfect!  Now let's get this loot back to the ranch."

Luke chuckled. 
"Ready to change the world?"

"You've
got that right!"

MAY 2
^nd

Officer Chapman
fawned over his new boat.  He had confiscated it from a group of tourists with
drugs before he sent them packing on the next ferry home.  It had taken a few
weeks to work it through the system, but he managed to grease the wheels and
get it into his name.  He was on board, preparing to take it out when he felt a
brutal pain in his left buttock.  He looked over his shoulder and saw a large
dart sticking out of his buttock.  He reached for his pistol but passed out
before he could draw it.

Jack and
Hendrick jumped on board and quickly cuffed Chapman's wrists and ankles.   Jack
untied the boat, and left the dock at a comfortable speed.  They stopped briefly
to pick up their own boat in the next harbor and Hendrick followed in it as
Jack throttled up Chapman's boat and headed out to sea.   

They stopped
five miles west of Catalina Island, tied the boats together with slip knots, and
set up fishing poles for appearances.  Jack kept watch while Hendrick put on a
mask and started the video recording. 

Hendrick
started by breaking some of Chapman's fingers but got bored with it after a
while, though the screaming was nice.  He next kicked the officer in the lower
ribs, easily breaking several of them.  A couple of kicks to the face shattered
the officers nose and cheek bones.

Feeling that
he'd done enough for a good start, Hendrick stopped the video recording and
placed the camera where it would catch Chapman's face for the second act. 

Chapman yelled,
"Why are you doing this?"

Jack said,
"Haven't you ever taken a job just for the fun of it?"

Hendrick
started the generator and placed the jack hammer appropriately.  Chapman was
begging for mercy.  Hendrick said to him, "This is some sick shit, but two
million dollars is two million dollars.  You must have done something pretty
awful to the ladies to have earned this treatment."

"What ladies?!"

Hendrick said,
"If you don't know, it wouldn't be right for me to tell you.  Plus, I
signed a nondisclosure agreement."

Chapman screamed,
"Fuck you!  Fuck you!  Fuck you!" 

Jack asked
Hendrick, "So what are you going to do with your million?"

"I'm
thinking about collecting stamps," answered Hendrick.

Chapman
screamed, "You're doing this so you can buy stamps!  I'll buy you as many goddamn
stamps as you want!" 

"Yes, you
will," said Hendrick as Jack resumed the video recording.

The soon to be
dead police officer looked back over his shoulder and screamed as he figured
out what was ahead for him. 

Hendrick picked
up the jackhammer and placed the tip of the bit at the back of the Chapman's
pants.  Hendrick said, "Here goes nothing," as he pulled the trigger
and pushed the jackhammer forward.  Chapman screamed as it tore through the
pants seam and entered the targeted orifice.  Hendrick paused every couple of
minutes to readjust the angle and start again.  He kept it going until first the
screams and then Chapman's breathing stopped. 

Hendrick turned
off the camera and said, "My God, that asshole stinks."

"You're
telling me!  Let's get rid of him."

They quickly wrapped
the corpse in a net with the jack hammer and threw the dead officer overboard. 
 Finally, they set explosives on a timer in the dead officer's boat and
throttled up engine, taking the craft farther out into the ocean.  Jack pulled
the slip knots free and they watched as the boat gradually disappeared over the
horizon. 

Hendrick steered
the boat back toward Long Beach while Jack took the data storage card out of
the camera and put it in to the laptop he had brought with them.  He encrypted
the data and uploaded it via satellite to the drop box he'd prepared.  The
women would be able to watch the video tonight and then delete it. 

When the video
was done uploading he deleted the card and threw the computer and card
overboard.  He wasn't comfortable with video recording a killing, but it was
worth the risk for the extra million.

Jack asked,
"Are you really going to collect stamps?"

"No.  I
was just fucking with him.  But you have to admit that was funny."

"Yeah.  It
was pretty good."  Jack handed Hendrick a cold beer, and they toasted to
the easiest two million ever made. 

BRAZIL ISLAND

LATER THAT EVENING

All five of the
women gathered to watch the video of the hit on Chapman.  Maria said,
"It's really him!"

When the video
finished, they watched it two more times before deleting it.

"Now
that's what I call closure," said Pam. 

"Best damn
two million I ever spent," said Sonya.  The other four agreed
wholeheartedly. 

Sandy said,
"Kemp doesn't need to know about this.  Agreed?"