The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (46 page)

Theodore was taken off guard by the direction of his attack.
Did this mean the evidence somehow linked him to the attack? Did Red talk
already?
Theodore suppressed the thread of fear winding its way through his
gut. “I would like to see this man sentenced immediately, and put to death, as
is the penalty for high treason. Shall we review the evidence right now?”

Caleb looked in annoyance at Theodore for the interruption. “Not
yet, although if you had asked when Jack informed you of Red’s arrest, I could
have confirmed he was talking with Cali, and you could have made the attempt at
a cease-fire.” William slammed his fist down on the table, but didn’t say
anything.

Caleb continued. “Ten minutes ago, just before being called
in here, I received a message from the computer system. Apparently, Marcus
suspected there was a traitor, and had the foresight to install a new program before
leaving on this mission. This program was executed upon the destruction of the
aircraft with Marcus aboard. It reported to me, as head of security, any
communications through our satellite. There was only one.”

The blood drained from Theodore’s face.
This can’t be! How
could Marcus foresee this and take action before he left? He had to do
something.
“Before you continue, Caleb, I want to make it clear that I have
already been in contact with Cali about this incident. I let them know that we
will not stand for this…”

Caleb calmly punched a few buttons on the screen built into
the table in front of him. Each display around the table lit up with the
transcript of Theodore’s communication with Cali. When it popped up on his
screen, Theodore stopped talking and read it.
This looks bad, but maybe I
can talk his way out of it.
“That is not the transcript of my communication
with Cali! Someone is trying to make me look like a traitor! Who sent this to
you?”

“I verified that the computer system sent it directly from
the satellite down to my datapad, there was no interim party involved.” Caleb’s
face went from grim to a look of amusement. “I was about to say that we don’t
know who sent this, but it was the only communication since Marcus’ aircraft
went down, and you just admitted that you were in contact with Cali.” He looked
around the room at the other two council members. “Is there anyone in this
room, who upon reviewing the evidence before them and hearing the confession of
Theodore Bishop, does not believe this man to be guilty of high treason?” William
and Teague both held their tongues. “Then I pronounce you, Theodore Bishop,
guilty of high treason. You will be detained in lockup until after the public
election, at which time the elected leader of New Hope will determine your
sentence.”

“This is absurd! I am no traitor to New Hope! I am its
savior! This community is in grave danger, and I was just doing what was
necessary to secure its future! I refuse to recognize your authority to arrest
me, let alone to judge me!” He stood up and walked to the door. He had to act
fast to gather his loyal followers. If he could get a few minutes to work, he would
have a team of armed men detain and silence the other members of the council.

The door opened and Theodore saw a ghost…

Jack fidgeted as the aircraft landed in the flight bay. He
held back long enough for the large propellers to stop turning, then sprinted
to the cockpit door. Wendy climbed out and wrapped her arms around his neck. He
held her close and sobbed. “Don’t
ever
put me through that again.”

Wendy didn’t say anything, just held on tight.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and with Wendy in tow,
walked around to the back where they had already opened the cargo door. He wasn’t
about to let go of her, at least not for a little while. Chuck, Thomas, and
Marcus were standing there watching the rest of the crew prepare to remove the
bulldozer from the cargo bay. Marcus looked at Jack and smiled. “How long has
the council been in there?”

Jack glared at the man for a long second then smiled,
shaking his head. “They just went in a few minutes ago. I have to be honest
with you, I thought your plan had failed. That was perhaps the worst thing I
have ever witnessed in my life. How did you do it?”

The engineers and other personnel who had been working in
the flight bay had gathered, stunned at the miraculous appearance of both the
aircraft and the crew they had just witnessed go down in flames. Seeing their
friends, they flooded into the aircraft to greet them, and perhaps to check for
themselves that they were all still alive and well.

Marcus looked at Wendy then shot a sidelong glance at Chuck
and Thomas. He shrugged and watched the activity as the soldiers took a break
from unloading the bulldozer to reassure the crew that everyone was OK. “As you
can probably tell, this isn’t the transport we left here with. There was some
equipment I knew about in a storage facility. I used some old tricks to gain
access to it, and while everyone else loaded the other transport, I got this
one ready. I figured we wouldn’t have time to get back here before the Cali
arrived, so we sent the other transport without us.”

Under any other circumstances, Jack would probably have been
upset to learn that Marcus had held back information about Saber Cusp, but he
was so elated to find everyone still alive he just couldn’t lose his temper. That
didn’t mean he was going to let it go. “So… you had the equipment we needed all
along?”

Marcus shook his head. “Not exactly, it was only possible to
access this equipment from inside the command center in Saber Cusp, and I am
perhaps the only person on earth who could have accessed it. Frankly, I would
have left it there for its intended purpose if we hadn’t needed a ride home. We
easily located what we needed in the city, and if it weren’t for the Cali, that
would have sufficed.” The offhand way in which Marcus explained it left him both
curious and frustrated, but he sensed Marcus didn’t want to elaborate.

He stepped closer to the man and said quietly, “I suppose
you aren’t planning on telling me the ‘intended purpose’?”

Marcus smiled at the crowd and replied just as quietly, “Not
until you are the elected leader of New Hope, and then – I
might
.”

It was Jack’s turn to shrug, he didn’t really care about
Marcus’ secrets right now. “I know you used a computer to fly the aircraft and
give us the illusion of Wendy in the cockpit, but how did you make it look so
damn real? And how did you manage to shoot down seven of the eight attackers?!”

“When you have the most powerful computer in the world
helping you out, you can do just about anything. The computer flew the
aircraft, and she also made it look like Wendy was there, in the cockpit, when
in fact she was safe with us at the command center. You are correct, though, it
was very difficult to watch her die like that. I apologize for having to put
you through it.”

Something Marcus said stuck in Jack’s mind, and he frowned. “Wait,
you said ‘she’. Who are you talking about? The computer?”

Marcus smiled. “I will tell you all about it another day,
Jack. I thank you for trusting me through this. It was a big leap of faith for
you, and I wasn’t totally sure you would be able to do your part. I trust you
had Chin run that last program?”

Jack nodded and said, “Yes, he ran it minutes after the
aircraft went down. Did we get the evidence we needed to expose the traitor?”

Marcus shrugged, “I don’t know. I had the data sent directly
to Caleb so there would be no question it was authentic. Either Theodore is in
there trying to take my job, or Caleb is arresting him for treason.” He turned
to the other men. “Anyone want to go find out?”

Chuck nodded and Tiny stood up from the seat next to Chin. The
huge man was anxious to get his hands on Theodore. Jack let go of Wendy long
enough to pat Marcus on the shoulder. “I think I’m going to let you guys handle
this one. I’m just a guy running a simple operation here. I’ll leave the
politics to you, for now. I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me.”

Marcus nodded and headed to the rail car, Chuck and Tiny close
behind. Jack called after them, “Tiny, I expect you’ll be ready to go with your
team by tomorrow morning?”

“Hell yes, Mad Dawg!” The reply was like thunder, echoing in
the huge room.

“Good, we’re heading to the Freezer tomorrow afternoon!”

Epilogue

 Consciousness seeped into Jack’s mind, and slowly he became
aware of a soft light in the room. For a moment he was suspended part way
between dreams and reality, but he was at ease in either place, and let himself
just wake up. With one eye half open, he focused on the ceiling above him. He
had learned to identify what apartment he was in by the color of the ceiling,
it kept him from feeling disoriented. He smiled at the beige color, and reached
over to Wendy’s side of the bed, hoping to cuddle up and catch a little more
sleep. He only found air.

That was a shame; he really enjoyed those extra few minutes
when he got them. He closed his eyes anyway, comfortable enough to fall back
asleep. He was pretty sure he had been dreaming about Wendy, reliving the night
he told her he loved her. It seemed like a year ago, but in reality only a
couple weeks had passed, and only a few weeks since he had been reborn. His
eyes opened back up, today was the start of a new week, and it should prove to
be another great day.

Pushing the covers off to the side, he slid his feet onto
the floor. The chill of the cold concrete made him wince, and he probed the
floor with his toes, looking for his slippers. When he couldn’t locate them, he
resigned himself to the cold and planted his feet with a grimace.

As he stretched, he heard the unmistakable clang of pans
being moved around in the kitchen. He stood up and stretched again, then
grabbed his robe. Some mornings she would be off to work long before he made it
out of bed, and he was happy she was still home. While tying the belt around
his waist, a scent made it to his nose that he hadn’t smelled in what seemed
like ages.
Bacon?
He had to investigate.

Wendy was standing in front of the small grill, four strips
of bacon and two eggs, sizzling in the pan in front of her. He looked around,
briefly wondering if he hadn’t just fallen back asleep and was still dreaming. “Where
the hell did you get that?”

She turned and smiled, “The group of farmers we picked up in
Idaho last week had six pigs.”

Jack frowned. “You didn’t...”

“No, silly. They were pretty happy when they found out
Farnak’s clan was only a couple miles away, heading straight toward them. After
we evacuated them, they gave me a whole pig and a bag of potatoes as a thank
you for saving them. I took the pig to Bart’s place in return for giving us the
heads up on the farmers’ location and the activities of his brother. He
butchered it and gave me two pounds of bacon. Then, when we were in Deering the
other day, I spent some time at their market and traded a little bacon and some
potatoes for some corn and fresh eggs. I figured today was special enough to
warrant a healthy breakfast.”

“Well it smells wonderful.” Jack put his arms around her and
kissed her neck as she cooked. “Have I told you that I really love you?”

She smiled and leaned into his embrace. “What’s not to
love?”

He chuckled and kissed her neck again, then said, “I’m going
to shower and get dressed.”

“Okay, this’ll be ready in a few more minutes, so don’t take
too long.” He made his way to the bathroom.

As the hot water washed over his body, he reflected on the
past two weeks. The Montana operation had gone off without a hitch. They had
successfully harvested nearly fifteen hundred potential candidates from the
Freezer, and gotten them safely into the new storage rooms. Cali had a few
aircraft observing at the fringes of the sensor network, but after losing seven
aircraft the day before, they were not willing to risk any more.

Red had talked when faced with the death penalty, and let
Marcus know every detail of Theodore’s plan. Red and his five men were all in
jail with Theodore, awaiting an official trial, which is scheduled for after
the election.

William surprised everyone by entering the race. He had a
small loyal following, and started building steam right away. However, as soon
as Marcus announced publicly that Jack was his choice for the new leader, it
became obvious William would have little chance. With Theodore out of the
running, Jack was relieved someone else was putting himself up as a candidate. He
didn’t want to win uncontested, and he suspected that William was actually in
the race for that exact reason.

Once New Hope’s wealth was secure, Marcus used the remaining
two weeks of his reign to open relations with the other communities – with the
exception of Cali, of course. It would be a while before Cali and New Hope were
on speaking terms, let alone open to trading. Jack had met personally with two community
leaders so far, and after the election, negotiations to cement their
relationships would be a primary task. There was much work to do, and many
challenges ahead, but right now, mere hours before the election, Jack felt very
much at ease.

He was just about to get out of the shower when he heard an
awful sound. He pulled the curtain back and there was Wendy, vomiting in the
toilet. “My God! Are you okay?” He shut the shower off and wrapped a towel
around his waist.

She stood up and wiped her mouth. “I don’t know what that
was all about. I ate a piece of bacon and a few seconds later I was rushing in
here to puke!”

They both stood there for a moment, and a smile made its way
to Jack’s face, as the exact opposite made its way to Wendy’s. “Honey, that’s
morning sickness. You know what that means?”

She had gone pale. “Yes, Goddammit! I know what it means.” Jack
knew she was happy deep down, but also that she wasn’t looking forward to her
life changing so dramatically.

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a gentle hug,
conscious now of the child growing inside her. “Wendy, you’re going to make a
great mom, trust me.”

She returned the hug and now tears were flowing. She looked
up at him and said, “I know, I’m just disappointed that I can’t have any of the
bacon. It was
so good
!”

* * *

Later that evening, Jack sat in their new apartment. It was
on the sixth level with the other former council member’s private quarters. Wendy
was in the kitchen, organizing and cleaning. Nobody had ever lived in this
apartment before, and it was dusty. He had tried to get her to just sit with
him, but she was restless, and he suspected her nesting instincts were kicking
in.

The election had gone exactly as expected; in fact the
celebration was still going on. They had a lot to celebrate, but Jack was exhausted,
so he and Wendy had snuck out of the party and went to check out their new
home.

The apartment was about as luxurious as you could get in an
underground bunker. This one was designed for a family of six, with four total
bedrooms. He looked forward to filling it.

Sipping a glass of wine, a gift from Marcus that had been
waiting for them when they arrived at the new apartment, he picked up his diary
and opened it to the last page. In the past two weeks he had taken the time to
read whenever he got a chance, mostly when he was traveling.

The diary had detailed out his final year before dying. He
was a little disappointed that he didn’t remember meeting some of the people he
talked about in the diary, but all in all, he was satisfied to know how he had
lived his last year. He read the last page:

A year ago I sat in my garage, reflecting on how
my life seemed to always balance itself out. I recalled each difficult time in
my life, and how it always led to something wonderful, hence the balance. There
was one exception: the passing of my wife and daughter.

Over the past year, I have often wondered if
something really wonderful would happen to balance both the loss of my family
and the cancer that is going to claim my life. I was never a very religious
man, but I do believe in heaven, and I truly hope that soon I will be able to
rejoin my family there. I suppose if that is the case, I will no longer have to
wonder. Before my diagnosis, I had nothing. This disease has brought me closer
to Mabel, closer to my good friend Phil, and has added many wonderful people to
my life who I never would have met otherwise. Soon I will get to be with my
wife and child again, and I can’t think of a better gift. I finally have my
balance.

This is the last page, and my story is at an end. The
doctors tell me they have exhausted all their efforts, and the cancer is
growing again. I’ve accepted that I only have a few more weeks on earth. However,
I can’t help but feel like I left something unfinished, and I wish I had a
little more time to discover what it is. I don’t know if I fulfilled my purpose
on earth, but I believe I tried my best. Whatever my future holds, I only hope
I can continue to make the most of it.

Jack set the book down. He had decided shortly after being
reborn that while he shared the memories of his former self, he was not the
same person. That person had died, and hopefully his soul was with his family
now. He had a new family, a new life, and he felt he was now fulfilling the
destiny that had eluded him in his former life. Whatever the case might be, he
knew that the tragedies he had suffered had led him here, and that was a pretty
wonderful thing. He set down the wine, got up, and walked to the kitchen to be
with Wendy.