“Sorry,” he apologized to her. “What?”
“You guys need to see this,” Ava said quietly.
“You should get dressed,” Danny said.
Thank you!
Ava put pants and underwear on and we followed her down the hall to the main room. She drew stares from a dozen men along the way. They were probably rather disappointed in her new look.
She led us over to the main computer. “Damien sent this over from Hawaii.” She pointed at a few lines on the screen. “When he lined all the missile codes up in sequence, there was a letter or symbol tagged to the end of each launch code—a hundred missiles, a hundred characters. He’s pretty sure it’s a message from Keena.”
I read the two sentences over Danny’s shoulder.
**If everything went as planned we are still here.**
**If not, I hope we did enough. This land is our land. Take it back.**
EPILOGUE
Leaving California.
I don’t know what news Flynn took worse—that her dad was still alive or that he was being heralded as one of the two heroes in all of this. When Blake explained what had happened in the Cheyenne Mountain Bunker—from what he’d gathered from Danny and Damien—I don’t think there were words to describe our astonishment… or Flynn’s anger.
It turned out Keena somehow convinced Captain Baker to help her. He, of course, claimed the scheme was all his idea—his plan B when the original plan disintegrated. He saved Hawaii by weaseling his way into Commander Boli’s good graces, got him into the bunker to gain his trust, only so he could find out what Qi Jia’s plan was—and blow them all away. I’m not sure any of us believed that—I absolutely didn’t—particularly since it had cost thirty people in that bunker their lives. Captain Baker was no hero. Flynn and I—at least—were convinced he’d have said and done anything to save his own life. It was only when Keena told him how he could survive and be free of Qi Jia’s control that he committed to her plan—the one they carried out.
Captain Baker tortured Keena—severely. If any credit is due him at all, he was at least convincing in that role. He somehow got Boli to believe that she was holding on to a critical piece of information that would keep the destruction of Hawaii from being successful. They needed her alive to pull it off. He saved her life by almost killing her. Boli bought it—at least enough to leave the two of them alone at a computer for lengthy periods of time. It was during those times that Keena manipulated the launch codes and put the entire plan in place.
She convinced Baker to drag out the torture for three days—to do enough to make it believable and delay Boli from launching until the third night—hoping that would give Danny enough time to get to safety and get a message to Hawaii in case their plan didn’t work.
But it did work. When Keena entered in the final code to launch all the missiles, Baker convinced Boli’s men to go outside and watch the missiles pass overhead. He and his two SEALs got the door down on the bunker, took Commander Boli prisoner, and killed the few Qi Jia soldiers who had stayed inside. Six survivors remained inside the nuke-proof bunker: Keena, Boli, Baker, and his two SEALs… and Isabelle. Isabelle was still alive.
There was no way Captain Baker came up with that plan. But Keena was too modest—and Baker too arrogant—for any other version to surface.
She was still in Cheyenne Mountain with Commander Boli, Captain Baker, and his two surviving SEALs. There was far too much radiation in the Denver/Colorado Springs area to come out yet. But we hoped to retrieve them in a few more months. We couldn’t wait to see Keena. As for Captain Baker—the “hero” who had his own son killed and sacrificed his team to save himself—well…seeing him again ever would be far too soon.
We stayed in the Disney bunker a month longer than we’d originally planned. I can’t say they were a great four months. In fact, for me they were pretty much the opposite. Flynn was terribly sick the entire month of October—some form of pneumonia the bunker doctor guessed. Mackenzie and I stayed with her and took care of her but it was scary to watch her wither up and almost die. Somehow she pulled through, but her illness and the cold darkness of the bunker ate at me.
Mack and I quickly became good friends—turned out she was only a month and a half younger than me. She just seemed really young—compared to how old I felt. She was so cheery, so fun…so innocent and pretty.
I didn’t like what I saw in my mirror—pale, sickly, and tired. I needed a tan, a couple straight months of sleep, and my bow and arrows for stress relief. I needed to get away and be alone, like I couldn’t be in here. I guess you could say I understood how Danny felt about wanting to escape from everything related to this mess. He didn’t feel like celebrating. I didn’t either.
Of course I was relieved that Reagan, Sam, and the girls had survived…but I carried the burden of Danny’s words from that first night in Anaheim—and of the things I assumed he meant by what he didn’t say.
On the one hand, I couldn’t wait to see how much my baby brother had grown. Ollie might even be walking. And Tara was pregnant—I was going to have another brother or sister in a few months, and I was certainly excited about that. I missed the girls—Emily and Abbey—and Kate, of course, who had pretty much always been my big sister.
On the other hand I missed Dad more than anyone—probably because I knew he was gone forever. I thought about him the most and ached from the stunning reality that I was never going to see him or Grandpa again. Jenna and Kaci were also dead. Governor Barnes had killed himself the day he found out his wife was also dead. In that sense I didn’t want to go back—in that way I could understand why Danny didn’t either. It wasn’t ever going to be the same. That’s where the guilt ate at me. No matter how much Blake, Flynn, Mackenzie and Eddie tried to convince me otherwise—that this was all on Lazzo—I felt responsible for those lives…those deaths.
I also missed Mom. I hadn’t felt that longing for her in years. I really missed her now. It was weird to think that at some point I’d moved on from her death—that it was even possible I could do the same with these…but I guessed that’s how life was. I guessed maybe I’d get over this too.
The person I’d always loved the most in life was Danny. I had him right here with me in the bunker but we weren’t exactly on speaking terms. In fact, he’d kind of shut himself off from everyone else the past few months. He’d come out of their room—his and Ava’s—every now and then to talk strategy with a few of the Anaheim bunker leaders…and then head back in to her. Man, I hate her.
It was hard listening to people talk about Danny like he was just another soldier—and even harder to listen to people criticize him. Even if they were right. Danny—perhaps second to only Keena—was responsible for the opportunity we all were seemingly going to have to rebuild America. Everyone here owed him something. Gratitude—if nothing else. But Danny wasn’t doing himself any favors, locking himself in his room with that skank. I was embarrassed that Eddie saw him this way. Blake didn’t like it, but he understood. Eddie didn’t like it or understand. Eddie had lost his wife, daughters, brother, brother’s family, friends, home—everything. Eddie didn’t have a choice in the matter. Danny was choosing to ignore me, his closest friend—Blake—and his wife—who had just miscarried and lost her lifelong best friend. Considering all of that, no matter how much Blake and I stood up for him Eddie wasn’t buying it.