“Why wouldn’t I? That’s part of the problem with this world, not enough helping,” he answered calmly.
“Sebastian, he seems like a good man,” Annaliese pleaded.
Sebastian’s suspicion was healthy in this world but his logical mind told him that not everyone would be bad. He lowered his pistol and stepped around the truck to get a full view of what Jed had done.
The truck was jacked up and the spare had been removed and was ready to put on.
“Where’s Brandon?” Sebastian asked.
“In the truck,” Annaliese answered.
“In the truck, while it’s jacked up?”
Just after Sebastian spoke, Brandon yelled something unintelligible from inside the truck.
The door burst open and a boy about Brandon’s age jumped out. “I did not!”
“Yes, you did. I showed it to you now it’s not there. Where is it?” Brandon screamed at the boy as he jumped out behind him.
“I didn’t take it!” the boy yelled again.
“Give me back the ring!” Brandon screamed.
“Hey, hey. What’s going on?” Sebastian asked.
“He took my mother’s ring. I showed him some of my stuff; her ring was one of those things. I went to look at it again and it’s now gone. He took it!”
The boy, Jed’s grandson, Flynn, rushed away from Brandon and toward his grandfather’s truck.
Brandon ran after him and jumped on his back.
Both boys fell to the ground and began to wrestle. Flynn had gotten the better of Brandon and was punching him.
Sebastian raced over and pulled Flynn off. He was swinging wildly as he held him high in the air.
Brandon scurried off the ground and stood up. He wiped blood from his face and ran back to the truck.
Sebastian put Flynn down just as Jed came over.
“You all right, son?” Jed asked Flynn.
Sebastian asked him then, “Did you take it?”
“No!” Flynn yelled.
“Brandon, oh my God!” Annaliese screamed.
Brandon had walked back from the truck holding the small revolver. He pointed it at Flynn. In an instant, the back of Flynn’s head exploded and the boy dropped to the ground, dead.
Sebastian reeled back from what happened and turned to face Brandon. Brandon then turned the gun on Jed and shot him in the chest.
Jed bent over and fell to the ground as his last breath exited his body.
“Brandon! What are you doing?” Sebastian asked. He now had pulled his pistol and aimed it the wide-eyed teen.
Annaliese had made her way around from the far side of the truck and was fast approaching Brandon when he trained the gun on her. She stopped when she saw him aiming at her. “Brandon, put the gun down!”
“I fucking hate you! I told you these people were bad. We can’t trust anyone. I will never trust anyone!” Brandon screamed.
Sebastian watched with fear as Brandon’s shaking hands held the revolver he had given him a few days ago.
“Put it down, Brandon. We can talk about this!” Annaliese pleaded.
“All you do is pick on me and say horrible things. I heard you call me ‘devil’ this morning. I hate you!” he screamed.
Sebastian saw the hammer slowly start to go back on the pistol. He too began to squeeze the trigger on his pistol when another gunshot went off.
The side of Brandon’s head opened up as the bullet from Luke’s little Colt Detective exited. Brandon dropped the gun and collapsed to the ground, dead.
Sebastian, startled by Luke’s shot, turned toward him. He then trained the pistol on Luke, not sure if he too was going to go renegade.
Luke dropped the pistol and said, “He was going to kill Annaliese. I couldn’t have him do that. I couldn’t!”
Annaliese ran up to Luke and hugged him. Sebastian ran his hands through his hair. He couldn’t believe the way that this day was going.
MARCH 18, 2015
• • •
“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
“Wake up,” Pablo said softly to Isabelle as he stroked her arm.
She opened her eyes to see Pablo’s face hovering over hers. “What time is it?”
“It’s early. I wanted to say I was sorry for yelling at you last night. I have to leave today for a while. I’ll be back for dinner tonight. If you need anything, just call—”
“I know, call General Pasqual.”
“No. Don’t call him, contact Major Alejandro.”
“What’s wrong? You seem tense,” she asked, sitting up in the bed.
“I’m fine. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Is there something wrong with General Pasqual?”
Pablo really disliked her constant prying into his official affairs but this time he wanted to tell her, only because her intuition seemed to be correct about him.
“You might have been right about him. I think I found some information that might prove he’s doing something behind my back.”
His comment piqued her interest; she sat up and leaned in.
“He’s been meeting with what looks like some insurgents.”
“What? Why?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“I hope to find out soon.”
“Oh, I wish I could be there to see the look on his face. Where are you doing it?”
“In the basement of the capitol building,” Pablo answered. “It’s secure and private.”
“You rarely venture out, so please be careful out there,” she said, then planted a kiss on his lips. “When are you leaving?”
“Now. Have a good day. I’ll see you later.”
The old Victorian mansion hadn’t been lived in for years but Pablo chose to take up residence there because of its rich legacy. As a student of history, he couldn’t resist living in such a storied place. As he left for the state capitol building, he admired his new living space. It was exactly the type of residence a world leader would have.
The few times Pablo had left the premises, he had never walked, but today would be different. His army had created a safe zone around the capitol that covered twenty city blocks wide and fourteen blocks long. All access points were heavily guarded and any residential homes and apartments were vacated, with the residents relocated.
Pablo exited the back door of the mansion and walked up to several men standing next to his convoy.
“You three come with me, we’re walking over,” Pablo ordered.
The men obeyed and took up positions around him.
“Have the convoy head there now, so it can be available if I want to use it when I’m done. I have a feeling I’ll be very tired after today.”
An officer came out of the mansion and called out, “Emperor!”
Pablo stopped. “Yes, captain.”
“General Pasqual called to inform you he’s just arrived at the capitol. I told him you were walking over but he insisted you drive.”
“I don’t take orders from him,” Pablo stated, and walked out the gate with his men.
The convoy pulled out just behind them and accelerated past them; it turned left on Fifteenth Street and sped off toward the capitol.
The empty streets seemed surreal. The only sounds that could be heard were from his convoy a few blocks away. So when the whoosh of a rocket hit his ears Pablo was more than surprised. Before he could even see where it came from, another whoosh and explosion followed. Soon rockets slammed into his convoy and exploded.
Pablo crouched down when the first explosion rocked the city, and ran for cover when the second one exploded. His men followed as he ran for cover behind the wall of a building.