Ever Hayes - Emergency Exit

When Sophie died a year later, he blamed me. But then, I did too. I should have gone to get the groceries instead of her, but the Bulls game was on. I made the wrong choice. I could accept his hatred. I could accept his refusal to give me a break. He didn’t want to come live with me at the cabin after Sophie died, and I knew he didn’t. I didn’t even ask him.

He joined the military as soon as he could to get away from me. I was fortunate his going away was what eventually brought him back to me. When he did return, we spoke at length and I leveled with him. I didn’t need or want an apology from him. Not for his years of bitterness and anger towards me, or for any of the many hurtful things he’d said to me. I deserved them. But I did hope he’d be able to accept my apology at some point. I hoped he’d realize I was sincere.

I’m not saying Danny forgave me then, but I do feel like he gave me another chance. One of the things he told me that night was that he never let Hayley in on what was going on, why I was always gone. She never knew. Sophie always defended my absence and Danny did as well. They stood up together for me, the coward. That alone spelled out the burden I’d been for him and legitimized so many of his reasons to hate me.

He’d come around even more this past year, and we at least created the foundation for a father/son bond again. We worked a lot of problems out. Having Hayley back living with me made a big difference too. I began to see a little light again.

As he stood in the rain and watched me say goodbye to Sophie a few days ago, Danny knew my pain. He knew my regret. But as much as I’ve wanted to pull him closer to me, I’ve made a conscious effort to let him be the one who comes to me. I’ve backed off, and I’ve given him space. I’m more thrilled than ever we have what we do today, and I don’t want to mess that up.

Now, as we gathered at the farm near Mount Rushmore, I watched him watch Tara. I knew that look on his face, as I’d seen it directed at me many times. He didn’t trust her. Whether that had anything to do with me, or not, I wasn’t sure. I wanted to ask, but didn’t. I didn’t have a problem with her. Clearly. But even if I had given her a free pass, Danny was reserving judgment.

Outside Newcastle, Wyoming, Captain Eddie had a decision to make. Should he turn around and go back to Deadwood, certain he’d find what he expected regarding the fires? Or should he zip straight across on Highway 16, Mount Rushmore Road, towards Custer and hope to cut them off? He knew, even if they had been in Deadwood, they still had to go south to get to Colorado. Running back there now would only cost him time, and the Americans would probably be hidden elsewhere by then. They still had to come west towards him at some point. From his maps he could see, no matter what, the Americans would eventually have to pass by one of two ways to continue on their mapped-out route, and he could easily guard both of them. He opted to forget Deadwood and head towards Custer.

The dilemma was the presence of the other two Qi Jia companies. He and his men had avoided scrutiny and questions thus far because their story made sense. But those other two companies knew Eddie’s men were supposed to be heading east now. Eddie had probably erred in making that so definitive. Now, if those other companies ran into him again in Custer, they would question his motives and report his moves. Central Command hadn’t contacted him yet, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t. He was sure they had their ways. He couldn’t afford to run into either of those other companies. Somehow, he had to stay out of their way—physically and on the radar screen—as he and his men passed through Custer. That could get tricky. A single passing drone would pick them up with ease. Like the Americans, Eddie was going to have to hide. Getting caught in the process would be impossible to explain. His actions would be viewed as treason, and in Qi Jia’s code of conduct handbook Eddie had already read what treason would get him: A date with the firing squad.

We didn’t know if Captain Eddie and his men were even following us anymore. Hiding out in the casino safe for protection didn’t afford us much of a surveillance opportunity. We knew troops had passed through to the south and to the west, out of Deadwood, based on the hundreds of tracks through the ash and dust. Our own tracks were at least camouflaged, mixed in with the others, and, tucking in behind the larger force moving south, we hoped we’d left Eddie behind for good. It was foolish to be wary of a single troop, when every soldier in the country had a target on Americans, on anyone who didn’t match their uniform dress code.

That’s what was so troubling about being pursued by Eddie and his men. It didn’t make sense that every other military company seemed to have a large zone to monitor or designated route to follow. They didn’t seem nearly as target specific as Eddie. Surely the invading army hadn’t assigned a company of men to chase down individual American families. So how and why had Captain Eddie and his men followed us all the way from Grand Forks? Could it legitimately be about that Markus guy we’d killed? Would they be doing this all for that one guy? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to pass the chase on to someone else, or at least call for help? Were they not in contact with a headquarters? Wasn’t anyone watching their movements?

At first we assumed they had to be communicating with some higher authority, checking in periodically. But then it became clear they couldn’t be. If some base somewhere knew one troop was tracking a group of Americans on a specific route, surely they’d send men from another direction to intercept them, and yet that had not happened. There couldn’t be any communication between a central command and Eddie’s troop. We had passed through several heavily occupied areas already, and not once had we seen any indication of anyone trying to cut us off or help Eddie. Interesting . Maybe this invasion wasn’t as coordinated as it seemed.

My questions had gained reasonable traction in Danny’s head as well. He listened as I shared my thoughts, without interrupting, even nodding occasionally. If Eddie wasn’t following us anymore, perhaps it was because of the other troops we’d seen. Maybe we’d gone beyond their designated search area. Maybe they didn’t have permission to go any further. On the other hand, if they were still following us, maybe no one knew they were. Maybe someone else would have a problem with that. It was something to keep in mind.

Tara’s farm turned out to be a pretty good place to hide out for the day. We parked the trucks in the sub-ground level of one of her barns, covering them with cold bales of hay, and we hung out on the barn’s main floor. Her husband wasn’t home, which didn’t seem to surprise Tara, but clearly seemed to disappoint Emily. Hayley continued to hang out with her and preoccupy her, but Emily hadn’t been able to sleep yet without nightmares, and we knew this had to be a particularly difficult situation for her to accept or understand.

Cameron and Blake took the camera and climbed the hill behind Tara’s farm to get a better glimpse of the immediate area. Tara told them they’d have a great profile view of Mount Rushmore from the top. Cameron told her he’d take a picture. No one heard them come back into the barn a short while later, until Cameron spoke, “You guys are not going to believe this!”

We expected him to say something about seeing Captain Eddie, but the look on his face was more sadness than worry, and the camera he held up clearly contained whatever he was about to show us. The first few pictures said it all. Mount Rushmore wasn’t there anymore. No Washington. No Jefferson. No Roosevelt. No Lincoln. Their chiseled faces had apparently been used for drone target practice. Fourteen years of work, eighty-seven years of existence, gone in a day.