Kyle Pratt: Through Many Fires

Admiring the spotless car, Caden nodded.

David opened the side door. “I bought the car the day after the first attack.”

Caden thought for a moment. “You flew here with Governor Monroe and after the attacks needed a way home.”

David smiled. “Pretty close.” He pulled out two folding chairs and motioned for Caden to sit down while he shuffled through folders on the car seat. “The Governor and I flew to Tallahassee to meet with Governor Hagen. Florida is a critical swing state. But that night…the night of the DC attack, I was meeting with campaign workers in Pensacola. I immediately contacted Monroe. We had a meeting scheduled the next day in Atlanta. He decided we should all meet there, but…well…you know what happened.”

Memories of Becky on the television at that awful moment shot through his mind. Caden frowned and nodded.

With a weak grin on his face he said, “I paid for the car with a credit card.”

“I don’t envy your payments.”

David was still for a moment. His eyes stared into the distance. “Will I ever make a payment?”

Caden shrugged and felt strangely cold.

Weston sighed and pulled a folder from the floor of the car. “Here is what I wanted you to look at.” He handed it to Caden and sat beside him. “It’s clippings and photocopies from newspapers mostly. Anything I thought might lend some insight into what or why this is happening.”

Caden opened the folder. Several reports near the top of the stack he had already read. Setting those aside he came to an article from the Miami Herald.

A group claiming to represent the terrorists has stated the city of Detroit will be granted another twenty-four hour reprieve due to the large Muslim communities in the vicinity. This is the second announced reprieve for the largely evacuated Metropolitan area. Authorities continue to hunt for nuclear material and have intensified efforts to locate terrorists as the last residents leave the area.

Caden set the report beside him. Interesting, but not insightful. He picked up the next clipping.

Iran has introduced a resolution to the United Nations Security Council authorizing the Peoples Republic of China to enter North Korea, occupy all nuclear facilities and dismantle them. The North Korean government has stated that, if the resolution is adopted, they will allow the troops to cross their border and take control of the facilities.

He paused and then reread the article. I understand why the North Koreans might cooperate with the Chinese, but why would Iran care? He rubbed his chin. Why would China risk this kind of intervention to help us? He thought for almost a minute while David wrote in a notebook. Finally Caden lifted his head and declared, “North Korea, Iran and China are working together on the attacks….” He paused. “And something more, I suspect.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, but they have a plan that is advantageous to each of them.”

Two soldiers walked casually around the building, rifles slung over their shoulders. They looked at David, his badge still pinned on his shirt, smiled and nodded. They looked at Caden and stopped. “Does your friend have an ID?”

Caden fumbled in his pocket, retrieved the badge and clipped it to his shirt.

The sentries walked on.

Moonlight bathed the night before Caden returned to his camp. Maria and Adam were gone. With a growing sense of loss he looked about, wondering what to do when he saw the Miller’s youngest daughter emerge from the shadows.

“Have you seen Maria?” he asked.

Debbie Miller stepped into the light and rested a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I’ve been praying you would come.”

“Can you help me find her? Do you know where she is?”

“I’ve been talking with her, but….” She sighed. “Maria is struggling with a lot of things right now. So many of her loved ones have died and now she feels abandoned by you….” Sadness enveloped her face. “And by God.” Suddenly her eyes became stern and her voice harsh. “If you’re leaving tomorrow morning perhaps it is better if you just go away.”

This woman sounds like my mother. “I admit I was thinking only of myself. I don’t want to leave without her, but we don’t have much time.”

Debbie eyes locked on Caden. “Do you care for her?”

Caden took a deep breath. Everything was happening so fast; cities burning, Becky dying and now his struggle to get home. In the midst of all of this, Adam and Maria had come into his life. Do I care for her? She saved my life, of course I care for both her and Adam. He exhaled slowly and nodded. “Yes, I do.”

Minutes later, he stood before Maria as she sat leaning against a car with Adam asleep on her lap.

“I'm sorry,” he started, “I owe you….”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Her voice tinged with anger.

“Yes I do, but it never occurred to me that you might want to leave with me.”

Maria tipped up her head and stared at him. A cold, haughty, laugh escaped her lips. “Do you think I want to stay here—in this mud hole?” Her voice grew louder. “How cold do you think I am?” She looked at Adam as her words fell to a whisper. “My parents were murdered here.”

Words stumbled from his mouth as Caden attempted in vain to reply.

“Fly off with the governor. Adam and I will do fine.” She looked at him with fire in her eyes. “I didn’t kill that man to save your life. I did it for myself—for my father, my mother and for Adam.” She gestured wildly toward the airfield. “Leave!”

Caden started to speak, but changed his mind and walked into the darkness.

Caden lugged two duffle bags from the terminal and dropped them on the tarmac near the plane. The loadmaster and two airmen pushed crates up the ramp at the rear of the Air Force C-130.

He hardly noticed the activity. Nine days ago. A mere nine days had passed since Caden walked happily down that Washington D.C. street thinking everything was right with the world. So much had gone wrong in a week and a half. Mentally he kicked himself for making things worse. He should have been quicker getting to Becky. He should have insisted she leave Atlanta. He should have found a way around the roadblock and not fallen asleep in the convenience store parking lot.

While the emotional part of him wallowed in guilt, reason told him that he had done all he could to save Becky. Yes, he could be a thoughtless jerk, but he had tried desperately to reach her.

He looked up and down the empty tarmac. My thoughtlessness hurt Maria. He sighed deeply. So many people he cared about had been hurt or killed and the memories of the dead pressed down on him. God, just get me through this day.

A door opened at the terminal, interrupting his bleak memories. A soldier stepped onto the runway followed closely by a Secret Service agent. As he watched, another soldier and David Weston exited the terminal. Next a silver-haired man in an expensive, but creased, business suit appeared—Governor Monroe. Caden had attended several conferences with Senator Stevens that the Governor had also attended, but had never been formally introduced. Monroe looked back at the door as a lady, about the age of the governor emerged. Caden assumed she was Monroe’s wife. David talked to both of them as another soldier appeared with the second Secret Service agent. The group of passengers, now complete, moved as one toward the aircraft.

As the Governor approached Caden said, “We should be ready to leave in twenty minutes.”

“Thank you.” The Governor’s eyes scanned the length of the plane. “You’re Mr. Westmore?”