Richard Stephenson - Resistance

Captain Brown thought for a few seconds and replied. “No, you and your people are safe. You have my word.”

“Okay, but this better not be some lame-ass attempt to overthrow us and take our territory.”

“Ben, please. You’re being paranoid. The UAE has no quarrel with you. You take good care of these people and that means we don’t have to. Relax. Anything else to report?”

“Another group of slavers showed up this morning.”

“You disposed of them?”

“Always do.”

“I’m sure you heard about the new directive.”

“I did.”

“Good. When you get time, I’m going to need you to file a report detailing your past contact with the slavers and get information on the liberated slaves you have here. I’m sure command will be very happy with you.”

Ben tried to act like he cared. “You boys need anything?”

“Well, we’re set up on supplies. The one thing we don’t have is booze.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Captain Brown shook Ben’s hand and returned to his men.

Jessica wasn’t buying it. “You’re not seriously going to just roll over and take this bullshit, are you? What about all that food just sitting in the warehouse?”

“Jessica, you should know me better than that. You and your team will leave ahead of schedule; I want you on the road before dawn.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“I want that warehouse, but more than that, I want to know why the hell the UAE has half the state on lockdown. Something’s going on, and I want to know what it is.

General Richard Dupree had debated for months whether or not to tell his fourteen-year-old son what had happened to his sister. Timothy Dupree had been operating under the assumption that Chrissy was staying with her mother. Quite frankly, Richard didn’t know his son well enough to determine if he could handle the truth. Richard had spent most of his children’s lives behind bars, and he was still getting adjusted to being a father. His son had suffered the trauma of a lifetime, thanks largely in part to him. When Richard was reunited with his son, he was overjoyed to learn that Timmy’s youthful mind had blocked out all memory of that fateful morning. The events that had unfolded in the church nursery-the pedophile who abused him and his father’s role in the pervert’s demise-had been tucked neatly away somewhere in the deepest recesses of Timmy’s ripening brain. With Richard back in his son’s life, however, those lurid mental footnotes were beginning to resurface.

Richard kept telling himself that the time would come when Timmy would be able to cope with the news about his sister. Weeks turned into months, but with the good news Hal had shared with him this morning, Richard new today was the day. Richard had just finished preparing lunch when his son returned from school.

“Dad! So glad you’re back! I missed you!” The strength of his son’s embrace brought tears of joy to Richard’s eyes.

“I missed you, too! I hope you were good for your grandparents.” Richard made a mental note to thank his children’s surrogate grandparents for their help.

“I was! Grandpa and I watched all the Star Wars movies. Uncle Howard says the Star Trek movies are much better. He says I’d like them and should watch them soon.”

“ Star Wars is much better. Star Trek has some good movies, too; I think you’d like them.”

“Cool. Wanna watch ‘em with me?”

“I’d love to, buddy, but uh… I…”

Timmy pouted. “You’re leaving again? But you just got here!”

“I’m not leaving till next week. We can knock out a few of them before then. Son, I need to have a talk with you. Sit down and eat your lunch.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, silly, should you be? We need to talk about your sister.”

“Is she finally coming home? When can I see Mom?”

“That’s just it; it’s time you knew the whole story. With everything that’s been going on since we got here, your grandfather and I didn’t think you could handle the truth. You’ve gotten a lot better in the past few months, so I think you’re ready to hear it.”

“Know what? What’s going on?”

“The truth is, I don’t know where your sister is.”

“What happened?”

“Timmy, your sister was never with your mother. I’m not sure where they are.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We’ve never talked about your mother’s boyfriend. What do you think about him?”

“Chad could be nice sometime, but mostly he was mean…to me and Mom.”

“I saw your mom right before I came here. She wasn’t doing well. Did you know your mother had problems with drugs?”

“Yeah, Dad. Kinda hard not to notice. Is she okay?”

“I honestly don’t know, son. After we settled in here, I went back to get her and she wasn’t there. No telling what happened to her.”

“What about Chrissy? When is she coming back? Somebody must be taking care of her.”

“Timmy, the family Chrissy left with…well, they weren’t very nice people.”

Richard’s son began to cry.

“Chad was a horrible person. He sold your sister to them.”

Richard watched, helpless, as the dreadful reality registered on his son’s face.

“I’ve been trying my best to find her. It’s really hard to find out anything with the situation like it is now. The Pulse Zone is getting worse and worse every day. The UAE might not be able to keep it together much longer. I think we have a real shot at finding her. Hal gave me some good news this morning. I don’t think it will be long now and…”

“I hate you! This is all your fault! Why haven’t you been looking for her?” Timmy pushed his father aside as he ran from their quarters. Richard was hurt by his response but it could have been much worse. The boy was angry, which meant he was dealing with the news in his own way.

“Hal?”

Beck Castle’s resident A.I. responded. “Yes, sir. How can I help?”

“I’m sure my son is headed to Morris’s quarters. If he doesn’t get there, please tell me.”

“Of course, sir. I could discern from your conversation that you wanted privacy. Now that your son has departed, I have some reports from the UAE for you to review.”

“Anything of relevance?”

“Yes, sir, there is. One of the reports concerns a group of liberated slaves in Florida. There is a child there by the name of Christina. No last name given, no images available.”

“Do we have any way of contacting them?”

“Not by traditional means, sir. The slaves were liberated by a community taking up residence at Walt Disney World under the leadership of a man named Benjamin Black. The community is quite impressive, based on the report, but they have no means of long-term communication.”

“This is the best lead we’ve had in over a year. If I can’t figure out a way to contact this Benjamin Black, I’m going to Florida.”

“Very good, sir. What about the invasion of California? Will it proceed on schedule?”

“I don’t know, Hal. If we can’t get that cruise ship in Seattle, it might be awhile. I’m going to discuss this with Max.”

“I understand, sir.”

***

“Why is this even a question, Richard?”

“Max, I really don’t want to go on a wild goose chase. This isn’t like the old days. I can’t just hop on a plane and fly to Orlando. The UAE restricts travel, and they know I’m the commanding general of the PSA; I’m sure they’d love a chance to torture me for information. It could take me months to get to Orlando.”

“I take it your stealth jet won’t take you that far?”

“The stealth jet has a range of about a thousand miles. It’s three and a half thousand roundtrip to Orlando.”