Everything I Die For Read online

  “It’ll manifest soon.” She pointed to Adam’s police scanner, which he’d yet to turn on. “You might want to power that thing up and take a listen. Something’s going on downtown, and I’ve been seeing chatter about a security breach at that nuclear power plant at Lake Anna.”

  Curious to know how Violet had acquired her information, Adam prepared a response, but the screams and cries emanating from Claire and Lander’s room put a stop to his attempts. “Vi, could you do me a favor? Go in there and talk them into making peace with one another? Or at least coax them into quieting down somehow?”

  Violet sneered. “To hell with that. They’re my sisters and I love them sometimes, but they don’t listen to me.”

  “Vi—”

  “No, forget it. Violet has Violet stuff to do,” she said. “I’m not their parent and I’m not babysitting them today. Why don’t you cut the cord for a little while and do some dad shit?”

  “Dad shit? Really, Vi?”

  “Yeah. Really, Dad. Need I remind you Mom’s been gone for over a day? And when she gets home, you know as well as I do she won’t be in shape for anything other than sleep.”

  “No need to remind me of that,” Adam said, sighing. “The lack of her presence has been more than noticeable.”

  “Good. Glad we agree on that. Catch you later, then. I’m out.”

  “Wait—where are you going?”

  Violet halted at the door. “To consult my sources about all this terrorist crap before the next Fukushima. If you need me, I’ll be in my room…snorting nose candy and cutting my wrists.”

  Adam’s head fell to his palms. “Terrific. I guess I’ll go intervene before your sisters kill each other.” He rose from his chair but didn’t get two steps from his desk before his cell phone rang.

  He picked it up, both expecting and hoping to see Elisabeth’s number on the screen. Instead, it was that of his friend and preferred gun merchant, Chuck Keeler.

  Adam tapped the green answer icon. “Chuck? Listen—I’d love to chat right now, but I’m a little busy. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Forget pleasure, Adam. Right now, I need your help. I need you and anyone else you trust to grab your guns and come down to city hall. And I need you to do that now, no questions asked.”

  Adam could hear chanting and howling in the background over the speaker. “Whoa, wait a second. What are you talking about? What’s going on at city hall?”

  “Dammit, Adam, I said no questions!” Chuck shouted. “Can’t you just do anything without asking why, how, where or when? You heard what I said. And you know me…if you take me at my word, you should understand the seriousness of the words I chose.”

  “I can tell something serious is going on by the tone of your voice and by what I’m hearing in the background, Chuck,” Adam said, moving to close his office door. “Whatever it is, I genuinely want to help, but I can’t exactly leave right now. Elisabeth isn’t home and I’ve got a house full of kids.”

  “Your house full of kids might become endangered before long if this mob gets what they want and winds up heading your way.”

  “Chuck, wait a second. What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about that revolution you’ve been wanting for so long,” Chuck said. “It’s starting. The aggressors are here, in our town. We’ve got to put them down for the count, and it’s going to take a lot of guns to make that happen. Now listen, I’m going to give you the security code to my shop. I have some big canvas goodie bags in my office. You can grab them on your way down.”

  “Chuck, I never said I was coming or going anywhere—why can’t you have Sheila do this?”

  “Because Sheila’s out of to—”

  Several loud pops sounded in the background, followed by a round of screaming and yelling.

  “Chuck? Are you all right? What was that? It sounded like gunfire.”

  “It is gunfire! The fuckers are shooting at us! They’ve overwhelmed the PD, Adam…the mayor is upstairs on the phone trying to get the governor to send the National Guard. The town wasn’t ready for this. Right now, there’s armed protestors toppling gravestones in the cemetery, and they’re looting stores and buildings downtown. All the patriots who showed up for this are locked down in the city hall building—we can’t get out, Adam. We need assistance down here, please understand.”

  Adam understood what Chuck was explaining to him, but didn’t understand how he’d moved to such a prominent position on Chuck’s emergency hit list.

  Chuck owned a gun store, and Adam was an intermittent customer at best. They were friends, but they didn’t attend each other’s cookouts or call one another daily for the purposes of shooting the shit. Surely, Chuck had other advocates, other friends in low places he could call upon or rely on, and hadn’t chosen to waste his call on Adam.

  Adam had all but predicted that this rally turned protest turned counterprotest would break bad or backfire. This was his hometown, but it wasn’t his backyard, and he’d promised himself long ago to steer clear of anything not directly affecting his family. He didn’t feel obligated to offer assistance, especially since it meant leaving his family alone at home at a time when the country had fallen under siege by God knows what. It simply wasn’t worth the risk.

  “Chuck, I’ll see what I can do to help you out. I’ll…try to make some calls. I’ll get back to you. Keep your head down and…shoot back, I guess.”

  “Adam, did you hear anything I said? Are you kidding me? This is serious! We are completely cut off. There’s a couple of hundred people down here in black masks…they’re armed to the teeth and they’re throwing Molotov cocktails at us! This is the worst-case scenario, the one we’ve been talking about and preparing for! Now get down here and bring everything you have. I-I gotta go. I’ll text you the code.”

  And then the line went dead.

  Feeling somewhat muddled, Adam dropped his phone on the desk and jetted to Claire and Lander’s door. He twisted the handle, but it didn’t budge. “Girls? It’s your father. Unlock this door.”

  After some rustling and a few shrieks, the door opened and Adam found himself staring into the grayish-blue eyes of Lander, his youngest. He stepped inside to find Claire seated on her bed, holding a single toy in her hand. Lander turned and plopped onto the floor in the middle of a pile of similar-looking toys. She crossed her legs instantly, folded her arms and pouted.

  “Okay, exactly what is going on in here?” Adam asked. “You two have been screaming at each other all morning. So what is it?”

  Lander pointed at Claire, her head hung low. “It’s Claire, Daddy. She won’t give me back my LPS.”

  “I’m not giving it back because I don’t have to give it back,” Claire said.

  “Yes, you do.”

  “No, I don’t. First of all, it’s not even yours.”

  “Yes, it is!” Lander said, her pigtails in motion. “Mommy and Daddy got it for me for Christmas last year.”

  “Right. And Mommy and Daddy got me the same LPS—they always do. They always get us the same toy, but you lost yours. This one is mine. It belongs to me.”

  “That’s a lie,” Lander said, pointing at Claire while regarding her father. “Daddy, she’s lying! Claire is a liar! You know she is…she lies all the time. That’s my LPS! It’s mine!”

  Claire’s brows drew inward. “I’m not a liar, Lander—you are! And you’re also a brat and this is my LPS. You lost your LPS and you want to play with mine, and I don’t want you to because you’ll lose mine too or break it. I don’t lose my toys and I don’t break them. And you lose your toys and break them because you suck at not losing toys and not breaking toys.”

  The two girls went back and forth while Adam stood there, his patience waning. “All right, stop it! Both of you! That is enough! I don’t give a damn whose toy it is. Claire, let your sister play with that…LPS thing, whatever it is.”

  “LPS means Littlest Pet Shop, Daddy.”

  “Fine, whatever. Let her
play with it.”

  Claire sent her father an indignant look. “No.”

  “Excuse me?” Adam retorted. “Did you just tell me no, young lady?”

  Lander smiled and nodded. “Yes, she did, Daddy. Claire just told you no. She’s being defiant. You should spank her.”

  “Shut up, Lander,” Claire hissed.

  “No. You shut up.”

  “No, you!”

  “You! You don’t tell me to shut up!”

  “I just did.”

  “Better not do it again.”

  “Enough!” Adam screamed. “Both of you shut up!” He darted to Claire’s bedside and held out his hand. “Claire, give me the toy.”

  “But, Daddy—”

  “Claire, I am at my wit’s end with you both. And I will not ask you again. If the two of you can’t play with and share a single toy, then neither of you will.”

  “Well…you could take us to the toy store or Walmart and buy another one,” Claire proposed, a look of untainted virtue befalling her.

  “No. I’m not doing that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Claire…”

  “What are you going to do with an LPS, Daddy?”

  “I don’t know—I’ll take it and…play with it myself. And maybe in doing so I can arrive at some peace in my home today.”

  Claire stared at Adam’s held-out hand and hesitated a long moment before reluctantly handing the toy over. “When can I have it back?”

  “Never,” said Adam.

  “But, Daddy, it’s a rare.”

  “I don’t care if it’s a common.”

  “A common? There’s no such thing, Daddy,” Claire said.

  Adam rotated on his heels and marched out of the room. “If I hear another peep emanate from this room even remotely above a whisper, I’m separating you two…for a week. I might even consider locking you both in random closets of my choosing. I suggest you both cease fire.” He then pulled the door shut behind him and returned to his office in time to hear his cell phone ringing again.

  His tolerance on edge, Adam answered it hastily without first checking to see who it was. “Hello?”

  “Mr. Young?” a raspy voice on the other end said. “It’s been a long time. You…do know who this is, don’t you?”

  Adam sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I do. Why are you calling me?”

  “I can’t believe you would pose such a question, Adam. I was under the impression we had an understanding.”

  “I was under the same impression,” Adam said. “And that understanding involved an amicable parting of ways, one I intend to maintain. I thought I made that clear to you months ago.”

  “Adam, maybe you’ve forgotten, so I’ll remind you. When we invited you and your family to become a part of this group, it wasn’t something we took lightly. We spent a lot of time and effort vetting you. We opened up to you and exposed quite a bit of our capabilities, most of which we prefer never become public. In doing that, you’ve become privy to some rather sensitive information concerning our group.” A slight chuckle. “You can’t just part ways with us. That’s an impossibility I’ve conveyed to you on numerous occasions. And I was certain I made that clear to you months ago.”

  Adam pulled his phone away to check the number on the screen. Sure enough, had he taken a second prior to answering, it would’ve been a dead giveaway not to. “Look, Carl. I don’t have a lot of time today to talk or argue or whatever. You called for a reason, so say whatever it is you have to say, please. So I can get on with my day.”

  “Well, my call must be inconveniencing you somehow. Fine, I’ll make this as brief as I can, since you’re in such a hurry. I don’t know how much you’ve been paying attention to the television as of late, but our nation has fallen under attack. And oddly enough, in addition, we have a local situation that’s becoming more dire by the minute. Our town has been invaded by leftists, Adam, and our consortium has been placed on high alert. That being said, we’ve called everyone in and have begun populating the compound. There will be an operations meeting tonight, and it’s imperative you attend that meeting. As we speak, families are moving into their domiciles in preparation for what’s to come. We’ll be voting tonight on how the plan will move forward. As of right now, you’re the only weak link in the chain.”

  “Weak link? Carl, this is crazy…I’m not even in the chain.”

  “You can stop with the first-name nonsense. Call me Colonel or sir from here on out. The shit has finally hit the fan, Adam. Just as we’ve been predicting it would. This is an active situation, and as such, it behooves us to both act and respond accordingly.”

  Adam rubbed his temples. “I understand the situation, Car—I mean, Colonel. But I have my own situation I’m dealing with at home, and I can’t leave until it’s rectified.”

  “Adam, I’m no stranger to the family dynamic,” Colonel Carl said. “And as you know, I’m no stranger to husbandry nor fatherhood. I understand you need time to get your things in order, so I’ll be generous and allow you that time. Get your personal life squared away. I expect to see your face at the compound in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. If not, you’ll be seeing some unhappy faces hightailing it up your driveway. That is all.”

  Adam checked his phone to verify the call had ended before returning it to his desk. “Jesus, what a day. It’s not even twelve o’clock yet.”

  Bearing everything going on both locally and nationally in mind, Adam was curious to see if the mail was running today. Leaving the house, he trudged to the edge of his driveway and manually forced the malfunctioning gate open.

  Adam discovered an empty mailbox, save a handful of gravel and wilted dandelions he assumed were courtesy of his little girls. After wiping it clean of debris, he studied the road in both directions, taking note of the overall vacuum of traffic. No cars, trucks or lawn tractors, not even a bicycle.

  Adam sighed and started up the driveway. By the time he returned to the front porch, Violet was waiting for him.

  “Hey, Dad…there’s something I need to tell you.”

  Adam speculated as to what in the hell it could be this time. “Okay, then just tell me. No need to preface it.”

  “Not prefacing…just buying time. I think you’re going to be really pissed.”

  “Not as pissed as I’ll be if you don’t tell me,” said Adam. “What is it? Are your sisters arguing again? Unbelievable. I walk out of the house for five minutes—”

  “No…no, it’s not that. It’s not that at all.” Violet’s eyes filled with insistence. “It’s…dipshit.”

  Adam could feel a lump forming in his throat. “What about him?”

  “He isn’t home.”

  “What? What are you talking about? Where is he?” Adam asked.

  The teenager rolled her eyes and held out her hands. “I don’t know—I just know he isn’t here. As in not home.”

  “Jesus Christ. When did he leave?”

  “I don’t know, Dad.”

  “Well, did someone come and pick him up? Did he run off in the middle of the night? Did he hitchhike?”

  “Dad, I’m sorry…I don’t know.”

  “Okay, Violet. Great. Is there anything you do know?”

  Violet folded her arms. “First off, don’t talk to me like that! I know an insane lot about most things, but I can only guess where Chris is. He’s not in his room and he’s nowhere else in the house. Usually, when he’s not playing Fortnite, he’s FaceTiming that horizontal refreshment he calls a girlfriend or posting about her on Facebook or playing kissy wissy with her on the phone. But since he’s not here and he’s not doing any of that shit, it’s highly likely he’s with her.”

  Violet tossed her hair over a shoulder with sass and stomped off, deserting Adam on the porch.

  He looked up at the sky, sliding his hands into his pockets. “This day is slowly but surely becoming a catastrophe. Liz, where the hell are you? Please come home soon and help me restore some normality—before it
’s too late.”

  As he reached for the door handle, the sound of a diesel engine pulled his attention to the edge of his driveway, where an ambulance had just turned in.

  Nine

  When Deputy Sturdivant made it back to the scene, the wrecked stolen SUV was being winched onto a flatbed tow truck. The Virginia state trooper who had responded and relieved him earlier was still there, seated inside his cruiser. His left leg jutted from the open driver’s door, placing his pleated gray uniform pants and their dark blue stripe on full display, though the glossiness of his black Clarino shoe was only partially visible through the knee-high grass.

  At the point of veering off-road, Jeff activated his emergency lights to signal his intention to oncoming traffic. Doing so quickly caught the trooper’s attention, and after identifying his visitor, he threw up a hand and waved Jeff in, though the trooper’s expression didn’t convey that he was particularly pleased to see his fellow lawman.

  Jeff twisted the key and killed the ignition, then reached for his radio microphone. “Dispatch, this is one eleven. I’ll be out with VSP.”

  Not waiting for Linda’s reply, he exited the cruiser and marched over to the trooper, who was busily typing on the laptop mounted to his center console.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you back,” said the trooper, not bothering to look Jeff’s way. “Especially considering recent events.”

  The deputy nodded. He scanned the scene a moment as his hands fell to his hips. “All things being equal, I wasn’t expecting to make a return appearance. But looks as though something’s come up.”

  The trooper chuckled. “You can say that again. Seems like ever since Friday morning, we haven’t had a single break. The overall volume of calls we’ve been getting is bordering on the ridiculous.” Finally, he glanced over. “What do you got?”

  The deputy gestured to the black SUV. “My dispatcher finally got through to NCIC and VCIN. Some additional information has come to light concerning that Denali.”