This Changes Everything Read online

  Final Dawn

  Book 15:

  This Changes Everything

  By Darrell Maloney

  This is a work of fiction. All persons depicted in this book are fictional characters. Any resemblance to any real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Copyright 2018 by Darrell Maloney

  This book is dedicated to:

  Angelina Martinez

  Shelly Noonan

  Tom Whitman

  Thank you all for all your help.

  Previously…

  The expansive Food World Distribution Center in tiny Plainview, Texas was a winter wonderland.

  At least it might be viewed that way in happier times.

  The snow had drifted over four feet on one side of the building.

  The only things visible in the employee parking lot were several colorful rectangular shapes here and there.

  The tops of abandoned cars.

  Given his own opportunity to describe what he saw when he peered outside the building, though, Frank Woodard would use a different term.

  “A wintry hell,” he’d say.

  It was indeed cold. Very much so.

  It might be the last place on earth one would expect love to blossom.

  A poet once said, though, that love will always find a way.

  Frank and Josie tried to keep their love a secret, until Crazy Eddie let the cat out of the bag.

  Now Frank was trying his best to prove to Josie’s family that not only was he worth more alive than dead.

  But that they should consider him part of the family.

  It was all part of his plan to win their hearts and minds.

  And so far it appeared to be working.

  Five hundred miles due south things were looking grim for Air Force colonels Tim Wilcox and Morris Medley.

  They were facing the death penalty for ordering the break-in of a top secret bunker.

  They were told the bunker was built and occupied by a rogue Army colonel who knew the second meteorite was coming.

  And who stocked the bunker with stolen food and supplies for himself and his cronies to use.

  The bunker was breached and all inside ordered out into the cold.

  It was only then the colonels realized they’d made a dreadful mistake. For the bunker’s occupants were there by order of a top secret Department of Defense directive.

  They were the team tasked with reconstituting the DoD once the world thawed out again.

  And they weren’t very happy about being rousted from their shelter, or that their secret was now known far and wide.

  If it was successfully breached once, they were afraid it could be again.

  Martial law had been declared after Saris 7, the first meteorite, struck the earth. It had never been rescinded. And that gave the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Lester Mannix, the latitude to charge colonels Wilcox and Medley with Treason against the United States during a National Emergency.

  Their only hope was an Air Force captain, a staff lawyer with the Area Defense Council.

  If he couldn’t find a way to help them beat the charges they’d face a firing squad.

  In the mine beneath Salt Mountain just north and east of the town of Junction, Hannah and Mark and the others were getting settled in for another long freeze.

  But things had never been easy for them, and it wouldn’t be this time either.

  Their ham radio crackled to life one afternoon. On the other end was a former colleague of Hannah’s; a man she barely remembered, but who was relaying a critically important message for her.

  A man named David Wright was trying to contact her, for she was a key witness in a very important legal case.

  A case which involved two friends of hers who’d saved her life after a helicopter crash.

  The same two doctors. Colonels Wilcox and Medley.

  Captain Wright was their defense council, and he needed her help to save their lives.

  Ninety three miles away from Hannah, in the former Eden Federal Correctional Facility, Richard Sears was stricken with grief.

  Five days before he’d lost his only son to bad men who tried to take over the prison.

  Richard and his men counterattacked and took it back.

  The good guys won.

  But two of them lost their lives.

  Richard blamed himself. He was in charge of security. He’d been sloppy, and Richard Junior paid the ultimate price.

  He couldn’t see clearly.

  Grief does that to people.

  He didn’t want his son, wherever in the great unknown he might be, to be alone.

  Richard cozied up to Junior’s body, placed a gun to his temple, and pulled the trigger.

  Now it was his wife, Ruth, who was all alone.

  In one’s grief, one doesn’t always think through the consequences.

  And now the story continues with Final Dawn, Book 15:

  This Changes Everything

  -1-

  Marty had his hands full already, he felt, and didn’t want or need the additional responsibility.

  “But why me?” he protested.

  “I don’t know beans about the security business. Let somebody do it who knows something about it.”

  Mayor Al wasn’t a man who took no for an answer.

  And he didn’t mind twisting a few arms when he really needed something badly.

  “That’s just it, Marty. Nobody knows anything about security. But somebody has to step up to the plate. We cannot risk another attack by leaving some places unguarded, some boxes unchecked.”

  “Then if nobody is any more qualified than I am, dump it on somebody who wants to do it.”

  “Again, Marty. No one else wants to do it either.”

  “I’ll tell you what, Al. There were forty two men here the last time I counted.

  “You put forty one long straws in your hand and one short one. I’ll draw one if everyone else does.”

  “Marty, why are you giving me such a hard time about this?”

  “Read my lips, Mr. Mayor. I do not want the job, okay? I worked hard during the thaw. At least as hard as anyone else, and more than most.

  “I ignored Glenna and the kids for almost a year while I went out each and every day to gather loads and bring them back.

  “I promised her and the kids that once we sealed the prison I’d take it easy. I’d kick back with them and give them all the attention they needed and take a nice long break while we waited for the thaw.

  “I fully intend to keep that promise.”

  “But Marty…”

  “Sorry, Al. Let somebody else do it. I hate to be a hard case about this, but there are others just as capable as I am.”

  A crestfallen Mayor Al backed out of the tiny former cell Marty and Glenna called home.

  He went to try to convince somebody else to take the position left vacant when Richard Sears committed suicide.

  Glenna, sitting beside Marty on the tiny bunk they shared, reached out for his hand and looked into his eyes.

  She said, “Honey…”

  He said, “You’re not gonna start in on me too, are you?”

  She grew silent.

  Apprehensive.

  Perhaps a bit worried.

  He softened his tone.

  He knew what was coming.

  And he didn’t want to be one of those men who made decisions which affected others without at least getting their input and opinions.

  “Go ahead, honey. Tell me what you think.”

  She chose her words carefully so she wouldn’t upset him.

  Glenna was an outgoing and vibrant woman in her younger years.

  Then she married the wrong man.

  Nothing she could do w
as good enough for Tim.

  He was absolutely brutal.

  His father tried to warn her, early on in their relationship, when he saw Tim kick a stray dog.

  “Any man who will kick a defenseless animal would think nothing of beating his wife and children.”

  “Oh, Dad, you’re exaggerating. He said that was the dog that bit him last month. He was just showing him who the alpha male was so it wouldn’t happen again, that’s all. He’s a sweet guy, and so gentle, you’ll see.

  Glenna married Tim against her parent’s wishes and he was sweet for awhile.

  Then he relapsed and started using heroin again, which led to him losing his job.

  He sat at home all day cursing his life and blaming Glenna for his troubles.

  For months he couldn’t pass a drug test and couldn’t find a new job. Glenna went to work until she was in her seventh month of pregnancy.

  Then they relied on her mom and dad to support them.

  It wasn’t until Tim walked out when she was pregnant with child number two her parents found out about the beatings.

  He was very good at hitting her where it was unlikely to show.

  She in turn had gotten very good at hiding the bruises.

  As many battered women do, she couldn’t let him go. He came and went from her life several times for a few weeks or months at a time.

  This time her parents paid closer attention, and called the police several times when they’d had a fight.

  Glenna always professed she’d fallen or stumbled. That he never laid a hand upon her.

  With a wife too timid to press charges the abuse went on far longer than it should have.

  It wasn’t until Tim smacked baby number two across the face for crying that she finally took action.

  She went at him with her tiny fists, giving him all the fight she had to give.

  He got the upper hand, of course.

  He turned the tables on her and beat her bloody, until her father heard the commotion and came running.

  It turned out that Tim was like most bullies and could dish it out but couldn’t take it.

  When Glenna’s dad landed a few good punches Tim decided he had enough and ran.

  And never came back.

  Her marriage left her timid and afraid to speak her mind.

  It made her think her opinion had no value. That what she thought didn’t matter.

  Marty was slowly changing that.

  He was gentle with her. Tender and patient.

  If she had trouble finding the right words that was okay.

  He’d wait.

  -2-

  “Honey I know you promised the kids and me that you’d relax once we came in here and buttoned the place up.”

  “And I thought it was a wonderful idea at the time.”

  “At the time?”

  “Yes. During the thaw you were so busy, and you were gone so often, that the kids just didn’t have a chance to get to know you and bond with you.

  “I thought that would finally give us the chance to finally become a family, as opposed to a group of people who barely knew one another.

  “The first few weeks were heaven.

  “But…”

  Marty reached out and pulled her close.

  He knew what she was going to say.

  He could easily have finished her sentence for her.

  But he chose not to.

  She needed to gain back her resolve.

  She needed to find her voice, for she’d been too timid for too long.

  He held her and gently rocked her back and forth.

  He wouldn’t rush her. He’d wait as long as it took to let her finish her words.

  And he’d take them to heart. He really would. For this wasn’t just his decision to make.

  He’d always been a doer.

  He was never one who had trouble deciding what needed to be done; the best course of action.

  He was always a quick thinker. He’d assess a situation and go over his options, then he’d make a decision. It was just how he was.

  But he needed to change.

  He wasn’t a single man anymore.

  He was part of a family.

  He was half of a team.

  Glenna, the other half, was just as important, deserved an equal say.

  He’d give it to her.

  She looked up at him with moist eyes.

  “Honey, those bad men took the lives of three very good men.

  “I know, Richard Senior pulled the trigger and took his own life, but it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t killed his only son.

  “Now three good men are gone and the life of a good woman is ruined. Ruth will never be the same again. I went to see her this morning. It was my turn to sit with her.

  “All she did was rock back and forth, clutching an old photograph of the three of them.

  “I was there for an hour and she never uttered a single word.”

  “Marty, we were lucky. It could have been much worse. If you and the others hadn’t been able to take the place back there would have been much more bloodshed. I might have lost you and I can’t even bear…”

  She stopped and fought hard to hold back her tears.

  She said, “Honey, I know these men. The ones we have left.

  “They’re good men. All of them.

  “But they can’t hold a candle to you.”

  He started to say something, but she placed a finger over his lips to shush him.

  “Hold on, honey. Let me finish. Please.”

  He nodded.

  “You’re going to say you know nothing about security.

  “And you’re right. And maybe it’s not fair to you to put you in such a position.

  “But here’s the thing.

  “No one else does either. But somebody has to do it. Like Mayor Al said, somebody has to step up.

  “If no one has any experience it’ll be a learning curve for all of us. But of all the men in this shelter… heck, of all the men in this world, I know that you can do the best job of keeping us safe.”

  He couldn’t argue that point. He’d been thinking the same thing.

  “And Marty, there’s something else too.”

  “What’s that, baby?”

  “You’ve got a resource the others don’t have.

  “You know all the people at the mine.

  “They’ve been in the security game a lot longer than even Richard was.

  “They started more than twelve years ago, when they first started stocking the mine before Saris 7 hit.”

  “But Frank Woodard was their security guy. He was a former Marine, so he knew military security. He was also a former detective so he knew security from a police point of view.

  “If Frank was still there and I could pick his brain I wouldn’t be so hesitant.

  “But honey, he’s gone.”

  “Marty, he’s still alive, you know that. Right?”

  “I sure hope so. He’s a good man. Far too good a man to let someone get the drop on him.

  “So yes, I hope he’s out there somewhere and just can’t make it home for now. I’m hoping he just appears again at some point in the future.

  “But whether he’s alive or dead, it doesn’t matter. He’s not available.”

  “No, but Mark and Bryan are. Brad is.

  “They were with Frank from the beginning. They’ve learned his ways. They’ve learned his tactics.

  “They can share their knowledge with you. They can advise you.

  “You can pick their brains and they’ll be a valuable resource for you.”

  He had a look of severe disappointment upon his face.

  He looked like a kid who reached into a cookie jar to find it empty.

  “Marty, you know I’m right.”

  “I know, honey.”

  “Marty, no one can keep us safer than you can. Can we at least agree on that?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ll get your chance to bond wi
th the kids. It’ll just take a little longer. Okay?”

  “Okay…”

  “Good.” She smiled broadly. “I win, you lose. Now go tell Al you’ll do it before he enlists somebody that’ll screw it all up.”

  -3-

  Marty was a truck driver by trade.

  Although he’d done a lot of things in his life and considered himself a jack of all trades, security wasn’t something in his comfort zone.

  When one is a lousy carpenter and tries his hand at building a chair, the worst that could happen is the chair collapses and dumps someone unceremoniously on the floor.

  If a backyard mechanic tunes up an engine and messes it up, the worst that’ll happen is it will not start.

  If someone is tasked to plan and implement a security operation to protect the lives of ninety one people and falls short someone might be killed.

  He didn’t feel up to the task.

  Yes, he had at least as much common sense as anyone else at Eden South.

  He was good at problem solving; he was good at scheduling and things of that nature.

  He was a natural leader, full of self confidence.

  Men followed him easily; they trusted him.

  And Glenna was right.

  Somebody had to do it in Richard’s absence.

  It might as well be Marty as anyone else.

  Glenna said no one would do a better job than Marty would.

  And anyone else would very likely do much worse.

  Mayor Al felt the same way.

  Marty was the first one he went to, and he had no other candidates if Marty turned him down.

  Marty found Al sitting in his office chair, leaned back and staring at the wall, as though he had the weight of the world upon his shoulders.

  “Okay, you’ve suckered me into it. I’ll take the job,” he said.

  Al wheeled his chair around and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then he stood and hugged Marty, which was out of character for both of them.

  “Before you get any ideas,” Marty told him, “I’m not swapping spit or any other bodily fluids with you.”

  “Thank you, Marty. I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”