Chapter 5

Jeff winced at the sudden shock of light.  He buried his face deep in his pillow.  He felt the steady, light tapping of his wife’s finger on his shoulder.  He did his best to ignore her and pretend he hadn’t woken up.

“Honey?” he heard her slight whisper.  “Are you up?”

He didn’t answer, hoping she would give up and turn off the light herself.  Chivalry was good, but sleep was sometimes better.

“Honey?”  Her whisper was a little louder.  “The electricity is back on.”

She continued poking him on the shoulder, slightly harder with each poke.  For Jeff it became a test of wills.  How hard would the pokes get and how loud would her whispers become before it was obvious he was no longer asleep.

“Hey!” she only half whispered.  “Hey!” one more time louder still.  Jeff resisted any movement.

Lisa stopped her tapping, leaving her hand on his back.  Jeff did his best to remain as still as possible.  She slowly moved her hand down his spine.  Jeff thought it might be advantageous to wake up, but he remained suspicious.  As her hand reached the small of his back, it drifted gently to his right side.  He was curious, but thought it still might be a trap.  He purred slightly to show some interest, but still give the impression it was an involuntary reaction of a man who was very clearly and most definitely asleep.  The shock rocketed through his body as his wife grabbed him on the side just above his hip bone and tickled as hard as she could. 

“Damn it!” he shouted, flailing to escape like a cat tied to a string.  He turned and bounced trying to get as far away from the tickle-attack as he could.  He twisted and turned until he rolled himself off the side of the bed.

“Oh, are you up?” Lisa asked with caustic concern.

“I am now,” he grumpily protested as he began to stand.

“You were before you big liar.”

“No I wasn’t.  I was sound asleep, no thanks to you.”  He did his best to express his indignity.

“I’m not sure you understand how much you really snore,” she laughed.  “It wasn’t the lights that woke me up.  It was the fact someone turned off the chainsaw sleeping next to me.  You had either woken up or died.  I thought it would be a good idea to make sure it wasn’t the latter.”

“Ha, ha.  Very funny.”

“As long as you’re up,” she smiled demurely, why don’t you go check the rest of the house for what was left on.”

“Oh, I thought you’d had something more interesting in mind,” he gave her an overly-obvious wink. 

“I did.  I was thinking you could go turn the dishwasher on too.”

“Nice,” he quipped, grabbing his robe from the back of the bedroom door.  He switched off their bedroom light, and began his rounds.  Although the hall light was on, the Lilly’s bedroom remained dark. 

Jeff made his way downstairs.  Only one of the kitchen lights was on.  He poured himself a glass of water stepped out to the front porch to see if anyone else was up doing the same thing.  He listened to the cicadas rhythmically chirping in the nearby trees.  Although the night wasn’t particularly cool, the night air was a welcome respite from the unrelenting heat of the previous day.

Between the houses across the street, Jeff could see movement of lights, which he recognized as headlights on a vehicle slowly making its way through his neighborhood.    The lights stopped at one intersection, and then proceeded, turning right.  The lights faded from view, but he could still hear the occasional acceleration as the vehicle maneuvered through his streets.  The sound of the engine became louder and the cicadas started to fade into background.  Jeff saw the headlight illuminate the neighbor’s houses one at a time as the vehicle started to make its way around the broad curve toward his home.

Jeff stood and walked toward the front of his property to look around the houses to get a better view.  When he saw the headlights he recognized the vehicle as a pickup truck.  He retreated to the darkened shadow of a fruit tree so he could observe without being observed.

The truck pulled in front of Jeff’s house and slowed.  Jeff squinted in the faint glow of the neighborhood house lights.  The truck pulled into his driveway and the engine cut.  Jeff moved closer while trying to remain in the shadows.  The headlights went black, giving him an opportunity to move even closer.  He recognized the gold letters on the side of Henry’s truck.  He relaxed and began walking toward it. 

Henry exited the truck and started walking up the path to the front door.  Jeff realized Henry hadn’t noticed him yet, so he started to close the gap between the two.  Jeff got to within fifteen feet of Henry.

“Halt, who goes there,” he said in his deepest voice.

By the light of his front porch, Jeff saw Henry spin, gun drawn and pointed right at his chest.

“Jesus Henry,” Jeff shouted, his hands immediately thrown in the air.  “What the hell are you doing?”

“What are you, nuts?” Henry protested in a high squeal.

“Is that thing loaded?”

“Damn right it’s loaded.  I could have shot you asshole.  Why would you sneak up on me?  This isn’t exactly a great time for that shit Jeff.”  Henry turned abruptly and continued up the front walk toward the house.

“I didn’t know you’d be carrying a gun!  It was a joke, Henry.  It was just a joke.”  He said to Henry’s back, following in through the front door.

“I need a drink,” Henry said, as he stepped through the door.

“You need a drink?  I need a drink.”  Jeff followed his brother-in-law into his house.

Marcus paced in front of his parked car in the empty lot in front of the desolate strip mall.  He was angry at himself for being chased away, but he knew there was no way he could have stood his ground.  His mind wildly speculated on the identity of the intruder. 

He thought of the options he failed to take.  If he were in the building he could have written down the license plate, and even caught a glimpse of the man’s face.  He could have observed the man from the shadows of his boss’s office without being seen.  He might have even set up a hiding place in the shadows of the parking lot, close enough to do some good.

If he were armed with something more than a baseball bat, he would have been able to better protect himself.  He could have laid in wait in his car and let the guy have it when he got close. 

His juvenile pride began to plague his conscience.  He felt he let his boss down.  He felt he let himself down.

He decided he would not resume his look out tonight.  He figured if the damage were done, there would be nothing he could do about it.  He would drive by on his way home at 7 and survey the property in the light of day.  Until then, he would have to waste the next four hours.  He would catch some sleep if the adrenaline began to subside.  Until then, he was forced to pace.

“Stop a second Henry. You’re racing,” Jeff implored his brother-in-law.

“Maybe they were just watching the place to do something later.  Maybe the guy was up to no good.”  I don’t know.” Henry sat on the edge of the leather coach, bouncing his right knee nervously.

“Maybe it was a couple of kids making out.”

“There was only one guy.  I only saw one guy in there, and he was definitely watching me.”  The ice in Henry’s crystal tumbler rattled with his nervous movement.  He took a quick drink of scotch and continued.  “I don’t know what he was doing, but it wasn’t good.”

“Well one thing is for sure,” Jeff began in a scolding voice, “you never, and I mean never, drive with a loaded weapon in your hand.  Are you nuts?”

“I’m sorry,” Henry set his drink on the glass top coffee table and turned toward Jeff.  His left knee immediately took over the mad routine of bobbing up and down.  “I didn’t want to stand in the lot and take it apart.  And what if they came back?  I just,” he stammered for words “I just freaked.  I’ve never pulled a gun on anyone.”

“You’ve got to think things through.  Is the case in the car?”

“Yeah.  Passenger seat I think.”

“I’ll get it stowed right now.  Give it to me.”  He held his hand, palm up, toward his brother-in-law.  Henry placed the weapon in Jeff’s hand, happy to be rid of it for the moment.  “Tomorrow,” Jeff hesitated briefly, “well today I guess, we’ll head down to the shop.  We can check things out.  If everything is fine, you and I can do a little firearms training.”

“Good idea.”  Henry’s shaky right hand reached out for his glass. 

“Lonely?” Henry heard Lisa’s voice from the darkened hallway leading to the stairs as Jeff left the room.

“Hi Lisa.  No, just completely freaked out.”

“What happened?” she asked, dropping lazily in the armchair opposite him.

“I couldn’t sleep so I went to the shop.  There was a guy, or some guys, or whatever, watching the place.”

“Wow,” Lisa leaned forward.  “What did you do?”

“Well, I think my showing up just sort of scared ‘em off,” he lied.  He knew she would eventually tell Karen and he didn’t need any more lecturing.

“Powers back on,” Lisa said, rubbing the sleep away from her face, “why don’t you call Karen?”

“Think she’s up?” Henry welcomed the new topic.

“Well, let’s see.  Tom left about two-ish probably.  Five hour trip, so that’s 7:00.  Maybe some messing-around in hooking up with her.  Then at least five back to mom and dad’s.  I’ll bet she got in around 1 am.  If I know mom, she was probably waiting up for her.  I’ll bet they’re up drinking coffee.”

“Yeah, good idea.”  Henry said.  Karen passed the phone and he dialed his in-laws number. 

After two rings, his mother-in-law answered with some urgency in her voice.  “Lisa?”

“No mom, it’s Henry.  Is Karen there?”

“Not yet, no.  She hasn’t shown up.  The power just came on here.  I called Tom’s house and got no answer.  I was going to try his cellphone. And then you called.”

“Your power was out too?”  The concern in Henry’s voice tipped Lisa off that there might be trouble on the other end of the line.  “Let me call them mom.  I will call you right back.”

“Okay Henry.  Please don’t forget about me.”

“I won’t.”  He hung up the phone and let his shoulders slump.  “That’s really weird.”

“Not there?” Lisa asked, sitting upright in her chair.

“No, and they haven’t heard from them.”  Henry’s voice cracked slightly.  “I’m tryin’ Tom’s cell.”  He punched in the number from memory and waited.

“Hi Lisa, what do you need?” Tom answered curtly.

“It’s Henry Tom.  Your mom is waiting for you.  She’s pretty worried.  You guys should have been there by now.”

“No shit Henry.  Don’t think we aren’t trying,” the frustration in Tom’s voice was clearly audible.  Tom’s attention seemed focused on something else, indicating to Henry he was probably still driving.

“Can I talk to Karen?” Henry thought it would be best to get the story from her and leave Tom to his task.

Tom shifted the phone to his big sister without word.  “Henry?” 

“Karen, where the hell are you?  I talked to your mom and she’s a little concerned.”

“We’re trying to find a way up to the cottage.  Every road heading north off 29 is closed.”

“What do you mean closed?”

“It’s really weird Henry.  Soldiers on every exit.  You can get off the highway.  You can head south, but you can’t go north.  They won’t let us go by.” Karen sounded like she was on the verge of crying.  “Out by Thorp going the other way on 29, there was an Army truck rolled over in a ditch.  We could see two other trucks stopped in the middle of the highway.  We thought they had an accident and were helping the guy.  Tom slowed down to see if we could help, and I’m not kidding, it looked like they were fighting with each other.  When we saw their guns out Tom just took off.”

“What?” Henry tried to visualize the situation.

“What happened today Henry?  What’s going on?  I want my babies.  I’ve got to get home.”  Karen’s words were beginning to get swallowed by the wave up tears building up.

Henry could tell his wife was nearing the end of her ability to cope.  “Tom will take care of you honey.  I’m sure the kids are fine.”  Henry doubted his own words.  “Put Tom back on would you?”

Henry could hear the phone being passed back to his brother-in-law.  “We’re giving up for the night,” Tom said, with obvious frustration.  “Karen says she lost cell coverage when she was talking to Lisa from the airport.  I lost cell coverage about the same time.  Obviously we haven’t been able to call my mom.  I didn’t know we had it again until you called.”

“It’s been out everywhere.  It just came back here too.”

“Seriously?” Tom bellowed.  “This is really weird Henry.”  Tom’s concern was palpable.

“What’s your plan?” Henry asked.

“We were planning on giving up for the night.  Get some rest at my house, then make our way up to the cottage tomorrow.”

“What about the road blocks?”

“They can’t have all the roads covered.  Twenty years of driving up there nearly every weekend.  They’ve had those roads torn up so many times, I know every possible detour.  I’ll get there,” Tom concluded with obvious braggadocio.  “Hold on,” Tom drifted off.

“Tom, what’s up?” Henry said alarmingly.

“Here, take this,” Henry heard him say as he apparently handed the phone over to Karen.

“They’re looking at us Tom.”  Henry heard Karen over the line.

“Karen!” Henry shouted into the receiver.

“Henry?” she answered back.  “Hold on a second.  Tom, that one is pointing at you.”  Henry could hear his wife and her brother arguing.

“Well let me just sit here for a second and see what they do.”  Tom said.

“Karen!”  Henry shouted at his wife again.  “What’s going on?

“We just got to 41.” Karen returned to the phone call.  “There are two big army trucks blocking 47.”

“Appleton might not have been a great idea tonight,” Henry heard Tom faintly in the background.

“You can’t turn around Tom,” Karen said sternly.  “No!” she urgently blurted at her younger brother.

“Okay,” Tom said in a measured yet clearly concerned tone.  “What now.”

“Just sit here for a second and let’s see what they want us to do.”

“What’s going on Karen?”  Henry asked again for a clearer play-by-play.

“There are two trucks just north of the off-ramp for 41.  There’s a guy there who is waiving us to come through.”

“I think once we’re in Henry, we’re stuck.” Tom shouted to his brother-in-law through the phone in Karen’s hand.

Karen indignantly retorted, “Well what are you going to do, out run them?”

“Maybe they won’t follow us,” Tom tried. 

Henry interrupted the argument, “Run Karen!  Tell Tom to turn around and run!” He shouted in the receiver.

Karen burst into tears.  “We can’t!” she screamed at her husband.

“Calm down!” Tom admonished both of them.  He grabbed the phone from Karen “Knock it off Henry” he barked sternly down the line. 

Henry took a deep breath and reached for his scotch.

Lisa shot back into the room from the kitchen, her eyes were wide with fear, the home telephone receiver in her hand.  “I gotta go mom.” She said absently, hanging up on her mother.  She sat down on the sofa next to Henry and stared into his eyes looking for some indication of what was happening. 

Henry took another deep breath and asked his brother-in-law in a much calmer measured tone, “can you run Tom?”

“I’m not sure.  We’re about a hundred yards,” he guessed.

“Oh wait!” Henry could hear his wife exclaimed nervously, “he’s coming!  Tom he’s coming,” she frantically implored her brother to act.

“Well now I can’t do anything,” Tom said to his brother-in-law.

“He’s got a gun Tom!”  Karen’s voice became higher as the panic set in.  Henry could hear his wife sobbing, full panic having taken hold of her.  “Henry, he’s got a gun!” she shouted over her brother’s shoulder into the phone.

“Calm down.  Just relax,” Tom did his best to speak slowly and calmly despite the fact that he was beginning to panic too.  Tom handed the phone to Karen.  “Talk to Henry.  Calm down please.  Everything will be fine.”

“Honey?”  Henry asked softly.

“Yes,” Karen said with a slight whimper.

“You’re going to be fine.  Just relax.”

“He’s coming to the car Henry.”  She whispered.  “He’s got a gun.”

“Your bother is going to take care of you.  Everything is going….”

“Hold it,” she whispered, cutting him off midsentence.

“Where are you headed?”  Henry heard the disembodied voice of the unknown man.

“Appleton.”  Tom responded calmly.

“Why’d you stop?”

“We saw your road block and thought we weren’t allowed through, “Tom lied.

“I was waiving you through,” the soldier said with some irritation in his tone.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Tom feigned ignorance.  “Say, I was planning on grabbing a few things and heading up to my family at their place up north.  Will I be able to get up there tonight.”

“No sir.  Travel north is restricted for now.”

“But my family is up there,” Tom continued.

“They should be joining you soon,” the soldier interrupted.  “Get going,” Henry could hear his voice fade as he apparently stepped away from the car.

“I guess we’re going to Appleton,” Henry could hear Tom’s tone was to express his dissatisfaction to the soldier.

“What happened?”  Henry asked Karen.

“You heard it, we’re going through the road block into Appleton.”

“We’ll get to my house and I’ll pack what I need.”  Henry could hear Tom say resolutely.  He was all business now.  “We’ll get up there tomorrow.  No sweat.”

“Henry, can you please come up here,” Karen said meekly.  He could tell she was on the verge of returning to tears.

“I’ll leave tomorrow honey,” he said soothingly.  “I’ll see you tomorrow night.  It’s 3.  I’m gonna get some sleep, you do the same.” 

“Thank you.”  Henry could hear her breathing hard, doing her best to hold back hysterics.

Henry continued reassuringly, “I will call you tomorrow to see how you and Tom are doing.  If all else fails, I’ll at least be in Appleton with you.”

Her voice quavered, “Please be……”

Karen’s voice was interrupted by a three tone signal.  “This is Martin Spears,” began a pleasant but authoritative recording of a man.  “United States Secretary of Homeland Security.  Pursuant to Executive Order for the Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Functions, cellular communication has been suspended.  The National Terrorism Advisory System has elevated the threat level to imminent.  Cellular communication will resume when the alert has been lifted.  The Department apologizes for any inconvenience and appreciates your anticipated cooperation.”  The three tone signal sounded, “This is Martin Spears……..” the message began again.

“Karen?!” Henry shouted into the phone.  “Karen?!”  She did not answer.