CHAPTER 10

There was not much of a view from the apartment complex. It was one reason why Gordon Peavy lived here. He couldn’t afford a place that you could see the water from. All this complex had was hills on one side and taller buildings on the other. Neither of those were particularly picturesque either. Right now they were of little concern as Gordon held his phone to his ear and scanned the skies which, strangely enough, were blue and only occupied with a few white puffy clouds instead of the dark stormy ones that were common at this time of the year. The weather was the least of his problems at the moment, though.

The distant clouds had some company that was much closer. For the moment, this company did not seem particularly harmful. German helicopters were buzzing around the skies today. It was not something that was all that unusual but, Gordon could definitely tell there was an increase in activity. Normally he might see one, maybe two, choppers that would be out flying on an average day. That was if he was really looking. Right now he was doing just that and, so far, in the span of only a few minutes, he had counted six. Some of these choppers were of a kind that he had never seen before. It was enough to make him even more nervous than his caller.

Gordon told the caller, “I haven’t seen one in the last five minutes. Are you really sure about this? You said…”

The guy was gruff, angry, and had no problem interrupting Gordon as well as insulting him. All of this made Gordon wish like hell that he had decided to not go so cheap on his choice of living arrangements. His real spending, from the limited funds that he did have, were on his true love in life, and the cause. Most of the time those two were one in the same. Still, Gordon was now beginning to question his hierarchy of needs. If he had spent a little more money on an apartment he might actually be able to see something right now.

As he walked back towards the stairs, that led to his second floor residence, his downstairs neighbor came strolling out on her small little patio. Gordon was hanging up the call as he watched Katie Sanders put one hand on her hip and the other cupped over her eyes. She too looked off to the sky but gave up after only a moment. Then she asked Gordon, “you heard about all that stuff going on? Didn’t you? Haven’t seen anything, have ya?”

Katie was a Texan but, too Gordon at least, she was nice enough. She might have been cute at one time but that was about three children ago. Gordon had very little to do with her beyond occasionally saying hello when they met in the breezeway between units. He ignored her as much as usual but, then he stopped and took a better look at his complex. He had been watching the sky so intently that he had not noticed that Katie was far from the only person who had stepped outside and was looking around. Gordon now felt a real sense of urgency.

As he took off towards the stairs, at a pace that was something between walking and running, Katie yelled out in a humorous tone, “so you got you a new girlfriend do ya? She’s kind of cute.” There was no response so Katie snickered to herself, “if you’re in too sniveling little bitches.”

Gordon burst in to his apartment door. The place was rather Spartan and lacked any real furniture. What little there was, consisted mainly of a broken recliner and some fold out chairs that matched the equally cheap fold out tables where he kept his computers set up. There was a mattress in the bedroom and, Gordon figured that one day he’d actually find a second hand frame to go with it. It was a task he had been putting off for several years seeing as how he saw no real urgent need. Now he moved to the bedroom with a different kind of urgency. It was one that bordered on panic.

She was sobbing and that was what drew Gordon to his bedroom in the first place. Henna was sitting on the corner of the mattress, almost curled up in a ball, and had her face buried in the palm of her hands. Her long dark hair practically covered her small little body and she almost resembled some hairy beast when she sat like that.

Gordon ignored her crying and began grabbing some of her personal items off the floor. Her open bag was sitting there as well, so, he started tossing those things in. She barely noticed it nor did she seem to even care about his panic. Gordon stopped, shuffled to her on his knees, and grabbed her shoulders. While shaking her he almost cried himself, “Henna, we have to go! They’re coming!”

When she looked up at him he could see her smudged make up and moistened eyes. Another tear rolled down her cheek. Her voice cracked and she cried out, “it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

Gordon tried to hold himself together as he nearly begged her, “it doesn’t matter anymore!”

She lashed out at him, “of course it does you ass hole! We killed somebody! We killed more than one somebody! We killed innocent people Gordon! That wasn’t supposed to happen!”

What could he say to that? It was true and he did not have time to argue. He jerked Henna to her feet and then slung her bag into her arms. As he pulled her to the door he told her, “they got somebody waiting for us. We’re going to get out of this Henna.”

She jerked back from him and cried in pain, “I don’t want too!” Gordon did not give up so easy. He regained control of her arm and pulled her to the front door. Henna begged, “please Gordon. I…”

As he shoved her out the door he told her in a hurried rush, “go to the mail boxes. I’m going to wipe the computers and I’ll meet you there.”

The door slammed in Henna’s face. She stood looking at it for a moment and just wondering what she should do. Henna knew what she wanted to do and she was still composed enough to know that it was more a flight of fancy than anything else. If Henna could make a wish come true then she would go home, curl up in her bed, and pretend the world did not even exist. It could never happen though. Nothing would ever be the same again. That’s why her mind kept wondering about her alternate options, the real ones. She thought about an overpass on the L-5. She thought about the end of the South Pier. She wondered if she could find a cliff that would do the job or, maybe, just go to the roof of a tall building.

Henna thought she heard her name being called. At first, it did not even sound real. She thought it was just one more thought in her jumbled mind. Then she realized that she knew the voice and it was very real. She looked down the stairs to the parking lot and saw a pickup truck, still running, with the passenger door opened. It was real! Henna raced to the vehicle and slipped in. The vehicle was already moving before she could even close the door, let alone put her seatbelt on.

When Chuck took the curve, and turned the vehicle out on to the street, he was going so fast that Henna almost slammed into the door she had just shut. Henna was very concerned when she snapped at him, “Chuck, slow down!”

All he could say was, “look behind us!”

Henna put her seatbelt on before she did as he suggested. Then, after seeing what Chuck meant, she almost wished she had not. Helicopters were descending on the apartments. Heavily armed Germans were sliding down ropes and landing on the roofs of nearly every building. Others soldiers were coming down in the parking lots and heading for the street level doors. Even more began to descend on the fence line around the complex.

The vehicle jerked hard again as Chuck swerved in between a line of speeding armored vehicles. Henna screamed as the tires screeched and they almost collided with one of the thick metal behemoths. She half expected them to start shooting those big guns at them but, the vehicles kept right on going and only stopped as they reached the parking lot. They paid the pickup truck almost no mind at all. Chuck then found an alley, cut across to the next major street, and left the German’s behind.

Henna put her hand on the back glass of the cab, like she could actually still see the apartments. Only now did she fully realize what had just happened. A new stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. She squeaked out, “oh my god. Gordon!”