In the end, he hated leaving Kyla, but there was no question she would be a lot safer, and that was what he promised to his sister. The second they did their work at NORAD, he was going back to Glendo to collect her.
He looked in the rearview mirror. Kyla and the cabin were already miles behind.
I’m sorry, Kye. I couldn’t tell you to your face, but I think this is going to be a one-way trip.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
Dwight had a terrible morning. After the white-haired man took the girl in blue away, he spent hours spilling his guts into the five-gallon bucket serving as his toilet. When he wasn’t tossing his cookies, he yelled for Poppy to come back, though she never did. It was almost a relief when a man dressed in black came and opened his door.
“David says it’s time for your sentencing.” The man spoke dryly, as if Dwight was far beneath him.
“Can we take a car? I’m not sure I can walk.” He sat hunched over on the plastic chair. His prison attire needed a visit to the laundromat.
“Get your ass moving, traitor. I can guarantee you won’t like it if I have to get help to yank you out of there.”
Dwight stood, wobbled for a few seconds, then started for the door. His stomach felt like a dirty dishrag tangled in the garbage disposal, but at least he wasn’t dry-heaving anymore. It was the headache that was going to kill him.
The guard walked him out of the office area and into a dank hallway made of stone. He learned not to ask questions of the man, though he kept what passed for a lookout for his bird.
“Please, Poppy,” he whispered.
The colorful bird never showed up during the walk. His attention went to what was ahead. Double-doors were being held shut by a couple of guards and lots of voices were beyond, as if a party was going on. It reminded him of the celebration back at the warehouse in San Francisco. Things worked out for him there. Maybe this would be no different.
“Put this on before you go in.” A guard handed him a black sack, though his brain couldn’t fathom what it was for.
“Are these pants? Underwear?” He held it at different angles, searching for leg or arm holes.
“Idiot,” one of the men replied. “It’s a black hood. You and the others aren’t supposed to see what’s in there until we say you can.”
“Others?” he said with shock. Based on the posture of the guards, he realized there were other men behind him. They’d walked the same hallway as him, though he was in the lead. All wore the same orange-striped suit as him. Most were injured or infirm, save for one perfectly normal young girl standing directly behind him. When they locked eyes, he asked the important question. “Have you seen Poppy?”
The teen was going to answer, but a guard smacked Dwight on the back of the head. “Shut it! Just put the damned thing on.”
Hood on head, Dwight let himself be led into a big room. He knew the size because of all the echoes. At first, one man was speaking, but applause soon followed. Only when he was stopped did he listen to the words.
“My friends, the last thing on the agenda for this meeting is the sentencing of our traitor. This man—”
Dwight’s hood was lifted. He was on the stage in a gymnasium set up with a basketball court, perhaps at a college or university, though he’d never gone to one. Hundreds of people dressed in black stood around a white-haired man on a raised platform at about mid-court. He appeared to be the source of the talking.
“…is responsible for the death of six legionnaires in Folsom, California. As you know, we are a new nation built on total adherence to laws. The law for murder, such as what he committed, says he must be put to death. But, as you know, I abhor violence—”
A female voice snorted with barely-stifled laugh. It silenced the whole room. It took him a moment to identify the girl in the blue outfit standing on the podium near the talker. He was sure it was the same gal from his prison cell. The speaking man looked at her, but she didn’t make another sound.
“So, this man’s sentence will be non-violent. Put him in.”
Dwight was shoved into a metal box framed around ten-foot glass windows on the outer walls. It was about the size of an elevator car interior with a roof lined with complicated-looking equipment. When the door was closed, the man spoke, though Dwight could no longer hear him.
Soon enough, the compartment filled with white light. It was so bright, even putting his hands in front of his face couldn’t keep it out of his eyes. Soon, he wasn’t sure he even had eyes…
CHAPTER 7
Fort Collins, CO
Once Ted accepted the need to keep Kyla out of the next fight, he settled into the drive through Wyoming’s high-plains eastern border. They mostly kept to the backroads, avoiding the larger interstates and the enemy troops they assumed were there. All they saw was the occasional hawk and dozens of pronghorn antelope. They were a speck on the endless scenery of rolling hills and wild grass, though the fastest-moving one.
“I’ve been thinking…” he said slowly, after fifteen minutes of silence.
“Uh oh, that means trouble,” Emily replied with a sharp tongue.
“Har-har, Ms. Comedienne. I’m being serious. It seems incredible Ramirez ended up at the one
