"Okay, okay," Gary said, "but what can we do about it..."
"Go back," Ira said calmly, "we have to go back." He pointed at Gary. "You, me, Frank and Jimmy. We have to go to Fort Drum and disarm them somehow, Gary."
"Well now, this is where I have a problem with it," Gary said, in an angry tone of voice. "Where is God now? Why can't God just reach down and smack the shit out of those missiles and end it that way?"
"It doesn't work that way, Gary," Frank responded, "that's why God needs us," he looked at Ira.
"Frank's right, Gary, it don't work that way, and you ain't stupid enough to believe that it does, are you?"
Gary released a deep sigh. "No, I ain't," he said, in a low voice, "But..."
"But nothin', Gary, it's us that have to do it. Us, there ain't nobody else that'll do it for us...We all agreed?"
Frank's headache was beginning to worsen when Ira asked the question, but he nodded his head in agreement, along with Gary and Jimmy.
"One other thing, Frank," Ira said. "I said I could prove to you who I was, and I aim to keep that promise." Ira walked over to the small television screen, and six pair of eyes followed him. The screen was blank, and Gary began to puzzle until he looked at Frank. Frank's eyes were bugged out as he stared at the blank screen.
"Jimmy?" Gary asked.
"Blank," Jimmy responded.
"Not to him it ain't," Ira said calmly.
Gary turned his attention back to Frank. His eyes were no longer bulging he noticed, and a smile had come onto his face, as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"The children," Frank said, in a barely audible voice, "the children, oh my God, Ira, why didn't you tell me?" Frank whispered.
"You needed to see yourself, Frank," Ira said, nearly whispering himself. "Cora will take good care of them, you needn't worry."
"Frank," Gary asked, "Frank, what's going on, Frank, hey..."
"It's okay Gary," Frank said softly, "the kids are okay." He shook his head, suddenly realizing that the headache was gone, and blinked his eyes. When he opened them, the screen was as blank to him as it had remained to everyone else in the room. "We need to go," Frank said, in a stronger voice, "we don't have much time. Jimmy, when did that come in?"
"About an hour ago, so if he was serious we only have forty seven left... Is that enough?"
"Not if we stand around talking it isn't," Frank said, "Ira?"
"Yep," Ira replied, "we gotta get a move on. The sooner the better." That seemed to end the conversation for a minute, as each man looked around at the others in the room. "One more thing," Frank said, "I think we need to pray." Frank got down on his knees in the small room, and was joined seconds later by the others. They joined hands, bowed their heads, and Ira lead them in prayer.
While Jimmy searched out Hank Nelson, one of his ex-police buddies who had been helping to coordinate things, Frank set off with Gary to find Annie. Jimmy could fill Hank in, and Ira had gone over to the television station to set a plan in motion, that they had all agreed upon. Frank needed to find Annie. He couldn't leave without seeing her, even if it only made it harder for him, and she was also part of the plan they had come up with, and, she needed to know about the children, Frank reasoned.
He found her with Lisa and Connie, in the old County Court House building, setting up the make-shift Red Cross kitchen for lunch.
"Frank," she asked when she saw his red eyes, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing is," Frank said, mildly, "but I need to talk to you..." he looked over at Bessy, the formidable woman who had run the kitchen on her own for three days, "Bessy?" he asked.
"Go on ahead," Bessy said, "we're just about finished here anyhow. Annie, go on ahead, Lisa and Connie can help me serve." The old gray-haired woman nodded her head sternly at Annie as she spoke.
Frank waited until they were outside before he spoke. Gary had followed them out, but walked a short distance away. "First," Frank said, "I love you, Annie, I do with all my heart, and I should've already said it."
"I love you too," Annie said, through the tears that had begun to spill down her cheeks, "I-I didn't think you loved me."
"That's only because I can be so stupid sometimes, Annie. I didn't see it. No... I saw it, but I was afraid of it. Annie, that isn't all, we Gary, Ira, Jimmy and I have to leave. I can't tell you all reasons right now... it has to do with something I know about those caves, but we have to go, Annie. We have to."
"Okay," she said in a low voice, as she brushed tears from her eyes, "just come back, Frank, I-I lost my k-kids, Frank, I don't want lose you too," she burst into fresh tears as she finished. Frank took her chin in his hands, and gently lifted her face to his. "You didn't lose your kids, Annie, any more than I lost mine," he waited for a second to let what he had said sink in, "I saw them, and... It sounds crazy, I know, but I saw them, they're okay."
"You saw Tony, Molly and Robert?" she asked. "How, Frank, how?"
"Annie, do you trust me?" Frank asked.
"Of course, Frank, but my kids, you saw my kids, where are they, Frank, I want my kids, where are they!" she was crying harder but her voice had taken on a rough edge, a panicked pleading was mixed in with
