“Oh my God. When?”
“The event happened three hours ago. Look at the levels.”
Gene’s fingers clicked on the keyboard as he looked up. “They’re dropping.”
“Like we theorized, three or four hours.”
“I need to look at this closer. See if I can predict where it will happen next.”
“If you look, it’s not going to be just one place. It will be many. I’m going to get my kids and my mom and head to the mountains. Hopefully far enough away and high enough that we’ll be safe.”
“You know, oxygen will save you.”
Susan nodded. “I do. I’ll get what I can when I land. You have what you need?”
Gene nodded.
“You’ll have warning. Text or call me if you see anything happening near Reston.”
“I will.”
“Good luck.”
And then just like that … Susan left.
Gene lifted his eyes to the monitors. There were so many, too many to watch and make timely or accurate predictions. He would need to call in help, get those who were in the lab, including the major, back to work to help.
The eruptions were a fact and were happening.
The best case scenario now would be for enough singular eruptions to occur that enough pressure would be released and the threat would pass.
If it was building to the point where it happened nearly all at once, that would be nothing short of global extinction.
Gene prayed that wouldn’t be the case. But as he looked at the readouts, he feared a global event was the pending outcome.
FIVE – MESSAGE
Flight 3430 – En Route to Las Vegas
Not that Delaney Russo was visually judgmental, but she was guilty of visually judging the three men the moment she saw them at the gate.
The father and sons bickered some at the gate, throwing out some macho vibe.
She had no idea why the second she saw them, they just set her off.
It irritated her instantly and it didn’t make sense to her.
Delaney was a people person.
They visually were all a contrast to each other. A pompous looking father with his high end golf shirt and pressed jeans, trying to look dapper with his perfect hair and clean shaven face. He screamed misogynist from the second she saw him. One son looked like a stoner with his eighties hair and band tee shirt, the other arrived late at the gate and looked like a punk, possibly even one of those radicals the way his hair was in a buzz cut.
When they stopped fighting, they laughed loudly.
Admittedly, Delaney was a bit moody. She had no idea her connecting flight in Denver from Cleveland would have a layover of four hours.
She was ready to kill her sister over it, then again, her sister did pay for the flight.
But her sister was rich, which didn’t explain her choice in airlines.
When Delaney’s sister Kim called her about flying her out for the bachelorette party in Vegas, Delaney expected some sort of first-class experience. After all, Kim and the other bridesmaids were taking a limo from Los Angeles.
Nevertheless, Delaney had a free trip to Vegas, which normally she wouldn’t be able to afford. Every dime she made, along with her husband’s income went to paying bills. They had three kids, with the oldest being thirteen, and kids were expensive.
She was fine when she got on the flight from Cleveland, but after two hours in the Denver airport, her mood spiraled.
She had to wait to get a spot at the charging station and felt chained there once she did.
As soon as her mood began to improve, she saw the father and son group bully their way to the gate, that set her off again.
Hearing how loud they were annoyed her.
She just wanted to get on the plane. Her boarding number was ahead of them, and she settled into her seat.
Delaney knew the short flight was going to seem long when they sat right behind her.
Swell.
The thug brother kept drinking, the father kept clearing his throat, the only one tolerable was the stoner. He just stared out the window.
She really didn’t know what it was exactly, or why the trio of men set her off, but she knew one thing, she would be glad to get off the plane and away from them.
<><><><>
The clacking of the ice against the side of the plastic cup caught Tom’s attention. He turned his head to the left, where his son, Gabe, like Tom, sat in the aisle seat in the row next to him. They were separated by a mere eighteen inches or however wide the tiny aisle was.
Elbow on the arm rest, Gabe shook his glass that was empty of all but the ice and when he got the attention of the flight attendant, he lifted a finger as a sign to say, ‘One more please’ and smiled.
The flight attendant nodded and took his cup.
“What?” Gabe asked.
“Nothing.” Tom shrugged. “Just you know, we’ll be landing soon.”
“I can drink it when we land,” said Gabe. “They’re still serving.”
“Okay.”
“Dad, it’s vacation. I’m good.”
“Yes, I know.” Tom cleared his throat and returned to that darned bargain tablet he picked up for the trip. He glanced at Owen who sat staring out the window.
“Do you mind?” he heard a woman say.
“Sorry?” Gabe replied.
Tom glanced over.
“Your foot,” the women in the seat in front of Gabe said. “Can you pull it back. It’s in my space.”
Tom didn’t know what the woman was talking about. Sure, Gabe’s shoe was slightly in the aisle and maybe near the
