“What about you?” Stephani gulped, her face a mask of near panic.
John shook his head and bit his lower lip. “Leave me a note. Find a spot to hole up; then send Devon back with a note telling me where you are. Tack it to the underside of the kitchen sink and then don’t come back here, ever,” John urged.
Without another word, John turned and sprinted into the back of the house to gather his belongings, leaving the rest of their group sitting stunned by how quickly their day just devolved. John reemerged thirty seconds later with his pack.
“Jared, I left both sets of night-vision goggles—take them, take everything you guys can carry on that trailer. Don’t cut corners on security now, man,” John said, looking directly at Jared.
“Where are they taking you?” Jared finally was able to muster.
“The base is at the Stockton airport, but you all stay away from that place. I have no idea what they’re doing out there or how they treat walk-ups,” John warned. “Get out, find a place, and leave me a note in the event I can get back here.”
With that, John turned and walked out the front door. Jared followed, then stopped on the porch, his brain trying desperately to process what was happening as John moved away from the ranch house towards the men out in the grass. A few seconds later, the roar of the helicopter returned as the aircraft swung up and over a nearby hill before beginning its final approach. The grass lay flat in the rotor wash as the helicopter dropped to the ground. Once the helicopter’s wheels settled into the dry grass, John was ushered aboard. The rest of the security element leaped to their feet and one by one boarded the Black Hawk while the men already aboard the aircraft kept a watchful eye on Jared.
The last man on the ground was the man Jared had seen John talking to. Jared watched as the man looked back at Jared, smiled, and flipped him the bird. Jared’s temper flared, but he refrained from any retaliatory gestures, instead choosing to stare the man down as he climbed onto the aircraft through the open side door. The helicopter pilot drew the collective up, and the aircraft lifted away from the ground. The nose drifted down slightly, causing the helicopter to move forward toward Jared and the house as it gained airspeed.
Part of Jared wanted to step out into the yard and empty his rifle into the cockpit of the helicopter, but he stayed himself, knowing there were far more cons than pros to that course of action. First off, John was on board, and secondly, if he didn’t do any real damage, the men would undoubtedly land and kill every last person at the ranch house. Instead, Jared’s shoulders slouched as he watched his friend being forcibly removed from their tiny community.
Jared stepped off the porch and turned as the helicopter passed overhead. When it was gone, he looked back toward their OP and saw Calvin walking back to the house. The older man had been at the OP and was probably wondering what was going on.
“Did John go with those guys?” Calvin asked as he drew near.
Jared shook his head emphatically. “No, they took him,” he spat angrily.
Inside, the house was abuzz with excited chatter about John’s kidnapping. Everyone was talking at once as Jared sat on a kitchen chair, his mind numb with grief over the loss of John. Slowly the rest of the group began forming a plan to take down the solar panels along with their water system and get things moved to another place they could all call home. Jared had not contributed a single syllable to the conversation when Barry turned to him.
“Hey, Jared, you okay, man? We gotta get going, man. You heard what John said, they may come back, and we shouldn’t be here if they do,” Barry admonished.
Jared looked down at the worn pair of Salomon shoes on his feet and thought about all the places he’d walked in them over the past three plus months. He thought about the friendships he’d forged and friends he’d lost while wearing these shoes. His eyes began to well with tears as he shook his head, partly in defiance of crying in front of all these people and partly because he could not accept John’s being gone.
John had given up what he had there at the ranch house in order to avoid any harm befalling a member of their group. To simply move off and leave a note telling John where they went, on the off chance the man was able to escape whatever the so-called government decided to do with him, was, in Jared’s opinion, a nonstarter.
He breathed in through his nostrils, then wiped his eyes and scrunched his nose in an effort to control his tear ducts before looking up at the room full of people.
“I’ll help pack this place up. You all head out, send Devon back with the note, but I’m not coming with you guys.”
Everyone in the room stood silent in shocked astonishment at Jared’s proclamation. Jared did nothing to help with their surprise when he spoke again.
“I’m going to Stockton.”
THE END
Continue Jared’s journey with
Book Three
CHAINS OF TYRANNY
About the Author
Rick was raised in Napa Valley, California. In
