RECIPROCITY
Sidney’s Way volume 3
a Five Roads to Texas novel
Written by
BRIAN PARKER
Illustrated by
AJ POWERS
Edited by
AURORA DEWATER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Notice: The views expressed herein are NOT endorsed by the United States Government, Department of Defense or Department of the Army.
RECIPROCITY
Copyright © 2021 by Brian Parker
All rights reserved. Published by Phalanx Press.
www.PhalanxPress.com
Edited by Aurora Dewater
Cover art designed by AJ Powers
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
Five Roads to Texas: a Phalanx Press Collaboration
The Five Roads to Texas world is ever expanding. Look for more adventures from the minds of other Phalanx Press authors on the Five Roads’ Amazon page HERE.
Works available by Brian Parker
Amazon Link for Brian’s works:
http://hyperurl.co/49bffn
American Dreams series
The Decline | The Ascent | End Game
Five Roads to Texas series
Five Roads to Texas | After the Roads | The Road to Hell
The Days Before (a prequel) | Reciprocity
Easytown Novels
The Immorality Clause | Tears of a Clone
West End Droids & East End Dames | House of the Rising Gun (coming soon!)
High Tech/Low Life: An Easytown Anthology
The Path of Ashes series
A Path of Ashes | Fireside | Dark Embers
Washington, Dead City series
GNASH | REND | SEVER
Stand Alone Works
Grudge
Enduring Armageddon
Origins of the Outbreak
The Collective Protocol
Battle Damage Assessment
Zombie in the Basement
Self-Publishing the Hard Way
Plus, many more anthology contributions and short stories.
Do not be overcome by Evil, but overcome evil with Good.
~ Romans 12:21, The Bible, New International Version
PROLOGUE
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
MARCH 26TH, DAY 1
Sirens echoed loudly down the street. The artificial canyons created by the city’s massive skyscrapers intensified the sounds of panic causing a nearly overwhelming cacophony of sounds. New Yorkers in suits fought with tourists in flip-flops for taxis. Men punched women who stepped in their way. Police officers fled toward their own homes, abandoning their duties in their haste to escape Manhattan.
Jackson Jefferson watched in horror from the windows of a souvenir shop he’d taken refuge in against the pandemonium. The young scientist had been on his way to work when everything went to shit. Of course the world would fall apart this week, he thought bitterly. He’d moved into an apartment in Midtown with his girlfriend, and another researcher at the hospital, just this past Saturday. He was finally within biking distance to work instead of riding the subway…and now this happened.
“What’s going on out there you think?” a guy asked from behind him.
He turned to see the twenty-something Middle Eastern employee standing in the center of the store with a broom. “I don’t know, man. I was riding my bike to work when everyone started going crazy. The alarms started going off and then an emergency text message popped up on my phone.”
The employee held up his phone, still staring out the window without looking at Jackson. “I got it too.”
“I think everyone did. There was like, a twenty-second delay while everyone read the message and then panic set in. I guess they’re all trying to get home before they get trapped.”
Jackson lifted his phone from where it had rested in his hand beside his leg while he watched the chaos outside. He pressed the wake button and slid his thumb along the number diagram, keying in his PIN to unlock it.
There it was. The mayor’s emergency message was still displayed on the screen. He hadn’t even had time to navigate away from it before people began fighting for a way out.
“I’m lucky then,” the employee said. “I just live upstairs.”
“Hey, ah…” Jackson read the man’s nametag. “Amir? You should probably lock up for the day.”
“My father would kill me.”
The young researcher pointed at the pandemonium in the streets. “He may get mad, but some of these people may actually kill you. I mean, did you see the part in the emergency message where it said people are killing each other?”
Jackson reread the message on his phone.
“This is an Emergency Alert from Mayor Romano. All bridges and tunnels from/to NYC will be closed in one hour. Anyone left in the city after that time will not be able to leave. No exceptions. There has been an outbreak of unknown origins across the United States. Millions of people affected. Victims become agitated and murder anyone near them. This is not a hoax. All NYPD officers are ordered to report to your precinct headquarters. Citizens are urged to remain calm.”
“Remain calm, my ass,” Jackson grunted. “Oh shit! Beth!”
He’d been so engrossed in watching the disaster unfolding before him that he hadn’t called his girlfriend. He tried to dial her number, but it wouldn’t go through. The phone kept saying that all circuits were busy.
Jackson didn’t know what was going on, but he was sure it was a hoax. Why else would they say that it wasn’t, in the message? Asshole hackers were always doing stuff like that for their social media channels. They’d record peoples’ reactions and upload the videos. This was just another hoax. He looked up from his phone as someone slammed into the shop’s large window. Only this time, whoever set off this hoax was going to get somebody killed.
He
