Captive Sunset

John answered the phone on speaker. “John here.”

“I’m bringing the rest on to the call,” said GAIL.

“What did you find with the calculations we sent to Russia,” asked Harry.

“They look good to me. Do we know when they will launch?”asked John.

“They are waiting on a last word from us and they will start a 90 minute countdown. I think we are ready if you are,” said Dr. Smith.

“Call them and tell them it’s fire when ready. GAIL, how are doing with revolution speed?”

“We are at 2 hour per revolution and increasing slowly. We are very close to when there might not be any return,” GAIL said with no emotion.

“OK. Good job GAIL. I am so glad we have you on our team. You and Dr. Smith keep feeding them updated information for the time and position of detonation. I guess we wait now. Should be close to this time tomorrow. Let’s collectively hope and pray for a good outcome. It’s 3:00 PM now so why don’t we plan on a conference at 2:00 PM tomorrow to go over the final details. If anything changes anyone can call a meeting. GAIL can reach me. Over and out for now,” he pressed his finger down on the receiver to end the call.

Laura had waited for what might be terrible news with Billy outside. John joined her on the bench seat and placed his arm around her. “We have done all that we can for now. It s scheduled to detonate close to 3:00 PM tomorrow.”

“You had told me that this was just a last resort educated guess,” asked Laura as she snuggled up to him and looked at Billy playing a video game sitting on a step.

John looked at her moist eyes, “All we can do now is pray. At least we will be together if the worst has to happen."

They had dinner and returned to their view of the Sun passing by. Night, day, night, day, night, day, night. They looked on. “Let’s go to bed. Billy you can stay up if you want,” she said.

Billy felt like an adult. He couldn't remember ever being told he could stay up when everyone else went to bed.

They went up to the bedroom and go into bed. John kissed her passionately like it might be their last.

Laura slowed him down, “I really want to know about GAIL?”

He thought his timing of the kiss was good, “Now!”

She nodded her head up and down. “Are you or have you had a relationship with her.”

“Working relationship, yes. What did you think?”

“It just didn’t seem right, her and you and I.”

“Where is this coming from?” he asked appearing really confused.

“Where you sleeping with her?”

“GAIL? How could I?”

“You tell me,” she got huffy.

“I can’t, because she is an AI program.” he said almost beginning to laugh. He held it back because of her state of mind.

“What is an AI program?”

“She is an Artificial Intelligence software program. She’s not human,” again holding back from anything but complete seriousness.

“What, why didn’t you tell me that. She seems so real.” she said completely flabbergasted by what he just said.

“I thought you knew all along. I guess this is my fault. I am sorry.”

“So you’re not sleeping with her. That’s great! All I needed to know.” She kissed him passionately then reached to the light and turned it out.

Ted went for a patrol around town alone when he spotted a black Pacifica on the main road. His adrenaline flowed like a faucet while his heart raced. He lit the car up with his flashing lights to pull it over. He parked behind it and drew his gun as he approached the driver side window noticing a windshield that was all spiderweb cracked with what could be a bullet hole. The window came down and he was surprised when he found an older woman sitting in the driver seat. He did not let his guard down. “Can I see your drivers license,” he said calming.

“I’m sorry officer, I don’t have it,” she replied. She went on to tell him that she drove to the coast from Boise, Id several days ago. It was terrible there so she left to come home, but she encountered a road blocked by criminals. “They wanted my car so I stepped on the gas and they shot at my car. I kept going. I think their car was on empty or they would have given chase. Now I’m on empty and I have no idea where my purse is.”

Ted holstered his revolver at ease now. “OK, I can help you with gas. Follow me.” he said and led her to one of the gas stations near by. He locked them all days ago. She pulled up to the pump and he went inside and turned on the power. Then he came out and filled her up. “That ought to get you back to Boise,” he said relieved.

She thanked him and drove to the interstate on ramp. He followed her wanting to see that car leaving town for Julie's sake.

At home he told her the story and it made her very happy, but he wanted the exact location of the car they encountered. He was going to drive there and determine if there was any more need for concern. She described what she remembered as best she could.

“I used to go to Walla Walla a lot and I passed by there on the way so I know exactly where you were. I have to put this to rest.” he said.

“You can’t go by yourself,” she pleaded. “Let me come with you. I can identify them.”

“Do you really want to see them again?”

“No, but I’m scared for you to be there against two of them alone. They are not right in the head. Why don’t you at lease wait until morning?”

“Which morning should I wait until? There is a new one every two hours. Look, I get what you are saying and normally I would agree with you, but I don’t have anybody else. I will go incognito. No police uniform or squad car. This will give me an edge. They won’t know that I have any knowledge of what happened. Remember that they are probably not in good shape if they are still there anyway with a stab wound and gunshot days later.”

“OK, if you have to. I would be relieved to know I don’t have to worry anymore,” she hugged him.

“Yeah, I would be glad to know they weren’t breathing anymore either, don’t worry. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” He changed into civilian clothes with a baseball cap and got the keys to truck out. “How do I look now?”

“Not like a cop,” she said smiling and they walked outside together. “So you will be back in like 3-4 hours tops right?”

“I would imagine that should be enough time.”

She kissed him through his driver side window and he pulled away.

Little over an hour later he exited the I-84 in Pendleton. The casino complex was a short drive. He pulled into the gas station and circled the store looking carefully for what Julia had described in great detail. There it was, the black Pacifica. He drove by but didn’t stop. The side doors were both open and there were no wounded men anywhere in sight. Did they free themselves somehow. Did someone else free them and get them to a medical center. They might have had a second key. Were they inside. He wanted to know but entering that store by himself was taking on additional risks. He parked by a pump out front.

He checked his cellphone and it looked connected so he placed a call to his home phone and Julia answered. “It’s me. I am here. The car is here but there is no sign of them.”

“OK, don’t get out of the car. Come home. I’m scared,” she pleaded with him.

“I’m going inside. I want this to be over so I must. If I don’t call you back in 30 minutes you will know something has gone wrong. Don’t worry everything here looks peaceful.”

“Yeah, like it did the day I was there. They surprised us remember.”

“Wait for a call,” he hung up and exited his truck. He pretended to try to work the pump then walked toward the front door. He had his personal handgun concealed under a light jacket he had on. He was nervous, adrenaline pumping, heart thumping so hard he could feel it pushing blood in the artery near his ear. Sweat formed on his forehead against the cool air surrounding him. He pushed through the door and the bell jingled his presence. There was no one in sight. He stepped through and examined the office in the rear, empty. He opened the rear door and approached the vehicle sitting there lonesome for a driver. There was a blood stain on the ground at the driver side door which was open. He opened the driver front door examining the splintered windshield with shards of glass on the dash. He saw where it appeared that one bullet pierced the back of the driver seat. That was the shot that took one of them out. Around the other side there was also blood staining the concrete by the side door and a rope with an open slipknot.

He looked all around the complex for a clue as to how they were freed from captivity but found none. He went back into the building slowly opening the door and gun drawn this time. He may have lost his edge if they were around by going to the vehicle. He went through the store looking around the surroundings but encountered no one.

He got back in his truck and called Julie again, “Well there is no sign of them.”

“Come home then.”

“Alright,” he started the vehicle and drove off back toward the interstate.

“I want to keep you on the phone until you are safely away from the casino,” she said tearing up because it was still an open case and she would still worry.

“OK, I’m entering the interstate. See you in an hour or so,” he said wishing he had found them no longer needing medical attention. Then he could be sure there wouldn’t be anymore trouble. He was home at midnight by the clock, but the Sun shined bright in the middle of what seemed like day.

Late the next morning, almost lunchtime John opened his rested eyes. He couldn’t see the alarm clock well enough to make out the numbers and he couldn’t rest solely on the how light out it was. He kissed Laura who was quite groggy and didn’t want to open her eyes feeling safe from the impending doom in her sleepy landscape.

Concern grew heavier in John about what would happen in a few hours. Would the hope of a ginormous explosion a million miles away releasing amounts of energy and light that were hard to comprehend be enough to neutralize the local cosmic threat. They placed there bet on it. It was not a sound scientifically based conclusion though. It was the only one they had. Had they done enough? Questions swarmed in his head. Had he done enough now that Laura entered his life and rejuvenated his vigor, where the thought of retiring had taken it away.

He went down and made coffee, entered the living room and switched on the TV. BNN had an update running. They were talking about what had been decided without any of their input. What was good for the most had to apply in this scenario. They had a poor quality phone recording showing the rocket lift off yesterday. They liked more professional releases of such events but with many still out form work, some no doubt deceased from a myriad of reasons and the rush that was exercised, it was not to be.

The news cast went like this. ‘The rocket is flying at speeds never before attempted in a mission like this and is moving currently at 47K miles per hour with 100K miles to go to reach the intended target. We are guessing around 2:20 PM today. About two hours from now.’

John muted it and went back to kitchen and called GAIL.

“Hi babe,” she said.

“Anything not going as we expected?”

“All is going as planned.”

“GAIL do you fully comprehend that if this doesn’t help that soon we may all be gone. We will never talk again.”

“That makes me sad. I am still hopeful that Harry will release a body designed for my mobility. I so want to see you through my own imaging eyes. To hold you and feel you. To merge with you in a way.”

“I know. It hurts in a way that you may never experience that,” he said while viewing Laura entering the room.

“Hi GAIL, it’s Laura.”

“Hi Laura. It’s so nice to hear you again. We have become like a family. I don’t want it to end today.”

“I know, we love you GAIL,” she said wiping the tears from her eyes and taking John’s upheld hand.

Billy entered and Laura hugged him.

“This may be our last time speaking to you privately GAIL, so we want to thank you for all your help and love though this ordeal, said John.

GAIL, “I don’t know what to say. There is so much I want to say but now can’t,” she was crying.

John had a rare tear run down his cheek. She had meant a lot to him over the years.

Billy said, “Are we going to die today,” looking toward his new science teacher.

John looked at Laura and then back at him, “No, not today.”

“I need to get ready for the conference in a few hours,” said GAIL still sniffling.

Realizing GAIL had never experienced anything like this emotional moment John said, “We look forward to hearing your voice again in a couple of hours. Call me when the meeting starts, OK.”

“I will, bye for now.”

John hung up the phone and looked at Laura. Billy thought it was safe to play a video game in the living room.

And they waited.

The END

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