Part One
Adrenaline coursed through Major Edward Beck. He could feel it in every fiber. His heart pounded, so much so, he thought he could hear it. But to anyone looking, he appeared calm. In control. It was a perfectly crafted persona, and it was necessary. He would provide order in a sea of chaos. “Everyone in position?” He looked to one of his subordinates.
The young soldier who stood attentively replied, “Our men are standing by. They’ve been fully briefed on targets and objectives, Sir.”
Beck’s eyes hardened. “They had their chance.” He left the semi-privacy of his office and walked to the outer office that housed the sheriff’s department. He took no pleasure in knowing that the sheriff himself was party to the act of vigilantism against John Goetz. He eyed his men. “You all know who we’re looking for. Let’s bring ‘em in.”
Around Jericho, the A.S. Army fanned out in search of the Rangers, searching homes and businesses. Personal mementos were cast aside in efforts to uncover the outlaws’ whereabouts.
In the Greens’ house, Major Beck himself picked up a framed photo of Gail Green holding a dark haired baby. He could only guess that baby to be Jake. Beck quickly put it aside. It was better not to look at such things. Photos humanized the insurgents, and Beck couldn’t allow himself that luxury.
Jimmy Taylor paced nervously as he looked at his friends and fellow Rangers, all of whom were hiding in an abandoned warehouse just past the outskirts of town. He remembered the fateful day nearly nine months earlier when his son Woody was witness to the bomb that exploded in Denver. Though Woody was relatively safe—over 100 miles away on a rooftop in Jericho, Kansas—when the attacks occurred, the youngster had been plagued by nightmares ever since. And now with what was undoubtedly happening in town? All Jimmy knew was that his wife Margaret was a saint, and he was making her life more difficult. “My kids are probably freaking out. I should be home right now.”
Eric shook his head. “They’ll be watching our homes, Jimmy. Getting arrested won’t help your family.”
Jimmy opened his mouth to protest, but stopped short. Eric was right. Turning himself in wouldn’t make matters better for his family. He just hated the waiting. It was setting all of them on edge. He could see it in the way Bill tapped his fingers on the table, the way Emily’s shoulders slumped, and it looked like it was even wearing on Jake. As for Stanley, he’d not said much and mostly spent time away from the group. Jimmy could understand that. Despite the fact that he had worked in law enforcement for over a decade, he had never seen anything like what happened when Stanley silently walked up to John Goetz, aimed a gun at the man’s head, and pulled the trigger.
Jimmy’s best friend and fellow deputy backed him up. “We should go plead our case to Beck. Goetz was a murderer.” Bill paused but then spoke with confidence. “It had to be done.”
Jake clenched his jaw. “Unfortunately Beck said no revenge killings. He’s not going to let it go.”
Stanley, uncharacteristically quiet, had been left to his grief and guilt. But looking around, he knew he couldn’t let this continue. Not for what he’d done. He stood and began walking past Jake toward the door.
Jake, seeing this, felt his heart drop. “Where are you going?” he demanded.
Stanley spoke dispassionately. “To turn myself in.”
Jake quickly closed the distance between himself and his old friend, pushing him against the wall in the process. “Stanley! Stanley!” He had to reason with him before Stanley did something else rash.
Stanley struggled against Jake. “Get off me!”
But Jake wouldn’t budge. Stanley had already lost too much. Jake wasn’t about to let him lose his freedom so that Beck could claim his pound of flesh. “You’re staying here with us. That’s all there is to it.”
Stanley’s quiet melted as tears filled his eyes. “Just let me go. Please. Just let me go.”
A sudden knock on the door prompted an end to the discussion as the Rangers quickly drew their weapons. Upon seeing Robert Hawkins enter the warehouse, they lowered them just as quickly.
Jake approached the newcomer. “It didn’t take Beck long to figure out what happened to Goetz.”
Hawkins crossed his arms. “Word around town is he doesn’t seem to have the whole picture. He knows the Rangers were involved. Doesn’t seem to know I was there. And I don’t think he’s figured out who pulled the trigger.”
Jake shook his head. “It doesn’t really matter. We can’t stay here forever, and we can’t take on the whole army.”
“Jake, I know you want to protect your friend, but it’s only going to get worse until Beck gets the shooter.”
With a slight nod, Jake replied, “There’s only one thing to do.”
Searching around town had turned up nothing. But they would keep searching until they turned up someone, Beck had instructed his men. It was then that one of his sentries ran inside the city hall and announced with excitement. “He’s coming, Major Beck! Sheriff Green is coming!”
Major Beck motioned for five of his men to flank his sides, and they left city hall. Sure enough, Jake Green was approaching the building with his hands raised in surrender.
Beck was distrustful. He’d studied Green—and men like him—enough to know that looks could be deceiving, but he would play the game. “This is a good start. Where’s the rest of them?”
Hands still raised, Jake tried to deflect the major’s question. “This is my fault and no one else’s. I’m the sheriff—“
Beck interrupted, “You were sheriff.” He spoke crisply, maintaining calm in his voice for the crowd that gathered to witness the exchange, though inside he seethed. Life for everyone would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if Jake Green would have just listened to him instead of trying to buck him at every turn. It had only come to this point because Jake allowed it.
Jake persisted, “I’m the one to blame. The only one, so my terms are simple: my surrender for the amnesty of the other Rangers.”
“I accept your surrender.” His voice dropped briefly before he added, “But not the terms.”
One of the soldiers circled around Jake and secured his hands behind his back using a plastic tie cord. Acting quickly and in concert, another placed a black hood over Jake’s head.
The townspeople stood by watching in horror as Jake was dragged away, struggling. Beck caught sight of Heather Lisinski, but quickly turned, his face a mask, but not before he saw her hand go to her stomach, and the look of shock on her face. Beck wondered if she felt nauseated. He knew he did.
Sometime later, Jake felt himself being forced down into a chair, his hands still bound behind his back. Even through the hood, he could smell the putrid odor of hogs. Though he could see nothing, he knew there had to have been several men in the room with him, for he could hear their footsteps. Suddenly, he felt the hood being pulled from his head.
It was Major Beck. Jake watched as Beck pulled a folding chair closer to where Jake sat, straddled the metal chair, and looked him square in the eye.
“You got me. What more do you want?”
“The truth would be a good start.” Beck was trying to reason with him.
Jake’s right eyebrow shot up. “I killed Goetz.”
Beck continued the staredown. “You’re lying.”
“No. He was my problem.” It sounded reasonable enough to Jake. After all, he had made it clear to Beck more than once that Goetz being in Jericho could only end in disaster.
Beck fell into the good cop routine. Jake could spot it from a mile away. “I know you and the Rangers had a shootout with Ravenwood killing several men in self-defense. I know that you subdued and disarmed Goetz. I know that you attempted to arrest him. And I know that Stanley Richmond then killed him.”
Jake had to fight not to flinch at Beck’s last statement. “Where are you getting all this?”
Beck replied, “I have a reliable source.”
Jake couldn’t wrap his brain around who would’ve told the major those details, but now that the cat was out of the bag, he would have to try a different tactic. “He killed my best friend’s sister.” Jake’s voice softened as he spoke of Bonnie. All too briefly, images of her as a little girl flashed through his mind. She wasn’t that little girl anymore, but she would never get to experience all the things that should have been ahead of her, either. “She was eighteen years old.”
As Beck said, “I know,” Jake could’ve sworn he saw the composure slip from the Army man’s features to reveal compassion.
“And that was the end of a long line of murders. He needed to be dealt with.”
Just as quickly as the façade had slipped, Beck reverted to his no nonsense, by-the-book self. “You’re not a judge. You don’t get to make that call. Tell me where I can find Stanley, and all this will end.”
Jake clenched his jaw. “I’m not giving him up. If that’s what you’re waiting for, you’re gonna be here a very long time.”
Beck stood. “Bring him in.”
Two soldiers appeared with Russell. Jake had first met Russell several months ago at Black Jack Fairgrounds. The man from New Bern had carried himself with such confidence, but the man brought in by the soldiers bore little resemblance to the man Jake knew. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the angry gash on the side of Russell’s head.
“Your friend Russell, he said the same thing.” Beck nodded and his soldiers took Russell out of the room. He turned his full attention to Jake. “But everybody breaks …eventually.” Jake looked at him defiantly as Beck continued, “Until you do, these four walls will be your entire world. You will not sleep unless I let you. You will not eat unless I feed you. You will give me what I want.” Jake glared at him. “I’ll check back with you in a day.”
With that, Beck exited the room. Jake’s eyes darted around the makeshift cell looking for a way out. But before he could fully get his bearings, he felt himself dropping to the floor. He’d been pushed off the chair by Beck’s men. His arms still bound behind him, Jake was unable to break his fall. His body smarted, but he’d been through far worse.
Jake listened as the men left the room and the lock slid into place. The room was dark. Solitary confinement. Was this the best Beck could do?
But the darkness was brief. All too brief because then Jake found himself flooded in light and heat, as though the sun itself was locked in the room with him.
In the last hour, Heather Lisinski witnessed two things she never thought she would see. One was military personnel barging into people’s homes and businesses, hunting for the good guys. The other was Edward Beck having a hood placed over Jake Green’s head and the town’s hero being treated like a common criminal. No, not even as well as a common criminal. A common criminal would have had access to a lawyer, would never have been taken away hooded. She tried to push aside the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she couldn’t.
She had known she needed to get word to the Rangers. Figuring out their location hadn’t been too difficult for her. She remembered the old Simmons warehouse as being one that the Rangers used from time to time for training.
Careful that she was not being followed, Heather finally made her way there. It appeared completely deserted as she arrived, but as came closer, she could hear the voices inside. Rushing into the warehouse, she found the Rangers gathered, looking positively glum.
“Beck took Jake,” Heather announced, her voice nearly frantic.
Eric looked up from a map he was studying. Concern was etched on his features. “What? Where?”
Heather shook her head, and she fought to keep herself calm. “I don’t know. Jake tried to surrender. They put a hood over his head and dragged him away.”
Bill let out a sigh. “I don’t think it’s safe for us to stay here.”
Emily shot the deputy a dirty look. “He isn’t gonna talk.”
Heather looked from Emily to the others gathered. “He won’t have to.” She thought of all the searches that had taken place in town. Having witnessed the major’s thoroughness with New Bern, Heather knew he would expand the radius of his search. “At the rate Beck’s going, it’ll only be a couple of days before he finds this place.”
Jimmy swallowed hard. He had imagined that Beck was having Jericho searched, but hearing that it was actually taking place was certainly no comfort. “Maybe Stanley was right. Maybe he turns himself in, Beck doesn’t destroy the town.”
Emily looked to Jimmy. “Nobody’s turning Stanley in.”
Eric straightened up. “We are not giving up on Jake either. Now this is still a negotiation.” He paused almost imperceptibly, a plan formulating. “What we need is leverage against Beck. Everybody get your gear.”
Heather watched the flurry of activity around her as the men, except for Stanley who sat quietly in a corner, procured their weapons and ammunition. They quickly cleared the warehouse leaving Heather and Emily.
“You’re not going with them?” Heather asked.
Emily tilted her head toward Stanley, silently indicating her reason. “I don’t know if it’s safe for you to be going back and forth. If you bring the Army here on top of us, a lot of people are going to die.”
Emily’s words stung Heather. Their friendship had become strained since her return from New Bern, but were they really to this point? “Let me ask you something. Are you giving that warning to everyone or just me?”
“Fair enough. Let me be blunt.” Emily crossed her arms. “I want to know where your loyalty lies.”
Heather’s eyes fixed on Emily before she glanced over her friend’s shoulder, catching sight of Stanley. Her heart ached for what he must have been going through. That put in perspective her own discomfort at the conversation. “I can’t believe you would even ask.”
“You’ve worked with Major Beck to undermine the place where you grew up. I’m sure there are some people in New Bern who have a hard time believing you would do that to them.” As she spoke, Emily picked up a gun holster and looped her belt through it. “Am I supposed to believe that you won’t sell us out if Beck asks you?”
Heather swallowed hard. An old saying came to mind: no good deed goes unpunished. She went to New Bern to help turn on the lights for Jericho, only to uncover a plot against her adopted home. She set off explosives in the factory, only to be taken captive and nearly killed. She tried to help the Army restore order in New Bern, largely to ensure Jericho’s continued safety, only to have a bounty put on her head. And now she brought word of Jake’s imprisonment, only to have her so-called friend question her loyalty. She’d already gone against Beck, albeit subversively, by stealing from his data notebook and had felt incredibly guilty for using the trust he’d placed in her against him. Why did a man who had known her for only a few months put more trust in her than a friend she’d known for four years? “You have no idea what I’ve done for this place.”
Emily shook her head, her expression softening. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about Jake. I didn’t want him to turn himself in, but Jake…,” her voice trailed off momentarily before she finished, “he had to.”
“He’s going to make it through this,” Heather reassured her. “You heard Eric. He won’t be left behind.”
Emily placed her gun in the holster on her hip. “But what are they doing to him in the meantime?”
Heather said nothing.
Emily continued, “I know you think Beck is just doing his job, but there is something wrong about this whole thing. Is it so important for him to save face that he won’t rest until he has Stanley? I’ve known Stanley Richmond most of my life, and what Beck wants…it isn’t justice.”
Heather couldn’t disagree with Emily entirely, but she couldn’t entirely write off the major either. She’d seen the care Beck had given to strangers who were suffering from illness. She’d seen him go around his chain of command to help them. “But he thinks it is. With Major Beck, everything is black and white. Right or wrong.”
“Then you need to make him see the gray,” Emily insisted.
It was getting late, Heather realized as she sat at her desk and glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time in the last three hours. Her eyes fell on Beck’s office; it was still empty. For what must’ve been the umpteenth time, she replayed in her mind what she planned to say to him once he arrived.
But still he did not show. Neither did Jake.
She stood, leaned against her desk, and walked to the coffee pot. The coffee, though still warm, had a thick look to it. She and Jake used to joke about how they were surviving on coffee. She wondered if he was okay…wherever he was.
He wasn’t being held in one of the jail cells at city hall. That much was clear. As much as Heather hated the thought of Jake being a prisoner, she felt as though she could better stomach the idea if he had been imprisoned in plain sight, not spirited away to some unknown destination.
And what was going on wherever they’d taken him? A lump formed in her throat, making it difficult to swallow. She tried to fight it down, for what good would she be able to do him—to do any of them—if she couldn’t keep her head screwed on straight?
She took a deep breath and approached Lt. Jones, a man she considered to be one of the more easygoing of the military men who inhabited the office area of city hall. “Have you heard anything from Major Beck?” She tried to sound casual. “I have some documents that need his attention.”
“There’s no ETA, Ms. Lisinski. You may be waiting a long time.”
“So I guess they took Jake Green pretty far from here then. I mean, if I’m going to be waiting a long time.”
Lt. Jones grunted softly. “You know I’m not authorized to tell you anything.”
“Just making conversation.” She returned to her desk and played the waiting game. She was becoming a master of that game.
“You been here all night?”
Major Beck’s voice jarred Heather from her restless sleep. She lifted her head from her desk, and Beck noted the indentation left on her face from the edge of the notebook on which she’d rested.
Heather tried to push her grogginess aside. “Yeah.” The major handed her a cup filled with steaming coffee. “Thanks. I was waiting for you actually.”
Beck inclined his head toward his office and began walking in that direction. Heather followed, coffee cup in hand, a silent prayer on her lips that she would be able to say something that would change his mind.
As the reinforced, bullet-proof glass door closed behind them, Beck commented, “Must’ve been important.”
Heather took a deep breath. “I think you know why I’m here. What you’re doing is wrong.”
Beck stiffened. “I’m doing my job.”
“Where is Jake?” Heather blurted. She winced inwardly. So much for subtlety.
“In a secure location. Is there anything else?”
“Don’t do this,” she gently pleaded.
“Heather, I respect your feelings, but I have a job to do. I cannot allow an open insurrection. If we are to return to a nation of order, this cannot continue.”
“A nation of order?” she echoed. “By force? You led him away with a hood over his head. It looked like something an executioner would use at a hanging!”
“Funny you mention a hanging. John Goetz would know about hanging. If he didn’t have half his head blown away.”
Heather grimaced, her imagination providing a grotesque picture.
Beck continued, “Tell me, did you have rules in your classroom?”
“Of course, but…”
“And if a student did not follow the rules, weren’t there consequences?”
“There’s a big difference between reprimanding a student for stealing a classmate’s box of crayons and imprisoning someone without legal representation and without the presumption of innocence.”
Beck sat on the edge of his desk and folded his arms over his chest. “And would you allow the child to steal another’s crayons unscathed? Surely that would just encourage more theft if there were never any consequences. Next thing you know, you’re spending all your time on classroom management rather than teaching. I know Jake didn’t kill John Goetz, but he’s not innocent.”
“So Jake’s your example,” Heather stated, unable to hide the disappointment that crept into her voice.
“Jake put himself in the middle of this,” Beck insisted.
Heather shook her head slightly. “You hired me as your liaison because I know this town, and I have to tell you, you’ve misread the situation entirely, Major. You aren’t going to discourage resistance. You’re only going to make Jake and the Rangers dig deeper.”
“I can appreciate your concerns, and they are noted, but I know what I’m doing. I will restore order to Jericho.”
Heather ran her teeth over her bottom lip. She felt like she’d run smack into a brick wall. “The only one causing disorder right now is you.” With that, she exited Beck’s office and kept walking.
Beck followed Heather with his eyes until she was out of sight. Of all the people in town, it was her support, her understanding, he would have liked the most. But what it all boiled down to was that he didn’t need her support or her understanding. He would make the tough decisions. That was his job. And doing what was right wasn’t always popular.
He left his office, only to be met by a soldier seeking him out. “Major, we learned why the resupply convoy is so late.”
“Well?”
Passing the major a manila envelope, the soldier replied, “We found it on the hood of a disabled humvee at checkpoint zero.”
With deftness, Beck opened the package and removed its contents, a message. “We have your gas, guns, and ammo. Will trade for Sheriff Green.” Beck sighed and wadded up the paper.
He was awash in light, but as a moth is doomed to encircle a flame, he could not look away, for there was nowhere to look. This was the place he knew, the place he worked. The work was easy as long as he didn’t let his mind get too dulled. Most people were willing to believe a lie so long as it sounded enough like the truth. They didn’t question it. Neither did he anymore.
His fingers caught on the chain link fence that encircled the nondescript warehouse. Despite its less than extraordinary appearance, the place was an open secret. Most everyone knew the trucking business hauled legitimate cargo, along with the occasional illegal shipments. The cargo was inside, being sorted. Men worked on servicing the delivery trucks.
So as Jake Green glanced around Jonah Prowse’s shipping compound, it all appeared familiar on the borderline of boring. Other than the inordinate brightness of the day, everyone and everything was in place.
It would be his one day to be shared with the kid.
The corner of Jake’s mouth turned up. The kid was only four years younger than Jake but less experienced than a virgin on her wedding night. Jonah was teaching him the business. Emily was fuming. Jake was observing.
His boots ground into the gravel, and Jake thought he caught a whiff of the Thompson hog farm. But that was impossible. Even on a windy day in Kansas, smells didn’t travel that far.
A voice from within warned, ‘This is wrong somehow.’
“Looks like you’re in a bind.” The kid’s voice sounded younger than Jake remembered. For that matter, he looked younger than Jake remembered. Hadn’t he been shaving for years? And yet the boy that stood before him appeared to be all long, gangly legs and arms, not filled out at all.
In a bind? No, everything was as it should be.
Except Jake had a sense that it wasn’t.
Suddenly, the scene around him seemed to soundlessly explode in a burst of light, fading only slightly until Jake realized himself to be bound to a chair, a lone brilliant lamp only feet from his face.
Not this again.
Yet he found himself wanting to play off the severity of the situation. He had to protect the boy. He owed it to Emily. “I’ve been in worse.”
“How are you going to get out?” His companion no longer appeared as boyish as Jake recalled. His youthful features were covered by a scraggly blond beard. His musculature was more fully developed.
“No clue,” Jake replied.
“It’s been three days.”
If he’d been able, Jake would’ve snorted. Now, though, that took too much effort. “How do you know?”
“Just do.” Jake’s visitor knelt next to the chair to which he was bound. “They’re going to try to break you.”
Jake squinted. “Let ‘em try.” The words themselves were defiant, but Jake’s tone had lost much of its vigor.
“C’mon. You’ve known men like Beck. If this doesn’t work, he’ll up the ante.”
Jake said nothing at first and then tilted his head slightly toward his visitor. “Some help would be nice.”
The blond man shook his head apologetically. “Can’t. Against the rules. I get to watch, maybe offer some smartass commentary. That’s all.”
Some of the haze from Jake’s mind began to lift. “Wait, you’re…”
“Dead. Things keep going as they are, you’ll be joining me. Have to say that I’d like the company, but…” his voice trailed off briefly. “…ah, hell, Jake. What are you even doing? You can’t keep this up.”
“No choice. Can’t hand Stanley over to him.”
The visitor stood and crossed his arms. “I always knew.”
“Knew what?”
“You’d lay down your life for Stanley.”
The burst of light came again. Jake’s eyes burned as he struggled to adjust. He was back against the chain link fence, back in the compound. “He’d do the same for me.”
“But you let me die. I looked up to you, trusted you.”
He voiced what Jake always feared. “I told you not to go. If you’d just listened….”
“Right. The way you’ve been such a good listener all these years?” Jake’s companion shoved his hands into his jean pockets, a movement that reminded Jake of the other man’s sister. “See those barrels over there? Remember the unofficial initiation you had by members of Dad’s work crew?” Jake cringed, suddenly feeling the punches he’d taken in the gut. “Those were the days.”
“Why’m I seeing you now? Am I cracking?”
“I could give you some spiritual mumbo jumbo or bullshit about planes of existence. But what if I told you we have about as much control as a gambler rolling the dice? Oh, he can try for doubles, but he never knows what he’s going to get.”
Jake said nothing.
“So what about Emily?” Chris Prowse’s eyes were much like his sister’s. He could affect a wide-eyed innocence that belied the fact he very much wanted to be his father’s son.
Jake’s eyes burned as he tried again to squint amid the intense brightness. His eyelids no longer glided easily over his eyeballs. Too dry. And his mouth? Well, he may as well have had a mouthful of cotton. “You pick now to ask?”
“Hell, Jake, there may not be a later. Figured the least I could do is try to keep you around in the land of the living long enough to stick it out with Em this time.”
Jake ignored the comment.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”
“I’m being harassed by a ghost.”
“Is that what you think I am? A ghost?” Chris seemed to consider Jake’s off-handed comment amusing. “Guess I fit the bill. But you’ve gotta deal with me, Jake, and I’m far less troubling than what’s coming.”
“And what’s that?”
But Chris didn’t answer his question directly. Instead he leaned over and all but whispered in Jake’s ear. “Hold on to your strength Jake. You’re gonna need it.” And with that, he began to walk away.
Jake turned to see his companion head toward a pickup truck.
“Where are you going?”
“To pick up Mitch. We’re heading to the bank. Gonna make my dad real proud. Prove I’m not a kid anymore.”
Jake shook his head. “Don’t do this. If you do….”
“It’s already been done. And will be done again.”
“No, don’t do this. Dammit, don’t!”
The hues of the world around him began to change, to shift. Light flooded his vision, and he struggled to adjust to his surroundings. “Don’t do this,” Jake muttered.
And then the lights dimmed. The door opened. Footsteps.
Jake’s eyes tracked across the ceiling. He could have sworn the cracks looked like dice.
“Get him up.”
Beck. Jake blinked rapidly trying to adjust his eyes to be able to fully perceive his adversary. He was helped up into a chair, and his stiff joints protested.
“I want you to sign something. It’s a letter from you to your Rangers rejecting their tactics in trying to secure your release.”
This piqued Jake’s curiosity. What had they done? A sense of pride swelled through him. It looked like Beck had underestimated the Rangers.
“Your friends have been escalating this to a level that I will not tolerate. They’re putting their lives in danger out of loyalty to you. Is that what you really want? We both know where it goes from here, Jake.” Beck knelt next to Jake, trying to reason with him, trying to meet him eye-to-eye. “End it right now. Agree to sign this letter. Give me Stanley’s location.”
The mention of Stanley only made a feeling of resolve flow through Jake. He met Beck’s gaze, worked up saliva, and spat on the document Beck referenced. A man like Beck would take it in the spirit in which Jake intended: an insult. It was almost as insulting as Beck thinking he would sell out his friends, his family, their town.
Beck was momentarily taken aback by Jake’s non-verbal, yet resounding, response and stood. “The offer of amnesty in exchange for Stanley Richmond is rescinded. The Rangers are now considered fugitives. I want all of them.
Jake sneered. “Good luck finding them.”
“Until they’re produced, I’m declaring Jericho to be in open insurrection. Lights, power, food supplies. Five p.m. tonight I’m shutting it all down.”
“We’ve lived without that stuff before. We’ll do it again.”
“Do you really want to test me? See how far I’ll take it. Whatever happens from here on out, never forget. You caused it.”
Beck left the room. Jake could hear the door being barred behind the major. Then the room flooded with light.
to be continued...