person, intense about his work, but with a wicked sense of humor and a quick wit. That was what had attracted her to him in the first place. In many ways he was the polar opposite of John, in others they were just alike.
“Why are you calling, Katie? Still married to the hero?”
Steve had been calling John that since he’d found out whom she’d left him for. She had had a high enough clearance level to gain access to John’s Army file, but somehow had managed to resist the temptation to check him out. Steve, however, hadn’t been able to let it go, and it was the final straw for the CIA when the Army called wanting to know why one of their case officers was reviewing Army Special Forces files. Steve had been demoted, received a formal letter of reprimand and reassigned to a two-man station in the middle of the Western Australia desert.
“That’s why I’m calling, Steve. I know I don’t have any right to ask, but I’m asking for your help. John is in Atlanta and I haven’t been able to reach him. All TV, radio, Internet, phones… everything is down. It’s getting scary here and I don’t know what to do. Do I stay here and wait for him? Do I try to make it to Atlanta?” Katie didn’t like the note of desperation that crept into her voice as she spoke, but there wasn’t anything she could do to stop it.
“If everything is down, how are you calling me?” Steve asked, the note of suspicion clear in his voice.
“We had a satellite phone stashed away.” Katie said, giving him time to think about her plea for information.
“I’ve got your number,” Steve finally spoke. “Let me see what I can find out and I’ll call you back.”
“Thank you, Steve.” Katie said, flooded with relief. “How long do you think it will take you?”
“As long as it takes.” He said curtly before breaking the connection.
Katie slowly exhaled a deep breath, feeling sorry for the man and also feeling a little guilty. She’d broken his heart when she left him for John. She knew that. But she also knew that she’d made the right decision.
Going back into the house Katie walked through the master bedroom and into the closet. The closet was large with multiple, very long rods for hanging clothes and built-ins for shoe and clothing storage. All but one of the rods was full of her clothes, only two of the slots for shoes holding anything that belonged to John.
She smiled, thinking how he never complained about not having any room in the closet, then reached for one of his jackets and pulled it to her face. There was still a trace of his aftershave and she tried to fight the tears but they got the best of her. Going into the bathroom, she dried her eyes and decided she had to get out of the house for a little while.
A couple of minutes later, heavily armed with pistol, shotgun and rifle, Katie backed out of the driveway and drove through the gates to the main road. Her house was on the far edge of town, only a few miles from National Forest land, and as she expected there wasn’t any traffic when she turned to head into the city. She had decided she would go check on a friend who lived a few miles away.
Passing several other gated neighborhoods, she drove slowly and looked carefully at each of them. Not seeing anything concerning, she continued on, slowing as she approached the entrance ramp for the 202 freeway. Two cars were crashed into each other, abandoned, blocking part of the northbound ramp. Letting the truck idle forward, she slowly got a better view of the sprawling city that filled the valley in front of her.
Fires were burning in multiple locations, tall plumes of thick, black smoke rising into the blue sky. The truck’s windows were up with the air conditioning on high, and she lowered the driver’s window and turned the fan speed to low so she could hear. Sporadic gunfire sounded, somewhere in the distance. There was the hiss of tires from a steady stream of traffic on the freeway, heading north, but the southbound lanes were eerily empty.
Leaving the window down, Katie gently accelerated across the overpass and towards the intersection with the Safeway. She began to see cars moving as people rushed about, most of them ignoring the speed limit and traffic lights.