Lost Contact (The Bridge Sequence Book One), Nathan Hystad [primary phonics books .TXT] 📗

but Marcus was there, snatching the weapon. Tripp had a handle on Jerry, who was crumpled to the ground, dead eyes watching the clouds.

Fred spun on his back, and he jabbed a punch into my gut, sending me reeling. I gasped as the air shot from my lungs. I squinted through the blackness and heard muffled shouts.

“Marcus, now!” Veronica shouted, and I opened my eyes to see my sidekick standing over Fred.

The gun lowered. He couldn’t do it.

“I’m sorry, Rex,” he said. For a second, I thought Marcus was telling me he was with Fred. A Believer. Then I understood. He’d already killed someone, and he couldn’t do it like this. Point blank with the man staring him in the eye.

Tripp shoved Marcus out of his way and hauled Fred to his feet. He pressed his pistol against Fred’s temple, using the man as a shield while walking toward the helicopter and the last remaining soldier in the clearing. “Hand her over or your boss gets it!”

The soldier helped Beverly out and removed his mask. His frame was massive, and he was older, maybe mid-sixties, with gray hair and white stubble. “Kill him. If you don’t, I will,” the guy said, releasing Beverly. For a moment, she just stood there, tears streaming down her face, and then she ran past Fred and to the spot where I lay on the rocks.

Tripp still had Fred, and Beverly’s husband fought to escape. Tripp clubbed him over the skull, sending him to the trail. “Let’s see it, then,” Tripp said.

The big soldier pulled a gun, but instead of pointing it at Fred or us, he aimed toward the cliffs. He ran off, and half a minute later, we heard three gunshots. He came back, dragging Cliff’s body with him. He dropped the Believer soldier and shoved his gun in its holster.

“Who are you?” I asked as Veronica assisted me to my feet. The gunshot wound was reopened, bleeding through my shirt and into my jacket.

“A friend.” His voice was gravelly.

“What the hell are you doing, Saul?” Fred asked with a laugh. “You’re all going to die! They won’t stop until you’re gone and the Bridge is closed forever. The Unknowns are coming! Then you’ll see!” He clawed his way to his feet, dashing toward the crate in the rear of the helicopter.

Tripp and Saul raised their guns at the same moment, but it was another gun that fired, hitting Fred in the back. He slid forward on the stones, his breaths coming ragged. Beverly walked toward him, the gun taken from Marcus in her grip. “I like to think I’m a reasonable woman, but what you did was unforgivable. Our children, Fred… What were you going to do with them?”

He managed to roll over, blood spilling from his lips. “I love them, Bev. I love you too. It would make sense when the Unknowns came. I wanted to save you…”

More tears spilled from her eyes, and she shook her head. “You aren’t my husband.” She walked away, leaving him sputtering, and a minute later, his chest stopped moving.

“We need to go,” Saul said. “I take it you realized this isn’t the Bridge entrance?”

I nodded, hardly able to stand. Veronica was there to brace me as we rushed for the helicopter.

Tripp aimed at Saul. “We can’t trust this guy. Who the hell’s to say he’s not the Sovereign?”

“Thank you for helping us,” I whispered to Saul.

“No problem, kid. I only wish I could have exposed my presence to you sooner. I was deep undercover,” he told me.

“But Tripp’s right. How can you prove your story?” I asked.

Saul unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it apart. The tattoo on his chest stared back at me. I unzipped my jacket and tugged my shirt open too. They matched.

Beverly gasped. “That’s what Dad had, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I said. “And Hardy told us there were four of you with them. Clayton Belvedere, Dirk Walker, Brian Hardy, and…”

“Saul Goldstein.” He stuck his hand out. It was like shaking hands with a stone. “When we learned what the Believers were doing, I went in. Haven’t broken character for almost four decades.”

“The tattoo. It looks like a P over a T. What does it mean?” Veronica asked.

Saul smiled, the expression frightening on the tough older man. “Promissa terra. The promised land.”

6

We ultimately discovered a flat spot to land near the Bridge’s cavern. It was higher in elevation, and the low-lying clouds were below us as we descended to the narrow landing strip.

“Have the Believers sent reinforcements?” Tripp asked Saul, but the other man shook his head.

“The Sovereign didn’t believe Fred was ready, but they figured a nuke and three of the best soldiers would do the trick if he did find the Bridge. Only I selected the soldiers, and they were greener than spring grass,” Saul said.

We landed, with Beverly managing to keep it together despite everything that had just occurred. Her children were at the house, and they’d be safer there for a few hours.

She cleaned my wound, with Veronica reapplying a bandage and wrapping gauze around my torso. I popped a painkiller, chugging some water, and hoped I’d have enough strength to finish what we’d started.

It was well past midnight, and I glanced behind me at the crate, cringing at the thought of sitting so close to a nuke. Tripp was the first to dash from the helicopter.

“Rex, who do you want to enter with you?” he asked, leaving it up to me.

I glanced around the group, scanning from face to face.

Marcus was the first to speak. “I’ll stay here, Rex. If you’re trapped on the other side, I’ll use the Case to bring you home.”

Tripp nodded. “I should stay too. On the off chance more of the Believers come.”

I assumed he also didn’t completely trust this newly-admitted turncoat, but there was something about Saul that I instantly respected.

“I’ll go,” Veronica said. “I want to see what’s across this Bridge as much as anyone.”

And it was settled. Beverly