The weather had turned cool
again, one last gasp of a winter that had never really taken place; not like in
some of the places John had lived anyhow. He pulled on one of his long-sleeved
tees and jeans, pushing his feet into socks and boots instead of sneakers. Not
because of the weather, but because they were going back to
Not before Mom talks to him, John thought, lacing up his second boot.
And by talk, John meant ‘scare the hell out of.’ She was very good at being scary. Although really, Derek was better at it just because of his size and that cold look in his eyes that sometimes took over. That cold look scared John sometimes because it told him that his uncle was capable of things that he really didn’t want to think about. He knew, intellectually, that Derek had killed; the man had been in a war, after all, but it was difficult to think of him killing people.
“You ready?”
Looking up at his mother’s question, John nodded and grabbed his jacket on the way out. She gave him a Glock and he automatically checked the safety and the rounds before putting it in the holster attached to his belt. They joined Derek and Cameron in the kitchen, where he picked up his laptop bag and then they all trooped out to the jeep. No one said anything, which made John nervous. There hadn’t been any discussion of what would happen once they got there, at least not in his earshot, and that made him think that they were trying to spare him.
He thought grimly, If she thinks I’m staying in the car, she’s in for
a rude awakening. I’m not going to let her or Derek kill anyone today.
The drive was just as quiet with only the radio providing background noise. When they were almost there, John finally leaned forward and asked, “So what’s the plan?”
“The plan is you stay in the
car while we find out what
Glaring at his mother via the rearview mirror, John retorted, “Like that’s going to happen.”
Derek twisted in his seat to face him and said, “We need you to hack into his security system and keep an eye on the cameras inside the house. Tell us where to go so we don’t have to shoot anyone.”
Which might not be a load of crap, but sure as hell wasn’t the real reason, John knew. They were trying to keep him out of the action. Keep him safe.
“If we wanted to leave you behind, you’d still be at home. We can use you best outside the immediate action,” Derek finished.
John squinted at him suspiciously, but Derek had his poker face on and he couldn’t tell how much of what he’d said was the truth. He nodded at last and grudgingly agreed, “Fine.”
“Thank you,” his mother said, only a little pointed.
He opened the laptop as they pulled up to the curb a short distance from the house. Since he was still plugged in to the network from before, all he had to do was snag someone else’s wireless to reconnect and see what was going on inside. John grit his teeth when the other three got out of the jeep, each pulling guns out of holsters and clicking off the safeties as they walked away.
When the gunfire went off, John didn’t react at first except to see where on his monitor the shooters might be located so he could give directions. Then the jeep window shattered and he immediately dropped to the floor, getting out of sight while pulling his own gun free. The sharp burst of an automatic weapon echoed painfully loud in his ear and he stayed under cover until the shooting stopped.
He popped up to see where things were going down and saw a few guys in black uniforms spread out across the street. Glancing across the yard, John saw that Derek was down, covered by Cameron behind a car, but there was no sign of his mother. Panic lit through him and he climbed into the driver’s seat, starting the engine and burning rubber to get to them. More bullets hit the jeep and another window burst, bits of fire cutting into the right side of his body wherever there was exposed skin.
John stomped on the brakes right in front of Cameron and Derek’s position and shouted, “Get in! Get in!”
Cameron stood and walked calmly to the jeep, laying down cover fire, but Derek jumped to his feet and ran towards the house.
“Damn it!” John hissed, ducking down as more gunfire struck the jeep. He tried to get out of the jeep to help, but Cameron moved to slam the door shut, nearly taking off his foot.
She ordered calmly, “Stay where you are,” and shifted to continue shooting over the hood at the unknown attackers.
Frantic for the safety of his mother and uncle, John shouted, “They need help! Let me out, Cameron!”
“You can help by staying safe,” Cameron replied.
She didn’t even flinch when a bullet hit her shoulder. She simply re-aimed and started firing again, keeping her other hand on the door to pen John in.
John flinched when a bullet ricocheted off the door and lodged in the dashboard near his hand.
Cameron told him, “Take better cover.”
Ducking down, he grabbed the
laptop and yanked it into the front with him, frantically scanning for his
mother and Derek. He found them inside the house on separate floors, jogging
from room to room, obviously searching for
“Damn it!” he hissed. “He’s already gone! Get out of there!”
“Give me your gun.”
John didn’t even look over at Cameron as he held out his Glock, eyes glued to the monitor. To his surprise, Derek went into a room and came out dragging a man by the hair. He was in his fifties with a paunch obviously in pain from the way his face scrunched up. Sarah showed up a few seconds later, maybe drawn by a shout from Derek, and there was an argument of some kind.
And then John saw something that sent a cold shock right down to his bones. Derek took his gun and simply held it to the back of the man’s head before firing. Sarah jumped forward, but was too late to stop him only getting splattered with blood and gore for her efforts. She punched Derek in the face before turning to run for the exit. Hand to his now-bloody nose, Derek jogged after her.
Shock kept John frozen for too long and then he hacked into the network and uploaded a virus to kill all the video feeds. Derek was already wanted for Andy Goode’s murder; they didn’t need a new warrant out on him. It was probably only a minute later, though it seemed an eternity, that Derek and Sarah ran flat out towards the jeep. He watched as they weaved to avoid gunfire and shoved his laptop down into the back, ready to take off as soon as they were inside.
Cameron stayed out until Derek and Sarah were back in the jeep. Once she climbed inside, John hit the gas and burned away.
“Switch, John!” his mother ordered.
He stayed where he was until she was in the passenger’s seat and then they swapped places so she could take over. They had that particular maneuver down almost to a science and were swapped none too soon, since a black SUV came up from behind and started shooting at them. Cameron and Derek both leaned out opposite windows and took out the SUVs tires, sending it careening onto the sidewalk and into a tree.
John was just relieved that no one had been out in the neighborhood when the firefight started.
“John, buckle up.”
Starting at his mother’s order,
John automatically obeyed. He pulled his seatbelt in place as she cut through
an alley to another main street where she slowed down to near the speed limit.
The ride home was just as silent as the ride there, but it was no longer just
tense; it was catastrophic. John knew that expression on his mother’s face and
it meant someone was about to get their legs cut out from under them. Given
what Derek had done to
* * * *
John hated yelling. Not because he considered it a weakness or a last resort, although it was, but because it reminded him of every lousy jerk his mother had ever taken up with over the years. There had been a lot of them, too, anyone who could teach her about how to be a better soldier and how to train him.
He sat in the living room while his mom and Derek went back and forth about following plans and needless killing and the future and Judgment Day and doing what needed to be done. Their voices started loud and got louder, though it never quite reached the level of screaming. As two strong-willed people convinced they knew best, John was almost surprised it hadn’t happened before then.
“Do they believe whoever is loudest will prevail?” Cameron asked, giving him a curios look.
John sighed and got to his feet, walking into the kitchen to find his mother standing by the stove and Derek on the other side of the table. They both stopped when he entered, the noise abruptly cut off as though he hadn’t heard every word from not ten feet away. His mother was flushed with anger and Derek was positively rigid with it.
Taking a breath, keeping his gaze on the table, John said, “It’s done, Mom. There’s nothing anyone can do about it now. And Derek? The reason we don’t kill is because that’s what they do. Sometimes, yeah, there won’t be a choice, but there was one today.”
“What choice, John? To let him escape and keep the project going?” Derek demanded.
John knew he couldn’t look at
Derek without seeing the cold, emotionless way he’d blown a hole in
“You could’ve brought him with us. We could have explained things to him. Shown him Cameron. Or yes, you could have let him go back to the project where we could have observed him and whoever else is involved. Now there’re no leads and we don’t know when we’ll find another one. Next time…just don’t assume we don’t know what we’re doing. Don’t kill first next time. Just…don’t kill, okay? It’s wrong.”
“I know that, but…”
John finally looked at him, interrupting, “No! No buts! Killing is wrong! I get that you came from a hell, I get that you’ve killed before. I get all of how ruthless and emotionless you had to be, but that’s then, not now! Now, God Derek, now is all about second chances! We can stop this, we can lead normal lives after stopping Skynet and the world will go on. No more machines. No more death. None of it. Promise me you won’t kill again, except in self-defense.”
Derek looked at him for a long time and then shook his head. “I can’t promise you that. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
And then he just left.
John felt sick somewhere deep inside and looked helplessly at his mother. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Hugging her close, he whispered, “Can’t we save him, too?”
She kissed the top of his head
and promised, “We’ll try, honey. We’ll try.”