Chapter 14
Evacuation

There had been two kids in the car. The driver had been a twelve-year-old boy named Ethan. Riding in the passenger’s seat had been his eight-year-old sister, Fran. They had driven for several hours from a coastal city to the north. Ethan had passed out. Fran had steered the car off the road to where Greg had found it.

Ethan was taken to a hospital. Fran was escorted to Prime Minister Winn’s office. Aaron, George, and Liam had been there the entire time, eating some food from the break room that Erika had served them. Theodore and Greg arrived shortly before Fran and the escorts did.

Fran looked awed as she walked into the office. Clearly, she had never seen an office this large before. Theodore motioned to a chain in front of him. “Welcome, young lady. Take a seat, please.” She sat. “Would you like a soda? Or a candy bar? I have some in my desk.” The girl shook her head.

“Then on to business,” Theodore said grimly. “Tell us what happened to you and your brother.”

Fran gulped. “We… we woke up last night. Mommy woke us up. There were noises outside. Booms. Mommy told us to get dressed. We did. Mommy said we had to leave, not to even pack. She said the two of us had to go. Ethan had to drive. She didn’t want to come. Mommy’s a doctor. She stayed to help people. She made Ethan get in the car and me too. She told us to drive to the church, then turn on the big road until we got to a big city with the triangle building. Mommy said she would meet us there.”

Greg held up a hand. “Triangle building?”

“Where loud people sing,” Fran said.

Theodore looked up at Greg. “She means the Opera House.”

Greg nodded. “Go on, then.”

“Well…” Fran continued. “Ethan drove. He knew how by watching Mommy. There was fire. Things were vanishing in the fire. There were guns. People were screaming. We drove until we were far away from the city. We drove a long time. Then Ethan fell asleep and we went off the road. That’s all.” Fran looked at Erika. “Where’s Mommy?”

Erika put an arm around the girl. “She’s not here yet. Let’s go get some food for you, and then you can go see your brother. Would you like that?” Fran nodded, and Erika led her out of the room.

Theodore leaned forward and put his head on his desk. “So what’s the official report?”

Greg produced a piece of paper from his pocket and cleared his throat. “At approximately 1:36 yesterday morning, a fleet of battleships was sighted off the coast of a small coastal town. Twenty-seven minutes later, soldiers came ashore in the middle of town and destroyed it. The survivors have gathered at another, larger city several miles to the south. The soldiers have set up camp. The battleships are moving towards this city.”

“Oh dear…” Theodore moaned into his hands. “What are we going to do?”

Greg thought for a minute. “You have two options, really. You could stay here and try to mount a defense, or you could evacuate the city and flee somewhere safer.”

Theodore’s head came off the desk, and his eyes gleamed with newfound confidence. “That’s it! We can evacuate to Helm’s Deep?”

Through a mouthful of food, George asked the question on everybody’s mind. “What’s Helm’s Deep?”

“Helm’s Deep is an ancient fortress,” Theodore explained. “It was built in the middle of the outback. It has a small fortress built to guard the entrance to a massive network of caves underneath. Nowadays, it’s used as a military base, so a lot of provisions are already there. Not to mention it’s carved out of solid rock, so bombs won’t be able to penetrate it. There’s a bunch of buildings, a solid rock wall, and an airfield out there. It’s perfect!”

Greg leaned forward. “If I may be so bold as to say that this is not going to stop Sean. I know these are his forces. What he did to the coastal cities, and yes, there have been more before this one, is just a taste of the terror that he will unleash.”

“No,” Theodore said firmly. “I will not do anything that will bring war to my country.”

Aaron stood. “War is coming, whether or not you want it to. Just accept that.”

There was silence for a very long time. Theodore stood and walked over to Aaron. “Last time I looked, Theodore Winn was Prime Minister of Australia, not Aaron Horn.” Then he walked out the door.

* * *

Warren King sat on the airplane. It was a large and luxurious airplane, built exclusively for him. Initially, the designers had several problems with King’s original design. For starters, the plane had no bedrooms. Secondly, it had no restrooms. And thirdly, there was no catering to speak of. The designers eventually convinced King to put in restrooms and a place for food, even though he claimed he didn’t need it, but he would not let them put in bedrooms.

He sat in the conference room, with the doors locked and the windows closed. He placed a finger on the phone and dialed a series of numbers. It didn’t even ring. The voice that came out of the speaker phone was harsh and mechanical.

“Report.”

“It is as you said, my lord,” King reported. “He is against us.”

“Then he shall be destroyed,” the voice said. “Any word on the ring?”

“No, my lord,” King said. “But I have men combing the globe as we speak.”

“Good. Find my ring,” the voice ordered. “Find it.”

“Yes, master,” said Warren King. On the other end, there was nothing but static.

* * *

The order came through about a half-hour later. The entire city was to evacuate to the east, to Helm’s Deep, several miles away. For all it was worth, the evacuation actually went very, very well. The military stepped in to ensure that the entire process went smoothly, and soon there was a long line of cars and trucks driving through the outback.

Near the end of this procession was a limo carrying Prime Minister Theodore Winn and FBI director Greg White. Worry was etched all over the Prime Minister’s face.

The FBI director’s face was unreadable.

To Be Continued…