BLOODLINE The Last Sanctuary | A Novel | By @WendyyWolfe

[3] We All Fall Down

We All Fall Down

Deaglan hit Highway 191 to Moab and floored it. "Alexa, play Deag's song list," he prompted the virtual assistant.

"Okay. Playing Deag's song list." Alexa answered robotically.

The haunting melody of The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks filled the interior of his double cab pick-up, an omen of despair discreetly hidden in the words.

He was an hour from home, but he hoped now that Miranda knew he was on his way she would calm down. She had been blowing his phone up all morning. Frantic for him to come home. He had to leave work early because she was scared. Something was happening in Salt Lake City. Was he on his way yet? She was going to take the kids out of school.

Deag had let Nate know he was heading out. Since he had taken Nathan's job offer at the research center as head of security, things had drastically improved in his marriage. His paycheck took care of his family very well, Miranda didn't have to work and, Deag enjoyed his newfound authority. It was a pleasant change from being the low man on the totem pole.

Even though he had never been able to convince beautiful, impetuous Miranda to move the family to Colorado the drive wasn't all that bad but today it seemed further than normal. He brushed it off as Miranda's fault for being high strung and demanding. When she couldn't cope with something out of the ordinary that was just everyday life for others, she played the helpless card and Deag always came to her rescue. He was sure this was no different.

What he did not happen to notice, on his drive home as he entered Moab, were the small groups of people wandering about with bloodied faces, hands and clothing. Or the tight, jerky motions of their movement.

〰️

After Deag left, Nate turned on the TV in the lunch room and sat back to see if he could find some news on this emergency Miranda was freaking out over. His phone rang, and he answered cursory, flipping through the channels, his random thoughts turning to full scale unbelief at what he was seeing. His mother's voice echoed through his horrified mind.

"Nate?"

She sounded a thousand miles away.

"Mother, I think you need to pack," he replied mechanically. "Gather everything you need to be gone awhile. Pack every ounce of food that won't spoil and bring boots. I'll be at your place in half an hour."

He ended the call and shoved his phone hard into his back pocket and took it right back out. He had to call Deag, and Len Cloud. As he waited for Deag to answer, he jogged back to his office taking the time to send out a facility wide email. Deaglan didn't pick up his call, Nathan figured he was in a no service zone, so he grabbed his brief case, gathered up any records he might need, and retrieved the large envelope from the file cabinet where it had been for years now. He locked his office and left, stopping briefly in the lobby to try Deag's phone once more. He took a long look around the facility he had grown to love and the work it represented. Some of the finest minds in geology and natural energy research were housed here but even they couldn't stop what Nate knew was coming.

Nate told the lobby officer to make sure everyone was out of the building by two pm, lock up and not to return until further notice. They would all soon figure it out for themselves.

He exited the building and made his way out to his SUV, with his phone in hand.

"Siri, call Len Cloud."

Siri complied, and Nate walked on waiting for Len to answer, when he noticed the woman standing next to his Grand Cherokee. He slowed his steps abruptly, realizing he'd left his briefcase on the floor in the lobby, as she approached him with a tentative smile extending a fragile hand his way.

Brunette wisps of hair that had escaped the tight bun at the back of her head brushed across her face and noticeably blue eyes in the slight breeze. As she reached him, Nathan noticed her impeccable dark suit fit tailored to her height which was just under his shoulder. She was fair skinned and delicate but very sure of herself by the way her hand stayed extending to his as if she truly believed he would reach right out to her.

"Pardon me, Sir, you wouldn't happen to be Nathan O'Connor, would you?"

Nate gave her a hard look but continued to his vehicle. Len failed to answer his phone and Nate did not have time to entertain strangers and said as much.

She jogged behind him, her high heels clacking the pavement twice to his long strides.

"Please, I know it seems odd, I'm looking for the son of a very good friend. He was a journalist. We worked together. For years," she lied coolly, holding her ground. It didn't matter. All that mattered was his cooperation.

Nathan stopped dead still and did an about face. Did she have a slight British accent? He looked at her and the slow burn of years of resentment made its way up the back of his neck. How dare she, he thought murderously. He would never give her the satisfaction of his attention.

"I think you've mistaken me for someone else," he also lied tersely, "and I really have to be somewhere, so I'm afraid I can't help you."

"On the contrary," she smiled again, "I haven't, but you've gotten it partly right, you do have to be somewhere, just not the somewhere you thought."

Nate opened his mouth to answer her arctic impudence but never got the words out. He felt the slightest prick of a needle, saw the small inoculation gun in her hand and with a muttered curse, crumpled to the parking lot at her feet. His cell phone went unnoticed landing beyond reach and scuttling beneath his SUV behind the back tire.

A black suburban pulled in silently beside them and two men got out hefting Nathan effortlessly into the back seat. They fastened a seat belt around him and hand-cuffed his left wrist to a bar attached to the door.

Agent Lara Halburg got in beside his slumped figure and motioned the driver to move out. Her ploy hadn't worked as she had hoped. Nathan O'Connor, if it were possible, was more stubborn than his father. When the senior O'Connor had fallen off the radar of the N.B.C. unit of homeland security some years ago they had immediately set their sights on his oldest son, keeping him in their cross-hairs.

It had never produced a single lead. She hadn't wished to resort to plan B, but then she never expected Nathan O'Connor to resist her questions. It would have made things so much easier if he hadn't.