A Stones Throw Away
Activity at the U.S. Army base in Fort Carson was a mixed confusion of complete structured chaos to Nathan who was used to his coordinated organization at the CGRC.
The moment they arrived they had been ushered straight through decontamination and into a private facility where they were told to shower and given fresh clothing.
Agent Halburg was questioned extensively about Nathan, to which she was given clearance to have him with her.
After that they were given a hot meal and asked if they wanted to spend the night. Nathan didn't realize he was holding his breath until Halburg politely refused that luxury, insisting that it was imperative they get on to Cortez, and human life depended on it. Of course, that was generally agreed upon and the two of them were escorted back to her Tahoe which had been discreetly scrubbed clean. Military order fascinated Nate. But they had no sooner loaded up when a Staff Lieutenant ran up to Halburg's window waving her out.
She got back out and then came back opening the door and stuck her head in. "We have to go back in, Nathan. There was a call from the Pentagon and the Chief Specialist said I cannot leave without current stats update."
'Fine, Agent, I'll wait here, if that's all." Nathan replied.
She was already shaking her head. "You know it's not safe out here."
Nathan unclicked his seatbelt, got out and came around and they followed the second lieutenant back through the decom and then to the operations unit. He led them to personnel headquarters and told Nathan to wait in an existing support facility room.
Agent Halburg was gone a good forty-five minutes, then without warning he heard an explosive argument pour out into the hall down from where she had gone, and he moved out of the room to see what the commotion was. There stood Agent Halburg and several high-ranking officers around her. Tensions were thick as she yelled at them, and her arms undulated in anger. "Just for the record Officer Sinclair, I am not in agreement with this! It's not at all a good idea and will result in absolute pandemonium across the country! You don't have the right to enforce rogue actions in Washington, or anywhere else!" she erupted violently.
"We haven't got a choice Agent Halburg. It's going to happen anyway. Don't you understand it's the only way we can protect infrastructure from complete meltdown? We don't have enough military personnel to cover every border in every state indefinitely. We must be aggressive in our efforts to keep the country from complete and absolute breakdown. This is a national state of emergency. We won't have a country left if we don't take action, and your arguments are just unfounded." Sinclair tried to reason with her.
"I don't care! I won't stay here and be a part of this."
"Agent Halburg! Your bordering on insubordination. Have you seen what's going on out there at all? Ramiro will be just one of thousands of dead agents or maybe that doesn't matter to you," Sinclair spouted back, who Nathan supposed was the Chief Specialist.
"This is a blatant, putrefaction of order sir," she snapped back.
"I could have your badge, Halburg," he ended abruptly with his mouth hanging open at her sudden interruption.
"You wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hell of taking anything from me," she warned him. "Go ahead and try," she spoke calmly, placing her hand lightly on the gun in her holster.
No one moved, and she turned on her heel and marched toward Nathan with a dark expression. He heard one of them ask if they were just going to let her go, and the thinly veiled answer from the CS that she was seditious and could do nothing to stop what was coming, chilled him to his core. Without a word she nodded to him and he took off following her back up the hall. Back in the main HQ she finally spoke.
"We have to get out of here O'Connor."
Outside she broke into a run sprinting all the way to her vehicle and getting in without a word. The Tahoe roared to life as Nathan clipped his seatbelt, and Agent Halburg gunned it spinning out with a vengeance as she drove out the gate and down the long driveway to the main road.
They drove in silence for the better part of an hour when out of the blue she began to cry long sobbing bellows and she pulled off the road.
"We're screwed O'Connor!" she panted between sobs. "We're screwed and there's nothing, not a damn thing I can do about it! I've worked my whole life to uphold justice in this country and it all boils down to the ravings of a few demented men." She cried openly.
Nathan sat in total discomfort waiting for the tirade to subside. He looked discreetly out the window until her weeping subsided, and there was nothing left but the broken sniffs of anguish.
"What happened back there Halburg?" He questioned her tentatively.
"I found out something, O'Connor." She confided quietly.
"Something so bad, I can't even begin to process it."
"Hit me with it," he declared bluntly, noticing how her hands gripped the steering wheel in a white knuckled death grip.
Lara searched the rugged contours of his face, noticing the slight tightening of his jawline and the steely gaze of eyes that were just a hint beyond the smoky green of tornado clouds. O'Connor was an attractive man in a sort of enigmatic way, although she had a file on him, nothing ever compared to knowing someone personally. His long shoulder length hair gave him a rustic air, and she remembered noticing he was as tall and almost as muscular as Ramiro. He certainly reminded her of someone she would find out in the mountains digging around in rocks and sediment, unearthing the next great geological discovery, but here he was instead, waiting for her to answer his question.
She took a deep breath, not even sure how to explain what she had learned, looked down and sighed.
Placing a hand on the gear shift, she put the Tahoe in drive, looked over her shoulder and pulled out. She would rather be on the road as she told him about her supposed pentagon briefing.
〰️
"Operation DULL 4?" Nathan repeated her words.
She nodded.
"Yes. Operation DULL 4," she reiterated. Something neither of us might have ever known about, and wouldn't have, but Chief Specialist Sinclair thought I had already been briefed. It's code for Grid Down, O'Connor, and apparently, Ramiro was briefed back at the Burroughs Building before we left. But all he briefed me on was POTUS being moved," she speculated out loud, not daring to look his way.
"Grid down! Do they realize what's going on out here?" Nathan rasped desperately.
Her breathing became labored as she nodded and divulged the sickening details.
"There is a world-wide outbreak, and they want to fix it by shutting down the electric grid!"
Halburg yelled, some animalistic howl, releasing all the pent-up anger and beat the steering wheel with a one-handed fist.
Nathan nodded despite feeling suddenly asphyxiated. His thoughts spiraled out of control as he absorbed what Halburg had just said and the enormity of it.
A cold sweat flushed his whole body, and he fought back the urge to puke. He had to shake it off, because it wasn't like he was a stranger to the possibilities. He took a very deep breath to steady his quaking voice. "He was on the phone right before we raced up stairs, finding you on the second floor. I remember he cursed when he slammed down the phone and took off, snapping at me to follow." Nathan recounted blinking back his own anger and disbelief.
Lara responded with a haunting fact. "Regardless, they are about to proceed forward, and all military units and classified personnel have been apprised to prepare and stand at ready. Operation DULL 4 commences at 0400 hours O'Connor, and I can't understand why he would have kept that back. He had said everything else in front of you," she ended weakly.
"I don't think I was the reason, Halburg." Nathan alluded. "I think he didn't want you to know. I think he wanted to protect you."
She shot a glance at him and he was looking at her too.
His expression was dead serious. "I mean think about it Halburg," he mused out loud, "Ramiro assumed he'd be right by your side when it all went down. More than likely he had planned to get you both back safely, and honestly, he probably thought you already knew."
"Yeah, you're probably right," she sighed, fearing what the future held for them now.
"Call me Nathan, Halburg," he prodded her, hoping to persuade some trust from her by mentioning it again.
She gave him a slight nod. "Got it Nathan, no more formalities, like you said, so, call me Lara. And don't worry, I will get you back to your family. Somehow."
A tense camaraderie settled between them, and Nathan also turned his thoughts to his next hurdle. Survival.