Emergency
Josh
There was no chatter and no word from either Generals. That was until I was yanked out of bed by Irons in the middle of the night.
I called Patrick and he stayed with the girls as I raced to the command center. There on the big screen was General Lewis. “I need every single one of your operatives that you can spare. This is to be of your highest priority and it needs started now. High terrorist threat to civilians. I have very little communication with General Pendleton, but we have the list. As soon as word gets out that our high value target was executed tonight, they’re going to call up the sleeper cells. A British mission for a high value target a few months ago almost blew everything Pendleton was doing in Jordan. But tonight, it all went down, and it was a successful mission. How many operatives can you send out tonight?”
Axton was pacing. “I can send the Originals and twenty others.” He then looked at Drakos. “Put us on lockdown right away.” He then looked at all of us. “Call up units C, D, I, and F. Have them grab their shit and head out. All of you do the same.” He looked at Devers. “Get the jet ready to go in thirty minutes.”
“You’ll have flight clearance, and I’ll make the airspace above the lake a no fly zone. I don’t know who is aware of your compound, but we won’t take chances. The President is calling up all special forces and the UN is calling for the same. They’re handling our foreign allies. There’s over a thousand names and coordinates on the list. Most are in the states.”
I was headed to the property room when I paused because I heard Axton ask the million dollar question.
“Can you give us any update on Creed?” Axton asked.
“I know nothing specific other than several casualties. We got the list, but lost contact with the unit soon after.” He said and my blood turned cold. I didn’t have time to dwell on that because it was one hell of a large terrorist threat for our country. We hadn’t seen anything like it since 911.
As I dressed in my fatigues I called Patrick and reminded him about the shelter under Creed’s house. I also suggested he had his family come to Creed’s Lake just in case. We had no idea where the cells were yet, and we had to time everything perfectly. We couldn’t allow any communication between our targets. I knew the President was meeting with the Secretary of Defense, and might actually send the whole country into a blackout, disabling cell signals.
Our first wave was sent out in exactly thirty minutes, and we were on our way to meet all special forces on the east coast in Virginia. It was the kind the mission we all dreamed about. To take out an entire terrorist group at one time was incredible. I just hoped we made it to all of them in time. It wasn’t just big cities at risk. It was every single American and it didn’t matter where they lived. They would go for as many casualties of innocent citizens as they could get. Question was whether Creed’s Lake was near a sleeper cell. What about my entire family in Cold Springs? What if a cell was planted to get close to our operation? I knew Axton would send out a second wave by morning, but I didn’t want that to be necessary. Twenty operatives was enough if we wanted to keep Creed’s Lake safe. I also hoped we had plenty of armed citizens to take down a threat if necessary.
Morgan
Patrick woke me up and had me in a panic. There was an alarm sounding off and how it didn’t wake me I didn’t know. He pulled Addie from bed and insisted I get downstairs. My mom, sister, and grandparents were there, and my heart was racing. What was wrong? Was it Creed?
“What’s happening?” I was about to pass out if they didn’t say something soon.
“We need to get down to the shelter.” He carried Addie and guided us all to the kitchen.
“Tell me what’s happening!” I was panicking as Patrick handed Addie off to my grandpa then typed in the code to the panel.
“Creed’s mission was successful and we’re under a terrorist warning. Something happened in Seattle. Axton just set off the alarms. All the Originals except Axton shipped out a few hours ago. He’s in the command center and hopefully he will update us soon.”
The elevator came up and there was only enough room for two at a time. Addie was crying as my grandpa grabbed my arm and put me in first and stood Addie up next to me.
“What does Creed have to do with Seattle?” I asked as the doors shut. Addie was holding on to me for dear life. “We’re going to be safe, Addie.” I promised.
The elevator felt like it took ages. When the doors opened, there was another door set in concrete. There was also another control panel. I put my hand on it and the door opened. The elevator went back up after the doors closed behind us. I looked down at Addie and knew I had to stay calm. We stepped inside the door that just opened, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a very large tunnel with very few lights.
“Lets wait for everyone else.” I tried to calm my sweet baby girl. In the next elevator was my mom and sister, then we waited, and it was my grandparents, then Melissa with great grandpa and finally Patrick.
“What’s happening, Patrick? What does Creed have to do with Seattle?”
“I don’t know, Morgan. Lets just follow the tunnel.”
I didn’t know if I was having a bad dream or if I was about to pee myself for real. “I have to pee, Patrick.”
“Hold it.” He said as we walked in a group.
“I’m six months pregnant with twins, asshole!” I snapped at him.
“What do you want me to do about it, Morgan? I’ve never been here either! I have no idea if there’s a bathroom close.”
“Where’s dad and Uncle Darren?” I started to cry.
“Doing what I should be doing, their jobs.” Patrick growled.
The further we walked we started hearing voices. “Tornado shelter my ass.” I complained when I started to see doors then finally a glass wall. I saw Axton in action in what I could only describe as the command center. He was wearing a headset and pacing in front of a bunch of television screens and one huge screen. What I was seeing on those screens scared the hell out of me. There was fire and people running. “Is he watching the news and do you think he would mind if I used his bathroom? I’m about to pee myself.”
“Morgan!” I looked to my left and saw Steph and the kids approaching. She hugged me right away. “They all shipped out. Ryan, Valerie, and even Magnus. I don’t know what’s happening yet, but a few of the prospects are out gathering Magnus’s dad and siblings. Any operatives who have family in town are having them brought down here.”
“This is urgent, Steph. I need to pee, please.” I begged.
“Sure, come on and I will show you to a bathroom.”
“What does Creed have to do with what happened in Seattle?” I asked as we walked, leaving the kids with my family.
“Axton will address everyone once we’re all together.” She answered.
I finally got to pee and hated the image I saw in the mirror but there was something more important to worry about and that was our country. Steph took us all to a big waiting room and told us to have a seat. She sat down and we all looked at her for answers.
“You all saw the doors as you approached, those belong to Creed. There’s a few bedrooms and a kitchen. He also made sure there’s some toys for Addie and clothes, but of course he didn’t know you’re pregnant. If it’s safe we can send a few prospects up to pack some of your things. Straight ahead of us is the command center and to your left is the mess hall. The entire community will be down here soon. Their areas are about a mile away and not as easily reached as ours. It’s most important for the Originals to be close to the command center.”
“So that’s where they go to work everyday?” I asked.
“Yes, their offices are on the other side along with all the weaponry. We are in the forbidden areas now. The families will be housed in more of a group setting than us and they do not have access to this part of the shelter, only the mess hall.” She answered.
“How often have you had an emergency like this and had to come down here?” I asked.
“Twice, but not for anything like this, just tornado warnings.” She said then looked at Melissa. “Would you mind taking the kids to Creeds apartment area? I can show you the way.” She offered.
“Sure.” Melissa answered and I gave Addie a hug and kiss. I wanted answers as soon as possible. It felt strange that for two months Magnus was hovering like crazy since he figured out that I was pregnant, and suddenly he was gone. I was scared for everyone but worried sick about Creed. Magnus only left me for five days since Creed left. He had a mission a while ago, but other than that he smothered me.
My sister was crying about my dad being out there and my mom was holding her. I was looking at the television screens and seeing a disaster on each one.
Axton was still pacing and looked like hell. He was stressed out and so were the people sitting around him on computers.
I looked at Stephanie who just returned from taking the kids to the apartment. “Why do they think this has to do with Creed?”
Steph sighed. “Other than a call from my husband to say goodbye and that he was shipping out because Creed’s mission was successful, that’s all I know. My best guess is that it wasn’t as successful as they first thought, and it sparked something to happen.”
I could feel my babies moving and didn’t even know if their daddy was alive or dead. I started crying and my mother let go of Savannah to hold me.
I watched that command center like a hawk until Axton saw me and looked at some other man I didn’t know and pointed at us. The man walked to the door and opened it. “Axton wants to see Stephanie and Morgan.”
I bet nobody ever saw a woman that looked like she was a year and a half pregnant move so fast. We approached and Axton pulled out a seat for me then knelt down next to me. “Here’s what we know. Creed was leading a squadron made up of several special forces members. For a few years they had their eyes on a new terrorist group that was growing quickly. Problem was, they couldn’t find them, until right before he left. That’s why he only had six weeks. They were to take down the leader and his information specialist. They killed the main leader and took the information specialist into custody. They quickly marked where this group planted some sleeper cells all over the world. They lost communication with General Pendleton and didn’t know how much of a jump these terrorists had. The military deployed right away, and we were called up to help clear the groups of cells here in the states. There are seven hundred here that made it through the southern border. There was a mass shooting and some bombs at a concert in Seattle. Then the government sounded off alarms and told every citizen to seek shelter before they blacked out the entire country’s cell stations. We are in contact through Space Force on protected satellites. What you’re seeing on the screen is old footage, but LA just took a hard hit. It was a movie premier and another concert venue. Magnus and our other operatives flew out to Virginia to band up with other special forces groups. London took a hit and so did Sydney. We don’t have any other updates.”
“Will you address everyone soon?” Stephanie asked.
“No, we are busy trying to command our operatives.”
“What about Creed?” I asked as I laid my hand on my belly.
“We don’t know. They still can’t contact General Pendleton. The Pentagon is working on it and sending a team in to find them. All we have is the sleeper cells. We need to know if there’s more intel Creed was able to collect before the Pentagon lost communication.”
“Do you think he’s alive?” I bit back my tears.
Axton shook his head. “I don’t know, but knowing Creed there’s a good chance. I need you to go to Creed’s apartment setup and get some rest. We will come get you if we hear of anything.” He looked at Steph. “I need you to update the families then go ahead and get some rest with the kids. I’ll make sure you’re both notified if we learn anything. Right now, I need to get back to work.”
I felt like I was in the middle of a nightmare. Steph walked me to Creed’s apartment and sent a few men upstairs to grab some clothes for me along with my vitamins and Nikko. I was confused how anyone thought I’d get any rest. My future was either dead or alive and my best friend was at a movie premier last night in LA. Not to mention Josh, who I absolutely cared for was out there trying to take out terrorist threats with my friend Valerie. I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster ever since I returned home to find Callie and Addie.