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 myentire 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.”