Rings of Fire Ch. 14

She fingered the other photographs as tears began to stain them once more. They were grainy and unfocused. She was sure that was intentional, though. Her handler might be required to provide her with them once a year, a small price for her continued silence. But she was confident that they did all they could to conceal any details that might give her the slightest clue to their locations.

Her children. Her babies. Though they were not babies anymore, they were in pre-school now. All except for Zander. He was where she would begin. The only one of the three whose location she knew. The only one she had ever really held.

They had all been too tiny, still hooked up to machines that breathed for them and fed them the day that she had been released from the hospital. They had done their best to dissuade her from seeing them at all, but once again, she had insisted. She had to...just once. Even if she could not hold them, she had touched each one through the thick plastic incubators that kept their tiny bodies warm. She had cried as she said her good-byes.

Zander was the oldest and only boy, but the tiniest at barely two pounds. Zoya was slightly bigger at two pounds and six ounces. She was the only one able to breathe on her own at least for short periods. Yana, though the largest at almost three pounds, had had more problems in her brief life. They still were not sure if she would make it after a bleed in her brain.

She had spent over an hour in the NICU saying her farewells to them. To the children that she had carried inside her for seven and a half months. The only children that she would ever have. Could ever have.

She was still a bit surprised that she was alive. It would have been so easy for them to let her die when she hemorrhaged after the C-section. She knew it was only because they feared the files that she had entrusted to her old mentor and professor.

The man did not know what was on the computer disk but had been told if anything ever happened to her, he was to take it to the American embassy in London. Those files had kept her alive then and had ensured that she kept getting these photographs every year on their birthday.

She searched each tiny face as her gaze shifted back to the other picture. Their father. Though he did not know. Could never know that.

She inhaled as she stuffed all the documents back into the manila envelope. Now she was just moments away from coming face-to-face with the man, who had been her only lover. Ever would be. That was another vow she had made that day.

She had nothing to offer a man, any man. She had never been anything other than mousy little Katia. Brain but no beauty. Now she was damaged goods. Unable to do the one thing that a woman's body was created for...give life. Though the modern woman inside of her recognized that was a myth, she could never quiet her babushka's voice.

She fought back the tears. They would do her no good now. Any more than they had all those years ago as she walked from that hospital, reborn as Katie Alexander.

She might never be able to have more babies. She had not even been allowed to care for the only ones she did have. But one thing she would not do was lose them now. She would find them. All of them. If she could, she would bring their families with her back to Regenesis, Dr. Jacobs new world.

But if she could not, if these people, whom she knew had been handpicked by her government to groom her babies could not be convinced to listen to reason, then she would do what she must. Whatever she had to...to keep them safe.

It was the least that a mother could do for her children.

And him? What of him? Asked her heart. But she had built a wall so high around it that nothing could get through — not even the one man who had been her lover.

She stared at her reflection in the glass; at least she did not have to worry about him recognizing her. She would never be a raving beauty, but she had lost thirty pounds during her battle for life and never managed to put any back on, oddly enough thanks to the depression that she knew would never lift, never abate.

Between her new more svelte figure and the blond highlights and blue contact lenses, the transformation was complete. Katia Alexandroff promising bio-chemist and Russian spy had become plain old Katie Alexander, average to slightly above education student and carer.

But she had to admit; she was thankful that Fate had given her this one last glimpse of the only man ever to hold her body...or her heart.

***

Zane Rogers blinked. He could not believe his own eyes. At first, he thought it was merely worry and exhaustion. He had been up all of last night doing his own research into this Dr. Brent Jacobs. He respected and owed Commander Daniel Monroe a lot, but he was not putting his career and professional reputation on the line for that.

Yes, he had been uneasy with the catastrophic events that had occurred in such rapid succession this past week. He might not have specialized in geology, but he knew enough to understand this was unprecedented. At least in recorded history. But an uneasy feeling was not worth risking a lifetime of hard work.

Of course, what he had discovered when looking into Brent Jacobs' background had not been reassuring. The man was rogue at best. Walking on the edge of accepted science. But so too had other great minds like Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. Men before their time.

The question was: was Brent Jacobs, such a man, persecuted unjustly by his peers that were unwilling to have their accepted science questioned...or was he the kook they painted him to be?

He had reluctantly agreed to at least look at the data that his old Commander was sending. And to pass it on to his contacts if he found it sound.

He watched her walk across the tarmac towards him. She was thinner, painfully thinner. Her hair was lighter too, though in this light he could not tell its exact shade. But every step she took closer expelled what tiny doubt remained in his mind.

Kate Alexander. Daniel's friend Katie was the one woman he had ever loved. The one that haunted his dreams every single night. The one that had made him swear off all women.

How many times had he dreamt of this? Planned every word he would say. Rehearsed them all in his head. And now here she was...and he had no idea what to say or do. But one thing was for sure, this time she was not just running away, disappearing from his life forever. Not without an explanation. And it had better be a damned good one too.

***

The solitary figure slunk off into the chilly night. "That was not my fault. Plans changed at the last minute. I had no control over him switching planes."

Pacing faster beneath the moonlight, "I'm not comfortable with this anymore. It is one thing to feed you data now and then on the man's work. Attempted murder is quite another matter."

"Too late to worry about that now," replied the voice on the other end as the line went dead.

***

The pattern repeated itself as Brent bent to kiss his sleeping wife as he snuck out of bed into the pre-dawn morning. Without so much as a cup of coffee, he made his way to the bunker office once more. This time he found both Samuel and Daniel bent over laptops.

"Any luck?" he asked his security team as they studied security footage from all the cameras around the compound.

Daniel nodded his head, "We might have something here," he pointed to an image frozen on the screen of a figure on the back of an ATV.

"Who?"

Samuel shook his head, "We can't get a clear enough image to know for sure. We have looked through all of the footage for the past forty-eight hours, and we never get a clear shot of the face. Head is always down, hood up. All we have is Dwayne's approximation of size based upon known markers in the picture. Somewhere between five foot six and eight. Slight build."

"Man? Woman? Race? Hair color?"

They shook their heads, "Not clear enough to tell, Doc," Daniel delivered the bad news.

Doc ran his fingers through his hair, "We have a traitor in our midst. One that attempted to kill my wife. And you can't fucking tell me who?"

He paced the room, "Upgrade the fucking cameras. Do more thorough background checks on anyone here that matches that description. Screw it, on everyone. If we have one, there may be more. And until we find out who, I want my wife and daughters kept safe."

"You have our word, Doc," assured Daniel.

The idea that anyone of his inner circle here would not only betray him, but harm Lauren was more than he could handle. He knew he was not fair to his friends, but the idea that he could have, might still, lose her when they were getting things right had kept him up all night. He would not rest, could not, not with a Benedict Arnold in their presence.

***

This is the end...or should I say the new beginning of Brent and Lauren's story. Though like Simone, Samuel, Daniel, and Jill, you will see loads more of them as this story unfolds further.

There are three more books/stories to come as you might have guessed from this teaser:

California/Mexico - Monique's and Travis's adventures to find her family and make it safely back to Regenesis.

East Coast - Zane and Katie's story. Oh, if they seem familiar to you, that is because their backstory is Fertility Goddess under the Mind Control section. Expect some other recognizable faces in that one as well, like Dwayne and Chloe from The Arrangement as they lead a ragtag group across country to Regenesis.

Isla Mujeres - Jill's sons finally are reunited with the only woman any of them have ever loved, Sarah. And this one is full of surprises as they try to make it back to the safety of Regenesis. Who knows what happens in times of such unprecedented upheaval, even prisons like the one that holds Clay Dodd might not be as secure as they seem.

Loads more to come with this one. As I have been saying, this is a series like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. As from comments that I have been getting about finishing it up, I have new empathy for G. R. R. Martin. Nonetheless, I will not alter my course.

The bad news is that the rest of these stories have not yet been written. So, they are unlikely to be released at the fast pace that this one, which has been sitting on my computer for five years, was. I am not sure how I am going to write them either. When I thought of them as distinct books, then it was a bit more logical. But as the events of the stories are unfolding simultaneously, it might make sense to bring them under the single title Apocalypse in the Sci-Fi category. And, of course, I have other stories to finish on here, such as Ægir's, before people start making threats.

If ya'll have thoughts on that order, please comment.