Betrayal: Society Lost, Volume Two by Steven Bird Read Free Book Online Page A

neared the highest point of the terrain, devoid of any trees or adequate vegetation that could be used as cover while he observed what lay down below, Jessie slipped off his pack and placed it to the side. Slinging his rifle over his back, he then crawled on all fours to the summit, and slowly peeked over the edge. There she is, he thought as he observed the town below. Fort Sumner.
    Lying on his stomach, Jessie pulled his rifle around, shouldering it to use the scope to aid him in getting a better look off in the distance below. Cupping his hand over the scope’s objective lens in an attempt to avoid any unwanted glints of light, Jessie scanned slowly and methodically, looking for signs of movement.
    Panning from left to right, Jessie saw a man and a small child walking down one of the side streets, carrying a few small bags. Hmm, he thought. Is this town still alive? Did it not get hit?
    Just then, an SUV painted in a makeshift desert/plains-style camo paint job entered his field of view from the left. The SUV had the telltale signs of being a current or former law enforcement vehicle of some sort, with a push-style brush guard on the front, an A-pillar-mounted spotlight and a light bar on top. Any pre-existing agency markings had long since been painted over, though. Who the hell is that? he thought.
    Watching the vehicle that was now just one street over from the adult and child, Jessie noticed the adult pull the child by the arm, ducking behind a fence and a decorative hedgerow. What the…?
    The SUV slowly worked its way down the street, passing by the people hidden behind the fence without incident. Now, just why did those people not want to interact with you boys? he thought as the vehicle slowly worked its way through town as if on a patrol.
    Once the vehicle was well past the hidden adult and child, the two emerged onto the street once again, where they hurried into a home just several houses down. At a glance, this looks like suburbia, but things seem a bit tense.
    Off to his right, Jessie could see another SUV kicking up a trail of dust off in the distance, traveling from the north to the south, approaching the northern edge of town. Turning his attentions to this second vehicle, Jessie thought, he looks like he’s traveling from roughly where the airport is located. Hmmm… Was he associated with that departing aircraft? I guess I’ll have to take a closer look.

Chapter Nine
     
     
    “Rise and shine,” Leina heard a man’s voice say as she opened her eyes and felt the room begin to spin.
    “What…huh?” she murmured as she tried to focus.
    “It’s okay,” the man said. “It’s me, Chief Peronne. Did my men take good care of you last night?”
    “I don’t…I don’t really remember. I…I don’t remember much of anything. It’s all a blur. The kids, where are the kids?” she said as the fog in her mind began to clear.
    Taking a seat next to her on the cot, he placed his hand on hers and said, “They’re safe and sound, but we still haven’t found the assailant that killed one of our townspeople. We’ve had reports from residents that he’s inside our town’s perimeter. With that in mind, we feel it prudent to keep the kids on lockdown at the clinic. We have several of our officers on scene there twenty-four hours a day, so they will be safe.”
    “Can’t your men there just bring them here?” she asked, feeling panic begin to set in. “I need to see my children. They need me. You can’t keep them away from me like this.”
    “Ma’am. Like I said, we’re making every effort to ensure the safety and the well-being of the children. Hopefully, we’ll come to a resolution soon in our attempts to capture the perpetrator. That has to be our first priority, though. If we take our officers away from the clinic to escort the children, and then something happens at the clinic, well, you can see where that just wouldn’t be in the town’s best interests. The feeling of security is a