Entanglement by Gregg Braden Read Free Book Online

didn’t want to be distracted by his brother, whose anxiety was often infectious. He found it disorienting to talk to Jack, then walk a few yards and find himself in the heart of the hostile desert again. He also found it hard to talk about anything neutral or upbeat. He couldn’t tell his brother what he was doing or even where he was doing it. Because of this, their conversations were often stilted and one-sided. Jack delivered news about their mutual friends—who’d lost a job or had broken up with a girlfriend. Or he talked about himself: he’d seen a movie or lost a filling; his car needed a new transmission.
    Charlie often had trouble concentrating on all the facts and details, let alone even hearing them over the static. Sometimes he became exasperated with Jack’s petty problems. Who gives a shit about your transmission? he wanted to say. Do you realize where I am? The people he once knew didn’t even seem real to him in this world of sun and dust.
    And he could never explain, even to Jack, how different it was here. Basic services that they had always taken for granted—hot showers, for example—were now luxuries. In the desert, water was liquid gold. The weather was no minor matter either; it was central to the day’s mission and outcome. And the members of his team had become more than minor sidekicks and partners—they were blood brothers, who could, and often did, save your life.
    Young men like JD, who’d put himself on the line for his unit and Charlie so many times that he’d lost count, or Joe, the farmer’s son from Alabama, who was as right-wing as Charlie was liberal, yet told him after a recent firefight, “I love you, man—I really love you. We almost died together.”
    This was the kind of bond that Jack would miss out on entirely. Not only that, but he would be fiercely jealous if he knew how close Charlie had grown to these other men.
    As often as Charlie wished that he had never come, he also wished that Jack could have accompanied him. As it was, there would always be a central event that he could never share with his twin—maybe the crucial event of his life. He felt guilty about this, as if Jack were being cheated, instead of him.

CHAPTER 6
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    It took more than half an hour for the traffic caused by the accident to clear so that Jack could finally move again. He couldn’t stand to think of all the time he’d lost—more than 40 minutes. He shook himself alert and began driving again through the late-night streets. Traffic was sparse now, except for a few taxis. He had his laptop open on the passenger seat and reached over to click the wireless icon; the computer searched for a signal as he drove. He moved into the right lane and slowed down in front of various establishments, hoping to pirate an open-access Wi-Fi network.
    Jenny’s Cafe on the corner of Main and Summit had a network, but it was password-protected, as was the Creamery Ice Cream Shoppe and the Dixie Coffee Spot. He tried the hardware store, two insurance companies, and even a funeral home. All were locked.
    Jack quietly cursed and pressed down the gas to leave downtown. Desperate for a connection, he decided to steer his car through a series of residential areas. He drove farther afield, out of the city center. His car, nearly alone on the sleepy, rain-soaked streets, emitted an otherworldly glow.
    Various networks popped up on his laptop. Most were simply last names: the Sandy family, the Conners, Le Compte. All were locked. They appeared and disappeared in seconds. Then a new unlocked network appeared: the Tankian family. The signal was strong.
    â€œYes!” Jack said and pulled over to the curb.
    Opening a browser, he sent Charlie an e-mail, typing like a machine gun.
    are you ok? i need 2 talk to u!!
    He hit S END .
    But even this didn’t seem enough.
    Next he opened a Skype window; he and Charlie had talked on Skype numerous times