Samuel takes several deep breaths from his machine. “Vincent, there never were any weapons of mass destruction in the first place. We went into Iraq to look for evidence of a weapon.”
Vincent shakes his head. “You’re confusing the shit out of me. What are you trying to say? Were there weapons or not?”
“Yes. This paper shows evidence of a weapon—a weapon that will destroy evil in the final hour. This weapon is actually…this weapon is actually a man. This is evidence that one man is prophesied to bring down evil.”
“And how does this prove that?” Vincent asks.
“I see them too, Vincent.”
“Them? Who are you talking about? Who are they, Samuel?”
“Angels, Vincent…I see them also. You know when you see them. There’s always something about them that glows whether it’s their clothing or their eyes or teeth.”
Vincent is shocked by what he is hearing.
Samuel’s breathing begins to slow down and he closes his eyes. He whispers, “They like you, Vincent. They speak about you and if you just listen with your heart, you will understand them.”
Samuel slowly puts his index finger on the picture of the man with the sword. He then slowly points the same finger at Vincent’s chest. He whispers something that Vincent cannot understand. His hand drops.
Vincent realizes that Samuel is no longer breathing. He shakes Samuel by his shoulders. “Samuel…Samuel? Hey!“
He places his ear close to Samuel’s mouth to listen and hears nothing. He checks for a pulse on Samuel’s neck. Nothing.
Vincent calls for the nurse. “Emily, Emily!”
She comes into the room. “Yes, what’s the problem?”
“He’s not breathing, and I don’t feel a pulse.”
Emily walks over to Samuel and can see that he is not breathing and has no pulse. She pulls the covers from Samuel’s feet and extends it over him, covering his entire body.
“Aren’t you going to work on him?”
Emily smiles and says, “He’s D.N.R.”
“He’s what?”
“D.N.R. It means do not resuscitate.” Emily places her hand on Vincent’s shoulder as she walks past him and exits the room.
Vincent picks up the two pages and stares at the man with the sword for several seconds. He then carefully places the two pages back in the leather binder. Vincent puts his jacket and skullcap hat back on and exits the room.
He walks out the front door and down the steps of the porch. Vincent stops at the base of the steps because he sees two men standing next to a black SUV parked in the street in front of Samuel’s home.
The men are wearing black suits with black trench coats and black leather gloves. The older-looking man of the two opens the rear door and says, “Mr. Cain, why don’t you let us give you a ride home.”
Vincent gets into the back seat. The older man closes the door behind Vincent and gets into the passenger seat. Vincent says to the driver, “Well, I’m sure you don’t need directions to get to my house.”
The older man looks at the driver and smirks.
The driver adjusts the rear-view mirror to make eye contact with Vincent. The older man says to Vincent, “He finally passed away.”
“Yeah, finally.”
“His chip gave off the deceased signal.”
“What do you guys want from me? Why have you been following me?”
“Because you are a threat to the world order, Vincent. It took centuries to finally get a one-world government in place, and we don’t need rebellious people like you fucking it up for us. Especially rebellious fucks who like to talk about God and religion. You should have been thrown in jail by now, but because your father and I were good friends in the past, I haven’t done so yet.”
The driver pulls up to Vincent’s high-rise and puts the vehicle in park.
The older man says, “Now, Vincent, just be a good puppet like everyone else. Keep your trap shut and go with the program. Now get out of my car.”
Vincent gets out of the SUV and slams the door. But before he can walk away, the older man rolls down his window.
With a big smile on his face, he yells out, “Oh, and Vincent…I’ll be seeing you around.”
All by your damn self
It’s 11:45 p.m. as Vincent takes his usual seat in the roll call room. He looks to his right and notices that Estrada is not sitting next to him as he usually does. Vincent looks behind him and sees that Estrada is sitting two rows back. Vincent shakes his head, pulls out a pen, and gets ready to copy his shift assignment. The shift lieutenant walks into the roll call room and stands behind a podium.
“Attention to roll call…car 5-10, Bradley and Soles; car 5-11, Wilson and Griffin; car 5-12, McCallister and Letwin; car 5-13, Estrada and Amos.”
Vincent becomes angry and drops his pen on the table. “What the fuck?”
“Is there a problem, Cain?” asks the lieutenant.
“Well, if I’m not working with my partner, then who am I working with?”
“All by your damn self,” replies the lieutenant. All of the officers in the room laugh. The lieutenant continues, saying, “You will be car 5-41. That concludes roll call, everyone…be safe.”
All of the officers exit the roll call room and make their way to the garage. Vincent walks quickly behind Estrada and calls to him. “Estrada! Hey, Estrada!”
Estrada ignores Vincent and continues to walk. Vincent catches up to Estrada and gives him a slight push on the back. Estrada turns around. “What do you want, man?”
“Was this your idea?”
“Was what my idea?”
“You know what the fuck I’m talking about. Did you ask not to work with me?”
“Yeah, I did! I warned you to stop pulling the shit you do, and what you did the other night was the last straw for me. So until you learn how to behave, you will be working all by your damn self just like the LT said.”
Estrada turns and quickly walks away from Vincent.
“Fuck you!” Vincent walks to his police vehicle, sits in the driver’s seat, and pounds his right hand three times on the steering wheel. “This is bullshit! I can’t believe I’m working by myself. What the fuck ever, man.”
Vincent places his right hand up to the ignition, starts the car and then quickly drives away, the tires squealing.
***
It’s a very slow night for Vincent. He has been patrolling his assigned area for several hours without receiving a dispatched call. At 2:13 a.m., he finally receives his first call from the dispatcher.
“Radio calling 5-41.”
“Go for 5-41 radio.”
“Make Cadillac Square and assist the Military Police.”
“5-41 radio. What type of operation are they conducting?”
“They did not specify.”
“5-41 is en route, radio.
Vincent thinks to himself, what the hell do they need me out there for? There's nothing but a big abandoned factory over there."
Vincent arrives at the dispatched location. There are 10 soldiers removing several men and women off of a large military truck and escorting them into a large abandoned warehouse. Vincent exits his vehicle and walks over to a lone solider that has been staring at him since he arrived at the scene.
"Officer Cain at your service," he says sarcastically to the soldier.
"I’m Lieutenant Bradshaw and don't get smart with me Cain. This is a serious mission we are conducting here."
"And what type of mission would that be, lieutenant?"
"Classified."
"Oh, of course, classified. Ok, so…what do you need me to do?”
"We need you to maintain outer perimeter security. There are a lot of displaced citizens running around here, and we don't need them interfering with our operation. No one gets in, and no one gets out. You got that?"
"Don't y
ou think you need more than a one-man roller to maintain an outer perimeter for this big-ass building?"
"Look, Cain…I'm already running an operation with a quarter of the men that I need to effectively conduct my missions. The military is already running thin, so I don't need to hear your shit. You copy?"
Vincent smiles and salutes Lieutenant Bradshaw. "Lima Charlie."
“Good," Bradshaw says and walks away. After walking several steps away from Vincent, Lieutenant Bradshaw stops, turns back around, and says, “Oh, and one more thing, Cain. Under no circumstances are you to enter this building while we are conducting our mission. I will advise you when we are clear and will relieve you of your duty."
Vincent shakes his head. “Yeah, whatever.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a cigar. He lights the cigar and sits on the hood of his patrol vehicle.
As Vincent smokes the cigar, he looks around, surveying the area, which has very little light. The building that the men and women were taken into by the soldiers is a very large, rundown abandoned factory. It is four stories high, and most of the windows are either missing or broken, and debris is scattered everywhere.
Suddenly he hears a woman scream loudly from within the factory. Vincent looks at the factory to see if he can locate where the scream came from. Several minutes go by and no other noises are heard. He dismisses it and continues surveying the area.
Vincent then looks to the east of the factory. He walks over to a burned-out abandoned car that overlooks the skyline of downtown Detroit. He unzips his pants and begins to urinate.
The screams of a female voice ring out in the night air. This time he knows where it’s coming from because he turns his head and sees a woman running from the factory. Two soldiers are chasing her.
Vincent spits out his cigar, zips up his pants, and begins walking toward factory. The woman sees Vincent and begins running toward him screaming, “Help me! Please sir, help me!”
Just before she can reach Vincent, she is tackled by her feet. The woman continues to scream and begins to fight with the soldiers. Vincent asks the soldiers, “What the fuck is going on?”
After a brief struggle, the soldiers handcuff the woman and begin dragging her back to the factory. The woman continues to resist, kicking and screaming. “Please help me—they are going to kill us!” “Hey! I said what is going on here!” Vincent yells out to the soldiers.
“It’s none of your concern!” One of the soldiers snaps.
The soldiers quickly drag the woman back into the factory. Vincent stands there confused, wondering if he should have stepped in and helped the woman. He says to himself, No, you did the right thing. She is probably some piece-of-shit criminal or something.
He walks back to where he spit out his cigar, wipes it off, and continues to smoke it. He continues to think to himself for several minutes. He paces back and forth. He has a flashback of the old lady who gave him the St. Michael necklace. He remembers that this is almost the exact situation that she was in, and he stood by and did nothing.
They probably killed the old lady, and I know she wasn’t a criminal. I stood there and did nothing. If these people are being killed and they are innocent, then I am just as guilty of killing innocent people for not doing anything. Fuck it, I need to get in there and see what the hell is going on.
Vincent runs over to the opposite side of the factory’s front door. He notices the fire escape ladder is down. Quickly and quietly, he climbs up the ladder and enters a second-floor window. He walks around on the second floor. He sees a door labeled “Observation Room.”
Slowly he opens the door and peeks his head in, making sure the room is clear, and then enters. He looks to the left and can see a large window. He approaches the window and sees a larger open room on the first floor. Vincent looks down to see eleven men and ten women standing side by side. He notices that they are all handcuffed behind their backs. Then he notices something odd.
The same man who had picked him up outside his father’s home is there. Vincent pulls out his phone, zooms in on the man, and snaps several photos. He then switches the phone from camera mode to video recorder and begins to record.
The man begins to speak and his voice echoes throughout the empty building. “I will ask one time, and one time only. This is your last chance, people. Step forward and accept the chip. If you accept it, you will be returned to your homes safely. If you do not accept it, then quite simply, you will die. So step forward if you will accept it.”
One man in the line is crying. He looks around at the others and says, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry everyone…but I don’t want to die.” The man steps forward. “Ok, ok, I will accept it.”
Several of the men and women with him yell at him, telling him not to accept it. One of the women says to him, “Do not accept the mark of the beast! You are doomed if you accept it!”
Vincent realizes that the man is the same man that he and Estrada had chased through Eastern Market the night before.
“Very good. Are there any more takers?”
No one else steps forward.
“Very well.” The man turns around and walks over to Lieutenant Bradshaw. He puts his hand on his shoulder, whispers into his ear, and then walks away.
“Detail, take your positions,” Lieutenant Bradshaw orders. Twenty soldiers line up in front of the ten men and ten women.
“Ready!”
The soldiers lift their rifles to their shoulders.
“Aim!”
The soldiers use the optic sights affixed to their rifles to aim at the men and women. The clicking sound of the soldiers switching the safety on their rifles is heard.
“Fire!”
The soldiers simultaneously pull their triggers, firing multiple rounds at their targets.
Vincent watches in horror, unable to believe what he is seeing.
“Seize fire, seize fire!”
One of the soldiers is overly excited about shooting his person. “Whooooo! Fuck ya! I got the motherfucker in the head. Look at his brains splattered all over the ground.” The soldier walks over to the body and kicks it. “That’s what you get for not complying, you piece of shit!”
“Ok, let’s move outside to the rally point. We got two more missions we need to get to,” Lieutenant Bradshaw orders.
“Oh shit,” Vincent says to himself. He realizes that he needs to get back to his vehicle before the soldiers realize that he is not outside and come looking for him.
He runs out of the room and jumps onto the fire escape, where he slides down the rails as a faster means of getting down. As Vincent turns the corner, he bumps into Lieutenant Bradshaw.
“What the fuck, Cain! What the hell are you doing? Why weren’t you at your post?”
Vincent quickly thinks of an answer. “Um…I heard shots being fired, and I thought that maybe you and your men had encountered some resistance fighters, so I came to help.”
Lieutenant Bradshaw stares at Vincent for a moment. “Ok, Cain, you are relieved of your duties. I called your boss and you can go home for the day.”
Vincent does not respond and just walks past the lieutenant toward his patrol vehicle. He starts the vehicle and drives away. As he is driving down the road, he begins to feel ill.
He quickly pulls the vehicle over onto the shoulder, opens the door, and vomits. He wipes his mouth with his forearm and leans his head back on his car seat.
“What kind of fucked-up shit was that? I can’t believe what I just saw. They really are killing people for not accepting the chip.”
He pulls out his phone and looks at the picture that he took of the man. “Fuck this guy.” He shifts the vehicle into drive and speeds off.
He returns to the police station and quickly changes into his civilian clothes. He gets into his car, drives to a neighborhood street, and parks the car. As he gets out of his vehic
le, he looks around to make sure that no one has followed him.
He flips the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and walks down the street. He again looks around then walks into the backyard of one of the houses. He sees a light on in one of the bedrooms and lightly knocks on the window.
A woman appears at the window. Lena.
Vincent motions for her to meet him at the back door. Lena opens the back door and pulls him inside. She sticks her head out of the door and looks around.
“Are you crazy, coming here? You’re gonna get me thrown in jail. What if someone is following you?”
Vincent puts his phone up in the air near Lena’s face to show her the picture of the man who has been following him. “Oh, you mean like him?”
“Um…yeah. Where did you take this picture?” She asks.
“I’ll tell you after you tell me who he is.”
“His name is Leo Denson. He’s a former CIA agent.”
“What is Leo’s job?”
“He’s head of operations that oversees the arrest of all who don’t comply with the one-world government laws. He is especially anal about the two most important laws—not accepting the chip and practicing religion.”
“If he oversees all this, then why is he wasting his time following me?”
“Well…you are what they call a whale. It means that you are a person that has the potential to influence others because of either who you are or because of a position you hold. So he likes to personally follow whales and make the decision whether you are a threat to the world order or not. And if you are, then he issues an arrest warrant and will personally come after you.”
He chuckles. “You mean they kill you.”
“Well, that’s only rumor, Vincent. I think the rumor was made up by the government because it’s easier to control someone with fear.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I’ll prove to you that it’s not rumor and it’s a fact.” Vincent pushes play on his phone and hands it to Lena.
She covers her mouth with her hand and watches in horror as the men and women are killed by the firing line.
“Where did you get this from?”
“Long story short, I was dispatched to assist the military with a so-called mission. I did some spying on them, and this is what I walked into. This is what they do to people who don’t comply. They are massacred. What kind of fucked-up shit is this? This cannot be the way this world has become.” Vincent shakes his head and walks toward the back door and opens it.