“It’s a false memory. You were coerced into marrying her. She lied to you every day you’ve been together. New America won’t recognize that coerced marriage. Your real wife is there. You have a son and a daughter too. The boy is about fifteen now, and the girl is about eight. They’re waiting for you. They just think you’re here, bringing down the government or something. They don’t know about you now. Anna didn’t want to tell them. They weren’t ready for Hell House. No one is.”
Dennis continued to stare at the documents and sobbed.
“Look, Denny….” He winced from the pain. “I don’t have much time left. You must cross the border. Don’t look back, and, for heaven’s sake, don’t go back. They’re going to know about your encounter with me. They already know you’re starting to remember. You want to know the truth about Alt House? It wasn’t set up for Eugene. If they catch him they’ll probably just throw him back into Joliet, and then execute him. Alt House was built for you. Once you go back, they’ll stick you back in there. Let me die in peace, Denny. Promise me you’ll go there; go back to your real wife and kids.”
Dennis, as tears now streamed down his cheeks, put his gun away. “I’m sorry I shot you, Ray. I didn’t know.”
Ray was smiling through the pain. “Go now, while you can.”
But Dennis reached down and grabbed his brother.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking you with me. I’m not leaving you here to die alone.”
“I can’t leave Cassandra.”
“I’ll come back for her.”
“No, Den….” It was the last words he would ever speak.
Eugene and Sandy heard shots all around them, one whizzed by Eugene’s left ear. Sandy gave a holler, but once again she only stumbled. The two were running faster now since their brief rest.
“Okay, to the road.”
“I’m scared,” yelled Sandy.
“If we’re near the border gate, we can get help from them.”
“Where are Chad and the others?”
“I don’t know.”
Sandy feared the worst.
More gunfire, but now it was to their left. Maybe they don’t know we’ve changed direction, Eugene thought. One thing I know is I want to make it. I want to live. I want this New World.
Sandy gave a holler. Gene feared the worst, but it was a holler of joy. They had reached the road, and they were only about twenty yards from the border. Eugene turned around and didn’t see anyone. It looked like they’d make it for sure. A militiaman at the gate motioned for them to run; then he yelled “GET DOWN!”
They both dropped to the pavement. Gunshots rang out from behind them, then gunshots from the border guard.
A man yelled, “COME! QUICKLY! RUN! FASTER!”
They were about ten yards away from freedom, then, just as suddenly, “GET DOWN! QUICKLY! ALL THE WAY DOWN!” More gunfire from both sides.
The gunfire stopped, but no one told them to get up. Suddenly, a different voice said, “Get up!”
Eugene and Sandy looked up, and Gene’s mouth opened. “Stu!”
“Hello, Eugene.” Stuart Everson stood on the other side of the border with a dead militiaman at his feet. Everson held a small handgun at his side, barrel pointing at Eugene.
Eugene and Sandy got up slowly; Eugene looking at Stu, quizzically. “Stu, what’s this about?”
“Who is he?” Sandra asked.
“My boss and my friend.”
“Hello, Mrs. Casimir.”
Sandy was confused. “Since when does a friend hold a gun on a friend?”
“We are friends, right, Stu?” Eugene said, a bit unsure of things.
“Come over here, Mrs. Casimir. Your husband is very worried.”
“No. I’m not going back. He coerced me into marrying him and killed my husband. I’m not going back! I’m never going back!” Sandy’s face was red and stained with tears.
“What’s this about, Stu?”
“What do you think it’s about, Eugene? You shouldn’t have gotten involved with those two. You had a good life here. Maybe you still can.”
“You mean Hell House, don’t you? Were you responsible?” Stu just stood nonchalantly in front of them. His gun was still pointing at Eugene. Then Stu cleared his throat.
“I suppose I owe you an explanation. I work for Alberto Martinez. Do you know who he is?”
Eugene frowned and breathed as hard as when he was running. He just nodded affirmatively. “He’s the head of NOGOV,” said Eugene.
“He’s the most powerful man on earth,” Stu said. “He’s more powerful than the President, Congress; oh, hell he is the government. He’s the government, the courts, the media. He’s everything. He’s God on earth.”
Sandra’s mouth was agape. Eugene felt defeated. “I just don’t understand, Stu,” Eugene said. He was desponded, defeated, and teary-eyed. “You were my friend.” His voice was broken, but he continued through the sobs. “You were so kind to me when Catherine died. You offered me a promotion. We ate at your house. Why? I don’t understand.”
For a moment Stu started to lower his weapon and felt the sting of regret; but then he rubbed his face, raised his weapon, and looked stern. “Stop this behavior. It’s indignant. Our so-called friendship was at the insistence of Alberto Martinez. He wanted to win you over; win you away from Zinney. I was the carrot, but now I’ve got the stick,” he said with a smile. Eugene’s head was lowered. Sandra grabbed hold of Eugene and put her head on his shoulder. Stuart continued.
“I’ve known Al for a long time. He led a group of crime lords. He was involved in drugs, gambling, and prostitution. I was his lieutenant. One day Al comes to me with his brilliant idea. Why not make all this legal? No sneaking around; no hiding from the FBI; no hiding from ATF. Make it all legal, and make more money than ever. There was just one problem. He was small-time to NOGOV. It was run by another Mafia guy who legitimized himself by taking over the banking system. Name was Solariano. Martinez knew him, and got himself in NOGOV as his security chief. When he became President of NOGOV he was in a position to get Congress to change the laws. First he got the business community to see this as a way to start making money again. They would have done anything. Congress passed the law legalizing all this stuff; Martinez financed my little company; he got a kickback; and I’d owe him a favor or two.” Everson stopped to check Eugene’s reaction.
“Is this the favor he wanted? Bring me back?”
“That’s only the second favor. The first was to make you my number two. I didn’t like that idea. Rodriguez was a good man. You were a problem. That silly little populist head of yours,” he said with a sneer. “When you frowned at my proposal I was ready to storm right on out of there, but I couldn’t. I promised Al you’d be my second in command. He arranged to finance Raul’s startup in the same business in another city. He had to be replaced. It had to be you. He told me to offer you a house in the fortress if you hesitated at taking the job. It was way more than you deserved.”
Eugene was mortified. “But the lawyer. You got me a lawyer to protect me. He’s the one who made trouble for Casimir.”
“I never got you any lawyer. I just told you that so you’d go anywhere I wanted. Then I got a great idea—stick you in Hell House—only I wasn’t supposed to know about that. I had to figure out how to convince Casimir to stick you in there. So I pretended to be the lawyer. Created quite a mess,” he said with a sneer. “Leaked your situation to the part of the press that Martinez didn’t control. It did the rest. Then Casimir figured out what to do before Martinez did.”
“You bastard!”