“Is that Ron?” Jack asked Lea.
“Yes.”
“Guys, there’s no need for all of this. Come in and I’ll fix you a drink,” he shouted over in a strangely jolly voice.
I looked at Jack in confusion. He shook his head.
“Come on in,” he shouted again and beckoned us towards the house before he disappeared back into it, leaving the door open.
I looked at either end of the street; both our exits had been cut off. I checked my watch; we had fifty minutes before the next activation.
“It could be a trap. He didn’t seem stressed at all,” Jack said.
“That’s the way Ron is,” Lea replied, “he’s a cool customer.”
“I think we’ll have to take our chances following Ron. He is what we came here for, and he’s the best chance we have of getting out of this alive. Lea, you go first. He’s less likely to want you killed,” I said.
She rolled her eyes.
“I wouldn’t bet on that.”
“Right, we’ll just have to go with the flow on this one then. If we find any raised weapons, we shoot first and ask questions later. The first chance we get to take Ron, we do it.”
“What do we do once we have him?” Lea asked.
“We’ll make him to tell us how to stop the activation. After that, we’ll bring him back out at gunpoint and get the hell out of here,” I replied.
“Let’s go,” Jack said.
Lea stood up and started walking across the street towards Ron’s front door. Jack and I followed behind. As we walked up the drive, Ron appeared again at the door, smiling.
“You’re going to have to leave your weapons outside. I’m sorry, but it’s the house rules.”
“Do you really expect us to do that?” I replied.
“Yes. I do. Or you can stay outside and take on those nasty machine guns I’ve just stationed at either end of the street.” He looked at Lea. “Why don’t you tell these two gentlemen that I’ve never allowed any weapons into the house.”
Ron’s tone wasn’t threatening, but the mention of machine guns had sent a shockwave through my body. Jack and I glanced at each other. I was trying to appear confident, but my swelling face and bruised jaw were probably telling as much as they were hiding. As I looked across at Lea, I noticed that the vehicles had closed in and armed men were crouched around them. We were surrounded at a close range.
“What if we just kill you now?” Jack asked.
Ron laughed loudly and slapped a hand on his thigh.
“Put your guns down, and come on in.”
He disappeared back into the house.
The guards who were now pointing weapons at our backs would probably fire if we took a step further without following Ron’s orders. If we turned on them, it would take a huge slice of luck for us to get out of Monroe alive.
“Let’s do as Ron says,” I said. “I can’t see any other way out of it.”
“Neither can I,” Jack replied. “You lead the way, Lea.”
Lea carefully put down her Beretta and entered the house. At the door, she took her shoes off.
We both laid down our rifles and followed, Lea waited for us in the entrance hall.
“Ron also doesn’t allow outdoor footwear in the house. He loves his carpet,” she said.
This seemed absurd, but the situation we had found ourselves in had left us no option. I sighed and took my trainers off. Jack took off his walking boots, and Lea led us into a large open plan living area. The décor seemed old fashioned for a house that looked quite new from the exterior. Around the immediate edges of the room, were two brown leather recliners, a brown couch, in the centre was a glass coffee table. At the far end of the room was a wooden art-deco style table and chair set, and a drinks cabinet. The carpet was cream in colour and felt lush below my socks. Softly playing in the background was some kind of swing, or big band music, which was coming from a record player, positioned on top of the drinks cabinet.
This supposedly welcoming room felt more dangerous than the airport terminal.
“How do you boys take your coffee?” Ron called from another room.
Jack looked at me with a puzzled expression. I shrugged my shoulders.
“Please don’t be fooled by him like I was,” Lea whispered.
“He’s not trying to fool us yet,” Jack replied, “he’s offering us a drink.”
“Both white, with sugar,” I called out.
“Coming right up,” a shout came back.
We were all standing in the room around the coffee table. Lea looked frightened. Through the sheer curtains, I could see figures moving outside. I walked over and pulled the material to one side, our AR-15’s and Lea’s Beretta had been taken. We could still take Ron hostage, but it was going to be tricky to pull off.
Ron appeared from an entrance at the far end of the room holding a tray with four cups on it.
“Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.”
Jack and I sat in the two recliners, and Lea sat on the couch. Ron put the tray on the glass table and handed a cup each to Jack and I.
“White, one sugar, right?” Ron said. He gave Lea another cup, “I know which way you take it, sweetie.”
He picked up the final cup, took a loud slurp, and then sat on the couch next to Lea and put his hand on her thigh.
“You caused me a couple of minor headaches, Lea. At least you’re back now.”
“Minor fucking headaches?” Lea replied with venom, brushing off his hand. “I think you’ve caused more than a couple of those in the last few days.”
Ron turned to us and smiled.
“She always was a feisty one. You two boys have caused me a couple of headaches as well. You killed two good people on your way in here just now…”
Lea jumped up and cried, “I want to see Martina.”
“All in good time, honey, now sit back down.”
Jack smiled at Ron, and then poured his full cup of coffee straight down onto the carpet in a circular motion. Ron’s expression didn’t change, and he ignored the taunt. I guessed that Jack was trying to test him, to see if his seemingly unflappable confidence and composure were only superficial. Either he had a great poker face, or he really was confident about how things were going to proceed.
“We’re here to stop the second activation,” I said. “Although you’ve probably guessed that.”
Ron clasped his hands in front of him.
“Now why would you want to do that?”
“Why do you think? To stop everyone who is left from killing each other.”
“That’s not the intention of the second activation,” he said, beaming. “The next objective is to rebuild. You’ve been listening to that idiot Jerry Caisley. I know you were at his farm, he’d say anything to save his own skin.”
“It doesn’t matter what he told us,” I said.
“We came off a plane and witnessed your handiwork. Stop bullshitting us,” Jack shouted.
“Such language. Do you speak in your own home like that?” He said, shaking his head.
“I probably don’t have one now, thanks to you.”
Ron stood up and started pacing slowly around the room.
After a moment, he turned to us and said, “I take it that I don’t need to mail Jerry his tax papers?”
“We don’t know where he is,” Lea replied.
“What happened to the sweet young girl you used to be?” Ron chuckled.
“Stalling for time isn’t going to work, Ron. We can do this the nice way, or the nasty way. You know why we’re here,” Jack replied.
Ron nodded.
“Calm down, boys. The second activation is designed to round up survivors for processing. Genesis Alliance is going to rebuild a better society than you could ever imagine.”
“Do you expect us to believe that after what we’ve seen?” I answered.
“The devices are multi-purpose,” he continued. “They will eventually be used as a sophisticated communication and control network throughout North America. The next activation will lead all survivors to a prison in Michigan. From there, we will process everyone, allocate jobs, titles, and resources, in order to build again.”