The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

gone. Daddy is still alive. You won’t stand here and watch him die, Jamie. You’re too good a person to do that.”

Jamie said nothing, but Walt did not hesitate.

“Ah. Newfound powers? We always wondered how the re-sequencing would affect the human body. Good to see you, Mr. Cooper. So, James, what will it be? Heal my wounds?”

“He killed Ben,” Jamie repeated to Sammie. “Didn’t even give him a chance. If I heal your dad, he’ll try to keep me prisoner until time runs out. He won’t be grateful or nothing.”

“Of course he will,” she said. “You’ve got my promise, Jamie.”

“No,” Walt interrupted. “No, no, Pumpkin. I’m afraid James understands me too well. A surprise, given his mental ineptitude over the years. Granted, Tom and Marlena tried their best, but you never were the apple of their eye, for understandable reasons.”

“You got no idea what you’re talking about,” Jamie said.

“More than you’ll ever know. When you shot me, James, what did you feel?” He tilted his head in curiosity, but Jamie couldn’t answer. “Fury. That’s what it is. Caryllan energy. Weaponized fury.” He focused on his daughter. “Samantha, you’ve done an outstanding job in keeping the Jewel close. Now I need for you to finish the mission.”

Jamie snapped left, a familiar sense of betrayal chilling his blood.

“No, Jamie,” Sammie stumbled over her words. “Daddy, this isn’t what you think. I thought you were dead. I’m with Jamie because …”

“Listen to me, Pumpkin. You are the last, and you have to finish this. You need to secure the Jewel and leave this area quickly.” He coughed up more blood. “The police are close. Kill Mr. Cooper. Shoot James in the leg and secure him until the end of re-sequencing.”

“Whoa, dude,” Michael interrupted, his pistol aimed alternately at Walt and Sammie. “I near about got wasted once. I ain’t going down again.”

Jamie wished he hadn’t dropped his own weapon. He knew he wasn’t fast enough to charge Sammie and snare the M16. Yet he realized such desperate measures wouldn’t be needed. All he had to do was look in her eyes, which glistened with water.

“No, Daddy. I’m sorry, but I won’t do this. I love Jamie. I always have.” She turned to Jamie. “And I swear I always will.”

Walt coughed. “You will not … betray … me. Am I clear?”

Sammie did not hesitate. “I did everything you ever asked, but you want me to cross the line. I might be a soldier, but I won’t be an executioner, Daddy. Can’t you understand that?”

Walt slid his fingers toward the AK. Jamie raced forward and snatched up the weapon, swooping around until he had a clear shot at both Walt and his daughter.

“What a beautiful picture,” Walt snarled. “Three children with their guns trained on a dying man. Afraid to the last, aren’t you?” He faced Michael. “A circus clown who’s never said a truly humorous thing in his life.” He looked over his shoulder to Jamie. “A weak, emotional twit who caused everyone endless annoyance.” Then to Sammie: “The greatest disappointment a father could ever have.”

Jamie lowered his weapon, and he saw Michael follow suit. He had no doubt where the four of them stood, especially when he saw the silent tears stream down Sammie’s cheeks.

“Daddy, how could you? I’ve done everything you ever asked.”

“Before today, yes.” He coughed more blood and looked away from his daughter. “Understand this, children. Chancellors do not surrender. I long ago secured additional help.” He offered a curt smile. “Shock Units.” His voice faded. “Nasty. Effective. Unstoppable.”

This new information tightened Jamie’s gut.

“What?” He asked. “You mean troops?”

Walt laughed. “Never doubt the genius or persistence of a Chancellor. Especially if you are his daughter.”

“Dude,” Michael said. “This does not sound good. I say we get the heck out of Dodge.”

As if on cue, the roar of a helicopter echoed through the trees from the east. In seconds, the chopper flew past perhaps a quarter-mile away, not visible through the dense forest.

“Daddy, tell me you’re lying. They wouldn’t really send …”

Sammie stopped mid-sentence. Jamie saw why. Walt held a stiff, Buddha-like pose, his smug smile locked, his eyes open and unblinking.

Sammie dropped to one knee and stared. She knew. They all did.

“Oh, Daddy,” she muttered through her tears. “Why?”

Jamie left her there to mourn. He walked past Michael without a word and returned to Ben’s side. He tried to remember what Ben told him inside the cabin. Jamie had nothing to offer. He couldn’t pull together the words for a prayer, and he didn’t think Ben would consider it fitting anyway. Instead, he grabbed one of his brother’s hands and whispered.

He closed his eyes. “Goodbye, Ben.”

Jamie refused to allow his feelings to overwhelm him. He understood what the Jewel was doing to him, how the re-sequencing was playing havoc with his emotions and changing his priorities to that of someone he didn’t know.

He killed a man. Until the moment when he pulled the trigger, Jamie did not believe murder was part of his makeup. He wanted to resist the anger that drove him to kill, but the program was too strong. As he stared at Ben’s lifeless shell, Jamie knew he couldn’t go back.

His thoughts unscrambled when a ringing phone broke the silence. He saw Sammie and Michael stepping toward Walt. The phone continued to ring. Michael pulled it out of Walt’s shirt pocket.

“Dude, what do you think?”

Jamie grabbed the phone and opened it.

He stared at the caller ID but did not feel the usual fear associated with this woman.

“Hello?”

“I wish to speak with … James? Is that you, James? Oh, you dear child. Ms. Bidwell here. I am so very sorry we couldn’t have ended your school year on a more pleasant basis. Perhaps you and I need to