Chapter 34: Adjusting to Changes

None of the soldiers on the helicopter that went down had required medical evacuation. The pilot was both lucky and skilled. Though there were some broken bones, it was decided to treat them at the cabin. While Major Patterson was handcuffed and tied up, the army soldiers and the CNN employees were individually questioned. At each of the sessions, Mark closely watched the person being interrogated but never said a word. Marsha and Sheila did the questioning but found no one else that they suspected of working for Omara. Afterwards, whether soldier or newsman, they went outside to work with Master Chief Alvarez. He had them putting up tents, clearing the underbrush around the cabin, and building protective emplacements to defend the cabin.

Chase Evens, the CNN reporter, was the last one interviewed. There were more questions for him since he was the one that had requested the CNN helicopter to go to the Sawyer’s cabin.

“No, I won’t tell you how I found out about this cabin. I have the right not to divulge my sources.” Chase was already upset from being kept until last for questioning.

“Do you know what would have happened if we hadn’t been here? Major Patterson expected to find no one here or at most a few men left to guard the cabin. Do you really think that he was sent here with orders to defend this area?” Captain McRae’s quick shake of her head and rolling of her eyes made Chase think that she was unsure whether he was ignorant or just plain stupid. “None of us here knew about any Army units in the area to support us. Colonel Strong, the major’s commander, thought the orders were for a training mission with the Nevada Guard. The President, the Secretary of Defense, nor any of the people with whom they checked knew what the Major was doing. The only one that may have known anything about it is General Whitman, who is under arrest for treason. The Major’s orders were signed by him, but they are a little vague as to what he is supposed to be doing.” Sheila shook her head when Chase looked like he was about to speak. “Whiteman was arrested before the Major followed you here, so what he did we won’t be telling you about at this time.”

“So why should I tell you how I heard about the cabin?”

“Chase, the Major followed a news helicopter with armed soldiers to an area that none of you were supposed to be. Do you think that he would have left you or anyone else alive to say anything about what happened up here? You would be dead along with everyone else except him. He had cash, identification, and credit cards under another name, and civilian clothes. He had maps with directions for hiking out of here.”

Chase realized that his thoughts had been all about what the military, the FBI, and Mark Sawyer were doing up here. He hadn’t thought about what Major Patterson was doing. He looked at Sheila, Marsha, and Mark. They weren’t going to say anything further to persuade him.

They sat quietly for a couple of minutes while Chase thought about what he had been told. He was surprised when Mark stood.

“Sheila, Marsha, let’s go and tell the others a little about what is going on up here and what we expect to happen in the next few days.”

Though Chase could tell that both women were surprised by Mark’s suggestion, they nodded and rose to follow Mark out of the room.

Chase realized that they planned to tell everyone but him. “Faizah Mohamed at the Saudi consulate in San Francisco. He contacted me and said that he had been following my reports about the Sawyers and Sarah Pierce. He’s the one who told me about the cabin.”

After they found out all that Chase knew, they contacted the White House with Chase still in the room and passed on the information.

When PO Jerry Wilcox and his family signed in at Navy Medical Center San Diego, he was informed that his brother Tom was there. After seeing his family settled in the room in the pediatric ward, he went to check on his brother.

“Tom, how are you doing?” Jerry had been warned by the nurse that Tom was on strong pain medications and might not recognize him.

“Jerry.” His response was weak. “They’re dead. Max, Tyrone, Juan. I’m the only one left.” His eyes closed and a tear drifted down his cheek.

Jerry could see that it wasn’t the first. He took his twin’s bandaged hand and waited.

“I killed the last of them. He came to check on me to make sure I was dead, but I knifed him. He cursed me. He said that Omara would destroy the Great Satan just as he killed the daughters.”

Jerry was shocked to hear the name that he had learned of just the night before. “Tom, where were you?”

“Farah province.”

Jerry realized that he needed to report this immediately, but they also needed to know everything that his brother knew. Looking down at Tom, he wondered if he would ever fully recover. If the change worked, then wounds like Tom’s were something from which I would fully recover. There’s got to be a way to help Tom. Suddenly, he had an idea. Crazy, but no one knows how the change really works. He pulled back the bandage on Tom’s hand. What he saw was what he had feared. Tom will never be the same. He took his knife. He cut the palm of his left hand and placed it over the open wound. With the knife still in his other hand, he stood there for several minutes, letting the blood mix. He then put back the bandages. When he went to close the knife, he saw that the cut on his hand had stopped bleeding. I’ll need to report that also.

Sarah was reading a report from Professor Fire. Hers and Ash’s genes were a closer match than she and either of her parents. Marks’ genes were similar but not as closely matched as theirs were. Ash actually had a gene similar to one of her mother’s genes. The change would give us similar genes, but why did Ash and Mom share a gene similarity with her?

Her phone rang, and she read the name. Jerry Wilcox.

“Jerry, are Peggy and Marty OK?”

“The kids are fine. Sarah, it’s my brother, Tom. He’s found a pretzel.”

A clue about Omara. “Where and what does he know? No, can both of you get on one of the secure phones we sent with you?”

“Tom’s in the hospital. He’s had serious injuries. I tried something. He’s my twin. Now he is my blood brother.” Jerry didn’t say any more.

Jerry’s words were the clue that she needed. The evening she and Ash fell asleep on the roof, they had decided to become blood sisters. Mark had laughed the next day as he helped them bandage their hands. That is why she and Ash were so close. What Jinghua’s mother was using to cause the change had done something with their genes when their blood was comingled and they had had what caused the change before they came out on the roof. “Jerry, what you did is very important. Repeat it with everyone that was camping with us. Make sure you and Sue do it with both of your children also. Everyone should do it one on one. Hold off on doing it with anyone else that was not with us.”

“You think it will work?”

“Yes, Ash and I did it the day after we were exposed. It explains something in a report from Professor Fire. I know that you are going to be a little cut up, but I think that it is very important.”

“My cut stopped bleeding sooner than expected. Why?”

“Get a secure line set up in your brother’s room. I will explain then. Call this phone, and I will route your call to the secure phone here.”

“I will need to talk to Tom’s commander. How much can I tell him?”

“Tell him I’ll be talking to the President, and he may also be on the call. Give me a call back when you have a time for when you can have this set up. Have the senior medical doctor on duty there also. We need to explain this if we want to try some more of what you did.”

Sarah had spent the next hour on the phone. The President, Ash, Mark, and all the places that those undergoing the change had gone were called. She had had those who were close by come to the new facility, which she had decided to call the Phoenix Center. Ashley and Mark had readily agreed to the name. That everyone stopped bleeding quickly was taken as a sign that the change was taking place in all of them.

Monday evening, Sarah and Ashley went to play practice. They had missed many of the practices, and they had to catch up. They also had something to share.

“Mario, I understand better what you were telling me. Sarah is remarkable. If the rest of them turn out anywhere as capable, then we will have a definite advantage and a surprise when we go up against Omara.” Hannibal had sat enthralled as Sarah ran the phone meetings that coordinated the new blood brother procedure for the change and the enquiry into the information that Tom Wilcox had about Omara. “Hannibal realized how much he missed the excitement that he had occasionally found in his job.

“Yes, Ashley has been the one dominating most of the meetings up to now, with Mark being active when he saw the need, but both of them and Jinghua let Sarah lead.” The President was finding that he didn’t really object to the secondary role in which he found himself when dealing with either girl.

“She had a hard time getting information at first from Jinghua.” Al added. “I wonder what she said to her.”