A Matter of Timing now available

The Cataclysm Scroll - Chapter 21 (cont)

Mahkah continued to feed out the rope slowly. He was now sure Laura was okay because there had been pauses, then tugs, then more movement of the rope. He was relieved, and sat back crossing his legs in traditional meditation style, and closed his eyes.

He was going to attempt to find his own cave, the one he’d used to begin meditation since his early years when Wakanda had shown him how to use the cave for his shamanic psychic journeys. It was difficult; He had a hard time staying focused and clearing his mind of all the potential problems Ty faced against the shooter or shooters, and Laura faced against the darkness of the water.

But after a few minutes, he was able to imagine himself back in the cave. He was in a meditative state, that very difficult place to reach which is between sleep and awake, between the conscious mind and the subconscious. But he’d found it as he had thousands of times before.

And Wakanda was there, waiting for him.

She laughed, her voice again sounding like flowing water as it had so many times before. She was wearing a simple pale white traditional Indian dress, and was glowing unusually bright, energetic, with a sense of urgency in her voice.

“Mahkah, I’m worried about you and your friends,” she started. “I’m so glad you were able to find me.”

He smiled and said, “And I, you. Can you tell me what’s happening? What’s ultimately going to happen? Who is shooting at Laura?”

The smile on Wakanda’s face disappeared as she answered him, “You already know that I should not, and cannot, tell you those things. I am at liberty only to discuss what I’ve been directed to pass on to you. And that, my apprentice, is all. I am sorry.”

“I understand,” Mahkah said, knowing full well that energies from other levels were not allowed to interfere in Man’s affairs. “So,” he continued, “exactly what can you tell me?”

“Then we will get right to it,” she started. “The Supreme Being of the universe believes it is time to upend Man’s applecart. Unlike any other time in Earth’s history, the current civilization inhabiting it now is ruining it for any other civilizations that would come in its future.”

Mahkah nodded in agreement and said “I understand that, I’ve explained it to Laura already.”

She said, “These are serious issues, very serious indeed, Mahkah. The negative side of humanity has never had such a firm grip on Mankind. Call those evil aspects the Devil if you want, but you and I both know there are entities that exist in lower vibratory levels that are the underlying cause of much of Man’s trouble right now.”

“Yes,” Mahkah nodded. “I’ve felt it, and have been talking about negative forces with Laura as part of her training?”

“The dark side of Man’s nature is being exploited by those forces. Lust and sexual promiscuity, greed for money, a lack of respect for each other, hate and war are just some of them. But I’ve left out the underlying cause of all these evils.”

Mahkah waited, hoping she was going to continue. And she did, after looking away for a moment, as if she was receiving an inbound message from somewhere Mahkah couldn’t see.

“Man has lost sight of the very reason why God placed Him on the Earth to begin with,” she said. “And that is to enjoy life, revel in the very essence of being alive, of experiencing the joys that a physical life offers. Appreciating awakening in the morning and watching a beautiful sunrise come over the horizon. To hear a mocking bird mimic every song he’s ever heard from other birds. I’m talking about those things that we cannot possibly appreciate in this form.”

She paused, remembering all the things that made being human special.

Then she continued, “To smell a rose, to laugh at a puppy’s antics, to wade through a clear running stream and listen to its wonderful sounds. To experience the pleasure of the person you deeply love simply touching your skin. A majority of Mankind has lost appreciation for these things as they became too materialistic, losing the ability to stay in tune with their spirit that is part of their being. As they have lost this sensitivity to themselves, to nature, and the Earth, they have continued to slide into depravity of the lowest forms.”

“And that’s why the meteor is going to hit us.” Mahkah stated in agreement.

“Earth has a soul, too,” Wakanda said slowly. “And that soul is intertwined with each human soul, whether Man wants to acknowledge it or not. And right now, God and those beings I explained to you before, the Annanunki, believe the time might be approaching when this civilization can’t be, or doesn’t deserve to be, saved.”

Mahkah nodded that he understood. He scowled, a frown that Wakanda had rarely seen.

She frowned a bit also, seeing his concern and sadness. She continued, “Mothers are drowning their children in bath tubs, Fathers are placing their newborns in microwave ovens, babies are being discarded in dumpsters almost every day. Evil has overtaken Man at so fast a rate that even God had no idea He would lose so much influence in such a short time.”

Mahkah nodded his head again.

Wakanda continued, “To answer your question, the owners of the scroll I speak of are not in agreement among themselves, and I cannot say whether the meteor is going to strike Earth or not. They are still debating that issue, and God has left that decision to them. I do know, however, that even if this meteor misses and Man doesn’t see the writing on the wall, the next asteroid will not miss.”

Mahkah nodded. He asked, “Can you tell me if the disasters will stop if Laura is successful in returning the scroll to its rightful place?”

Wakanda looked off to the side, then up. She paused for another moment. She blinked a few times, then nodded.

She looked at Mahkah and smiled, saying, “Yes, Mahkah, they will stop if she is successful. If she fails, or if the scroll falls into the wrong hands, Earth need not worry about the meteor. All the cataclysms the scroll contains, packed in to such a short time period with five on the scroll yet to repeat, will certainly seal this civilization’s existence into history.”

“Very well then,” Mahkah said, relieved that there was still a chance. “I will return and assist Laura in whatever manner I can.”

“Good luck, my shaman,” Wakanda said, smiling while holding up her hand in a farewell gesture. “Laura is quite an extraordinary woman, as is that young man, Ty, who is risking his life without fully understanding what weighs in the balance.”

Mahkah made a slight bowing gesture, smiled again and made an effort to return from the meditative state to consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, he realized he was no longer holding the rope that was tied around Laura’s waist.

The publisher has it, Oleg is putting some final touches on the cover -- and I promise I'll post the whole thing once the first copies roll off the press.

I have a question for all of you who are reading the thread....

I'm about to the middle of the 3rd and final novel in the trilogy. It returns to the governmental conspiracy/sniper duels/shoot-outs and good guys vs bad guys theme that was prevalent in the first book. Having said that.... here's my question, prefaced by a few qualifiers:

I've known some VERY cool characters in my life. Men, and a few women, that are examples of what is good, wholesome America. Fundamentally great people to the core -- where, if you HAD to find something negative to say about them, you'd have to think a L O N G time to come up with something bad - if at all. I'm talking about Grandpa's we have up on a pedestal that taught us how to shoot... how to fish.... how to be self-sufficient... the types of trees.... how to grow a wonderful garden... making wine that wins contests.

I've always wanted to write these very nice people in to a novel, these people (names changed to protect the innocent and of course, the lawsuits) that deserve to have their personality and characteristics put in print for all time. I'm kicking around the idea of asking people out here to "nominate" those who would fit the description above. I already have a questionnaire put together... that would, when completed by the person nominating them, allow me to write that person in to a novel. To intertwine them, so-to-speak, within the novel's thread. The novel, when finished, would be an irreplaceable gift to those persons who will recognize themselves in print.

As I'm finishing the third and final book in the New Madrid Trilogy, world events and political changes have already been dumping ideas into my mind for 4th novel. Not along the same lines as the trilogy... but "future", in the sense of those things coming at us that could be just right-around-the-corner.

Those nominated and accepted to be written into the 4th book... or, perhaps the third if this catches on quickly. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts and feedback -- good or bad.

Don't forget that you can chat with me "live", if I'm logged into the website at www.gmillercompanies.com. Always interested in a nice talk with those who've been good enough to buy the novel.

Hope you all had a safe and very enjoyable Labor Day.

Just an update... Still waiting for Oleg's finishing touches on the cover work. The web site has been completely revamped and now includes all 3 forewords, samples from each novel, reader reviews and more. Just in case you're looking for something to read.
www.gmillercompanies.com

Picking Up Where We Left Off....

Publisher is nearly ready (FINALLY) to release The Cataclysm Scroll.

Have to warn you that the coming chapters contain spoilers for the first novel in the series, A Matter of Timing.

Resuming posting this afternoon. Hope that you all enjoy!

"Killing the Eagle", the last novel in the trilogy, is a little over half-way complete.

Visit www.gmillercompanies.com for more sneak previews, links on where to get it, reader reviews and other goodies. OR, just drop by and chat sometime.

The Cataclysm Scroll - Chapter 21 (cont)

Ty had moved up to the big oak tree and had positioned himself behind it. Now he had a significant piece of cover, a tree about two feet across, between he and the lake. He felt better with more protection, but he was wishing he could catch a glimpse of the shooter, or at least find out how many of them there were.

The M1A was lying on the ground next to him, loaded and fully ready for combat. His Sendero had three rounds ready, its safety engaged, as he used its high powered scope to scan the pasture in front.

Then he noticed what had looked like at first to be just more pasture, but when a breeze moved the grass, he could see it was an indentation in the ground. He followed it to the left, toward the lake. It dropped off out of sight.

“A dry runoff, probably into a small creek,” he said to himself. He was fine-tuning the focus on the scope’s objective lens when he saw motion. “Movement!” he thought to himself, moving his rifle slightly to the right to center it in the optics.

He was praying it wasn’t Mahkah, returning by a different route from the water’s edge. In ten seconds, his prayer was answered. He could make out a long rifle barrel coming up out of the low coolie. He turned up the scope’s magnification to 16 power, its highest setting.

He’d seen these rifle barrels many times, both in shooting matches and in battle. It was the long barrel of a Russian Dragunov, the sniper’s rifle of choice for most Eastern Bloc and Middle Eastern nations. He wondered who was carrying it and if there were any more behind it coming up the hill.

Ty pushed forward on the Sendero’s safety, readying the rifle to fire. His finger was resting on the side of the trigger guard, less than an inch away from being able to fire if he needed to quickly. He took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly to settle down his pulse. He repeated the breathing exercise twice more. His adrenaline was slowing, his pulse pounding on the rifle a little less. But with the scope cranked up to 16 power, he could still see each beat of his heart moving the scope up and down ever so slightly.

But he knew how to compensate for his pulse if a shot presented itself.
He figured the Dragunov was slung on the shoulder of whoever was carrying it, causing it to ride higher on its owner’s body. He hadn’t seen a head appear yet, but it should be in his scope any moment.

Then he remembered his training. Check your sides, the flank, and avoid tunnel vision. He glanced without moving his head any more than necessary quickly to the left, then right, but didn’t want to pull his head back from the scope to check to the rear. He was willing to accept that risk.

Ty heard someone shout across the field. It was Mahkah’s voice.

“She’s all right! And I’m okay! Watch yourself!!”

Ty was relieved his friends were both alive. He was hoping Mahkah hadn’t shown himself to shout out to him, though.

Upon hearing someone shouting, Korchenko slammed himself down on the ground and brought the rifle up to his shoulder. He couldn’t see anything in his scope, though, because of the blades of grass in front of it. He was pointing in the direction of the voice, due south. He had no way of knowing Massey was directly to the east and his left side, locked up to the Leupold and Sendero as if they were one.

Korchenko pushed with his knees and toes doing a belly crawl to edge up a bit more to the top of the ridge. Still nothing visible through his scope. He crawled a few more inches.

Still the damn grass was still in his way.

He cursed, knowing Massey was out there somewhere. If Massey had been the scuba diver, there would have been no reason for whoever shouted they were okay and chance becoming a target.

“Where are you, you son-of-a-bitch?” Korchenko thought to himself.

He pushed a few more inches higher onto the hill and saw a patch of grass was just a little lower here. He could see a couple seconds of clarity through his scope, but then the breeze would blow the grass over its lens again, obscuring his vision for another few seconds.

The hair on the back of his neck tingled. He knew this feeling. He’d had it many times before when engaging the Afghani Freedom Fighters in the late 1980’s, then again during Desert Storm when he was contracted by Iraq to help them against the Americans in 1991.

But this was a slightly different feeling. His sixth sense, or whatever it was that helped keep a soldier alive in battle, was telling him something was wrong. He pivoted his body slowly to the left, looking across the field. He glimpsed the open pasture to his east as the grass swayed back and forth.

Then he saw a large tree out about 400 meters, maybe a little further. The thought occurred to him that it would be a perfect hiding spot, up high, for Massey to be.

Korchenko raised his rifle slowly, looking up the trunk of the tree, then scanned through its limbs left and right. Nothing.

The Cataclysm Scroll - Chapter 21 (cont)

He lowered the Dragunov’s scope back down the trunk of the tree to its base. For a moment, he thought he could make out something dark up against the left side of the tree, at the ground level. Then the grass obscured his vision again. He didn’t move, waiting patiently the few seconds for his scope to clear up again.

Then his mind registered a sharp flash.

By the time the sound from the Sendero’s shot reached him, the 220 grain Sierra Matchking had ripped through his left eye and exited the back of his head.

Ty saw the small red explosion as his shot found its way to the left eye socket of his target, just off the bridge of the enemy’s nose and through the eye canal. This was the softest part of the head, and he’d been well trained to use this point of aim.


Ty rolled over quickly to put more of his body behind the oak as he worked the action on the Sendero to ready another round. The hot shell casing popped out onto the grass and another slammed into its chamber as he closed the bolt. He would now find out if there were any other shooters accompanying the one he’d just killed.

He rolled back over into the same position he’d just occupied, locked his eye up to the scope again, then momentarily reached out to his left and felt for the stock of the M1A.

“Just in case,” he said to himself.

But it wasn’t necessary. Ty waited there patiently, without moving a muscle, for over ten minutes. He heard no more shots, could detect no other movement.

Then he decided to shout over to Mahkah to see if Laura had returned. If nothing else, it would reveal his position to anyone out there who might have been with the sniper. And potentially bring fire in on him. Or, not, if the sniper had been alone. If that was the case, then it was over.

“I’m okay!” Ty yelled to Mahkah. “You guys okay?”

Mahkah sighed relief. He’d heard the shot and was afraid to shout out, just in case it had not been from Ty’s rifle.

“I need you over here!” Mahkah answered. “If you can! And hurry!”

Ty made the decision to scoot out. He stood up quickly holding both rifles and plastered himself up to the rough bark of the oak tree. For a moment, he anticipated hearing a shot.

None came.

He waited another ten seconds, then ran at full speed toward Mahkah’s voice. Over to the ridge, the trail, and down its embankment.

Mahkah turned to smile at Ty as the tall man packing two rifles half-slid his way down through the mud.

“Get him?” Mahkah asked.

Ty nodded, and in between breaths, said, “Yep. He’s got a bad headache.”

Mahkah patted him quickly on the shoulder and exclaimed, “Good! Excellent!”

Mahkah turned to look out on the lake and said, “Laura should have been back by now.”

Ty laid the butt stock of the Sendero on a small protruding rock sticking up through the mud, and rested the barrel on the mound of mud Mahkah had hidden behind after hearing the first shot.

Ty slung the M1A on his shoulder, looked at Mahkah and asked, “Didn’t you guys use a rope? How’s she going to find her way back out of the cave?”

Mahkah lowered his eyes and replied, “I dropped the damn thing. It’s my fault.”

“Oh, ****!” Ty exclaimed. Without a moment’s pause, he handed the M1A to Mahkah, unclipped the snaps for the tactical vest and tossed it on the ground. He started to take off his tennis shoes, then reconsidered. There would be all kinds of nasty things in the muck of the lake. But, the shoes would also weigh him down and make it more difficult to swim.

He kicked off his tennis shoes, waded out into the water as fast as he could through the mud, ignoring all the possible things he might step on.

He shouted back at Mahkah, “Where’d she dive?”

Mahkah pointed and yelled back, “Right over there! About forty feet out from shore!”

Ty was a strong swimmer and was in the approximate area where Mahkah had pointed in less than thirty seconds.

Chapter 21 - continued

Down in the cave, Laura had been successful in finding the hole in the rock that had housed the scroll’s canister. She’d had to bang it back into place with the help of a short piece of pipe she remembered seeing on her way in the first time. She thought it was remarkable that the metal pipe didn’t dent the canister, not even scratch its surface. After getting it back in place as best she could, she’d turned around to get out. She’d pulled up her dive gauges to check the tank’s pressure, held the dive light in front of it and seen that she had less than 200 pounds of pressure left.

She got a numb feeling in the pit of her stomach when she realized the rope was not tight behind her. It was just flowing around her legs with the ebb and tide of the water as the current commanded.

There was no way to find her way out of the cave except to follow one of the walls in the direction she thought she had come from. The horrible visibility was disorienting, making it easy to get turned around. Although it was bright daylight outside, there was absolutely no light from above making its way in to the cave, or showing her where the entrance was.

She followed the rough wall of the cave, feeling her way and waving the barely useful dive light toward the floor, hoping to recognize tables or tools that she’d seen before.

She realized that the air coming through her regulator, although she was breathing very shallow to conserve the tank’s supply, was now drawing hard. With each breath, it became more difficult to draw air into her lungs.

She knew her tank was running dry. She began holding her breath as long as she could, knowing that she could not ascend in this manner without exhaling because air expands on the way up and could cause an embolism in her blood.

Then she heard something. Just barely, but she thought she heard a noise from out in front and above her. She kicked her fins harder, pulled another breath and swam in the direction of the sound.

Ty was treading water by kicking his feet frog-style, clapping his hands loudly and pounding on its surface to splash and make as much noise as possible.

Laura was homing in on the sound. She saw the cave’s walls ending as she took the last breath she could get out of the tank. She knew it wasn’t far to the surface, so she grabbed the tank strap and flipped it open. Then she opened the clasp on her weight belt and it dropped away from her, falling to the bottom of the lake forever. She pushed herself free of the tank and stab jacket, pulling her arms out of its frame. The air regulator pulled out of her mouth and she knew she’d had her last breath from it.

Then she kicked her legs for all she was worth. She headed for the top, slowly exhaling to keep the expanding air in her lungs from causing an embolism.

She could now hear whoever was on the surface making all kinds of splashing and muffled clapping noises. She heard Ty’s voice shouting her name.

Laura surfaced right next to him, gasping for that first breath of fresh air. She ripped off her mask and it fell to the bottom of the lake too, joining the weight belt and tank. Right now, she didn’t care if she ever went scuba diving again.

Ty was so excited at seeing her he wanted to hug her, but couldn’t. She was still breathing hard, getting more air into her lungs. All he could do was pat her gently on the shoulders several times quickly.

“Glad you heard my flailing around!” he said to her, smiling

In between breaths, Laura tried to smile back and said, “You saved my life!”
“Laura!” Mahkah shouted from the lake’s shore. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and waved her arm above her hand, sending the ‘A-OK’ signal to him. She began swimming toward where he was standing at the water’s edge. Ty followed, swimming next to her. He was a little out of breath, too.

As they were paddling in, Ty asked, “Did you get the canister back where it belongs?”

“Yes. It’s back in the rock,” she said.

In between breaths, Ty replied, “Cool. Way to go.”

When they reached Mahkah, he helped Laura out of the water, then the mud. Ty exited also, shaking the mud from his bare feet.

Mahkah immediately apologized to Laura, “I’m so very sorry I dropped that rope. That was my only job and I let it slip away from me. Sorry, dear.”

She shook her head and said, “No problem!” Then she looked at Ty and asked, “Did someone shoot at me?”

Ty nodded, and Mahkah answered for him. “Yes,” as he reached out and patted Ty’s shoulder, “but he won’t bother you again. Ty killed him.”

Laura raised her eyebrows and with wide eyes said, “You shot him?”

“Yes,” Ty confirmed with a single nod. “The guy was good. I haven’t checked him out yet because I came running down here when Mahkah shouted for me. But I’m going to go do that now while you two get back to the Jeep.”

Then Ty grabbed Laura and gave her a big hug, their wet, slimy bodies coming together with a slap. He kissed her quickly on the lips.

He said to Mahkah, while still looking in Laura’s eyes, “She got the scroll back where it belongs. She did damn good!”

Chapter 21 - continued

“Excellent!” Mahkah smiled. “I do have an excuse for dropping the rope, and I’ll tell you both all about it when we get back to the Jeep.”

Mahkah had carefully placed the M1A next to the Sendero, and Ty picked up both rifles and followed his two friends up the trail. As they got to the top of the ridge, Ty slung the Sendero on his left shoulder and kept the M1A at the ready as he approached the spot he’d shot the sniper.

He saw the body of a man laying there, face down, blood splattered on the grass around the head. It was a bloody scene, but he’d seen it many times before. There was a large portion of the skull’s rear section missing, pieces of brain visible mixed with bright red all around it.

He saw the rifle had indeed been a Dragunov. He knelt down and rolled the body over. The bullet hole had entered exactly where he’d aimed to hit, a large stream of blood had run down the cheek, being pulled forward through the hole by gravity.

Then he recognized the shooter. Ty had studied the faces of most well-known Russian and European mercenary snipers and knew without a doubt it was Korchenko. But he had no way of knowing this was the same man he’d faced a month before, who had almost killed his spotter and friend Bob Armstrong, on Taum Sauk mountain in Missouri.

“Vladimir Korchenko,” Ty said aloud to the dead man. “So, you thought you were going to kill us, huh?” Ty stopped himself from going through the man’s clothing, thinking it might be better to just walk away and leave the dead body lay there. With all of the chaos and anarchy running rampant right now, it would just be one more body in the morgue for the authorities to identify.

Then, after reconsidering, he thought of looking for a cell phone. That might help him determine who had sent the mercenary, and why.

He found the phone in a top pocket of the Russian’s muddy shirt and slipped it into his own jeans pocket. Then he picked up the Dragunov for two reasons. First, to keep someone from hurting themselves or someone else with it. And secondly, as a souvenir. He smiled when speculating on what his Dad would say when he saw it the first time in the gun safe back at the cabin.

He had a story to tell his Dad and step-Mom.

That is, if the meteor missed Earth.

He hurried back to the Jeep where Mahkah and Laura were waiting for him, patiently sitting on the rear compartment with the hatch open.

“You two look like a sorry pair!” Ty said to them with a big grin on his face.

“You’re not an example of the best-dressed man, either,” retorted Mahkah. “You look like a drowned river rat.” All three laughed, tension from the last hour releasing. All three felt giddy.

“I know who it was,” Ty said, pointing with a nod of his head toward Korchenko. “He was a Russian sniper. One of their best, too.”

“Was,” Laura smiled, “is the operative word. Glad you got him, Ty.”

“Me too,” Mahkah added. “You going to let him lay there?”

“Yep,” Ty nodded. “Just like the piece of **** that he is.”

Laura smiled. “He deserves it,” she said in a triumphant voice. Then looking in the Russian’s direction, she said, “Shoot at me, will you? I’ve got friends that can shoot, too!”

They had another laugh as Ty put his rifles away in their cases, and laid the Dragunov on the carpet next to them.

“Souvenir, eh?” Mahkah said, smiling.

“You bet,” Ty nodded and winked at him.

He closed the hatch and they all three resumed their positions in the Jeep for the trip home. Ty started the engine, and in a very short time they were back on the highway headed for Greenville.

As they rode along, Mahkah explained his visit with Wakanda, detailing everything she had told him about the meteor. He also added, to Laura’s great relief, that the disasters should stop now because she’d been able to return the scroll to its rightful place.

It was all a bit too much for Ty, who didn’t feel comfortable hearing about, much less discussing, things of this nature. He’d thought all along that Mahkah was a little eccentric, perhaps bordering on being a nut case. But after hearing the whole story as Mahkah explained it to them, Ty had slowly started lending a more sensitive ear.

“So,” Ty said as Mahkah finished his story, “let me get this straight. A lady, an angel or something, told you that the meteor might or might not hit us based on the decisions of God and some aliens?”

Mahkah laughed at how Ty had asked the question, partially serious, partially sarcastic, partially curious.

“Yes, essentially,” Mahkah said, smiling. “Tell me something, Ty. When you look up at night and see all those billions of stars, do you honestly believe that we are the only life forms that God has created in all the universe? With an endless number of stars, planets and galaxies, surely even you would have to admit the possibility of other life out there.”

Ty thought a moment before answering. Laura was looking at him, anxiously awaiting an answer.

“Well,” Ty said slowly, “it would be pretty arrogant to believe that absolutely no other life forms exist anywhere else. So, yes, I have to admit that you may have a point.”

Mahkah was glad to see Ty was a man of reason. Mahkah continued with, “And what if God enlists the assistance of others, beings that are extremely advanced beyond Man, millions of years further evolved than us, to help in Mankind’s management? And of our Earth as well?”

“I’ve never thought about that possibility,” Ty admitted, glancing in his mirror at the shaman again. “But who in Hell am I to say the possibility doesn’t exist?”

“None of us can say so with any amount of surety,” Laura said. “In geologic time, we just emerged from the caves. We were riding animals as our only means of transportation just a hundred years ago! What if there’s someone out there that is as far evolved from us as we are from cockroaches?”

“Hey, don’t pick on bugs,” Ty said, lightening the moment again. “They can be good eatin’ if you’re hungry.”

Then he looked at Mahkah in the mirror again, then to Laura.

He said, “Okay, I’ll keep my mind open when I’m around you two.” He glanced at Laura out of the corner of his eye, smiled and patted her on her knee. Then he chuckled and said, “I’ll have to, if I’m going to keep my sanity.”

“Good!” Laura said, smiling big at Mahkah as if they’d won a great victory.

“So,” Ty added as an afterthought, “how do we find out if the meteor’s going to hit us or not?”

Mahkah replied, “Wakanda cannot tell us that. Nobody can. We will just have to wait and see.”

“Great,” Ty said in a disappointed tone.

Getting back to Greenville wasn’t an easy task because of all the traffic. They took back roads that Ty knew well to skirt the main highways and, after stopping for gas in a little town called Pocahontas, continued east on state route 40.

They’d been listening to news on the radio reporting about the meteor, the problems the cities were having, and the two viruses still killing people in Dallas and New York. Traffic reports sounded like a broken record. Jams here, jams there, nobody able to move. Even the interstates well away from the major cities were experiencing slow moving lanes because of automobile breakdowns and fuel shortages. Cars were apparently just pulling off the road as they ran out of gas, stranded by their occupants who then simply took off on foot.

The old Jeep crested a ridge in the road and Ty noticed a small group of people packed up near the bottom of the valley, where the road crossed a two-lane bridge and went back up a hill on its other side. He knew immediately what it could be. And they were just a hundred yards up the road in front. Robbers and thieves, highwaymen waiting to take whatever they could from passers-by.

Chapter 21 - continued

Laura and Mahkah also saw the small band, several sitting on four-wheelers.

And then they saw guns being displayed by men on the ATV’s. Ty hit the brakes and clutch at the same time, downshifted to third gear, and looked at the ditch off to his right. It wasn’t a deep ditch, but might roll them if he crossed it too quickly or at the wrong angle. It all happened so fast that nobody had time to say anything while Ty looked for ways out of the possibly dire situation.

He jerked the wheel on the Cherokee and drove at the ditch, careful to hit it at an angle that took it on almost at a straight 90 degrees. The sudden jolt when the front end dipped into the ditch, then back out again so quickly, all three of the passengers were tossed up and out of their seats. Ty’s head hit the ceiling, Laura was grabbing at the strap on the inside upright windshield strut that was there for a reason, and Mahkah was thrown across the rear seat.

The Jeep bottomed out, dragging its skid plates across the dirt as the rear tires bottomed in the ditch, then began clawing their way back to the top. Ty hit the clutch, went down to second gear, leaned forward and grabbed the four-wheel-drive lever. He pulled up quickly, but as the Jeep bounced, his head slammed forward into the unpadded steering wheel. He saw stars for a second when his head bounced off the wheel, but he maintained control and let out the clutch as the Jeep tried to do what it was designed for.

Laura screamed out of surprise, the hard bounce almost forcing it out of her.

Mahkah fought to get upright in his seat to see what the men on the ATV’s were doing.

“They’re coming!” he shouted to Ty.

Laura glanced back down the road and exclaimed, “Go! Go! Go!”

Ty hit the gas as the Jeep found some traction and all four tires began to grab. They were headed in to a soybean field, the kernels of beans hitting the windshield as the bumper buzzed through the two foot-high stalks. Ty’s window was down and he could hear the engines revving as the ATV’s came up the hill at them.

“Mahkah,” Ty shouted, “open my case with the M1A and toss my tac vest up here! Hand the rifle to Laura!” He knew he had to stay out in front of the small four-wheelers long enough to get the rifle readied. But running crossways to the furrows was really bumpy and he couldn’t get up any speed in this direction. He turned a bit to the right to run within the rows, hopefully giving Mahkah less bounce to contend with while getting the firepower out.

It was a bit smoother in this direction, so he shifted to third gear and pressed down on the gas. Going this direction also served to put distance between him and the highwaymen, although he figured they could run as fast through the field as the Jeep could. But there would be fewer of them to contend with. He’d only remembered seeing a couple ATV’s. Then he felt something warm and wet running down the left side of his eye onto his cheek. He angrily brought up his left shoulder and wiped the blood onto his shirt sleeve. “****!” he thought to himself. “Damn steering wheel.”

Mahkah threw the tactical vest forward next to Ty and it landed on the parking brake lever. Then he handed the M1A to Laura, banging its barrel on the ceiling of the Jeep in the process. But in just a few seconds, she was holding it across her lap, looking as if she had no idea what to do with this strange piece of equipment. Ty groped for the tac vest next to him, found it and ripped open one of the magazine compartments.

“You two get down!” he ordered. “I’m going to stop and see if I can’t convince them we don’t have anything they want!” Laura bent over forward and got as low as she could, Mahkah lay down on the rear seat. Ty turned the Jeep to the left, hard, preparing to stop.

He slammed on the brakes, moved the shifter to neutral and yanked up on the parking brake all at the same time as the Jeep lurched to a stop. Ty grabbed the rifle from Laura’s grasp and jumped out of the Cherokee, inserting the magazine in the big semi-auto and clicked it in to place as he ran around the grill and took a position putting the front of the Jeep between him and the ATV’s. He jerked the bolt to chamber one of the .308 rounds.
He saw three ATV’s in all, each with two men on it. He saw the barrels of several rifles and shotguns waving around toward the sky. He wasn’t concerned about the shotguns at this range, about fifty yards, but he had no way of knowing what they were packing for rifles.

It didn’t really matter to Ty, though. He had the M1A. He brought it up to his shoulder, aiming it directly at the front ATV. Their throttles immediately slowed, two of the three coming to an abrupt stop.

“Hand me more magazines from that vest!” Ty shouted to Laura. She ripped open a few of the pockets and pulled out the metal things Ty had explained about earlier to her. She was glad she’d paid attention. At least, now she knew what a magazine was, and was very eager to help Ty all she could. He’d already saved her life once, and now was trying to do it twice in the same day.

She looked up at Ty and saw the blood oozing on the edge of his eye socket, running down his cheek and coagulating in a small circle at his jaw before dropping into the beans.

She screamed, “Ty! You’re hurt!” But he was too focused on what was coming at them to hear her.

“Drop your guns!” Ty shouted to the ATV drivers. The front ATV hadn’t stopped, and was still coming hard. They couldn’t hear Ty over the sound of their engine, but they could certainly see the big rifle aimed at them.

Ty watched as the passenger of the charging ATV swung his gun barrel at him, effectively using the driver as cover. The gun fired, Ty recognized it as the sound of a shotgun. But the ATV was bumping across the field and the shot wasn’t on-target. Mahkah and Laura both heard pellets hit the Jeep’s side and rear glass.

Then they heard Ty’s M1A open up, firing three quick shots in succession.

Chapter 21 (conclusion)

All three bullets zipped through the driver, killing him as well as the passenger instantly.

As they fell, the ATV went out of control and flipped, ending its charge upside-down about twenty five yards from the Jeep. Laura and Mahkah heard the crash and wanted to see what was happening, but didn’t want to raise their heads until the shooting was over. They hoped it was.

But it wasn’t.

The passengers on the other two ATV’s both tried to use their drivers as rests for their rifles to steady the shots. But as soon as the drivers realized what was happening, both drivers bailed off their machines leaving the two men exposed.

Both fired their rifles as Ty quickly ducked down behind the front of the Jeep, protecting his legs also by standing directly next to the right-front wheel. The sound of bullets whizzing by told Ty they’d missed, high. He stood up just enough to rest his left elbow on the hood of the Jeep. Ty’s mind was assessing what kind of weapons were shooting at him.

One had sounded like a high-powered rifle, the other like a .22 rimfire. He guessed correctly. But there was no way of knowing if they were single-shots or semi-automatics. His questions were answered as the .22 kept shooting in rapid-fire succession, the little hot balls of lead screaming by him, a few ricocheted off the left fender of the Jeep, one shattered its rear glass. Ty knew the guy was shooting wild, spraying and praying, hoping to hit anything.

Ty unfolded the M1A’s bipod, leaned up slightly so he could see over the top of the Jeep’s hood, and then set his rifle on it. He snuggled up to the M1A and peered through the peep sight just as the other shooter fired his weapon. Ty saw it was a big scoped rifle, a bolt action similar to his Sendero. Ty knew that was the next one that he had to target. It was the greatest threat.

As the shooter worked the bolt on his rifle to ready another shot, Ty centered him in the M1A’s sight, took a breath and squeezed the trigger. The man fell off backwards from the ATV like he’d been hit in the chest with a sack of potatoes, the rifle flying out of his hands.

Then Ty swung the M1A to the guy with the .22, who had stopped firing to reload another clip. Ty made a mental note that the two drivers were still on the ground, laying face down in the beans. They hadn’t moved, apparently scared stiff from the firefight.

Ty shouted to the man with the little rifle. “Drop it!”

The .22 came half-way down to the ready, its owner hesitating while wondering what to do. Ty held off pulling the trigger, giving the man a chance to save his own life.

The .22 jerked to the shooter’s shoulder and aimed at Ty.

The second the rifle leveled out in his direction, Ty squeezed the M1A’s trigger once more.

This was an intentional head-shot. He wanted the firefight to end, and he figured the best way to do that was blow the guy’s brains all over the two drivers that were still hugging the ground.

It worked like a charm.

As the limp body dropped off the side of the ATV, both drivers jumped up with their hands high in the air.

“We give up! We give up!” they both shouted in unison.

But behind them, several of their comrades were running toward the ATV’s. They were too far away, about two hundred yards, for Ty to tell if they were all carrying weapons. He held his position behind the jeep, glanced quickly at Laura who was peeking over the driver’s window to see what was going on.

“Stay down.” Ty said quietly. “And hand me those magazines, please.”

Laura thought his voice was overly calm for the situation. She got down low again, swiveled around to the passenger’s door and handed him three magazines.

“That going to be enough?” she asked, voice trembling.

Ty chuckled, “I’m going to take a wild guess and say yes. I don’t think those guys are prepared to die for whatever we might have in this ugly old Jeep.”

Ty counted seven more raiders, most of them now slowing to a walk. Several had stopped in their tracks while looking at their dead friends sprawled on top of the beans. Ty watched as four dropped their weapons to the ground, but three still remained threats.

“Drop your weapons, go back and let us pass!” Ty shouted to them. “We don’t have anything that’s worth your dying for!”

Two more raiders dropped their guns, shotguns Ty thought. They were way out of range anyway. But a big, mean looking guy wearing a dirty wife-beater t-shirt held onto his weapon. Ty could tell the man did not want to give up the fight; He was holding onto what Ty thought might be an AR-15 semi-auto rifle. It was black, and he could tell there was a long magazine protruding from its bottom.

“Last warning!” Ty shouted out to them. “Tell your ugly friend to drop it or I’m going to open up and cap every one of you *******s!”

He could hear them talking amongst themselves, but they were too far to understand what was being said. Ty waited, finger on trigger, eye looking through the M1A’s peep sight, comfortably resting the rifle’s bipod on the hood of the Jeep.

The last armed man was turning his head, talking to his buddies. Ty figured they were plotting a surprise, so he decided to end it here and now.

He aimed directly at the rifle being held by the last hold-out. The shot was only about sixty yards, well within range of the M1A to shoot with pinpoint accuracy.

Ty took a deep breath, let half of it out and held it, then squeezed the trigger slowly as if he was trying to make a thousand yard shot. The M1A boomed again, causing a few of the raiders to fall to the ground, the others jumping in surprise.

The AR-15 flew into pieces, Ty’s 168 grain bullet slamming into its magazine. The shrapnel created by the magazine disintegrating, some of it ripping through the jeans of the big man, lodging in his knee.

He yelled and went down, cussing at Ty, calling him every name in the book.
The useless rifle fell to the ground next to the big man. He looked at it momentarily, as if he wanted to pick it up and still try to use it. It still had a live shell in the chamber. But before he could reach for it, Ty launched another bullet at the AR, this time hitting its receiver. The weapon was certainly of no use to the big man now. He raised himself up on his knees and held up both hands, surrendering.

His friends also followed suit.

“Leave your guns laying on the ground and get out of here!” Ty ordered, still locked up to the M1A and ready to use it if necessary.

The fight was over.

The men all turned and began walking away, beaten, several getting on the two ATV’s that remained. The big man with the dirty t-shirt cussed them for pulling away, leaving him to limp back to their bridge, then on to his home.

Ty stood up, folded the M1A’s bipod up against its barrel, and looked at Mahkah and Laura, who had sat up in their seats to watch the conclusion. Both looked back at Ty and smiled.

He winked at them, smiled and walked around the back of the Jeep and opened the hatch to return the M1A. As he started to put it back in its case, he had second thoughts. He closed the hatch without opening the case, then took the rifle up to the side of the vehicle. He made sure the safety was on and handed it in through the driver’s window carefully to Mahkah.

“Lay this next to you back there, if you don’t’ mind,” he asked Mahkah. “We’re a ways from home yet, and I’m not going to get caught off-guard again.”

“Sure thing,” Mahkah said, accepting the rifle, butt stock first.

As Ty got back in the Jeep, he said, “We’re going to pick up their guns on the way out. See if we can stop them from creating more victims out here.”

“You drive,” Laura volunteered, “I’ll hop out and put them in the back.”

Ty nodded and smiled at her as he started the Cherokee, thinking it was pretty cool she was going to help.

“Yeah,” she said in a sarcastic voice, “I’m a big girl. They don’t scare me too bad.” She smiled as she glanced at Ty and Mahkah, then added, “But I have no desire to shoot that big loud thing you were just using.”

Mahkah and Ty both chuckled at Laura as the Jeep rolled over the same tracks they’d made in the beans when they came into the field. Laura hopped out twice and picked up weapons, intentionally avoiding looking at the dead bodies, and carefully placed the weapons in the back of the Jeep.

They crossed the ditch slowly and turned back on to the hard road, passing the raiders who were on foot, heads gazing down at the ground. Not one looked at the Jeep as it drove by them.

Ty put it back in two-wheel drive, accelerated as they crossed the bridge and continued the journey to Greenville. In less than thirty minutes, they were pulling up to the cabin with several new weapons to add to the gun collection in the safe.

End Chapter 21

Glad y'all are enjoying the continuance.... I've received several PM's already today with nice comments. But I encourage you to post a message rather than PM --- my browser has a problem opening them because it thinks it's a pop-up. Many thanks.

Chapter 22 coming tomorrow. And to the Korchenko lovers that are crying in their beer.... have faith. There MIGHT be someone coming with a vendetta in novel #3.

Nate, it's available all over the world at online book sellers... Ireland, Australia, the U.K. and Canada. Hit the "Links" page at www.gmillercompanies.com and select one of those sellers. Also on the page is what each seller is offering it for including Borders, Barnes, Amazon, etc. I believe $13.49 (U.S.) is the best deal, but don't quote me on it. Thanks for the words.

The Cataclysm Scroll - Chapter 22


Frank Brunowski answered his cell phone in his normal gruff voice, “Brunowski here.”

“Frank, this is Fleming. Just got word the President is declaring Martial Law and has invoked executive order 13286. You hear that yet?”

“Yeah,” the CIA chief replied in a hostile tone, “just got off the phone with McMillan, our new Chief of Staff. This is going to be such a cluster****, but the Pres insists that deploying troops to the cities is justified.”

“And I assume you know what EO13286 is?” Fleming asked.

“Who doesn’t?” Brunowski growled. “It rolls all law enforcement responsibilities and their power over to Homeland Security. It turns all government functions over to the military.”

“Yes,” Fleming agreed. “Every state just lost the capability to govern and police themselves. I’ve always had a problem with this E.O. because it throws the Constitution out the window. Citizens who think Habeas Corpus being suspended is their biggest problem have never heard of this E.O.”

“The governors are going to **** themselves,” Brunowski chuckled. “when they find out that we are now living in a dictatorship, controlled by the military and completely federalized.”

“Even the courts,” Fleming said in a disgusted tone. “Reminds me of Nazi Germany a few years before the big war.”

“A Nation controlled completely by one man, and the guys who have all the power now aren’t elected officials,” Brunowski added. “****, the Constitution fundamentalists are going to come out of the woodwork. This is just gonna set the stage for a **** storm.”

“Yeah,” Fleming agreed. “But if that doctor’s calculations are right about the meteor, at least this may not last for long.”

“And if he’s wrong?” Brunowski asked. “I mean, what if it misses us and Parker keeps everything in place? How in Hell do we undo this mess? Congress is powerless now, even the Supreme Court can’t do anything about it.”

Fleming thought for a moment, then replied, “It would take factions within our military to turn it around. Effectively, it’d take a military coup to get the power back where it belongs, unless Parker remands the E.O.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Brunowski challenged. “What if he was part of that Iranian conspiracy from the get-go? This could be a piece of their plan, ya know?”

“God,” Fleming said slowly, “I hope not. If that’s the case, there won’t be a way to restore the power structure. There are no provisions in the E.O. if the President doesn’t remand it himself.”

“Right,” Brunowski said flatly. “We stay a dictatorship.”

Fleming’s voice got quiet on the phone, then he said, “****. It would be the quietest military coup in history.”

“You’ve got it,” Brunowski agreed. “Let’s keep our eye on the ball.”


It was late afternoon. Ty and Laura were sitting on the cabin’s deck overlooking a small lake on its west side enjoying each other’s company. Ty had a Stag beer sitting on a small patio table in front of him, and he’d poured Laura a glass of homemade blackberry wine. Mahkah was inside watching news on the television. He’d invited them in to watch it also, but both had declined.

“Been quite a day,” Ty said quietly. “Glad you were able to get the scroll back where it belongs.” He smiled at her and added, “You did damn good.”

Laura smiled, looked down at her feet and replied, “Thanks. Did the best I could. But I’d have drowned in that cave if you hadn’t come out for me. I can’t thank you enough.”

“That was part of my job description,” Ty smiled and replied modestly. “Who’d drink Mom and Dad’s wine if I hadn’t?”

They both chuckled as she lifted her glass in a toasting gesture. “Here’s to your Mom and Dad. May they make many more batches of this!”

“And here’s to you,” Ty added, “for being a very strong woman. Most that I know would have freaked out about ten times today. You handled the dive and that firefight like a champ.” He held up his beer can.

Laura bowed her head ceremoniously in accepting his toast. She said, “And back at you, for having the courage to see this through. You weren’t obligated to help at all when I got here.”

Ty shook his head in mild disagreement. He said, “And what was I supposed to do, let you and Mahkah do this all without any protection? I’d never forgive myself if something had happened to either of you. He’s a unique old guy, and you’re one-of-a-kind, in my humble opinion.”

Laura changed the subject and asked, “Do you have anything to cook here? Anything I could make? I haven’t thought about food all day, but now my stomach is telling me I’m famished.”

Ty nodded and answered, “Sure do.” Then he laughed and added, “My stomach thinks my throat’s been cut!”

They both laughed at the old line out of a movie.

Ty got up from the chair and said, “I’ll grill again tonight. Mahkah’s got to be starving, too. How do t-bones sound? I’ll thaw three from the freezer.”

“Wonderful!” Laura exclaimed. “I’ll go tell Mahkah you’re grilling again. And that will give me an excuse to get another glass of wine.” She smiled as she held out her near-empty glass and spun the last sip around its bottom.

“Help yourself,” Ty smiled as he disappeared into the cabin. Laura got up and followed him in. She was curious what Mahkah was watching on the television.

She walked in to the cabin’s great room and saw Mahkah sitting crossed-legged on the floor in front of the TV.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she took a seat in the chair behind him.

“Several news crews that were reporting on what’s happening within the large cities have gone offline. The stations suspect the reporters have either lost power to their vans with the uplinks, or something bad has happened to the crews themselves. Nobody’s sure yet.”

Laura shook her head and asked, “Looting and stuff still really bad?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mahkah nodded. “Real bad. It’s like the end of the world, literally. There’s been some aerial shots taken by helicopters, but they’re afraid to get in too low to the ground because several have been shot down.”

“Jesus!” Laura exclaimed. “Why would anyone do that?”

“Who knows?” Mahkah answered. “It’s like everyone is losing their collective mind. Europe and Asia have reported hundreds of thousands dead in riots over there. And the U.S. hasn’t released any numbers yet.”

“My God,” Laura said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Mahkah turned around to face Laura as a commercial came on the television. He said, “And President Parker has declared martial law in the United States. The Army is starting to roll into the larger cities.”

“I don’t know what that is, really,” Laura admitted. “I’ve heard the term many times but have no idea what it means.”

“That’s when,” Ty said walking into the room, “state and local law enforcement is turned over to the American military machine. Have you ever seen a movie with Bruce Willis called Under Siege?”

Laura turned and looked up at him as Ty handed her a fresh glass of wine. “No,” she said, “I haven’t. Is that what the movie’s about?”

“Essentially,” Ty nodded. “It’s what happens when there’s chaos and disorder, basically complete civil breakdown. And that’s what is happening in the cities now, so martial law is probably a good idea from most people’s perspectives.” Then he frowned, looked at Mahkah and added, “But there’s going to be a whole lot of people who will think it’s a government take-over rather than a relief effort. That’s what happened last month around St. Louis and Memphis when the earthquake created all the chaos and the U.N. troops rolled in.”

“Yes,” Mahkah agreed, “the news was full of shoot-outs between the U.N. and American citizens.”

“Foreign troops on American sovereign soil was a problem then,” Ty nodded to Mahkah, “and our troops firing on our own citizens may create the same situation now. Or worse, depending on how widespread the anarchy is and how the military responds to it.”

The commercial break finished and the television cameras were now covering breaking news at the White House. The press secretary was announcing that the President was going to invoke an executive order that would help restore order quickly.

Mahkah turned up the volume as the press secretary was saying, “13286 will be a great help to the problems each state is having in getting control of the looting that is now so prevalent. Since the local law enforcement community has not had much success in quelling the violence, 13286 will virtually guarantee that peace can and will be restored…”

A correspondent shouted out from the room full of reporters, “But doesn’t that executive order put everything in control of the President and the military?”

The press secretary paused, obviously frustrated she had been interrupted without calling on the reporter. In a firm voice, she replied, “You should wait for your turn to be called, sir. But yes, the Oval Office will now oversee and direct all efforts to stop the violence…”

The microphone had been removed from anywhere near the reporter who’d interrupted, so he shouted it so that others around the room would pick up his question.

“So, just like a dictator can do anything he wants, our President now has the same control? All military, state national guards and militias are now under the direct control of the President?”

“Remove that man immediately!” the press secretary demanded, looking at the security guards around the room. The sound was turned off from the pressroom as microphones were shut down and guards removed the reporter, as well as at least three others who had been shouting questions also. The room was in turmoil as the camera panned back and forth between the melee’ in the room and the press secretary, waiting for order to be restored.

The Cataclysm Scroll - Chapter 22 (cont)

But before she could continue, the news feed was lost and the anchor came back on apologizing for the technical difficulty the press room was experiencing.

“This is not good,” Ty said with a frown. “When I was growing up, my Dad insisted I read things written by the framers of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, writings from the founding fathers and all that stuff. Pages and pages of their most famous quotes, too. I even memorized many of’em, mostly by accident.”

“And now, you know why,” Mahkah finished the sentence for Ty.

“Yes,” Ty nodded. “I understand what this means.”

“I’ve never heard of those writings,” Laura interjected. “I thought all they did was write the Constitution!”

“Oh, no,” Mahkah chuckled. “the men who wrote it had to have something to work from, and it was the Federalist Papers.” He looked at Ty, smiled and said, “Can you remember any of those quotes now?”

Ty laughed. He looked at Laura, then back at Mahkah. He said, “Believe it or not, this was a topic of discussion around our camp during Desert Storm. Several of the guys were from the South, where talk of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights comes up pretty regularly.”

“And?” Mahkah urged him on.

“Yes,” he glanced at Laura. “I remember some quotes.”

“Great!” Laura said excited. “Let’s hear some. Anything is better than what’s on TV.”

“Um…” Ty thought. “Okay, how about this one by Thomas Jefferson. No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny in government.”

“Wow,” Laura said, looking at Ty in amazement. “No kidding, he really said that?”

“Most appropriate,” Mahkah said, nodding to Ty. Then he looked at Laura and laughed, saying, “You think he just made that up this minute?”

Laura threw an evil glance at Mahkah, then smiled. She looked back at Ty and said, “How many more you have in your head?”

“A few,” Ty grinned. “But they escape me now. You’re more than welcome to go through some of my Dad’s reference books when you’re bored.”

“If,” Laura said flatly, “we’re alive in a week or so, I will.”

Mahkah nodded agreement. He said in a grim voice, “If the Spirit wishes us alive, then it will be so. If He wishes it otherwise, you’ll have to wait until your next lifetime to dig through those quotes.”

Although he hadn’t said it intending to be funny, the irony of his comment tickled all of them in the room and they laughed.

Ty turned and said, “Gonna make some t-bones tonight. Don’t know if we’re going to have a chance to clean out this freezer or not, so we might as well give it our best shot.”

“That sounds grand,” Mahkah smiled, getting up from his seated position in a single, smooth movement. Laura was amazed at how limber and in-condition he was for his age.

Mahkah noticed her look of disbelief and simply smiled. He said, “It’s all in the energy and spirit, my dear. That’s all.”

“I need some of that,” she said. They walked out on the deck while Ty was getting out the steaks to defrost.

They both had a seat in the deck chairs and didn’t say a word, just watching the sun ebb to the edge of the horizon. It was a beautiful shade of orange, reflecting almost red in the few clouds above them.

“Gorgeous sunsets here, eh?” Ty asked as he walked onto the deck carrying a bag of charcoal and small stack of newspaper to light it with. He poured the charcoal into the lighting chimney, stuffed some newspaper under it and reached into his jeans looking for a lighter.

His hand hit a cell phone.

“****!” he exclaimed. “I forgot that I put that sniper’s cell phone in my pocket! We need to go through his calls, both in and out.”
He handed the phone to Laura, who was retrieving a piece of paper and pen from her purse.

“Write’em all down,” he requested of Laura. “We can give them a call and see who he’s been talking to.”

Mahkah was nodding.

While Laura punched through the call record on the phone, Ty lit the charcoal.

“Oh my God,” Laura said, looking at the phone. “I recognize one of these numbers!”

“What?” Ty exclaimed.

“No kidding!” she replied. “It’s the cell phone number of Kirk Perry, one of the associate professors that works with Dr. Katz at the university!”

“Wait a minute,” Mahkah said slowly. “Did he have any information about what you’d found in the underwater cave?”

“Well, sure!” she said. “He worked side-by-side with Professor Katz and was going to send a car for Josh and Katie. He wanted to send a car to get me back to the university after I’d found the scroll, but all this started happening and I haven’t called them back. Katz doesn’t even know we put the scroll back in the cave yet!”

“Then he must have had something to do with why that sniper was after us,” Mahkah concluded. “They must have been in league with one another.”

“I’d like to pay him a visit,” Ty said in a hostile tone. “Just see exactly what he knows.”

“You can’t do that,” Mahkah said shaking his head. “That would tie you to a dead man on the lake’s shore, and possibly to those dead men in the bean field. It will be better to let things run their natural course and keep your head down. The law enforcement community has enough trouble on their hands right now.”

“I agree,” Laura insisted. “because Kirk Perry isn’t worth a bullet. I’ve never liked the sniveling butt-kissing that he does to the professor and have never trusted him. He’s not worth you getting in trouble.”

“Fine then,” Ty chuckled, “I’ll just stay here and grill some steaks. I need to clean my rifles anyway. And we all need to eat.”

“And,” Laura said joining in Ty’s lighter humor, “you have several new ones that you can show off to your Dad when he returns.”

Ty smiled and nodded at Laura. Her attitude was so positive, so up-beat. Except for Rachel following the big earthquake, he’d never known a woman who could be under as much pressure and not crumble under it. She’d acted as if the day had been just like any other, not full of mayhem and death. It hadn’t changed her disposition at all. He’d only known her a day. How could a woman so quickly fill his heart with feelings he hadn’t experienced in many years?

The sun had just dipped below the horizon and was beautifully lighting the cirrus clouds above them. They looked like pink flamingo feathers, whispy swirls of white, changing to pink, then orange as the sun slipped further over the horizon.

“It’s a good sign,” declared Mahkah. “The Spirit is giving us a picture that couldn’t be painted, could never be accurately depicted on canvas. Frame this in your minds, forever. Freeze this moment and never let it fade.”

“I already have,” Ty said as he gazed upon the sunset, then looked at Laura and smiled. “I’m glad you guys are here to share this sunset, regardless of what happens tomorrow.”

Laura looked at Ty, chanced a small smile, and looked modestly down at the deck under her feet. Then she turned and looked behind her at the sunset, then up at the clouds.

“Surely the meteor won’t hit,” she thought to herself. “I now realize how empty my life has been without this man. And there’s so many things that I need to learn from Mahkah. How could God deprive me of all this now?”
She had turned to look at the Indian, who was still looking directly overhead at the pink clouds.

Mahkah said, “We can only pray he doesn’t.”

ShunZu, Lately, I've been doing all my reading with eBooks. Have you considered that form for your works?

Click to expand...

I've thought about putting it in Kindle format, but after I read this, http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/book-blog/ (see the comments below it, too), I hesitate to go through the effort and expense that would be required. I -am- giving serious thought, however, to putting the first book in the series (A Matter of Timing) in audio book format. My daughter-in-law spends a lot of time in her car and insists that's the only way she can find time to "read" books. Do y'all think that would be a worthwhile effort?

Is this going to be in Barnes and Nobles?

Click to expand...

Yep. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Matter-of-Timing/e/9781434377623/?itm=1

Lots of links where you can get it here (including Borders, Alibris, Amazon, etc.):

http://www.gmillercompanies.com/purchase.html

Glad you're liking the story, folks. Publisher says it's going to be available in print any day now... promises, promises. Reminds me of the "two weeks!" contractors in the movie "The Money Pit".

Will get busy posting another chapter as soon as time permits mid-week... On the road right now.

The Cataclysm Scroll - Chapter 22 (cont)

(This will finish chapter 22). Apologies for the delay... been on the road alot.

Laura looked at him and tilted her head to the side slightly, knowing full-well he’d just read her thoughts again.

She said defiantly, “How did you know what I was thinking about? You can only do that in dreams, right?”

Mahkah laughed heartily, leaning back in his chair. He looked at Ty and winked, then answered Laura saying, “Sometimes.”

Ty looked at them and said, “Both of you creep me out. I’m gonna go get the steaks.” Then he smiled and walked back across the deck to the cabin.

“An extraordinary young man, indeed,” Mahkah said quietly to Laura. “You are well justified in your feelings for him. I would recommend you move slowly, however. I have a hunch that he’s been turned off by women that came at him too quickly.”

“He’s perfect,” Laura said in almost a whisper.

Mahkah grinned broadly, truly enjoying Laura’s dilemma she felt within herself.

He said, “He’s perfect for you, my dear. But other women would have no interest in guns, this woodland lifestyle, or living this far out from town. Many need to be within a ten-minute drive of the mall, and require constant maintenance from their man reassuring them they’re the most beautiful creature on the Earth. I don’t believe Ty is the type that would buckle under to such perpetual care of emotionally feeding women of that type. That’s why, I would guess, he’s remained single.”

The shaman paused, then added, “Or, perhaps he’s never married just because the Spirit has intended you to meet since you were both born.” He cracked a mysterious smile at Laura, as if he was enjoying being theosophical. Laura made a mental note to come back to his suggestion that the Spirit had something to do with their meeting.

“I have several girl friends that are like that,” Laura nodded in agreement. “And they’ve beaten their men into submission.”

Mahkah agreed, saying, “And I’ll bet they’re miserable in their existence, both men and wife. Those women demand submission, then divorce their husbands when they realize the bull has been turned in to a steer.” He chuckled. “It’s sad. It’s a crazy circle. Then they go hunting for another man to castrate.”

Laura looked down at the deck and said, “It is sad. But I would never do that to Ty.”

“And he realizes that already,” Mahkah said, looking deep into her eyes. “He has recognized you for what you are. Strong, intelligent, independent. And those are the very attributes that attract him to you, and, you to him.”

They hushed their conversation, returning to talking about the beauty of these woods, the tall hickory trees and tall white oak trees as Ty came back carrying a platter of steaks.

“You’re not talking about me, I hope,” he said smiling at Laura.

“Of course not,” she teased. “I was just bragging on all the guns I picked up for you today!”

Mahkah smiled and leaned back in the chair, looking through the timber, feeling the energy the old hardwood trees were generating.

“A truly remarkable place, here,” he said as he closed his eyes. “A spot to enjoy life. However much of it is left doesn’t really matter.”

Ty looked at Mahkah, saw his eyes closed, then glanced at Laura. She was looking into the big, tall trees also. In the failing light, Ty realized he wanted to spend more time with her. Much more.

The steaks sizzled as they hit the hot grill, the smoke and aroma drifting through the trees as the darkness overtook the light.

End Chapter 22