Free Sunrise: Wrath & Righteousness: Episode Ten by Chris Stewart

even, and a late-night breeze was blowing gently against the wooden blinds.
    They weren’t hiding any more, not literally and not figuratively, there was just no reason any longer. The men in Raven Rock knew they were here now, knew what they were up to, knew what they intended. The end game was close now, upon them really, and there was no purpose or advantage in pretending any longer. The path split in two sudden forks before them and the nation had to choose.
    She glanced nervously at the wall. The clock stood still. She checked the watch that had been given to her by one of Marino’s aides, then sighed. Time was passing agonizingly slowly. Her mouth was so dry she had to work to swallow and her stomach was tied in knots.
    Behind her, Brucius Marino adjusted his weight against his desk, sometimes reading, sometimes staring off in thought, but mostly watching Sara out of the corner of his eye.
    She turned and looked at him. He seemed completely relaxed.
    “They’ve been deliberating for almost six hours,” she said.
    He nodded to her. “A little more than that.”
    Sara thought of Justice Jefferson, his pride and exaggerated sense of worth. Were the other Justices like him? She didn’t know. Did they have the courage to do the right thing? Did they even have the wisdom to know what the right thing was to do? Again, she didn’t know.
    By now, the men inside Raven Rock would know that Justice Jefferson had left their compound. By now, they would have realized that Marino had gathered the two remaining U.S. Supreme Court justices and brought them out to Offutt. By now, they would surely understand that the three Justices were meeting and that they would soon decide which path the nation ought to take. She knew their future was hanging in the balance, depending on what the three surviving members of the U.S. Supreme Court finally said.
    Marino watched her, his thoughts much the same as hers.
    If the Justices found against him, he didn’t know what he’d do. He wouldn’t have many options. But whatever action he took, he would remain within the law.
    If, on the other hand, they found against the men in Raven Rock, Marino knew that they would fight him hand, tooth and nail. No way would they give up power without a fight. They’d destroy the country if they had to. For them, so much the better if they did. They’d do anything to stop him, no matter what the Justices said.
    Which was why he was preparing for open war.
    Sara put her arms around herself as she stared absently out the window. There were a few security lights around the base entry points and a couple lighted windows in the headquarters complex but beyond the perimeter fence that lined the base it was utterly dark, the stars and moon hidden by a layer of clinging clouds.
    “Are you nervous?” she asked Brucius as she turned around.
    Marino looked at her and nodded. “I’ve had a knot of fear inside my stomach since before the nuclear explosion over Washington D.C. It’s pretty much been the only thing I’ve felt for many weeks.”
    “Funny, you don’t seem nervous.”
    He hunched his shoulders. “All the fear’s been squeezed out of me, I guess.”
    Sara interlaced her fingers nervously. “I wonder how things are going with . . . you know, Sam and the others.”
    “Sara, if I’d heard anything I would have told you. I’m not keeping any secrets. Last we heard from them, they were on the helicopter making their way toward the village where the boy was supposed to meet us. Truly, if I had any information, especially any bad information, I would have told you.”
    “I know you would.”
    They fell into silence. Brucius moved behind the desk and started looking through the drawers until he found a small key. Standing, he walked to a locked cabinet, opened the etched glass doors and pulled down a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels bourbon. “You want something to drink?” he asked her.
    She shook her head.
    He started to open the liquor then