Renegade World: Future Past (35 page)

She felt the tears on Rebeka Lee’s face. “Thanks. I’m going
in.” Without looking at her cousin, she opened the door to the room, stepped
in, and closed the door. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and then opened
them. She saw the body of her dad on the gurney. “Oh, Dad. This isn’t the way
it was supposed to be.” She walked over and took her dad’s hands. “I love you.
I have always loved you. I will always love you.” She kissed his cheek.

She spent the next forty minutes talking to her dad. When
she closed her eyes, she felt like he was alive and talking with her like he
always did when they had their long conversations. When she was talked out, she
kissed him on the cheek again, let go of his hands, and closed her eyes. “I
won’t remember you like this. I’ll remember you as you lived. I’ll try to live
up to you.” Without looking at him again, she turned and wiped her face.
No
more tears.

When she opened the door, she saw Karl, Jake, and Rebeka
Lee, concern etched in all of their faces. “I said my goodbye. I’d like to see
Raul.” She nodded at her cousin. “You probably should check me out afterward.”
She winked. “I’m AB positive.”
They think I’m joking, but the way I’m
feeling, I’m still a pint low.

“Raul’s in there.” Rebeka Lee pointed at the next door
down.

She went in. Raul’s eyes were shut. She walked over to his
bed, and his eyes opened. “Four times in less than four years. I’d be safer
becoming a Marine like my dad and uncle.”

Naami just stared at him, not knowing how to respond.
We’ve both lost
our dads. Now I really know how he feels

As if he read her mind, Raul said, “It’s not easy. I think
about my dad all the time. I figure the best way to honor him is to live up to
him. I’m going to be the best I can be, and that’s all I can do.”

“You knew my dad was dead?”

“Sitting in the safest position, I saw the car disintegrate
around him. I’m so sorry, Naami. Your father was great.” He paused. “How is
your mom?”

“She should be OK, but she’s kind of out of it right now.”

“I glad she’s going to be OK.” He smiled at Naami. “I know
that you think your mom’s weird, but I think she’s nice.”

She nodded.
She may be nice, but she’s so
disconnected…and now?

N
aami felt exhausted. She
thought back to the visitation yesterday, crowded with her relatives, and her parents’
colleagues and friends. Thanks to Abraham, she could remember everyone who had
spoken with her. The cathedral had been near full today, and there had even
been many new faces at the cemetery for the committal. She missed her dad and
her mom. Her mom had not attended the visitation, funeral mass, or committal;
she had not spoken since the accident, not even to Naami.

Naami looked down at the
plate of food that Gran had brought her. She couldn’t even make herself finish
the Thai wings.

Naami, you’re tired. You
need some sleep.

You’re right, but I
can’t.
In the five days since the
funeral, she had slept a total of six hours.

She looked around the room
and saw Karl Hunter talking to Jake Stahl, Joe Martinez, Rhett Johnstone, and
Jack Bear.
Those guys are here for me. I should go talk to them.
She
dragged herself out of the folding chair and walked across Dr. Lieber’s living
room.

“Hi, guys. Thanks for
coming.” She shook hands with each of them, and they said their condolences.
She simply nodded her thanks to each.
It’s even an effort to talk. I better
not end up like my mom.

Naami, you won’t. You’re
not your mom.

Joe caught her eye as she
looked up. “Tomorrow, we’re all going to do some long range shooting.” He
motioned to the group.

“How far?”

“Only a thousand yards to
start with.” Joe laughed. “We have a 7mm-08 Remington, a 7mm Remington Magnum, a
.300 Win Mag, and a .338 Lapua Magnum that should all reach that distance. You
want to come? Raul’s coming.”

“You will love my McMillan
TAC-338,” said Jake.

As she hesitated, Rhett
said, “Naami probably needs something more challenging, Joe. Bring your old
AR-15 with the 20-inch barrel. I’ll bet she can’t hit the target with that.”

I wonder.
“What’s the twist?”

“One in seven,” said Joe.

“Will it stabilize a Barnes 85 grain boat tail?”
Abraham,
get me the ballistics.

“Yes, and I handload those to
a 2800 feet per second muzzle velocity.”

“Will the scope adjust
enough to compensate for 158 inches of bullet drop?”

Joe smiled. “There’s the
challenge. I can adjust it enough for 800 yards, but you’re going to have to
eyeball it from there.”

Abraham?

We can do it.

She stared at Rhett. “You’re
on. What time?”

“Raul and I will pick you up
at 11:30.”

Rhett nodded. “I’ll pick up
Karl, Jack, and Jake.”

The five men expressed their
condolences again and said goodbye. She saw a number of others waiting to say
goodbye to her.

After she said her goodbyes,
the only people remaining were: Gran, Raul, Aaron, Thor, Erica, Rebeka Lee, and
Dr. Lieber. They were all sitting around the dining room table. She pulled up a
card chair between Raul and Thor.

Dr. Lieber said, “I talked
to your grandmother, Naami. You can stay with me Monday night until Thursday,
and your grandmother will come back up Thursday night until Monday afternoon.
That way you don’t have to miss school. Hopefully, your mom will be better by
then.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.
Naami clasped her hands together and looked at them. “But what if my mom isn’t
up to it by then?”

“Let’s see. I’m gone on
Wednesday the following week.”

Thor said, “You can stay
with us.”

Naami rubbed her eye, trying
not to cry. “Thanks, everyone.” She took a steadying breath. “Right now…all I
feel is loss. My dad’s gone. My mom may be gone. I hope not…but she might.
Besides Gran, you guys are the only ones I can count on.” She looked at each of
them. “I know I can count on you, right?”

They all nodded.

“Things are bad right now. I
hope they get better…but they may get worse. I’m glad I can count on each of
you. I really and truly love you all.”

D
r. Shemesh nodded to Anita. “You’re going to have a good
flight home. Do you remember this gentleman?”

She looked up briefly at Jake Stahl through the darkened
lenses of her glasses. “Jake.”

He offered her his arm. “Ready when you are, Anita.” Dr.
Shemesh had warned him not to use her last name.

She took Jake’s arm, and without looking back, she said.
“Thank you, Dr. Shemesh.”

“You’re very welcome, Anita. You will have a nice flight,
and you’ll see your lovely daughter when you get home.”

He watched them walk out the doors and down the sidewalk.
When she got in the car, he shook his head, turned, and walked back to his
office.

Sarai brought two cups of tea into his office.  After she
put the cups on his massive wood desk, she shut his door. “Will she be OK?”

Avram sipped his tea. “Will she be OK? That’s a tough
question. Will she function as well as she did before her husband was killed?
Probably not. Will she function better than when she was eight? Most likely.”

“The medication synthesized and dispensed by the molecular
machines has stabilized her brain chemistry temporarily.  But the medication
has no power to change her neural pathways, no permanent cure for her social
anxiety. A permanent solution for her social anxiety requires neural pathways
and associations to change. Repetition is paramount. Without repetition, neural
pathways and associations will not change.”

“As a child, we worked with her to help her learn new
strategies, rational concepts, and methods to radically reduce her social
anxiety.  Then, we spent months with her practicing these strategies, concepts,
and methods. Did her anxiety go away? Not completely, but enough for her to be
fully functioning.”

“Her husband’s death undid most of what she had built up
over the years. We virtually had to start over. Ten weeks of repetition is the
bare minimum. I would have kept her longer, but she thought it was time. She
was beginning to become anxious about her work.”

Sarai put down her cup. “But it’s a good sign that she
wanted to get on with her life. When she came here, she didn’t want to leave
her room.”

Avram nodded. “It’s a good sign, and if she continues the
therapy with her AI, she will continue to get better.”

“And Naamah?”

Aram shrugged. “She’s survived four attempts on her life,
and she’s moving forward. We can thank her father’s genetics for that. He was
special, the product of six generations of tinkering and match-making on my
part.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I had to kill the Human-Idumean hybrid, but it was
him or Naamah.”

“We still don’t know how many children, Samael has
fathered, do we?”

Avram shook his head. “I sent our last courier ship back through
the anomaly nearly fourteen years ago with a formal complaint. I should have
got a response back seven years ago.”

“The ship could have been destroyed. After all, of the thirty-six traversable Anomalies, the one we used to get here is the least stable.”

“You’re right, Sarai. The ship could have been destroyed as it traveled through the Anomaly, or it could have been destroyed in normal space.” He paused. "An accident?" He shook his head. "I think not." He shrugged. "Accident or not, it's up to us to help the humans save themselves. Adon, may it please you."

I hope you enjoyed this prequel. If you have ideas you'd like to see included in future
Renegade World
books, drop me an email at [email protected]. If you haven't already read
Renegade World: Book I
, you can find it on one of the Amazon sites below for a low price.
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com.au
Amazon.in
Amazon.com.br
Amazon.de
Amazon.es
Amazon.fr
Amazon.it
Amazon.co.jp