The Last Election (37 page)

Jesse let out a shout of anger as he pounced down on Martineau’s back. He wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed tightly as he pounded her face into the dirt. Martineau reached down deep and with all her strength did a quick rollover move that made Jesse fall to the ground by her side. She crawled away and grabbed her rifle, then she and Jesse stood up at the same time, their faces a mere three feet apart. Martineau yelled through clenched teeth as she flung the stock of her rifle around and delivered a butt-stroke to Jesse’s left temple with all her might. Jesse slumped forward, and was dead before he hit the ground.

Martineau looked down at the man who had just attacked her, then turned her head to the side and spit the dirt out of her mouth. She wiped her lips as she walked back over to Daniel. The two men who were treating Daniel looked at her with respectful admiration. “How’s he doing?” she asked Ixchel.
 

“Kenna, you just killed a man!” Ixchel replied.

“That’s not important right now,” she replied coolly. “We need to take care of Daniel.”
 
  
 

Chapter 85

As Bonsam led Clark and Clay deeper into the forest, visions of a black jaguar flickered through his mind. He was confused by the visions.
A jaguar? Why?
He continued lumbering onward, clumsily tromping through the brush. He was well aware of Clark’s past service as a sniper in Vietnam, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Clark would catch up to him. “Clark is the enemy!” he yelled.

Clark heard Bonsam’s yell and stopped in his tracks.
 
“Clay, did you hear that?”

“Yes, it sounded like Bonsam,” he replied.
 

Clark could not imagine what Bonsam was doing by giving his position away. “He’s pretty far ahead of us, we need to pick up the pace.”

Bonsam looked around for a possible hiding place, but saw nothing that could conceal him from Clark. He was about to run deeper into the forest, but another vision of a black jaguar appeared in his mind. He froze as he stared at the vision.
Temple of the Jaguar! That’s it!
  

He felt a powerful force enter his body from the vision of the jaguar, and soon he was moving though the forest with the cunning of a cat.
Clark will not find me now!
 

He doubled back and headed toward the Great Plaza, totally undetected by Clark and Clay. He cleared the trees and looked ahead to the ancient Temple of the Jaguar rising above the Great Plaza. As he ran toward it, visions of fire grew stronger in his mind. A whirlpool of flames surrounded the temple, drawing him into the spiraling vortex.

In his mind he saw his mother, her skin melting away. All that remained were sinewy strands of bones and cartilage. Her eyes were dark and sunken deep into the hollow sockets, and her teeth were protruding from her bleeding gums. Her ribs became skeletal as the skin on her torso constricted inward. Her hair was straggling behind her, ratty and gnarled. He watched her scream out as flames slowly consumed her hollow body.

Bonsam breathed heavily as he raced on, almost to the point of hyperventilating. Spittle flew from his mouth and his eyes began to water. His mind screamed in horror as he watched his mother flail about in abject misery, the flames continuing to scorch what remained of her body and soul.

Bonsam ran to the front of the temple and stopped to catch his breath. As he stood there panting, visions of the ancient Maya carvings flooded his consciousness. There was a symbol flashing painfully over and over in his mind. It was the symbol of the Earth-fire. He looked at the temple steps leading upward, and was again racked by torturous visions of fires. His body trembled fiercely as he witnessed a vision of his own body immolating in the flames of hell. He screamed in panic, his eyes widening in terror.
 

He was struck by a blast of blinding light and a powerful gust of wind roared past him, and the visions disappeared. He stared at the top of the temple high above him, still breathing heavily. He smiled, then recklessly climbed the gigantic stone steps of the ancient Temple of the Jaguar. Once he reached the top step, he quickly moved forward and started to scale the rock wall of the funerary shrine that formed the pinnacle of the colossal temple.

At the midway point, one of the stone bricks he pulled on to raise himself gave way and crumbled down the side of the temple. Inside the space where the brick had been was a solid gold panel containing a carving of the Earth-fire symbol. As Bonsam stared at the symbol, his mind was deluged by visions of fire. He was enraptured, for he finally realized the meaning of the message hidden within the symbols of the ancient Maya calendar.

By the time Clark and Clay realized that Bonsam had doubled back and they had returned to the Great Plaza, they saw that Bonsam had already climbed the temple steps and was standing at the apex of the towering temple looking down at them with contempt. Bonsam paused for a moment as he stared at Clark with hatred in his eyes. He then ripped off his backpack and threw it to the surface of the shrine, never taking his eyes off of Clark.

Clark and Clay watched helplessly as Bonsam withdrew the satchel from his backpack. He flung it open, exposing the interactive console that controlled the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States.

“Come on!” yelled Clay, as he moved toward the temple.
 

Clark reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders. “We’ll never make it in time!”

They saw Bonsam pull cards from the satchel and begin to punch numbers into the console. “Shit!” yelled Clay.

Clark grabbed Clay and pulled him in front of him. “Clay, I need you to stand perfectly still,” whispered Clark from behind. He then placed the barrel of his rifle on top of Clay’s left shoulder. Clay knew what was coming, so he took a deep breath and held it.

Bonsam punched in the final codes, activating the launch system. He only needed to push the blinking button on the console that displayed ‘Launch’ in large red letters to initiate a nuclear attack.
 

Clark placed his fingertip on the trigger and softly leaned his face against the stock of the rifle.
 

Bonsam stood up and looked around. Everything in his field of vision was on fire. The land, the trees, the temple, they were all on fire. It was magnificent!

Clark zeroed in. His breathing slowed down as his body relaxed. His mind flashed back to the jungles of Vietnam, then to the woods of Michigan.

Bonsam raised his hands toward the heavens, as he looked skyward. Even the sky was on fire. The revelation was clear. The dawn of his Divine Providence was now at hand, at this time and in this place.
 

Bonsam threw his head back and let out a powerful, primal scream, then quickly dropped to one knee in front of the console. Clark slowly followed his movement and placed his aim on Bonsam’s midsection. As Bonsam moved his hand to push the activation button, Clark gently squeezed the trigger.

The recoil from the shot caused the rifle barrel to rise. Clay twisted hard to his right, clenching his teeth as he covered his left ear. The bullet ripped through Bonsam’s chest, blowing him backward and knocking him over the backside of the temple along with the satchel. He bounded end-over-end down the sloped stone wall and landed in a heap on the ground below, the satchel landing nearly twenty feet away.

Clark let go of the rifle with his left hand and lowered it to his right side. He turned to Clay. “Let’s roll,” he said as he took off toward the rear of the temple. Clay was right behind him. As they rounded the corner of the temple, they saw Bonsam lying there with the satchel nearby. Bonsam’s body was violently contorted and covered in blood.

They slowed to a walk. As they got closer, Clark put his hand on Clay’s shoulder and said, “Go make sure Bonsam is dead.”

“Okay,” said Clay, continuing to look at Clark as they walked.

Clark said, “I need to get the football to…” Then without warning, Bonsam jumped up and pointed a pistol directly toward them. Clark forcefully pushed Clay to the ground and yelled, “Look out!” Clark turned back toward Bonsam, but he knew he would have no chance to fire his weapon. He stood up straight, pulled back his shoulders and threw out his chest, and dropped his hands to his sides. Bonsam smiled as he pulled the trigger, sending a bullet directly into Clark’s stomach.
 
 

Clark doubled over and fell to the ground. Bonsam staggered around and laughed hysterically. As Clay attempted to get to his feet, Bonsam yelled, “Hold it!” and pointed his gun at Clay. He let out another hysterical laugh and then pulled the trigger, but all that was heard was a click. Bonsam laughed again and then staggered backward a few steps and fell flat on his back.

Clay got to his feet and ran to where Bonsam lay. Bonsam’s mouth was filled with blood and he was having trouble breathing. His face was streaked with dirt and blood, and his eyes were rolling back into his head. Clay was filled with disgust as he looked at Bonsam’s grotesque, hideous face. He put the barrel of his pistol to Bonsam’s forehead and screamed, “You’re going to hell!”

Bonsam laughed again, choking and coughing from the blood seeping into his lungs. This laugh was not hysterical like the others. It was monstrously low and macabre. Bonsam’s eyes rolled forward, and they were filled with fire. He looked like Satan himself.
 

Bonsam looked up at Clay and laughed. “It’s too late,” he said, “we’re all going to hell,” and he spit a mouthful of blood into Clay’s face. Clay was consumed with rage and before Bonsam had the chance to laugh again, he pulled the trigger, and the fire in President Emmanuel Bonsam’s eyes was no more.

Chapter 86

Clay spit back onto the face of Bonsam’s corpse and then kicked it in the ribs for good measure. He then ran over to Clark and dropped to his knees beside him. Clark was lying on his back with his blood-soaked hands covering his stomach. His skin was pale and he was having difficulty breathing. “Sam, how you doing, buddy?” asked Clay. He lifted Clark’s hands away from his stomach and saw that the bullet had torn him wide open.

“Belly wounds, they’re the worst,” replied Clark. He was gasping for breath.

“Don’t be such a
wuss
, you’re
gonna
be fine,” said Clay. He was nervously trying to decide what to do to help Clark.

“No, I’m not,” he said as he started coughing. “Did we stop Bonsam?”

Bonsam’s chilling last words ran through Clay’s mind. “Yeah, you did it, man. Nice shot. You hit him smack in the breadbasket. He never stood a chance,” he said enthusiastically, but deep down he was filled with uncertainty.

Clark closed his eyes and smiled, “Ah, that’s great.”
 
His coughing became worse.
 

Clay started to tear up. He could see Clark beginning to fade. “Sam, stay with me, man.”

“Make sure you call Kenna ‘Madam President’ the next time you see her,” Clark said as his voice became faint. He then took in a large breath of air and held it, his body becoming rigid. The air then slowly escaped from his lungs as his head fell to the side. He had stopped breathing, but with a peaceful smile on his face.

Clay hung his head in sorrow. He tried to hold in the tears but it was no use, and he began to cry. As he wiped the tears from his eyes, Clark’s phone started ringing. Clay was startled, but he quickly pulled the phone from Clark’s pocket and looked at the screen…VP Holden.

“Oh God, please God, let this be good news,” he whispered to himself. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, clicked the answer button, then put the phone to his ear.

Holden was frantic. “Sam, have you found Bonsam? We have lost all control of our weapons systems. Our nukes are arming and can’t be stopped!”

Clay began walking back toward the cave. “China and Russia are claiming the same thing is happening to them. And there are reports coming in that say two nuclear explosions were just detected in Pakistan. Sam! Have you found Bonsam?”