Read Online Sky Zone: A Novel (The Crittendon Files) by Creston Mapes - Free Book Online Page B

me know the minute O’Dell gets here.”
    “Yes, sir.” Clarissa ran out.
    Everyone in the room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
    “Urgent, urgent. This is Clarissa to base and all EventPros.”
    Shakespeare listened intently on his radio for her announcement while looking at his watch, then his cell phone. Both read 6:33 p.m.
    “Doors are being postponed fifteen minutes,” Clarissa said.
    Several shots of static sounded.
    “I repeat, doors are delayed fifteen minutes!” Clarissa spoke as if a volcano were erupting. “Doors will now open at six forty-five—I repeat, six forty-five. But even then, wait for my go-ahead .”
    Bursts of static continued to interrupt her.
    “Who is talking while I’m talking?” she demanded.
    “Clarissa, this is Tab.” There was commotion in the background.
    Shakespeare knew immediately what was happening.
    His countenance fell.
    “We opened the doors already!” Tab yelled over what Shakespeare envisioned was a stampede in the lobby. “We opened at six thirty on the nose. Didn’t you hear the call?”
    Shakespeare closed his eyes and waited for the bomb to drop.
    “No! Close them down!” Clarissa screamed. “Shut them all down. Now, now, now!”
     

12
    The Crittendons’ house, three weeks earlier
    Pamela pulled her car into the garage, turned it off, and sat there dazed. Resting both hands on her hard tummy, she longed for a quiet moment to herself, to switch hats from administrative assistant to mommy and wife. But she knew Rebecca and Faye would be out to greet her any second.
    If no one was home, she would sit there and cry her eyes out.
    This was not the way it was supposed to be—not what God intended. She was seven months pregnant, much heavier than she’d been with either of the girls. Her feet were killing her. She was so tired … so very tired.
    Back when the girls were born, Jack had a good job and she’d had the luxury of staying home. Her only job during those pregnancies had been to remain healthy and rested. She walked three miles a day, did exercise videos, and gladly did the cooking and laundry and kept the house clean. Now Jack did most of those things, and the backwardness of it was tearing her down—physically, emotionally, spiritually.
    “Mommy!” Faye was the first one out the door, followed by Rebecca. They dashed around to her car door and reached in for hugs as they jabbered away about school. Pamela smiled and kissed them and gave them all the joy she could muster while her mom stood leaning in the doorway. The girls carried Pamela’s purse and laptop into the house.
    “Where have you been?” Margaret said. “I didn’t even see you leave.”
    Pamela stared at her, waiting for her to come to her senses. But Margaret just looked at her, waiting for an answer.
    “Mom, really? Think about it.”
    “Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Margaret snapped her fingers. “Work. I knew that. How was it today? I bet you’re dead tired.”
    And she was retrieving the girls from the bus stop? Watching them after school while Jack worked on the job search?
    “Same old thing.” Pamela got her coat off, ran to the bathroom, then made her way to the pantry to get a snack for the girls.
    “Come see what came in the mail today,” Margaret called from the dining room.
    “Just a minute.” Pamela set the girls up at the kitchen table with chocolate graham crackers and milk.
    “I ordered this through one of the websites Shakespeare recommended.” Margaret entered the kitchen carrying a package the size of a shoebox.
    Pamela could only imagine what she’d bought now. Margaret had already filled two huge plastic bins with dry food and rations.
    “It’s a water filter.” Margaret put on the reading glasses hanging from her neck and read the box. “With the Max Two-Zero portable filter, turbid and heavily biologically contaminated water can be transformed into safe drinking water. Self-disinfecting. Chemical-free. Da da, da da, da da … Ideal