Read Online The City Burns: A Prepper's Struggle for The Truth by BJ Knights - Free Book Online Page B

teetered back and forth slightly between each man’s grip. Jim could feel the grip on the pistol slowly slipping. Matt’s eyes were wild with rage and both men’s faces were turning red from the strain.
     
    Then the gun went off. Both of them jolted from the sound of the gunshot; each man gasping for air. The color from each of their faces began to fade. Jim glanced down at the pistol still smoking in his hand and the blood dripping from Matt’s stomach as he tried to keep pressure on the wound in his gut. Matt flopped onto his back as Jim rose to his knees, hovering over him. Matt shook and convulsed on the ground. He looked up at Jim with his fading eyes and grabbed his collar with his bloody hand to pull him close. The words were barely audible when they left his lips. “You won’t be able to stop it,” he whispered, “Just keep them safe.” Matt’s fingers slowly lost their strength as they fell limp and his hand dropped to the ground.
     
    Samantha screamed from the jeep as she crawled over the seats to get out. She hit the ground hard and stumbled over to Matt’s side, holding his face in her hands.
     
    Annie sat huddled in a ball in the sand with Tigs curled right up next to her. Jim’s eyes rose from the scene in front of him to the charred skyscrapers of Phoenix in the backdrop while his sister’s screams filled the desert air.
     
    It took a while for everyone to get debriefed after what had just happened. Locke himself had flown out once he’d been radioed.  It wasn’t until his arrival that Jim was finally released. The sand, ash, and blood were still caked onto his sunburnt face as Jim found himself in a tent with Locke, a vacant chair, and another file. Locke motioned over to his assistant who came closer. “Get us some water,” Locke said. “Whiskey,” Jim said dryly.
     
    Locke nodded and the boy left the tent. Jim stared blankly into the space in front of him. Locke didn’t want to press him for details on what happened, so he honored the silence with him.
     
    “Did you know?” Jim asked.
    “Know what?” Locke responded.
    “That it was Matt.” Jim said.
    “No,” he said, “but I had a thought that it could be. I needed to know for sure. I thought that if I sent someone he trusted he—“
    “Wouldn’t try and kill them,” Jim cut him off.
    Locke nodded. “Yes,” he said.
     
    The assistant returned with a bottle and two glasses and placed them on the table between the two men. Locke reached for the glass, while Jim reached for the bottle. He twisted the cap off and pressed the opening to his chapped lips and took a long swig.
    “Jim,” Locke started, “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, son.”
    “You can’t?” he asked. “You can’t imagine what it’s like to kill your sister’s husband in front of her and your niece? You don’t know what it’s like to have them look at you after it’s done?” he finished.
     
    “No, I don’t,” Locke said.
    Jim jumped to his feet with the bottle in his hand. He pointed his other free hand at Locke and started screaming. “No! You don’t fucking know! You don’t fucking know because you’ve never fucking done it! You could have told me the information you had! You could’ve told me what he might do! What he was a part of, but no, you had to be mysterious with your orders, not matter the fucking cost!
 
     
    The last word hung in the air the loudest. Jim’s face was beat red and his breathing was labored. He walked to the corner of the tent and kept his back to Locke who sat silent and motionless. Finally, the old general drummed his fingers on his leg and rose out of the chair. He folded his hands behind his back as he spoke. “Your father knew what it was like to follow orders,” he said. “The official report was correct when it said that over twenty of his men died, but what the report didn’t mention were the ten thousand people he helped saved in the small city where they were