This is the first story I've ever written so please be gentle. :)
It started out as a normal day. Well as normal as it could be these days. Jake Green had done many things in his life. Many of those things he was ashamed of. So far he'd been able to keep those things in his past but today was the day that would all change...
"Jake...Jake" Gail was worried it wasn't like Jake to zone out like this. She'd been trying to reach him for the last few minutes but he was just staring after the strange man they'd seen come in with the refugees.
"JAKE!" She shouted. Finally he snapped out of it but she wasn't any more relieved when he looked at her, in his eyes all she saw was raw fear he was trembling slightly. "Sweetie please tell me what just happened. You're really worrying me."
"I-I...Where's dad? And Eric and April? We need to..." he stopped and put his head in his hands. "God how could this happen. It's the end of the world and he still found me."
"Jake, honey you're not making any sense please tell me what's going on."
"Mom you need to find Eric, April, and dad. Take them somewhere public. Take them to Mary's bar and stay there till I tell you it's safe.
"I don't understand. Why do you want us to go...?"
"JUST DO IT!" Jake had never raised his voice to his mother before. Not even when he was a teenager and things at home weren't as happy as the town thought. He didn't have time to feel bad about it though. "Go get them and take them to Mary's!" when she just stared at him like he'd grown a second head he took a breath and forced himself to calm down. "Mom please you have to go, now. I'll be fine but you need to get them and take them to Mary's "He didn't know how true that last part was but he did know it was the only way to make her leave and do as he asked.
"Fine, but you will tell me what's going on as soon as you get back." Gail Green was not a woman you yelled at and got away with.
As soon as he was sure his mother left Jake took off running towards Hawkins' house. He wasn't sure what he thought Hawkins could do but it couldn't hurt to have a CIA agent on his side once the shit hit the fan.
He still couldn't believe this was happening, he thought once the bombs had gone off he could just forget about the people that were after him. He thought they'd stop looking that they'd have more important things to worry about, but apparently he was wrong. When he reached Hawkins' house he had to stop and take deep breaths to calm himself so he could explain what was going on and what was about to happen.
"Hawkins. Man I need your help." he said as he paced the living room.
"I'm listening." replied Hawkins.
"Look you know the kind of work I used to do overseas. You know some of the things I did but you don't know everything. There were things left out of my file things not even the CIA could find out about..."
"Jake, what is this about? You know I can't get too involved in anything that could draw attention to me."
"I know. I know but you've got to understand the man that I saw in town today is a very dangerous man. He thinks that I..." he sighed before he continued "He thinks that I killed his family. Not just his family but his entire village too."
"Did you?"
"What? How could you even ask that? No I would never kill innocent men, women, and especially children. I know you're thinking about Saffa but. But that was different. I'm not trying to justify what I did, not by a long shot but it was my first gun fight I hadn't had any training. Not like when I met this man. When I met him he was just a goat herder trying to make a living for his family, but he had family connected to terrorist cells. Ravenwood found out that the whole village was a hide out for the families of the terrorists. I befriended this man and I tried to convince him to move as many people he could out of the village but he wouldn't listen. He told me the village was there home that they would defend it, I told him they wouldn't stand a chance not against these people, but he just wouldn't listen. Two days later the guys from Ravenwood showed up and told them to surrender one of the villagers accidently shot off a round and then Ravenwood killed them all except for this man and four others they escaped but not after watching their families and friends die right in front of their eyes." Jake had stopped pacing and was now by the window staring out at the yard, but Hawkins knew he wasn't actually seeing the yard he was seeing his past demons.
"Why does he think you're the bad guy in all this? From what you just told me it sounds like you did everything you could to help without putting your own life in danger." Jake just stood there staring out the window. "Jake if you don't tell me I won't be able to help you."
Jake bowed his head. "I know. God I know. It was my team that went in to the town. I had just gotten promoted. But with these guys promotions don't mean anything. Your title doesn't mean anything, they give orders and your team does it they don't listen to you, at least mine didn't listen to me when I told them we weren't going to murder innocent people just because of who their family members were. They disarmed me and locked me in the truck. I tried my damned-est. to get out but there was nothing I could do but watch. After that I stayed with the company two more months but I couldn't just forget all the innocent people that were murdered. But my reputation since it was my team, my NAME they used that day, I'm wanted by a lot of people. A lot of very bad people. They will use my family hell this whole town to find me. I can't let that happen. I won't let them be punished for my mistakes."
Hawkins sat down and thought about everything Jake had just told him. He remembered his daughter asking if Jake was a good man or a bad man and he remembered his answer had been there was no such thing. He was rethinking that statement. Although Jake had made many mistakes in his past he was here now answering for them, and asking for help to make sure no one got harmed for the mistakes he'd made. Hawkins wondered if he would ever be able to right the wrongs he'd made in his life time. Maybe if he helped Jake it wouldn't right a wrong of his but maybe it would be a step in the right direction.
"Okay Jake. I'll help you. Do you know how many of these men are here for you?"
"No. But I saw Cal, the man I befriended, and I know that if he's here there are others. They've come for me before and barely made it out. As a matter of fact that's one of the reasons I came home to Jericho for my grandfather's money. I'd just lost a good friend and gave his fiancé all the money I had."
"You are a very interesting man Jake Green. Okay, what we need to find out first is how many people they have in town. You need to stay out of site or this could get really bad really fast."
"Yeah, ok but I've got to go to Mary's and make sure my family is safe and tell them...something...I don't know if I can tell them the truth yet they still think I'm the same smartass kid that left Jericho 8years ago."
"Jake I don't think that's such a good..."
"I know, but I've got to make sure they're safe and I scared my mother this morning if anything happens...I-I don't want her angry at me if anything should happen."
"Fine but you take the back roads and be extremely careful. If you even think your being fallowed you don't even think about coming back here. We'll meet up at the old warehouse Dale likes to use."
Jake nodded and turned to leave. He was still in shock that after everything he'd been through in the last few months he was still running from his past. "Well today is the day I stop running" he thought to himself.
He made it back to Mary's without any problems and hesitated outside the door. "This is to easy" he thought. He opened the door any way and stepped inside and immediately searched the room for anyone/thing out of place, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary till he spotted his family. There was a dark haired woman sitting in the booth with them. She was facing away from the door so Jake couldn't see her face. His heart beat sped up, he put one hand on the gun he carried at the small of his back and walked over.