CROSS ROADS
Part 19
There were five of them.
The five terrorists of the Iranian Liberation Front were on a mission and they fully intended to carry out that mission at any costs. They were prepared. What they were doing was as simple as diverting the enemy from Abhar Jhamel to buy him time. Before long, it would be all over. Their fearless leader would set off the bomb that would literally destroy the world. However, the terrorists foolishly hung to the belief that their actions would give them great reward in the afterlife.
Because of their beliefs, they did not fear death. Unfortunately for them, there was one large flaw in their great scheme of things. There was an underlying factor that would shortly seal their fate.
Pride.
The terrorists entered into the large cavern of which the Master himself had once resided. It was exactly as they had imagined when they had been told about this great place of evil. They discovered the large pool of blood and they marveled at it as they gathered around it to stare. When the time came for the Hellmouth to open because of the nuclear device, they wondered if the portal would open from within the pool of blood. Within the cavern around them, there were several other avenues to gain entrance into the Master's Lair. Mulder was keeping to the shadows at one of those entrances directly above the terrorists, and the Special Agent of the FBI knew that Lenox was at one of the entrances below. Lenox was at an entrance behind the enemy.
Lenox and Mulder had gone over a plan and they realized that it was relatively simple...in theory. The plan was a two-fold plan.
Pick a target.
Take it down.
Mulder had his Uzi at the ready as he waited. Behind the terrorists, he saw movement. Then he saw that Lenox caused the movement as the Hunter moved away from the entrance that he had been in.
One of the terrorists, however, saw a shadow moving across the pool of blood. Mulder had unknowingly moved in the light of a dim bulb above his head at the mouth of the tunnel.
The terrorist suddenly whipped his weapon around to level it at the entrance above and he fired off a burst. Bullets flew around Mulder and he was forced to dive back into the shadows. He pressed his face into the ground as the bullets continued to fly above him. A second terrorist joined in with the first, and they sent a double burst of gunfire Mulder's way.
The other three terrorists began to spread out from the others, intending to take up better positions to gun down the intruder. One of them, however, turned and found himself face to face with Lenox. Lenox just didn't have the heart to shoot the man so "up close and personal." Instead of shooting the man, the Hunter broke the man's jaw with one quick strike from his Uzi.
The terrorist fell hard as Lenox opened fire on the remaining four terrorists. Suddenly, everyone was shooting and looking for cover. Mulder was finally able to return fire and he was almost overcome with a manic glee as he saw one of the terrorists fall into the pool of blood.
"Wahoo!" he shouted. "Hot-diggity-damn! I got one!"
Lenox glanced up in Mulder's direction. "Don't get cocky, kid!" He looked around the cavern, but the remaining terrorists had taken cover where they could find it. "There's still three more!"
"Don't worry, Yoda!" Mulder called down to him. "The Force is strong in this one!"
A terrorist rose up from hiding and he opened fire at Mulder's position. As Mulder ducked back into the shadows, Lenox opened fire at the terrorist. However, the terrorist quickly took cover. No one had been hit.
The Iranian shouted out obscenities in his own language.
"Speak English if you're going to insult us!" Lenox shouted. "How are you going to make us feel bad if we don't understand what you're saying?!"
There was a pause.
Then the Iranian terrorist responded with, "You cannot defeat us!"
"We've heard that before!" Mulder exclaimed. "Tell us something new!"
"You will fall! Your great country will be crushed! We will detonate the bomb that will unleash hell on this earth! Infidels! You will die and we will have our great reward!!"
Mulder shook his head, even as he knew they couldn't see the gesture. "That's a bunch of horse manure!! You won't detonate any bomb! You won't unleash hell on earth! You will fail!"
Lenox rolled his eyes. When would the FBI learn that there was just no way to reason with terrorists? Why was Mulder even trying?
"You are a fool!" the terrorist shouted at Mulder. "The nuclear device is being prepared...even as we speak!! It is being set!!"
Mulder reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "You won't get any reward! We will...because we'll set our bomb to go off before you set yours!!"
Lenox frowned. "Wha...?" he said to himself.
Mulder pressed a few buttons on his phone.
Beep...bleep bleep...beep...
In the cavern, the beeping from Mulder's cell phone sounded quite loud. The remaining three terrorists began to look around nervously, wondering what was happening. Even Lenox could not be certain what Mulder was up to, but he was chuckling to himself and shaking his head.
There was sudden silence.
Sometimes, when a person strained to hear the slightest sound around him, he could discover that silence was very loud. For what seemed like a long time but was only ten seconds, no one spoke and no one moved.
Finally, Mulder said softly, "Oh, shit..."
Within the cavern, his soft-spoken comment could be heard be all.
Lenox frowned. "Mulder...? What the hell are you doing?"
"Well..." Mulder paused for affect. "I...uh...I set it to go off a minute earlier than I had meant to."
The terrorists looked at each other with suspicion.
"At least we'll beat the Iranians, Lenox!!" Mulder shouted. "Our bomb will go off before theirs will and we will get the great reward!!" For affect, he opened fire toward the terrorists and shouted out a manic war cry. After his burst from the Uzi, he ducked back into hiding.
Lenox grinned. Nice try, he thought, but it wouldn't accomplish any thing.
Just as that thought crossed the Hunter's mind, all three of the terrorists suddenly came out into the opening with their weapons at the ready. They began to open fire as they waved their weapons before them. They didn't aim at anything in particular for they were counting on mayhem to do their work for them. All they knew was that they had to kill their enemy before the Americans bomb exploded first. They wanted to go to their deaths fighting.
Lenox and Mulder were a bit more careful, and a lot more accurate. They leveled their weapons and fire with extreme prejudice. Bullets ravaged the enemy's bodies and forced them to dance. Finally, they fell where they had been standing, their weapons no longer firing.
Silence descended within the cavern.
Mulder poked his head out from hiding and he looked down. "Hey! Is that all there is?"
Lenox glanced up at him and nodded his head. "Yeah...We got them all."
Mulder began to climb down as he chuckled out loud. "I can't believe they actually fell for that old 'cellular phone-beeping bomb' routine."
Lenox looked down at the bodies, and then he surveyed the cavern with his eyes. Finally, he shook his head. "Neither can I."
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Jhamel and his driver strode with determination down the long corridor of Sunnydale High School. They were looking for the library for it was there that Jhamel intended to carry out his plan. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Finally, everything he had been trained for, everything that he had been prepared for had been leading him to this great moment in his life.
To this very hour.
It would be his final hour and it would change the course of history for the entire world. His name would be spoken with reverence and respect, and with fear and awe. He would be hailed and hated. But it would be a glorious thing for him. He smiled as he and his driver continued to make their way along the corridor.
Suddenly, there was the sound of loud screeching that assaulted their ears with no mercy. They stopped in their tracks and covered their ears with their arms. It was worst than when someone scraped nails on a chalkboard. It was so bad that they couldn't move. They begged for the noise to stop but it seemed like there would be no end to this hideous torture.
However, just as quickly as it had begun, it stopped.
Slowly, the terrorists lowered their arms and they glared up and down the corridor. Jhamel looked up at the speakers inserted into the ceiling and pointed up at it. The driver nodded his head. But before either of them could say anything, the screeching returned. This time, it was worst on their ears than the first time. Again they covered their ears and Jhamel was almost on his knees.
The screeching stopped again.
Jhamel shouted obscenities at the speaker. Then he grabbed his driver by the collar and he shook him. "Find this school's PA system!" he shouted. "Kill whoever is responsible for it!!"
The driver nodded anxiously and then he ran off.
Once the driver was gone, Jhamel continued to glare up at the speaker as if he were daring it to make more noise. When it didn't make any noise, he straightened and began to resume his walk down the corridor.
*"Attention! Attention!"* came a man's voice over the speaker.
Jhamel stopped, spun around, and glared at the speaker.
*"This is Principal Crazy Man speaking! Otherwise known as...the Speaker!!"*
Jhamel fumed in anger.
*"Due to a lack of homework participation amongst the student body, there will be no more chocolate pudding allowed for dessert. It will now be rice- a-roni pudding. The non-creamy, very sticky, very bad uncooked rice pudding."* There was a pause. The man cleared his throat...loudly. *"Abhar Jhamel, please report to the Principal's office. You have been a very bad boy and the School Board has called for drastic disciplinary action against you! Therefore, a public spanking has been decreed to be your punishment in the school auditorium. Tickets are on sale. Iranian terrorists must leave all weapons with security!! Thank you very much."*
Suddenly there was silence.
Jhamel stood still and listened. He could tell that the PA system was still on. Then he heard a scuffle, as if two people were struggling. The more he listened, the more he was certain that there was a fight going on between two people. A gunshot sounded followed by a thud.
And then silence.
Jhamel waited.
But the voice returned. *"We return to our regular broadcast to announce that an Iranian student has just been expelled for his uncontrollable flatulence!! It will be some time, however, for the odor to dissipate, so please...all students must wear their gas masks! As for the bad boy Abhar Jhamel, your spanking is long over due!!"
Jhamel shouted in anger at the speaker, raising his fist at it. He gripped the nuclear device and ran. For a while, it seemed like he was just going in circles but his determination paid off when he finally found what he had been looking for.
The Library.
He ran into it and stopped at the center of the library so he could prepare the timer to explode the bomb.
Someone tapped on his shoulder.
He spun around.
"Welcome to the Cross Roads," Barrington told him, and then he punched him in the face.
The only weapon Jhamel had on him was the device. It was a weapon designed by men. Jhamel, however, considered his own rage to be the most powerful of all weapons that he had ever used. He called upon his anger now and unleashed it upon Barrington with a vengeance.
The two men fought hand-to-hand combat. They traded blow for blow, swinging their fists or sending a foot into each other. Jhamel had tried to hit Barrington with the device but the Hunter grabbed his arm and shoved him into a bookshelf. Both of them crashed into the bookshelf, which caused it to topple and fall. They fell hard with it and Jhamel dropped the device.
Barrington sent three fast and furious blows with his fists to the terrorist's face. Then he dove for the device, scooped it up with both hands, and rose to his feet. He just managed to open the side panel of the device when Jhamel dove at him and caught him in a tackle. The two men went crashing through the window where they took the fight outside with them.
Barrington managed to get to his feet first, and he sent a flying kick to Jhamel's face to keep him down longer. Then he took off at a run with the device still in his hand. As he ran, he scooped up something from the ground.
Jhamel angrily rose to his feet. In his hand, he gripped Barrington's .44 Magnum that he had managed to take from the Hunter as they had come through the window. He saw Barrington running off on the school's lawn and so he gave chase. He was very angry and determined to catch the American. No one was going to stop him from his sacred task!!
At the center of the lawn, Jhamel fired a warning shot and Barrington stopped.
"Stay where you are!!" Jhamel shouted.
Barrington slowly turned to face the terrorist as the man approached. "You won't get away with this," Barrington said lamely.
Jhamel leveled the gun at Barrington's head as he held out his free hand. "Give me the device," he ordered calmly.
Barrington paused. "What if I just decide to keep it?"
"Then I will simply shoot you and take it from your corpse."
Barrington nodded thoughtfully. "So...you're giving me one of two choices. Death by bullet or death by nuclear fire." He let out a weary sigh. "Those are not very good choices. Isn't there a third option?"
Jhamel scowled. "No."
Barrington hesitated. Then he handed over the device.
Jhamel took it and stepped back. He quickly looked it over, was apparently satisfied that there was no damage to it, and then he began to set the timer.
"Uh..." Barrington took a step back. "How many minutes are you setting that for?"
Jhamel smiled. "Why? Do you think you can outrun the blast?"
"I was the best track runner in my high school."
Jhamel laughed. "Then, run, fool! But you will never make it! 'Welcome to the Cross Roads,' infidel! You only have ten seconds to run!" He held the device up proudly.
Barrington took another step back as he held up the Orb of Tesa. "I'm running...with this! By the way, I switched it and replaced it with a mere stone! Your nuclear device is now as powerful as a grenade!" He spun around and ran as fast as he could.
Jhamel stared in horror at the device.
3...2...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" he shouted.
The explosion behind Barrington lifted him off his feet and threw him to the ground. It had not been a nuclear explosion. It was a small explosion and it only took the life of one man...Abhar Jhamel, the Speaker.
Barrington rolled onto his back and looked up.
Billy Fronk looked down at him. "Lying down on the job again, I see. Wait'll I tell the others about this. They have such high expectations of you, ya know."
Barrington grabbed his hand and Fronk helped him to his feet. Then they turned to look at the fire from the explosion.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Fronk asked him.
Barrington glanced at him. "We won't be allowed to the School Dance?"
"It means detention. But so much detention that it'll be passed onto our kids...and their kids. And the great grand kids. They'll all have detention because of this."
Barrington looked at him. "Crazy Man...I'm not having any great grand kids with you."
Fronk pretended to sniff back a tear. "Damn...Now I have to go and listen to some Country music."
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TO BE CONTINUED...
Part 19
There were five of them.
The five terrorists of the Iranian Liberation Front were on a mission and they fully intended to carry out that mission at any costs. They were prepared. What they were doing was as simple as diverting the enemy from Abhar Jhamel to buy him time. Before long, it would be all over. Their fearless leader would set off the bomb that would literally destroy the world. However, the terrorists foolishly hung to the belief that their actions would give them great reward in the afterlife.
Because of their beliefs, they did not fear death. Unfortunately for them, there was one large flaw in their great scheme of things. There was an underlying factor that would shortly seal their fate.
Pride.
The terrorists entered into the large cavern of which the Master himself had once resided. It was exactly as they had imagined when they had been told about this great place of evil. They discovered the large pool of blood and they marveled at it as they gathered around it to stare. When the time came for the Hellmouth to open because of the nuclear device, they wondered if the portal would open from within the pool of blood. Within the cavern around them, there were several other avenues to gain entrance into the Master's Lair. Mulder was keeping to the shadows at one of those entrances directly above the terrorists, and the Special Agent of the FBI knew that Lenox was at one of the entrances below. Lenox was at an entrance behind the enemy.
Lenox and Mulder had gone over a plan and they realized that it was relatively simple...in theory. The plan was a two-fold plan.
Pick a target.
Take it down.
Mulder had his Uzi at the ready as he waited. Behind the terrorists, he saw movement. Then he saw that Lenox caused the movement as the Hunter moved away from the entrance that he had been in.
One of the terrorists, however, saw a shadow moving across the pool of blood. Mulder had unknowingly moved in the light of a dim bulb above his head at the mouth of the tunnel.
The terrorist suddenly whipped his weapon around to level it at the entrance above and he fired off a burst. Bullets flew around Mulder and he was forced to dive back into the shadows. He pressed his face into the ground as the bullets continued to fly above him. A second terrorist joined in with the first, and they sent a double burst of gunfire Mulder's way.
The other three terrorists began to spread out from the others, intending to take up better positions to gun down the intruder. One of them, however, turned and found himself face to face with Lenox. Lenox just didn't have the heart to shoot the man so "up close and personal." Instead of shooting the man, the Hunter broke the man's jaw with one quick strike from his Uzi.
The terrorist fell hard as Lenox opened fire on the remaining four terrorists. Suddenly, everyone was shooting and looking for cover. Mulder was finally able to return fire and he was almost overcome with a manic glee as he saw one of the terrorists fall into the pool of blood.
"Wahoo!" he shouted. "Hot-diggity-damn! I got one!"
Lenox glanced up in Mulder's direction. "Don't get cocky, kid!" He looked around the cavern, but the remaining terrorists had taken cover where they could find it. "There's still three more!"
"Don't worry, Yoda!" Mulder called down to him. "The Force is strong in this one!"
A terrorist rose up from hiding and he opened fire at Mulder's position. As Mulder ducked back into the shadows, Lenox opened fire at the terrorist. However, the terrorist quickly took cover. No one had been hit.
The Iranian shouted out obscenities in his own language.
"Speak English if you're going to insult us!" Lenox shouted. "How are you going to make us feel bad if we don't understand what you're saying?!"
There was a pause.
Then the Iranian terrorist responded with, "You cannot defeat us!"
"We've heard that before!" Mulder exclaimed. "Tell us something new!"
"You will fall! Your great country will be crushed! We will detonate the bomb that will unleash hell on this earth! Infidels! You will die and we will have our great reward!!"
Mulder shook his head, even as he knew they couldn't see the gesture. "That's a bunch of horse manure!! You won't detonate any bomb! You won't unleash hell on earth! You will fail!"
Lenox rolled his eyes. When would the FBI learn that there was just no way to reason with terrorists? Why was Mulder even trying?
"You are a fool!" the terrorist shouted at Mulder. "The nuclear device is being prepared...even as we speak!! It is being set!!"
Mulder reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "You won't get any reward! We will...because we'll set our bomb to go off before you set yours!!"
Lenox frowned. "Wha...?" he said to himself.
Mulder pressed a few buttons on his phone.
Beep...bleep bleep...beep...
In the cavern, the beeping from Mulder's cell phone sounded quite loud. The remaining three terrorists began to look around nervously, wondering what was happening. Even Lenox could not be certain what Mulder was up to, but he was chuckling to himself and shaking his head.
There was sudden silence.
Sometimes, when a person strained to hear the slightest sound around him, he could discover that silence was very loud. For what seemed like a long time but was only ten seconds, no one spoke and no one moved.
Finally, Mulder said softly, "Oh, shit..."
Within the cavern, his soft-spoken comment could be heard be all.
Lenox frowned. "Mulder...? What the hell are you doing?"
"Well..." Mulder paused for affect. "I...uh...I set it to go off a minute earlier than I had meant to."
The terrorists looked at each other with suspicion.
"At least we'll beat the Iranians, Lenox!!" Mulder shouted. "Our bomb will go off before theirs will and we will get the great reward!!" For affect, he opened fire toward the terrorists and shouted out a manic war cry. After his burst from the Uzi, he ducked back into hiding.
Lenox grinned. Nice try, he thought, but it wouldn't accomplish any thing.
Just as that thought crossed the Hunter's mind, all three of the terrorists suddenly came out into the opening with their weapons at the ready. They began to open fire as they waved their weapons before them. They didn't aim at anything in particular for they were counting on mayhem to do their work for them. All they knew was that they had to kill their enemy before the Americans bomb exploded first. They wanted to go to their deaths fighting.
Lenox and Mulder were a bit more careful, and a lot more accurate. They leveled their weapons and fire with extreme prejudice. Bullets ravaged the enemy's bodies and forced them to dance. Finally, they fell where they had been standing, their weapons no longer firing.
Silence descended within the cavern.
Mulder poked his head out from hiding and he looked down. "Hey! Is that all there is?"
Lenox glanced up at him and nodded his head. "Yeah...We got them all."
Mulder began to climb down as he chuckled out loud. "I can't believe they actually fell for that old 'cellular phone-beeping bomb' routine."
Lenox looked down at the bodies, and then he surveyed the cavern with his eyes. Finally, he shook his head. "Neither can I."
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Jhamel and his driver strode with determination down the long corridor of Sunnydale High School. They were looking for the library for it was there that Jhamel intended to carry out his plan. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Finally, everything he had been trained for, everything that he had been prepared for had been leading him to this great moment in his life.
To this very hour.
It would be his final hour and it would change the course of history for the entire world. His name would be spoken with reverence and respect, and with fear and awe. He would be hailed and hated. But it would be a glorious thing for him. He smiled as he and his driver continued to make their way along the corridor.
Suddenly, there was the sound of loud screeching that assaulted their ears with no mercy. They stopped in their tracks and covered their ears with their arms. It was worst than when someone scraped nails on a chalkboard. It was so bad that they couldn't move. They begged for the noise to stop but it seemed like there would be no end to this hideous torture.
However, just as quickly as it had begun, it stopped.
Slowly, the terrorists lowered their arms and they glared up and down the corridor. Jhamel looked up at the speakers inserted into the ceiling and pointed up at it. The driver nodded his head. But before either of them could say anything, the screeching returned. This time, it was worst on their ears than the first time. Again they covered their ears and Jhamel was almost on his knees.
The screeching stopped again.
Jhamel shouted obscenities at the speaker. Then he grabbed his driver by the collar and he shook him. "Find this school's PA system!" he shouted. "Kill whoever is responsible for it!!"
The driver nodded anxiously and then he ran off.
Once the driver was gone, Jhamel continued to glare up at the speaker as if he were daring it to make more noise. When it didn't make any noise, he straightened and began to resume his walk down the corridor.
*"Attention! Attention!"* came a man's voice over the speaker.
Jhamel stopped, spun around, and glared at the speaker.
*"This is Principal Crazy Man speaking! Otherwise known as...the Speaker!!"*
Jhamel fumed in anger.
*"Due to a lack of homework participation amongst the student body, there will be no more chocolate pudding allowed for dessert. It will now be rice- a-roni pudding. The non-creamy, very sticky, very bad uncooked rice pudding."* There was a pause. The man cleared his throat...loudly. *"Abhar Jhamel, please report to the Principal's office. You have been a very bad boy and the School Board has called for drastic disciplinary action against you! Therefore, a public spanking has been decreed to be your punishment in the school auditorium. Tickets are on sale. Iranian terrorists must leave all weapons with security!! Thank you very much."*
Suddenly there was silence.
Jhamel stood still and listened. He could tell that the PA system was still on. Then he heard a scuffle, as if two people were struggling. The more he listened, the more he was certain that there was a fight going on between two people. A gunshot sounded followed by a thud.
And then silence.
Jhamel waited.
But the voice returned. *"We return to our regular broadcast to announce that an Iranian student has just been expelled for his uncontrollable flatulence!! It will be some time, however, for the odor to dissipate, so please...all students must wear their gas masks! As for the bad boy Abhar Jhamel, your spanking is long over due!!"
Jhamel shouted in anger at the speaker, raising his fist at it. He gripped the nuclear device and ran. For a while, it seemed like he was just going in circles but his determination paid off when he finally found what he had been looking for.
The Library.
He ran into it and stopped at the center of the library so he could prepare the timer to explode the bomb.
Someone tapped on his shoulder.
He spun around.
"Welcome to the Cross Roads," Barrington told him, and then he punched him in the face.
The only weapon Jhamel had on him was the device. It was a weapon designed by men. Jhamel, however, considered his own rage to be the most powerful of all weapons that he had ever used. He called upon his anger now and unleashed it upon Barrington with a vengeance.
The two men fought hand-to-hand combat. They traded blow for blow, swinging their fists or sending a foot into each other. Jhamel had tried to hit Barrington with the device but the Hunter grabbed his arm and shoved him into a bookshelf. Both of them crashed into the bookshelf, which caused it to topple and fall. They fell hard with it and Jhamel dropped the device.
Barrington sent three fast and furious blows with his fists to the terrorist's face. Then he dove for the device, scooped it up with both hands, and rose to his feet. He just managed to open the side panel of the device when Jhamel dove at him and caught him in a tackle. The two men went crashing through the window where they took the fight outside with them.
Barrington managed to get to his feet first, and he sent a flying kick to Jhamel's face to keep him down longer. Then he took off at a run with the device still in his hand. As he ran, he scooped up something from the ground.
Jhamel angrily rose to his feet. In his hand, he gripped Barrington's .44 Magnum that he had managed to take from the Hunter as they had come through the window. He saw Barrington running off on the school's lawn and so he gave chase. He was very angry and determined to catch the American. No one was going to stop him from his sacred task!!
At the center of the lawn, Jhamel fired a warning shot and Barrington stopped.
"Stay where you are!!" Jhamel shouted.
Barrington slowly turned to face the terrorist as the man approached. "You won't get away with this," Barrington said lamely.
Jhamel leveled the gun at Barrington's head as he held out his free hand. "Give me the device," he ordered calmly.
Barrington paused. "What if I just decide to keep it?"
"Then I will simply shoot you and take it from your corpse."
Barrington nodded thoughtfully. "So...you're giving me one of two choices. Death by bullet or death by nuclear fire." He let out a weary sigh. "Those are not very good choices. Isn't there a third option?"
Jhamel scowled. "No."
Barrington hesitated. Then he handed over the device.
Jhamel took it and stepped back. He quickly looked it over, was apparently satisfied that there was no damage to it, and then he began to set the timer.
"Uh..." Barrington took a step back. "How many minutes are you setting that for?"
Jhamel smiled. "Why? Do you think you can outrun the blast?"
"I was the best track runner in my high school."
Jhamel laughed. "Then, run, fool! But you will never make it! 'Welcome to the Cross Roads,' infidel! You only have ten seconds to run!" He held the device up proudly.
Barrington took another step back as he held up the Orb of Tesa. "I'm running...with this! By the way, I switched it and replaced it with a mere stone! Your nuclear device is now as powerful as a grenade!" He spun around and ran as fast as he could.
Jhamel stared in horror at the device.
3...2...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" he shouted.
The explosion behind Barrington lifted him off his feet and threw him to the ground. It had not been a nuclear explosion. It was a small explosion and it only took the life of one man...Abhar Jhamel, the Speaker.
Barrington rolled onto his back and looked up.
Billy Fronk looked down at him. "Lying down on the job again, I see. Wait'll I tell the others about this. They have such high expectations of you, ya know."
Barrington grabbed his hand and Fronk helped him to his feet. Then they turned to look at the fire from the explosion.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Fronk asked him.
Barrington glanced at him. "We won't be allowed to the School Dance?"
"It means detention. But so much detention that it'll be passed onto our kids...and their kids. And the great grand kids. They'll all have detention because of this."
Barrington looked at him. "Crazy Man...I'm not having any great grand kids with you."
Fronk pretended to sniff back a tear. "Damn...Now I have to go and listen to some Country music."
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TO BE CONTINUED...