The War Cloud

47

Jennifer, her hand on the back of the pantry door, didn’t move. She was afraid to come out. What if the Green Berets hadn’t really left? What if one of them stayed behind? What if it was a trick? What if as soon as she opened the pantry door some guy with a gun put a bullet into her? She breathed slowly, listening for the slightest sound outside.

A minute passed.

Then five minutes, it seemed.

Finally, she could take it no more.

She burst out of the pantry and threw herself onto the kitchen floor, hands over her head, and screamed, “Don’t shoot me!”

She heard herself crying and lifted her head, realizing there was nobody else in the caddyshack.

Sl she got up and walked to the front window and looked outside. She could see the twin tracks of the Suburban leaving the club.

She ran to the back window and looked out too. Nobody there either.

She heard a creak overhead.

She looked up at the ceiling and had the terrible thought that maybe one of them was on the roof. Maybe they were waiting for her to pop her head out the front door and they would nail her then.

She looked around and saw a filthy broom in the corner of the main room. She picked it up and with a cringe of anxiety burst out the front door and thrust the broom outside.

But nothing happened. No shots. Just a dirty broom in the snow.

She was puzzled. Why did they leave?

She saw her blanket and radio in the corner and turned on the radio. The nerve-shattering signal of the Emergency Alert System blared.

The EAS announcer said, “This is the Emergency Alert System. The following is a message from the National Command Authority.”

Mom, she thought with relief.

But it was a man who was speaking.

“This is General Brad Marshall,” said the voice, which she suddenly recognized and felt a chill down her spine. “Minutes ago an enemy missile destroyed the plane carrying former President Deborah Sachs.”

Jennifer’s knees buckled. She dropped to the floor.

“This further act of aggression will not go unanswered,” Marshall announced. “I have ordered the United States Armed Forces to respond with their full fury and might.”

Jennifer turned off the radio. She sat on the floor and let loose with tears and then wailed.

She didn’t care who heard her now.