12 Years Ago (3)

4,527 days until extinction.

Sitting down in the corner booth of a small interstate diner Harper let out an exhausted sigh as she adjusted the overly large baseball cap she’d been wearing since setting out heading north. She had driven for over six hours and exactly thirteen minutes as the communication she received had instructed; she thumbed the edge of the small slip of paper that sat in her tan canvas jacket.

“What can I get you?”

“Jasmine, Hibiscus, and Masala in order of preference.”

She was left alone for another few minutes before the woman brought back her tea along with napkin. Taking a small sip of the tea Harper turned the napkin over and noticed the words ‘out back’ written on it before gently dabbing the corners of her mouth.

Paying generously for the tea she only had a single sip of Harper stood and made her way through the kitchen to the back exit of the store, ignoring the momentary look of confusion from the grill cook. And standing out back was her superior officer who had similarly dressed in a very nondescript manner, though the baseball cap looks for more fitting on his head than her own.

“Good to see you Harper.”

“Rainer, you’re looking as gigantic as ever.”

Pulling out the small folder she had kept tucked in the small of her back since beginning the drive Harper passed it over.

“Might be a bit damp, my car doesn’t have air conditioning.”

“Could be time for an upgrade,” Rainer said while casually looking over the report.

“Maybe. I saw a bike in the parking lot, thought I might get one of those next time.”

“A crotch rocket?” He looked up at her with a smirk.

“So about the assignment,” she said forcefully dragging the conversation away from her mode of transport. “I’ve been doing little drop off jobs with Krystian for the past few months now, I think he’s starting to really trust me. Says there’s a bigger job coming down the pipe pretty soon though.”

“That’s good, hopefully it’ll lead us to his source.” Rainer passed the report back. “And the girl? Does she suspect anything?”

Harper let out a frustrated sigh, her relationship with Gabrielle had only deepened in the past two months. “No, she doesn’t. But I’m really starting to feel not great about this. She told me the last time I was over that she loved me.”

“And what did you say?” He asked in a tone that was so matter-of-fact it make Harper want to strike him in the throat.

“I told her I loved her too.”

“And do you?”

The question came out of left field that she hadn’t really expected it let alone from someone she thought had the emotional depth of a childhood sandbox.

“I…uh…” She fumbled to answer, taking a moment to think about the question in full. Her mind filled with the image of Gabby laying against her chest, complaining about whatever reality show they had decided to watch to unwind. A smile made its way across Harper’s lips.

“I think I…do.”

Rainer nodded slowly, taking the statement. “Well then we’ll have to wrap this up quickly. And hopefully it won’t all go toes up when this house of cards comes down.”

Harper shook her head and sighed, “I don’t think it’s going to shake out like that. I built the relationship on a lie, hard to recover from that kind of betrayal. I think I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t kick my ass.”

Rainer nodded in understanding and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry about this Harper. If I’d known how close you two would get I never would have asked you to get involved in this.”

“I still probably would have found some way to screw it up though,” she said with a dejected sigh.

“You really think so?”

“I’ve never really managed to make the relationship thing work. The military doesn’t exactly help that either.”

“If it’s any comfort you’re gonna help-” Harper interrupted before he could finish.

“It honestly doesn’t…but thanks.” She gave him a morose smile before leaning against the red bricked wall of the small diner. “I’ve never really understood the point of smoking until right now. I feel like I want to hit a wall.”

“It hurts more than it helps, trust me.”

“I just can’t wait for this to be over.”

“End of the month Harper, end of the month we’ll take these scumbags down.”

-----

“Everything good? You seem a bit distracted.” Krystian looked over at Harper as the silvery blue light of the full moon shone down upon the empty parking lot that had been chosen as the drop point. All the streetlamps had been smashed and the security cameras blacked out with spray paint.

“Sorry. Just thinking about where I’m gonna take Gabby.” Though it was a lie Harper had wrapped it in truth, for there was a small part of her that hoped things with Gabrielle might still work out.

Krystian laughed and punched her in the arm with a familiar laugh. Both of them had grown closer since working together to the point where she would even feel slightly bad about having to arrest him.

Her eyes scanned the horizon knowing Rainer was tucked somewhere among them with a rifle trained and ready should anything go wrong, two other new recruits to their expanding outfit were waiting for the signal to move in. Harper had not gotten to know them as well but knew enough about her superior officer to know they were worthy enough to trust her life with.

A few moments later a large, boxy car pulled into the lot a few feet away from them and a window pulled down giving Harper view of a middle aged looking man of pallid complexion and a set of dark glasses obscuring his eyes. Krystian walked over to talk to him while Harper waited trying to look as calm as possible despite the jackhammer-like pounding her heart was doing.

Krystian looked over at her and gave a thumbs up which was the signal for her to bring one of the crates for him to examine. Moving to the back of the pale blue SUV Harper opened the trunk and grabbed a box which she held with both hands while walking slowly to the other car. As she approached four other individuals got out of the car, two of whom carried some type of assault rifle and eyed her with suspicion.

Setting the crate down she took a step back and looked calmly across the assembled group in front of her and watched as the man with glasses continued to speak to Krystian, both of whom seemed to be staring at Harper with an increased intensity.

One of the goons with assault rifle stood near Harper and asked in an almost accusatory way, “so Krystian says you’re with the 4-6?”

“The 4-2,” she corrected.

“Huh…” The man let the words hang as Harper’s fingers twitched. “That’s interesting. Because I got a buddy in the 4-2, and he says the only Harper he knows is serving as a god damn cop!”

Harper snapped her head out toward him crushing his nose with her forehead before pulling out her gun and shooting him cleanly and efficiently through the leg. After that she aimed the gun at the wheels to the car taking out two of them before aiming at the man in sunglasses and ignoring the multiple other guns now aimed at her.

“Adrian Smith, you are accused of trafficking schedule 1 narcotics using military personal and resources. Step out of the car, interlock your fingers behind your head and get down on your knees.”

“Harper…what the hell are you doing?” Krystian stared at her with confusion, he seemed absolutely lost as to what was happening. “You’re a cop?”

“It’s not personal Krystian.”

“The hell it’s not personal! You’re sleeping with my sister!” His hand moved, she wasn’t sure if he was reaching for the gun but her finger fell to the trigger. Yet she could not pull it.

The crack of a rifle and a bullet went clean through his shoulder, Krystian fell to the floor as a spurt of blood shot from the hole in his body. After that the bullets started flying.

Harper ran and dove behind the car as a hail of bullets fell upon where she moved, tearing through the flimsy metal covering the interior skeleton of the vehicle. She situated herself near the side but not fully in the middle, taking blind shots while her partners returned fire from where they were situated.

She heard the screech of tires from the other care and the scraping of metal against concrete from the tires she’d shot out. What happened next would haunt her the next four thousand days.

Krystian’s scream of terror.

The revving of the engine.

And a sound that was disturbingly similar to a watermelon being crushed.