Code of Dishonor

1

            The man woke up to the sound of a door opening. He turned to see over his shoulder, only to discern that his wife was still asleep beside him. He stepped down onto the cold wood floor and headed for the entryway. He heard the creaking of the floor, not his steps though. He stopped completely and turned back to his wife, she had not moved at all. He pushed back the door, which was already open half a foot. He looked up and down the hall. He began to hear tapping on a hard surface, when he started listening; he realized it was Morse code. He was so tired he could not understand it; he took long strides down the hall until he reached the end. He gazed down the stairs into the darkness of the living room. He could only see the outlines of some of his furniture. Seeing nothing else, he turned back and then heard the click of a gun. He slowly turned to his right; he saw a face on top of a body shaped figure, "Marshall?"

The other man lowered his gun, he waved him over in front of the far wall; away from the stairs and the hall leading to the other rooms. Otherwise, away from the open. In a hoarse, weary voice, the man asked, "Is anyone here but Leciia?"

The man crept over reluctantly, "No. Put that away, what are you doing here?"

"Iain, I need cash, nothing anyone can trace, I have to get out of here, now." Marshall put the safety on the gun and put it inside his right pocket.

Iain closed his eyes tightly and opened them; he glowered at the other man for a while, "Are you kidding me? You're AWOL!"

"Shh!" Marshall put his fist over his mouth.

"You gotta get back to the base!"

"No, they're gonna kill me or put me in jail, it should be General Naataanii in jail..." he shook his head. There were obscure circles under his eyes even more prominent in the dark. He scratched his face.

"What are you talking about? Can you just listen to me for once?"

"You have to trust me, Iain, if you- just give me some money," Marshall slapped the top of his left hand; there was some sort of rash occurring.

"All right," Iain sighed, "where are you going?"

"I really can't tell you, just have faith..." there was clattering downstairs.

"You bring someone else with you, Marshall?" the men stared down.

"No," Marshall reached into his pocket.

"What's going on?" Iain watched the gun.

"Get out of here, Iain," Marshall made his way to the top of the stairs.

"It's my house!" he whispered loudly.

"They don't care," Marshall whispered very softly, "it's on the base, they control everything on the base. They're after me. Get her! Get your wife! Get Leciia, get out of here!"

"You're not making sense! Who're you talking about?"

There was another clatter; Marshall could see shadows moving around.

Two gunshots rang out.

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3 days later

The teenager sat on the couch scribbling on paper. She smiled and looked up. There was another girl a bit older; she sat across from her on the love seat. The 30" flat screen TV was in the corner muted. There was a woman speaking to the camera. "Is she done talking yet?" the older one glanced at the screen.