Not on my Watch

Chapter 3

So you have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something. Winston Churchill

                                                         January, 2012

                                         Pine Valley Experimental Base

           Rowan awoke suddenly from a deep sleep. She looked around the darkened room, disoriented.  Where was she?  She saw some little white numbers glowing a few feet away: 3:30 am.    Oh, yeah. She was in her cot on the air base. Her disorientation dissipated.  She'd returned from Japan a few days before.  It had been a busy day, and she was tired.  Why had she awoken now?  She groaned.  She had to get up in only a couple more hours.  Ugh.

          She suddenly realized why she was awake.  She had a deep sense of foreboding, and no idea why.  If felt as though something terrible had either happened, or was about to happen. Clay?  She stepped out of bed and went to check on him in the next room.   She flipped on the light and watched him for a moment.   Her little boy appeared fine.  He was sleeping soundly. His chest rose and fell as he slept.  He was breathing easily.  She walked over to the bed and touched his forehead.  Cool to the touch.  She checked everywhere in the room and listened carefully. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.   What could be wrong? Why am I feeling this way?

She went back to bed and lay there in the darkness, unable to go back to sleep. The sense of uneasiness was growing stronger. Something tugged at the corners of her thoughts and kept her awake. She couldn't come up with an explanation for her sense of emptiness, so she tried to think of other things. She was going to be so tired at work later today.

          Then she remembered.    Wait a minute. She could sleep in today, 'til about seven or eight.  She smiled in the darkness.  Today's the day we're leaving to go to Park City.  The yearly Sun Dance Film Festival in Park City had started a couple of days earlier.  The whole airbase crew had been working hard the last several weeks, sometimes on overtime.  They'd been given a lot of new assignments from the Air Force.   They'd caught up, finally, but they were all exhausted.  Vin decided they needed a break, so he planned a trip to Sundance for whoever wanted to go.  The younger children on base would be left in the care of the older teenagers, as they usually were during the day when the parents were at work.   It would only be for a few days, and a few adults would stay behind as well.

          She was a little concerned about leaving Clay behind, but she was sure the kids would be fine.  Especially down here in the desert, where there wasn't much chance of getting into trouble, unless they encountered rattlesnakes.  They'd all been briefed numerous times on what to do if they saw snakes, and how to treat snakebite with Echinacea.   Were her premonitions from fear of leaving Clay for so long?  No, it was something else...

          She was glad, because she was looking forward to the trip.  They'd be gone at least three days.  She needed a break from her son. Much as she loved him, he could be a handful at times. She wasn't sure she wanted to be near Vin for that long, but she could handle it.   It wasn't like she'd have to spend much time with him, at least not alone.   She was finally about to drift off to sleep again, when a feeling of utter abandonment almost overcame her, and she jumped.  She tried to empty her mind of all thoughts, and that's when she heard Mike's voice in her head, so clear it was as if he were in the room.

           Rowan!  I love you.   I'm going to miss you so much.  Take care of Clay for me.  I love him, too.  Stay strong.  You'll need to for what lies ahead.   Remember me.