CHAPTER 1

THE CALL

The still of the morning was broken by the ringing phone. Arare occurrence the past two years, ever since the accident.Prior to that, early morning phone calls were not usual. As the chiefscientist at the Biotech Company James Jeffreys worked for on thewest coast, Dr. Jeffreys would start his day around 6 am, and wouldfrequently get calls from the office prior to leaving for work. Eversince the accident, the family longed to be awakened again by thoseearly morning calls.

"Mom, the phone's ringing," yelled Jason as he reached thebottom step descending the stairs.

She picked up the phone just as he entered the kitchen.

Jenna was sitting at the table in the nook.

Both watched intently as their mother listened without saying aword to the strange and unexpected call so early in the day.

Suddenly mother's face turned white as a ghost. Jason and Jennastared intently at their mother.

The last time they had seen that look on her face was when shereceived the call about the 'accident' two years ago.

A flood of emotions swelled up in Jason.

Fear, sadness, and anger, but worst of all, an inexplicableexcitement that was uncanny, unexplainable, and very uncomfortable.

The last two years the family had gone through what they couldonly describe as SHEAR HELL. The calls, the waiting, the visits,the unanswered questions. More waiting, more questions. Tears to thepoint of emotional and physical exhaustion. Jason was sure his motherhad reached the brink of a nervous breakdown. She had continued tofunction, though sometimes running on a thread of energy.

Jenna, two years younger that Jason, a junior in high school atthe time had really picked up the slack at home.

Jason had just finished his first year of college, and had foregonereturning so he could help around the house and support his mother.

He and mom had just talked the week before about him reapplyingagain and getting on with his life.

Still the unanswered questions terrorized him regularly, and thenightmares were a weekly occurrence.

He wondered if mother and Jenna were experiencing the same thing.

They learned, like all people who have had a similar tragedy, themost difficult part was the lack of closure.

The last two years they struggled with what direction to takenext. Every time they were close to making a decision, they wouldreceive another call or visit. Although they would be left with no moreinformation, it would paralyze them from making a definitive move.

It was this cycle of continued trauma that was wearing down JuneJeffreys, and both Jason and Jenna feared for her emotional stability.

The calls themselves were fairly short. The visits, however, werevery traumatic for June Jeffreys. The questions were always the same,but with more intensity. The nature and direction of the questionsled Jason to believe there was much about his father's work the familyhad never understood ... or were never told.

The other point of peculiarity was that the visits were alwaysunexpected, the conversations were always recorded, and thehouse was thoroughly searched from top to bottom prior to thequestions. The visits always occurred with at least four USMP(United States Military Police) armed officers, who arrived in twoseparate vehicles. Each dark SUV, with tinted windows, displayedthe USMP insignia.

The whole ordeal seemed more like an interrogation than aneffort to help them solve the tragedy that had rocked the lives of theJeffreys family.

Most citizens had by now become accustomed to periodic patrolsby the USMP in various neighborhoods ever since their establishmentby the 44th Presidential administration. The USMP, an elite policeagency, was develop and advertised by the administration as necessaryfor strengthening homeland security. At the time of its conception in2010, the United States was still crawling back out of the deep recessionthat started with the housing bubble burst in 2008, the dramatic5000 point drop in the stock market during 2009, and the pandemicdevastation of the 2010 swine flu. Those Americans, who voted forand were committed to the ideals of the administration, felt that theinstantaneous creation of 500,000 new jobs was a brilliant move onthe...