Up From The Deep Vaughn Jackson (book club suggestions TXT) 📖

the table and sprayed in a wide arc. A man and a woman went down in a spray of red, but not before one got a shot off. The bullet tore through his arm. It burned at the center of his muscle as warm red blood poured out. Cade clenched his teeth and looked for the last person he’d counted. He found him. The black man was shielded behind one of the scientists.

“Release the hostage,” Cade shouted.

“Wait, no!” the scientist said. “Don’t shoot.” He turned back to the other man. “Jason, please. Put down your gun, you don’t have to do this.”

Jason’s sunglasses made it hard for Cade to read his expression, but he looked conflicted. Which meant Cade wasn’t lowering his weapon until he did. He heard movement and glanced to the side. A redheaded woman crawled out from under a lab table. Her frizzy hair bobbed as she shook her head and rubbed her face.

“Is it over?” she said, before freezing at the sight of the standoff in front of her.

“Jason, please.” The scientist had his hand on the man’s arm. “If you do this, your wife…”

Jason lowered his weapon. “You owe me, again.”

“You should consider any debt settled,” Cade said. “The man just saved your life.”

The sunglasses bored into Cade. “I said he owes me.” He tossed his gun to the side.

“It’s a running joke we have,” the scientist said, “he doesn’t mean anything by—”

A gunshot cut the statement short. Cade flinched but didn’t feel any pain. His own gun hadn’t fired.

“Devonte!” he shouted, sprinting to the hall. No sign of the young man. He backtracked, tracing their steps and found him, covered in blood, slumped next to the corpse of one of the men in lab coats. He was shaking.

Cade knelt down beside him. “Hey.”

Devonte’s eyes lacked focus.

“Are you alright?” Cade asked.

No response.

Cade put a hand on his shoulder. And for the first time, recognition flashed behind Devonte’s unfocused eyes. “He’s dead.”

“Yes, and you’re alive.”

“I shot him.”

Cade glanced at the body. “Twice it seems. In the chest. It happens.”

Devonte swallowed hard. “Is this what you do...every day?”

“No,” Cade said. “I aim for the head.”

“How can you crack jokes about this?” Tears welled at the corner of Devonte’s eyes. They’d regained focus, and something more, recognition.

“Your first time’s always rough,” Cade sat on the floor next to him. “But think of it this way, did you want to die?”

“No,” Devonte’s voice croaked.

“Do you think he wanted you to die?”

“Yes.”

“Only one of you could have gotten what you wanted then. You did what you had to do to survive.” Cade put a firm hand on Devonte’s shoulder. He held out his other hand. “Do you want me to take the gun?”

Devonte wiped his eyes. “No, I think I’ll keep it. Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.” He saw the look of horror on Devonte’s face and winced. “Right. Sorry. Ask away.”

“Did you cry the first time?”

Cade chuckled. “No. I did what any self-respecting soldier would do. I climbed so deep in a bottle it almost cost me my life and my career.”

“How did you—”

“Get out?”

Devonte’s silent curiosity was answer enough.

“I threw myself into the program. Can’t drink when you have no free time.” He shrugged. “Worked out for me.”

Footsteps approached, and Devonte snapped his gun forward, hands still trembling.

“Easy there, Punisher, don’t shoot the people we came to rescue.” Cade pressed down firm but gentle on the gun in Devonte’s hands, pointing it towards the floor.

The redhead, the scientist with grey hair, and the black man in the suit approached.

“No one else wanted to be rescued?” Cade asked.

“Most of them are too afraid to defy Tempest,” grey hair said.

“And you?” Cade said to the man in the suit.

“You’re alive, which means I failed. They don’t like failure.” His tone and face remained emotionless. “I’m with y’all now.”

“Let me guess,” Cade said. “We owe you?”

“No. But if I do die, I’m haunting your asses.”

“What about your wife?” Grey Hair asked. “Your daughter?”

Jason stared straight ahead. “I’ll make some calls. Got to hope for the best.”

The statement hung in the air. No one wanted to say anything.

Devonte spoke up, his voice wavering. “Um, do any of you go by the online name D-Base?”

“Debase?” Grey Hair asked.

“No, D-Base. It stands for Destroyer Base.”

The girl with curly red hair raised her hand. “That’s me,” she said. “But only—”

Her eyes lit up. “KK?” She flung herself forward and wrapped her arms around Devonte, much to his obvious confusion. “Is that really you?” she asked.

“Yep,” he croaked. “King of the Kaiju, in the flesh. Good to finally meet you.”

She pulled away and extended a hand. “Name’s Skylar, and you?”

“Devonte.” He fidgeted nervously as she smiled at him with bright green eyes. “You’re a girl?”

Cade rolled his eyes. “And your name’s Jason, and you are?”

“Kurtis,” Grey Hair said.

“Great. Introductions over. Can we get out of here now? Before more people with guns show up.”

“Unlikely,” Jason said.

The sterile white light turned an angry red, and a siren wailed from speakers hidden somewhere overhead.

“What now?” Devonte asked.

“Protocol dictates that they detonate the base if compromised,” Jason said.

“And you didn’t say anything about that?” Cade shouted.

“I was supposed to kill you, remember?”

“They’re gonna blow up Alcatraz?” Skylar looked more offended than afraid.

Jason nodded. “We should go.”

“Can we stop it?” Devonte asked. “I mean this is a historic landmark.” His eyes never left Skylar’s face.

“Not the mission, kid,” Cade said. He hoisted Devonte to his feet. “Let’s go.”

#

They watched from the boat as the island, prison and all, went up in a cacophonous display of smoke and fire. Devonte felt a pang of guilt. Did I just cause the destruction of a historic monument?

He noticed a similar look on Skylar’s face, just a hint of discomfort mixed with a lot of sadness. Alcatraz meant nothing to them personally, but to the people of San Francisco, it mattered.

Should I say something?

“It’ll never be the same,” Skylar said. “Do you think they’ll rebuild it?”

“Probably not,” Devonte said. “I don’t know how you