Curtain Fall: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 1) by Kenneth Cary

saw the concern on Terry’s face, more than he should have had anyway, and he knew he had to do something to recover his wits, as well as assuage Terry’s concern. “I just realized my mom’s been lying to me,” said John. “I just put it all together, all the little pieces. The appointments, the lab work, everything. My mom’s got cancer.”
    The irony of the metaphor wasn’t lost on John, for in that same moment he realized the Caldera really was going to erupt, and soon. Reliving the dream had completed the mental connection for him. It was the missing piece of the puzzle. Everything seemed to fall into place during those last few moments of his lunch break. From the little girl, to the alley, and finally his suit, he just relived the end segment of his dream. He thought it was a little boy in his dream, but he knew it didn’t matter. She was wearing practically the same outfit, and doing the same thing.
    With a shake of his head, John turned to face Terry and said, “I’m going to lose my mother.” He loathed building upon his lie, but he knew he couldn’t tell Terry the truth, that the dream, a dream he had some eight years ago, had just come true. That would never work, not for him, or for Terry.
    Terry was a man of very practical means. John knew he had no appreciation, or sensitivity, for things intangible. John put a hand on Terry shoulder, held it there for a moment, and then turned and walked away without another word.

A s they walked back to the office building, John worked extremely hard to maintain his detachment from Terry. He was actually more excited than detached, but if Terry saw a shift in his demeanor, he would likely open with more questions, possibly even think it was his duty to comfort John in his time of emotional distress.
    John’s excitement wasn’t one of joy, but rather concern. Now that he knew what was coming, what was about to happen, he wanted to act. Going back to work was the last thing he wanted. He had work to do, preparations to make, before he could hope to relax enough to work again.
    When they hit the lobby, John parted company with a simple “Goodbye,” to Terry, and then headed for the stairwell. John couldn’t help but notice Terry’s look of concern when he left, but his friend seemed comfortable with John’s explanation about his mother’s health, even if he didn’t know what to say about it. Cancer was a strange thing to talk about to people who never experienced such a family crisis. Not that John had such experience, but he remembered his reaction to news that Abby was diabetic. Like cancer, diabetes is a life changing illness with no known cure.
    John reached his floor and stopped at Tony’s desk on the way back to his office. They agreed to meet in John’s office after two o’clock and discuss the workload for the next couple of days. He confirmed the meeting that was to begin in thirty minutes, grateful that Tony seemed eager to cover for John, and once again prove his value to the firm as John’s second.
    As soon as he entered his office, John scanned for anything that looked to be out of place. Everything was as he left it, so he quickly slipped his pistol into the gun safe and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his temples with his fingers for a moment, and then dropped his elbows to the desk and rested his face into his hands. Try as he might, he couldn’t clear his mind of the dream, or the Caldera.
    Hoping the computer would distract him, he logged on and studied his long list of unopened emails. But before he addressed any email, he activated his “out-of-office reply” and set it for the remainder of the week. It was set for more than two days, but he wasn’t concerned about that raising any red flags in the firm.
    If the cancer story got out, which he was sure it would, then John could expect more sympathy than he could handle, which is another reason he wanted to leave. It made him feel sick to propagate such a lie, but after what