Rubicon Read online

  Greyson Gray:

  Rubicon

  B.C. Tweedt

  Hold up, Speedy McSpeedFace!

  Let's make sure you're in the right place.

  Book 1: Camp Legend

  Book 2: Fair Game

  Book 3: Deadfall

  Book 4: Rubicon (this book)

  If you haven't already, I suggest starting at the very beginning. And don't worry - Book 1 is FREE!

  Get it for FREE at

  bit.ly/GGcamplegend

  right now!

  If you're in the right place, proceed with caution daring.

  Copyright © 2016 B.C.Tweedt

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 0692715878

  ISBN-13: 978-0692715871

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to my first son, Maverick, and to all children in the newest generation. My hope is that you will find in this book a hero who, even while confused, flawed, and otherwise broken, still fights to bring good and to become good. The world will always need fresh heroes like you who are willing to wade through the shades of gray to find what is true, to take hold of it, and to never let go no matter what consequences come your way.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  With every book I write, it seems that I owe the same few people for their help; even so, that does not make their contributions or my gratitude any less. I thank my wife for allowing me many afternoons writing in my coffee-shop sanctuaries, for her spoken and unspoken faith and encouragement, and for her many patient conversations discussing a fictional world that dwells only in my mind. Also, my editors and beta-readers provided numerous revisions that served to hone this story into the version you are about to read. Finally, I’d like to thank the readers of the first three books who have provided reviews and encouragement that have spurred me to continue the series. Authors feed on positive reinforcement, and I’m grateful that I’ve been able to sustain myself on yours.

  WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR

  It all started at sports camp where my friends and I stopped a nuclear missile from shooting out of an abandoned observatory and killing thousands of people. My mom had sent me to distract me from Dad’s disappearance, but once I stumbled upon two goons discussing a secret they were willing to threaten my life to keep, it wasn’t long before my friends and I were hatching a daring raid to find out what they were up to. After a long ordeal involving a chase through the town, being kidnapped, and a wild fight ending in Dr. Emory’s death, I thought it was over.

  But it turned out that Dr. Emory’s brother was Everett Oliver Emory, the leader of Pluribus – a group that wants a new civil war. As for me, I was put under FBI protection, losing my name, home, and contact with the outside world for months. It wasn’t until the Iowa State Fair that I saw my friends again, and this was only because the FBI was hoping to lure Emory out of hiding. I didn’t know I was bait, but it worked – just too late. Pluribus attacked, trying to kidnap many of the presidential candidates’ kids – including Sam Reckhemmer, the son of Iowa’s governor. Though I managed to escape with my friends and Sam, I turned Sam in to Emory so that he would tell me where my dad was. Not my shining moment.

  It got worse. All of us were captured and put in a truck with a nuclear bomb, driving toward Des Moines. Liam, Sydney, and I tried to stop the truck, but Orion, Emory’s adopted (and super-evil) son, was in the way. The truck swerved, knocking Liam and Sydney into a river below. For some reason, I let the truck go on, choosing instead to dive in after my friends. Even so, I was only able to save one. I chose Sydney. The bomb exploded after I had pulled her to shore. In one day I had let Liam die, let the bomb kill thousands, and lost my mother to the fair attack.

  I was put under FBI protection again, but I couldn’t stand it. Emory had told me my father was alive, and he’d told me where he was. I had to find him, even if it was a long shot, and even if it made me a fugitive – hunted by the government and Pluribus. I left Sydney for Florida and only made it to Illinois before I was robbed and left with nothing but a stray dog named Kit. Together we trekked across the US by foot, bike, car, and train, all while evading Orion on my trail. Eventually I ran across a boy, Asher, and his dad, Dan, who I knew to be a pilot. In my attempt to ask for his services, I kicked a hornet’s nest of Plurbs. With Dan’s help, I escaped on the top of a military train, only to have it attacked by another militia group. After a long, horrible battle between the military and the militia, a boy named Cael helped me until a group of stealthy soldiers rescued me. Turns out they were a group named Rubicon. They recorded my testimony of the events at the fair so that the world would know how evil Pluribus was. The soldiers also said the government was trying to kill me to cover up the truth. How weird is that?

  Even after being derailed, I couldn’t give up. With Dan’s piloting help, I parachuted into the Bahamas, searching for my dad. I found my friends instead. Turns out that Sam, using his computer hacking skills, had arranged for them to travel by cruise ship to the Bahamas to help me. Apparently they had caused trouble on the ship, because an assassin poisoned their parents and our friend Sammy, leaving them to be taken by the Plurbs.

  After sending the assassin to the sharks, I really wanted to keep searching for my dad, but I knew we had to stop the Plurbs on the cruise ship. We took jet skis and boarded the boat with the help of an Aussie girl named Avery. To sum this part up quickly, the Plurbs kidnapped Avery’s parents, sank the ship, and posed as survivors in order to get rescued by a Navy destroyer. The Plurbs hijacked the destroyer and shot off missiles just before Rubicon and I could stop them. One of the Plurbs shooting the missiles was my dad! That’s when I was shot. In my hand and my shoulder. The rest was a blur. Somehow I’m in Rubicon’s helicopter with my friends. After everything, I found my dad – but who was he?

  Are you confused? If so, welcome to my life. I know my story’s not finished – not by a long shot – so let’s hope I find answers. I’m not going to stop until I do.

  - GG

  Glossary of Terms and Characters

  Greyson Gray – Our daring thirteen-year-old hero. He wears a red hat with a white ‘G’ on it that his dad gave him before he disappeared. He also dons a red fanny pack to keep his things handy.

  Gregory Gray – Greyson’s father, who went missing before Book 1. He was last seen on a naval destroyer, working with the terrorist organization, Pluribus.

  Kit – German Shepherd who began following Greyson in Illinois as he made his way to the Bahamas in Book 3. He’s trained to fight.

  Sydney – Greyson’s feisty friend since camp. Their friendship has had ups and downs, but we all know they like each other.

  Jarryd – Witty and unashamed, the longhaired, buck-toothed Jarryd has been Greyson’s sidekick since day one. He has a twin brother named Nick.

  Nick - Though Jarryd’s twin, he has become very different. He’s cut his hair, donned glasses, and grown interested in anti-government talk ever since being captured by a group of Plurbs in Des Moines.

  Sammy – The group’s goofy friend who has been adopted by the twins’ family. He was poisoned by the Fisherman along with the twins’ parents and Sydney’s parents in Nassau. They haven’t been seen since.

  Avery Redmond – Australian beauty who befriended Jarryd and the others on the American Dream cruise liner. She is the daughter of the CEOs of Redmond Aerospace Defense and Redmond Robotics. Pluribus kidnapped both her parents on the cruise.

  Cael – Mulleted boy who met Greyson after the trainwreck in Book 3. He allowed Greyson to escape the Plurbs even though his father was the Plurb who ran his truck into the military train.

  Asher – Seven-year-old son of a pilot, Dan Critterdon, who works for Rubicon.

  Governor Reckhemmer – The governor of Iowa w
ho is also running for president. He is in the same party as President Foster. He is willing to do anything, including having people killed, if it’s in the country’s best interest.

  Sam – Handsome and skilled with computers, Governor Reckhemmer’s son has irked Greyson with his advances toward Sydney, but he has also helped Greyson in his quest to find his dad.

  Pluribus – Taken from the Latin word meaning “many”, Pluribus was formed with the goal to prompt states to secede from the United States. Everett Oliver Emory claims to be its leader. Though Emory denies it, Pluribus has been responsible for the nuclear attack in Des Moines, the military train derailment in Georgia, the sinking of the American Dream cruise liner, and the hijacking of the U.S.S. Coronado, which fired thirteen missiles at the end of Book 3.

  A.R.C. – The American Republic of the Constitution. Some citizens did not like how the government responded to the terrorist attacks by restricting freedoms in the name of safety. Those who are most fed up with the American government see no other solution than to secede (withdraw from the United States). The ARC is the name of the new country that these citizens hope to form from the seceding states. Pluribus wants the ARC to form, but the ARC does not agree with Pluribus’ violent methods.

  Rubicon – The name for a river in ancient Italy that General Julius Caesar crossed with his army, effectively declaring civil war in Rome. “Crossing the Rubicon” has become a phrase that means taking an action that allows no turning back. The soldiers who rescued Greyson at the end of Book 3 – Grover, Forge, and Diablo – also call their unit Rubicon.

  Prologue

  The elevator floor vibrated under Greyson’s feet, where his eyes were directed, absent of thought, peering through the two jagged bullet holes to the shrinking street below.

  Wind whipped at the broken glass walls as the elevator lifted him higher along the skyscraper. He faced the building opposite as he ascended past its roof, alone in the skyrocketing cage. His stomach sunk. Even after everything, his fear of heights pushed at his gut.

  The rising elevator brought the city skyline into view; towering skyscrapers and their shorter siblings sprawled toward the horizon in every direction. The rising sun painted the arrays of windows in orange, yellow, and red as if setting them on fire. But Greyson knew the real fire had yet to come.

  [You’re on your own to the roof, Orphan.] The soldier’s voice in his earpiece did nothing to ease his mind. Getting to the roof would only bring him closer to death. [You’re the last one. Make it count.]

  “Roger,” he said, fighting off despair.

  Above the sun, and at the edge of his eyesight, he finally discerned his approaching enemy. Though his stomach was already heaving, Greyson tapped the side of his goggles and zoomed in. His eyes registered what his heads-up-display confirmed.

  He toggled radio channels. “Avery, if you hear me, you’re running out of time,” he spoke toward the panel of broken glass in front of him. His cloth gaiter was still caught on a jagged piece of the window, flapping in the wind.

  [I know, I know!] she huffed through his earpiece.

  Greyson took a deep breath. “I need it down in two minutes, or …”

  [I’m going as fast as I c’ahn. I’ve got three people talking in my e’ah, and I don’t know who to listen to.]

  Greyson gritted his teeth in frustration, biting his words, and turned toward the golden elevator doors. Tapping his goggles, he watched as the doors seemed to vanish into an infrared sea of blue and black. Beyond the doors he could make out the edges of the floors that rushed past one by one. Only heat vents glowed in bright red. He craned his neck toward the roof, but couldn’t make out any human shapes. He was alone. The last one in the skyscraper.

  At least they had evacuated in time. Greyson clicked his goggles into normal mode and focused again on his approaching fate.

  And then it hit him; he was actually going to do this. He was most likely going to die. Every moment the elevator hummed upward took him closer to that time. Hot fear prickled at his arms, pressing in on him as if he were in a furnace.

  [Greyson?] chirped his earpiece.

  Surprise slapped him. “Sydney?”

  [Yeah, it’s me.]

  He could sense the hesitation in her voice. There was fear, too. He knew what was coming. She would try to talk him out of it. Hold him back.

  [Y-you okay?]

  Her words weren’t what he expected. The elevator hummed another three floors up while he chose his words. The buildings below dwindled to a tiled floor of square roofs. Over the layer of fear blanketing him, it was comforting to hear her voice. Like she was there with him. He so wished she were.

  “Been better,” he quipped, examining his wounds and gear.

  He could hear her breathing, but there was no response. He took the moment to stare at the gaiter fluttering against the glass, trying to imagine Sydney at the tent headquarters, hunched over the microphone, watching the monitors and surrounded by soldiers.

  [Greyson…I…]

  DING!

  Suddenly the elevator’s hum ceased, and the cage jerked to a stop. Greyson swung toward the doors and drew his slingshot as they opened, revealing the rooftop.

  [About what you said…]

  “Hold on!” he whispered, surveying the roof. The area was clear, except for an abandoned spotlight near the ledge. He took a cautious step beyond the doors, slingshot drawn. His body tensed, tight and painful, his shoulder and chest sending stabs of pain to his brain. But he ignored the pain and stepped further onto the roof, pointing left and right.

  [Greyson?] Sydney whispered.

  The wind swirled snowflakes as he ignored her and took long strides toward the building’s edge, closer to the spotlight that tilted toward the east. But as he got closer, he realized it wasn’t a spotlight.

  “Sydney, now’s not the best time.” He gulped, eyeing the weapon, and then jerked around, suddenly afraid that he had missed someone.

  [I need to say something before…] she began.

  Clearing the rest of the roof, Greyson turned back to the orange horizon. He felt the panic pumping through his veins, shortening his breaths as he snapped open the silver suitcase and began changing into his wingsuit.

  [Greyson, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what I said. For doubting you. So I…I’m cheering for you. We all are here.]

  He was surprised. His first response caught in his throat. While he thought of what to say, he zipped his suit.

  [You there?]

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  [You’re welcome.]

  Greyson pulled his goggles tight to his face and approached the ledge. He didn’t like what he saw. “Hold on, Syd.” He switched channels. “Avery, status?”

  [I’m close,] Avery responded. [We’re connecting now.]

  “Am I a go?”

  [Maybe thirty seconds. Just hold on!]

  “Hurry!”

  Through his earpiece he heard men screaming and banging on a door. Avery’s heavy breathing. The clicks of the keyboard.

  You can do it, Avery. Come on…

  His eyes never strayed from the horizon beyond. He knew why the soldiers had left. They had known what was coming and had escaped. Even the army was running. Retreating.

  And here he was, staring down his fate.

  Sydney’s voice eased back into his ears. [Greyson.]

  “What?” he muttered, leaning on the ledge, feeling as if gravity were tugging him over the side, toward the earth so far below. His heart pounded inside his chest as his gloved hands gripped the gritty concrete. “Don’t hold me back.” His chest heaved, trying to fight his emotion with a smile.

  [I wouldn’t dare. But I dare you to stop this.] The pain scratched at her voice. [Hear me?]

  He cleared a catch in his throat and shook his head, ridding himself of the tears forming in his eyes. “I hear you.”

  [Good. I’ll leave you alone now. And I’m not saying g
oodbye.]

  He looked into the sky and saw the tiny dots swooping closer like shooting stars, streaking toward him.

  “Me neither.”

  But he knew he was.

  Then Avery’s voice pounded his ears. [We’re almost in, Greyson! I swea’h!]

  He turned and jogged toward the elevator, just a few yards further from the ledge – not far enough for comfort, but just enough for a running start whenever he’d need to make his run. His heart pounded. His hands were sweating through his gloves. Shaking fingers secured his slingshot in its holster.

  This is it. Once I jump, there’s no going back. This is my Rubicon.

  Part I

  Chapter 1

  Sometime in the future.

  The television screen flickered and an image appeared of a boy with a battered red hat on a turf of stubby brown hair. A cut in one of his brows hovered above his tired green eyes as he stared blankly ahead, glazed with loss. His clothes were cut and dirtied, but he didn’t seem to care. He wasn’t interested in the person off-screen either, taking the video of him. One couldn’t tell when this was taken or where he was, only that there were trees behind him. Perhaps an expert could determine the type of trees and surmise the location as South Tennessee or Georgia, but the camera was centered on the seated boy as if he were the only subject that mattered.