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  Mark now just raced his car down the road just as fast as it could go!

  Gunman Beaks had already anticipated this, and had positioned himself on both corners of the building. So he now ran to the other corner so he could quickly target them again!

  Soon, a hail of bullets were winging their way towards Mark’s car as the gunman determined not to fail, fired off shot after shot straight at them!

  ‘PING!’ went another bullet as it went clean through the car’s roof and then straight through the floor right between Alec’s feet!

  ‘JESUS BLOODY CHRIST!’ Alec screamed in panic as he immediately lifted his feet up off the floor.

  ‘PING! PING! PING!’ went the bullets as Mark continued to race off down the road, followed by the occasional ‘THUD!’ as the gunman managed a direct hit through some part of his car.

  ‘I thought the metal of the car would keep us safe, but it isn’t doing anything is it!’ uttered Alec now looking decidedly scared.

  ‘These bullets are just going through the car’s metal like a hot knife through butter’ commented Tom.

  ‘Somehow, you’re not making me feel any better’ complained Alec.

  ‘Sorry!’ apologised Tom.

  People were now running for cover, screaming, as bullets struck the ground all around them!

  Meanwhile, Mark weaved his car all through the rush hour traffic just about any way he could.

  ‘CHRIST YOU TWO, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO NOW?’ he shouted in panic.

  ‘LOOK OUT!’ screamed the two boys as Mark almost hit a bus head on and just managed to race around it by mounting the kerb on the wrong side of the road!

  ‘MIND THE PEDESTIANS!’ screamed Alec as he and Tom could hardly bear to look now, as Mark now just speeded along the pavement!

  Pedestrian’s eyes now all lit up as they suddenly found themselves having to dive out the way of a car driving straight at them at over 90MPH!

  ‘PING!’ went another rifle shot ‘PING, THUD!’ went two more.

  ‘THIS GUY MUST HAVE SOME POWERFUL RIFLE TO STILL GET CLOSE TO US FROM THAT SORT OF DISTANCE!’ shouted Mark.

  ‘NEVER MIND ADMIRING THE GUNMAN’S GUN, JUST GET US BACK ONTO THE BLOODY ROAD AGAIN WILL YOU?’ shouted Tom as he cowered down with Alec on the car’s back seat.

  Mark then drove straight at a news stand where a man selling a newspaper to a customer just looked up in time to just throw it up into the air as both he and his customer now just quickly dived out of the way!

  ‘MIND THE NEWS STAND!’ shouted Alec in alarm and Mark went to go around it, but just as he did so a dustcart came around the corner and blocked the road!

  ‘BRACE YOURSELVES!’ shouted Mark as only seconds later they completely demolished the wooden News Stand and tore out the other side with a newspaper with a front page headline reading ‘The Government Gets Tough On Bad Motorists!’ now completely blocking Mark’s view of anything!

  Now unaware of where he was even heading, Mark quickly drove straight across a zebra crossing scattering pedestrians in all directions, before the newspaper finally blew away and Mark finally managed to get back on the right side of the road again.

  Now though, the bullets came raining in as the gunman mounted a powerful tripod mounted automatic submachine gun.

  ‘PING! PING! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!’ the bullets went in rapid succession as they began hitting the car all over its bodywork!

  ‘CAN YOU TRY AVOIDING AT LEAST SOME OF THE BLOODY BULLETS FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!’ screamed Alec from the car’s back seat.

  ‘HOLD ON!’ shouted Mark as he came to a sharp left turn and skidded rapidly around it until he lost all control of the his car and ended up smashing backwards straight into a lamp post!

  They finally finished up at a point where some fireman had been doing some routine maintenance servicing a fire hydrant, and after sending the fireman scattering in all directions Mark’s car finally came to sudden and very abrupt halt!

  ‘Thank the Lord we’re still alive’ uttered Alec as he blew a huge sigh of relief.

  ‘Is everyone OK?’ asked Tom, now looking very concerned.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine’ nodded Mark.

  ‘Yeah, me too, apart from my nerves being completely shattered’ complained Alec.

  Then he looked puzzled.

  ‘Hang on, what’s that funny noise coming from underneath us?’

  ‘Oh shit! We’ve finished up over an open fire hydrant!’ uttered Mark ‘OUT EVERYONE! OUT! AND THEN RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!’ he screamed.

  They all almost fell out of the car just in time before the built up pressure from the opened water hydrant underneath them suddenly threw Mark’s car up into the air as it flipped it clean onto its roof where it then landed with a loud ‘CRASH!’

  They now ran for cover to avoid getting a complete soaking as the water shot high into the air!

  Mark then just stood there looking at the remains of his car as he just shook his head in dismay.

  ‘Oh, will you look at the state of my car, it looks like very wet, sliced Swiss cheese, it’s bloody totalled!’ he just groaned.

  ‘Still, the insurance claim will make for interesting reading’ joked Alec.

  Then upon seeing Mark glaring at him Alec immediately apologised.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mark, that was a bad joke’ he admitted.

  ‘Thanks, Mark’ added Tom ‘you saved our lives!’

  ‘But why the hell does anyone want to kill you two is what I want to know?’ puzzled Mark ‘as that gunman was definitely targeting you two, there’s no doubt about it.’

  ‘We’ve really no idea’ the two teenage boys replied as they both just shrugged their shoulders.

  ‘Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity?’ suggested Mark as they just left the scene of flooding and the now endless sound of emergency vehicle sirens as they just filled the air. ‘All I know is you two had better watch your step in case this guy tries it again.’

  *

  Back in the Vatican meanwhile, Cardinal Greco had got hold of Raines in a desperate attempt to call off the whole thing, but of course, Raines had failed to contact the Mafia hit man Beaks as he had turned off his mobile phone so he couldn’t be traced through it.

  It was sometime later therefore, that Raines finally managed to contact the Mafia man as he travelled aboard a small fishing boat towards France on his way back to Italy.

  ‘I want to call the whole thing off!’ Raines immediately told him.

  ‘OK, but there are no refunds in this business’ replied Beaks, shrewdly failing to tell Raines he had already tried to kill Tom, but had failed in his attempt.

  ‘What about the other half of your money?’ asked Raines.

  ‘Have it sent to the same place’ Beaks informed him.

  Raines immediately got onto Cardinal Greco and he in turn informed Cardinal Moretti.

  ‘Thank the Saints he hadn’t gone through with anything’ smiled Cardinal Moretti in relief when he finally heard the news.

  *

  Tom, Alec, and Mark meanwhile, were now all left just walking to work.

  ‘I think we’re safe now’ commented Tom as they walked along the pavement.

  ‘Are you sure? As I don’t want to get shot at again?’ queried Alec.

  ‘No, the gunman must be miles from here by now, with all these police cars chasing around’ commented Mark as he watched them racing passed them.

  ‘See what you get if you don’t pay for your road tax, they now shoot at you, it’s a new government policy’ joked Alec.

  ‘That’s not even funny’ commented Mark. ‘I’ve just been shot at and my car has been completely totalled!’

  ‘No, I’m sorry, Mark, I’m just nervous still, joking is my way of coping’ explained Alec.

  ‘Well find another way, because you’re bloody well pissing me off!’ commented Mark angrily. ‘What is
it with you two anyway? Clearly someone has got it in for you?’ Mark questioned.

  ‘Seriously, Mark, we’ve no idea’ replied Tom. Then as he watched another police car speed passed them he pondered ‘should we go to the police do you think?’

  ‘Why, what are we going to tell them?’ replied Mark.

  ‘It could probably help with your insurance claim though’ replied Tom ‘as it would then make it ‘official’ that your car got shot at.’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right, why I never thought of that’ Mark nodded.

  So, the next police car they saw, they hailed down and told the police officers their entire story.

  Some five hours later, after waiting with what looked like everyone in the entire area in the very busy and noisy police station, they were finally interviewed and then given a lift home in a police car.

  ‘Can you tell me what is happening with my car?’ Mark asked the policeman who was driving them home.

  ‘I’m sorry, mate, we’ve had to impound it as evidence’ he replied.

  ‘Why do they want to impound it?’ puzzled Mark.

  ‘Because it may still hold some bullets that can at least tell us what weapons the gunman used’ explained the policeman.

  ‘You might as well have this one then’ commented Tom, casually passing the policeman the bullet he had dug out of the telephone junction box ‘I dug it out with my keys’ he explained.

  ‘Oh, thanks’ smiled the policeman looking surprised.

  ‘Well at least we all got a lift home’ commented Alec as they all sat in the back of the police car.

  ‘I can think of a better way to get a day off work though’ commented Tom.

  ‘We’ll all have to get the bus to work from now on’ groaned Mark looking thoroughly miserable.

  ‘Still, you can claim on your insurance’ commented Alec cheerfully.

  ‘Well not according to a guy I got talking to in the police station’ replied Mark looking quite fed up ‘he says he phoned his insurance company and they said we aren’t covered for gun shot damage.’

  ‘Oh’ both Tom and Alec commented together.

  ‘That’s bloody typical that is!’ moaned Mark.

  ‘Weren’t you the guy who ended up over the water hydrant the fire brigade were working on?’ asked the policeman driving them home as he overheard their conversation.

  ‘Yes’ replied Mark curiously.

  ‘Then you can claim a ‘write off’ due to water damage’ the policeman smiled.

  ‘Really?’ smiled Mark ‘no, but it was my fault I landed over the hydrant’ he admitted.

  ‘Yes, but I think trying to escape from a nut case shooting bullets at you is just about as good an excuse as it gets!’ laughed the policeman.

  ‘Yeah, I guess so’ smiled Mark, now looking happy again as they all looked at each other and laughed.

  ‘Thanks’ he told the policeman.

  ‘Don’t mention it’ smiled the policeman ‘all part of the service’ he laughed.

  Later that night, Alec went round Tom’s house.

  ‘Who on earth would be shooting at us, Tom?’ he questioned.

  ‘I don’t know, Alec, it’s just mad’ replied Tom just shaking his head.

  Of course, the police could find no trace of the gunman. He had cleverly picked a spot where there were no security cameras and had quickly dismantled and packed up his weapons and was well on his way before the police’s special Armed Response Unit had even arrived on the scene.

  Chapter Nine

  4th January 2021

  California, USA.

  The evening of 4th January 2021 saw hundreds of people take to the hills of California after numerous headlines within the internet community reported seeing UFO’s flying over the night sky there.

  The Californian police had themselves received dozens of reported sightings.

  A spokesman for the American Space Agency NASA however, reported no evidence of anything from any of their own sensitive monitoring equipment or space satellites. A sentiment also backed up by the military, the international Space Station and numerous space observatories worldwide.

  The Californian police were quite used to what they termed as ‘crank’ callers reporting seeing UFO’s or sightings or even abductions by space aliens in their area and so they took little notice of them anymore.

  They blamed social networking sites for the increase in reported sightings that had led to often hundreds of people gathering together in an attempt to see such things.

  The resulting rather dodgy looking videos later posted on the internet always proved far less than convincing and these proved no different on this occasion either.

  In Great Britain, the usual BBC evening news had a feature on the apparent reported UFO sightings over California as a light hearted article to finish their otherwise rather serious news program.

  ‘It could only happen in America!’ commented a smiling BBC news reader as he was seen to crack a joke with his female colleague as he finally shuffled up his papers at the very end of the program.

  One scientist, a professor from Yale University however, argued that these particular sightings should be taken more seriously.

  His name was Professor Whineberg and he was a well respected German scientist in astrophysics who had worked occasionally as an advisor with the space agency NASA. He suggested that some of the witness descriptions seemed to ring true.

  ‘Many of the witnesses of this strange phenomenon have described seeing a bright circular light that flattens more into an egg shape upon reaching a lower altitude.

  ‘This would be consistent with an object changing its shape upon entering our atmosphere and being subjected to the strong gravitational forces of Earth’ he explained.

  Of course, he was ‘rubbished’ in the press with them all showing pictures of little green men instead.

  When questioned about the professor’s statement, a spokes person for NASA simply reiterated that if anything were there they would have picked it up on their sensitive monitoring equipment.

  UFO sightings in the California area however, kept on increasing just the same.

  *

  At work one day as they enjoyed their tea break Alec read another article about the UFO sightings out aloud to Tom and Mark and they all laughed about them.

  ‘They’re all completely bonkers in America aren’t they?’ laughed Alec as they all chuckled away over their tea and sandwiches.

  Chapter Ten

  Day One:

  7th January 2021

  California, U.S.A.

  On the evening of the 7th January 2021 all the lights in the California State area suddenly went out in a power cut of previously unseen and unprecedented proportions. The lights all went out in people’s houses, shopping centres, hospitals, restaurants and also all the street lighting.

  Added to this, very soon afterwards telephone lines stopped working, mobile phone boxes stopped mobile phones from working, and everyone’s television and even their internet suddenly went down too.

  It was the single biggest power cut in the Californian State’s history and they had a history of power cuts, but nothing even remotely on this kind of scale before.

  As the power cut had happened in late evening, widespread looting had broken out as people soon discovered how burglar alarms and electronic locking systems no longer worked, and even CCTV systems had stopped working too.

  People coped as they always do in these emergency situations by using electric torches, or candles in their houses, and many important places such as hospitals had back up generators for just this kind of emergency situation anyway.

  Then though, things began to turn ominous when emergency back up generators then stopped working themselves as engineers quickly checked them for fuel and found them to be fully topped up and the units themselves to be in full working order.

  Out on the roa
ds now, cars, trucks, buses stopped working and even trains all ground to a halt too and they just wouldn’t restart again.

  Then all their lights went out!

  Finally, even electric torches themselves now inexplicably wouldn’t work either, until eventually even candles just flickered out and couldn’t be rekindled again.

  Many people dived for gas appliances, but then they realised there was no way they could light the gas.

  It was as if flame and fire in the California area was suddenly a thing that no longer existed anymore.

  The true fallibility and frailty of the human state suddenly became frighteningly apparent and very real now.

  Suddenly the air was filled with people just screaming in terror as they were faced with complete pitch darkness for the very first time in ever their lives!

  Even the looters cried out in terror and just dropped all the items they had seized as they just stumbled around in the pitch darkness like blind men, their electric torches all failing to work.

  Faced with a world they now could now no longer see, people just felt their way around to find each other, then they just huddled together in the pitch darkness.

  All of a sudden, an impact tremor was felt all around them as the ground itself shook violently!

  People found themselves unable to even see their own hand in front of their face it was now so dark and now even outside there was no light from any stars or even from the moon.

  The electricity stations supplying the California area were at a complete loss as to what exactly had caused such a catastrophic event.

  Power stations and electric company staff outside the affected area were now frantically running around trying to discover the source of this massive power failure. Nothing quite like it had ever been witnessed before and they were completely baffled as to exactly what had caused it.

  Soon it was discovered that the power cut covered an area all the way from Ikiah to beyond the outskirts of Los Angeles itself.