Independence Day

I thought I might repost a few of my stories from ff.net here as oneshots. This was from Vignettes (most of them will be).
And I naturally do not own these characters!

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July 4, 1978

“We can’t stay here, Max!” Ruth hissed. “The whole world’s going to be coming after us now!”

“I know, I know,” he snapped back, white knuckles gripping the steering wheel. That thought hadn’t left his mind since they had fled from the looming bloodbath. He and his wife had only exchanged a handful of words each since getting into the car.

“We can’t keep doing this.”

“I know. And we won't.”

“Kyle and Joy--”

“I said I know, Ruthie!” Max stared at the road ahead of them. “We get the hell out of Dodge first, fix ourselves up with new IDs. Thank God the kids are young enough to adapt.”

“I don’t know about Kyle,” she murmured. “He’s six, almost seven, that’s plenty old enough.”

“We’re just going to have to try. Damn!” He thumped the dash. “We should have told them no from the very beginning.”

“They would have turned us in, Max,” she reminded him gently. “Even though we were thinking about getting out of the business, we would have been arrested and the kids dumped in foster care.”

“At least until your sisters showed up.”

She tipped her head to the side in rueful agreement. “And God only knows how they’d react to it all.”

“If we run, you won’t be able to see them--or any of your family--again.”

“I know,” she whispered. “But this one--” she pointed down “--is more important to me.” They drove a little further in silence, before Ruth turned on the radio. The announcer’s voice crackled out of the speakers.

“…and in breaking news, the hostage stand-off outside the Winters Bank Tower has ended. A federal sniper brought down the alleged gang leader; resistance is said to have collapsed with his death. To recap: one state trooper and two civilians are dead following a shoot-out in downtown Dayton earlier today. Seven others were wounded. Police say the perpetrators are believed to part of a gang that has terrorized the Midwest over the past five years. Several are in custody, but a number of gang members apparently fled the scene…”

“They’re talking about us,” Ruth said softly.

“Not just us,” he corrected her. “I saw some of the others leave before we did. Couldn’t pin too many names to their backs, but Jay and Vinnie definitely were among them.” He and Ruth had been among those on the fringes of the action and he was pretty sure the cops hadn’t spotted them leaving. But if they captured any of the other gang members, they might just sing the cops a pretty song to save their own necks. And running, period, might put them just as squarely into the gang’s sites. He growled. I hate being backed into a corner.

“Oh, God. The worst of them.”

“I know.” He took the next exit. “Which is why we’re heading home and now. Screw the rendezvous. I don’t want to leave the kids alone too long.”

“Do you have a plan?”

He shrugged. “Just that we’re running. It’s going to be hard, hun. If we run too fast, we might attract attention from the wrong people. If not fast enough, the gang will catch up with us. As for the rest, well, we can pick new names and identities, and Joe--you remember him? Moved to the Carbondale area? He makes good IDs and documents.”

“You forget what we found in that safe deposit box a few days ago,” she said, eyes drifting to where they had shoved it into the padding of Joy’s car seat. “Someone will be after us for that, too.”

“We could turn that in,” he suggested half-heartedly. They had already discussed it several times. “There’s got to be at least one honest soul in the FBI.”

“And how would you know you’d found him? If you turn that over to the wrong person, they will kill us. And our kids! We can’t risk that! The corruption goes high enough up that we’d never escape!”

“We won’t do any better if they figure it out and we haven’t turned it in! Might even be worse!”

“But we’ve got a fighting chance this way! Standing there just gives them a better target!”

He grit his teeth. She was right about that. But they were going to have to find a better place to hide it; he didn’t feel right about just destroying it. I’m Robin Hood, he had told Ruth early on in their relationship--a romantic outlaw with a sense of justice. He had met Marvin Beckett once at a rally, though he doubted the man would remember, and had been impressed.

His Ruth, though, was the surprisingly pragmatic one. She’d burn the papers and tapes, given half the chance, and leave no evidence.

He couldn’t do that. There had to be a safe place somewhere for it.

He pulled up in front of the house and Ruth hopped out even before he set the brake, heading for the neighbors’ place to collect the kids while he checked inside. While too soon for anyone to have done a count of the missing and then come looking for them, it paid to be cautious.

All clear. He waited in the door for Ruth to come back; she was chatting with old Mrs. Byrd, Joy in her arms, and no one would have ever guessed she was strung as tight as a guitar string. Such a good actress, but he always known that about her.

“Dad!” Kyle shouted, pelting over. Max grinned and caught him about the shoulders in a rough hug.

“Were you good for Mrs. Byrd?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good. Go on inside, think about dinner.”

“Are we going to see the fireworks, Dad?”

Max made a noncommittal sound. “We’ll see. Maybe just from the roof.”

As Kyle ran inside, Ruth and Joy came back.

“Daddy!”

“There’s my pumpkin,” he smiled, taking her and tickling her stomach. “Did you miss me?”

She nodded, eyes wide and smiling. He perched her on his shoulders and she giggled, clutching at his hair.

“Ruthie,” he murmured. “I think we should start packing, but Kyle wants to see the fireworks.”

“We can go through some of the perishables in the fridge, have a picnic, sit on the roof,” she replied calmly. “No point in wasting food, and I’d say we have two days at most.”

He nodded slowly. “That’s what I was thinking.”

**********************************************************

“Dad?”

“Yeah, Kyle?”

“There’s a guy outside, wants to see you.”

Max looked up at the nervous tone in his son’s voice, then over his head and out the window. “Damn,” he muttered. “Go up to your room, son. Keep an eye on your sister, please--keep her upstairs.”

“Daddy?” Nervous was changing to scared, and Kyle dropped the paper he had run outside for with a soft thump.

“Just do it,” Max snapped. “Tell your mom to come down. And then you and Joy stay up there until I come for you. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Max could hear him run upstairs even as he himself stepped outside. “Hey, Vince. You’re up early.”

“Max.” The genial smile didn’t fool him one bit. “You two didn’t show up at the rendezvous point. Thought I should check. Ruthie all right?”

“We thought it might be better to stay low. Didn’t know what the feds or the cops might have heard,” he replied easily. “The location might have slipped out.”

“No fear of that,” Vince laughed raucously. “You ever read pirate stories?”

“Yeah, when I was a boy.”

“You remember what they used to say about dead men.”

Max nodded in feigned approval, masking his surprise that they had connections inside. “Didn’t know it was taken care of. Anyway, no point in drawing attention if they aren’t looking for us.”

“Well, now, that’s what I told Jay you two might be thinking. Hey, Ruth,” he added as she stepped outside. “Just telling your husband here that we thought we’d’ve seen you two yesterday.”

Her hand slid over Max’s as it tightened into a fist at Vince’s suggestive tone and the way his eye took in the signs of her hasty dressing. “Thanks, Vince. Given the situation, we thought it best to lie low for a little while. Figured everyone else would be, too. And we’ve got the children to think of.”

“Yeah, you do,” McVicar nodded. “Would hate to see anything happen to those sweet kids.” His voice was heavy with meaning and Ruth’s hand tightened on Max’s in reflex. “How’s little Joy? Kyle looked good. Growing like a weed, like my dad used to say.”

“We’ll do our best to make sure they stay safe.” Max managed to keep his voice level. “Look, just tell the boss what we’re doing, and not to expect to see us for a while. I can’t imagine you’re going to run a job anytime soon where you’d need us. I mean, why stick our heads up--yours, or mine--when there’s a chance somebody’s watching for it, right?”

“Right.” McVicar looked Ruth up and down again. “OK. See ya ‘round. Don’t wait too long, though!”

“Sure.”

“Tomorrow,” Max said, watching the pick-up drive away.

“Tomorrow,” Ruth agreed. “But we’d better go rescue Joy from her overprotective brother.”

“How do you feel about the name Cathleen?” he asked as they turned to go inside.

“I’d prefer Christine.”

**********************************************************

Max sighed as he packed the things Ruth--Christine--had deemed most necessary into the trunk of the car in the pre-dawn light. He would have thought that once they decided to go straight, he wouldn’t have to keep looking over his shoulder. What was that saying about eternal vigilance and freedom?

Was it really worth it?

The door opened and Russ came out, backpack on his shoulder and towing two other bags. He handed the bags to his father and climbed into the backseat. Christine followed, Temperance in her arms. His little girl gave him a sleepy smile as her mother fastened her into her car seat, tucking her bag of toys and books next to her.

“Almost done, Matt,” Christine murmured, laying the same emphasis on their new names as he was. “Where’s your box?”

“Under the front seat already. No worries. D’you need any help?”

“No--got it.” She kissed his cheek and went back inside. He walked around to look at Russ and Temperance. Russ was worrying at the seatbelt, looking out the window, and Temperance was already back asleep, cheek pressed against the side of the car seat.

Matthew Brennan straightened back up and took a deep breath.

Yes. It was more than worth it.

Wow. A nice accounting of Max and Ruth's break from the gang. Well done my Queen, very well done indeed. I rather enjoy those stories that explore Brennan's family before they were Brennans, and your writing is always a joy to read. Quite well done indeed.

RM

I like this, so interesting. Do continue!

I really liked this it grabbed me from the beginning very good