The Weather Maker

The Weather Maker

     Samuel just stood there with his briefcase by his side staring at the city below him. He glanced behind him at the banging roof door. Then he looked up into the snowy sky above it. Slowly he continued to look at the sky as he circled around toward the city again. “Where is that helicopter?”

     “It’s probably because of this snow storm.” Samuel glanced down at the roof when he started hearing heavy gunfire from below. “I told them not to start the Weather Maker until I was out of here.

     “There was a lot more agents than I thought that found us. It was only a couple when they first attacked us. They must have had a backup that didn’t show up after they started their attack. Maybe they couldn’t wait for the others to get there to start the attack.”

     “From the sound of the gunfire, there must be at least a dozen agents down there.” Samuel started scanning the sky again. He used his umbrella to block most of the snow from hitting him. “I hope my soldiers can hold them off until the helicopter gets here. If it does get here.”

     Several snowflakes hit his briefcase. Samuel clutches it to his chest. “I know it's leather and it should be okay against a little snow storm, but this storm is getting worse by the second. Besides, I can’t take any chances. What is in this briefcase is too important for that to happen.”

     The Louder gunfire caused Samuel to look down at the roof again. “It sounds like a big battle is going on and it a close one too. I don’t have a lot of time before they find me. If they do I will have no choice but to expose the inside of this briefcase to the weather and leap the thirty floors to my death. All of my research and planning will be wasted, but at least our enemies won’t get the plans for this Weather Maker.”

     “I’m sure one of the agent’s objectives is to destroy the Weather Maker.” Samuel glanced back at the roof entrance. Then he started scanning the skies again. “If that happened then it’s more important than ever that I either escape before they get here or I destroy what’s in this briefcase. Where is that helicopter?”

     “If they do destroy the Weather Maker I should know about it within a few seconds. This storm will stop. I may only have a few minutes before they get here, but that should be more than enough time for the helicopter to get here and rescue me.”

     Samuel started looking around the roof. All he saw was a flat grated metal roof. The only thing there was the roof entrance structure. Samuel stopped his scanning when he reached that structure. “I can’t hide from my enemies there. That’s the first place they are going to look for me. True, I can probably kill a few of them, but not all. I will probably have the time to destroy what’s in the briefcase, but I won’t have the time to destroy myself.”

     Thunder and lightning started to appear about the city in front of him. Samuel looked toward that city as another thunderbolt shot through the sky. The night sky became white for a few seconds. He started looking into that whiteness. At first, Samuel couldn’t see anything. Then suddenly he stopped scanning. In the near distance, he could see something just floating in the sky. “Samuel to Carla. Is that you I’m seeing?”

     “Carla to Samuel. It’s me. I’m about a mile from you, but I can’t get through because of the storm.” Samuel could barely hear Carla from the radio on his left collar flap next to his ear.

     Samuel used his nose again to activate the radio. “Samuel to Carla. You have to find a way to get to me. The enemy is here. If you don’t I’m as good as dead too.”

     Before Carla could respond another thunderbolt seared across the sky right in front of Samuel. He dropped to the roof. “I didn’t see any lightning rods on this roof. If that thunderbolt or another one hits it, I’m dead. At least so will what’s in this briefcase.”

     “I do have rubber shoes on,” Samuel said as he started getting up. “That might protect me from a roof strike. It should from a direct hit too, but then again it might not.”

     “The enemy must be attacking us near the Weather Maker.” Samuel looking at the roof next to the roof entrance. “What I want to know is why the Weather Maker was activated? Was it activated by accident because of the fight or was it done in an attempt to stop the enemy? It could be on purpose, but I think it was probably an accident. The same is probably true about the thunder and lightning too.”

     Samuel cocked his head toward the roof near the roof entrance. “There’s definitely a battle going on in the Weather Maker room. That means either the enemy is about to destroy it or we are. Either way, this bad weather is about to be over.”

     Just then a loud explosion could be heard. The building started to shake. Samuel started shaking a little. He tipped over, but he didn’t fall. As he was straightening himself up again the bad weather suddenly ended.

     “Carla to Samuel. I can see you now. We will be there in a few minutes to pick you up.”

     “Samuel to Carla. The sooner you get here the better. Our enemy could join me up here at any time.”

     About a minute later two things happened at once. The helicopter came to within inches of that building and the roof entrance burst open. Six black clothed individuals came out with guns blaring. They came out two at a time and went around the roof entrance structure to use it as cover.

     Two more agents stayed within the entrance and used it for cover. Samuel dived face down to the roof just as a series of bullets flew over him where he was a few seconds ago. He used his feet to protect his body and the head has the bullets now started hitting him.

     The helicopter shot upward, but only far enough for it to get on the other side of Samuel. It landed on the roof between him and the enemy. Two of the shooters went under the helicopter while the other four started hitting the helicopter with multiple rounds. The side door on the helicopter opened up and two gunners behind machine guns started shooting back.

     Those gunners didn’t hit the enemy. They only stopped them from firing back. Once the enemy stopped firing Carla got out of the helicopter and helped Samuel and his briefcase get in. Carla got the first aid kit out from under the passenger seat in the cockpit. After removing his shattered bloody shoes Carla bandaged Samuel’s feet.

     “I did the best that I could do, but you may still lose your feet.” Carla looked at Samuel through the multiple bloody holes in Samuel’s shoes.

     “That doesn’t matter. Not as long as what is in this briefcase is okay.”

     Carla took the other seat in the helicopter then took the helicopter up and away from that building. Once the helicopter turned so that the gunners were away the enemy started firing at the helicopter again. They were aiming at the tail of the helicopter and a few bullets hit it only to cause some large sparks. The rest of the bullets ricocheted off the helicopter body.

     The enemy kept firing at the helicopter as they ran to the end of the building. A couple almost ran too far. They were pulled back just in time. The firing continued or started up again as the helicopter flew away from that building. All six kept firing even though the helicopter was out of range until all their ammo was gone.

     Inside the helicopter, Samuel placed the briefcase on the floor between him and Carla on his lap. He unlocked it and opened it very slowly. Samuel peeked inside it and he saw a small oblong box with a flashing red light on top of it. Next to that box was what appeared to be a small plastic computer that you might find in a dollhouse. Only that one was made of metal, even the screen, a lot bigger, and about twice as long. On both walls of the briefcase, there was a bunch of papers.

     Samuel picked up the small box and pushed a small black button on its side. The red flashing light stopped flashing. “The enemy may have destroyed this Weather Maker, but they didn’t the prototype or the designs. We can rebuild it again. This time hopefully an island somewhere. I told them it was stupid to do it in a city. Maybe, this time, they will listen to me.”

Word Count = 1,503