“One night, it was pouring rain, and when I came to meet her, to walk her home, I was drenched to the bone. I had forgotten my damn umbrella. When I left Pru at her doorstep, she hesitated. I had never seen her do that before. She always charged forward. She was a force of nature. But that one time, she hesitated. She handed over her umbrella to me and told me to meet her for coffee the next day. ‘To return my umbrella’ she said. We met for coffee in the morning and continued to do so for two months. It was easy. It was magic. We had been together ever since.”
I was afraid to speak, afraid to break the story that Bert was telling us. I curled my hand tighter in Ash’s grip, hoping he would get it and that he would know how much I loved him.
“We were married a few weeks after her graduation, just a small thing down at the county offices. She was offered a job, in an ER wing at Robert Wood Johnson in New Brunswick. New Jersey. Things were working out quite nicely.”
“And Sanctuary?” Ash interrupted, his tone harsh.
“Ash, shut up,” I said. He looked at me in surprise, and I raised my eyebrow at him. “Let him continue, okay?”
Ash grumbled under his breath but remained silent.
“Pru and I lived in New Jersey for…about five years when a man came to visit her at the hospital. He said he was part of a secret project, one that would change the world. He was looking for the best and the brightest.”
“Now, we both thought it was a bunch of smoke and mirrors, wishful thinking, until they convinced us to come and visit Sanctuary. By that time, it had been up and functioning for nearly thirty years. It wasn’t perfect, but it was on its way. They had everything and they needed to bring people in: doctors, teachers, architects, scientists, everyone that would be necessary to build Sanctuary.”
He looked up at us. “What people fail to understand about Sanctuary is that it is already there. It has always been there, functioning like it’s supposed to for years. People live there. Children are born there. It’s been there, waiting and watching for the moment that it would be needed.”
“That’s so…unsettling,” I admitted. “That this group of people have been there, all along, without us knowing, kind of makes me feel weird, like I was being spied on.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t like to hear about Area 51 then?” Bert asked, a low chuckle in his voice. I wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. “Once Pru and I had seen what Sanctuary was and what it could accomplish, we were both in. I had fought in Vietnam before I became a security guard, so they welcomed a soldier. Even soldiers were needed in the future.”
“Pru worked herself to death in Sanctuary, and I do not say this lightly. She worked harder than anyone I’ve ever known, and she gave her life to make that place what it is. Sanctuary is not perfect. It never will be, but it’s as close as we’re going to get to it. It’s the only place left that we have. Whatever is going on outside of this house, in this country, in the world, they know. They have everything, and they know everything. Sanctuary was created for just this kind of world.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it again.
Ash finally spoke up. “Is it safe? I just want Zoey to be safe.”
“And Ash,” I said quickly, looking at him anxiously. He nodded in reassurance and turned back to Bert.
“It is the safest place in the world to be,” Bert said, his hands folded on the table in front of him. “You do not have to go. We do not force anyone to go, but…it is probably in your best interest to go. It will keep you safe from Sekhmet.”
“How do you know about Sekhmet?” I asked, feeling my heart pounding in my chest at the mere mention of Razi’s corporation. I closed my eyes, seeing red behind my eyelids. We had left her dead body at the side of the road, but just the memory of her would haunt me for as long as I lived.
Bert sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Sekhmet has been around for quite a while, longer than anyone really knew. Being a part of Sanctuary meant that you were privileged to information that most people are not. The higher-ups in Sanctuary knew that this organization existed. We knew where they were located. They didn’t seem to be a threat so they were ignored. We had no idea what they were up to and frankly, most people didn’t care.” He ran a hand across his face. He suddenly looked incredibly tired. He was only in his 60s, maybe his 70s, but at that moment, he looked much older. “I am not there to know. I don’t even know who is left there, but I can imagine the regret that some may feel.”
“But it’s done, right? It’s gone. With Razi dead…” I said, my voice soft. Images flashed across my vision: being strapped to a medical chair, Liam’s soft hands on my face, running with Ash through dark hallways, and I felt a shudder run through me.