Day of Wrath Read Free Page A

dead and ten wounded is drawing increasing scrutiny with the report released at seven this morning by an anonymous official that the gunman had a letter on his body in Arabic that proclaimed that the time of the jihad promised by ISIS had come. Federal officials on the scene are dismissing the report and urging calm. All schools in the Syracuse area are closed for the day…"
    Across the bottom of the screen, the ticker tape was providing a brief account of the deaths of three border security guards the night before near Austin, Texas, in what one witness claimed was a professional attack and not just a random shooting incident.
    He took it in, saw the look of worry in Kathy’s eyes. Anyone who taught in a public school, especially couples who taught in the same school, talked about “what if it happens in our school?” He gingerly leaned over to kiss Shelly on the top of the head, making sure she didn’t smear him with pudding. He wrinkled his nose. The kid stank, and he suppressed a gag. It was definitely one aspect of fatherhood he was an utter failure at and he was glad that he was heading out the door rather than being called up for diaper service.
    “You little monster, love you,” he sighed and gazed back at Kathy and smiled lovingly. Wendy was already at the car.
    “I’m late,” was all he could say as an excuse, and was out the door into the chilly Maine October morning. He looked back again and blew a kiss to Kathy, a tradition they had followed ever since the first night they had spent together.  
    It was the last time they would see each other alive.  

    Near Raqqa, Syria
    #diesirae631: Sword One: Four hours, Sword Two: Four and a Half Hours, Allahu Akbar.

CHAPTER TWO

    7:45 a.m., Near Portland, Maine
    Bob parked the car that he and Kathy called “the indulgence” in his usual spot at Joshua Chamberlain Middle School. The red 350Z seemed a bit extreme for someone getting by on the pay of a high school teacher, but they had purchased it used years ago before Wendy was born, in fact just a couple of weeks before finding out Kathy was pregnant. The car had remained, even though it was totally impractical for a new family. The more utilitarian Subaru SUV took the parking place alongside it in the driveway of the small three bedroom home they had purchased eight years ago.
    It was not the existence they had talked about when they first met and had fallen in love. The plan had been, after they married and landed their jobs at the middle school in a suburb of Portland, that after several years he’d go back to grad school, then leave teaching for a far better paying job in the corporate world. She would then pursue an advanced degree in math and teach at the college level. With that accomplished, perhaps his writing would even take off some day. Making it as a writer was, as they called it, a “Cinderella Fantasy,” but it had sounded nice at the time.
    Then Wendy came along, and as is so typical of life, the game played out with the two teaching and saying to each other that in twenty-five years, when they could collect retirement and Wendy was off to college, they would resume those dreams. And then the mid-life surprise of Shelly put that plan on further hold.
    As he made the motions of opening the car door to get out, he caught a few seconds of eye contact with Wendy, and he had no complaints. He and Kathy had a loving marriage, a rarity, it seemed, in this world, and two girls who were blessed with good health. Sure it was a grind, going in early and staying late at school, and finances were tight with Kathy staying home. But at this moment, on this peaceful autumn day in Maine, his daughter flashed him a shy smile and he felt blessed and grateful for it.
    “I’m late, Daddy,” Wendy complained as she opened the door and started to get out. Gone were the days of walking her into primary school, holding hands, and sharing a hug. Perhaps she sensed his disappointment because she glanced back at him