The Autumn Aircraft: Avery's Recruits Read Free Page B

one—”
                  “Are you aware that you and your family are going to be nothing but ashes in the next ten years?  How do you feel about that?”
                  Alan forced Danny away from the crowd before the man could react. 
                  “What the hell are you doing,” Alan said, clenching Danny’s shoulders painfully with both hands. 
                  “What do you mean, what am I doing?”
                  “In broad daylight, in front of this kind of crowd, you want to be saying that?”  Alan lowered his voice and leaned in.  He was close enough to smell the gum on Danny’s breath.  “We’re supposed to be keeping our cover.  We’re Avery’s key soldiers.”
                  “If Avery can do it, so can we.”
                  “He’s supposed to be a distraction, dumbass, so we can keep working under the radar.”
                  Danny waved a dismissive hand.  “Oh, that’s a small part of it, Alan.  Besides, we have to talk about the shit anyway!”
                  Alan grabbed the front of Danny’s collar and yanked him forward.  “There’s fucking TV cameras here, man.  Come on, get your goddamn shit together.  We don’t want to be all over the news!”  He let him go.  “Damn, at least give us time to gather our troops.”
                  Danny seemed to finally have heard him.  He blinked once, put his head down, and shook it.  He touched his brow with one hand.
                  “Shit.  All right, yeah.  You’re right.  My bad.  Sometimes I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking, man, you know?”
                  Alan shook his head and laughed.  Clapped him on the shoulder.  “It’s all good, man.  Just be more strategic.  It’s not the kind of thing I want to come back to bite me in the ass, and the same goes for you.  Anyway, just ask questions like a concerned individual.  Not like you know something that everyone doesn’t.  Remember, in this setting, we don’t want to bring too much attention to ourselves.”
                  Danny nodded and the two boys headed back toward the crowd of protesters.  The man in the army jacket had his sign lifted in the air again but noticed when both boys reappeared behind him.  He regarded a cool-faced Alan briefly and then turned his attention back to a stone-faced Danny. 
                  “So you’re one of those end of the world conspiracy theorists, huh?  Like one of those guys who stands rambling on the corner.”
                  Danny snorted.  “I was only messing with you, man.  I don’t actually think that the end of the world is coming.”  He looked away then and Alan was glad because the man in the fatigues kept his eyes on Danny for a few moments, a mocking smile on his face.
                  Luckily for Danny, the guy knew nothing of the end of the world and would just dismiss what Danny had said as crazy talk.
                  Hopefully.
     
    3
     
                  Danny thought it looked like they were building a bond fire and he couldn’t help but wonder if the owner of the home knew anything about the way that fire worked.  The fire was starting to get big and fed on the carcasses of old tires and tree branches.  It was only a matter of time before a fire like this became a danger to the house.
                  “ End of the world, bitches ,” a white boy screamed into the night, his arms outstretched and fingers held toward the sky.
                  “Think we should say something to him?” Danny said.
                  Alan shook his head.  “No.  You see all the people at this party?  We need to talk to them and get a general sense of where everyone’s head is at.  A lot of these guys go to the same school that we all did