Ellie thanked her, and the soldier guided her onto the road leading back to the intersection with Route 15. She’d have to make a decision soon enough. Go south just in case Maria was there? But she couldn’t see any way Maria could have bypassed Santa Clarita and ended up here. Unless she’d been staying with her grandparents. They lived outside Vegas, but then why would Bobby have been at Clarita at all in that case? Why not come straight here?
She pondered which course to take until she saw the sign to Boulder City. Then she turned to ask Patrick what he thought and she instantly knew the answer. He wasn’t getting better; far from it.
Jodi leaned forward. “Uncle Pat looks really sick, Ellie. I’m worried about him.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“What are we gonna do? Head for this Ragtown place?”
And, in the framing of that question, Ellie had her answer. “No. He needs specialist medical help. We’re not allowed into Vegas and I don’t reckon anywhere called Ragtown is going to have an emergency room. We’re heading straight for LA.”
She felt Jodi’s hand on her shoulder. “But Ellie! LA’s gone!”
Ellie let out a stream of curse words as she yanked the steering wheel around, tires squealing, just making it onto the southern road toward Boulder City. “Jesus, what is wrong with me?” she yelled as the car stabilized. “I’m sorry, Jodi. I’m so worried about him, I don’t reckon I can think straight.”
“Don’t sweat it, Ellie. You love him, fosho.”
“Oh, come off it! Look, I like him. I like him a lot, but I haven’t been in love, really in love since…since…”
“Maria’s father?”
Ellie thought about it for a while. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I’ve had relationships, but nothing more than boyfriend, girlfriend stuff. But I don’t let myself get close. And I don’t know how Patrick feels about me.”
“He’s into you. Big time,” Jodi said, leaning between the seats as Reid slept. “I see the way he looks at you.”
Feeling her face flush, Ellie shook her head, winding the window down to allow some cool air in. “Men look at me. It’s a fact of life.”
“Sure, you look good. For your age. But he loves you. Take it from me.”
“Excuse me for not taking it from a kid. I’ve been around the racetrack a few more times than you.”
Jodi’s head disappeared as she withdrew onto the back seat.
“I’m sorry,” Ellie said. “I don’t know when to just admit the truth, sometimes. Or why I’m like it.”
Ellie could see Jodi in the rearview mirror giving a shrug. “No one likes to get hurt. One piece of advice my dad gave me I did listen to was you can’t help who you fall in love with. It was his excuse for breaking up with Mom. I knew he was just being a jerk, but that didn’t mean he was wrong. Just not sure it ever applied to him. Not sure he ever worked out the difference between love and lust.”
“Wow, wise words.”
Jodi stiffened. “No need to patronize me.”
“I’m not. I mean it. I honestly wish I’d had half your maturity when I was your age.”
In the mirror, Ellie could see Jodi relax again. “Okay, sorry. I guess I got a good education by watching my dad and his friends. Not so much Pat. He didn’t fake it like most of the others. That’s what Mom said, anyway.”
She leaned forward again and looked at him, slumped against the car window. “He looks bad. Real bad. You reckon they’ll be able to help him at this Ragtown place?”
“I don’t know, Jodi. But we’re out of options. Sorry you’re not going to see your dad as soon as we thought.”
“That’s okay. Uncle Pat’s been more like a father to me these past few years.”
Ellie glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “We’ll do our best for him,” she said, putting her foot down on the gas as they headed south and Vegas passed beneath them.
#
Ellie pulled up beneath a Domino’s sign and waited until the soldier signaled for her to get out of the car. She’d followed directions to this retail park, but it had taken the best part of an hour in line before they reached a space she could pull into.
“You want to use the records office?”
Ellie looked at the gray, disinterested man who stood by the rolled down window. “No, we need help. My…husband is ill.”
The soldier’s eyes widened and he stepped back a little. “But you’ve only got a visitor’s pass.”
“I know. We’d planned to drive on, but he’s gotten very sick.”
“What’s wrong with him? Is it infectious? Do you have a mask?”
Ellie shook her head. “No! It’s kidney failure.”
She’d agreed on this story with Jodi on the short drive here. They were now a family: Ellie and Patrick, the parents, and Jodi, their daughter. They’d explain that they’d come together after the deluge, which was why their names were different—if it came to that. She was hoping they’d get waved through.
“Sudden kidney failure?” The soldier didn’t bother to hide his disbelief.
“He’s been ill for a while, but it’s only just gotten so much worse. Won’t you help us? Please?” It went against everything Ellie believed in to play the role of the distraught wife, though it wasn’t as much a stretch as she’d expected, as it turned out.
Jodi leaned forward between the seats. “You’re not gonna let my daddy die, are you?”
Ellie cringed inwardly, convinced that she’d spread it on too thickly. She glanced in the side mirror to see Jodi looking at the man with wide, puppy-dog eyes. Jeez, she had a potent weapon there, Ellie thought, grateful that Jodi hadn’t tried to use it on her, at least not yet.
“But…but this is irregular. You have to have the right permit.”
Ellie went to speak, but Jodi beat her to it, so she just watched the performance. The poor devil had no chance. Ellie would bet good money on that, just like the female soldier who’d given them the visitor pass, this guy was no professional soldier. She guessed they were being used elsewhere.
She felt the door open and Jodi climbed out, reaching to touch the man’s arm. That was the final straw. He jumped back as if he’d been bitten by a snake, then turned on his heels and marched away, disappearing behind the truck in front of them in the queue.
“I think you’ve scared him off, my dear,” Ellie said.
Jodi shook her head. “He’ll be back.”
And she was right. Moments later the flushed and flustered man returned, followed by a figure who was clearly a professional. Ellie’s heart sank. Even Jodi would find it hard to manipulate a trained soldier.
“Do we have a situation here?”
Ellie took the lead before Jodi would jump in. “It’s my husband. He’s got a kidney problem and needs urgent treatment.”
The soldier regarded her for a moment. He was a handsome man in his fifties whose military cap covered a buzz cut outlined by pale skin. Interesting. Military trained, but only recently called up. A vet? Yes, that would make sense. She noted his name patch and stripes and followed him as he strode around to the other side of the car.
He peered in through the shut window. “Kidney failure, you say?”
“Yes, Sergeant Roskoe.”
He rubbed his chin. “Look, I’m sorry, ma’am, but we have to make hard choices, I’m afraid. We’ve got very limited capacity and when it comes to a choice between giving a bed to someone with an infection or a broken arm, and giving it to a man with a chronic condition… Well, you can see the problem?”
“No, I can’t. He doesn’t have a chronic condition.”
“You said he had kidney failure, didn’t you?”
Ellie nodded. “Yes.” She sighed. “He was poisoned. Antifreeze. But please don’t ask me to give you the whole story, we don’t have time.”
The sergeant hid his surprise, but shook his head again. “Still. I don’t think…” he began, as he stooped to look through the window again. Then he froze. “Hold on. He looks familiar
.”
Ellie bit down the sigh as Jodi came around to stand beside the sergeant. “He’s Patrick Reid. He’s an actor.”
“You’re kidding? And you’re his daughter?”
“No. He’s my guardian. I’m Joel Baxter’s daughter. This is Ellen Fischer—she’s Patrick’s partner.”
The sergeant looked from one to the other. “So, you were lying?”
“Only a little,” Ellie said. “We are a family.” To her surprise, she found she spoke the truth.
The sergeant turned around. “Hey, McColl! Get over here!”
Thudding boots heralded the appearance of another man. He had two stripes on his arm. “What is it, Sarge?”
“You remember Pat Reid?”
“Sure I do! Funniest son of a —” he began, then, seeing Jodi and his superior’s face, he caught himself. “He came to see us in Afghan. Jeez, he came on after Robin Williams. Tough act to follow, but he nailed it.”
The sergeant nodded. “Yeah, and I met him after. You remember Wash was in pieces that night? Gracie was in the hospital a month early and he could barely keep it together.”
Ellie watched, dumbfounded as these two men—men she depended on to get Patrick the help he needed—reminisced.
“Yeah, that’s right. He felt like crap because he couldn’t be there for the birth. And he was going outside the wire for a few days.”
“You heard what Reid did? Got Robin Williams and Joel Baxter to record a message with him and Wash. They were heading home the next day, and guess what? When Wash came back off patrol, he gets on the line to Gracie. Reid had been there, given her the video and stuck around to make sure she was okay. The kid’s got Pat as a middle name. Only reason they didn’t make it his first name was because Wash didn’t want anyone to think he was Irish!”
The soldiers laughed, then the sergeant pulled his comrade a little closer. “What say we cut our pal here a little slack? Bend the rules just a little for a friend of the military?”
Ellie watched as the other soldier nodded and the sergeant turned to her. “Quickest way for us to get him inside is for us to take him, ma’am. Zimmerman will fill out a camp pass. That’ll get you inside. You’ll have to leave your car in the parking lot over there and I can’t guarantee they’ll be able to find you anywhere to sleep.”
“That’s okay, Sergeant. Thank you!” Ellie said, stepping back and holding the door as the two soldiers lifted Patrick under the arms and carried him away, barely conscious.
As she turned to get back into the car, she looked over at Patrick and, for the first time as the two soldiers lifted him like a body from a battlefield, she wondered whether, after all their effort, they were too late and he was gone.
Chapter 19
Attack
“Turn the outboard off!” Buzz said, grabbing Tom’s arm.
They were heading back to the farm after a long, cold night on Skull Island with a couple of crates of supplies and the ATV.
“What is it?”
“Quiet!” Buzz raised his finger as they floated in the sudden silence. They were three-fourths of the way across, and the sea had calmed as they’d passed into the lea of their island.
Tom cursed as he listened to an intermittent crackling sound. “Someone’s attacking them!” He reached down to pull the cord on the outboard.
“Hold on! What if they hear the engine?”
“What are you saying? Row?”
Buzz hesitated, torn between the need to get there as quickly as possible and not alerting the enemy. “No, you’re right. We may be too late already, but let’s go.”
Tom started the motor, and Buzz gripped onto the side with one hand as he pulled out and checked his revolver with the other.
Tom drove the inflatable onto the exposed road, pushing back the shallow layer of snow that covered it and then jumped off. Buzz hid the supplies beneath a rusting car a few yards up the slope, then followed Tom as he ran toward the frost-covered trees. It would have been quicker to take the ATV if it wasn’t lashed to the raft and also out of juice.
Soon enough, Buzz had to wave the younger, fitter man to go ahead. He only hoped that Tom would wait for him before he took any action.
Gunfire was now punctuating the air at regular intervals, and it was all coming from the direction of the farmhouse. Buzz found himself praying to a God he didn’t believe in that Jo was alright. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but now he just knew he wouldn’t get the chance. Adrenaline kept his legs moving as he reached the lip of the valley.
Something moved.
Tom!
He gestured for the panting Buzz to get down.
“They haven’t gotten into the farmhouse. I’ve seen someone shooting from an upstairs window—Pope, I think—and I think there’s someone else as well.”
“How many?”
“Hard to say. Maybe six or seven.”
“Where?”
“A group down in the compound. I think they’re in the storeroom. One or two hiding in the trees, keeping Pope and the others pinned down.”
“They came here to steal our supplies?”
Tom shook his head. “These are not pirates. I saw black uniforms. Maybe they’ll steal our stuff as well, but that’s not their main purpose, I think. Come, we’ll have to sneak closer. You ready?”
Buzz followed him down the slope as they picked their way carefully along a path that would have been familiar enough if it weren’t for the light covering of snow. More cracks echoed off the valley walls until they were only ten yards or so above the level of the farmhouse.
“What’s going on?” Tom said, pointing to the door to the stockroom. A figure in black had emerged and was walking toward the farmhouse, weaponless hands raised.
“I want to talk,” he called. “Doctor Baxter, please show yourself.”
After a few moments, an upper window opened and a rifle was aimed directly at the speaker. “Baxter isn’t here.” It was Ted Pope’s voice.
“We have information that he had been brought to this island.”
“Then your information is out of date. My name is Pope. Identify yourself.”
“Special Agent Edward Pope?”
“Correct.”
“Then we are in the correct place. Please order Doctor Baxter to make himself known.”
“I told you. He isn’t here. And you still haven’t said who you are.”
The man in black had edged forward a little, and he spread his hands wide in an exaggerated shrug. “Who I am is not important. What matters is that I have a crack team with enough firepower to destroy your farm in seconds.”
“We have children in here!”
“I know. Now, either bring out Baxter or explain where he is.”
Buzz saw the rifle barrel sway a little, as if it was shaking its head or being held in unsteady hands. “I’ve told you all I know. So, take your best shot.”
When the man in black spoke, his voice was full of regret. “I invite you to reconsider.” He clicked his fingers and instantly two more uniformed figures emerged, dragging someone Buzz recognized instantly.
“Max!” he hissed.
“This boy was found in what appears to be a laboratory. My orders pertain to Doctor Baxter, and I have been granted complete discretion to deal with others as I see fit. And I frankly don’t have the time or the patience to argue with you. So, if you can hear me, Doctor Baxter, please be aware that unless you surrender yourself to me, this boy will be shot.”
Max let out an animal-like shriek of utter terror, and tried to struggle against the two men holding him.
“They won’t do that, will they?” Tom said, turning to Buzz.
Buzz sighed. “The old rules don’t apply anymore. I’ll have to give myself up.” He didn’t want to, but neither could he allow Max to die in front of them all. Jo might be watching.
“You can’t.”
“You want Max to die?”
“Of course not, but you’re working on something to do wi
th the weather, aren’t you?”
Buzz nodded. “Yeah. With Max.”
“Whoever these goons are, that’s why they’re here. To do with your research.”
“That would explain why they went into the lab first. They’ve probably packed up the computers already.”
“How far have you gotten?”
Buzz didn’t want to admit that he hadn’t made as much progress as he’d hoped, but he’d returned from Skull Island with renewed determination to find an answer. “I’ve had the computer running a series of climate simulations that might give us some insight. Max has been monitoring them.”
“So, we can’t afford to lose the computers, you or Max? That about sum it up?”
“I guess it does.”
“Then get ready to shoot when all hell breaks loose.”
“What are you…?”
But he’d gone, slipping along the wooded path and disappearing between the trees.
Buzz watched as Pope tried to reason with the man holding Max. He could well have been bluffing, especially if he was from SaPIEnT, as Buzz suspected. If he was, then he’d know that Max was almost as important as Buzz himself, so he wouldn’t kill him. Unless his mission was to eliminate them both and destroy their research.
He sat with his revolver warming in his hands as he waited for Tom to do whatever he had in mind. Who would want the world to stay in this ice age? But then why would anyone want the Minotaur to fail in the first place? He felt as though several pieces of the jigsaw were missing and that time was running out to solve the puzzle.
He waited, completely still, totally silent. Then, from the left, crack. The guard to one side of Max fell. The boy twisted around as the black-uniformed leader turned and raised his weapon. Three other figures ran from the laboratory. Max wriggled out of his captor’s grip and ran.
Dom burst out of the farmhouse and ran toward the leader, gun held out. His movement must have caught the man’s attention, because he swung around in a blur, fired, and Dom collapsed with a cry.
Then the leader was down, felled by Pope. One of the guards ran after Max, while the other three headed for the farmhouse, using suppressing fire to force Pope back. If they got inside, Ted, and who knew how many others, would die.
Ice: Deluge Book 4: (A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Story) Page 16