The McClane Apocalypse Book Ten

by Kate Morris

She grins superiorly and stands. They’ve been spying from high ground on the quaint village deep in the forest. Whoever did come up with this idea to build in this spot was very smart. The village is nestled in a gully near a stream that he can hear gurgling from up high and is protected on all sides from the weather and harsh winds. However, if anyone did find them, they could be in trouble, sitting ducks if someone decided to attack.

  The sun will set in an hour or so, and they need to get moving. Simon doesn’t want to be out late with her again. She does need to rest.

  Simon’s radio crackles on his hip. He presses the button but can’t bring anyone in. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”

  He rushes further up the hill and is able to make contact with Cory, who is calling. When he returns, Sam has packed their ATV and has her rifle on her back. He explains that they need to make this quick so they can meet Cory and Paige.

  They get to the bottom of the ravine as the sun makes its final descent over the crest of the tall hills around them. He taps her shoulder and indicates to their left. Sam follows silently behind him, so silently that he has to check on her frequently to make sure she’s still with him. Two men are splitting wood near one of the cabins. A few children are playing tag in the cleared out area around the homes. Simon sees a pen with horses and two cows. There is a barn opposite them, so he heads there and has Sam wait while he looks inside. Nothing that would point to Parker or the highwaymen is inside. He hurries back to her and indicates they should leave. Once they make it to the top of the hill again, Simon notices that she is limping slightly.

  “Are you ok?” he asks with concern.

  “Just tweaked it a little again,” she explains. “I’m fine. What do you think about this place?”

  “I’m not getting the same vibe. I heard some people talking in the barn. They were only concerned about milking the cows.”

  “Yes, and those men cutting firewood were talking about their children. I agree with you…”

  “Wait, what?” he asks in a teasing tone.

  “I agree with…”

  “Again? What did you just say?”

  She punches his arm. “Shut it.”

  “I’ll drive this time. We’ll give your ankle a break,” he says, to which she nods. “Really? Two in a row? You’re agreeing to this, too?”

  “No, my ankle’s just sore,” she says.

  “Before we go, I can wrap it,” he offers, to which she shakes her head.

  “I don’t think I can get my boot on with that wrap.”

  Simon nods, “Fine, as soon as we get home.”

  He pauses and waits for it.

  “Yeah, when we go home.”

  “Yes!” he says fiercely and actually pumps his fist in the air twice. “Three in a row!”

  Her small hand slips to her dagger on her hip in a menacing manner.

  “Right, don’t push my luck,” he quips and chucks her under the chin and secures their packs onto the rack on the back of the ATV. Then he straps his sniper rifle and his other rifle onto the top of the packs for easy access.

  He mounts the four-wheeler and allows her to get on behind him. If he thought having her sitting between his legs was rough, having her straddling his waist is maybe worse.

  The ride back to the cabin is a fast one because he doesn’t want her to be out in the weather for too long and also doesn’t want them to get spotted with so little protection from a flying bullet. Once they arrive, he stows the ATV again and grabs their gear. Sam tries to help, but he tells her to go inside and gather her things. Within a half hour, they are back on the road in the Jeep this time and moving much faster. They are going to be late getting to Cory because they were delayed since he took Sam with him on the recon.

  Realizing that the rest of their night is going to be in a vehicle with his sister and Cory, Simon takes advantage of their time alone to talk.

  “I’m sorry for what happened earlier,” he says.

  “Me, too,” she says as if miffed at him.

  Simon amends his statement. “I’m not sorry I kissed you. I’m just sorry I took it too far.”

  “Don’t worry,” she says. “It’s never happening again. When we get back to the farm, I’m going home to Dave’s.”

  “No, you can’t,” he blurts in a panic.

  “Why? What’s wrong? Is there something going on I don’t know about?”

  He contemplates how much of a sin it would be if he lied. Are some sins greater than others? Are there measurements by which to grade one at a higher value than another?”

  “Simon? What is it?” she presses.

  “Um, nothing,” he says. He almost pushed her right into sex this afternoon, and he was reasonably certain she would’ve gone along with it, too. Herb has encouraged him to seek solace in Scripture lately, and Simon has an overwhelming sense of guilt for almost consummating their relationship. She doesn’t deserve that. Sam is a good girl, the best kind of girl. He isn’t sure, of course, but he’s guessing that she hasn’t had sex with anyone at Dave’s, either. He doesn’t want to spoil her. Waiting until marriage is going to be hard, considering he’s been in love with her for so long. He’s been in lust with her for that same amount of time. He’s just a buffoon who couldn’t figure it all out until recently. Now he can’t wait to be with her. Of course, winning her over may take some time.

  “Are you hiding something from me?” she asks with trepidation in her soft voice.

  “No, definitely not,” he admits. “When could that ever actually be possible? If there’s one thing we’ve both got between us, it’s that we know each other better than any other person on earth.”

  She doesn’t answer, so Simon glances her way. She’s staring at him.

  “Yeah,” she says in agreement.

  “I still wish you’d come to the farm instead of Dave’s,” he suggests and turns on the windshield wipers when it starts sprinkling again.

  “Why?”

  Leave it to Sam to be direct. Simon weighs his options here, too, and decides that the truth will better serve him. “Because I miss you.”

  “Simon,” she says in a complaining tone this time.

  “It’s the truth,” he admits. “I miss you all the time. I miss talking to you. There’s been so much happening around the farm and around town, and I always turn to tell you something. But you’re not there. It’s very frustrating.”

  “You’ve got Paige.”

  “That’s not the same,” he explains patiently. He’d like to hold her hand but doesn’t push his luck. “I don’t talk to her the same way I talk to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugs. “It’s hard to explain. Paige is my sister. I love her. I’ll always love her, but it’s not the same. I want you back in my life. I want us to be together. If you aren’t in love with Henry, then you should move back to the farm.”

  “I’m not leaving my uncle,” she firmly states.

  Simon sighs. Then he realizes that she didn’t argue about loving Henry, and that makes him feel a lot better. “I can understand that. I wouldn’t want to leave Paige,” he says. Then he pauses before adding, “But I would. I would leave her to be with you, even if I had to live over there with you. I can’t stand being separated from you.”

  This is all difficult to say out loud, but Simon wants her to understand the depth of his feelings. They are not shallow. They run straight to his core. She has captured his heart like no other ever could. He just needs to make her understand.

  “I think that’s a horrible thing to say,” she says, surprising him.

  “If you love someone, you want to be with them,” he ripostes. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Paige. You know I do. But I want to be with you.”

  “You could always move to Fort Knox. It was made quite clear that you’d be welcomed there with open arms.”

  He chuckles. If she is just the tiniest bit jealous, that must mean something. Or perhaps he just wants it to. “I’m not interested in living at Fort
Knox. I would move to town if it meant I could drive over and see you more often at Dave’s, but I have no interest whatsoever in moving north.”

  She harrumphs with righteous indignation that makes Simon want to snatch her into his arms and kiss her pouty mouth.

  “I know you’re angry,” he starts, to which she snorts. “You have every right to be. I won’t try to take that from you. You deserve to be a little mad.”

  “A lot.”

  “Correction,” he jokes. “A lot. You deserve to be a lot mad, but I want you to consider if you think I could make you happy. I’d never hurt you again, Sam. I promise. I know what I want now. I always knew. I just couldn’t allow it to happen. I felt like it was wrong.”

  Sam quickly glances out her window.

  “I love you, Sam,” he says, each time the words feel easier coming out of his mouth. “I’m not in any hurry,” he lies. “I’ll wait forever if I have to,” another lie. He’ll murder Henry and steal her away if he has to. A few more kissing sessions like the one earlier in the cabin should do the trick. She may hate him, but she doesn’t hate him touching her.

  “Hey, there’s our white truck,” he says, pointing out the front window in the distance near the gas station where they agreed to meet.

  “Yeah, that’s them,” she agrees and unfastens her seatbelt as they approach and slow down.

  Simon puts it in park, and Sam shocks him when he feels her cool, small fingers on his arm. She doesn’t make eye contact but does speak the most fantastic words he’s probably ever heard.

  “I…I miss you, too, sometimes,” she says quickly and gets out of the Jeep before he can respond.

  A slow grin spreads over his face, one that he can’t help or stop when he gets out and grabs their gear.

  “What’s your deal?” Cory asks as he walks up to him, Damn Dog at his side.

  “Huh? Oh, nothing,” he answers, snapping out of his trancelike state daydreaming about an angel with dark hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes that walks the earthly ground like him, although she seems much better suited to be sitting on a cloud staring down at all the lesser mortals.

  “Hm,” Cory says suspiciously. “Get your pumpkin in the game, nerd. We’ve got to find that pecker-head Parker. I get first dibs on shooting that fucker.”

  And then the moment has passed as his best friend pricks his bubble of euphoria with crude language and talk of killing. It’s usually how most of his fantasies come to an end, so he’s used to it. Leave it to Cory to ruin the mood. He was feeling a bit superior, like he could conquer an entire village alone. Just a few, short words from her had lifted his spirits on high. But then they were deflated, and he was forced back to the ground again. And Cory’s right. He does need to concentrate. It’s going to be a long night.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Cory

  “Sam, you should elevate your ankle,” Simon encourages from the back seat. “Here, you can rest it on my leg if you turn sideways.”

  “’Kay,” she says, which Cory finds strangely passive beings that she hates his best friend right now and has made no attempts at hiding said hatred.

  “How’s this?” Simon asks her.

  “Fine,” she answers.

  “Yeah, that’s right. You got hurt, Sam?” Paige asks from the passenger seat beside him.

  “Just twisted my ankle,” she explains. “It’ll be fine.”

  “She just needs rest and elevation for a few days,” his friend says.

  “Nothing broken, Doc?” Cory asks his friend and gives his dog a petting. She always rides beside him on the seat. Tonight, she’s sharing Paige’s space.

  “No, I don’t think so. I gave it a full examination last night,” Simon explains, clueless as ever.

  “Hm, full examination, huh?” Cory teases and gets a warning look from his wife. He’s seen the other wives at the farm give their husbands this same look. He never thought his Paige would be able to mimic it. Or that she would ever do it. He feels his nuts shrivel instantly at her reproachful glare.

  “Yes, of course,” Simon continues, even more naïve than ten seconds ago.

  “Well, that’s…um…good,” Cory says, covering and gets a grin from Paige this time, which allows him to relax and exhale the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding since she’d speared him with the evil eye.

  “So, Parker’s holed up close to Fort Knox?”

  “Yeah, I was gonna bring Sofia, but it seemed too dangerous,” Cory explains. “Derek also said it wasn’t a good idea. I’m not sure we should trust her, and I didn’t want the girls being stuck babysitting her while we went in. We don’t know anything about her. She could have military experience. She could have made a move to disarm them while we were gone. This could be a trap. Who knows? So I made her draw me a map instead.”

  Paige goes on to bring them up to speed about the interrogation. She remembers all of it in detail, even things he forgot. All he was waiting for, though, was Parker’s location. The rest of it Cory didn’t really care about. It’s probably a callous response on his part, but keeping his family safe is the only thing that matters to him.

  “And you trust her to give us the right directions?” Sam asks.

  “I hope so,” Cory answers. “If not, I told her I was coming back tonight to waterboard her.”

  “Cory!” Sam exclaims.

  “Sorry, little sis,” he apologizes and turns to his wife, who is doing it again. Damn. If she keeps giving him such nasty looks, they’re never going to be able to have kids. He’ll become sterile. “I feel confident my threat worked. She started drawing a lot faster.”

  “And this map,” Simon starts, having asked to see it from Paige, “is leading us to a place south of the base that looks like she wrote ‘trailer park’ on the spot?”

  “Yeah, he goes from places like the bunker out west, to The Gaylord Hotel, to the Cheekwood mansion, and now to tents and a trailer park. Go figure.”

  “Speaking of living arrangements,” Paige brings up, “I heard you and your uncle are moving into town?”

  “What?” Sam asks with genuine curiosity.

  “Reagan said your uncle wants to move to Pleasant View and leave the cabin to Dr. Brown. We worked with him for clinic day, and he said he was going to talk to you about it.”

  Sam is silent in the back seat. Cory swings around to look at her, but she’s staring at her knees as if she’s shocked to hear this.

  Paige just continues, “At least you’ll be a lot closer to us. Plus, the doctors from the farm, Herb especially, won’t have to travel to town so often. Reagan said she worries about him since he’s getting older.”

  “Yes, that is a good idea,” Simon comments. “I was going to move to town. We do need someone there full-time, maybe more than one doctor. Things happen. Accidents, sudden illness. There’s nobody there now to help patients until we get to town.”

  Sam still isn’t saying anything. Cory has a suspicion that she didn’t know about this plan.

  “Yeah, kiddo,” he starts, “it’ll be nice having you so close. We sure do miss you around the farm. Now we can see you when we come to town. I’m going to be working on some building projects there this spring. As soon as the weather improves just a little more.”

  After she still doesn’t respond, Paige asks “Sam? Are you ok?”

  “What? Yeah, sure.”

  She falls back into silent mode, which for Sam is rare. She used to be like that all the time, but with healing and the passage of time, she improved greatly. Cory’s no idiot. He knows Simon had a lot to do with that. They used to be so close. Many times, he found Simon upstairs pacing the hallway when he was younger. He asked him what he was doing once, and he just attempted nonchalance. When Cory pressed, Simon admitted that he was just checking on ‘her’ again. Cory knows the feeling. He feels very responsible for Samantha. Now Cory has those same feelings toward Paige and Tessa. Whether or not she thinks she’s capable of taking care of herself, and for three years o
n the road, she was, Cory still wants to take care of her for the rest of their lives, no matter how long that might be.

  “He wants to stay in the house down the street that we stay in when we overnight it in town,” Paige drones.

  “Hm,” Sam responds without commitment of feeling.

  “We’ll just have to open up another house,” Cory says. “For the family and the docs when they’re in town.”

  “Yes, indeed,” Simon agrees. The car falls silent a moment before he goes on to say to her, “Sam, why don’t you get some rest. Here, take my jacket and ball it up. You can sleep on it. We’ve got a long drive to get there.”

  “Yeah, it will be a long night, Sam,” Cory concurs. “She said it’s about a half hour south of the base. They’d meet up there most of the time so that they weren’t spied on at the base. It should take us about an hour and a half to get to it.”

  “If this weather doesn’t turn to snow,” Paige comments.

  “I think it’s too warm for snow,” Cory says, squeezing his wife’s hand.

  “Warm? I don’t think so,” she says.

  “Think your Arizona blood will ever thicken up?” he jokes and gets a smile in return.

  They drive and discuss the details of the situation as Paige rests against her window, Damn Dog lays her big head on Paige’s hip, and Sam sleeps in the back seat. He’d like to ask Simon how it went with her, but he doesn’t want Sam to hear them discussing her. That probably wouldn’t help his friend much.

  “What’s with the camp you checked out tonight?” Cory asks.

  “Nothing. I don’t think that’s a positive hit. We didn’t see any signs of it being related to Parker,” Simon explains. “Could be that he had it marked on his map because he planned on taking it over or blending them into one of his other camps.”

  “Yeah, same with the one K-Dog checked out,” Cory tells him. “The one John and I went to was a definite hit.”

  “And Dave? What about the others he was going to send men to look into?” Simon questions.

  “One was a positive hit but not the other,” he explains. “So we’ve got at least three, maybe four camps that we can directly link to Parker.”