The girl nodded her understanding and it was more like two full minutes before she started breathing slower and stood back straight.
“Don’t go down the road,” She finally said. “They’re going to ambush you and steal your bike and whatever else you’ve got. They have been talking about how to do it ever since you rode past the other way. They heard it go past both ways once before. I’ve been planning to run away all summer long and it’s getting to be too late in the year if I didn’t do it soon. I couldn’t let them kill you and decided I’d try to save you, hoping you’d help me to get away.”
“Is this your family?” Eileen asked. She’d left home under a cloud too, and wasn’t going to be quickly judgmental.
“No, my mom and dad died last winter and I knew there was a family down the road. I walked down there for help but it was a big mistake. It’s Mr. Olsen and his three sons. They came and took everything they wanted from our house and me too. They’ve been off the other way down the road to a fair, but they left me at home with one of the sons both times to watch me and guard their place. They made clear they intend to keep me a secret from other people so I could be their slave. I’m not family and never will be. They laugh and joke crudely about it in front of me so I knew I didn’t have long before I had to run away. It’s been two days since I ran away and I was starting to worry you weren’t coming past again.”
“How far to the Olsen place?” Vic asked nodding down the road.
“I’m not good at guessing. I walked this direction a little each day but stayed in the woods afraid they’d come looking for me and see me on the road before I saw them. I had to climb down through two hollows and back up the other side where the road went around them, so it was slow going.”
“What’s your name honey?” Eileen asked.
“I’m Alice Price, and no Olsen,” she said, emphatically.
“Where were you going to run since you’d have to go past the house to try to reach the fairgrounds?” Eileen wondered.
“I was going to sleep in the woods and sneak around the house on the down-hill side to come out on the road to the far side,” Alice said. “I have no idea what is down the road this way. I don’t think they can imagine me doing anything like that. I’ve been careful to do whatever they say and act scared and helpless for them.”
“What do you expect us to do to help you?” Vic asked.
“Just help me get to some other people who won’t think they own me. Or if I have to be a slave at least treated better than what they said they had planned for me.”
Eileen looked at the ugly expression on her face and decided not to press for details.
“Do you think they might have heard the bike already?” Vic asked.
Alice screwed her face up in thought. “Sound really carries a long way and it’s across a couple of hollows to their house. But they might be closer if they’re out looking for me. If you make it go fast so it’s really loud they might hear you. They barely heard you pass before. They ran down to the road just in time to see you before you were gone out of sight. You aren’t thinking of trying to go fast to just zoom past are you?”
“Not at all. In fact, it’s our habit to coast past as quiet as possible when we see a mailbox. I’m going to go back to the last road that goes off around this long ridge,” Vic said, waving his arm at the line of hills to his left. “That will come back to this road well beyond and go to where Mr. Mast runs the fair you heard about. I’m not sure what we can arrange for you, but we’ll find someone who doesn’t think you are livestock,” Vic said with a nasty sneer. “We’ll make sure people know about the Olsens too. I’m going to start the bike again. After I’m seated, you put a leg up over the tank here and I’ll help you up in front of me. You can’t weigh that much. I don’t think the bike will have any trouble with it.”
Vic kicked the bike to life without giving it any throttle. That would make a loud bark of noise he wanted to avoid. Being warm it started easily. Once it was running Alice stood close and gripped the handlebar in her right hand, throwing her left leg up over the tank until her knee was hooked across it. Vic took her by the hips and lifted her into place. There really wasn’t much to her, she was so skinny. They both shifted around until she was seated leaning forward with her hands on the tank. It didn’t pass his notice that Alice involuntarily shuddered at his touch. The Olsens had a lot to answer for in his book. He’d talk to Mr. Mast about that.
Vic finished his turn back the way they’d come, his feet riding the pavement and feathering the clutch carefully until it was fully engaged so that they were rolling at a fast walk with the engine just idling. He let it carry them a few hundred meters without giving it any throttle, shifted, and eased the clutch out again until it was fully engaged. Only when they were down the road a half kilometer away and approaching a slight uphill, did he give it some gas so it made an exhaust noise more than a slight putt-putt-putt. It seemed to handle just fine with Alice’s added weight, but adding more distance now, he was glad he had a good margin of gas to get back to Mast’s house.
* * *
April was having a kabob dinner the courier just delivered. It was quite good but she was not giving it the attention it deserved, looking at her plate just long enough to wrap a few more bites in pita bread, smear some garlic sauce on it, and go back to watching the big screen on the wall. Texas and North America were playing with each other. Both moved units around north and south of the thirty-third parallel but neither made any push across the border. It was much more interesting than football.
North America moved some new units up on each side of the Mississippi, but Texas just repositioned and divided some assets so they would be harder to hit. That made sense because Texas already had a numerical superiority before April took down the Greenville Bridge and reduced North America’s ability to maneuver.
Both nations made a few token passes along the border with aircraft and then seemed to settle down once they had the other side’s response time gauged. Chen reported neither side felt threatened enough to activate anti-air missile radar. April was fascinated but uncomfortable because she had upset the status quo. If they started fighting, even by mistake, she’d feel responsible. Applying pressure to get what she wanted indirectly wasn’t natural for her. She’d be much more comfortable directly attacking his jailers.
Chen appeared in the corner of her screen making a video call.
“Still obsessing about the border?” he asked her.
“Yeah, thank you for keeping the feed going for me. It’s fascinating,” April said.
“It’s all being recorded. They aren’t going to do anything, there,” Chen insisted. “No point in watching real-time if you have anything worthwhile to do.”
“You said there. Does that mean they’re going to do something somewhere else? Do you know anything? Do I have to pry it out of you bit by bit like I have to with Jon?”
“The Texans aren’t mobilizing anything I can see to bring forward in support of their present forces at the border,” Chen said. “They are moving a lot of light ground units around in Galveston and the Beaumont – Port Arthur area. They have sufficient ocean transport for them but I can’t imagine they will bring those up the Mississippi. They have bypassed New Orleans and the North Americans have been stripping everything of value to them out of the city without any opposition.
“They apparently are going to yield it without a fight, and there’s nothing there the Texans are willing to fight to take. Almost everything there is administrative and training facilities rather than combat units. Still, they haven’t moved in and established their own local control yet. They haven’t kept civilians from leaving either. A lot of people left in apparent panic headed for Florida and never got past Mobile, content to stop there when Texas didn’t advance beyond the Pearl River. They haven’t stopped vessels entering from the gulf and they’ve set up checkpoints on the land well back from the city.”
“Maybe they are getting ready to assert control over the cit
y now?” April guessed.
“Maybe, but it doesn’t feel right to me. The population has been dropping for years. They never recovered from the last two hurricanes that hit the city and now with the people who left when the Texans were advancing, they have less than half the population of forty years ago. Mostly, it is those who didn’t have the means to go away or had no place actually better to go to. A lot of people would be just as happy to live under the Texans as North America. If you don’t have a government job what difference does it make? Texas has lower taxes and hasn’t been taking over private property where they moved in. It’s not like they are a foreign invader speaking a strange language.”
“I bet you have an opinion, but don’t want to tell me if you aren’t sure,” April said.
“I have several ideas. I think we’ll know soon because I suspect they are waiting for you to move. If you take out another bridge later today I think they will move then while the North Americans are distracted by that and uncertain. There really only two ways they can go,” Chen said, and pointed finger opposite each other across his chest.
“Oh, west to Mexico or further east to take more USNA territory.” April felt silly she had to be prompted to see that. They weren’t going to sail for Venezuela or Cuba with whom they got along just fine. “Which one are you betting on?”
“I’m thinking they will take Mobile. Mexico is more easily invaded by land for them. They’ve already holding territory they haven’t officially annexed there. Are you still going to drop another bridge for North America?” he asked.
“Yes, I’ll tell them that in about three hours,” April said. “I’m not going to keep repeating myself why either. They know what the deal is. I’ll just announce the target.”
“The new Dean Bridge?” Chen asked.
“Yes, we took out the center section over the channel in the war, so it was an easy rebuild for them. I’m going to do the same again. It doesn’t make any sense to mess with the approaches when this will make my point.”
“I won’t interrupt when you are busy,” Chen promised, “but expect me to tell you which way they move shortly thereafter.”
“I’ll reserve half my screen for you. Just leave this connection live. You can shift the satellite coverage north a bit and show me what’s going on early. Once I set everything up it doesn’t take any time to actuate it. Open a window to talk to me any time,” April invited.
* * *
His so-called attorney, Brooks, appeared on Irwin’s screen right after lunch. It had only been two days, six meals since they spoke so what could he possibly have to say?
“What is your relationship with April Lewis?” Brooks demanded, without any greeting.
“I’m very careful what I say to the woman on those rare occasions when we speak directly,” Irwin said. “I’d much rather deal with her partner Jeff Singh. I can speak directly to Jeff and fancy I know what makes him tick a little. April, I’m not sure what motivates her at all. She has spies everywhere. Someone once related a joke to me about her that was making the rounds. That she made it her business to know how much change you had in your pocket when she met you. So a fellow decided to test it out. She informed him he had a solar and fifteen bits on him. He was delighted she was wrong. He had a solar and thirteen bits, and told her so. She said, ‘Check your left pocket too.’ That’s funny, but it damn near has the right of it.”
“No, I mean, is she an acquaintance, a friend, a business associate, or something more?” Brooks demanded.
“I’m sort of waiting to find out,” Irwin admitted. “Those two and Heather Anderson are tight.” He held up three fingers clutched together in an emphatic gesture. “I can’t imagine any of them taking a major action without the approval of the others. Whenever my bank deals with their bank I may talk to Jeff, but he always says ‘WE’ will do this or that. It makes you aware he actually thinks that way, it isn’t just lip service to their partnership.”
Brooks frowned. “Are they lovers then?”
“I don’t know,” Irwin said, looking at him funny. “Do you ask the directors of the Bank of America if they are sleeping with other directors before you will contract with them?”
“I might not ask, but if a person doesn’t display moral rectitude in their personal life it often carries over to their public dealings,” Brooks insisted.
“Well then, since North Americans can’t keep their word to us and honor their treaty, their private lives must be a cesspool of cheating and lying to match, by that standard.”
“Miss Lewis is waging war upon North America on your behalf. I’m trying to find out why,” Brooks explained. “What does she owe you?”
“If anything I owe her. They’ve always dealt generously and openly with The Private Bank. But you don’t last long on Home if you do business any other way. That said, I’m still not sure our business relationship is sufficient for them to owe me warring with anyone in support. I am heartened to hear that, because if I am regarded as a friend they will avenge me terribly should I come to harm. The sort of thing that will get a paragraph in the history books a century from now.”
Irwin looked at him with new suspicion. “But you aren’t asking as my attorney. You are asking for your masters. What has she done? I haven’t felt the ground shake so she must not be warring all that violently. The young woman is not noted for moderation.”
“She destroyed a vital, very expensive bridge and promises to continue. Indeed she said another will come down,” His eyes shifted to the corner of his screen, “in about a half-hour.
“Her partners must be influencing her,” Irwin decided. “This seems too subtle for April. I’d expect something more like wiping Vancouver off the map while Congress is in session.”
“There are millions of innocent people in the Vancouver area!” Brooks protested.
“As contrasted with what group that isn’t innocent?” Irwin asked. “Are you suggesting my arrest and perhaps other things are not the will of the people who voted this government into office? That might ding your social credit score to intimate. If it isn’t representative, well that’s theirs to correct, isn’t it? If they do approve, then they’ll just have to live with what their beloved leaders bring down on the nation.”
“Surely you aren’t that cold-blooded,” Brooks said. “If you’d record a message to her saying you don’t approve or want violence done in your name we’d transmit it. That would be a factor for the court to consider in offering leniency.”
“Once again it’s ‘we’. You aren’t working on my behalf. You’re just one of my captors. I’m actually pretty happy knowing somebody is working towards my release. Let me talk real-time to April and I’ll see what kind of a trade can be worked out before this gets out of control. She and her people are traders, business people at heart, but don’t expect to get anything from them for free. I expect you’ll be trying to force me to produce such a message now. But with veracity software as advanced and common as it is now even your own public will see it is nonsense unless you do a full-depth fake that fools no one who knows me.”
* * *
Chen left a message for April, with copies to Heather and Jeff. It wasn’t marked urgent so it was a couple of hours old and if either of them had read it they hadn’t been provoked to comment on it back to her.
“I’m not sure if it is of importance to you, but a news report in Austria just mentioned that Director Schober of the Martian Republic died. I know you three have had some dealings with him if that impacts anything,” Chen said with no further details.
“Heather has the most direct interest. I’ll post a continuing news search,” April replied, “however, if you get news from other sources about the cause of death and who will replace him send that along please.”
Chapter 10
When the Hringhorni came back to Central from a three system tour Heather invited the crew for coffee and snacks. She would read the report but she wanted to talk to them. The report was fine but she learned abo
ut other things than planets found, and resources identified from seeing their faces and how they interacted. Truth was, she just liked them and wanted to visit, even her brother.
“You’ve seen nothing else since 61 Virginis to suggest any of the star systems you’ve surveyed have been visited by aliens?” Heather asked.
“Not a trace. No radio or radar traces or visible marks on any planetary body. We would have reported that verbally before anything else, not buried it in our report,” Deloris said.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Heather said. “I’d like to have a sensor net keeping an eye on that system to see if the aliens return or even pass through on a regular basis. Jeff let the design and fabrication contracts for four modules. They will sit on the fringes of the system passively looking in for a drive signature. You can do a one day mission to place them in a couple of weeks.
“I’ve accepted an apprentice pilot from the Obarzanek family. She’s going to get her orbit to orbit and lander certifications. Her mother informs me she’s been reading the exam materials since she was eight, so one assumes the testing will be a formality. Then I’ve made a deal with Larkin to use her for his trade rather than only train with us. She will get to see dock work and sit the number two seat for awhile. She’s too young really to be sworn to me. In a couple of years, I’d consider that. I’ve spoken with April and Jeff and we agree there is no point in maintaining a façade of not having a star drive among our own. If the Earthies wish to keep blocking information about it on their public nets we won’t make a point of contradicting them, but it’s pointless pretending with traffic control and so many in Dave’s shop and various fabricators seeing our builds and flights. You are free to tell traffic control you are departing to uncontrolled extra-solar space, and freely discuss your missions with the new apprentice, Laja, when you meet her even if she isn’t promised to fly jump drive ships yet. It may be an incentive for her to see there really is a goal she can attain.”
All in Good Time Page 15