"Losing us in the desert," Nathan responded. It was a lie—he'd driven the 10 before and he knew that it connected with the 385 heading for San Angelo. He had no plan beyond getting away and heading northeast , away from the North Koreans, the Chinese and the TLX. The places he'd called home his entire life were now either under occupation by invaders or in the hands of the despot sitting in the car behind him.
Nathan slowed a little once they were well beyond the interstate. He didn't dare turn on the headlights yet as the land was flat here and they could be seen for miles around. The moon gave scant light as it sat behind the clouds, so he was reduced to picking his way through the desert, inching their way westward.
"How long are you going to keep me hostage?" Murphy said as they rejoined the highway.
"Haven't decided yet," Nathan said. "I'd get comfortable if I was you."
Su-Mi touched his shoulder. "We should pull over soon, Nate. Luke needs tending."
Nathan gave Luke a nudge. "You okay, Luke?" There was no response.
Cursing under his breath, Nathan turned on the headlights and put his foot down. "Keep your eyes open. We're looking for something off the main road where we can hide the car. Damn it, I wanted to get a lot more miles ahead before stopping."
"I know, but if we don't take a look at him, he might bleed to death."
"There!" Jake called.
The headlights had bounced off what looked like a barn with a rusty corrugated iron roof. Nathan turned onto the little lane that led to it and brought the SUV around the back.
"You wait here," he said. "Keep a close eye on our guest."
Nathan jumped out of the car, and, finding a flashlight in the trunk, drew his Glock and ran to the barn. The metal doors had been forced open and whatever had once been inside was now gone, leaving just the acrid aroma of cow manure. He flicked on the flashlight, being careful to keep the beam facing down and away from the road. The place was filthy, but a stack of hay bales lay on one side that could be fashioned into a makeshift bed. It would have to do.
Su-Mi covered the president while Jake and Nathan carried the unresponsive Luke into the barn. They laid him down on the bales while Jake took over watching Murphy.
"Do you have any medical training?" Nathan asked Su-Mi.
She shook her head. "Nothing beyond what I learned in basic," she said, "but I know a sick person when I see one. He's had quite a beating."
Nathan pulled Luke's shirt apart while Su-Mi shone the flashlight on him. Blue-black bruises spread across his chest, culminating in a seeping wheal on the right side of his ribs.
"How could you let this happen?" Nathan said to Murphy. "How could you let someone beat your flesh and blood like this? And then leave him without medical treatment?"
"He did it himself," Jake said. "I bet he did."
Nathan locked eyes with the president and knew Jake was speaking the truth. Murphy had, at the very least, allowed it to happen but from his cold expression as he looked down on his son, Nathan could see not a hint of compassion. And this was the man they expected to unite them against the invaders.
Nathan realized he should have known that this was the nature of their leader. His treatment of Maddie and Luke as a breeding pair to further his dynasty and then his abrupt abandonment of his son once the boy rebelled should have been evidence enough. But Nathan had selectively ignored the deliberate policies of separation and authoritarianism that would have signaled Murphy was a sociopath to anyone willing to listen. He'd decided that the president was the lesser of the evils facing the fledgling TLX and ignored the mounting evidence that he was a monster.
"I think he's bleeding internally," Su-Mi said. "He hasn't lost that much blood from this wound, but I think something's been ruptured inside."
"What can we do?" Jake asked, keeping his eyes on the president.
Su-Mi looked up at him. "We can make him comfortable and give him fluids, but he'll either heal or he won't."
Nathan could see from her expression which of those was the more likely. They didn't have time to sit at the sick man's side to wait for him to expire. Every minute they stayed here increased the chance they'd be discovered but there was no question of moving him. And no question of them abandoning Luke. Because they weren't monsters.
Jake had drifted off to sleep as Nathan sat watching Murphy dozing. Luke's breathing had become more and more shallow and the first hints of the approaching dawn could be seen through gaps in the metal roof.
With a heave, Luke choked and cried out. Nathan sprung to his feet, and Su-Mi stirred, taking Luke's hand as he tried to sit up. "No, Luke. Rest!"
Luke looked around in the gloom, his pale face a stark contrast to the darkness around them. "Father," he whispered.
Murphy looked up at Nathan who nodded and helped him to his feet.
Raising his hand, Luke's face twisted in pain.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Jake asked desperately.
"Father!"
Murphy stepped towards the hay bales on which his son lay and took Luke's hand.
"I'm…sorry…" Luke said.
The president leaned down as if he were going to plant a kiss on Luke's forehead.
He spat on his son's face.
"No!" Jake leaped at the man, grabbing him around the neck and forcing him to the floor. Murphy rolled over, his greater bulk and training giving him an immediate edge. He sat across Jake who brought his knee up and, with a roar, propelled Murphy from him before scrambling across the floor to where his handgun lay.
He swept up the sidearm, pushed his right hand down onto Murphy's chest and pressed the gun against his temple.
"Stop!" Nathan said, pushing Jake to one side.
Jake leaped up and rushed at Nathan, flailing out at him in his fury. "You saw what he did! Let me kill him!"
A cry echoed around the inside of the barn and Nathan rolled away to see Murphy rising from behind Jake, holding the handgun he'd dropped and leveling it at the boy.
"You know what the penalty is for attempted assassination of a president?" he hissed.
A shot punched the darkness. "Put the gun down, Murphy."
Su-Mi stood with her gun pointing directly at the president's head. "Your son's dead," she said. "Which makes you a murderer. What is the penalty for murder in the TLX? Now, put the gun down."
Murphy slowly raised his arms, stepped back a little and dropped his sidearm to the ground, his face contorted in hate.
Helping Jake up, Nathan pulled the boy to him. "You should have let me kill him!"
"Not you, son. Not you," Nathan said, gently. He locked eyes with Su-Mi and they exchanged a tiny nod.
Su-Mi's weapon spoke and the President of the TLX fell lifeless to the floor.
She stood over him and touched his throat. "'Do not suffer a monster to live'," she hissed. "It is an old Korean proverb, from one traitor to another."
They didn't have time to give Luke the decent burial he deserved, so they dug a shallow grave in the sand and gently lowered him into it.
Nathan filled in the grave with Jake while Su-Mi watched beyond them to the road.
"You know, he was the unifying force here. We've just made it much easier for the Chinese and North Koreans by taking him out."
"Maybe," Su-Mi said, "but some crimes cannot be forgiven. He fatally wounded his son and then, when the boy wanted comfort, Murphy spat on him. The more power a beast like that has, the greater his crimes will become."
Luke's body disappeared beneath the sand and stones as they worked. When they'd finished, the sun appeared on the horizon and they stood for a moment in silent contemplation of a young life lost.
"What happened to your old uniform?" Nathan asked.
"It's in my pack," Su-Mi said, surprised. "Why?"
Nathan threw his shovel down and began to walk back to the barn. "We need to leave a message for whoever finds him."
And so, as they drove back onto the main highway, looking for a side road into the desert,
the body of President John Murphy lay with a red star pinned to his chest.
"He was killed by a North Korean, after all," Nathan said. "Perhaps it'll be enough to unite the TLX behind a new leader. Hatred can be a pretty effective glue, for a time at least. Let's hope they look for revenge in the west."
And so, the three of them headed northwest. Nathan knew that they had a short time to get as many miles between them and the inevitable pursuit as possible.
"I was an idiot," Jake said, finally breaking the silence after what had seemed like hours. "I believed in him, in the TLX."
"You can carry on believing in the TLX, Jake," Nathan said. "And plenty of folks were taken in by Murphy, including me. Don't blame yourself."
"It was when I saw what he'd done to his own son that I realized. And then I thought how he treated Maddie like an animal. I thought he'd honored her by making her marry his son, but he hated Luke. What sort of a father treats his son like that? Mine never would."
The tears flowed then, as Jake spoke of his family—his mother, sister and grandfather who, as far as he knew, were still alive, and his father who had probably died in New York. "I wasn't nice to Pa," he said. "I thought he couldn't wait to get away and go live in the big city. I thought he hated us, but he was a good father. I wish I could see him again."
Nathan put his hand on Jake's arm as they drove north, destination unknown.
Chapter 6
Paulie could taste the blood leaking from her nose as she braced herself for the next blow. It didn't come. Instead, a now familiar voice spoke.
"Is that not enough, Sheriff?" it said in perfect, though slightly accented, English. "Is it not time to cease your stubborn resistance and answer my questions?"
She peered up at him through her better eye. "I've told you everything I know." It was a lie. She knew it and so did he.
He wore the uniform of an officer in the People's Liberation Army. His spotless jacket, with its perfectly pressed creases, hid the sadistic heart of an interrogator. Though he hadn't touched her. She imagined that he would proudly proclaim that he never hurt women. He simply ordered others to do that. Paulie's injuries, therefore, had been inflicted by a large Chinese woman whose overt brutality contrasted with his cold cruelty.
She'd been kept in a basement of the department store since she and Tucker had been captured and brought into this room three times now, to be asked the same questions over and over.
"You have seen the Reaper before, that is obvious from the accounts of my guards," he continued. "I wish to know how this can be since you have clearly come from outside. I am told that you ran away when your town came under attack. Perhaps it took those many weeks for you to find the courage to scurry back and seek to steal from us."
Her gaze didn't flinch as their eyes met. His, like hers, were brown, but there was no sign of a human soul dwelling within.
"You may not be aware, but your comrade, Mr. Tucker, has been quite cooperative."
"In your dreams."
"So, there really is no need for any further…discomfort. We simply ask for you to—what is the word? Ah, yes—corroborate his account."
"What did he say?"
The interrogator shook his head with fake regret. "If I told you that, your confirmation would not be independent, now would it?"
"Let me ask you something," Paulie said.
"Go ahead."
"If I cooperate, what will happen to us?"
His eyes widened, just a touch, as he sensed capitulation. "Your suffering will end, Sheriff."
"In front of a firing squad?"
The expression hardened again. "That is not my decision, Sheriff. But if you wish the pain to end, you must answer my questions. Where have you seen the Reaper before?"
Paulie gazed up into those pitiless eyes. "As I told you, that was the first time I'd seen one. I could see that it was a drone, but that's all."
He looked across at the woman with the baton and gave a curt nod.
As Paulie braced herself, the door was flung open and Custer Petrov, owner of the department store rushed in, flanked by two of his goons. The interrogator spun around as Petrov froze when he caught sight of Paulie.
"What is the meaning of this interruption?" Liang roared, the mask abandoned.
"Major Liang. I apologize. We have trouble in upper floor." Petrov spoke to the interrogator, but his eyes flicked to Paulie.
"You are responsible for internal security, are you not?" Liang said. "My men are not to be used for petty squabbles."
Petrov's cheeks colored as he shook his owl-like head. "There are too many, Major. You limit my forces too much. Only four on duty at one time, you tell me. Not enough."
"Very well. Use whatever means necessary to regain full control. And I expect you to punish the transgressors severely. That is the only means of ensuring discipline, Petrov. You understand?"
Petrov nodded, and then his eyes moved to Paulie again.
"Custer," she said.
"Be silent!" Liang snapped, turning on her.
"I hope that whatever they're paying you is worth it," Paulie called, looking past the major. "But maybe treachery comes cheap these days."
"I had no choice! Cooperate or die, and others die too."
"Get out!" Liang said, as his carefully choreographed interrogation fell apart.
"You're quite the hero, Custer," Paulie called to his retreating back. "I'm sure the People's Republic is very proud of you."
The door slammed behind him and Paulie heard the heavy footsteps of the big woman with the club.
When she was pushed back into her cell, she found she wasn't alone. Strong arms grabbed her as she stumbled. "Sheriff!"
"Marvin?" she croaked, allowing him to support her weight.
Tucker cursed under his breath, then held her upright to examine her. Pain spread across Paulie's face from one side to the other. "Animals! Looks like your nose is broken, Sheriff."
"Paulie," she managed. "Call me Paulie."
She looked into his face and saw that he'd been beaten almost as thoroughly as she had. She felt her eyes water and they embraced, each drawing strength from the other.
"They kept askin' me about somethin' called a Reaper," he said as they rocked gently. "Wouldn't believe I didn't have the first clue what they were talkin' about."
Paulie withdrew and looked into his kind eyes. "They asked me, too. They seem to think they're the only ones who've got Reapers. I got us into this mess, Marvin, I'm sorry. But I was so amazed when I saw it there."
"So, you really have seen one before?"
Paulie gave her head a tiny shake before reaching up and grabbing her ear lobe. It took some theatrics before Marvin understood. The room might be bugged. Perhaps, having failed to extract the information through brutality, they'd decided to opt for something more subtle.
"No," Paulie said out loud. "I don't know any more than you do."
Tucker helped her over to the single cot against the wall. She collapsed onto it and wiped her eyes. Paulie reckoned she and Tucker had been the two toughest SOBs in Arbroath before the attack, but everyone has their breaking point.
"What d'you think they're planning to do with us?"
Paulie gave a grim chuckle. "Oh, I think we'll be lined up against a wall, Marvin. And sooner rather than later."
"And that don't scare you?"
She looked up at him. "Of course it does, Marvin. Unless you've got some genius plan to get us out of here that you can communicate to me in sign language."
"Afraid not, Sheriff. I was hopin' you'd pull somethin' out of your butt."
She shook her head and Marvin came to sit beside her as they waited in silence for the next act of the play.
Paulie woke from a doze as Marvin nudged her. "Someone's coming."
Footsteps stopped outside the door which then opened to reveal Custer Petrov. Beyond him stood one of his bodyguards and a Chinese soldier, but he left them both behind as he came inside, and dragged the solitary wooden c
hair to the center of the room. The door slammed shut behind him and he sat looking at them silently.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick you into the afterlife, Petrov," Paulie said, feeling the rage rise again.
He put his hands up as if surprised at her vitriol. "I do not command here. Major, he ordered torture," he said. Paulie had noticed that the more stressed he was, the stronger his Russian accent.
"You were quick enough to be the puppet leader when Arbroath was taken."
"What else could I do? They say I run the place or they do. I protect people. What do you think would happen to ones who cannot be moved? Hospital is full of old and weak."
Marvin scoffed at this. "And you're the great savior, is that it? Come off it, Custer, if there ain't a dollar in it, you ain't gonna do it."
"You're right," Paulie said. "He's screwing the people he's supposed to be protecting. But tell me, Custer, now we can all see each other for who they are, what are you doing here?"
Petrov pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket and wiped his forehead. "The major, he will kill the patients, one by one, if you do not tell him what he wants to know. He thinks, maybe, you speak easier to me than him."
"Why would I want to speak to a collaborator?" Paulie spat. "You work for a monster; do you know that? A monster who won't believe that I don't know the answers to his questions. A monster who would do this to me." She ran her hand across her bruised face.
Petrov brushed the sweat from his eyes and shook his head. "I do not like to see you hurt, Sheriff. Not good to hit women."
"And yet you allow it to carry on? Are you waiting for us to be beaten to death or lined up in front of a wall? Then you can forget we were here?"
"No, it is not like that. Friedman and Rutz, they not talk either. I could not save them."
"What happened to them?"
"Rutz is dead. Friedman is in hospital bed. She will be first to die if you not talk."
Paulie slumped and wrapped her hands around her head as she felt the darkness rising to engulf her. She felt Marvin's hand on her back.
"We ain't talkin' Custer," he said. "But maybe it's time for you to decide which side you're on."
Betrayed: Book 5 in the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival series: (The Long Night - Book 5) Page 5