"And the Chinese?"
"None left alive."
"Luna?"
"She's been here. Wally's takin' care of her. She likes him."
She watched Tucker slink off. What a true friend he'd proven to be. Nicky Friedman was the only other member of her department she knew to be alive, and there was no saying what state her mind was in by now. But Marvin was the best of the best, and she found herself wanting to keep him close.
There was nothing sexual about it, no romantic connection. She liked him, sure enough, and Luna adored him. If grief and guilt would have allowed it, her mind might have admitted that she thought of him as a brother, but she'd had one of those and he was dead now. Let him be an uncle, then. Most importantly, let him stay near.
Paulie was out of bed the next day, though it was against doctor's orders. She already knew that there had been eight other people in the little hospital. All were young and therefore valuable to the Chinese, or the militia in Seattle, or whoever was in overall charge.
Doctor Ashmal had done his best to protect his patients by delaying their recovery for as long as he could manage, but he'd been unable to prevent the chronically ill from being taken out of his care to heaven knew where.
Twenty-two people had been found behind a locked door on the top floor of the department store. These were the workers used as slave labor by the Chinese troops to cook and clean for them and to search Arbroath for anything of value.
There was nowhere else for any of these people to go, for now, so the only practical difference in their living arrangements was that their doors were no longer locked.
She knew all of them by sight, and most by name, but the biggest surprise was when a once familiar figure launched herself at Paulie, causing her to stumble backwards.
"Sheriff! I didn't believe it when they told us. When they unlocked the door. I thought you couldn't possibly still be alive. All those rumors. So very dark."
Paulie gently pushed the woman back and looked into the face of Mayor Vogelbach. It was her face, but her business-like bob had been cut away, and that, along with the deprivation they'd all suffered, had given her a haggard appearance that had added a decade to her looks.
"I think they thought it a just punishment to have me working as a slave after I tried to oppose them. Of course, I thought it was just those bandits coming back, but the Chinese moved in a week later and, since then, things went from bad to worse. Oh, but it's good to see you, Sheriff. I'll confess, I thought I was having hallucinations when Mr. Tucker released us from our prison. I'm so pleased to learn I wasn't losing my mind."
Paulie smiled at her. "Let's catch up over dinner. We're going to liberate the supplies of the soldiers now that Marvin's organized the burials. I'd like you to officiate at the ceremony for our people. If, one day, we get back on our feet, we'll have to erect a statue to our Russian friends. Without them, we'd never have won. For now, however, I'm going to spend a couple of hours with Luna."
"I'll do that. I'll even speak for the Chinese. Even they deserve a proper burial," the mayor said, her eyes betraying the first hints of the energy she was famous for. "But tell me, Paulie. Once we've done that, what's next?"
"To get out of Dodge," Paulie said, "before the Chinese send someone to check on their garrison."
Chapter 13
She could hear the noise from the crowd gathering outside the town hall getting louder and angrier as the morning went on.
"You're gonna have to go out there, sooner or later," Skulls said as Bella looked out the window of her office. Immediately below her lay the canvas roofs of the market her father and daughter had set up, but there would be no trading until the crowd dispersed. "Make sure you're protected, mind," he added.
"And how would that look, my dear?" Bella said, as she felt the warmth of his hands on her shoulders. "If I go out there with a full security detail, doesn't that suggest I've lost control already?"
Skulls withdrew his hands and came to stand beside her. "Damn agitators. As if we don't have enough problems. It all started when we let the Lee Corporation help." The sarcastic emphasis on that final word said everything about what he thought of their involvement.
"I should never have agreed to let them supply us." That had been the thin end of the wedge. The next demand had been Lee Corp guards to secure the supplies. Perfectly reasonable on its own, but each concession strengthened the hand of the Lees at the expense of Elizabeth's autonomy.
"It wasn't just you. Every one of the council voted the same way. It was the chocolate that did it, I reckon. You can appeal to logic all you like, but if you want to tug on a person's heart, offer them a Hershey bar. Or a bottle of bourbon."
She gave a half-hearted chuckle and looked across at him. Though he insisted she use the name, at least in public, he wasn't Skulls to her anymore. He was Steve. Her Steve. Barely recognizable as the man who'd once been a highway bandit. But then, she found it hard to see herself in a mirror these days. She had lost weight, so there was that to count in her favor, but her hair was now more gray than brown because it seemed frivolous to spend time and effort finding the right shade of color and the idea of sitting down for a couple of hours while a hairdresser performed her magic was as tempting as it was unacceptable. Skulls had said he liked her fine as she was, but if she wanted a couple of hours on her butt—a very fine butt, he said—to make herself feel better then she should go right ahead, and he'd deal with anyone who complained.
Her predecessor, Mayor Kennedy, had felt no such compunction about modesty but, then, look at what happened to her. Kennedy was languishing in a police cell with around the clock protection, and that had been at Bella's insistence and against the will of many of the people who wanted to see her hanging from her own gallows. Bella had been to visit her several times, once the woman's bitterness and anger had abated enough for them to have a conversation, but she couldn't help wondering whether she might have been better off letting the people have their way. Having that snake in their midst might come back to bite them all, one day.
"Okay, I'll speak to them," Bella said, turning back to the window. She could see the placards from here:
Fair distribution!
You hoard. We become a horde!
Share and share alike.
Someone had leaked the size and contents list of the first shipments, but the euphoria that had greeted this soon turned to anger when it became obvious that these supplies were to be rationed. Of course, many people—perhaps most—understood and supported this approach, but, as is so often the case, they were drowned out by the minority who were driven by a desperate urge to find some normality in this changed world. And a few luxuries would, for as long as they lasted, help sustain that delusion.
To complicate matters, their introduction of the Lizzie Dollar had brought about its own problems since the council had decided to distribute at least some of the fresh food through the market which meant, inevitably, that some people got more than others. Everyone had what they needed, but not necessarily what they wanted.
A man stood on a box with his back to the closed market, barking his rhetoric at the crowd. She knew him as Ezekiel Crowe, though she doubted he'd been born with that name, and she'd first seen him after the Lee Corporation brought in the first supplies and their guards took up residence in the offices above the warehouse they'd been assigned. The connection was obvious to her and many others, but some simply didn't care. If the Lees provided food, how could they mean harm to Elizabeth? And she had no answer to that, though, as the company behind the implants that had killed nineteen out of twenty Americans, they'd hardly earned her trust. Until she understood their purpose here, it was hard to fight them.
"Ah, I see that our civic leader has finally seen fit to grace us with her presence," Crowe said as he saw her approach. He was an average-looking man in a dark suit that was only remarkable in that it was spotlessly clean. He wore a black fedora and a thin mustache sat partially hidden beneath a bulbous nose. He lo
oked like a gunslinger out of the classic Western movies.
Bella nodded as he got down from the wooden box. Skulls, Sheriff Moretti and two deputies flanked her, hands on their weapons.
"Why do you come among us with armed men?" Crowe called up from his position in the front row of the watching crowd. "You are perfectly safe in our presence. We are not violent."
"I suggest you shut up and let the mayor speak," Skulls said, fixing the man with a stare that was returned with interest.
Bella raised her hands and the crowd went quiet. "I'm here to answer your questions," she said, "but first, I have something to say."
She scanned the townsfolk looking for familiar faces. There were, perhaps, fifty or so people here, and she reckoned pretty much all of them had arrived in Elizabeth since she'd been mayor. Clearly, it was the newcomers, the ones the people of the town had gone out of their way to accommodate, who were the main malcontents.
"Some of you haven't been with us very long, and perhaps you don't know how very precious Elizabeth is. I traveled across Texas from east to west before heading north and ending up in this oasis. Do you know how rare it is to find a place where you know you will be fed tomorrow? Where you have protection without paying with your freedom?
“And yet Elizabeth's future depends on us all coming together, rationing our resources so we survive until our crops can be harvested. What we eat today cannot feed us tomorrow. What one person eats, cannot feed another. It is our duty, as the administrators of the community, to ensure its long-term survival. If we were to oversee a feast followed by a famine, we would be betraying you all. We are doing our best to ensure equitable and sustainable distribution and I call on you all to help us achieve that."
It wasn't a good speech, and she knew it. She'd said everything that she'd wanted to, but she was no politician so it fell on the watching crowd like a wet blanket. A couple of heads nodded and at least they didn't boo, but that was the best that could be said of it.
She was determined not to lose momentum, so she immediately followed up with an invitation to ask questions.
A hand went up. A heavyset man with a thick beard and wide-brimmed cotton hat waited for her to acknowledge him.
"Jed Brown, Madam Mayor," he said, respectfully. "And I'm sure grateful for this place. We was pretty bad off when we got here. Ten days on the road from south of Houston, fixin' to keep them TLX recruiters off our tail. 'Lizabeth sure was a fine sight."
Bella smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Brown, though I reckon there's a 'but' coming."
He returned the smile with a grin that was more gaps than teeth. "Well, I been here two weeks now and I ain't been assigned no workin' party, so I ain't got no money to spend in that there market. Now, it ain't for my benefit, mind, but we got kids with us and they're sufferin'."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Brown. I can see what you're saying, so I'm going to appoint a liaison officer who will handle issues like this. You can take your grievance to him or her and they will decide."
"Just what we need," Ezekiel Crowe said in his harsh, vulture-like voice. "Another government stooge to stand between the people and our masters."
An angry murmur rippled through the crowd, but Bella noticed that Jed Brown wasn't joining in. He was simply looking up at her as if pondering what she had said to him.
Another hand shot up. It was a woman this time, and she didn't wait to be acknowledged. "I'm Sue Flowers. I've been here a month and it just ain't fair that some people get more than others. There's a ton of food in that there warehouse and I want my share." She began chanting the words "I want my share" until the crowd had picked it up and Bella was forced to raise her hands and her voice.
"We can't just open up the doors to the warehouse and let everyone help themselves," she said. "We'd be out of food in days. It must be handled carefully."
"Handled by you?" Crowe called.
Bella locked eyes with him. She could sense his delight in causing this chaos. "Do you have a better idea?" she asked.
"Yes," he responded, and Bella knew she'd walked into a trap. "Let the people who brought in the supplies decide how they're handed out. They're impartial, so they won't favor long-term residents like you do. Everyone will get their share."
The cry of "I want my share" went up again, rising in volume as it circulated. Jed Brown shook his head sadly and walked away. A couple of others followed him, but most of the crowd stayed in place while Bella tried to get them to quieten down enough for her to speak again.
She failed. In the end, she was forced to get down from the wooden crate. As she walked away, head bowed, she heard Crowe calling after her, "We want our share! And we'll take it!"
"I want you to get as many officers together as you can," Bella said to Sheriff Moretti once they'd returned to the town hall. "We're going over to the warehouse to take it back from the Lee Corporation. They're behind all of this, I'd swear."
"What's their end game?" Moretti asked.
She shrugged. "Well, at the moment it looks as though they're trying to cause chaos. Maybe even bring the local government down."
"Why would they want to do that?"
Skulls said, "Aren't they the ones who designed the BonesWare implants?" he tapped his wrist where the monitor had once sat for emphasis. "They want chaos, though I can't imagine why."
"Whatever their motives, the longer we leave it to tackle them, the stronger they'll be. It may be too late already, but we're going to have to take that risk."
Moretti nodded. "I'm with you, Madam Mayor. We'll get together as big a posse as we can manage. Can you give me an hour? We can meet at Page's Park. It's out of sight of the warehouse, but easy to walk in from there."
When he'd gone, Bella turned to Skulls. "Steve, I want you to find Pop and Maddie, and I want you to get them out of harm's way."
"No chance. I'm comin' with you to the warehouse!"
"Sure you are. Once you've sent them packing. Tell them to wait for us at that campsite in Jericho. If they don't hear from us within a couple of days, they're to head north to D.C. like we originally planned. Got that? Send them on their way and come find me at Page's Park. You've got an hour."
"And what if Al won't buy it?"
Bella put her hand on his shoulder and leaned forward into a kiss. As she pulled away, she said, "Tell him he's got to mind Maddie. Her safety is in his hands. That should do the trick."
"Devious," Skulls said with a smile.
"Well, I am a politician now."
She was relieved to see Skulls drive into the parking lot. Moretti had rustled up a dozen men and women. Fewer than Bella had hoped for; she'd wanted to face the guards with overwhelming numbers and was having to settle for no more than a slight numerical advantage. Surprise would be everything.
There was no time to lose. Moretti led them across the park and she couldn't help noticing the yellows and whites of spring flowers pushing through, coming to life after a dormant winter.
It was late afternoon by the time the warehouse came into view. She'd instructed Moretti that there was to be no bloodshed if it could be avoided, but she knew she was kidding herself and, perhaps, offloading the blame on him if it all went badly wrong.
Two guards stood outside the entrance to the warehouse. The main shutter was down, and the only way in was a smaller door that was bathed in light from above. Skulls and one deputy snuck around the back of the neighboring unit and Bella watched, holding her breath, as they appeared suddenly from the darkness and overpowered the guards silently and efficiently.
"Quick now," Moretti called as he led them across the parking lot, Bella struggling to keep up. She felt a hand grabbing her elbow and turned to see Officer Suggs running alongside her.
"We can't have you being left behind, Madam Mayor," he said, as he gently supported her.
When she arrived, panting, at the glass and metal door, Moretti was peering inside.
They gathered around him as he whispered. "I can't see nothing inside. We'll go i
n fast and hard, take control as fast as possible. If we're quick enough, they won't know what's hit them."
Bella felt her stomach tighten. She gripped Skulls' arm and responded to his eager grin with a weak smile. Her bat-phone was ringing off the handle.
Moretti yanked the door open and they ran inside, Bella near the back. Ridiculously, it reminded her of getting into a particularly popular concert more than a special ops mission. She was conscious of being bumped as they were funneled through the narrow corridor.
A set of double doors led into the main warehouse. Without looking, Moretti pushed them open and ran inside.
"Someone find a light!" Moretti yelled.
This was odd. Why would it be dark? Unless there was no one in here. Perhaps it was all fake. Perhaps the Lee Corporation was stretched too thin to mount an effective guard and the two they'd already detained were the entire contingent.
She heard the flicking of a bank of buttons and, one by one, the lights came on. There, in the center of the warehouse, taking up no more than a tenth of the available space, was a row of pallets containing supplies. She'd seen three times that amount being unloaded into here the previous week. Where was the rest of it?
Bella followed Moretti and the others to the pallets and looked up and down them.
"What's going on?" Skulls said. "This makes no sense."
She froze as an amplified voice echoed around the warehouse. "Put down your weapons. All of you!"
Bella turned around to see a group approaching them from the door they'd just entered. Many in black fatigues, others in the brown of the sheriff's department, yet more in police uniforms. Traitors! It had been a setup. They outnumbered her force by three to one.
Bella didn't recognize the speaker, a woman in a black uniform with a megaphone. "I said drop your weapons!"
"Do it," Moretti said.
Betrayed: Book 5 in the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival series: (The Long Night - Book 5) Page 11