Paulie stepped back for a moment to lean against the wall and collect her thoughts. It was obviously not a pathogen since there was no way something could be released in New York and, less than two hours later, be killing people almost three thousand miles away in Washington. Unless there had been multiple releases.
"Do you think it's a terrorist attack?"
McGovern nodded. "Either that or a foreign government. Probably the Chinese or the Russians."
"What do we do?"
The Sheriff headed into the living room. "Carry out our duty. First things first."
He held out his hand to the old man in the chair. "Now then, Victor. What happened here?"
Paulie had gone out to check on the children and to take them some warm drinks. They were cold and frightened but, as is often the way with kids, holding up rather better than she was, at least on the surface.
"Tell me, Tamsin, where's daddy?"
The little girl puffed out her chest with pride. "He's in the army."
"Is he at the base in Seattle?"
"No, he's in Korea."
Paulie nodded encouragingly. "Do you have any other relatives nearby?"
"Grandma and Grandpa, they live in town."
What a relief. Paulie took their names and looked them up. Yes, she'd be able to drop the kids off with their grandparents on the way back to the station.
"Ramos!"
She spun around to see McGovern standing in the doorway gesturing at her. He had his police radio in his hand.
"Say that again, Johns."
Paulie had reached the porch and was standing by the Sheriff as the shrill voice of Johns spoke through the radio. "The phone's ringing off the hook, Sheriff. I wrote down six reports of people up and dying before I gave up and called you."
In the background, they could hear the phone going. "The mayor wants to speak to you—he says he's declaring a state of emergency and we're all to report here within the hour."
They left Victor to bury his wife—his tragedy being just one among a growing disaster gripping the country. Paulie got back into her car and headed back to town. She passed a few cars abandoned on the road, each no doubt telling their own story of sudden loss. By the time she reached the outskirts, there were more cars moving. It seemed as though the natural reaction of people in an emergency was to head for the hills, but the result was close to gridlock by the time she parked outside the address of the children's grandparents.
She knocked briskly on the door and prayed that they hadn't also fallen victim to whatever plague was sweeping the country. Mercifully, a half-asleep man in his sixties opened the door and, with hardly a word, Paulie ushered the kids inside. They would have to explain what had happened. As she turned to go she said, "Turn on the news."
By the time she arrived back at the station, the place was as fully occupied as she'd ever seen it, with deputies talking in hushed voices. McGovern had gotten there ahead of her and, as soon as he saw her arrive, he called them together.
"People, I have to start with more bad news on a terrible night. I found Deputy Johns dead at his post when I got here."
Immediately, voices were raised, and McGovern was forced to calm everyone down with a wave of his arms. "Pull yourselves together," he said in a voice that was low in volume but high in authority. "We are the law here and folks look to us for reassurance. The mayor has declared a state of emergency which means, for tonight at least, our job is to protect and secure the essential services—especially the hospital. They're overwhelmed already and if we don't get some crowd control in place, all hell's going to break loose. Tonight's going to be bad enough without any unnecessary deaths."
"Clansky has your assignments," he said, pointing at a deputy holding a piece of paper covered in scribbling, "and remember, you are all that stands between order and chaos. We are the best darned police department in the state and I want you to go out there and protect our people. God bless Ame…"
With a single cry, Sheriff McGovern fell like a shot bull.
Chapter 5
Bella got the kids out of the car as quickly as possible, then went around to the driver's door and opened it. She closed Todd's eyes and kissed his warm but unresponsive lips before shutting the door again. She felt the Bersa moving against her hip and handed the flashlight to a tearful Maddie.
"What happened to Uncle Todd?"
Bella pulled her children into a hug and they stood in the darkness sobbing together. As she relaxed a little, Bella felt the tell-tale tightness of an oncoming migraine. Perfect. She searched her pockets, but she had no meds on her and, pretty soon, she was going to be good for nothing.
For the first time, she gazed around at where they'd ended up. The car had come off the highway and onto a long stretch of grass, somehow missing the trees lining the road. A brick wall extended to one side of them and beyond it lay a squat white building, gently lit by spotlights that had seen better days.
"Looks like a church," she said.
"It's the Methodists," Jake responded. "This guy at school, Sam, he goes there. Don't you remember, he was in a play there and I went to see it? His dad called to get your permission."
Bella's foggy mind managed to dredge the memory out of the detritus. She'd been surprised and touched by the man's call, but she'd reassured him that she had no objection to her Jewish son entering a Methodist chapel. At that point, she'd have settled for her son developing any religious outlook. She gave a grim chuckle at what now felt like the triviality of yesterday's life.
"Let's see if there's anyone there," she said. "I need some Advil, fast."
They walked along the wall as Maddie guided their way with the flashlight. Jake took his mother's arm. "What's going on, Mom? What's killing people?"
"I don't know, honey. All I'm thinking about right now is finding some meds and then somehow getting to Grandpa's."
"Are we going to die?" he asked, the words catching in his throat.
Bella stopped and faced her son. "Now you listen to me, Jacob Masters. If anyone or anything wants to harm you, it'll have to come through me first. D'you hear me?"
He gave a tearful nod as Bella fought to keep her fear under control. She was frightened for her own sake and terrified for theirs.
"Mom, the gate's here," Maddie called.
With a brief smile, Bella pulled on Jake's arm. "Come on now, Jake. You're the man of the house now."
"Till dad gets here," Jake responded.
"Till dad gets here."
Arm in arm, they walked into the churchyard.
The double wooden doors were unlocked, and she squeezed her eyes shut at the blaze of light that erupted from within as she pushed them open. The fogginess in her mind was becoming more defined; she knew she only had a little time before it coalesced into a single point of vice-like pain, so she pushed her way inside and gently opened her eyes.
It wasn't that bright, really, except compared to the darkness outside. Dust tickled the back of her throat and the air had a damp taste to it. Row upon row of folding seats faced a raised platform at the front. This wasn't Bella's first time inside a church of this sort, but it had been a while and she was much more used to the formality and traditional architecture of temple.
"Is there anyone here?" she called, wincing as her voice bounced around the open space. There was no answer, so they walked along the aisle toward the platform looking for access to the rooms beyond where, with any luck, they'd find a first aid kit. They found a door behind a partition wall that hid a stack of music stands and Bella didn't hesitate before pushing inside. This wasn't a time for the basic courtesies.
The door opened onto a short passageway, also lit, and she found herself wondering why the place was so well illuminated at this time of the night. They couldn't be expecting people to gather here, could they? Or perhaps they'd known what was coming and were prepared.
A kettle sat on the counter of a small kitchen. It was lukewarm, and next to it a mug sat with instant coffee and sugar
mixed at the bottom. She opened the doors of the kitchen cabinet. "Got it!" she said, before pulling down a green box marked with a cross. Among all the sealed packets of bandages, pins and salves was a half-empty box of Advil. "Thank God." Bella popped two pills into her mouth and swallowed.
"Let's go," she said, though she wasn't sure where they'd be going to. There was no way she would get back into the car they'd driven here, no way she could face dealing with Todd's body. She had some vague plan to flag down a passing car, but that all depended on her mind clearing.
Maddie led the way, but she accidentally turned in the wrong direction. Before Bella could call out and stop her, she'd screamed and run back into her mother's arms. "He's dead!"
Gritting her teeth, Bella left the two of them there in the hallway outside the kitchen and stepped through the open door. A brass plate was mounted on the outside. Rev A Ferguson. She found him slumped over his desk and she didn't have to look closer to see that he was dead. She was just turning to go when she saw the bunch of keys sitting on the desk beside his claw-like left hand. Keeping as far away from the body as she could manage, she swept them up. As she straightened, she caught sight of his face and the ice-blue eyes that looked right through her at whatever lay beyond.
She hurried out of the office. "Come on," she said, "we need to find the car these keys belong to."
"Mom! You can't just up and steal a car!" Maddie hissed as they made their way around the back of the church building toward the station wagon parked beneath a light.
Bella pulled out the chunky key and turned it in the lock. "Grandpa is on his own and waiting for us to go pick him up. I'm all ears, if you can think of another way to get to him," in time, she thought, "but otherwise, don't go all Ten Commandments on me, okay?"
She slid into the driver's seat. Good grief, how old was this car? And it was a manual transmission. Marvelous. "Get in and buckle up."
Jake jumped in the front and, with a scowl, Maddie got into the back, as Bella turned the ignition. After a moment's protest, the engine juddered into life. "And it's almost out of gas," Bella said.
With a crunch, she put the car into reverse and kangarooed her way backwards far enough to allow her to turn and head for the driveway gate.
"Sorry," she said as it stalled at the entrance. The 146 was quiet, so it was easy enough to get back onto it. It was now 3 a.m., and she'd not been out this late since her teenage years, so she couldn't be sure, but it certainly felt eerie.
About a hundred yards up the road, she turned into an Exxon station. Just as she was coming off the road, she noticed the people grouped around the island and almost went straight back onto the 146 again, but the red gas light was flashing and her Pops was waiting, so she pulled in to a pump.
As soon as she got out, she could hear them talking. One or two strident voices were being placated by the others.
She opened the flap, checked the fuel type and began pumping gas. She'd never noticed how slow these things were until now, when all she wanted to do was jump back in the car and drive off.
Twenty dollars—that would be more than enough to get to the care home, back to her house and then, if she could arrange it, to go back to the church. She pulled a twenty from her purse and walked over to the attendant's window.
"I'm sayin' it's an emergency," one man said to another as she made her way through.
"Hey lady."
She felt him touch her shoulder as she waited for the harassed young woman behind the window.
"News says folk dyin' all over. I'm fixin' to get some supplies, but this here girl won't open up."
"You leave her alone, Earl," said a middle-aged woman of generous proportions as she took his arm. "She got no part in this."
Earl pushed away from the woman. "I'm only askin' her opinion. Seems to me she could settle the argument for us. So, whaddaya say, lady?"
Bella hated being surrounded by strangers—at least half a dozen were gathered around her now and the air was laden with the odor of cheap liquor—but she tried not to show how terrified she was. "It says the shop's open between 8 in the morning and 10 in the evening," she said. "Why don't you come back later?"
"Cos I ain't comin' back to find there's nuttin' left. We's here now and I'm agonna take it afore they do."
He raised a baseball bat in one hand and a large handgun in the other. "Now, open up, missy, or I'll open it for yeh."
Bella forced her way to the front of the crowd. She tossed her twenty-dollar bill under the window. "Let them in, for heaven’s sake."
The girl was barely older than Maddie, but with blonde hair and braces. She looked terrified. Behind her Earl was whipping up the little group and drowning out the dissenting voices.
"I can't, Mr. Patel will kill me! I've called the police."
"Listen to me," Bella shouted over the wall of noise behind her. "You've got to look after your own safety first. The police aren't coming. Unlock the door and run for it, d'you hear me?"
Bella ducked as a shot rang out. She spun around to see Earl pointing his gun up into the sky. The girl in the island snapped out of her indecision and disappeared from view just as another voice called out. "Hey lookie here, this one's purty."
A man was standing beside her car, looking through the window. Foolishly, Maddie had opened it so she could see what was going on. The man was swaying and in one hand he held a drained half-bottle of whisky. A knife flashed in the other.
Maddie screamed as the man's arm disappeared into the car. Jake leaped out from the front seat and threw himself on the attacker's back as, behind her, a cheer went up that faded away as the mob ran into the little shop. The man swung around. He had long dark hair tied into a ponytail and wore a denim jacket with the sleeves cut away to reveal muscled arms. He grabbed Jake by the throat and raised his knife just as Maddie appeared at the window and pulled down on his hair. With a yell, he threw Jake away, and the knife swept through the air toward the car.
Bella pressed the barrel of her gun to the man's temple and, without hesitating, fired once. He fell like a stone.
"Nobody hurts my kids!" she screamed. "Do you hear me? Nobody!" She stood over the dead man, pointing her gun downwards as if covering in case he tried to get up.
"Mom!" Maddie cried. "Get back in the car!"
"She killed Abe!"
Bella looked back to see the middle-aged woman, who she'd thought was a peacemaker, standing framed in the entrance of the ransacked mini-mart.
"Mom!" Jake pulled on her arm.
"Are you okay?"
"Get in the car!"
The mob was moving, as one, toward the car. Bella ran for it and had just reached the driver's seat when the first couple of shots rang out. They went wide, aided, no doubt, by the inebriated state of the shooters. She turned the ignition, slammed the shift and put her foot down before remembering to disengage the handbrake. With a deafening sound like waves on a pebble beach, the window on Maddie's side smashed as the car bucked out of the gas station and onto the highway.
"Are you okay?" Bella screamed, looking over her shoulder.
"Yes."
As she glanced backwards, she could see Maddie sitting up and brushing the fragments of glass from her knees.
"Jake?"
"I'm alright," he responded, though his voice betrayed just how much he was not okay. "But you can slow down, now. They're not coming after us."
She raised her foot from the gas pedal and relaxed a little. As she did so, her migraine returned in full force and it was all she could do to keep them on the road as they made their way along the 146 toward Mont Belvieu and her father's care home.
"Stop the car, Mom."
Bella felt Maddie's hand on her shoulder. "I can drive."
"You don't have a license," Bella mumbled. But she allowed herself to be helped into the back seat where she sat among the glass as her daughter pulled the car back onto the highway.
When she woke up and opened her eyes, they were outside Bayou View Ret
irement Apartments.
"Mom, are you okay? Should I go in, and get Pop?"
"What? No. I'll go." The truth was, she wasn't okay. Her head felt as though it was being squeezed between hammer and anvil, but she couldn't let either of her children see what was probably inside the home. She opened the door and managed to get herself upright without falling over.
"You wait here," Bella said. Tears had formed in Jake's eyes and his skin was white with shock.
"You shot a man," he said, his voice shaking.
Bella wiped his face tenderly. "No one hurts my kids, Jake. I had no time to think. Look, let's get Pops home and we can talk it through. Right now, though, I need you to keep it together. Hide here till I get back."
"Be quick," Maddie said.
"I will."
She took the flashlight and, with a final glance at the children as they hunkered down, headed unsteadily toward the home. It was actually a complex of independent apartments that shared connecting corridors and yards, and, on a normal day, it was a pretty nice place to be. People came here to have a good time in their autumn years, not to wait for the Grim Reaper. Well, so much for that plan.
The beam of the flashlight illuminated the front door. As her heart thumped in her chest, she stepped inside.
Chapter 6
Bella moved nervously into the entrance lobby of Bayou View Retirement Apartments. She'd expected to find a war zone inside, given what her father had said, but it looked perfectly normal. A polished counter stood to her right, but most of the space had been given over to groups of easy chairs and couches, with potted plants dotted around. She imagined families gathered together here in happier times.
She rubbed her temples and headed for the door to the west wing. Her dad had insisted on having an apartment in that block, so he could have it as part of his address. It cost him extra, but money wasn't something Al Berkovich paid much heed to, though he'd managed to accumulate plenty during his life. He was one of those people who seemed to magnetically attract it. Always in the right place at the right time. Until tonight.
The Long Night Box Set Page 5