The Long Night Box Set

by Kevin Partner

  Paulie touched Solly's arm. "We've gotta get out of here," she said. "Solly! Listen to me. We've got to go!"

  "What about Bobby?"

  She dragged him to his feet. "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do and he wouldn't thank us for wasting his sacrifice by being caught."

  Solly nodded wretchedly. "We'd better take the Reaper with us."

  "What?"

  "We might be able to learn something from it," he said. "Scott can help. These things have to be stopped."

  "Come on then."

  They reached the door. Solly had the cylinder under one arm and was helping Paulie carry the inert drone in the other. He looked back at the wrecked kitchen and the ruined remains of his friend. For a moment, despair threatened to overcome him. Bobby was dead, Ross was probably dead. Khaled, their main link to the Lee Corporation, had betrayed them and died. And Alison was gone. What was the point?

  "You have to get back to Janice," Paulie said, as if reading his mind. "Come on."

  They found the car that had been left for Khaled. It had a full tank of fuel and on the front seat was a map with destinations in New York and DC.

  There was also a newspaper, left there, presumably, by one of the guards. It was thin and looked as though it had been photocopied rather than printed. Paulie took the driver's seat as Solly looked at it, half dazed.

  "So, where do we go from here?" Paulie asked. "Come on, we don't have time to read the paper."

  She snatched it out of his hands. "The New Washington Post?" she said as her eyes scanned down the front page which was dominated by a large image of a woman waving to a crowd. Beside her stood a child.

  "Oh my God," Paulie gasped. "Luna."

  Chapter 13

  "I can see him, Christine," Luna said, pointing out of the window of her bedroom in the White House. "He's out there on the grass."

  President Blaise looked out over the lawn. "He can't be there, Luna. He'd have been caught by security before he got that close."

  "I know it's him. You said you'd fetch him, and you didn't. You lied."

  Blaise sighed. "We've been over this, Luna. Sometimes things just don't work out as we'd like."

  "But you're the president!"

  "Oh, my dear," Blaise said, sitting herself down in the window seat with her back to the outside. "Yes, that's my title, but that doesn't mean I can do what I like."

  Luna spun round to plop down beside her. "Then what's the point in being president?"

  "Luna, sometimes as adults we have to do the best with the situation we find ourselves in."

  "I wish you wouldn't talk to me like I'm a kid."

  Christine put her arm around Luna's shoulder and squeezed. "But you are a child, my dear."

  "Maybe, but that doesn't mean you should lie to me. I told you everything I knew, like you asked."

  Christine got up and walked across the pink room to the door. "You're right. I'm sorry, Luna. Now, it's time to get dressed. The car will be here in an hour."

  She shut the door and walked along the plush carpeted corridor toward the stairs to the Oval Office. Luna certainly had proven a mine of information—Christine had learned more from her about the state of the country than from all her advisers. It would, of course, have been even more useful if she'd been able to speak to the man she'd traveled with, but it would have been difficult to get him into the White House without Travers, her Chief of Staff and stooge of the Lee Corporation, knowing. And he certainly wouldn't have allowed it.

  She'd been shocked by Luna's story. If she was to be believed, she'd survived a hostile takeover of the town she'd lived in before narrowly escaping the Lee Corporation in Seattle. That had been the worst news. They were establishing a power base on the West Coast to mirror the one in New York. Their generous offer to provide food and supplies to DC had come at the price of hamstringing the fledgling administration. No decisions could be made without their approval and half her staff were Lee appointees. Her only ally was General Bevan, the grizzled veteran who headed up the Joint Chiefs of Staff and whose grip on the military left no room for negotiation with Lee Corp. For now, for all their leverage, the Lees could not oppose him. But the time could be coming. He knew of the risk and was doing all he could to organize the Army into an effective fighting force before the inevitable confrontation happened. But she'd heard rumors of a super-weapon in development, some sort of autonomous, heavily armored drone that might nullify the military's numerical advantage, such as it was. Fully trained service personnel were very rare, as it seemed that the death rate among them was even higher than in the general population. So, Bevan was forced to rebuild his Army from raw recruits and veterans, and, at the moment, it was only fit for internal security. Heaven forbid it met a trained military.

  Christine was less certain about the rest of Luna's story, especially her account of the lion attack. I mean, how likely was that? But there was no doubt she and her guardian, this Marvin who was apparently haunting the gardens of the White House, had made their way across the continental United States by car hopping and walking. It was quite an achievement.

  But what to do with Luna? It might seem an insignificant problem given everything else she had to contend with, but it ate away at Christine. She had never had children of her own, and she'd lost every one of her nieces and nephews on the Long Night. There was no doubt she was displacing her grief by having Luna here and not returning her to Marvin's care, but then surely the girl was better off here than in a refugee center. She might be, effectively, imprisoned here, but it was at least a gilded cage. The same cage Christine herself shared.

  "Hello Joel," she said, relieved that it was her trusted aide who was waiting for her at the door of the Oval Office and not Travers.

  "Good morning, Madam President," he replied as he shadowed her to the desk. "Your morning meetings…"

  Blaise held up her hand to stop him. "Just give me a minute, Joel. Make me a coffee, will you?"

  "Of course, Madam President. I'll be back presently," he said, before spinning on his heels and heading out.

  Yes, she needed just a few more moments of peace to allow her thoughts to settle. Luna's arrival, her bravery and her loyalty to her friend had been like the pebble that starts the rock fall. If a little girl could make her way across the country fueled purely by a determination to see her mother again, surely she, Christine Blaise, President of the United States, could emulate that and, for the first time since the Lee Corporation walked into this office, she could lead rather than follow. It was time for her to look outward and to switch perspective from merely dealing with today's emergencies to preparing for the recovery and reconstruction of her country. But before that could happen she had to face the Lees and, for the sake of her conscience, Luna had to be a long way away before that happened.

  Joel Hendrix entered and placed the tray on the desk.

  "Thank you, Joel. I want you to do something for me, but it must be entirely voluntary. This is not an order, do you understand?"

  Hendrix's eyebrows almost disappeared behind his hairline, but he recovered quickly. "If you ask me to do something, Madam President, I will consider it an order."

  She smiled at him. "There's someone I'd like you to find."

  Marvin hunkered down into the bush and pulled out a bag of chips. He was pretty certain he'd seen Luna at the window, and he was fairly sure she'd seen him. His eyesight wasn't what it had once been and he'd had to move quickly when he saw the woman appear alongside Luna and look in his direction, so he was racked with doubt as he leaned against the stubbly leaves and tried to sate his hunger on stale savories.

  He couldn't stay here much longer. He'd managed to stay hidden for three days so far, but this was the last of his food and he had no water. And, anyway, eventually one of the guards would stumble over him, even if entirely accidentally.

  "Marvin Tucker?"

  Tucker dropped the chip bag and fumbled for his handgun before sitting as still as he could manage.

  "M
r. Tucker? Please don't shoot, I am here to help," the voice said from somewhere behind the bush. "I work for the president. She has sent me to fetch you."

  Marvin raised himself as slowly and silently as he could manage. He caught sight of the small young man in a dark suit and pale raincoat walking toward him, nervously scanning the bushes. He didn't appear to be armed.

  "Are you here, Mr. Tucker?"

  "I'm here. What do you want?" Marvin said, sighting down the barrel as the man registered his presence and froze.

  "Don't shoot! Please!"

  Marvin got onto his knees so he could see over the hedge and gestured for the man to come closer.

  "I am Joel Hendrix, President Blaise's Chief of Staff," he said as he rounded the bush and squatted down next to Tucker.

  "Where's Luna?"

  "She's in the residence."

  "Why did the president take her?"

  "To learn what's going on in the outside world."

  Marvin snorted derisively. "Then why didn't she ask an adult? I could'a told her a lot more than the kid."

  "She wouldn't have gotten away with it. They'd have known."

  "What are you talkin' about? Who would've known what?"

  Hendrix shrugged. "We haven't got time, we need to get inside. All you need to know is that the Lee Corporation's got its claws into the government and they want to keep the president on a short leash."

  Marvin cursed. "Them again? Doesn't seem we can nowhere without runnin' across them devils. I don't figure they'll rest until they've got the whole country under their boot."

  "Well, the president is going to resist them, I'm sure, but she wants Luna out of the way when she does."

  "Why?"

  Hendrix gave a sad smile. "Because she loves her, Mr. Tucker. Luna has been the catalyst in the White House."

  "Yeah, she has that effect on folk," Tucker said, chuckling. "Well, what d'you want me to do?"

  "I'll take you into the White House, then it's up to you to get Luna out of here. Take her back west. Take her far away."

  "How can you get into the White House without the Lees catching on?"

  "Mr. Tucker, I may be outnumbered, but I've worked here for five years. There's parts of the old place that the Lee stooges have no idea exist. I can get you in, but you'll have to get her out."

  Hendrix had gone ahead, doing his best to walk normally across the lawn as if he'd just gone for a stroll. Marvin watched him as he crossed South Lawn Road and headed for the West Wing. At his signal, Marvin darted in his direction.

  "Marvin!"

  He froze as he stepped onto the asphalt and then slowly turned his head to see a head peering around the corner of a small white garden building beneath the canopy of a tree. He couldn't make out who it was. All he could see were hands frantically gesturing at him. Who in DC knew his name?

  He made his decision and ran toward the hands, ignoring the gesticulations of a panicking Hendrix.

  "Sheriff!"

  It was her. Sheriff Paulie Ramos. Here, on the White House lawn. She threw herself at him and he saw that a man he didn't recognize stood behind her looking as surprised as he was.

  "Where is she?" Paulie said, pulling back from the embrace.

  "She's inside," Tucker said. "I was just going to get her. The president's lettin' her go. She's gonna take on the Lees and wants the kid out of the way when she does it. I reckon she's taken a shine to her. At least, that's what that fella over there who's waving at us says. He works for her." The words tumbled out in his relief at finally being able to share the burden of responsibility for Luna Ramos.

  "Say, how did you know to come here?" Tucker asked.

  "It was Dany," Paulie said, a smile flickering across her face. "We were walking through the market and she must've seen me and started barking. The woman who had her told me you've left the dog with her while you went on some mission at the White House."

  "We need to speak to the president," the man behind said.

  "Who're you?"

  "This is Solly Masters. He's on our side," Paulie said. "Solly, this is Marvin Tucker, the man who's kept my Luna safe."

  Tucker shook hands, and then gave a shy smile. "She kept me going as much as the other way around, Sheriff. She's one of a kind, that girl. Now come on before my new friend over there has a seizure."

  They followed the path Hendrix had indicated that would give them the best chance of making it to where he stood without being spotted by anyone in the White House. The place was only lightly staffed compared to the days before the Long Night, but there were still many eyes to see them, even though the president had called a meeting that would tie up most of the Lee Corporation infiltrators.

  Hendrix had not been pleased to find that he now had to sneak three people into the White House, but he was in too deep to refuse. They passed through a service entrance at the rear of the West Wing and jogged along dark corridors until they reached a shut door.

  "Wait here," he said. "I'll bring her down."

  "We need to speak to the president," Solly said.

  "Impossible. She's taking a big enough risk as it is, I won't ask her to put herself in danger by sneaking down here."

  Solly grabbed his arm. "Listen, friend, this is bigger than her. This might be our one opportunity to give her critical information. You said she's going to resist the Lees, well she needs to hear what we have to say if she's to have any chance of success."

  Hendrix paused for a moment, as if trying to read Solly's thoughts and intentions. Finally, he nodded. "I'll ask her. I can't promise anything. She's the president, not me."

  Twenty minutes later, the door opened again, and Hendrix swept in, holding the door open. There stood the President of the United States and, holding her hand, was Luna.

  "Mommy!" she cried.

  "Shhhh!" hissed Hendrix as Paulie and Luna hugged each other, spinning around, barely able to control their sobs.

  Luna pulled herself away and stepped into Marvin's embrace. "Marvin, you came for me. You said you would."

  "Course I did, kid. I needed someone to tell me what to do."

  Solly held his hand out. "Madam President, my name's Solly Masters."

  Hendrix pulled the door closed as she moved inside.

  "And you have something to tell me, I believe."

  "Only if you're serious about resisting the Lee Corporation."

  "Oh, I'm serious, Mr. Masters. Their blackmail has to end or there can be no hope of restoring the country."

  "Then we have much to discuss."

  Solly compressed all he'd learned into as concise a form as he could, but still it took ten minutes and, by that time, Hendrix was practically jumping up and down in anxiety.

  "Seems as though my first act should be to contact Colonel McBride at Wright-Patterson, we're going to need his help. I'll ask General Bevan…"

  At this, the door was pushed open and Travers stood there, handgun leveled. Behind him lurked another two figures in black combat suits. "Madam President, I am placing you under arrest."

  "For what?" Blaise said.

  "Conspiring with our enemies. We have been monitoring the lawn, Madam President, and we know of the efforts of your subordinate to avoid proper channels. You will be confined until a trial can be convened."

  "Enemies? Enemies of who?"

  Travers shrugged. "Those that seek to oppose the reimposition of order."

  "You mean enemies of the Lee Corporation," Solly said.

  "It makes no difference. Federal Government, Lee Corporation, it's all the same thing. Now come—an inquiry awaits you, Madam President. For the others, I suspect a brief military tribunal and a firing squad."

  "No!" Luna cried. "Don't hurt my mommy!"

  "Your mommy is a traitor, little girl. And didn't she tell you never to get into a stranger's car? This is what happens to children who disobey the rules."

  Blaise drew herself up to her full, though still diminutive, height. "Let me be clear, Mr. Travers. Are you effectiv
ely taking over the federal government?"

  Travers's smile spread slowly across his face. "I suppose I am, Ms. Blaise, but that will be a decision for Administrator Chen. She will decide who the next president will be."

  "General, have you heard enough?" Blaise said, raising her voice slightly.

  "Quite enough, Madam President."

  Travers and his guards spun around. Behind him loomed General Bevan, his pistol leveled at Travers. Alongside him stood four figures in Army fatigues with drawn weapons.

  "Mr. Travers, you and your entire staff are now under arrest for subversion," Blaise said.

  "How dare you defy us? Do you know what you've done?"

  She nodded. "I believe I've declared war on the Lee Corporation, Mr. Travers."

  Chapter 14

  After the confrontation in the White House, Solly, Paulie, Luna and Tucker had spent an hour with the president giving her every bit of information they could about the Lee Corporation and the state of things across the continent. However, Solly hadn't told President Blaise that he had the remains of the drone in the trunk of the car—he was desperate for Scott Lee to be able to dismantle it before they went ahead with their attack on the fabrication plant in New York.

  They knew they had very little time before the Lees reacted to the president's action and she needed to prepare the defense with General Bevan, so they took their leave and, stopping only to retrieve Dany from her temporary carer in the market, they made their way out of the city.

  But they had one errand before they could head back to the farmhouse, and so they rolled up to the little jetty with the cottage where Bobby had died. Solly knew they didn't have time for this, but nevertheless it had to be done. Had Bobby not tackled the drone, neither he nor Paulie would have survived and, in any case, Solly had gotten close to the man in the brief time they'd known each other. Integrity takes many forms, and Bobby had it in spades.