"Why is it so important to them?" Maddie asked, her warm hands on his arm.
Ross shrugged. "Honestly, I dunno. Solly and Scott Lee talked…"
"Scott Lee? Isn't that Annabel…"
"Annabel Lee's husband? Yep. And no, he didn't die that night. It was fake. We need to get Alison back to him—he built her, he knows how to use her."
Al shook his head. "We can't go nowhere. We were told to wait here. This is where Solly and my daughter expect us to be."
"We haven't got a choice," Ross said, frustrated as they waited like sitting ducks. "If they find us here, they'll kill the three of us and take Alison. That'll be it for everyone."
"What's that?" Maddie gasped.
The roar of a diesel engine emerged from the trees in the direction of the RV park entrance.
Maddie went to move, but Ross grabbed her arm. "That's Dad!"
"It might not be," he said. "Here, take the cylinder and find somewhere you can see what happens without being seen. If it's men in black uniforms, then run and hide until Solly gets back. Go! You can run a lot faster than me."
They locked eyes for a moment, and Maddie reluctantly took the cylinder. She reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek. "You remind me of Luke," she said.
Ross watched her run off, wondering at the sudden, overwhelming jealousy he felt as she disappeared into the trees.
He and Al moved back to the van, and the old man pulled out a shotgun from beneath the passenger seat.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ross asked as he leaned on the open driver's door. "If it's Lee Corp, they'll be heavily armed."
Al gave a dismissive grunt. "Maybe they will, but I ain't shmendrik enough to face them without a weapon in my hand."
Seconds later, a black SUV powered around a bend in the country track and skidded to a halt blocking the RV's exit. Doors swung open and three black uniformed figures jumped out of the SUV, taking cover while they brought their assault rifles to bear.
Al swept his shotgun from side to side and Ross, who'd drawn his Glock, was sheltering behind the open door.
One of the attackers called out from behind a car door. "Put down your weapons and show yourself."
"No way!" Al called. "I don't hand over my weapons to bandits."
"We are official law enforcement officers."
Al managed to conjure up a convincing laugh. "Right, and I'm the last king of Egypt. No, if you want to talk to us, put down your weapon and we'll talk. Your goons can stay where they are."
After a few moments of silence as the sounds of the forest reimposed themselves, the voice said, "Agreed. I am standing up now."
The figure rose, hands held high, and walked slowly out from behind the car door before approaching Al. Ross could see the old man as he stood on the other side of the cab. He didn't drop his guard.
"Now, what is it you want?"
"We are looking for a device that was recently activated here. Do you have it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't move!" Ross called. One of the other black uniformed figures had made to come out from behind the cover of a rear door. It froze.
"Tell your boys to stay where they are," Al said.
The leader shrugged. "Hand the device over and we will leave you in peace. Otherwise, we will be forced to search the area."
"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Drop your weapons!" the voice came from the right.
"Do it, or we shoot!" another voice from the left.
Al shot a poisonous glance at the triumphant leader and looked to where the muzzle of a rifle was pointing at him. Ross could see its twin on the other side. He dropped his handgun and Al followed suit with a muttered curse. At a gesture from the gunman, Ross limped around to stand unsteadily beside Al, head bowed.
The two figures hiding behind the car doors ran out as their colleagues closed in from the trees. It had been nicely done—the leader had kept them talking for long enough to allow his soldiers to get into position
Four of them ransacked the RV while their leader watched Al and Ross. "You could make this a lot easier if you told us where it was," he said, lazily. He was a tall young man of African appearance and possessed a relaxed confidence that bordered on arrogance.
Al simply shrugged, and Ross ignored the man entirely.
One of the searchers descended the steps of the RV and said, "No sign of it, Lieutenant."
In a single, smooth motion, the officer drew a handgun from behind his back and forced it against Ross' temple. "We do not have time for this," he said, his accent suddenly thick. "Tell me where it is or the boy dies!"
"I don't know!" Al cried.
"Liar!" The lieutenant swung out with his free arm and caught Al on the jaw. The old man fell to the ground.
"Here! I've got it. Don't shoot!"
Ross forced his head around to see Maddie stagger out of the bushes with the cylinder held high in one hand. The other hand contained a pistol that she pointed directly at Alison. "Back off, or I shoot it!"
The lieutenant stepped back, his eyes widening in shock and fear. "Do not destroy it!" he called. "Back away," he hissed to the man on the steps.
"You must hand it over," he said, as Maddie got closer. "We will not leave without it."
"Get back in the car, and I'll leave it on the track," Maddie said.
Ross marveled to hear how calm she was, facing down half a dozen armed figures, though he couldn't imagine what her plan was. At best, the Lee Corp would have the cylinder and at worst, they'd shoot the three of them as soon as they had it.
She turned to Ross as she drew level with him and Al. "You get into the RV and start the engine. If they open fire, ram them."
"Are you crazy?" Ross hissed. "They'll shoot you."
"Do it!" she snapped. "Get Pop inside, now!"
Ross did as he was told, if only because it felt as though he had no choice.
Slowly, her eyes on the SUV, Maddie knelt and placed the cylinder a few feet from its hood. She stood and stepped slowly backwards, watching as the lieutenant opened the car door and, sidearm aimed at her, bent down to pick Alison up.
"No!" Ross called. He brought his Glock up and felled the lieutenant before he could respond. "Run!"
Maddie sprinted back to where the cylinder lay, grabbed it and then ran towards the RV as figures jumped from the car, raising rifles as they came. She jumped inside. "Idiot! Go!"
Ross had already started up the engine, so he pushed the shift to drive and stabbed his good leg down on the gas. The windshield exploded in a hail of shattered glass and Ross cried out as something tore into his ear. They had no chance. The next volley would kill them both.
He saw them raise their rifles as the RV careened towards them and then, quite suddenly, the SUV exploded and he swerved to one side as a fireball rolled out of the spasming vehicle. There, behind the wrecked SUV, stood another military vehicle and from it came three running figures. And one of them was Solly.
Chapter 19
Solly snoozed as the countryside rushed by, finally giving in to the exhaustion that had haunted him for days. Every now and again, he'd be awoken by a sudden change of direction or the thump of the Humvee's wheels as they ran over a piece of stray debris, but he always fell asleep again, content for the first time in months.
Ross was in the back of the Humvee with Maddie sitting alongside him, while Bella, Al and Steve followed them in a rusty station wagon they'd found on the outskirts of Memphis. The windshield of the RV had been smashed to pieces and its bodywork riddled with bullet holes, so they'd transferred their fuel into the station wagon and loaded as many of their possessions as they could fit into its trunk before beginning their journey north again.
They were heading for the farmhouse. When he, Viv, Bella and Steve had returned to the camping site to find Al and the others under attack, he'd assumed they were facing bandits. He'd been stunned and horrified to learn that the Lee Corpo
ration had found them, and even more amazed to discover that Al had fixed Alison—though he couldn't understand why Scott Lee had disabled the power cell. And it could only have been him.
Bella had told Solly more about Jake joining the TLX military on their short journey from Elizabeth, but a full reunion had to wait until they'd gotten far enough away that they could hole up for the night in some safety. And what a long night that had been. Solly heard Bella's brief account of the months since the world had been turned upside down and he barely recognized the woman she'd become.
For a couple of decades, they had been a partnership—Solly, the unambitious nerd, the quiet man in the corner at parties and family events, and Bella, the extroverted decision maker, the driving force. The chaos of the last months had been a crucible for them both, but whereas Bella had blossomed into a better, stronger, faster version of her existing personality, Solly had transformed entirely. At least, that was what she'd told him, and he was forced to agree. He'd looked back at the man sitting in a bar in Manhattan fuming over his string of bad luck and didn't see himself, the Solly of today, at all.
So now Solly sat as Viv led them north, his mind exhausted, but his soul churning. He'd been in love only weeks ago and, in falling for Janice, he'd discovered what it truly meant to find "the one." He'd never felt for Bella the way he'd loved Janice. He had loved Bella, but it was an attachment that had grown out of immaturity and insecurity and had morphed into something approaching dependence until she packed him off to New York like an adult child who's stayed in the family home for too long.
He had loved her, though, and he still did. He'd experienced a flash of jealousy when he saw how she was with Steve, or "Skulls" as he was known to everyone but her. He seemed to be everything Solly was not—a big, bald, powerful man with a yellow beard and a tattoo on his head. He was certainly a contrast to the old Solly, but perhaps not so much to Solomon Masters version 2.0. But, once he'd gotten over the high emotion of the rescue and the hours that followed as they'd escaped from Elizabeth and returned to Maddie, Ross and Al, he'd discovered that this initial reaction had settled down into relief tinged with sadness. He'd watched Bella with her new man, and they had a connection Solly had never experienced with her.
He loved her, but not as a wife. The loss of Janice was still far too raw to allow him to make any new emotional connections of that sort, or to rekindle an old one.
He was awake now, watching the countryside change into an endless procession of single-story commercial units, restaurants and gas stations. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Vivian showed no signs of tiredness. She sat, erect and alert, guiding them safely along the highway. The roads were clear, except for the occasional group of people walking northeast towards, presumably DC. He wondered what was happening there. Had the Lee Corporation taken over yet, or was President Blaise still resisting them?
His mind began to whir again as it tried to desperately assemble all the disparate elements into some sort of cohesive whole. Bella had told him how the TLX had taken control in the South, and of how it was, itself, now under attack. The involvement of North Korean and, perhaps, Chinese, forces had floored him. As if they didn't have enough on their plate dealing with the Lees without a superpower and their medieval neighbor grabbing land on the West Coast. There had to be a connection between them, but he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that Lee Corp was a proxy for the Chinese, even though this was the obvious conclusion to draw.
He brought his focus back to what he'd learned in the past few days. Deal with your nearest enemy first, that was the only way to proceed. Like tackling only a small part of a much larger task instead of stepping back and seeing how much was to be done overall. That would lead to nothing but hopelessness and desperation.
Solly rolled the window down a little to allow a fresh spring breeze to play across his face. Though they were surrounded by enemies, he was heading to the place he felt safest and he had the beginnings of a plan.
Though the roads were now much clearer than they had been, the roadblocks were also much more common. The route from Elizabeth to the farmhouse was the best part of a thousand miles, and Solly was in no mood for them to pick their way across country, but if there was any sign of the Lee Corporation or heavily armed guards, whoever was driving at the time was instructed to immediately find a way off the road and go around. The Humvee was powerful enough to intimidate most local bandits, but it was no match for some of the more organized forces now springing up.
The first of these was outside Nashville and the barrier across I-65 was upon them before they could choose to leave the road. It was positioned ahead of the bridge over the Cumberland River and was made up of what looked like salvaged railway sleepers piled up into two walls, one on each side of the road, with a gap wide enough for a single vehicle to pass.
Solly was driving and he cursed himself for not seeing the barricade in time. Ross reached down for his sidearm, passing another across to Solly, who left it in the driver's door pocket. Vivian awoke instantly from sleep, looked around and slunk back into the shadows behind Solly, double-checking her weapon. Maddie looked behind them to see Skulls being handed a shotgun by Al as he drove.
A woman emerged from behind the barrier, followed by a man carrying an assault rifle. She put her hand up and Solly brought the Humvee to a halt alongside her, winding down the window.
"Oh, y'all not military?" she said. She was dressed in a high vis jacket and the black bags under her eyes suggested she was on the point of exhaustion.
"No, we're regular folks traveling northeast," Solly said, relaxing a little.
She smiled at that, taking ten years off her apparent age. "Regular folks in a Humvee? Well, I guess we all have our stories to tell."
"Why are you stopping traffic?"
Her face darkened. "Me'n Jayden here, we're warnin' folks not to go into town," she said, before signaling to her companion to begin opening the gap.
"Why?"
"We gotta sickness, back around the turn of the year. Spread like a plague from the Bible," she said, shaking her head. "And then, when we thought we'd seen the last of it, a new boss came into town, rounded up the survivors. Now they're no more'n prisoners. So, Jayden and me, we come up here to stop anyone fixin' to head into 'ville. They'll find nothin' but death and slavery down there."
Solly watched as Skulls got out of the car behind and, leaving his shotgun inside, went to help Jayden move the shorter blocks of wood. He was an impressive man, that was for sure. Though as heterosexual as it was possible to be, Solly could see what Bella saw in him.
"Well, I truly appreciate the warning," Solly said. "And I'm sorry for your loss and suffering. I guess your new boss works for the Lee Corporation and my best advice is to keep as far away as possible. My name's Solly, by the way, Solly Masters."
He held out his hand and she took it, her fingers feeling clammy under Solly's firm grip. "Stacey Robbins," she said. "Good luck."
As soon as the gap had been widened enough for the Humvee to get through, Solly waved to Robbins and guided the vehicle beyond the barrier.
As they headed northeast, he wondered how many cities the Lee Corporation had either destroyed or now had under their control and, for a few moments, he wallowed in despair.
They carried on driving that night, only pulling over once they were fifty miles north of Nashville. Finally, as even Vivian began to nod in the driver's seat, they found an abandoned motel and took a block of rooms. Solly and Ross shared, as did Bella and Steve, with Viv and Maddie in together and Al on his own. The old man had been subdued since the attack on the RV park, believing he'd brought that death down on them. He was right, but he'd also unlocked Alison and, though Solly didn't dare to activate her, he was as convinced as ever that she was the key. And he was finally beginning to get an inkling as to how that might come about.
The following morning, they set off, aiming to skirt the south of Louisville. Solly decided not to risk communicating with Os
car Weinstein, but he wanted to conduct a test, so they pulled into an abandoned forecourt and, while Skulls and the others scavenged for fuel, Solly pulled out the portable transmitter and diagnostic tool McBride had equipped him with and connected them to the Humvee's 12 volt power.
"What are you doing?" Ross asked. He could climb down from the cab unassisted now and, though his left leg was still practically useless, he'd become so proficient with his staff and right leg, he could move as quickly as anyone else. Solly suspected he was motivated by making sure he was never left behind again.
"You remember I said there was a Lee Corp transmitter on top of that building?" he said. "I just want to check they haven't found ours."
Ross watched as Solly placed the aerial on the roof and activated his scanner. "Yep, it's still working," he said, before adjusting the controls. "And there's the Lee signal."
"You're hacking into their communications?" Ross said, suddenly all attention.
Solly chuckled. "No, I'm listening," he said, as he adjusted the volume of the speaker so the blips and chirps emerging from it didn't hurt their ears. "It's an encrypted signal, as you'd expect. Military encryption, I imagine. Practically uncrackable without some sort of supercomputer."
"What's the point, then?"
Solly shut down the equipment and looked across at Ross. "No point. Not until Al fixed Alison."
"Yes!" Ross cried, his face more animated than it had been in a long time. "She can crack the code."
Solly nodded. "If anyone, or anything, can do it, she can. But we can't check without giving away our position. That's why I want to get back to the farmhouse—then I'll visit Colonel McBride and see how we can use Alison."
"What will we be able to do if she cracks the code?"
"You know how wars are won, son? Not by soldiers and weapons—though, of course those are important—but by information. If you know where your enemy is going to be and when, you have a massive advantage. But first we've got to get back home and find Scott Lee."
The Long Night Box Set Page 80