“Oh, for fuck sake. Does it ever stop?” Bill asked. “Is anyone doing anything?”
“Monica’s gone after them. We’ll know more soon.”
“Well, she might finally get her wish to shoot someone.”
“Probably. I gotta say, though, Bill, I’m a bit worried. We seem to be always on the edge of everything falling apart. It’s like we’re not big enough to damp down the chaos.”
Bill laughed out loud. “You sound like a character from Jurassic Park.”
Richard’s only response was a sigh.
“Okay, okay. Focus. I know. I think now is a good time for me to have another talk with the lieutenant. Listen, could you send someone back to Rivendell to get a big bag of my coffee?”
Richard looked at him in confusion. “Are you shitting me?”
“Look, we want these guys on our side. The coffee will be both a peace offering and a statement that we have resources that they don’t.”
Richard thought about that for a second, then said, “Done.” He turned to Charlie. “Get Rivendell on the radio. Tell them to send Crazy Al over with a bag of Nabob. Tell him it has to arrive undamaged or we take away his dirt bike privileges. Again.”
Charlie nodded and picked up the walkie-talkie, and Richard turned back to Bill. “So what’s the end-game?”
“I think having the Guard as a part of Rivendell would be very good for us. Maybe they can help out with the shithead problem, too, if they start acting up.”
“Got it.”
It took very little time before Crazy Al appeared, going at a speed that would have been nerve-racking on pavement. On the prairie, he skipped from bump to bump, off the ground more often than touching it. The bike bounced back and forth from front to back wheel, but Al, up on the foot pegs, was steady as a rock.
Crazy Al had been given that name for good reason. Back in the real world, he had been a motocross, enduro, stunt, dirt, and anything else biker. If it involved two wheels and an engine, Crazy Al was there. He was also the best mechanic they had, so they tolerated his habits with the condition that if he broke it, he had to fix it.
But if a rush delivery was needed, he was their man.
Al came in at full speed and hit the front binders. Doing a nose wheelie for the last fifty yards, he came to a precise stop in front of the group, pivoted on the front wheel, and touched down facing back the way he’d come.
“What took you?” Richard said.
Al grinned, handed Richard his backpack, and left in a spray of dirt.
Richard opened the backpack and took out a large foil bag of coffee. He motioned to Charlie, who opened the six-foot gate. Richard handed the bag through to a waiting Bill, and they closed the gate.
80. Takeover
Adam Velitchkov walked up to Justin Trench and Norm Winchester, trying to look as casual and unhurried as possible. He nudged Justin, who was swiveling his head to watch all sides. “Jeez, idiot, why don’t you just wave a sign?”
“Lighten up, bro, these sheep wouldn’t know what to do even if they noticed,” Justin said.
“They’ll notice soon enough,” Adam replied. “We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity. The entire G.O. except for that wimpy brown kid is off-campus dealing with current events.” He looked at Norm. “Everybody in place?”
Norm nodded and patted his pocket with a slight smile.
“Do it.”
Norm reached into his pocket and withdrew a whistle, the kind typically used by referees and coaches. He put it to his lips and blew three quick notes.
As people scattered throughout the lawn turned at the unexpected noise, Adam raised his rifle and began to speak in a loud voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce a change in management, effective immediately. The so-called Gate Owners have demonstrated their inability to govern, so it falls on us to take over the reins. Ah-ah, naughty.” Adam waved his rifle at someone who had started toward the sheds. “No, don’t bother heading to the shed for weapons. We have control of that as well.”
There were several scuffles in the immediate area. Adam grinned at Norm. “Albertelli must have thought she was being real smart, but her guys are amateurs.” He waited until the erstwhile spies were pinned and disarmed, then looked around the crowd. “Not to worry, folks, we’re just cleaning up a little bit of resistance. Won’t be long. Now, here’s what’s going to happen …”
Kevin blinked, staring down at the gun pointed at his chest.
“I, uh, don’t have the keys. There is no scenario where I would ever need or want a gun.”
The man holding the gun raised it to Kevin’s head and opened his mouth to say something, but his companion held up his hand. “I think he’s telling the truth, Rob. From what I’ve overheard, this guy isn’t involved in anything except the gates.”
“Okay, just means we get to trade Kevin here for the keys.” Rob waved his gun toward the open gate. “Close that.”
“Monica is still Earthside—” Kevin protested.
“Yes, that’s the point. Adam told us to take Gunzilla out first. This works just as well.”
Kevin hesitated, then raised the tablet in his hand and poked at it. The image in the gate faded out, leaving an inert ellipse of metal.
“Now,” Rob said, “we’re going to do inventory …”
81. Contingency Plans
Erin looked at Monica, who was staring at a line of footprints that appeared out of nowhere and headed in the direction of the recent firefight.
“No gate.” Monica glared at the offending patch of empty air. “Something’s wrong. I wonder if Adam and his low-life friends have picked this moment to pull something.” She turned to Erin. “Everyone except Kevin is out of Rivendell right now. It would be the logical time to make a move.”
Erin stared at the footprints, then sighed. “Every time I think you and Bill are over-the-top crazy, someone moves the crazy. So now what?”
“First, we should get out of the area in case they try to come after us. It won’t take them long to realize they don’t have access to the gun safes.”
Matching actions to words, Monica wheeled and stalked off around the warehouse complex. Erin and Suzie, after a brief hesitation, followed.
Erin hurried to catch up. “You and Bill planned for this, right?”
“Well, yeah, if you use ‘plan’ loosely enough. We had an idea they might try something, but without specifics all we could manage was basic strategies.”
“Like?”
“Like, if they come across, it wouldn’t take an Einstein to figure out that we own the closest warehouse unit to where the sheds were set up. So we’ve moved everything of value to another unit at the other end of the complex. That’s where we’re headed.”
“But they still have all our guns,” Erin protested.
Monica turned and glared. “Sure, cuz I never thought of that.”
“Ah. What do they have?”
“Rocks. Lots of gun safes filled with lots of rocks. It’s turned into kind of a theme with us.” Monica grinned. “I hope they have a collective stroke when they finally open the safes.”
“Do they have the keys?” Erin asked.
“No, so it’ll take a while for them to either find some keys or figure out how to break the things open. We also removed all the tools that might normally be useful for burglary. Right now, we have to get in touch with Richard and Matt. And Bill, if they’ve busted him out by now.”
“What about Kevin?”
“Assuming I’m right about what’s going on, they’ll need him to run the gates. Or they need to trade him for the keys to the gun safes. They won’t harm him. And I made sure to comment about Kevin not having access to the guns within hearing of one of Adam’s friends.”
In a few minutes, they arrived at another warehouse unit. Monica pulled out a key and opened the side door, and they shuffled in. Monica hit a switch and some low-level LED lighting illuminated the unit.
“Bill set up so
me solar cells and car batteries. It’s not ideal, but we weren’t sure if the air would be clear enough to run a generator, if and when something went down. Or if it would be a good idea to advertise our location with the noise.”
Monica picked up a walkie-talkie with a red tag attached and turned it on. Pressing “transmit,” she spoke into it. “Richard, come in. We have a situation.” She released the button and waited.
“Aren’t you worried about Adam and friends listening in?” Erin asked.
“No, I’m not that smart. That’s why I’m not using an encrypted walkie-talkie that I put a red tag on for just this situation.”
“Wow, you’re cranky.”
“Sorry, Erin. I’m still angry over the thugs. I’ll try not to bite your head off.” She jiggled the walkie-talkie for emphasis. “Richard and I arranged this. He and Matt each have one with the same code programmed in. He’ll respond, any second now …”
The two women stared at the walkie-talkie, which remained stubbornly silent.
“Mmm, they aren’t Earthside. Gimme a sec.” Monica grabbed a tablet and turned it on.
“That’s the portal software,” Erin said, looking over Monica’s shoulder. “But the thugs shot one of the gates, and Adam’s group has the other one. What—”
“Richard had stocked up enough spare parts so that Bill could put together another portal box, and we have the three-foot gate, which nobody would miss because it’s mostly useless for real work.”
Erin held up her hands in a fending-off pose. “Okay, I give up. You guys obviously put a lot of thought into this. I’m going to just go with it.”
Monica smiled at her friend, then climbed a ladder to a platform built above the kitchen area. “On the other hand,” she called down to Erin, “my experience with the three-foot gate has been all bad, so I’m not opening it up at ground level.”
Erin laughed, then fell silent as Monica began the same call sequence.
In moments, she heard Richard’s voice, tinny from the walkie-talkie’s speaker. “Which situation? So many possibilities …”
“Plan 9,” Monica said. “I think. We don’t have confirmation yet. Call me back when you’re on this side.” She scooted down the ladder, and used the tablet to turn off the portal.
“Plan 9?” Suzie said. Erin and Monica both turned in surprise. Suzie hadn’t said a word since the gunfight except to give her name, and Erin had assumed she was in shock.
Monica shrugged. “Movie reference. One of Bill’s jokes. I’m surprised Richard went along with it. We don’t actually have a lot of options until we have more information. Richard, Matt, and Charlie will cross to Earthside with the walkie-talkies so we can talk freely, then we’ll try to come up with a better plan. Meanwhile, we’re going to dig in here, just in case Adam’s group figures out where we are.”
There was a crackle from the walkie-talkie, then Richard’s voice came through. “Monica?”
“Here.”
“We’ve located Bill, but he doesn’t want to leave. They have a whole bunch of civilians, and they don’t look like they’re doing well. Bill thinks he may be able to recruit the Guard and help those people. So for now, you’re on your own.”
“Wonderful,” Monica muttered, then pressed the “transmit” button. “Got it. Look, Richard, we need intel in any case. We don’t know how many people Adam has working with him, even assuming that’s what’s actually gone down. I’m just guessing at this point. We’ll wait for night and use the goggles.”
“Be careful,” he replied. “Don’t engage. We need to get all our ducks in a row before we hit back.”
“10–4. Out.”
Monica put down the walkie-talkie. “Well, this sucks. I’m going to bring the portal down to ground level. Erin, the night-vision goggles should be over there on a shelf somewhere. Can you see if you can find them?”
“Can I do anything?” Suzie asked.
“Yeah, grab this stuff as I hand it down. Be very careful with it, or we’re stuck here.”
Erin scanned the shelves and quickly found the goggles, still boxed. She grabbed three boxes, and some batteries. She also found, carefully laid out, a truly mind-boggling supply of weapons. Monica hadn’t been kidding about rounding out their inventory, and Erin wondered if even Richard knew the extent of that success. The armaments laid out on the racks would have made a SWAT team salivate.
“Monica! What the heck is this? A sniper rifle?”
A laugh drifted back through the warehouse. “All the girls have them. Goes with my shoes.”
Erin chuckled quietly and turned to go. Then she hesitated, grabbed a shotgun and some ammo, and headed back to the kitchenette.
“Um, listen,” Suzie said, “I have no clue about guns …”
“Don’t worry about it, sunshine.” Monica gave Suzie a slap on the shoulder that almost knocked her over. “You’re our Kevin. You’ll be running the portal. Erin and I will be shooting bad guys.”
“Richard said—”
“Richard ain’t here, Erin. I’m not saying we’re going to, but I’m not saying we aren’t.”
Erin shook her head. Monica’s bloodthirsty attitude had always seemed to be just that—’tude. Now, after the episode with the thugs, Erin was viewing all that past commentary through a new lens. Turns out my best friend is a bit of a psycho. Well, it could be worse. I guess. Maybe.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked.
“This warehouse unit is outside the Rivendell fence. We made sure of that. We’ll use the three-foot gate after nightfall to reconnoiter. At minimum, we need to figure out the strategic situation. I’d love to get one of those motherfuckers in my crosshairs, but honestly, Richard is right. Once we hit one of them, the rest will go into defensive mode, and I wouldn’t put it past them to use other students as human shields.”
The lights had been turned off in the warehouse. The gate lay flat on the concrete floor, prairie grass from the Outland side sticking up through the circle of metal. Erin looked at Monica and Suzie, each of whom was wearing the same night-vision goggles as herself. The goggles gave them a vaguely insectile appearance.
“I’m ready.” Suzie adjusted her grip on the gate.
“Good.” Monica lay down on her stomach beside Erin. “Now slowly raise the edge of the gate until I say stop.”
Suzie complied, and within seconds Monica and Erin were able to look through the small raised section of gate and see the Rivendell fence and numerous tents that made up the living quarters for most of the residents.
“Hmm, no obvious guards. In fact, no guards, not even the ones who normally guard the fence at night. Odd …” Monica deliberated silently for a few seconds, then added, “I’m going through.”
“No. I will.”
Monica turned to Erin. “Why? That makes no sense.”
“Sure it does. I’ll go through and try to talk to someone. I can do that as well as you can. If I get caught or shot at, you kill everyone. You’re way better at that than I am.”
Monica smiled, visible with the night-vision goggles. “Okay, that actually does make sense. Very well, buttercup, off you go.”
Erin found herself less pleased with winning the argument than expected. Gathering her resolve, she crawled commando-style through the partially raised gate.
It took several minutes of crawling with the shotgun strapped across her back to get to the fence. The grass would rustle too much if she tried to push her pace. Monica was watching from the warehouse, of course, but Erin still found herself scanning every few seconds for approaching wildlife. Not that there was likely to be any. Most of the smart predators had figured out that hanging around the fence was fatal. The dumb ones, well … Darwining was definitely a thing.
Finally, Erin found herself up against the fence. She moved sideways until she was close to a tent.
“Pssst.”
No response.
Erin threw a pebble against the side of the tent.
A head appeared out the te
nt flap and looked around.
“Psst.”
The occupant stepped carefully out of the tent. Erin recognized her as someone she’d seen around, but couldn’t attach a name. She raised the goggles to her forehead.
The woman moved to the fence and crouched down. “So you are still alive. Adam and his friends have a reward out for any of the G.O.”
So it really was Adam. It wasn’t quite a relief to have it confirmed, but Erin felt a sense of something like satisfaction from knowing for sure. “Paid in what? Deutschmarks?”
Erin heard a low chuckle. “Privileges. Extra food. Maybe a promotion to ‘management,’ as they put it.”
“Gonna collect?”
The woman made a snorting sound. “Yeah, because I want to be part of that group of morons. Those fuck-ups think they’re big shots because they have the guns right now. They’ve recruited some other fuck-ups, and now they all fancy themselves kings of the shit-pile. There are about a dozen of them, but they’ll need more than that to keep control. You should have heard them arguing tonight about who was going to sleep and who was going to guard the serfs. That’s the rest of us, of course.”
“‘Serfs’?” Erin asked.
“Not exactly the word they used, but it’s pretty obvious this will be a stratified society if they get their way.”
“Yeah, no one stages a coup on a free society so they can implement another free society.”
The woman grinned. “I’m Joy, by the way. Suzie is my friend. Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. More than I can say for the thugs who grabbed us.”
“Good. Tell Suzie Joy says hi.”
Erin nodded, unsure if Joy could see the motion. “What’s their deployment?”
“The fuck-ups? They have four morons at a time guarding. Of course, they’re guarding against us more than against wildlife. The rest of them are sleeping in the West Shed. No one else is allowed in either shed, on pain of death.”
“Seriously? Death?”
“Well, that’s what they say,” Joy answered. “That Adam piece-o’-shit, though, I think he’d do it. Most of the rest, not so much. They’re just playing at Big Shot.”
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