Families First: A Post Apocalyptic Next-World Series Volume 4 Hard Roads

by Lance K Ewing

  Yin went to the marker board and wrote the numbers 1 to 5 from the top down.

  She wrote “Behavior Change Stairway Model” in large letters in red across the top of the board.

  “These are the five steps developed by the FBI hostage negotiations unit, called the Stairway Model.

  “Number one is Active Listening: Listen to what they have to say and make sure they know you are.

  “Number two is Empathy: Understand why they feel the way they do and then connect by sharing those feelings. I’m not saying you need to agree with them; just communicate that you understand.

  “Number three would be Rapport: Only after you have a clear understanding of their state of mind, objectives, and motives can you respond with words that will resonate with them.

  “You will reach them through their own views of themselves and the situation as a whole. This is not manipulation, and if you forget that, you’ve already lost them.

  “Number four is Influence: Again, this is not manipulation, as they have the leverage and not you. Show that you understand their objective and your willingness to work with them on ways to achieve it.

  “And finally, number five is Behavioral Change: This is where most people start when trying to problem-solve anything. This step is not meant to tell somebody what they are doing wrong, but instead to modify the original behavior enough to achieve an outcome that is agreeable to both sides.

  “After all, it is negotiation.”

  They reviewed the steps several times as it would relate to Ralph, or whoever was in charge, should he have recently died of his injuries.

  * * * *

  Four-wheelers were taken up to the old campsite, the same as last time, but today the mood was different, somber even.

  The team headed by foot up the mountain, bypassing the main road by 50 yards, followed by the two former officers Cory had handpicked for the project.

  Cameron was told to stay back with the machines and get with John if anything happened to his father.

  “We’ve got only a few hours before dark, so we need to get this done right the first time,” called out Mac in a team huddle, only a quarter mile from the MacDonald compound.

  Once close to the house, Mac and the two other former officers climbed the steep cliff overlooking the area. Mac had not been up here before and commented on the clear vantage point it gave.

  Cory and Drake cautiously approached the front door of the house unarmed.

  While not in uniform, he was still surprised that the dozen or so men, women and children milling around outside paid them no attention.

  “That’s interesting,” he whispered to Drake.

  “Same thing I done saw yesterday,” Drake replied. “They just don’t care, or they don’t know, is all.”

  Mac flashed a mirror, shining a small beam of light in front of Cory, signifying they were in position.

  He took a deep breath, asking Drake if he was ready.

  “Yes, sir, and I’ll let you do the talking, if that’s okay.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Cory replied, as he knocked loudly on the door.

  * * * * * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Saddle Ranch

  Loveland, Colorado

  The music inside seemed to drown out the first knock, so he followed it with another.

  This one was met by several men with rifles, as the front door swung open.

  “State your business,” barked a scruffy, bearded man with an odor following behind him.

  It hit both Cory and Drake like a punch in the gut. It was the unmistakable smell of death, and both knew it well.

  Ralph is dead, thought Cory. That can’t be good. He wondered who was in charge now.

  Drake noticed all of the windows were open, with people everywhere holding tissues over their noses.

  “Is Ralph dead?” asked Cory bluntly.

  “Who’s askin’?” questioned the man with the rifle.

  “My name is Cory Lerner, and I’m the former Chief of Police for the City of Loveland. And who might I be speaking with?” he asked, understanding it probably didn’t matter all that much.

  “I’m guard number one,” he stated, smiling, “and this here is guard number two and three right over there.”

  “And just what are you guarding?” Cory asked.

  “Why, that would be our fearless leader, of course. But he can’t come to the door right now on account of some cowards down the road shooting him in the back.”

  Cory knew he was not shot in the back but felt arguing the point would not advance his agenda. He only hoped he wouldn’t have to try his new FBI skills, most of which he had been using for years on abusive boyfriends and overserved drunks at local bars.

  “I’m guessin’ you’re here for the boy?” he asked.

  “Yes, we are,” replied Cory, happy that they were getting to the point right away. “We would like to speak with Ralph first.”

  “What did you say your name was again, fella?”

  “Cory. Cory Lerner.”

  “Hold on,” he said, motioning to guards number two and three to stay put.

  Minutes later, he returned, holding a handkerchief over his nose.

  “He will see you inside, but alone. Your friend will have to wait here.”

  “Agreed,” said Cory, walking slowly ahead of the man with a gun.

  He was fully expecting to be pat down, but then realized who he was dealing with. Holding the collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose, he wondered where the smell was coming from. Every corner of the house was covered in food wrappers and trash. Men, women and children sat in circles eating out of cans, licking their dirty fingers after each bite, with only a few lucky enough to have a utensil. The scene, coupled with the gagging smell, was enough to test the stomach of even a hardened cop.

  Once inside the room farthest back in the house, he saw a young woman inspecting a bandage on Ralph’s stomach. Ralph asked her to leave and dismissed his guard as well, telling him “It’s all right. We know each other.”

  “How are you holding up, Ralph?” asked Cory, hoping to take him off guard a little with the first question.

  “Oh, I’m all right. I’m still alive and kicking—the good Lord has seen to that!”

  Cory highly doubted God would spend any energy to save a guy like him but kept it to himself.

  “I guess you may know why I came up here today, Ralph, but I would like to hear your side of things.”

  “You really want to hear my side?” asked Ralph.

  “Yes, I do.”

  Cory listened intently, nodding and using facial gestures when appropriate, without agreeing with him. He purposely did not ask any questions until Ralph was finished, and then recapped the story.

  “Just so I have this straight, you care deeply about both your wife and son and thought she would come up here to see you after you were reunited with Joshua, who asked your men to let him see you. You also want to be a happy family like before the lights went out, and you believe that Mac is driving a wedge between you and her, so he can steal her away for his own. Am I missing anything?” asked Cory politely and without sarcasm of any kind in his tone.

  “I knew you were different from the rest of them, Chief. They won’t even listen to me. They just say what they are going to do, and I don’t have any choice in the matter.”

  “I have a boy, as you already know,” continued Cory, “but you may not know I used to have a wife, before she passed to cancer. It was hard not having her by my side, but I knew the one thing I could do was to make sure my son was taken care of properly and given the best chance of a good future until I got to see her again. Does that make sense, Ralph?”

  “Sure, and I’m sorry to hear about your wife. I didn’t know that.”

  “Thank you,” replied Cory. “Your son, is he okay?”

  “Yes, he is fine.”

  “That’s good to hear. It’s not so bad here in your room, but there is a smell out there in t
he house,” he added, pointing towards the door.

  “Yes, I am aware of it,” replied Ralph.

  “My group is going to want to know what happened, and I would like to let them know it’s not what they would think.”

  “What will they think?” asked Ralph, seeming concerned for the very first time since Cory arrived.

  “Well, they will think…you are killing people up here is what I imagine.”

  He realized that this questioning was probably not advised by or included in the FBI’s negotiations steps, but he was getting a dialog formed, and so far, it seemed to be going all right.

  “It’s not like that. We had an older woman die a few days back, apparently of natural causes, and nobody wants to move the body. They’re all worried about getting sick if they touch her.”

  “I can tell you right now,” replied Cory, “they will be sick soon if they don’t. Your son, Joshua, is a good boy, I hear. As fathers, we all want the best for our children. He’s happy down the mountain. He feels safe and has friends to play with.”

  Ralph nodded his head in agreement. Then pausing, his face changed, turning a slight red.

  “I heard about the attempted abduction,” he uttered.

  Cory understood where this was heading but decided to push the envelope and gauge the response.

  “Yes, it was fully executed by your men,” he replied. “I’m talking about your guy last night who tried to abduct my boy from a room upstairs. Surely you knew about that?”

  “Of course,” replied Cory, feeling his advantage slowly slipping away. He wanted to get right down to it and give Ralph the ultimatum but decided to give it just a little more time.

  “What would it look like to you, Ralph, to have your son back down the mountain with his mother and friends and your group moving along up the mountains, maybe to the National Park? There is a lot of game up there, and you’re about out of food here.”

  “We’ve got plenty left, I’m sure,” replied Ralph.

  “The MacDonalds, the folks who own this property, told me they had a few months’ worth for just them, and they track every bite. You’ve got about 50 people here, I’m guessing?”

  “Give or take, yes. What’s your point?”

  “My point is, who’s in charge of the food, Ralph?” he said in a loud booming voice, getting a jump out of the injured man.

  “Well, I don’t really know,” he stammered, “but I’m sure they are taking care to preserve it.”

  Cory walked to the far wall without a word and quickly swung the door open so Ralph could see the carnage. His eyes were wide open now, and his face grew red. Every man, woman and child he could see had their mouths full of food, with more in their hands waiting to be shoved in.

  This is it, thought Cory—the point where he concedes or all hell breaks loose.

  “Close the door,” said Ralph. “Close the damn door!” he screamed.

  Cory did as he was asked, but only because the tables were turning back in his favor.

  Taking deep breaths, Ralph calmed down. Holding his stomach, he winced and sat up on the bed.

  “What do you want, Chief?”

  “I want Joshua back today and a plan for your group to head farther into the mountains. What do you want, Ralph?”

  He paused, seeming to think it over in his head.

  “I want my wife back, as I have said several times, but I’m starting to think that may not happen. I’m willing to let the boy go if Patty will talk to me face-to-face and hear me out.”

  “Okay, I think we can do that,” replied Cory, picking up on the subtly of Ralph calling his son “the boy.”

  “I’ll take Joshua back today, and you have my word I’ll be back with her tomorrow.”

  “You will give me your word on that, will you?”

  “Yes, I will,” said Cory.

  Ralph laughed, coughing halfway through. “From what I’ve heard, you are a fair man, but things are different now all over, and we ain’t friends. So that would be a no. You have her here tomorrow morning to talk. If she decides to leave after that, she can take the boy. He’s a crybaby anyway.”

  Cory listened to the man and felt sorry for Joshua. What man would ever speak that way about his son? he thought.

  “After she decides, your men remove the body of that old bag out there and dump it in the woods somewhere. Can’t have everybody here getting sick over it. We can talk about the leaving this property part later.”

  “Okay. Agreed,” said Cory, “but I want to see Joshua before I leave and have five minutes alone to talk with him. You will keep him upstairs and away from anyone else until I return. Is that understood?”

  “I think we can do that. It’s not like I’m going to tuck him in tonight, anyway,” he said with a laugh that made Cory’s hands ball into fists.

  He saw the large pillow out of the corner of his eye, and so did Ralph. “You want to tuck me in permanently, don’t you?” asked Ralph, pointing a pistol at Cory.

  Without answering the question, Cory said, “I will move Joshua to a different room, with an intact door.”

  Cory made his way through the ankle-deep trash all across the main rooms of the house. In the far corner lay a figure covered loosely in a blanket. He thought it must be the deceased woman they spoke about. He could hear the flies buzzing around her as he climbed the stairs.

  Cory looked into the open room and said, “Joshua, it’s Chief Lerner from the Ranch. I know Samuel and your mother. Come on. We’re moving you to another room.”

  “Are you going to hurt me, mister?”

  “No, Joshua. I’m here to help.”

  The new room was nearly void of trash and spoiled food. The window was open, and the breeze masked the smell in the main house almost completely.

  Cory shut the door behind them. He walked to the window and surveyed the outside.

  “Has anyone hurt you, Joshua?”

  “Well, no, I guess not,” he replied.

  “I’ll see that you have food and water and a place to go to the bathroom,” said Cory.

  “Okay. Let me tell you what’s going to happen. Your mother will return with me tomorrow to talk with your father. I’m sorry I can’t take you right now. If she decides to stay, you will both live with this group of people. If she decides to go back to the West, then you will go with her. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, mister, I do, and there is no way my mom is going to stay here with him, unless he makes her too scared to leave.”

  Cory continued: “I’ll be right there the whole time and make sure that doesn’t happen. I want you to stay in this room and lock that door when I leave. Don’t let anyone in, no matter what. Okay?”

  “Uh…well, okay.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning. And Joshua, I’m proud of you. You’re a brave boy.”

  “Thank you, mister, and please hurry back,” Joshua said.

  Cory stopped in to see Ralph one more time and found he had put the gun away.

  “I’ll be back with Patty in the morning.”

  “The boy, as you call him, is fine in the room upstairs until I return. I instructed him to lock the door and not to let anyone inside. If I hear that anyone breached that room before I get back, without this house on fire, or you don’t honor Patty’s decision tomorrow, I’ll run you and everyone else here up that mountain the hard way. See you in the morning.”

  Ralph called out as he was leaving. “Let’s get this place picked up! We’ve got company coming!”

  Picking up Drake at the front door, they met with Mac a quarter mile down the road.

  Cory relayed his story to all present, as well as John, Bill and Samuel over the radio, hoping not to have to tell it twice or talk to Yin about the steps of negotiation he blew on the last number.

  All, with the exception of Yin, were present and agreed it was a good start, but nobody expected the group on the hill to just pick up and leave that easy.

  Patty, of course, wanted nothing to do with tal
king to Ralph, just as Cory and Mac expected when they approached her with the proposal.

  She agreed, however, as long as Cory was in the room at all times and Joshua did not hear the conversation.

  * * * *

  Sleep was distant for many this night, and Patty got hardly any.

  Mac would give it one more night before he and Cory would make midnight rounds. He spoke with Sarah tonight, and he envisioned her instinctively holding the radio in one hand with the other on her stomach.