Threat Ascendant

by Brian M. Switzer

  She got off the bed and paced around the tiny room. As she did, her tears dried up and her brow wrinkled with frustration. She stopped pacing, faced him, and threw her hands in the air. "Danny. It's liable to be months before I'm able to… do… that. Physically. And even longer before I'm able to psychologically."

  He gave her a sideways look. "And?"

  "And you are a horn dog. I bet you haven’t gone a month without sex since you lost your virginity."

  “Well that's assumptive. Where's all this coming from?"

  "From my being stupid." She jabbed at the floor between her feet with her finger. "It’s all fun and games when we’re here in our little fantasy world. But at some point we have to rejoin the community. And then you’ll have the option of going home with some woman who can’t wait to bed The Great Danny Wilson or coming here for another night of monopoly with Miss Celibacy. Just how long do you think you’ll pick in my favor?"

  "I don't think you're giving me enough credit." He squeezed his chin between his thumb and index finger and studied her. "Yeah, I slept with a lot of women back when things were normal, and I like to run my mouth. But take a guess how many women I've been with since I left the ranch."

  She stared at him for a moment through red and swollen eyes, then shrugged her shoulders.

  He held up a finger. "One, that's how many. And that one time not much happened; it was the night the creepers got in The Original’s tunnel and I had to go deal with that."

  She gaped at him and blinked her eyes. "One? Over the twenty months since the outbreak?"

  "One."

  "Wow. I slept with more women than that my sophomore year at college."

  He pointed at her with the same finger he used to represent the number one. "We'll discuss that comment at a later date. The point is, I'm not an oversexed kid anymore. I want to spend as much time with you as I can, and what happens will happen when it's supposed to."

  "Danny, I swear to God- if you break my heart I'll cut off your balls and wear them as earrings."

  "Understood. Now let's talk more about your sophomore year at college."

  "You wish." Apropos of nothing, she gave him a saucy little pirouette and giggled like a schoolgirl.

  He smiled, totally beguiled by this side of her personality.

  She remembered something and snapped her fingers. "By the way, I forgot… Becky asked me to tell you that Will needs to see you."

  His smile vanished and he sighed. "Yeah, that's what I keep hearing."

  93

  * * *

  Two mornings later, Danny awoke with a start, aware that the comforting weight of Tara's head and shoulders weren’t on his chest; nor were they mashed against each other belly to back on their sides. He bolted upright, his rising panic dissolving when he saw her silhouette at the foot of the bed. He put his hand on his chest and felt his heart pound. "Girl, you scared the shit out of me. What are you doing down there?" He reached over and twisted the knob that turned on the bedside lantern, curious why she hadn't answered. "Tara?"

  She sat with perfect posture, her chin high and her jaw set. "Are you with me no matter what?"

  "No matter what, whatever you need."

  She shared her idea.

  94

  * * *

  Two days later, Danny showed up on the quarry bottom the first time in over two weeks. He and Tara spent the previous two days turning her idea into a plan, then examining the plan for weak spots and shoring those up.

  The walk from Tara's tunnel to tunnel three, where everyone lived, almost covered the length of the bottom and Danny felt like the bad guy in a movie Western every step of the way.

  It was four in the afternoon and there was a fair amount of activity. People noticed him and poked those next to them, then both stared and whispered as he passed. People in his path swerved out of the way; others faded into the distance as he approached.

  It was that way until he walked into tunnel three. Willa caught sight of him and screeched; she ran up and kissed him lightly on the cheeks as if they hadn't seen each other almost every day for the last two weeks. "Good to see you out and about, cowboy," she said with a glint in her eye.

  He ruffled her hair "Good to be seen, beautiful."

  Becky was next, rushing in with a big smile and her arms open wide. She hugged him around the neck and whispered in his ear, "Come see me before you go back. I baked Tara a cake."

  Jiri greeted him with a grin and a warm handshake; Coy sidled up and they shared a manly side hug. The Hendrickson sisters rushed up, chattering away, and wouldn’t leave until he promised to go to the stables and check out the horses. They departed and there was Will, sitting on the edge of a lawn chair with a crooked smile and a relieved look in his eyes.

  The big man pushed himself out of the chair, walked over to Danny, shook with one hand and ruffled his hair with the other. "I-God but it's good to see you, boy. It's mighty hard to find good help these days."

  Danny laughed. "You've got Coy. Who else do you need?"

  "Hell, Coy's out playing in the woods all day. I haven't had any dependable help since you disappeared down that tunnel."

  Danny ducked his head shuffled his feet, unsure if his words were critical.

  Will seemed to sense his discomfort. "But hell, that don't matter. You’re here now. What say we take a drive and get you caught up?"

  "Sounds like a plan. Let me say hello to a couple more folks and I'll meet you out front in five."

  "Five minutes it is. I better go tell Becky what we're doing so we don't get in trouble when she can't find us."

  "I take a two-week vacation and nothing changes. You're still scared of your wife."

  Will leaned close and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "Shit, boy, you know how that is. That woman will scare me for the rest of my life." They both laughed, then Will clapped him on the back and headed deeper in the tunnel.

  95

  * * *

  A Yeti cooler sat on the front seat between Danny and Will. He reached in, fished around, and pulled out two beers, one of which he handed to Danny. With no ice available anymore the cooler contained river water and the beer was only cool, not cold. But Danny pulled the cap and made do.

  Will motored the Ford across the quarry bottom, around the bend, and up the hill. Danny leaned back in the seat and relaxed, listening to the boss's chatter with one ear and taking in the scenery.

  They drove to the wheat field they'd planted three weeks ago. It was a green carpet, the three inches tall seedlings waving merrily in the breeze. Further south, the fescue in the hay field grew in leaps and bounds and looked like it would he be ready for its first cutting in two weeks. They’d tilled, fertilized, and plowed the cornfield, and the acres of furrows waited for their seeds.

  Will drove him to the cattle pasture, where Danny was surprised to see a dozen Black Angus cows grazing in serenity under the late afternoon sun. "You brought cows in?"

  "Yeah. It rained for two days and we couldn't get in the fields. Coy found these gals and we hauled them over."

  Danny scanned the nearby pastures. "Do you have any bulls yet?"

  "We know the location of a pair, we just need to transport them."

  They said in a comfortable silence. After a bit, Will turned to him. "How's your girl?"

  “Physically, she healing. Her cuts and bruises have cleared up, and there’s not much soreness left. Emotionally and mentally, she's a hot mess.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “Yep.” Danny wrinkled his eyebrows. “Why did you call her ‘my girl’?”

  Will shrugged and spit in an empty beer can. “Anybody paying attention could see you were sweet on her before they grabbed her, and then you disappeared for two weeks tending to her after you got her back. I figure if you haven't won her over yet, you gotta be pretty close. I've never seen you fail, in that regard, o
nce you set your mind to a woman." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I need you, Dan. The plan was for you and me to do all this side by side, and I understand why you haven't been here, but I need you back now. I would never tell you to pick me or Tara. But I need you to get back to putting in a days work, then going home to her."

  They sipped their beers and lapsed back into a silence. Will drummed his fingers on the dash, then started back up as if he'd never stop talking. "Tara's a tough girl. She's strong- that's one of the things we all like about her. She may not admit it, but she knows times are different now and we all have to pick up and go on sooner than we want."

  Danny wasn’t thrilled to have Will explaining what Tara was like, so he changed the subject. "The guys that took her?"

  "Three of them are dead. The one guy died in a firefight, and another died from a bullet wound. Terrence shot the leader to get his men talking. We're sitting on the other three guys until Tara is well enough to tell us what she wants done."

  Talking about the attackers made Danny tense up and make a fist so tight his nails bit into the palm of his hand. He forced himself to relax. "She dreams about taking her revenge on the guy named Clint. He was responsible for ninety-eight percent of her abuse."

  "He's all hers. And the other two, if she wants. Whatever will help her get closure."

  Danny gazed out at the landscape; he couldn't say what he needed to and look Will in the eye. "They talked about where they were taking her and what would happen. There is a human trafficking auction over on the other side of Missouri. They'd scoop up six or eight women, teenagers, children once or twice, whatever it took, and run them up to that auction. People buy them for labor, for sex… some poor souls are purchased there, then taken and sold somewhere else.

  "The thing is, Tara can't get closure as long as that’s happening. She said it eats at her… she'll be at breakfast or reading a book and all of the sudden she'll think, I wonder how many women are in chains and on their way to that slave auction right now. She's determined to go shut the place down, and I'm going to take a couple of fellas and go with her."

  "You've made up your mind?"

  Danny nodded.

  "Okay then. Terrence broke a guy that's been there before, got him to spill the beans on the layout of the building, how much security they have and where it’s positioned, things like that. Be sure to get with him and get that information before you go."

  Danny dropped his chin and looked at Will through narrowed eyes, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He scratched an eyebrow. "You’re taking this better than I expected."

  Will reached across the cab and squeezed his shoulder. "When I hired you, I knew I'd lose you one day. We are alike in a lot of ways. We're both driven to do the best we can for the ones we love. For a while I considered adopting a daughter who I could marry off to you, get you to stick around that way. Nobody will let you adopt a twenty-two-year-old, though.

  "Then I hoped you and Coy would turn gay and marry, but that didn't come about either."

  Danny bowed his head. "No, but I appreciate the sentiment. And Coy would make somebody a fine wife."

  They both chuckled then he grew silent, lost in their own thoughts. A trio of creepers shuffled across the road 100 yards ahead of them, but the truck wasn't running so the creatures didn't notice it or the men inside.

  Will cleared his throat. "When will you leave?"

  "Five days? That should give me plenty of time to get a truck, pick a crew, and supply up."

  "That sounds about right. You're welcome to anything you need- weapons, food, equipment. What's ours is yours. I only have two requests."

  "Hit me."

  "Keep it quiet until I tell Becky. That will take finessing; her first inclination will be to tie the both of you to a support beam until you snap out of it. I don't know what will be harder on her- losing you, or losing Tara."

  Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "No problem. That's a conversation I dreaded, anyway. I've got no problem with you telling her."

  Will sniggered. "I don't think you quite understand me. I'll break the news to her, but I'm sure she will still have a conversation with you. Several, probably."

  Danny sank back in his seat. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right." He blew out a breath. "What's your other request?"

  Will turned in his seat, looked Danny in the eye, and fixed him with his deadliest stare. "Coy stays with me. Beyond that, take whoever you want. But not my boy. He stays by my side."

  "You bet, boss. It never crossed my mind to ask him to tag along. He belongs with you, and this place needs him." He chortled and reached over to smack Will in the arm. "Besides, could you imagine Becky's response if we told her that her baby boy was going off without her? She'd kill the three of us and leave our bodies for the buzzards."

  Will smiled at the ferocity of Becky's love for her family. He drained his beer and tossed the empty behind the seat. "We'd better get back. I'll talk to Becky in the morning, so you can put your team together in the afternoon. Get with Terrence about the auction's logistics in the meantime."

  "I will, boss."

  Will looked out the window at the pastures and fields as they drove back to the highway. "It will take three guys to replace you, Danny."

  "Shit, boss- no three guys in this whole place are half as pretty as me."

  Will rolled his eyes. "Not going to miss everything about you."

  96

  * * *

  Will took Becky for a walk the next morning to break the news and she went predictably ballistic.

  "You march in there and talk them out of leaving!" she commanded, her eyes flashing daggers.

  And so it continued for almost two hours, with Becky pinballing between anger, despair, feelings of betrayal, and white-hot rage at Will for not backing her up. Fighting with his wife was never a dagger to the heart. It was death by 1000 paper cuts, with each piece of paper dipped in a low-grade poison

  Finally, Will couldn’t take it anymore. "Fine," he growled, "if you want to drive them off forever go ahead and tell them they can't leave or explain all the bad choices they’re making for them- because adults love to hear that. But if you want them to come back once Tara has some closure and gets her revenge, or after Danny realizes going through with the attack is suicide, then you'll let them be. It’s up to you." He clomped off; even though he was angry, he couldn’t help squeezing her shoulder with affection as he passed her by.

  97

  * * *

  That night a hand touched Will's shoulder as he slept. His eyes snapped open and he bolted upright, instantly awake. She had lit a candle before she woke him and in the dancing shadows, he saw his jeans and gun where he'd left them. As he reached for them Becky's soft hand rubbed the middle of his bare back.

  "It's okay," she said. "I had an idea.”

  He groaned and fell back in the bed. "One that couldn't wait until morning?"

  She giggled and wrapped both her hands around one of his. "Nope. It's too exciting." She paused and leaned forward, her eyes glowing in the dim light. "I've been looking at this all wrong. It took until the middle of the night for me to figure it out, but I finally did." She squeezed his hand and peered at him with a smile that ran from ear to ear. "Will- I know how to keep Danny and Tara from going off without us."

  He pulled a pillow over his head. "Becky, we've been over and over this. I don't want to talk about it, and I especially don't want to talk about it at three o'clock in the morning."

  She smacked him in the arm the flat of her hand. "Let me finish, asshole." She glared at him for a moment, then the broad smile returned. "The reason they won’t go without us is that we're going with them. All of us!”

  He groaned again and lay motionless for a few moments, then sat up. He pulled her to him so they sat shoulder to shoulder. “Honey, I understand how much Danny and Tara leaving hurts you; believe me, it hurts me, too. But we can't feed 250 people on the go.
Not to mention things like the noise we would make, where would we sleep at night, keeping that many people out of harm's way… I could spend hours giving you reasons it wouldn’t work."

  She leaned close until their foreheads touched. "No, silly. Not all of us all of us. All of us who made the trip from Fort Leonard Wood… with a few substitutions."

  He eyed her, his brow furrowed.

  “Obviously Sylvia and Tempest can't go, and the Hendrickson girls need to stay. David and Kathy were useless, so we replace them with Willa and Jobe, and Sylvia with Terrence.”

  "You want to put the band back together and go back out on the road?"

  "You bet. Admit it- we were bad motherfuckers. There's nobody out there that can touch us."

  He gave her a reflective look. "Say we do this, and we level this slave auction. Then what?"

  "Whatever we want!" She laughed, bouncing with glee. "What's Terrence say? There's always somebody out there that needs killin’? The sky is the limit."

  He grimaced and gave a half shake of his head. "I don't know, Becks. What about all the work we put into this stupid pit? The blood and sweat. Cassandro died here, helping us make it a home. Terrence lost Riley here. We lost Clay trying to get here."

  She cupped his cheeks in the palms of her hands. "Baby, I'm not saying we give this up. It's still home. We can use CB radios to stay in contact with whoever we leave in charge. And who knows… maybe after we wipe out the slave traders we start a new community over there. Seed it with good people and teach them the right way to do things, like you did here. And if some of our people are tired of being on the road and want to stay to help the new community get off the ground, well great!"

  He shook his head hard as if to clear it. "No. This is crazy talk. We’re too invested here to just up and leave. I've got those crops in the ground, and the livestock. And you’ve got your gardens.”