by Connor Mccoy
“While I was there, I found a refugee camp. Actually, it’s more like a work camp. They claim to take in people who have caught our mystery disease and give them food and protection. But I’ve seen some signs that this place isn’t legit. In fact, the people there may be held against their will.” Tom exhaled loudly. “That includes children.”
“Where is this camp, Squirrel?” Stone asked.
“It’s close, off State Road 217. If the day is clear and there’s no weather to make it hell to hike through, it doesn’t take more than a day to get there. I didn’t get a good look at the whole camp, but it looks like there’s dozens of people there. But they’re guarded by armed men. It looked as though they were keeping tight tabs on everyone.”
Tom held up his arm. “They were putting black armbands on the sick. But I saw a little girl who was wearing one but didn’t look sick at all. She was being worked like a slave. This whole place just screams scam to me. We can’t let it go.”
“Mister Criver, what are you getting at?” said a forty-year-old man Tom recognized as a homeowner from Applewood Street.
“C’mon, it’s obvious what he’s up to.” Now a different man, balding and a little younger, spoke up. “We’re being recruited for a mission. General Criver wants us to storm the camp and free the people.”
A few in the audience chuckled. Tom might have laughed too, if he didn’t think the joke was undercutting the seriousness of his case. “I’m saying we may have to…may. I’d like to bring those people out of there without starting a shooting gallery right over their heads. There’s a lot I don’t know about that place, who leads it, how many men are there, how many people they’ve got captive.”
“So, what do you suggest we do?” Jake asked.
“Let’s get a team together,” Tom replied, “All the fighting men who want to step up. We’ll go over there and figure out what they’re up to. If it looks bad, and if the shit hits the fan, then we do what we must to set those people free.”
“Hold on a moment.” The man from Applewood raised his hand. “This sounds like sticking our nose in business that isn’t ours. They didn’t do anything to you, did they? Rough you up, threaten to go after you?”
“No,” Tom responded, “After a chat, they let us go.”
“Well it sounds like that should be the end of it,” the man said. A few nodded, and several more muttered words of agreement.
A middle-aged man with a silvery beard stepped up. “Tom, we get it,” he said, “We don’t want anyone to suffer, but we’re still digging our way out of a big mess here. I’m not just talking the disease or the war, I’m talking about all of it. Right now, we barely can do anything for ourselves. I don’t know what the hell we can do for anyone else right now.”
More nodding heads, more spoken words of agreement. Tom tensed up. He did not like where this was going.
“What if we just limit the whole mission to a talk?” Lee asked, “They were willing to chat with you with no problems. Maybe we can try reasoning with them.”
Lee turned to the masses. “We’ll gather some people, back up Tom, maybe that will be enough. Sometimes the threat of force is all you really need.”
Some people mouthed agreement, while others grew alarmed. “Hold on a moment, Lee!” called a brown-bearded man in a flannel shirt. “That could get them riled up and start something.”
The conversation degenerated into a number of disagreements among the people. Tom tensed up. He wanted to dish out his trump card. He wanted to tell them that Cheryl saw Garcia in there, that they should investigate the camp because it could be headed by a former enemy.
Yet, he stopped. For one thing, Tom had not seen Garcia himself, so he couldn’t back up Cheryl with his own testimony. Without it, Cheryl could be made out to be hallucinating, and Tom couldn’t sow any seeds of doubt in these people’s minds that Cheryl wasn’t well. Second, he had been the one who had decided to exile the five surviving NATO soldiers from Eagleton. If one of them turned out to be a threat again, his own credibility might take a hit. So, he kept it to himself. Besides, shouldn’t these people want to help others, even if the camp wasn’t headed by someone who tried to oppress them months ago?
Finally, a consensus shook out of the meeting—talking was good, but nothing that would provoke a shooting war. The town would take no official stand. With the town council still defunct and no further consensus from the public, Tom was left basically where he had started.
Alice’s knife cut the final slice off the tomato. Tom smiled as he walked past his eldest daughter in the Criver kitchen. She had cut several tomatoes neatly into many slices for dinner.
“You’re going to set my mouth watering with those tomatoes,” Tom said with a smile.
“They have a food class at school,” Alice said as she put down the knife, “Miss Robinson said I have great promise.”
“Oh, that’s right, they’re offering classes in preparing food. Your mom told me about it,” Tom said.
That certainly made sense. Eagleton’s school wasn’t just teaching about the American Revolution and how to multiply and the law of gravity. They had to make sure the kids understood basic survival skills. Tom almost chuckled. He recalled how a few of the adults wanted a class in some of those skills as well.
“How did you do today?” Alice asked.
Tom shook his head slightly. “It went nowhere. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Lacy said her parents actually agreed with you, but they didn’t want to tell anyone,” Alice said as she took up a head of lettuce and started peeling off leaves.
“Really?” Tom leaned against the countertop. “Lacy… Lacy… Her parents are the Washers, right?”
“Yeah.” Alice started gathering the lettuce leaves together.
“I think I met them a while ago,” Tom said, “I was letting Lee in on what I was thinking yesterday. He must have told the Washers.” He chuckled.
“Everyone’s going to be talking about me tomorrow.” As Tom watched Alice work, something she said sparked some curiosity in him. “Do the other kids talk a lot about me?”
“Sometimes,” she replied.
“It’s not causing you any trouble, is it?” Tom asked.
“No.” Alice smiled. “Some of the kids think you’re a superhero.”
Tom flexed his right arm. “Superhero, huh?” He playfully punched the air. “Do they think I can fly?”
Alice giggled. “They say you can kill someone just by looking at them.”
“Oooh, death eyes.” Tom wiggled his eyebrows. Alice laughed some more.
Finally, Tom turned and gave Alice a kiss on the side of her face, pressing up against her blonde hair. “I’m just glad school’s going great. You, your brothers, sisters, your mom, it’s everything that matters to me.” He kissed her again.
Alice put down the knife and tilted into his chest. “Thank you, Dad.”
After a short while, Tom let Alice resume her work. Then he spotted Cheryl in the hall headed toward the room where Charlie and Dominick slept. With no kids in sight, Tom took his opportunity and grabbed her from behind as soon as she stepped into the room.
“Hey!” Cheryl laughed a little. “Where’d you come from?”
“Talking with our daughter. She says the kids at school think I’m a superhero. Maybe they’re right.” Tom slid his hands under Cheryl’s shirt. “But I need more energy.” He clasped his hands around Cheryl’s breasts. “Ah, here we are. The magic orbs. The source of my great strength.”
Cheryl laughed. “Oh, I’m the source of your superpower, huh? Well, I’m glad you admit I’m the power in this house, Mister Criver.”
Footsteps grew louder in the background. Tom quickly withdrew his hands. Fred walked by, not taking a moment to peer into the room.
“Sorry, Tom, but playtime’s over until they’re all asleep,” Cheryl whispered before raising her voice. “So, you’re the talk of school?”
“Yeah. Alice said the Washers actually
agreed with me. Wish I could say the same for everyone else at the meeting.”
Cheryl shook her head. “You know, not everybody in town was at that meeting. It’s probably wasn’t even half the town. You never know who might be on board with you.”
“Maybe.” Tom then turned and looked at his wife.
“You know, with thirteen kids spread around town with all their friends, they’re going to be around a lot of people who talk. Irvin’s spending time at the Barks’ diner. You get a lot of customers in there that chat about what’s going on.” He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe we can get a better feel for Eagleton’s true feelings about that camp.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Cheryl patted Tom’s chest.
Lauren watched as a turtle scampered off the dirt shoreline into the river. The turtle’s impact sent ripples that spread out through the calm waters. That, besides the occasional fish that swam close to the surface, was the only excitement this river had to offer.
Kovacs was leading Lauren and Nadia through the woods on a path parallel to the river. The river was pretty small, large enough for small boats to sail through, but otherwise not much bigger than many canals. The big trees on either side of it formed a canopy that only let through small sunbeams.
Lauren dug into her bag and produced the apple she had been eating for the past hour. She resisted the urge to rest, although she really should, mostly for Nadia’s sake. She had been watching her friend as this trek had begun and even had made offers of rest, but Nadia brushed her off. The former policewoman’s gait was mostly steady, but every now and then she had to stop and brace herself against a tree.
Finally, Nadia did speak up. “Lauren, how about digging out that map again? Any way to tell how close we are?”
“It wasn’t very detailed. It was just a road map. It didn’t have a lot of geographical points. I don’t think it can tell us anything more. The river just runs straight to Oak Lawn. There’s no way we can miss it.”
Just then, Nadia’s boot caught in something. “Whoa!” She tumbled down to the dirt. Though she caught herself somewhat, she could only turn a sudden drop into a slide.
Lauren quickened her pace until she caught up with Nadia. “Easy. I say we take a break.”
“No, no, I’m fine.” Nadia panted. Sweat lined her face. “But…maybe we could stop for a moment.”
“Stop and eat something.” Lauren took Nadia’s arm and helped her to a sitting position. “You need a full stomach and to keep drinking liquids. Your body’s going to be off for a while as you regain your strength.”
Kovacs overshadowed them. “Allow me to scout on ahead. I want to be sure Clark does not have men lurking around here. We must be close. He could have lookouts, patrols, or just anyone wandering around.”
Lauren nodded. “Ten-four.”
Kovacs turned and disappeared between a gap in the trees. Nadia guzzled on a water bottle from her backpack, then said, “Two days. It didn’t look that far on the map.”
“When you don’t have cars to drive, everything seems a lot farther away,” Lauren replied, “I think the river’s also curving a little. That’s also adding more hours to our trip.”
Nadia sighed. “You don’t think I’m holding you back, huh?”
Lauren swallowed. “Hey, I don’t think you’re going any slower than we are. It’s not like this place isn’t a pain to hike through.” She slipped off her left boot to massage her foot.
The pair ate and drank a little longer until Kovacs re-emerged into the open. “I think we found HQ.”
The two women took more time to rest until Nadia felt steady enough to travel. Kovacs then led them through the woods to a place where vines and a large branch hung over a big oak tree.
“Don’t touch. I think there is poison ivy on those vines.” Kovacs knelt down and picked up a branch shorn of its leaves.
“I used this to push the vines aside.” Then he used the tree branch to push some greenery aside.
Kovacs revealed metal mesh that was taller than any of them. The soldier then pointed to the tree, at a point above their heads. It wasn’t instantly noticeable, but there was metal mesh wrapping around the tree, showing only through a gap in the vines.
“I did a quick run to our east. The fencing curves around and heads north,” Kovacs said.
“Great. So how do we get in there?” Nadia asked.
“The fence is too thick to cut,” Kovacs said, “We have to get over it or under it.”
“Wait.” Lauren got in front of Kovacs. “The river. There’s got to be a dock out there for the boat. This fence can’t go around the dock. Let’s just go back to the river and find the dock.”
“I think you are right, but the dock also could be guarded.” Kovacs looked past Lauren to the mesh.
“If we have to fight our way in, we may end up bringing the whole camp on us. We need a covert way inside. If your Doctor Tran is in there, we should have an escape route to bring out the prisoners.” Kovacs frowned.
“I do not like the idea of going over the fence. It makes it too easy to be shot. We should try going under.” He then turned to Nadia. “I brought a couple of spades. Who else has digging tools?”
“I didn’t think to bring a shovel, but I did bring a small spade,” Lauren said.
“Same here,” Nadia added, “Mostly just planting tools.”
“They will have to do.” Kovacs started walking west along the mesh. “We must find a place of low ground. Maybe there’s a gap between the fence and the ground. It can be a good place to start digging—”
Kovacs halted.
Lauren and Nadia approached him from either side. “What’s wrong?” Nadia asked.
“Stop right there,” he said, “and look down.”
The two ladies obeyed. There was just a patch of mud in front of their path. Nothing seemed unusual, until they both noticed a boot print in the mud.
“That was not made by me,” Kovacs said, “I did not scout this area. Someone else is here and walked ahead of us.” The soldier then raised his own boot. He held it over the boot print.
“This is the same boot I wear. It’s part of our uniform. Almost everyone in our unit had them. I know I never came this way, ever.” He lowered his foot. “So, this was made by either Stark or Garcia.”
Lauren frowned. Stark had helped them out at Clark’s earlier camp but had decided to split off. If he immediately decided to come here, he could have arrived here before they did, but why would he come here? Garcia was another matter. He was a total unknown. He had not been with Stark and Kovacs or at the camp they had liberated, and Kovacs had said little about him.
“Garcia,” Lauren said, “He wasn’t at the camp back there. Do you think he’s at HQ?”
“It is the only place I know. I never saw him escape. He had his share of run-ins with Clark’s men. Perhaps Stark came here looking for him.” Kovacs let out a soft breath. “Well, perhaps we should look at the bright side. If Stark is here, perhaps he’s found a way in for us. Let’s track his trail.”
Chapter Thirteen
Fred Criver listened carefully as he pedaled his bike past a young man and a woman tending to a lawn. The man was pushing a manual lawn mower while the lady followed beside him and chatted. After he had had enough time to get the gist of their conversation, Fred sped up and pedaled away before the couple could stop and question him. They were just talking about finishing up the wiring on the solar panels being installed on their roof. Nothing about Dad’s plans to go free the captives in the work camp he had found.
Three strikeouts so far, Fred thought. Perhaps he’d find some chatter on the next street.
As he rounded a corner onto Lakewood Street, he did find something, but it wasn’t neighbors chatting. Dominick and Charlie approached from the opposite direction on foot, each wearing a long coat that reached to the tips of their shoes. Pale brown hats covered their heads and black sunglasses obscured their eyes.
Fred skidded to a stop. “Dominick? Charlie?
What’s the deal with those getups?”
“Ssssh!” Charlie put a finger to his lips. “We’re not Charlie and Dominick. We’re secret agents on an intelligence mission.”
“If you give out any secret information…” Dominick pulled out a water pistol from under his coat. “We will have to terminate you.”
Fred shook his head. “You two are fools. You don’t look secret wearing those costumes. Everyone’s going to know you’re up to something.”
Charlie turned to Dominick. “He questions our mission. He must be an enemy spy. We should capture him and take him for questioning.”
Dominick nodded. “I will use my secret knockout gas.”
“Yeah, you got gas alright,” Fred quipped, “Look, cut the spy bullshit. Did you hear anyone talk about Dad? You know, what they think of us going into that camp he found?”
“That information is classified,” Dominick said.
“Just a little bit,” Charlie replied.
Dominick turned to his partner. “Hey! I thought we were playing secret agent. Are we supposed to tell people what we know or not?”
“If we don’t tell him something, he’ll either keep bugging us or tell on us,” Charlie replied.
Just then, another familiar face came pedaling toward them, and fast. Their sister Annie quickly slowed her bike once she got close, even pedaling around in a loop to cut her speed. “Hey!” She panted slightly. “Guess what? There’s something big going on at the edge of town! They say Miss Karen Edwards and Mister Cooper are back!”
Lauren looked up. “What’s that? Who do you see?”
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing,” Nadia said.
Lauren, crouched on the ground and wiped her forehead. “Great. I keep expecting someone to jump out from behind a tree any moment.”
Next to her, Kovacs chuckled. “I don’t think Clark’s men are that skilled in stealth. They can be brutal, even good with a gun, but they never struck me as well-trained. There are ways to move about with stealth. Sometimes a soldier doesn’t have to do more than just sit still.”