The Day After Never - Perdition (Book 6)

by Russell Blake

  “In the vaults on this side of the hallway.”

  “Help me open them,” Sam instructed, and stepped back.

  “Man, am I glad to see you–” Riley started, but Lucas cut him off.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Lucas snapped. “Open the rest of the cells and let’s get out of here.”

  Riley registered Lucas for the first time. “Who’s this?”

  “Your guardian angel. Name’s Lucas. Now move.”

  Riley didn’t argue and instead stepped from the chamber as though pushing through an invisible force field. He paused once in the hall and turned to Lucas. “They’ll kill you, you know. They’re completely ruthless.”

  “They’ll have to stand in line.”

  The final cell was emptying when a crash sounded from the second floor. Everyone froze, and Lucas questioned the captives. “What’s upstairs?”

  “I…I think more of them. Or prisoners. I don’t know,” the man nearest Lucas whispered.

  Lucas’s eyes narrowed and he leaned toward Sam. “Get them out of here and make for the edge of town. You know the rendezvous point.”

  “What are you going to do?” Sam asked.

  “See what’s behind door number two.”

  Chapter 31

  Lucas moved to the exit at the end of the hall and waved to the gunman. “Go back and tend to Rob,” Lucas said. “He took one to the shoulder. Get him out of here.”

  “You want me to watch your back?”

  Lucas shook his head. “No. More important to get everyone clear. I’m going upstairs to make sure we don’t get bushwhacked from the upper floor as we’re leaving.”

  The man nodded and moved to the entrance, where Rob lay, and Lucas pushed open the metal door, paused to listen for a moment, and then stepped into the stairwell. Using the NV scope’s faint glow to guide him, Lucas cautiously mounted the steps, taking care to be as quiet as possible so as to avoid alerting anyone lurking above.

  When he reached the second-floor landing, he stopped and pressed his ear against the door. Hearing nothing, his ears still ringing from the gunfire below, he twisted the hand lever and eased the slab open a crack, peering through the gap through the scope, which brightened from the ambient light of another candle. He detected no movement and pushed it wider, leading with the rifle, and stepped into the corridor just as a groan emanated from halfway down its length, where a steel cabinet had fallen onto a figure trapped beneath it.

  Lucas walked slowly to the cabinet and paused at the sight of the top half of a biker, facedown in a pool of crimson, a pistol barely out of reach where it had skittered when the cabinet had fallen on him. Lucas toed the gun away and the man moaned again, and then another sound drew his attention from a unit with chain-link fence across it, adjacent to where the cabinet had stood.

  Four girls stared at him from the depths of the cell with eyes as large as saucers, the youngest of them no more than fourteen, hugging her knees to her chest and trembling as another comforted her. Lucas took in the scene and scowled – it was more than apparent to him that this was the entertainment section of the biker prison, the girls subject to round-the-clock abuse, which explained the stream of men earlier that day.

  Lucas considered the padlock securing the fencing in place.

  “Where’s the key?”

  The nearest one pointed at the downed biker. “On his belt.”

  Lucas hurried to the biker and heaved the cabinet off him, noting the deep gash in the man’s head as he turned him over and felt for the key. He found it and was retrieving the ring when the biker reached for Lucas’s vest with a weak hand.

  “He…help…me…”

  Lucas’s face was stony as he straightened and approached the caged girls. He knelt and slipped the key into the padlock, which opened with a snap, and pulled the fencing aside.

  “Any more of them up here?” Lucas asked, motioning to the biker.

  The girls shook their heads.

  Lucas checked his watch and motioned to them. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.” He faced the biker. “You’re lucky I decided to come up and check on the racket. They’d have come back, and then there would have been hell to pay for taking out this bum.”

  “What could they do that’s worse than what they do every day?” the closest girl asked.

  “They could kill you.”

  Her smile was sad, and the pain in her eyes was feverish. “You think that would be worse?”

  Lucas looked the girls over. “Can you walk?”

  She nodded. “That’s Emma. She’s freaked out. She’s a new one. We’ll help her down the stairs. Where are we going?”

  “Anywhere but here.”

  The answer seemed to satisfy her. “I’m Lora, and that’s Bee and Taylor. Who are you?”

  “The guy who’s rescuing you.”

  “They’ll hunt you down,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “Harder to do than you think.” Lucas shouldered his M4. “Follow me.”

  Lucas hurried to the stairwell and then spun at a gunshot that was loud as a cannon blast in the confines of the hall. Lora stood over the biker, his pistol in hand, looking calmly at the damage the weapon had done to his skull. Lucas called out to her.

  “Drop the gun.”

  She obeyed, the weapon dropping from her fingers, and moved to help Taylor with Emma, who was clearly in shock. Lucas waited until they reached the door and then opened it and guided them down the steps. At the ground level, Sam and another of the fighters were approaching cautiously down the corridor with their rifles at the ready.

  “What was the shooting?” Sam asked when he saw Lucas appear.

  “Justice.”

  Sam caught sight of the girls and his breath caught. Lucas looked past him at the entrance, then back to Sam. “They’re coming with us. We can’t leave them here. They yours?”

  Sam shook his head. “No. Not ours. But we can find them a home.”

  “Let’s get going. No telling when the bad guys will be back.” Lucas paused. “Any sign of Art and the horses?”

  “Not yet.”

  Art was supposed to drive the animals to the lot a block from the building, where everyone would mount up and hopefully be gone by the time the bikers caught on to what had transpired. Lucas cursed under his breath and threw a final glance at the girls.

  “Take care of them.”

  “Where are you going?” Sam asked.

  “If the General wasn’t able to get the horses, we need another solution.”

  “Like?”

  Deep lines creased Lucas’s brow. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

  Sam watched him stride to the entrance and shook his head. If they made them with bigger balls than Lucas, Sam hadn’t seen it. He turned to the girls and tried a smile.

  “You heard the man,” he said, looking down at their bare feet. “Any of you have shoes?”

  Lora shook her head. “We’re wearing everything we own.”

  He sighed. “Okay. Might hurt a little if we have to run a ways. Think you’re up for that?”

  “We’ll do whatever we have to.”

  Sam nodded. “Then follow me.”

  Chapter 32

  Pagosa Springs, Colorado

  The sky had faded from lavender to obsidian while Duke, Luis, and John tackled the final grade to the Pagosa Springs turnoff, which had been camouflaged by Elliot’s people so any travelers wouldn’t realize there was a road leading off the highway to the hot springs.

  After leaving the trading post, they’d kept riding until midnight and had been up before dawn for an epic slog into the Colorado mountains. Now, fifteen hours of hard pushing later, they were within a mile of their destination. The horses were panting with exertion and the effects of the altitude, and the men were bone tired from too little sleep due to rotating watches the previous night.

  One of the horses stumbled as they fought their way up the final bend, a ravine dropping off into inky blackness on
one side of the highway, the only sound rushing water a hundred yards down a sheer cliff. John slowed to allow the animal to regain its footing and the rest eased off the pace; there was no point in pushing the horses past the breaking point now that Shangri-La was within easy reach.

  When they reached a level straight section of road, Luis pointed into the shadows on their left. “That the turnoff?” he asked.

  Duke squinted in the gloom and grunted. “Looks like it. Easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there.”

  “They did a good job hiding it.”

  “Mother Nature and the winter probably helped, but I agree they outdid themselves.” Duke twisted to where John was lagging behind, the packhorse limping as it struggled with the last stretch. “Is he going to make it?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t like his odds if he has to do it all over again tomorrow.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Hurry up. It’s colder than a witch’s tit up here.”

  “I’m doing the best I can,” John grumbled.

  John exhaled in relief when he caught up with the other two and patted the horse’s neck. Duke led them off the road and onto what appeared to be unbroken shoulder, and then around a strategically felled tree that blocked the way west. Five minutes off the highway they found the remnants of the artery that led to Pagosa, and they rode in silence toward the enclave, a stippling of stars overhead lighting the way.

  They could just make out the first of the buildings in the distance when a voice called from the brush, “Halt. Who goes there?”

  “It’s Duke and company from the trading post.”

  A man stepped from the shadows holding a wicked-looking Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun. “Been expecting you. Rough trip?”

  Duke nodded. “And a long one, but we’re here now.”

  “Good thing. We’re rolling out at first light.”

  “Any sign of black hats?”

  “Negative, but we can’t be too careful.”

  “I hear that.” He looked past the gunman. “Town’s pretty dark.”

  “The windows all have blackout curtains in place. We don’t want to draw any attention.”

  Duke returned his attention to the sentry. “Smart. When did they start doing that?”

  “About a week after you guys left. There’ve been a lot of improvements since then. Shame we have to bail, but that’s life.”

  Duke picked his way along the road in the moonlight with the others close behind, and when they entered the town’s limits, they were struck by how quiet it was, the sound of the river and their horse’s hooves the only noise on the main street. They turned and crossed the bridge, and then rode to the community center Elliot used as his headquarters. Upon arriving, they tied their horses to a post and let them drink their fill from two water buckets, and then pushed their way through the entry.

  Light seeped from beneath a door at the far side of the room, and Duke made for it without hesitation. He pulled it open and blinked in the glare of LED lights blazing in Elliot’s meeting room, where his confidants were gathered, their expressions grim. Elliot looked up from where he was sitting and smiled.

  “Well, well. You made it! Congratulations. That was record time. Any incidents?”

  “One horse on its last legs. Other than that, nothing critical.”

  Elliot gave a smile of relief. “Have a seat and I’ll give you a quick rundown,” he said, indicating a bench at the side of the room. John and Luis sat down, and Duke pulled up a chair and faced Elliot.

  “So? You said you’re blown?” he began.

  “That’s right. Lucas radioed from Oregon. There was a problem there, and one of his party gave up our location.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Week, week and a half. Which is why we need to move with all possible speed and leave no trail to follow. It’s not a matter of whether our enemies will come – the only question is when.”

  “But to what end? The vaccine’s already out there.”

  “For throwing a wrench into the works. Revenge. As a warning to others who might rebel. Take your pick.”

  “How did Lucas find out?”

  “They tortured his man. He found him before he died, and tracked down the character who did it.” Elliot paused. “Working for the Illuminati. Who have apparently sold the Pacific Northwest to the Chinese in some sort of transaction made in hell.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. An invasion force landed and has taken over the region. I got a report from Seattle that the same situation is playing out there. It’s bad.”

  “How can they do that?”

  Elliot shrugged. “Might makes right. A return to the old days where he with the most swords called the shots. That isn’t our immediate problem – relocating before an attack force arrives is.”

  “Where are we moving to?”

  “To the other hot springs seventy miles north. It’s even more remote and highly defensible. In the middle of nowhere. We’ll use what we learned here to adapt – there are some dwellings there, and we have all summer to build more. It’s not ideal, but we’ll make do.”

  “You’re sure you’re in danger?”

  “Absolutely. The plan is to move out by midday tomorrow at the latest, with a trailing party covering our tracks. There can be no trace of our passage or this will have all been for nothing.”

  “And then what?” Luis asked from the bench.

  “I beg your pardon?” Elliot said.

  “Once you’re at your new home, then what do you do?”

  “We’ll take it as it comes and figure things out once there. We’ve had our hands full trying to plan the logistics of the move. There’s a lot to be done.”

  “Are we going to set up a new trading post? Are you still going to try to recruit new members?”

  “I expect so,” said Elliot. “That part won’t change.”

  “Is seventy miles enough, then? Why not two hundred?” Duke asked.

  “Power. There’s nothing we know of anywhere else that we can feasibly reach without giving ourselves away.”

  “If you’re right and they come for you, they’re not going to just walk away when they find Pagosa empty.”

  “If it’s Crew, as is likely given your fellow’s tattoos, they have no dog in this hunt any longer now that Magnus is dead. They’ll only be after us to satisfy the Illuminati, who they’re obviously working for.”

  “But why? Why would the Crew do their bidding?”

  Elliot met Duke’s stare. “Power. It’s always about power and control. The Illuminati are probably working with all the various warlords and controlling them from afar – that’s their standard operating procedure throughout history. Stay in the background and control the governments, consolidating power within your small circle. It’s a time-tested approach.”

  Duke frowned. “You sound like you know a lot about the Illuminati for such a secret society.”

  “I made it a hobby to study them, from before the collapse. It was obvious to me that many of the world’s governments weren’t behaving rationally or in their populations’ best interests. That got me wondering who was calling the shots and to what end. The answer always came back to the same groups – the money men and those who profit from calamity, who fund both sides in all wars, and for whom nations are mere means to an end. Once you know what to look for, it’s obvious – their hand is in anything involving power or wealth.”

  “But surely after the collapse…” Duke began, but Elliot waved his comment away.

  “They always have ten contingency plans. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that they had one to emerge victorious from a catastrophe. It’s what they do. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they grow stronger from chaos and misfortune. They’ve obviously consolidated control of the warring factions in the country and are making a move – there’s no other way the Chinese would have been invited to take over the northwest. To your question of why they’ll be single-minded about destroying us, loo
k no further than how we ruined their plan to control the vaccine. Simply put, we’re a danger to them, and they know it. We can expect no mercy.”

  Duke exhaled. “So we’re moving. Starting over.”

  “That’s right. We too can emulate the phoenix. And we will.” He looked around the room. “Because cornered rats have no choice.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Dale lowered his binoculars and glanced over at his horse tied to a nearby tree, grazing from abundant grass while his master went about his business. Dale had trailed the traders into the heart of the Colorado mountains and was now perched on the side of a grade, observing a small town half a mile below him. He’d unfolded a weathered map of the area and pronounced the name of the berg to himself once the sun had come up, savoring each syllable with the relish of a connoisseur enjoying the bouquet of a fine wine.

  “Pagosa Springs,” he whispered.

  His horse looked at him and went back to munching breakfast, fatigued after back-to-back days of exertion and relieved to have had a decent night’s rest. Dale hadn’t been so fortunate, snatching a few hours of sleep when he could after evading the amateurishly hidden guard outpost on what had once been a road and positioning himself to be able to watch the town with ease.

  There was considerable activity along the main boulevard as the place came awake, and Dale estimated there were around 150 inhabitants, based on what he’d seen. He had spotted the traders’ horses at first light by a barn and had focused on counting heads as the populace went about their morning chores.

  Dale saw no reason to delay and, by the time the sun had been up a few hours, had decided to ride like the devil to Durango and alert Snake that he’d located his nemesis. He took a final look through the binoculars and then saddled his horse, a sense of urgency and anticipation building in his gut. After many months of nothing, he’d finally found his quarry, and they would not get away again. Snake would know what to do, and Dale had every reason to believe he would be in charge of leading the extermination party the Crew would send.

  The thought of butchering the people in the town below gave him considerable pleasure. They’d escaped detection for a while and bought themselves time, but in the end they would be his, and he would revel in the laments of their women and the terrified protests of their children as he expunged them from the earth with the ruthless efficiency of a born predator.