Elvis nods his head. “What about Berkley in Galena?” he asks.
“No. I’m not going to Alaska on this trip. There’s not enough time.”
“Alaska’s not on the agenda,” Sam agrees with me. “Besides, Berkley has nothing to help us.”
“Berkley is scared shitless of Crane. So when it comes down to it, I doubt he’ll go against our plan,” I say.
“So what does that leave?” Ian asks.
“Tonopah,” I say wearily.
“What do you think of them?” Sam asks.
I catch Elvis shaking his head from side-to-side. He knows what I’m going to say, before I say it. “Tonopah is no good. The Entity ruling there is Sakima. He runs an… interesting ship.”
“How so?” Sam asks.
“There are ten Sovereign who are all on the Halcyon protocol.”
“Wait,” Ian interrupts me. “What’s Halcyon?”
“That’s the medication they give the Residents.”
“So why is he giving it to the Sovereign?”
I take a deep breath, not wanting to waste my time with these details, but then I remember that Ian doesn’t know this. “Sakima wants control over them all. His committee members sit at the gates all day and decide who will be let in from the Survivors to work in the District and keep it running. There is no weaning off the medication. Even their Volker are on a low dose of it. And everyone who visits.”
“Didn’t you go there?” Ian asks.
“Yeah.”
“Did you take the medication?”
“No. I figured out what he was doing ahead of time. The rest of our crew wasn’t so lucky.”
“Where was it?”
“In the food. This is why we don’t eat food from other Districts, especially from Tonopah.”
The sound of soft footsteps causes me to stop talking.
“It’s okay,” Elvis tells us as he moves to the side and turns.
Ian and Sam look at each other in a silent preparation to deal with trouble. I watch as a shadowed figure walks up next to Elvis. I take a few steps back, ready to hide behind the men. Then, I notice, it’s Alexander.
“What is he doing here?” I ask Elvis through clenched teeth.
Alexander holds up his hand. “It’s okay, Andie.”
“No. I don’t trust you.” I point at him.
“You don’t trust anyone,” Alexander responds with cool confidence.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m in. I’m joining your Resistance, under one condition.”
“What?”
“When this is over, when Crane is out, I’m going back to Hanford. I’m not getting any younger and my family is there. I want to spend time with them before I die.”
“You’re not dying.” I tell him.
“We are all dying, Andromeda. And to answer your earlier question, Crossbender is in. And I suggest spending as little time in Tonopah as possible. You could probably skip that stop.”
“Crane wants us to get troops from Tonopah,” I tell him.
“Do you really think troops from Tonopah are a good idea? Think about it,” Alexander suggests. “Morris was expected to explain this to you before he died. Maybe he was too sick to remember, but let me tell you now: those are Sakima’s people. Those people answer to Sakima and only Sakima. You bring them here then you will be running into the same problem we had when our own Residents were uprising. They won’t listen to us, they won’t trust us. Get the horses from Wolf Creek and the weapons from Hanford. Skip Tonopah. And Galena is no good. Crane has old President Berkley running at a minimum and we can buy his membership into this little club easily. So, take the guns and the horses, swing by Crystal River. Emanuel Torres will be easy to get on board. Just be careful of Ruiz, he’s greasy. Buy them with weapons and horses. They’ve had Survivors at their gates threatening them also. Seems to be a band of them running communications up and down the east coast. When that’s done make your way home.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak so much at once, Alexander,” I point out.
“I’ve never had much to say. But this,” he waves an arm towards the town. “This is important. And I’d like to see Crane out. He’s nothing but a crazed worm rotting our apple.”
“And when Crane is out, what happens to us?” I ask.
“We continue as we are, just without Crane.”
“So there will still be Districts, we will still be turning the Residents into docile humans.”
“It’s already been set in action,” Alexander tells me. “There’s no reason to stop it. We don’t want things to go back to the way they were. We will be safe. The Districts are running perfectly. This is exactly what the original Entities were looking for. A better society. A healthy planet. This was the original plan. We needed Crane’s help and now we no longer need his help.”
“That sounds like something Crane would say,” I tell Alexander.
He shrugs, neither admitting nor denying it.
--
“I can’t believe you’re leaving in the morning again,” Ian tells me as we stand in the living room. “That it’s finally starting and we are one step closer to being free from Crane.”
“I’m not sure if we’ll ever truly be free, Ian.”
“Why do you have to do that?”
“What?”
“Twist everything around. Be so negative.”
“Because I’ve seen what these people do. They just want Crane out of the picture. We will still be treated the same, our futures will remain as they are. Sometimes I wonder, with Crane being as crazed as he is, he might actually be protecting us, our family, against the others.”
“Okay.” He nods his head, looking around the living room at the few bags I have packed and set near the couch.
“I’m leaving you with the children.”
“I know,” he replies firmly.
I hold back the warning I want to give him about the last time I left Lina in his care.
He must sense my apprehension. “I won’t let anything happen to them, Andie,” he promises me.
“I know,” I tell him, trying to convince myself.
“When you went to Florida, nothing happened. It won’t this time either.”
“I’m going to be gone longer this time,” I tell him. “And I’m taking Sam. You need a plan. If the Survivors get in, if Crane pulls something, you need to be ready to run with Lina and Raven.”
“Elvis says we’ll be fine.”
“Don’t put all your trust in Elvis.”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you the reason. I can only warn you.”
“Alexander was right. You don’t trust anyone.”
“You shouldn’t either. Do you have a plan?”
“Yes. I have a plan to get the children away from here.”
“Guns, supplies,” I remind him. “Lina is like a walking map, Ian.” I start to pace the living room.
“I know,” he tells me proudly.
“I think we should meet up in Hanford if there’s a problem.”
“That’s across the country.” He shakes his head. “We’d never make it that far. Not with two kids in tow.”
One of the Guardians shifts in its sleep in the hallway. “The Guardians will follow you. They’ll keep you safe.”
“You put a lot of trust in those dogs.”
“I trust them more than most people.”
“Okay, so Hanford.”
“You’ll be safe there. We can trust them. If you have to, stop at Wolf Creek. I wasn’t there long enough to get a good understanding of Blackmore. Still, if I get him on board he’s not going to shun my family.”
“Okay,” Ian agrees.
“I should get some rest,” I tell Ian, hanging my jacket on the hook next to the door. Ian does the same, following behind me as I walk down the hallway, headed for my bedroom. But just as I reach for my door handle, Ian grasps my arm.
“What are you doing?” I as
k him, turning to see that he is standing close and I can smell the scent from the burning embers in the courtyard fire.
He smiles, his hand moving up my arm and tugging me away from my bedroom door. “Making sure you don’t forget me while you’re gone.”
“I won’t forget you,” I tell him as he pulls me towards his room.
“I just want to make sure.” He leans in for a deep kiss. “I was afraid you forgot me before.”
I pull back, seeing everything on his face that he told me he forgave me for. “I never forgot you, Ian. You were on my mind every day, every minute.”
I let him lead me to his bed, grateful to be off my feet since it seems my legs have become wobbly, no doubt as a direct effect of his mouth and his hands. And before long I can tell what’s happening. I remember the familiar feelings, the way his body reacts, the way mine does. I stifle a moan when he nibbles on the sensitive skin of my neck. He’s getting too intense. I know where this goes next. And I already told him why I can’t.
“Ian, stop.” I press my hands against his chest.
“Shhh, it’s ok.” He tugs at my shirt. His fingertips brush against my abdomen, making it quiver.
“No it’s not, we can’t risk-”
“I found something to help,” he interrupts, turning around and reaching into a drawer.
“What?” I ask out of breath.
He holds up a box… a box of condoms!
Covering my face with both hands, I let out a groan. This is so embarrassing. I feel like a teenager, my own husband begging me to sleep with him, scouring the town for the last box of condoms so I don’t get pregnant.
“What do you think?” He kisses my neck in that tender spot again.
“I don’t know, Ian.” I look at the box and then back to his face. “It’s been a while. A long while. I may have forgotten what to do.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you what to do,” he says with a wicked grin.
The Collection of Sovereign and Supplies
chapter fifteen
Just like our recent trip to Crystal River, Crane is sending us out sparsely equipped. It’s just me, Sam and four Guardians. This time the train has been equipped with extra cars for the horses and weapons.
There are only Crane and the Volker crew that watch the gateway out of here to send us off as Sam and I load our respective bags onto the engine car.
“Godspeed,” Crane tells Sam as he shakes his hand.
Sam nods.
Crane turns to me. “You will hurry back won’t you?” Crane asks me. It’s a strange question since he knows just how much I dislike leaving the comforts and familiarity of my home and children.
“Of course I will.” I give him a short smile.
We board the train and Crane waves from the platform as we pull away.
--
Wolf Creek
“This is nice,” Sam tells me as we pull into the Wolf Creek District. He admires the view from the elevated train tracks which branch out over the fields.
As we pull up to the platform we see a man waiting for us. It’s John Blackmore, their District Moderator. I forgot how much John reminds me of Elvis, tanned and rugged with his sandy-brown hair and wide smile.
“It’s been a long time,” John shakes my hand. “You’re looking well.”
“Thanks,” I tell him, remembering how sick and pregnant I was the last time I was here. “John, meet Sam Salk, the Phoenix District Volker Sovereign.”
“Nice to meet you.” John gives Sam a hearty handshake and claps him on the shoulder. “What happened to Colonel Waters?” he asks me.
“He died.” Sam gives me a look, like I might break or cry, but I don’t. I already told Adam’s grave what I think of him. “Just over two years ago,” I tell John. “You didn’t hear?”
“Don’t have much time for gossiping out here.” He replaces his hat, an old baseball cap which the embroidery has been pulled out of, removing whatever team it represented. “My condolences.” He tips the hat at us. “I hear the Survivors are getting antsy up in the northeast.”
“We’ve had a few threats in Phoenix and at Crystal River,” I tell him.
“Have you had any here?” Sam asks.
“None so far. I imagine most didn’t make it though. Or they went further south to escape the worsening winters, seek refuge in South America.”
“But South America was slated for Reformation,” I say.
“Survivors didn’t know that,” John replies.
I feel terrible for those people. Living through the destruction here only to seek refuge in another country and relive it all over again.
“So you think you’ll use the horses for transportation?” John asks.
“That’s the plan,” Sam tells John. “The roads are mostly overgrown outside the District walls. We think the horses will give us better mobility in an attack from the Survivors.”
“Hmm.” He scratches his sideburns. “I don’t know much about fighting, but I guess that would work.”
We stand in a moment of silence, watching a herd of buffalo run in the nearby field. The ground vibrates under our feet as the beasts thunder across the plains.
“So, the horses,” John waves us along to follow him. “This change of events isn’t what we’ve been planning for out here. As you know,” he motions towards me. “This District was set up for reintegrating the domesticated animals into the wild. I was surprised by Crane’s orders. Usually he doesn’t budge much on the rules.” He heads down a gravel walkway towards a large red barn. “We’ve had to change our operating procedure because of this. These horses were slated for release into the wild. We had to gentle and train them. Since we didn’t have much time I’m afraid a few are still a little wild. That’s why I have to send them with a handler. We’re hoping they’ll be ready for riding not long after you arrive back in Phoenix.”
“We weren’t planning on bringing another person back with us,” Sam tells John.
“I know. I cleared it with Crane already. We didn’t have much time to get them ready.”
We continue into the barn and unlike the last time I was here the individual stalls have been removed and what remains is a large gated open space. There are horses with gleaming coats of all different colors and patterns. They take one look at us as we approach and a few gallop away, others seem to stand and stare at us. A cowboy-looking man walks around the fence, making his way towards us.
“This is Tim Johnson, he’ll be looking after the horses,” John tells us.
Tim looks young, as though he’s in his mid-thirties. He has dark hair, a faint beard and a cowboy hat on.
He tips his hat at us. “Howdy,” he says with a smile, reaching out to shake our hands.
“Tim, this is Andie Somers and Sam Salk. They’re the people from the Phoenix District that I told you about.”
“Pleasure,” is all he replies with before he turns back to the horses.
John starts walking again, circling around the gated area until we reach an open door. Inside there is an office space with rows of filing cabinets and a desk.
“Just need you to sign for the horses, their food, and handler,” John tells us.
“Sign?” I ask.
“Yes. I keep records here. How much livestock comes in, what’s bred here, and what’s released back to the wild.” He holds a pen out to me and flattens a piece of printed paper on his desk. “Just in case there are any problems or issues with their genetic vitality. Don’t want a repeat of what happened here before.”
“Sure,” I tell him, taking the pen from his hand. I scan the piece of paper. It’s an invoice listing fifty horses which all seem to have identification numbers, there’s barrels of food and water, bales of hay, and of course a note stating that Tim Johnson is leaving with the horses. I sign my name at the bottom and hand his pen back.
“I have something to speak with you about, John.”
“What’s that?”
“We need to go outside, where it’s
private.”
“Sure.”
We make our way out of the barn into the Midwestern afternoon sun. Sam looks about, ensuring we are alone and that there are no prying eyes.
“What’s going on, Andie?” he asks.
“I’m not sure how to say this, John, but we’re planning something, something that will change the Districts for good.”
“And what’s that?” He crosses his arms over his chest.
“We want Burton Crane out of the picture,” I tell him.
“Are you serious?” he asks. “Did you learn nothing from the last time you were here and everything that’s happened?”
“I know,” I hold out my hand, trying to get him to listen. “I know, John, just give me a chance. There are a lot of people on board.”
“Who?” he asks.
“All of the Phoenix Sovereign, Hanford, and I’d bet money on Crystal River.”
“What do you plan on doing?”
“I’m not sure yet. We-”
“Well you can’t well be planning a revolution without a plan!”
“I’m just getting people on board. And then the original Funding Entities will be in control. They won’t have to worry about Crane.”
“What are you going to do with him?” he squints at me as though he can see right through me. I know he’s one of the original Entities.
“Maybe imprison him or banish him. We just want to make sure everyone is on the same page once he’s out.”
“Hmm,” John grumbles and looks around.
I stand still, waiting for his decision. He can either join or turn me in right now. And I’m sure turning me in would mean certain death for all of us.
“It would be much easier with him gone. A little more,” he circles his fingers in the air searching for the right word, “democratic without him.”
“So you’re in?” Sam asks. I had almost forgotten he was behind me.
“Yes. I’m in.”
“And the rest of your people here?”
The Phoenix Project Series: Books 1-3: The Phoenix Project, The Reformation, and Revelation Page 71