The McClane Apocalypse Book Eight

by Kate Morris

  “Sounds awfully simple.”

  The skepticism in her soft voice makes Cory smile.

  “It will be. That is if we ever find the damn place.”

  She mimics his smile and touches his arm gently. “Just be careful. These people, these men…they’re pure evil.”

  “I know, but we’ll be fine,” he assures her.

  She hugs him again and says, “Good luck.”

  “Thanks, but I’ve got my weapon. That’s good enough luck for me,” he jokes.

  “I didn’t mean good luck with the highwaymen,” she corrects.

  “I know,” he says with a wink.

  He leaves a moment later and runs his horse on a quick patrol skirting a few miles beyond where they usually ride just to be sure that the highwaymen are not encroaching. Then he hurries back to the farm as the family is finishing their own morning meal. Cory washes up in the mudroom and joins Derek and Doc in his office to finalize plans. His brother is also there, bent over the desk already looking at the map.

  “Chet’s coming with you,” Derek informs him.

  “Cool,” Cory replies. “Is he bringing an ATV?”

  “Yeah, you’ll both go on ATV still like we planned, but I’m sending you towards Clarksville instead,” Derek says. “Someone said there was activity out that way yesterday on the freeway.”

  “Alright,” Cory says with a nod.

  “John’s going to meet you,” Doc puts in.

  “Yes, sir,” Cory complies.

  Derek tells him where to set up camp to wait for John. Then they go over the contingency plans, communications, and what’s expected. The meeting concludes, and Derek heads off to find Luke, who will stay on the farm to work with Derek and Kelly in case of a problem here.

  “Cory,” Doc says behind him as he’s making his exit from the office, too. “Stay a moment, son. I’d like to speak with you.”

  “Yes, sir. Of course,” Cory says and rests his rifle in the corner behind the door and closes it, but not before his brother winks at him from the hall and slices his finger across his own neck to signify that Cory is in deep shit.

  “Take a seat,” Herb offers a chair and sits opposite him on one of the leather sofas.

  “What is it, sir?”

  “This matter with Paige…”

  Cory hangs his head a moment, not sure how he wants to deal with this. The only conclusion he can deduce is that he doesn’t want to deal with it at all, not with Herb.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “She and Simon are my responsibility, in a roundabout way, if you will,” Herb explains as he sips his hot beverage.

  “I can understand why you’d feel that way.”

  “Are you making any progress, son? Seems to me that your intentions are honorable, but that she doesn’t want to get married? Am I understanding this correctly?”

  “Yes, sir. That’s about it. Although her brother would say that my intentions are less than honorable.”

  “That’s understandable,” Herb states. “She’s his sister. He feels a lot of responsibility for her. He wants to make sure she’s safe and healthy and taken care of in the best ways he knows how to provide. You’ve stepped on his toes, so to speak.”

  Cory nods, shame setting in as if he hadn’t consumed enough of it already.

  “What steps are you taking to improve this situation you’ve made for yourself?”

  He has to hand it to him. Herb can be frank when he wants to be. He is definitely laying the full brunt of the situation at Cory’s feet, deservedly so. It is entirely his fault that this all happened. He knew better. He knew what he was doing, what he was getting himself into, and he took the wrong path. He just couldn’t resist his own temptations.

  “I’m working on my relationship with Simon. Trying to earn his trust. It hasn’t been easy.”

  “No, I’m sure it won’t be, either,” Doc concurs with a nod. “You have a long row to hoe there, I’m afraid. And Paige?”

  “I have a plan. It’s taking me a little longer to make this one come to fruition, but I’m working on it. With everything that’s been going on around here with these highwaymen idiots, my situation with her has come to a standstill. I’d like to have more free time for my plan, but that would take time away from helping the family.”

  Herb nods, sighs heavily, and says, “I understand. Courtship is quite a bit different now than it used to be, as well. Fear can drive us to be too cautious sometimes. She is likely worried about this affecting her brother, as well. She lived for quite a long time without anyone but her two friends. Trusting people is going to take an exceptionally huge effort with Paige. She was off-putting and rather withdrawn when she first arrived on my farm. I’m glad that she’s come around so well. I can only imagine what horrors she must’ve witnessed while living on the road all that time. But, I do enjoy her company and believe she is an added benefit to our farm and the community. Her fears and distrusts are something that she will have to overcome on her own. If she truly has feelings for you, she’ll eventually stop trying to run away from those feelings and learn to adapt. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.”

  “No, sir,” Cory agrees and shakes his head with a frown of understanding. “I will make this right, though. I give you my word on that account.”

  “Good. That’s what I want to hear,” Herb states. “I believe that you are a good man, Cory. You have honor and value and a place in this family. Your mother and father would be very proud of the man you’ve become.”

  Cory swallows the lump of sudden emotion in his throat. Doc is tugging at his heartstrings. Yanking, pulling and rendering would be a more suitable description. He tries not to think of his mom and dad too much. It hurts.

  “Thank you, sir,” he manages to say.

  “You’ll do the right thing. I have confidence in you and your decisions as a dutiful, conscientious man.”

  “Yes, sir,” Cory answers.

  “You’d better get ready now,” Herb says and stands, concluding their meeting.

  He walks over to Cory and offers a handshake, to which Cory complies. Then Herb pulls him in and embraces him warmly, surprising Cory that he has so much strength. He pats his back twice and finally releases him. Cory doesn’t even hesitate. He collects his gun and gets out of there before more feelings get filleted and old wounds reopened.

  Hannah hands him a bag of food for his backpack, then hugs him goodbye as if he is going off to war in a foreign land.

  “Don’t worry, Hannie,” he says. “I’ll be back soon, probably by tomorrow morning.”

  She slides her hand up his arm until she reaches his face where she cups her small palm against his whisker-filled cheek.

  “Take care of Kelly for me,” Cory says in a light tone.

  Hannah smiles and nods as Kelly comes into the kitchen. His brother punches his shoulder.

  “Having fun?” Kelly teases, knowing full-well what just occurred in Doc’s office.

  “Time of my life. Can’t you tell?”

  Kelly laughs and says, “You ready?”

  “Yeah, I just wanna’ say goodbye to…some people before I split,” he says with zero finesse.

  “She’s in the rose garden,” Kelly answers, knowing who Cory means.

  He nods and tips a salute to his brother. Cory finds her easily enough in the rose garden sitting on one of the faded white cast iron benches. The morning sun is hitting her in profile causing her red hair to look like actual flames. She has it down and loose, which is how he prefers it, instead of pulled back. The roses are in their final bloom of the season, according to something he overheard Sue discussing the other day, and the flowers’ colors and scents surround her as she reads her book. There are even yellow roses climbing the white wooden trellis behind her.

  “Hi,” he says as he approaches so as not to startle her. She looks up and actually offers a smile. Paige is wearing a white tank top and pale yellow cardigan paired with blue-jean shorts. Her long legs are tanned from the summer
sun and working outside. “Watcha’ reading?”

  “Good morning,” she says. “Where were you?”

  Cory takes a deep breath and answers honestly, “Visiting with the Johnsons.”

  “Oh,” she replies and watches her smile fade.

  “I needed to return a tool to Mr. Johnson,” he says. It is the truth. They borrowed one of his tools that they needed for fence repair until theirs can be fixed. Guilt starts in on him, so he comes clean. “And I also wanted to visit with Evie.”

  This gets her full attention. She looks like she’s clenching her teeth together. Her feathers are ruffled.

  “I needed to talk to her about something,” he explains.

  “What did you need to talk to her about?”

  He shrugs and takes a seat next to her, causing Paige to swing her legs over and place them on the ground.

  “Nothing important. Girl stuff,” he attempts a joke. It doesn’t work because she chuffs. “You’re not jealous, are you? I mean, it wasn’t like that. I…”

  “No, of course not. We’re not together. We don’t have any sort of a commitment to each other. Why should I care who you visit?”

  “You may feel that way, but I don’t. I’m fully committed to you, whether you want it or not.”

  She sighs and frowns a second later.

  “I just came out to say goodbye. I’ve gotta go.”

  Her gray eyes flit nervously to his, “Where?”

  “I’ll be back. Don’t worry. Meeting John and your brother to check on some things in Clarksville.”

  “Another raid on the highwaymen?”

  He shrugs and offers up a lie to spare her from the concern he sees growing on her face, “Nah, just patrol type stuff. How are you feeling?”

  “Oh, fine. I’m fine. Well, be careful.”

  He stands, and Paige follows.

  “We will. Stay close to the house while I’m gone, ok?”

  She shakes her head and argues, “I’m fine.”

  “I mean it, Paige. They’re using drones. We’ve shot down two of them. They could very easily find the farm using those. If they do, you’d better believe they’re gonna hit us, the Reynolds and the Johnson family. These farms would look like paradise from a sky view. Especially to people like these assholes. They’d rob and kill all of you. Stay close to the house,” he reiterates. “Luke’s staying and so is Derek and Kel. Don’t stray. And definitely don’t go into the woods.”

  She nods, her fair eyebrows pinched together with worry. Cory pulls her carefully into his arms to offer an embrace. He is very concerned that those men will find this place while he’s gone.

  “Listen to Kelly. We have contingency plans in place if the farm is ever overtaken. Listen to my brother when I’m not here. Stick to the plans he issues. It’s the only way I’ll be able to find you if all hell breaks loose.”

  “It won’t,” she says against his chest.

  Cory leans her away from him and presses a soft kiss to her closed mouth. She doesn’t return it, but she also doesn’t pull away or protest. He’ll take anything he can get. It’s progress.

  He kisses her forehead and turns to go.

  “Be careful,” Paige calls softly.

  Cory turns and gives her a wink before leaving to go pick up Chet next door. They take their four-wheelers to Clarksville and await John in the abandoned Home Depot, a place they’ve deemed safe many times over during their travels to the city. It’s also a place they’ve nearly wiped out of supplies which they store at the farm in the top of the horse barn and on the racks and shelves in the back of the equipment shed.

  “I’m gonna take a look around. I need some door knobs and hinges,” Cory tells Chet, who agrees to stay on lookout.

  He does a quick sweep of the store and finds a few of the things he needs. Most people are scavenging for dehydrated food products or packets of seeds. Shopping for granite countertops and a sub-z fridge have been put on the back burner for most people for now.

  John and Simon show up a few minutes after he exits the store and has stashed his loot in the pockets of the leather saddlebags on the ATV.

  “What’s the plan, sir?” Cory asks John.

  His friend runs a hand through his blonde hair and says, “We heard about a raid on some people holed up just outside of town here. K-Dog sent two men over last night to talk with the survivors.”

  “Were they living in a community?” Chet asks.

  John nods and explains, “Yeah, I guess they had about a dozen homes surrounded by fencing like the condo community. They just didn’t have the firepower to keep them off for very long. Only two families made it out. Now K-Dog and Paul are taking them in.”

  “What’d they find out from the survivors?” Cory asks.

  “The usual. It was the highwaymen again. Apparently, they weren’t deterred from this behavior by our resistance at the condo community or our planned attacks on them. They’ve moved on to terrorize other people. This time, though,” John states with a smile, “we might just have a better idea of where they’re from.”

  “How’s that?” Cory prods.

  “One of the victims who survived said he recognized two of the men.”

  “Seriously?” Chet asks with the same surprise Cory feels.

  John nods and answers, “Yep. Said he recognized him from t.v. Well, from before this all happened. Guy was some big car dealer, owned a bunch of huge dealerships around Tennessee.”

  “A fuckin’ car dealer?” Cory asks, incredulous.

  “Marchiano, Saviano, or something like that, something Italian was his last name,” John tells them. “They couldn’t remember.”

  Cory notices that Simon is silent during this interaction. He has a very distracted and rather pissed off look on his face. He just wonders if he’s done something to make Simon mad again or if maybe he is just anxious to get this thing with the highwaymen over and done with. Cory couldn’t agree more.

  “This guy saw him and recognized him?” Chet asks.

  “Yes, he hid in the tree line and spied through his binoculars on the highwaymen as they raided their small village and took whatever they needed.”

  “Assholes,” Chet comments.

  Cory asks, “So the television car salesman is the leader of the highwaymen? No wonder they all drive such nice, new-looking vehicles. The guy had access and keys to all the vehicles on his lots. Whatever wasn’t stolen in the beginning, he just drove off the lots. A car dealer, though? Un-fucking-believable.”

  “And get this, it gets even better,” John elucidates. “There was another guy there, another leader type shouting orders.”

  “An ambulance chaser?” Cory jokes.

  John chuckles and says, “Worse. A local politician, some senator douche-nozzle. So, yeah, probably a former ambulance chaser, too, since most politicians were lawyers of some kind or another before they got into politics. Also, probably the reason our government was so screwed up.”

  “This sounds like the start of a bad joke,” Chet says with a look of disbelief. “A used car salesman and a senator walk into a bar…”

  Cory chuckles and questions, “No doubt. Wonder if they were there the night they hit Paul and K-Dog’s condos?”

  “Could be,” John says.

  “Or maybe they were watching and listening on radios from far out,” Cory suggests.

  John nods and says, “Possible. Let’s head over and check out the scene for ourselves.”

  They drive in the truck and leave the ATV’s hidden to conserve fuel. When they arrive, it is obvious that the scene of destruction and murder has been performed by the same men they’ve been tracking. Only what they needed was taken; food, clothing, fuel.

  “So, we’re thinking if these two idiots are in on this together, then they may be running it out of their personal homes,” John says as they step over dead bodies to get back to their vehicle.

  “We find out where they lived before the fall, then we might have a chance at taking them out,” Cor
y says.

  Simon is still quiet, pensive and wearing a deadly expression.

  “Right,” John says. “We’ve come up with a theory, Dave and I. They may be running this from two different home bases. Then they have the small base camps around the area to work it, like the cabins in the woods we found. We’ve had spies on those places since we found them, and not one person has returned to them. That tells me that they’re not too worried about shelter because they abandoned them. It was worth more to them not to be discovered and taken out than it was to stay and hold onto their properties.”

  “It also tells us that they have somewhere else to go when they do get found,” Cory adds, getting nods of agreement from Chet and John. He’s not sure Simon is even listening.

  “They run a very tight ship, smooth operations, and are tactically smart. Somewhat. They don’t necessarily have the best-trained soldiers, but they have a heck of a lot of firepower to make a mess when they need to,” John says.

  “We need to question the prisoner again,” Cory says.

  “That kid’s too scared to talk,” John says, shaking his head. “None of the others would. He’s all we’ve got left, but I’m not putting down a teenager. Especially one whose only sin so far as we can tell, is being lumped in with a bunch of morons and thieves.”

  “He could be a murderer,” Cory reminds him.

  John sighs hard, “I know. But he might not be, too. He could’ve been a scout, an aide to the men on the line. We just don’t know enough to make a final call about his fate. Plus, Herb’s not too keen on killing a kid.”

  Cory nods with understanding.

  John continues as they board the truck again, “This thing is looking more and more like a two-headed snake, run from two different command centers. It explains how they have so many people going on so many different routes in the area. We find one head and chop it off, it might make it easier to find the other.”