by Rod Carstens
“Not really. These types of pandemics have regularly occurred as far back as records have been kept. The severity of the disease varies. It’s part of life on this planet, with the time frames varying from three to over fifty years. Statistically, it’s time for one to occur.”
“How can the program predict something like this without it already showing up within the medical community?”
“The social network model picked it up. It’s seeing something in the zones where the medical community doesn't go that indicates it is going to occur.”
Geoff walked over to the two and said, “She will see us now. Bring your briefing.”
Rule pulled the screens down from the window and put them under his arm.
As they walked out of the door, Geoff spoke into his phone. “Put Internal Security on Doctor Rule’s apartment. No one goes in or out without my specific authorization.”
Rule glanced over at him and frowned. Getting Internal Security involved would not make their escape easier.
“Sorry, Doctor, but this information cannot leave that room. No contact with anyone outside from now on.”
Chapter Twenty
Vin was helping man one of the OPs on the roof when one of the young runners came clambering up the ladder.
“Mr. Tanner, Mr. Tanner! The message came. The message came from Doctor Rule, and Ms. Julia says she needs you right away.”
Behind the boy was Tanner’s relief they had always been taught to get someone to relieve the person if they were summoning someone on guard. The man came, and Vin sprinted down the concourse to Rule’s quarters. When he pulled the blanket back, he did not like the look on Julia’s face. She was shaken.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s the pickup signal, but they added 911. Something big is going to happen. They're in Resource Control headquarters. Morgan gave us an apartment number. What could it possibly be?”
Vin took a deep breath. He had half expected this kind of message. They wouldn’t have intensified their search for Rule if there wasn’t something going on. But what? The possibilities were endless.
“Look. We’ll find out soon enough. Right now we need to work the plan.” A row of runners was sitting along the wall waiting for jobs. He looked at them and said, “I need all division chiefs here as soon as possible, and tell everyone you see to begin their bugout preparations.”
He went down the line and assigned a runner to each division chief: food, transportation, security, and sustainment. Each had drawn up a checklist of tasks they would need to accomplish before the community could move to a new location with the supplies and tools they would need to rebuild. He, Julia, and Rule had spent many hours poring over maps to identify specific destinations depending on the type of threat. Some were closer, and some were more distant. The farther away an option was, the more difficult and dangerous the trip. They had been chosen by the type of possible threat. Vin thought they had good options no matter what the risk.
Julia had pulled out a three-ring binder that held all of the handwritten plans. She opened the first tab, and there was a list of things that had to be done no matter what the threat. She began studying the list.
Vin turned to the last runner and said, “I need Blondie and Matos here as soon as possible. Tell them we are going in. Understand?”
The boy nodded and ran off to find the two.
“I think we should plan on going to the farthest destination from the Mall. If we don’t need to travel that far, we can always dial back our fuel and food needs,” Julia said.
“I think you’re right.”
Just then Peter Aaron, who was their man in charge of preparing the vehicles and storing the fuel they would need for the journey, ran in.
“I just got the word. How long do I have?”
“Twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours. It will depend on how quickly I can get them out of there. Where do we stand?”
“The three buses are ready to go. All we have to do is load them up. It’s the gun trucks I’m behind on.”
They had scrounged three city buses that had long been abandoned, stripped them, then reconfigured the interiors, and Peter had converted them to biodiesel. They had armored them up with street signs and any other metal they could find to attach to the sides and windows. The families and children of the settlement would ride in the three buses while the single men and women and security members would drive the gun trucks and provide additional guns in the buses. They had four gun trucks and several motorcycles to complete the caravan. The gun trucks were old pickups that Peter had modified like the buses to biodiesel. Plus they were armored with street signs. The passengers all had gun ports, and a hole was cut in each truck’s roof so a gunner could stand and provide additional covering fire.
Peter looked concerned but said, “I can make it work. I just wish I had more scrounging time.”
“Don’t we all,” said Vin.
“Fuel enough to reach the new Mall?”
Peter again hesitated. “We’re lucky you convinced us months ago to begin to cook up as much bio as we could. Otherwise, we’d be in a real bind. But to answer your question, maybe. If we’re smart about our consumption.”
“Not the answer I was looking for, but it will have to do,” Vin said.
“Any details about the reason or where we should move?” Peter asked.
Vin glanced at Julia.
“No, nothing yet, "Julia said. "But I’m hoping for more details the first chance they get.”
Blondie and Matos came into the room with Vin’s equipment and weapons. The rest of the division leaders were also came into the room. They all started to ask questions at the same time.
Vin held up his hand and said, “Listen, all we’ve got is that they sent the pickup message and 911. You know what that means. It doesn’t matter why at this point. There is too much to do to waste time wondering. Work our plan. We all will find out soon enough. Julia is in command. You know the drill.” Vin exchanged a long look with Julia, who said good luck with her eyes before he turned and led Blondie and Matos out of Rule’s quarters.
***
The closest entrance to the Survive-Evade-Escape tunnels that led into the City was only a mile or so away from the Mall through a quiet area with no gangs or settlers to skirt. The complex of tunnels for the Resource teams was like the spokes of a wheel, with the City at the center. So no matter where a team might have a mission, they had a SERE tunnel in their sector. The SERE tunnels were nothing more than old sewage tunnels that had been sealed off from the rest of the underground network so they became straight passages into the City. They dumped out in Resource Control rooms where the teams could clean up, return their weapons to the armory, and change into clean clothes. Resource Control had stopped using them years ago when they had finally been given the budget for tilt-rotors, so as Vin and the others entered the basement that led to the entrance, they had no idea what they would find.
The entrance was in an old storefront with a set of stairs that led to the basement. Vin carefully opened the door and crept down the stairs. It smelled wet and dank, but appeared to have not been used for months or more. Matos and Blondie followed him down in the glare of the head lamps. Vin tried to remember where the entrance was hidden. The basement was empty. Everything salvageable had been scavenged long ago, and only bare brick walls and some old overhead pipes were left.
“Goddamnit. Where was the entrance? Matos, you remember?”
“No. But to our right is the City, so it has to be on this wall.”
Matos had an uncanny sense of direction. No matter what the situation or how many times they got turned around, he always knew where he was and where their best escape route would be.
The three began to carefully examine the wall and then Matos said, “Found it.”
It was disguised as a brick that did not look like the others. A little too new. Matos pulled the cover open, and there was the keypad.
“Do you think they’ve
changed the codes?” Matos said.
“Doubt it. Only Resource Control knows about them,” Vin said. “Do you remember the code?”
“Yep.”
Matos punched in the code and nothing happened. Nothing moved.
“Shit.”
“Nice going, guys. You mean you didn’t think of the code being changed?”
“Yes, I did. Morgan and the guys built this little gadget just in case.”
Vin held up an old TV remote control that the techies who worked with Morgan had changed into a passcode detector. Then, before Vin could use it, the brick wall began to creak open and form a door. Matos was first through, followed by Vin and Blondie. As soon as they entered the passageway, motion-detector lights snapped on. Matos pushed the door closed behind them, and they turned and began to move down the tunnel. It was surprisingly clean and well lit for not being used for years. They moved quickly toward the City. They had gone about five hundred yards before the passageway lights stopped working.
“Shit,” Vin said. “It was too good to be true.”
They moved slowly down the passageway with only the light from their head lamps to guide them, all their senses reaching out into the darkness. The only sound was their footsteps echoing in the tunnel. Any side connections had been long ago sealed shut, leaving a long, straight, dark passageway to the City. That made it easier for the teams. They did not have to memorize or carry an elaborate map so they could use the tunnels. Once they were in, it led straight home.
They had been moving that way for close to an hour when Vin said, “How far, Matos?”
Matos was silent for a moment then said, “I think another hour, not much more.”
They had moved for another fifteen minutes when up ahead they could see a light coming from their left. That couldn’t be. There were no branch tunnels left open. Then they heard the echoes of laughter and voices. Vin halted Blondie and Matos. He had thought he might encounter something in the tunnels, but not this. There was no other way to get to the City. They had to go down this passageway. They had to pass by the connecting tunnel with the light and voices.
He clicked his tongue twice and motioned them forward. Vin had his rifle up and pointed to the left as he crept forward. Matos and Blondie did the same. He moved forward slowly, and as he did the sound of the voices grew louder. Then, just ten feet from the connecting tunnel, Vin halted outside the light.
“This is sweet, where did you find it again?”
“I told you: in the Dumpster at entrance fourteen. It hadn't been picked by anybody yet and there it was, bigger than life, sitting on the top of the pile. I didn’t have to go diving at all.”
Tanner’s mind was racing. If they could just creep past the opening without anybody seeing them, they could be on their way with no harm done. But he had no idea whether those speaking were armed or how many of them there were. He heard a lot of movement from the connector, as if they were dragging heavy things around. What could it be?
Vin shook himself. He wouldn’t know unless he went down that tunnel, and he wasn’t going to do that. He hoped it was no more than an underground settlement with no one looking for a fight.
“Hey, guys! Come look at what little Jerry scrounged!” someone said.
If their attention was on what little Stevie had scrounged, this might be their best chance to sneak by the entrance. Tanner clicked his tongue twice, then pointed to the right wall, took two fingers, and made a walking sign. The other two clicked their tongues once, letting him know that they understood.
Very slowly, Vin moved to his right until his back was against the wall. Then, still slowly, he eased forward. What he saw flabbergasted him.
This was not just a small connecting tunnel. It was the entrance to an elaborate community underground. As far as he could see down the side passageway, there were signs of people inhabiting the tunnel. There were all kinds of homemade and salvaged furniture in little cubbies that had been built lining the walls. The tunnel was well lit and organized, with a clear passage down the center in between the individual cubbies that lined the walls. They had electricity, because he saw real lamps on in several places Men, women, and children moved around completely relaxed and at home.
There were several men and women gathered around what he assumed to be Stevie’s find, looking down at what appeared to be a computer or other electronic gear. As Vin moved forward, he kept his weapon pointed down the side passageway.
He had almost reached the end of the light when someone said, “Halt.”
Vin spun to see three people just outside the light on the City side of the tunnel. They had rifles pointed at them. Blondie racked a shell into her shotgun, which she had pointed into the tunnel. The people who had been examining the piece of gear looked up and saw Vin and the others.
“Intruders! We got intruders!”
Vin didn’t move. He kept his rifle up and pointed at one of the three men just feet away.
“We aren’t here to harm you,” Vin said.
“Then why the fuck are you here?” one of the men on the City side said.
“We just got a little job to do in the City,” Vin explained.
“Bullshit.”
Vin tightened his grip on the rifle and decided he could get two out of the three. He knew that Blondie would be using the shotgun to clear the tunnel and Matos might get the third man. It would all depend on the timing.
“Goddamnit. Wait. Now just wait,” a woman in the tunnel said.
She slowly walked toward Vin and the others, her hands up. She was an older woman with gray hair but moved with the grace of someone much younger.
“Let’s all just slow down,” she said. Then, turning her head, she continued, “Somebody get Ben down here, now!”
Vin watched the woman closely. She was genuinely trying to calm the situation down. Their eyes met across the tunnel.
“Okay, let’s just calm down before people get hurt,” she said.
“Fuck, Helen! You know we can’t trust these strangers.”
It was the man Vin had his rifle on. He was young and appeared eager for a fight.
“If these people wanted to hurt us they would have. I’ve been around long enough to know fighters when I see them. Now, Freddy, you just hold your horses, or you’ll have Ben to answer to for what happens.” Helen took another couple of steps forward. “Please, let’s just wait for Ben. He’ll figure this out. Please.”
Vin slowly nodded his head, but no one but Helen moved an inch.
Chapter Twenty-One
Madelyn had insisted on a private briefing in her apartment when Geoff told her they had found the answer. She did not want to wait until she could call the Council together. She wanted the briefing done now. A Resource Control executive tilt-rotor picked them up and flew them to Madelyn’s residence. It was in the biggest, most expensive Mega building in the City on the 200th floor. They had to pass through multiple security checkpoints even after landing before they reached her. Two female security guards stood on either side of the doors to her apartment. Both were tall and athletic looking. Apparently, Madelyn only trusted women as her security.
The guards escorted them to the apartment and into the foyer. As they waited for Madelyn, Rule stood and stared at the opulence around him. He had forgotten just how differently those at the top of the City lived.
Every piece of furniture, the walls, and the floors were subtle shades of white that were so exquisitely coordinated it was beautiful, yet it seemed somehow sterile to Rule, more like a hospital operating room than someone’s apartment. Madelyn appeared to want to live as differently as she could from those in the zones, where everything was covered with dirt and dust no matter how hard you tried. The focus of the room was a holo water feature in the middle of the space that changed randomly through multiple shades of blue, creating a mesmerizing show. Small trees placed around the room were the only organic things in the apartment. Their green leaves and trunks seemed almost out of place in the perfect
white environment.
Madelyn came striding into the room. She wore a simple, one-piece, ankle-length black sheath. Rule had never seen her in anything but business attire. He had forgotten how stunning a woman she was. Not only was she beautiful, but she carried herself with knowledge of her power. She sat on the couch and lit a cigarette before she said anything. Making them wait. Always playing the game, Rule thought.
“Please sit down, gentlemen. I’d offer you a cigarette, but these are my particular blend, something to relax and something to sharpen the senses. They are not for people on duty. Do sit down.”
The three sat on a couch facing hers. Madelyn’s cold green eyes examined them closely, reading their body language for any hints of what was to come.
“Now, Geoff, you were quite insistent that I see you as soon as possible.” She paused, her eyes on Geoff. “This had better live up to your billing.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m going to let Doctor Rule give the briefing.”
Madelyn turned her gaze to Rule. He could almost feel it physically. She had perfected the ability to intimidate.
“Nice to see you again after all these years,” Madelyn said with no real pleasure in her voice.
“Thank you, Councilwoman.”
“You may proceed.”
Rule stood up and walked to the windows. The scene outside was breathtaking. It was the best view of the City he had ever seen, all of the wealth and power before him lighted as if by a designer. He pulled the screens from under his arm, placed them on Madelyn’s window, and began.
“We struggled to find out why the program was not producing the kind of predictions you are used to over the past few years, until we realized that the weakness lay in the lack of monitoring the social media networks…”
Rule went on for close to half an hour, explaining the pandemic and its effects on the City outside the windows. Madelyn showed no emotion, despite the consequences for her home and her power. She sat there smoking, asking no questions and appearing not to be concerned by the information at all, while Geoff and Rand both slumped further as they heard the impact on them and everything they knew described for the second time.