“As we’ve said before, the reservation is closed.”
Cate stepped forward. “What reasoning can you give for closing the reservation?”
“We’ve had an influenza outbreak and maintenance problems. It is not safe for the public to enter the reservation at this time.”
“But you’re saying it’s safe for the Kazzies? Shouldn’t additional medical be admitted if it’s that dangerous?” she asked.
I stepped forward too. Cate put a hand on my arm to keep me from advancing more.
“Who’s in charge here?” Cate’s voice dropped. I recognized her Director’s tone shining through.
“I am.”
“And you are?” Her words dripped with annoyance.
“Sergeant Major Valentez.”
Another Sergeant Major. Dr. Roberts has increased rank in the guards.
Cate looked around until she spotted him. Sergeant Major Valentez stood in the tower beside the four guards. From the way he stared down at us with such contempt, my stomach sank even more.
Charlie’s right. This isn’t someone who will be easily swayed.
Cate, however, persevered. “Sergeant Major Valentez, I just disembarked from the MRI jet that is currently awaiting my return in Mobridge. I have to return to D.C. within a few hours. I’m sure you can understand that time is limited. Now, either open the gates or tell Dr. Roberts that he’s wanted out here.”
“Ah, the famous Dr. Hutchinson.” The Sergeant Major didn’t sound impressed. “I’ve heard about you, but the reservation is closed to you and everyone else in your party.”
Cate took a deep breath. “You do realize I have a meeting with the president next week. She won’t be happy to hear that I was turned away from the reservation after flying here on MRI time while using jet fuel. That fuel as you know is quite precious. The president will be irritated to hear this trip was for nothing.”
Sergeant Major Valentez’s reply came readily. “Is that all Dr. Hutchinson?”
“What about Dr. Roberts?” I challenged. “Where is he?”
“Return to your vehicle and depart.” The Sergeant Major turned and disappeared from view.
“Unbelievable!” Amy threw her hands up in the air. “What the hell is going on here?”
Ian’s face tightened. “This is truly unacceptable.”
But none of us looked as angry as Cate. She fumed from where she stood. “This is not the end. If Dr. Roberts and his Sergeant Major want a war, I’ll bring them one.”
I knew she was speaking figuratively, but it still made chills run down my spine. I’d never seen her this way before. A flash of how she’d climbed her way to the top of a Compound’s most coveted position shone through.
She was not a woman to mess with.
“I don’t understand why there aren’t inspections here. Every penitentiary has mandated inspections. How can the reservation be any different?” Charlie asked.
Sharon’s sad looking eyes met his. “Because a large percentage of the population doesn’t think the Kazzies are humans, and if they’re not viewed as human, why would they be granted basic human rights?”
She was right. I knew her words were true, yet inside it killed me to hear it out loud.
I touched Cate’s arm. “What’s going on with the president’s promise to regulate activities on the reservation? She promised they wouldn’t be abused.”
Cate’s expression turned grim. “I’m not sure, but I intend to ask her.”
“We have to find a way around all of this political crap.” I gripped her hand. “I need to get in.”
Images of my friends in those videos kept pummeling my thoughts. I couldn’t stand by when I knew that was happening.
As everyone else climbed in Mitch’s SUV, I turned and assessed the fence. It was a standard chain link fence with barbed wire on top. It wasn’t steel. It wasn’t indestructible.
It could be broken into.
Ideas and thoughts began to form for what I needed to do next. It was a good thing Cate was returning to D.C. I couldn’t have her involved in what I intended to do. Because the only way for me to truly know what was happening inside, what was happening to Davin and my friends, was to find Sara.
And the only way to do that was to illegally break-in.
11 – PERIMETER
Cate fumed during the ride back to the airport. My only hope was that she would use that anger and indignation to further our cause in D.C.
At the landing strip, her hair whipped around her face as we stood outside of the jet. Everyone else, except Ian, waited in the SUV.
Cate held up the USB I’d given her. “Is whatever’s on this going to help admit us to the reservation?”
Crossing my arms, I shrugged. “I hope so. I don’t know how anyone can watch those videos and not feel anger.” I tucked my long brown hair behind my ears. The temperature had dropped, and the wind was picking up. I wondered if a storm was moving in.
“How long are you going to stay up here?” Cate’s gaze narrowed.
As long as it takes. “I’m not sure. My co-workers will have to return to Sioux Falls in a few days. We were lucky they were granted the week off work.”
“I’m guessing you’ll be returning to Washington with Ian? How are things going at my Compounds? Are you enjoying it?”
I swallowed tightly. “I . . . um . . .” I ran a hand through my hair which was a mistake since I wore gloves. My fingers caught. Making a face, I extracted them.
Cate waited, her gaze unwavering.
Taking a deep breath, I looked her in the eye. “I’m not going back to Seattle, Cate. I’m sorry, but my place is here.”
The shock I expected on her face didn’t come. Instead, a knowing look of sad acceptance filled it.
I wrung my hands. “I’m sorry. I hate disappointing you, but your position isn’t for me. It never will be.”
I held my breath. My words were true. I hated disappointing her, but I couldn’t do her job. It was like asking a sloth to run a marathon . . . and win. It was such a mismatched fit. I knew I’d never be able to manage a Compound like she and Ian did.
Cate sighed. “It was worth a try. I truly believe you’re destined for great things in your life. Helping develop the vaccine was just the beginning. But if running my Compounds isn’t what you want, I accept that.”
I tilted my head as I pondered her words. Great things. I’d never thought I was destined for anything great. All I knew, from the moment Jeremy died, was that I needed to stop the virus. Beyond that, I hadn’t considered what I would do with my life.
But there is something you care about just as much as stopping the virus. A cause you’re willing to spend the rest of your life fighting for.
Davin’s face billowed in the forefront of my mind. Sara’s came next. Then Sophie, Sage, Dorothy, Victor, Garrett, and all of the other nameless Kazzies I’d never met. Freeing them had become just as important to me as the vaccine.
Lately, I’d felt the burning determination that had glowed within me during my six years of schooling. That fierce drive had only grown since I’d seen the atrocities being committed on Reservation 1.
“Have a safe flight, Cate.” Ian’s words startled me back to my surroundings.
I shook myself back to the present and glanced at the poorly maintained runway. “Are you sure you’re able to takeoff?”
Cate eyed the plane’s cockpit. “Kenneth has already wrangled a plan. He feels there’s a decent enough strip on the far side of the runway.”
I tried to see whatever her pilot had found but couldn’t. Hopefully, he was right.
“How long are you staying here?” Cate asked Ian.
I felt Ian glance my way, his gaze questioning, but I kept my eyes on the runway.
“As long as Meghan needs me here, I suppose, unless you’d like me to return to Seattle.”
My gaze whipped to his. “Really? You’re staying?”
He smiled and shrugged.
A deep sense of grat
itude swam through me, warming me inside. He was still willing to help me despite our awkward encounter last night.
Cate’s lips pursed. “Two weeks I’m fine with. Hopefully, you’ll be able to make some progress in that time. If not, you’ll have to return to my Compounds. They can’t run themselves forever.”
“Ma’am.” The pilot dipped his head out of the jet’s door. Wind almost blew his cap off, but he caught it just in time. “We really need to get in the air. Latest radar reports are showing a storm rolling in from the west. I don’t want to get caught in it.”
“Of course.” Cate gave each of us sharp glances. “Be careful here. Whatever you decide to do, stay safe. As Meghan knows, Dr. Roberts is someone who wouldn’t think twice about hurting others to further his agenda, whatever the hell his agenda is.” Her last words were said through clenched teeth. “And good luck. I have a feeling no one is getting in that reservation until Dr. Roberts is forced to open the gates.”
Exactly. That’s why I’m not going in through the gates.
With that, she turned and climbed aboard the jet.
I felt Ian’s presence behind me, like a comforting weight, but he stayed silent. Nobody knew yet what I intended to do. I wasn’t sure if I should tell them or not. It was very probable that nobody else would take the risk I intended to.
We stepped back as the jet maneuvered to the end of the runway. I held my breath during takeoff. It looked as bumpy as the landing.
When the jet finally sailed into the sky, snow flurries began to fly. Ian and I retreated to the SUV as the sky darkened. Come nightfall, a storm could work to my advantage.
Or, it could kill me.
“YOU’RE GOING TO do what?” Amy’s eyebrows shot straight to her hairline. “Please tell me I heard you wrong.”
All of us had returned to the house Sharon had broken into. A fire roared in the fireplace. We sat on the dusty couches and chairs while eating canned soup for lunch.
“I’m not kidding.” I swallowed another spoonful of soup.
I’d just finished telling them my plan. Perhaps that was a mistake. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy.
“You’re really going to break into Reservation 1?” Mitch frowned. “And try to find the Kazzies? Are you nuts?”
“Hmm . . .” I shrugged. “I suppose that’s debatable.”
Charlie leaned forward and poured more soup from the kettle into his empty bowl. “But even if you manage to get over that fence, which I don’t know how you would, since you may have noticed is has rolls of those sharp spiky things at the top that will likely shred your hands—”
“I believe the term is barbed wire,” Mitch cut in.
“Yes, thank you.” Charlie turned back to me. “So even if you managed to get into the reservation, what then? You still have miles to travel from the perimeter to the town. How are you going to get there? And not to mention, the weather.” He waved to the living room’s large picture window. “If you haven’t noticed, a storm’s brewing outside.”
“I know.” I finished my soup and set it down. “I don’t expect you guys to help. I debated even telling you my plans, since I don’t want anyone feeling obligated to help.”
“It’s not like we can drive away and leave you on your own.” Amy brushed her long red curls over her shoulder. “The roads will be impassable for a few days if this snow keeps up, which means we’re stuck here whether we like it or not.”
“And the road to the reservation will also be hard to navigate.” Mitch nodded at the windowsill. A half inch of powder coated it.
Ian and Sharon remained silent as my co-workers repeatedly pointed out the idiocy of my plan. I refused to budge. I needed to get into the reservation. Just because we had proof that abuse was occurring didn’t mean anything would be done anytime soon. But if I could get inside, re-establish my telepathic link with Sara—a link I should never have cut—I could learn exactly what was happening.
And at this point, I was willing to reveal those occurrences to the president, even though she wouldn’t understand how I knew. Because if Davin was close to death, or was being abused to the point where he’d be permanently damaged, waiting wasn’t an option.
Sitting up straighter on the couch, I leaned forward. “This snowstorm may work to my advantage. It will make visibility harder, and the guards will probably be more complacent. Those towers don’t provide much shelter. With any luck, they’ll be hunkering down in them to avoid the wind.”
“But how will you get over the fence?” Charlie persisted.
“And what if the fence is electrified? Then what?” Amy raised her eyebrows.
“Is it?” I asked Sharon. “Did Cash say anything about the fence?”
“It’s not electrified according to Cash.” Sharon’s tone sounded as worried as the others.
“So then we can cut our way through it.” I leaned back on the couch. “Surely, one of the houses on this street has bolt cutters.”
Ian took a deep breath, his exhale audible. “This sounds pretty dangerous, Meghan. Even if you breech the fence, you could still become lost on the prairie and freeze to death.”
“I have a GPS. Even if it’s a whiteout, I can follow that.”
“A GPS won’t keep you from freezing to death.” His brow furrowed heavily, his dimple nowhere to be seen.
“I already checked out the entryway hallway closet and the closet by the garage. There are plenty of winter coats and winter gear. There’s even a pair of sturdy winter boots that fit me reasonably well. I’ll be fine.”
Sharon crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “I don’t like this, Meghan. I want to get inside the reservation as much as you do, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”
I tried to hide my disappointment. “It’s fine. I don’t expect any of you to help.”
“I don’t think any of us are saying we won’t help.” The firelight shone on Amy’s face, dipping one side into shadows. “I’m just saying I think you should consider how wise this is.”
“I have, and I’m going.”
“You always were a stubborn, little thing.” Mitch smiled despite the tension in the room.
Ian’s gaze narrowed in Mitch’s direction. It was the first inkling I’d seen of Mitch’s feelings for me since our awkward conversation in the lab before I’d left for Seattle.
Trying to diffuse Ian’s curiosity, I stood. “Call me whatever you want. I’m breaking into Reservation 1 tonight, and I’d definitely appreciate some help if anyone’s willing.”
Charlie sighed heavily. Outside, the wind howled. “So if we decide to help you, what would we need to do?”
“Drive me as close to the fence as possible and pick me up when I get out. That’s it.”
Amy’s eyes bulged. “You’re going in there alone?”
“No, she’s not.” Ian cut in before I could reply. “I’ll go with her.”
DESPITE THE DARKENING sky outside, it was only late afternoon. Both Ian and I agreed that venturing anywhere near the rez before total darkness wasn’t a good idea. Consequently, the six of us spent the afternoon and early evening hunting through supplies in the house we squatted in and the other abandoned houses in the neighborhood.
We found a large bolt cutters in a garage two houses down, plenty of winter gear, several headlamps, an emergency blanket, old canned food, and firestarters to bring along. While rummaging in one garage, we also found a generator and several gallons of fuel. The generator started on the third try to everyone’s delight.
“Now, we can charge the cars and our cell phones!” Charlie seemed particularly happy about that one. Sharon did too. She’d been driving back and forth between the reservation and North Dakota to charge her vehicle.
I was in the midst of digging through a closet in a neighboring house when my own cell phone rang. I fished it out of my pocket and debated answering when I saw who was calling.
With a reluctant sigh, I tapped the green button. “Hi, Mom.”
“
Hi, dear. I’m just calling to see how you are?”
It had been over two months since I’d spoken to my mother. For the most part, I preferred it that way. Growing up, my mother and I had never been close. She’d always kept Jeremy and me at arm’s length and seemed to prefer spending her time fostering a healthy community versus a healthy family.
“I’m fine.” I stopped rummaging through the closet and sat on the floor with my back against the wall. “How are you and Dad?”
“We’re doing fine. Your father’s away at the moment. He’s working at Compound 7 in Nevada.”
“Oh, right. I think I knew that.”
I didn’t know that, but my dad was always traveling for his job with Cantaleve Steel. Most times I had no idea where he was. Regardless, conversations with my mother were usually brief and superficial. I figured we’d talk for another minute or two and then hang up. I glanced at the time on my phone. 5:40 p.m. Still too early to leave, but our time was growing closer.
“. . . wondering about Christmas and what your plans are?”
I put the phone back to my ear. “What was that, Mom?”
“Your father and I were wondering what your plans are for Christmas? Are you coming home to Vermillion this year?”
I groaned inwardly. I hated the holidays. They always involved me, my parents, and a few tense and awkward days. They also brought back painful memories of Jeremy. Growing up, the only reason I’d enjoyed the holidays was because of my brother and his childish excitement. Now, his vacant seat at the table was only a reminder that I’d never see him again.
“I don’t know. I’m really busy with work right now.”
“That was something else I wanted to ask you. I called the Compound the other day, and they said you’d gone to Seattle again. When did that happen?”
I smacked my hand to my forehead. When I’d been exposed to Makanza over the summer, I hadn’t told my parents. And since finding that out, my mother now periodically called Compound 26 to check up on me. It was mortifying, like I was being monitored by the school principal, but she said she just wanted to make sure I was okay.
The Complete Makanza Series: Books 0-4 Page 70