“Sometimes you have to make concessions,” Joann added, crossing her long arms. “For the sake of keeping the peace.”
“It’s a small thing,” Maria two went on. “We’re very careful and Maria isn’t going to find out.”
“Turns out you’re not so careful, actually,” he said testily, unable to believe he was having such a conversation with two women in the midst of such circumstances. “But let’s get past that for a second . . . you’re not ashamed of yourselves at all? You don’t feel . . . bad?”
“A man wouldn’t be ashamed,” Joann persisted. “Would you be a bit surprised by this if we were men? I don’t think so.”
Forrest looked each woman in the eyes. “You’re naive to think nobody will tell Maria . . . and when they do, I’ll have a huge brushfire to put out down here.”
Andie finally spoke up. “Nobody’s going to tell her, Jack. It’s terrible to say, but the wife is always the last to find out when she’s being cheated on . . . none of the other married women will want to risk their own husbands taking Oscar’s place.”
“So you’re telling me,” Forrest said, not quite exasperated, “that you ladies can’t maintain any more self-control than this? With an entire planet dying above you, you can’t be satisfied that your children are safe and that you’ve got food to eat.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Joann rejoined, “getting laid four times a week!”
He straightened up in the chair, self-conscious that they knew the exact number.
“You don’t think we pay attention?” Joann went on. “You think everybody’s happy as pigs in shit down here because nobody fights? Nobody fights because we found a balance . . . that is until you came along and fucked it up.”
He sat forward and crushed out the cigarette in the brass cannon shell, exhaling a stream of smoke, feeling disappointed in them. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Lift the embargo,” Joann said. “Turn a blind eye. Let Oscar have some fun before he runs out of insulin . . . trust us.”
Forrest eyed Andie. “And you?”
She shrugged. “You know what I want.”
“So this is an ultimatum,” he said. “Either I acquiesce . . . or you start letting your tempers fly down here. Is that about right?”
“It won’t be out of spite,” Maria two said in earnest. “We’re only human. It may not sound like it, Jack, but we’re asking for your help.”
“All you need to do is stay out of it,” Joann said, trying to make it all sound so simple.
Andie finally stepped away from the door. “You can’t control every single thing that happens down here, Jack. The tighter you squeeze, the more things will slip through your fingers.”
Forrest understood this concept as one of the primary principles of command, but he had never been in charge of a group of women before, nor had he envisioned what seemed to him such an unlikely scenario. “Fine,” he said at length. “But you girls had better go out of your way to make sure Maria never finds out, and you’d damn well better be there for her when Oscar dies. Understood?” He was applying his military bearing now, and he was glad to see that they were responding in the appropriate manner, both of them straightening up under his gaze and nodding their compliance. “And I will expect to hear all of the appropriate mea culpas in the event that you’re caught.”
Both women looked at the floor, nodding once more.
“Very well, ladies. Good night.”
They thanked him quietly and left him alone with Andie.
“Okay,” he said to her, “so what am I supposed to do for you now? Take my pants off?”
Andie’s eyes flooded with tears and she turned for the door.
Forrest got up and caught her arm. “I’m sorry,” he said gently. “That was uncalled for.”
She turned into him and rested her forehead against his chest. “It was cruel.”
“It’s my way of pouting,” he said, lifting her chin. “I’m feeling pretty damn unappreciated at the moment.”
She looked at him, loving the feel of being so close to him in private. “I need something only you can give me, Jack. I’m losing my mind down here.”
“Why not Oscar?” he suggested dryly. “He’s apparently in great demand.”
“I’m not attracted to that disloyal little son of a bitch. I’m attracted to you.”
“Yet, what you’re suggesting would make me a disloyal son of a bitch.”
“You’re not married. And I’m lonely enough for that to be a big enough difference.”
They made love carefully and quietly, and when they were finished Andie no longer looked nor felt like she was about to crawl out of her skin. She lay on top of him listening to the beat of his heart.
“Can I ask you a silly question?” she said quietly.
“Sure,” he said, stroking her hair, his mind on fifty other things.
“Do you love her?”
“Yes,” he said. “I love her completely.”
She got up from the cot and began to dress. “Thank you very much, Jack.”
He reached for her hand. “Please don’t thank me. You’re a wonderful woman, and you deserve an awful lot more than anyone down here can give you.”
Late the next morning, Veronica unexpectedly joined him in the shower, pulling the curtain closed. “So how did it go last night?”
“What’s that mean?” He was not at all surprised that she knew something had occurred. Probably everyone in the complex knew something had occurred, everyone except for Oscar’s wife, of course, which was only because she took pills in order to sleep, the stress of knowing that her husband had less than eighteen months to live having turned her into an insomniac.
“If you’re going to play stupid,” Veronica said, “we’re going to have a fight.”
“Fine. I let Andie seduce me.”
“And how was it?” she asked calmly, reaching for the soap.
“She’s a very lonely person,” he said stiffly, not at all sure what to expect from her.
“Or was,” she said, turning the soap in her hands. “She looks like a whole new woman today.”
“I haven’t seen her.”
She let the soap drop and slipped her arms around him. “Did I make a mistake?”
“What are you talking about?” he said, resting his hands on her shoulders.
“Last night was my idea,” she confessed, trembling slightly. “I knew things were coming to a head . . . and I knew that . . . I knew that concessions had to be made . . . even by me . . . and it all seemed so logical last night with it being Christmas and . . . and now I’m worried I made a huge mistake.”
Forrest remembered his warning to her about being too objective. He held her face in his hands. “A mistake how?”
“There’s a light in Andie’s eyes this morning. So it must have been magical between you. It was, right? You made a connection?”
He couldn’t help smiling. “A connection? Honey, if there’s a light in Andie’s eyes today, good for her, but—” He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Jesus Christ, you’re the only magic in this place. Why did you ever send her in there with them?”
“Because it was only a matter of time before something happened between you, and I wanted it to be on my terms, not hers . . . and sure as hell not yours.”
He moved her hair away from her face with his fingers. “I’d like to think you’re wrong about that . . . but who knows? She does flatter me.”
“So what now?” She shifted her weight to one leg, searching his eyes with hers.
“What do you mean, ‘what now’?” he asked, puzzled. “Veronica, as far as I’m concerned it never happened.”
She smiled and her eyes filled with tears. “If that’s true . . . then I made the right choice.”
“I love you.”
&nbs
p; She pressed against him and began to cry, relieved that he was still hers alone.
Forty-Eight
It was early April now, and with the temperature hovering just below forty degrees on the island of Oahu, it was still too cold to even think about growing any kind of food outdoors. Light meters used to measure the amount of sunlight penetrating the cloud layer were indicating a slight increase, which was a hopeful sign, but at the present rate of improvement it would still be years before there would be much actual sunlight. Local meteorologists and other members of the scientific community were still debating whether the rate of improvement would begin to increase exponentially as time passed.
Ester Thorn stood bundled in a coat on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln anchored in Pearl Harbor. With her were Vice President Hadrian and Admiral Longbottom. The admiral had invited them to review the progress made toward converting the aircraft carrier into a power plant for the city of Honolulu. The pier was now replete with transformers and power lines, hooking the carrier into the previously existing lines running along Hawaiian Highway 1 into the city.
Much of the island population had been moved into the capital, because running power all across the island was not going to be practical for some time yet. Personal homes remained private property, but all other structures had become the property of the state in order to provide housing for those moving into the city. No one had to pay for room or board, but everyone had to do their part, however small.
As it turned out, very few people were unwilling to pitch in around the island. In fact, during the early months there were more volunteers than jobs. So a massive recycling program was begun, sending people to scour the islands for anything that might be useful. Scientists and visionaries alike were teaming up in an effort to create new technologies before the clock ran out.
“It’s coming along,” Ester muttered.
“Yes, ma’am,” Longbottom replied.
“But this doesn’t exactly look permanent to me,” she said.
“No, ma’am. It’s not. This is a temporary setup. If you’ll look west to Ford Island, you’ll see where preparations are being made for the permanent installation of a proper power station. Right now the power is being run directly from the carrier into town, which isn’t as efficient as we need it to be. Once we’re able to run the power through a series of transformers we’ll be able to begin storing some of it.”
“And that power station will be ready to accept power from the tidal generators?” Ester asked.
“Yes, ma’am. The Australian engineer has already selected a nearby location to begin installing the first few turbines. Which brings me to another subject.”
“Oil, Admiral?”
“Yes, ma’am. The Aussies are asking us to bring a second drilling platform online. They’re willing to supply everything needed to get it up and running again if we’re willing to do the actual work. They have no one to spare with the know-how and they’re struggling with a serious power shortage.”
“They need the extra oil to run their mining operations. Yes. I’ve heard.”
“And if they’re going to continue the manufacture of the tidal turbines . . .”
“Yes, yes,” Ester said. “What do you think, Barry? Is it time to restart another drilling platform?”
“I think we should restart it,” Hadrian said. “But then we should show the Aussies how to run it themselves and turn it over to them entirely. Let their navy protect it. Our fleet is already busy enough here in the Islands.”
“And piracy does continue to be an ongoing problem,” Longbottom said. “I’m sure you’ve heard that another settlement was attacked last night on the island of Lanai.”
Ester cast a glance at Hadrian, the two of them having privately discussed the matter already. “Yes, I’ve heard. At some point, Admiral, these settlers are going to have to learn to defend themselves to a certain extent. We can’t keep a ship lying off the coast of every settlement. It spreads your fleet too thinly and burns too much fuel. Perhaps we could garrison a Marine detachment in each of the settlements. That would give your troops something to do, would it not?”
Longbottom stood thinking it over. “We might try it. I’ll speak with the Marine commandant, General Flohr, and see what he thinks.”
“Please do,” she said. “With no more real wars left to fight, Admiral, it’s going to be difficult to keep them busy. And we don’t need a bunch of bored young men with weapons just sitting around.”
“No, ma’am,” the admiral said dryly, noting the veiled smile on Hadrian’s face.
Forty-Nine
With two and a half months to go before hitting the one-year mark, the silo’s food and fuel stores stood at just over half of what they had started with—not counting the truckloads of MREs—so Forrest was pleased with their planning. There were hydroponic tomato plants growing in virtually every available space, and the twenty rats they had bred were all healthy and living in separate cages in order to keep them from reproducing before it was time.
Since agreeing to look the other way concerning Vasquez’s midnight trysts with his three girlfriends, the women seemed to be getting along even better than before. Nonetheless, Forrest didn’t believe for a moment that Maria Vasquez was the fool everyone else seemed to believe she was.
It was seven in the morning and he was in the middle of getting a shave when every alarm in the installation began to wail. He wiped his face with a towel and ducked quickly out of the shower room, running through the halls to Launch Control. “Whatta we got?”
“Serious fucking trouble,” Ulrich said, all the monitors cycling through the many camera feeds. “Multiple targets.”
Forrest took one look at the monitors and killed the claxon, grabbing the mike for the P.A. system. “All combat personnel to the LC,” he announced. “All combat personnel to the LC. This is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill. Civilian population will move to secure quarters in an orderly fashion . . . Keep calm, people. I don’t want anyone hurt.”
Emory was the first one to enter the LC, zipping her ACU jacket over her belly.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m com—”
“No way,” Forrest said. “You could have that kid at any minute.”
“Don’t shoulder me aside, Jack.”
“Then . . . take a seat and help Wayne,” he said, unlocking the weapons cabinet and strapping on his .45. “Wayne, I want all extra ammo transferred from the cargo bay to blast tunnel number two. Make it happen.”
“I’m already on it, Captain!” Vasquez said, crossing through the LC.
Ulrich tapped one of the screens, getting Emory’s attention. “This monitor is yours. I want you watching everything that goes on inside the house. Keep moving from room to room. I’ll be watching these other two to keep up with what’s going on outside.”
“Oh, shit!” she said, seeing three slovenly soldiers entering the house through the front door. “It’s the Air Force.”
Forrest exchanged glances with Ulrich. “What about ’em, Shannon?”
“We’ve already butted heads with these guys,” she said. “They were real bad news back in September. God knows what they’re like now. I wonder how they found this place.”
Sullivan and Marty arrived dressed in their combat gear, ready to perform whatever task was asked of them. Michael and the other doctors had come too. All of them were understandably disturbed by what they saw on the monitors.
“It’s that asshole, Moriarty,” Ulrich grated. “He’s back for his fucking MREs, Jack. See what getting greedy got us?”
“We don’t know it’s him, and if it is, we’ll deal with him.”
“Oh, it’s him all right,” said Marty. “I’d bet on it.”
“What do you know about him?”
“I heard that name when I had my run-in with them,�
� Marty said. “And it sounded like he was some kind of hard-ass. These people are rapists, Jack.”
“They can’t get in here, can they?” Michael asked.
“That depends,” Forrest said, concentrating on the monitors as he watched the motley outfit deploying around the grounds and into the house. He was trying to get a head count.
“Depends on what?” Michael said. “You said nobody could get down here.”
“These assholes are military,” Ulrich said. “If they’ve got the right shit, they can blow their way in.”
“Oh, great!”
“Mike, if you’re going to start, you’ll have to leave,” Forrest said. “Looks like about a hundred men. I count ten transports, five trailers . . . couple Humvees. Three fuel trucks.”
“If that’s all they’ve got left,” Emory said, “they’ve lost a hell of a lot of people.”
“Yeah, well, eating your own can have that effect.”
“Is it time we started thinking about the Broken Arrow?” Ulrich said.
“No,” Forrest said, still studying the monitors. “We can only dance that dance once. I’d rather give up the number one blast door first. But keep an eye on those assholes by the trucks. Tell me if they unload any ordnance.”
“What’s a Broken Arrow?” Michael wanted to know.
“Sean, Price,” Forrest said, ignoring the question. “Would you see to the women and children? I’ll keep you appraised.”
“Let us know if you need us to pick up a rifle,” West said.
“We’re a long way from having to arm the medical staff, Sean. Sullivan, you and Marty help Oscar and Linus in the loading bay. They’ll need help prepping the vehicles for emergency evac.”
“Sir!” Sullivan said, turning on his heel and taking Marty with him.
“Before you go, gentlemen . . . what you see in the bay is to remain top secret, is that understood?”
“Sir!”
“Okay, Major Moriarty,” Forrest said, turning back to the monitors. “What’s on your mind?”
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