Tipping Point (Book 2): Ground Zero

by Rain Stickland

  “What’s that?”

  “I think maybe he saw them and changed the direction they were facing. I mean, does any of us know off by heart exactly what tree configuration every camera was pointing at? Would we notice if it was changed, if we didn’t see it while it was being moved? He may not have seen the sensors, which would explain why they’re still picking up the intrusion. If we hadn’t done a basic inventory and found we were missing stuff, I would have thought maybe it was just a sensor malfunction, but no one here has any reason to take anything and lie about it. We’re all well-fed, and nobody is getting anything that the rest of us aren’t getting,” Gilles finished.

  “That makes sense. He could have changed the angle, or even moved a camera or two to completely different trees. There’s only one way for us to find out. Mom got maps from the Land Registry Office in Parry Sound, right before all the power grids went down. She made a bunch of copies of our land while she was there. She didn’t make copies of Neil’s at that time, because she didn’t know then that she would need them, but she scanned them in to the server and printed out letter-size copies later. Every single camera is marked on those maps, including the ones that you did right before they left for Cleveland. We’ll have to take the maps and visually confirm each camera. At least the ones in that area.”

  Four sets of shoulders slumped at the thought of all the walking they were going to have to do. Not one of them had had a full night’s sleep since the first sensor had gone off. Despite the fact that they knew it was necessary for their own safety, they were all exhausted.

  Cam was really worried, but nowhere near as worried as Chuck. He had three kids to think about, and they had no idea whether or not the thief was a physical threat. Cameron was going to assume they were all in danger, until she knew for certain they were safe. The problem was, there was no way they could be effective if none of them were sleeping. Of course, so far Cam was the only female who was involved in dealing with the problem, and that was going to have to change.

  “Gilles, we’re tired. Every one of us, including Kirk, John, and Jim. It would be nice if my dad was here to help, but I haven’t seen him. He keeps disappearing into the bush. We need more people involved in this. Chuck’s wife is already busy with the kids, and Kelly and Annette have their hands full with the animals, but there are seven other people who could at least be watching the monitors while we all get some sleep. If I’m capable of walking a perimeter, they’re capable of watching a screen. They’re not stupid just because they’re female,” she said.

  “I never said they were,” Gilles said in surprise.

  “Why the hell aren’t we asking them to help, then?”

  “I have no idea. It’s weird. It never occurred to me for some reason.”

  “Some outdated sense of chivalry or chauvinism would be my guess, but now that you’ve been made aware of it, we need to get them organized so they can help. You can talk to Melanie and Felicia when you go to your cabin. We’ll set up a monitoring schedule that doesn’t conflict with anyone’s chore day, and this way, even if this problem goes on for weeks, we’ll all still be allowed to sleep and take a day off once in a while.

  “For that matter, having seven extra people will mean they can each take a night for monitoring. Those of us who have been doing so-called guard duty can switch off every other night. There’s seven of us doing that, too, so four one night and three on another would mean we’ve still got enough bodies actually out there.”

  With the help of the other three, Cam had a good schedule worked out a short while later, and she could see that the others were relieved to know they would soon be getting a decent amount of rest. Between the sensors and the worry over her mother while she’d been out of it from her head wound, Cam was tapped out. Mitch had shown up at the wrong time to test her, though it appeared he’d been respectful and cautious since she’d gone off on him. For his second night on the farm she had caved and given him the tent and air mattress they no longer had a need for, along with a sleeping bag for warmth. He hadn’t made any snide remarks, instead muttering a thank you before going off to set up his new temporary home.

  They had already decided that he would be shown how to do chores by Gilles the next morning. He’d had three days to get some rest and sate his hunger, so it was as good a time as any for him to start earning his keep. If he wanted a cabin later, they would help him, but he would have to build it right alongside them. He was a freeloader by nature, and Cam had been sick of it long before he’d ever come to the farm.

  They broke up their informal meeting, but Gilles remained behind after Billy and Chuck had traipsed down the stairs. Cam looked up from the map she was marking, when he cleared his throat.

  “What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to say that I’m not the asshole you seem to think I am.”

  “I never called you one. If I thought you were, I would have. I’m not shy when it comes to that,” she said with a self-deprecating grin. Gilles laughed.

  “No, you’re not. You’re pretty good at speaking your mind.”

  “Mitch I called an asshole. At least I think I did. You just tend to take charge of things, and I’m not the type of person who likes someone trying to take charge of me.”

  “Don’t blame ya. I just wanted to say that I think you’re doing a decent job. I didn’t expect that you would, but I was wrong. After you went off on your own and ran into Brian, I didn’t think you could handle things after your mother left. It gave me a bad impression, so I didn’t really give you a chance,” he said.

  “Well, thanks, but the problem hasn’t been solved, so don’t congratulate me just yet,” she responded, though inside she was glowing with pride at his compliment just the same. Cam still didn’t feel like she knew what she was doing, but she couldn’t let him see that.

  “I think we’ll have him soon, whoever it is. This isn’t a giant ranch here with thousands of acres. There’s only so many places the person can go, and with a couple of us concentrated in that area, like you said, it’s unlikely he’ll keep getting past us.” He tipped his cap at her and left.

  Gilles’ words proved prophetic. They managed to catch the culprit that same night. When they found a camera that had been moved from its original location, Chuck and Jim climbed a couple of trees and watched the area that the camera’s lens could no longer pick up.

  The radio woke Cameron once again out of a deep and exhausted sleep. To keep it out of Squeaker’s greedy paws, she had put it in the drawer of her nightstand after cranking up the volume so she could still hear it. As much as she groaned about being jarred out of the best sleep she’d had in months, she was extremely relieved when she realized it would mean she would be able to go back to sleep without worrying anymore.

  “I’m on my way. Wait. Where am I on my way to? Where do you have him?” She was still a little sleep-muddled, she realized.

  “We brought him into the central yard between the two big buildings. We didn’t figure there was any point keeping him out, since he’s already been in here to steal,” Jim said.

  “True. Be right down.” Two minutes later Cam was in the yard, facing a man she couldn’t quite place. She knew him, somehow, but beyond that she couldn’t remember.

  “I assume you followed him to find out how he was getting through the inner sensors without getting picked up,” she said to Jim.

  “Yup. I don’t think he even knew they were there. It’s just how the sensors are positioned. There’s a tree on the ground right there that he was climbing over, so he never tripped them. We’ll have to move the tree,” he concluded. Cameron nodded.

  “I’ll make sure that’s taken care of tomorrow. I think I’ll walk both perimeters and check that none of the other sensors are in a position like that. I doubt it, because my mother is pretty careful about stuff like that. I can’t believe she would make that kind of mistake in the first place. It’s not like her.”

  “Actually, I don’t think she did. The break look
ed fresh. The tree was probably still standing when she put them in place.”

  “Okay, that makes sense. Anyway, now that we’ve found our intruder, all we need to do is keep an eye on him. You can call in the others so everyone can get some sleep. I’m going back to bed. You can decide between you who watches him for how long, so long as he’s kept under guard. Give him food and water for now. Once we’ve all slept enough that we can think, we’ll talk about what to do with him.”

  Their thief hadn’t spoken during the entire exchange, but had glanced back and forth between Cam and Jim as they spoke. Now he finally opened his mouth.

  “I was here before. You don’t remember me kid? I sure remember you,” he leered. Cam narrowed her eyes. That leer didn’t bode well for his future, she decided. He was not only a thief, he was a creep, too.

  “Shut up,” she said, and walked away. She would figure out where she knew him from later. Right now she was just too tired.

  Minutes later, Cam was lying between Egyptian cotton sheets with both ferrets climbing all over her. And she was perfectly okay with that.

    

  “I think we’d all like to know how you wound up back here, Mike,” Cameron said to the thief. She had been in the shower when she had finally placed him. He had been at the farm with his wife, Lianne Langston, in a van full of ferrets from the shelter in Ottawa.

  She was pretty sure twenty-eight of the fifty ferrets her mother had taken in, or brought home herself, were from that shelter. And she remembered something else, too. She remembered being relieved that they hadn’t planned on staying, because this guy had been drunk and he had leered at her and Leigh even then. No, this guy was not going to be staying on the farm, whatever she had to do to make sure of it. For now, though, they would see what he had to say for himself.

  “Well, see, it’s like this. Lianne and me weren’t getting on so good. We were supposed to stay with her parents on their farm, and they never liked me. First time something bad happened, I got the blame for it. Her dad ran me off with a shotgun, saying if I came back he’d use it.”

  Cameron could easily believe what he said was truth, as far as it went, but it was an awfully short story for about seven months’ worth of events.

  “What was it they blamed you for?” Gilles asked from beside her.

  “Accused me of nasty stuff with my wife’s niece, and I never touched her,” Mike responded.

  “I’m sure they had good reason to think you had,” Cam said in disgust. “You don’t exactly act like an innocent man. You hit on me the last time you were here, right in front of your wife, and did the same with a friend of mine. You were drunk then, but it doesn’t look like you’re any better when you’re sober.

  “You fucked with our security camera so you could get in and out without being seen, and you stole our food. And even now that we’ve caught you, you’re trying to act like you haven’t done anything wrong. You could have come to the house and asked for food the honest way, but you chose to steal it instead, which tells me you’re not the kind of person we want around here.”

  “Well, I doubt very much it’s up to you, little girl,” he sneered.

  “And that would be where you’re wrong, asshole,” Gilles said. “She and Billy run this place, and if one of them says you’re gone, then you’re gone. One way or another.”

  Cameron felt a huge wave of relief that Gilles was backing her this way, but then she figured he would. There was no way he would want this lecherous piece of shit anywhere near his family, and of course Chuck had a teenage daughter to worry about, so she knew his silence meant consent. Nobody really knew this Mike guy, or anything about him, beyond the fact that he’d been married to someone who ran a ferret shelter.

  The problem she was having had nothing to do with whether or not to get rid of him. She already knew they couldn’t let him remain on the farm. The problem was that she didn’t know how to get rid of him. He hadn’t done anything that deserved a death sentence, so killing him, or kicking him off the farm without a way to survive, weren’t choices she could justify. Not even in her own mind. Well everyone else had a brain, too, so she decided to take advantage of that.

  “Gilles, Chuck, Billy, I think we need to discuss what we’re going to do with this guy. He’s a bit of a complication, and I’d like to hear your opinions, so why don’t we leave him under guard with John for now, and go talk about it,” she said. Mike immediately started toward her, though she never found out his intentions. John swung his rifle up before Mike had even gone two steps, the barrel jamming into Mike’s forehead.

  “I wouldn’t, if I were you. You’d be making things so much simpler for us if you gave me a reason to shoot you,” he said. Cam gave an evil smile.

  “Thanks, John. Yes, that’s definitely an option, Mike, so you might want to relax and behave yourself. I don’t think any of us are going to suggest killing you outright, but you never know. Your first, second, and now third, impressions haven’t gone so well.” She turned and headed straight back to the house. She wasn’t surprised when Gilles was the first to speak.

  “That guy is bad news. I think we’re all in agreement on that, but we really can’t kill him just because we think he’s going to be a problem in the future. I sure as fuck don’t want him around here, though.”

  “You won’t get any argument from me,” Chuck put in. “He’s given every female here the once-over, including Katherine. What do you wanna bet he really was trying to fuck with that niece of his?”

  “I’ve seen the same thing with the women here. And Katherine’s still a kid, for fuck’s sake! It doesn’t seem to matter how young or old. He’s a pig,” said Billy. Chuck nodded along. Cam was pretty sure there was relief on his face, too, after hearing Billy say his daughter was still a kid. With Katherine’s crush on Billy, he’d probably been wondering if Billy would think she was fair game.

  “Okay, and I agree with all of you,” Cam said. “But that doesn’t fix the problem. Sending him away from here without some way for him to survive on his own is basically the same thing as a death sentence. And when he gets desperate he’ll just come back here. He won’t care anymore about hurting any of us, because we didn’t care about his survival. Not to mention the fact that I’d feel like a piece of shit for doing it. I don’t want us to start becoming judge, jury, and executioner of everyone who shows up here, or getting into that whole lynch mob mentality. We’re just trying to survive here, that’s all.

  “We need to find out how he got here, too. If they needed half a tank of fuel to get where they were going, assuming they were telling the truth about that and they used up all the fuel, how many kilometres are we talking about? A couple hundred?” She looked around at the others.

  “What kind of van was it? Minivan or full size monster from back in the seventies? Because that makes a difference,” Gilles said. “When you gave them the fuel, did you keep track of how much fuel went into their tank? Was it treated?”

  “It was a newer full-size van, that’s all I know,” Cam answered.

  “I was the one who gave them the fuel. I dumped two of the ten-litre jerry cans into their tank, if I remember right,” Billy said. “All of Mac’s fuel was treated. Ours, too, for that matter. The van was one of those newer Dodge cargo vans. The really tall, squared-off ones. I can’t remember the name of them.”

  “Probably a Sprinter then,” Gilles said with a nod.

  “Yeah, I think that was it,” said Billy.

  “I don’t think we should count on anything he said being the truth. For all we know, his wife’s parents could live a mile from here. I can’t remember whether it was him or her asking for the fuel last summer, and even if she was the one asking, he might have had her lie for him. Besides, he could have siphoned the fuel from the van and dumped it into a car or motorcycle. They didn’t need much cargo space once they left the ferrets here,” Cam said. Gilles’ shoulders slumped. Apparently he’d already been busily calculating mileage, and was enjoyi
ng the mental exercise.

  “Well, damn. Look who’s the smart cookie,” Gilles mocked, though the tone was friendly and teasing, not jeering.

  “Very funny. Anyway, if he’s got a vehicle hidden around here, I think it would be a very good thing to get him as far away from it as possible. Now that you’ve managed to convert one of the trucks over to vegetable oil – and I guess that also makes you a smart cookie, Gilles – there’s no reason we can’t just use up our remaining gasoline to take this guy as far away as possible, and then give him enough supplies to get him started somewhere else. If he doesn’t make it from there, it’s his own fault. Does that sound feasible?”

  When the other three nodded, they quickly worked out what they would have to give him so that he could survive. The only thing left was to figure out where to take him.

  “How much gasoline do we still have? All the car tanks were full, as well as the storage tanks and jerrycans, except for the ones mom and Neil used when they went to Sault Ste. Marie. We haven’t really used any since then, have we? Annette and Kelly’s cars were both filled after they got here, along with Kirk and Leigh’s rental,” she said, pausing to try and think.

  “Dad’s car was full, too,” Billy put in.

  “I think most of us followed Mac’s advice and made sure our tanks were full before we came here, and we added preservative to all the tanks right away. So, basically we could take this guy across the country if only we had a tank big enough for it, or some way to strap enough storage tanks to a car,” Gilles said.

  “Okay, I don’t think we need to go quite that crazy. Just far enough that we can be sure he won’t want to walk back,” she said, and waited for the others to say something.

  “It takes two or three weeks to starve if you’ve got no food, and he might be able to carry a week’s supply in a pack or something, so any place it would take a month to walk to would probably be good,” Chuck suggested.

  “How far can a person walk in a day?” Cam asked, frowning.