She tensed to make a run for it and, as she did it, the guard’s grip on her arm loosened. She made to go, leaping away. Instantly, the guard called out. “Prisoner escaping!”
And Ellie knew what was happening. She stopped on a dime and stood with her hands up as the guard at the door called her second warning.
“Shoot her, Laura! She’s escapin’!”
Ellie called out. “I surrender! Don’t shoot.” Then she looked across at the other guard who had her gun pointing directly at Ellie, ready to fire.
“Laura! Shoot!”
The gun lowered. “Sorry, Mandy. It ain’t right. She gave herself up.”
Ellie swung around and shot a poisoned look at the first guard. “You tried to set me up!”
“What’s going on here?”
The senior guard had appeared at the lobby door.
“Officer Dayton is escorting the prisoner to the administration block.”
“Is that right? Shouldn’t you be filing your report, Dayton?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, deflating.
The senior guard—a middle-aged woman with a gray bob—waved her away. “Then go do it. I will escort the prisoner.”
“But sir!”
“Do as I say.”
Once they were outside, the senior guard marched Ellie across the concrete. “Seems you have powerful friends,” she said.
“Do I?”
“The order came from President Booker himself. But look,” she said, halting Ellie. “I know why you’re here in California. You’re the first to get past us, but we’ve seen others like you. You’d better be careful, because Booker seems like he’s a nice guy, but he’s really only interested in saving his own skin. And if he thinks you’re working against him, then nobody’s going to be able to save you. Got it?”
Ellie nodded and followed the woman into the administration building, past an empty reception counter and into a large conference room that seemed full of people.
“Ellie! Oh, thank God you’re okay!” Jodi emerged from among the milling throng and threw herself at Ellie.
A gray-haired man in a sharp suit spoke to the guard. “Thank you, we’ll take it from here.”
“But, Mr. President, she’s under investigation…”
The man nodded, then put his hand on the senior guard’s arm. “You’ve done your duty and I appreciate it.” He put out his hand and held her gaze as she took it, then watched as she stalked away. “She’ll report this through the hierarchy. I hope you were worth saving.” He directed this last comment to Ellie and his face broke into a smile as he shook her hand.
“I’m sorry for any trouble I’ve caused,” she said.
“Oh, don’t worry. I like to shake things up.”
“Ellie Fischer!”
She looked into the face of Joel Baxter before being grabbed in a bear hug.
After a few seconds, during which time Ellie spotted Jodi’s amused face over his shoulder, he withdrew, just as Booker turned away to join the crowd.
“Well, I can’t say that time has treated you well, Ellie. You’re not exactly looking your best.”
“Dad!”
Ellie snorted. “Look who’s talking. That hair transplant didn’t take then?”
Baxter roared with laughter. “Ha! Shouldn’t have had it done in Turkey, that’s for sure. But seriously, Ellie, thank you. Thank you so much for looking after my daughter.”
Ellie blushed, but before she could respond, he continued, “Ever since the flood, I’ve hoped beyond hope that Buzz’s plan came together. He’s a clever S.O.B. But thank you.”
He pulled her into a hug again. She was just mumbling something about how Jodi saved her as well when scahe felt Baxter’s hands moving down her back.
“Get off!” she said, pushing him away.
He smirked like a naughty boy stealing from the cookie jar. “Sorry.”
“Dad!”
“I thought you said I’d gone to the dogs.”
Baxter shrugged, then rubbed his chin. “Look, we never…did we?”
“No, we didn’t. I must be one of the only women you didn’t try it on with.”
“That’s right. It was Pat who had his eye on you. Is he…?”
Ellie felt a stab of guilt. She hadn’t given Patrick a second thought since they’d been brought in for questioning. “He’s alive. At least, he was when we left him.”
“Uncle Pat and Ellie have got a thing going on,” Jodi said with a smirk that matched her father’s.
“Uh-huh! Good old Pat. So, where is he?”
Ellie, whose face had gone red, left it to Jodi to answer. “He’s in a hospital in Ragtown. He got poisoned.”
“Good grief, Ellie! Surely you could have found some other way to dump him!”
“Dad! Don’t be so cruel!”
Ellie waved her hand. “Forget it, Jodi. Your dad thinks he’s being funny.”
Laughing maniacally, Joel Baxter flung his arms around them again and hugged them close. “I just can’t get over it.”
“Let’s find somewhere quiet to talk, Dad,” Jodi said.
“I’ll just check with Booker. I’m on the clock here, after all.”
They watched him melt into the crowd.
Jodi hugged Ellie again. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I’m fine—you’re the one who did the great escape. Mind you, that guard who took a shine to you tried to have me shot on the way over here. Luckily, her accomplice discovered her conscience just in time.”
Joel emerged and guided them away. “We’ve got ten minutes.”
“Who does he think he is?” Ellie said, glancing back at the gray-haired self-declared president who was glad-handing members of the base staff.
Joel leaned in. “He thinks he’s the president, and whether you or I agree with him or not, he’s not a man to be denied.”
They exited the main room and Joel opened the door opposite, which led into a much smaller room containing a desk and a couple of chairs, but little else.
“Now, we’ve got to be quick,” Joel said, perching himself on the edge of the desk.
“How did you survive the wave?” Jodi asked.
Joel rubbed his eyes, suddenly looking tired. It was as if he was exhausted by performing for the crowd. “I was lucky. So very lucky. I was in Morocco. Ran up a minaret as the water came in, but it didn’t stop, and I got swept away. I thought I was dead. Gave up hope. Then someone grabbed me and pulled me into a boat. It had gotten swept inland. I was the last soul they saved.”
“So, how did you get back here?” Ellie asked.
Joel shook his head. “We don’t have time for the whole story. It took me months and I got lucky time and time again, until I began to believe Fate was keeping me alive. I arrived back a couple of months ago and met up with Sonny—Governor Booker. We go way back and so I’ve been helping him.”
“Governor? Don’t you mean president?”
“I guess I do. Can’t help thinking that was a mistake. This country can only have one president, in my opinion. But then, Sonny has powerful friends.”
“Is that right?”
Joel Baxter shook his head. “I’m not talking about this. Now, tell me what your plans are.”
“What my plans are?” Jodi said. “To spend time with my dad!”
Baxter blinked with surprise. “Well, of course. But it’ll have to wait a few days. I’ve committed to being with Sonny’s tour and it’s got a couple of other stops yet. Then we can be together.”
Ellie could see the disappointment in Jodi’s face. It seemed that Joel did too, because he continued, “But I’ve got a great house. You can stay there—both of you—while I get finished. It’s got a pool and plenty of supplies. I reckon you could do with a couple of days to rest. Jeez, you’ve been through enough, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. Sounds like a plan,” Jodi said, some of her enthusiasm returning.
“I’ll get you a pass so you can drive where you like, but it’s pr
obably safest to go straight to the house and hole up there until I arrive.”
He stood up. “Now, we’ve got to get back. I’ve got a job to do.”
“Hold on,” Ellie said. “What is this job? Why are you so important to Booker that he won’t let you spend more than ten minutes with your daughter?”
Joel was already walking past her. “That’s classified, but we can chat when I get back. I’m just doing what I can to keep as many people safe as possible.”
He gave Ellie a perfunctory hug, then embraced Jodi, pulling her close before separating and waving goodbye. “Stay here while I organize somewhere for you to crash for the night. Might see you at breakfast.”
Jodi watched him go, then turned so Ellie could see the sadness in her expression. “So even the end of the world hasn’t changed him.”
“Give him a break,” Ellie said, reluctantly. “He’s been through a lot.”
“Yeah, well, so have we.”
Ellie gave her a hug. Inside she was seething. Jodi was right—her father was just as self-serving as he’d always been. She understood how gate-crashing an event like this would mean they wouldn’t get much of a chance to catch up, but she had also noticed that he hadn’t asked them a single question about how they’d survived the past months. Either he knew already, or he didn’t care. She hoped it was the former.
Chapter 9
Sookie
“Is beautiful here,” Yuri said, gesturing out the window at the steep slopes of a grass- and snow-lined valley cut through by the narrow highway they were driving along. “Not good if snow falls.”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah. There’s been a little, but nothing like back in that place where we met Devon.”
“Another good man.”
“I’ve been thinking. I wonder if he’s part of this network Sullivan was talking about.”
Shrugging, Yuri settled back in his seat. “He did not say.”
“Maybe he didn’t trust us enough.”
“You want something to eat?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna pull over for a bathroom break soon.”
Yuri chuckled. “No bathrooms out here, I think.”
“You know what I mean.”
“On ISS, we use vacuum. Suck it out,” he said, making a popping noise with his mouth. “Nice feeling.”
Bobby pulled the truck into a small parking place beside a wooden shelter with Information Center painted in yellow across it.
“It’s so quiet,” he said as he climbed out, rubbing his back and stretching his legs before moving off to the trees behind the information center. All he could hear was the gentle chatter of the breeze in the autumn leaves above and the crunching of Yuri’s boots on the gravel as he took a different path to screen himself from the road.
As he returned, he found the Russian standing beside the truck massaging an MRE and looking back along the valley.
“Yes, very quiet,” he said as Bobby pulled out a ration pack. “Spooky.”
“It’s pretty out of the way here at the best of times, I reckon,” Bobby said.
Yuri grunted. “Sure. But no planes? No cars? Weird.”
Bobby straightened himself and stood perfectly still. Yuri was right. The silence was almost oppressive. An entire absence of human sounds. Then he heard something. “Isn’t that a car? Or a truck?”
Something was coming along the road after them, climbing the valley. It sounded heavier than a regular car.
“Come on, let’s get going,” Bobby said. “It’s probably nothing, but…”
“Maybe is following us.”
They got back into the car, suddenly aware of how trapped they were by the narrow valley. Bobby started up the truck and steered it back onto the road before accelerating away. Was he being ridiculous? How likely was it that the vehicle behind was looking for them?
“This is not good, my friend,” Yuri said. “Running from shadows. This road, it goes on for long time.”
“What are you saying?”
“Up there, we hide. Let them go by.”
He pointed ahead at a narrow band of trees that ran along the valley bottom and alongside the road. “What if we can’t get under cover quickly enough? We’ll be trapped.”
“Bobby! Be bold, my friend. I do not wish to run.”
“Me neither, but we’ve got a mission.”
Yuri sighed. “Come now, we can run or…we can do it in style.”
He was right. Like a metal detectorist on a beach, as soon as Yuri said it, Bobby knew he was right. All doubt disappeared and, with a swing of the wheel, he took the truck off the road and across the short stretch of grass toward the trees.
Yuri yelled as they were shaken about by the bumpy ground, but there was no stopping now. They had to get under cover before their pursuers—if they were being pursued—saw them.
For a moment, Bobby lost his grip on the steering wheel and it swung around, almost toppling the truck and sending it off at an angle as he fought to recover control. With a bang, the rear end of the truck hit a tree, and Bobby yanked the wheel back around, the countryside whooshing by in a blur until the truck collided with another tree and Bobby slammed on the brakes.
He opened the door and fell out of the car, then staggered along its side to look back at the road. Groaning, Yuri came to stand beside him. By sheer luck, the truck had come to rest within the trees, entirely invisible from the road.
But still, Bobby ducked down as he watched, trying to calm his breathing and slow his frantic heartbeat.
“Bobby!”
Yuri was pointing back along the way they’d come. In its uncontrolled careening across the grass, they’d left behind a deeply rutted trail. And two camouflaged figures were walking cautiously along it, one carrying a rifle, the other a shotgun.
Bobby swore, glanced across at Yuri and then retrieved his handgun from the pocket of the driver’s door as the Russian drew his.
As they crouched among the leaves, trying to remain perfectly still, they watched as the two figures made their way closer and closer, eyes scanning the tree line, passing over where Bobby and Yuri hid.
Then, beyond them, a third figure appeared. Bobby guessed it was guarding the car as it seemed farther away, but how many more might there be?
Yuri raised his weapon and nudged Bobby, raising his eyebrows questioningly. His meaning was obvious. Should they shoot? The answer was equally obvious. They had no choice. They’d been followed and now were at bay as the hunters gathered. It was strike or die.
Their pursuers were now fifty feet or so away and Bobby brought his weapon to bear. No point shooting to injure. He aimed along the barrel and realized he was aiming at a woman. She wore dark jeans and an olive hunter’s jacket with sunglasses that obscured where she was looking exactly.
Alongside Bobby, Yuri sighted and flicked the safety. Bobby sensed that the Russian didn’t want to be the first to take a shot, so he gripped the pistol tight, took aim and rested his finger on the trigger.
He felt Yuri tense, and then, just as he squeezed, he saw movement. He sucked a breath in and, in that instant, pushed against Yuri. His gun fired, sending his round up through the leaves of the trees. The two closest figures dropped to the ground and Bobby could see the woman’s head turn back to look at the third one, who’d frozen.
“T.J! Get down!”
“What you doing?” Yuri hissed.
Bobby called out, “Put your weapons down!”
“We can’t take prisoners! You know this!”
“Don’t hurt us!” the woman called, half hidden in the bumpy grass. Her rifle flopped in front of her.
Bobby called, “I’m coming out.”
“Are you crazy?” Yuri said, grabbing at his arm.
“They’re not looking for us,” Bobby said. “And I don’t shoot kids.”
He got to his feet, with his hands held open, the gun pointing away, and walked slowly toward where the two figures lay.
“Put the gun down, Christen.” The woman Bobby h
ad been targeting looked across at the other figure. “Now.”
Bobby saw the rifle fall, felt momentarily panicked, then relaxed as the two figures got onto their knees.
“I’m sorry, Christen’s a bit trigger-happy. My name’s Sookie.” Her eyes flicked across to where Yuri was emerging.
“I’m Bobby and this is Yuri. We thought you were following us.”
Sookie, a short African-American with tied-back black hair, smiled. “We heard the bang, then we saw the tire tracks. We wanted to check y’all were okay.”
“With rifle and shotgun?” Yuri asked. He was looking pale, as if coming to terms with how close they’d gotten to shooting two women who’d come to help them.
“Dangerous tahms,” the second woman said in a broad Southern accent. “Could’a been a trap.”
Sookie turned around and called over her shoulder. “T.J., you come on out now. Travis Jefferson, did you hear me?”
A boy climbed out of the grass farther back and walked nervously toward them. “Okay, Momma. I’m comin’.”
And as he walked through the grass, Bobby turned to Yuri, whose color had returned to normal. “I caught sight of him just as you were about to shoot. I could see it was a kid.”
Yuri slapped him on the shoulder. “Thank God you did. What a bad world. Shoot first, ask later.”
By the time Bobby and Yuri had checked the truck for damage, it was too late to move on, so they camped beneath the trees. Sookie, Christen and T.J. shared a meal before they went on their way. Sookie, it turned out, lived in Colorado Springs and they were traveling there from a West Coast camp where they’d stayed for the past months. Bobby sensed she would have welcomed their company on the road, but he knew that however dangerous it might be for two women and a child to cross Utah alone, it would be riskier together. Bobby and Yuri were hunted men, and it was best for everyone if they traveled separately.
“More good people,” Yuri said as Sookie waved goodbye. “Thank you, Bobby. You stopped me.”
“It was just good luck,” Bobby said. “If I hadn’t seen T.J. was a kid, then I’d have shot Sookie and found out my mistake later.”
Deluge | Book 5 | Lost Page 8