“What would that be?” Lucas asked.
“We were discussing the doctor’s murder and the ambush of our men,” Grant started, but Hayden cut him off.
“They want you running the investigation, not me,” he said coldly.
Lucas eyed each man in turn before his gaze settled on the mayor. “Kind of got my hands full already, what with Ruby in a bind and spelling Joel on vaccine guard duty.”
“We can help with guarding the vaccine,” Grant said. “We have men.”
“Same men who were around when the doc’s supplies went missing?” Lucas asked.
Hubert shifted from foot to foot. “You said you were a ranger. Did you handle many investigations when you were active?”
Lucas nodded slowly. “I saw my share.”
“The town would like to ask you to help. We’re not making any headway, Lucas, and there’s a murderer out there – maybe more than one.”
“How’s that my problem? I’ve been on the trail for nearly a month. I’m worn out.”
“Well,” Grant observed quietly, “your friend is enjoying the best care we can offer, so we thought you might feel a little reciprocation would be in order.”
“My friend who was shot bringing a vaccine to save your asses,” Lucas snapped.
“Which we appreciate. But it looks like you’re going to be here for a while, no?” Hubert said. “Seeing as that’s the case, I’m asking as a personal favor if you’d help Hayden and his deputy look into the doctor’s murder, as well as the IED ambush that killed some of our best men – and now the fire that took out our radio.”
“You think that was deliberate?” Lucas asked.
“Could be. My money says it’s the damned Chinese,” Hayden growled. “We didn’t have any problems until they showed up.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “Why would they want to kill your doctor or your men? Aren’t they just as dependent on the town’s resources as you are?”
Hayden shook his head. “They keep to themselves out at the marina. They live on their boats; jabber at each other like animals. I don’t trust ’em as far as I can throw them.”
“That’s not really a motive, is it?” Lucas asked. “And what proof do you have that the radio fire was deliberate? Wiring in a lot of these houses has to be rotting with age.”
“What do I know? I’m just the sheriff who’s kept the town on an even keel for years.” Hayden paused. “Not some high-powered Texas Ranger. I just go off half-cocked with no evidence, isn’t that right?”
Lucas sighed and regarded Hayden. “Look, I can see how you’d feel, Sheriff. Nobody likes it when someone muscles in on their case. But in case you haven’t been listening, I don’t want the job, so you’re taking your anger out on the wrong guy. You think you’ve got this dialed in, more power to you. Convince your bosses, not me.”
That seemed to stop Hayden, and Grant stepped into the breach. “We just want more arms pulling on the oars, Sheriff. That’s all.”
“Never heard the expression about too many cooks, huh?” Hayden fired back.
Hubert studied Lucas. “You’d go about this differently, wouldn’t you? You said as much.”
“I was tired. This isn’t my dance.”
“But what would you do?” Hubert pressed.
“Well, seems that your problems started with the IED, so I’d probably start at the beginning and look that site over.”
Hubert turned to Hayden. “You been out there yet?”
“No. What’s the point? We know there was an explosion. What can we expect to learn by staring at the blast crater?” Hayden paused. “I’d say start with the Chinese. That’s your best bet.”
“No reason not to do both,” Lucas said.
“I can’t be in multiple places at once. That’s a pretty good one,” the sheriff said. “The damned squatters have turned the town limits into a disaster area, and it’s only getting worse as more of them show up every day.”
“What about your deputy?” Grant asked, his tone appeasing. “Maybe Alex could show Lucas around while you deal with the tent people?”
“If you’d let me run ’em off like cockroaches when I wanted to, the doc would still be alive,” Hayden said.
“Yes, Sheriff, your stance is well documented, but that’s water under the bridge. How about you have Alex take Lucas to the marina, and then they can go look over the IED site?”
“That isn’t going to do any good,” Hayden growled. “But if he wants to waste his time, it’s a free country.”
Hubert ignored the sheriff’s words and nodded as though everything had been decided. “Great. Let’s get Lucas fed and bathed, and then we can have Deputy Alex stop by the house.”
“Hate to leave Ruby,” Lucas said.
Hubert nodded again. “Not a lot you can do for her, is there? We’ll take care of her.” Hubert sized Lucas up. “And you never know. You figure out who killed the doc, you might find his drugs, so two birds with one stone.”
Lucas smiled grimly. He could see why the mayor had gravitated to a political position. He’d found a way to make Lucas taking over the investigation seem like Lucas was helping Ruby, ensuring he couldn’t say no.
“I guess I better get cleaned up, then,” Lucas allowed.
“Good man. We all appreciate your help,” Hubert said. Hayden was already walking down the hall toward the lobby, giving the lie to the mayor’s words. “Don’t mind him. He’ll get over it.”
“I’ve been on the same side of the boat. It isn’t easy to swallow.”
Hubert fixed Lucas with a hard stare, any trace of good humor suddenly gone. “Nobody said any of this was easy. But we need our best on this, and right now you’re it. Figure out what’s going on, and we’ll take it from there. We don’t have the luxury of protecting anyone’s feelings. We need results, and it sounds like you’re our man.”
“Your confidence may be misplaced. I’m not Houdini.”
Hubert held out his hands in supplication. “Maybe, but right now we don’t have much choice. Hayden’s out of his league, and the council knows it. Do your best. Please. That’s all I ask.”
Lucas’s gaze followed Hayden as he disappeared around the corner, and he exhaled with a hiss, his teeth clenched so tight his jaw muscles throbbed. “Fair enough. But no promises.”
Chapter 21
Deputy Alex appeared at the house an hour later as Lucas was finishing a postprandial shower. Joel answered the door and smiled at the sight of his drinking buddy.
“What’s up?” he asked.
Alex touched his hat in greeting. “Here to escort your boss.”
Joel’s eyebrows rose. “What? Where? He didn’t say anything.”
“He’s investigating the doc’s murder and the rest. He didn’t tell you?”
“I only saw him for a few minutes.” Joel paused. “Do me a favor, would you? Don’t mention the moonshine, okay?”
“He wouldn’t like that, huh? Don’t worry. It never happened.” Alex grinned. “Has you on a tight leash, doesn’t he?”
“It’s not like that,” Joel said, in a tone that promised no further elaboration.
Alex looked over Joel’s shoulder into the foyer. “Can I come in?”
Joel stood aside. “Oh. Right. Sure.”
The deputy pushed past Joel, entered the living room, and sat on the mildew-covered sofa. He spied Joel’s saddlebags across the room and smirked. “Still guarding the vaccine with your life?”
“I’ve been trying to get him to let some of the town do the work, but so far he’s not interested. It’s stupid. I mean, it’s yours now. Why should I get stuck in here round the clock, when you could do it?”
“Beats me. He’s your glorious leader, not mine. I have my own mindless orders, like babysitting your man while he goes on a wild-goose chase.”
Lucas’s heavy boots clumped down the stairs and Joel visibly stiffened. When Lucas arrived, he eyed Alex with an expressionless stare. “Who’s this?”
Alex rose. “Alex. I’m
Hayden’s deputy. He told me to report here.”
Lucas nodded. “That’s right. You keep your horse at the stable by the hospital?”
“Sure do.”
Lucas disappeared and returned with his saddlebags over his shoulder. “Then let’s ride. Mayor told me that the ambush site is a good half day from here.”
“At least. But…the sheriff told me you were going to talk to the Chinese, not–”
“He must have misunderstood. I want to see where the ambush took place.”
Alex snuck a look at Joel, who pursed his lips and shook his head. Lucas caught it, and his expression hardened. “Stay inside with the stuff until I get back,” he snapped at Joel. Lucas didn’t wait for a response, instead moving purposefully to the door. “Let’s go. Day’s getting away from us.”
They were at the stable in ten minutes, and Tango seemed happy to see his master. Lucas saddled him up and led the big stallion out into the morning sun, his coat glistening with vitality, and waited for Alex to follow with his horse. The deputy was obviously unhappy about having to go for an all-day ride with no notice, but Lucas didn’t care – he had his methods, and the deputy’s preference didn’t factor into them.
The ride through the tent city was an eye-opener, the sea of temporary shelters grown larger even since Lucas’s arrival. Alex was visibly nervous at the tangle of humanity outside the barrier to the town. Urchins ran barefoot through raw sewage trenches while their parents sat in front of their tents with starved expressions absent any hope, cheekbones so pronounced they seemed to cut through the taut skin of their gaunt faces.
“Getting worse,” the deputy commented, his AR-15 in hand.
“Probably going to keep on that direction, with the nuke plant poisoning everything along the river,” Lucas said.
“I feel sorry for the kids, but there’s only so much we can do,” Alex said.
“You spend a lot of time dealing with the squatters?”
“Too much of my day. It used to be pretty calm around here, but we’re being overrun.”
“Seems like there’s enough land for everyone. Just a matter of organizing resources and putting people to work.”
“Nobody can agree how to handle the situation. Some want to run ’em off. Others want to hand ’em the keys to the city.”
Lucas turned his attention to the younger man. “And you?”
“I try to get along with everyone.”
“How about the doc? Any enemies?”
Alex’s expression clouded. “No. That’s the weird part. Everyone liked him – he treated everybody the same and would see you no matter what the time. It completely baffles me why anyone would want to kill him.”
“Your sheriff seems convinced the Chinese might be involved.”
Alex nodded. “Makes sense, in a way. The General has a couple working for him, so they had the chance.”
“The night of the murder?”
“Well, I’m not sure about that. I’ve just seen some washing glasses and tending bar.”
“But no obvious motive,” Lucas said.
“None,” Alex agreed. “If there was, we would have nailed whoever did it by now.”
“Has there been a lot of other crime?”
“No. I mean, we’re a small community. We may have disagreements over how to run things, but everybody’s in the same boat, and we know we need each other to survive.”
“Then why both a sheriff and a deputy?”
“When the tent city started really swelling, I went from helping part time when Hayden was overloaded to full time.”
“What were you doing before that?”
Alex shrugged. “Oh, you know. This and that. Trading, odd jobs, that sort of thing.”
“You know the area where the IED took out the security force?”
“Pretty well. It’s kind of along the river, maybe three-quarters of the way to the trading post.”
“That’s why they were headed there, right? Marauders nearby?”
“Correct. We got a warning call from the trading post.”
Lucas fell silent as the horses picked their way along the trail, leaving the stench of the tent city behind. The road that ran along the Columbia river was well traveled, and they passed at least a dozen refugees making their way toward Astoria from Portland. By the time they arrived at the clearing where the explosive had decimated the security detail, the sun was beginning to drop in the afternoon sky, and Lucas marked the time on his watch as he dismounted, reluctant to be caught on the trail after dark if he could help it.
Evidence of the massacre was obvious: parts of skeletons picked clean by carrion birds where they’d fallen lay scattered about, their clothes and weapons taken by human scavengers. Lucas walked the blast zone with careful precision, Alex a few steps behind him, his rifle at the ready.
“Only two made it back,” Alex whispered. “One died a few days later. Shrapnel.”
“And the other?”
“He’s not long for this world. But he told us it was an ambush – a setup. There were some tents over there, and the next thing they knew, the forest was on fire.”
“Did he see any marauders?”
“Negative.”
“I want to talk to him.”
“I can introduce you when we get back, but he’s doing poorly. Took some metal chunks to the chest and one leg. He’s lucky he made it this far. Probably not going to be much help.”
Lucas continued his inspection and then stopped at a twisted chunk of steel beside a tree trunk. He squatted down and looked it over, his brow furrowed.
“What is it?” Alex asked.
“I’m guessing part of the IED.”
“Can you tell anything from it?”
Lucas shook his head. “Not really. I’m not an explosives expert. But it proves that this was deliberate – it wasn’t opportunistic. Someone planned to kill your men.”
“Why would marauders do that? They don’t usually cart around heavy artillery.”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Lucas said quietly. “Did the survivors see anyone?”
“Just a few stragglers in the tents that were set up. Not fighters, according to what they said, just refugees.”
“Which makes this even stranger.” Lucas stood and continued walking the field. Thirty minutes later, he’d seen everything he was going to. “How long will it take to get to the trading post?”
“At least a couple of hours. We’ll be bunking on the trail if we don’t head back to town,” Alex said, his tone making clear his reluctance to chance that.
“Damn. I was hoping we could knock that out this trip.”
“You’d have to leave come sunup to make it there and back in one day. You should have told me before we set out, if that was the plan.”
Lucas gave no defense. “My bad.”
“If you want to chance it, we can…”
“I’ve got other things to do back in Astoria. I want to check out this bar and talk to the Chinese. I’ll head to the trading post once I cover the rest of the bases.”
Alex looked relieved. “Fair enough. Just let me know when.”
Lucas returned to the scrap of metal and hoisted it into his saddlebag for a closer inspection later. After watering Tango, he climbed back into the saddle, the hair on the back of his neck on end, the ghosts of the dead security team seeming to surround them as a breeze sighed through the trees. Lucas noted that Alex clutched his rifle like he was afraid of imminent attack, and only relaxed once they were well away from the clearing.
“You reckon the river’s poisoned?” Alex asked quietly after several miles.
“Wouldn’t plan on taking a bath in it, if that’s the question.”
“Hayden mentioned we’re going to have to move. That didn’t sit well with quite a few of the townspeople.”
“I expect it didn’t. But if the plant’s melting down and the water’s toxic, I don’t see a lot of alternatives, do you?”
Alex shook his head.
“Just seems like it’s one thing after another.” The deputy looked Lucas up and down. “How is it where you’re from?”
“Mostly more of the same. It’s tough going no matter where you are these days.”
“Shame we can’t catch a break.”
Lucas shrugged, tired of the exchange. He’d ridden for five hours so far and learned nothing. The deputy’s nervous banter was a distraction from scanning the trail for threats, so Lucas fell silent, listening as the river burbled over boulders nearby, his mind poring over why anyone would butcher a security detail for no apparent reason.
Chapter 22
Lucas smelled the tent city before he saw it, the wind off the bay carrying its pungent aroma up the river road like toxic fog. The sun was a smoldering ember sinking into the ocean, and the hills of Astoria glowed crimson as Lucas and Alex rounded the final bend and approached the scattering of new hovels that had cropped up at the farthest reaches of the encampment. A pair of lanky dogs trotted toward them, eyes wary, and the deputy shooed them away with his assault rifle, grinning at Lucas as they scurried off.
“Lucky this bunch hasn’t cooked them yet,” he said, his tone strained in spite of the humor he was trying to project with his words.
Lucas hadn’t spoken for hours, preferring to consider the puzzle of the ambush and the doctor’s murder in silence, the deputy’s prattle like the buzzing of an annoying insect rather than anything helpful. He pushed the brim of his hat up and squinted at a figure standing by a lean-to near the water. The figure nodded almost imperceptibly at him.
Lucas twisted to where Alex was trailing him and called out, “You go on ahead. I want to nose around here for a while.”
Alex frowned. “It’s really not safe, especially after dark.”
“I can handle myself. Don’t worry. I’ll be at the guard gate in a few.”
“Nobody here is going to do anything but lie to you.”
“That could be,” Lucas agreed, slowing Tango to allow Alex to pass.
“Suit yourself. Just don’t get yourself into a situation where they corner you. That’s my advice. There’s an endless stream of them, and they’d just as soon gut you and leave you for dead as say hello.”
The Day After Never - Insurrection (Book 5) Page 11