Joel let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.
“If I thought the orders were legal then I wouldn’t have, couldn’t have; let you know what was in them based on how they were classified.” Mallory said. “I would have been disobeying a direct order and breaking the law by letting you read them. As it sits, I think we’re going to need to work together to get through this and I’m going to need your help, because this is just getting started.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
According to the wind-up clock on the nightstand, it was 7:18 and Dan had been awake for almost a half an hour. He was still tired, but not exhausted like he had been for the last several days.
“So,” Dan said as he rolled over, once he was sure Marissa was awake. “What are you thinking?”
“That’s an awfully loaded question,” Marissa said. “We made it. The Taylors are here. I’m clean and dry and I slept all night long. I’m not exhausted. I’m not starving. Shall I go on?”
“You forgot we’re under guard.” Dan added. “Our guns are useless, and we have to ask for anything else that we need.”
Marissa sighed. “No, I simply chose not to mention those things, and you’re wrong about the guns.” She said. “Either one of our knives or your EMT shears could cut the zip tie without a problem. As long as we were being watched we couldn’t cut it, and it was perfectly safe to let us keep the gun.”
Marissa stretched. “Now that we’re in here and not actually under surveillance, it was foolish to let us keep them unless they don’t consider us a threat, which means they most likely talked to people from the neighborhood last night and consider us safe.” Marissa said. “I’m not going to risk cutting it off, but I’m guessing that if they didn’t trust us they would have actually taken the guns last night and told us to deal with it.”
“You thought about this already?” Dan asked.
“While I was stuck here with only my knife and you took your shower.” Marissa said. “That’s when I considered cutting the stupid thing off and then I realized I could cut it off, and it clicked.”
“Well, I think we should wake the girls up and see about getting them a bath.” Dan said.
…
“Can we stay here, Mommy?” Jessie asked as Marissa was finishing her second braid.
“Well,” Marissa started to answer when there was a knock on the door.
Dan and Marissa looked at each other and both of them waited for the other or possibly even someone else to say “Come in” or “Who is it”.
Finally Dan got up and simply opened the door.
“Mr. Clark,” a soldier with a nametag that read Hook said. “The Mayor is here to speak with you.”
“Great. I get to deal with a jumped up post-apocalyptic politician.” Dan thought. “What exactly did I do to deserve this?”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, Fish,” Joel said from behind his escort, “get out of the way and just let me talk to Dan and Marissa.”
“Joel?” Dan said.
“Yes,” Joel said as he stepped around Specialist ‘Fish’ Hook. “For my sins I was elected Mayor two days ago. Pretty good timing, huh? Hook, head on over to the HQ for a bit, I’ll call over when I’m done here.”
When Hook was gone, he asked if he could come in and was welcomed with a handshake that turned into a hug, even though Joel and Dan really hadn’t known each other very well. It was more because they had known each other at all.
“Marissa,” Joel said, and got another hug. “I’m sorry to hear about Danny, we all are. Nothing more needs to be said—I understand.”
Both Marissa and Dan nodded in agreement and appreciation, but also knew that they were getting to the point that they would need to start talking about it, with each other if nothing else. They weren’t healing and they weren’t grieving, and they needed to move on.
Once everyone was sitting on couches or chairs, or the floor for the kids, Joel started to find out a little about their trip and get more details about their last few days, how the neighborhood was doing, Carey.
“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, or that I hold it against you.” Joel said. “If I’d found him—or anyone else—in my house, I wouldn’t have said word one to him before I pulled the trigger. The situation just made it that much more serious. I’m glad you found the extra key and that the old sleeping bags came in handy. I’d forgotten those were up there.”
Dan hung his head. “I’m sorry about the shotgun and the deer rifle, Joel.” He said. “It was a stupid mistake and we could have been here three days earlier, with more stuff to boot.”
Joel snorted. “And if the Government had listened in the first place and tried to harden the infrastructure, or not bickered about the plan they had and actually put it in place and shut down the grid, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.” Joel said. “Play the cards you’re dealt, Dan.”
Joel paused for a second and then continued. “I’ve hated this phrase since the first time I heard it because it’s just so trite but ‘It is what it is’. Well of course it is…what the hell else would it be?!” Joel said. “We are where we are. We aren’t somewhere else, we’re here.” Joel looked around and spread his arms out.
“The situation is what it is, it isn’t something else. We have the resources we have, not what we wish we had.” Joel said. “And those resources are more this morning than they were yesterday morning, assuming you were planning to stay. You are planning to stay aren’t you?”
“That was the idea,” Marissa said with a mirthless laugh. “It’s a bit of a walk back with no food and a neighborhood that may or may not want us.”
“So we work with what we have.” Joel said. “I would like to have you take some time and talk to some of our patrol teams and help them develop their intelligence on the raiding parties that seem to be roaming the area. You aren’t the only group that has been hit, and the more information we can gather, the better our odds are of putting an end to them at some point.”
“Tell me where to be, and when, and I’ll talk their ears off.” Dan said.
“Will do,” Joel said. “In the meantime, I know it’s not the park, which was your initial final destination, but…”
“You obviously have something in mind,” Marissa said. “Spill it.”
“Well, two things.” Joel said. “First, the house is the right size for a family of this size. Second, this is where the clinic is and you are, while not a doctor, one of the more highly trained medical technicians we now have.”
“I think I see where this is going.” Dan said. “Are we being offered a place in the community?”
“Yes,” Joel said.
“Will work for food,” Marissa said with a sly grin.
“Well,” Joel chuckled, “Yes and no. Everyone contributes—but that’s a given, obviously.”
“Obviously. We didn’t expect to be able to just walk in and, you know, get stuff.” Dan said.
“I know,” Joel said, “but you would be surprised at the number of groups who wanted to do just that two weeks after the power went out. If a group has someone who physically can’t contribute, that’s one thing, but someone who won’t help out? That’s just not going to fly.”
“Well, I guess we should get started getting the lay of the land, and I should take a look at this clinic.” Dan said.
“Actually,” Joel said, “I need to take care of one more thing. Let me see those two handguns.”
…
“So that’s it?” Marissa asked as they were walking with Joel towards the Post Office, where they had been…processed…for lack of a better word, last night, and where the National Guard had set up the local headquarters.
“Well, I am the Mayor, and that does come with some privileges.” Joel said. “Being able to say who stays, but not necessarily who goes, on a whim is one of them.” Joel shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt that we need the medical help and you have skills we can use.”
“I was serious about getting over to the clinic, though,” Dan sa
id. “I didn’t mean it as a joke. I’m not a doctor, but I did play one last week.”
“We have a full-fledged M.D. with the guard unit, but I’m sure that they will be happy to have the help.” Joel said. “And what do you mean, you played one last week?”
Dan recounted the appendectomy of a week ago to raised eyebrows and a shaking head. “In that case, I think you may end up back in school part-time.” Joel said when Dan was done. “Assuming Dr. Novak is up to teaching, you may be a very busy guy, Dan.”
“I live to serve.” Dan said.
“How was the garden coming, Marissa?” Joel asked as they arrived at the command post.
Marissa made a face. “The summer harvest was horrible. I’m convinced they poured a concrete slab for our entire lot, put down sod, and called it good.” Marissa said. “I don’t know how the original owners kept it green without breaking the bank on water!”
Joel laughed. “I’m not sure of that either. It’s something we’ve all been fighting with in that neighborhood ever since we all moved in.”
“Well, even where we dug down and replaced all the soil and fertilized it nine ways from Sunday, it was too dependent on daily watering, or some other magic touch that seemed to evaporate shortly after the end of June.” Marissa said. “We got a couple of zucchinis and beans out of it, but the radishes and carrots never did anything, and the peppers went crazy for a couple of weeks and then shriveled up all of the sudden.”
Marissa shook her head. “It was too hot for tomatoes and we hadn’t planted any corn because our little plot was too small. A couple of other people’s gardens were going well but everyone’s seed packets said right on them that they were hybrid seeds.” Marissa said. “They were one-shot wonders and they weren’t going to be able to let anything go to seed for next year. Some of them had some additional seeds in the packet, but not nearly enough.” Marissa hugged herself even though it was already over eighty degrees. “I really don’t want to think about what the neighborhood is going to be like next year—or even in another couple of months.”
Joel nodded. “Well, Specialist Cox here,” Joel motioned over their shoulders and Dan and Marissa realized that their guard had been following them, “is going to transition from being your guard to your guide for about the next hour or so. I just need to step inside for a minute to arrange that. I’m sure that Staff Sergeant Patterson will be glad to have him back soon instead of losing him to guard duty all day.”
…
“It’s not an actual hospital but it’s better than the doctor’s office that I used last time.” Dan said. “At least it has actual treatment rooms.”
“And it’s still stocked.” Marissa said.
“Yes it is, to a degree.” Dan said knowing full well what Marissa meant. At the very least, she would be able to get shots to take care of her neck and shoulders which, while not fixing the problem, or even relieving a majority of the pain she was experiencing, were taking enough of the edge off that she was able to function. He would be talking with both Dr. Novak and Joel about chronic pain patients and their care eventually, but didn’t want to bring it up on day one.
“Now I get to drop the kids off at school and take a look at the gardens.” Marissa said.
“Please don’t overdo it.” Dan said.
“I know,” Marissa said. “But I have to at least try and do my part, and there’s a lot to do. Plus, I feel good when I get at least some exercise.”
Dan nodded. “I know, but I don’t want you to get the vindictive pernicious inflamed intra-tendon-muscular thing…again.”
“Is that a medical term?” She asked.
“It beats ‘whatever the hell it is you have’ with a stick.” Dan said with a chuckle.
Marissa laughed back. “Ok, I’ll try not to overdo it and flame out on my first day. Okay?”
“Fair enough,” Dan said and kissed her on her way out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Ben,” Mallory said, once she was connected to her colleague at Fort Campbell. “I heard you authenticate before we did by a few minutes, but I don’t recall hearing much else out of you on the call a few days ago.”
Mallory was trying to be circumspect about the fact that she was locked out of transmitting during the conference call and wondering if the same had been true for him.
“While there may have been a few things that could have been brought up during the call,” Ben said, “I knew that discretion was the better part of valor. I think most everyone was in the same boat.”
So yes, he’d tried to transmit and found that he’d been locked out too. He’s also either aware that we’re being monitored or at least operating under the assumption that we are. I don’t want to make this any longer than necessary today, then.
“The timetable on this is really loose.” Mallory said. “How are you approaching it?”
“With great care,” Ben said. “I’m on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky, just in case that’s slipped your mind. Yes I have the 101st Airborne, the 5th Special Forces Group, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and an ass-load of ordinance, mechanized, infantry, and just about anything else you can think of.” Ben took a deep breath. “Mal, unless I want to kill anything and everything that isn’t military—and even some things that are—I’m going to have to roll this out very, very slowly.”
Ben paused for a minute and then continued. He was willing to keep talking because what he was saying wasn’t disobeying orders. “Decimating the civilian population is not what the new orders said to do, they just said to back off on the integration and institute some very…strict…hmm, rules about the ownership of firearms; rules that won’t be very popular where this particular base is located.”
“You make some very good points, Ben.” Mallory said.
“Yes I do, Mal, and add to that the fact that I’m a Black man trying to take away a bunch of White men’s guns…please, for the love of God, tell me how that’s going to end well for me?” Ben said with a chuckle. “It’s a damned good thing I’m on military base surrounded by the 101st Airborne!”
“I’m glad I don’t have your problems.” Mallory said.
“I’m sure you have your own.” Ben replied.
“Speaking of which,” Mallory said, “you remember Sparky?”
Mallory was counting on him remembering their previous conversation about putting Sparky on a project without her having to spell it out.
“Sure, how’s he doing?” Ben asked.
“Ok, just been working on something,” she said. “He wanted me to ask if Grounder was still stationed up there.”
“He sure is.” Ben said. “He’s an SFC now, got a wife and two kids. Runs one of the communications platoons, why?”
Mal paused for a few seconds and Ben was about to ask if she was still there when she finally spoke again. “Sparky’s going to call up there either later today or tomorrow.” She said. “Just give Grounder a heads up.”
Ben almost pushed it and then decided not to. He’d been the one to suggest setting Sparky to a task regarding backchannel communications and now would be a bad time to make an issue of it.
“Will do,” Ben said. “I need to get back to a couple of things. Take care, Mal.”
“You too, Ben,” Mallory said and closed the call.
…
“Hey G-man,” Evan said, trying to keep his voice light
“Sparkimus-prime,” Spencer replied.
“You still have your geek block?” Evan asked, referring to his PGP email public-private key that had gained popularity among, well, geeks for “signing” their emails to both prove the authenticity of their emails and, also, to—in some cases—encrypt the contents of the email. You could encrypt an email with someone’s public key and only they could decrypt it.
“Um, duh,” Spencer said. “The world ended but I’m still a geek; I didn’t turn in my card.”
“Didn’t mean to question your manhood there dude,” he said. “I’ve got a tec
hnical problem down here that I’d like some help with if you’ve got some spare cycles.”
“Sure, but if you’re having trouble with it I don’t know how much help I’m going to be.” Spencer said. “You used to run rings around me in EE School.”
“Says the SFC to the newly-minted Sergeant,” Evan laughed. “You seem to be doing something right. Anyway, I’ve actually got it written up with a couple of diagrams. It’ll be easier if I send it, if that’s ok.” Evan hit the send key.
The upload took a little over three seconds for both the clear text and the encrypted file.
“How’s Holly and the baby? I haven’t talked to you since you found out you were going to be a dad again. I don’t even know if you had a boy or a girl.”
“Baby girl,” Spencer said, “Lourdes, named after Holly’s grandmother. She’s doing fine. Give me a couple of days and I’ll get back to you; say, day after tomorrow?”
“Day after tomorrow?” Evan mimicked.
“You can’t see me but I’m rolling my eyes, Sparky.” Spencer said.
“Which is why I did it, G-man.” Evan said. “I’ll talk to you then.”
…
Evan, who actually thought of himself as Sparky most of the time, had three HAM radios set up, one in each of the three locations he was most likely to be for the next couple of days. He wasn’t actually expecting the first call from Spencer to come in over the satellite radio—or at least hoping it wouldn’t come in over the satellite radio.
The last week and a half had been spent working non-stop on a way to encrypt radio communications without using the satellite links. His hope was that with the encrypted instructions he’d sent Spencer, and the public/private key pair he’d created, along with the software he’d built and sent, Spencer would be able to use software that he should already have to make an encrypted HAM Radio contact.
Spencer was also an Amateur radio operator, so this hinged on him being willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that the rules were out the window at this point. Sparky was still having a hard time coming to grips with what he was doing, it was just so anathema to what Amateur radio was supposed to be all about.
Dark Grid (Book 2): Dark Road Page 21