by Sandy Holden
The reporters asked questions, but they were respectful and orderly. He told them that my exact duties would be announced at a later time. He also said that we would be working closely together, and that I would be guarded in case anyone had anything but the purest motives. He even managed to say, although he used many more words, that if anyone hurt me he would be extremely ‘concerned.’
He answered a few more questions, then bid the reporters good-bye. They immediately stopped the questions and packed up their equipment. I turned to stare at Gabriel. He was smiling a little, and he looked pleased. I said softly, “That wasn’t very nice, boss.”
He smiled wider at my word. “Luis, I’m sure Madde would like to go and see Fred and Jacob. Arrange to take her there and report in on the baby’s condition.” He said in a soft voice to me, “Relieve Fred so he can get some sleep. He will most likely want to stay at the hospital, and I’m sure a room can be found for him. I feel certain Jacob will still be in the hospital tonight, so I’ll expect you to come back here and sleep.”
“You expect many things,” I said sweetly while glaring at him.
He grinned and turned to Luis. “Bring her back here no later than eight tonight. I’m counting on you.” He turned back to me. “See you later.”
I nodded, a grudging look on my face.
Luis and I went to use one of the fleet of SUVs when I remembered the dog. I ran back inside and begged some food from one of the many black-shirted people about. I brought it back out, and looked for the dog. She was lying near the bench where I’d first seen her, and when she noticed me, she ran over, tail wagging. She waited patiently in front of me while I unwrapped the food and set it in front of her. She bolted it down quickly, and looked up at me with what I swear was gratitude on her little doggie face. Luis had the car now, so I got in as the dog ran back off towards the gardens. We headed to the hospital.
Chapter 16: Answers, a Surprise, and Home
Fred had been exhausted, but I still had to bully him to get him to leave Jake. The little guy was in an adult sized bed, a crib not available or in fact, needed. Someone was with him every minute. Usually a nurse and possibly a doctor as well. If he didn’t survive, it certainly wasn’t from lack of trying. Other doctors came and went, examining him and discussing it among themselves. Now that it was daytime, the little ER/medical center began to have a few patients come by. Most of the injuries were minor, but near dinnertime a man wearing a black “Gabriel” t-shirt came in with a huge gash in his leg where something had hit him while he was working. The doctors took care of him efficiently, but it got me thinking.
Right now everything was free—goods and services were simply given away. How long until people began to resent that they were working while others didn’t? Or maybe some, like the doctors here, would want to have more than someone who washed windows at Gabriel’s place. What would happen then? And money—it was relatively useless right now, but if Gabriel was right and this was a long-term situation, then it would still be useful in the rest of the country, or maybe here as well. There would have to be inflation, though, since the money was still around, only more than half the people were gone. In fact, the last estimate I’d heard, and I had no idea how accurate this was, stated that 75 percent of the population here in the Hot Zone had perished or disappeared.
I assumed Gabriel had some kind of plan for this. The real question was how much he’d share with me on that. Hopefully he would just use me for the simplest things. Not that there were a lot of those. It made me distinctly nervous. I’d wanted less responsibility, not more.
I also decided that he couldn’t tell the guards I was not to be touched by anyone male. That was ridiculous. And, if I was being honest with myself, not at all fair. If he called me on the whole jealousy thing, I’d pretend that I’d forgotten or kiss him and make him forget about it. That was an interesting proposition.
I had received a call from Tucker eventually. I was a little annoyed no one had called me earlier, but he said they’d slept so long they’d barely had time to make the town meeting. Everything had gone well. There had been some dissenting opinions, but in the end, the majority had voted to join up with Gabriel. Tucker had told me there were some people in Iowa, most notably the former Governor who had been so vocal right after the attacks and subsequent quarantine, who were questioning Gabriel’s motives. He didn’t mention anything about me working for Gabriel, so apparently that either wasn’t out yet, or he hadn’t seen it. I knew I should tell him, so he and the others weren’t surprised, but I was a coward and put it off.
Luis began to bug me when we had a half hour left before Gabriel wanted me back. I had wanted to let Fred sleep more and told Luis I would go when I was good and ready, but then Fred woke up on his own and came down to see Jacob. Poor little Jake was waking up occasionally, but he was still too sick to do much more than whimper. I wondered what changes were going on inside of him. Maybe when he woke up he’d be able to fly or breathe fire. Or maybe he’d just sleep through the night.
I reached Hill House right at eight o’clock. I had taken a little food that had been left from one of the doctors’ lunches for my doggie friend. I didn’t have to look long. I barely stepped out towards the bench and she came out of the darkness. I tossed her the food and got a small bark in return. I really did like that dog. I wondered if she would like to accompany me home.
I headed into the house. I wanted a shower and a change of clothes, and found a black-shirted person to help me out. I ended up with a t-shirt from the gift shop (having strenuously refused a ‘Gabriel’ shirt), and a pair of sweats from there as well. I went back to the room I’d been in this morning for my nap, although I’d had to look in several rooms to find the right one. Thankfully, all were unoccupied, although all but one looked lived in. I went in and fell on the bed for a few minutes, trying to relax my tense shoulder muscles. Finally I got up and found a bathroom. This had been hurriedly updated, and apparently still needed plumbing help since the water pressure was pathetic. I suppose for a house this old and authentic; I was lucky to get a shower at all. I used some shampoo and conditioner from little bottles that looked like they were taken from the Hilton.
I felt much more human when I finished. I pulled on the t-shirt, wondering if Gabriel would make me start wearing the black one. I quickly saw the t-shirt was too small across the chest and sighed. Great. I washed my underwear in the sink and put on the sweats without any underwear. Why was that only considered sexy if it was a man doing it? Going commando? Wasn’t that what it was called? I just felt partially naked.
I went back to my borrowed room, only to find Gabriel there already. He looked at my changed clothes with interest and tossed me a sandwich wrapped in plastic. “Have you eaten?”
I shook my head and perched on the end of the bed. He went and sat against the headboard. I was getting a sense of déjà vu. He said, “The doctors tell me that Jacob is doing better. I’m glad.”
I hadn’t actually thought he looked better by much, but what did I know? “Me too.”
“Are you still mad about this morning?” he asked, smiling.
“You could have told me about the cameras. You also might have mentioned that I’m now your ‘right hand man’ or girl, I suppose.”
“And miss the look on your face? I don’t think so.”
“Seriously, why did you do that? I might have just told you to go to hell, and how would that have looked on TV?”
He shook his head. “It wouldn’t have ever aired.”
“Ah, yes, your stranglehold on the media. So much for free press,” I said sarcastically.
“The press is free. It just turns out they like me. A lot. And they don’t want me mad. Unlike you.”
“Humph.”
He laughed. “I am going tomorrow to Des Moines, or what’s left of it, to meet with former Governor Christy McCarthy.”
I blinked in surprise. As I recovered, I said, “She’s the one who’s been rather vocal about you?”
He nodded. “I think she is one smart lady. It will be an interesting meeting. Want to come?”
I opened my mouth, but then shut it. “Jacob is here.”
“Yes. But he’ll still be here when we return. We’re going to Des Moines, not Mars.”
“Why do you want me to go?” I hedged.
“It will give us some time to talk in the car. I would fly but the airport here is almost as bad off as the one in Des Moines. Plus I haven’t pulled the whole airline thing together yet. Just one of the thousand things on my to-do list.”
“I guess I could accompany you,” I said doubtfully.
“No argument? And here I thought that just because I suggested it you would be dead set against it,” he said dryly.
“I’m not that difficult,” I protested.
“Sure you are,” he disagreed. Then he grinned. “But worth it.”
“Thanks. I think,” I said, giving a grudging smile of my own.
Gabriel seemed relaxed tonight. “Then I suppose I can leave you to get some sleep.”
I sat up, immediately disappointed that he was leaving. What had I expected? That he would spend every minute with me? That he even wanted to do that? I tried to keep my voice light. “Okay. See you tomorrow. What time are we leaving?” I thought my voice sounded pretty good, not revealing much. Of course, now that I was feeling a little insecure I wondered if he even really wanted me to accompany him tomorrow or if he had just said it to be nice, thinking I’d refuse. Had he hoped I’d refuse?
He hadn’t moved off the bed. Apparently I had overestimated my acting abilities, because he said, “What is wrong now?”
“Nothing,” I said automatically. “I was thinking of something else, actually.”
“Something that bothers you. What was it?” he asked, watching me with his disturbing dark eyes.
I stared at him. I honestly couldn’t think of anything. My mind raced frantically, looking for something I could have thought of that might have bothered me. “The men who came to my house? What will happen with them?” I blurted out, hoping my long hesitation hadn’t given me away.
He considered me. “They have ceased to be a problem. Carl and some of the other men have taken care of it with your friend Tucker’s help.”
“How? What did they do?” Now I was interested.
“They found them—they came back just a few hours ago. Everyone was safely gone from the house at the meeting, and Carl and his men questioned them.”
“Oh. Had they done this before?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “A couple of other towns, more outlying than Catfish. They had also had a good time stealing away the occasional female to play with.” His tone was hard. “They had one at their pathetic camp when Carl found it.”
“Ugh. Was she okay?” I asked tentatively, not sure I wanted to know details.
“Physically, she’ll recover,” he said.
I thought about this. I knew I should thank him. How many did I owe him now? And yet he hadn’t pulled the ‘favor’ card when he wanted me to work with him. I wondered why not. I looked at him—he still seemed to be brooding about the raiders. “Thanks for doing that.”
He looked back at me, surprised. “Don’t thank me. That’s part of what your town gets when they hooked up with me.”
“Then I’m glad we did.” I swung my head so a few wet strands of hair were moved out of my face. “So what happens to the men? Do you have a jail or something?”
He said without emotion, “No, it’s not feasible right now to have a prison and trials. We just don’t have the time or resources to be nice to criminals.”
“What happens to them, then?” I demanded.
“I told you. They’re gone. Carl took care of it.”
My eyes widened. “You had them killed?”
“Yes,” he said firmly, his eyes watching for my reaction.
“That’s … it’s …” I didn’t have words.
“That is where we are right now.”
My voice was sharper than I’d meant it to be as I said, “I forget sometimes that you are a dictator.”
“And what would you have done?” he asked solicitously.
“I’d …” I thought about that. What could I do? Send them off to be someone else’s problem? Have a trial when we had much more important things to do? Make a prison? Finally I shrugged. “I couldn’t have just killed them.”
“That is where we differ,” he said.
“So what exactly will my responsibilities be?” My voice was still stiff.
He sighed. “I figured we’d discuss that tomorrow.”
“As you wish,” I said.
“Your friend Tucker didn’t have a problem with our solution. Seems he would have done the same thing.”
I frowned. “No way.” I couldn’t imagine Tucker killing anyone.
“And why do you think most of the people in Catfish carry guns? To just look dangerous?” he persisted.
I put up my hands. “Okay! I don’t have to like it, though.” I said rather hotly.
“No,” he said, his voice softer, working on me as if his hands were touching me. I swallowed. “As a matter of fact, I’m glad you don’t like it.”
“Uh, why is that?” I was now having trouble thinking. My eyes sought his, and unconsciously I leaned towards him.
He didn’t answer for a minute. “Stop it,” he finally said a little breathlessly. “If you topple me completely one day, you’ll be making all the decisions. Even the ugly ones.”
“Oh, I didn’t—um. Sorry,” I finished lamely.
He smiled a little, diligently looking elsewhere. “I suppose you can’t help it. I wonder, though, how you handle this at home. Do you leave a string of panting men behind you?”
I laughed out loud at the image. He looked at me, surprised. “Gabriel,” I said, amazed that he didn’t know this. “I apparently only do this to you.”
“What?” he looked shocked.
“I only affect you this way. No one else seems to see me like that at all.”
He thought about this. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
He cleared his throat. “Hmm. In that case, come here and sit near me.”
“Why?” I said suspiciously.
“I think it might help me if I got more used to you. Then maybe you wouldn’t affect me so.”
“I kind of like how I affect you.” I said in a teasing voice, but still moved closer to him.
“You like it?” he asked, his voice husky.
“Yes. It makes me feel powerful.” I was still using the light, teasing voice. “And it makes me feel, well, sexy.”
He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the headboard with a solid thump. “Dear God,” he said softly.
“Too much? Sorry.” I didn’t sound sorry, though.
“You like it,” he repeated. “I’m a dead man. Can we talk about something else please?”
I smiled but decided to let him off the hook. “Okay. Have you thought about money? What are you going to do once people get tired of working for nothing?”
My distraction worked. He sat up. “I don’t want to go back to using currency.”
“Then what?”
“I think that possibly levels will motivate people, and of course, it will make me happy.” He smiled innocently.
“Of course, everyone wants to do that. But me, I suppose. Maybe I should ask what my salary will be for working for you,” I said.
“The joy of being near me,” he said seriously.
“Oh please!” I countered. “That is your incentive.”
He laughed. “What do you want? Diamonds? I have all of them that could be found here in the cities. Cash? I am collecting all the cash my people can find as well. You don’t think we were in Catfish only to visit with you, do you?”
I gaped at him. “You robbed us?”
He laughed again. “Hardly. Was it your money? And besides, it isn’t any good here in the Hot Zone.
”
“Then why do you want it?”
“It’s still of use to the world outside of the Zone. I am going to need to negotiate supplies—things we can’t make. I could just ask for it without charge, and maybe that would work, still, I don’t want international attention to come to me when there are truly dangerous people who control nukes. I can’t be everywhere and meet everyone.”
“I can see this is more complicated than I’d thought,” I said, thinking. “I guess I see what you’re doing.”
His eyes were bright now with intensity. “One of the things I want you to do is help some of the other towns do the same things as I’m doing here in the cities. On a smaller scale, of course. And I want you to be a buffer between many of the smaller communities and me. I get far too many calls about things that could be easily dealt with. It’s getting overwhelming. I can have Raine, one of my assistants, give you a list of things to start on, along with contacts in the communities.” He grinned and I swallowed. How did he make me want to jump him just by smiling at me? “That ought to keep you busy.”
“Huh?”
He looked at me to see why I sounded so distracted. He took a deep breath but didn’t turn away. I couldn’t help myself. I reached up and touched his mouth with my finger, running it along his lower lip. His eyes were losing some of their focus. I pulled my hand away and put my head in my hands. My voice came out somewhat muffled. “I think you’d better go.”
I didn’t uncover my face as I heard him move away from me. I didn’t want to see if he was doing it because I’d rolled him or because he knew I was right, and both of us were too close to the edge right now. I didn’t look up until I heard the door shut quietly. Then I looked up, longingly, at the closed door.
* * *
The drive down to Des Moines went really quickly. Gabriel and I talked more about what he wanted the smaller communities to accomplish, and in what order. He stressed again and again that I should use my best judgment since I was used to him being mad at me anyway. I wasn’t so sure about that. He also said I could call him at any time, and programmed his personal number into my cell. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t publish this number,” he said dryly. “I get too many ridiculous calls as it is.”