Buck followed his guide for the next ten minutes as he slowly drove through the last section of water. It did get a little deeper, but it never went above Connie’s waist, which was his cutoff. When she got about twenty yards from the dry road ahead, she began to walk out of the water like she was going up a boat ramp.
Several minutes later, the convoy was across the water obstacle and parked in a line. All five of them, plus a drying Connie and Mac, held a celebratory meeting by the water’s edge.
“No one was ballsy enough to follow us,” Sparky announced.
“I think the water is rising,” Connie added. She wrapped herself in one of Buck’s blue showering towels, her red hair hanging limply on her head.
Beans motioned to Connie. “We didn’t know you fell in or I wouldn’t have sat on the horn. I was screwing around. Didn’t mean nothing by it.”
“It’s no problem. I panicked. There’s no way around it. Next time I’ll know before I write myself off as drowned. Besides, he would have rescued me. That seems to be his role in my life.” She pointed to Buck.
“This guy helped,” he said, deferring to Mac. He was off the leash and running around in the median, probably looking for rabbits.
“I filmed the whole thing, Buck,” Eve said matter-of-factly. “I’m going to use this for my company’s recruiting videos. This is the kind of shit drivers do when they work for us. In fact, if you want to join a new employer…”
“I’ve already got a boss, and neither he nor the owner of my cargo would be happy to know what I just did.” He laughed. “But really, you guys did the hard part. You followed me in, and you,” he directed everyone to Connie, “made sure it was successful. That’s what I call a team effort.”
Monsignor snickered. “Buck, I was watching for your trailer to go under. Then I’d know we were beat. I’m glad it worked out, but there was a time I could have sworn my trailer started to float. Some nice Mormon family might have had a nice Christmas present wash ashore. Twenty-eight pallets of potato chips!”
A few of the others argued back and forth about how far a trailer would float, but Buck’s mind wasn’t following them. He hadn’t considered the weight differentials in the other trailers. His was filled to the brim with cans of chili. Some of the other trucks were probably a lot lighter. He was lucky that hadn’t bitten him in the ass. He reminded himself to take everyone’s situation into account.
Cars and trucks had gathered on his side of the lake and would soon turn around and create traffic for his convoy. He wanted to get out of there.
“Okay, folks, we got over one hurdle, but we still have thousands of miles to go. I propose we head out and find the next problem.”
“May this be the last,” Eve suggested.
“Amen,” Connie replied.
Buck took one quick glance back at the lake. Cars and trucks stacked up now at the far edge of the water, unwilling or unable to follow him and his friends. Some vehicles crossed the median and drove away. If his people had been a little later, they might have been stuck in the traffic over there instead of pushing forward.
Garth, don’t do stupid shit like your old man.
They got on the road for Salt Lake City, and it wasn’t long before they saw a giant plume of smoke rising from one section of the city.
“Well, we had our five minutes of peace,” he joked.
Eight
Search for Nuclear, Astrophysical, and Kronometric Extremes (SNAKE). Red Mesa, Colorado
Faith felt like a pinball for all the running she did between the general and her team, with side stops to places like Donald’s room. However, when she went back to see General Smith again, he wasn’t in his office. There was no one there.
“Maybe I could take back my desk,” she mused.
She went over to the window and immediately saw the man’s uniform as he directed his troops on the parking lot like a traffic cop. For a short time, she deliberated whether to go down there. Was it important enough to risk herself on the outside, or should she wait for him to come back in?
“Screw it,” she declared.
Faith went downstairs and onto the patio, but she ran into a pair of uniformed guards.
“Miss, we can’t let you pass through here,” one of the men said in a stern voice.
“We’re prisoners?” She knew the general was adamant that her team be protected, but she somehow assumed she had the run of the place and if she wanted to sneak out, she could. But she’d clearly been mistaken.
I could take the tram and escape through one of the fire exits.
“General’s orders,” he replied as if it solved the impasse.
“General Smith!” she shouted. He was on the lot, but not that far away.
She waved when he turned around.
“I need a moment!” Faith waved him over.
She looked at the guard. “We’ll see what happens, won’t we?”
The general talked to a few more soldiers, and for a few seconds she thought she was going to have to eat her gloating words, but eventually, General Smith headed her way.
When he got near, he shushed her before she said a word.
Together, they went into the foyer of SNAKE. When they were inside, and the glass doors were closed, he spoke with his hand partway over his mouth. “The media is using directional mics to record everything I say. I need to be careful.”
“Why were you out there in the first place?” she asked.
“Shorthanded,” he said dryly. “Every man and woman has a job to do in holding the mob back until more troops arrive.” He took a step closer. “If they knew how few guards were in this place, the crowd would probably swarm us. Some of them are outright pissed at your facility.”
“Well, it’s all the news talks about. Is it any wonder the public is up in our grille?”
“No, and this is what I told you would happen. We’re becoming a bigger target every hour. I might have to put us on lockdown until further notice, Faith. You understand why?”
She fought the urge to complain because he was her only shield against the outside. It scared her to the core to think there were people who wanted to destroy SNAKE simply to prove a point. There was only one person who was more worried about it than her.
“I do, General, and thank you.”
“I have to get back out there,” he replied.
“Wait. There is one more thing—the reason I came out here instead of waiting. General, you have to send someone to CERN. My team believes that is the only way we’re ever going to have a solid foundation for what our team needs to do at SNAKE. I know I said I was going to call someone there, and I did try, but no one picked up the phone.”
“It sounds like everyone is dead,” he said without emotion.
“Possibly, but my team seems united in their stance that CERN is still broadcasting the energy going into those devices. General, you have to send someone to Geneva, so we know one hundred percent whether their facility is still there. If it is, we need to determine if they are still feeding power through the supercollider’s ring.”
“You would have made a good general,” he replied, “because you and I think a lot alike. The minute you mentioned those blue lights were linked to CERN, I sent a request to the European command asking them to go look at the lab in Switzerland. They should know more by the end of today.”
“Are they flying? Can’t you get an Air Force jet to go over the lab? Verify if it is damaged? We really need to know as soon as humanly possible.”
The general ran out of patience as she watched.
“Faith, that is outside my area of operations, so it would have taken time to bounce planes between the major commands. It was a lot easier to send a small recon team in a wheeled truck. We should have eyes on the ground in about six hours.”
“Six hours,” she repeated with disappointment.
“It’s the best I can do. Most of our existing air assets have been diverted to bringing our boys and girls back home. Bases are being eva
cuated around the world.”
“Really? I mean, I know it’s serious, but I guess I have to ask. Why now?”
“I can’t say. The President of the United States gave the order. I presume my Commander-in-Chief has better intel than I do. At best, I would expect it to take weeks to bring them all home, but the process is underway. The resulting chaos has made it hard to assign units to side missions like this gamble in Geneva.”
“It isn’t a gamble,” she complained. “Knowing what happened to CERN is crucial to our plan to fix things. Sir, we have to know.”
He turned at a loud noise out on the parking lot.
“Car backfire,” he said dryly.
“How do you know it wasn’t a gunshot?”
“Lots of experience.” He started to leave but turned to her again. “Faith, my men will get to CERN and report back. I’ve managed to track down a small unit of specialist Army boys who can get this done. I’ve made it clear how important this is to me, and to the President. They’re on it.”
She looked down at her watch and spoke gravely. “I guess we’ll know the fate of the world in six hours.”
He nodded seriously, then walked away.
I-80, Salt Lake City, Utah
Riding the ribbon of interstate through Salt Lake City was nerve-wracking for Buck. He kept the speed at seventy-five, but warily eyed the southern region of the sprawl. Several square blocks of suburban homes burned in one part of the city, and the giant plume of smoke rose to the sky and blotted out the morning sun.
“Could you turn the air conditioner down? I’m freezing,” Connie asked.
It took Buck a moment to comprehend that she was talking to him. She’d wrapped herself in his shower towel, but it was now drenched.
“Oh. Right. You’re soaked. My rig has dual climate zones. You can dial back the air conditioner over there if you’d like.” Buck pointed to the controls for it.
His jeans and shoes were soaked, too, but he relished the chill. Summer had come back with a vengeance after the snowstorm the previous day. The truck’s outside temperature indicator was stuck at 103 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Why didn’t you say so?” she snarked.
He was glad to avoid watching the smoky scene outside, and he kept the speed steady with the other fast-moving traffic. It was as if everyone wanted to get through and out of the city.
I’m glad I still have her.
While she fiddled with the controls, he thought back to the moment he had almost kissed her. That brought up thoughts about what her life was like back in 2003.
“So,” he drawled, “I have to ask…”
“Yeah?” she replied when he took a bit too long to say it.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
She laughed a little. “You mean in my time? No.”
“You have a son. Are you married?”
Connie laughed some more. “Getting it all out on the table, are you?”
“No. Well, sorry. I’m not good at this stuff. If you disappear and go back to your own time, I don’t want to complicate things. I also don’t want to get my hopes up.”
She turned from him and spent some time looking out her window. Salt Lake City was a broad, flat expanse of buildings and houses with a giant mountain range behind it. He had done a few drop-and-hooks there over the years, and the wide streets and friendly people always made him want to go back.
After a long pause, she finally replied. “My husband and I split a long time ago. Right after Philip was born. He was in the service—the Navy—and was out on deployments more often than he was home. I was able to handle it, but he confessed to some infidelities in some of his ports of call. We tried counseling for the sake of our son, but one time he went out on his tour and never came back. I got the papers in the mail.”
“Ouch. What a fuckstick!”
She glanced at him. At first, he thought he’d put his foot in his mouth, but then she smirked. “Yeah. That’s right. He was a big fuckstick.”
“Sorry, I can’t help the cussing. I’ve tried to tone it down, especially around my son, but after fifteen years, it is still a work in progress.”
“Don’t fancy it up on my account. If you keep driving like you have, you can use the F-word in every sentence as far as I’m concerned.”
They laughed, despite the scene outside.
“I’ll try not to. I want to be a better man—for my son, of course.”
Buck drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on his window sill like he was having the best day of his life. It would have cost her nothing to lie and say she had a man-friend back home, but she hadn’t. He’d put himself out there, and she hadn’t shot him down.
Buck picked up the CB microphone a short time later. “Goodbye, Salt Lake City. Hello, Wyoming.” They still had seventy-five miles to the border, but they were as good as there.
The rising plume of ash haunted his side mirror almost the whole way.
Ramstein Air Base, Germany
“Gentlemen, that’s all I have for you. We hop in an APC in fifteen, and we’ll be on our way.” Lieutenant Colonel Ethan Knight’s briefing was about as thorough as he could make it, given that there was almost no intel on what to expect at the destination.
The eight enlisted men headed for the depot, but Phil stayed behind.
Ethan spoke quietly. “They are probably wondering what the hell is going on, working for two colonels on such a small team. These are strange times, huh?”
“Can’t argue with that,” he replied.
“These men are professionals, but they don’t have much experience. You came from a hot zone, so I’m glad we ran into each other when we did.”
They were both lieutenant colonels, but Ethan had seniority based on time in grade. Phil was fine with it, though, since he was tagging along on the other officer’s op.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on such a small team,” Phil joked, “but I can’t believe we’re it. There has to be something more effective than two colonels and an ad-hoc squad that could go snoop around?”
Ethan shook his head vigorously. “I told you, everyone is jumping on whatever floats, drives, or flies to get to America. Most of the guys in Germany are heading north to the ports. I had to scrounge to find what we’ve got, including pulling a couple of men out of hospital beds.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” he asked. There would be nothing worse than taking injured men into battle, himself excluded. His face still hurt, and it was bruised, but the pain was manageable even without pain killers. Nothing would interfere with his ability to fight.
“This is a simple recon mission. We’re going to see some scientists, or, if they aren’t home, see their bunker. If this were peacetime, I could have driven my car down there by myself, but my orders were to head out in at least squad strength. If we get into trouble, the 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team is pulling duty as a quick reaction force for all of southern Europe. They’re on standby in Caserma Ederle Army Base in Italy.
“Shit, how far is that?”
“Far,” he deadpanned. “So let’s not get into trouble.”
“I didn’t want to ask this in the meeting, but why not have the Swiss Army go in and poke around for us?”
“I asked that same question of the colonel,” Ethan remarked. “You know what he said?”
He’d been in plenty of briefings where no one up the chain wanted to divulge important pieces of information for the men at the tip of the spear. He tried to be diligent about not doing that to his own men whenever possible, but there were times he had to keep them in the dark. However, he could tell by Ethan’s tone what he was going to say.
“Go fuck yourself?”
Ethan laughed. “Pretty much. All he would say is the order came from a four-star in the States who told him this is an American problem, and it requires an American solution.”
“Well, as long as I don’t see ghost units from the past like back in the ‘Stan, I imagine this will be a lookie
-loo operation. This particle accelerator campus sounds like a university, not a hardened military site.”
“Don’t let the pretty co-eds mess with your head. We’ve got to get eyes on the hardware inside and report what we find up the chain. On paper, it is nothing.”
“But no plan survives contact…”
Ethan frowned. “We’re traveling light, but be sure to load up on rifle mags. We’re not taking any chances. I heard fifth-hand that a couple of British Red Devils para-dropped into Arnhem, Netherlands last night. There really might be World War II crap showing up. Hell, Hitler himself might walk out of CERN, and then we’ll have our hands full with SS stormtroopers and other douchebags.”
Phil chuckled until he realized Ethan was serious.
“Well, am I cleared to shoot Hitler if he’s there?”
That broke Ethan’s serious demeanor. “Always. If you see that Nazi prick, you shoot him in the face.”
They laughed together, but under the surface, Phil’s nerves were at a boil. Ethan wasn’t just planning for battle, he expected it.
Nine
Little America, Wyoming
“I feel like we’ve found a patch of grass on the Moon,” Connie said as they pulled into the Little America truck stop. The tree-lined facility was an oasis on the endless flat scrub-brush plains of this part of Wyoming, and contained a small hotel, a restaurant, and two gas stations.
Buck pulled up to a diesel pump in the tractor-trailer section of the parking lot.
“Everyone stops here,” he said. “Mostly because it is the only thing for thirty miles in either direction, but also because it’s a nice place. Sometimes a clean can and shower are all it takes to get a driver to stop.”
“Yuck,” she replied before thinking about it. “I bet you’ve seen some nasty bathrooms on your trips.”
“You have no idea. There was this one overflow situation in Mitchell, South Dakota that I—”
She held up her hand. “Why would you think I would want to hear that story? I don’t want to know the details!”
They laughed as he pulled out his gas card.
End Days Series Box Set [Books 1-4] Page 53