by Connor Mccoy
“Makes sense.” Conrad looked ahead. The trail disappeared at a corner of a small brick building. “Tom said there were more than two refugees here. This happened recently, so some poor soul might have taken a bullet and ran off.” He took a step outside. “I say we track this, see if we can find a survivor.”
“We might also run into the person who shot these men,” Tom said grimly.
Conrad’s hand slid over his gun. “Maybe.” He started walking. “But the person who survived this horror show might have a lead on finding Sarah. Besides, if someone’s hurt, we ought to try helping him.”
Conrad quickened his pace. Liam and Carla stayed behind him, with Tom bringing up the rear. Once they closed in on the building corner, Conrad slowed down. Then he turned to his party. “Stay here,” he whispered. There was no way of knowing if friend or foe was laying in wait past there.
“Hey!” Carla whispered back as she dug in her front pocket. She produced a nickel. “Throw it. It’ll flush them out.” While handing the coin to Conrad, she blushed. “It’s a little trick I thought of when I was little.”
Damn smart idea, Conrad thought, smiling at the young lady to offer her some reassurance. If there truly was a thief or a murderer on the other side, the sudden sound of a nickel hitting the ground might cause him to reveal himself, perhaps by shooting his weapon hastily.
Conrad tossed the nickel.
The group waited a good quarter of a minute before reacting with relief. Nothing happened, not even the sound of footsteps.
“Conrad, whoever got hit is probably long gone or dead in a ditch,” Tom said.
“Maybe.” Conrad decided to advance anyway.
He peered around the corner. The trail of blood droplets continued—until they reached their owner, a thirtyish man with dark hair and messed up clothes, slumped against the brick wall.
“There he is!” Conrad called, immediately drawing Liam, Carla and Tom to his side.
“That’s Juan Sanchez. He’s a refugee. He’s okay,” Tom quickly said.
The four of them hurried to Juan. The man’s arm was pressed tightly against his side. His breathing was shallow, and his skin was turning white. Juan’s hand was covered with dry blood, and the green shirt underneath also was soaked with red.
“Oh my God.” Carla shook her head.
“Sir,” Conrad said, looking directly into his face. “Can you hear us?”
For a few seconds, Juan did not respond, seemingly confirming the worst. But then he blinked and slightly turned his head. “Tuh…Tom…”
“Yeah,” Tom said, “Yeah, it’s me. What the hell happened?”
“Rick…work…Marco…” Juan’s words were barely understandable. “…follow…back…women…taken…”
Juan’s lip quivered. If he intended to say another word, it just came out as a gurgle. Then, his mouth froze open. His eyes followed. Then, his breath stopped.
Conrad bowed his head. Liam held the older man’s arm, while Carla grabbed Liam’s left arm.
“I don’t believe this,” Liam muttered. “Except for Tom, it’s like all we do is run into people who are dead or dying.”
“And if they’re not, they’re trying to kill us,” Carla added.
Conrad broke free of Liam and stood up. “Lay him down and cover his face.” It was sickeningly inadequate compared to a real burial, but leaving him sitting like this was unacceptable. The dead would be honored, if only in a small and pitiful way.
The four of them had returned to the computer shop’s storeroom. Their hopes of finding a lead to Sarah among the refugees had turned out to be a dead end, but Conrad still wanted to spend a few minutes deciphering Juan’s dying words. Tom was their sole key to understanding them, but as Conrad watched the man fidget, he couldn’t help but wonder if Tom knew a lot more than he was letting on.
“Rick. That was one name Juan dropped. Was he a refugee, too?” Conrad asked.
“Yeah. Rick Keller,” Tom replied.
“What about Marco?” Liam asked.
“No!” Tom said, quickly and with unusual excitement. “No, there wasn’t a Marco here.”
“Maybe this is your Marco.” Carla walked over to Conrad. Holding up a slip of paper. “It’s an address.”
Conrad took it. “‘Marco’s Pasta Palace,’” he read, “‘734 Reinhardt Blvd.’ And wait, there’s something else here. ‘Check-in.’” He lowered the slip of paper and turned to Tom. “You know anything about this?”
Tom sucked in a deep, uncomfortable breath. “No,” he said curtly.
Liam took the slip of paper from his father. “Sounds like another camp or something. ‘Check-in?’ I mean, what else could it be?”
“Juan said ‘Rick’ and ‘work’ before he said ‘Marco.’” Conrad said, “and now we find this address for a Marco’s Pasta Palace. So, maybe this Marco’s might have something to do with this massacre.”
“You mean Marco’s is the victim, or that’s the place that sent the killer?” Carla asked.
“Could be either, for all we know,” Liam said.
“Guys, maybe this isn’t going to go anywhere,” Tom said, walking in between Liam and Conrad. “I get it. We’re all rattled as hell, finding a bunch of dead people. But we can’t do anything for them now. We’re not the police. We should just head on out.”
“You might have a point there, Tom, but Juan said something that’s got me by the shorthairs,” Conrad said. “He said ‘women’ and ‘taken.’ Now, if I put those together, it sounds like women were taken. You said there were women here, but we haven’t found any ladies among the dead. So, it sounds as though the son of a bitch who came here killed the men and took the women. Those fellas that clocked you with a gun took Sarah. So, it’s not hard to put two and two together and figure there are people here gunning for women. And if we find them, we find Sarah.”
Tom swallowed. He didn’t say anything to contest Conrad’s logic.
Conrad turned to Liam and Carla. “Alright, let’s head on over to Marco’s and see what’s cooking.”
“Hey, you want to do that, fine, but count me out,” Tom quickly said.
“Wait!” Liam rushed past Conrad to get in front of Tom. “You can’t give up on Mom!”
“If we go there, we’re dead the moment we walk in the front door.” Tom waved his hand. “Sarah’s probably not even there anyway.”
Liam’s face tightened. “How do you know?”
“Look, just trust me,” Tom replied. “Some places around here are run by people you don’t want to be within a million miles of.” Tom then turned and darted out the door into the front section of the repair shop.
Liam ran after him. “Hey!” He grabbed Tom’s shoulder and stopped him. “Okay, this has gone far enough. I know you haven’t been leveling with us.”
Tom held out his hands. “Really? What have I lied about? The incident with Sarah? She was taken away. That’s a hundred percent true. We were surrounded. We couldn’t get away. So, if they took her, they pledged not to kill her, or me.”
Liam’s eyes widened. “Wait,” he said, “you were knocked out when they took her. You didn’t say they gave you a choice.”
Tom stiffened up. “Well, it didn’t seem like something worth mentioning. You might get a little pissed like you are now, but sometimes you got to make decisions on the fly. Besides, I was smacked with a pistol. I was bleeding from the head. I didn’t have a damn choice! Marco is not a guy you say no to!”
Liam’s eyes widened. “Wait, you know this Marco? Hell, you know the bastards who took her?”
Tom shrank back. He knew he had revealed far too much, which was made even clearer when the barrel of Liam’s gun suddenly was pointed at his head. Liam had drawn the firearm out of his holster so quickly Tom hadn’t realized it until it was hovering by his forehead.
“My God. You piece of shit. You sold out Mom,” Liam said with quiet fury.
“Liam!” Carla shouted.
Conrad held his arm over Liam’s. �
�Now, that’s enough. Put that thing away.”
Tom’s breath quickened. “You don’t understand shit, Liam! These people play for keeps. Do you want to go into the backroom and get another look at those dead bodies? Do you want to go back to Juan and see what can happen to you?”
Liam’s hand shook. “Liam…” Conrad said sternly.
Finally, the young man drew back his gun and put it in his holster. “I knew you were all talk. You were too weak to protect her. You’d slink into the ground at the first sign of trouble.”
Tom stood up straighter now that a gun wasn’t pointed at his head. “Oh, screw off you little punk. You think you can—”
Liam’s fist in his mouth stopped Tom from talking any more. It sent the man stumbling against the wall. “Mom trusted you. She loved you,” Liam said in a voice that broke as he spoke the words.
Rubbing his jaw, Tom straightened himself up. “Yeah, I love how you talk so big. Well, you weren’t there. You think you’d act any differently if you were seconds away from your head being exploded across the pavement? Like I said, these aren’t guys you say no to. If I hadn’t handed her over, we’d both be dead and you’d be spending the rest of your goddamn life picking through this wasteland trying to find her!”
Liam raised his fist again, but this time Conrad stepped between them. “Enough of this! Liam, stow the fists.” Then he glared at Tom. “And you, I suggest you do as my boy wishes, and spill everything you know about the men who took Sarah and what’s going on in this city. And keep in mind, you’re not any safer with me than you are with my son, so you better come real clean.”
Tom took a folding chair from the back and sat in it. Conrad, Liam and Carla all stood over him like policemen interrogating a suspect. The man who claimed to be the boyfriend of Liam’s mother seemed a little more at ease now that he was being fully honest with them.
At least, Conrad, Liam and Carla hoped he was being honest.
“Alright,” Tom said, “where do we start?”
“You mentioned the name of one of Sarah’s kidnappers. Marco, right? You know these people,” Conrad said.
Tom nodded. “Yeah. Marco Valentino. He’s the owner of Marco’s Pasta Palace. It’s regional, but pretty big. I used to be his technical consultant. I helped set up computer systems and networks for businesses across the state. I got a look at his operation. He affiliated with a much bigger chain, run by a guy out of New York City. He stopped by the city shortly before the solar storm.”
“So, a restaurant owner just happened to show up and steal Mom?” Liam asked in disbelief.
“He was probably on his way to pay me a visit,” Tom said. “If Sarah and I had been a little quicker, we might have missed him.”
“Let’s back up a little and get the bigger picture here,” Conrad said. “Now, what’s Marco’s story?”
Tom let out a long breath, as if he was about to tell a pretty big story. “Marco is one of the bigwigs who runs Redmond now. Big money guys. They knew how to spread it around. He and another guy, Jack Sorenson, they both ran this city behind the scenes.”
“Wait!” Carla interrupted him. “Is that the same Jack that Phil worked for?”
“You got it,” Tom replied. “Sorenson ran a line of bars and clothing stores. Marco ran pizzerias and liquor stores. Those two, along with a few others, pretty much owned the city. They bought off the mayor, the city council, state legislators, even law enforcement. These guys used that money to get politicians and bigwigs to look the other way for years. We’ve had a few close elections the past few years, and they always went the way the cabal wanted.” Tom smirked. “They learned from the big man from New York himself.”
“But how do these guys rule the city now?” Carla asked, “They’re in the same boat as we are, no cars, no power, nothing.”
“Because they have guns and men who know how to use them. That’s really all you need to start with,” Tom replied. “They’re also restaurateurs. That means they know how to store food and water. Sure, they probably can’t refrigerate or freeze anything, but they got men working for them who are experts at freeze-drying, farming, things like that.” Tom rolled his eyes. “Look, we’re in the bread basket of the whole damn country. They can find farmers to grow them a new crop.”
“And if they got food and guns, they got everyone here by the throat.” Conrad knew what that meant. People under the control of someone who could provide them the means of survival could turn into the worst killers imaginable.
“How many of these guys are there?” Liam asked.
“Too many,” Tom said.
“How many?” Liam repeated.
“I don’t know. I didn’t do a headcount!” Tom said, “But from what I’ve heard, it’s probably in the neighborhood of forty or fifty!”
Liam leaned a little closer to Tom, causing Tom to shrink back a little. “Next question,” Liam said, “Where would they take Mom?”
Tom sighed. “Probably Maggiano’s warehouse. Maggiano, he’s the leader of the whole cabal. Marcellus Maggiano. He’s the man from New York. Right now, he’s the king around here.”
“Sounds like a crime boss to me,” Carla said.
Conrad snapped his fingers. “He must have been the fellow Phil was talking about, the boss.”
“And with society breaking down as it is, no one could stand up to him,” Liam said as a gloomy matter of fact, rather than a question.
“He’s out to build his own personal empire.” Tom looked up and down the street at the derelict cars.
“He’s been taking men in to act as his enforcers. He’s also been cleaning up, getting rid of the dead, to try minimizing the risk of illness. Rick, that guy Juan mentioned, he probably went to one of Marco’s pizzerias because they offered work in exchange for food and water. Marco’s men might have showed up here thinking they could get a few more workers to join their team.”
Carla crossed her arms. “Looks like they said ‘no.’”
“And they didn’t take no for an answer,” Liam added.
Tom took a quick look at the open door to the storeroom. “Like I said, these aren’t guys you say no to. Anyway, Maggiano’s big plan is to find working cars and trucks, ones that are old and don’t have electronics to get fried.” Then he glared at Conrad. “The days are better now, but as Maggiano gets more guys to work for him, he’s going to prowl every corner of the city to find what he wants.”
Tom painted one hell of a bad picture. Conrad realized in his gut that this situation just had become a whole lot worse. A city in the throes of anarchy was one thing. A city under the thumb of a despot with organized henchmen was something else.
“The shootout at the clinic. The raid on the camp. Missing women. This isn’t anarchy or gang warfare or robbery,” Conrad said grimly, “This is urban warfare.”
Tom sighed. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what it is.”
“Then they’re taking women to Maggiano’s warehouse,” Liam said, “Why?”
Tom swallowed. “You’re not going to like the answer.”
“Just tell me,” Liam said curtly.
Tom looked away. “Maggiano is a man who lived on the border between law and crime. Nobody could nail the son of a bitch. He would do things for clients. Money…” Slowly, he looked back at Liam. “…pleasure.”
“A brothel,” Conrad whispered.
Tom nodded once. “Maggiano prides himself on his ‘services.’”
“And let me guess. Maggiano receives a load of tools, food, maybe a little ammo for the nights of pleasure,” Conrad said while grinding his back molars.
Tom bit his lip. “That about covers it.”
Liam stormed up to one of the keyboards lying near the wall. He picked it up and threw it against the glass cashier stand, then let out a vile curse. Carla winced and turned into Conrad’s shoulder. The older man took her and hugged her.
“I know,” he whispered to her.
Liam had calmed down a little and rejoined Conrad and Carla,
ready to hear more. But as far as Conrad was concerned, Liam and Carla had heard enough.
“Alright, Tom, you better lay anything else out to me and me alone,” he said. “Liam and Carla won’t be a part of this mission.”
“What?” Liam looked confused.
“This is where you and Carla are going to have to bug out of this mission,” Conrad said. “You two have too much to lose.”
“Dad, you can’t be serious. You want me to stop looking for Mom? You can’t be serious.”
“I’m dead serious, son,” Conrad replied. “I think it's time for you two to head back to the homestead and wait for us.”
“Dad, this is ridiculous. I’m coming with you,” Liam said.
“Son, I said I was the man in charge here. I say jump, you ask me how high. That was the deal,” Conrad said.
Liam looked stunned. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Dad, why in God’s name?”
Conrad sighed. He hated saying this, and he hated disputing anything with the son he just had reunited with. “Son, we haven’t had a sore word in about thirty years, and I sure as hell don’t want one now. But it’s simple. You got a kid on the way. You have a lover. And you got a hell of a lot more life left than I do. If there’s an army between your mother and us, then we have to be the ones to put ourselves on the line, not you.”
Tom frowned. “Wait! ‘We?’ You just said Liam and Carla weren’t coming.”
“That’s right, Tom, ‘we’ as in me and you. You’re coming with me.”
Tom looked genuinely stunned, as if he hadn’t expected to actually be on any rescue mission. “Just us?”
“Nothing wrong with those ears. You heard correctly. The men who free Sarah will be the man she loved and the man she loves now.” Conrad then gripped Tom’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “Besides, you owe her big, and I’ll see that you do pay your debt to her.”
Tom bristled. “I’m sure Sarah will appreciate that. She mentioned what a strong, aggressive man you are.”
Now it was Liam’s turn to get a little worried about his father’s temper. He knew what Tom was alluding to—part of his mom’s divorce allegations. Liam feared for what Conrad would do.