Faith nodded. “She was one part of my plan. Can you get me in touch with the outside?”
Benny turned to face his wife, who sat on his other side. Faith was unable to hear what he said, but his wife quietly said yes.
“As a matter of fact, I have access to a phone right here and now.”
Her mouth dropped open. “How?”
Benny looked around. “I told you they didn’t check my wife when she came in. They also didn’t pat her down well enough when we were rounded up again.” He chuckled. “They should have used TSA screeners. Those assholes wouldn’t hesitate to pat down Jesus coming through in a wheelchair. The soldier kid who checked out my wife seemed embarrassed to touch her. It worked out for the best.”
“She has it right now?” Faith asked skeptically. It was too perfect.
“Yes, but obviously we can’t use it in here.”
They both sat back in their seats as if a movie was about to start. She ran through some ideas on how she could get the phone and then go somewhere private to use it. However, the only place where she might be left alone was the restroom, and she couldn’t talk on the phone and not be overheard there.
Hundreds of scientists and technicians sat around her, chit chatting to keep themselves occupied. If she weren’t saddled with the role of their leader, she could easily settle in and relax with the people she had once worked with.
The guards remained at the doors. They also talked with each other in a relaxed fashion. She figured it was because there was nowhere for the captive audience to go. Guards manned the doors. They patrolled the hallways. They were at the emergency exits of the base.
“We have to do it here,” she said out of the side of her mouth.
“What?” he blurted. “Are you nuts?”
“We may never get the perfect opportunity. There are too many people talking right now to overhear any one conversation. As long as I keep my head down like I’m thinking, or sick, I can at least get a quick message to CERN. You have to let me try.”
Benny mulled it over for a minute, but he leaned forward in the manner she described. “If you sit like this, I think it will work.”
“I’ll call my people first, then you call yours. Deal?”
“Wait a second,” he replied. It took him a few minutes, but she watched as he and his wife worked together to get the phone to him. First, she took it out of her shirt, then, she gave Benny a hug. At some point, they made the switch, and he had it ready to pass to her.
Please don’t let it get quiet.
People continued to talk all around her, so she got out the piece of paper and dialed the number.
The phone didn’t even ring once. A man picked up. “Hello. This is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, operations department. Who is this?”
“CERN? In Switzerland?” She had to be sure.
“Yes. This is the IT support line, but no one is here right now to answer your call. It is the middle of the night. Can you call back tomorrow?”
“No! It’s an emergency. This is going to be hard to believe, but I know for a fact that the United States government is planning to destroy your facility using a nuclear bomb. They want to destroy you because of the experiment you’re running.”
“Experiment? Which one? We have several going on.” The man sounded worried.
“It wasn’t on your official list of projects. It was…done illegally.”
She didn’t want to get into the weeds of how Azurasia Heavy Industries worked with secretive government groups to set up and run the experiment without full consent from either supercollider.
Someone tapped Faith on the shoulder. When she looked up, the woman stood in the aisle next to her. “Hey, I see you have a phone. Can I use it?”
Faith was shocked beyond words because the woman made no effort to be secretive.
Idiot!
She held a “wait” finger to the woman, then talked into the phone.
“I have to go,” she said as fast as possible to the CERN employee. “I’ll call you back as soon as I can. You have got to make sure people stay away from your location. Get everyone out of Geneva if you can!”
The man laughed. “Based on a random call in the middle of the night? No one would believe me.”
She was in danger of failing.
“I’ll call you back. Who is this, by the way? I’m Doctor Faith Sinclair. I work at SNAKE in Colorado.”
“Oh, right. I know of you. I’m Doctor Kyle Johnson.”
She hung up the phone, then looked at the clueless woman.
“There appears to be two Doctor Kyle Johnsons. I’ll play along until one of them comes clean that she’s the imposter.”
Red Mesa, CO
Ethan’s Task Force Blue 7 was almost back up to full staff. During the afternoon, Phil and the Air Force airmen managed to track down a couple more of the original enlisted men who had been in Switzerland with him. The only two missing were the driver and navigator from the Fox.
“Do you have the map drawn?” Ethan asked Phil.
“Yes.” He’d drawn it on a small square of scratch paper. “We now know where the ring is located below us, at least around here. Obviously, it goes in a loop for sixty-two miles so we can’t map it all out, but we know it goes out toward the flat ground below the foothills.” He pointed through the stand of pines toward the Dakota Hogback, which was barely visible through the thick trees.
Ethan leaned against a trunk in the shadowy grove they’d made their command post. “Good work, Phil. We can use this to keep our area of operations near the border of the collider.”
Phil stood closer so the prisoners wouldn’t hear. “You believe what he said about disappearing?”
Ethan shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. If he and all these other guards believe they’ll be erased if they go outside this ring, it gives us a powerful advantage over them. We can move outside at will. Avoid capture.”
He couldn’t find fault with the suggestion, although he privately harbored some misgivings about going outside the ring and being left behind. As fantastic as it sounded, he couldn’t write it off.
Ethan continued. “Have you made any progress on figuring out his unit’s composition? Strength? Weapons?”
“Not really. The 130th isn’t a real division in the US order of battle. I believe it was a fake unit from back in World War II.”
“Yes. I couldn’t place it until you said it.” Ethan looked around. “Was the unit reactivated as some kind of decoy, or is it now a legitimate division like he said? If it’s up to fighting strength, does that mean ten thousand men and women came along with him?”
“Grafton and I were able to reconnoiter this afternoon. We got closer to the parking area they’ve set up. Our best guess is there are five hundred new vehicles out there. Figure at least two thousand civilians. Humvees and other heavy equipment are parked up the hill under cover, so it’s harder to estimate force size.”
“Sounds like they brought their families.”
“Agreed,” Phil replied. “Murphy said as much. Not only does he not want us to put him outside the boundary line, but he also doesn’t want his family put in danger either.”
“Who could blame him? Go on.”
“Sir, this is more of a heavy mechanized division. We saw bulldozers constantly working on tank emplacements like they’re expecting the Soviets to speed across Kansas and attack. We guess maybe fifty tanks, two hundred light vehicles, and we think we heard Paladins driving in the woods. At least platoon strength. We even saw a lone Buffalo parked in front of the main offices of SNAKE like it was a trophy.”
“Damn. We’re lucky they haven’t found us.”
Phil gave him a casual salute. “Good leadership has kept us in the fight.”
“Yeah, but who are we fighting? A mystery division dug in on home soil. We haven’t heard shit from anyone up the chain, and all we know is we’re on the wrong damned continent. There is no chance of finishing our mission if we’re sittin
g out here pissing in the pines.”
“Sir, Murphy was very clear that his basic orders were to keep civilians from interfering with this place. Does that sound like official military doctrine to you? Shouldn’t we be helping people come here if this is really a safe place?”
“’Safe place?’ That’s not our mission, Phil, and you know it.”
“Rangers lead the way, sir. I’ll follow your orders until our assignment is done. I’m simply not sure I agree with the mission of these other guys.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the prisoners.
“No. Something isn’t right about them. Keep at it, Phil. We’ve got to have more intel before we can decide what to do, next.”
Blue Springs, MO
Buck didn’t want to let go of Connie’s hand, but it looked like they were going to be on the parking lot for a while, so he wanted to take Big Mac out for a walk. However, the instant he let go, a metallic buzzing sound caught his attention on the highway. A westbound car had run into the grassy median.
His stomach went into his throat as he listened to the car get tangled in the retention cable.
“Fuck! That’s Garth.” Without thinking, he ran toward the accident.
“How do you know?” Connie cried, chasing him.
It was the fastest hundred-yard dash he’d done since high school. He strained to see the crashed vehicle as he ran, but it was hard to see anything in the darkness. The cable stopped the car from crossing the median and driving into the McTruckStop on this side of the highway, but it was impossible to know if the driver was all right.
He quickly established it was a black car, which matched what Garth had said he was driving.
You don’t know it’s him.
As he sprinted over the empty eastbound lanes, he realized he was being stupid. His first instinct could have been wrong, and he might be running to the rescue of some random stranger while putting himself in danger.
As crazy as he felt, he didn’t slow down.
He sprinted into the grassy median, intent on helping. When he got a few yards from the car, he noted that the black paint job was a mess. The accident had scraped off a wide band of paint, exposing the original yellow.
Garth had been proud he’d painted the taxi.
The airbags had gone off, blocking his view of the survivors in the front seats, but he bashed the nearest one to help get it out of the way.
Be okay, whoever you are.
After a slight delay, he saw messy hair he’d recognize anywhere.
He was ready to puke from nervousness because he still couldn’t see his condition.
“Garth! Are you okay, son?”
The airbags finally deflated, revealing a pair of kids. The girl in the passenger seat was dressed like she’d fallen through a crack in time from the Civil War era. She perfectly matched the girl Garth said he was traveling with.
And the boy…
Garth’s face looked normal.
No blood.
He’s awake!
“Garth!” he repeated, desperate to hear he was fine.
“Oh, hey, Dad. Don’t worry, we’ve been sleeping in separate beds the whole time.”
Buck laughed like he’d been saving it up for a month.
Nineteen
Blue Springs, MO
“You made it, son. You’re safe.”
Garth looked up at him. “Where am I?”
After the wreck, Buck had helped Garth walk over to the parking lot for the McTruckStop. He’d made him sit down at the base of the tall pole supporting the twin arches. Connie had brought Lydia and sat her next to Garth.
“You’re at the truck stop where I asked you to meet me.” He got choked up. “I don’t know how you did it, but you drove halfway across the country in twenty-four hours.”
Lydia sat up. “He drove us faster than any speed I ever could have imagined. It was a hundred and twenty before he fell asleep for good.”
“One-twenty?” Buck bellowed. “What were you, fuh-freaking insane?”
Connie touched his shoulder, which immediately calmed him, but he breathed in and out a few times to step away from the cliff.
Garth acted like he didn’t know his father was mad. “Don’t get the belt, Dad. I was in good company. Some police cars let me travel with them. I only went that fast because they did.”
He rubbed his chin and finally laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re getting too old for the belt.” More seriously, he went on, “We’ve seen a lot of those cops driving by. This is really important, Garth. Do you know where they’re going?”
“Yes,” Garth replied. “I talked to an officer a couple of hours ago. He was from St. Louis and said he and all his pals were going to Denver. Isn’t that where you’ve been telling me not to go?”
It’s always Denver.
“I thought I was reading things right by telling you not to go there, but maybe I’m not right about everything.”
Connie chuckled.
“What I mean is, we’ve got to pick somewhere to go where we’ll all be safe. I don’t think such a place exists, but people on the radio keep telling us of safe cities.”
Garth’s head bobbed like he was keeping himself awake only with a huge effort. “Dad, I tried to do what you would do, but I didn’t pick up anyone but Lydia.”
“That’s good,” he replied. “You picked up one person, and I think it was the perfect number.” Buck glanced at Lydia. “I’m Garth’s dad. You can call me Buck.”
Lydia perked up. “He’s talked about you a lot. I’m pleased to meet you.”
“I have a million questions for you.” He’d been wondering about Lydia’s origins ever since Garth mentioned her on the ferry. How long ago was that? It felt like months, although it had only been two days. “First, however, I need to know if you are sore or need anything after your crash.”
“I feel fine, but I’m disappointed in myself for letting this happen. Garth asked me to keep him awake as it became night, but once the sun went down, it was more difficult to think of things to say.”
“We couldn’t stop. Danger was everywhere. Couldn’t let Lydia take over.” Garth’s upper eyelids seemed magnetically attracted to the lowers.
Lydia didn’t take offense. “I cannot drive.”
Buck chuckled. “Somehow, I bet you’d be a good driver. You hung with my son when he needed help, and I appreciate that more than you know.”
Lydia grinned. “Garth said you would help me find my wagon train, but after living in your time, I don’t think I ever want to go back. There are so many wonderful things in your world. I could live here forever.”
Buck imagined he was talking to Connie. She hadn’t expressed much excitement about the prospect of going back either. She wanted to find out if her son had survived Iraq, but she was happy in the year 2020. Despite the fact that with all their technological advances, none of his web searches had turned up anything on a Phil Stanwick. She didn’t know that he had tried. He didn’t want her to get her hopes up only to crush them moments later.
The time had come to make a decision about everyone’s future.
Monsignor volunteered to drive Garth’s taxi out of the median and park it next to Buck’s Peterbilt. Looking at it from across the lot, the front wheel leaned outward at a strange angle. Buck was sure it was no longer safe to drive.
“Come on, guys. Let’s get up and go back to the truck. We’ll grab stuff out of your car, then you can ride with me.”
“The weapon,” Garth said carefully. “I have a rifle on the floor of the backseat, Dad. I’m sorry, too. I lost most of the guns I brought with me from the house. One of them got stolen by the mobster who talked to you on my phone.”
Buck’s blood pressure spiked just thinking about the mob guy. He still wished he could go back east, find the bastard, and go full Marine on him. However, he didn’t want Garth to think he was upset about the firearms.
“He also left some of them behind when he saved my life from radiation.”
He beamed with pride as he walked his son up the parking lot and back to his truck. A second before he got to the bug-encrusted semi, he remembered the last call he’d taken.
“Sam is safe, son. I heard from his parents tonight.”
Garth’s eyes were practically shut as he climbed up into the sleeper. He didn’t even seem to notice the caked-on locust mess. “No, they’re not. None of us are safe. The lights are going to take Lydia away from me, and the rest of us are going to disappear like the St. Louis Arch. It’s going to be bad…”
He shared a look of concern with Connie as she helped Lydia up the steps.
I have to prove him wrong.
Kansas City, KS
Garth had never felt safer. He snuggled into the warm sheets of his dad’s truck, as he’d done on other overnight trips they’d taken together. He vaguely remembered a horribly long drive and a wreck he had barely survived, but it faded away before he let himself recall the details.
He rolled over, intending to sprawl out and revel in comfort, but something wet slapped against his face.
“What the hell?”
The lights inside the cabin were low because they were on the road, but it was bright enough to see the panting Golden Retriever. The dog licked him again for good measure.
He recoiled in shock for a moment, but when he roused a bit more, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Aren’t you a good pup?” Garth scratched the dog behind the ears. “Yes, you are.”
A shape moved behind the dog.
A girl.
Lydia was under the same blankets as him, although she was still asleep.
He panicked, forgetting where he was for a second, before realizing he was in bed with a girl and a strange dog. Before he could straighten himself out, a redheaded woman crouched at the edge of the bed.
“I’m Connie,” the woman whispered. “We met back at the McDonald’s, but you were kind of sleepy.”
“Hello, Connie. I’m Garth.”
“I know. I’ve been traveling with your father for a few days now. The only thing that kept him going was knowing he would see you again. I think he’s high on driving right now because he’s so happy to have finally made it to you.”
Begin Again: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure (End Days Book 4) Page 14