Take the Hit (Nuclear Survival: Northern Exposure Book 1)

by Harley Tate

  They had to get out of there. Now. He swung his leg over the bike and pedaled toward the back, blindly hoping he’d find the rear exit. It was too dark to see a damn thing.

  Jessica pulled up beside him and used her phone as a light. “There!” An emergency exit sign hung above an inconspicuous door painted the same color as the wall. As Danny pushed a pedal down, the voices out front turned to shouts.

  Someone had seen them.

  “We’ve got to go!” He hopped off his bike and threw the door open. He carried his bike down the steps and hurried back to help Jessica. She followed on his heels, grabbing the handlebars as soon as he set the bike on the ground.

  Danny turned back to help Midge, but she wasn’t there. “Where is she?” His voice tinged with panic. “She was right with us, wasn’t she? I thought…”

  In truth, he hadn’t thought about Midge at all. He’d been thinking about himself and his own survival. Shame flooded him as he leapt up the steps. “I’ll find her.”

  “No! There’s no time. She’ll catch up. We have to go.”

  Danny turned a shocked face to Jessica. She was willing to leave Midge behind? After all she’d done for her? He looked down at Caden. Could he leave Jessica out there alone while he raced back in to find Midge?

  He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know who to help.

  As he stood frozen in indecision, Midge burst through the door. She tossed a helmet at his face and he caught it an inch before it hit his nose. She threw another at Jessica before hauling her bike down the steps all on her own.

  “What are you two waiting for? Let’s go.” Midge swung a leg over the bike and gripped the handlebars tight. She motioned to Jessica. “Lead the way.”

  Together, the three of them set off into the night.

  Chapter Twelve

  MIDGE

  Saturday, 2:30 am CST

  Streets of Chicago

  Midge pedaled like the three-headed dog guarding the gates of hell bit at her heels. Whoever followed them into the store cared more about the people leaving out the rear door than they did about the bikes and helmets and baby carriers. Hearing shouts of. “Jump her!” and “Get her bag!” were enough to turn the pedals faster than her tired legs wanted.

  She refused to be a victim. Not in the airport, not in the back room with DuBois, and not in some random bike shop in a crap part of town. Midge didn’t know where they were headed, but she plowed on anyway, slowing only when Jessica called out from a block back, “Turn left!”

  The rear tire screeched as she banked almost hard enough to skid. She twisted and the headlamp on her helmet lit Jessica and Danny up like actors on the front of a stage and she ducked her head as they approached. The pair took their sweet time closing the distance and Midge fought the urge to leave them behind.

  Jessica panted as she stopped beside Midge. “You’ve…got…to…slow…down.”

  “We need to put some distance between us and the store.”

  “We have.” Danny pulled up his shirt and wiped the sweat off his face, exposing the butt of DuBois’s gun.

  Midge looked away. She’d only managed to find a single headlamp in the commotion. If she left them now, they would be biking blind. Jessica might be slowing her down, but Danny had been kind and helpful. He’d come to her rescue with DuBois, even if it was too late, and he’d saved her from that man in the airport. No matter how much she wanted to cut and run, she owed it to him to stick it out. At least a while longer.

  Jessica pointed past Midge. “We’ve got another five blocks. Then we turn right and—”

  Caden interrupted, launching into a full-blown wail. Jessica tried to shush him, but he refused to calm down. She let out a frustrated sigh.

  “He’s hungry. I skipped his last feeding because he was finally asleep, but I can’t wait much longer.”

  Midge bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying what she thought.

  Danny spoke up. “Can we make it to your place?”

  “Not without him crying the whole way.”

  As they stood there, his cries only grew louder and more insistent. He wasn’t going to quiet down until his belly filled and he could go back to sleep. Midge forced the words out. “Where is a good place to stop?”

  Jessica thought it over. “There’s a park not far from here. Maybe three or four blocks west. It’s a bit out of the way, but it has benches.”

  “Would we be sitting ducks?”

  “It has trees and bushes along the fence. We might be able to hide.”

  Midge looked around. It was a better choice than some forgotten alley or stoop between storefronts. They could never hide all three bikes on this street. After a moment, she put one foot on a pedal. “Which way?”

  Jessica pointed and Midge took off, leading with the headlamp. She came across the park a few minutes later. Smaller than she anticipated, it held nothing more than a fountain, a scrap of grass and four benches. But the evergreen bushes surrounding the fence provided some cover and the large tree in the corner would block their bikes from view.

  Not ideal, but they didn’t have a choice. Caden’s wail had turned almost frantic. With the power off, neighbors could hear him blocks away.

  Danny hopped off his bike and wheeled it to the gate before opening it and ushering Jessica through. He took her bike while Jessica found a secluded bench and pulled Caden from his carrier. Once they were settled, Midge secured her bike alongside the others and flicked off the headlamp.

  Danny took up a guard position by the gate, leaning back against a smaller tree and blending into the shadows. Midge didn’t know what to do. If she sat down, exhaustion would take over. If she paced, she would draw attention to the park.

  Jessica solved her problem by calling softly. “Midge? Can you come here?”

  She walked over, hands awkward by her sides. “Something wrong?’

  “Can you sit with me? I thought this place would be fine, but it’s creeping me out in the dark.”

  Midge nodded and sat on the far side of the bench, out of her element and suddenly shy.

  “I take it you’re not used to kids?”

  “Nope.”

  Midge could hear the smile in Jessica’s voice. “Before Caden, I wasn’t, either. The most time I’d spent with a baby was a single afternoon when a coworker of mine couldn’t find a sitter and asked me to help. I stared at her baby the entire time, terrified I’d screw something up.”

  “Did you?”

  “No.” Jessica laughed softly. “She never even rolled over.”

  Midge smiled despite herself. She shouldn’t be so hard on Jessica. It wasn’t her fault the world turned to garbage. She tried to be friendly. “You said your husband’s a cop—does he like it?”

  “Yeah.” Jessica shifted on the bench. “It’s all he’s ever wanted to do. I wish the pay were better, though. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to go back to work when Caden was born.”

  “But you’re going to?”

  “Unless Raymond magically gets promoted in the next two weeks, I’ll have to. My paid leave ran out two months ago. If I don’t go back when Caden turns six months, I’ll be fired.”

  Midge thought about her own parents. Her father had worked the beat for years, never once wanting to move to a desk job or the detective unit. Her mother never complained, not even when he worked dangerous routes or the night shift.

  Her mother loved him in part because of his job and that didn’t change when he was killed. But it sure changed Midge. She couldn’t help but blame her dad. For years, she’d been so angry, turning to computers and the ragtag fringe of society she found online. They accepted her without so much as a word and showed her how to relieve her frustrations by wreaking a little havoc on the internet.

  But breaking into her high school’s computer system and changing all the email addresses to names of characters in Harry Potter didn’t help her where it mattered. Her father was supposed to teach her how to shoot and how to defend herself and how
to be an adult.

  She thought about the gun Danny lifted from the pawn shop. One look at a string of code and she could read it, manipulate it, bend it to her will, but a hunk of cold steel? She didn’t have a clue.

  “Is your husband a good shot?”

  Jessica’s voice beamed with pride. “One of the best on the force.”

  “You think he could teach me how to shoot?”

  “I don’t see why not.”

  Midge exhaled. If Jessica’s husband could show her how to fire a gun, then she needed to see this boondoggle through. She only hoped she would make it out of the city in time.

  Jessica finished feeding Caden in silence, leaving Midge to her thoughts. No matter how many times she’d looked at her phone since they crash-landed, or tried to make a call, nothing went through. She didn’t know if her mother was in Suttons Bay relaxing by the water, or if her sister was camped out in the desert watching and waiting.

  “What you said in the pawn shop, about the bombs, was that true?”

  Midge gave a start and turned to Jessica. While she’d been lost in her own head, Jessica had propped Caden up on her knee. She bumped his back and he burped. Part of her wanted to lie and spare Jessica the truth of what might be coming, but she couldn’t do it. The woman might not be her ideal choice of companion, but she deserved to know. Midge nodded. “Yes.”

  “You weren’t just saying that to get a gun?”

  “It’s real, all of it. I don’t know when, but based on the EMP, I’d say soon. When we make it to your place, you should pack and get as far away from a major city as you can.”

  Jessica changed Caden and eased him back into the front carrier before standing up. She reached out and squeezed Midge’s arm. “Thank you for helping me. I don’t think I’d have made it this far without you.”

  Midge stared at Jessica’s hand. It didn’t feel right to accept her gratitude when she’d thought so many times about leaving. “I’ll get the bikes.”

  As Midge walked away, Danny peeled off the tree and joined her. “All set?”

  “Yep.” She didn’t feel much like talking, opting instead to fiddle with her messenger bag before slinging it across her chest. As she turned to Jessica, she clicked the headlamp on and shoved the helmet down over her hair. “Which way?”

  Jessica explained the route while Midge gave her enough light to ensure Caden’s safety and get ready. When everyone was set, they took off, biking away from the park and toward Jessica’s apartment.

  Midge tried to keep the speed down, but she kept finding herself drifting away from Danny and Jessica. Every few minutes, she would slow and let them catch up.

  At a major intersection, Jessica stopped beside her, excitement in her voice. “It’s just ahead four blocks on the right. A big white building. You can’t miss it.”

  Midge took off, relieved to be so close to Jessica’s apartment. With any luck, she would be out of Chicago by morning and halfway to her mom before noon. She lost herself in plans for the future, pedaling without looking.

  A hint of white loomed ahead and she smiled. Almost there! I can’t—

  The thought stuck in her mind as her bike froze on the ground. Midge tried to hold onto the handlebars, but momentum propelled her forward. She flew through the air, headlamp lighting up the asphalt as it rushed up to meet her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  MIDGE

  Saturday, 3:30 am CST

  Streets of Chicago

  Shock and pain tore through Midge’s shoulder as she skidded across the pavement. Her messenger bag flipped over her body, landing somewhere off in the dark. The helmet canted in front of her face, lip digging into the surface of the road as she finally came to a stop.

  As she pushed the plastic back, two meaty hands grabbed her by the arms and yanked. Her feet tripped over themselves. Strong arms dragged her toward the sidewalk. She twisted and grunted as the light from the headlamp bounced all over.

  What the hell? Midge struggled, shouting out at her attacker, “Let me go!”

  The dragging slowed and optimism flared inside her until a boot collided with her side. She gasped in pain.

  “Shut up and quit fighting.”

  Midge refused to listen, digging her heels into the pavement in an attempt to gain purchase. It was no use. In a moment, her assailant threw her on the ground and she landed on her back, staring up into the face of a giant.

  He towered over her, giant flashlight in one hand and massive black gun in the other. The black vest strapped across his chest read Police, but Midge knew better. The man staring down at her with tattoos snaking up his neck, over his cheek, and down both arms wasn’t a policeman. Of that, she had no doubt.

  She backpedaled on the ground, scrambling to stand up. Something solid and round poked her in the spine. “On your knees, girl. Hands up.”

  Midge fell forward, barely able to keep her face from hitting the ground. She struggled onto her knees and put her hands in the air.

  Someone came behind her and clicked off her light. “Look what we found for you, Big G.”

  The flashlight in front of her blazed on and Midge blinked frantically against the light.

  “Hey! Leave her alone!”

  Midge sank at the sound of Danny’s voice. He should have hidden or run or gone to find Jessica’s husband, anything but rush headlong into a fight he couldn’t win.

  The flashlight beam panned to the left and Midge’s head followed. Danny and Jessica stood with their bikes, squinting against the glare. She wanted to yell at them for their stupidity, but she’d only put them in more danger.

  Big G motioned with the beam. “Off your bikes. They’re mine now.”

  Jessica dismounted, her whole body shaking as she held the bike out away from her body. Midge expected Danny to follow suit.

  Instead, he lifted up his shirt and showed off DuBois’s gun. “We don’t want any trouble.” He nodded at Midge. “Just let her go and we’ll be on our way.”

  Big G kept the flashlight trained on Danny as he barked at his men. “Get the bikes. Both of them.”

  He motioned with the black long gun that looked straight out of a SWAT team promotional video. “Reach for that show piece and she’ll be so full of lead you’ll need a backhoe to lift her off the sidewalk.”

  Midge shuddered. She didn’t doubt for a second that Big G meant it. If Danny didn’t stand down, it wouldn’t matter if the bombs went off; she’d already be dead.

  Big G’s men approached Danny and Jessica. She let go of her bike before they even approached and the closest one caught it halfway to the ground. A sob escaped her lips and she clamped her hand across her face to keep from crying any louder.

  The second man approached Danny, but he tugged the bike closer to his body. “I said, you can’t have it.”

  Big G leaned over, butt of his gun tight against his shoulder, and pressed the barrel against Midge’s temple. His flashlight never even wavered as he called out to Danny. “You’re not real bright, are ya? I’ve got your girl at my feet, if you’ve forgotten.”

  The barrel dug into Midge’s flesh and she shut her eyes. A whimper bubbled up her throat, but she forced it down. She couldn’t break down now.

  Danny didn’t say any more and Midge didn’t dare turn her head to see. Wheels bobbed and rolled across the pavement and as Midge opened her eyes, two men brought a pair of bikes to Big G. She sagged in relief. Danny had given his up.

  Big G motioned to where Danny and Jessica were. “Lady with the kid, you can go. We don’t need no brats cloggin’ up our operation.”

  The gun pulled away from Midge’s temple and she turned to see Jessica take first one tentative step backward and then another. After a handful of awkward paces, she turned and ran. Midge hoped she headed straight to her husband for help, but she wouldn’t blame her if Jessica never spoke a word about them.

  If she were in the other woman’s shoes, would she risk the father of her child’s life for a pair of college kids who almo
st got her killed? Midge almost laughed at the absurdity of the question. Of course she wouldn’t. No, she had to face the facts: she and Danny were on their own.

  Midge turned back around in time to catch Big G leering. His tongue darted out, skimming his upper lip, and Midge fought the urge to recoil.

  Without taking his eyes off her, he motioned to Danny. “Get rid of him. He’s of no use to us.”

  “No!” Midge gasped and whirled around, one foot up on the pavement. She shouted at Danny. “Run!”

  Danny stared at her for moment as Big G’s men closed in, but before they reached him, he pulled DuBois’s gun from his waist and pointed it at Big G. The sound of the shot sent Midge to the ground. Big G’s flashlight clattered to the pavement and he returned fire, sending a volley of bullets out into the night.

  Midge scanned the darkness, hands shielding her head from the gunfire. She couldn’t see Danny anywhere, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t shot.

  Big G shouted out to his men. “Find him. And when you do, shoot him.” He made his way over to Midge as she scrabbled away. “If that boy of yours isn’t found by morning, you’ll have hell to pay.” He motioned for his men to take her, and Midge braced herself.

  Two men grabbed her, one on each arm, and she launched to her feet, lashing out with her boots and struggling to claw them with her nails. One of the men cursed as her boot landed hard on his thigh and he backhanded her across the face.

  Her cheek burned and a combination of dust and spit lodged in her throat. She tugged again, but the threat of further violence dulled her nerve. She couldn’t get away. Not now, not while they dragged her down an alley.

  She limped along, stumbling to keep up with the determined strides of Big G’s men, when they stopped in front of a modern apartment building.

  Glass doors and marble floors greeted them as they entered, along with a white shag carpet stained with muddy shoeprints. Midge frowned. Did they live here? The place seemed pretty lush for a couple of guys taking orders from someone like Big G. They led her past an empty reception desk and straight to a wood-paneled door.