“Yep, we’re park rangers,” she exaggerated. Her hat was off, so he must have had an eye for uniforms.
“What are you doing here? Are you from Rocky Mountain National Park?”
She smiled, feeling proud. “Yellowstone, actually.”
“Wow. I’ve been there a bunch. My dad took us all over until he retired.”
She absently wondered if his dad was Chester, the oldest park ranger she knew. If he’d said as much, her head would have imploded with grief over his loss. “I’m glad to hear he retired. It’s a great place to work. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going with all those guns?”
Asher leaned over and yelled out, “Not that we care what you do with them.”
She nodded. “Yeah, we’re not here on official business.”
“Good.” He leaned in as if to reveal a secret. “We’re actually trying to avoid a civil war.”
St. Charles, MO
While Butch was watering the bushes, Ezra found himself alone with Haley. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, a lot like Grace, but there were few similarities to his daughter beyond those features. His girl was fit, but she couldn’t be mistaken for a fitness instructor like Haley could. “I’m glad we ran into you. I have a daughter about your age. She’s who we’re going to find.”
“Where is she? Do I know her?”
He chuckled. “She works in Yellowstone as a ranger.”
“Really? That’s awesome. I would love to do something noble like her. I’m studying at the community college, but I have no idea what I want to do with my life.”
“You could probably be a trainer,” he said, trying to keep the conversation going. It was a true statement. She wouldn’t outlift Butch, who was a good two feet taller than her, but Ezra couldn’t deny she would crush him in a lifting competition.
“Nah, I want to see the world. Get out of this place for a while, you know?”
Ezra was stricken with a case of déjà vu. Grace had expressed almost the same sentiment when she’d told Susan of her desire to leave Kentucky. He immediately wondered if Haley had a mother who inadvertently pushed her away as well. Before he could ask, a man’s voice came from a loudspeaker from the far side of the row of brick buildings. It was muffled and echoed against the stone walls, so it was hard to make out.
Butch came running back. “It sounds like it’s coming from the park.”
He looked at Haley. “We need to check this out. If there’s some sort of problem with our boat, we need to be there to head it off. We still want to go with you to the store.”
She smiled at Butch, then at him. “I’ll stay here, clean up, and get changed. Knock on my door when you’re ready to go.”
He waved as he went between the buildings, toward the front. Butch lingered in Haley’s yard a bit longer before chasing after him. The two of them came out on the main street, crossed it, then went behind the last row of buildings before the park.
They almost walked out on a blue truck with a big speaker on top. “I say again. The TKM company would like to offer a flat sum of fifty thousand dollars for three months of work. One-third payable up front. Two-thirds after the term.”
It reminded him of the man in Alton who’d been after them to sign up for a job. He said he was with a mining company, too, though Ezra couldn’t remember if he said who he was with.
The effect on the crowd was electric. Men from all over the camp stood up and walked toward the three navy-blue SUVs with TKM stenciled on the sides. It was obvious there was no threat to his boat, but he motioned Butch to get closer. “I’d like to hear what they want these men to do.”
“Does it matter?” Butch asked with impatience. “We should go back.”
Ezra was reminded of the movie Bambi. His young friend was behaving like woodland animals in the springtime, twitterpated beyond all reason and logic. He would need to keep a close eye on his friend, since he seemed to have a one-track mind. In one sense, it was what he expected of a young man Butch’s age, but on the other, he was on a dangerous mission to save his daughter. He needed the veteran soldier to bring his A game.
“One second,” he said, leaving Butch a few paces behind. There was no need to go far. The men at the collection table spoke loudly and the two most important questions were repeated often.
“When do we get paid?”
The man at the table replied. “We have company checks ready to sign. You can take it to your bank right now.”
“What do you need us to do?” several men asked.
“TKM mining will provide transportation to the most threatened areas of the country. This may include locations in Illinois or Tennessee, but could entail trips to Wyoming, Nebraska, or Montana.”
One older gentleman seemed to catch on to the non-answer. “You’re saying where we could go. We want to know what we’d be doing.”
The TKM official gestured for those around him to press in. Ezra was on the fringes of the group, but he pushed closer, nonetheless. The man spoke so only those in the group would hear. “I can’t tell you all the details, but these are desperate times, as you know. We’re a mining company by trade, and some men with special skills might find themselves working heavy equipment. For the rest of you, your main duty will be to protect US citizens. TKM has been authorized by the US government to be a security contractor. You’re going to secure this great nation until police and national guard units are freed up and can return.”
“But we have no weapons!” a voice replied.
The TKM guy laughed politely. “Don’t you worry about guns. We have plenty.”
“What about our families?” another man yelled out.
“Some of you will be paid to guard the families here. It’s the least we can do to say thanks for helping us out.”
Excitement rippled through the crowd, but Ezra backed away, having heard all he needed. It didn’t surprise him to hear of a company setting up private security during a time of crisis, but it did come as a shock to know the government was supporting it. Plus, TKM must have tremendous resources at their disposal if they were going to send St. Charles locals to other states. By the looks of the men signing up, it wasn’t going to be hard for them to recruit.
He grabbed Butch. “I’m glad we didn’t sign up with the guy back in Illinois. He might have sent us to Nashville—the opposite way we need to go.”
Denver, CO
Misha Gagarin answered the phone with his Russian accent. “Hello. Misha here.” It was loud, presumably because the man was in his helicopter.
“Do you know who this is?” Petteri said without preamble.
“Of course. You are Petteri Tikkanen. The man who pays my bills.”
“Da,” Petteri replied, testing the Russian word for yes. “You and I have some unfinished business with Asher Creighton and his girlfriend, do we not? You assured me they were…uh…disposed of, when you were with them in Billings. However, I saw them both on television not two days ago.” Every molecule in his body wanted to rip the man a new one, but his company’s resources were stretched to the breaking point. He needed Misha’s expertise at least one more time.
“I am sorry. I saw a truck at the checkpoint, and I was certain it was them. It was a different park ranger. The mistake is on me, but…please do not take it out on my family. I have done solid work for you at this asteroid piece. I am doing this all for TKM. Tell me where to find the young man and I will go there now. Will make you proud.”
It amazed Petteri how often people fell into line with his plans without being told. He’d intended to order Misha to pursue his quarry, but the man had asked him to go after them again. It was too easy to manipulate the sheep under his command. “Well, are you sure you want to go? I could have another team finish what you started…”
“No. It must be me.” There was anxiety in the voice coming through the phone, much to his delight.
“Fine. When you get here to Denver, see Howard straightaway. He knows my wishes and will direct you wher
e to go to find your targets.” Petteri planned to take pleasure in figuring out a way to make it a one-way trip. He’d already considered sending him to Crow Agency, where Creighton was last seen, but the place was so remote he doubted he’d stay there. Having Misha come to Denver would give him options.
“And you will not hurt my family? I have not been able to communicate with them…” He hung it out there, expecting Petteri to reveal something. Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to fall for such a primitive fishing expedition.
“I have bigger concerns than hurting your relatives. There are trillions of dollars of ore on the line. Get rid of this boil in my side and I’ll make you a very rich man, Mr. Gagarin. No more failures. No more mistakes. If you don’t come through for me, the next big problem on my to-do list is going to be you. Understood?”
“Da,” the Russian replied.
Chapter 11
Thornton, CO
“You think we’re heading for a civil war?” she asked the man on the bicycle.
“Don’t you? The government is taking our guns. The police are thick in the streets, also taking our guns. No one knows what’s going on. Criminals are everywhere. This is the sort of chaos the government uses to further strangle us. It’s electric boogaloo time.”
“Say what?” she said dryly.
“Oh, it’s an expression. It basically means it’s fighting time. And, because there’s no hiding the fact we have tons of guns, we’re taking them where the government can’t come and grab them.”
Shawn Runs Hard, sitting behind her, rolled down his window. When the man saw him, he nodded an acknowledgement. The Crow Nation chairman spoke through the window frame. “Why don’t you stay and protect your people? If not your city, then at least your neighborhood or your homes. This chaos you speak of, it’s everywhere.”
The man looked to his group, which had gone around the next bend in the path, out of sight. “Our group has a leader. He wants us somewhere with fresh water, access to game, and good visibility. You all should think about bugging out, too. There’s nothing back that way but tent cities, shoot-outs, and police rounding up guns.”
It was a common refrain.
“I have to get going. Good luck. I love the park service. It might be the only government agency not infected from the inside by anti-Americanism.”
“We hope you make it somewhere safe,” she replied, watching him get on his pedals and crank out of there.
Other bikers came around the bend up ahead, but she didn’t wait. They’d never make any progress if she remained on the side of the path to let everyone pass. Like those before, the bikers never seemed entirely pleased to see her on or next to the bike path. She thought of it as swimming upstream in a school of piranha.
As they put a few more miles on their trip, the buildings of downtown Denver came into focus up ahead. They were much larger than the gray blob they’d spotted from way out at the toll road. During their approach, the number of people walking and riding out of the city kept increasing. When they came around another curve, she imagined they’d driven into a sports stadium full of fans.
“Man, we’re never going to make it,” she complained.
Ahead, the trail was filled with people standing around. A narrow path had been left for bikers to travel through the crowd, but her truck would never fit. The stream was to her left, with kids splashing in the water and mothers hovering nearby. The other side of the path was a wide field a couple hundred yards long and wide, perhaps a park or school grounds. Tents had been pitched in haphazard rows, creating a city within a city.
“Eww,” Logan said from the back seat. “Look down there.”
“Aww. Gross.” Grace made a gagging sound. “You didn’t have to point it out!” Some of the campers were in the water, downstream from the playing children, using the shallow stream as their toilet.
“Savages,” Shawn said, before chuckling quietly to himself.
“Let’s keep moving,” Grace replied, not wanting to invest a second of time figuring out why modern-day people from Denver had tossed all rules of hygiene into the trash.
“But it’s blocked,” Logan reminded her.
“I know. They’ll move.” Ever since she tricked those men at the fishing lake, she had renewed confidence she was doing the right thing. If people were as desperate as they appeared, then it stood to reason that the way to make things right with them was to ensure they were compensated for all their trouble. Getting Shawn in front of the TKM people would be step one, but she was beginning to work beyond that, through how everyone could benefit from what was otherwise a monumental disaster scenario.
A young woman in shorts and a bikini top flagged her down. “You can’t drive on the path. There’s kids playing. People eating. You know; trying to survive.”
She didn’t see a way around the crowd. If she wanted to be bold and drive into the creek, it might get her through, but then she might also get bogged in the gravel. The tent side was clogged solid. The only safe way was to go in reverse, and she couldn’t recall seeing a path linking with the roads for quite some time.
“Look, I appreciate what’s going on here, but we’re in a hurry. We’re going downtown to talk to the people responsible for messing up the city. I think we can make this right.”
The woman’s brown eyes glistened in the sunlight, proving the words were exactly what she wanted to hear. “Do you really think you can? Like, I’d love to go back home. We’ve been here two days, and that’s plenty, let me tell you.”
“Why are all these people here?” she asked, wondering if they all thought an electric boogie-whatever was the reason to congregate.
“Some of them lost their apartments when the meteor bounced and rolled into the city. Others lost the rights to their condos and townhomes when a mining company came in and kicked them out. Said it was for their own protection during clean up. From what I understand, some of these tents were already here. It was a homeless encampment even before all of this.”
“Do you know where the meteorite came down? We’re, um, looking for it.”
She laughed without humor. “It’s not hard to find. There’s a huge trail of destruction where it came in. It points to Lodo. It’s where you’ll find what’s left.” The first biker had said something about Lodo, too. It looked like he was right.
“Do you know if a mining company called TKM is there?”
“Yeah, probably every mining company is on the scene. As I said, they’ve kicked out almost everyone who lived down there. It’s why I’m here, anyway.”
“I’m so sorry,” Grace said sadly. “Will you please help us get by?”
She wiped a tear from her eye, the pain of losing her home still fresh. “What are you planning to do when you get downtown?”
“We’re going to make sure someone gets punished for all this.” She could have explained the rights issue and how she and Shawn were going to stick it to TKM, but to keep it simple, she only expressed the basics.
“I’d love to go back home.” The woman seemed satisfied. “What do you want me to do?”
“Help us shoo those people off the path. We’ll drive through and be out of your hair in two minutes.”
The woman seemed to consider, then she whistled in a shrill pitch which split Grace’s ear drums. As people looked her way, she began waving. “Get the hell off the pavement. Truck coming through!”
Grace had her way out.
St. Charles, MO
“You two look like bums,” Haley said as soon as Ezra and Butch walked around the corner to the backside of her home.
“Thanks,” Butch replied glibly, apparently not sensitive to insults directed at both of them.
“I had to get in the water this morning. I know I smell like death.” Ezra shuddered, remembering the body caught up in his propeller. “I probably look like death, too.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything…” she said mockingly. “But you two can come in. I’ve decided you’re all right, after all.”
“Great,” Butch said, already on the back step.
“You’re too kind,” Ezra replied, “but are you sure it’s safe? We could be anyone.” He had Grace in his thoughts. If she’d invited two strange men into her home, even ones as respectable as he and Butch, he would be pissed.
“My mom taught me how to read people. If you meant to do me harm, you would have already done it. Besides, I can take care of myself, even with this little twenty-two.” Haley had changed her clothes while he’d been listening to the TKM men. Now she wore a white sleeveless blouse which draped a bit over the belt line of her capri jeans. When she lifted the hem of her top, it revealed a small .22 caliber pistol.
“I see,” he replied, uncertain if they were the ones who needed to be wary.
“Come in. I can’t be outside with this.” She waved them inside.
The interior of the stately brick home was equally as elegant on the inside. With wooden floors, ceilings stamped with patterns, and furniture which looked to be about a hundred years old, it could have been a museum.
“Don’t freak out. I didn’t decorate this place. I live in there.” She pointed to a side bedroom, which had girly drapes, a frilly bedspread, and a makeup table with knickknacks. No sign of antiques were in the room, but he did catch sight of movement.
“Oh yeah, that’s my Liam. Come here, boy!” A small brown dog hopped off the bed and ran across the wooden floor. He headed directly for Haley but made a pinball ricochet when he saw Ezra. A second later, he switched directions again, heading for Butch. The pup then ran into, and out of, every room it could find.
“Wow! He has some energy. What kind of dog is this?” He knelt to see if the crazy thing would come to him, but anytime it got close, it seemed to catch a whiff of the river on his clothes and changed his mind.
Eventually, unable to choose where to go, Haley scooped up the little bundle of panting pup to make the choice for him. “He’s a puggle. Part beagle and part pug. I like to think he got the best of each.” She switched to puppy-speak as she nuzzled Liam. “You’re so cute, aren’t you?”
Crush: Impact Book 4: (A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Series) Page 8
