The Perseid Collapse (The Perseid Collapse Series 1)

by Konkoly, Steven

  Sorry, Charlie.

  “We need to get you rehydrated, rested up—and send you back to the Jeep,” said Alex.

  Charlie looked down. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  “We wouldn’t have gotten this far without you, Charlie. There’s no doubt about that, but you have to sit this one out. We need you one hundred percent combat effective for the ride back to Maine, and we need the Jeep to be here when we get back. We might need you to bust out of here and pick us up further south. Most importantly, I need to make sure you return to your family.”

  Alex kneeled in front of Charlie and grabbed both of his shoulders. “Look at me, Charlie.”

  Charlie slowly looked up, eyes filled with tears.

  “I couldn’t ask for a better friend, Charlie, which makes this a tough call. I know how much being here means to you.”

  “I’ll still be here,” said Charlie, straightening up a little.

  “And you’re still the team’s sniper,” added Alex.

  Charlie wiped his eyes. “You guys should get going. I can find my way back to the Jeep. The kids are waiting for you.”

  “We can spare fifteen minutes to make sure you’re back in business,” said Alex.

  “Thanks, man. I’m really sorry about this. I really thought I could make it. I’m glad we figured this out now. Not later.”

  “Me too, and quit apologizing,” said Alex, patting him on the shoulder. “You sure you can get back all right?”

  “I’ll take it super easy. East Dam Road all the way to the southern tip of the reservoir. We marked off the only confusing point with one of the IR chemlights. I’ll be able to find that. It’s a no-brainer from there. Follow the reservoir until Middle Reservoir Road—another chemlight—and turn left. The island thingy is right there.”

  “Sounds like your noggin is working fine,” said Alex.

  “As good as before,” added Ed.

  “Nice.” Charlie winked.

  “We’ve gone over the radios, but let’s do it one more time,” said Alex, taking his handheld out of a pouch on his vest. “I have eight channels preprogrammed. One through eight. We’ll start out with the first preset. Hit the privacy button and select code 129. If there’s too much interference from other users on that channel, go to the next preset channel and do the same.”

  “Code 129?” asked Ed.

  “Yes. Keep shifting channels until we can talk on a quiet frequency. The bad news is that we’ll probably be out of range by nightfall. These transmit at three watts, which kicks up the range a bit, but with the urban environment, we’ll be lucky to get three to four miles. Each radio has an out-of-range icon here,” he said, holding it up and pointing. “They periodically check in with each other to see if they can communicate. The signal ID is unique to the radio set we’ll be using, including the spare in the Jeep.”

  “That’s pretty sweet,” said Charlie.

  “It is pretty sweet. It’ll come in handy on the return trip. You’ll know when we’ve wandered back into range,” said Alex. “If at any time you feel like you’ve gotten lost with the frequency shifts, hit the home button, here. It’ll send a burst transmission through every frequency, looking for our radio set’s signal ID. It’ll automatically tune you to the nearest radio’s frequency channel.”

  “Couldn’t we just use this function to pick a clear frequency, instead of the presets? One of us serves as the base station and finds a clear frequency, then the others migrate over?” Ed asked.

  “The only problem is that it has to search over three thousand channels. It can take time,” said Alex.

  “How long does it take?”

  Alex paused to consider Ed’s question. “You know—you’re right. It doesn’t take that long. Twenty, maybe thirty seconds for a full sweep. Let’s start out with the presets, and if that doesn’t work out, we’ll switch to Ed’s method. Ed’s radio will serve as the base station. Charlie, you’ll need to keep the radio on, with one of the earpieces in at all times—even if you have to sleep.”

  “I won’t be sleeping,” said Charlie.

  “When’s the last time you slept?”

  “I think I got an hour last night, or maybe—”

  “You’re gonna fall asleep. You can snort the MRE instant coffee all night like a junkie, and guess what? You’ll still crash at some point. You’re better off doing it on your terms. Give yourself three to four hours, and make sure you set up camp away from the Jeep,” said Alex.

  “No way I’ll be able to sleep out there.”

  “Charlie, if I started singing ‘rock a bye baby’ right now, you’d be out before I finished. We’d all be out. It’s been a long two days. Set up some kind of trip wire on the path leading to the Jeep. There’s a spool of yellow wire in the duffel bag. About four hundred feet. Came with the invisible dog fence we never installed. Run it tight around some trees, and tie it to something you keep wedged under your head. Nothing that makes noise. You good?”

  “I’m good,” said Charlie.

  “Spare radio is in the glove box, along with a car charger. You shouldn’t need either, but do what you have to do to keep the radio up. I’ll leave the satphone with you,” he said, digging into his backpack.

  He pressed the “on” button and watched the screen, shaking his head. “I don’t get it. The phone says it’s tracking two satellites, but it won’t place a call. Iridium has over fifty satellites in orbit. Even if a few of them got fried, there should be coverage like the GPS—unless they rely on ground stations to function,” said Alex, handing Charlie the phone.

  “Or the military commandeered them,” said Charlie.

  “Or that. Give it a try every few hours.”

  Alex paused, trying to think of something useful to say. He took a long sip of water to kill a few more seconds.

  “You two don’t plan on babysitting me for the full fifteen minutes do you?” asked Charlie.

  “We don’t want to run off and—”

  “Go get your kids,” Charlie interrupted. “I got it from here.”

  “You sure?”

  “Better than waiting around with two nervous Nellies,” Charlie snorted. “I’ll be back at the Jeep in no time.”

  “You’ll drink plenty of water now and when you get there?”

  “No, I thought I’d do jumping jacks until it was dark. Then start a campfire and blare music across the reservoir. Maybe go skinny dipping!”

  Alex raised an eyebrow at Ed.

  “Holy shit! Will the two of you get the hell going? I’ve got it under—Oh, hold on! Let me give you the thermal scope,” Charlie said, fumbling with his rifle.

  “I really can’t do anything with it,” said Alex. “It’s not zeroed for my rifle.”

  “You can hold it in your hand and look through it, right? Damn. Maybe we should spend the next fifteen minutes building a litter so you can carry me along to do all of your thinking.”

  “Now that would be a sight,” said Ed, laughing.

  “Funny,” said Alex. “You sure you won’t need this?”

  “Nope. All set. Night vision goggles should do the trick,” said Charlie, patting one of the pouches on his backpack.

  “Thanks, bud. This should come in handy,” said Alex, wrapping the scope in a T-shirt and stuffing it into his pack.

  “So—we’re off?” he said, extending a hand.

  Charlie took it, and Alex pulled him to his feet, hugging him for several seconds.

  “Stay out of trouble,” uttered Alex.

  “Same to you,” said Charlie, pulling Ed into the huddle.

  “You’re not going to kiss me, are you?” inquired Ed, his head on Charlie’s shoulder.

  “Well, now that you mentioned it—no. Get out of here before I change my mind,” said Charlie, releasing them.

  Alex saluted him and followed Ed down the path, glancing back at Charlie a few times, until the trail veered left and their neighbor disappeared.

  “We can slow down now,” said Alex, taking
the lead.

  They walked in silence for fifteen minutes, pushing their way through broken branches and climbing over fallen trees, until the trail intersected “Red Cross Path.” Alex shifted his rifle to a ready position across his chest and slowed the pace, peering through the trees. A few minutes later, he spotted the faint outline of a neighborhood ahead. He crouched behind a tree on the left side of the trail, signaling for Ed to get behind him.

  “I thought we had another hour and a half,” whispered Ed.

  “What was I supposed to say? We’re almost there? We made better time than I expected from the Jeep. GPS has been coming in and out with the trees blocking the signal. I almost choked when I saw how far we had made it on the first half hour.”

  “Shit. I really thought we had at least an hour to go,” said Ed.

  “You can walk back and forth for another forty-five minutes if it’ll make you feel better.”

  “That’s quite all right. So now what?”

  “We move about a hundred yards off the trail and very cautiously approach the edge of the neighborhood. We’ll wait there until 7:30 or so,” he said, checking his watch. “Eat dinner, take a nap. We have some time to kill.”

  “You sure we can’t press on? Doesn’t look like an urban kill zone up there. More like Durham Road,” said Ed.

  Alex scanned beyond the trees through his riflescope. “White, two-story colonial with attic bump-outs. Red garrison. Three-car garage. I see what you mean,” he said, lowering into a crouch and listening.

  Dead silent.

  “Charlie gave me the impression that this gets crowded really fast as we move south. Hold on,” he said, activating his handheld radio. “Charlie. You there?”

  “Miss me already?” Charlie responded immediately.

  “Not exactly. Quick question. Where does it get really crowded on our route south? We’re thinking about pushing through when we get to the edge of the forest.”

  “You’ll probably exit the forest at the top of Governors Avenue. It’s pretty swanky all the way to High Street. Nice little downtown area along High. Expect people. The Mystic River is just past High Street. It really starts to get busy over the river. You’ll have a lot of people displaced from the areas closer to the coast. Shit. Come to think of it, you might have some trouble getting across the Mystic because of the tsunami.”

  “Seems like plenty of bridges to get across,” said Alex.

  “Yeah. Those can be fun,” said Charlie.

  “Not looking for that kind of fun. Any other places to hole up on the way?”

  “Lots of athletic fields and small parks. Tufts University has a fairly large campus. Nothing you can get lost in like the Middlesex Reservation. Once you cross the Mystic, you’re in the city.”

  “Got it. Thanks, Charlie. Let’s use call signs from now on. Lots of Eds, Alexes and Charlies out there. Use our former street name followed by street number. If you need to authenticate a transmission, ask for the other person’s wife’s name, or one of the kids. That should keep any impersonators busy. Durham three-zero, signing out.”

  “Solid copy, three-zero. Durham one-seven standing by,” said Charlie.

  Alex shook his head. “Sounds like a no-go on leaving the reservation. Charlie didn’t think we’d find anything like this on the way. I miss him already. Never thought I’d say that.”

  “Me either, but you made the right call. No way he could have made it. Not to Boston and back,” said Ed.

  “The Best Western parking lot sealed it for me. I knew he’d have trouble once we ditched the Jeep.”

  “I would have taken off if you hadn’t jumped out to help him,” Ed said.

  “That’s why I jumped out. I couldn’t leave him like that, and I knew we’d need him later. It was a calculated risk. Sort of.”

  “Hell of a risk,” said Ed.

  “We would have been fine,” said Alex.

  “I didn’t mean you and Charlie.”

  “I know. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t waited. Family first.”

  “I’d really hate to catch a glimpse of how your mind works,” said Ed.

  “It isn’t pretty,” said Alex. “Right now I’m wondering why this neighborhood is quiet when I can hear commotion east of here. I’m thinking there must be a serious roadblock set up at the hospital. Something we want to avoid.”

  “The Special Forces story feels a little thin to you too?”

  “We need a more chaotic environment for that to work. A focused roadblock in a quiet residential area probably isn’t the best place to test our new identities. I’ll have to carry your rifle when we roll.”

  Ed shrugged his shoulders. “Why?”

  “Because it doesn’t look right as a primary weapon. If anyone asks, or looks at it funny, I can say that it’s part of a specialized load-out. A .22 equipped with a suppressor can be extremely quiet. Either that or we leave it behind,” said Alex.

  “How long did it take you to make that up?” said Ed.

  “I started plotting this trip when you told me Chloe was going to Boston College,” said Alex.

  “Chloe?”

  “You didn’t think I’d let you make this kind of a trip on your own?” said Alex.

  “Amazing. You have this whole thing planned out in there. Don’t you?” said Ed, poking Alex’s hat.

  “I’ve put a lot of thought into it.”

  “Do any of those thoughts include ditching me along the way?”

  “Not yet. Let’s find a spot out there and rest up. It’s going to be a long night.”

  Chapter 37

  EVENT +38:10 Hours

  Limerick, Maine

  Kate set her beer on the wooden coffee table in front of her and collapsed into the cushioned chair between Linda and Samantha, the constant pain from her quadriceps and thigh muscles governing the discordance of complaints her body had lodged against her. Shoulders, lower back, wrists—all vying for her attention but failing to take her mind off the fact that she could barely walk. The sun had dropped below the tree canopy, casting a shadow over the screened porch and dropping the temperature a few degrees—not enough to bring any real relief to the humid evening. She closed her eyes and thought about Alex. He’d set out with Ed and Charlie soon.

  She was jarred out of her thoughts by the sound of a chair scraping along the deck. Her father-in-law dragged a chair over to them from the patio table.

  “Mind if I join the ladies’ club for a few minutes?” he asked, placing a cooler on the floor next to his chair.

  “Not if that’s another round of beers,” blurted Samantha. “Did I actually say that? I’m sorry, Tim. Two beers appears to be my limit tonight.”

  “This is the most I’ve seen her drink since I can remember,” said Linda, laughing. “Tim, I have to thank you and Amy again for everything. We’re all still a little legless from the ride, but we’ll be earning our keep tomorrow,” she added.

  “Same with my crew,” said Samantha. “We’ll turn to in the morning and make breakfast for everyone. We should set up a rotation, if that’s all right with Amy.”

  “I don’t think you’ll get an argument from Amy. Retirement for her meant retirement from all domestic duties. I must have missed that in the original contract,” said Tim.

  “It’s in small print on the back page of your marriage certificate,” said Linda.

  “I’m pretty sure she added it after the fact,” said Tim. “Just as well, between you and me.”

  “Oh shit, he didn’t go there,” said Samantha.

  “He can get worse. At least Amy’s out of earshot,” said Kate, finishing her beer.

  Tim fished a bottle out of the cooler and set it on the table next to the bottle opener. Kate gripped the ice-cold pale ale and held it for moment. She resisted the beer commercial cliché of lifting it to her sweat-glistened cheek.

  “We’ll be on our best behavior,” he said, holding Kate’s glance long enough for her to get the message.

  “Me too,�
� she said.

  “Refresh on the beers?” he said, placing two more on the table. “I always carry bribes.”

  Samantha raised her new bottle. “To the Fletchers and the best damn dinner I’ve had in years. I almost felt like none of this was happening.”

  “Well, the timing couldn’t have been better. Harvest is in full swing,” said Tim, with a chuckle.

  They all broke out laughing, drawing stares from the gaggle of teenagers sitting by the fire pit behind the deck.

  “To the apocalypse!” said Linda.

  “I’ll drink to that,” said Kate.

  “You’ll drink to anything,” said Linda, causing Samantha to cackle.

  “Here’s to the three of you bringing the kids here safely. That’s what really counted today,” said Tim.

  The laughter died off, and they clinked bottles, settling in for a serious talk.

  “Should we grab Amy?” said Kate.

  “No,” Tim said. “She didn’t want to hear all of the gory details, and she’s worried sick about Alex. Head in the sand is her preferred mode of operation when it comes to the uncomfortable stuff. So…the SUV is in the garage. Best way to keep it out of sight for now. It might be possible to sink it in the pond if we could get it over there at night—quietly. There’s not a lot of water access on this side of the pond, aside from the walking path over there,” said Tim, pointing past the barn to the flickering points of light visible through the trees.

  “The other side has too many houses. All locals,” said Kate.

  “Nosy locals,” said Tim, “and everybody has known everybody for generations. I don’t think the BMW would remain a secret for long—especially if someone saw us pushing it into the pond.”

  “How about the woods?” Samantha suggested.

  “Fine for now, but once the foliage dies, anyone walking the property could stumble across it,” said Linda.

  “How worried do we need to be?” asked Tim.

  “The kid claimed his dad was some bigwig in one of the local militias,” said Kate.

  “He said his dad put him in charge of Waterboro, which sounded a little crazy to me,” said Linda. “They were sitting around the Hannigans parking lot, throwing back beers like, uh—”