Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6

by Isherwood, E. E.

  “I guess I don’t blame them for being skeptical,” Butch said quietly.

  “We’re doing them a favor. We can’t let them down.”

  The procession started out of camp with all the Jeepers gathered to watch. Colby’s wife, Mary, sat in front of a second woman he didn’t know. Scott’s companion was a gal named Jean; she had a smaller lady on the back of her bike. Mary started out of camp first, with Jean close behind. Butch’s giant frame made the motorcycle look small, and his tires dug into the mud under the extra weight load. Ezra dropped back far enough to avoid all the mud coming off his rear tire.

  They weaved in and out of downed trees for a couple of minutes until the path emerged alongside the engorged lake. Normally, the North-South trail was inland from Kentucky Lake, but the water was unnaturally high; it almost reached the muddy route.

  Mary guided them through the fallen trees until they came to a clearing by the lake. He thought it was odd to stop so soon after leaving camp, but she seemed interested in what was out there. “Hold up!” she shouted, turning off her bike.

  When he pulled up next to her, he shut off his rig and popped open his visor. A gentle rain speckled the water surface nearby, lending a sadness to the mass of wrecked barges close by.

  “This part of the lake is called Turkey Bay. Two days ago, we drove our Jeeps right out onto the mud flats down there. Now, the flats are under twenty feet of water, I’d guess, and those barges came crashing in when the water rose up.”

  The rusty cargo haulers had probably come into the bay lashed together as one big fleet three barges wide and five or six barges long. The configuration was quite common on the lake; over the years he’d learned three abreast was how many would fit through the locks at the dam. However, the grouping in front of him had broken apart and the mass of barges untethered from each other. Many floated among the stripped trees on the northern side of the bay. The white towboat had capsized toward the middle. One side was underwater, the other half stuck out above the surface.

  “We saw one of these loose barges near the bridge when we came across,” he remarked.

  “Yeah, we got a look at it, too,” Mary replied. “The real reason I stopped here is because we’re away from the men.” She pulled a small pistol out of a mud-caked pocket. “We’re putting our lives in your hands, but don’t try anything, all right? You’ll find us capable of defending ourselves.”

  Ezra imagined he was living the same dream over and over. No one seemed to trust him. “I promise you, we have no ill intentions towards you four ladies. We’re all going the same way, as I told your friend Scott. We’re here to help.”

  Butch chuckled. “Do we have a look about us? Is that why you don’t trust us?”

  Mary stashed the gun back in her pocket before laughing a bit, too. “No, you’re both fine. If the guys thought you were any threat to go back on your word, I’m sure they would have disarmed you back at camp and sent you packing. As I said, I only stopped to make it clear no matter what the men thought of you, we ladies take care of ourselves. Now that we’ve got the unpleasantries out of the way, let’s have a good ride. We’ve got twenty miles of these godforsaken fallen trees until the southern bridge, and this rain isn’t going to be fun, either.”

  A crack of distant thunder put emphasis to her statement. The weather had been unusual since he’d left the subdivision. The darkest clouds were still to the east, though the ones above them weren’t much better. It was dreary for a summer day in Kentucky.

  As they headed off into the woods, Ezra didn’t hold their mistrust against the Jeepers or the women on bikes. It had already been two nights since Paducah was wiped out. They’d been living in the woods, unsure of what was happening on the outside. Naturally, they’d be leery of anyone coming into their world, and the bad weather didn’t help.

  We’ll have to prove we’re good people.

  Not long after passing the bay filled with wrecks, they watched as additional barges floated free out in the middle of the lake. Dozens of them went by, including a few still lashed to their towboats. It was as if a dock had come loose, pushing all the rust-colored cargo containers into the main shipping channel. The women didn’t stop to observe them, so he didn’t, either.

  It was a tough slog the farther south they went. It became apparent another meteorite had impacted close by, somewhere to the southeast. The trees were all facing toward the west, rather than the east, as they were by his house. By the time they made it to the southern bridge across the lake, he figured it had been at least ninety minutes.

  Mary stopped her bike at the top of an escarpment overlooking the bridge. Ezra knew in a heartbeat the whole journey had been for nothing.

  The bridge was gone.

  Chapter 14

  Beartooth Pass, WY

  Grace didn’t think about the danger. She hustled through the snow to get back to the driver’s door, pulled herself back in, then slammed the gear shift into reverse. “Hang on!” she shouted.

  “You can’t be—” Asher began to say.

  The truck reversed course for a few feet, enough to block the path of the arriving vehicles. The first one slid into the rear quarter panel, partly turning the truck like it was a swinging door. She crushed the brake pedal with both feet, praying it was enough to stop the momentum of the sliding car.

  Please don’t suck us down with it.

  The second car in the line crunched into the back bumper of the first, which in turn moved her a bit farther to the side, though there wasn’t enough momentum to shove her out of the way. She came to a stop at a diagonal, blocking the path and mostly facing up the hillside. When a third car came down and hit the second vehicle in the line, she didn’t even feel it. Grace only exhaled when it was clear everyone had stopped.

  “Now what?” Asher asked in a tentative voice, as if loud noise might dislodge all the cars on the hillside.

  Grace picked up the CB radio. “Tessa. Um, you out there?”

  “Yeah, Grace. My God, I’m glad to hear your voice. From back here, I saw the whole convoy go down the wrong path; did you know there’s a cliff that way?”

  Her blood pressure was already pegged at its limit, so it took her a minute to appreciate it was a joke. She let go of some of her stress as the quirky humor of the older woman sank in. “Yeah, we noticed it, Tessa.”

  Asher laughed, too.

  Grace continued speaking. “Got any ideas on how to get us out of this mess? Chester has probably been in the snow a time or two; does he have any ideas?”

  The line was silent for twenty or thirty seconds. She figured they were thinking up a brilliant strategy, but she was surprised when Misha’s Russian accent came out of the speaker. “Dohbree deeyen, comrade,” he drawled. “It means good afternoon. I have idea which may relieve you of this disaster.”

  All of her tension was back. “What do you want?” she said in a disbelieving tone of voice.

  “I want to help,” he replied. “After all, I do owe you one.”

  “I’m listening,” she said, not sure she was in a position to refuse help from anyone.

  “In Bryansk, winters look a lot like this, minus black snow, yes? When we get stuck in storm, we cut ropes and wrap through wheels and tires. Gives good grip. It surprises me you do not know of this.”

  “We have chains,” she said glumly, “but we don’t carry them in the middle of summer.”

  Misha laughed. “Is not summer now.”

  Grace hated admitting the hitman was helping, but his solution was exactly what she needed. She’d come to the park after wintertime, so she hadn’t been trained on the use of chains. However, anyone who knew how to tie a knot could help with Misha’s rope solution. That was the type of training scenario she liked.

  While sitting there with the CB, a pair of shapes walked out of the darkness next to the truck. They came from lower on the hill, leading her to wonder if someone went to look at the car which had gone over the cliff. It was not an act she’d ever recommend
, since the slick terrain could send walkers over the edge, too. Still, something about them got her attention. “Hey, you guys okay?”

  A man in a heavy coat waved at her. “We jumped out at the last second. We lost everything in our car, though.”

  Asher whistled in awe.

  “You almost died,” she said in a blown-away tone of voice.

  The man was in surprisingly good spirits. “My wife said jump, so we jumped.”

  Lightning flared nearby, touching off a rolling clap of thunder. “I’d take you in my truck to get you out of here, but I don’t have windows. Or a door. Or the ability to get up to pavement, yet. You probably don’t want to be exposed to this lightning and thunder, either. Can you get inside one of the other cars, preferably one still on the road? We’re going to get ourselves out of here so no one else goes over the side.”

  The man gave her an okay sign, then walked hand in hand with his female companion. She felt better knowing the couple survived, as it meant she didn’t have blood on her hands from being careless. Grace keyed the microphone again. “We’ll run around and ask for rope from the people out there. That’s going to get us out of here, for sure. Thanks, uh…” She didn’t want to say his name. “Sir.”

  “Nichevo; it was nothing.” Misha sounded satisfied with himself.

  Grace could hardly believe it was high noon. The smothering clouds churned out the heavy, black thundersnow at a record pace. Another inch had piled up on her hood by the time she’d shared her plan with everyone. The second inch was dropping by the time they’d found the needed ropes.

  Fortunately, since many tourists were campers, lots of them carried thick ropes in their cars. One group of amateur mountain climbers essentially had enough for everyone. From there, it was an easy process cutting them into three-foot strips, looping them through the hub caps or wheels, wrapping them around the rubber of the tires, then tying them off. Each wheel needed at least four cords to give adequate traction.

  Finally, after making sure all the other cars stuck on the hill were properly outfitted, she jumped back in the Suburban. “Well, Misha owed me twice for saving his life. He’s paying one of them back with this. I hope we don’t need him again by the time we get down, or we’ll be even. That’s not a position I want to be in.”

  Asher warmed his hands on the vent again; he’d helped tie off the ropes, too. “Let’s make sure this is the last emergency, then.”

  “The way our day’s been going, I’m not hopeful.”

  “Me, either,” he replied, “but you seem to have a way of surviving the worst. I wouldn’t bet against you.”

  She started the engine, glad once again she wasn’t going through everything alone.

  Land Between the Lakes, KY

  Ezra and his party rode the trail off the hillside and met up with people waiting on the near end of the wrecked bridge. Cars and trucks were parked in long columns as if waiting for it to reopen, though he guessed it wouldn’t be for a few years.

  There were hundreds of cars and trucks in the line. Ezra went directly to a truck driver sitting on the side-step of his bright red sleeper cab, reading a book. He shut off the motorcycle so they could converse. “What happened here?”

  The trucker looked up. He was a middle-aged man with an unshaven face and neck. After pulling off his glasses, the guy smiled. “It all washed away.”

  The man’s accent sounded Eastern European.

  “How long ago?” he pressed.

  “Big fall was this morning. Main span was hit with barges. All the junk flowed through the middle opening since then.” He motioned with his hands as if pushing garbage out of his way.

  Ezra really looked at the bridge. It was similar to the one in the north, with long strips of land leading up to the middle section over the water, but there didn’t appear to be any metal suspension work like the other one. It was simply a concrete bridge with no top. The middle section of the span had collapsed, possibly a result of the incredible amount of debris piled up on the south side of the opening.

  “I can see why it would have broken. There must be a million little boats stacked up, along with hundreds of barge pieces, house tops, and loose boat docks.”

  “Sound about right. I drive all over America and have never seen such a tragedy.”

  “What are you waiting for?” Ezra asked, not sure what answer the man could give. His truck wasn’t going forward, but it wasn’t possible to turn around, either. There were so many vehicles packed in tight, even a little car would have trouble turning back.

  “My company said they’re going to send a courtesy van to take me home to Virginia.”

  Ezra couldn’t take his eyes off the lake. Debris poured through the gap like a bloody wound. It flowed on the surface, a lot like a river set on top of the lake. The mass of junk floated away as far as he could see to the north. Thinking back to the drive in, he’d probably seen the start of the mess when they passed those free-floating barges.

  While he was lost in thought, a pair of grimy-looking young men came around the front bumper of the big rig. “Hey, Grandad, you got anything to drink?”

  Ezra wasn’t sure if they were talking to him or the truck driver, but their demeanor suggested they expected to be served.

  Butch, where are you? He’d stopped randomly at the truck to talk, but the women had gone closer to the front of the line, perhaps to see the bridge better. At that moment, he didn’t have eyes on them or his wingman.

  “He asked if you got drinks,” the second youngster pressed. “And anything else we might want.” To make his point, the kid slapped a crowbar on the fiberglass fender.

  They were in their late teens; based on their dirty clothes and faces, they could have been doing repair work on a car when the bridge was closed down. Since he was a mechanic himself, it should have been a point that impressed him, but they didn’t seem friendly in the least.

  The trucker dropped his book. “I’ve got some water in my fridge. I give!”

  Ezra considered pulling the AR off his back, but he’d been brought up with the rule that you never get out your gun unless you intended to use it. As much as he wanted to restore some order to the situation, he decided to let things play out. He did, however, set the muddy helmet on the end of his handlebar, then casually hop off the bike to free both hands.

  The trucker got in his cab and disappeared for half a minute. The two men looked at him as if he wasn’t worth their time, which was exactly what he wanted to convey. The first thug revealed his crowbar when he nervously tapped it against the front tire of the red truck. He had a little time to wonder how fast he could get the drop on them before a gunshot made him jump wildly, almost causing him to push the bike on its side.

  “No steal!” The truck driver stood next to his open door with a pistol raised to the air. After firing his warning shot, he aimed it at the two young men.

  They dropped their crowbars and tripped over their feet to retreat. Ezra put his hand up against one of his ringing ears but laughed heartily as the boys ran from the scene, probably needing a change of underwear to boot. His laughter was cut mid-stream when he looked back to the truck driver.

  His pistol was pointed at Ezra.

  Isla Socorro, Mexico

  Dorothy turned to walk up the ramp to the jumbo transport plane, but Petteri grabbed her arm. “You don’t have to go. We have very good facilities on the island.” He could force her to do whatever he wanted, but he was torn fifty-fifty on whether he needed her to come with him. Having her programming skills around could be useful in a pinch, but having her safe at the remote compound would ensure she never left his employment.

  “I’d like to stay with you, Mr. Tikkanen. The satellite images only show so much. I want to get down and dirty on the ground. Heck, maybe I can help calibrate your satellite tech to see through some of that mess. But, to be useful, you’ll have to take me there.”

  “Fine. Climb in.” He figured fate had made the call. He turned to Howard. “You k
now what to do?”

  “We’ll be in Denver by mid-afternoon and at the impact site an hour after that. Our team from the Silverthorne mine complex is headed there as we speak. They should have the site secure well before us.”

  Petteri was beside himself at his good luck. Not only did a huge chunk make it to the surface intact, but it had the good taste to land within a hundred miles of three of his Colorado mining facilities. The Silverthorne titanium mine was the largest in the state, and thus the easiest to tap for manpower.

  “Good work, Howard. Keep me apprised of their progress toward Tuonela; the second we get there I want to know what we’ve got on our hands. Until then, let’s keep off the radio about this, just on the off chance someone is listening.”

  His executive associate nodded. “I’ll have the pilot push the limits on speed and keep us running silent as best he can.”

  Satisfied he’d gotten the secretive communication out of the way, he waved to a small group of five people waiting to board nearby. They were his private pool of reporters; he wanted them present so they could take approved video and photographic proof showing TKM was indeed sending resources to the affected areas. They went up the big ramp, cameras flashing and video rolling.

  Once the press was out of earshot, he replied. “Very good. On the way there, Dorothy and I will study the situation from satellite imagery and listen in on local law enforcement channels.”

  Howard nodded and walked up the ramp.

  Dorothy tried to go up the ramp again, but he held her back a second time. “There’s something I need you to do with one of our satellites, if you think you’re up to it.”

  “I have them collecting data as fast as possible to determine the descending order of importance of the rock pieces across multiple states. We should know more in a few hours.”

  “That’s not it,” he said dryly.

  “Oh. Sorry.”

  “If things in the mountain states are as bad as you think, uh, Mad Max I believe you called it, we need to know more. I’d like you to use satellite images to scan the region around Yellowstone National Park. I want to know if any pieces came down there, and, if so, how much devastation they caused.”