“I…I can’t.”
His expression hardened and his mouth narrowed to a thin line. “Then I’m afraid you’re going to have to go tomorrow. I’m sorry. I truly am.”
“Go! Go where?”
Bruce shrugged. “Not my problem. All I know is that I’m either your friend or your enemy, and I’ve been treating you like my friends, and you’re rewarding me by acting like I’m your enemy. This is my place, so I get to make the rules. I’m sorry.”
“Come on, Bruce, that’s blackmail.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s telling you that the condition of staying here, under my protection, is being honest with me. Christ sakes, Sierra, hasn’t it occurred to you or Ruby that I can’t do a decent job of it if I have no idea what to expect?”
Sierra chewed her bottom lip. “You can’t tell Ruby I told you anything, Bruce. You have to swear.”
He smiled for the first time. “I promise.”
“We’re trying to get somewhere, but we don’t know where it is.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s safe there.”
“Safe from what?”
She looked away. “Everything.”
“Could you be any less specific? Come on. This is bullshit. You’re not telling me anything I couldn’t have already figured out from your little talks with Ruby.” He sat back. “Oh, you think I don’t overhear you two? You really do think I’m oblivious, don’t you?”
“We’re trying to find out the location of a place called Shangri-La. A refuge. It’s supposed to have electricity, water, food, and is well defended – and not like here. I mean really well defended.”
He stared at her incredulously. “Shangri-La? As in the mythical Himalayan valley where people live forever? You realize that’s a myth, right?”
“I didn’t name it.”
He studied her face. “You believe this crap?”
“It’s a real place, Bruce. If we can get there, we’ll be…everything will be good.”
Bruce’s tone quieted. When he spoke, it was as though to a child. “Sierra, I hear versions of this all the time on the radio and from travelers who pass through and need something repaired: that there’s a place with chocolate rivers and unicorns and rainbows, where everything’s different and special. It’s a common fable throughout history because it’s so attractive to believe. Who doesn’t want to believe that if they just put out a little effort, they can live in paradise? Believe me, I get it. You think I like living in this shithole? This town’s slowly dying for me – there’s less I can do to fix people’s stuff as time goes by, and I can’t source parts. I can tell you how that’s going to end up – with me trying to eke out a living however I can in a place that isn’t exactly the land of plenty. If I thought for a minute there was someplace where I could go and have it all different, I’d be on it like white on rice.” He stopped. “But there isn’t. I get that. Because I’m an adult, and that’s just the way things are.”
“I don’t care whether you believe me or not, Bruce. You asked what we’re doing. I told you. You think it’s BS, that’s your prerogative. I’m not looking for validation, I’m just laying it out, as you asked.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe Ruby bought into this. She’s smarter than that.”
“That she did should tell you something,” Sierra snapped back.
“It tells me that people get strange ideas into their heads, especially as they get older.”
Sierra shrugged. “Whatever. Think what you like. I’m not asking for your pity. We’re waiting for Lucas to get back from finding out where it is.”
“Will he be riding in Santa’s sleigh?”
She picked up the book. “Sounds like this discussion is done. I told you what you wanted to know. Is there anything else?”
He nodded. “You left out the part about who you’re afraid of.”
“There’s a gang that thinks I’m their property. They don’t take no for an answer, okay? So they’re after me.”
“A gang? Which one?”
“Why? What does it matter? There’s a bunch of filth that wants to use me until I’m broken, and they don’t like that I got away. They have the same in store for Eve. You want to throw us out and give them a shot at us? Is that how this is going to play?”
“I didn’t say that…”
“The hell you didn’t. You threatened it. Don’t pretend you didn’t, Bruce. Own it.”
“I said I didn’t want you staying here if you weren’t going to be honest with me. That’s not unreasonable. Because it’s what you don’t know that can get you killed. Now you’ve told me, so consider that settled. Although it would help to know who to be on the lookout for.”
“Take your pick. The Locos. The Crew out of Houston. The Raiders. Anyone who would treat us as slaves because they can.”
“They’re all after you?” Bruce said, his face draining of color.
“I used them as examples,” Sierra backtracked, aware that she might have said too much.
“So they aren’t after you?”
Sierra sighed and stood. “Just assume everyone in the world is, Bruce. You’ve never been a woman, so you have no idea what it’s like to be treated as property, but that’s what it’s like most places these days. The reason we’re interested in finding Shangri-La is because that’s not how things are there. If you think looking for someplace better is crazy, that’s fine, you’re entitled to your opinion, but until you’ve been passed around like a joint at a concert by a bunch of scum you’d rather die than…” She ran out of breath and shook her head in disgust. “You think you’ve got it tough here, Bruce? I’m not dissing you at all, but you have no frigging idea what tough is. And I want better than that for Eve and myself. End of story.”
Sierra turned and stormed to the bedroom, leaving Bruce watching her departure with an open mouth.
“Damn, girl, you’re something else,” he muttered after the door closed behind her, and reached for his pipe and a pinch of marijuana to steady his nerves.
Chapter 37
Jacob led Lucas down an empty street, a tributary to the main artery that fed onto the hospital campus. They’d agreed it best to leave Tango well away from the medical center in order to reduce the chances of their being discovered; a big bay stallion was likelier to be spotted than a couple of men moving stealthily in the gloom.
The scientist had been tight-lipped about his contact, other than to say that he was a character and that the Crew depended on him to keep the lab operating. Lucas hadn’t pressed for more information, figuring that if it made Jacob feel more secure to keep the man’s identity a mystery, that was fine – as long as Lucas could conclude his business that night and be rid of Lubbock by morning, they could talk in code and wear masks for all he cared.
The only good news in the scenario so far was that Jacob appeared to be taking the adventure seriously, and he didn’t strike Lucas as the flighty type. That lent credibility to the possibility that they could actually make it to Shangri-La and that it would be as worthwhile an endeavor as Sierra hoped. The skeptical part of Lucas was still doubtful that an enclave could evade detection by powerful foes for years, but judging by Jacob’s reactions, it seemed more likely. Now that he’d met the man, he could tell that he was dead serious about the risks involved in contacting his cutout, which meant that he believed attempting to organize another rendezvous to be worth it.
For Lucas’s sake, he hoped that Jacob was right.
That Sierra had been intimate with Jacob didn’t faze Lucas as much as he’d thought it might. Her explanation had made sense once he’d met the scientist – he had a kind of quiet magnetism, and he could see how she might have been drawn to him, especially given the circumstances. Neither of them seemed shattered to have moved on, so it couldn’t have been all that deep a connection – not that he had any proprietary claim on her.
They reached the north parking lot, which was larger than several football fields, and Lucas paused ne
xt to a tree to scan the area with his scope while Jacob waited beside him. He spotted three guards by the main building, a six-level monolith with several multistory connected structures of mammoth proportions.
“There are gunmen at the entrance on this side,” he whispered.
“Not unexpected. We’re going to cut over to the east side, through the health sciences building. It’s not being used, and there are a number of subterranean passageways, even though they’ve blocked off the ones at ground level.”
“Why don’t they lock the passages?”
“Maintenance. Some of the equipment’s shared.”
“They don’t guard it?”
Jacob shook his head. “From what? Main reason they guard the hospital is because of the lab. The health sciences building’s been looted – there’s nothing left worth stealing you wouldn’t need a forklift to move.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’d have been told if anything changed,” Jacob said.
Lucas followed him across the expanse to the health sciences entry, which was boarded up. Jacob glanced around and then slid one of the plywood slabs aside just far enough so they could squeeze through. Lucas pushed the board closed behind him, and they stood beside each other in utter darkness.
“Got a flashlight?” Jacob asked.
“What would you do if I didn’t?”
“I have a lighter, but I’d rather not waste the fuel.”
Lucas removed his penlight from his plate carrier and switched it on. He handed it to Jacob, who led the way through the wreckage of what had been the lobby and then down a flight of service stairs that smelled of long-dry urine and general rot.
“There were some squatters in here a few years ago,” Jacob explained. “Before Magnus set up the lab. His men took care of them.”
Lucas didn’t have to ask how.
“Why didn’t you try to get to Shangri-La too?” Lucas probed. “Sierra told me you were…close.”
Jacob shook his head. “That’s not my role. I have to stay here and do what I can to sabotage Magnus’s vaccine effort. That’s the most important thing I can do – they already have adequate know-how in Shangri-La.”
“You weren’t tempted?”
“I wasn’t invited. Besides, I know what I have to do. If I’m successful, Shangri-La will still be there, and the world will be a better place for everyone.”
Their soles crunched on broken glass and bits of ceiling tile that had been ripped out for access to the copper wire above. Next they entered a long basement hall with dank air, the walls sweating through battleship gray paint. Jacob stopped at one of the metal doors, listened, and then swung it open and motioned for Lucas to enter.
They entered a room lined with huge steel pipes, each with wheeled handles at junctions where they continued on in narrower runs. Jacob walked to a small opening on the far side of the room and gestured for Lucas to follow him through. They both had to crouch to get through the vandalized duct gap, and then they were in a tunnel with bundles of heavy wiring running its length, a two-foot wide walkway stretching down the middle.
They made their way to the end, and Jacob twisted the handle on a corroding steel door at the top of four cement stairs. He walked through and Lucas ascended, the hair on his arms standing up at a thrumming sound coming from ahead of them.
“AC compression lines and the pump rooms are up ahead,” Jacob explained. “Not much farther to go.”
They were in another corridor, this one with a polished concrete floor and ivory walls painted in high gloss. Above them, emergency lighting flickered, though only a few of the bulbs were still working. Jacob handed Lucas back his flashlight and whispered, “No need for it from here on. This section has power.”
The scientist picked up his pace and turned into a dark hall before stopping at a green steel door with maintenance stenciled on it. He glanced at Lucas and rapped softly. A muffled voice called out from inside.
“What the hell do you want at this hour?”
“Eddie. It’s me – Jacob.”
The sound of a bolt opening filled the hall. The door opened ten seconds later and they found themselves facing a gnome of a man in orange coveralls, no more than five foot two, his white hair askew, his blue eyes puffy but the whites almost luminescent.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, unable to keep the fear from his voice, and then registered Lucas standing behind Jacob. “Who’s this?”
“Sierra sent him.”
The man’s expression changed and he sized Lucas up. “Yeah?”
“She’s safe,” Lucas said, his voice low.
“Who’re you?”
“A friend.”
The little man looked down the hallway and stepped aside. “Get in here before you draw the guards,” he snapped. “I could hear you a mile away.”
Jacob and Lucas stepped into a chamber as long as a boxcar and stacked to the ceiling with boxes of parts, pieces of machinery, tools, bails of wire, and various gizmos Lucas couldn’t identify.
“Lock it,” the gnome said.
Lucas obliged, driving the bolt home with a solid thunk.
“This way,” the man said, and led them through the clutter to another room, this one wider but equally stuffed with junk. He moved to a seat and sat beside a desk with a computer monitor in the center of it and stacks of papers on either side of the screen. He swiveled around and faced them, his bulldog face raised pugnaciously to Lucas. “You have two minutes to explain,” he barked.
Lucas recounted his story in half the allotted time and, when he was finished, stood silently waiting for a response. Eddie looked him up and down, taking in his dusty boots and pants, the dried blood on his sleeve, the fatigue lines and discoloration beneath his eyes, and slowly nodded.
“I can make a call. How long will it take you to get to the Roswell area?”
“Figure four days, if I turn around now and start riding.”
“And your interest in the woman and child?”
“I promised I’d help them reach Shangri-La. After that, I’m out.”
Eddie’s eyes softened. “You said you rescued them both?”
“I was the only one around to do it.”
“The Native Americans believed that you became tied to those you saved. That there was a bond you couldn’t shake.”
“I’m not Native American.”
Eddie eyed him skeptically. “Might be something to it, is all.”
Lucas nodded. “Could be,” he allowed.
Eddie stood and motioned to two sorry-looking metal chairs with red vinyl seats. “Take a load off. I’ll go see if I can raise someone.”
The little man trundled to another door at the back of the room, unlocked it, and then disappeared inside. Lucas checked the time, fidgety, and Jacob steepled his fingers and leaned forward.
“He’s a little rough around the edges, but Eddie’s good people.”
“What’s his story?”
“He keeps the place running. He was the head of maintenance before the collapse. He holed up in here while the world fell apart around him, and was on his last legs when the Crew took over the town. They pressed him into duty, and he’s been here ever since. Hates them, but what can you do?”
“He could disappear.”
“Man’s sixty-seven this year. Wouldn’t last long out in the world.”
“You’d be surprised. One of my friends is about that age, and she’s doing fine.”
“Eddie isn’t like everybody. He’s got diabetes. Magnus keeps him supplied with insulin, and he stays put. Bargain with the devil, he calls it.”
“Where does the Crew get insulin?”
“We make it in the lab. For trade. Same with a few antibiotics and painkillers. You’d be surprised how much the desperate will pay for those.” Jacob glanced at him. “Or maybe you wouldn’t.”
“Never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. What’s the point of having something if you can’t use it to save your life?”
�
�True words.”
“So he’s working behind the Crew’s back to sabotage them?”
“Nothing overt. That would be too dangerous. But he can be eyes and ears, and when they brought Eve and Sierra here and set up a vaccine lab, that launched a whole series of events in motion, which culminated in their escape.”
“And nobody suspected you two?” Lucas asked.
“They suspected everyone. But what are they going to do, absent any evidence? Kill the two people that run their operation? And then what? Who’s going to keep the lights on or the meds made?”
“From what Sierra told me about Magnus, they easily could have. She didn’t describe him as a deep thinker.”
“There’s risk to everything,” Jacob agreed.
“Dangerous game.”
Jacob gave him a grim smile. “So’s the one you’re playing.”
“Got that right,” Lucas conceded.
“Then we’re in the same boat.”
“Not really. I can leave.”
Eddie reappeared and approached Lucas. “All right. There’s another meet set: four days from now at dusk. Place called Bitter Lake, northeast of Roswell.”
“Bitter Lake,” Lucas repeated. “Never heard of it.”
“There’s a makeshift bar the locals built out of pallets and whatnot at the water’s edge. Bartender’s name is Colt. He’s your man.”
“Colt. Bitter Lake. Got it,” Lucas said.
A pounding sounded from the hallway door, and a loud voice called out, “Open the door. Now – or we’ll kick it down.”
Chapter 38
Jacob looked around, eyes wild. Eddie’s expression hardened with determination. “Damn. They must have been able to triangulate the broadcast. Come on. This way,” he said.
The little man led them to the room from which he’d emerged. Inside was a storage room with a small bathroom in the near corner. Eddie raced to the bathroom door and yanked it open, and then moved to the shower stall. He fiddled with one of the faucets, cursing. A soft click echoed from behind it, and he heaved on the stall and slid it toward him.
The Day After Never (Book 2): Purgatory Road Page 19
