The Day After Never (Book 2): Purgatory Road

by Russell Blake

  “Inside. This leads to a storage room on the upper level. From there you can make it back down the stairs to the basement on the far side of the hospital, and Jacob can show you the way out.” Eddie pointed to iron rungs leading up to a hatch in the ceiling. “Good luck.”

  “What about you?” Jacob asked.

  “Someone’s got to open the door.”

  Jacob’s face hardened. “They’ll kill you.”

  “For what? There’s nothing to find. Radio’s up in the other room. I’m the only one with the keys. And I’m in here.” Eddie frowned. “Now go. I’ll take my chances.”

  Lucas didn’t hesitate, and Jacob tailed him into the small space. The shower snicked back into place behind them, and Lucas switched on his penlight. Clenching it between his teeth, he climbed the rungs and then pushed the hatch up.

  The storage room was piled with discarded machinery, and Lucas pointed at a corner as Jacob scrambled through the gap in the floor. “He’s pretty tricky. That must be the radio. If I didn’t know what to look for, I’d assume it was being used for parts.”

  The radio sat on a crate, sans cover, just a metal frame and a bunch of wire and electrical components. The giveaway was the microphone and a pair of small computer speakers, as well as a power cord stretching into the darkness.

  “I hope he’ll be okay,” Jacob said.

  “Let’s worry about us for now.” Lucas flashed the light on the far door. “I assume you know where we are.”

  “I think so.”

  Lucas removed his hat and pressed his ear against the steel slab. After several moments he replaced it, shut off the flashlight, and switched his scope back on.

  “I can’t see,” Jacob said.

  “I can. Once we’re out, which way?”

  “Left. It would have to be left.”

  “Hang on to the back of my flak jacket. Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  Lucas twisted the handle and eased the door open. There was a wide hall he could make out in the scope. He whispered what he was seeing to Jacob, who whispered back.

  “There should be a stairway at the end of the hall.”

  Lucas nodded and then inched from the doorway with cautious steps, doing his best to avoid any noise. Jacob was right behind him, shuffling along with smaller strides to keep from tripping while hanging onto Lucas’s vest. They heard muffled voices behind them, but they were further away in the building, the sound echoing off the walls, and the absence of light confirmed that they hadn’t been spotted.

  At the stairwell, Lucas led Jacob down to the lower level. When they exited into another hall, Lucas murmured to the scientist, “We’re on the basement level. There’s a hall going straight and one to our right. Which way?”

  “It would have to be right.” Jacob sounded tentative.

  “You sure?”

  “It’s been a while since I was down here…” He swallowed. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Then come on.”

  Lucas picked up the pace, and within a couple of minutes they were at another stairway, this one leading up. When they were at ground level, Lucas stopped.

  “Can we use the flashlight now?” Jacob asked.

  “Risky. Why?”

  “I need to see where we are.”

  Lucas checked the M4 safety and then offered the weapon to him, the night vision scope eyepiece glowing green. “Look through there. Takes some getting used to, but not that much.”

  The scientist took the rifle from him, clearly unfamiliar with the feel of a weapon, and peered through the scope. He grunted and motioned left. “This way.”

  Lucas shadowed him to the foyer of the health sciences building. They approached the plywood covering the entry, and Jacob handed the rifle back to him. They listened at the barrier for a solid minute, and when there was no movement outside, Jacob slid the loose panel open and stepped into the night.

  They sprinted across the parking lot, afraid gunfire would erupt from behind them at any moment, and breathed a sigh of relief when they neared the trees at the edge of the lot. They stopped and got their bearings, and then Jacob grimaced in the dim starlight and offered his hand to shake.

  “This is where we part ways. Good luck,” he said.

  Lucas took the scientist’s hand and shook. “You too.” He paused. “You think Eddie will give you up?”

  “Not willingly, but if they apply enough pressure…”

  “You should bail.”

  “I can’t.” Jacob looked away. “It’ll be fine. They don’t have anything on him.”

  Lucas didn’t press the point – Jacob was an adult and knew the risks.

  Jacob hesitated, and when he spoke, his voice was soft. “Tell Sierra I…tell her she’s missed, would you?”

  Lucas swallowed hard, but his face remained unreadable. “Sure thing.”

  “I appreciate it. We didn’t really have any time to talk the night she left…”

  “Right.”

  They split up, and Lucas trotted north toward the brick house as Jacob went east. There was nothing Lucas could do for either of the men who’d helped him, although deep down he had the urge to return to the hospital, guns a-blazing, and take out the guards. He knew even as he thought it that it was foolhardy, but if the old man or Jacob told the Crew the details of the rendezvous…

  At that point it would be a footrace – it would take them as long to reach Roswell as it would Lucas, and he would have a considerable head start.

  He’d have to chance it and hope that the interrogation went long, assuming there was one.

  Then again, the radio was well hidden and Eddie didn’t strike him as stupid. He had to be clever to have worked against his masters for years without being caught. Perhaps he would get away with it this time.

  Lucas shook away the second-guessing.

  Either he would be questioned and tell them what he knew, or he wouldn’t. Regardless, nothing changed for Lucas. He still had to get to Bitter Lake by dusk in four days with the women, whether with the Crew on their tail or not. Everything else was theoretical. What Lucas did know was that horses could only cover so much ground per day, and Tango, with the ability to make a solid fifty, was better than most, especially if the Crew didn’t use theirs for long distances with any regularity. In that case they might get forty if they were lucky, slowing as the days went by and the animals wore out.

  No matter what the case, Shangri-La had transformed from an ambiguous possibility to a certainty in Lucas’s mind – one he wasn’t going to allow to pass them by.

  He spied Tango’s dark form at the tree where he’d tied him and increased his speed. They would be well clear of the city by dawn, and they could rest more in the heat of the day, once Lubbock’s skyline had faded into the horizon behind them.

  Tango sensed Lucas’s arrival and gave a welcoming snort. Lucas smiled in spite of the dire situation and allowed the horse to nuzzle him before climbing into the saddle, his weariness heavy as a lead blanket, and directing the stallion west.

  ~ ~ ~

  Jacob rounded a corner on the way back to the gutted apartment complex and almost ran headlong into three crew gunmen. He recognized one of them – a guard at the lab – and nodded a greeting.

  The man scowled at him. “You been at the hospital tonight?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Why are you out in the middle of the night?”

  “Where have you been? My apartment burned to the ground. Where am I supposed to go?”

  The guard eyed the scientist the way a crocodile eyes a lamb and then glanced at the man on his right.

  “Take him to the hospital. I’ll be there shortly. Don’t let him talk to the other one.”

  Jacob bit back his protest when he heard the final words. The other one. So they’d somehow placed him with Eddie. He had no idea how, but they obviously had, which meant his time on the planet was limited to hours, barring a miracle. His knees threatened to buckle, but he held firm, resolved
to continue his pretension that he had no idea what they were talking about as long as possible in order to buy Lucas time.

  Because regardless of what happened to him, Magnus couldn’t be allowed to get his hands on the girl.

  Jacob would go to his grave to prevent that.

  Chapter 39

  Ruby and Sierra were in the kitchen, preparing breakfast from eggs Bruce had collected, when someone pounded on the trailer door. Ruby froze, skillet in hand, above the flickering flame from the modified wood-burning stove Bruce had shoehorned into the dwelling.

  Bruce came out of his bedroom and peeked out of the side window, and then turned to Sierra. “Don’t worry. Just a couple of customers. Stay out of sight.”

  Ruby moved the skillet well away from the fire and set it down as Sierra made for their bedroom, where Eve was dozing. Ruby followed her in, and Bruce opened the front door as they disappeared into the room.

  Three men stood at the steps, the middle one with his hands on his hips, the others with their arms folded across their chests. All had rifles hanging from shoulder slings, and none looked particularly happy.

  Bruce offered a smile. “Tom. Wesley. Hank. How’re you guys doing today?”

  “Been two weeks, Bruce. Tired of waiting. Either give us what you promised or return the goods.”

  “I told you it could take a while. Hard to find parts for the panels anymore. But I’ve been looking.”

  “You took half the payment in advance, Bruce. You done half the work?” Hank, the largest of the three, growled.

  “Doesn’t work like that. More than half the work is finding the right stuff. I explained that up front.”

  “Getting mighty tired of doin’ without power, Bruce,” the man in the middle said. “Maybe you should give us your panels and see how you like it for a while.”

  “Yeah,” Wesley agreed. “Why don’t we do that and see how it sits? Even trade. Our busted ones for your workin’ ones.”

  “Guys, come on. I can’t repair your stuff without power,” Bruce countered.

  “Don’t much matter if we got yours,” Hank observed. “I’m likin’ that idea a whole bunch.”

  Bruce’s voice hardened. “It’ll be another week. Sorry, guys, but that’s the best I can do. I can’t materialize parts out of thin air. Be reasonable.”

  “Then how about you give us back all the ammo we traded you, and we take our panels and find someone else?”

  “There is nobody else. You know that.”

  Tom elbowed Wesley, an ugly expression twisting his meaty features. “Betcha he don’t have the ammo, either.”

  Wesley took a step closer. “Think we want our ammo back, Bruce. Now.”

  “I had to trade most of it to get wire for your inverter. The other stuff was fried, shorting out all over the place. Sun had baked the insulation – that was a part of your problem.”

  “Told you,” Tom said. “I knew it. Bastard robbed us, and now he’s tryin’ to stall.”

  The men freed their weapons and held them loosely in their hands, the message more than clear. Bruce’s face blanched and he shook his head.

  “No need for that, gentlemen. I’m good for it. But don’t you really just want your stuff fixed rather than your ammo?”

  “Nah. We want your array. Fair’s fair, you friggin’ pothead,” Hank growled. “Don’t think we haven’t seen you lyin’ around here stoned instead of workin’. Makes me sick thinkin’ ’bout it. You think you can screw us and get away with it? That what you think?”

  “Nobody’s screwing anyone, Hank. There was a slight delay. That’s all.”

  “You told us less than a week originally.”

  “You mean when you came here begging me to help? Told me to bump my other jobs and you’d make it worth my while? Is that when I told you?” Bruce countered.

  “Damned fools to think you would,” Tom snapped.

  “Look. You can’t have my array. That was never part of the deal. I told you I’d repair yours and gave you an estimate of how long I thought it would take. It’s running longer than I’d hoped. For which I apologize, but I can’t change that or find parts before I find them. You can threaten all you want, but it’s not going to get the job done any faster.”

  Wesley’s face flushed with color and he raised the barrel of his gun. “Playin’ with fire, boy.”

  The side window slid open and the snout of an AK-47 appeared. Ruby’s voice rang out from behind the thin gauze curtains.

  “There a problem, Bruce?”

  Bruce eyed the men and tried not to smile. “No, I don’t think so. Is there, boys?”

  Wesley looked like he’d been kicked in the balls. “Why, I oughta–”

  “You oughta get out of here and let me work before you discover you aren’t bulletproof, boys,” Bruce warned. “I’ve been pretty civil, but I don’t appreciate the bully tactics, and if you think you’re going to draw down on me while on my property, ask yourself how you’d react if someone did the same to you.” Bruce let that sink in. “Now I’m going to repair your gear and get it back to you as fast as possible. The alternative is I can give you back the panels and inverter, and I’ll scrounge up some ammo in a day or so. But you’re not going to threaten me, and you’re not taking my array – or you’re going to have some serious problems, and the town will back me for defending myself. We both know that.”

  “You’re makin’ the mistake of your life, punk,” Hank spat.

  “Gentlemen, I’d suggest you get on home before my friend here gets nervous. An AK on full auto can be touchy. You don’t want nervous fingers on the trigger. Hate for an accident to happen, so lower your guns, move off my property, and come back in a week.”

  Wesley did as instructed, clearly not prepared to be staring down the barrel at death that morning. The other two men followed his lead and shouldered their guns as they backed away.

  “You best sleep with one eye open. You ain’t the only one can have accidents around here,” Hank warned. As they turned and trudged off, Bruce’s eyes seared holes in the backs of their jackets.

  When the men had disappeared, Bruce resumed breathing and closed and locked the trailer door. He glanced at Ruby and nodded his head to her. “I didn’t realize what customer service talent you had. You’ve been wasting yourself on computers.”

  “Seemed like you could use a hand there.”

  “Yeah, welcome to my world. It’s been getting worse. Everyone wants it now, or sooner, and they don’t care about the details.” He exhaled slowly. “Anyway, thanks.”

  “Think they were serious about coming back at night?”

  “Nah. That was bluster. There’s still nobody else who can repair their crap.”

  “Sounded awful convincing. Hate for one of them to get drunk and put a few rounds through the side of this tin can. Not with Eve around.”

  “They won’t.”

  Ruby looked at him skeptically. “You one hundred percent sure?”

  “Do I smell eggs?”

  She shook her head and closed the window. “Don’t get us into any more trouble than we’re already in, Bruce. Just promise me that.”

  “Might have to carry your luggage for you if things keep going this way,” Bruce conceded. “Neighborhood’s turning chillier by the minute.”

  “Lucas will be back in a few days. That’s all we need.”

  “Then that’s what you shall receive. Now let’s get some of those eggs cooked so I can keep my strength up. I’m hungry as a horse.”

  “You should cut back on the loco weed. I hear that’s hell on the appetite.”

  Bruce ignored her barb and strode to his room. “Call me when it’s ready. I need to go empty my pants now.”

  Ruby couldn’t help but grin. “I’ll bet.”

  Chapter 40

  Jacob stood shivering in a lower-floor room of the hospital in spite of the warm temperature, stripped naked and hanging from an eyelet in the ceiling by his bound wrists, his feet barely touching the floor. His
left calf had cramped several times, adding to his discomfort, and the complete darkness in the dank chamber further isolated him and increased the sense of surrealism of the experience.

  He’d always known this day might come, but all the intellectualizing hadn’t prepared him for the grim reality. The guards had marched him to the hospital and led him downstairs, and then gone to work on him with their fists until he’d lost consciousness. When he’d come to, he’d been in his present state, his jaw and cheekbones throbbing from the beating, one eye swollen partially shut, and a trickle of blood drying beneath his broken nose.

  He inhaled through his mouth, every breath a gasp that sent lances of pain shooting through his chest from several broken ribs. He tried to imagine the bones splintered, the ragged edge of one puncturing an organ, the hemorrhaging causing him to black out a final time and sparing him the ordeal he knew was to come, but he knew he wasn’t fatally injured – the Crew thugs had seen to that.

  For Magnus’s men to have beaten him, Eddie had to have given him up – there was no other way they would jeopardize the vaccine effort to the extent that Jacob’s demise would cause. True, he had subordinates who knew how to make the antibiotics and other products they manufactured, but the vaccine held its own complexities. The virus’s composition and penchant for mutation was unlike any he’d seen before, its genesis unknown other than its startling resemblance to Spanish flu.

  That he would be replaced was obvious, but it would mean significant delays as the new director came up to speed, checked all prior work, and familiarized himself with the failed attempts they’d made and the leaps in understanding that had resulted. Jacob had deliberately stalled the project at every turn, knowing there was nobody watching over his shoulder capable of catching the subtle sabotage. That would change when his replacement came in, and would bring Magnus closer to being able to generate an effective vaccine – an eventuality that Jacob and Eddie had risked their lives to prevent.