Cassandra nodded her thanks for the tip. Apparently, she wasn’t the only person who’d come this way looking to avoid detection. She put the glasses on and turned to leave, but saw a bunch of maps in one of those old turnstile magazine holders. She picked out a large US atlas and another folding map of just Texas that would have much more detail on smaller roads than the entire US atlas would. Then, she saw one of Louisiana and grabbed that too. Maybe they’d end up going that far, she hadn’t decided yet.
She got back in line and eventually made her way to the counter once again. The clerk looked at her and winked. “You can have those, sweetie. We’ve had them in stock for about five years, so they’re outdated anyway. Nobody wants them now that everybody has those fancy phone GPS apps.”
“You sure? I can pay.”
“Nah. On the house. I own the place. Been meaning to throw them out for years, just never could let go of the old ways, y’know?”
She grinned and said, “Yeah, I need to get back to the basics.”
“Look, I know you don’t want to use your phone because you think they can track you.” The woman behind the counter leaned forward. “But it would be a pretty serious thing you’re hiding from if the government is tracking you by your phone…”
She left it as an open-ended statement. “Nah, just want to get back to the old ways of doing things,” Cassandra reaffirmed. “Are you sure I can’t pay you?”
The owner leaned back and smirked. “Well, okay. Just know that there are lots of people out here who don’t agree with the ways things are going. People who’d be willing to help. Especially for such a pretty little thing like you.”
Cassandra ducked her chin and held up the maps. “Thanks again. I appreciate the help.” She turned quickly and walked back outside to the pump.
She tossed the maps in the passenger seat and put the hose into her car’s gas tank and pulled the handle, flicking the lock mechanism into place. It slowed when it clicked off automatically at a little over seventeen dollars. She’d overpaid, but didn’t want to go back inside, so she’d just eat the loss. Once she replaced the hose, she sat back down in her car and started it up. There was a line of trucks off to the side. Trying to hide in with them would be ignorant, so she drove around to the back of the building where several cars were lined up alongside a row of tall cedar trees. They didn’t quite offer shade yet with the sun still high overhead, but they probably would in about an hour.
She parked and removed the toilet paper from around her waist. Then, she turned on the radio and reclined her seat. She unfolded the Texas map and held it over her head. When she found Waco, she followed the smaller side roads, trying to determine where they could go to get off the grid once Bodhi was here. They probably wouldn’t have a lot of time to decide then, so it was better to figure it out while she had plenty of it to spare.
For now, it was time to practice a little bit of patience and the art of not drawing attention to herself.
TWENTY-TWO
“Alright, so we’re really going to do this?” Rogan asked, looking at the co-conspirators across the table from him.
“Yeah. There’s no way that we stand by and let this happen. We need to stop Goodman.”
His eyes went wide at Plummer’s statement. “I’m just talking about springing Haskins, not taking out Goodman.”
Plummer shrugged. “Baby steps, brother. First we get him, then Goodman, then the whole goddamn System.”
“Shhh!” Taya hissed with a finger to her lips. “I’ve got the digital footprint here on lockdown, but I can’t help it if somebody hears you and calls it in. Jesus Christ, Chris.”
The big man leaned in. “This is only the beginning. The CEA is expanding rapidly, bringing in new agents and thugs like Newman every damn day. We’ve already tripled in size in just a year. I don’t know what the end goal is, but they’re sure as shit emptying out the fourteenth and thirteenth floors of our building to expand into. That would bring us to five full floors in that place. This is going to get much worse as the System’s power solidifies and they start flexing over the local and state governments more than they already are. And the CEA is just the public face of a cancer that’s infected our nation’s capital for decades. It needs to be cut out and thrown away.”
“Whoa,” Rogan said, holding up his hands. “Whoa. You’re talking about treason. I took an oath to my country—”
“To a country that doesn’t exist anymore,” Plummer reminded him. “The NAR isn’t America. We’re a group of people cowering in fear of getting slapped down by the government. I don’t want to be a part of it anymore.”
“Would you two shut the fuck up?” Taya admonished.
Rogan agreed with her. Plummer was going full-bore off the deep end with his anti-government rhetoric. It was more than enough to get them all put away for life. He paused at that thought. The New Constitution kept the First Amendment, altered from the original, but it was still there. Why should they be deathly afraid of speaking their minds?
Because the New Constitution is a joke, he reminded himself. The entire thing was a farce, meant to keep the population stupid and happy about their so-called rights, while the government continued to become more oppressive.
“Shit. Are we really talking about this?” he asked his two companions.
Plummer nodded, but Taya shook her head in the negative. “No. We need to focus on Bodhi. Then you boys can go home and have jerk-off fantasies about that other stuff while I’m not around.” He voice dropped lower. “I’m here to help Bodhi and Cassandra. After that, I’m out. I’m fucking good. I’m the best at the CEA and probably in any agency in Austin, but you start fucking around at the national level, where they have entire armies of people just like me, then I’m out. I don’t want to end up committing suicide in my apartment with two shots to the back of my head.”
Rogan smirked at her joke. She had a point. What would three people—correction, two people—do against the entire government? “Okay, let’s get back on topic then.” He stared hard at Plummer for a moment. “First, we have Cassandra running around, off the grid somewhere north of here. As far as we know, Goodman hasn’t sent agents to their house yet. I’m wondering if we pulled the trigger too early.”
“No,” Plummer stated. “That was a good move. The sooner we get her to safety, the better. It’s only a matter of time before Goodman goes after her—or the CEA itself goes after her. They only have that house because he works for the agency. Once that stops, they’ll clear ’em out and make room for somebody else.”
“Yeah, that’s what Taya and I figured when we launched today,” Rogan agreed. “Next, we get Haskins out. We can link him up with Cassandra and they can go… Well, that’s a lot of steps down the road. After we get them safely out of Austin, then you and me need to have a long conversation, Plummer. I agree with your sentiments about the System, but we don’t need to talk about it in public.”
“Fair enough, boss. How are we gonna get Bodhi out then?”
“There’s no update to the schedule, right? It’s still day after tomorrow?”
Taya tapped a few keys and slid her fingers over the screen of her laptop. “The director’s personal calendar says that it’ll happen at eleven on Wednesday morning.” She huffed. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“What?” Rogan asked.
“There’s a checklist in the calendar comment section. It’s titled ‘CEA Checklist for a Public Execution.’ Can you fucking believe that?”
“There’s an official checklist?” Plummer asked. “That’s bullshit.”
Taya ducked her chin. “There’s a bunch of stuff in here. Invite the media, determine most appropriate method, ensure weapons have ammunition, set up perimeter… Oh. That’s not good.”
“What?” Rogan asked. It seemed like he was saying that a lot recently.
“It has a short paragraph about watching out for rogue agents who have a moral objection to executions. Says they may try to sabotage the event. Tha
t’s what we’re doing. We’re doing exactly what it says. They’re already on to us. We have to back off.”
Rogan reached across the table and placed a hand over Taya’s. “We’re okay. We’re going to get ahead of them. We need…” He paused to align his thoughts. “We need to do this tonight, while things are still disorganized. It’s no big change from how we do it, we just go a day earlier.”
Plummer slapped his open palm on the table lightly so as not to draw attention. “That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s go, baby!”
“Taya,” Rogan said. “Can you be ready to go by tonight, say one a.m.?”
“Yeah… I think so.”
“I need a firm yes or no. Is—” He looked at his watch. “Is six hours enough time?”
“It’ll have to be,” she answered. “If we give them time to shore up the place, then we might not make it.”
“Agreed. Here’s what we’re gonna do…”
TWENTY-THREE
Cassandra leaned forward, the skin of her back sticking to the leather seat. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep, but she was pretty sure it was too long. Her clothes were damp with sweat and she could smell herself beginning to turn foul. The owner had told her to keep the car moving to confuse any law enforcement officers cruising the parking lot and she’d screwed that advice up.
She lifted the seatback into place and started the car. Hot air blasted from the vents at first, but gradually became cooler, so she rolled up the front windows, leaving the back down to allow the hot air in the car somewhere to go. After several large, greedy gulps of water, she picked up her phone to see if she’d missed a text message.
Nothing.
She was at the mercy of Taya, a woman whom she barely knew, to continue to provide cover for her, and a man whom Taya referred to as “R” that she didn’t know at all, to break her husband out of jail. What a messed up situation.
Cassandra shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the shade the trees now provided. She drove slowly, not wanting to attract attention from anyone or trigger a closer look by some unknown camera operator. The cameras. She eyed one pointing toward the back corner of the truck stop building in disgust. Had there always been so many cameras around and she just hadn’t noticed them or were they a new addition of life under the System? In the months that she’d lived in their new home, she’d gotten comfortable with the fact that the cameras saw every aspect of their lives, from her nudity to her and Bodhi’s minor arguments. They were just a way of life for them that couldn’t be changed. But now? Now she knew the truth. They really were there to spy on them, not for their safety. Taya had cautioned against letting the cameras see her face, if possible. The computer algorithms had already identified her as being in Waco, just by scanning her eyes. What a disaster.
Cassandra decided to get on the highway and drive around a bit. There were fewer cameras there and she’d be going fast enough that the scans would have an incredibly hard time identifying her. As she accelerated along the on-ramp, she had to force herself to take it easy. Speeding was one way to get stopped for sure because all along Interstate 35 in Waco was a known speed trap.
She spent twenty minutes driving north, past the city, then exited at a ramp for one of the many small farm roads that dotted the area. She’d turn around, then stop on the opposite ramp to hop out and pee if there was no one around. If there was, then she’d just keep on going, a simple turn around after a missed exit. She turned left, going under the highway.
Just on the edge of her periphery vision, Cassandra saw a leg quickly disappear out of her headlight beam. Her pulse quickened as she realized there must be homeless living under the bridge. The homeless were oppressed under the System and many had been arrested. No one seemed to know what happened to them, but given the events of the last day, she had a feeling that many of them had taken their last breath. Those who hadn’t been rounded up were forced out of the cities. They flocked to places like underpasses and forested areas for shade from the oppressive Texas sun.
“So much for going pee,” she muttered, pressing the accelerator.
She felt sorry for them, but what could she do to help? Her eyes fell on the extra food sitting in her passenger seat. It would probably make a world of difference for them.
Her foot began to ease off of the gas pedal. Bodhi would be so mad at her if she stopped. The vast majority of homeless were fine, but there was a small percentage who were dangerous, or mentally unstable. She was a woman, by herself, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the Lord knew how many homeless people hiding in the darkness.
“Yeah, not risking it,” she grunted. They’d have to fend for themselves. She accelerated once more, deciding to blow past the stop sign.
There was a thump against the side of her car as a rock hit it. She sped up even more. “That answers that question,” she said, looking into the rearview as several people emerged from the grass on either side of the road. They’d wanted her to stop. When she didn’t, they threw a rock at her car to make her stop and investigate the damage. They were waiting for her. If she’d been dumb enough to stop—and she almost was—they would have definitely robbed her and maybe even raped and murdered her.
The homeless were going to be a problem, she decided. Once Bodhi was free and they were traveling together, they’d have to contend with all of the others who were displaced from the cities. What would they do? The little bit of food and water they had stashed in the bags would only last a couple of days, maybe a week at most. Then they’d end up like the people under the bridge, ready to steal from others for food.
She hated the System. Hated it with every fiber of her being. It wasn’t fair. The road ahead began to get blurry, so she wiped at her eyes. That’s all she needed was to get into a wreck because she was crying and couldn’t see the road. She had to calm down, everything that was happening was beyond her control. She just needed to roll with the punches and look for her opportunity to strike back when she could. Right now was not the time. She had to escape and survive first.
Cassandra checked her phone again. There were still no messages from anyone with instructions on what to do or how it was going down in Austin. The radio hadn’t said anything about the events from earlier and she couldn’t use her cell phone to check the news without sending out a bright red beacon to everyone looking as to where she was.
Bodhi’s teammate had said that he’d contact her tonight, what had changed? She needed information and there was nothing. Taya made it very clear in her last messages that she shouldn’t send a text reply because it set off another beacon. Why was everything so difficult?
She wanted to scream in frustration. Okay, maybe she did scream in frustration as she drove. Why the hell not, nobody could see or hear her. It was cathartic in a way. Yelling like an idiot and elevating her heart rate actually calmed her down when she was finished.
Cassandra eventually pulled off and drove around the streets of Waco. She was careful to remember how to get back to the highway so she could return to the truck stop where the sympathetic businesswoman had made it seem as if people looking for an escape came through there often. She pulled alongside a park and hopped out to pee as she held onto the doorframe. It wasn’t dignified, but it felt damn good.
By the time she was ready to head back to the truck stop where she planned to spend the night, it was 10 p.m. She was exhausted from the stress and the heat of the day. “And from growing another human inside of my body,” she grumbled. It was time to get some sleep. She’d figure out her next move in the morning, but hanging around the truck stop wasn’t a long term plan.
Right then, though, the thought of laying the seat down and going to sleep behind the smelly restaurant sounded like heaven. It was the little things in life that mattered the most, Cassandra reminded herself.
TWENTY-FOUR
“Hey, Agent Rogan…oh, and Agent Plummer. I wasn’t expecting you guys. What brings y’all into the office tonight?”
�
��I’m, ah…paperwork?” Rogan replied. Shit. They hadn’t been expecting a guard at the CEA offices. They should have been, but the plan didn’t extend to what they would do if there were actual, physical witnesses beyond the one security guard in the lobby.
“Yo, Tony,” Plummer said, surging to the front. “What’s going on?”
“Ah, you know. Just keeping the midnight oil burning. Watching a few movies.” The guard gestured to the computer monitor in front of him on Caroline’s desk.
“How’s the wife and kids?” Plummer obviously knew the guy, which would make things worse if they had to kill him.
“They’re fine. They wish the pools were open, but you know, the Crud still has everything closed.”
“Yeah.” Plummer looked over his shoulder at Rogan, and passed a message with his eyes telling him to go get Haskins.
Rogan waved awkwardly in the heavy green trench coat that Taya had provided as he headed past the receptionist area. Both he and Plummer wore the damn things. Hot as hell in the summertime air, but it was supposedly easier for Taya to alter the footage with them. A buzz in his pocket made him pull out his phone.
Clear except Tony. Camera feed looped and delayed by 5 minutes. Altered footage to show two females entering the building using the greenscreen coats, replicating effects as you move. Agency will know we are here in about 6 minutes.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket. Taya had been able to hack into the CEA system, which was the go/no-go criteria for the mission. If she hadn’t been able to get in, then they would have had to try a different tactic. Six minutes was cutting it close, though, and Tony would be a problem. He had no way of knowing where the guard’s allegiances lay, and even if he did sympathize with Haskins, what could he do? He was the only one here, so he would be held accountable for the breakout.
“Fuck,” Rogan groaned. One problem at a time, he told himself. He needed to focus on rescuing Haskins, then worry about the guard.
American Dreams | Book 1 | The Decline Page 18
