Thick Black Theory: A Symbiont Wars Book (Symbiont Wars Universe)

by Chogan Swan

  She turned to bang on the side of the SUV. “We’ve got a vehicle inbound,” she yelled. “... and a couple of hungry girls with a hankering for some CRUNCHY peanut butter. So, you’d better stand and deliver, boys. And there had better be some fig preserves left, or there’ll be heck to pay.”

  Marian giggled, putting her hand over her mouth—to Kaitlin—it was the sound of water in the desert.

  Chapter 33 — Work of art

  Kaitlin finished the last bite of her peanut butter and fig sandwich and washed it down with lukewarm strawberry protein milkshake then chased that with lukewarm water. It wasn’t that the protein drink was bad, just a bit chalky. Marian didn’t seem to mind it though. She had chugged hers and licked the cup.

  Kaitlin stood, rising from the bench that overlooked the canyon. Buzzards wheeled above, doing a cost-benefit analysis of whether it was worth landing to compete with the earlier arrivals for the scraps left on the bones below.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  Earlier Kaitlin had met the agent from the Nii Confederacy’s embassy, a whip-thin West Texan named Austin, who had come with the river guides. After an early briefing, he’d spent the last hour with Daniels. At the first briefing, he’d shown them on the map where the boat launches on the US side had all been occupied by camps of militia.

  Austin’s face had turned grim when Kaitlin asked if he knew the militia’s agenda.

  “Finding the surest road to hell, is what it looks like,” he’d said, glancing from Kaitlin’s eyes to where Marian was coloring at the picnic table under the awning they’d found. He frowned and shook his head. “Let’s just say this is not a safe area, especially for children or women.” He turned his eyes back to Kaitlin. “They’ve stuck to this side of the border, and—so far—there’s been no conflict with Mexico. The Mexican military patrols the river in armed watercraft. The embassy asked the military to have a boat at the meeting of the Rio Grande and Seminole Canyon. You’ll switch to their boat then Lorna and Terry will bring the canoes back here where I’ll be holding the fort for them.”

  He tapped the map at a spot well south of the border. “When you get off the boat, an embassy van will take you all to a hotel in Monterrey. Tomorrow morning, you’ll fly to Mar de Cortés International on the Bay of California via commercial flight. Then it’s an hour drive to the Sun Sea farm.” His face softened a bit. “That’s a good place for a kid to be these days. So, in other words, after you cross the border, you should be prepared for long boring trips to and from hotels and airports.”

  Kaitlin frowned. “That’s not a problem. I could use some boring it sounds like a vacation. All my money was in a US bank though. How will I buy a ticket?”

  “You don’t need to worry about that. The tickets are covered by the embassy. Amber recruited you; that includes some transportation costs.”

  Austin grinned. “Though from what I’ve heard from the reports Daniel’s has been logging, your embassy sponsored trip so far hasn’t been smooth sailing, has it?

  He slapped his forehead. “Oh, I forgot. Brian said to tell you he got all your money transferred to an account in the Cayman Islands before the Big Pop.”

  Kaitlin’s heart leaped. “You know Brian? Where is he? Is Marlee with him? Are they safe?”

  Austin held up a hand. “They’re fine. We moved a bunch of our key people out of the US before the Fight for the Future debut. At the time, the EMP scenario seemed unlikely, but we weren’t taking any chances with people who didn’t belong in an insurgent role.”

  “But they were in Richmond the night before the grid went down.”

  “Richmond was one rally point. They flew out that night. And, when Amber and Ayleana recruited you, it tripped Brian’s flag in our ‘look-for’ database. They’ve been asking for updates about you for weeks. You’ll see them soon.”

  He chuckled. “Brian, in particular, has not been happy about the delays in your progress.”

  Kaitlin turned her head to look at Marian. Her artwork this morning was still intense, but the frantic edge to it was gone. “I think I needed to find someone first,” Kaitlin said.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  Two fiberglass canoes rested on the sand next to the SUV, their lightweight aluminum paddles lashed to the interior braces and cushioned portage yokes fastened to the middle braces so one person could carry a canoe. Covered with a patina of dust, the delivery pickup still emitted soft ticks as the motor finished equalizing its temperature with the rising heat of the morning.

  The two women who’d brought the gear—sun-browned river guides—lounged in the shade of their truck, sipping water from hydration packs. Their plan was to portage until they reached the part of Seminole canyon that held enough water to paddle. That was the first two kilometers.

  The guides would carry the canoes while the rest of them carried what they could fit in their packs. Kaitlin agreed with Daniels that top priority should be ammunition. She certainly wasn’t going to leave any of the Long Colt .45 behind. The plan was to restrict guns to a bullpup and a sidearm each. The weight of what they’d be bringing would already take them to the maximum load for the canoes.

  As Kaitlin crossed the parking lot, Austin left the shade by the SUV. He sauntered toward her and waved his hand. Kaitlin waved in return and veered to the left to wait for him in the shade of an abandoned RV. She had asked him to come find her when he was finished because she had questions.

  When Austin joined her in the shade, Kaitlin paused to gather her thoughts, scuffing a boot in the dirt. “So, Austin, thanks for taking time to talk. I need your help. The embassy has some sort of communication system working in the US. I know it’s not just for nearby communication, because Ayleana, Amber and Kest were sending texts all over the country the day after the Big Pop.”

  She looked up and into his eyes. “Marian was kidnapped in the suburbs of Dallas. Do you have contacts that might be able to locate her parents?”

  “I know we have contacts.” He took off his palm-straw hat and wiped his forehead. “I couldn’t say how much time they’ll have to look for them, but we can get the word out.”

  Kaitlin nodded. “Could you come take some notes while I talk with her and get what information I can?”

  “Happy to oblige.” Austin replaced his hat. “We have an hour before the next communication window though. Can I ask you a couple of questions?”

  Kaitlin shrugged.

  “I hear tell, you run with Jordan Tate. Is that a fact?

  “How do you know Jordan?” Kaitlin said.

  “I know of him. He’s near about a legend in shooting circles. I heard he quit the shooting events to focus on his ranch when his daddy died though.”

  “He loves that place.” Kaitlin said. “But, when it comes to rifles and Colt-style revolvers, I would call him a shooting scientist. He’s fascinated with the ergonomics of shooting as much as he is with firearms.”

  Austin nodded to where Promisekeeper rested on Kaitlin’s left hip. “Is that one of his custom pieces?”

  Kaitlin pulled Promisekeeper from her resting place, removed the shells from the cylinder and handed her to Austin. Austin inspected each part of her workings, spinning the cylinder and dry-firing her towards a safe area. “A work of art, isn’t it?” he said, handing her back to Kaitlin. “Daniels tells me you can... ‘deploy it successfully without undue time lag.’ Would you mind giving me a demonstration?”

  “No problem, but this first,” she said, nodding towards where Marian, under the awning, was coloring again. “I don’t want to miss that window, and I need to explain to her why we are taking her further away from her parent’s home for now.”

  “Yeah, most everyone in the country has a new idea of what home means these days.” Austin ran his eyes down the horizon then turned them to where Marian sat.

  Kaitlin led the way across the remainder of the lot. As they approached the table, Marian looked up. Her eyes grew wary as she looked at Austin.

  “Pardon us for the interruption,
Maid Marian,” Kaitlin said. “I’ve asked Mr. Austin to your throne room because he’s going to help us.”

  “And what do we need help with, Lady Kaitlin?” said Marian.

  “He has agreed to contact some friends to see if they can find your parents and let them know where they can reach you when we get to a safe place. We need to know everything you can tell us about your parents to help with that. May we sit down?”

  “Okay.”

  Kaitlin smiled and glanced at Marian’s coloring. From the amount of orangey-red hair on the pages, Kaitlin seemed to be the new main subject for Marian’s art. No doubt, it would be known as her orange period when the art critics evaluated it. At least it was drifting away from fire and blood—though Kaitlin did spot a few panels with a carrot-topped gunslinger firing a stream of bullets at ugly monsters.

  Austin produced a notebook. Kaitlin sat down across from Marian and Austin dropped a knee to the ground and waited.

  Kaitlin rested her arms on the table. “Okay, love, what’s your mom’s name?”

  Chapter 34 — First flight

  Marian turned from looking down at the Chihuahua Desert from the window of the airliner. “Kaitlin, what’s your favorite part of the trip today so far?”

  Kaitlin cracked one eye. She’d almost been asleep, but she considered the question. “Hmm.”

  The shower and jet tub at the hotel in Monterrey?

  The Starbucks?

  The gelato?

  Those didn’t sound like very adventurous high points.

  “I think it was when Just Daniels had one foot in the canoe and one foot on the launch,” she said.

  Marian giggled then said, “I like watching the world from way up here. This is my first time on a plane.”

  “I know, honey.”

  Marian had mentioned that a number of times to people they’d met—though only to women Kaitlin had noted.

  Kaitlin had only limited experience on planes herself. Runaways didn’t get to use transportation that required official ID. She scrunched back into the seat to feel the top of her new passport where it tucked into the travel pocket of the jeans Jordan had given her.

  “I like watching the world from high up too,” she said. “It’s like being on Google Earth except you are really there.

  And nobody will let you work the touchpad.

  And it takes a lot longer.

  Kaitlin grinned. It might have taken months if they’d gone across country. It was so easy to compare reality to a virtual world now that civilization had returned to reality... at least the local version of reality.

  Last night, she’d spent time catching up on the world, using her new phone to surf the main events on the news since the fall of the US. The revelation of aliens among us, at a press briefing sponsored by the Mexican president had caused a tidal wave of diplomats coming to meet with the Nii Federation ambassador. The Nii Confederacy could issue a passport through any government office in Mexico, and Kaitlin’s had only taken about thirty minutes to process. Evidently, there were other people associated with the new player in world politics coming back from across the border too.

  When they’d boarded the flight, their luggage, guns and ammunition had all gone into diplomatic trunks that stayed on the plane with them through their stop in Mexico City. As diplomatic couriers, they were seated in first class and exempt from luggage scans and body searches as well as carry-on restrictions. Kaitlin had used her carry-on bag to discreetly stow Blondie, Promisekeeper and a box of Long Colt .45 bullets.

  Her passport, stamped with a Nii Federation Embassy seal, authorized her to carry weapons—both open and concealed—inside the borders of Mexico and some other Latin American countries, and she intended to make use of that.

  Marian wanted Kaitlin to translate everything she heard or wanted to read, so Kaitlin had to knock the dust off her Spanish.

  In this new world, she’d need to do that anyhow, so the more practice now, the better.

  The airports seemed to be operating at about half capacity. A flight attendant on the first leg of the trip told Kaitlin that overseas traffic was up—now that Mexico was hosting the Nii Federation’s embassy to Earth—but no one wanted to fly over North America to get here. An emergency landing was just too horrifying to consider. The Canadian power grid—tied into the US grid more intimately—had suffered major damage, but vehicles that far north had not. But, the population in the North had consolidated in the areas that still had power as they made slow repairs to the Canadian system. Though if someone in Canada wanted to fly to Mexico, they would have to go the long way, hopping the Atlantic from North Africa or the Pacific by way of Hawaii.

  The ‘fasten seatbelts’ tone sounded along with the flash of the warning light, and the pilot’s voice came over the intercom, announcing their descent to Mar de Cortés International. Kaitlin stood and fastened Bernard’s safety belt, since she could see—from the seat behind him—that he was sleeping right through the announcement.

  Knitting up the raveled sleeve of care.

  She sighed.

  Bernice’s self-sacrifice had left Kaitlin with a heavy debt to Bernard, but she suspected it had left Bernard in a place that he might someday consider even harder. Kaitlin knew Bernard would never leave her side as long as he felt she needed him. Even then, he would likely hover to make sure.

  “Buckle your seatbelt, Marian. That’s what abrocha tu cinturón de seguridad means.”

  Drew, seated next to Bernard, turned in his seat. “They used to translate everything to English for gringos. I guess there aren’t that many flying here now.”

  “Doesn’t seem like they miss their northern neighbors much.”

  Drew snorted. “Can’t say I blame them. We always had the bad habit of acting like assholes.”

  “Drew.” Kaitlin frowned at him and jerked her head to indicate Marian.

  “Pendejos, I mean.” Drew ducked his head in apology.

  “Pendejos, Pendejos,” Marian chanted in sing-song as she pressed her nose to the window.

  Well, at least she’s learning Spanish.

  Kaitlin adjusted her seat back to the upright position and checked Marian’s seatbelt to make sure it had latched.

  The airplane started to buck, and Marian looked at Kaitlin, eyes wide.

  “Don’t worry, love. It’s just bumpy air because we are flying down to the airport,” Kaitlin said.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  “We can take off our seatbelts now, Maid Marian,” Kaitlin said when sound of the plane engines powering down faded away. “I’ll get your bag from the overhead so we can be ready to go when they open the hatch.”

  “Hatch? Like chickens?” Marian’s voice went up with delight at the end of the word.

  “Yes. Just like little chickens coming out of the shell.” Kaitlin smiled.

  Bernard grunted as he stood and stretched his back. “Sadly, not everyone is a Spring chicken anymore.” He opened the door to the closet storage, grabbed the handle to the rolling luggage cart that held his and Kaitlin’s ammo and weapons then pulled it into the aisle.

  Daniels came down the aisle behind Bernard. “I’ll get that,” he said.

  “Thanks, but I’ve got it,” Bernard said. “The day comes I can’t carry my own bags, then I’ll ask for your help, my friend.” He grinned at Daniels, but the smile held a slight edge to it.

  Daniels paused, the corners of his mouth turned down a fraction, but he nodded and grabbed the other cart. Kaitlin herded Marian into the aisle and took her hand as they left the plane.

  “Gracias,” Marian said to the flight attendant as they passed her at the hatchway.

  “De nada y buena tardes,” she replied. “Que bonita es tu hermana,” she whispered to Kaitlin.

  “Gracias por tu ayuda, Gloriana,” Kaitlin said, smiling at her.

  “De nada.” With a big smile, Gloriana waved goodbye to Marian.

  “What did she say to you?” Marian asked.

  “She said you have good man
ners.” Kaitlin chucked Marian under the chin and continued down the walkway.

  As they came around the bend in the jetway, a cheer echoed down the corridor. Kaitlin saw Marlee jumping up and down behind the barrier and laughing or crying. It wasn’t clear which. Next to her, Brian was pumping his arms in the air and cheering.

  Marian looked at Kaitlin.

  “Friends of ours, love. Let’s go see them.”

  Chapter 35 — Such sweet sorrow

  As they approached the end of the jetway, Kaitlin signaled Brian with a raised finger. He nodded and took a half step back. Kaitlin stopped on the other side of the roped partition from her friends. “Marian this is Marlee. She’s like the sister I always wanted,” Kaitlin said then reached over the rope and gave Marlee a quick hug. Letting go of Marlee, she stood back for Marian to process meeting Marlee.

  “Hi, Marian,” said Marlee, taking a knee to get on the same level. As Marian showed Marlee the toy jet Gloriana had given her, Kaitlin hugged Brian. “So good to see you safe,” she said. “Give Marian some space, she’s leery of men right now, and she has reason. I’ll fill you in later.”

  Brian nodded and slipped an envelope to Kaitlin. “Sure, Kaitlin. I’m sorry you missed the celebration party when we heard we found you. It sure took a long time for you to get here though. That was months ago.”

  “I had something to do first,” Kaitlin said with a smile and slipped the envelope into her hoodie pocket before turning to Marian. “Let’s get out of everyone’s way and on the other side of this rope, love.”

  Marian seemed entranced by Marlee, but she nodded and let Kaitlin lead her around the rope, not missing a beat in telling Marlee all the Spanish words she’d learned... including pendejo, of course.

  “Brian, this is Bernard. Bernard knows who you are, but you should know that I’ve trusted Bernard with my life on a number of occasions and he’s always come through.”