He walked into the middle tower to find Randi and Ethan engaged in a conversation. Ethan had his hand on Randi's knee, and she leaned close to him. Was something going on between the two of them? He crossed his arms and glared at the pair. What did she see in this loser? He should've left the jerk out on the street to fend for himself.
"Hey Josh." Randi gave him a big smile. "Did you come to visit, too?"
"Yeah, but I hate to drag you away from watching the perimeter."
She raised her eyebrow and stared at him. "Are you saying I can't do my job and carry on a conversation? When have you ever known me to shirk duties, Joshua Barker? If you don't think I'm good enough to take watch, then you can sure as--"
"Hey." Ethan stood. "That's not what he's saying." He gave Josh a knowing look. "I think he's concerned I'm wasting time when I need to be working." He stood. "I"ll make rounds and check on Mark. See you soon."
"Why is he making rounds?" Josh asked after Ethan left.
Randi glared him. "If you had bothered looking at the schedule, you would see that we've added a third person so that the front and back are never left unattended. The third person makes the rounds and checks each side."
"Oh." He frowned. "When was that decided?"
"Mark and I decided it this morning."
"Mark?"
"Yes. You know your little brother. He's the only one besides Ethan and the girls who takes me seriously when I say we're in danger." She shook her head. "Wish I had lived a perfect life like you, then I might not worry either," she muttered.
Josh sat in the chair Ethan had just evacuated. "Wait a minute. I agree with you, and I haven't lived in a perfect world."
"Then why didn't you stand with me when I wanted your family checked for bites?"
"Because I was stupid." Josh leaned back. He'd regretted that decision every second since Candy had died. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. You were right."
"What about my insistence that we’re vulnerable? Do you believe me?"
"I hope you're wrong, but I'm willing to work with you."
"Mark and I already have the RV prepared as a means of escape. We've added to the watch schedule, and we're meeting to talk about what else we need to do." She crossed her arms. "He thinks we need to have someone on duty in the perimeter night and day. Their sole job would be to drive it over and over to make sure it's secure."
"Do we have enough people to do that?"
"I doubt it since no one seems to think Mark or I have enough brains to know anything. Y'all act like I'm digging up trouble for no reason, but do you really think we're going to live our days out in this place without anyone challenging us?"
She was right. Somehow, he'd allowed himself to be lulled into a sense of false security. "What do I need to do?"
"I don't know. Ethan's going to start evac drills with the kiddos first thing in the morning."
"He needs to add your mom and Adriana to the drills."
"Good luck with that."
"I'll talk to them." Josh stretched. His muscles ached, and his head throbbed. "Do we have anything for a headache in the med stash?"
"Probably. It's all in the RV, now." She reached for the night vision goggles. "In the bedroom cabinets. Gabriele is there, but I told her she'd be interrupted whenever someone needed medicine, so go ahead."
"Do you trust her? Her story about being in San Antonio when Uncle Reg thought she was in LA doesn't set right with me."
Randi laughed. "I don't trust anybody. Perhaps I'm the wrong person to ask."
"I hope you trust me." Josh put his hand on her shoulder. "Just because we disagreed doesn't mean I will ever lie to you or betray you."
She slid the goggles down and turned to look at him. "Yeah, I trust you. You make me crazy at times, but I still trust you."
He kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry I drive you batty. I'm going to get something for this headache and get a few hours' sleep. If you need me, I'll be in the house."
Randi trusted him. He whistled a tune as he walked across the hard packed earth toward the motor home. Now, he needed to prove to her that she could depend on him, no matter what.
Bryan stretched and frowned as the sun peeked over the horizon. He needed a shower something fierce. If it wasn't so cold, he'd head to a spot down river from Reginald's crew and take a dip. Anything to rid himself of the pervasive body odor. He sighed. Not a possibility. Ignore it and keep watching.
The black-haired woman and Mary Anne walked toward the barn thingy built into the fence. Mary Anne showed no signs of distress. She laughed at something the other woman said.
They disappeared into the storage room and after a few minutes, the bridge lowered and Mary Anne drove a four-wheeler out followed by the other woman. If Reginald had forced her to leave, would she have the same attitude? Hopping on an ATV to do perimeter checks? Laughing? He'd expect her to rebel and let everyone in sight know he was holding her against her will.
He lost sight of them before long, but Reg's girls walked out of the house with a few other children. They played chase with the littler children. Laughter rang out through the camp. No signs of anxiety in the girls. Of course, children were resilient.
They played for a while, then one of Barker's girls walked across the bridge closer to him with a little boy. She sat cross-legged on the bridge and talked to him. He wiped at his eyes, and she rubbed his shoulder.
He continued watching for a while, then hiked back to his car. Time to discuss this place with Vixen. He'd head back to Atlas, take a shower, and talk with her about her plans to invade. Then he would come up with a zillion reasons to stall her and convince her, her plan wouldn't work. The longer he could delay the woman, the better. If she rushed it, they would lose too many people.
Vixen slammed her pen down on the desk. Phil had seen Bryan come back into Atlas a while ago, but the infuriating man hadn't bothered to come talk to her. Didn't he realize he should've come to her first thing? Who did he think he was?
Fritz brought her a rope toy. She tossed it, and he brought it back to her. If it weren't for this sweet boy, she didn't know what she would do. When Reginald's family brought him into Atlas, she knew she was going to take him from the girls. Those two little troublemakers didn't deserve a dog like Fritz.
Bryan walked into the room, and she glared at him. "About time you decided to show up."
"Yeah." He stared at her. "I needed a shower before I go back out. Figured you could wait a little while to get a report."
"You figured wrong."
"Really?" He narrowed his eyes. "Looks to me like it didn't kill you." He sat in the chair across from her. "What are your plans to invade?"
"I thought that was your job." This man. "Why else were you watching?"
"But I know you, Vixen." He leaned back and crossed his jeans-clad legs. "You had a plan before we ever started watching. I want to know if it's viable or not."
"Of course it is. I'm not an idiot."
"Then spill it, and I'll decide if it will work or not."
"We cut the outer fences, cross that open land, and use bridges over the moat before we cut the inner fences. I told you this before."
"And I told you, you'll lose most of your people if you execute that foolish plan of yours." He shook his head. "Think about it. Atlas citizens will be in the open while crossing the moat and trying to cut fences. Reginald's crew's not lax about security. They have people on duty in guard towers, and they'll pick us off one by one. You'll lose more people than you can imagine."
"I'll expect you to take down their shooter."
A slow grin crossed his face. "Nope. Not gonna happen."
She stood so quickly her chair slammed into the wall behind her. "Why not?"
"Their snipers will be in concrete towers. No way to get a shot off that'll take them down."
"Fine. What do you suggest we do?"
"Nothing, yet. Give me time to work out a plan. If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, if you rush this, count
me out. I won't participate in some slip-shod, half thought-out plan of attack. If you want me on board, wait until I've plotted and planned the best action. Otherwise, you're the worst leader I've ever served under, and you deserve what you get."
Her muscles quivered as she pounded her fists against the desk. "That's insubordination soldier. I'll have you court-martialed!"
The insolent man laughed in her face. "Look Vixen, we aren't in the military. I'm here of my own free will. If you want my support, slow your roll and let's talk. Rationally."
She flopped back into her chair. Why couldn't she intimidate Bryan as she did the rest of her citizens? He'd never been afraid of her. "Fine. What do you suggest?"
"Just what I said. Give me more time. Let me watch and wait. I'll figure out their vulnerabilities, and come up with the best plan of action from a military stand point. When I get back, I want to meet with Alton, Pepper, and Daniel. Between the four of us, will formulate a good solid plan that won't get all of our people killed."
She watched him for several moments. "Fine. I'll have copies of everyone's notes, and we'll determine a course of action, but I will be in the meeting with the four of you. Don't think you can eliminate me from my war."
He shook his head, but made no move to leave.
"What?"
"Any luck finding more vehicles and weapons?"
"Not much."
"Keep looking. To do this right, we'll need a lot of firepower."
"Fine." She made a shooing motion with her hand. "You're dismissed. Get what you need in the way of supplies and get out of here.
Bryan chuckled again as he left.
That man deserved what he got when she finished with him.
Chapter 7
Reginald and Miguel went into the basement lab. "We need to do an inventory and prepare for the first samples."
"Works for me." Miguel opened a cabinet and began jotting everything down on a notepad. "Man, this place is stocked."
"Yeah. Now, if I'd only made it here with my computer and notes. I lost everything. Even the virus samples."
Miguel frowned and leaned against the counter. "We need some way to crunch the data."
"I don't know where to find the software even if we found a computer." Reginald stared at his feet. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Why didn't he have Randi stock everything? He was an utter failure.
"Hang on. I have an idea."
"What's that?"
"UTSA has a biomed department."
"UTSA?"
"University of Texas at San Antonio." Miguel grinned. "The bookstore might have some type of biomedical engineering software. Maybe not as fancy as what you're used to, but it would be a starting point. If they don't have it in the bookstore, they'll have something on the department computers or servers. If nothing else, we'll raid those."
Dare he hope they might make some inroads into this disease? He needed to find a way to redeem himself of the bad karma he'd sown. Pain seared his chest, and his left arm went numb. He sucked in a couple of deep breaths and stayed still for few seconds.
"Are you okay?" Miguel knitted his brows together and moved to Reginald's side. "Why don't you go upstairs and lie down?"
"No. I'm fine. It's just panic attacks."
"You sure? You're pale and sweating." Miguel kept a grip on Reginald's arm. "Do you have a heart condition?"
Reginald forced a laugh. "No, I'm good." He sat on one of the stools. "I brought this plague to life, and I doubt I can redeem myself. How do I live with that? " His voice dropped to almost a whisper. "I watched the creatures I created eat my son."
Miguel sat across from him. "You have to learn to live with this. It's not going to be easy, but if you don't learn to accept it, it'll destroy you from the inside out."
"I don't know to how begin. If I can't fix it, I can't be redeemed."
"Redemption isn't about going back and fixing the past." Miguel clasped his hands together. "It's about forgiveness."
This kid was about to launch into a full-blown sermon. Reginald needed to change the subject. He didn't want to hear how a nonexistent God could redeem him of all of his sins. Didn't Miguel understand that nothing would wipe out what he'd done? Did he expect him to confess to his God, and then everything would be peachy?
"Yeah. Won't change anything." He stood. "We need to get busy. Your sister's ready to get samples for us."
Miguel shrugged. "I guess."
"Look, I'm sorry." Reginald's arms grew heavy, and he slumped forward. He hated not giving the kid what he wanted, but how could he believe in Miguel's God? "I wish I could follow your path. You seem to have peace." Much like his mother had. "It's just..." He grimaced. "I can't do it. Not when the world is like this. If your God is good, then why did He allow this to happen?"
"He didn't do this."
Reginald shook his head. "Sorry. I can't discuss it any further. Let's get to work making sure we have everything we need." He'd disappointed Miguel by not even listening to him. What else was new? He was always disappointing, someone starting with his parents. If there really was a God, he deserved His wrath. He'd never been a good man and things just continued to spiral downhill the older he got. Until now. Developing a fatal virus that destroyed his own son plummeted him to the bottom of the scum pond.
"Do you think we stand a chance at unraveling this disease?"
Reginald shook his head. "No idea. With just the two of us..." If Mary Anne would agree, Gabriele's brilliant mind combined with his and Miguel's, they might make some progress, but he doubted they would ever get past identifying the virus. Besides, what were the chances of Mary Anne agreeing to him working with his ex-lover? Slim to none.
"I'll ask Randi and Josh to get us the computers and the software in the morning."
Reginald sighed. "It's risky asking them to go into San Antonio. Let's go talk to them now. Maybe Randi or Josh will know of another school that might have what we need."
They walked outside. Randi, Mark, Ethan, and Josh sat one of the fire pits on the other side of the compound yard, talking.
"What's up?" Randi asked as they walked up.
"Hey, sis. We need some equipment and software. The bad part is the only place I can think of to get it would be UTSA."
"No problem. I'll go tomorrow, but you know it may take a couple of days to get back, depending on what I find?"
"Yeah. If you can't make it back before dark, find a safe place to stay, but you can't go by yourself..."
"I'll go." Ethan said. "I need to pull my weight around here."
Josh glared at Ethan. "No. Randi and I'll go."
"Hang on there a minute." Mark stood. "Josh and Randi are our two strongest shooters. Ethan and I'll go."
"No." Randi shook her head. "Under no circumstances will I agree to that. Mark, you're our brains. We need you for so many things. I put you right up there with Miguel and Reginald. Our job is to protect you."
"Then either you or Josh needs to stay here." Miguel crossed his arms. "Mark's right. You two are our strongest shooters. One of you needs to hang behind."
"Jill is just as accurate as me or Randi, and Xever, Mark, and Ethan are close seconds. Randi and I will go. We work well together and always have each other's backs. The others will rotate watch here. End of discussion."
Randi joined Josh at the Porsche as the sun peeked over the horizon. Since they weren't hunting for large quantities of supplies, they decided to take to the fastest car. It would hold multiple computers and software packages.
"I grabbed us some summer sausage and bread to take with us." Josh handed her a mug of coffee. "Figured we'd need something to eat throughout the day since we won't back until late today at the earliest."
Randi nodded and took a long sip of the life-sustaining, brew. If Cooper were here she'd kiss him for raiding his parents' supplies.
Josh climbed in the driver's seat, hit the start button, and the car roared to life. Randi grinned. "Love that sound. Before the world went to pieces,
I loved the 911, but it was a little too steep for my budget. Instead of forking over the money for a personal car, I used my work truck. Figured the more I drove it, the more free advertising I was getting."
"Yeah. I had a city-issued Charger, but my personal vehicle was a Tundra." Josh let out a hearty laugh. "Can you imagine IAs response if I'd bought a car that cost over a hundred grand?"
"IA?"
"Sorry. Internal Affairs. They investigate the cops. The lieutenant in that department would've opened a never-ending investigation into my life."
"Sounds like a nice guy."
"He was okay. Just diligent. Of course, I don't know of any cops who could afford a Porsche, so he'd be justified in opening an investigation."
"What if your wife was a best-selling author?"
"Easy to justify the money then." He changed gears and set the cruise control for the ride into San Antonio. "Have you watched the old Lethal Weapon movies a few too many times?"
"Yeah. That's why I thought of an author for a wife, but you could inherit the money, or obtain it in any number of legal ways."
"And any number of illicit ways."
"Does that, or rather, did that happen often?"
"Not that I know of. I think most of our cops were decent, hard-working men and women." He shrugged. "I only know of one who wasn't a decent guy, but I don't know of him taking bribes or anything. He was just mean. Especially to his wife."
"I had a friend, JJ, who was married to an abusive cop. She could do nothing right. Her wife beat the crap out of her several times. Put her in the hospital once. She was afraid to leave her." Randi grew quiet for a few minutes. "She needed to be. JJ did finally leave, and her wife hunted her down, and killed her. "
Josh jerked his head around and looked at her with wide eyes. "Are you serious? That's messed up. I guess I'm naïve, but I never thought of a woman being abusive or controlling."
"Doesn't matter what sex they are, some people are controlling. It's not love. I kept telling JJ anyone who hit her didn't love her, but there's so much verbal abuse that goes on for so long they feel unlovable and worthless."
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