by Rod Carstens
When he had finished, Madelyn asked her first question. “Who will survive?”
“Those who have the genetic predisposition not to contract the disease and some people in the zones.”
“Why those in the zones?”
“Because they are isolated from the City’s population. The denser the population and the more dependent it is on interconnected systems to provide food, water, power, etc., the more fragile it is and the faster the disease will spread through the it.”
Madelyn took a last drag on her cigarette and motioned with her hand. She sat silently for some time, and then a beautiful girl came out with a tall drink for her. She took it and stood. “Doctor Rule, why don’t you walk with me for a moment.”
Geoff and Rand stood to accompany them.
“No, you two stay here. I want to speak with Rule alone.”
The deck she took him to boasted a fantastic architectural design with a sunken area that had two sofas facing one another; the deck itself was real wood, with lights floating over the coaches.
“Madam Chairwoman, this is truly something.”
“Thank you. It comes at a high price, I can assure you.”
Rule knew she was not just talking about money by the tone of her voice.
“Doctor Rule, you mentioned that people in the zones had the best chance of surviving this pandemic.”
“Yes.”
“If one were to survive this disease, when would one need to leave the City to go to a safe place?”
“Immediately. We don’t know when it will start. It could already be in the population, with the cases yet to emerge.”
Madelyn took a long sip of her drink before she said, “If one were to leave the City and go to a place that was completely off the grid, with no contact with or need to contact the outside world would such a place let someone survive this event?”
“Yes. Yes, it would.”
That was when Rule realized the reason that Madelyn had not reacted to his presentation. She knew she had a place where she could disappear and cut herself off from the world until it was over. He smiled and said, “You were always at least one step ahead of everyone else, even back in the day.”
Madelyn arched an eyebrow and gave him what amounted to a smile on her usually impassive face. “Thank you, Doctor. When one plays the game I have over the years, a number of situations could develop that would necessitate one to pull up stakes and disappear. I never expected this to be the reason, though.”
“Yes, life does provide us with surprises.”
If Madelyn was prepared to disappear and live off the grid because of her position and enemies, then there had to be hundreds, if not thousands, more who had made the same plans for all sorts of reasons. That was something Rule had never considered, and it meant that during the pandemic there would be those in the zones and those who could create their living space with no need of the outside world. Once again the top one percent of the one percent were going to go untouched by this global disaster.
“Madelyn, you are surprisingly calm given the information I just gave you. Why?”
“You said I was always a step ahead. Well, that step is constantly looking for what could go wrong and how I can protect myself. I have done and seen things done that convinced me that you must believe the worst can and will happen to you, prepare for just such an event. So I have been preparing for this for some years.”
She paused and waved an arm toward the City that surrounded them. “They live in a bubble of safety and security. Nothing has ever affected them that would cause them to believe that that bubble is very fragile. Rand and Geoff were stunned by your briefing.”
“Yes. Yes, they were and are.”
“Your world can end at any moment for dozens of reasons, as I have learned over the years as I participated in the scramble to the top. I have no illusions about how fragile everything is, despite the precautions I take. No, I knew someday something would come along and try to take all of this away, so I began taking steps years ago, as soon as I could afford it.”
“But the vast majority of the people out there aren’t like you. How do you think they will behave once they are told?”
Madelyn thought for a moment. “The way people have always responded to disasters. First, they will go into denial. ‘No, this could never happen.’ They can’t believe the bubble would burst because it has been in place their whole lives and they can’t comprehend something that could take it all away. Remember these are the people who have survived all the shortages and changes in the climate without so much as a missed meal. They think they are protected from it all. So first they will deny it, and by denying a pandemic can happen they will only precipitate its spread. Then when they see the illness up close and personal, they will panic. Some will lock themselves in their apartments and try to ride it out. Others will try to leave the cities and run to the zones. Either way, they will be unable to escape the consequences.”
“Madelyn, how can you analyze something so far out of anyone’s experience so calmly?”
“You forget what I do for a living, Doctor. I’ve never been one who does not understand that the briefings we are given by all our staff are symptoms of a sick system. Those briefings all point toward some sort of judgment day for the human race and how we’ve lived our lives on this planet. If it hadn’t been this, it was going to be something else. I’m a realist if nothing else. All of the actions of the Council are stopgap answers to problems that won’t go away. The only question was when and what was going to be the tipping point. So a long time ago I began to prepare myself mentally for this day. It is similar to the way you train soldiers for battle. You keep increasing the difficulty of their training until you have prepared them as best you can for what they will face. If the training was tough enough, then they will perform. My experiences have not been lost on me. I didn’t think that because I reached the top I was immune from what would happen. Others on the Council do, but not me.”
This beautiful woman sipped her drink and looked out at the night sky. Rule was stunned at her calm quiet knowledgeable analysis of something the modern human race had never faced before. Her calm came from cold self-interest and the fact she had prepared for some life-changing event no matter what its cause. Her motivations to climb the ladder to the top had been driven by pure cold self-interest; she cared for no one else not even the millions she was in charge of protecting. “It’s a beautiful night, is it not? Difficult to believe all of this will soon be gone, but so be it.”
Madelyn looked at Rule with those beautiful hard eyes and said, “Have you made plans?”
“Yes. Yes, I have.”
Madelyn paused before she said, “I think that I will call an emergency meeting of the Council in forty-eight hours. Everyone is scattered since we aren’t in session now, and it will give them time enough to get back here for your briefing.”
She paused again, letting what she had just said sink in. She was giving Rule forty-eight hours to disappear. “Will that be enough time?” she asked.
“Yes, yes. I think it will.”
“Good. I may be a little late for the meeting myself.”
Rule didn’t think Madelyn would show up for the meeting. He thought she would be in her off-the-grid hideaway sipping a good wine and smoking her favorite cigarette blend, surrounded by luxury.
“Madelyn, they have put Internal Security outside my door. It makes me so nervous that I can’t work. And I would naturally want to be at my best for the Council.”
“Of course. There is no need for security. You are in Resource headquarters, and even if somehow it did leak out, no one would believe it.”
Their eyes met, and Rule said, “Thank you, Madelyn.”
“You’re welcome, Doctor Rule. You always treated me with respect when I was coming up. I remember those who, when they didn’t have to treat me well, did anyway. It was rare. Shall we go back inside.”
As they walked back into her apartment, Rule thought t
hat that had been the most remarkable conversation he’d had in his life.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was a tense few minutes, and the three squared off with an increasing number of undergrounders as others from the tunnel rushed to the entrance. Helen kept the peace by standing in the middle between the groups. She kept saying, “Wait for Ben. He will know what to do. Now, everybody just be cool.”
Finally, Tanner noticed a commotion toward the back of the tunnel as a figure emerged. He was a huge man, well over six feet. He had a white beard and a long white ponytail that bounced as he pushed his way through the crowd in front of him.
When he stopped opposite Vin and the others, he stood there scowling for a long moment before he said, “Now, Helen, what do we have here?”
“These three were headed toward the City when the scavenging team ran into them. I’ve been kinda holding things down until you could get here.”
Ben towered over Vin and the others, glowering down at them. Gently, he took one big hand and guided Helen behind him.
“Now, why don’t we all put our weapons on safe and lower them until we get a few things settled.”
“But, Ben—”
“Quiet. You may not recognize it, but these are dangerous people, and in any firefight more than a few of us are going to get dead. So put your fucking weapon on safe and lower it before I knock you into next week.”
Freddy, the man Vin had his rifle on, did as he was told. Vin carefully did the same. He exaggerated his movements so no one thought he was doing anything but putting his rifle on safe and lowering it. Blondie and Matos did the same.
“Now, why don’t you tell me what two men from the teams and a blonde woman who seems as well trained as the men are doing in my tunnel?” Ben said.
“How’d you know?”
“Takes one to know one,” Ben said with a smile. “What’s your name? I’ve been gone a long time, but I remember names.”
“Tanner and Matos and this is Blondie. What's yours?”
Ben was silent for a moment, then said, “Danielsen. Ben Danielsen. Two-one second platoon.”
Vin looked over at Matos. “You’re supposed to be dead. I was a rookie the year you, uh, ‘died.’”
“I got a pretty good-looking corpse, don’t you think? Now, why don’t you tell me why you’re in my tunnel? Just because we got history doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“We were with three-two first platoon when we walked, or were pushed, out.”
“Okay, I’m listening. We got a good thing going here. I’m not about to risk what we’ve worked so hard to create. So impress me, or we might have to find out what would happen if all these weapons started going off.”
Vin glanced again at Matos, who shrugged. Vin didn’t want to tell them—the fewer people who knew, the better—but it was either that or, as Ben had pointed out, have a gunfight at close quarters.
“You’ve been gone a lot of years, but do you remember Doctor Brandon Rule?”
Now that the guns were lowered, Helen emerged from behind Ben’s back. He looked down at her and said, “The program guy, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, our last mission was to find him. Resource wanted him bad. He had walked away years before, and they needed him back. We didn’t know it at the time, but we had found him. They were going to declare a Free Fire Zone to cover the snatch operation, and I told Steiger I would file an ISR when I returned.”
“Steiger? You’re shitting me. That shit was nothing but a little suck-up back in the day.”
“Ben, let him finish,” Helen said. “Please, go on.”
“Instead of extracting us, they sent a Spec Act Team at us.”
“What happened?”
“We killed them.”
Ben smiled a small smile noticeably impressed.
“Anyway, long story short we hooked up with him and ended up joining their settlement. But, the interest in Rule never went away, and lately they were getting close to discovering us. Rule thought something far-reaching was going on and that it was worth the risk for him to let himself be captured. So we managed to pull that off without getting anybody hurt or killed. We prearranged a signal for when he was ready to be picked up, and he sent it, and here we are.”
Ben didn’t say anything. He just stared at Vin, his cold, dark eyes unblinking. “What are you leaving out? First, how did he get a signal out to you? If I had to make a guess, you don’t have any comm.”
Vin glanced at the other two before he said, “We took a Resource team’s computer.”
Ben frowned and said, “Did you kill them?”
“No. A long story for another time. Rule told us that if what he found out was a threat to the settlement, he would add 911 to the message. We received the 911 a few hours ago. We’re going in after him.”
“No idea what the threat would be?” Helen asked.
“None.”
Helen looked up at Ben. He stroked his beard before he said, “Rule wrote the Resource program. Nothing that he would be working on now would have anything to do with Internal Security or Resource Control. No, the program gave the Council much higher-level information. So it has to be something that’s going to threaten the whole shebang.”
Vin looked at the old warrior. “That’s the way I figured it. The deal was that if we got that message we’d prepare to bug out. Everyone back at the settlement is gearing up for a long trip.”
Ben glanced down at Helen, and they exchanged a long look.
Freddy started to bring his rifle up. “Goddamnit, Ben. You don’t believe that bullshit, do you? It sounds like science fiction. We need—”
Freddy started to bring up his rifle when Ben took one big step, jerked the rifle out of Freddy’s hands, and slapped him across the face. The open-handed slap knocked the man five feet down the tunnel, where he landed on his back.
“You stupid shit. Tanner would get the first shot off, and the blonde girl would cut you and Dan in half with that shotgun. Now keep your fucking mouth shut while the adults think.”
Ben turned and faced Vin. “That’s quite a story.”
“Yeah, ain’t it, though? We didn’t expect to run into any organized resistance down here, so we don’t have an elaborate cover story. Just the truth.”
Ben turned to Helen and said, “What do you think?”
“It was obvious they didn’t know we were down here. They were as surprised as we were when we ran into each other. So I think he’s telling the truth and not some cover story. But other than that, I don’t know. Who would know?”
Ben stared at Vin for several long moments. “How did you plan on getting Rule out?”
“There are clothes and ID waiting for me in one of the old Resource lockers. I was going to go upstairs and find Rule and his team then bring them down here where Blondie and Matos would be waiting and covering our backs. Then we'd head out through this tunnel back to our settlement.”
“So that’s why you're all cleaned up, new haircut and shave. That takes a lot of water.”
Tanner was amazed. This guy didn’t miss a trick.
“There are a lot of ifs in that plan. Who was gonna stash the clothes for you and get you upstairs?”
“The third member of our old team. She’s up there with Rule now.”
Ben smiled . “Good plan, but it may be harder than you expect. We might be able to help.”
Helen shot a concerned glance at Ben.
“Why would you help us?” Tanner asked.
“To find out what Rule knows.”
Helen slowly smiled. Tanner looked at the brooding giant of a man and realized this guy was as smart as they come. But could he trust him? He doubted Ben was just going to let them march on down the tunnel to the City without knowing for sure his settlement would be safe. That could be valuable information in the City. And what choice did he have? A shootout wasn’t going to get Rule out and the settlement moved.
“How can you possibly help me?”
> “We go into the City all the time. That’s why we’re here nice and close to all the comforts of home.”
“But how—”
Ben turned his head over his shoulder and yelled, “Christine, you can come out!”
Like some vision from another world, a tall brunette woman emerged from the crowd. Her hair was cut very short, as the women in the City cut theirs. To counteract the short hair, she wore eye makeup and lipstick that emphasized her beauty. The dress she wore clung to her slim, perfect figure, and her arms glittered with jewelry. She moved with the grace and confidence of someone who knew how beautiful she looked. Vin had only seen women like this in videos back when he was still in Resource. He had never seen one in the flesh before. You had to live a hundred stories above where he had grown up and worked if you wanted to see someone like Christine.
“Christine just came back from a little mission in the City. We needed a few things. She can get you in and out a lot easier than your teammate can even with your IDs. They won’t be looking for a couple.”
“I’m not sure. I’m going in armed, and I don’t know what to expect. I don’t want to put her in danger.”
“What’s your name?” Christine said. Her voice matched her looks. It was low and confident.
“Vin.”
“Well, Vin, I go into the City alone and return at least once a month, and I have been doing so for a couple of years. When was the last time you were in the City?”
“When we walked away. Six months or more.”
“Not that part of the City, but where they're holding your friends?”
Vin hesitated before he said, “Never.”
“Then I think you need me more than I need you. If you're going to get them out this is going to require more guile than muscle. That is what I do.”
“She’s got a point,” Blondie said with a laugh.
“Besides, I’m not letting you go into the City without one of my people with you. I still don’t know you, even if I buy your story. So take your pick. Either she goes or none of you go,” Ben said.
