“Not bad,” Michael said, still nervous about the situation. “You?”
“Hello,” Forrest said to Melissa. “I’m Jack. I hope these two haven’t told you what an asshole I am.”
Melissa smiled shyly. She was fair-skinned with an unblemished complexion and light brown eyes.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Melissa.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, offering his hand.
“We only brought her because—”
“Do you mind?” Forrest said. “I’m talking to the kid here.”
Veronica pulled her shoulders back, looking at Michael as he came around the back of the car.
“How did you ever get hooked up with these two?” Forrest asked the girl.
“Michael’s my uncle,” she said, grinning.
“Have they told you about my master plan to take over the universe?”
“Yeah,” she answered, laughing softly.
“And you’re sure you want to join us?”
“Yes,” she said, “but I have a question.”
“Only one?”
“Will I be able to call my parents every day until . . .”
“Until what?”
Veronica spoke up, “Until the—”
“I’m not talking to you . . .” he said in a singsong voice.
Melissa giggled.
“Until what, honey?”
“Until the asteroid comes,” she said, her eyes smiling.
“I’m making sure you understand the gravity of the situation,” he told her. “I’m not trying to be a jerk.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
“Okay. And you know there’s no guarantee we’re going to survive?”
“I know that,” she said. “But somebody needs to try.”
“I agree,” he said, deciding he liked her. “And yes, you can call your parents as much as you like until the meteor comes.”
“I thought it was an asteroid.”
Forrest chuckled. “I stand corrected.”
He at last turned his attention to the adults, noting the station wagon was full of boxes. “Bring enough shit?”
“Most of it’s books,” Michael explained. “You know, for helping to pass the time.”
“All right,” Forrest said. “Let’s get the boxes loaded into the Humvee. Your bags you can tie to the roof rack.”
“You mean we can’t take my car?” Veronica said.
“Nope. Can’t leave anything parked above the site to give the impression anyone lives in the house. It needs to look deserted.”
“I told you,” Michael said.
Veronica gave him a look. “Fine,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and turning to open the back door. “This is the first car I ever bought new.”
Forrest exchanged grins with Michael, asking, “Were you planning on driving it around down in the silo?”
“Shut up, Jack!” she said, wrestling a box from the seat.
“I brought all sorts of books,” Michael said.
“Fine. Come on, kid. Let’s go get something to drink while these college pukes do the lifting.”
“Okay,” Melissa, following him off toward the station.
Veronica stood with the box in her arms watching them. “Did you see that? He didn’t complain one bit over her.”
“Did you really expect him to?” Michael asked, pulling another box of books from the rear compartment. “She’s a pretty girl.”
“She’s fifteen, Michael.”
“Oh, for God sakes, Veronica, that’s not what I meant. Melissa affects everybody that way.”
“She likes him too, I can tell.”
“What, are you jealous?” he asked, chuckling.
“Shut up,” she said. “I was just commenting.”
Inside, Forrest picked up an empty cardboard box the clerks had left on the floor and gave it to Melissa. “Load that up with whatever you want. I have to use the restroom.”
“You mean just for me?” she asked, confused.
“Does you mean something different out there in Colorado?”
“No,” she said bashfully.
“I haven’t bought anything for a kid in a long time,” he said, his smile waning. “I’ve got some catching up to do.”
“What do you like?” she asked, glancing around. There were bare spots on many of the shelves but the candy was still plentiful.
“Camels,” he said. “Filterless.”
She laughed. “I’m not old enough to buy cigarettes.”
“Looks like I lose,” he said, heading for the restroom.
Veronica and Michael were standing beside the Humvee waiting when Forrest and Melissa finally came out. All the boxes were loaded and their bags lashed to the roof rack.
Melissa was carrying her box full of snacks.
“Who’s all that for?” Veronica asked.
“It’s for the kid,” Forrest said. “So don’t let me catch your fingers in the box.”
Melissa laughed. “You can have some, Ronny.”
“You’re too easy,” he said, walking around to the driver’s side. “Load ’em up.”
“Didn’t take her long to get you wrapped around her finger,” Veronica said, loud enough for only Forrest to hear.
“You’re just jealous,” he muttered, brushing by her.
“Jack?”
He turned. “Yes?”
“Fuck you.”
He laughed and jumped in to see that Michael was afraid to get in on the other side with Laddie staring him in the face. “Get in back, buddy.” The dog responded immediately, taking up station in the backseat between the two women.
Michael got in and shut the door.
Laddie suddenly started barking at Michael, causing the man to flinch and cower against the door. The dog settled a few moments later and seemed to relax.
“What did I do?” he asked, unsure whether it was safe to move.
Forrest glanced back at the dog to satisfy himself there was no danger and then grinned at Michael and shrugged. “I guess the dog’s a judge of character.”
Veronica laughed, petting Laddie.
“No, seriously. Should I be afraid?”
Melissa said, “He was just letting you know he didn’t like you taking his seat.”
Forrest gave her a wink.
“Is he pissed?” Michael asked. “Because I can sit in the back.”
“He’s said his piece,” Forrest said. “Okay, everyone remember to keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times until the ride comes to a complete and final stop. Remember that Captain Jack Forrest is not responsible for any lost or stolen articles while en route to the secret Army base. And as always,” he added with a quick glance into the back, “enjoy your day at Cedar Point.” Then he tromped the accelerator and wheeled hard around, roaring out of the lot and onto the highway.
Thirteen
Major Benjamin Moriarty, U.S. Air Force, still had no idea why he had been ordered to deliver two truckloads of MREs to a decommissioned Titan missile installation, but he sure as hell intended to find out. If NASA failed to stop that goddamned asteroid from hitting the planet, MREs were going to be worth a thousand times their weight in gold. And no way was he giving away so much of his garrison’s food without a damned good reason—regardless of what some chair shiner back at the Pentagon had to say about it.
“What the fuck is this now?” he cursed from the passenger seat of the Hummer.
“I’m not sure, Major,” said Lieutenant Ford, slowing the vehicle. “They look like dog faces.”
“See?” Moriarty said. “This is what I’m talking about. They’re not even Air Force personnel.”
“Looks like they’re Green Berets,” Ford said, pullin
g into the gravel lot just inside the old hurricane fence still enclosing the site.
“I don’t give a damn what they are,” Moriarty said, throwing open the door and stepping out into the gravel. “They’re not getting our rations without an explanation.”
Forrest stood waiting with Ulrich and Danzig near the house, all three of them with M-4 carbines hanging from their shoulders.
“Aw, piss,” muttered Danzig, spitting a wad of tobacco juice into the gravel. “They sent a goddamn major.”
“Easy,” Forrest said.
All four men were wearing open mikes so they could communicate with Kane, who was positioned in the upstairs window of the house with an M-21 sniper rifle.
“Looks a little salty, doesn’t he?” Ulrich observed.
They snapped to attention and saluted as Major Moriarty came stalking up to them, armed only with a 9mm Beretta that hung from his hip in a green nylon holster.
“Who’s in command here, Captain?” Moriarty demanded.
“That would be me at the moment, sir,” Forrest replied.
“Define ‘at the moment.’ ”
“Well, sir, Colonel Vasquez is away at the moment. Are those the MREs we were told to expect, sir?”
“They are, but I’m going to need a good explanation before I leave them.”
“Explanation, sir?”
“Who are they intended for, Captain? This installation is no longer active.”
“I wasn’t told who they were intended for, sir. I was simply given orders to receive them and to secure them, awaiting Colonel Vasquez’s arrival.”
“Which will be when?”
“I was told sometime within the next twenty-four hours, sir.”
“Well, when the colonel arrives, Captain, you can tell him to give Colonel Wells at Tinker Air Force Base a call. I’m not giving up these MREs to an Army captain in the middle of nowhere. I don’t care if he is Special Forces.”
“I was told your orders came straight from the Pentagon, Major.”
Moriarty stiffened, noting that Forrest had addressed him as Major this time, rather than sir, which was acceptable, but it put the two of them on a more equal footing, a nuance that Moriarty did not especially appreciate.
“Captain, exactly what is this installation being used for now?”
“I’m not at liberty to say, Major. It’s classified.”
Moriarty stood mulling it over. “I’ll just have a look below, then.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, sir,” Forrest said, neither he nor either of his men so much as twitching a muscle.
“Excuse me, Captain?”
“I said I cannot allow that, Major. My orders are very specific in that regard.”
“Do you mean to imply you intend to open fire on me if I attempt to go below?”
“It means, Major, that my men and I will do whatever is necessary to carry out our orders.” Forrest could see that Moriarty was considering whether to call his bluff, so he added: “I should also like to inform the major that he is being covered by a sniper positioned in the upstairs window of the structure behind me and to my left.”
Moriarty shifted his gaze to the upper windows of the house, and though he couldn’t see inside, he didn’t doubt Forrest’s word. Green Berets were touchy bastards, the lot.
“Well, then as far as I’m concerned, Captain, this is a typical example of Special Forces trying to avoid protocol, and I don’t intend to subsidize this kind of bullshit. So have your colonel give my colonel a call, and we’ll see which has the bigger dick.”
With that, Moriarty turned and headed back toward the Humvee.
Kane spoke into Forrest’s ear from the upstairs window: “Do you want me to take ’em out? I can hit all four of them from here.”
“No,” Forrest said quietly. “We’d have to go belowground today and lock the door. These MREs were only a bonus.”
Just then an Army green Humvee came into view at the bottom of the hill and started up the gravel drive.
“Shit,” Ulrich muttered. “This might force our hand.”
“Kane, be ready to fire on my word,” Forrest said.
“Roger that.”
“Are you sure about this?” Michael was asking, sitting nervously in the passenger seat beside Vasquez.
“Relax,” Vasquez replied, pressing the Velcro-backed black eagle insignia of a full colonel onto the front of his Army combat uniform. “But be ready to hit the deck.”
“Oh, great!” Michael moaned. “I’m shitting my pants over here, Oscar.”
Vasquez shifted into low gear, climbing the grade. “Get ready to look your part.” He drove up, stopped alongside the nearest truck, and got out smiling.
“Excellent!” he said, loud enough for Moriarty to hear, but pretending not to notice him as he glanced into the back of the deuce-and-a-half at the load of MREs. “Well, what do you think, Congressman?” he went on, gesturing at the compound. “We probably won’t need to utilize the place, but as you can see, there’s no indication of what lies beneath, and I think your colleagues will find the accommodations acceptable.”
Moriarty heard this as he approached, saluting Colonel Vasquez and introducing himself. Vasquez looked a little young for a full bird, but Special Forces personnel tended to hold rank at younger ages than the regular Army, another fact Moriarty resented.
Vasquez shook Moriarty’s hand. “I appreciate you making the trip on such short notice, Major. Please be sure to thank Colonel Wells for his consideration.”
He could see that Forrest was watching him intently from fifty feet away and heard him speak into his ear: “Don’t lay it on too thick, numb nuts.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Vasquez muttered, keeping up his smile. “Major, this is Congressman Ted Strong of Nebraska. He’s one of the congressmen who will be taking shelter here in the unlikely event that NASA fails to stop the asteroid.”
Michael shook hands with Moriarty, trying to appear casually official.
“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” Moriarty said. “I wasn’t aware that this installation had been recommissioned. Most of these old silos have been sold off privately.”
“So was this one,” Vasquez said, “as far as anyone knows. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Moriarty said.
“Good. Well, I think these trucks will be fine right where they are,” Vasquez continued. “We’ll be sure to get them back to Tinker within ten days or so. There’s no sense unloading all these damn cases if they’re only going be driven back after we stop the asteroid. The four of you will fit comfortably enough into your Humvee, won’t you?”
“Uh, yes, sir,” Moriarty said.
“Great,” Vasquez said. “That will be all then, Major, you’re dismissed. And don’t forget to give Colonel Wells my regards.”
“I won’t, sir,” Moriarty said, turning for the Humvee.
“Oh, and Major?”
Moriarty turned back around. “Sir?”
“I don’t think it’ll be necessary for the colonel and I to compare penises, do you?”
Moriarty flushed. “Um, no, sir. And please allow me to apologize for that remark, sir. I wasn’t aware you were on a network, sir.”
“That’s enough!” Forrest was hissing into Vasquez’s ear. “Just let the son of a bitch leave!”
Vasquez smiled and gave Major Moriarty a casual salute. “Vaya con dios, Major.”
“Sir!” Moriarty said, and hustled his men into the Humvee. Within a minute they were down the road, headed out of sight.
Forrest walked over and gave Vasquez a shove. “I told you not to ham it up!”
Vasquez laughed. “He won’t say shit when he gets back to Tinker now.”
“You did okay there, Doc,” Forrest said, lighting up a smoke. “Congratulations. You just helped us
pull off a federal crime.”
“Wonderful,” Michael said, feeling slightly sick to his stomach. “And I didn’t even get to carry a machine gun.”
Fourteen
Forrest knocked at Andie Tatum’s door two Sundays before the asteroid was due to strike. Her name was not on the list he had purchased from the Lincoln social worker. She was a widowed mother whose acquaintance he had made months earlier in a health food store, when she saw him rake an entire shelf of vitamins into his cart as she led her six-year-old daughter past him down the aisle by the hand.
“Someone must be pretty sick,” she had remarked.
Forrest smiled. “I’m an obsessive compulsive. I have to buy every bottle of vitamins I see.”
Andie laughed. “May I ask what they’re really for?”
“You wouldn’t believe if me I told you.”
“I might,” she said. “I’m a kindergarten teacher. I hear a lot of creative stories.”
She had not been wearing a wedding band, and at that point Forrest sensed that she found him attractive. “I deal in black-market vitamins.”
“No, really,” she said, laughing. “There’s has to be an interesting explanation.”
“To be completely honest,” he said, suddenly serious, “it’s a secret.”
With that, the conversation trailed off, but Forrest had written her license plate number down in the parking lot. Hers was the last name he added to the roster, aside from Veronica’s.
Andie answered the door, and though she was at first confused by his uniform, she did recognize him, putting her hand on her hip and shifting her weight to one leg. “You’re the vitamin guy.”
“Yes, ma’am, that’s me,” he said with a smile. “My name’s Jack Forrest. And you’re Andie Tatum, correct? Widowed mother of a six-year-old daughter named Trinity Marie Tatum?”
“Yeah,” she said, a little intimidated. “What’s the Army want from me now?”
“I’m actually U.S. Army, retired. The uniform is just to instill some confidence.”
“Confidence in what?”
“In the offer I’ve come to make you. May I come in?”
She stood thinking it over. “I suppose.”
He stepped inside and took the green beret from his head. “This won’t take long.”
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