Redaction: Dark Hope Part III

by Linda Andrews

  Robertson’s heels squeaked as he complied. “Sergeant-Major…”

  “Shep is with her, Robertson. So are her two new friends.” Mavis glanced at Eddie.

  Lister pushed passed David and grabbed Mavis by the arm. “You shouldn’t be here, Doc. You could blow the whole mission.”

  “Sir!” David ground his teeth together, trapping the string of profanities. He glared at his superior officer then his hand.

  Lister slowly dropped it to his side.

  “The mission was never going to work.” She winked at David. “The terrorists don’t want ex-military. In fact, I have reason to believe they plan to prosecute anyone who’s worn a uniform for war crimes.”

  “Fuck me.” Robertson stepped back a pace.

  “I wouldn’t offer them that option if I were you.” Mavis eased closer to David, brushing against his arm. Her fingers slid over the back of his hand before she hooked his thumb. Her eyes glittered.

  David smiled. He knew that look. He loved that look. She’d worked something out. He could almost feel sorry for the bad guys. What the fuck? They didn’t deserve sympathy.

  “How the hell do you know that?” The earpiece snapped in half in Lister’s grip.

  “In good time.” Mavis released David and continued toward the empty bed near Eddie’s. “Let’s deal with this gold crisis first.”

  “It’s a fucking crisis?” Lister chucked his glasses into the closest trash bin.

  Robertson inched toward the door.

  “Sit your ass down, Private. Sunnie is fine, and we’ve got work to do.” Lister pinned Robertson with a glare until he resumed his spot around the bed. “How is one man being attacked a crisis?”

  “One man and Mavis’s niece,” David clarified. She and Papa Rose had made the connection.

  Mavis sank onto the empty mattress. “Twenty-seven people called out sick today. Discounting the lot in Section Seven, that’s eight more than usual. I had Nurse Rodriguez make house calls, just in case a bug was going around.”

  Oh God, not another plague. David’s insides knotted so tightly not even Houdini would be able to work them free.

  Lister’s jaw dropped. “You’re telling me we’re going to get hit again.”

  “In a way, yes. If we don’t nip this thing in the bud, gold fever is going to bring our world crashing to our ears.” Mavis smoothed the sheet. “Twenty-seven may not seem like a lot of people, but I’ve estimated that if we have thirty-five people out for three days straight, we’ll start experiencing inconveniences.”

  “Damn,” Johnson whispered. “We already get folks taking long walks outside when the lights go out for more than five minutes.”

  Papa Rose nodded. “And that’s not counting the folks suffering from cabin fever.”

  Mavis’s lips thinned. “Sunnie said the men who attacked her planned to empty the museum and sell the goods inside. If they’re going to do that with stuff no one wants, imagine what they’ll do with food like potatoes and tomatoes.”

  The pieces clicked into place inside David’s head. “The terrorists are creating a black market with the stolen food.”

  “They are now that gold has been found.” Mavis tucked her hair behind her ears. “And they’re organized. While they were interrogating Eddie, some were stealing axes and shovels from the ranchers.”

  “But gold isn’t worth anything. You can’t eat it, you can’t breathe it.” Robertson jammed his hands in his pockets. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

  “Sure it does.” Papa Rose gripped Eddie’s footboard. “It’s about who we used to be. Some folks will never get that the rules have changed. For them, gold will always have value. It also explains why the men we…captured weren’t on the list.”

  Lister rubbed his temples. “So now we have two groups of terrorists?”

  David’s head began to throb. Did assholes grow and multiply in the dark? “At least we got a lead on this one.”

  “Actually,” Mavis smiled, “we have leads on both. Justin! You should know that in exchange for this information, I have pardoned Mr. Quartermain for any crimes he may have committed.”

  The pimply-faced teenager peeked around the door.

  Son of a bitch. She’d found Justin.

  “Come in.” She patted the mattress. “You’re going to tell everyone how you infiltrated the bad guys and what you know of their plans then we’re going to set a trap.”

  What had he missed? How had the little puke gone from person of interest to hero?

  “For the terrorists?” Lister bit off each word.

  “They’re up to something. Something big.” Justin scampered around him and jumped onto the bed next to Mavis. “I don’t know what yet, but I plan to go back and find out.”

  David crossed his arms. Don’t get comfortable, kid. You’re in deep shit.

  “First the gold diggers.” She set her arm around Justin’s shoulders. “Then we’ll work on Dirk and his gang.”

  Lister cracked his knuckles. “So you’re giving me permission to persuade Buttcanon’s attacker to talk?”

  David arched an eyebrow. Mavis was against torture in any form. Would she change her mind now that the stakes were so high?

  “No need.” Mavis checked the clock on the wall. “Audra will be telling their ringleader where to find the gold in about five minutes.”

  “Audra!” Eddie rose from the bed. “No! You can’t.”

  Johnson pushed him back down. “I will restrain you.”

  David moved to Eddie’s other side. “Trust me, you don’t want Johnson to restrain you.”

  “Fuck you!”

  Mavis waved away his words. “She’s perfectly fine. Once we sorted through the pieces, we realized her fellow science teacher, a geologist, had to be in charge of the gold brigade. He’d paid a very large amount of attention to her chest since you’d given her the necklace. She assured me that her breasts weren’t that interesting.”

  Eddie huffed. “Yes. They are.”

  Red swept over Mavis’s cheeks. “In that case, I would strongly suggest you stay put and follow doctor’s orders. Or I don’t think you’ll be doing anything but dreaming of them for a very, very long time.”

  David snorted. Sex was a very great motivator.

  As if hearing his thoughts, Mavis caught his eye. “If you’ll be so kind to bring up the schematic of level twelve, I’ll show you exactly where our gold diggers are going to be and then you can plan your attack.”

  Chapter Thirty

  “Just say the word, Doc, and I kill the lights or make the big doof sound like Britney Spears.”

  Although Sally pitched her voice low, Mavis could hear her just fine above the chatter in the dining hall. She raised her chin as Lieutenant Rogers adjusted the microphone to her jacket lapel. “As amusing as that would be, I hardly think it would be fair.”

  She wiped her sweaty palms down her pants. God, she hated public speaking. Why had she ever agreed to this?

  “When you’re ready, just flick this switch and you’ll be live.” Sally pointed to the button on the black box hanging from her belt. “You okay?”

  No. She wanted to throw up, and for once she couldn’t blame the baby inside her for high-jacking her equilibrium. “Just nervous.”

  She exhaled slowly and scanned the crowd, searching for the one face who could summon her courage. David gave her a thumbs-up from the back of the room. The very crowded room. Good Lord, had everyone come to watch?

  “Don’t be nervous.” Sally plucked a stray hair from Mavis’s blazer. “Everyone in here is planning to vote for you when that lawyer opens early ballots tomorrow.”

  “So the election is mine to lose, huh?”

  “Stop being negative. It’s bad Karma.”

  Karma or not, Mavis would win this election. She had no choice.

  Standing on the side of the stage, Gavin rolled his shoulders and tilted his head from side to side.

  Sally snorted. “Does he think this is a boxing match?”
>
  “It is.” And the gloves are off. They’d hacked Mavis’s personal files. She had no doubt they planned to use her past against her. Let them try. Gavin Neville was neck-deep in shit. He’d better enjoy the female attention while he could. After she was finished with him, no woman in her right mind would spit on him if he was dying of thirst.

  “Relax.” Sally stood next to Mavis. With one sweeping arc, she encompassed the entire audience. “Just picture everyone naked.”

  Mavis nodded to Dirk, massaging his candidate’s shoulders. “Even him?”

  “Eww! Where’s the brain bleach when I need it?”

  “It was your idea.”

  Sally leaned to the right and tapped her left temple as if trying to dislodge the thought. “Okay, what do you do to take your mind off something?”

  “I categorize things.” Sorting people, items and animals helped her relax. It might work in this situation, too. Mavis eyed the women in the front row. The one in red peeked at Gavin from under her lashes. The one next to her twirled her blond hair. Yuck. They wanted the mouthpiece.

  “You must be a hoot at parties.”

  “I am. Yes, I know you were being sarcastic, but I’m talking diplomatic affairs, stuffy, boring and no one says anything.” Maybe she should start farther back. She automatically found David. How would he react when she told him about the baby? He’d never been married, never had any children. He’d be a great dad. She set her hand over her stomach. And for the baby’s sake David needed to be a great mother too. God knew, she sucked at the wiping noses, cleaning butts and mopping up vomit part.

  And then there was the crying, whining and the scientific fact from adolescence to mid-twenties, they didn’t even think logically. How ever was she to communicate with…her? No. God wouldn’t give her a daughter. Girls were far worse than boys.

  Which would be exactly why she’d get one. Damn, she hoped her intuition was wrong.

  Sally followed her line of sight. “Are you expecting trouble?”

  The revolver bulged against David’s Army jacket. Robertson, standing by the storeroom with Sunnie, was also armed. Ditto, Ray and Folgers by the entrance. No doubt, Papa Rose and Falcon by the buffet station packed a weapon. Mavis hoped they kept Justin in their sight. That boy would be in serious trouble if anyone figured out he was a double agent. She strummed her bottom lip through her teeth. Maybe she shouldn’t have allowed him to return.

  But dammit, they needed to know what the enemy planned, and he was their only in.

  “Things might get a little heated tonight.” Might, hell. She planned to push Gavin’s buttons until he shot into orbit. Of course, she wouldn’t do that if he left her past where it belonged—firmly in the world that was gone.

  “Oh dear, you’ve gone all tense again.” Sally snapped her fingers.

  Johnson rose from his seat in the front row. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “Can you get some water for the candidates?”

  The medic raked Mavis from head to toe. “Yeah, and some crackers for the…”

  Mavis cleared her throat. He damn slip better not spill the beans. Her pregnancy wasn’t mentioned in the files they’d accessed.

  “For the, er, nervous stomach. I heard—I’ll be right back.” Johnson plunged into the crowd.

  Sally tapped her index finger against her chin. “Army enlisted.”

  “Maybe he likes you.” Mavis threw him under the bus. How many other times had he almost betrayed her?

  “Maybe.” Sally shrugged. “Okay, tell me what you see when you look at the crowd.”

  Mavis followed Johnson’s progress across the room. Behind a row of men standing by the serving line, she recognized five of the men from Section Seven. They constantly moved in front of Manny as he tried to hand out bags of nuts, cookies and candies to the crowd. Chef Jardin hit them with a towel to get them out of the way. “Hostiles in the kitchen.”

  “Those assholes. I caught them tinkering with my modems a couple days ago.”

  Her modems. Other than the hardwired lines, they were the only thing uniting the different caves and caverns. Crap. Communications was a valid target.

  And her vulnerability.

  “Mavis.” Sally moved in front of her. “Where’d you go?”

  “I just thought of something.”

  “Not a very pleasant thought from the sour-lemon face you had on.”

  “No. Not very.” Mavis shook off her thoughts. David and Lister were career military. They would know about the threat to communications.

  Johnson jogged over to them. “Manny will bring water as soon as he gets a chance.” He shook two packets at Mavis. His gun was clearly visible through his gaping jacket. “Here are some crackers.”

  “Thanks.” Mavis tucked them into her pockets. This kind of upset stomach she was used to. “But this is normal for me.”

  Hint. Hint.

  “I’ll be in the front row, just in case.” He pointed to his full seat, frowned then pointed to the steps leading to the stage.

  “I’m fine.”

  Lister paused to talk with David and poked him in the chest for good measure.

  That can’t be good. Could something have gone wrong with Operation Gold Dust?

  “Uh-oh. Something’s pissed off the old man.” Sally straightened her uniform jacket. “I, uh, I’ll be over there if you need me.” She pointed to the audience before jumping off the stage and plunging into the crowd.

  Mavis followed her to the row under the projector then a scuffle to the left drew her attention. The woman at the center of a group of men crossed her arms and thrust her jaw forward. One of Dirk’s people. Didn’t she realize she was trying to sow seeds in hostile ground? She mouthed a comment. The men closed ranks, shutting her out.

  Lister bounded up the stairs. He glared at Dirk and Gavin on the right side of the stage before turning his back on them. “So far, we have no dust on our fingers.”

  She hadn’t really expected anything tonight. “Our prime suspect is in the audience. Ten o’clock, near the center aisle.”

  “Hmm. I still don’t like having only two men stationed below.”

  “There isn’t any place for people to hide down there.” She’d been darn lucky to find that niche in the rock large enough for two. David had conveniently unscrewed a few bulbs so the area remained dark. “Besides you have over a half a dozen men waiting on the level above. As soon as the gold digger approaches the vein, security will move in.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. It was my plan, remember?”

  “It’s a good plan.”

  Climbing the steps, Jake adjusted his red power tie. “Are we ready to begin?”

  Dirk rubbed his hands together and smiled. “The future president is more than ready.”

  Gavin waved to the crowd, randomly pointed to people and winked at them. He raised his arms when he stepped behind the podium. The sole podium.

  Guess he wanted a barrier between his marvelous person and the masses.

  “Yes, I am.” Mavis walked to the x marked on the stage. She hoped the people appreciated the symbolism.

  “Good. Good.” Jake crossed to the table in the center of the stage and pulled up a chair. The laptop bathed his sharp features in blue then the chiming of the desktop filled the air. He tapped on his karaoke mike. “Testing. Testing.”

  His voice rumbled over the crowd.

  Metal rattled as people took their seats.

  Mavis licked her dry lips. Where was her water? Gripping the tray in both hands, Manny made his way to the stage. Water sloshed inside the gallon plastic jug centered among five coffee mugs.

  “We’re about to begin the first debate of the afterworld.” Jake tugged on his tie. “Who would like to go first?”

  “Me.” Gavin raised his hand.

  A woman giggled. Sally signaled to Ray and the house lights dimmed.

  Darn. Now she couldn’t even catalog people to calm herself.

  “Doctor Spanner?” Jake asked.

  “That’
s fine. He can go first.” She’d use the time to wet her palate, prepare her offense.

  Manny climbed the steps and headed toward Jake’s table.

  “Geez, Doc.” Lister stepped left. “Turn on your mic.”

  Manny swerved behind him.

  A shot rang out.

  Red exploded in her peripheral vision.

  Something slammed into her then she was falling. Her head hit the metal stage with a bang. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Lights!” David yelled at the top of his lungs while shoving people aside. No excuse me or pardon me. Mavis was down. Not moving. Shot. Fuck. His heart pounded double-time. Why hadn’t he listened to his gut?

  He had known a shit storm was brewing.

  And now Mavis may have paid the ultimate price.

  “Who has eyes on the shooter?” David’s mic dangled inches from his lips. Static crackled in his ear. A woman fainted in front of him. A man caught her. David pushed people toward the ground. Didn’t they know enough to get down?

  “No joy here.” Robertson huffed through the earpiece. “Dammit Sunnie, stop kicking me.”

  David fought through the crowd as the private muscled Mavis’s niece into the storage room in the corner and locked her in.

  “With this fucking rock, the shot echoed everywhere,” Ray spat.

  David picked up a crying nine-year-old girl and shoved her into a man’s arm. “Watch her.”

  Hugging her close, the man hunched over her and knelt on the floor. The lights switched on. People crouched where they stood, hiding in the darkness near the floor. Most remained frozen, statues blocking his progress.

  “I smell powder,” Papa Rose growled.

  Fuckin’ A, they’d gotten a break. David inched near to the stage. “Lock down the kitchen. No one leaves. Ray. Vegas. Folgers. Empty the mess hall.” They didn’t need any more casualties if the shooter got twitchy when they closed in. He strong-armed his way five more feet, then ten. Still too damn far away. Come on, Lister. Move your ass. Get Mavis up and out of the line of fire.