Introductions could wait. “Susan, would you help me escort the prisoner to her luxury accommodations?” Which Susan likely thought to be a joke.
Susan nodded briskly and came over to take one of the girl’s arms. As they dragged the listless form down the hall, Kat belatedly realized that she’d not asked the woman for her name, or for the names of the two boys who’d been fighting over her. Which reminded Kat of something else.
Susan held their charge while Kat unlocked the conference room door and checked inside. Only four miscreants—two boys that had to be other students, a sour looking middle-aged woman, and an elderly man who appeared to be sleeping off an early day’s drink. Kat added to their number and locked them back in again.
Susan must’ve been surprised by the situation, but she didn’t show it. “Any instructions?”
“Someone from Admin should stop by at some point to take care of them. Supposedly the deputy director.” Though Kat wouldn’t hold her breath. “Until then, check on them when you can, but only when an officer is here to help. And when you do, I’d appreciate if you could do the intake on the one we just deposited. I’ll write the report when I take my break.”
Susan nodded.
Kat pulled out her FURCS pad before she forgot, and used her security pass to take a look at the clinic’s patient logs. The two boys had followed orders, and now she had their names.
Susan followed Kat back out to the lobby, where the other two volunteers still waited, both in their teal windbreakers and caps. Kat looked them both up and down thoroughly. “Susan, if you wouldn’t mind taking the duty desk while I’m out on patrol?”
Susan nodded and sat down in the chair behind the desk and began examining the activity logs.
Kat swung the gate open and walked over to the new recruits. She started with the tall, lanky guy. “Name?”
“Paul, mam.”
Kat winced. She might have shared a class with either of these two, though she didn’t recall. “I bet you play basketball, Paul.”
“No, mam, I’m not much one for sports. I’m a physics major.”
Kat turned to the pudgy girl with long brown hair and rosy cheeks. “And you?”
“I’m Hope. I’m studying English Literature, and I enjoy a nice game of badminton.” Hope smiled.
Kat nodded. Policy required her to take someone with her on patrol. Either another officer, which was rarely practical, or two of the student recruits, who were all now considered to be officer trainees. She’d take these two. She could get to know them and give them some experience while she was at it.
She shooed them out the door and into the night with a slight sensation of shock. The fading light of dusk had disappeared while she’d been taking care of business.
Which wasn’t unusual in itself. But it made Kat wonder if the two jobs and the long hours were taking their toll. She’d even forgotten to ask Lisa where the woman had her hair done. She definitely needed to find a way to get out of working for her mother.
She shook her head and stalked off toward the Green, expecting the newbies to catch up—and they did, with a lot of huffing and puffing and swinging of their arms as they walked.
“Why aren’t we taking a cart?” Hope puffed.
“Because.” Kat walked along, scanning everywhere as she talked over her shoulder. “Sometimes it’s better to use your own two feet.”
“Why do we patrol anyway? People can call for help on their FURCS pads if they need to, right?”
“Not always, no.” Kat slowed her pace as they approached the Green. “And it’s important people see us—understand that we’re around, somewhere.” Even moving slow, she’d give both of them plenty of exercise.
They turned onto the wide sidewalk circling the turf, where the lights designed to look like Victorian gas lamps provided enough illumination to discourage trouble. But the romantic atmosphere helped picnicking couples enjoy their evening. Which they still managed to do, despite everything.
Kat paid no particular attention to anything or anyone—she simply let her subconscious take note and trusted her intuition to raise a red flag. If there were anything she needed to notice—although this area did need to be patrolled, the need was greater elsewhere. But first, she’d have to break the two newbies in.
Halfway around the Green, Hope ventured another question. “Don’t you need a gun?”
Kat grinned to herself. “I do have a gun. Every officer is assigned a firearm. But they’re kept locked up safe in a small armory back at headquarters unless they’re needed.” She glanced over at Paul and then back at Hope to see if they were both listening. “Residents aren’t allowed to bring any weapons into the compound, so it might be provocative if we carried guns around.” And people had always behaved themselves, for the most part.
By the time they’d done the full circuit, Kat was itching to check out some of the more out of the way locations. The places the tram didn’t travel. Where people alone in the dark might find trouble—those who were looking for it and those who weren’t.
They swept past the student dorms and turned toward headquarters. Kat gently rubbed her wrist and checked the time. Even with the slow pace, they hadn’t been out a full hour yet. Her trainees were probably ready for a break by now, but the patrol would continue. She did think they’d had enough exercise, though.
Kat smiled at the weary and winded pair. “Are you ready for a break? How about we take out one of the carts?” That got Hope beaming.
Kat led them around the side to where the buggies were parked. “Who wants to drive this thing?” She took a key from her pocket and held it up.
Paul nodded, “I think I can manage it.” He took the key and slid into the driver’s seat of the nearest cart. Kat took the seat next to him. Hope plopped onto the back bench with a sigh.
Kat pointed Paul in the direction she wanted to go, and they headed out again. “Paul, how much of the layout of this place are you familiar with?”
For some reason the man blushed. “Only where I need to go, as it were. Should I have been studying a map or something?”
“You can learn the lay of the land as you go, but it wouldn’t hurt to study a map—and to carry it with you, at least while you’re on duty.”
Kat pointed again. “Take that path. It goes between the two research wings and swings round to the east side of the Ag Center.”
As they traveled on, they entered quieter, less populated areas. They continued for half an hour, circling the Agriculture Center, then heading back toward the worker dormitories, where they’d start encountering more people. The path began to curve down a gentle slope, and a group of men appeared ahead of them. The one in front stopped and held his arms out to bar their way.
Kat reached over and put her hand on Paul’s shoulder. “Stop.” Paul eased the cart to a halt and looked to her for more. Kat made out four of them, not quite steady on their feet, and she wished they were falling down drunk instead.
The man in front had a mass of curly black hair and a prominent nose. “Hey! Who do you think you are? Riding around like royalty while we—” And then he burped.
Hope, leaning forward from the back of the buggy to watch, giggled.
As Kat climbed out of the cart she talked to Paul and Hope in a low, clear voice. “You two stay here. If there’s any trouble, take off right away. I’ll call for help if I need it.”
Paul objected, “We’re supposed to stay with you. If you think you may need help—”
“You’re first duty is to protect yourselves and each other. If you can stay close enough to keep an eye on things, fine, but first get far enough away to be safe.”
Kat leaned in for a final word. “Once you’re out of danger, you can call headquarters and tell them to send help, and let them know where we are. And if you fail to get through on your FURCS pads, it never hurts to scream for help.”
Kat moved away from the cart and walked on to where she stood a few feet in front of the four men. “Are you going
to let us pass?”
“Well, let me think about that, honey.” Big nose looked over her shoulder and gestured to one of the other men, who started circling around Kat, toward Paul and Hope.
Kat turned her head enough to follow that man, and to see the cart in the corner of her eye. She was pleased to see Paul follow her orders and take off in a wide arc away from the fellow, then start speeding back up the slope. So some physics majors could be smart. But now one of the men was behind Kat.
Big Nose laughed loud. “Looks like your friends have abandoned you.”
She ignored him. At least they weren’t rushing her. They probably lacked the intelligence to coordinate their tactics. She’d an additional advantage that she was sober, and another in their clear belief they had her at a disadvantage. She’d allow them to think they were in control.
Their leader suddenly let his arms drop. “Hey! I know who you are.” That wasn’t good. “You’re his daughter.” He turned back to his friends. “This is the director’s brat. Her dad got us into this mess.” And the looks on their faces got uglier.
For perhaps the first time, Kat wished she were known as her mother’s daughter, but she didn’t like hearing them bad mouth her dad. At least Paul and Hope should be safe now.
She saw no more point in delaying, then. Time to force them to make a move, and Kat immediately knew what move she wanted them to make.
Kat put her arms up in front of her. “Please, I don’t want any trouble.” Though clearly they did. She backed up a step toward the man that had circled around behind her. She would give them what they were expecting.
Big Nose advanced toward her, and she kept a close watch on his face, saw him start to grin. She could feel the other one behind her—not too close, but they clearly felt they had her trapped now.
Kat stepped back again, pulling the leader in. Like reeling in a fish. Her senses were finely attuned to every detail, and her timing had to be perfect. She moved back just a little too slow as he strode toward her. And created just the moment she wanted.
Big Nose lunged forward, swinging his right fist. Kat half-stepped forward at an angle, pivoted inside his center of gravity like a spinning top, and heard him crashing into his friend behind her. While she darted ahead.
The other two had a moment of confusion, probably exacerbated by their inebriation. She’d already reached one of them when he belatedly made a grab for her, but she was already behind him, kicking him through the back of his knee and pushing him to the ground. The other one was still standing and staring at her as she pulled out a pair of zip-ties and started binding the hands of the guy down on the ground.
She glanced over and gave him his instructions. “Just lie face down on the ground and put your arms behind your back.”
As she moved over to zip-tie that one, she noticed that the first two had now started to untangle themselves from each other.
By the time Tony and Officer Kirkland arrived, speeding down the slope in one of the big carts, Kat had gotten all four lined up sitting on one side of the path with their arms bound behind them and hanging their heads. In shame, she hoped.
Tony pulled the cart up beside her, and Kat saw both men were grinning. Still coming down the hill were Paul and Hope in the other buggy.
“Need a ride, Kat?”
She looked at the miserable quartet and shook her head. “You can give these guys a ride, though. To you know where. I’ll just take Paul and Hope and finish my patrol.”
She left the two men still grinning.
Chapter 5
Not Being Paranoid
10:55 a.m. Saturday, November 30th
DAVID examined Eric’s work, nodding as he handed the man a yellow flag. Good enough, and he’d fix it later. “Plant that next to the hole. Jeffrey and I will take care of the rest.”
He didn’t need to suggest a break, because Eric took one after each hole he finished regardless. He remained surly, but at least the man didn’t actively cause trouble anymore.
Indeed, Eric seemed strangely subdued lately. He and his friends still refused to take the job seriously, but the rest had improved dramatically, and the crew was starting to make some real progress. Maybe the reality of the situation was setting in.
David turned to see what needed his attention next and felt a flash of irritation when he spied Sgt. Rossiter over by the base camp—again wandering around and fiddling with his pad. The sergeant did little else when he was here, which was less and less all the time. Still, Rossiter had spoken to each guard rotation until they all knew they couldn’t slack off.
But David had been mulling over Rossiter’s behavior ever since yesterday morning’s conversation with Ken. Thursday afternoon, David’s crew had finally finished the first section he’d marked off. So yesterday before dawn, he’d gone out to mark off a new work area, and had then begun moving the base camp to a new location—by himself until his boss had shown up to give him a hand.
David had asked him again about Fiona and the girls, sure that Ken must miss them since all outside communication had been cut off. The man couldn’t even talk with them. Ken had simply shrugged and said his family was likely safer there than they’d be here. Then he’d made the gruff comment that had taken root in David’s mind. That if he really needed to talk to his family, he’d try to find a spot near the perimeter where he could get a signal through to an outside cell tower with his regular phone.
Which had started David wondering if that was what Sgt. Rossiter was always doing when he wandered around the buffer zone. David hadn’t seen if the sergeant was fiddling with his FURCS pad or a normal cell phone. Nor did he have any idea whether the man had a family on the outside or not, or at all—hadn’t even paid enough attention to recall if Rossiter wore a ring.
He noticed the sergeant tuck away whatever the device was and stalk off. Another of the man’s frequent disappearing acts, it thwarted David’s notion of trying to get a closer look to see if it was a FURCS pad or a regular cell. He looked around at his crew, but saw nothing needing his urgent attention.
So he walked over to the base camp, where Jeffrey was eating his lunch before he began going over the ground they’d finished so far. David wiped his brow with his towel as he approached.
“Jeff.” He waited until the man looked up. “I want to take my lunch break inside. If you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on the crew ’til I get back?”
Jeffrey pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled. “No problem. I can watch them while I finish eating.”
“It might be a long break.”
Jeffrey only nodded and went back to his lunch. David didn’t waste any more time. He strode off in the same direction Rossiter had gone, little doubt in his mind where the man was headed. He just needed to catch up to him before the sergeant got lost on the inside.
David caught sight of the man soon enough and slackened his pace, because he didn’t want to draw the man’s attention. He wondered why he felt the need to go to such lengths to exercise his curiosity. He’d likely find a simple explanation for the man’s absences, and if Rossiter were trying to call someone on the outside, it probably was his family.
Still, the sergeant could be trying to contact the governor’s people. Maybe David was simply being paranoid, but he couldn’t help but speculate about the less pleasant possibilities. He’d feel better once he’d satisfied himself in his own mind.
He followed Rossiter to the north gate, usually called the Ag Center gate, the one currently being used by David’s crew and anyone else needing to go back and forth from the buffer zone. There was a matching gate in the fence here. Workers used to go out to tend the apiary and the livestock herds and some experimental fields—all of which lay outside the compound and who knew what would happen to those now. Because a week ago the fence had been sealed. No one had gone out since.
None of the other three gates in the perimeter wall were being used right now, so naturally the Ag Gate would be the way both the sergeant and David wou
ld re-enter the compound. This was nothing unusual. Still, David followed the man through the gate and back inside.
David tried to keep a discreet distance as the sergeant weaved his way around to the front of the Ag Center and stopped at the tram station. David understood that here he’d only one choice. So he strolled up and sat down on the bench at the far end and tried to appear as if he were minding his own business. He couldn’t keep a close eye on the sergeant without looking conspicuous. It would lend some credence to his suspicions, though, if Rossiter were to abandon the tram station now.
David tried to be casual. He checked his watch against the posted schedule, even though he knew it was outdated. He was attempting to keep his mind away from dwelling on the fact that he was trailing someone. So he focused his thoughts on lunch. He was just another worker on his lunch break, going somewhere to eat. Which reminded him of the dinner last night at his mom’s house.
He’d left work at the same time as his crew, so he’d have time to swing by his dorm room and pick up a few things. Becoming more and more uncomfortable living right down the hall from the recruits he supervised, he’d decided to stay at his mother’s house. He’d thought it would be easier. He’d stayed there overnight on occasion, when it was closer to where he needed to be in the morning.
Now it would make for a longer trek to work. That had still seemed preferable, though, and he’d arrived at what was essentially his own home only to have the door opened by Crystal, the blonde Scandinavian student worker who kept house for his mom. Crystal was a junior and very mature, and beautiful, but still a fellow student. David couldn’t think of her as a housekeeper, especially not when she often wore tight sweaters and tighter jeans.
The screech of the arriving tram jolted David out of his reverie. He forced his mind away from Crystal the same way he’d had to the previous evening. He barely prevented himself from checking to see if the sergeant was still there—instead, he took his time standing and ambled his way over to the tram. He was rewarded to see the sergeant jumping onboard. He walked to the next car down, climbed on, and sighed as he sat on the thinly padded vinyl. Now all he had to do was stay alert and watch.
Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus) Page 9
