MacTierney shook his head. “I don’t know that much about cars to know what to look for.”
Fiona snorted. “Grace knows. She’ll examine your SUV and see what can be done, if anything. As for that miserable wretch we brought along, we can see which one of us finds him first.”
“You can search the camp.” Kat nodded at the woods around them. “I’ll start looking out there, in case he’s left. He can’t have gotten far.”
Fiona cackled. “Where’s he going to run to out here? He’d be lucky not to starve by morning.”
Kat shook her head. “We’re only several miles from your old home. He’s stupid enough to think he might get back in with those white supremacists—if any of them survived. I doubt his ability to make it that far, but.”
“Alright. Faith and Patience can start searching the camp while I have a word with his wife, see what she might know about this. And if you’ll loan your sergeant to assist my Grace, maybe we can get this show on the road. Eventually.”
Kat nodded at her sergeant. Grace was already lying halfway into the SUV’s cab, twisting to look up under the steering column. MacTierney ran around to the other side to help her. And Fiona stalked off toward her other two daughters, swinging her flashlight in a wide arc ahead of her.
Satisfied everyone else would do their job, Kat turned her eyes away from the camp and slipped on her night vision goggles. She scanned from side to side across the open field but she didn’t see him on that end of the clearing. He might’ve made it to the tree line already. More likely he’d gone in the other direction—away from her.
She studied the ground in front of her while she walked a good fifty yards away from the vehicles. If Bart had run away, she’d find evidence of that. She turned and started a slow circuit of the camp, alternating between scanning out into the darkness and examining the ground as she walked. All the while berating herself.
She should’ve kept a closer eye on him. If he did manage to get away, it was her own fault.
Then halfway around, on the opposite side from the SUV, Kat found fresh scuff marks in the grass. She knew she hadn’t made them, so it must’ve been Bart. She looked out into the night in the direction he must’ve taken, but she saw no sign of him.
Now she had a decision to make. Head for that tree line and track the man down, or go back to see how the others were doing first. She was itching to chase Bart. But he’d already done what damage he was going to do, while she needed to find out exactly what that was. I can always catch up to him later.
She slipped off her goggles and ran back to the camp. She stopped first at the jeep where Fiona and Patience stood facing down Lacey, who sat dangling her legs out the passenger side door. “I found Bart’s trail, headed for the trees. Does she know where he might be going?”
Fiona shook her head. “She doesn’t know anything. Won’t even accept that he’s gone.”
Kat shifted so she could look Lacey in the eye. “I need you to focus. You must have some idea where your husband’s gone, and why.”
Lacey’s wide eyes stared at the women in turn as she slowly shook her head. “I don’t understand why he’d leave me. Where could he go?”
“Is there any chance he might’ve headed back to those white supremacists? Or do you think he’d try to make it out on his own?”
“I suppose he might’ve gone back to them. That would explain why he left me behind. He wouldn’t want to put me in danger.”
Fiona snorted. “It makes about as much sense as seeking sanctuary with some slimy Aryans in the first place.”
Lacey looked at her in confusion. “It did make sense. We needed refuge, and we’re white.”
Kat shook her head. Lacey wasn’t much better than her husband. It was tempting to leave her behind here, but Kat couldn’t abandon the woman out in the middle of nowhere. That would make me no better than her husband. Besides, she had to wonder how much of Lacey’s thinking was conditioned.
Kat drew Fiona away into the dark and spoke in a low voice. “She doesn’t know anything, and I don’t want to waste any more time running around looking for him. Not when we need to get moving, now more than ever.”
Fiona shook her head. “That wasn’t much of an interrogation. That doormat is probably protecting that louse of a husband. If you won’t, I imagine I’ll be able to make her talk.”
There was a gleam in her eye as she said it that Kat didn’t like. “I imagine the poor thing’s suffered enough at the hands of her husband—I don’t want you giving her a hard time.”
“I suppose you’re right. Still, I’d rather not take her along with us. But seeing as we’re in the middle of nowhere, I guess we’ll have to find a better place to drop her off.”
Kat had been thinking the same thing, but maybe she was being too hasty. “Who knows? Perhaps Lacey will blossom, now that she’s away from Bart’s influence?” It was hard to imagine it now, but there wasn’t time to think about the woman’s future. Kat had more urgent matters on her mind.
Fiona cackled. “At least we don’t have to worry about Bart. He can’t survive for long out on his own. And if he does make it all the way back to my place he’s not likely to find any help there.”
“If he does manage somehow, and there are any of them still alive after the welcome you left, they’ll get his story out of him—where we’re at and where we’re heading.”
“It’s a long walk, and I doubt any survivors will be in any shape to come after us.”
Kat didn’t want to take any chances. “Nevertheless, we need to move out as soon as we can, before anyone does come looking. I’d better see how MacTierney and Grace are doing.”
Fiona followed Kat’s long strides to the SUV. It wasn’t so dark they couldn’t see the vehicle was still jacked up and not going anywhere anytime soon.
MacTierney turned and saluted. It looked as if Grace was siphoning gas from the tank behind him. “Lieutenant Miles. I had to make a snap decision.”
Kat turned her flashlight onto his face. “Explain what you mean, Sergeant.”
But it was Grace who answered for him. “In addition to the two flat tires, the ignition was jammed and the starter wires ripped out and taken. I can fix everything, but it’ll take a long time. Several hours in all likelihood. Tim said you couldn’t wait.”
MacTierney blushed. “I figured we didn’t have much choice but to abandon our SUV here, Lieutenant. And continue on in the other vehicles.”
Kat nodded. Getting Ken’s family safely back to the FURC was the important thing. “So you’re salvaging the gas to take with us. Alright. But we need to move quickly. And there’s a question how much room there is in the Cameron vehicles for our stuff as it is.”
MacTierney saluted and turned back to Grace. Fiona barked at Kat from right behind her. “As if asking for a couple spare tires weren’t bad enough, now you want to borrow both our jeeps?”
Kat whirled on the woman. “I’m not borrowing them, I’m commandeering them.”
“You got stones, girl.” Fiona cackled. “But you don’t have any authority over me. I’ll make my own decisions about my vehicles.”
“You’re right that I don’t have any authority to tell you what to do.” Kat bared her teeth. “But if I have to hit you to get you to go along with a reasonable request—don’t think I’ll hesitate to make you see stars. Now, how much room do you think there is for our stuff?”
Fiona was standing there with her hands on her hips glaring at Kat when Grace spoke up. “Some of your supplies are already gone. Tim looked through the truck and said a bunch of stuff is missing. Including a pair of night vision goggles.”
Perhaps because of that reminder of a common enemy, Fiona relaxed her stance. “Alright. I’ll have Faith and Patience make as much room as they can. I dare say we’ll be able to cram everything in.” And the woman turned and stalked back.
Kat turned back to her sergeant. “Since you’re making decisions, you can figure out what we really need to take along
and carry it over.”
In addition to the extra baggage, there’d now be seven of them cramming into the two vehicles.
Since Kat herself would take up some of the limited space, she decided to consult with Fiona about what they did now. That might calm the waters between them a bit.
She crossed to the Camerons’ carriers. Patience was watching her sister rearrange boxes in the back of one vehicle, and their mother was watching them both.
Fiona nodded to Kat as she approached before turning back to her two girls. “Stop messing about with those, Faith. Take your sister over to help the nice young man bring their stuff over, and then you can figure out how to get it all in.”
The daughters scurried off. Kat looked at their mother for a long moment, trying to feel the atmosphere the way her own mother might. “Do you have any idea how we’re going to squeeze all seven of us into your two jeeps?”
Fiona stared back for a long moment while she worked her jaw like she was chewing on something. “Faith, Patience, and Lacey are the smallest, so they can ride with me. That leaves Grace to ride with you and your sergeant.”
MacTierney will appreciate that.
Kat nodded. “Thankfully I never told that man what route I planned to take back to the FURC. But I’m not sure the relatively straightforward path that I’d intended is a good idea anymore.”
Fiona squinted. “You never told me which way we were going either. But you’d better tell me now. And why shouldn’t we go straight there? Wouldn’t that be quickest?”
“And if they know where we’re headed, it would also be easy to intercept us.”
“Not if we stay ahead of them.”
Kat was tempted. But she needed to be careful with all these complications arising. It felt as if she was out at sea without a weather report—and there were ominous signs on the horizon.
She shook her head and looked Fiona in the eye. “I’m familiar with the area between here and there, and particularly around the FURC. Trust me to find the best way back and into the compound. Do you know that one abandoned subdivision—about forty miles southeast of here?”
“You’re thinking of a particular house. The one with a certain peculiar problem?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
Fiona nodded. “We should be safe there if anywhere. And be able to get there well before dawn.”
Kat smiled. “Since both of us know how to get there, we know where to meet if we should get separated in the dark. Which reminds me. We still have enough night vision equipment for both vehicles. I want us to try and avoid any contact with anyone on the way there.” She sincerely hoped they could.
“So we keep an eye out for anyone and anything in our way. If we run into Bart trying to hitchhike, I don’t suppose you want me to pick him up?”
Kat imagined Fiona might ‘accidentally’ run the man over if she caught sight of him. “That’s settled then. Let’s help the others transfer everything and we can set sail all the sooner.”
While the two women had talked, the three girls and MacTierney had been busy stuffing bags in the other carrier. While Lacey still sat dazed and oblivious.
They all needed rest. Once they’d reached their next port of shelter, they could get at least a little of that. And Kat had some serious thinking to do.
Bart’s sabotage could only have been meant to delay them. And now she was delaying their return to the FURC even more. But her instincts told her she was sailing in deep waters, and she was going to listen to that still, small voice inside and slow down further.
Maybe the next time she would see the trouble coming before she ran into it. And get home safe.
Chapter 7
Increasing Pressure
8:10 a.m. Sunday, March 2nd
LISA clutched her coffee mug close with one hand, her other resting firmly on the steering wheel as she drove the cart along one of the wide walkways. With a sigh she glanced over at the stubbled, bleary-eyed figure of her new and hopefully temporary partner. She was tempted to imitate David and ram the cart over a curb. Instead she slowed and slid it smoothly down a ramp and into the middle of the main thoroughfare. She took a big slurp of coffee before she spoke.
“Alright, Chief. We’re clear of listening ears. I can do all the talking if you’re awake enough to pay attention.”
She met the heavy-lidded, sullen gaze Chief Nelson shot at her and returned her eyes to the road. If he’d been up all night running himself ragged it was his own fault—he shouldn’t be taking it out on her.
Showing up early for duty this morning, she had expected a new partner. What she’d found was her boss swilling coffee in the break room and announcing that he’d be shouldering that responsibility. He didn’t look up to the job.
She couldn’t be blamed for needing a new partner, or for the fact that the chief had taken on that role himself. He’d claimed he didn’t want to disrupt the other officers’ schedules. Which she knew to be an excuse—Ben was working a special project on his own, leaving Susan without a partner. It looked like the chief now regretted his decision.
He turned his head and shut his eyes. “Go right ahead, Officer Courdray. I’m perfectly awake.”
“It’s not like I had a peaceful night either. After staying up late to review those personnel files, then the power went out a few more times. It upset little Joey just as bad as last night. Shouldn’t someone be doing something?”
Her boss growled low in his throat. “Someone’s on it. Now if you don’t want to talk about the case, I will. Because I’ve got something to say.”
“Three times the power went out at ten-minute intervals. Something fishy is going on.”
Her boss opened his eyes. “You’re sure? Exactly ten minutes?”
Lisa nodded. “The first time it happened I was still awake and rushed into Joey’s room to be there for him if he woke up. I was looking at the clock as everything rebooted. I was still there soothing him when it went out again and I noticed it was just ten minutes later, so I stuck around for a while. And in ten minutes the power failed again. It doesn’t seem natural.”
“We’re trying to keep this quiet, but someone’s been trying to hack into the FURCSnet. So far they haven’t been successful. But the attempts force the system to reboot and the power briefly goes out.”
Lisa frowned at the windshield. “If the poisoning of the guards was sabotage, as seems likely, this could be related.”
Chief Nelson sighed. “Could be. We don’t know enough yet to link the two cases—that’s why I’ve got Ben working on finding the hacker and you investigating this poisoning.”
Since he was still her boss, she stifled a groan of irritation. “Whether or not it ends up being linked, you should share any information that might be.”
“Speaking of which. There’s another matter we want to keep quiet for now, but which might tie into this poisoning. It’s part of the reason why I’m here with you today, so I can fill you in.”
She turned and squinted at him. “You don’t get me a proper partner and now you’ve got more bad news? What is it?”
“We just discovered last night that someone has contaminated the wheat stores at the Ag Center.”
“Contaminated how? With what? You must be thinking it was intentional if it might be related to the poisoning.”
Chief Nelson took a deep breath. “We’re sure it was deliberate. I’d sent Officers Wellman, Macklin and King around to test the various food supplies—mostly to make sure they were properly secured, but I also had them take samples to be analyzed. For all the good it’ll do you I’ll send the detailed report, but the gist of it is—someone introduced a virulent neurotoxin into the containers.”
Lisa shook her head. “It sounds much more sophisticated than dumping arsenic in lasagne. And if that was sabotage as well, that could mean multiple perps. Add in the hacking and we could be looking at a conspiracy. Again.”
“It wasn’t that sophisticated. They could’ve taken it for
accidental contamination—if no questions had been asked. Cultured from some kind of mold, it superficially resembles a naturally occurring toxin sometimes found in wheat stores. A simple analysis showed it was something grown in a lab, though. A lot of students and teachers here could’ve done it.”
She chewed that over for a moment. “There’s a subtle similarity there. An amateur quality. In both cases a clumsy attempt to disguise the act itself.”
Her boss nodded. “Or maybe they didn’t care if we discovered what they’d done. A kind of off-hand carelessness which I find more disturbing. Anyway, the hacking is different—apparently that’s quite an expert job. And an inside one.”
“Inside?”
“Someone inside the community.”
“That’ll make them easier to find, won’t it?”
Chief Nelson sighed. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”
“Alright. Let’s set aside the hacking—it could be some student messing around. But the poisonings, those can’t be kids playing pranks. You said a virulent toxin? What does that mean? Has anyone gotten sick?”
He shook his head. “Thankfully, no. It must’ve been done recently. But it’s deadly and the only way to make the wheat safe would also make it basically unusable. So what it means is—once we’ve used up the flour we’ve got on hand, no more bread, muffins or cakes.”
Lisa stifled the growl rising in her own throat. “I can see why you want to keep this quiet.”
“These blackouts are already making people uneasy. When the rest gets out it could cause a panic.”
She felt her jaw clench. “We really need to solve these cases before that happens—it’ll be bad enough when everyone realizes that doughnuts are gone for good.”
Chief Nelson rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I agree. There’s too much to do to bother with sleep. And I need to make the most of my resources, that’s why I’m putting Salazar on the wheat investigation. You can focus on the guard poisoning and share information with him, in case the two are related.”
Lisa pursed her lips. Michael Salazar wasn’t her idea of a real police officer. Sure, he was on the job for a little while, but then he went private. From all she’d heard, he sounded like the kind of private investigator who never met a rule he wouldn’t bend—and he liked to work for lawyers.
Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus) Page 30
