Jessie had to try hard to be nice, not to snap at people who kept coming up to their table and asking for pictures but Scarlet handled them with grace. She was used to being the center of attention and this was much more real than the worshippers of Bastet. These people didn’t want anything from her, didn’t expect her to fix all their problems or show them the way. They just wanted her picture or to simply say hello. Jessie looked grumpy and sour in most of the shots and it didn’t take long for them to avoid the scowling kid wanting to be left alone with his double hot fudge sundae. They gravitated to her and her smile. Her willingness to make small talk and pose for photos, to thank them for their kindness and answer questions about the outside world. A group of well-dressed women finally separated them, insisted Javier simply must do something about her split ends and led her off to the salon. Scarlet beamed a goodbye to him and he saluted her with a spoonful of ice cream.
He was happy she was happy and that he wouldn’t have to hang out in some beauty salon waiting for her. They’d have time for ice skating tomorrow when some of the fuss died down. He thought they might be here for a day or two if the doc had to run a bunch of tests. He’d have to talk to Macon, maybe see if he could bring Bob and Nefertiti over to hang out in the dock area, even though they weren’t allowed in the main building.
The ladies in the shop had all followed Scarlet over to Javier’s and the men that were left kept looking over at him but none approached. Even without his blood-stained leathers and low-slung guns, he looked a little scary to them as he sat in the corner, back against the wall and finished off his dish.
“MR. JESSIE!” he heard from across the store and saw Slippery Jim and another kid from Lakota come running in, bumping people aside.
Jessie rose to greet them, giving hugs to them both. It was good to see old friends from home. The kids were full of excitement and chatter and once they caught up for a few minutes, they dragged him away to the arcade.
“Tony has high score on the Pacman here!” Jim said “But nobody’s been able to top Scratch’s score on your machine.”
“Scratch just got lucky.” Jessie said. “I was going to kick his ass before I left but didn’t have time because of the party.”
“He’s playing music tonight on Radio Lakota.” Jim said. “If you can beat him, I want to call him and rub it in.”
It was on like Donkey Kong and with his enhanced eyes and liquid fast reflexes, Jessie could have played all night without ever losing a life. He could have easily run through all two hundred and fifty-six screens the machine had before it ran out of memory but he made it exciting for them. He barely beat Scratch’s high score with his last Pacman who almost got eaten a few times before the counter clicked over to eight hundred thousand. Just enough to take away his crown, just enough for the Tower to have the highest scoring Pacman machine on earth. Just enough to have Scratch ranting about it when they called to tease him. A cheer erupted and more pictures were taken of Jessie smiling big with the Lakota Bullet Brigade right there beside him. The crowd parted and got quiet as two dark suited men eased their way through them.
“Congratulations.” The bigger of the two said, acting friendly and trying out a smile he hadn’t used in a long time.
“Mr. Horowitz would like to see you, if you have time.”
Jessie’s sideways grin fell away fast. He didn’t recognize them and his eyes caught the slight bulges under their jackets. These weren’t the same bodyguards the CEO had before, the ones that had apologized for their leader’s rudeness and then taken him on a tour of the Tower. These men had a harder edge to them, a little meaner stance.
“Of course.” Jessie said, remembering his duties as an emissary. “I think I’ll be here for a day or two. I can meet him tomorrow.”
“Mr. Horowitz’s business is quite urgent.” The humorless man said. “He would prefer to meet tonight. He would prefer to meet now.”
Sorry. I promised my friends we’d play Space Invaders next, was the first thing that popped in his mind but he could already see the outcome of that. He wasn’t in the Wastelands, he was a guest in another man’s home. The gentlemen in the suits would insist then it would probably come down to a fight if he refused. They didn’t look like the kind of guys who would go back to their boss with excuses. The law of the gun wasn’t appropriate when surrounded by well dressed people who smelled of strawberry shampoo and mango skin lotion. These weren’t pissheads sewing zombies together or fang faced raiders looking for someone to cook. This was business. He held out his hand in a lead-the-way gesture to the groans of the boys.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” he said. “Let Scarlet know, would you?”
“She probably already does.” Tony said and Jessie saw what he meant. Excited people were already texting or talking to their phones, everyone wanting to be first with the scoop, letting their followers know the very latest happenings.
Jessie recognized Horowitz’s personal assistant as they approached the elevator. She was in a similar business skirt, had her hair in the same bun and wore the same glasses.
“Hi Miss Marilyn.” Jessie said, and grinned at her.
“Mr. Meadows.” she acknowledged, and stepped aside to let them in.
“You’re looking rather dapper. I trust everything fit just fine?”
“That was you?” he asked and straightened his shirt. “Yes, perfect. Scarlet says thanks for the makeup.”
She smiled at him, pleased she could do a small kindness. She’d seen the girls face and heard the story of why they were here from the video feeds, of course. She’d counseled her boss to let them unwind, have an evening of fun but he wanted to talk with Jessie tonight. He’d never been a patient man and since the fall, he had grown more demanding, nearly obsessed. She’d arranged for a group of girls to separate them so Horowitz could speak with him alone and her plan had worked as she knew it would. It was up to him now to convince Jessie to help.
Howard J. Horowitz drummed his fingers on the fine leather of his office chair, impatient as he watched the various video feeds open on his computer. Why did they have to wait until he was finished playing that stupid game? Why didn’t they just grab him and tell him he was wanted upstairs? He should have cut the power to the arcade. He trusted Jessie as much as he trusted anyone, which was to say only a little and only because he had to. The kid had a reputation of being able to get things done when no one else could so he’d use him. He didn’t know enough about the Anubis girl to have much of an opinion about her yet. He didn’t have any real intel on the cult, just stories from a few of the retrievers or whatever was on Radio Lakota. They sounded mostly harmless, just some looney, if rather aggressive, religious sect from Canada. He wasn’t worried about the Raiders anymore either, thanks to the rocket launchers and tank he had. He had been angry that Macon had gone behind his back but it all worked out for the best. They’d sent kids and truck drivers to show his men how to use the equipment. No nosey generals came poking around getting into his business, asking questions about the program or worse, wanting to dismantle it.
Horowitz had read the reports about the so-called Road Angel. The kid knew how to survive beyond the walls, some say he was more comfortable out in the wilds than in the settlements. None of the retrievers he’d hired had been able to accomplish what he needed done but the kid probably could . He’d been able to do things others couldn’t. Hell, he had gotten that stupid egg Samed wanted when the others had said it was impossible. He had something he needed done and the kid was his last hope.
A chime played softly, a warning note that the elevator had been keyed to his penthouse, and he rose to greet the Road Angel. The boy who could deliver everything. The boy who just might be able to save the world.
108
The Tower
“It can’t be done.” Jessie said.
Horowitz clenched his fists in frustration. And for effect. He’d heard the boy’s arguments, he understood the logic he was presenting. The Raiders were on th
e move and with his scarred-up face, he was easily identifiable. They would kill him before he got anywhere near her to stage a rescue.
“If you want her so badly, why don’t you send a messenger?” Jessie asked. “Offer him something he wants, something he can’t refuse.”
The CEO’s shoulders slumped.
“I’ve tried.” he said in annoyance, furrowed his brow for a moment then reluctantly admitted more.
“Twice. Both times they came back dead. One man on a spit. He’d been cooked and parts of him were missing. The other one was chained to the ferry cable. Still moving around but very much dead. Casey will not negotiate and he will not give up the president for anything I can offer.”
At Jessie’s raised eyebrow, he quickly amended his statement.
“The false president.” he said. “Secretary Edmunds. She has valuable information we need and he won’t even let us talk to her. He has killed everyone I sent down to Mexico. He’s an unreasonable man.”
“He eats people.” Jessie said. “Unreasonable is an understatement.”
“What about Atlanta?” Horowitz asked. “She left the rest of her delegation in a warehouse, they could still be alive.”
“It’s bad over there. When my dad made that run, he had a train.” Jessie said. “All the bridges have been blown so that option isn’t available even if I wanted to.”
“But you escaped from there.” Horowitz said. “You could get back in.”
“No, I can’t.” Jessie said. “I’m not suicidal. I wouldn’t go back across the Mississippi with anything less than an armored convoy and even then, it would be iffy. There are just too many zombies packed into the cities. Those diplomats are dead.”
The CEO bowed his head for a moment then moved on to the real reason Jessie was here.
“Okay. But what about the DARPA site. You can get in there can’t you? I’ve heard the tales of your exploits, surely you can get in there.”
“Most of those stories aren’t true.” Jessie said. “If you haven’t figured it out, Bastille likes to exaggerate. Embellish the facts a little. Or a lot, depending on his mood.”
Horowitz waited. This was what he wanted. It would have been nice to have someone with the access codes, Edmunds or possibly one of the bureaucrats, but not necessary. It was a simple trick he’d learned to use when building projects: make a few unreasonable requests then one that was actually achievable. The team he was placing the demands on would work that much harder on the one task that was possible, no matter how difficult. It was all psychology 101 and if it worked on his employees, it would work on this simple kid who seemed to have an endless supply of luck. Of course, it would have been easier to send in a company of trained men to power the building up, kill the horde of undead and connect the mainframes to the grid but he couldn’t hire an army. His money was useless when there was no one willing to do the job, no matter how much he offered. The only town with enough organization and men with the skills had flat out refused him. Lakota had spared the crew it took to connect the fiber optic cables so they could get data from the internet computers at NSA but Meadows had told him he didn’t need whatever was on the DARPA hard drives. It was high tech weapons systems and UFO files and granted, that stuff was interesting but not really important at this point in time. He was trying to rebuild a country and he wouldn’t risk men on what he called a fool’s errand.
“Look, Mr. Horowitz, it isn’t as easy out there as some people would like for you to believe.” Jessie said. “Every week men are killed, even when they travel in groups. Retrievers disappear and are never heard from again. We nearly died getting the Egg and you want me to go into a military base with thousands of zeds to get some hard drives. It’s not worth the risk and we have other issues. We only came here to get my girl some medical help and we only risked our lives to get the Egg because your doctors won’t help anyone without getting paid in baubles. Unlike the rest of the country.”
A pointed jibe.
Inside Horowitz boiled at having to listen to this ugly kid try to scold him but he needed him and the boy had just unwittingly given him some leverage. He just had to let this play out for another day. He hid his satisfaction with a knowing frown and a nod.
“Perhaps you’re right, Mr. Meadows, but I thought I would ask. You are the most experienced and successful survivor who dares to go out in the wastelands and if it’s something you think is too risky, then it probably is.”
Jessie saw the man’s disappointment and wanted to give him something to hope for. He was their host, after all and he had to tread careful. Horowitz had the power to tell him to leave. He could forbid Doctor Samed to help.
“There are troubles with the Anubis cult up north. Once your doctors get Scarlet sorted, we’ve got to go up there and try to figure something out, see if there is some way we can have peace. Maybe by next year I’ll be able to get into the base. The zombies are falling apart fast, the ones outside, anyway. Another six months stumbling around in the desert and with a good team, I should be able to get what you want.”
“Get me Samed on the phone.” Horowitz snapped as soon as the elevator door closed behind Jessie and the bodyguards.
“I wouldn’t advise it, sir.” Marilyn said, knowing her boss and having a pretty good idea what he had planned.
Horowitz almost told her to shut up and do as she was told but held his aggravation in check.
“Why is that?” he asked instead.
“If young Jessie finds out that you ordered medical help withheld from his girlfriend until he does what you want, if she gets worse or dies, he’ll come for you.”
The CEO shrugged his shoulders.
“All he has to do is get the hard drives. He may not like it but he’ll do it.” he said dismissively. “Puppy love is the strongest. Remember Romeo and Juliet? They’ll do anything for each other, they don’t know any better.”
“Have you read the psychological profile I gave you?” Marilyn asked.
Horowitz waved his hand at her. He didn’t have time to read everything she piled on his desk.
“You won’t be able to force him to do anything.” she continued. “The team you put together to study him say he is obstinate, idealistic, naïve, loyal to a fault and is either the luckiest man alive or is somehow enhanced. They have conducted interviews with everyone that has been in close contact with him, they have analyzed all the stories about him and they believe he may be using an experimental military grade exoskeleton. They think he’s already been inside one of the DARPA labs and has an augmentation suit. That would explain his unbelievable exploits and the fact that he is always described as wearing the same clothes. The baggy black pants and the leather jacket. Maybe he’s hiding the use of the suit so everyone thinks he’s more than he is.”
“Have you checked his car to see if it’s there?” Horowitz asked.
“We’ve tried.” Marilyn answered. “His dog is guarding it and we don’t have tranquilizers to put him down.”
“I need those hard drives.” Horowitz said. “They could change everything. Can we get any of those bionic suits? Where are they?”
“There’s no evidence they even exist, that information would be in the computers you want. He may have simply stumbled across one while he was out criss crossing the country. That would also explain his reluctance to get the drives for you. He may want to be the only “superman” for his own reasons. He is a teenager after all and has quite a cult following. He’s the closest thing we have in the new world to a celebrity and probably doesn’t want to share the limelight.”
Horowitz slammed his fist into his palm.
“I need those hard drives.” he said again.
“I suggest using the carrot with him.” Marilyn said. “Not the stick. If anything happens to Scarlet, if he finds out you had anything to do with it, his profile suggests he would come for you seeking revenge.”
“He’s not bullet proof.” Horowitz said. “I’m not intimidated by him.”
�
��I’m not saying you should be, sir. I’m saying he would be more willing to help if he had a good reason. The proper motivation.”
Horowitz nodded grudgingly and waved her away. He needed to think.
109
Jessie + Scarlet
Tresses salon was standing room only and when the ladies of the Tower saw him, he was shooed along.
“You can’t see her until she’s ready.” They said and tittered as they snapped his photo. “Javier can’t be rushed.”
He hurried away and browsed the shops until he found the Bullet Brigade boys still in the arcade, spending the last of their credits on tokens, pizza and fountain sodas.
“Hey, Jessie.” Tony said when he joined them at the Mortal Kombat game. Sub-Zero and Raiden were battling it out with a victory each, two boys hunched over the joysticks with fingers dancing on the buttons.
“Hot Rod wanted to see you, he’s in the cowboy bar.” Jim said, never taking his eyes off the action, hoping for a fatality win. Coins were already lined up from others observing the action, evaluating strategies and waiting to take on the winner.
Jessie watched for a few more minutes then wandered out, headed down to see if the rest of the outsiders were there. The cowboy bar was one of four in the mall and was where the retrievers, bounty hunters and traders usually hung out. It was more relaxed, more redneck than highbrow, and they served homebrewed beer and whiskey for a quarter of the price they charged for the old-world alcohol. The music was mostly country, the mechanical bull had a line waiting to ride it and a cloud of vape smoke hung in the air. He spotted Hot Rod and a handful of others he knew sitting at a big, round table and joined them. It was good to be among friends and they swapped stories, caught up on the latest news and raised a toast to fallen comrades.
One of the convoy drivers had been killed up in Canada. The details were sketchy but from what little they knew, the team had run into a massive, wandering horde out in the middle of nowhere. It was hundreds of thousands strong. Rob had tried to plow a path with his semi, there was no way he could get turned around, but he’d been overwhelmed. He had hired on with a crew trying to find an easier way over to the riches in the Eastern States. They needed a rig to haul back everything on their list and the payoff would have set everyone up for a life. It was dangerous work but it paid well, if you survived. He hadn’t but his sacrifice let the other cars escape.
Zombie Road: The Second Omnibus | Books 4-6 | Jessie+Scarlet Page 72
