by Patten, Sean
“Escorting.” I knew a euphemism when I heard one. There wasn’t a chance in hell that everyone would go peacefully.
“Second order of business is this—I’m going to be running a tight ship here at Esperanza. That means zero tolerance for troublemakers or lawbreakers. Soldiers will be given discretion to deal with any undesirables in the manner they see fit. I want a peaceful, orderly camp, and I’m going to have a peaceful, orderly camp!”
“Given discretion.” “Undesirables.” More euphemisms. What he was really saying was that soldiers would be given the power of judge and jury. And maybe even executioner.
“You will all be kept abreast of any further changes here at Esperanza. But I want you all to know that the days of anarchy are over! The days of starvation and disease are over! And your days of not being able to look forward to a better and brighter tomorrow…are over!”
Cheers burst out from the crowd, but I kept my reaction measured. Steve, on the other hand, seemed thrilled about the speech.
Mason descended from the stage and the crowd began to break up.
“Damn,” said Steve. “The man knows how to get you motivated, doesn’t he?”
“Something like that,” I muttered.
Steve cocked his head to the side.
“You feeling okay about this?” he asked.
Truthfully, I had no idea. Maybe I was wrong, and Mason’s sterner leadership was just what this place needed. Maybe Lambert hadn’t been the right man for the job. Maybe I’d played a small part in making the lives of the people here at camp a little bit better.
Or maybe I’d helped doom them all.
“Just trying to take it all in,” I said.
“Okay,” he said. “Hey, Mason gave a few of us the night off. I was thinking I could grab some of the better rations from the barracks mess hall and swing by your and Kelly’s place this evening. You know, save you two a trip to the rations line.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’d like that.”
“Great,” said Steve. “See you around seven?”
“Sounds great.”
With one last smile he was off, joining back up with his men and disappearing into the crowd. Mason, along with a few other troops, vanished into the command tent.
Nothing to do but get back to work.
I went back to it at the work site, finishing up the final touches on yet another sewer system for yet another bank of latrines. When that was done I was wiped. Between the coup and the workday and the very little sleep I’d gotten after the midnight meeting, I was feeling dead on my feet. Steve’s offer to save me and Kelly a trip to the chow line would be a godsend.
Kelly was already at the tent, relief evident on her face the moment I entered.
“Oh, thank God,” she said, running over and throwing her arms around me. “I was worried…”
She let go of me and cleared her throat. “I mean, I heard at the med station that no one had gotten hurt at the coup. But still.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I think the only thing hurt today was Lambert’s pride. Remains to be seen about how things are going to go over the next few days, though.”
“Are you worried?” she asked.
“Don’t know what I am,” I said. “But something major changed here this morning, and there’s only going to be one way to see how it all shakes out.”
“Guess we’ll just have to watch and wait,” she said.
“Yep.”
Silence passed, and I took the opportunity to kick off my shoes and take a seat on the small pile of dirty clothes that functioned as our makeshift easy chair. Wasn’t half bad, really—as long as you could ignore the smell.
“We should get down to the dinner line,” said Kelly. “I’m starving.”
“Oh,” I said. “Got news for you about that.”
Before either of us could say another word, a voice sounded out on the other side of the tent.
“You guys hungry?”
“Is that Steve?” Kelly asked.
“Yep,” I said. “Invited him over for dinner. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” she said with a smile.
I pulled open the tent flap and there was Steve, three brown bags tucked under his arm.
“You guys hungry?”
“You have no freaking idea,” said Kelly, giving him a hug as he stepped in.
“Good to see you,” I said. “But even better to see those.”
Steve took one of the packages from under his arm and held it up.
“MREs,” he said. “Meals, ready to eat. Chili con carne with cornbread, followed by strawberry jam and peanut butter, and even some fruit juice.”
I didn’t see that he’d had his thermos in his other hand, which he opened to reveal some steaming hot water.
We were all so hungry that we didn’t wait another second before tearing into the meals. We opened up the MREs and mixed the hot water with the chili in the packages, along with some for the fruit juice.
It was like heaven. And maybe even more importantly, I knew that an MRE would be more than enough calories for at least the next day.
“You soldier boys are eating good,” said Kelly as she dipped her slice of bread into a small pool of jam and brought it up to her mouth.
“For the kind of work they have us do, they better feed us right,” Steve said. “But who knows how long the MRE supply’s going to last.”
He shook his head, dismissing the topic.
“Need to tell you guys something about what Mason’s got planned.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said, wiping my hands.
“He wants to go back into Vegas tomorrow.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. “For what?”
“Wants to do some more recon in the city, figure out just how bad things have gotten. Maybe see if he can find any caches of supplies that haven’t been scavenged yet.”
“That’s it?” I asked.
“Not it,” he said. “He also said he wants to hurry up and connect with General Donahue and let him know of the…recent developments. And to work with him to figure out a new plan for what to do going forward.”
It seemed a sensible enough idea. But something about it also seemed…weird. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the sentiment was strong enough that I couldn’t help myself from saying what I said next.
“I want to come with you,” I said.
Kelly and Steve both stopped eating and turned their attention to me.
“What?” Steve asked.
“I want to come with you.”
“I heard that,” he said. “But why?”
“Because I was at the ground floor of something big today, and I want to see it through. I want to watch Mason for myself and find out what kind of man he is.”
Steve regarded me with some skepticism for a moment.
“And you want to find out by going into Vegas?”
I realized my true motivations, then—I wanted to keep tabs on Mason, to see what he had in mind for Donahue. After all, he was going to be breaking the news that he’d pulled a coup. Surely he wasn’t planning for Donahue to take that without incident.
“Yeah,” I said. “And I want to see what the scene in the city is like now. We might have to go back into it when we’re ready to leave the camp, whenever that is. I want to know what to expect.”
Steve kept his eyes on me as he stabbed his plastic fork into his bread and left it there.
“You seem pretty gung-ho about this,” he said. “And I don’t know if it’s a good idea—”
“Just ask Mason,” I cut in. “Or I can come with you tomorrow to ask him myself.”
More skepticism.
“Okay,” he said. “You really want to do this, I’ll let you ask him. Maybe he’ll be happy to return the favor of you helping him out with the coup.”
“And one more thing,” said Kelly.
Now it was my turn to be confused.
“What?” I asked.
“I want to come, too.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. “Why?”
“Because,” she said. “I’m not getting separated from you two again. If you’re going into the city, I want to be there with you, whatever happens.”
Steve and I glanced at each other, and I was sure he was thinking the same thing I was—no point trying to talk Kelly out of something she’d put her mind to.
“All right,” he said. “So it’s settled. Tomorrow, we go for a field trip.”
I nodded, though I would’ve been ready to leave right then and there. I wanted answers, and I didn’t want to wait for them.
Chapter 18
May 18
We made our way down to the command tent at dawn the next day.
I’d expected Mason to shut down mine and Kelly’s request to volunteer, and his response took me aback.
“Sure,” he said. “I’d love to have you on board. Both of you.”
My mouth had been open, already prepared to offer up some reasons why I ought to be brought along on the recon op. There was the matter of me helping with the coup, along with the fact that I’d been one of Lambert’s handpicked men and had done more than my share of backbreaking labor around the camp. I didn’t really care for the idea of leveraging myself, but I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I was on the recon squad.
But none of it turned out to be necessary.
“Really?” I said. “You’re fine with me being on the squad?”
“Both of us?” Kelly was quick to add.
“Both of you,” he said.
“Just like that?” asked Steve, as if he was in just as much a state of disbelief as we were.
Mason’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You all seem…a little surprised.”
“Just thought you were going to need some more convincing, I guess,” I said.
“Why would I?” he asked. “I need good men and women for the job. And when two of them walk right into my office and volunteer, I’d have to be stupid to turn them down.”
“Sure,” I said, still trying to get my mind around it. “Glad…glad to hear it.”
“And I know all about the good work you guys have done,” he went on. “Not just around here, but back in Vegas before you three showed up.”
“You mean with Oleg, and the Troika?” I asked.
He gave a brisk nod.
“Lambert told me all about it,” he said. “And I gotta say, I’m impressed. You three have no idea how much time and resources had gone into that operation. And when all this shit went down and we’d finally made it to base site, I kept thinking just how much of a pain in my ass that Oleg fucker was going to be down the road. But you took care of all that for us.”
“To be fair, it was one of Donahue’s men who actually pulled the trigger,” I said, wanting to take the focus off myself.
“Well,” said Mason. “If I see the guy who did it, I’ll give him my thanks. But Mr. Azarof wouldn’t have been there to get popped if you all hadn’t done what you did.”
He clasped his hands together, the crack of knuckles popping echoing through the tent.
“Not only that,” he said. “But I bet you’re ready to do some work that doesn’t involve installing shit pipes.”
He was right about that.
“Don’t get me wrong,” I said. “Happy to help out, but—”
“But you’re ready to get out into the field and do some real work, I get it.”
“It’s all real work,” I said, not wanting to seem overeager.
“Sure, sure,” he said. “And that’s a good attitude for a soldier to have. And you’re a real soldier, I can feel it. You know what needs to be done, aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty.”
Was he trying to butter me up? Maybe. Mostly, I was just glad he’d agreed without too much of a debate.
“Anyway,” he said. “You’re all on the team. Rendezvous is at the western entrance. Once there, we’ll load up and ship out. Further orders will come after that. Any questions?”
“No,” I said. “No, sir.”
“Good,” he said. “See you there. Dismissed.”
At his word, the three of us left the tent and caught one of the UTVs outside just in time to hitch a ride to the western entrance. A few dozen soldiers were there waiting, along with three personnel carriers, their engines rumbling hard enough to shake the ground where we stood.
One of the soldiers noticed us there and trotted over.
“You two,” he said to me and Kelly. “You’re the civvies that Mason let join the op?”
“That’s us,” I said.
He gave us a once-over.
“Need to get you some more appropriate gear. Go see the quartermaster near the checkpoint to the entrance. He’ll get you looking right.”
He turned to Steve. “We’ll be operating in teams of three. You’ll be leading up these two. You feel up to the job?”
“Sure do,” said Steve.
He flashed me a teasing smile at the idea of being in charge.
“All right,” said the sergeant. “Grab your gear and get ready to move out.”
Kelly and I headed over to the quartermaster, who supplied us with some standard military uniforms and directed us to the nearby bathrooms. The bathroom came equipped with a shower, and I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to take a quick rinse before I threw on my gear.
Once I had it on I stopped in front of the mirror—a luxury I hadn’t come across since that night in the Troika. Seeing myself in fatigues and combat boots, just like I’d always dreamed of…it was something else. Granted, I wasn’t some fresh-faced kid ready to ship out to boot camp, and I wasn’t officially a member of the military, but it was close enough for a small smile to appear on my face.
Better late than never, huh? I thought, taking one last look in the mirror before heading out.
Kelly was waiting for me, her outfit identical to mine.
“Look at you,” she said with a grin. “Always knew you’d look killer in uniform.”
I let out a quick bark of a laugh.
“I feel like I’m going to a costume party,” I said. “Not like it’s official.”
“It’s official enough,” she said. “You’re working with the military and going on a military mission. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a man in uniform.”
She stepped over to me and put her hands on my arm. Goddam, her touch felt nice. The bit about looking killer in uniform applied to her too, but I kept that observation to myself.
“You feeling all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, fine. Do I seem like I’m not?”
She shook her head.
“I just wanted to see if you were having any second thoughts about this.”
“Can’t,” I said. “No time for any of that.”
She continued to regard me, a look in her eye that I couldn’t quite interpret. I felt like there was something I needed to say, but not only was I unsure if it was the right time, no words came to mind.
Just being with her there was enough.
“Soldiers!” boomed out one of the troops by the personnel vehicles. “Let’s move!”
“Speaking of no time,” Kelly said, her hands dropping from my arms.
“Yeah,” I said. “Time to hit it.”
She nodded, our eye contact lingering for just a few beats longer before we turned and trotted over to the area where the troops had gathered.
We found Steve and formed up with him before getting in two lines, each leading to a different troop carrier. Minutes later we were loaded up, packed into the armored vehicles along with several other soldiers, all with the same stony, serious expression on his or her face. A few of them looked to be non-official soldiers like me and Kelly, but the remainder were armed and ranked.
No one spoke during the journey, through the rumble of the engines would’ve made conversation impossible even if I’d been in the mood to talk. I spent the majority of the time th
inking about the mission ahead, and what I might learn about Mason and his intentions. I could only hope that I’d be proved wrong about my initial assessment of the situation.
The carrier pulled to a stop about forty-five minutes later, the back doors opening and bright daylight flooding the vehicle’s interior. I shared one last look with Steve and Kelly before we poured out with the rest of the troops.
The Strip. I almost felt sick at the idea of seeing the place again. When we’d left, coming back had been the last thing on my mind, but there I was again, at what I could only expect was the war zone to end all war zones.
But as my boots clanged against the ramp out of the carrier and I looked around, all I could see and hear was…nothing.
It was calm, quiet. The Strip appeared abandoned, not a soul to be seen in any direction. Storefronts were smashed, garbage littered the streets, and the burnt-out husks of cars lined the road. In that sense, it was what I’d come to remember about the place. But other than that, it was empty.
We formed up with the other troops, Mason hopping out of the still-working Humvee that he’d been driven in and approaching us.
“All right,” he said, the slight conviviality he’d shown in his office gone, replaced by the usual hardnes. “The mission is two-fold. Group Alpha is with me, we’ll be making our way to General Donahue’s base of operations. There we will inform him of the change in command and plan the next phase of operations for the Vegas area.”
It was the group I wanted to be a part of. Mason talked about meeting up with Donahue like it were the most normal thing in the world, like they were old buds grabbing a drink. But the circumstances were hardly typical. Mason was going to be informing Donahue that he’d taken command of possibly the largest refugee center in the state, and that he’d done so in a coup.
And there was the matter of Lambert. Hadn’t Mason let him out in Vegas? That’d mean almost certainly that he’d have linked up with Donahue. If that were the case, the meeting would be even more complicated.
“Second group, your job is recon and resource acquisition,” Mason went on. “As far as the former, I’m looking for intel on whatever sort of activity you see around the city. I want to know who’s still living in this hellhole, and how they’re doing that living. For the latter, I’m looking for food, functioning battery-powered equipment, maybe even some leads on working automobiles.”
