“We work for a security firm,” Gage answered. “We were flying to Houston on an assignment, but we live in north Las Vegas. Our family is originally from around the Reno area.”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to travel that far from home with this crisis going on? Not that I’m suggesting that you turn around, but how are you so sure it won’t go on for days?”
“Work is work. Hopefully we’ll make it there and back in time.”
“Do you mind if I ask how you managed to get this vehicle so quickly?”
“It was waiting for us. We’re working a job, as I mentioned.”
I pursed my lips together. “I don’t get that. We are in Albuquerque. The flight was headed to Dallas and then Houston. How did you snag a vehicle here?”
“We work for a firm that operates nationwide. There’s basically one of these vehicles in every major airport terminal for situations just like this.”
“Well, lucky for you…and for us too, but maybe not so lucky for your family. Are you sure about going all that way?” Okay, so maybe I asked Gage the question to get some details on Gunner’s relationship status. I had no other reason to become the master interrogator of the bunch.
“We plan to be back in Reno in time for Christmas, but you’re right that we don’t know if that’s going to happen. We’ll just have to take things as they come.”
I nodded. That answer didn’t help much. “Hopefully, it won’t take too long for officials to figure out what happened. That reminds me, Dawn, can you pass me my equipment bag? It’s directly behind me, so I can’t quite reach.”
“No problem.” Dawn stretched behind the seat. “What do you think happened Dr. Rizzo?”
“I honestly don’t know. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
“Do you think it was a solar flare?” she asked. “Or some kind of reverse eclipse?”
“Maybe it was an EMP,” Gage suggested.
“No,” I disagreed, shaking my head. “It’s not possible at that altitude. An electromagnetic pulse is a short, localized burst of energy. It couldn’t happen worldwide, or for as long as it did up there. It has to be something else.”
“I think you’re right,” Gunner agreed.
“You men must have some NASA or military training,” I speculated out loud.
“Ex-military,” Gunner confirmed. “My brother and I used to serve years ago.”
I pulled out my solar measuring device, radiation detector, and mobile pyrheliometer. After taking a few measurements inside the vehicle, I decided there just wasn’t enough room in the back of the SUV to really do a proper job. “So far all the readings look normal, but I’ll have to check a few more later on.”
“Excuse me, everyone,” Thorn, the teenager, said to get our attention. “I think we should stop at a big box store as soon as it opens. My father is somewhat of a survivalist. If he were here, that’s the first thing he would do. He would stock up the trunk and every available space with food, supplies, first-aid items, water, camping gear, weapons…basically everything we need to bug out and survive in the outdoors, away from the masses. I have a list in my bag. I’m only suggesting it because we don’t know how long the emergency is going to last. If things go sideways, or if the authorities are overwhelmed, we may want to have enough to be ready for anything. And cash too.”
“I think that’s a good call, kid,” Gage agreed. “Gunner, what do you say?”
“Absolutely. It’s four-thirty now. Most big-box stores open at six a.m. How about we get some gas as soon as we can, take the highway as far east as we can get by say, a quarter to six? We can run into a store, buy everything we need, and leave quickly. By that time, it’ll be four or more hours since this event began. It could trigger panic for people waking up.”
“I’m with you there,” Gage agreed. “We should probably all split up the tasks to get them completed more quickly.”
“What do you mean?” Dawn asked.
“There are seven of us. Well, nine, but we can’t count the babies. One person can stay with the infants. One needs to watch the vehicle. Two should gather up debit cards and try to access the ATMs, while the last three split up to get what’s on the shopping list. It’ll save us a heck of a lot of time. I can stay with the car.” He pulled out his wallet and passed his debit card to Gunner.
“I will use my ATM cards,” I suggested. “There should be enough to last us a while.”
“Great,” said Gage. “So Finn, Thorn and Dawn can split up the shopping list.”
“Make sense to me,” Finn agreed. “Lauretta, the babies are probably better off with you.”
“No problem, honey.”
“It sounds like we have a plan in motion,” Gunner said.
For a discussion about bugging out, I was pretty darned relaxed. To be honest, the twin brothers seemed competent. They definitely had some sense of compassion, to have allowed all of us to travel with them. They could have driven off in their Lincoln and returned home, leaving us all stranded at the airport. The thought gave me a level of confidence that we might actually make it to Houston in one piece.
I could only wish.
Chapter 4
Gunner
Six a.m., December 21. Somewhere West of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Perfect.
The massive parking lot was nearly empty.
The sight of only a few cars was a relief. In all likelihood, the residents around this small town west of Albuquerque were mostly still in bed, or just waking up to the news of last night’s mysterious celestial event. Which meant we could shop for supplies and be back on the road fast.
Instead of finding a parking spot, I drove up to the sidewalk beside the main entrance and put the vehicle in park without turning off the engine. I turned around to look at my new charges in the back seats. “Okay everyone. Do you all know what you need to pick up?”
They all nodded. Good, because we had discussed it enough on the drive here.
“Great. Gage will stay with the car and Lauretta, you’ll watch the twins, so that everyone else can get finished faster with the shopping items. Serena and I will check on whether the ATM works, and we’ll withdraw as much cash as we can. Everyone else, buy only what’s on your list. Don’t stop to peruse, compare prices, study nutritional facts or any of that. Just find your items, get to the cashier, pay, and be back at the truck. Ten minutes. That’s all we have. If you’re not back in fifteen, you won’t find us. Got it?”
All their heads nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Serena, Dawn, Finn, Thorn and I jumped out of the car and hurried inside. Dawn, Finn and Thorn went into the shopping aisles, while Serena and I hurried over to the four ATMs on the wall opposite to the shopping carts. I wasn’t sure why I noticed that Christmas carols were playing inside over their Muzak sound system, but I took it as a good sign that all hell wouldn’t break loose just yet. The first machine I tried was a bust, but I got two withdrawals of five hundred each out of the second machine before it locked me out. That was probably my daily withdrawal limit. I tried Gage’s card next. I was only able to get five hundred because that was all he had left in his account. Still, fifteen hundred in cash could get us food and gas, and maybe a some seedy motel rooms to spend the next couple of nights. Who knew how long this chaos could last.
I went over to meet Serena after a few minutes.
“How did you do?” I asked.
“I got twenty-three hundred from one card, but the machine ran out of cash,” she said proudly.
“Nice work!” I pointed at the kiosk I had just finished using. “Let’s try this one over here.”
“Sure. It’s a good thing I like spreading my pay across three banks,” she added as we walked.
“Is that one of your rules too?” I joked. I was only guessing that she had a set of rules she lived by, based on the fact that our drive over here had already revealed that Serena had a bit of an uptight side to her.
She slipped out a different
debit card from her wallet and started another withdrawal. “Don’t knock them until...hey, how much did you get?”
“Fifteen hundred.”
“Between you and your brother? Well then, I believe I just made my point,” she grinned, eyes darting between me and the screen.
“You and the survivalist kid could start an emergency preparedness movement,” I teased.
“I doubt it. That’s so not my personality.” Some cash began to fall into the dispenser. “There we go! Another five hundred.”
“Sweet. So what is?”
She tucked the cash into her wallet. “My personality? I’d say I’m more of a behind the scenes, process-oriented, detail-everything kind of gal.”
“And then some.”
“What do you mean?”
I studied her and wondered whether she could take a compliment without believing I was hitting on her or that the entire conversation was offensive. We were in the midst of a potential country-wide crisis, so my timing may have been off too.
“Never mind. Forget I said that,” I told her. “Got any more cards to try? We should head back.”
“Hold on. I want to know what you mean by that remark.”
“How badly do you want to know?” I asked, eyebrows raised and feeling playful for the first time since we started our chat during the flight.
Her nervousness returned. “I’m curious, not desperate.”
“How curious?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“Well, on what you’re expecting.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Just say whatever it is you wanted to tell me.”
“It’s okay.” I started walking back to the Lincoln, pretty sure that holding back information was probably best to get her to open up to me.
Serena hurried to catch up, and grabbed my shoulder, but nervously pulled her fist back. Probably because of the wicked jolt of energy that seemed to pass between us. I’d felt it on the plane, so this was two for two. “Sorry, I must have a ton of static residue on me from the flight,” she muttered, seeming slightly confused. “Come on. Just tell me.”
I turned to face her. “That’s the problem. I’d much prefer to show you,” I whispered, taking a step toward her.
She didn’t move away, but her eyes batted nervously and her hand shot up to fiddle with her prescription glasses. “I d-don’t understand,” she stammered.
I gave her a look and went for it. Hesitation was never my thing. Gazing down into her hazel-green eyes, I took another step toward her. My hands raised to her shoulders, firmly pressing her back against the wall. I’ve never been shy either, so today was no different.
“What the hell—” she started to object, but I smothered her words with a kiss that stopped her dead in her tracks.
She let out a moan from the back of her throat. That was not resistance. Far from it, Serena was really into it, and she was no wallflower or novice to intimate touching. At least not at the moment. Her hands gripped the fabric of my shirt, pulling me closer as I parted her lips and began to explore every ridge of her teeth and contour of her cheek and tongue. Her mind shut off. Her body relaxed into mine until there wasn’t an inch of space between us. I gripped the back of her head and ran my hands through her hair. Serena moaned into my mouth, lacing her fingers around my neck.
I was probably into the moment too, because in addition to ignoring the tightness of my growing bulge pressing against my zipper and Serena’s stomach, I disregarded the slight tapping of slim fingers on my shoulder. Until it wasn’t slight anymore, and it was accompanied by clearing of the person’s throat.
“Are you and Dr. Rizzo done yet?” Dawn asked, shaking my arm. “We’re at nine and a half minutes.”
I pulled back, smiling down at Serena’s expression of lust and disorientation all melted into one on her face. “Our time’s up, so yes, I guess we’re done. I was just making good on the bet we had earlier,” I mentioned, not taking my eyes off the woman who had just surprised the heck out of me.
“Yes. Right. That’s what we were doing,” Serena agreed.
“How did everyone do inside?”
“Finn is in the checkout line. Thorn is still searching for one more item on the list. Do you want me to go find him? Just so you don’t leave him in there.”
“Uh, sure,” I said, still distracted by Serena, who was now smiling. I didn’t mind the response. Not when her reaction could have been so different, or violent. I was ready for a punch in the jaw or at least a smack in the face, and even that would have been worth it. A smile was a good sign.
“We’ll be beside the car,” Serena shouted after Dawn. She looked over at me, running her fingers over her lips. “Your timing is interesting, Gunner.”
“Who says a possible apocalypse can’t be a little fun?” I joked.
She pulled away from the wall and started walking to the car. “Let’s hope it’s not that serious.”
“I’m counting on it. I’m not quite ready to be wiped off the face of the planet by weird and wonderful bright lights.”
“There are worse ways to die, you know?”
I ran a hand over the prickly stubble of my beard as we stopped at the side of the truck. “Let me guess. You have a list for that too?”
She rolled her eyes, but was not really offended this time. “I’m not answering that one.”
Gage stepped out of the driver seat and stared at us across the hood. “How did you do with the cash?”
“I got twenty-eight hundred, and your brother scrounged up a measly fifteen hundred,” she boasted.
“Nice work you two.” He checked his watch. “Four minutes left.”
“Good timing,” I agreed.
“I don’t know about that,” he muttered, pointing at the main street we had just driven on to get here.
What had been empty roadways a few minutes ago was now a bustling, crowded street filled with cars and trucks, most of which were driving into the mall parking lot.
“Damn. Have you been listening to the news on the radio?” I asked Gage.
“Yeah. An emergency radio broadcast. The message was on the east coast, but all the stations out here are playing it.”
“What did it say?”
“All flights are still grounded until they determine the cause. There were two small aircraft crashed in New Jersey and Kentucky. And get this. They’re asking for people to stay indoors just in case it happens again.”
“Why?”
“They can’t confirm it yet, but they aren’t sure whether we were exposed to anything serious.”
“That’s not possible,” Serena said. “I checked my readings. I would have picked up other types of radiation on my equipment. Sure, there were higher than normal infrared and ultraviolet levels, but nothing like ionizing radiation. That’s the dangerous kind.”
I nodded. “Well, this avalanche of traffic is coming our way. The panic and lawless behavior will start next. We can figure that out later, but for now, we need to leave. Get in, everyone.”
“We can’t go yet.” Gage announced.
“Why not?”
“Lauretta ran in a few minutes ago. She needed baby bottles and another set of diapers.”
“And you let her go in there after all our careful planning?” I barked.
Gage shrugged. “I figured you’d send her back, but you may have been busy playing kissy face with the doctor at the time.”
“Lock all the doors and keep the engine running. Be ready for anything!” I shouted. “I’ll get Lauretta.”
Chapter 5
Gunner
Six-Fifteen a.m., December 21. Albuquerque, New Mexico
I ran inside like lives were depending on it, because they were.
Only a few customers were checking out items with two cashiers, and the self-checkout lines were empty. They had no idea what was on its way in. I hurried across the wider aisle at the front of the store, quickly scanning up each row for Lau
retta. She was not in the baby supplies area, but I found her perusing brands in the diaper row. “Lauretta!” I shouted, running up the aisle toward her. “We need to leave right now. There’s no time to stop at the cashier.” I pulled her by the arm. “Now. The crowds are outside. If we don’t leave now...I don’t even want to think about being in here when they pour inside.”
She pointed back to the diapers. “But we won’t have enough!” she protested.
“I’ll gladly hand over all my clothes for you to make impromptu nappies for the little ones.” Turning to the front entrance, I came to a dead stop. Shit. The entrance was blocked, jammed tight with people of all shapes, colors, and sizes, all fighting to get inside. It was worse than Black Friday. I looked up at all the lit-up emergency exit signs. “We’re finding another door.” There was one at the far front corner of the building, far from any entrance. “Over there,” I shouted.
Just as we made it about twenty feet from the exit, a tall man wearing camo from head to toe made it inside. With a rifle that he shot into the air. That was exactly what Gage and I were afraid of. With crisis came the yahoos, whackos, and vigilantes who lived for the possibility of wreaking havoc. Not that I expected it so quickly in Albuquerque. Okay, so I kind of expected that out here.
We made it to the door just in time to avoid being seen by the guy, and scurried outside. The place was worse than I expected. I couldn’t see Gage’s car anymore, but I was thankful. My twin wasn’t born yesterday. He’d never stick around for this. I looked around the parking lot. There were a hell of a lot of black Lincoln Navigators, but Gage wouldn’t make me have to assume where he was. The movement of a plaid shirt near the main street got my attention. I stripped off my shirt and began to wave it back at them. “There. He’ll meet us over in that section of the lot,” I said, nodding over at the least busy kitty corner about two hundred feet away.
Alphas for the Holidays Page 58
