Second Solace

by Robert Clark

  ‘I wanted to keep my people safe,’ he said after a look pause. ‘I wanted to build for them a home where they could be… free.’

  He looked at me like he had answered the question astutely. Slowly, the truth dawned on him.

  ‘Imagine a group of ants. A colony,’ he continued, ‘imagine them going about their lives gathering for the colony, when one day a boot the size of their entire colony comes along and steps right on them. Kills half their number in one single moment. Should they be angry at the boot? You’re goddamn right they should. Will the boot do anything about it? No, it won’t, because the needs of the ant aren’t those of the human wearing the boot.’

  Another pause. His eyes stared off at the oblique shadows swaying in the night.

  ‘The boot is the pentagon. They couldn’t give a damn about the little people. They’ve got wars to fight both out there and stateside. They can’t be stopping for the ants, can’t be wasting time finding a path that doesn’t hurt them. Because at the end of the day, the ant can’t do shit to the boot, or the human. The ant doesn’t mean a goddamn thing, and it knows it. Doesn’t mean it won’t try to change things. Doesn’t mean it won’t cause a ripple. But it can’t get between the boot and the destination, can it? That’s the way this country works. It has a war to win, and if a couple of Americans die along the way, then so be it.’

  He made a move like he was going to get up, but he decided against it.

  ‘Now, imagine the ant had a way, a clear, undeniable way of showing the boot that it was not to be fucked with. Say they all got together and fashioned a two-inch nail to put right in the boot’s way. Should they do it to protect their people? Yes. Might it cause a couple of problems? Maybe. But it is the prerogative of the ant to survive, and to continue the survival of its species. That is what I wanted.’

  ‘That didn’t answer my question. What is Al-Assad building for you?’ I asked. I knelt down beside Cage so that he could see the severity of my question, and let it sink into his head.

  ‘What’re we talking about here,’ he grumbled, shaking his head like a petulant child. ‘This ain’t your home. You didn’t build it. I did. And I make the goddamn calls around here, understand?’

  ‘I’m not denying that,’ I said. ‘I just want to know what he built for you.’

  ‘He gave me a goddamn deterrent,’ he barked. ‘He gave me a way to protect my people.’

  ‘Maddox, what exactly is he building for you?’

  But he made a noise that sounded like a drunk trying to burp and laugh at the same time.

  ‘He didn’t build me shit,’ he said.

  ‘You just said he did.’

  ‘Can’t build nothing when you’re dead, can you?’

  He waved away an invisible fly and sniffed. There was blood on his upper lip, oozing down from his nostrils.

  ‘Al-Assad is dead?’ I asked.

  ‘That man was never destined to live. Not with all that radiation inside of him.’

  ‘When did he die?’

  ‘A while back. His was a slow death. No man should have to go through that.’

  ‘I don't understand, you said he gave you something. If he didn't build you a weapon, what did he give you?’

  Cage smiled the smile of a drunken man.

  ‘Knowledge,’ he said. ‘Now the Government can watch in awe as the ants rise up. They can't take away our home.’ He wiped away the blood on his face and stared at his hand. ‘And after everything they’ve taken from me, I won’t let those bastards win.’

  Through the trees, the first light of dawn breached the moonlit sky.

  ‘You built a bomb yourself,’ I said. ‘He showed you how, and you built it.’

  ‘You’re exactly right, James,’ Cage coughed. Blood flecked down his chin. ‘It hasn’t been easy, but we did it. That’s why we were so interested when we heard an Afghani weapons specialist was being transported nearby. We thought you could add the finishing touches, but..’

  His sentence trailed away, not that he needed to finish it.

  But I wasn’t who they were hoping for.

  I was the complete opposite.

  ‘How long do we have left?’ I asked.

  ‘Couple of miles maybe, I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I walked this track.’

  I extended my hand out.

  ‘We need to get going,’ I said. ‘You need a doctor.’

  He eyed my outstretched hand.

  ‘You’re on my side, aren’t you James?’ he asked.

  His eyes met mine once more, and I saw the unmistakable embers of the man I had come to know flickering. Not dead yet. But maybe not that far off, either.

  ‘Yes, Maddox. I’m on your side.’

  Twenty-Three

  A Brand New Day

  Shadows appeared in the meagre light. Like tumours, they grew deeper and darker and more prominent as a timid sun rose up to present to the world a brand new day, and with it, all the joys and horrors it may bring.

  It was not the first in my life that I smelt bad news on the morning dew. Nor was it the first day I had been proven right, but seldom did this foresight do so little justice to just how much bad news the day would bring.

  Cage’s estimation of a few miles had turned into what I guessed to be close to ten. A walk in such formidable terrain was exhausting enough at the best of times, but with a two-hundred pound dying weight hanging from your neck, it was damn near impossible. And as the first signs of Second Solace rose up in the morning light, I was close enough to breaking point myself.

  The guards on the gate were the first to spot us. Having spotted the unmistakable figure draped across my shoulders, they forgave their training and rushed out to meet us. They bombarded us both with questions, but they went unanswered.

  A four-man jeep was summoned by one of the guards, and we crossed back through the tall pine gates of Second Solace by vehicle. Cage and I took up the back seats, looking like a pair of drunks too far gone to sit upright. The man behind the wheel followed a track that clung to the outskirts and looped around the settlement before approaching from the north.

  Almost immediately, I noticed something had changed. It took me the rest of the drive to put my finger on it, but as we pulled up beside a building I had not yet seen, I figured out what it was that was amiss.

  The surrounding area looked more like industrial workplaces than anywhere else I’d seen in Second Solace. The one in the middle was the shortest and widest, yet it was a larger scale of the clinic I’d taken Cage to. The building next to it was some kind of workshop. The front of the building was open, with benches and table saws and rows of tools stacked neatly on the walls. It was one of the most modern places I’d seen in the archaic settlement. It stood out like a sore thumb, but I guessed it was a necessity. Probably one of the things Hope and her band of merry outcasts turned their noses up at. A blotch of twenty-first century all over their caveman aesthetic.

  A group of five nurses hurried out to meet us and helped, first Cage, then myself out of the Jeep. The inside was quite a departure from any doctor’s surgery, hospital or clinic I’d seen before in my life. The decor resembled more closely to a mountain holiday resort designed to grant the visitors some kind of home comforts. It was the only place in all of Second Solace that I’d seen to include wall-mounted insulation panels and ceiling lights. The floor was vinyl, perhaps to keep gurneys or wheelchairs from getting caught up on holes in the floorboards.

  But what made the biggest clash from any other hospital I’d seen before was the staff to patient ratio. As Cage was rushed through to a room deeper inside, more staff members hustled out to meet him. Looking around, I spotted only two other patients. One a small boy with a gash down his arm, and the other a grey-haired woman with her leg raised high. Neither seemed to be in a life or death situation.

  With no one around to stop me, I followed Cage’s procession through to the back room. Like the clinic we’d visited earlier, Second Solace’s miniature hospital was
not a huge building. The corridor leading off the reception only had four adjacent rooms, with a door at the back that I could see led back outside. I pushed through the swinging doors of the first room on my left and found myself in a room a little bigger than Gail’s spare bedroom, filled with nine hospital workers all standing around their leader.

  Cage sat on the hospital bed. His head hung low. His breathing slow and laboured. Bathed under the bright ceiling lights, he looked like a corpse reanimated. The man closest to him was dressed in a lab coat, shirt and tie. He looked at me while the others examined Cage.

  ‘Can you tell me what happened?’ He asked.

  So for what felt like the umpteenth time, I relayed the story of the ambush, the escape, about Corser, and the return journey. No one spoke for the duration, however as I reached the end of my story, I couldn’t help but notice the furtive glances passed around like hotcakes.

  The doctor in charge asked me more questions about the last physician’s diagnosis, and I answered them as best as I could. As I did, the pack thinned down to just five. Myself, the doctor, two nurses and Cage.

  ‘Did the others get back?’ I asked, hoping my curiosity would assuage any thoughts that I suspected foul play on their behalf.

  ‘They made it home yesterday,’ said the doctor. ‘They thought you were all KIA.’

  ‘Killed in action,’ said the Wolf. ‘Yeah, I bet they did. I wonder how many people Cece sent out to finish the job?’

  A hand grasped my arm and thrust me aside, and Cece stormed into the room. Her long hair was tied back in a bun, which only accentuated the rise and fall of her shoulders as she caught her breath. Speak of the devil.

  ‘What happened?’ She screeched to no one in particular. She pushed past the nurses so she could stand by Cage's head, and looked down at him like a mother with an injured child.

  ‘He has suffered trauma to the head, which we believe may have caused some brain damage,’ said the head doctor. ‘We need to conduct further-’

  Cece's eyes shot up and burned into me.

  ‘Take him away,’ she spat, and as the words left her lips, I felt more hands on my arms. I turned to see two men, neither of whom I recognised standing on my flank.

  ‘You know, a thank you wouldn’t go amiss.’ I said.

  Cece moved. Her limbs seemed strangely elongated, like an arachnid. She stretched up and towered over me.

  ‘And what is it I should be thankful for?’ She breathed. ‘Maddox on deaths door? Corser dead? Our people attacked? Tell me, which of these should you like to take credit for?’

  ‘He would be dead if it wasn’t for me.’ I snarled.

  Cece didn’t respond to my comment. Instead, she just nodded to her men, and like a child with a teddy bear, they carted me out.

  All eyes were on me as I was dragged through the snow. They watched and judged me like a common criminal sentenced to a round in the stocks. There was no point resisting. I was struggling to keep my eyes open at best. A fight with two well-built, well-rested men would not end well for me.

  At first, I thought they were taking me back to the pit I’d spent my first night at Second Solace in, but a sharp right turn towards the courthouse made me think otherwise. As I was hauled up the stone stairs, the front doors swung open, and I was dragged inside. Maybe Cece wanted to go for round two of my trial. If that was the case, I was pretty certain what the verdict would be.

  But that too I was wrong on. Instead of heading for the main hall, I was taken to a room I was starting to become well acquainted with. The only room in the whole of Second Solace that fed my current theory.

  Cage’s office.

  My new friends dropped me in the same chair Cage had offered me shortly before our departure. I looked up at the enormous oil painting and wondered what younger Maddox would think of this situation. He would probably fight his way to victory. Easier said than done, pal.

  Neither of the two men spoke, which was fine with me. I had no desire to try for small talk with people out to murder me, and I had a feeling that when Cece finally showed up, I’d need my wits about me.

  So I spent the next half hour trying to round them up, and as the door opened behind me once more, and a cold presence filled the office, I felt a little more battle ready.

  Cece drank the atmosphere in like hot soup. She savoured the slow, calculated walk across the room, and around the giant desk. Her fingers fondled the leather lining of Cage’s chair with a playful air as though she was preparing to court it. She didn’t sit down. Not right away. Too many years spent in eager anticipation urged her not to rush it. I let her have the moment. But not all of it. Just long enough to shatter the climax.

  ‘If you’re quite done getting your jollies off touching inanimate objects,’ I said. ‘I haven’t got all day.’

  Her face was a perfect picture of rage and dismay. She attempted to hide the latter with all the finesse someone manages when they’ve soiled themselves in public. She snatched her fingers away from the chair, and laid her palms flat out on the table, just like Cage had done a million times before. She didn’t sit down.

  ‘Leave us,’ she ordered to the guards. They shuffled from the room and closed the door behind them. ‘I’m surprised you had the guts to return,’ she hissed. ‘I had thought we would have to come and drag you out from the sewers.’

  ‘Then isn’t it lucky for everyone that I have the common sense not to go hiding in sewers?’ I replied. ‘But it would have been hilarious to watch you searching around in knee-high piss and shit for hours before you came to the same conclusion.’

  ‘Make all the jokes you like, it won’t save you now. With Corser gone, and Cage under my watch, you don’t have a friend in the whole world.’

  ‘What about Steve?’ I asked.

  ‘Who is Steve?’ Cece snarled.

  ‘Steve Rylance. My best friend when I was in primary school. I’m sure he’d still class himself as a bloody good chum.’

  ‘So unable to admit defeat, you hide behind your infantile wit like a child.’

  ‘What kind of children do you know with quick wit?’

  ‘Enough,’ she spat, slamming her hands down on the desk. Still standing. Cage’s chair remained empty. ‘Enough of your games. You will answer my questions, or I will have you killed where you sit.’

  ‘Since you haven’t left me with a lot of options, fire away.’

  ‘What did you discuss with Maddox and Corser before the attack?’

  ‘That’s between me, Maddox and Lee.’

  ‘There cannot be secrets with matters like these,’ she said. ‘Anything could be pertinent to uncovering the truth behind what happened.’

  ‘So I’m to satisfy the paranoia in your head by telling you what we said? I’d rather leave you wondering what the others think about you and call it a day.’

  ‘You will answer my questions,’ she seethed, slamming her hands on the desk once more. The whole thing juddered a fraction across the floor.

  ‘That’s not going to happen I’m afraid. No way in hell you’re getting that info out of my noggin.’

  ‘Do you think I give a shit what people say about me?’ She hissed. ‘You think I don’t already know how much they vilify me? I only care that Maddox is safe and that the people responsible are brought to justice.’

  ‘Oh, I bet you do,’ I laughed. ‘That’s definitely the only thing you care about, isn’t it?’

  ‘Not everyone is as poison-hearted as you are, snake.’

  ‘And not everyone is as much as a lunatic as you are, Cece.’

  Her eyes flared at the nickname.

  ‘Perhaps if your mother had raised you correctly, you wouldn’t be such a dreadful excuse for a human being,’ she hissed. ‘Perhaps then, you wouldn’t have developed such a desire to harm others as you have.’

  ‘I’ll give you that one opportunity to insult me,’ I growled. ‘But don’t push your luck.’

  ‘Why?’ she snarled. ‘Will you do to me what you did to th
ose poor, innocent people in England? Will you destroy me like you did so many families?’

  I felt a red mist descending across my vision. The Wolf held it at bay.

  ‘Don’t rise to it, James. She wants you angry.’

  ‘You are a traitor. No country would want you. No woman would love you.’

  ‘Just leave it, James,’ hastened the Wolf. ‘Take a breath and calm down.’

  But it was one thing to hear advice, and another thing entirely to heed it.

  And I was far too tired to let calmer heads prevail.

  ‘That’s some big talk coming from you,’ I retorted. ‘I bet you didn’t wait a second getting back here to claim yourself the new chief, did you? Don’t act like I wouldn’t have noticed you’ve turned this whole place into some kind of twisted army post. The guns, the pseudo-military flags. Dress for the job you want, I guess, but this is taking the piss. You must have rushed back here and staked your claim for the throne before the word spread Cage was missing. Did you make any attempt to find him, or were you content with the burning Humvee to satisfy that itch?’

  ‘How dare you speak like this to me,’ she screamed, but I cut over her.

  ‘Of course, what am I thinking? You had this whole thing planned from the start, didn’t you? You were probably gagging for a reason to get Cage out of Second Solace. Coming along for the journey was a stroke of genius too. At least then everyone would think you were right there beside Cage, willing to die for the cause, when really you were cowering out of sight. I wonder what everyone would think about those clandestine meetings you had with Hope’s people?’

  ‘You liar,’ she screamed. ‘I would never let anything happen to Maddox.’

  ‘Except we both know that’s absolute bullshit. You might not think I’m worth a damn, but I get the job done, and in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m the only one from that Humvee who’s still standing. I took down the people who ambushed us, and I saw who one of them was. Carl Dawson.’

  Her eyes widened in shock.

  ‘Oh yeah,’ I continued. ‘Bet you thought soldier boy would rinse right through me. But my luck is better than his. So how are you going to try and explain him being there, huh? One of your men rocks up to kill your boss while he’s exposed, and the only people who knew his location are sat in the backup vehicle which, conveniently, had a blown tyre. Explain that, Cece.’