“Hell no. Within twenty-four hours, that kid stole every TV in the house, two guns, and all of Alice’s jewelry I’d sent her from Korea. That was two years ago, and I have not seen or heard from him since. I’m scared to look him up. I’d hope he’d go to jail and rehab, but I’m terrified to find out the worst, you know.”
“How old are you?” She waited while he chewed his food.
“Fifty-three.”
“Shut up! You’re lying.”
“I swear it’s the truth. Here, look at my driver’s license.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed her the card. The photo was indeed the man seated across from her at the age he stated. The same blue eyes were in the picture, only they were more tired with defined creases at the edges, and there were long lines on his forehead. The man in the photo also had a higher hairline.
“Mr. Jackson R. McGuire,” she stated. “If you were Jackson Junior, I could believe this might be a picture of your dad. I hope you don’t use this to buy your alcohol,” Valerie teased.
“Okay, Ms. Valerie Marie Burton. I know I don’t look,” he struggled with the word, “old? That was my mug up until last night. Jesus, I even feel half my age.”
“Russell,” Valerie said with a mouth full of crackers.
“I’m sorry?”
“My name. Valerie Marie Russell.” She waved her wedding ring in his face to help him understand. He nodded, chewing the last bite of his lunch. She looked down at his picture. She had seen him before. He stood in the back of the church at her mother’s memorial service. He had appeared much older than the man across from her.
“Yeah, well, you can never stop being a Burton. I have so many stories about your dad, and Janice, too.” Jack smiled. “Your mom had quite a time trying to keep us in line. You look a lot like her. Good thing, too. Your dad would make an ugly woman.”
Hearing her mother’s name caught her off guard. Though a year had passed since the accident, Valerie was not ready to talk about her. The guilt had yet to subside. Janice Burton’s memory belonged to Valerie. Jack was a stranger who, somehow, had ghosted through her childhood. She was not special to him, and he did not have the right to tell her stories she did not already know. The immediate change in her posture conveyed he had overstepped a line.
“Please don’t talk about my mother,” she said, handing him back his license. Jack nodded.
Valerie threw away the trash while Jack packed up the remaining food. She felt a tinge of guilt for having cut him off and reminded herself of his loyalty to her father and their family. If he had not been such a close friend to Mike, her only other option was to make the trip alone. Jack was the more tolerable choice.
“You think my dad is okay? Where do you think they took him?” She swung the bag on her back, overestimating the weight, and knocked herself in the face with the attached rifle.
“You got that?” Jack laughed. He grabbed the top of the bag and helped her get her balance. “Mike Burton knows what he is doing. Aside from a central collection point, I could not begin to guess where they are taking them. The process is supposed to be peaceful, but we were also trained on hostile collections. Either way, there was never a jail scenario. Maybe the convention center?”
Valerie nodded and stepped off.
“To answer your question earlier, we are meeting up with everyone where Command Sergeant Major Max lives, north of town. I’m not sure if Griff—the guy I sent ahead—has gotten there yet. So, as long as Max is home and willing to take us in, we can rest tonight. He is an old friend of mine and your dad’s. A bit aggressive, but he means well,” Jack said with a smile like he was telling a joke Valerie did not understand. “He’s retired military, also. He sold a chain of restaurants for far more money than they were worth. At least, the claim is he did. If we manage to get in the door, there will be plenty of accommodations for us.”
“So, you had some guy just up and walk around town gathering people and giving messages? I have plenty of messages to send. I don’t have Gia’s number anyway. I blew up my phone with my mind,” she laughed, listening to herself explain the story out loud. “Who memorizes phone numbers anymore? I know my husband’s by heart, but I need someone to dial the number. If he could answer at all, then that would mean he wasn’t affected.”
“There is a chance Griff can try to call your husband. I’m sure he can call Gia too, if he hasn’t already.”
“Wait, what?”
“Griff and Gia are engaged.”
“Engaged? She’s not even dating anyone. How is she engaged? She’s too young to be engaged.”
“Gia is twenty-eight years old and is the head of security to the governor. She was hired by your dad to watch over you and your family. Griff got a call from her last night before everything started to let him know things were getting sticky in the capital and something was up. No one really knew what would happen, but there had been some kind of shift in the atmosphere that tipped the government off.” Jack paused, awaiting her reaction.
Valerie processed everything he had said, the circumstances in which she found and hired Gia, how much they had in common, and how well they got along. Of course, her background check came back clear; it had been manipulated. She had always found the girl to be smart and mature, not realizing they were so close in age.
“Why didn’t she stop me from leaving? She knew. She acted so distracted because she knew things were going to go bad. Why didn’t she tell me not to go?” Valerie could not stop the tears.
“Because, the farther away you are from Denver, the better. The less you knew about what you are, the less likely they were to find you,” Jack said with a heavy sigh of regret. “I’m sure she did what she thought was your best chance.”
They walked in silence for a long while. When the footpath ended, they took to the railroad tracks. Jack walked straight down the middle, but Valerie had seen one too many patients hit by trains, so she skirted the wooden ties and stepped on the tracks only when she had to. After hours of walking, Valerie felt the shock of the new information subside.
“I have no perception of time. I feel like it’s 5 p.m.” Valerie paused for a few seconds to do the math in her head. “Why are we stopping at Max’s so early in the day? At this pace, we’d get there at 3 p.m. at the latest. We’d still have four hours of daylight. We should keep going.”
“If we are on mile thirty and we need to run, we won’t run as fast as we would if we were only on mile fifteen. We must pace ourselves, or we’ll get tired and never get there. Twenty miles a day, even to a seasoned hiker, is a decent pace for a hundred-mile hike.” Jack pulled a rag from his pant pocket and wiped the cloth across his forehead. “I’m happy you asked. So far, you are holding up well. Believe it or not, I’m starting to like you.”
“Why are you doing this? Helping me. Anyone else would hole up in his house until everything blew over.”
“Mike is the closest thing I have to family. We have a small group we call Sasquatch International. It stands for Specially Assigned Skilled Qualified Ununiformed Armed Trappers Creating Havoc. We don’t really hunt for ’Squatch. Just a bunch of old farts trying to relive the glory days. Lucky for you, we’re also a network of trained and skeptical individuals. The minute the electrical current hit, I met with Mike. We knew we couldn’t just sit back and be bystanders. So, I went to Griffin for help. He left to gather everyone at Max’s to develop a plan. Your dad was going to meet up with us later.”
“So how many people are in this Sasquatch group?”
“Only a few—me, Griff, your dad, Duke, Major, and Hyka.”
“Hyka? Is that a lady’s name? There is a lady in your Sasquatch group?” Valerie’s smile was bigger than she intended.
“Yes, Hyka is a female. She’s our woman auxiliary colonel. She’s Major’s daughter. She got out of the military a couple of years ago. One tough broad, though. I wouldn’t pick a fight with her. She’s five foot eight, maybe a buck thirty, but can outmaneuver any of us at hand-to
-hand combat. She is also an expert when it comes to weapons. We’d never tell Major, but the rest of the group make bets she can outshoot her old man at the range. She’s one solid woman.”
They returned to the creek path when the rail turned east and came to another overpass. The CDC had cleared the road above, and there was more traffic. Valerie felt a tinge of jealousy for the regular people with their convenient means of transportation. As they got closer, they could see colored tarps hung under the bridge, offering shelter to a small group of people.
Jack and Valerie drew closer to the road and the nomadic residents of the bridge. Raised voices indicated they were approaching a conflict. Valerie recognized the blue CDC uniforms, and Jack slowed the pace. He looked to his left and right for a clear path out of their line of sight. Valerie’s eyes stayed on the crowd. They had already caught the attention of one of the CDC men. Turning at this point would make them appear to be running. They would have to take their chances. Jack read her mind, and they resumed their pace.
“Just follow my lead and don’t say anything.”
Jack raised his voice and addressed the young man who had noticed them approaching. “Hey, troop. What’s going on here?”
The kid must have been nineteen and fresh out of training. “Excuse me, sir. Have you or you, ma’am, been affected by the electric current yesterday?” His voice quivered, and he never looked Valerie in the eye, even when addressing her. He spoke as if he had rehearsed the question over and over, but still dreaded the confrontation.
“I am Sergeant First Class McGuire, and this is the daughter of Sergeant Major Burton. I’m escorting her back home to Denver. Cars are blocking her vehicle in. I assure you, neither of us was affected.”
“Yes, Sergeant. I’m sorry to stop you, but we have to ask everyone, and there is a test my squad leader has. Everyone gets tested.” The soldier was shaking and stuttering his words.
“Look, Private. This woman has a baby at home with a nanny threatening to leave him alone. Until we can get to my vehicle, I’m afraid delays are unacceptable.” Jack spoke with such distinction. He seemed to grow three feet taller than the young soldier.
The troop nodded and allowed the two to go while his counterparts continued to deal with the upset group, oblivious to their passing.
“Pulling rank will work once. I didn’t expect it to work at all, to be honest,” Jack said when they were a safe distance away.
“What test do they have? Do they have a way to tell us apart? Did you see what they were doing? Are they taking everyone? Jack. What if they do have Caleb?”
“If they’ve developed a test, then we are running out of time. Hell, all anyone would have to do is hold anything electronic to us and if the power stops, bam, you got your guy.”
Jack stopped and looked around before facing Valerie. “You can’t, for a second, think they have Caleb. If you do, then you’re already defeated in your mind. Right now, doubt is your worst enemy. What we are doing is not easy, but you’ll convince yourself it is impossible. Keep your head, kid.” He took a step back and looked around again. “I think we are far enough east to get out of the creek and head north. We’ll steer clear of the main streets. The neighborhoods aren’t much safer, but they offer quick cover if needed. We’re almost there.”
The farther they walked, the larger and more elaborate the homes became. Valerie was starting to think she overestimated herself. She felt every ounce of weight on her back from her shoulders to the balls of her feet. They came to a gated community with a sign reading Pine Bluffs Golf Club.
“Well, we’re here. Max’s place is just on the other side of the course.” Jack slowed his pace to match Valerie’s instead of taking the lead like he had most of the day.
For the last two miles, she walked hunched over, staring at the ground, weary from the long journey.
“I’m impressed. You have a lot of heart and didn’t give up. You’d make a good soldier like your brother and your dad.”
She knew he was trying to motivate her to push through the last stretch.
“My feet hurt,” she said under her breath.
“There you go and ruin it. Went the entire day without complaining. We have half a mile left, and you just couldn’t hold it in any longer.” Jack threw his hands in the air.
His tone was hard and mocking, but she knew he was joking. Valerie kept her head down, watched her feet, and listened to the rhythm of her steps. A bead of sweat dripped off her nose. She pushed herself to put one foot in front of the other.
The house, like the community, was also gated. Jack pulled the massive wrought iron entrance open, and then closed it again after she had walked through behind him. The main building was a four-story home right off the golf course. Judging by the security cameras posted on the front of the house and the massive satellite dish on the roof, the home was modest compared to his budget. She understood what Jack meant earlier and doubted a restaurant chain had funded this lifestyle. Jack knocked on the door and was pushed aside by the man who answered.
“What light of God has shined upon me, that I might be surrounded by so many beautiful women?” Max wrapped his arm around Valerie’s shoulder and escorted her inside, paying no attention to Jack. He looked her dead in the eyes with a smile like he wanted to lick her face. Her stomach turned. She wanted to run. Something was wrong.
“Come on in. Set your stuff down. I’ll have someone take your things upstairs for you. You must be little Ms. Burton, if I knew anything. Good night, old Burton and I go way, way, way back.” Max wore a red smoking jacket, with black sweat pants and house shoes. He held an unlit cigar in his teeth under a thin mustache lining his upper lip. Gray salted his black hair, more so around his temples, offering a contrast to his dark complexion.
Valerie shot an awkward look at Jack, who offered no assistance. Only then did Max break his gaze.
“Big Mac Daddy, is that you? You look like the doctor just slapped your ass and cut the cord. What kind of fountain of youth have you gotten into?”
Max was a loud man. She could not tell if he was deaf or if he had a complete disregard for everyone’s comfort, though she leaned toward the latter. Unlike Jack, Max looked her father’s age. His eyes wrinkled with the smile she was sure he always held. Everything from his predatory opening remarks to the way he looked at her made her want to escape. As the door closed, something felt permanent, like a prison door closing.
Valerie looked down the hallway past Max’s foyer at the light fixtures, searching for an indication of Max’s genetic standing. Though no lights were on, it was still midday and plenty of natural lighting shown through the many windows. She had at least met Jack once before, but this was the first she had ever heard of Max. She had always felt a general apprehension toward every new face she saw, but there was something about her surroundings, maybe the house itself, that felt like a threat to her. Regardless of where the danger was coming from, Valerie wanted to leave as soon as possible. Her father had trusted Jack to keep her safe, but she could not shake the feeling that some of the people he respected might have hidden agendas.
“Valerie, can I take your bag?” The thin man came out of nowhere. He was taller than the rest of the group. His short red hair appeared slept on, and he had two days of growth on his face. He looked worse off than she and Jack did after their day of walking.
“No, thank you. I can manage,” she lied. She did not want to part with her gear. She needed her things close in case she found a quick escape, but the twenty miles weighed on her body. Her shoulders and feet ached.
“There is a room for you upstairs,” Max interjected. “We have a lot to cover this evening, now the last of us are here. I’m sure you don’t want to lug this thing around all night. You are safe. I promise.”
Valerie did not hold his promises to any weight, but she had run out of energy to argue. The thin, tired man lifted the bag from her shoulders. She unbuckled the straps, shrugged off the load and peeled the sweat-matted shirt away f
rom her torso. The cold air and relief were rejuvenating. She shivered and waited while Jack reconnected with his friends. She brushed a hand over her leg holster and the handgun. Having the weapon eased her anxiety.
Max led them through the rest of the house. The main floor was just as grand as the exterior appeared. The entire first level flowed together with elaborate flooring providing a sharp transition between each room. A full length, stocked bar ran along the wall spreading from the kitchen and into the formal dining room. Max crossed the room and picked up a crystal decanter.
“This here calls for some drinks.” He lined up eight shot glasses, held the bottle higher than necessary, and poured each glass until they overflowed.
People gathered around as each shot glass was passed out. Valerie passed two shots down, one to the tired man and one to Jack before holding on to her own. She sniffed the clear liquid. Tequila.
“All right now, shut the hell up,” Max yelled over the group.
Everyone fell silent.
“In our childhood, we were taught as children. But today we stand here as grown adults making grown decisions. Along with the Event came many real-life surprises. We can choose to act out of regret, spite, or malice because of how the cards played out, but retribution would be selfish and foolhardy. We are better than that. Hell, I’m better than most of you, but I love you, bastards, and have welcomed you into my home.
“Anyway, we are here because the gene is no longer dormant, and the conductors of electricity are made apparent. As the conductors draw from the energy, there is one way to ground such power. We have a grounding rod among us, what the world is calling a DiaZem. A new age is the reason we have gathered and why we are sacrificing so much for this mission. Most of us were once a part of the same organization now calling themselves the CDC. We could have been the poor blue-suited bastards out there following orders, but now we have a higher purpose. I’d much rather be drinking here with you fools than the finest in their ranks. But for the continued prosperity of all, the DiaZem must not fall into the wrong hands. So, steady your glasses and dry your tears, ladies, and gents, because this day is not a sad one. No, today we celebrate what makes us great and do what we’ve been born to do. To the DiaZem.” Max raised his glass, and everyone followed suit.
Apparent Power: DiaZem Trilogy Book One Page 6
