by Connor Mccoy
No sooner had Cowell sat down and scooted his legs under the table than a familiar face showed up. “Hey there.” Sykes strolled by with a big smile. “I knew you’d show up again. Doing alright?”
Cowell looked away and tried paying full attention to his glass. “I’m fine.”
“Well, I’m sure it rattled you a little bit.” Sykes sat opposite Cowell.
Cowell grimaced. “You heard about the gunman, the thief they shot and killed?”
“Word gets around quickly if you have the ear of the right people. I don’t have to rely on a phone to get the latest news.” Sykes straightened out his shirt. “So, I guess you decided to take me up on my offer?”
Cowell drank heavily as Sykes spoke. With a wipe of his mouth, Cowell said, “If you can get me safely to Fall Crossing, then I’m in.”
“Good. I trust you found out where Doc Sam keeps his gasoline?” Sykes said.
“Yeah. It’s locked up in his garage.”
Sykes nodded. “Not a bad place to keep it.” He reached down and dug out something small from his right jeans pocket. “I thought you might need to get through a locked door.” He slapped the object onto the table, but kept it hidden underneath his hand. “Use these babies. They’ll pick padlocks, deadbolts, knob locks, anything that Doc Sam will use.”
Sykes lifted his hand. The man had produced three metal picks of varying sizes. Cowell took another swig as he looked at the tools and realized what Sykes wanted him to do. Then Cowell said, “I’ve, uh, never picked a lock before.”
Sykes grinned. “That’s alright. I know you’re a greenhorn.” He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a padlock. “We got a little time to practice.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jacob brought his bike to a halt. With a curve to the right, Road 212 led right into the small town of Middleburg. It was not a moment too soon. The sky above was starting to dim. Night was approaching.
He wiped sweat from his brow. “Thank God.” His relief turned to mild surprise. Should the road just outside of Middleburg be this quiet?
The big shutdown only happened two days ago. Most of the town still should be here. If they wanted to leave, they would have prepared for a long journey. Even with two days, a lot of people might not have finished packing. Hell, they might not even know where to go.
He inhaled the soft blowing air. It didn’t feel hot to his nostrils. He was checking for smoke, for signs of a fire. The lack of running water would increase the fire risk. Added to that, a riot or a mob also could burn buildings and cars. The lack of smoke encouraged him. Perhaps this town had held it together.
He pedaled a little farther toward the town boundary. Road 212 spiked through the center of Middleburg. Multiple streets forked off to run through the town.
Where is everybody?
Jacob’s journey turned up constant serenity that was beginning to make him nervous. As expected, all of the streetlights and building lights were out, and the streets were free of motorists. But nobody was out and about either, no one to come and tell Jacob about the state of the town.
Or what if snipers are hiding around corners or up on roofs? Fresh sweat poured down Jacob’s face. He was getting paranoid. The dusk was not helping. If he wanted to spend the night in the forest, he would have to turn around now to take advantage of the remaining sunlight for travel.
But I can reach Doctor Nguyen?! Middleburg isn’t very big. C’mon, what was that street again?
Jacob fished out the instructions Doc Sam had given him. Whitmore Street. It wasn’t far. He’d have to find Ballenger Road, which forked off from Road 212. He could make it, but he’d have to put the pedal to the medal.
The address led Jacob to a loft, accessible by an outside stairwell that ran up the side of the building. This must be Doctor Nguyen’s home. Jacob had expected Nguyen’s office would be inside an office building where it could be accessed by an elevator. This location appeared to be a small housing complex. Not the kind of place for a doctor to receive patients.
Your daughter just was treated inside a house made of sandbags, he reminded himself. He chuckled. Perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised at what he might discover.
He parked the bike underneath the stairs before traversing the steps up to the door above. Then he pushed the doorbell.
Jacob cringed. “Damn.” The power’s out, you dumbass. This still was taking a lot of getting used to.
He gently tapped on the door. Jacob figured he should identify himself as well. In this environment, a knock at the door could send someone into conniptions.
“Doctor Nguyen! Doctor Sam sent me, from Trapp!”
Jacob waited a minute, but he received no response. Perhaps Doctor Nguyen did not trust that Jacob was telling the truth. Doc Sam had warned that Nguyen might not buy Jacob’s story right off the bat. Fortunately, Doc Sam provided some proof to help convince Doctor Nguyen.
Jacob reached into his pocket and pulled out a photograph. Then he held it up to the door’s peephole. “Doctor Nguyen! Doc Sam gave this to me! He said you would recognize it!” Doc Sam had provided this aged photograph to Jacob with the belief that Doctor Nguyen would not believe that anyone but someone who had met with Doc Sam could produce it.
But even after another minute’s wait, Jacob was left with no reply. Was Doctor Nguyen even home?
Jacob patted the pouch on his left pant leg. This would be his last resort. Doc Sam told him if he received no response from Nguyen, then he should let himself in anyway. Jacob pulled out a brass key. It fit the front door’s lock perfectly.
Doc, just tell him he’s not going to blow my ass away if I open his door.
He pushed open the door.
To his relief, no gunshots greeted him. In fact, nothing presented itself but the darkness of an unlit living room.
“Doctor Nguyen!” Jacob cried out. “I mean you no harm! Doc Sam sent me!” Jacob waved the photo around, although it was unlikely Nguyen would be able to see it in this darkness. Only an uncovered window provided any light, and with the sun setting, soon this living room would lose that small amount of light.
Even though he wasn’t sure Doctor Nguyen wasn’t hiding somewhere, looking to ambush him as a possible intruder, Jacob decided he had to search the place more thoroughly. The first place he approached at the end of the living room was a door to the kitchen. After pushing it open, he slowly inched inside. The kitchen was still. No Doctor Nguyen, no anybody.
Jacob’s search took him down a small hall to a bedroom and a bathroom, both devoid of human life. It was clear now that Doctor Nguyen was not home. Jacob had looked everywhere he could think of, including in the bedroom closet, for where the doctor might be hiding.
His apprehension was turning to bitter disappointment. What did Doctor Nguyen’s absence mean? The apartment did not look disturbed, so it was not as if intruders had shown up and kidnapped him. Jacob shivered. Entertaining such dark possibilities disturbed him. Yet he had to consider all options.
Jacob next considered that the doctor might have left a note, but then he realized that Nguyen lived alone. Doc Sam had mentioned his friend had no wife and that his eldest son lived in Washington state, so he had no reason to leave a clue to his present whereabouts.
Or, he simply could have stepped out to find something to eat.
Jacob laughed as he recognized the simplest explanation might be the best one. What if the doctor simply was out and was coming back? Jacob then winced. What would Doctor Nguyen do if he found his home broken into and Jacob waiting inside? If Nguyen was armed, Jacob could end up as a bloody splatter on the carpet before he could explain why he was here.
I wish I could stay. It’s getting dark out. However, meeting Doctor Nguyen here could be counterproductive and, at worst, disastrous. He wasn’t an invited guest. Better to leave.
As he stepped out of the front door, he remembered Doc Sam had advised him what to do if Doctor Nguyen wasn’t home. He had options. Once he got downstairs, all he had to
do was…
He had to hold that thought. Someone was coming.
A tall man was strolling toward the bottom of the stairwell. Instantly, Jacob could tell he wasn’t Doctor Nguyen, who was of Vietnamese descent and, at least in the photograph Doc Sam had given him, had short dark hair. This man had long blonde hair and was very tall. Also, judging from his rumpled bulky jacket, he probably was bulked up.
Shit. Jacob could not climb down the stairs without running into this stranger. What would happen? Was this man coming up to call on Doctor Nguyen? Or perhaps this man had something else in mind?
Almost on instinct, Jacob fled back into the apartment and closed the door. After locking it, he raced through the living room to the hall, trying to keep away from windows. Then, Jacob huddled on the other side of the doorframe and waited.
Footsteps approached the door. They grew louder and louder until they crunched on the welcome mat. Then, they stopped. A few seconds later, Jacob overheard something being fed into the lock. This man had a key!
What the hell? Did this man share an apartment with Doctor Nguyen? Again, Doc Sam had been clear that Nguyen lived alone.
Jacob fled into Nguyen’s bedroom and closed the door before the mystery man could open the front door. His breathing accelerated as he looked for a place to hide. No, he shouldn’t hide. He should try escaping. If he hid somewhere, he would be cornered.
He turned to the window. The glass pane could be slid upward, and at its current width, would permit Jacob to crawl out onto a fire escape beyond. But would he have time to open it?
Thinking fast, Jacob grabbed a chair and shoved it under the door’s knob. He would have to buy some time in case this didn’t work as quickly as he had hoped. He located two latches on the window frame. He turned the one on the left with no trouble. The right, however, was a different story. It swiveled slightly, before jamming.
Footsteps approached from down the hall. The man was coming. Damn this thing, open!
He pushed so hard that a jolt of pain ran through his hand, but he ignored it. Indeed, the pain was worth it, for that extra effort had turned the latch all the way open. Now Jacob was able to push up on the window.
The bedroom knob turned, or rather, tried to. “Hey!” The voice on the other side was gruff. “What the hell?” The knob rattled harder.
Jacob put all of his strength into raising the window. It was not easy, since the window dragged, perhaps due to not being opened in a long time.
As Jacob finally hoisted the window to its full height, the man on the other side of the door became irate. “Hey! Is somebody in there?”
Jacob ducked down and sped onto the fire escape. He thought about closing the window back down to prevent the intruder from pursuing him easily, but right now all he cared about was putting distance between himself and this damned apartment.
So, he climbed down the steps. He was in such a hurry that his foot slipped, and he had to grasp the bars that held the steps for support. He was in fine shape, but he was not a Hollywood stuntman. One wrong move and he might topple down the steps or even fall off completely.
Finally, his boots slammed down on the hard surface of the sidewalk that ran by the apartment building. Jacob quickly took off straight ahead. He didn’t stop to take stock of his surroundings. Distance was all that mattered. He would widen the gap between himself and this invader by any means possible.
He heard the intruder hit the sidewalk behind him. It sounded pretty far away. Had Jacob eluded him?
“Hey! Where the hell did you go, you little maggot?” the man shouted.
A new stairwell loomed ahead. It was situated near a brick outcropping from another apartment building. Jacob decided getting off the street was the better move, and so he turned and ducked under the stairwell.
From here, he could see out into the street. The blond man pursuing him was jogging in the middle of the street, turning his head in different directions. He wasn’t running directly toward Jacob’s position. So, the intruder in Doctor Nguyen’s apartment had not spotted him after all.
But then, Jacob spotted movement from the other side of the street. A second man approached the intruder. He was much shorter than the home invader, with a bald head, a baggy jacket and ripped jeans. Jacob listened as the two men spoke.
“What happened?” asked the short man.
“Beats the hell out of me,” said the tall blond man, “Somebody was in there and I chased him off. I didn’t get a good look at the son of a bitch.”
“He broke in?” the short man asked.
“I don’t see how, unless he picked the damn front door. I didn’t see any signs that he broke in through a window” the blond man replied.
“Did he take anything?” the short man asked.
“Didn’t look like it. He barricaded himself in the bedroom, so I guess I caught him by surprise. If he grabbed anything, it wasn’t very big. Maybe he fished through a drawer or something.”
The short man laughed at his companion’s reply. “Yeah, maybe he stole some money. Good luck trying to use that! So, what do you want to do?”
“The big man isn’t going to like the idea of thieves running around. We should do a little patrolling. If we catch him, it’s his ass,” the blond man said.
“Can’t take too long. They want us to report in soon,” the short man said.
Jacob was baffled. Who were these men? Were they part of a criminal gang? And who was the “big man” they spoke of?
The pair did not depart the street upon ending their talk. They spread out, with the blond man taking the left side and the short man patrolling the right. They were searching for him.
Jacob couldn’t stay. If they crossed past where he was hiding, they might spot him, or at the least, cut off his route of escape. If they possessed guns and were good shooters, they possibly could nail him in the back as he ran. But if he retreated now, those two would not have a straight line to catch him. They would have to arc around until they got behind him, which would be precious seconds for Jacob to try eluding them.
And so, as soon as the blond man’s back was turned, Jacob fled.
Chapter Seventeen
Jacob wished he could shut himself up, but his lungs continued to gulp in large amounts of fresh air. Lying here in this dark corner next to a garbage dumpster was the only place he felt safe enough to rest.
Did I lose him? God, please tell me I did. He was sure he had heard one or maybe both of the men pursue him. Yet, he could not bring himself to stand up and look around the corner to confirm his fears. Besides, he did not want to encounter trouble without rebuilding some of his stamina.
How did this happen? No Doctor Nguyen, no medical supplies. All he had got for his trouble was a dark apartment and pursuit from a possible assailant? He wanted to cuss into the sky except he thought someone might hear him.
Once he finally had his breathing under control, he started thinking a little clearer. Okay, Doctor Nguyen was not home. Doc Sam thought this might happen. Perhaps Doctor Nguyen had gone to his office instead. Doc Sam warned Jacob to be careful if he tried going there. There could be a rush on Nguyen’s office and medical clinics in general from people looking for supplies or treatment if they were injured due to the EMP. Jacob might arrive there only to find an inhospitable crowd.
Still, he could not leave Middleburg empty-handed. He had to check out Nguyen’s office.
Jacob’s heart sank the moment he stepped through the open glass door. He finally reached the building to Doctor Nguyen’s clinic. All of the adjoining doors in the hall, the ones that led to other offices, lay open. There was no receptionist in the clinic building’s lobby. Dirty shoeprints streamed out of the doors. People had been here, and they may have looted the place.
So far, Jacob’s trip here had been uneventful. After his quick getaway, he had doubled back to his bike, finding it, to his relief, still where he had left it. Then he had followed Doc Sam’s instructions to reach this building. Doctor Nguyen’s of
fice was on the first floor, down the hallway. Jacob had cased the building as best he could before entering. To his relief, the place had not been looted. However, there also was nobody here. Jacob did not know what that meant. What would keep the people of Middleburg away from a medical facility during an emergency?
Jacob proceeded, slowly. There still was some light shining through the windows, but it would not last for much longer.
He peered into the first office. The room was still. Jacob identified an examination table for a patient to sit on, a chair on wheels, a diagram of the inside of a human head, and a wall clock that was stopped. Anything else had been taken.
An examination of a second office told a similar story. No doubt about it. This place had been stripped clean.
Still, he could not leave until he had checked out Doctor Nguyen’s office. It was close by. He had to see if anything was left in there.
At first glance, Jacob’s fears were confirmed. The place had been stripped clean. No antibiotics. No iodine. No bandages. No anesthetic gas.
As he leaned against an examination table to sigh, he heard a shuffling sound, probably a mouse. With these open doors, it would be easy for a critter to roam about inside the offices. But then Jacob thought he heard an accompanying breath. A human being must be nearby.
Jacob checked around the office. By now the light was very faint, so it was possible he could have missed something or someone in here. He felt along the walls. Maybe there was another door around here, a door that led somewhere else.
His hand brushed against a doorframe. Damn. I can’t believe I missed this. The door wasn’t very wide, though, and in this darkness it almost blended into the scenery perfectly. He felt around until he grasped a doorknob. He pulled it open.
A small woman sat on the floor, drawing her knees against her chest, huddled in the corner of the closet. If Jacob was not aware that someone was in here, he might have missed her.
