Ground Zero (21 page)

“Kirk and Leigh have Neil’s old place, but it’s about a ten- or fifteen-minute walk from here, across that bridge. I’m guessing the tent is where Mitch is still sleeping. Hmm. That little building in the middle must be the new jail cell where Mike will be living for a while. Good location for it, but I’ll have to take a look at it from a construction standpoint when it’s light out. Wonder what they’re doing for plumbing,” she muttered to herself.

“Holy fuck!” Ian exclaimed. Mac’s head jerked up.

“What?”

“What do you mean, ‘What?’” Ian was gaping at her. “You’ve got, what, twenty-some-odd people here. You said ‘Chuck’s family,’ so I don’t know how many that is.”

“Wife and three kids. From the sounds of it, he could very well end up being a grandfather, too. We’ll have to wait and see. It’s not like the kid will have a choice if it turns out she’s pregnant. Abortion is no longer an option, though it would be far safer in her case,” she said sadly.

“Where did all these people come from?” Ian asked.

“Me, mostly. I can’t help myself. I even offered to bring Sharon, Vigo, and Denny back here. I guess they’re okay, though. They have neighbours that are still alive, so at least they’re not alone. Well, let’s head inside and see where the hell my wayward daughter is.”

At the sound of shouting, Mac turned to Ian.

“Never mind. I found her,” she said with a laugh. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to Miss Crankypants.”

Mac didn’t want to interrupt whatever was going on, because it could be something serious, so she walked up to her daughter without calling out. When she heard what was being said, however, she almost started laughing.

“You’re so lucky my mother isn’t here,” Cam was winding down. “But I can tell you this much. If she decides to kill you, I’m not throwing her in jail for it!”

“Well, thanks! Will you help me hide the body, too?” Mac couldn’t help it.

“Mom! Oh my God! When did you get here? And why didn’t anyone tell me you were coming?” Cam ran over and flung her arms around her, shocking the hell out of her.

“Sure, make a liar out of me,” she muttered, but hugged her back. “Wow. You must have missed me.” Cam pulled back.

“No. I’m just happy I’m no longer going to have to deal with this kind of bullshit,” she snapped, flapping her hand toward Mitch who looked seriously pissed. Mac figured it was probably something to do with the earlier incident, so she wasn’t about to smile at him.

“Yeah, I heard something about that. Have you told him why the guy was in jail, or is he still under the impression it’s for stealing food?”

“Oh, he knows, but apparently raping a fourteen-year-old girl isn’t a big deal in his books, and he thinks we’re all overreacting. He knew exactly what Mike had done when he tried to let him out,” Cam snarled.

“How the fuck is it rape when she said she wanted it?”

“Mitch,” Mac growled, her mood instantly changing at his words. “Are you telling me that you’ve been out raping fourteen-year-old girls?”

“No! You know me better than that.”

“I don’t think I do, if you can stand there and tell me it was okay for another man to do it. You know it’s wrong for you to do it, but not for someone else? That doesn’t make any sense to me. In fact, the only thing that makes sense is that you’re lying, and that you have no problem with the idea of raping a child. Do you understand what it means to give consent? Are you at all aware of the definition of sexual assault? Did you know that sixteen is the age of consent in this country, and that there’s a good fucking reason for it?” Mac was beyond livid, and she could see Ian’s disgust on his face. She knew how he felt about pedophiles, but then all decent people felt that way.

“I thought it was fourteen!”

“No, it’s not, unless you’re less than five years older. Any older than that and it’s sexual assault. The very thought that you could stand there and try to justify a grown man raping a child sickens me. You can’t stay here. You’ll have to find somewhere else to go, and you won’t be welcome back,” Mac said, rigid in her anger.

“We can do the same thing for him that we were going to do with the pedophile before we found out about Katherine,” Cam suggested.

“What’s that?”

“Gilles was taking him to a hunting camp beyond walking distance, and leaving him with the supplies he needed to start a small farm. He wouldn’t die, but he’d be away from decent people,” Cam sneered. Mac nodded.

“Let Gilles know. Mitch, have your things ready tomorrow if you prefer that to simply getting kicked off the farm and starving. You’ve been learning how to deal with animals and gardening shit, I hear, so you probably won’t die.”

“Mac, listen. You can’t do this to me. I walked all this way so I wouldn’t be alone.”

“I don’t actually care, Mitch. You’re a piece of shit. I don’t ever want to see you again,” Mac said, and walked away. He must have started to go after her, because she heard Ian’s voice.

“If you take one more step, I’ll break every fucking bone in your body. And if you get past me, she’ll kill you. You’re already scum. Don’t be stupid scum.”

Mac smiled and continued walking without bothering to turn back. She walked with Cam back toward the house.

“So, when
did
you get here?” Cam asked.

“About two minutes before you saw me. Donna was on the radio. I guess everyone thought you needed to finish dealing with Mitch before they told you. We must have got back before you were done.”

“Between getting Mike back into the jail cell, and reaming out Mitch, that doesn’t surprise me. Plus Gilles had to tell him why he was being detained, and read him his rights and all that. We’re trying to do things according to the original laws as much as possible,” she explained.

“God, I’m proud of you! I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am. It’s just barely possible I would have killed the guy, instead of trying to do the right thing. You’ll have to tell me all about it. Granted, I spent the last seventeen hours having a panic attack after you cut me off on the radio, and I really want to kick your ass for that, but right now I’m just so damn glad to be home and finding you safe and sound. I think I need to go cry. Where are my boys?”

“They’re still in my room, but I did let them play in your room a couple of times. People have been walking through there a lot to get to the monitors upstairs, though, so I couldn’t leave them in there. I was afraid they’d get out and then get lost or hurt.”

“Okay, can you go get them? I really need to see them right now, but Ian needs to be let in the house. I’ll have to set him up on the locks later.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back. They’re going to be really happy to see you. They’ve started moping,” Cam called back as she ran through the greenhouse and into the kitchen door. Ian walked up to her maybe thirty seconds later.

“How the hell did you end up married to that loser? I seriously felt like snapping his neck just then,” he said.

“You’re not the only one. I was really young when I met him. He seemed cool at the time. I hadn’t exactly come into my own at that age, and was still desperately looking for love. When we split up, though, I didn’t think I’d ever be interested in another relationship again. It was years before I had feelings for anyone again, and even that didn’t work out. Neil was a complete shock for me.”

Mac wasn’t about to remind Ian who it was she’d had feelings for. Those feelings had disappeared long ago, and she knew he didn’t remember. She assumed that was the reason Neil had been so pissed off at Ian in Cleveland and on the boat, even though he hadn’t really done anything.

“Let’s go in the house so you can see that it’s not as ugly as it looks from the outside. Cam’s bringing the boys down to me. God I’ve missed them. Wait until I take them into my room before you bring in Bella, okay?”

“Sure. She’s tied up outside for the time being.”

“Should be interesting when she meets Gowan, though he’s usually with Billy so he’s not in the house much, or he’s in Billy’s room. Jake seems okay with dogs, but he’s still only a year old, so we’ll have to watch,” Mac said.

“Me being here is a big pain in the ass, isn’t it?”

“You’re always a big pain in the ass. Here or in Cleveland,” she teased. Cam came down the stairs then, and Mac nearly wept with joy. Two bundles of fur wriggled in her arms and licked every inch of her face. Pickle was pretty much exfoliating her skin with his abrasive tongue, while Squeaker merely licked delicately, though still quite thoroughly.

“I told you they were starting to miss you,” Cam said with a laugh.

“I’ll say. I thought they were bad when I left the house for a few hours,” Mac exclaimed, but then had to close her mouth to keep from getting a really weird French kiss from Pickle. She buried her face in their fur, her eyes burning.

“Cam, can you do me a favour? Can you get some of the guys to move all that security stuff out of the room over our bedroom? It sounds like we still need to keep an eye on things with Mitch, and I really want to be able to sleep without people going through our room. I’ll walk Ian around, show him the house and where he’ll be sleeping until Lisa’s cabin is finished. I’m guessing the security issues have been delaying the construction?” At her question, Cam nodded.

“They’ve been screwing up everything. Mitch was given the animals to deal with, though he was supervised, so everyone else was free to do patrols and watch the monitors. I have to say, I didn’t expect all this crap when you left.”

“Neither did we! You’ll have to tell me all about it once we have a moment. Oh, and by the way, Ian, this is Cameron. Cameron, this is Ian. Though you both have brains, so I assume you already know that.”

Ian sort of smirked at Mac when he politely reached out to shake Cameron’s hand.

“I was warned not to hug you,” he said drily. Cam laughed.

“Mom’s worried I’ll punch someone for it one of these days. Though I don’t think I’d try that with a jiu-jitsu Master. Especially since you’re supposed to be my sensei very soon.”

“Not if you don’t want to wind up crying on the floor, no,” Ian said with a chuckle. “Though I do try to be a little nicer to the children of my friends.”

“Alright, Cam, go get John to deal with the security monitors. I’m assuming you took him off guard duty after his little bathroom break.”

“Yeah. Jim took over, after reaming him out.” Cam got on the two-way and got things in motion, while Mac dragged Ian around the place. Neil was in the security room with Billy when she took Ian up there, still holding Pickle and Squeaker. Neil grabbed them both from her, so he could spend some time cuddling them. She grinned at him. Apparently he’d missed the boys, too.

“John is coming up here to move all the security stuff. He can move it to the wall end of the kitchen counter for now. Nobody ever sits there anyway. We always sit at the open end. There’s a wired LAN plug there, too, so it won’t be on Wi-Fi. People have been treating our bedroom like Grand Central Station, from what I hear. Be nice when everything settles down again,” Mac said with a tired sigh. Cam came running up the stairs then.

“Mom, before John gets here, I wanted you guys to know about something. I haven’t told anyone yet, and wanted to wait until you got home. My dad’s been having an affair with Geraldine. I saw him with her when Chuck and I were at the hardware store. I told him who she was. That she was Gerry’s mother, I mean. And when I told him he would have to give her up if he wanted to stay on the farm, he just stopped speaking to me,” Cam said miserably. Everyone in the room, except possibly Ian, was shell-shocked.

Mac turned and looked at her daughter, suddenly more terrified than she could ever remember feeling.

20 ~ Strange Animal

Cam had slept neither well, nor long. The first thing she thought of was the jiu-jitsu training she was supposed to be getting from Ian. She needed that right now, so she went straight downstairs to find him, once she was showered and dressed. Thankfully she no longer had to worry about things like bail hearings and arranging for Mitch to be moved off the property. Her mother would deal with all that later.

Cam wouldn’t have stopped in the kitchen for food, since she could never eat when she first woke up without feeling sick, but she found him there anyway when she was on her way through.

“Hi,” she said, feeling awkward. “Do you think it would be possible for you to start teaching me today?”

“Sure. Just let me finish my breakfast and we can find a place to work. I don’t suppose you have any mats, do you?”

“We do, actually. They’re in the room Lisa’s using. That’s where the workout equipment was before she got here, but we took most of it out so Jake wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Cool. Maybe we can pull those outside, then, so we have some room. In the meantime, you can tell me what it is you’re looking to get out of your lessons. When I teach martial arts, I teach them so they work in real situations. I don’t teach them so my students win trophies or get belts. I teach so you can survive when it really matters. I hope you’re ready for that,” Ian said seriously.

“Oh yeah. I was already looking forward to learning. I’ve wanted to go into martial arts since I was little, but it just never happened. That was for the coolness factor back then, and I wanted to kick some ass. Now I just want to be able to protect myself, because I might have to. I’m good with a bow, as well as a gun, but I don’t want to rely on them as my only defense,” she explained.

“Good. Give me ten minutes, and we’ll get started,” he said.

Cam was relieved. For one thing, she needed to burn off the nervous energy she was feeling over the issue with her dad, and she didn’t think walking the perimeter like she used to do was such a good idea right now. Not when there was a very real threat, and it was directed specifically toward her. She really wished she could convince herself that Geraldine’s affair with her dad was innocent, but it would be stupid to try.

It was a good thing it wasn’t high summer yet, because it was already uncomfortably hot under the mid-morning sun, and dragging out the mats was enough for Cam to work up a sweat. Once they were set up to Ian’s satisfaction, he looked at her with a very serious expression on his face.

“What you really need to know, and remember at all times, is that one strike is never enough. Once you start going after someone, you have to keep going after them until they’re no longer a threat. Never forget that. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I’m not really sure,” she replied.

“Alright, let me explain then. If someone comes after you, and you hit them, that isn’t going to be enough to stop them for very long. Especially if they’re very determined. What you do is you keep hitting them, over and over, until you’re absolutely certain they’re not going to be able to continue coming after you. Your first strike doesn’t even have to be all that powerful. It’s a surprise more than anything, but then you have to follow up on it.

“Your follow-up strikes have to be stronger. But speed is important, too. You don’t want them to have time to think in between. You also want them to hurt, and hurt badly enough that they’re causing damage. I’m going to teach you three simple moves for now. We’re not going to do anything fancy to start out with, because you need to learn to defend yourself as quickly as possible against a real threat. You’re not worrying about your next belt test or scoring points in a competition. Point strikes don’t cause any damage. They’re not supposed to. I don’t teach that.

“The first thing you’re going to learn is the hand-heel strike. It’s also called a palm strike, depending on who’s teaching you. It’s very effective, especially when used against someone’s nose. If you hit someone in the nose their eyes automatically close and tear up. It hurts. A lot. And it gives you an opportunity to come at them with something a lot more powerful and debilitating after. Later we’ll do an elbow, or forearm, strike, as well as a front kick. Those three things, if you use them one after the other, multiple times, will be a huge help to you.

“Later on we can get into some of the fancier stuff, maybe, but this is what I’ve taught my students for many years. And I can tell ya, it works. Not only can it work for women, but it can work for little kids, too. Sometimes all you need is a chance to get away, so even if these moves seem simple, they can save your life. Alright, let’s get started,” he said, finally.

Stretching took up the first ten minutes. Then it was slow-motion repetition of the hand-heel strike, progressing to full speed, which had Ian complimenting her on the rate at which she was picking it up. They moved to the front kick, which he pushed her a little harder on, after seeing that she caught onto that just as fast as she had the hand-heel strike. The elbow strike went even faster, with him saying it was because she needed to be challenged.

“It would be better if we had a heavy bag so we could go through some scenarios. We’ll just have to find a volunteer to stand in as
uke
.”

“
Uke
? What’s that?” Cameron asked.

“Someone you pretend to beat up,” Ian said with a grin.

“Oh, okay. I can handle that,” Cameron said, laughing.

They grabbed a startled Billy, who had been talking to Jim nearby, and spent the last half hour with Ian encouraging Billy to pretend he was trying to rob or attack Cameron, while getting Cameron to start out looking intimidated, but suddenly launching her offensive. Of course, she couldn’t really hit Billy, so she had to stop short on her strikes, but it made things very interesting for Billy for a while. Cam laughed at the way he cringed when she came within a quarter-inch of his face. Still, she had to admit it took courage for him to just stand there and trust her not to hit him.

Lisa came up and watched the spectacle for a little while, which made Billy blush. Cam could see the interest on her face, too, so it looked like that would be a done deal pretty soon. She was happy about it now. She liked Billy, and wanted him to be happy. Lisa seemed like a good match for him. Slightly older than he was, but not enough that there was a weird gap between them. Cam didn’t let him off the hook, though, just because Lisa was there. She continued to enjoy scaring the crap out of him with her various strikes, grinning every time he flinched.

After two hours, Ian said he was going to take Bella for a walk, and Cam staggered off to the kitchen for a drink of water. She had hated drinking water in the city, but their water on the farm was amazing. No foul taste of chlorine or fluoride. She filled a tall glass and drank the whole thing in one go. Then she refilled it, sipping until she had finished the second glass. Partially revived, she headed upstairs.

A cool shower revived her further, though a hot bath probably would have been better for her muscles. She’d have one of those tomorrow, if they were as sore as she thought they might be. Once she was dressed, she decided it was time to hunt down her dad. She didn’t really expect him to come back on his own for a few days, because he’d been mad when he left. His lack of maturity was one of his more irritating qualities, and that was on a good day. This wasn’t a good day.

Cameron was pissed that she was left to worry about the safety of a person who obviously wasn’t worried about hers. So much for his protectiveness. Looking back she started to feel as though it had been more of a show that he put on, whenever she had mentioned a guy she was going out with, or that liked her. He’d acted like he was so concerned. Now, when it really counted, his worry had disappeared. Still, whether he truly cared about her or not, she still cared what happened to him, whether the threat came from her mother going after him, or from Geraldine. She had no choice but to try and find him, and she thought she might know where to start looking.

Their meeting place near the hardware store indicated to Cam that they were likely using a nearby house for more privacy. Her dad was a creature of habit, and had probably picked one and continued to use it. He wasn’t exactly a mastermind of strategy, and his lack of forward thinking meant he would continue business as usual without worrying over consequences.

If he had told Geraldine that Cam knew about their relationship, however, that would change things. Geraldine seemed like a sharp woman. Still, Cam hoped that her dad wouldn’t betray her quite so readily by telling Geraldine about their conversations. It was one thing to continue an affair. It was another thing entirely to knowingly expose someone to further danger. Knowing who Geraldine was might make him more cautious in his speech. Or, if nothing else, he might be too interested in getting laid to bother talking about anything important.

Cameron passed through the kitchen on her way out, and considered eating. She was starving, especially after two hours of kicks and strikes. With her stomach tied in knots at the thought of her upcoming confrontation, however, she decided she would wait until it was over before she stuffed her face.

She took her mother’s old BMW, since they still had treated fuel in the tank and planned to use it up before it went bad. Cam didn’t tell anyone where she was going, and knew she was going to catch hell for that when she got back, but it was the only way she could get to her dad without her mother dragging his possible location out of her first. She was starting to think it might actually be a good idea just to move all his stuff out of his cabin and take it to him, so he wouldn’t have to come back and face her mother’s wrath.

Sadness welled up in her as the car rolled over the pressure plate and the gate opened. This could easily be the last time she saw her dad. He was already angry with her, and this confrontation wasn’t going to make him any happier. He might decide he didn’t have to be her dad after all, since it wasn’t as though they were related by blood. In a way, Cam already felt like that was what was happening. Like he’d been pretending to love her all those years or something.

Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her face, making it difficult for her to see the road. The complete lack of traffic was a blessing at that moment, because she was pretty sure she was too upset to be driving had there been other cars on the road. As it was, she rounded a corner and nearly ran someone over. She just barely veered enough to avoid hitting the person who was wandering on the side of the road. She hadn’t used her brakes while swerving, because she didn’t want to lose control of the car on the dirt and gravel road, and end up hitting the person she was trying to avoid. Now she slammed her foot down on the pedal to stop the car.

She touched her hand to her back as she got out of the car, making sure both her knife and her Glock were where they were supposed to be, and tucked the tail of her shirt behind them so it wouldn’t get in the way. Then she knuckled the tears from her eyes so she could see clearly.

He had stopped moving once he’d seen the car, but there was a fair bit of distance between them so she couldn’t really see his features. She just knew he was male, and looked pretty tall with dark hair. She walked very slowly toward him. Like her mother, Cam hated the thought of anyone suffering or going hungry, but she wasn’t stupid.
People are assholes
, she reminded herself silently.

As she got closer she realized he had no pack, which meant he had no food or supplies of any kind. He could turn out to be extremely dangerous, or very grateful for any help she could provide. They had emergency packs in every vehicle; it was something her mother had done for as far back as Cam could remember. Every pack had non-perishable food in it. If he was hungry, she could help him, but she had to be sure he wasn’t going to kill her out of desperation.

“Hello,” Cam said tentatively. He eyed her warily, his face gaunt and haggard, but he didn’t reply to her greeting. She couldn’t help thinking that maybe he hadn’t seen another human being in a long time. If that was the case, he was probably wondering if she was real.

“My name is Cameron. Are you hungry? Hurt? I have a few supplies with me that you can have if you want. I’ll let you take them all. That’s why we have them in the car. Would you like something to eat?”

His expression was one of disbelief. She was still a fair distance away from him, but if he wanted food he would have to come back to the car with her. Not wanting to turn her back on him when she didn’t know what he would do, Cam gestured to him to indicate that he should follow her, then started walking backward. He began to shuffle along toward her, and his gait suggested that he was barely able to keep to his feet at the moment. He was definitely in need of some help. Whether or not he was a danger to her was a different story.

It took some time, but they reached the car. She kept her eye on him as she opened the trunk and pulled out the duffle bag with the food, water, and first-aid kit in it. There were other things in the trunk for emergencies, like Mylar blankets, candles, jumper cables, and all that, but those were more for breakdowns than anything else. She unzipped the bag and pulled out an energy bar. She hoped it wouldn’t be too much for him, since he obviously hadn’t eaten for a while, but it was the only type of food in there.