Home Fires Burning (Walking in the Rain Book 2) (19 page)

              “Your dad somewhere around here?  Providing overwatch for you?”

              “No sergeant.  I haven’t seen my father since just before the lights went out.  The only person watching out for me is the guy who gave me a ride.  He’s unarmed and just waiting to see what happens.”

              After much debate, Mark volunteered to come with me and deliver the letter.  I was just supposed to drop the letter and call him in to meet.  Darwin didn’t like me even being there, but dressed in the proper attire I did look less threatening than either of his sons.  The old man wanted to do it himself, or at least drive the truck, but everyone else in the room disagreed.  Grudgingly, the old man bowed to our wishes this one time.

              By the time the sergeant and I finished our little talk, Corporal Conners was there, picking up the envelope from the asphalt as directed.  Glancing warily in my direction, the corporal handed the paper off to the sergeant and took a step back, flanking the older man.  I felt Conners watching me as the sergeant used a thick forefinger to unseal the paper flap.  Conners was a younger version of the sergeant, but with a black frame glasses and a bit of a baby face.

Reaching inside the envelope, the sergeant copied my earlier move and grasped the edge of the paper with thumb and forefinger.

              I could see the writing through the single thin sheet of white paper, Darwin’s handwriting clear and strong but illegible from my angle.  That didn’t matter.  I helped him write the message.  I watched the sergeant’s eyes widen, then narrow as he digested the words.  Then he looked over at me once more, his regard a cold and analytical examination.

              “You know what’s in this letter?”

              “Yes, sir.”

              “You don’t sir a sergeant, son.  Your father should have taught you that.”

              “Yes, sergeant, but my father also taught me to respect my elders.  Plus, I’m a little nervous being here.  Sir.”

              “I’ll bet.  Can you corroborate any of these allegations, son?” the sergeant asked, holding up the letter in a gesture.

              “Yes, sergeant.  I was there when we rescued those girls.  I’ve talked to them, both right after and then later on after they’d had a chance to calm down some.  I heard their stories.  I also know the men who had them were very, very bad.”

              “And how do you know this?”

              “I helped bury some of their victims.”

              “We’ll talk more about that, as well as how that rescue came to happen, later.  For now, I think we need to take a ride back to the base so you can talk to the Captain.”

              I really didn’t want to do that, for a lot of reasons.  Mainly, if we got sidetracked at their base, some more of those poor girls might get sold off while this captain dithered.  But, I had an ace in the hole, if I was willing to play it.

              “Sergeant, you know which girls this concerns, correct?”

              “Yeah, this is that group of high school cheerleaders.  I took a report from one of them a few weeks back.  Transports still not available.  This is the best place we could house them.  Most folks aren’t even getting the clean water and what little food we can scrounge.  And we didn’t know any were missing.”

              “Junior high, sergeant.  One of those girls we rescued is twelve years old, I think.  What if I can get one of them from inside to corroborate what I’ve said?  At least on the sale of the other girls.  Would that be enough to get you to act here and take these girls out of this refugee center.”

              “Hell, even if we pulled them out, where would they go?”

              “The man who signed that letter, Darwin Keller, is willing to take the other girls in if you can spring them.  He’s got a farm a good ways from here and can feed and house them.”

              “And how do we know they’ll be taken care of?  Even if something is going on here, how can we be sure you won’t just do the same thing to them out there?” The Sergeant asked bluntly.

              “Mr. Keller anticipates someone, either your captain or higher up the chain, will want to get farmers back to work.  He also expects to trade food for fuel at a reasonable exchange rate.  He is already stretched providing food, water, and protection to the people sheltering on his farm and with his neighbors.  He will take in those girls, and stretch further, because it is the right thing to do.  Some people have managed not to become animals in these fallen times.”

              “Look, son.  We’ve already got a lot of…stuff going on right now.  We don’t have the time or manpower to take over the running of this refugee center.  In case you haven’t noticed, things are getting worse out there, not better, as this power thing drags on.  I’ve already lost good men to snipers and bandits.  I can’t go piss off these people on your word.”

              Conners never moved, but I heard him mutter something under his breath.

              “What’s that, Conners?”

              “I said, ‘can the hardass shit, Harry’ and I meant it.  Listen to the kid.  And you know there is something not right about this place.  And those fucking Red Cross volunteers.”

              Conners stared at the sergeant for a handful of heartbeats before dropping his eyes to the ground.  I could read the exhaustion and heartache in that face perfectly.  I’d seen that same expression staring back at me on those rare occasions when I stood in front of a mirror.  Out on the road, before I met Amy.

              “We just thought they were skimming food, kid.  I swear.  We can’t get them much now anyway.  What’s your name, anyway?”

              “Luke.  My buddy out in the pickup is Mark.  He’s a good guy.  Spent some time in the Army.  One of Mr. Keller’s sons, too.”

              “I’m Nathan Conners, and this is Sergeant Harry Erlich.  He’s our squad leader.”

              “Nice to meet you guys.  Look, I know the shit is deep everywhere.  And getting deeper.  Thing is, I think I can guarantee one of the girls will talk to me.  Problem though is even if she is willing, the other girls may be used as hostages for her behavior.”

              “What, do you know her or something?” Erlich asked, cautious again.

              “No, but her older sister is one of the girls we saved from the raiders the other day.  The girl left in there is Summer Thompson, age thirteen.  Her older sister Lori told me some things I can use to gain her trust if I can just talk to her for a few minutes.”

              “Like what?”

              “Like her older brother’s name.  Scott Thompson.  Age eighteen.  Traveled all the way from McAlester, Oklahoma to rescue his little sisters.”

              I pointed to my chest.  “Me. Or, close enough to pass in the dark.  I think they might let her go just to get rid of me.  The girls are kept locked in a classroom most of the time but only a couple like Lori knew something else was in the works.  One of the girls we have at the farm overheard the deal being made, food for three of the girls.  She hurried back and told Lori.  Lori told Summer before they drug her away.”

              “Jeez.  That’s cold.  You got anything else to convince this girl?”

              “Yes.  Lori told me Summer’s code word.”

              When both men gave me a look of confusion, I gave a little wave.

              “Nothing mysterious.  Parents with teenage kids are often swapping rides.  Most of the kids know all the parents.  In case there’s any question, Lori and Summer each have a code word their parents give to someone authorized to pick them up.”

              “I guess that makes some kind of twisted sense,” Conners allowed.

              “So, you think you can get her to play along?” the sergeant finally asked.

              “Yeah.   I think with those things plus the fact I’m a teenaged boy myself will convince her.”

              “If you can talk her into it, great.  But the ‘volunteers’ may not let you get close, much less let her go.  They may know, or suspect, she’s got too much inside knowledge.”

              “That’s a possibility.  Well, if you will loan me a weapon, I’m willing to do the job myself.  Or, you can send a few of your men along as escorts.”

              “Kid, are you nuts?  They got eight guys we know of onsite as armed security.  That’s the only way they’ve managed to keep the gangs out.  Plus lord knows how many others who may, or may not, be in on what you suspect.  How are you going to deal with them?” Sergeant Erlich finally demanded, getting agitated by the nature of my plan.

              “Nuts?  I’ve heard folks say that about me a time or two.  They are wrong, by the way.  I’m still sane. Mostly.  What you need to realize, Sergeant, is the gang is already inside.  Running things.”  

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

              Once I convinced Sergeant Erlich to provide some support to this little mission, I walked away from the school and down a side street until I spotted Mark’s beater truck in the distance.  We’d picked the ugliest vehicle the mechanics at the farm assured us would make the twenty plus mile trip, and headed out before first light.

              With a wave, I gestured Mark on in to pick me up.  I heard the diesel engine roar to life wished we had a way to get around without all that noise.  Maybe find a Prius?  But they’d all burned up in the pulse.  Plus, well, it is a Prius.  When I glanced back I saw the sergeant tailing me so waited for the older man to reach my position.

              “You say this guy is prior service?  Army?”

              “Yes, sergeant.  Armor.  Driver and loader I think.  He’s steady in a gun fight.  I know that.”

              The sergeant looked over at me with a disbelieving look before speaking.

              “And how many gunfights have you been in, young man?”

              “No more than absolutely necessary, Sergeant.  But, Mark there was with me both times we faced the raiders that bought those girls.  He stood his ground and did his job.  That’s all I’m admitting to, Sergeant Erlich.”

              “Damn, son, I was just messing with you.  What, you’re like eighteen, nineteen years old and talking like a salty old dog.”

              “And when they shipped out for deployment overseas for the first time, how old were your PFCs and corporals, sergeant?”

              Mark’s arrival cut off our conversation and when he arrived I gave him a “hi” sign that meant we were good so far.  If I’d failed to give that gesture, he would have made an immediate U-Turn and hauled ass out of there.  My job was to jump in back if I could make it, but fortunately that move was unnecessary.  For now, anyway.

              As Mark slowly opened the driver’s side door, the sergeant looked over at me and calmly asked, “You guys armed?”

              “No, nothing on us.  There’s a scoped rifle in the back under a tarp and a shotgun under the seat but no firearms on our person, sergeant.  I would understand if you have to collect them, but we would like them back when this is over.”

              Mark nodded, and stuck out his hand.

              “Mark Keller, confirmed civilian, and you can’t call me back.”

              Sergeant Erlich laughed at Mark’s earnest introduction.

              “You already been there, done that, I take it?”

              “You got it sergeant.  Ended up doing two years on top of my four.  Funny thing is I might have gone NG if not for that bit of…foolishness.  Now I’m a farmer and that’s it.”

              Erlich nodded, like he’d heard that a lot.  Maybe he had.

              “So, Mr. Luke here was just singing your praises.  Said you are a steady troop in battle.  So, a little more than a farmer?”

              “No, that’s it.  Thing is, folks keep wanting to take what we have, so I’ve had to fight to defend our home.”

              “Be very careful about who you shoot, Mr. Keller.  This is not the Wild West.  You will have to account for your actions once this is over.”  Sergeant Erlich said, and even I could he was just parroting the “party line”.

              “Well, so far we’ve been able to rescue enough hostages to set you straight on the details.  Including the mess we’ve got going on here, right under your nose.”

              Mark had been a cool customer right up until this point, and I laid a hand on his arm as a warning.  Play nice to the men with automatic weapons.

              “Sorry, Sergeant.  Three of the hostages we recovered were our neighbors.  A mother and two little girls.  All had been raped and beaten nearly to death before we recovered them.”

              Sergeant Erlich waved away the apology, apparently deciding to get down to business.