It Was 2052 (11 page)

***

The toxic ingredients which would infect the country with war were incubating in Dallas and in other big cities of America.  In a land still disjointed and weak, two opposing forces formed their plans to be the dominant rule.

The Network was following the strategy they had determined brought them increasing success.  In the metro Villages of Dallas and in other large cities, they were slowly taking over the commerce and bringing as many of the population as possible into their various pernicious and lucrative activities. The leaders of the Network believed that if they continued to grow, by the time they made their move to establish rule, they would face a weak resistance. Doctor Pendelton's super soldiers would enable them to gain control of the resources of the country. With their army, through force and intimidation, they would use the population, just as they had at the farm to take full advantage of the wealth of the land.  Only the Network would choose who would be the privileged citizens of the new society. The weak spot in the Network's armor, however, was their lack of true knowledge of the growing strength of their opponent.

The Dallas government alliance had gained two young soldiers.  Eric had enlisted the help of Rose's uncle John and Mamie to tell his partner about the events that were stirring in their city and in their country.  The four sat in Mamie's room.  Mamie served up some coffee with a shot of bourbon in each steaming mug. She and Rose sat at the small table, John perched nearby on the edge of the color splashed bed and Eric paced. Rose took a swig of coffee and coughed, “What the heck is this, Mamie, coffee or a cocktail?”

“Just sip a bit, honey.  Eric has something to tell you.”

She looked around at the other three, her large eyes locked with Eric's, questions there.  He moved next to Rose's chair and said, “Listen, babe. There's some serious stuff going on.  I---we, need you to know all about it.” With the input from John and Mamie, the young woman was brought up to date about the activities of the Network, about the sinister old doctor, the alliance and how Jackson was in contact with Anissa and she had agreed to become part of the alliance. Her uncle explained to her how Anissa's co-operation put her in grave danger and that the threat would hang over her, too, now that she was being brought into the web.

Rose was not some weak kneed girl. Though, she hadn't seen the very worst of the aftermath of the EMP catastrophe, she hadn't had a simple or easy life. After only a moment of absorbing all of this startling information, she said, “Well, I'm most certainly going to need some of that military training.  If I can't go to the base, then you're going to have to pass along what you learn to me, Eric.” She was up and pacing now and Eric had plopped into the chair, relieved to have the telling done. He took a big drink of his spiked coffee. 

Her uncle just shook his head and laughed at the feisty auburn hair niece that he had raised. She paused and looked at Mamie, “What about you, do you have training? Well,crap! who would've thought that you were a spy.”

Mamie said, “Not real hand to hand type training.  I would like to get in on that myself.”

“Well, it seems to me that that Dallas is a dangerous place. If we're going to be American soldiers, then we have to be properly trained. Right, Uncle John?”  She put both hands on her hips, “You men will just have to find some place to give us some training.”

“I agree.  And, as soon as we find a secure place to have a meeting, we will all get together with the Colonel,” said Mamie. 

Placing quick kisses on everybody's cheeks, Rose clapped her hands and said, “Well, gotta go. Time for work soon.” She trotted out of the small room, leaving them all in silence. The young woman's unflustered air of enthusiasm lingered but the people that loved her couldn't ignore the fact that they had just pulled her into a dangerous reality. They parted with no smiles on their faces.

***

The small hut, a frequent haven for Jackson and Anissa was crowded. Two candles flickered on the worn table. The wind whistled through the unlined walls and chilled the room and not one of the nine visitors  removed their coats.  Jackson discreetly folded the blankets on the small cot in the corner. The blankets that often covered two young lovers, warm in the thrill of a new found passion and in the exploration of getting to know each other.  He pulled the cot closer to the table. Mamie, Rose and Anissa sat on the low bed and covered their legs with a couple of the blankets.  Colonel Sharon sat in the old upholstered chair, Driver on the rickety stool, Jackson, John and Bud had scrounged up a couple of crates and an old paint bucket. 

It had been a little over a year since the cold day that Jackson arrived in Dallas. He looked around at the faces in the dim light,
hard to believe everything that had happened in those months.
Since the couple had been meeting here for several weeks now, it was determined to be a decently safe place for the alliance to conspire, as long as caution was observed. With lowered voices, the Colonel was introduced to John and the three women, who she hadn't previously met. Before she could begin to speak, Jackson said “sh-sh---quiet..” He heard the recognized squeak of the back door of the Luciano Village as it opened. The guard's curses at the cold reached them and after a pretty short time, the door slammed shut again. The weather wasn't very conducive to answering the call of nature.

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath but the smoke swirled from their noses and mouths and circled ins the candle light. Anissa whispered, “It's okay. The guard just comes out for a bathroom break sometimes.”

Bud chuckled, “Well, it'll reach the ground solid tonight.” The Colonel grinned and there were some other soft laughs. 

“First, I want to tell you all, that I really appreciate the service you're giving and I'm grateful that you have joined our alliance. The information you've been gathering is invaluable to us.  I know that you have worked under dangerous conditions and that you have questions about the strength of our armies.  I want to assure you that we've been rebuilding, that our numbers and our skills are growing.”

Anissa pulled a notebook from under that blanket across her lap and extended it to the Colonel.

“Jackson thought that it would be useful to have the layout, floor by floor, of the Luciano.  These are diagrams of the number and locations of rooms and what they are used for.  At least, to the degree that I know.”

The Colonel said, “That will be extremely useful.  Any information that you can gather about where they keep their weapons, how well armed they are is what we really need.  If we can continue to keep our existence or at least the degree of preparedness we have a secret, then our biggest advantage will be surprise.  Our strategy will be to attack the Network in the headquarters, with contingencies for their people throughout the city.  We know the Sheriff is in their organization and thanks to Anissa, we know about the lab of Dr. Pendelton.”

John stood and spoke to the Colonel, “Mam, from what we understand, Dallas is just one of the many cities where the Network is taking over.  Even if we defeat or cripple the organization here, what about their other armies?”

“And what about these super soldiers of Dr. Pendelton's?” said Bud.

“Those are legitimate concerns.  We do have other alliances, spies in the other big cities where we have discovered the Network.  We believe that Luciano and Pendelton are very important leaders of the organization. Most likely, Luciano would become president of the Network controlled country.” said the Colonel. “If we could take out the organization here it would have a huge destructive impact. We would co-ordinate the attacks in the other cities in as short a time span as possible. As far as the super soldiers, so far they are not as numerous as they will eventually be.  However, more of them are maturing every month that goes by.  From intel, we believe the greatest number of them exist here in Dallas. Our force will have to be well prepared to deal with their excessive abilities.”

Driver, from his tall perch said, “Two things that I can think of that we really need intel on. We need to have some idea of how many super soldiers exist and we need to know which cities have organized Network structures.”

It was quiet for a moment.  Mamie pulled out an old thermos and some small paper cups. She poured up some of the coffee and Brewer's bourbon concoction and passed it around. The Colonel said, “Damn, that'll warm the pipes. Thanks, Mamie.”

Mamie said, “My pleasure,” and took a big sip, the steam floating up across her face.

Anissa spoke, “I don't know about how to find out the numbers on the soldiers. I'll think about it though. I do have a friend, one of the working girls. She is a favorite of the Sheriff. I know the Sheriff is always at those big meetings. She might could figure a way to get some information about the cities that are represented in the meetings.”

“Can you trust her?”

“Yes, mam, definitely,” said Anissa.

The Colonel looked around at the shadowed faces, some of them so young. “Listen, make sure she understands the danger.” She took another sip of the warm drink, “And, when we are in private, don't call me
mam,
makes me feel about a hundred years old. My name is Sharon.” Driver flashed her an amused look and she ignored it. She looked to Rose and Eric, neither had really said anything the whole time.

“Rose, do you have anything to ask?  Eric has told me that you and Mamie have been training with the young men.”

“Yes, I'm feeling much more confident.”

Mamie added her agreement.

“Mam---I mean Sharon,” Rose said, “Do you have any idea when this battle will happen?”

“Not yet. Winter is never a good time for confrontations, when there is a choice. Perhaps in the early summer. We'll just have to see what picture the intel continues to paint.”

They had talked of many things and it was time to get out before dawn.  The Colonel thanked them all, she and Driver made their way out first. After a few minutes, Rose and Eric slipped down the narrow alley, followed shortly by John and Mamie.   The candles had nearly burned away, Jackson wrapped the blanket around Anissa and pulled her in close. His kiss was dampened by a tear that slid down her cheek.

“Are you okay?  Someday this will be behind us, I promise.”

“When Rose and Mamie talked about training, I realized how stupid and unskilled I am. How will I keep Lee and father safe when this war comes?”

He kissed her again, “Do you have a gun?”

“Yes, I know how to use it. It's always seemed pointless because unless I knew Lee was safe, I couldn't do anything.”

He took her face in his hands, “I swear, I am going to take care of you and Lee, your father and your friend.I will not let anything happen to you.  When this all goes down, I'll be there beside you.” He rubbed his finger gently across the scar on top of her hand, “I'm not going to let anyone hurt you again.  You trust me?”

“Yes.” The scar was a permanent reminder of the thug. “Funny,” she said, “I haven't seen that slime in weeks.”

“You won't be seeing him---ever again.” He had never told her about the encounter with the thug. He wasn't really proud of it, just glad that he was gone.

He started to say more and she put her fingers to his lips. The candle burned out, the flame drowned in the last of the wax. “We have to go,” she whispered.

***

The cold finally waned, Spring crept in slowly. In these times, never bright spring days but warmer.  On the streets, sprouts in an occasional pot of flowers struggled to emerge. The spies and their secrets continued, with each day increasing the peril of their discovery. One dark early morning, Anissa opened the door of the secret closet right into the nose of a guard. Gasping in surprise and still cold from the outside, she had to think fast. 

“What the hell!” The guards looked at her, rubbed his nose, “What're doing?”

“Oh-h, it's an old storage closet. I thought I remembered a chair stored in here.” She closed the door behind her.

He looked suspiciously at her, “I didn't even know there was a closet here. Damn, girl! You're cold. Must be a refrigerator in there.”

She threw him a smile, “Guess it's not used anymore, I didn't find a thing. Well, gotta run.” She moved away with her heart in her throat. Not good, she didn't want anyone to know about the closet and certainly not that it opened to the outside.

They still hadn't figured how to get a handle on the number of super soldiers. Doctor Pendelton was very secretive and dangerous, no easy way to get into his activities. The doctor never failed to call Anissa into his lab on occasion, always reinforced that he was in control and held the welfare of her son in his hands and that she didn't forget it.  On one such day,  she stood before him, refusing to sit and answered his probing questions.  The heavy door swung open and the soldier that she knew still followed her constantly, loomed over her. 

“Sorry, sir. Didn't know you had company.  You are needed down in the examination room, shouldn't take long,” said the soldier.

Anissa didn't like the way the over muscled young man looked her up and down.

The doctor looked at her, “You stay here. I'm not done yet.”

She wandered around the lab, got a bottle of water from the kitchen area.  On one of the stainless steel tables she noticed a folder that was labeled
Roster. 
Hesitating, making sure that she heard no one coming, she opened the folder. She couldn't believe her eyes, it seemed to be a list of soldiers---the super soldiers. They were numbered,
soldier 1, soldier 2,
beside the numbers, the name of a city.  She quickly scanned down and onto a next page, forty two soldiers were listed. Going to the heavy lab door, she listened, trying to hear any signs of the doctor returning above the loud beating of her heart in her ears.  She returned to the roster and counted the times that Dallas was written beside a soldier.  Six, it appeared that only six super soldiers were here in the city, others spread across the country in the big Network cities.