Safe and Sound (26 page)

Harland sat behind the desk. It, like all the other furniture in the camp, was handmade and rough-hewn. A pistol lay on the desk in front of Harland. It was within easy reach of his hand.

“You won’t need that,” Keller said. “Besides, I’m not armed.”

Harland didn’t speak for a moment. He regarded Keller with grave eyes that seemed to have sunk slightly into his craggy face. Finally, he spoke.

“What weapon has the lion,” he said, “but himself?”

“What?” Keller said. Then, “Uh…thanks. I guess.”

Harland didn’t move. “Don’t thank me, Mr. Keller,” he said. “You’re a violent man. You can mask it in front of others, but I know. I spent much of my life in the company of violent men. I know the signs. I see it. It comes off you like steam.” He picked up the gun, but gently. He looked at it and turned it over and over in his hands. “What we call civilization,” he said, “is a thin veneer. It’s like a beautiful, delicate vase. It sits on the mantel and everyone admires it, saying how fine it is. Oh, there are flaws in the finish, but we can fix them. No need to do it right now, because isn’t the vase pretty? The flaws, we tell ourselves, even add to the beauty. But the vase is full of corruption, Keller. It’s brimming up to its lid with pus and blood and maggots. And the flaws in the finish are turning into cracks. Soon it will shatter completely, and the world will drown. Drown in its own corruption.” He put the gun down and looked at Keller.

Crazy as a goddamn loon, Keller thought. “Seems to me you’ve been saying that for a while,” he said.

Harland turned to him. “My only mistake,” he said, “was that I hadn’t any sense of the timescale involved. I’m an American, after all. We think in terms of years. Maybe de cades, if we’re particularly visionary. I didn’t realize how long it would take. But it’s an accelerating process. I was only off by a few years.”

“I need to talk to you,” Keller said, “about—”

“You know, Keller,” Harland interrupted. “You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been there. You’ve seen what men can do to each other. You’ve seen the fire from the sky.”

Keller shook his head. Suddenly, in his mind’s eye, he saw the white flash out of the desert night, felt the heat of the impact wash over him.

Burning, they’re burning…

Keller shook his head savagely, to clear it. He looked up and saw Harland looking at him. “Yes,” he said. “The fire. You’ve seen men pull fire down from the sky. On other men. On women. On children.”

“Yeah,” Keller said. “What about it?”

Harland picked up the gun again. “I’ve seen it, too. I’ve seen the fire come down. I called it with my own voice.” His eyes went far away. “The planes screamed like enraged angels as the fire fell. Afterward, I walked on the blackened earth. Everything was black. The ground, the trees, the children…” He stopped and shook his head. “We should never have been given that power, Keller. We’re killer apes that can bring the heat of the sun to touch the earth. In the end, we’ll bring the fire down. We can’t help ourselves.” He paused and stood up. “Do you read Yeats, Keller?”

Keller shrugged. “I remember the name from high school.”

Harland walked over to the bookshelf, ran a finger over the spines of the books. “ ‘Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,’ ” he quoted. “ ‘The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’ ” He turned back to Keller. “Are you paying attention at all? Can you deny that’s what’s happening now?”

Keller stood up and dusted off his hands on his pants. “Look,” he said, “are you going to let us stay or not?”

Harlan’s smile was a spear of ice. “It’s that simple to you?”

“Right now, yeah,” Keller said. “There was a time I might have eaten this stuff up, Colonel. The world’s a shithole. Fine. I know it. You know it. Maybe soon it’ll finally implode and take us all with it. But right now, I’ve got people I care about. People who depend on me.”

Harland’s cold smile didn’t change. “It won’t change the final outcome. Nothing will.”

Keller shrugged. “Maybe. But I’m just fighting each battle as it comes.”

“And that’s the problem for me, Keller. Your battle isn’t mine. And I don’t want my home turned into a battlefield.”

“You won’t have to. I’m going after DeGroot. You just look after the woman and the boy. That’s all I ask.”

Harland sat back down. “I’ll give you my decision in the morning.” The dismissal was obvious. Keller stood watching him for a moment. Finally, he walked out.

As he exited the building, he stopped and took a deep breath of the cool, moist night air. He shook his head to clear it. Harland’s words had shaken him more than he had thought originally. Or maybe it was Harland himself.

Like Harland, Keller had seen horrible things. He had taken other men’s lives. It had changed him in ways he sometimes hated to think about. He wondered if after a few more years of this, he’d be as batshit crazy as Harland. He looked across the parade ground at the cabin he shared with Marie and Ben. He saw the light of the lantern flickering in the window. He walked toward it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Dawn was breaking over the mountains as Caldwell reached the first roadblock. He saw the stopped traffic first, the brake lights of cars glowing in the early morning light as the sparse traffic piled up. Then the strobes of the highway patrol and county sheriff’s cars.

He felt a brief rush of adrenaline. A few deep breaths brought that under control. His disguise was perfect. The brown truck he drove was practically an icon. So was his brown uniform. People saw those and instinctively relaxed. No one would suspect that they were both bogus. After all, who suspects the UPS man of carrying an illegal arsenal?

As he reached the roadblock, the young sheriff’s deputy on his side of the road started to just wave him past, then thought better of it. Caldwell came to a full stop and levered the door open. The young deputy came around to the exit side of the truck. He leaned in and put one foot on the bottom step of the truck entrance.

“Gettin’ an early start, ain’t ya?” the deputy said. Caldwell relaxed slightly. There was no explicit challenge in the voice. The man was just being friendly.

“Gonna be a long day,” Caldwell said.

“I heard ’at,” the deputy said.

“So what’s up?” Caldwell asked.

“Some guy shot it out with some FBI agents up on the Parkway,” the deputy said.

“And he got away?” Caldwell said. His voice was calm, but his mind was working furiously.

The deputy nodded. “Yep,” he said. “Kilt half a dozen of ’em. Must be one mean sumbitch.”

“Must be,” Caldwell replied. He had half-heard reports of the incident on the radio, but he had been too preoccupied with his preparations to make any connection. “I’ll, uh, I’ll keep a lookout for him.”

“Oh, hell,” the deputy said. “That ol’ boy’s long gone from here by now. But you caint tell the FBI that. Dumb sonsabitches. I ain’t complainin’, mind you. I can use the overtime.” He stepped back out of the truck. “You have a good day, now,” he said.

“You, too,” Caldwell said. He closed the door. What the hell is DeGroot getting me into, he thought as he pulled away.

***

They were seated at the table in the mess hall: Keller, Marie, Powell, and Riggio. Lisa bustled back and forth from the kitchen, bringing bowls of homemade muesli. Ben followed in her wake, ostensibly helping, but mostly getting in the way. Lisa didn’t seem to mind. She was laughing and joking with him. It made Marie smile despite the obvious tension in the room.

Harland entered the mess hall. He came to stand at the foot of the table. “You can’t stay,” he said without preamble.

Lisa stopped dead in her tracks, the laugh dying on her lips. “Sir,” she began.

Harland cut her off. “I’ve made my decision,” he said to her curtly. He turned to address the group. “You’re a threat to the security of this camp. I want you gone after you finish eating. Lisa will escort you off the premises.” He turned on his heel and walked out. Lisa slammed the bowl she was carrying down on the table and ran out after him.

They looked at each other for a moment without speaking. Ben broke the silence. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” he said. There was an edge of panic in his voice. Marie opened her arms and he ran into them.

“Nothing’s wrong, baby,” she murmured. “We have to get ready to go, though.”

His voice was muffled against her. “I don’t want to go,” he whined. “I want us to stay here with Lisa.”

From outside they heard voices raised in argument. Keller stood up. “Where you going, Keller?” Powell said.

“To change his mind,” Keller replied tightly.

Riggio shook his head sadly. “No, man,” he said. “That won’t work.”

“And the other thing you’re thinking about,” Powell added. “That won’t work, either.” He gestured toward the door. “You try to take him on, you’ve got Lisa to deal with. She’s good, but you could probably take her. But are you ready to go that far?”

Keller had to think about that for a minute. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I am.”

“Well, we’re not,” Powell said. “There’s been enough good people hurt.”

“What are you talking about?” Ben piped up. “You’re not going to hurt Lisa, are you?” he looked at Jack. “Jack,” he said. His voice was near hysteria. “Lisa’s my friend. Don’t hurt her. Jack?”

Keller gritted his teeth. His head felt like it was about to explode. It took an enormous effort of will for him to keep his voice low and steady. “Okay, buddy,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt anyone. Not here.”

“Promise?” Ben said.

Keller looked at Ben. Ben drew closer to his mother. He’s afraid of me, Keller realized. Afraid of what I’ll do. And he’s right. The revelation broke his heart. “I promise,” he said. He had trouble getting the words out. Something seemed to be caught in his throat.

Lisa came back in, slamming the door behind her. Her face was a mask of barely contained fury. Her shotgun was slung over her shoulder again. “I’m to escort you back to the parking area,” she said, her voice expressionless.

“You’ve got ten minutes to get your things together. Meet me on the parade ground.” She turned and walked out.

“Hey,” Ben said weakly. She didn’t appear to hear him. “Is Lisa mad at us?” Ben asked his mother plaintively.

“No, honey,” Marie said. “She’s just sad because we have to leave.”

Ten minutes later, they were assembled on the parade ground. Lisa stalked up. She had lost the look of fury. It had been replaced with a blank look, as if she was an automaton. Keller’s gun was slung across her shoulder. She held her own shotgun
loose in her hands. It wasn’t pointed at anyone, but the threat was there. “Mike, you know the way,” she said curtly. “You lead. I’ll be behind.”

“Lise,” Riggio said. “We don’t blame you…”

She cut him off. “Good. Get moving.”

They walked out of the camp, back up the trail to the old mine entrance. At the edge of the trestle, they paused. Lisa unslung Keller’s gun and handed it back to him. “Here,” she said. “Good luck.” She turned as if to go.

“Lisa,” Ben said. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

She stopped, still facing away from them. Her shoulders slumped. After a long moment, she turned around. She looked at Ben and smiled. “You know what, kiddo?” she said brightly. “I think I am.”

“Are you sure about this, Lise?” Riggio said.

“Yeah, Mike,” Lisa said. “I am.” She shook her head. “Twenty years, I idolized my father. He was like God to me. I’ve never seen him do anything cowardly. Until today.”

“He’s just trying to keep you safe,” Marie said softly.

“That’s not cowardly.”

“When he throws innocent people to the wolves, it is,” Lisa said.

“Wolves?” Ben said. “What wolves?”

Lisa grinned. She reached out and tweaked Ben on the nose. “Figure of speech, kiddo,” she said. She looked up at Marie. “Dad told me your story. Told me about what you did for that little girl. I admire that.” She turned to the others. “Let’s go.”

***

Phillips was tired and irritable. The screeners at the airport had given him more than the usual amount of red tape and aggravation over checking the rifle through, even though it was locked up and the ammo stored in compliance with all federal regulations and the rules of the airline, rules which he had apparently researched more carefully than the people charged with enforcing them. He had tried to sleep on the plane, but the man in the seat next to him had been a nervous flyer, jacked up on adrenaline and bad airport coffee. He had jabbered incessantly throughout the flight, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had received only monosyllables in reply. The Charlotte airport had been nearly deserted when he arrived in the early morning hours, yet it seemed to take an eternity to get his checked luggage back. And when he had, the hard-sided flight case in which his rifle and ammo were locked had been badly scuffed on one side and corner, as if an angry baggage handler had taken out his frustration by flinging the case repeatedly against the concrete. Phillips sighed. The case was supposedly shockproof and the rifle inside was designed for field use, but he’d have to check the weapon carefully to feel confident that none of the optics in the scope had been damaged. As a final indignity, the car-rental agency had botched his reservation. The unobtrusive midsize car he had reserved under his bogus identity was unavailable. He ended up with a monstrosity of an SUV. The rental agent was nonplussed that Phillips didn’t seem more grateful for the upgrade. “Usually, you know,” the woman said, “these are fifty dollars more a day. We’re going to give you the upgrade for free. And look,” she said, “it even has GPS.”