Through Many Fires (Strengthen What Remains) (9 page)

He
called home again, but the ring this time was strange and no one answered. A
long night stretched out before him. In a desperate attempt to push back the
darkness he turned on the lamp beside him and there in a small pool of light he
sat as the demons overtook the world and sleep slowly overtook him.

Loud
knocking roused Caden from his chair. He stumbled toward the door as he wiped
sleep from his eyes and then his mouth on his sleeve. Finding the knob he
opened the door and squinted at the fresh-faced private who stood before him.

“
Are
you Caden Westmore?”

“
Yes.”

“
General
Collins would like to see you.”

“
Who?”

“
The
base commander.”

“
He
would? Now? What time is it?”

“
Eight
thirty.” The private looked Caden up and down, “In the morning.”

“
Give
me a minute.” He stumbled toward the bathroom. As he passed the still sleeping
Adam an unpleasant aroma hit him. “Unless you want to change a diaper, I’ll
need a few more minutes.”

*
              
*
              
*

His
face washed and shaved, Caden hurried up the steps to the Administration
building wearing his least creased clothes and with a more pleasant smelling
Adam in his arms. Once inside the secretary had offered to look after the baby,
but Caden felt Adam might be helpful in getting Maria released, after all a
mother should be with her child.

As Caden
entered the office he saw two men. A silver-haired general sat behind the desk.
Ribbons on his uniform told of battles fought and won. A lieutenant, a few
years younger than Caden, stood to the side of the desk. On his chest were a
mere two ribbons. Caden looked squarely at the General. “Thank you for seeing
me, sir.”

The
General nodded and gestured for Caden to sit. Looking at a file he said, “I
hadn’t planned on seeing you, Mr. Westmore. Frankly, I have more important
things to do.”

He
bounced Adam on his knee. “Well, I appreciate you taking the time.”

“
You’re
here because we have a mutual friend.”

“
Oh?”

“
Governor
Monroe called me yesterday afternoon.”

Caden
was pleased his message had gotten through.

“
The
governor and I have known each other for some time. We talked for nearly an
hour about the terrorist attacks, establishing refugee camps, emergency food
distribution, coordination with FEMA and,” he paused, “your wife.”

A
momentary urge to tell the General they weren’t married was quickly suppressed.

The
General picked up his coffee cup. “This morning I was still drinking my first
cup when his chief-of-staff called me.” He took a sip. “The only thing he
wanted to discuss was getting your wife released.”

Caden
stifled a smile.

The General
leaned back in his chair. “That’s when I decided to get this sorted out early.”
He opened a file on his desk then gestured toward the lieutenant. “CID can’t
find a marriage certificate. Now, that doesn’t surprise me considering all the
cities that have been attacked, but something does confuse me.” He looked Caden
square in the eye. “The Lieutenant here tells me that just days ago you were
working for Senator Stevens in Washington DC and that at about the same time
the young lady we have in custody was a student at the University of North
Florida.”

Caden’s
heart pounded.

The
general looked carefully at Adam and then at Caden. “And is this your child?”
He leaned back in his chair, but his eyes remained fixed.

Blood
pulsed in Caden’s ears.

“
Care
to put all those pieces together for me, son?”

H
ow many times had his
mother told him, “If you tell a lie you have to tell more lies to cover it up?”
He had forgotten her words for a time and now he was faced with a decision,
either tell a whopper of a lie or come clean and face the consequences. Caden
was not worried about his own situation. What could the General do? Tell the
Lieutenant to cuff him and throw him in the stockade for lying about being
married? The military had more important things to do right now. Maria was the
one in jail, the one without proper documents. She might be labeled a security
risk. Her freedom might well depend on what he did in the next few seconds.

The
General stared with an emotionless gaze.

God
help Maria.
Caden took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked at the baby on his
knee. “Adam’s mother was a refugee. She was walking along an Alabama highway
with thousands of others when she was hit by a car. We tried to save her, but
she died. I found the baby near her body and have been taking care of him
since.”

No
emotion crossed the General’s face. “Go on.”

“
The
first time I saw Maria was when she saved my life—and Adam’s.” He went on to
explain about the robbers and that he later found out they had killed Maria’s
parents.

The
general’s eyes narrowed. “She tracked down and shot one of the killers who
murdered her parents?”

Caden
nodded.

A hint
of a smile flashed across his face. “Go on.”

“
Maria…well,
she developed a bond with Adam that night. She’s as protective and attached as
any mother. I think for the first few days she stayed with me because I had
Adam. By the time I met up with Governor Monroe’s staff everyone thought we
were a family. It’s my fault everybody assumed we were married. I should have
said something, but….” Caden leaned back in the chair and sighed.

The
General nodded. “My parents taught me that there are two kinds of lies, those
of commission, where someone voices a lie, and of omission, where someone
remains silent and allows others to believe something that is not true. You
have managed to do both and in the process attempted to deceive me and my
friend, Governor Monroe.”

Caden
felt like a child caught and scolded by a teacher. He wondered if, telling the
truth, he had done the right thing for Maria.

General
Collins looked through the pages of the file then at the Lieutenant. “Is that
essentially the story she told you?”

“
Yes
sir, except she said it was her fault she had no identification and that people
believed they were married.”

The
smile returned to the general’s face, but this time it remained. “That’s some
woman you found. I wouldn’t cross her.” He stared at Caden for a moment. “You
owe Governor Monroe an explanation.”

“
Yes,
sir.”

The
general closed the folder. “Frankly your petty deception is a waste of my time.
I don’t care whether you are married or single or shacked up or whatever. I
just need to know whether the people on my base are a threat to security or
not—and I think she is not.” He turned to the Lieutenant. “Release her and get
them both off my base.”

*
              
*
              
*

A
cold, gray sky greeted Caden as he followed two military policemen to a jeep
outside the building. He sat in the back with Adam as the soldiers drove to the
barracks. Drizzle dotted the windshield. He stepped from the vehicle and
shivered. Adam whimpered. In his room he pulled out a jacket for himself and
wrapped the still whining infant in several blankets.

Caden
dropped the duffle bags into the jeep and in moments was whisked out to a main
road, past the Post Exchange and then by a closed gas station.

“
Why
is the gas station closed?”

“
There
hasn’t been a delivery since the day before Seattle was hit,” The driver said.

“
Within
minutes of that attack the line at the station stretched for over a mile,” the
other MP continued. “By the end of the day there wasn’t any gas left.”

As
they approached the main gate, Caden remembered that he had been required to
leave his pistol behind when Maria was arrested. He asked the driver to stop.
“I need to get something from the MPs.”

Grabbing
his duffle bags from the back of the jeep Caden asked, “Will my…ah, Maria be
brought here?”

The
driver shrugged, “Maria? I was just told to get you to the main gate.”

He
nodded in understanding.

“
Good
luck,” the driver said and drove off.

Caden
soon stood in a long line in the lobby of the building. That gave him too much
time to think. He was sure that General Collins would talk to Governor Monroe
in the next few days.
I really want to talk to the Governor first and
explain, try to explain, what’s going on between Maria and me. What is going on
between us?
There was no denying that his feelings for her were growing. He
wasn’t sure he wanted her to be his wife, but he didn’t mind people thinking
she was. He needed to slow down, think things through.
How do you take
things easy and slow when the world is falling apart around you?
As he
thought about it he decided that the best way to explain their relationship to
the governor was the way he did with the general.
Tell the truth? Maybe it
is just that simple.

Mom
and Dad always said the truth was simple. Mom and Dad!
He pulled out his phone
and punched in the number. All he received in return was a rapid busy signal.
He tried several more times without success.

“
The
best time to try is late at night,” a women behind him in line said. “The phone
lines are usually busy during the day.”

That
seemed reasonable. The military and government probably had control of most
circuits and the few available for civilian use were probably swamped during
the day. He thanked her and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

The
image of his former boss, Senator Stevens, floated through his mind.
Dead
.
He thought of the party with his co-workers he had attended that night.
How
many of them are dead?

The
bloody face and body of Adam’s mother replaced those images and lingered
momentarily until he recalled the image of his fiancée Becky on the television
and the blackness that followed the Atlanta blast.
How had Becky survived?
How had she become press secretary for Michael Durant? President Michael
Durant.
The thought of her working for him made him cringe.

As the
line moved slowly forward, Caden dragged his duffle bag beside him. Adam didn’t
weigh much, but after an hour in line he felt like a ton.
How did Maria hold
him all day?
He imagined putting the well-bundled child on the floor and
pushing him along with his foot, but quickly dismissed the notion.

Finally,
an MP once again handed Caden his unloaded pistol. He placed the weapon in his
jacket pocket and walked out of the office past two soldiers with M-4s.

Returning
to his thoughts, he recognized that he was glad that Becky was alive, but he
desperately hoped that Maria was waiting for him outside the gate. That
realization made him feel guilty, but his pace along the sidewalk quickened. As
he rounded the corner and headed toward the bus stop he was nearly running.
Wiping drops of cool rain from his face he scanned the group waiting for the bus.
Maria was not there.

Taking
shelter under a nearby tree, Caden sat on his duffle bag, turned up his collar
and re-bundled Adam in his blankets. Would Maria soon be there or had she
already been there?
No, I went almost directly from the General’s office to
the gate. Maria would think to check the security building. She must be coming.
He looked around, but did not see her. He wondered if she blamed him for
being arrested.

An old
school bus, painted like a tie-dyed shirt, rumbled down the lane. With a bang
the engine died and the bus rolled the last few feet to the stop. The side door
opened and out jumped a man in bib-overalls and gray hair down to his mid-back
tied in a ponytail. As he popped the hood, he called over his shoulder, “Be
just a minute and we’ll head on our way south folks.”

Caden
took a big whiff of the air.
Why does everything smell like french-fries?

As the
man worked on the engine, a woman in a long, flowery dress stepped out and hung
a sign on the side of the bus. Soon she was collecting payment and allowing
people onboard.

Caden
remained seated as he read the sign. The trip could be paid for with canned
food, various ammunition ranging from .22 caliber to shotgun shells, silver or
cash. You could ride the bus for a silver quarter or sixty-five paper dollars.
Caden rubbed his chin.
Either they are gouging riders or inflation is
soaring.
He sighed.
With production across the country falling inflation
is probably running unchecked.
At sixty-five dollars a person, cash seemed
to be the most expensive, but what was the going price of silver?

In red
letters across the bottom of the sign it red, “No checks or credit cards.” His
gaze returned to the bus itself. It appeared to have been painted with anything
that was available at the moment. Colors ranged from red to green and black. In
some places it was a single color while other parts were painted with flowers
and trees. Noticing the cracked windshield and at least one bald tire, he was
certain the bus would never pass a DOT inspection, but he was also sure no one
was bothering with inspections now. Caden had ridden similar buses while
overseas in the army, but had never seen such a thing in America.

“
I’ve
died and gone to Woodstock.”

The
voice came from behind him. In one swift motion he turned, saw it was Maria and
shot to his feet.

Still
in his arms Adam screamed.

Maria
embraced them both.

“
I was
worried I wouldn’t see you again,” he said.

“
I was
worried too,” she replied.

“
I
thought you might blame me for your arrest?”

Her face
registered both compassion and amusement. “Why would I do that?” She looked at
the bus. “Is the bus heading toward your home?”

“
Yes,”
he nodded. “I have to stop in Olympia on the way and talk to Governor Monroe,
but we should be home in a few hours.”

“
Good.
I’m beginning to feel like a gypsy.” She moved toward the bus and stopped. “Do
we have $130?”

“
No.”
Caden rummaged through his bag and pulled out a silver dollar. “I really didn’t
want to use a silver dollar for a bus ride but…well, we need the ride.”

The
driver climbed onboard and started the engine.

Caden
again smelled french-fries as he and Maria boarded the bus and sat in the only
space available, the bench seat right behind the driver. With a shudder, the
vehicle pulled away from the curb.

As the
bus entered a deserted freeway, Maria asked, “How far is it to Olympia?”

“
Where
you going in Olympia?” the driver asked over his shoulder.

“
The
capitol building,” Caden replied.

“
The
capitol? That’s surrounded by the military.”

Maria
sighed.

“
It’s
about 18 miles,” the driver continued as he weaved around two burned-out cars.

Holding
on to the bar with one hand and the baby with the other Maria asked, “Are the
regular buses not running?”

“
You
not from around here?”

“
We
recently flew into JBLM,” Caden replied.

“
Oh,”
he nodded. “Things started falling apart with the D.C. blast. Many people left
Seattle, Tacoma and the suburbs for anywhere else, but most things continued to
work until the Seattle blast. Then everyone who had stayed tried to leave—all
at once.” The driver turned almost sideways in his seat. “From what I hear,
power and water are mostly down in Seattle and Tacoma and the only people left
are police, the military, gangs and victims. Olympia is relatively okay, but
stores are sold out of most everything. What is left is either rationed or in
short supply. When the buses stopped running a couple of days ago we started
using our old bus to make a little money. Notice how there are no cars on the
freeway.”

Caden
nodded.

“
No
gas. Civilians can’t buy it at any price.”

“
Where
do you get the gas to run the bus?”

“
You
can modify a diesel engine to run on just about anything—even used cooking
oil.” With one hand on the wheel he turned almost completely around. A broad
grin spread across his face. “Smell that french-fry aroma? That’s what this is
running on.”

Maria
cocked her head to the side. “french-fries?”

“
No,”
he waved his free hand. “The vegetable oil used for cooking them.”

Across
the aisle sat the woman who collected the fares. In a nonchalant voice she
said, “Curve up ahead, sweetheart.”