Torch Song: A Kickass Heroine, A Post-Apocalyptic World: Book One Of The Blackjack Trilogy (37 page)

“I’ve been observing Newt’s army. I’m ready to report.”

Good. Rica looked stronger than she had the day before, but her injured arm was still in a sling and her eyes showed pain. Vulnerable. Appealing. Jo leaned back in her chair.

“Numbers?”

“Somewhere around 40. But Newt’s not being fussy about his recruits. It could grow fast. You should stop them while you still can.”

That didn’t sound good. But the Colemans were recruiting faster now, too. Newt wouldn’t get ahead of them. And once the elections were won, she’d have power enough to stop anyone.

“I think we can keep up with them, Rica. We’re working on it. What do you mean by ‘not fussy’?”

Rica barely suppressed a shudder. “I won’t insult animals by calling them brutes. A lot of them are just filthy bandits. I don’t think any of them would hesitate to use babies as human shields.”

An army of criminals. That was good to know. They’d be impulsive, ignore strategic orders, stop to rape someone when they should be cutting through the enemy’s flank. She nodded, pleased. She was also pleased that a good look at Newt’s army might have solidified Rica’s loyalty to Blackjack.

“Thank you, Rica. Was Newt there?”

“Yes” She laughed. “He told them not to kill me, I was one of them. I don’t know if they even heard him.”

“Hannah?”

“No. She doesn’t seem to be around.”

“Okay. By the way, we’ve got a rally planned for tomorrow at the Lucky Buck Motel. In the afternoon, around noon.”

Rica nodded. “I saw some flyers this morning, but I didn’t take the time to read them.”

“Political candidates. The ones we support. And Judith and I. We’re both going to be running for the Sierra Council.”

Rica looked surprised. Jo laughed to herself.
I’m surprised too, Rica
.

With only the slightest stab of guilt, Jo slid the Sierra Star across her desk.

“Did you get a chance to read this yesterday?”

“Yes,” Rica said. “Godders, military, and breeders— they’re all together now.”

“Yes.” At least that part was true, or true of the one group, anyway.

“Do you think Rocky really is planning to invade Sierra? They actually said that?”

A blip of conscience. “Yes. And Redwood too.”

Rica nodded, silent.

“Will you come to the rally, Rica?” Jo wanted her to. She forced the lies to the back of her mind and looked into Rica’s eyes. “I’d like it if you would.”

Rica gazed back for a moment, smiling slightly. “I’ll be there.”

A few minutes later, someone knocked.

“Come in.” Carla the cashier, one of the people Rica had identified as a Scorsi spy, walked hesitantly into the office, her eyes shifting above, below, and to both sides of Jo. She was holding a sack in her chubby hand.

“What can I do for you, Carla?” Besides put you out of your misery.

“Someone dropped this off and told me to deliver it to you.” She dropped the bag on Jo’s desk.

“Thank you. You can go now.”

Carla fled. Jo sniffed at the bag. No offensive odors. She examined it for signs of blood. None. Probably not full of severed fingers. She opened it, carefully, and looked inside. Shredded paper. She dumped it out and looked at the biggest piece: “agrees to return to negotiations about the Gold Bug.” She laughed out loud. The treaty. Newt had kept it a lot longer than she’d thought he would.

Some of my people, who were having a picnic

The courtyard at the Lucky Buck was already crowded when I got there. Must have been a hundred or more. They’d erected a stage at the far end, with a dais at the front and several chairs at the back. Some candidates were already seated— Judith, Doc, Andy, Timmy. Jo and Zack were standing to one side, talking, Drew and Emmy at the other. I had no idea what any of them were running for, except for Judith and Jo, and that was just because Jo had told me the day before.

I worked my way toward the stage, stopping next to Sheriff Frank, who nodded happily at me.

“Look back there,” he said, jerking a thumb toward the entrance I’d just come through. I looked. In the time it had taken me to get up to Frank, the crowd had grown and was now spilling out into the street. “They’re all real pissed off about Samm being hurt and Monte getting killed. Monte was a good guy, and Samm, everybody loves him. He’s like a celebrity. He walks down the street—” Frank stopped, apparently overcome with the image of Samm’s stardom.

Judith stood, walking slowly and majestically to the microphone at the dais. A solid burst of applause.

“First of all,” she said, “I want to say a few words about Monte Accurso.” There were a lot of rumbling murmurs and head shakes. “He was a good man, a good friend. We’ll miss him. And everyone here knows why he died!” She chopped the top of the dais as if her hand were an ax. “He died because our neighbors, the Scorsis, ambushed a peaceful party of Blackjack employees and killed and wounded a dozen people.” Boos. Hisses. “Does anyone think we’ll let that stand?” She held up her arms, as if she were calling for her audience to rise and take revenge. The crowd began to yell, whistle, stamp their feet. The heat was building. Interesting that she called them neighbors, not rivals. And that she didn’t say anything about anyone’s army.

“We’ll remember Monte. And my sister, Jo Coleman, will run for council in his place and in his name! Come up here, Jo.”

Jo joined her sister at the dais. She got a lot of applause and cheers— overlap from the crowd’s feelings about the murdered Monte. Nicely done.

“I’m going to let Jo tell you about some of the other candidates the All-Sierra party is running this year. Thanks for listening to me.” The applause had dropped down a few notches toward enthusiasm and warmth now, as Judith strode back to her chair. The All-Sierra party, eh? Not a bad name.

Jo waited for the applause to die completely before she spoke. She didn’t raise her hands or tell them to be quiet, she just stood, arms at her sides, looking out at them until they stopped. It worked really well.

“Let’s start with what most of you already know. Zack Holmgren is running for Mayor of Tahoe— come on up, Zack!”

The crowd erupted again, cheers, whistles, shouts. I didn’t know whether it was because they liked Zack, because they’d been so well warmed up, or because he was running for the big local office, but he was getting a great reception. He stood beside Jo.

“For cabinet,” Jo said. “You all know Doc Mandell.” Doc stood and waved his arms, marched up and stood next to Jo and Zack. Lots of applause. Everyone knew the town doctor. “Andy Caruso, bartender and piano man!” Same routine. Stand, wave the arms, join those at the dais. “Drew Coleman!” Drew forgot to wave his arms. “And Tim Shea, everyone’s favorite waiter!” Tim trotted up, waving one hand, and took his place beside Drew, who clapped him on the shoulder.

Zack took over. He introduced the council candidates— Judith, Jo, and Emmy. All of them waved at least one hand, and they all got a roar of approval. I noticed that Timmy moved over and gave Emmy the spot next to Drew.

Just at that moment, before the crowd had stopped hooting and yelling names, there was a dustup of some kind just beyond the entrance; Newt pushed his way through the crowd, point man in a group that included several of his mercs, a dozen or so ordinary looking people, probably employees at Scorsi’s Luck, and a guy who looked a little like Newt.

“Just a minute, there!” He was yelling. “I hear I’ve been accused of something and I want to set the record straight!” Oh, perfect. This was turning into quite a show. I had to stifle a smile.

Jo spoke into the mike. Sincere, calm, friendly. “Come on up, Newt. Everyone— let them through.”

“That little twit better not start anything!” Frank was huffing and puffing. He pulled out his sys and started to head up toward the dais but Jo noticed him and waved him back. He practically screeched to a halt. “What the hell?” He muttered.

I’d placed myself next to Frank to make pals and do what mercs do— find out what people know and where they stand. Here was a good opportunity. “I think the Colemans can handle this, Frank. I know if they think there’s going to be real trouble they’ll call on you. They’re smart and they trust you. Newt doesn’t have a chance of convincing anyone he’s innocent, and this little scene is just going to make the Colemans more popular. They can’t lose.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but Jo and the rest of the All-Sierras seemed very calm. Zack was laughing.

Frank’s scowl cleared and he looked at me gratefully. “Well, they know I’m here.”

The crowd was shifting, some more reluctantly than others, letting Newt and his party work their way up to the stage. Jo stepped aside, letting Newt lean on the dais.

“I got some introductions to make here, too.”

Jo nodded and stepped even farther back. She was smiling, acting like she’d planned the whole thing. At the very least, like she’d expected it. Or hoped for it. An actor to the core. A politician.

“I’m Newt Scorsi and I’m running for Mayor of Tahoe!”

Applause, mostly from the people Newt had arrived with. A whistle or two. A “Yeah!”

“And this—” he reached down a hand and helped one of the men up beside him, the one that looked like Newt. Same big head and skinny neck. “This is my brother Larry Scorsi. He’s running for the Council. Some of you might know his son, Billy— he’s a big hitter for the school ball team.” Billy? He was more likely to use the bat on someone’s head. “And this other guy here—” the merc I’d seen at the raid on Blackjack and on the posters jumped up beside Newt and Larry, making a loud thud when he hit the stage “—he’s Abbo Swift, and he’s running for council, too.” More applause. “And I’ve got more good people coming along to be on the Cabinet. Including—” he pointed at a fat bald man standing just below the dais and hauled him up “—including my older brother Carl. Some of you probably know his son Ky.” They really were a lovely family. I sneaked a glance at Frank. He was fuming. Almost gritting his teeth.

Newt continued ranting. “The Scorsi party’s got big plans for Tahoe, and for Sierra. We’re the only ones who can protect this country from Rocky. The only ones strong enough and resolute and clear-seeing. And I resent what these Colemans here are saying about some ambush. I don’t know what happened to Monte, or Samm, or anyone else. I do know that a bunch of hoodlums from Blackjack attacked some of my people, who were having a picnic—” Loud boos from the audience at that. I didn’t know who they were booing, though. “—and my people fought back. They got hurt, too, a lot of them. We lost some, too. But they started it!”

More boos, and some shouts of “You’re lying, Newt.”

“I don’t like this,” Frank said. “I got volunteers all through this audience and I can stop Newt and his garbage any time I want to. Run all their asses in.”

“What will the Sierra law think about that? I mean…”

“You talking about Chief Graybel?” He laughed. “Not a factor.”

The chief seemed to be disappearing, fading entirely out of relevance.

Jo stepped up to the mike now, forcing Newt to shift to the side. “Were you there, Newt?” she asked.

“No! I’m a busy man, don’t go to picnics.”

“Larry, were you there? Carl?”

Larry just stared at her. Same response from Carl.

“Abbo?”

“Bet your ass I was there! I— I saw her—” He pointed at me. “—kill a man.” Frank stepped closer to my side. “And he wasn’t doing nothing!”

A rumble of doubt, until Emmy leaned closer to the dais, grabbed hold of the mike and yelled, “Nothing? He was trying to kill me! I was there. We were in a clearing and they came through the trees and attacked. I saw them kill Monte! I saw them wound Samm— laser-burn him in the leg, and I saw him fall. They invaded that clearing just like they’ve invaded this rally.” Emmy had come a long way in the past two days. I’d never seen a grin that broad on Drew’s face.

“Frank,” Jo said, “come on up here.” He brightened. He was needed. He hauled himself up on the stage.

“Tell this audience who attacked who, and who called you to report the violence. And who told you the Rockies were in town threatening people and causing problems.”

Frank Holstein knew who his friends were. “Newt Scorsi’s people attacked the Blackjack people. No question about it. And you, Jo, you called me to report it, just like you called to warn me that those Rockies were in town causing trouble.” Had she? I doubted it. The town was small and the Rockies were obvious enough for even this sheriff to spot on the street.

Zack stepped up to the mike again. He glared at Newt and Larry, and pointed an accusing finger at Abbo, standing nearby.

“Yes, this man was in that clearing that day. I saw him there. I saw him waving a club and I saw the blood he spilled. Do you really want people like Newt Scorsi and his brothers and his mercenaries and his toxie bandits protecting us from invasion by Rocky?” Newt’s eyes were wide. He opened his mouth and shut it again. Larry looked like he wanted to jump off the stage and run home. For a moment, Abbo just scowled, looking confused and angry.

Then he lunged at Zack and grabbed him by the throat, growling. Frank pulled his pistol and jabbed it into Abbo’s neck. Emmy kicked his legs out from under him and he let go of Zack. Between the two of them, they got manacles around the merc’s thick wrists. Frank’s deputy showed up with a couple of volunteers and they took Abbo away.

Zack watched, a look of disgust on his face, rubbing his throat. He tried to speak but coughed instead. Jo shoved Newt entirely out of the way and took over the stage, Drew at her side.

Newt yelled at the crowd. “See that? They just arrested a man who was trying to defend—” The crowd began jeering and booing. They knew what they were seeing.

The people who had come with Newt were yelling, “Let him speak!” but the hoots and hisses of all the others drowned them out.

“Get outta here, Newt!” someone yelled. The crowd took up the chant.

Jo moved in fast and loud, Andy and Drew flanking her, shoving Newt and Larry and Carl toward the edge of the stage, where they teetered for a moment and jumped to the ground.

“First of all,” she yelled, “what Tahoe needs is someone who can protect this town from Newt and his thugs!” Wow. This was exciting. The crowd screamed with joy. She was so good at this. “And while we’re doing that, we’ll protect Sierra from Rocky.”