Autumn in the City of Angels (23 page)

I promised him I would, as I envisioned worst-case scenarios.  A mental picture of Todd and the thought of Grey being killed penetrated my mind.  I winced and pushed the thought away.  I said, “I want you to make a promise to me as well.”

“What am I promising?”

“That you won’t try to be a hero.  I don’t want you ending up like Todd.  I can’t see you like that, ever.  Do you understand?”

He squeezed me firmly against him before he answered.  “Don’t worry.  I won’t.  If nothing else, it wouldn’t be in
your
best interest if I were injured.  You’re counting on me to get us out of there, after all.”

I smiled.  We were in agreement.  Neither of us was going to die, and that was that.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

I nodded.  As I exited the car, I saw him turn the ignition halfway on, then flip the radio to The Front’s station.

“What’s that for?”

“To help me get a grip on the place.  Like I said, if I haven’t been there before, any extra details help.”  He crossed around the car to me, and I hesitated, suddenly shy.  He chuckled and held out his arms to me.  I ducked my head under his chin as I wrapped my arms around his chest.

The only sound now was the radio from the car, but that’s when I noticed the continuous feed had suddenly stopped, leaving static in its place.  “Wait.  Do you hear that?”

“I do.  That’s... unexpected,” he said as we both waited.  I jumped when a voice suddenly emanated from the Smart car’s dashboard.  It was Karl.

“To those of you hiding in Hollywood, among the subways and beneath the high school, I hope you can hear me.  The events of the day will not be forgotten.  Good people of Los Angeles, I want you to know what you are up against.  The vermin that skulk below our feet are no longer mere nuisances to our Reconstruction Front and to your general well-being, they are now killers.  Tonight, in a peaceful effort to integrate our groups, we were ambushed, and we lost several dedicated Frontmen and women.  If you encounter these people, know that your life is in peril.  Kill or be killed, for they will show you no mercy.  React quickly, or yours will be the next lives they take.”  I could hear his calm façade begin to crack and anger slip in to take its place.  “And to you, vermin, next time we meet, we shall not be so kind.”

I backed away from the car as if Karl himself were sitting in it, white teeth glinting in the darkness like a snake’s.  Grey’s grip tightened around me, and I looked up at him.

“He’s at the radio station, Grey.  What are we going to do?”

We stared at the radio in horror.  Grey’s grip grew even tighter around me, and a spasm of fear twisted in my stomach.

“He’s in there,” I whispered.  “Karl’s in there.”  Grey looked into the darkness around us, as if expecting Karl himself to appear through the dense foliage that surrounded the overlook.  Before he could answer, a crashing noise came through the tiny car’s speakers, followed by a quick, high-pitched screech of feedback, and then a quiet hum filled the night air around us.

“What was that?” Grey wondered. 

I listened for a moment.  “Dead air... I think.  Sounds like the mic’s still on, and he’s left the room.”

“We should go,” Grey said.  He pulled up the sleeve of his sweater and lit his watch.  “Daniel should be arriving at the airport to pick us up shortly.  We won’t have to wait long.”  He pulled me against him.

“What?  No!  We can’t!  What about all the people still out there?” I pushed away and grabbed the door of the car, as if that would keep me here.

“I’ll bring you back.  We can still broadcast your message.”

“When?” I demanded.

“In a few days or a week, I don’t know.  When it’s safe.”  Grey’s stare was confused.

“And when people start showing up at the Hoover Settlement saying they heard the broadcast a week after we were supposed to make it, how are we supposed to explain that?” I argued. “We can’t very well say you
beamed
us here.”

Grey stepped forward and took my hands.  “Autumn, it’s too dangerous.  He could still be in there.”

Nervous that he’d project us, I pulled my hands out of his.  “Listen to the dead air.  It sounds like he’s gone now.  We’ll be quick.”

“Please just let me take us to the airport.  We can talk about it there.” His gaze turned to pleading.

“Look, just project us into the station, and if he’s there, we’ll leave again immediately.  He won’t have time to do anything.  He’ll think he’s insane.  At least we can say we tried.”

He set his jaw and said, “No.  I refuse.  I will
not
put you in danger, no matter how remote the possibility.  There was enough of a chance when I agreed to let you go through with this plan, but I won’t let you go in there now we’re certain Karl is in the area.”

I stared at him.  “
Let
me?” I repeated, stunned.

He sighed.  “Sorry, poor choice of words.”  Before I could argue further, he stepped forward and pulled me into his arms.

I pushed hard against him.  “Grey, no!”

He only held me tighter, and I could feel how strong his arms were, like a metal cage around me.  He whispered hard into my hair, “You don’t seem to understand.  Things can happen in an instant that can’t be undone.  I just found you.  Please don’t make me take you into a situation that could rip you away from me forever.  I couldn’t live with myself.”  His voice shook slightly, and I stopped struggling against him.

“Please, Grey... please...” I whispered into his sweater.

He grasped my shoulders and pulled me away from him far enough to look hard into my eyes.  “Why are you so hellbent on doing this?”

I was surprised I had to spell it out for him.  “If you and Todd made the discovery about the Hoover Settlement two weeks ago, you’d be leaving without me.  I wouldn’t know about it.  Neither would Rissi or Ben.  And we wouldn’t stand a chance against The Front by ourselves.”

He stared at me for a moment, then released my arms.  “I would have come for you.  There’s no way I would have left you here.  But I see your point.”

I felt relief, then haste flood through me, and I flung myself into his arms.  “Thank you!  Now come on, we have to go now!”  He put his arms around me, but nothing happened.  I waited, but the pre-dawn mountain breeze continued to ruffle my hair around us.  I looked up at him, worried he already changed his mind.

“Give me ten minutes of uninterrupted dead air.  Then I will go, alone, to check the room.  If it’s clear, I’ll come back to take you.”

“Two minutes,” I countered.

He grimaced.  “That’s not how you barter.”

“Three minutes,” I said through gritted teeth.  “We’ve already wasted five arguing about this.”

“Seven.  I want to make sure he’s really gone.”

“Five.  Any longer, and I’ll astral project
myself
there.” I glared at him.  Grey’s grimace turned into chuckle.  “Oh, shut up,” I muttered.

We leaned against the side of the car, listening to the buzz of dead air and the gushing of the blustery wind through the trees around us.  The air felt crisp, rinsed clean by the rain.  While we waited, Grey tangled his fingers in mine and traced patterns on the back of my hand, following the veins and weaving around my knuckles like a slalom skier.

“Okay,” he finally said.  “Stand back.”

I nodded and took two steps away from him.  “Remember what I told you about what the room looks like?”

“Yes.”  He smiled at me, and then he was gone.  It was an amazing thing to see.  In a split second, he disappeared without a trace.  A handy trick to have, I thought, and then, without warning, he was back.  I jumped, startled by his abrupt appearance.  He smiled at me and took my hand.

“The room and hallway are empty.  We should still be quick, though, I saw guards outside the window.” He slid one arm around my waist, pressing me hard against him.  With his other hand, he tucked my head under his chin and stroked my hair for a moment, and I squeezed my eyes shut.  A breeze fluttered my hair, and, when I opened my eyes a moment later, fluorescent lights blinded me, and beige walls replaced the empty road and trees.  Worn commercial carpet was under our feet, and the broadcasting room was empty, the desk with the panel of buttons, switches and sliding faders in front of us.

Grey released me and looked around quickly, ensuring we were alone.  He went to the door and peeked into the hallway.  He turned and nodded to me.  I shot behind the desk and immediately found the mess Karl made.  One of the yellow chairs was turned over against the wall, and the microphone lay across the switches.

“Looks like Karl threw the chair across the desk.  Some of the switches are off, but the mic is still working.  Doesn’t look like he actually broke anything,” I whispered to Grey, who was keeping an eye on the hallway.  “I need you to go into the producer’s booth, there through that door.” I pointed to the adjacent room through a panel of glass.  “Make sure the master volume is up.”

He disappeared through the doorway then appeared on the other side of the glass.  He looked down at the panel I knew was on the desk in front of him.  I quietly called through the open door, “It’s a button that you slide up and down.  It should be labeled.”

He gave me a thumbs up through the glass.

I noticed a light fixture on the wall that confirmed my suspicion the mic was live—its brightly lit letters read, “ON AIR.”  I tapped the microphone.

“Hello?” I tested.  The needle on the control board barely moved.  I slid the volume up to ten.  “Hello?” I tried again.  The needle jumped into the red.

I hadn’t thought about this part.  About what I would say.  I knew I needed to say it quickly, though, in case Karl was still nearby.

“My name is Autumn Winters, and this message is to the people of Los Angeles.  If you’re listening to this radio station, you know The Reconstruction Front has been broadcasting from here, and they’ve been trying to get you to believe all kinds of things. They say they’re trying to rebuild society, but that’s a lie.  They’re not here to help us.  They want to use us.  They don’t have as many people with them as they’d like you to think, not anymore anyway.  But there are others who aren’t like them.  I’m with a group leaving L.A.  We’re on our way to a new settlement at the Hoover Dam.  There are people there who are actually rebuilding a town, and they can provide food, medicine and protection.  If you can find your way there, tell them you heard this broadcast.”

My eyes wandered across the board in front of me as I spoke, checking the other switches and gauges.  My voice caught in my throat when my eyes landed on a light glowing with the word “INTERCOM.”  The blood drained from my face, and I stopped talking.  I looked up at Grey, panicked.  My heart stopped.  He wasn’t in the window.

I quickly punched the intercom button with my finger and the light went out.  Grey appeared in the doorway, and I sighed in relief.

“Intercom,” he whispered, pointing to the hallways.  I had forgotten radio stations usually broadcasted on intercoms throughout their buildings.  I remembered listening to the current on-the-air jockey while walking through my station’s hallways, lugging boxes of new music, delivering clipboards with playlists to the various rooms.  Grey peeked into the hallway once more, gave me the all clear and went back into the producer’s booth.

I leaned forward and spoke into the microphone again, watching the needle bounce healthily, “Come to the Hoover Dam.  We can take care of you.  Tell anyone that’s left in hiding.  You don’t have to be afraid and alone anymore.  Tell them Autumn and Grey sent you.”

I looked up at Grey to smile and locked eyes with him, but the moment was shattered by an ear splitting gunshot, and suddenly Grey was gone from the window.

I stumbled backward in shock and tripped over the chair, landing hard on the floor behind the desk.  A figure moved into the producer’s booth with Grey, and I recognized Karl’s wavy brown hair.  He held a pistol out in front of him.  Had he just
shot
Grey?  No, he couldn’t be hurt.  He couldn’t be.  But he was gone from the window, and Karl was standing in his place, his back to me.  I heard a groan of pain, and, with a stab of realization, I recognized it as Grey’s.  My insides felt like they were being slowly ripped from my body, and the room went fuzzy as I stood up.

Without thinking, I picked up the heavy yellow chair from where it rested on the floor and rushed around the control board at the man who stood in the doorway between the two rooms.  I had no idea what I was doing.  All I could feel was the sudden adrenaline pumping through my body.

I lifted the chair over my head and saw him turn and raise the gun at me.  Before he could fire, I brought the metal legs crashing down on his head, neck and shoulders.  He collapsed to the floor, the gun thumping heavily onto the carpet.  I kicked it as hard as I could.  I heard it skid across the carpet then thump against the back wall.

I hastily climbed over the heap of Karl and the ugly yellow chair piled in the doorway, not caring if I stepped on Karl’s face in the process, and paused in the doorway, covering my mouth.  Grey lay on his side, hunched into a ball, his face white, and his right shoulder a mess of glistening crimson.  The blue wool of his sweater was damp with blood and torn apart from the bullet that passed through it.  His eyes were open, though, and he clutched at the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.  When he saw me standing in the doorway, he tried to sit up but groaned angrily in pain at the effort.

I rushed to him, skidding onto the floor next to him.  “Don’t move...” I said quietly.  I moved his hand and pressed my own to the wound.  He still struggled to sit up, and, when he moved, I noticed the large amount of blood pooling on the carpet underneath him.

I shuffled closer so I could reach my other hand to the back of his shoulder and pressed my palm to the exit wound.  This position brought me face to face with him.  His eyes were bright and focused, so I was surprised when he mumbled drowsily, “Mm fine... mm uhkay.”

He gasped suddenly and, with surprising force, wrenched me to the side, but not before I felt fingers close around my upper arm, and I was yanked away from Grey.  Karl pulled me backwards, and I collided with something solid.  My breath was knocked completely from my chest as books and jewel cases rained down around me.  His iron grasp hadn’t released me, though, and he yanked me to my feet.  There was a sickening pop from my shoulder, and part of my back exploded in a pain that was entirely new and horrible.  I screamed, my stomach churned, and suddenly I was pulled against him.

Face to face with Karl, I was pleased to see his nose was swollen like the beak of a toucan and both eyes were black with bruises.  A breath of whiskey blew across my face, and I heard Karl purr, “Hello again.  I was willing to let you live before, but now I see you’re just like the others.”

I thought I might pass out from the pain, but I fought the urge, and, with my free hand, I groped behind me on the desk.  My fingers closed around a long skinny object.  I grasped it in my bloodied fist and, without pausing, drove the pencil into Karl’s arm, right above the elbow.  He shrieked a concoction of expletives at me and flung me across the room.

I went headfirst into another set of shelves and collapsed on the floor.  Stars erupted in front of me, and I reached out to steady myself, but the floor wasn’t where I thought it should be.  I was on my back.  I rolled over, sparing the arm that didn’t seem to be working and clutched my head.  I looked at my palm.  I wasn’t sure if the blood I found was from Grey or me.

I searched the room for Grey.  He had dragged himself toward me, leaving a trail of blood staining the carpet behind him.  I managed to get to my knees, but the floor tilted, and I crashed to the ground again, almost knocking over a floor lamp.  Lying on my side, I saw Karl’s legs pass by on their way to Grey.  I tried to reach out to trip him, but his legs brushed through my hands as easily as if they were strands of grass.

I screamed out in protest as Karl raised his foot and brought it down on Grey’s knee.  I must have blocked out any scream of pain Grey made, because I didn’t hear anything.  But I saw his face screw up terribly as he rolled over to his side and cradled his injured knee up to his bloody chest.

Then Karl turned to me.   He took a few steps but suddenly pitched to the side.  I saw that Grey had reached out with his good leg and hooked Karl’s ankle with his foot, tripping him.  I used the brief respite to grab the nearest weapon to me.  I wrapped my hands around the base of the floor lamp and tugged hard, tipping it over onto Karl’s skull.

I jerked out of the way as he collapsed, though he still fell partially on top of me.  I wrestled out from under him, gasping at the pain in my shoulder and head.  He was like a sack of sand and skin.  Adrenaline began taking hold, making my senses sharp again.  I leapt over Karl and wrapped an arm around Grey.  I knew it would hurt him, but I pulled with all of my might until we were both back in the DJ booth, then closed and locked the door separating us from the producer’s booth.