The Day After Never - Purgatory Road (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller - Book 2) (23 page)

“You have Sierra’s medallion.”

“That’s right. She sent me. There’s been a problem.”

“I heard. Nobody showed up at the rendezvous. You have no idea how worried I was. And Eve?”

“She’s fine. They both are.”

Jacob gave a slow sigh. “That’s a relief. But why did you come?”

“They told me about Shangri-La. They don’t know how to get there.”

“Of course they don’t. Almost nobody does.”

Lucas nodded. “You mentioned a rendezvous?”

“That’s right.”

“We need to set up another one.”

Jacob studied Lucas in the gloom. “Who are you? What’s your connection to them?”

“Their entourage was cut down. I saved their lives.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?”

“I have the medallion. She wouldn’t have given it to me if she didn’t trust me.”

“You could have taken it against her will.”

Lucas shrugged. “Sure. Anything’s possible. But take a hard look at me. I’ve been riding for a week. Why would I do that? Just to trick you? To what end?”

“You could be working for…for them.”

“The Crew? Don’t you think if I was, you’d be in a hole somewhere, begging for your life?” Lucas sighed. “Look. They’re safe, but the Crew has people hunting them. You know why as well as I do. They’re not going to give up. So everything you’ve done, all the risks you’ve taken, will have been in vain if they catch them – which they will, eventually, because they’ll throw as many men at it as they need to.” Lucas let that sink in. “Unless I can get them to safety. To Shangri-La.”

Jacob mulled over Lucas’s words, and Lucas gave him time to process. He could understand the hesitation. The scientist had thought he was out of the woods, and now he was being asked to put it all on the line again.

“Where are they?” Jacob asked.

“New Mexico.”

“Ah. So they made it that far, at least.”

“Yes. Where was the rendezvous supposed to happen?”

“Roswell.”

Lucas nodded again. “We could make it, no problem.”

“You say her escorts were cut down. Can you be more specific?”

“Sure. A bunch of scum that call themselves the Raiders attacked them. Ambushed them in a gulch. They were after their guns and animals. They do it all the time.”

“Damn.”

“Yup. They manage to escape only to be taken out by scavengers. Bad luck, no doubt.” Lucas glanced at his watch. “No offense, but won’t the guards notice you’re gone?”

“Probably. I mean, eventually.” Jacob regarded him skeptically. “The fire. Was that you?”

“I had to find a way to get you where I could talk to you.”

“You burned down the entire building just for that?”

Lucas shrugged. “Didn’t see a lot of alternatives.”

“Good Lord…”

“Look, Jacob, I’ve ridden a long way, and I’m playing for keeps. I’ll do whatever’s necessary to get the job done. That was necessary. End of story.”

Jacob eyed him. “You have blood on your sleeve.”

“You’re short one guard.” Lucas exhaled impatiently. “I need you to radio your people and set up another meet. Either that, or tell me how to decode the note.”

“You have that too?”

“And the USB drive.”

“Thank God. That’s almost as big a piece of the puzzle as Eve is.”

“So same game plan, just a different inning. Where’s your radio?”

“I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. I don’t know where Shangri-La is or who they were supposed to meet. I just know it was in Roswell. I don’t have any contact with the sanctuary. I go through a cutout who speaks with them.”

“So you can’t call them?”

“No. I also don’t know how to decode your note or what it contains. Probably just directions to the rendezvous, which will do you no good – the contact is long gone by now.”

Lucas’s shoulders sagged. “Then this was all for nothing. They’re never going to make it, you know. I’ll do my best to keep them safe, but the odds are lousy.”

Jacob was silent for several moments.

“I can get in touch with my cutout,” he said softly. “It’s worth the risk of another broadcast.” Jacob trembled slightly at the prospect. “The Crew monitors the airwaves. They’re not stupid, and they’re sophisticated enough to be able to locate a transmitter. Every time he broadcasts, he’s jeopardizing all of us.”

“Stakes are pretty high, I’d say.”

Jacob began pacing. “We were fairly close to developing a vaccine, but we can’t without Eve.” His eyes met Lucas’s, and Lucas saw a haunted soul in them. “Magnus can’t be allowed to get the vaccine. It would be…it would be worse than the collapse.”

“I know. Sierra told me.”

Jacob stopped and squared his shoulders. “Okay. I’ll do it. Where are you staying?”

“I’m not.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I rode here to find you. I did. Once you set up the rendezvous, I ride back.”

Jacob adjusted his glasses and considered Lucas for a long minute. “What’s your background?”

“Used to be a Texas Ranger.”

Jacob nodded. “It makes sense. You guys had quite a reputation.”

“Ancient history. We going to do this or not?”

“What – now?”

“Got any reason to wait?”

“I…I suppose we could try.”

“That would be good.” Lucas straightened. “Let’s go talk to your contact.”

“Oh. Well. I mean, he…I’ll go, and meet you somewhere later.”

“No. Too risky. Let’s do this right now, the two of us. No stalling or thinking things over. They’re following Sierra’s tracks as we speak. There’s no time to lose.”

“I…I don’t know. It could compromise him.”

“I risked my neck riding all the way here, Jacob. You want Eve to get to this sanctuary of yours, you need to get off the pot. Your apartment’s burned to sticks, there’s confusion – this is your chance.”

Lucas could see the hesitation in the scientist’s eyes, and then he nodded again, the thick lenses of his glasses glinting from reflected moonlight as he moved to the door.

“Okay. We’ll give it a try.” Jacob stopped. “What’s your name, anyway?”

Lucas transferred his M4 from his right hand to his left and tipped his hat brim in the dark. “Lucas. Where are we headed?”

“Back to the hospital.”

“Are you kidding?”

Jacob shook his head. “No. He lives there.”

“How do we get in?”

“Let me worry about that.”

Jacob brushed by Lucas and stepped out of the doorway onto the deserted street. The sky glowed orange from the apartment’s flames. Lucas followed him out, wondering how the situation could get any worse than going into the most heavily guarded building in Lubbock, and then stopped himself.

The creeping dread in the pit of his stomach warned him that he might soon find out.

Chapter 36

Bruce sat at his computer station, LED work lamp illuminating the living room. Eve and Ruby were asleep in the bedroom. Sierra was relaxing on the couch across from him, unable to sleep even long after dark. Bruce had been unable to find a power supply for his CPU and had griped on and off for the last three days about the far slower processing power of his laptop.

They’d continued trying to decrypt the note, but with no success, making Lucas’s decision to ride to Lubbock appear more prescient with each passing hour. Bruce had been pestering Sierra and Ruby for more information on the cryptic note ever since Lucas had departed, and was becoming increasingly truculent at their stonewalling.

Sierra was reading one of Bruce’s prodigious collection of paperback sci-fi novels, the pages yellowing at the edges from age – this one about a planet far away where spice was the currency of the empire. She shifted and sighed as she flipped a brittle page, and Bruce swiveled around and faced her.

“Sierra, I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I have a right to know what’s going on. You’re taking advantage of my hospitality, my resources, and you’re treating me like an adversary. It’s not fair, and I don’t like it, and frankly…it’s pretty shabby,” he said, the speech obviously one he’d been polishing in his mind for some time.

Sierra set the book down beside her and looked him in the eye. “Bruce, I totally get what you’re saying, and I want you to know that I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. We’ll find a way to pay you back. I swear.”

“You could start by being honest.”

“That’s not my call to make.”

He frowned. “Whose is it, then? Aren’t you an adult?”

She shook her head. “Lucas made me promise.”

“Lucas? Does he own you? What does he have to do with anything?”

“We’re in this together.”

Bruce looked around. “Funny. I don’t see him here, do you?” Bruce softened his tone and sat forward, an earnest expression on his face. “Look, Sierra, I can’t put myself at risk if I don’t know what’s at stake. I know that I’m doing so by the way you and Ruby are acting, and it’s a crummy way to repay me for letting you stay here.”

“What do you mean, how we’re acting?”

“Come on, Sierra. You hardly go outside at all, and when you do, you spend ten minutes checking through the windows to make sure nobody’s around to see you. Do you really think I’m that much of an idiot?”

“I…I can’t.”

His expression hardened and his mouth narrowed to a thin line. “Then I’m afraid you’re going to have to go tomorrow. I’m sorry. I truly am.”

“Go! Go where?”

Bruce shrugged. “Not my problem. All I know is that I’m either your friend or your enemy, and I’ve been treating you like my friends, and you’re rewarding me by acting like I’m your enemy. This is my place, so I get to make the rules. I’m sorry.”

“Come on, Bruce, that’s blackmail.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s telling you that the condition of staying here, under my protection, is being honest with me. Christ sakes, Sierra, hasn’t it occurred to you or Ruby that I can’t do a decent job of it if I have no idea what to expect?”

Sierra chewed her bottom lip. “You can’t tell Ruby I told you anything, Bruce. You have to swear.”

He smiled for the first time. “I promise.”

“We’re trying to get somewhere, but we don’t know where it is.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s safe there.”

“Safe from what?”

She looked away. “Everything.”

“Could you be any less specific? Come on. This is bullshit. You’re not telling me anything I couldn’t have already figured out from your little talks with Ruby.” He sat back. “Oh, you think I don’t overhear you two? You really do think I’m oblivious, don’t you?”

“We’re trying to find out the location of a place called Shangri-La. A refuge. It’s supposed to have electricity, water, food, and is well defended – and not like here. I mean really well defended.”

He stared at her incredulously. “Shangri-La? As in the mythical Himalayan valley where people live forever? You realize that’s a myth, right?”

“I didn’t name it.”

He studied her face. “You believe this crap?”

“It’s a real place, Bruce. If we can get there, we’ll be…everything will be good.”

Bruce’s tone quieted. When he spoke, it was as though to a child. “Sierra, I hear versions of this all the time on the radio and from travelers who pass through and need something repaired: that there’s a place with chocolate rivers and unicorns and rainbows, where everything’s different and special. It’s a common fable throughout history because it’s so attractive to believe. Who doesn’t want to believe that if they just put out a little effort, they can live in paradise? Believe me, I get it. You think I like living in this shithole? This town’s slowly dying for me – there’s less I can do to fix people’s stuff as time goes by, and I can’t source parts. I can tell you how that’s going to end up – with me trying to eke out a living however I can in a place that isn’t exactly the land of plenty. If I thought for a minute there was someplace where I could go and have it all different, I’d be on it like white on rice.” He stopped. “But there isn’t. I get that. Because I’m an adult, and that’s just the way things are.”

“I don’t care whether you believe me or not, Bruce. You asked what we’re doing. I told you. You think it’s BS, that’s your prerogative. I’m not looking for validation, I’m just laying it out, as you asked.”

He shook his head. “I can’t believe Ruby bought into this. She’s smarter than that.”

“That she did should tell you something,” Sierra snapped back.

“It tells me that people get strange ideas into their heads, especially as they get older.”

Sierra shrugged. “Whatever. Think what you like. I’m not asking for your pity. We’re waiting for Lucas to get back from finding out where it is.”

“Will he be riding in Santa’s sleigh?”

She picked up the book. “Sounds like this discussion is done. I told you what you wanted to know. Is there anything else?”

He nodded. “You left out the part about who you’re afraid of.”

“There’s a gang that thinks I’m their property. They don’t take no for an answer, okay? So they’re after me.”

“A gang? Which one?”

“Why? What does it matter? There’s a bunch of filth that wants to use me until I’m broken, and they don’t like that I got away. They have the same in store for Eve. You want to throw us out and give them a shot at us? Is that how this is going to play?”

“I didn’t say that…”

“The hell you didn’t. You threatened it. Don’t pretend you didn’t, Bruce. Own it.”

“I said I didn’t want you staying here if you weren’t going to be honest with me. That’s not unreasonable. Because it’s what you don’t know that can get you killed. Now you’ve told me, so consider that settled. Although it would help to know who to be on the lookout for.”

“Take your pick. The Locos. The Crew out of Houston. The Raiders. Anyone who would treat us as slaves because they can.”

“They’re
all
after you?” Bruce said, his face draining of color.

“I used them as examples,” Sierra backtracked, aware that she might have said too much.

“So they aren’t after you?”

Sierra sighed and stood. “Just assume everyone in the world is, Bruce. You’ve never been a woman, so you have no idea what it’s like to be treated as property, but that’s what it’s like most places these days. The reason we’re interested in finding Shangri-La is because that’s not how things are there. If you think looking for someplace better is crazy, that’s fine, you’re entitled to your opinion, but until you’ve been passed around like a joint at a concert by a bunch of scum you’d rather die than…” She ran out of breath and shook her head in disgust. “You think you’ve got it tough here, Bruce? I’m not dissing you at all, but you have no frigging idea what tough is. And I want better than that for Eve and myself. End of story.”