The Siege (26 page)

     But these men, called “wanderers” by the community, were modern day nomads. Instead of settling down, they drifted from place to place, sleeping in a different abandoned house every night, eating
whatever they could find or whatever sympathetic growers would give them.

     In a sense, the city had become a society of growers and
beggars. There was a little bit of tension between the two at times, especially when the beggars tended to hover around a particular place too long. Some were not unlike a stray dog who accepts a meal and then starts coming back every night for more.

     As a general rule, though, it seldom
resorted to violence or name calling. The beggars were pretty good at sensing when they’d worn out their welcome and normally moved on before any trouble arose.

     That was why Frank and Jesse were puzzled by the reports from the sentries.
It just didn’t make any sense for someone to be hanging around. If the man, or men, wanted food, all they had to do was ask. If they didn’t, they should move on. It wasn’t a complicated process.

     Things were going fairly well in
San Antonio of late. The violence had mostly subsided. Frank and his group seldom heard gunshots anymore. And they were starting to hear an occasional police or fire siren. That meant that city services were beginning to normalize. Frank seriously doubted that the justice system was working yet, though. He knew how complicated that process was, with judges and courts and certified court reporters all required to make the system work. And lawyers. Lots and lots of lawyers, who Frank never really cared for.

     “I doubt if enough of those people survived to get the court system working again,” Frank told Jesse the first time they’d heard a police cruiser go wailing by. “Lawyers, especially, aren’t what you’d call a hardy lot. Essentially they’re a bunch of sissies in bad suits. I doubt many would have the toughness it took to ride out the storm.”

     Jesse had laughed.

     “Gee, Frank, why don’t you say what you really feel? And by the way, how come you hate lawyers so much?”

     “Oh, I don’t hate all of them, necessarily. I’ve seen a handful of good ones. But most of the civil attorneys were nothing but bottom feeders, taking advantage of peoples’ pain or misfortune to take way too much of their money for the work they did.

     “And on the criminal side, I saw too many lawyers become public defenders and take money from the state to put murder
ers back on the streets to murder again.”

     “But that’s the way our system works, buddy. Or did work, anyway. Every man deserves a fair trial and a good lawyer. Even if he’s guilty as hell.”

     “It sounds good in theory, Jesse. But you’d feel differently if you had to explain to a grieving mother that the man who murdered her baby should have been in prison for two previous murders. And only got off because a public defender browbeat a good eye witness into getting confused and impeaching himself, just so his client could walk. If you ever saw the look in that mother’s eyes, you’d feel differently about our legal system. That kind of pain never goes away. And in my book, it can never be justified. I for one hope that when and if they get the courts up and working again, that they make some serious changes to the way they conduct their trials.”

     “Well, if
the court system isn’t working any more, Frank, then where are the cops taking the bad guys? And what’s happening to them once they’re there?”

     “I don’t know
. I’d like to find out. I’ve been thinking about taking a drive downtown one of these days, just to check it out.

     “It may be that there are a couple of judges who are going from jail to jail and holding court. Hearing the evidence and
passing sentence on the spot. And telling the police or sheriff to either haul their prisoners to the nearest prison or set them free. That’s how it worked in the old west, and I understand it worked pretty well.”

     “Do you really want to go back to the days of the wild west, Frank? Things were a lot simpler back then. But they were a lot dangerous, too.”

     “Oh, I don’t know. I know it was a hard living. Even harder than what we’ve been through over the last few years. But there are things that were good about it, too. Neighbors banded together for support and mutual protection. If bad guys came around, they worked together to chase them away. And if the bad guys caused trouble, they gave it right back to them. There was no 911. There were no probable cause hearings or arrest warrants. The good guys just banded together to take care of business. If a marshal or a sheriff happened to be in the neighborhood, they’d turn the bad guys over to him. If not, they’d deal with them without the courts. It was called frontier justice. It wasn’t always pretty. But it was pretty effective.”

     “What do you think those guys are looking for?”

     “Damned if I know. Maybe it’s the same guy, and we’ve just seen him at different times. The guys said he’s  never come close enough to make out any features. Maybe he’s just an old codger who’s lost his mind and is just wandering around with nowhere to go. Maybe he’ll eventually come out of the shadows and ask for our help, and we can help him.

     “At least I hope that’s what it is. That would beat the hell out of the alternative.

     “But just to be on the safe side, let’s extra cautious until he either comes closer or goes away.”

Chapter 55

     Rachel was a mere girl of sixteen when she came to the mine to live with the group three years before. She and her younger sister Roxanne saw their father shot in front of their very eyes, on the highway in front of the mine.

     Hannah and several of the others saw it too – on the security monitors, although they were helpless to stop it.

     Still, they had to do something. So they sent out a team to bring the girls back with them. And they buried their father in the back of the mine until the thaw. Then they reburied him in a small family plot in the corner of the compound. Right next to Mark and Bryan’s mother.

     Rachel and Roxanne
were welcomed into the group and became part of the family.

     But like all families, there were secrets. Not earth shattering ones, of course. But secrets which were kept that way simply because to expose them would cause embarrassment or discomfort.

     Roxanne, for example, had been madly in love with Hannah’s husband Mark since the first time she laid eyes on him. But she had no plans to act on that love, or to even divulge it. Mark’s love for Hannah was strong, and she suspected it would last forever. And Hannah had been good to her. They were closer than sisters now. And Roxanne wasn’t the type of woman who would try to steal her sister’s man.

     Her sister Rachel, on the other hand, had fallen for
Jason. Jason was just a bit older and was single, and was a much more realistic crush than Mark was for her sister.

     Of course,
Rachel never told anyone. But the girls – Hannah, Sarah and Sami, knew. They could tell by the way she looked for just a split second too long any time Jason walked by. They knew from the way she was always bringing his name up in casual conversations. They knew from the way she was always asking them innocent questions about him. Did they know when his birthday was? Did they know where he was born? Did they know his favorite color? What music he liked? What hobbies he had?

    
Jason had no idea. Men aren’t that smart when it comes to crushes and other affairs of the heart.

     But the girls knew.

     When Rachel had confessed a fear of tight spaces and said she might have trouble evacuating through the narrow tunnel, Hannah had offered to help her.

     So had
Jason. He had no other intentions, of course, other that just wanting to be helpful. But Hannah had another idea.

     Hannah believed that the heart sometimes dragged its feet when it should have been rushing headlong in love. She was a big believer in helping the heart along under such circumstances.

     Mark considered her a busybody and would sometimes tell her to mind her own business.

     But then she’d remind
him of the day he was struck by her beauty on their college campus. So struck, in fact, that he stumbled and dropped his books.

     “I was infatuated too,” she’d tell him. “So much so that I stopped and helped you pick them up. If I hadn’t given my heart that little shove, if I had just kept on walking, we never would have met.

     “And you. You said you were so fascinated by me that you searched the whole campus looking for me again. If you hadn’t shoved your heart into doing that, we’d both be married to other people now.”

     It was logic he couldn’t argue with.

     “Sometimes,” she told him, “the heart just needs a little help.”

     And so, when she went to get Rachel to help her get comfortable with the tunnel, she invited
Jason to come along.

     “I just wanted to show you that the tunnel is wider than you think it is. For example, see how broad
Jason’s shoulders are? I sure wish Mark’s shoulders were that broad. I think broad shoulders on a man are very sexy, don’t you think?”

     “Yes… I guess so…”

     Jason, of course, was a little bit embarrassed, and even blushed.

     And Hannah immediately pounced on that fact to shovel it on a little deeper.

     “Oh, look,” she told Rachel. “Look at him blush. I’ve always loved men who blush. It means they have no pretense. They’re honest and forthright. I’ve often said that a man who blushes is a man who will never lie to you or cheat on you… and you have to admit that a little blush looks good on such a handsome face, huh?”

     Rachel started to wonder if Hannah had lost her mind. But she admitted aloud that maybe she was right.

     “Well, he is pretty handsome.”

     “Okay, he
re’s what I thought we’d do. To prove that the tunnel is not quite as confining as you think it is, we’re going to have you follow Jason into the tunnel. We’ll let Jason go first, then you can follow him, and I’ll follow the two of you.

     “And just so you feel like you’re not alone in this exercise, I want you to place your hand on
Jason’s upper back as we go through the tunnel. It’ll be like a support system for your subconscious. Like a constant reminder that you’re not alone, that someone bigger is going through it with you.”

     Hannah had
Jason turn around so she could demonstrate.

     Hannah placed the palm of her hand on
Jason’s back, just below the nape of his neck.

     She said, “Oh, my gosh,
Jason! I never knew how strong and muscular you were. Why, I can just feel those muscles rippling through your back. Rachel, put your hand right there.”

     Rachel did what she was told.
Jason couldn’t see it, but Rachel now had a wicked smile on her face. She’d finally figured out what Hannah was up to.

    
Jason, for his part, still didn’t have a clue. He was a man, after all. He was starting to think, though, that Hannah needed to be committed.

     Rachel’s hand was on
Jason’s back now, and Hannah extolled Jason’s physique.

     “Can’t you feel how rock hard and strong those muscles are, Rachel? Not only is he trustworthy, but he’s a mountain of strength, too. One of these days he’s going to find himself a girlfriend, and she’s going to be one lucky lady, for sure.”

     They were finally ready to go, and Hannah said to Rachel, “Okay, we only want you to go as far as you’re comfortable. The minute you feel the slightest bit of discomfort, just say the word. We’ll all turn around and go back the other way. We’ll take baby steps, a little at a time, until you’re okay with going all the way through.”

     Hannah was expecting to go mere yards into the tunnel before having to go back. But Rachel surprised her. She made it all the way through with her hand on
Jason’s back.

     “Hooray!” Hannah said when they made it to the wider part of the main tunnel. “Are you okay?”

     “Yes! And I’m not only okay, I think I’d like to go back again. Just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.”

   
She smiled, and Hannah thought she caught a glint of mischievousness in Rachel’s eye.

     So they went back through the tunnel, back to their original starting point.

     Then they repeated the process three more times.

     “Just to be safe,” Rachel said.

     By the last time through, Rachel was gently massaging Jason’s upper back with her fingers. It didn’t escape Hannah’s notice.