2020: Emergency Exit (20 page)

Apparently.

THIRTY-FIVE: “What We Did”

As Danny had surveyed the gunfight in the depot yard, many thoughts raced through his mind. Part of him would have been content letting Eddie and his brother die, but another part of him didn’t understand what would make men on the same side fight each other. He was afraid of backing the wrong dog in the fight, and he nearly decided to just walk away. But the intensity with which Eddie was pursuing them said this was more than just a murderous vacation for him. His resolve seemed rather atypical. By this point, he’d lost nearly all the men he’d started with, and yet he was still determined to take this to the end. He was willing to turn on his own army to prove whatever point it was he wanted to make in killing us. This couldn’t just be about that Markus guy. But what else had we done? What had America done to him for that matter? Or what did Eddie
think
America had done to him?

Danny kept going back to why he’d joined the military in the first place. He wanted to save lives, not take them. No matter how many times Eddie and his men had tried to kill us, and how many of his men we’d had to take out to survive, Danny still believed if you put him and Eddie in a room, just the two of them, he could convince the captain to see it his way. Now, to the other two in the truck, saving Lazzo didn’t seem like the right move—perhaps even more so to Blake, given his friend Nathan’s sacrifice.

Danny was well aware of their opinion and somewhat surprised Blake hadn’t vocally criticized him or the decision. He’d actually been remarkably quiet. Blake’s general awareness and unflappable presence of mind in the middle of all this insanity was not lost on Danny. Danny wasn’t great at apologies, but he tried. “Blake, I’m—”

“It’s not your fault, Danny,” Blake cut him off, placing his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Not everything is going to go our way.”

Acknowledging Blake was right with a simple nod, Danny nonetheless voiced that they should have stayed out of it and just let Eddie and his brother die. There was no argument to those words. That’s probably what everyone else would have done. Still, deep in his heart, Danny believed his intentions had been right. Now he just hoped that would pay off at some point.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. The cold, heavy rain was wreaking havoc with the radar, and the screens in the truck were solid red, no other dots visible. Danny just unplugged it. They passed an enormous wall being built along the state line and had the same reaction as the rest of us.
What the hell?
They stopped in Wellington to fill up with gas, then at a small army surplus store in Fort Collins to restock on supplies. They found most of what they were looking for and a few bonuses: a tent, more sleeping bags, two inflatable rafts, dynamite, a harpoon gun, rope, packaged military food, wire, ammo, a dozen knives, and even four old-school Soviet winter white camo suits. It was definitely a worthwhile stop.

Danny, Wes and Blake cut across County Road 100 and nervously descended on the abandoned mine north of the reservoir. With great relief, they found us all safe, waiting for them. I got out of the truck when they pulled in, hopeful Tara would too, but she didn’t. I had a feeling I’d hurt her, and that sucked. That hadn’t been my intent at all. I’d just been too selfish.
Yeah, I know…again
. I was just trying to do the right thing by Sophie. Clearly, I had a great deal to learn about moving on after your wife dies.

Danny climbed out of the truck with a blanket in hand, and brushed past us. “Danny, what—” I started to follow him then saw Wes and Blake climb out and close their doors.
Where was Nathan?

Hayley asked them for me. “Where’s Nathan?”

Blake just shook his head.
Oh my…
Wes and Blake explained what all had happened. They didn’t say anything about it being Danny’s decision, but I figured it had been.
I get it now.
I glanced over at him as he sat on the ground with his head between his knees. My paternal instincts kicked in, and I started to walk towards him, but Cameron grabbed my arm. “Don’t,” was all he said.

Cameron would know better than all of us what Danny needed at this point. I nodded reluctantly, and slowly turned back to Wes and Blake as they continued with the story. It was a tough blow, losing Nathan like we did—I felt like we barely got to know him. But it was clear by the way Blake spoke of him that he’d been a great guy—a funny, friendly guy. Blake had to choke back the emotions several times.
This sucked
. We were quite fortunate, and certainly grateful that the rest of us were still safe, but Nathan would be missed. Danny was lying on his blanket now—eyes closed—but I knew he was awake, listening to the rain and probably pretty deep in thought. For the first time on the trip, some serious questions were being raised about his ability to make the best decisions for the group. Fair or not, Danny wasn’t objecting to the questions or defending himself. There was a good chance even he didn’t believe he’d done the right thing now, but he wouldn’t have done it in the first place if it hadn’t seemed right then. It was hard, but he had to trust himself. We all had to keep trusting him.

I knew from experience the waves of self-doubt were hard to paddle through. He made a judgment call, and it was done, but I knew if saving Eddie ended up costing any of our lives, Danny would never forgive himself. A lesser man would’ve never even had the courage to put his convictions before his own life. But sometimes those convictions lead to loss and failure. Sometimes right is wrong. It was a lot of pressure for a twenty year old. We all had to help him get through this. The alternative would be devastating to all of us.

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Meanwhile, Eddie drove down to Highway 34 to scout out the entrance to the mountains before circling back to the southern end of Horsetooth Reservoir. He watched as a lone vehicle appeared from the north on his screen and came to rest barely four miles away. He wasn’t too worried about it. His screen didn’t flash, as it would have if the other vehicle had any form of radar. Since he was pretty sure the Americans had some form of radar, he was confident this one vehicle wasn’t theirs. His men were already mostly asleep, but he had too much on his mind to allow himself similar rest. The precision of their rescue by the unknown soldiers had been eerie. Every shot a kill shot. No bullets wasted. He never saw so much as a shadow of them. And then that voice speaking English. That hadn’t sounded African, or Chinese, or anything other than American. And why did their rescuers help them and then leave? Did they not expect anything in return? He watched the single red dot on the screen gradually fade out as it cooled and then disappeared altogether. Eddie glanced at his watch and then pulled his hat down over his eyes. A few hours rest would serve him well.

--------------------

Danny had always wanted to live in the Pacific Northwest. Ideally in a small coastal town. He loved the ocean, and rain didn’t usually bother him, but it was definitely bothering him now. The temperature was still slightly above forty, but if cold air was moving through the mountains, all that rain could quickly turn to snow. If there was a lot of moisture in the air, as there seemed to be, that could amount to an awful lot of snow. If they drove up the valley, ran into snow, and got stuck…well, if anyone was following them, there’d be no way out. He’d been through this scenario a hundred times in his head already, but now, less than thirty miles from Estes Park, he was afraid the nightmare was playing out above us. As much as he wanted to stay here for a day and allow us to rest, he didn’t know if we could afford it. Everyone but Wes and I had gone to sleep. I watched Danny sit up and approach us. “What are you thinking?” he asked us. I was trying
not
to think about Tara, but as a result I couldn’t think of anything else. Since I couldn’t sleep, I was trying to keep Wes company and watch her truck at the same time.

Wes sighed. “I don’t know, Danny. This rain isn’t good.” I nodded in agreement. Wes continued. “The temperature has dropped ten degrees in the last two hours. It’s almost 5 a.m. now. The sun will be up in a little more than an hour, if the snow doesn’t come first.”
So he was thinking it too
. It was obvious Danny was trying to defer to our judgment, questioning his own a little more now. “Something else on your mind, Danny?”

He gazed out into the rain. “I get some people think I may not have done the right thing tonight, saving Eddie and those guys. I know it cost us Nathan, and I feel terrible about that. Bottom line, maybe I thought that would get them off our back. But we never got the chance for them to see us, to know it was us who saved him, his brother and those guys. So maybe my intentions were completely wasted.”

I interrupted, understanding a little more now. “So you thought if they knew you saved their lives they might let us go.” Danny nodded but didn’t say anything.

“I get that,” Wes said and patted Danny on the shoulder. “It was an impossible call. So let’s look at this both ways. If they’re still chasing us, what’s the right move? If they’re not, what’s the right move?”

Danny scratched his ear. “I think it’s the same move either way. If we get trapped down here in the valley, we’re in the heart of enemy territory, and without any road crews we’ll be stuck here for the winter. Denver and Colorado Springs are the logical defense keys to the entire heart of this country. Any military with intelligence would know that. We all saw that wall they’re building. There’s no way Denver’s not loaded with troops right now, and they’d expand out from there. If they have control of NORAD, we’re all screwed. Denver, Colorado Springs—either could be their command center.”
Where had I heard that before? Any doubt he and Cameron were on the same page?

 “We’re too close to all of that to stay here, and we can’t go back north into Wyoming. Eddie and his men were fighting against their own military troops, too, and there’s bound to be others out there looking for him now. You don’t wipe out an entire troop and not draw attention. Wyoming is way too hot right now.” Danny thoughtfully stroked the week-old stubble on his chin. “I think we have to assume two things. One, Eddie and his men, however many are left, are close to us. They have a pretty good idea where we’re going, and because of what they’ve done, they can’t exactly go into Denver, either. If anyone figured out who they were—or what they did—they’d probably all be executed.”

“And the second thing?” Wes asked.

“There is no American resistance. Given what we’ve heard and everything we’ve seen, it was foolish to think there might be.” He paused, letting the truth sink in for good. “We’re on our own.”

“So what do we do?” I asked.

“Get everyone up,” Wes said. “We’ve gotta get to Estes Park.”

THIRTY-SIX: “Karma”

In case Captain Eddie was close by, Danny, Kate, Jenna, and I headed out before the others, minutes before 5:30 a.m. We made our way south on College Avenue, down to Lake Loveland at the intersection of Highway 34. Not having seen any signs of life, we waited there. Wes was driving the jeep with the radar, and he watched as we made it all the way to 34 without attracting attention. He led the others out and to our location. The rain was coming down heavy again, and the radar screen was basically useless, but there were no small dots visible on it, so even though it was bright red we weren’t too worried. Maybe we were in the clear.

We headed west and were coming up on the intersection of County Road 27, the back road to the reservoir, when we spotted three jeeps parked by the side of the road. As I raced by them, I heard Danny say one word, “Eddie.” He told me to move our truck over far enough on the road to let the two trucks behind us go by. I did as he asked, and Danny waved them up alongside us. He yelled out the window at them as they passed. “Go!” And they took off. Then Blake pulled up beside us in the last truck and Danny yelled at him, “You have to stay beside us, all the way up. You take the right lane; I’ve got the left.” Blake gave the thumbs up that he understood.

Ahead of us the two sets of taillights from our other trucks were fading into the rain. Behind us I could see all three jeeps approaching, closing the gap quickly. Considering they’d have to hang out of the jeep windows in this crazy downpour, Eddie’s men would have a hard time shooting us from their vehicles. It wasn’t nearly as hard for us to hit them, having two snipers, covered, guns pointed out the back windows. Captain Eddie seemed to be aware of that fact, and the jeeps settled back and maintained a consistent quarter-mile distance behind us.

The temperature was dropping as we climbed into the mountains, and the road was getting slick. The rain seemed to be getting heavier as well, and we started worrying about flash floods. Estes Park and this canyon road in particular had a history of terrible flash floods and washouts. The road had been rebuilt, but nothing was going to stand up to a wall of water. Travel was treacherous with even moderate weather on this road, given the sharp turns, falling rocks and limited visibility in some areas. It was starting to get light out, which was helping, but there was a heavy fog off the river limiting our visibility. We were going faster than we liked, but we didn’t feel we had much of a choice. As we rounded one particularly sharp turn, a giant boulder was lying in the middle of the road. I hit the brakes hard and swerved around it.

As I straightened the jeep back out, one of the pursuing jeeps got a little too close. He came around the bend and slowed for the boulder as well, crossing into Danny’s line of fire. Danny took out a front tire and the jeep continued its turn straight into the ditch and into a wall of rocks. Given his incredible accuracy, I knew he’d done exactly what he’d intended. He wasn’t trying to kill them. He only wanted to stop them. Whoever was in that jeep was probably bruised but alive. I’m sure Danny was hoping that message was delivered to the captain as well.