A Hole in the Sky (25 page)

Capelli took a dozen steps forward to ensure that he could be seen from the tower and all of the other structures around the square. The sky was blue and the afternoon air was still. He took a deep breath and shouted as loudly as he could, “I’m a runner—and I’m here to see Terri Locke! If Terri Locke is here, I would like to speak with her on behalf of her brother Alvin.”

No response. Not even an echo. Or so it seemed until Rowdy began to bark and an elderly man appeared. He was wearing a knit hat and a blue overcoat, and he walked with the aid of a cane. Capelli took hold of
Rowdy’s collar as the man drew near. “Hello! My name is Capelli. Joe Capelli. And you are?”

“Expendable,” the man answered with a grin. “That’s why they send me out to talk with people.”

Capelli laughed. “Well, you have nothing to fear from us. I’m a runner and I have a package for Terri Locke.”

The man nodded noncommittally as he turned to Susan and smiled. “Welcome to Haven, my dear. My name is Frank Potter.”

Susan took the opportunity to introduce both herself and the Shaws. Amy was hiding behind her father but came out when Potter offered her a piece of peppermint candy.

Capelli watched with interest. Potter might describe himself as “expendable,” but his blue eyes were extremely bright, and they never lingered anywhere for very long. Capelli had the feeling that in a matter of three or four minutes the entire party had been evaluated, inventoried, and categorized. Whatever happened next would depend on Potter’s judgment.

And that was clearly the case. After a few minutes of seemingly idle chatter Potter turned to Capelli. “Let’s go over to my office and discuss the matter further. Please leave your pack and weapons here.”

So Capelli shrugged the pack off and gave the pistol, Marksman, and Bullseye to Susan for safekeeping. Then, with Potter at his side, he walked east towards the bank.

“My grandfather founded it,” the old man explained, “and it has been in the family ever since. It has seen better days, though. Watch your head as you pass through the front door.”

Capelli had to duck under a sagging support beam in order to follow Potter into a generously proportioned lobby. From there the old man led him past a row of
teller’s cages to a damaged door. Broken glass and other bits of debris crunched under Capelli’s boots as they entered an office that was open to sky. Weather had taken quite a toll, but the banker’s huge desk was still there, and a pleasant-looking middle-aged woman was perched on one corner of it. She had brown hair and a full face, and was dressed for a winter day. “I’m Terri Locke,” she said as she stood, and offered a gloved hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Capelli said sincerely, as they shook. “My name is Joe Capelli. Alvin hired me to escort him from Burlington, Colorado, to Haven. He said this is a wonderful place to live and it was his intention to settle here.”

Tears had begun to well up and trickle down Terri’s cheeks. She wiped them away. “He’s dead isn’t he?”

Capelli nodded soberly. “We were ambushed by a large number of Grims near Colby, Kansas. Al was badly wounded and died a few days later.”

Terri accepted a handkerchief from Potter and blew her nose. “And you came all the way to Oklahoma to tell me that?”

“No,” Capelli answered as he unbuckled the money belt. I came to Haven to give you
this
. I knew Al would want you to have it.”

Terri accepted the belt, peeked into one of the pockets, and looked up at Capelli. “Gold?” There was a look of consternation on her face.

“Yes, ma’am. There was more originally. However, I was captured by a group of people who took some of the coins and spent them. But, thanks to the woman who is waiting out in the square, I was able to recover the belt and bring it here.”

“That’s an amazing story,” Terri said. “And you are an amazing man. Most people would have kept the coins for themselves. I’d like to give you a reward.”

Capelli shook his head. “No thank you, ma’am. But there is something you could do for me. If you’re willing, that is.”

Terri’s eyebrows rose. “Really? What’s that?”

Capelli jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Susan and I are looking for a place to settle down. And Roger and Amy need a place to live too. Is there any chance we could stay here?”

There was a long moment of silence. Potter was the one who broke it. He was seated in the same chair his father had occupied years before. “I vote yes.”

Terri smiled. “I’m the mayor, and Frank sits on the city council, so you have two votes. But you’ll need more in order to stay. And folks will want to get acquainted with you and your friends before they take you in. That means a trial period. One in which you will have some but not all the privileges of citizenship. Would you and the others agree to that?”

“I would,” Capelli answered. “And I think Susan and Roger will as well.”

“Good,” Terri said genially. “Welcome to Haven.”

Three weeks passed. The townspeople assumed that Capelli and Susan were a couple. And, since neither of them denied it, they were assigned to what was referred to as a “starter” just off the main north-south tunnel. The so-called starter was really no more than an opportunity to excavate their own underground home. It wasn’t stated in so many words, but both of them knew that if they were invited to stay in Haven it would have a lot to do with how hard they worked on the starter, and for the benefit of the community.

So Capelli volunteered to help with the community center that was being dug under the town square, and joined the forty-six-person defense force, which was led by a no-nonsense ex-marine named Tig Kosmo. The ex-noncom
was suspicious of Capelli at first, but was soon won over by the newcomer’s willingness to follow orders, and understanding of everything military. None of which prevented Kosmo from referring to Capelli as a “doggie,” which was his name for anyone who had served in the Army.

Susan was invited to participate in the food-gathering parties that ventured out to gather such edibles as were available at that time of year. A task that Terri Locke and many of the community’s women took part in.

So there was a bit of a stir when Susan asked if she could be a hunter instead. Because as the lead hunter, a cantankerous man named Levi Smith, put it, “Outside of my momma, I ain’t never seen a woman who could hit the broad side of a barn with a shotgun, and our job is to hunt meat, not excuses.”

But at Terri’s insistence, Susan was given an opportunity to prove her skill. And when Susan dropped a deer at 650 yards, Smith not only put her on the three-person team, he kicked a man off to make room for her.

So that, plus Susan’s country-girl skills at everything from sewing to candle-making, won her fans among men and women alike. Meanwhile, it was her expertise at digging tunnels and shoring them up that enabled the twosome to take their “starter” and enlarge it into a relatively spacious twelve-by-sixteen-foot room complete with an eight-foot ceiling, built-in shelving, and a salvaged sink. The starter didn’t have any running water, not yet anyway, but it was furnished with items scrounged from abandoned houses.

Meanwhile, Capelli thought that his relationship with Susan was going well. They agreed on the important things, were a good team, and had been sleeping together since arriving in Haven. And maybe that was enough. But by then Capelli knew that certain symbols were important to her.

Still, knowing that and doing something about it were two different things until the day when Kosmo led Capelli and a squad of volunteer fighters into a town about five miles from Haven. The objective was to find and destroy Spinners, their pods, and any stinks that might be in the area. And it was a good thing, too, because after entering the town the team flushed a Spinner out of the local grade school, and killed it.

Of course, the presence of a Spinner suggested the possibility of pods, so it was necessary to sweep the entire town, and it was while searching the inside of what had been a jewelry store that Capelli found the item he needed.

The store had clearly been looted more than once. But someone, a thief most likely, had dropped a piece of jewelry on the floor. And none of the people who had passed through during the subsequent months had been fortunate enough to spot it. Not until Capelli came along, a rare ray of sunshine penetrated the nearby window, and the unmistakable glint of silver caught his eye. Capelli bent over, picked the ring up off the floor, and smiled.

The wedding took place a week later. The location was the whitewashed church on the main square. It was a mostly happy occasion. Although it was cold, and people were on edge because two Ravagers and fifteen Hybrids had passed through town earlier in the day.

It wasn’t the first time such a thing had occurred, and the tunnels were sufficiently deep that the people moving back and forth in them couldn’t be spotted with an Auger. But such visitations were worrisome nevertheless. So Capelli and Susan suggested that the ceremony be held underground.

But the mayor wasn’t having any of that. “We aren’t worms,” she proclaimed. “Weddings should be held in a church.” Therefore it was agreed that while the nuptials
would take place in the church, the ceremony would be kept brief in order to minimize the potential danger, and in recognition of how cold it was. A decision that Capelli and Susan understood and endorsed.

And so it was that as people gathered in the church, Tig Kosmo threw a security screen around the town, and a warmly dressed Reverend Rawlings began what promised to be a very short ceremony. In spite of the cold air, Capelli was dressed in a shabby tuxedo and Susan was resplendent in the white wedding dress that one of the women had loaned to her.

That’s where Capelli’s attention was, or should have been, but something was wrong. Not with the wedding, but with Rowdy, who was standing stiff-legged a few feet from the altar staring back at the front door. And there was no mistaking the growl that rumbled deep in his throat. So Capelli looked in that direction, saw the air shimmer, and made a grab for the Colt Commander that was holstered under his left arm.

The onlookers produced a gasp of surprise as he jerked the pistol out into the open. It was pointed at Susan until he turned and fired three times in quick succession. The nine-millimeter slugs brought the charging Chameleon down. The monstrous creature became visible as it died, so the townspeople could see the Chimeran field generator strapped to its back, and the long curved claws for which such beasts were known.

But even as the well-wishers tried to absorb this, Capelli fired again and a
second
stink fell not two feet from the first. It was second nature for Capelli to eject the partially used magazine, and insert a new one in its place, as members of the embarrassed security force entered the church, their heads swiveling back and forth.

There was a moment of silence. Terri was first to speak. Her breath fogged the air. “It was a trick,” she said thoughtfully. “The stinks left two Chameleons behind to
kill anybody who came out of hiding after they were gone. Thank God for Rowdy.” The dog, who was oblivious to that sort of praise, continued to lick himself.

Capelli returned the Colt to its holster. “Sorry about that, Reverend! Where were we?”

The minister’s face was ashen, and the hands that cradled the Bible began to tremble. “Do you, Susan Farley, take this man to be your husband?”

Susan smiled serenely. “I do.”

“Give her the ring,” Rawlings instructed. “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” And with that, the minister hurried away. It was December 25, 1953, and the best Christmas Capelli could remember.

You don’t deserve her
, the voice inside Capelli’s head observed.
But welcome to the family
.

It had been raining for two days when Tom Hunter and a force of twenty regulators closed in on the town of Haven. They wore cowboy hats of various hues and long oilskin dusters, split so as to hang down along both flanks of their well-groomed horses. All of them carried arms and ammo made at Shipdown and Tunnel-Through. A policy calculated to simplify training, logistics, and repair.

And making the regulators even more dangerous was the fact that one of them was armed with a pulse cannon, two men were equipped with Chimeran field generators, and four carried Ravager-style energy shields. They could not only take on a Chimeran hunter-killer team if forced to do so, but had the capacity to subdue most of the communities within a fifty-mile radius of Tunnel-Through.

But that wasn’t Hunter’s mission. He had been sent into the countryside to persuade the communities to join what Ramsey called the New American Empire. Because,
as the judge liked to put it, “The smart ones will take one look at our regulators, realize that we could wipe them out if we chose to, and join up. We’ll deal with the stupid ones later.”

The plan made sense, and as the regulators thundered into Haven, they had already brought two isolated groups of survivors into the fold. And Hunter saw no reason why the community of Haven would be any different. Though hidden from the Chimera, the town was well known to the locals.

Horses snorted and their hooves clattered as the riders brought their mounts to an intentionally showy halt. With the exception of a few men who had been ordered to keep their weapons ready, the rest of the regulators sat with their hands on their pommels. Details that Hunter knew the citizens of Haven would take note of.

The town was deserted, or so it seemed as a steady drizzle fell, and water dripped from the brim of Hunter’s hat. But he knew eyes were on him as he lifted the bullhorn that hung from his saddle and spoke into it. “Citizens of Haven! I know you’re out there—and I know you can hear me. My name is Tom Hunter. I was sent by Tunnel-Through’s founder, Judge George Ramsey, to deliver a very special invitation.”

A good ten minutes of silence followed. But Hunter understood. The regulators had taken the community by surprise, and there was a need to confer before a response was forthcoming. But eventually the front door of what had clearly been a bank opened and four people emerged.