Apache Dawn: Book I of the Wildfire Saga (41 page)

She nodded again to herself and went back to mixing in the big silver cauldron on the stove. Over her shoulder, she said: “You never know in one of those situations when you’re going to have time to eat, or if your power will go off and you’ll lose the food in your ‘fridge.
 
This solves
both
problems.
 
Ready when you are to heat it up and eat, and uses up a little of everything so you don’t lose it
all
in a power outage.”
 

“Anyway,” John said, turning back in his seat to face Denny.
 
“I asked you over here to see if you’ve changed your mind.”

“I haven’t, John,” said Denny, shaking his head.
 
“I’m not made to hide under the ground.
 
No offense,” he said quickly.

John raised his hands, “None taken.
 
I’m too old to go tromping off in the woods hunting and fishing.”
 
He chuckled and shook his head.
 
“Besides, maybe this will work out for both of us.
 
With that radio I gave you, I can feed you information and you can keep an eye on things topside for us.”

Denny nodded.
 
“That’s what I thought.
 
But…”

“But you’re wondering why I asked you over here.”
 
The old man sighed.
 
“I think something bad is coming.”

“What do you mean?” Denny asked over the top of his glass of iced tea.
 

“You remember the smoke we saw yesterday?”

“Yes,” said Denny.
 
He remembered seeing a dark smudge on the horizon, topped by a large plume of smoke to the northeast, in the direction of the main part of town.

“It was the school and city hall.”

“What?” Denny said, sitting up.
 
“Who—
how?
”

John shook his head.
 
“I don’t know, but a HAM friend of mine on the other side of town could see it burning and called me just now.
 
He could see from his ranch a group of people heading from the school to city hall, and then on down Main Street.”

“Doesn’t make any sense,” Denny said quietly.

“I think we know who was behind it.”

“You think the Townsend boy−”

“I think his
father
,” said John with a knowing look.
 
“He’s the town drunk, you said it yourself.
 
He’s always been a rabble-rouser and since he was laid-off last year he’s been out of work and looking for something to do.”
 
The old man took a sip of his tea.
 
“I don’t know.
 
But, it sure wouldn’t surprise me.”

“What about Sheriff Bridger?”

“From what I hear, he’s got the new super flu.
 
Sounds like some of the kids from the school have actually died.
 
Now their families are sick.
 
It’s just horrible.”

“Oh no,” Denny whispered.
 
“Bob was right—” he saw the questioning look on his neighbors face.
 
“The principal.
 
He thought the kids from the sophomore class brought the flu back from California last week.
 
He had to close school that first day.”
 
He shook his head again.
 
“This is going to be
bad
, John.”

“Don’t I
know
it.
 
HAMs all over the country are reporting how serious it’s getting.
 
There’s
bodies
in the streets in Chicago and New York.
 
Can you believe it?
 
It’s like…”
 
John paused, looking ashamed.
 
“I’m sorry, Denny, I know how you lost Emily in The Pandemic.
 
This has got to be hard on you.”
 

Denny was quiet a moment.
 
Then, softly, he spoke: “It’s okay, John.
 
I made my peace with her a long time ago.”

John nodded.
 

Denny took another sip from his drink.
 
He savored the hearty smells from the cooking chili. “Have you seen the Townsend boy again?”

“No,” said John with a dismissive wave of his hand.
 
“It’s the
war
I called you over to talk about.”

“What war?”

“The North Koreans have invaded California, Denny!”

“But, the news said—”

“I’m not talking about the bullcrap you see on TV.
 
I’m talking about what I’m hearing with my HAM gear from people on the West Coast who are there; right there in middle of this mess!
 
The stuff they’re telling me is
scary
, Denny,
very
scary.
 
A few bodies on the ground in Chicago is
nothing
compared to foreign jets and tanks blowing up buildings and killing people left and right in Los Angeles.
 
They’re pushing inland, Denny.
 
Taking land!”

“I don’t understand,” Denny said, shaking his head slightly.
 

“The North Koreans started a
war
in the middle of this flu outbreak.
 
You think that the television signals are screwed up for no reason at all?
 
Think
, Denny.
 
These guys I’m friends with, a lot of them were in the military back in the day.
 
They
know
what they’re talking about when they say a tank rolled down their street with twenty guys carrying rifles following it and ransacking houses.
 
And that’s just the
West Coast
.”

“What do you mean?”

“Out east, they’re being real sneaky.”

Denny swallowed.
 
“The U.N.?”

“Yes,” said John sadly.
 
“All the reports we hear about how these doctors from Europe are bringing medicine and food and generators to restore power.
 
They
should!
 
How many times have we spent American blood and treasure on Europe?”

Denny nodded.
 
“World War I, World War II, the Cold War…”

John pointed at Denny and nodded.
 
“That’s
right!
 
Time and time again, we go to help them.
 
And now it’s their turn.
 
Well, they’re helping, but they’re helping
themselves
.”

“Pardon?”
 

“Did you hear the reports about the Russians in South Carolina?
 
Basically took over that town?
 
The doctors brought along ‘security forces’ as well.”

“Yes, but the Secretary of State—”

John hissed.
 
“She’s a
liar
.
 
Always has been.
 
A hack for the new President.
 
I’ve been in contact with a HAM I know who lives near that town.
 
He saw the transport planes, he saw the parachutes.
 
Then he saw the
smoke
and took in some of the people that fled.
 
The Russians didn’t bring food and medicine, they brought guns and death.
 
They
took
that town.
 
Now it’s cordoned off and under a military blockade.
 
Our own people tricked into letting the Russians take over—I bet you we’ll hear it’s under “quarantine” next.”
 

“John…” said Denny, still not sure.

“From what I hear, the Germans are doing the same thing Boston—but the people are fighting back.
 
Civil disobedience, riots, that sort of thing.”
 
John shrugged.
 
“They’re doing what they can, I guess—they had all their guns taken away years ago.”

“Wait—South Carolina never jumped on the gun control bandwagon—“
 

John sighed.
 
“The HAMs I know said the Russians hit like a tornado in the middle of the night.
 
No warning—no one had a chance.
 
Lots of shooting and shouting and next thing you know, the towns under their control.
 
Then they started rounding up people they didn’t like—the ones with guns, the outspoken ones, the young men, that sort of thing.”

“Then what?”

John shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
No one does.
 
Shoot, even some of the HAMs were rounded up—big antenna’s sticking up in your yard are kind of a giveaway.
 
That’s why mine are hidden in the trees,” John said with a wink.
 
He sighed again.
 
“Anyway, everything I’ve heard suggests those people were marched off in the night and just…
vanished
.
 
I’m assuming their just being held at the local school or something…”

“So where’s the Army?
 
The Marines?
 
The Air force?
 
Why aren’t we fighting back?
 
I cannot believe Washington would sit back and let all this happen.”
 

John stared at his own glass of water.
 
“Believe it, Denny.
 
I think they’re in on it.
 
Ok, so maybe most of our military is spread around the world and has been since…well, really since 9/11, but
definitely
since The Pandemic and the war with Iran.
 
I get that.”

“Yes, but surely not all—“

“Oh no, not all of it.
 
We’ve got Reserves and the National Guard…but we’ve had a string of Presidents now that have kept cutting the military and Denton has been one of the worst of ‘em since Clinton.
 
There’s no need for such a big military machine, right?
 
Isn’t that what they’re always telling us?
 
H5N1 reduced the world’s population and made a lot of threats just disappear.”
 
John shook his head.
 
“
Now
look where their bleeding-heart policies have left us.
 
Protecting the whole world, and almost defenseless at home.
 
It’s
scary
, Denny. Real scary.”

“John Anderton, you stop getting so worked up over this,” ordered Ruth from the stove.
 
She had both hands on her matronly hips.
 
“You remember what the doctor said.
 
You need to keep your blood pressure down.
 
Besides,” she said, smoothing out her apron.
 
“The Lord will provide.
 
He always has, and always will.”

Denny took a long, slow drink.
 
He put the glass on the table carefully, to conceal his unsteady hands.
 
“John, do you think they’ll come here?
 
I mean, there’s nothing of value here…no military base, no large population center…we’re halfway up the mountains.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that Creekwater, South Carolina would have been all that important to the Russians, either but…” John spread his hands in a gesture of uncertainty.
 
“Nobody knows why they went there.
 
I just wanted you to know the truth before you headed for the hills, Denny.”
 
He looked over his shoulder.
 
“Ruth and I spend every night in the bunker now and only come up in the mornings.”

“Rightly so,” said Ruth, her back to the men.
 
“If nothing else, we may as well get our money’s worth out it.”

“Well, if what you say is true, then I think I may want to head up Old Leesburg Road a bit at first light.”

“Where will you go?
 
You just can’t go sit in the woods all day.”

Denny thought for a moment.
 
“Well,” he said with a sigh.
 
“I normally camp up on Morning Glory Peak ‘cause it’s so close to my house.
 
But, there’s that old ranger station up by U.P. Lake.
 
I think there’s a helicopter pad or something up there, too.
 
At any rate, there’s a fire observation tower—you know the one I’m talking about?
 
Off of Ridge Road?”

“Sure, sure.
 
I used to hike up along The Ridge with my son before we moved to town.”

“I’ll have a pretty good view of the town from there.
 
It’s good hunting ground, fresh water from the lake, and fishing, too.
 
If something does happen, I’ll be able to warn you.”

“That radio I gave you will have plenty of range for that.
 
The lake is only about two miles from town—granted, it’s almost straight up The Ridge.
 
We’ll hear you loud and clear.”

The lights in the kitchen flickered and went out, plunging the room into twilight darkness.
 
Ruth gasped and slammed the lid on her chili.

“It’s all right, just another power out—”

“John,
look!
” Ruth said, hands to her mouth, looking out the kitchen window toward Denny’s house.

Denny jumped up and in two strides was next to Ruth.
 
He saw the front half of his house in flames.
 
The light cast terrifying shadows that danced across the yard and into the kitchen.
 
He saw a figure dressed in black race away from the front of the house down the driveway.
 
Two more appeared on the other side of his house and joined the first.

Without a word, he turned and raced out the back door, pausing only to check around the corner of the Andertons’ house and make sure there was no one waiting there for him.

“Denny -” John said from the open door.
 

There was a crash from inside the Anderton house and Ruth shrieked.
 
“Get in the basement!
 
Go!
” Denny waved him back.