Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series) (27 page)

Grey looked thoughtfully at the map, and Mayor Westland said, “What about the riders coming from Vegas?  They can come from the other direction—” he began, but Grey shook his head and interrupted.

“They won’t be here in enough time to cross to the Arizona side before The Front arrives.  We need another way to get around behind them as they close in.”

The three of us stood bent over the map, thinking silently.  The sun was falling fast toward the horizon, spilling marmalade light through the window and onto Rissi, who rested her chin on the arm of her chair and watched us intently.

I heard a drawer open and close, and the mayor crossed the room to Rissi.  He handed her a red lollipop.  “Every little girl or boy who visits the Mayor’s Office should get a lollipop.”

The clear plastic covering the candy crinkled loudly in the silence as she took it.  I could tell she didn’t like being called a “little girl.”

“Thank you, Mayor Westland,” she said politely, her voice stiff.  She rested her chin on the arm of the chair once more when the mayor rejoined us at the map.

An idea began to form in my mind.  Painter’s Cove was practically invisible from Lake Mead’s main body of water, even in daylight.  At nighttime, it would look like one uninterrupted cliff face.

“Mayor Westland, are any of the boats in the Marina sailboats?” I asked.

He looked confused for a moment, but Grey’s eyes lit up, and I could see the same idea occurring to him.  “Yes, several of them.”

“The sailboats will be completely silent.  They can hide in Painter’s Cove, and as The Front passes in their boats, we can close in from behind, maybe even take out a few of their boats.  They might not even realize their losses until they land at the dam.”

“And you can paint them black!” Rissi all but shouted.  When we all stopped and stared at her, she jumped up.  “The boats and the sails should be painted black, so they’ll be invisible!  There’s lots of paint at school.  We were going to do a big black backdrop for the school play.  We can use it on the boats instead.”

Mayor Westland nodded.  “It’s a brilliant idea.”  He looked at the orange light sliding across the floor and added, “Though, we don’t have much time to do it.”

“We just need to organize everyone,” I said.

The mayor nodded.  “In my last communiqué with Mr. Harmond, I requested complete radio silence to keep the riders coming from Vegas off The Front’s radar.  We still need a way to signal their charge.”

“What about the fireworks that were never used for the dance the other night?” I asked.  “Someone with a bird’s eye view of the area could orchestrate the whole thing.  They can position themselves on a high point in the hills between Hoover and the dam.  They’ll be able to see The Front when they arrive at the dam, and when they head down 93.  If too many get through the rock slide, we can set off the fireworks, signaling the Vegas riders and the Hoover Guard.”

The mayor nodded enthusiastically.  His hands had stopped shaking, and he drew on the map with a red marker, indicating our plan.  “I’ll alert the guard at the East Tower.  They’ll have a better view of the reservoir than whoever is at the top of the hill, and they can put a light in the window when they see The Front’s boats coming.”

“One if by land, and two if by sea?” I asked, thinking of Paul Revere.

The mayor nodded, smiling.  “We believe they’re coming by sea, but just in case we’re wrong, that’s a wonderful idea.”

“We have a problem,” Grey said, slowly.  He pointed at a hairpin turn on Highway 93.  At the crux of the bend, a narrow road formed an offshoot heading toward the bypass bridge that stretched across Black Canyon.

“This is the deepest part of the pass and the most ideal place for us to bring the mountain down on top of them, but they have an escape route automatically built in.”

“Could we barricade it, somehow?” I asked.  “Blow up that part of the canyon so they can’t pass through to the bypass bridge?”

“The hills level out right there at the bridge, so there’s not much of a canyon to cave in,” the mayor said.  Then, he gave the map a hard look and shook his head helplessly.  “We’ll have to wire the bridge to blow if they try to retreat that way.  It’s the only thing we have time for.”

“Blow up the bypass bridge?”  I repeated, aghast.  “While they’re running away?”   The image of Arnett materialized in my memory suddenly.  Only this morning, he tried to talk Grey and I into helping him escape The Front.  He didn’t want to be there.  But he was trapped in service to Karl, and he’d ended up dead.  I wondered how many other people like Arnett were in Karl’s army and heading toward us now.

The mayor shook his head.  “The Front doesn’t run away.  They regroup and come back.  They
always
come back.  Now is not the time to be merciful, Miss Winters.  Because The Front won’t be merciful to us.”

Grey nodded slowly and looked at me with determination.  “I know you see the possibility of good in people, especially the ones who have been taken advantage of, like those serving Karl, but tonight it’s going to come down to us or them.  And I’m going to see to it that it’s us who see tomorrow’s dawn.”

I stared at him a moment, knowing what they were saying was true.  I glanced at Rissi, who listened with rapt attention.  I was kidding myself if I thought I wouldn’t do anything to keep her safe.  I looked back at Grey and nodded.

“You’re right.  We’re not the aggressors here.  We’re protecting our home.  Blow the bridge.”

“I know a couple electricians who work at the plant,” the mayor said.  “They’ll know how to wire the bridge and the mountain pass with the C4 you brought from the base.  I’ll get them on it and make sure they’re discreet about it.”

“If blowing the bridge becomes necessary, we’ll send up a second rocket to signal the detonation,” Grey said.

The mayor nodded.

“We still have the problem of Front infiltrators,” Grey reminded.  “We have no way of knowing who we can trust.  Someone could easily tip off Karl that we’re ready for them.”

“I’ve given Kyle over in communications specific instructions to monitor all outgoing frequencies,” Mayor Westland continued.  “If an infiltrator here tries to radio a warning, Kyle’ll jam the frequency, and we can arrest the saboteur.”

“Are you sure Kyle can be trusted?” I asked the mayor.

“I believe so, but there’s no way to be sure.”

I thought about the people who had become my friends in Hoover.  Tess, Brody from the neighborhood stable, Royal and Manny from the General Store, and the other friends I’d made at the gardens.  They couldn’t be part of The Front.  Could they?  But there had to be more infiltrators if Josh had been letting them in.  There was no telling who could be trusted and who couldn’t.

“The box of fireworks is in the Marina Office, down near the docks.  I’ll call everyone to the Rec Hall to split into two groups.  One group will stay here in town and prepare for battle.  The ones too young or too old to fight can go to the western range of houses on the edge of town, where they’ll hopefully be out of harm’s way.  Though if the battle comes into town, they’ll have to go up into the hills west of town and hope no one follows them...” the mayor’s voice trailed off.  I couldn’t help but fear what might happen to Rissi and the rest of the people in Hoover if The Front got into town.

“I want you with me,” Grey said to me.  “We can take the fireworks into the hills.”

I nodded.  Having a bird’s eye view of the battle was a comfort to me.  I’d be able to see what was going on everywhere from up there.

“You should go on.  Get set up at your eagle’s nest,” Mayor Westland said, handing us each a pair of binoculars.

Grey nodded and shook the mayor’s hand.

“Are you sure you don’t mind possibly losing the bypass bridge, Mayor?” I asked.

He waved a hand.  “That bridge is an eyesore anyway.  I won’t mind having Black Canyon back to the way it was when I was a kid.”

“Well, now I don’t feel so bad,” I admitted.

“Come on, let’s go get those fireworks,” Grey said, then motioned to Rissi, who had fallen asleep in the armchair.  “Then we’ll decide what to do with her.”

I bent down and picked her up.  Rissi had grown like a weed over the past few months, sprouting long arms and legs that now knocked against my knees as we left the Mayor’s Office.  I shifted her weight and felt her legs instinctively curl around my waist.  I glanced down at her, but she was still asleep.

Grey led the way to the Marina, carrying our supplies, and I followed with Rissi.  The arms of the dock reached out into the deep waters of Lake Mead, and the waiting boats were clustered around the wooden walkway, patiently bobbing in the water.  I stared at the distant shore miles away, wondering if Karl and The Front were lurking there, waiting for the cover of darkness.

We found the Marina Office with no problem.  It was a small shed where the dock met the beach.

“Is she still asleep?” he whispered, as he closed the door behind us.  I looked down at Rissi.  Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was slow and soft.  Her mouth was parted slightly, showing the tips of her white teeth.

I nodded.  “Where can we put her?  It’s not safe enough to keep her anywhere nearby.  And we can’t keep her with us.”

“We’ll take her back to Vegas,” Grey said.  I stared at him in surprise.

“Do you mean...?” I began.

Grey nodded and glanced at his watch.  “Connie should have taken her pain medicine by now, so hopefully she’ll be knocked out for a little while and won’t see anything.  Maybe when Rissi wakes up, she’ll think this whole thing was a dream.”

It could work, I thought, looking down at the not-so-little girl asleep in my arms.  She wouldn’t have any idea how she got back, and it would appear to everyone else she had never left.  And no one would believe her if she said she’d been to Hoover and back tonight.

“Okay, let’s do it,” I said.

“Why don’t you give her to me,” he whispered, holding his arms out.  “I’ll be gone fifteen, twenty seconds.”

I shook my head.  “She might wake up if we jostle her.  I’m coming with you.”

“Okay, but we have to be quick.”  He moved behind me and wrapped his arms around both of us.

“Ready?” he asked, pulling me tighter to his chest.

“Yes,” I said, and thought I heard a muffled gasp from Rissi as I closed my eyes.  The musty air and the sound of water slapping against the dock was replaced with a sterile smell and the squeak of someone’s shoes on linoleum as they passed outside in the hallway.

I looked down at Rissi in the semi-darkness, but her eyes were still closed.  She must have just sighed in her sleep again.

Grey listened for a moment at the door, then whispered, “Let’s go.”  He silently opened the door, and we slipped into the hallway.  We were close to the Connie’s room, and we didn’t meet anyone in the hallway.

She was still asleep when we pushed the door open.  I hurried to arrange Rissi comfortably in the chair next to Connie’s bed.  I wished we could stay here and pretend The Front wasn’t about to attack Hoover.  How nice would it be to slowly return to Hoover once Connie was able to travel?  Especially now that Grey and I had repaired our relationship.  Hoover might be a more joyful place for me.

Grey touched my arm and motioned that we should leave.  I sighed and bent, gently kissing the top of Rissi’s head.  She stirred, eyelids fluttering, and I froze, willing her back to sleep.

Grey pulled me into the hallway, and we hurried back to the empty room he’d projected us to.  He closed the door behind us, and in the dark, pulled me close against him.

When we arrived back at the Marina Office, I glanced out the window at the Rec Hall.  It was a natural place for the town to gather, so I wasn’t surprised to see people already waiting there, anxious for news.  Mayor Westland was instructing the group.

“Bingo,” I heard Grey say behind me.  I turned around as he uncovered the box of fireworks and started piling them into a couple backpacks.

“Do you know how to set off fireworks?” I asked cautiously.  “It would be a shame to be injured in a war, not by the enemy, but by a stray Roman candle.”

Grey raised an eyebrow at me.  “Spoken like a true soldier,” he said.  “We’ll be fine.  I helped wire the sinkhole back at the Underground, remember?”

The biggest room at the Underground hideout had been the storeroom and medical area, where Grey and Lydia worked.  The roof had been wired to blow open an escape route to the street, in case The Front found the hideout.  Which they had.

“Should we project up there, or find some horses and ride?”  I hated that Snicket had been left in Las Vegas.  It would have been a comfort to have her here.  But I could go back for her after all of this was over.

“Let’s ride.  I doubt anyone would notice if we projected, but I want to be careful just in case.”

We found a box of matches in a desk and grabbed a couple flashlights off the shelf.  Just then, a voice in the doorway startled us.

“I’m sorry,” Tess exclaimed, as we both jumped up and spun around.  “Everyone’s on pins and needles tonight.  I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I ran to hug her, and she caught me in her arms.  Her hair smelled like earth and sunshine.  I was so happy to see her.

“I can’t stay.  I’m catching a ride to Painter’s Cove with Royal and Manny.  We’re going to paint the boats over there, to save time.  There were such terrible rumors going around about what was happening in Vegas.  Then the water main broke, and all hell seems to be breaking loose along with it.”  She looked at me and smoothed my hair.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I assured her, then looked at Grey, who was watching us.  “We’re fine.”

Tess looked from Grey to me and gave me a sly smile.  I quickly pulled her outside before she could embarrass me.

“So, collectively, you’re fine,” Tess said, grinning.

“Yes, collectively.”  I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at my mouth.

“That makes me happy.  I just love a good romance,” she said softly and breathed in deeply, looking out over Lake Mead.  It was steadily growing darker, the blue hues seeping from the lake’s depths, coloring the sky and surrounding hills.  The sailboats were starting to silently make their way around the peninsula to Painter’s Cove.