Gone (14 page)

Ore grunted, shifted the bat from right hand to left, and stuck out his thick paw. Caine grabbed it with both his hands and solemnly looked Ore in the eye as they shook hands.

"Smooth " Astrid said under her breath.

Still holding Ore's hand in his. Caine challenged, "Now, who else speaks for Perdido Beach?*

Bouncing Bette said."Sam Temple here went into a burning building to rescue a little girl He can speak for me, anyway"

There was a murmur of agreement.

"Yeah, Sam is a hero for real"a voice said,

"He could have died " another voice seconded.

"Yeah, SanVs the guy*

Caine's smile came and disappeared so quickly, Sam wasn't sure it had happened. For that millisecond it was a look of triumph. Caine walked straight up to Sam, open and forthright, hand extended.

"There are probably better people than me," Sam said, backing away.

But Caine grabbed his elbow and maneuvered him into a handshake. "Sam. is il? It sounds like you truly are a hero. Are you related to our school nurse, Connie Temple?" "She's my mother"

Tm not surprised that she would have a brave son" Caine said with deep feeling."She's a very good woman. I see you're humble as well as brave, Sam, but I . . . Pm asking for your help. I need your help"

With the mention of his mother, everything fell into place. Caine. "C" What were the odds that "C" was some other kid from Coates?

Sooner or later, C or one of the others will do something serious. Someone will get hurt, fust like S with T.

"Okay" Sam said*"If that's what people want"

A few other names were mentioned, and Sam halfheartedly, but loyally, named Quinn.

Caine's eyes flickered from Sam to Quinn, and for just a millisecond there Hashed a cynical, knowing look. But it was gone in a heartbeat, replaced by Caine's practiced expression of humility and resolve.

"Then let's go in together," Caine said. He turned and marched purposefully up the church steps. The rest of the chosen fell in behind him.

One of the Coates kids, a da"k-eyed, very beautiful girl, waylaid Sam and held out her hand. Sam took it.

"Pm Diana," she said, not letting his hand go. "Diana

Ladris*

"Sam Temple"

Her midnight eyes met his and he wanted to look away, feeling awkward, but somehow cotld not.

"Ah," she said, as if someone had told her something fascinating. Then she let him go and smirked. "Well, well. I guess we*d better go in. We don't want to leave Fearless Leader without followers"

It was a Catholic church, built a hundred years earlier by the rich man who had owned the cannery that now lay rusting and abandoned, a tin-plated eyesore by the marina.

With soaring arches, half a dozen statues of saints, and wonderful well-worn wooden pews, the church was much grander than the small town of Perdido Beach probably deserved. Of the six tall, peaked windows, three retained their original stained-glass representations of jesus in various parables. The other three had been lost over time to vandals or weather or earthquakes and had been replaced with cheaper, abstract-patterned stained glass.

When Astrid entered the church she dipped to one knee and made the sign of the cross while looking up at the intim-idatingly large crucifix above the altar.

"Is this where you go to church?" Sam asked in a whisper.

"Yes. You?" He shook his head. It was Sam's first time inside. His mother was a nonobservant Jew, no one spoke about what his father was, and Sam himself had only a vague interest in religion. The church made him teel small and definitely out of place.

Caine had moved confidently toward the altar. The altar itself was not very grand, just a pale marble rectangle up three maroon-carpeted steps. Caine did not go to the old-fashioned raised pulpit, but stood on the second of the three steps.

In all. fifteen kids were there, including Sam Temple. Quinn.Astrid and Little Pete,Albert Hillsborough,and Mary Terrafino; Elwood Booker, the best ninth-grade athlete, and his girlfriend, Dahra Baidoo; Ore, whose real name was rumored to be Charles Merrirnan; Howard Bassem; and Cookie, whose real name was Tony Cilder.

From Coates Academy, in addition to Caine Soren, there was Drake Merwin, a smiling, playful, mean-eyed kid with shaggy, sandy-colored hair; Diana Ladris; and a lost-looking fifth grader with big glasses and a blond bed-head introduced by Caine as Computer Jack.

All of the Perdido Beach kids sat in pews, with Ore and his crew sprawling across the front pew. Computer Jack sat down as far to one side as he could. Drake Merwin stood smirking, arms across his chest, on Caire's left, and Diana Ladris watched the crowd from Caine's right.

It was again brought home to Sam that the Coates kids had rehearsed everything about this morning, from the staged motorcade—which must Dave taken hours of driving practice to master—to this presentation. They must have started planning and practicing right after the FAYZ came.

That was a troubling thought.

After all the introductions were done, Caine moved briskly to explain his plan.

"We need to work together" he announced. "I think we should organize so that things aren't destroyed, and problems can be handled. I think our goal should be to maintain. So that once the barrier comes down, and once the disappeared people come back, they will find that we've done a pretty darn good job of keeping things together."

"The Captain is already maintaining" Howard said.

"He's obviously done an excellent job," Caine allowed, walking down the steps and towarc Ore as he spoke. "But it's a burden. Why should Captain Ore have to do all the work? I think we need a system, and I think we need a plan. Captain Ore
i
he addressed the thug directly; "I'm sure you don't want to have to allocate food and care for the sick and keep the day care functioning, and read all the things you'd have to read, and write all the things you'd have lo write, in order to establish a system here in Perdido Beach.**

Astrid whispered,"He's guessed that Ore is nearly illiterate."

Ore glanced at Howard, who seemed mesmerized by Caine. Ore shrugged. As Astrid said, the mention of reading and writing made him uncomfortable.

"Exactly," Caine said as though Ore's shrug signified agreement. He returned to center stage and addressed the entire group. "We seem to have a reliable source of electricity. But communication is down. My friend Computer Jack thinks we can get the cell phones up and running" There was an excited murmur, and Caine raised his hands. "I don't mean that we'll be able to call anyone outside of... what was Howard's brilliant term? The FAYZ? But we would at least be able to communicate among ourselves"

Eyes swiveled lo Computer Jack, who gulped and bobbed his head yes and pushed his glasses up and blushed.

"It will take time, but together we can do it "Caine said. He emphasized his certainty by smacking his closed right fist into his left palm. "In addition to a sheriff to sort of make sure the rules are being followed, a job that I think Drake Merwin is qualified to do since his father is a Highway Patrol lieutenant, we'll need a fire chief to handle emergencies, and I nominate Sam Temple. Based on what people said earlier about his brave action in that fire, I think he's an obvious choice, don't you?"

There were nodded heads and murmurs of agreement.

"He*s co-opting you" Astrid whispered. "He knows you're his competition"

"You don't trust him " Sam whispered back. It was not a question.

"He'sa manipulator," Astrid said."Doesn't mean he's bad-He may be okay"

Mary said, "Sam saved the hardware store and the day care. And he almost saved that little girl. Speaking of which, someone needs to bury her"

"Exactly," Caine said. "God willing, we won't have to face that need again, but someone has to bury the dead. ]ust as someone needs to help people who get sick or hurt. And someone needs to take care of the little children."

Dahra Baidoo spoke up and said, "Mary has totally been taking care of the prees—I mean, preschoolers," she explained. "Her and her brother, John"

"Bui we need help" Mary said quickly "We're not getting any sleep. We're out of diapers and food and"—she sighed— "everything. John and I know the kids now, and we can keep running things, but we need help. We need a lot of help"

Caine seemed to mist up, almost as if he might shed a tear He walked quickly to Mary, drew her to her feet, and put his arm around her. "What a noble person you are, Mary You and your brother will be given the power to draft.... How many people will it take to care for the prees?"

Mary calculated in her head. "The two of us and four others, maybe," she said. Then, gaining confidence, she said, "Actually* we need tour in the morning and four in the afternoon and four at night. And we need diapers and formula. And we need to be able to ask people to get us stuff, like food."

Caine nodded. "The young ones are our greatest responsibility Mary and John, you have absolute authority to draft whatever people you need, and demand whatever supplies you need. If anyone argues, Drake and his people, including Captain Ore, will make sure you git what you need "

Mary looked overwhelmed and grateful.

Howard did not.

"Say what, now? I let it go by before, but are you saying Ore works for this guy?" He jerked a thumb at Drake, who just smiled like a shark. "We don't work for anyone. Captain Ore doesn't work for anyone, or under anyone, or follow anyone's orders"

Sam saw a coldly furious expression appear on Caine's handsome face, then disappear as swiftly as it had come.

Ore musl have seen il too> because he siood up, and Cookie along with him. Both clutched bats. Drake, still smiling, stepped between them and Caine. A fight was coming, sudden as a tornado-

Diana Ladris, oddly, was eyeing Sam closely, as if unconcerned by Ore.

Caine sighed, raised his bancs, and used both palms to smooth back his hair.

There came a rumble, up through the floor and the pews, A small earthquake, minor, nothing that Sam, like most Calitbrnians, hadn't felt before.

Everyone jumped to their feet, everyone knew what you did in an earthquake.

But then came a rending sound, steel and wood twisting, and the crucifix separated from the wall. It ripped free of ihe bolts holding it in place, like an invisible giant had yanked it away.

No one moved.

A shower of plaster and pebbles fell on the altar.

The crucifix toppled forward. It fell like a chainsawed tree.

As it fell, Caine dropped his hands to his sides. His face was grim, hard, and angry.

The crucifix, at least a dozen feet tall, slammed with shocking force down onto the front-row pew. The impact was as loud and sudden as a car wreck,

Ore and Howard jumped aside. Cookie was too slow. The horizontal bar of the cross caught his right shoulder.

He was on the ground and a red stain was spreading.

It all happened in the space of a few heartbeats. So fast that the kids who'd leaped to their feet didn't have the chance to bolt.

"Help me, help me!" Cookie cried.

He lay bellowing on the floor Blood was seeping through the fabric of his T-shirt. It pooled on the tile floor

Elwood shoved the cross off him, and Cookie screamed,

Caine had not moved. Drake Merwin kept his cold gaze on Ore, his arms still crossed, seemingly indifferent.

Diana Ladris maintained her focus on Sam. The knowing smirk on her face didn't waver.

Astrid grabbed Sam's arm and whispered, "Let*s get out of here. We have to talk."

Diana saw that as well.

"Ahhh, ahhhh, help me, oh man, I'm hurt!" Cookie cried. Ore and Howard made no move to help their fallen comrade.

Caine, perfectly calm, said, "This is terrible. Does anyone know first aid? Sam? Your mother was a nurse"

Little Fete, who had sat silent and still as a stone, began to rock faster and faster. His hands flapped as if he were warding off an attack of bees.

"I have to get him out of here, he's spiraling "Astrid said, and bundled Little Pete away."Window seat, Petey, window seat"

"I'm not a nurse," Sam blurted. *I don't know ..
V

It was Dahra Baidoo who broke from her stunned trance to kneel beside the thrashing, bellowing Cookie, "i know some first aid. Elwood, help me "

"I guess we have our new nurse" Caine said, sounding no more agitated or concerned than the school principal announcing a name for the honcr roll.

Diana turned away, drifted past Caine, and whispered something in his ear. Caine's dark eyes swept across the shocked kids, seeming to size them up in turn. He formed a bare smile, and nodded imperceptibly to Diana.

"This meeting is adjourned till we can help our wounded friend ... what is his name? Cooxie?"

Cookie's voice was even mote urgent, demanding help, edging toward hysteria."it really hurts, it really hurts bad, oh, God."

Caine led Drake and Diana down the aisle, past Sam, following Astrid and Little Pete from the church.

Drake paused halfway, turned back, and spoke for the first time. In an amused voice he said, "Oh, urn, Captain Ore? Have your people—the ones who aren't injured—line up outside. We'll work out your.  urn, duties."

With a grin that was almost a snarl, Drake added a cheerful, "Later."

251 HOURS, 32 MINUTES

JACK WAS SLOW to realize that he should follow Caine and the rest out of the church. He jumped up too suddenly and banged into the pew, making a noise that drew the attention of the quiet boy Caine had called a hero. "Sorry" Jack said,

Jack walked quickly outside. At first he couldn't see any of the other Coates kids. A lot of people were outside the church, milling around, talking about what had happened inside. Cookie's cries of pain were only slightly muffled.

Jack spotted the tall blond girl he'd seen inside, and her little brother.

"Excuse me, do you know where Caine and everybody went?"

The girl, he didn't remember her name, looked him in the eye. "He's in the town hall. Where else would our new leader be?"

Jack often missed nuance when people talked. But he didn't miss her cold sarcasm.