Outland (World-Lines Book 1) (14 page)

July 15              Bill

It had been a very good trip overall, Bill admitted to himself. He looked around the warehouse and smiled at the disorganized stacks of equipment and supplies.

They had cashed in all the gold. They’d had to come up with another cover story, and Bill was pretty sure that they would start to sound very lame very soon.

Now they were making good on Bill’s request. They had taken delivery of a couple of metal sheds. These were the largest they could find that could be assembled by a couple of people without special equipment, or so the ad said, anyway. They came with skylights to provide good light inside even without power.

With the cash influx, Bill had been able to finish the construction of the parts for the truck-sized gate. He added some detail to make the gate modular, so it could be disassembled into four segments when not in use. It didn’t have support plating, and was open on both sides.

Richard had also ordered the parts for more portal generators. With Bill’s natural paranoia and some recent instances of things going not as planned, it looked like Richard was beginning to appreciate Bill’s philosophy of backups for the backups.

Matt had already delivered a half-dozen new controller cards, one for the third portal generator and a bunch of spares. And Bill was building more gates.

At Monica’s insistence, they had gone out gun shopping. They now had an arsenal that would make a survivalist salivate. In fact, they’d been trolling survivalist websites to get ideas for weapons. Bill had taken to affecting a bad Arkansas accent.

“Now,” Bill said, “we need to start buying stuff.”

“And all that is what, exactly?” Matt replied, pointing to the piles of merchandise already in the warehouse.

“That’s just the beginning,” Bill said. “Look, chances are this will come to nothing. We’ll publish the portal information, some of us will get rich, some will get Nobels, everyone’s happy. The world gets a second planet to pollute up and overpopulate and fight over. Whoop-de-doo. But,” Bill held up a finger and put on his most portentous look. “If Erin turns out not to be the Cassandra we’ve all pegged her as—” Bill gave Erin a raised eyebrow and she stuck her tongue out at him in reply. “—then I for one want to have a TV and DVD player in Outland. Minimum.”

“Hah!” Monica waved her index finger at him with mock severity. “I can see you sitting in your LazyBoy watching the TV while a smilodon sniffs your empty snack bowl.” Everyone laughed at this image. “Speaking of which, you’re looking a little more trim, Sunshine. Been doing laps?”

Bill felt himself blush. “I think it’s all this nature stuff we’re doing. More exercise than I’ve gotten in the previous year.”

Richard jumped in. “Okay, Bill, admittedly your paranoia is beginning to rub off on everyone. But we’re not forming a colony, right?”

Bill shrugged.
Maybe, maybe not. Stuff happens, dude. All kinds of stuff.

July 16              Matt

Matt watched as Monica pushed the switch to send her target to the maximum distance. She adjusted her safety glasses and hearing protection, raised the Glock to ready position, aimed and began firing.

Richard looked over from the next lane, his eyes getting wider. He waited until she’d emptied her clip.

“Good God, woman. You’re enjoying this way too much. What happened to the shy, retiring wallflower that I met a few short weeks ago?”

Monica pressed the button to retrieve her target. “Yeah, that’s me. Shy and quiet. But it turns out that I like guns. Go figure.”

Erin, who had been in the opposite lane, leaned around the partition and commented, “I don’t see how it’s a surprise, Monica. What is surprising is that it took you so long to discover them.”

“Hey, contrary to popular clichés, not all Italian families are Family, if youz knowz what I meanz. My parents are
democrats
.”

Richard looked over to Matt. “Okay Matt, I’m done. You can have the lane. I’ll be outside at the rifle range. We’re going to try out the new AR-15s.”

“Ooooh!” Monica exclaimed. “Me too! Me too! I want to try out the new assault rifle!”

Matt looked at Richard and raised an eyebrow. “Girls and their toys…” he said sardonically.

Monica left, dragging Richard along behind her.

Like a squirrel towing a moose
, Matt thought, watching them walk away.
A very energetic squirrel…

He paused to look at Monica’s target, which she hadn’t bothered to take down. There were two very close-spaced groupings of bullet holes: one dead center on the chest, and one right in the groin.

A possibly rabid squirrel
.

***

Matt and Erin caught up with Richard and Monica at the outdoor range. Monica had set up with the AR-15 and was methodically squeezing off shots. Richard watched the target with binoculars. He turned to them. “She scares me. I’ve never seen anyone take to something like this. I like to think I’m a pretty good shot, but
shit!
” He inclined his head towards Monica to emphasize his point. “So where are Bill and Kevin?” he asked.

Matt chuckled. “Kevin did the bare minimum necessary to learn how to shoot and called it a lifetime. I don’t think he likes guns…

“Bill is still on the gun range. He takes a few shots, does a
Dirty Harry
quote, takes a few shots… The guy is seriously deranged.”

“He just needs a girlfriend,” Monica said. She safetied the rifle, swapped clips, and handed it to Richard. “You’re up, sunshine. Do try to hit the target this time, hmm?” She smiled to take the sting out of the comment.

Richard rolled his eyes and moved into position.

“I’ll want to go over our inventory next time we’re back at the warehouse,” Monica said to Matt and Erin. “We kind of neglected the handgun factor when we did our first round of purchases. We definitely need something for short-range work.”

“First round?” Matt exclaimed. “What are you ramping up for? A war?”

“Well, first… Oh God, I’m starting to sound like Kevin.” They all laughed, and Monica continued, “You have to remember that my introduction to this little escapade was a smilodon trying to eat me. I’m a little sensitive about that. And we’re going to be going, probably many times, into an environment that hasn’t been thinned out by the scourge known as humanity. There’s a full-on ecosystem on the other side, and it’s got a lot of apex predators, and a lot of prey animals that have learned how to fight back. One thing that Bill is right about is that movie characters always go in underprepared and overconfident. I intend to go in overprepared, armed to the teeth, and ready to shoot anything that even
looks
at me funny.”

Erin smiled. “Well, you ain’t wrong…” They laughed at Richard’s favorite line. Richard gritted his teeth and took another shot.

July 17              Charles

Charles and Bluto sat in the SUV, watching the building. It had taken them very little time to trace the names and addresses. Turned out these eggheads really were that naïve. Following the twerps had been easy; they were completely oblivious. He’d determined that they were renting warehouse space in the building across the street, one of those businesses that rented out short-term or long-term storage and warehouse units. The larger units had a rollup delivery door to the outside as well as the inside entrance.

Right now, several of them were in there. Charles, a veteran of this kind of surveillance, had kept careful track of how many went in and how many came out. There was just the tall guy and his hot girlfriend left right now. Once they were gone, it would be time for a look around.

Charles didn’t have to wait long. The two came out and walked to a nearby vehicle. Charles waited until they had driven out of sight, then nudged Bluto. They got out of the SUV, locked it, and walked across to the building. Entering the tenant-only
area presented no problem— Charles could pick a standard door lock without breaking stride. They moved down the hall to the proper door.

The door was locked with a common
retail padlock.
Easy breazy,
thought Charles, and pulled out his tools again. It was a matter of seconds to open the lock, and
voila!
They were in.

Charles and Bluto looked around. Charles was not sure what he had expected, but this wasn’t it. There was a kitchen area, with a fridge, microwave, kettle, toaster, big-ass coffee maker, and some empty beer bottles and pizza boxes. On the warehouse floor, he could see a bewildering array of very scientific-looking equipment, some unidentified crates, and several pallets of what looked like supplies: water, food, camping equipment, tools, and the kits for those big metal sheds that you buy and put up yourself. Pretty good quality too. Real steel, not the tinny ones that would blow over in the first stiff breeze.

What the hell? Are they making the gold?
Charles wandered around, lost in thought.

Bluto, meanwhile, was checking out the kitchen. After considering the situation, Charles turned to him and said, “Come on, Bluto. This makes no sense. We’re going to have to talk to Andy. Some
squeezing
may be involved, after all.”

Bluto licked his fingers to get the last of the tomato sauce from the piece of pizza, wiped them on his pants, and smiled at the mention of
squeezing.

More activity from Yellowstone. USGS spokespersons report that the lava flow from the recent fissures has increased. After two instances of hydrothermal explosions, representatives stress that these are small events and do not provide any indication of future activity. Nevertheless, in consideration of public safety, the park has now been closed. We have reports of a steady exodus of residents from the nearby towns of West Yellowstone, Gardiner, and Cooke City.

---

Al Jazeera has broadcast a video rant from a senior Al Qaeda  representative in which he claims that the activity in Yellowstone is a warning from Allah that the West should give up their materialist ways and embrace Islam. He further warns that if the USA doesn’t obey immediately, they will be obliterated. He then calls on all “faithful Muslims” to be prepared for the great battle.

July 17              Omni

Andy sat back and thought a moment. “So these kids have a warehouse full of junk, stuff that looks like they’ve been on an on-line buying spree. Which means lots of money, and recent money at that.

“Lem called me again today,” he continued, looking over at Charles. “He’s been talking to a few people he knows in the business—his business, that is.” Andy chuckled at his own joke. “And it seems all of them can remember a couple of instances of kids coming in with large amounts of raw gold and a familiar lame story. Lem has suggested there could be as much as a million dollars’ worth involved, depending on how many places they visited.”

“We don’t know for sure they’re doing something illegal,” Charles pointed out.

“True,” Andy replied. “But they are doing something secret. And secrecy is always worth something. We simply need to figure out how much it’s worth to them. And of course whether we threaten to spill their secret or share it with them.” Andy smiled. Even Bluto understood what
share
meant in this context.

“Do you think they could actually be making gold?” Charles asked Andy.

“No, not really. I’m no squint, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

Andy was actually better educated than he let on. He had gone through a couple of years of university before deciding that there were better ways to make a living.

He thought for a moment before continuing. “I think a soft touch is still in order. These are kids from the kind of families that the cops listen to when they scream for help. We want to be sure we have some good leverage before moving in. It would be nice to have enough of a nest-egg to be able to separate ourselves from the more high-risk components of our portfolio.”

Bluto and Charles both nodded. Old-school or not, crime was a dangerous and increasingly young person’s game. And pressure from other gangs on their drug trafficking business was increasing, which had negatively affected profits. Andy did not like negatively affected profits.

July 18

Bill

On-line shopping is one of the truly
perfect activities,
Bill shook his head in amused disbelief.
Especially
when you don’t have to worry about money.

He sat in a deck chair in the shade outside the warehouse door, with a laptop in front of him, a small side-table with a beer on it, and a cooler below that with additional supplies.

It had been a busy morning. Bill had discovered earlier, to no one’s surprise, that survivalists had been thinking about the whole return-to-the-wild thing for a long time. Granted their focus wasn’t
quite
the same; nevertheless the information on the websites about weapons, first aid, supplies, and living off the land was pretty damned encyclopedic. All you had to do was ignore the occasional conspiracy rant. He was using them as a reference, and was working his way through the list of possible purchases.

Bill tried to give his imagination free rein. What would Colonel O’Neill need? What would Dr. Jackson need? What weird kind of jams might they find themselves in? What piece of equipment would they wish they had brought? Bill considered himself a connoisseur of ironic plot twists and seemingly insoluble cliffhangers, and he was determined to out-think God on this one.

ATVs. Dirt bikes? Sure, who wants to hoof it all day? For that matter, ultralights. I wonder if we need to worry about snow? Solar cells…

And of course, one mustn’t forget the basic necessities of life. Like coffee
.
A coffeemaker that size needs a comparable supply to do it justice.
Bill smiled at this thought.

He was so wrapped up in his internal dialog that he didn’t notice the two large men standing in the shade a hundred feet or so away, watching him.

“He seems to be just web surfing. All day,” Charles said.

“Nice work if you can get it,” Bluto commented.

They continued the seemingly pointless surveillance for the rest of the afternoon.

***

Erin

“Now
this
is what I’m talking about!” Monica had stopped in front of a shoe display and was examining the featured items.

Once they had cashed in the gold, Richard had distributed the dividend to the group. Erin and Monica declared a Field Trip, which was their code phrase for a shopping expedition. Monica voiced an urge to visit Nordstrom, so they drove to Kansas City with Intent to Shop.

Now they were at their destination, determined to go through the entire wad of cash. Monica was in the shoe department, staring at some
Jimmy Choos
with lust.

“Not very practical for hiking through Pleistocene forest,” Erin commented. “Or for running from smilodons.”

“Hah! My running days are over. Some cat comes at me, I’ll blow it away, and I’ll do it in
style
!” Monica replied with a flourish.

“Um, yeah, but we may need to make another trip back to the hotel to drop off packages,” Erin said. “My arms are getting sore.”

“Spoils of war, buttercup. It’s a
good
pain.

“Next,” Monica continued, “handbags!” The two made their way to the accessories department, hampered by the bags they already carried.

Neither noticed a large, well-dressed man who had been staying just at the edge of view for most of their shopping spree.

***

Later, at the hotel room, the girls unwrapped everything. Monica threatened to pile every single purchase on the bed and swim in it, which made Erin collapse in laughter. They spent a few hours trying everything on, even the items they had already tried on at the store. After that, they decided to break for dinner.

“Wearing my Manolos like Carey Bradshaw.
Hello, lover!
” Monica said, laughing.

“You’re strange. Just. Strange.” Erin replied, shaking her head.