Solaris Mortem: The New Patriots (13 page)

Austin shuffled from foot to foot and looked at his boots as if the words were written on the toe. “Well, there’s a few more people now…and they’re angry. They think all of this, our camp and what-not, is like…bad or something. It was mostly just talking about why they’re worried and stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got that. What they’re going to do about it is what concerns me,” Rick said.

“I guess I don’t know. I mean, they haven’t really got that far, you know?”

Rick flexed his jaw, and Austin heard the grating of teeth. “I’ll tell you what: for right now, what I want you to do is make me a list. Everyone who attends, any details you can give me. What they do, where they live, what they say…. It could all be important. Can you do that?”

“Well…sure. I can do that.”

“Good. Get it done and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

T
wo nights later, Duncan brought the gavel down, thus starting the third meeting of the growing Anti-Movement.

“Welcome, everyone. It’s nice to see all of you again and some new faces in the crowd as well.” Their numbers had grown to fifty, maybe sixty people. “Why don’t we start with introductions again as we have some new members,” Duncan said. “My name is Duncan Whyte, and I guess you could say, that I’m the founder of our little group here. I was born and raised right here, in the Pacific Northwest and I was active in a citizen’s militia group before everything...happened.”

Duncan nodded toward Terry, indicating he should go next. Terry obliged, and it continued around the room, burning up the next twenty-five minutes or so.

Terry had been hoping to see more action tonight, something beyond the usual idle chitter-chatter. He gave Duncan a “look” trying his best to convey his sense of urgency. Duncan gave one back with a nod. It was understood.

After all had gone and given their brief biographies, Duncan took center stage again.

“I’ve been talking with some of you since we began this thing, and there’s a growing consensus, that we—need to start moving things along. I can’t disagree with that. So—tonight, we’re going to form two committees.” People nodded their heads, and a few murmurs of approval were heard as well. “To start with,” Duncan said, “we need a preparation committee. This group would be in charge of…just what it sounds like…food, water, weaponry, first aid supplies, a vehicle. The physical things we’ll need to survive when we leave here.

“That brings me to our second committee: the planning committee. They’re not just going to let us walk on out of here, so we need a plan, and a good one. We need a way to get our chips out,” he said as he tapped on his forehead. “Or, we need a way to crash the system, even if it’s only temporarily, so we can get out of here with our heads still firmly anchored to our necks. Sound good?” This was met with hushed applause and smiles. Keeping the noise down was important.

“I’ve asked Terry to head up one of the committees, and I will head up the other. Unless, there’re any objections….” He waited for a moment, scanning the room. “If not, then that is the way I’d like to move forward.”

“Terry, have you had a chance to give it some thought on which group you would like to manage?”

Terry stepped toward Duncan and cleared his throat. He hated public speaking but figured he had better get more comfortable with it…starting now.

“Yes, thanks, Duncan. I have. If it works for you, then I would like to be on the planning committee.” He couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘be in charge of the planning committee.’ Somehow, it sounded too pretentious, in his ears, anyhow.

“That works perfectly for me,” Duncan said. “Next order of business, let’s get these committees populated. If you feel strongly that you would be better suited for one group or the other, then please speak up now.”

Hands went up, and the groups were formed. Terry, Vince, Otis, and others formed the planning committee, while Duncan, Austin, and others made up the preparation committee. Things were starting to gel.
Starting to, anyway.

Later on, Austin and Rick met again in the alley. Austin sang like a canary.

“Sir? Is now a good time?” Rick asked, walking into Charles’s office the next morning.

“Sure, grab a seat,” Charles said, still busy scribbling notes on his yellow pad of paper. Rick closed the door behind him and sat down. “What’s on your mind, Rick?”

Rick put his hands behind his head, leaned back and stretched before laying both hands down hard on the desk between them. “These anti-movement people are becoming a problem, Sir.”

Charles put down his pen and looked up to Rick. “Oh? And how is that?”

Charles’s flippant nature infuriated Rick immediately. Rick laughed and said, “How is that? Well…where do I begin? What they’re doing, what they’re talking about in those meetings is treason, and—“

“Let me stop you right there, Rick. I’m not real concerned about a few pissants talking, okay? So, they’re unhappy—so what?”

“So what?” Rick couldn’t believe his ears.
What the fuck do you mean, ‘so what?’
“Sir, our orders are zero-tolerance toward traitors of the state, and we need to…no…it is our duty to stamp this out now.”

Charles picked up his pen and began doodling lazy circles. His grin surfaced. “You really take all this stuff seriously, don’t you? This is…just…a job, you know? What are you gonna do, just gun all these people down for traitorous speech? I’m sorry, man, but I just can’t go for…all of that.”

Rick was getting angry now, and his vision shook left to right like it often did when someone riled him up. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do take this all very seriously and so should you as Chancellor. This is our shot to correct mankind. Are you fucking oblivious to the mess of the world? To over-population? To free will run wild? To all of the chaos?”

“That’s human nature, Rick and I’d advise you to watch your tone with me, got it? I am still your superior. Don’t you forget it.”

“Well, Sir, what would you suggest?”

“What would I suggest about what? Their talking? Let ‘em talk. I don’t give a shit. If their talk turns into something, then let me know. But until then, I’d suggest you pull your panties outta your ass. How’s that sound?”

Rick’s agitated vision was now accompanied by shades of red and small dark spots. “It sounds like I’m talking to a traitor, Sir.”

“Excuse me, soldier? I ought to have your ass hauled to the brig for that! I never once in my life—“

It sounded like he had a lot more to say, but he couldn’t get it out before Rick brought up the silenced 9mm auto he held in his lap and shot Charles point-blank in the face. He slumped forward, twitching and fell out of his chair.

Rick rolled the chair away,
his chair now
, before blood could pool around its casters and he took a seat, propping his feet up on his new desk.

Moments later, Austin walked in. He didn’t hear the shot, but he was just in time to help with the mess.

Rick trained his pistol on Austin’s head. “Austin…how many times have I told you to knock?
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
”

“Oh my God. What happened? Did you kill him?” It was a stupid question, and he knew it, but he found himself in a stupefied state.

Rick started to laugh and looked back and forth between Charles and Austin.

He is a fucking psycho and he’s going to kill me next,
Austin thought.

“What? Me? Kill Charles? No, no, no. You see, I just came in here, and I found him like this. Obviously, the man has cracked, and he killed himself. Here, sit down. Grab the pen there and write this down.”

Rick forced Austin to scrawl out Charles’s suicide note in block letters.

“Now, remember, Austin. This will be our little secret.”

Austin ran to work.

“Terry,” Austin said, trying to catch his breath. “I need to talk to you.”

“Sure. What’s up? And you’re late. Where’ve you been?”

Austin fidgeted and played with his short beard. “Well, the thing is…I kind of…just need to get something off my chest…. And where I’ve been—well, it’s all related.”

“I’m listening….” Austin’s stammering and stalling were beginning to get on Terry’s nerves. “Austin—spit it out already. I’ve got work to do.
You’ve
got work to do.”

“I…I’ve been
helping
Rick.”

“What?” Terry wasn’t sure what Austin meant by that, but he
was
sure it didn’t sound good. “What do you mean you’ve been
helping
Rick?”

The phrase,
helping Rick,
perked Vince’s ears and he was on it. “What the fuck did I just hear?”

Now, Austin was really squirming. “It’s not what you think, I mean, he forced me to.”

“Forced you to what?” Vince barked back.

“To tell him stuff. To keep tabs on you guys…on the Anti-Movement. He said—”

Vince cut him off with a square punch to the jaw, then another to the gut. Austin lay on the ground struggling for breath.

“I oughta fucking
kill you
for this, Austin!”

Terry held Vince back, not that he actually could without Vince’s cooperation. Austin crawled to his hands and knees.

“Now, hold on, Vince. Let’s just hear him out,” Terry said. “See if it’s really as bad as it sounds….” Terry hoped it wasn’t, but braced himself for the worst. “Okay, Austin. Tell me everything. You okay? Can you talk?”

Austin nodded his head and wiped away the blood from his lip. “If I didn’t cooperate, he woulda killed me, man! What was I supposed to do?”

Vince lurched at him, and Austin flinched heavily. Vince probably outweighed Austin by a factor of two.

“What’s done is done, and we’ll get to the
why
later,” Terry said, “but what exactly
has been done?
”

“I’ve been reporting back to Rick after meetings, okay? I didn’t have a choice.”

“And, what have you told him?” Terry asked.

Austin looked down at the pavement, now spotted with his blood. “Everything. I…told him….everything.”

This was too much for Vince’s fragile sense of restraint, and he kicked Austin’s side, sending him rolling off the sidewalk and into the street. “We’re dead because of
you
, you piece of
shit!
”

Terry pulled Vince aside, with strained effort. “Stop, man, please. We need to talk him…get to the bottom of this. We can’t do that if you keep hitting him. Okay? Why don’t you go wait in the truck? I’ll be right there.”

“Fine,” Vince said, “but that fucker walks home. I swear to God, if he gets in the truck, I’ll break his face.”

“Fine. He can walk. Agreed.”

Vince shot Austin one more deadly look then skulked off to the truck.

Terry helped Austin up, “Here, take a seat on the curb. Sit down.”

“Thanks,” Austin managed.

“So, you put us in a real bad way here.” Terry stopped and waited for Austin’s response. He didn’t get one. Austin just looked down at his hands, picking the gravel out. “Okay, so what happened? I mean, why are you telling us this now?”

Austin looked up, but still he struggled with eye contact. He was either very ashamed of himself or afraid that Terry would turn him back over to Vince if he misspoke.
Maybe a little of both.

“Rick…he…he killed Charles. I think he did it so he could take over, you know?”

“What?” Terry knew Rick was a prick, but he still couldn’t believe his ears. “When? How do know this?”

“This morning. I walked in. He made me write the suicide note…. That’s going to be the story: Charles killed himself. But it’s not true. Rick killed him.” Austin’s lip began to quiver ever so slightly. He was terrified, and Terry couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“Holy shit. Wow,” Terry said. “So, does Rick still trust you? I mean, could you maybe start feeding him false information?”

“I guess I
could.
He’ll kill me if he finds out, though.”

Terry nodded his head. “Yeah. Yeah, I imagine he would. I think it’s time you start working for the good guys, though. You in?”

Austin nodded his head. His stomach cartwheeled.

Terry wasn’t sure how to approach Kat. But it needed to be done. She was awfully sensitive about matters concerning Rick. Deep down, he thought she knew—there was a problem with this man. Still, she was steeped deep in her denial. He wondered briefly if he should just keep it to himself. Just until he had proof. Something she couldn’t deny, because he knew she would. However, with time being as it was, he knew he didn’t have time to waste. He had to tell her regardless of how she might receive it and he had to tell her now.

Terry pushed the door open and held his breath for a moment before realizing he was doing so.
Relax, dude. It’s just your sister.
He felt silly for his nerves, but he was walking into a minefield here.

“Hi Terry,” Kat said. “How was your day?”

“It was—enlightening,” he replied.

“Okay…what does that mean?”

“Kat, listen. I know you’re not going to like this, I mean, you freak out every time I mention Rick, but—”

“You can stop right there, Terry. I don’t want to hear it.” She turned her back and walked to the kitchen.

Terry let out the sigh he’d been holding in. “Kat, please. Just listen to me, okay? Just listen to what I have to say.”

Kat stopped walking but refused to turn around. “I’m listening,” she said.

“Austin, from work, he told me today that he’s been
working
for Rick, so to speak. As a spy, Kat. He’s been spying on us in meetings.”

“So? That’s kinda part of his job…isn’t it?”

“That’s not even the main thing, Kat. He killed Charles.”

Now, Kat turned around. “What are you talking about, Terry? My God, I know you can’t stand him, but this is really low. How could you even say such a thing?”

“Charles is dead, Kat. Rick killed him, and he did it to assume power.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m just telling you what Austin told me today. And he’s telling the truth. If you would’ve seen him, you’d know he was telling the truth.”

“You know what?” Kat said. “Sometimes I think you can’t face the fact that I’m a grown woman. That someone out there could make me happy. That I don’t need you hanging around and
protecting
me all the time.”