Solaris Mortem: The New Patriots (21 page)

“Okay, Mom,” Jonathan said. Tabitha was already asleep. Jonathan tried to gently push her off of him, as his arm was going to sleep and beginning to get painful. It was no use. Tabby was out.

“Why don’t you and the kids sleep in the car?” Terry offered. “Might be a little warmer…. Diane, you too.” They didn’t argue. We can lay the front seats back and whoever wants to sleep on the benches can.”

Vince and Duncan set up the tent the rest of them would be sharing tonight while Terry and Alisia helped the others settle in. They had three tents, but better to sleep in the same tent and share warmth.

It was cold that night and an hour after everyone else was sleeping, Alisia snuggled up to Terry. He didn’t mind it. At all.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I just can’t get warm.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “It’s just fine.”

Vince and Duncan snored lightly beside them.

“Alisia?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you’re here.”

“So am I,” she said, and they drifted off to sleep.

By the time Rick and his troop arrived back in town, the Antis were already long gone. They’d slipped away unnoticed, nearly two hours earlier.

“Any explosions while we were away?” Rick asked the man left behind at Command.

“Sir?” He was puzzled.

“Anything funny happen while I was gone? Escape attempts, exploding chips, that sort of thing.”

“Oh. No, Sir. Everything’s been quiet...but...some chips did go offline awhile back.”

“What? When?” Rick barked. “Why was that not the
first
thing you told me when I walked in?”

“Maybe two hours ago, Sir,” the man said. “I...didn't think too much of it. Sometimes they do that, then they always come back online.”

“Your job is not to
think
!” Rick said. “Your job is to report!”

The man shrunk behind his desk. “Yes, Chancellor.”

Rick sent the men out to gather the dissenters for questioning while he and Austin sat and waited.

Nearly an hour later, Trevor entered and saluted.

“Well?” Rick said.

“There’s no sign of them, Chancellor. We checked their residences and questioned neighbors. No one knows anything, or if they do, they’re not talking.”

“Goddamnit,” Rick said. “That’s impossible. And Kat?”

“She's MIA as well, Chancellor.”

He rushed to the safe and opened it while muttering a string of curses. “It’s still here,” Rick said as he turned, flasher in hand.

“What’s still here, Chancellor?” Trevor asked.

“The flasher!” Rick said. “So, they couldn’t have gone far. Otherwise, they’re all headless by now.” Then he smiled.

“May I see that, Sir,” Trevor asked.

Rick shrugged and handed it over. “For a moment, I was afraid they’d gotten their hands on that and run off.”

Trevor examined it carefully, then handed it back. “Sir?” he said, trepidation in his voice. “I hate to say it…but that looks just like a voice recorder I used to have.”

“What?” Rick gasped. An awkward silence followed. “What are you trying to say, Soldier?”

Trevor swallowed. “Sir, I think someone…may have tricked you.”

Rick threw the “flasher” across the room. It bounced off the wall and broke in two. A mini-SD card fell to the floor. “Find the doctor! NOW!”

Trevor saluted and parted immediately.

Austin fidgeted in his seat resulting in a loud scrape across the floor.

“I’ll ask you one more time,” Rick said. “Did-you-know? Did you know about any of this?” His face was red, and his eyes bulged.

“No! Of course not. I would have told you!” Austin pleaded.

“Would you?” Rick pulled his pistol and trained it between Austin’s eyes. “Would you? Because I’m not so sure who I can trust around here. Not anymore.”

“Sir, please, I swear it. I didn’t know
anything.
If I did, you would have been the first person I would have told. I swear to you.” Austin’s heart pounded.

Rick tried to reason his way through it. Was Austin loyal? Had he simply been misled? He couldn’t reach a conclusion. He was too hot, and his mind too muddled to reason his way through anything. What he could see, though was this: if the Antis were gone, then of what use was an Anti-Movement spy?
None.
He shot Austin in the face.

Austin fell over backward in his chair to the cold concrete floor and painted it red, just as Charles had a few weeks ago.

Ten minutes passed. Trevor came in, and with him, more bad news. His eyes flitted to the corpse on the floor–and the blood–so much blood.

“She’s gone, Sir. I’m sorry.”

“No bother,” Rick said. “Get me someone in here to clean up this mess. Then we have a meeting and discuss our next steps.”

“Yes, Chancellor,” Trevor said. He saluted and left.

The New Patriot Guard met after the cleanup. The floor was still damp. Clean now, but the scent of blood hung in the air.

“As you all know,” Rick said, “the dissenters have made fools of us. While we chased red herrings in Shoreline, they slipped away. I don’t intend to let this stand.”

Some of the Guard members nodded in approval. Some of them just looked nervous…like all of this was a little more than they had expected…or signed up for.

“They’ve taken our Doctor,” Rick said.
They’ve taken my girlfriend,
he thought. “They’ve taken our chip flasher, a despicable act of selfishness and cowardice. Without it, the next of our citizens to reject their chips has little choice but to suffer with it or end their suffering by
other means.

“These people are not team players. They care for nothing and no one but themselves. They’ve disobeyed the Charter. They’ve stolen from us. Acts like these threaten us all, and they must answer for it. They
will
answer for it.

“We leave at dawn’s first light. Only the doctor lives.” He scanned the room to make sure his message was being received. “Everyone else dies. We will show our citizens that acts of defiance will never go unanswered. We bring their bodies back and hang them from the street lights.
That
is how you quell a rebellion.” Rick placed his hands down hard on the table for dramatic effect. “Are there any questions?”

There were. But none dared voice them. For instance, Trevor questioned the wisdom of killing Austin. If Rick thought Austin may have been privy to secret knowledge, then killing him before extraction was foolery. If the Antis trusted Austin, then he could have been coerced to be useful again. He kept his mouth shut and saluted. Trevor was no fool.

“All right. If there aren’t any questions, then bring me Otis Kearns,” Rick said. “I need a word with him.”

“What's this all about?” Otis asked, being dragged in by a soldier. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Now, Mr. Kearns, you and I both know that’s not entirely true—
is it?”
Otis looked away. “But, don’t worry, it’s not
you
I’m interested in.” Otis looked back to Rick. “Nope. It’s what you
know
that concerns me.”

“About what?” Otis asked.

“About Dr. Casswell, of course. And her involvement with the Antis.”

“I swear, I don’t know anything,” Otis said. “I cut ties with that group. Hell, if I was still with them, then I’d be with them right now,
wouldn’t I?”

“I suppose you have a point, but that’s not quite the same thing as knowing nothing, now is it?”

“Listen, man, I just went to a couple meetings. That’s it. It wasn’t for me, and I got out. Simple as that.”

Rick laughed. “Otis…you take me for a fool. A grievous error, I assure you. You worked with Alisia every day. You were friends. Don’t sit here and tell me you know nothing.”

Otis looked down to his clasped hands in his lap. “What do you wanna know?”

“Just one thing,” Rick said. “Make that two things…. Where did they go and do they have a vehicle?”

“I don’t know,” Otis said.

“You are testing my patience. You don’t want to do that.”

Rick’s eyes told Otis this was not a joke.

“They have a car, a blue Suburban,” Otis said. “I’m not sure where exactly they’re going, but Duncan has a place. Over the Pass. A cabin on a lake…. That’s all I know.”

“Hmm,” Rick said. “What about weapons?”

“They have some guns. I don’t know what kind or how many, but yeah…they have some.”

“Okay…thank you, Otis.”

“Can I go?” Otis asked. He wanted to get back home to his daughter.

“You can go.”

The next morning, Terry awoke with a terrible crick in his neck. He had to pee like a racehorse, but Alisia’s head on his arm, now pins and needles, kept him laying there. Uncomfortable as he was, he still didn’t wish to get up. Plus, frost coated the tent. Motivation eluded him, but his bladder insisted.

He slipped his arm from beneath Alisia as carefully as he could. Alisia woke immediately. “Oh…I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” Terry said and smiled. “But–nature calls.”

“Of course.”

Duncan and Vince were already up and drinking coffee. “Good morning, Romeo,” Vince said.

Terry couldn’t help but grin. “Morning.”

The Suburban sleepers still slept.

“We should probably get everyone up and moving,” Duncan said. “Miles to go and all of that.”

Terry rapped at the window, then rushed for the bushes. Unburdening his bladder was almost as sweet as being free of the New Patriots. Almost.

They sat in the Suburban while it warmed up, eating granola by the handful, and sipping coffee.

“Mommy, I’m still cold,” Tabitha said.

“I know honey. You’ll warm up soon, don’t worry.” Kat draped a blanket over the both of them. “How about you?” Kat asked Jonathan. “Were you warm enough?”

“Yeah, it was fine,” Jonathan said, stuffing another handful of cereal in his mouth.

“Well, I slept horribly,” Diane said. Somehow, no one was surprised. “That was just dreadful. In all of my years, I never….” She mumbled something more that no one could make out nor cared to ask.

“It’s only temporary, Mom,” Alisia reminded her.

“Well, we’ll see, won’t we,” Diane proclaimed.

“Yes, Mom. We certainly will.”

Terry wasn’t sure how Alisia put up with it. He wondered how long
he
could put up with it…
or Vince.
Vince had a temper sometimes.

Duncan put the truck in gear and kept driving east. They cleared roadblocks, passed through, and then re-blocked the road. If Rick decided to follow, they weren’t going to make it easy for him.

Rick and half a dozen of his finest, rolled out of New Seattle at 0600 hours to hunt down the Anti-Movement members. He would’ve brought more if he could. Putting these assholes underground was priority one, but the city still needed to run in his absence.

Trevor drove, and Rick briefed his men. “The subjects are considered armed and dangerous. Shoot to kill, with the exception of the doctor.” He held up Alisia’s picture and passed it around. “And Terry is mine. Understood?” He burned with hate. Terry stole their doctor away. Terry had turned Kat against him, and he would pay for it.

They came upon a roadblock and stopped. Rick got out of the Humvee and surveyed the pavement. “They were here. You see the drag marks?” He pointed down to rubber streaks on the road. “They pulled this car out of the way and then put it back.”
A decent strategy, but nowhere near good enough,
Rick thought.

“Clear it!” Rick said.

Trevor put the car in gear and pushed the small Toyota sedan out of the way.

Rick got back in the car. “We may not have tracking on these clowns, but their trail is easy enough to follow.”

Duncan rolled to a stop. A formidable roadblock lay in front. “This may take a little while. Everyone who’s not clearing, go ahead and scavenge through the cars, and let’s siphon some gas.”

Vince leaned over to Terry. “We may not be able to drive a whole lot further.” The blockages were getting worse. With every passing mile, the cars got thicker and harder to weave through.

Terry looked around at the scene laid out before him. It looked like they may be headed for a road construction area. That could put them dead in the water. “It’s looking that way, isn’t it?”

Kat and the kids, Diane, and Alisia set out to siphon fuel and gather anything they could from the marooned cars.

After an hour of struggling, the path forward was clear. Terry began to wonder if walking might be faster. He was pretty sure it would be, but with the kids and Diane, it was a gamble.

The scavengers returned with gas and two new blankets.

“Did you find any food?” Duncan asked.

Alisia shook her head, no.

Jonathan set down the gas can he was carrying. “There were dead people in some of the cars, Uncle Terry!”

“Oh…that’s too bad.”

“It was
so
gross!”

Terry looked to Kat and then to Tabitha. “Are you guys okay?”

It wasn’t Kat who answered, but Diane. “What do you
think?
None of this is
okay!
”

“Mom, please.…” Alisia said. Her face told the story of scavenging with Diane. Words weren’t necessary.

“No! Okay? I should have never let you two talk me into this!” She waved her finger at Alisia and then to Terry. “I’m going to die out here! We’re
all
going to die out here, and it’s all
your
fault!” This time, she pointed at Terry alone.

Vince’s temperature rose. “I’ve heard just about enough out of you.” Diane’s jaw dropped. “All you’ve done is complained, lady. You wanna go back? Go back! No one’s stoppin’ ya’.”

Alisia stepped between them. “Vince…Mom…You guys…
Please.…”

“Nah,” Vince said, storming off. “I’m done!”

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” Diane’s words chased him, but he let them drop. “Speaking to your elders that way!”

Alisia began to cry while Diane hyperventilated. That was her go-to when things got rough.

“Diane, why don’t you have a seat?” Duncan said, gently taking her arm. “It’s going to be all right.”

Diane accepted. “I was raised differently than that. We were always taught to show respect!”