The Day After Never - Purgatory Road (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller - Book 2) (24 page)

Sierra turned and stormed to the bedroom, leaving Bruce watching her departure with an open mouth.

“Damn, girl, you’re something else,” he muttered after the door closed behind her, and reached for his pipe and a pinch of marijuana to steady his nerves.

Chapter 37

Jacob led Lucas down an empty street, a tributary to the main artery that fed onto the hospital campus. They’d agreed it best to leave Tango well away from the medical center in order to reduce the chances of their being discovered; a big bay stallion was likelier to be spotted than a couple of men moving stealthily in the gloom.

The scientist had been tight-lipped about his contact, other than to say that he was a character and that the Crew depended on him to keep the lab operating. Lucas hadn’t pressed for more information, figuring that if it made Jacob feel more secure to keep the man’s identity a mystery, that was fine – as long as Lucas could conclude his business that night and be rid of Lubbock by morning, they could talk in code and wear masks for all he cared.

The only good news in the scenario so far was that Jacob appeared to be taking the adventure seriously, and he didn’t strike Lucas as the flighty type. That lent credibility to the possibility that they could actually make it to Shangri-La and that it would be as worthwhile an endeavor as Sierra hoped. The skeptical part of Lucas was still doubtful that an enclave could evade detection by powerful foes for years, but judging by Jacob’s reactions, it seemed more likely. Now that he’d met the man, he could tell that he was dead serious about the risks involved in contacting his cutout, which meant that he believed attempting to organize another rendezvous to be worth it.

For Lucas’s sake, he hoped that Jacob was right.

That Sierra had been intimate with Jacob didn’t faze Lucas as much as he’d thought it might. Her explanation had made sense once he’d met the scientist – he had a kind of quiet magnetism, and he could see how she might have been drawn to him, especially given the circumstances. Neither of them seemed shattered to have moved on, so it couldn’t have been all that deep a connection – not that he had any proprietary claim on her.

They reached the north parking lot, which was larger than several football fields, and Lucas paused next to a tree to scan the area with his scope while Jacob waited beside him. He spotted three guards by the main building, a six-level monolith with several multistory connected structures of mammoth proportions.

“There are gunmen at the entrance on this side,” he whispered.

“Not unexpected. We’re going to cut over to the east side, through the health sciences building. It’s not being used, and there are a number of subterranean passageways, even though they’ve blocked off the ones at ground level.”

“Why don’t they lock the passages?”

“Maintenance. Some of the equipment’s shared.”

“They don’t guard it?”

Jacob shook his head. “From what? Main reason they guard the hospital is because of the lab. The health sciences building’s been looted – there’s nothing left worth stealing you wouldn’t need a forklift to move.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’d have been told if anything changed,” Jacob said.

Lucas followed him across the expanse to the health sciences entry, which was boarded up. Jacob glanced around and then slid one of the plywood slabs aside just far enough so they could squeeze through. Lucas pushed the board closed behind him, and they stood beside each other in utter darkness.

“Got a flashlight?” Jacob asked.

“What would you do if I didn’t?”

“I have a lighter, but I’d rather not waste the fuel.”

Lucas removed his penlight from his plate carrier and switched it on. He handed it to Jacob, who led the way through the wreckage of what had been the lobby and then down a flight of service stairs that smelled of long-dry urine and general rot.

“There were some squatters in here a few years ago,” Jacob explained. “Before Magnus set up the lab. His men took care of them.”

Lucas didn’t have to ask how.

“Why didn’t you try to get to Shangri-La too?” Lucas probed. “Sierra told me you were…close.”

Jacob shook his head. “That’s not my role. I have to stay here and do what I can to sabotage Magnus’s vaccine effort. That’s the most important thing I can do – they already have adequate know-how in Shangri-La.”

“You weren’t tempted?”

“I wasn’t invited. Besides, I know what I have to do. If I’m successful, Shangri-La will still be there, and the world will be a better place for everyone.”

Their soles crunched on broken glass and bits of ceiling tile that had been ripped out for access to the copper wire above. Next they entered a long basement hall with dank air, the walls sweating through battleship gray paint. Jacob stopped at one of the metal doors, listened, and then swung it open and motioned for Lucas to enter.

They entered a room lined with huge steel pipes, each with wheeled handles at junctions where they continued on in narrower runs. Jacob walked to a small opening on the far side of the room and gestured for Lucas to follow him through. They both had to crouch to get through the vandalized duct gap, and then they were in a tunnel with bundles of heavy wiring running its length, a two-foot wide walkway stretching down the middle.

They made their way to the end, and Jacob twisted the handle on a corroding steel door at the top of four cement stairs. He walked through and Lucas ascended, the hair on his arms standing up at a thrumming sound coming from ahead of them.

“AC compression lines and the pump rooms are up ahead,” Jacob explained. “Not much farther to go.”

They were in another corridor, this one with a polished concrete floor and ivory walls painted in high gloss. Above them, emergency lighting flickered, though only a few of the bulbs were still working. Jacob handed Lucas back his flashlight and whispered, “No need for it from here on. This section has power.”

The scientist picked up his pace and turned into a dark hall before stopping at a green steel door with
maintenance
stenciled on it. He glanced at Lucas and rapped softly. A muffled voice called out from inside.

“What the hell do you want at this hour?”

“Eddie. It’s me – Jacob.”

The sound of a bolt opening filled the hall. The door opened ten seconds later and they found themselves facing a gnome of a man in orange coveralls, no more than five foot two, his white hair askew, his blue eyes puffy but the whites almost luminescent.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, unable to keep the fear from his voice, and then registered Lucas standing behind Jacob. “Who’s this?”

“Sierra sent him.”

The man’s expression changed and he sized Lucas up. “Yeah?”

“She’s safe,” Lucas said, his voice low.

“Who’re you?”

“A friend.”

The little man looked down the hallway and stepped aside. “Get in here before you draw the guards,” he snapped. “I could hear you a mile away.”

Jacob and Lucas stepped into a chamber as long as a boxcar and stacked to the ceiling with boxes of parts, pieces of machinery, tools, bails of wire, and various gizmos Lucas couldn’t identify.

“Lock it,” the gnome said.

Lucas obliged, driving the bolt home with a solid thunk.

“This way,” the man said, and led them through the clutter to another room, this one wider but equally stuffed with junk. He moved to a seat and sat beside a desk with a computer monitor in the center of it and stacks of papers on either side of the screen. He swiveled around and faced them, his bulldog face raised pugnaciously to Lucas. “You have two minutes to explain,” he barked.

Lucas recounted his story in half the allotted time and, when he was finished, stood silently waiting for a response. Eddie looked him up and down, taking in his dusty boots and pants, the dried blood on his sleeve, the fatigue lines and discoloration beneath his eyes, and slowly nodded.

“I can make a call. How long will it take you to get to the Roswell area?”

“Figure four days, if I turn around now and start riding.”

“And your interest in the woman and child?”

“I promised I’d help them reach Shangri-La. After that, I’m out.”

Eddie’s eyes softened. “You said you rescued them both?”

“I was the only one around to do it.”

“The Native Americans believed that you became tied to those you saved. That there was a bond you couldn’t shake.”

“I’m not Native American.”

Eddie eyed him skeptically. “Might be something to it, is all.”

Lucas nodded. “Could be,” he allowed.

Eddie stood and motioned to two sorry-looking metal chairs with red vinyl seats. “Take a load off. I’ll go see if I can raise someone.”

The little man trundled to another door at the back of the room, unlocked it, and then disappeared inside. Lucas checked the time, fidgety, and Jacob steepled his fingers and leaned forward.

“He’s a little rough around the edges, but Eddie’s good people.”

“What’s his story?”

“He keeps the place running. He was the head of maintenance before the collapse. He holed up in here while the world fell apart around him, and was on his last legs when the Crew took over the town. They pressed him into duty, and he’s been here ever since. Hates them, but what can you do?”

“He could disappear.”

“Man’s sixty-seven this year. Wouldn’t last long out in the world.”

“You’d be surprised. One of my friends is about that age, and she’s doing fine.”

“Eddie isn’t like everybody. He’s got diabetes. Magnus keeps him supplied with insulin, and he stays put. Bargain with the devil, he calls it.”

“Where does the Crew get insulin?”

“We make it in the lab. For trade. Same with a few antibiotics and painkillers. You’d be surprised how much the desperate will pay for those.” Jacob glanced at him. “Or maybe you wouldn’t.”

“Never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. What’s the point of having something if you can’t use it to save your life?”

“True words.”

“So he’s working behind the Crew’s back to sabotage them?”

“Nothing overt. That would be too dangerous. But he can be eyes and ears, and when they brought Eve and Sierra here and set up a vaccine lab, that launched a whole series of events in motion, which culminated in their escape.”

“And nobody suspected you two?” Lucas asked.

“They suspected everyone. But what are they going to do, absent any evidence? Kill the two people that run their operation? And then what? Who’s going to keep the lights on or the meds made?”

“From what Sierra told me about Magnus, they easily could have. She didn’t describe him as a deep thinker.”

“There’s risk to everything,” Jacob agreed.

“Dangerous game.”

Jacob gave him a grim smile. “So’s the one you’re playing.”

“Got that right,” Lucas conceded.

“Then we’re in the same boat.”

“Not really. I can leave.”

Eddie reappeared and approached Lucas. “All right. There’s another meet set: four days from now at dusk. Place called Bitter Lake, northeast of Roswell.”

“Bitter Lake,” Lucas repeated. “Never heard of it.”

“There’s a makeshift bar the locals built out of pallets and whatnot at the water’s edge. Bartender’s name is Colt. He’s your man.”

“Colt. Bitter Lake. Got it,” Lucas said.

A pounding sounded from the hallway door, and a loud voice called out, “Open the door. Now – or we’ll kick it down.”

Chapter 38

Jacob looked around, eyes wild. Eddie’s expression hardened with determination. “Damn. They must have been able to triangulate the broadcast. Come on. This way,” he said.

The little man led them to the room from which he’d emerged. Inside was a storage room with a small bathroom in the near corner. Eddie raced to the bathroom door and yanked it open, and then moved to the shower stall. He fiddled with one of the faucets, cursing. A soft click echoed from behind it, and he heaved on the stall and slid it toward him.

“Inside. This leads to a storage room on the upper level. From there you can make it back down the stairs to the basement on the far side of the hospital, and Jacob can show you the way out.” Eddie pointed to iron rungs leading up to a hatch in the ceiling. “Good luck.”

“What about you?” Jacob asked.

“Someone’s got to open the door.”

Jacob’s face hardened. “They’ll kill you.”

“For what? There’s nothing to find. Radio’s up in the other room. I’m the only one with the keys. And I’m in here.” Eddie frowned. “Now go. I’ll take my chances.”

Lucas didn’t hesitate, and Jacob tailed him into the small space. The shower snicked back into place behind them, and Lucas switched on his penlight. Clenching it between his teeth, he climbed the rungs and then pushed the hatch up.

The storage room was piled with discarded machinery, and Lucas pointed at a corner as Jacob scrambled through the gap in the floor. “He’s pretty tricky. That must be the radio. If I didn’t know what to look for, I’d assume it was being used for parts.”

The radio sat on a crate, sans cover, just a metal frame and a bunch of wire and electrical components. The giveaway was the microphone and a pair of small computer speakers, as well as a power cord stretching into the darkness.

“I hope he’ll be okay,” Jacob said.

“Let’s worry about us for now.” Lucas flashed the light on the far door. “I assume you know where we are.”

“I think so.”

Lucas removed his hat and pressed his ear against the steel slab. After several moments he replaced it, shut off the flashlight, and switched his scope back on.

“I can’t see,” Jacob said.

“I can. Once we’re out, which way?”

“Left. It would have to be left.”

“Hang on to the back of my flak jacket. Ready?”

“Yes.”

Lucas twisted the handle and eased the door open. There was a wide hall he could make out in the scope. He whispered what he was seeing to Jacob, who whispered back.

“There should be a stairway at the end of the hall.”

Lucas nodded and then inched from the doorway with cautious steps, doing his best to avoid any noise. Jacob was right behind him, shuffling along with smaller strides to keep from tripping while hanging onto Lucas’s vest. They heard muffled voices behind them, but they were further away in the building, the sound echoing off the walls, and the absence of light confirmed that they hadn’t been spotted.