The Dying of the Light (Book 3): Beginning (57 page)

A fitting end for Archbishop Sebastian Wright, they would say.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Mayor’s Office
Town Hall
Eatonville, Washington

Angela Gates was bored. She’d never been so bored in all her life, in fact. She’d gone from being responsible for over ten thousand souls to managing just a handful of hardy folks who’d rather not have her tell them what to do every day. A victim of her own success, she’d set everything up well enough that it ran almost without her direct action. She wasn’t really needed.

Hence the boredom. She looked over at her husband as he snoozed in one of the armchairs next to the window. For a wonder, they had some sunshine today, and that, combined with a comfy chair, always flipped Daniel’s switch to the OFF position. Despite his apparent calm and unconsciousness, though, she knew he could be up and ready for anything in a heartbeat. She’d seen it happen more than once, in fact.

Angela rested her chin in the palm of her hand, one elbow on the desk as she gazed at the man who’d been by her side, literally and figuratively, for more than thirty years. What would he think if she told him she was bored out of her gourd? He’d most likely laugh and tell her to be careful what she wished for.

There was a knock at her door, and her aide leaned in. “Mayor, there’s a Priority One video call for you. Eyes only.”

Gates shook herself out of her reverie. “Seriously? From who?”

“I think it’s the president, ma’am.”

Gates turned to look at her husband, only to find him predictably awake and aware, coming over to sit beside her. Gates would’ve laughed if she hadn’t expected it. “Thank you, Shannon,” she said. “See that we’re not disturbed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Gates raised an eyebrow at her husband, who shrugged one shoulder by an infinitesimal amount. Still, after that long together, she could almost read his mind and knew he had no clue either.

She sat a bit straighter in her chair, shook her head to clear the daydreams, and then punched the button on the computer monitor in front of her—one of only a dozen extras that had been allowed outside the Bunker as yet. The mayor of the Seattle Free Zone rated one.

The screen lit up, and she was pleased to see her old friend Ennis Norman on the monitor. His smile never failed to elicit one from her in return. “Mr. President,” she said. “It’s good to see you.”

“And you, Angela,” Ennis said. “Why am I not surprised you’ve been keeping up on current events?” Normally, she preferred people address her as Mayor, but this was the president, a man she’d known for longer than her husband. He could call her anything he liked. Well, almost.

“You know me, Mr. President, never one to be out of the loop.” She ignored the slight snort from her husband. “Congratulations on all your successes, sir.”

Ennis nodded. “Thank you, but it wasn’t my success. It was ours as a country. We fought hard and won, but we lost too many in the process. And we may never be the same again.”

“Too much of the same is boring, Mr. President, if I may,” Daniel said from her left.

“I’m inclined to agree with you, Mr. Taylor, but in this case, a little bit of stability and consistency is exactly what we need.” He smiled again. “Which brings me to the reason for this call. Angela, I have a question for you.”

She shared a look with her husband, but neither of them had a clue what he was going to ask. “Anything, Mr. President.”

“I’m not in great health, as you know, and I’m certainly not in any shape to be doing what I’m doing, trying to run this country.”

Gates frowned and glanced to the side to see Daniel trying to cover a smirk. He waved her off as the president continued.

“We need—I need—someone to take my place for the near future. Someone who can do what needs to be done to get us all back on our feet.”

Gates shrugged. “That makes sense, sir. Now that everything is nearly done with, we can hold elections, find some candidates…”

“No,” Ennis said. “That’s not what we need right now. Eventually, sure, we’ll hold elections and do things the way we’ve done them for hundreds of years. But right now, we don’t need that divisiveness. We need someone in this seat who can bring us all together and get us on the path back to civilization.”

“I can give you some name—”

“There’s only one name I’m interested in, Angela.”

Suddenly, Daniel’s smirk and the look he was giving her and the smile on the president’s face, not to mention his steering of the conversation, hit her all at once. “Oh.”

The president smiled wide. “Exactly.”

“You mean, you want me—”

“To be the next president of these United States. Yes.”

“That’s crazy!” Gates exploded out of her chair and began pacing. “I’m just a mayor! Well, yes, I used to be a governor, but that was… No, there’s got to be someone better than me.”

“There isn’t, and everyone in that room and this one knows it.” Ennis sat back in his chair. “Besides, a little birdie told me that you’ve been bored to tears out there running that half-a-horse town. You need something to occupy your time, Mayor.”

Gates glared at Daniel, knowing exactly who the president was referring to as his “little birdie.” “You! You traitor!” she said, but there was no heart in her words, and she could see Daniel knew it.

He shrugged. “You’re miserable, Angela. This could make you happy, and you would yet again be helping to save the world. It’s what you were born for.”

“For what it’s worth, we agree,” David Blake said as he and Kimberly walked into the room without knocking and then closed the door behind them. “Don’t worry, we’ve told Shannon you’re not to be disturbed.”

“Traitors, all of you!” Gates said with a laugh.

“There are some other folks here, too, Mayor Gates,” the president said from her monitor, and she sat down once more. Suddenly, there were more faces on the screen, small but identifiable as the other governors and military commanders from the remaining bunkers. They all waved, nodded, or smiled at her as she looked at each in turn. There were murmurs of agreement from all of them.

“We need someone everyone in the bunkers will know, and there’s no one more well-known than you,” the president said. “You’re a force of nature, and everyone has heard of you—in a good way. We need the public behind us for this to work, and they all know you—or they will after the videos we’re having the bunkers run. We’ve all voted, and it’s unanimous. By acclamation of the Bunker Council, which is the closest thing we have to Congress right now, you will be sworn in as the next president of the United States in a ceremony to be held in a few days, as soon as we can get you to Pennsylvania.”

“This is all…” Gates swallowed, ignored the pride she felt, and spoke again. “This is all very sudden. And an honor.”

“The honor is ours,” David said as he and Kimberly took the chairs across the desk from Gates and Daniel. “You were the only name we thought of when the president asked us.”

Gates looked back at the president. “Are things really that bad?” she asked.

Ennis shrugged. “I have my good days and some bad ones. But I’m not fit to lead the country anymore. I’m getting up there, and things ain’t working as well as they used to, and I’m not just talking about my amnesia. But mainly, I want to spend what few years I have left with my wife and children.”

Gates found that she was holding Daniel’s hand and looked over at him. She didn’t need to see him nod and smile to know he would be with her, come what may, but it was still good to have that reassurance regardless.

“I’m guessing I don’t have much choice in this,” she said with a chuckle.

“None whatsoever, I’m afraid,” Ennis said.

“Then I accept,” Gates said. “On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“One term only. Four years. Then I’m out. I’m retired. No more mayor, no more nothing. Just a small farm and Daniel and that’s it. Agreed?”

Ennis grinned. “We can make that happen.”

“Thank you,” Gates said. She looked up at her friends and her husband, all of whom were smiling. “So what’s next?”

ExForce Command
Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Tacoma, Washington

Kimberly didn’t get antsy or nervous. Life was what it was, and it didn’t pay to get all crazy over things that might or might not happen. She wasn’t like David, who worried first and then worked out a solution and only then let it go. She dealt with things as they came.

At least that’s what she told herself as she waited next to her husband for her daughter’s plane to land. She ignored the restless shifting of her weight and tapping of her foot.

She especially ignored the smirk on her husband’s face, because after all these years of being together, she knew
exactly
what he was thinking, and she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of being right.

“One minute out, sir, ma’am,” their escort, a young man named CJ, said. Tall and lanky, Kimberly thought he looked like every surfer she’d ever seen a picture of, minus the long hair and board shorts. Neither were regulation, after all.

“Thank you, Airman,” she said.

David coughed and hid a grin behind his hand. Kimberly pretended not to notice. She focused on the plane as it hung in the sky and made its final turn before coming in for a landing. Sunlight glinted off the wings and made it almost too bright to look at, but Kimberly refused to turn away. Not when her Eden was this close to home.

David leaned in and whispered, “You know that’s the guy she was seeing before she left, right?”

Kimberly snorted. “Of course. He moped for
weeks
after she dumped him. Couldn’t get him to do a damn thing right. His CO was furious with her.”

“He got over it, I guess. Heard he’s dating Fernandez now.”

“Is that what they’re calling it? She’s…” Kimberly glanced over at her husband, saw his smile, and realized what he was doing: taking her mind off Eden. She reached down and took his hand in hers, gave it a squeeze, and smiled. “Got his first walker kill last week too, I heard.”

“Yep. He’ll make a fine addition to ExForce, but I hear he wants to go chopper. Work SAR ops.”

“Search and Rescue? Great! Not too many—”

“Sir, ma’am, earplugs please!” CJ raised his voice over the loud roar of the incoming C-130 and pointed to his own ears, covered by more advanced headphones.

Kim and David both put in their earplugs and watched the plane land and taxi. A moment later, the engines of the aircraft had throttled back, and it was safe to remove the earplugs. They jumped into the Humvee, and the airman sped them toward the waiting plane as the ramp at its rear started to lower.

They didn’t have long to wait when they arrived at the plane, as Eden was one of the first off. As Kimberly and David climbed out of the Humvee, Eden walked backward down the ramp, leading what had to have been at least fifty civilians holding bags of every shape and size.

Eden spoke in a loud voice, directing them to wait off to one side as the rest of the equipment was unloaded. They turned to watch as several personnel and cargo trucks rolled up alongside the plane, ready to take the refugees to processing. Kimberly knew they’d be well taken care of and new homes and lodging would be found for them. Most likely with Expedition One in Eatonville.

As soon as her people had things well in hand, Eden jogged over to her parents and pulled them both in for extended hugs. Kimberly didn’t want to let her daughter go and felt more than one tear come unbidden to her eye as she appraised this new daughter of hers.

“Welcome home,” she said, still holding tight to her daughter’s hand.

“We’ve missed you,” David said, “so much.”

Eden smiled, and Kimberly was struck again by how different she seemed. “I missed you too. But I’m back and I’m safe and you’re crushing my hand, Mom,” Eden said with a laugh.

Kimberly laughed too and let go. “I just… I thought I’d never see you again. When your dad called me and told me what happened…” Suddenly, she found herself hugging her daughter again, and she couldn’t tell whose tears were whose.

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you’re back too, if anyone cares,” another voice said, and they turned to see her brother George standing beside the Humvee with a grin.

Eden rushed over and gave him a hug as well, and Kimberly shook her head with a laugh. “How… you know what? I don’t even care.”

Kimberly saw Eden whisper something to George, and the younger man turned red and nodded. Eden laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, then looked up as she noticed CJ standing off to one side, doing his best to ignore her. Kim watched as Eden went over to the airman, and David nudged her shoulder from one side.

“This should be interesting,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry for the way I treated you,” Eden said. “It was wrong of me, and I apologize.”

Kimberly had never seen anyone so surprised.

“Uh, thanks? I mean, that means a lot.”

“I hope we can be friends.”

The airman nodded and held out his hand. “Sure.”

Eden shook it and then turned back to her parents. “I need to get these folks squared away, but I’d like to have dinner tonight if you’re available.”

Kimberly and David looked at each other with that silent communication that happens between partners of long years. Kimberly nodded at her daughter and smiled. “We’d love that.”

“Then I’ll see you later.” She jogged over to the first refugee truck in line and climbed up, then motioned for the driver to get started.

Kim looked back at her husband. “Who the hell is she and what has she done with our daughter?”

David shook his head and laughed as they walked back to their own Humvee. “I have no idea, but dinner will certainly be interesting!”

Town Hall
New Salisbury, Pennsylvania

“Make sure those supplies get stowed away. I don’t want to leave anything behind. We’re going to need it.” The voice of command from somewhere down the hall drifted out toward the entrance.

Ennis stood just inside the doorway of the busy town hall, to one side and out of the way of the soldiers, refugees, and townsfolk going in and out.