We Had Flags (Toxic World Book 3) (22 page)

“I’m glad you’re up,” he said. “Let’s go, we have work to do.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

As they clattered downstairs, The Doctor explained the situation to her—the Giver, the drone, everything.

“So you want me to explain to them that the Asians aren’t prisoners?” she asked.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“But they are.”

He stopped and turned on the stairs. What was she babbling about now? Yu-jin went on.

“If they try to leave New City they’ll be lynched, so they’re as much prisoners as if you kept them here at gunpoint.”

“That’s not the same! There was a riot and we’re protecting them.”

“But—”

“You want them to start shelling us with that cannon of theirs? Look, just tell them about the riot and how a bunch of good people from the Burbs and New City saved them. We’re all very sorry and it won’t happen again. I’ve even punished the Burbs for it.”

Yu-jin looked uncertain.

“Come on!” he ordered, and hurried down the stairs without seeing if she was following. He’d learned that technique a long time ago. Give someone a sharp command and act like you had no doubt they’d follow it, and that increased the chances of their actually doing so. From the clanging on the steps behind him he could tell he’d been right once again.

As he came out of the warehouse something out at sea made him stop short.

From between the buildings of New City he could see a stretch of the razor wire protecting the peninsula. Beyond that lay the glittering water, and sailing away, almost a kilometer out, was the ship.

“No!” The Doctor and Yu-jin cried in unison.

“What do we do?” Yu-jin asked.

For a moment the Doctor was speechless. The ship was headed out to sea at the moment, but would it turn and bring that artillery piece to bear?

Wait, no, that was irrational. Captain Yang didn’t seem the irrational sort. As long as the Asians stayed inside New City’s walls, he wouldn’t want to bombard the town.

Oh hell, Yu-jin’s right. They really are prisoners.

The ship could threaten us, though, or bomb the Burbs.

A small crowd of citizens had gathered to stare at the departing ship with mingled looks of worry, relief, and disappointment. The Doctor picked out Annette in the crowd, deep rings under her eyes showing she had spent all the previous night looking for her son.

Pity tugged at him. Annette was a bitch, but she didn’t deserve to lose her kid. What the hell had happened to the brat, anyway?

“Annette,” he called out.

She didn’t hear, and he had to call her name twice more before she turned and slouched over.

“Let’s organize a team to fan out and search for—”
shit, what’s his name?
—“your son.”

Annette shook her head.

“I’ve looked everywhere,” she husked. “I don’t know where he could have gone. One of his friends is missing too. An Asian kid. I think they ran off together during the riot, but where could they have gone?”

This last question came out as a whimper. It unsettled him to hear such a tough woman reduced so low.

“Wait, a young boy!” This was from Yu-jin. Both turned to her. She lowered her voice so only they could hear. “Remember how Gebre Selassie said it was a young boy on the radio and not Jessica? I didn’t really think about it because of all that was going on, but what if it was him?”

Annette’s eyes widened. “Pablo tags along with Jessica a lot. He kind of thinks of her as a big sister.”

The Doctor rubbed his chin. “And you say he was friends with an Asian kid too? If he was talking to the ship and then the riot happened, he’d want to protect his friend. I bet they went out into the dunes where Jessica had the radio hidden.”

“Do you think she’ll tell us where it is?” Annette asked.

“I’ll make her,” The Doctor growled.

Within a few minutes, a guard brought Jessica out to where they were standing a little apart from the crowd. The ship was still making for the horizon. Yu-jin stared at it with longing.

The Doctor was about to grill the girl when Annette grabbed her by the shirtfront, pulled her up onto her tiptoes, and poised a fist right in front of her terrified face.

“You had Pablo radio the ship, didn’t you?”

“I…I didn’t want my father recognizing my voice.”

“Where is he?”

“I have no idea!” Jessica wailed.

“Where’s the radio you two hid?”

Jessica tried to regain her composure. “If I tell you will you let—”

“If you tell me I’ll let you keep your teeth,” Annette growled.

The Doctor saw Clyde and a few guards standing nearby, watching. He motioned for them not to intervene. Clyde’s face betrayed no reaction.

“OK, I’ll show you, but please don’t kick me out of New City,” Jessica whimpered.

Doubt raised in The Doctor’s mind. “Wait, how do we know the kids are even going to be at the radio?”

“It’s a start,” Annette said, giving Jessica a spiteful shake. “And on the way over, this little bitch can tell me all she knows.”

“It’s the most logical place for them to have gone,” Yu-jin said. “We can track them.”

Annette looked at her. “We?”

Yu-jin nodded. “If we can get the radio I can talk to the ship. And you protected my people. It’s only right that I help you in return.”

The Doctor was about to object when he realized that he didn’t need her as a translator any more unless the ship came back, and that wouldn’t happen unless Yu-jin could get in contact. Still, having her head out into the wildlands when there was so much danger…

Annette let go of Jessica, who retreated a few steps until stopped by the guard. The sheriff got a distant look in her face. “Poor Pablo. He was out there in the dark all last night. And only because he wanted to help an Asian friend.”

“What’s this friend’s name?” Yu-jin asked.

“Wang Hong-gi. He’s Korean.”

The Doctor and Yu-jin traded glances.

“With a name like that, maybe not,” Yu-jin said.

The Doctor’s mind raced. How best to do this?

“All right,” he said after a moment. He turned to the guard. “You, get one of the rowboats and take Jessica, Yu-jin, and Annette out along the shore. It’s too dangerous to try to pass through the Burbs right now. Go find this place with the radio. Yu-jin, if you can figure out how to use the radio, call the ship and try to reason with them. If you can’t work it or don’t find it, come back here.”

“You’re not coming?” Yu-jin said, looking worried.

“I can’t. I have too much to do. I’d only slow you down anyway. Speaking of…”

He turned to Annette. The woman looked exhausted. He pulled out a packet of paper he kept in his pocket and took out a pill, an herbal speed he’d cooked up from some of the plants on his private farm. Not as good as what he used to get back in his clubbing days at North Cape, but good enough.

“Take this,” he said, holding it out to the sheriff.

Annette looked at it curiously. “What is it?”

The Doctor grinned. “The secret to my success.”

The team hurried off to the dock by the side of the peninsula. The guard carefully unfastened several layers of razor wire encircling the little concrete platform and the four of them piled aboard one of the three rowboats docked to it. A motor launch bobbed in the water nearby. The Doctor was about to suggest they take that but decided against it. They’d get to land quick enough, and fuel was scarce. If The Doctor had learned one thing in the past forty years, it was never to use a resource unless absolutely necessary.

The guard and Annette took the oars and paddled out along the shore.

The Doctor watched Yu-jin go, feeling suddenly lost. Was anyone else but that kid on his side?

Clyde and a few of his men sauntered up. The Head of the Watch had a walkie-talkie in his hand. “Now that the sheriff and that Chink are out of the way, it’s time to do it my way.”

The Doctor turned, confused. “Your way? What are you talking about?”

Clyde gave him a defiant look. “Blow the damn ship, remember? I sent Kent and a team out to set the bomb. It’s got a radio detonator. They’re at the head of the bay just waiting for my say-so. Would you like to give the order or should I?”

Rage rose up in The Doctor’s chest. “I never authorized that!”

Clyde shook his head, looking disappointed. “You had your chance, Doc. You had two whole days to negotiate with those barbarians, and all it’s done is cause a rift between New City and the Burbs and threaten everyone’s security.”

The Doctor snarled and took a step forward. Two of the guards moved in on him from either side. He glanced from one to the other, but they didn’t budge.

“Clyde, I order you—”

“You don’t order me to do a damn thing, Doc. You tried your way and it didn’t work. You’ve always been too soft. Look what happened when you let noncitizens inside during the last attack! You nearly got yourself killed. Security is my responsibility and I think your judgment’s been impaired by your illness and whatever that little Chinese piece of tail has been doing with you.”

“Now you listen here—” The Doctor took another step forward and one of the guards put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t grip hard, just rested it there.

It was enough.

His whole body trembling, eyes misting with red, The Doctor tried to remain calm.

“So you’re overthrowing me, eh?”

Clyde shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “You think I want to run this freak show? Hell, no. But I am responsible for this community’s security. And because of that I get to take charge when I feel the need is right.”

Clyde lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth and thumbed the button. “Clyde to Kent, you read me?”

“Loud and clear boss,” the crackly voice came out of the speaker.

“Blow that son of a bitch.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Pablo and Hong-gi stared at the empty bay, unable to believe their eyes. Where could the ship have gone? They said they would wait!

Pablo glanced at his friend. He looked just as lost and hopeless as he had in the dunes right after escaping from the Burbs. How could he make him feel better?

“The radio!” he cried out.

“What?” Hong-gi asked, unable to take his eyes off the empty bay.

“We have to go back for the radio! I dropped it when the tweakers grabbed us. We can radio the ship and tell them to come back.”

“We can’t go back there!”

“We got to. It’s the only way.”

Hong-gi looked glum. “They’re not going to come back. They said they’d stay and they didn’t.”

“They probably had to leave. Yeah, that’s it! The New City people threatened them. Or maybe they’d going to try and save all the Asians. I don’t know. But if we get the radio we can find out.”

Hong-gi turned to him, a desperate, hopeful look on his face. “Do you think that’s why they left?”

“Sure! They wouldn’t have said they’d wait if they weren’t going to keep their word. They just had to get out of range of the guns, that’s all. They’re probably trying to call us right now!”

Pablo was happy to see Hong-gi grab what he said and clutch onto it like a teddy bear on a stormy night. His face lit up with hope again.

“Let’s go!” Hong-gi shouted. They ran off back the way they had come.

“I hope the radio didn’t break when I dropped it,” Pablo said under his breath.

Hong-gi must have heard him because right afterwards he said, “I hope we don’t bump into the tweakers again.”

They hurried back as fast as they could, resting occasionally when the stink from the bay got to be too much. Pablo’s stomach growled and his mouth was dry with a nasty, metallic taste. They’d finished off everything they had saved from the tweakers. He sure hoped they’d get to the ship soon. He’d seen what starving people looked like and he didn’t want to be one of them.

They made their way back through the heaps of rubble. Once they heard the distant cackling of a tweaker. They froze and listened for a long time until they made sure the thing had headed off in another direction. Then they crept forward, always keeping low and out of sight. Pablo was tempted to get on top of one of the piles of rubble to have a look around, but he didn’t dare expose himself. You always had to use cover in the wildlands. That’s what everyone said.

At last they made it to the spot where they’d been attacked. The radio lay on the ground just where Pablo had dropped it. Pablo and Hong-gi gave each other a silent thumbs-up and headed over to get it. 

“Damn it, Norton, I told you we should have blown it as soon as it was set.”

Pablo and Hong-gi froze again. That was an adult man’s voice.

“But Clyde said—”

“Yeah, yeah, Clyde said to wait. And now that we can’t blow it what’s he going to say?

Pablo and Hong-gi looked at each other. What was going on? Someone was trying to blow up the ship? Maybe the crew discovered the bomb and sailed away. But if the ship knew about that, then it might turn around and drop a Big One on New City.

Pablo bit his lip. He didn’t want that. A lot of people in New City were bad, but he didn’t want Uncle Roy and Marcus hurt, or Aunt Rosie, or all his friends. Not everyone was bad back home.

Home.
The word made him want to cry. Why did everything have to be so messed up? He should be home playing with his friends and reading books with Mom at night. Why couldn’t everything be like it used to be?

Pablo shook his head. He was being a baby. He was a scavenger now and scavengers had to be ready for anything.

So what would a scavenger do right now?

The radio lay just a hundred meters away at the bottom of a heap of rubble. The voices sounded like they were coming from the other side of that heap. They were still talking, blaming each other for what had happened, and from the sound of it they weren’t moving. Maybe they had stopped for a rest.

Pablo turned to Hong-gi and put a finger to his lips before creeping towards the radio. He moved slowly, taking care that he didn’t step on any rocks that might shift under his weight and make noise. His shoes were of good leather made by a guy in the market and didn’t make much sound, not like the clunky boots the farmers wore. You could hear those guys coming from a kilometer away.

He grinned and felt proud at how quietly he was walking. He was getting really good at this scavenger stuff!

Just then his toe bumped a pebble that went skittering across the rubble in front of him.

His heart flippy-flopped. Pablo stood as still as a tree, listening. The adults on the other side of the rubble heap kept arguing. They were so busy listening to themselves talk that they hadn’t noticed him.

Typical.

Pablo moved more carefully this time. Fifty meters. Twenty. Ten. He had to fight letting out a big loud sigh of relief when he got to the radio. He picked it up, grateful not to hear any clanking parts that would show it had broken when he dropped it, and turned to head back.

Hong-gi crouched where he had left him, gesturing for him to hurry and giving nervous looks in the direction of the voices.

“OK, men, break’s over. We got to get back and see if the ship’s threatening New City.”

There was the sound of movement behind the rubble, like a bunch of people standing up and walking around.

Pablo hurried back to his friend as quickly as he dared. He wasn’t sure if he made any noise or not. The sound of his blood thumping in his ears was too loud for him to hear his own steps.

He did hear what came next, though.

“Hey, you, kid!”

Pablo bolted the last few meters to Hong-gi and both boys ran around another ruined building.

“Two of them, and one was Chinese!”

The sound of heavy steps behind them.

“Fan out, don’t let them get away!”

“There might be more Chinese out here. If you see any adults, shoot them!”

It took less than a minute to get caught. A big man with an M16 in his hand came lumbering around a pile of concrete slabs and ordered them to halt.

They halted. The gun looked gigantic.

“Kent, I got them!” the man called out.

Another man scrambled over the slabs.

“Well at least you can do something right,” he muttered. He glared at Hong-gi a moment and then scanned the surrounding area. Seeming to be satisfied they wouldn’t be disturbed, he looked back at the boys, who huddled close together.

“Anyone else out here with you?” he demanded.

“No,” Pablo squeaked.

“What’s that in your hand?” The guard gestured at the radio bag.

“Nothing…food and stuff.”

As the man scrambled down the slabs, Pablo recognized him. His name was Kent, one of the head guards. He carried an M16 like the man who had caught him. Just as he made it to the bottom of the slabs, three more guards with M16s hurried around the corner.

Kent turned to them. “Search pattern out to three hundred meters. Make sure none got away.”

The three did what they were told, the fourth man still hovering close. Kent turned and studied Pablo and Hong-gi. “You’re the sheriff’s kid, aren’t you?”

Pablo summoned up his courage. “Yeah I am, and when she finds out you were chasing us you’re going to be in big trouble.”

Kent said nothing. Instead he studied Hong-gi a moment before turning back at Pablo with a smirk. “Who said she’s going to find out?”

Pablo trembled.

“What are you doing out here with a Chink?” Kent demanded.

“Don’t use that word. It’s a bad word.”

“Answer the question.”

“I made him come,” Hong-gi said. “He didn’t want to.”

“I wasn’t asking you!” Kent snapped. “Everything you people say is a lie. You’ve been living in the Burbs for years calling yourself Korean or Vietnamese or whatever. I bet every single damn one of you is Chinese.”

Kent stepped forward and yanked the radio bag out of Pablo’s hand. He opened it up and his eyes went wide.

“Well I’ll be. Look at this, Norton, it’s a radio! I bet this is how they called the ship. I get it now. They sent off one of their kids to call in the ship because we weren’t watching the kids. Sneaky bastards. But how did you get mixed up in all this?”

This last question was for Pablo, but Hong-gi answered it. “I made him come. I told you. Let him go. It’s me you want.”

Kent gave him a look that told him if he spoke again something very, very bad would happen.

“Hey, Kent,” Norton said, “maybe we can get this Chinese kid to call into the ship and make it come back.”

Kent nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s just what I was thinking.”

He took a couple of steps towards Hong-gi until he towered over the boy.

“You just bought yourself a new lease on life, kid. If you call that ship back, we can finish the job. And if that ship goes under, I might just let you live.”