“You do?”
“Yep.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not telling.”
“Why not?”
“I’m waiting to see how you play.”
“What dya mean?”
“I play hard, Marty. Mac taught me that. And, I’m a very quick learner.”
“Yeah, I know. I wouldn’t expect anything less since you’re with him.”
“It was us at the suburb. That’s where I found this Beretta and Mac got his deck sweeper. We had to shoot our way out of that one.” She slid the Remington onto her shoulder and transferred the shotgun into her hands. The Berretta was a beautiful weapon, its deep-grained wood stock gleaming in the sunlight. She never tired of gazing at it.
“I was there, you know,” said Marty. “I showed up about an hour or so later and waded through the damage you guys did. Are you always that lucky?”
Amanda turned to him again. “Surf Boy, you’ll come to find that when you’re hanging with Connor Mac you don’t need much luck. You just gotta be ready to do what needs to be done.”
“Surf Boy? Really? How’d you know to call me that?”
“A lucky guess.”
SECTION 3: “Sex, Love, and Rock-n-Roll (Hall of Fame)”
CHAPTER 3.1-The Dangers of Cleveland
“Do we have any credible intelligence on Cleveland?” Colonel Starkes fed CJ from the small bottle of breast milk Nicole had provided. She lounged comfortably in the makeshift hammock stretched between the tails of two small Cessna.
“Give me a few minutes, ma’am and I’ll have your info.” Major O’Malley jogged to Captain Daubney who was talking with a corporal outside the tent pitched near the helicopter. They disappeared inside the tent and returned to the colonel in less than five minutes.
“Whatta you got?” she asked.
“Ma’am, Jimmy sent us what he had over the data link and I knew that Captain Daubney grew up in Cleveland so I thought he might be some help to us.”
“Sure, captain, thanks for joining us.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Jimmy told us there’s an official mayor in Cleveland—one elected each year since the Sickness,” said the major. “He’s voted in by the people and goes by the name of Phoenix Justice. That’s probably not his real name.”
“Please continue, major.”
“Yes, ma’am,” answered the major, either unwilling or unable to detect the sarcasm in the colonel’s question. “He’s formed quite a following, ma’am. He’s young—maybe thirty.”
“Phoenix Justice… why does that name ring a bell?”
“The majority of this report was obtained from the group he sent across the country as emissaries to see if the federal government remained intact. Colonel, there were seven men and seven women in that group.”
“Yes, that’s it! I remember. How could I have forgotten that power hungry bastard—even though I never met the man. His people came out to DC—what, was it that last July?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“As I recall, Phoenix was seeking an officially sanctioned Marshal Law declaration for Ohio. He wanted to expand his domain.”
“Yes, ma’am. He was petitioning to be appointed the Governor of Ohio, but only if a working Federal government was still in place.”
“I told the leader of that group—wasn’t his name Ken?—that if Phoenix wanted so bad to be Ohio Governor, he needed to talk with me directly.”
“Yes, ma’am. But we haven’t heard from him or his representatives since then. They haven’t set up the datalink we gave them last summer. Colonel, there’s also the possibility that that group never made it back to Cleveland alive.”
“Okay, we’ll talk more about Phoenix later. I want to know more about the city. Give me some demographics. Do we have any info on their military strength?”
“We do. But, obviously its second hand data.”
“Sure, I understand, continue.”
“Population’s a little more than 2,500. The emissaries reported that three quarters are male, but that may be an exaggeration.”
“Never show your hand before you have to, major?”
“Yes, ma’am. It may be an effort on Phoenix’s part to present Cleveland as more formidable than it is, or was last year. The primary seat of government is housed in the downtown Hilton on Crestwood Avenue. It’s likely a solid defensive structure and I’m sure it’s well guarded.
“The present population is considered self-sustainable, food-wise. One of the first things Phoenix put into place was an organized paramilitary police force under his control. He’s said to have started this immediately after the Sickness unfolded and had a man named Larry Reed, an ex-marine, run it. Apparently, Phoenix and Reed are pretty close. And the dossier info confirms Reed’s capabilities in this capacity. He was an MP for twenty years prior to the Sickness and, by all reports, a mostly likeable man. Jimmy’s research into Reed did confirm he was active when the bird flu hit. Also, Stevie suggests the Cleveland community should be considered moderate to well trained in self-defense. There are no children older than the onset of the Sickness.”
“No babies at all. We asked them that when they were in DC, right?”
“Yes, ma’am, and it seemed as though they were telling the truth.”
“Yes, it did, as far as I could tell,” agreed the colonel. “Give me more.”
“Yes, ma’am. Their weapons arsenal would likely include adequate access to rifles, shotguns, and sidearms with a significant amount of appropriate ammunition. This quasi-police unit was put in place early on, so it was obviously valued. And Ken, the emissary from last July, did launch into a story about losing ninety-one men two years ago during a large-scale raid attempt on their Cleveland stronghold. Apparently, a well-organized militant group from Erie, Pennsylvania initiated the raid. Ken was quite passionate about that, I remember.”
“Is that where Phoenix took out Erie?”
“Yes, ma’am. He said that the Erie bunch had about 600 men attacking Cleveland from two fronts in a well-planned night raid. But all of the attackers were killed except for one. Phoenix had expected such a two pronged attack and had defenses in place. Later, the next day, he had the community drag the bodies out into the freshly tilled soil and burned the dead in rows. At the evening bonfire, he served fresh Walleye to all with fresh baked bread and told his people that the dead could help fertilize the crops that would feed their future.” Major O’Malley paused to let the colonel digest this information.
“Go on, major.”
“Would you like any details of the actual skirmish, colonel?”
“No, major. We can come back to that later if needed. Please continue.”
“Yes, ma’am. The next morning, Phoenix sent seven men and seven women to Erie to claim the spoils of victory. They took the one Erie survivor with them to explain to the Erie leader, a Mr. Murdock, that ‘war-time reparations’ were to be made. Or else.”
“Or else, what?”
“Or else the entire Erie community would be annihilated within 180 days. Phoenix’s demands were simple: send one hundred horses and one hundred high-quality young women along with fifteen thousand rounds of ammunition. When this demand was refused, Phoenix crushed the Erie community forty days later. He returned to Cleveland with all the surviving Erie women, horses, food, and ammunition. He’s also managed to commandeer and man six additional fishing vessels, bringing them to Cleveland. In the meantime, he systematically destroyed Erie, setting fire to anything that would burn and dumping anything on their fields that would make the soil infertile. Put simply, he left no man standing and set the city on fire.”