“Kid… yo, kid!” a voice said. “They can’t hear you.”
Benny whirled to see the big ranger, Joe, standing behind him. He hadn’t heard him approach.
“Where’d you come from?”
“Originally? Baltimore. Just now — the hangar.”
“It took you long enough.” Benny massaged his hand. “Where have you been?”
“Busy. Want to tell me why you and your crew of girl-thugs just beat the crap out of four soldiers? And while you’re at it, how about explaining the stunt with the quad? I’ve seen stupid and I’ve seen stupid but that was—”
“Stupid, yeah, I saw where you were going with that.”
That put a half smile on Joe’s face. “So — what’s the deal? Is this about seeing your friend Chong? Roughing up soldiers and breaking rules isn’t going to—”
“I’m trying to get inside,” said Benny. He gave the door another hit.
“I figured that much, which is why I came out here. I’m trying to keep you from wasting your time.” Joe pointed at the tall steel doors set into the concrete facade of the building. “Read my lips here, kid, try to follow. They. Can’t. Hear. You.”
“Why not?”
“It’s an ultra-secure soundproof hardened facility. It’s designed to withstand anything except a direct hit from a nuclear weapon. You could march up and down all day long with a brass band and they won’t hear a peep. Nothing. Nada. Am I getting through to you in any way?”
Benny ignored him.
“It’s also designed to keep out a gazillion zombies like the ones who are — oh yeah, coming this way.”
“They won’t be here for at least ten minutes.”
Joe grunted. “Fair enough. Door’s still going to be locked when they get here… and the geeks inside won’t even know that the zoms are chowing down on a pigheaded teenager.”
“Why?” he demanded. “They have to know we’re out here.”
“They do. Once in a while one of them even looks at us on a video monitor.”
“On a what?”
“A kind of electronic window.”
“Then if they’re looking at us, why don’t they open the door?”
“Why would they?”
Benny pointed backward, jabbing a finger at the building. “Because I’m knocking.”
“No offense, kid, but who the hell are you?”
Benny punched him.
He didn’t even know he was going to do it. His hand was already moving when it clenched into a knot and slammed into the side of Joe’s jaw.
The blow had all of Benny’s anger and frustration in it.
It rocked Joe. It knocked him back half a step.
And that was all it did.
Benny threw a second punch, but Joe caught that one in his open palm like a shortstop catching a grounder. Joe’s fingers closed around Benny’s fist like iron bars. Then his hand darted out and clutched a fistful of Benny’s shirtfront, and suddenly Benny was up on his toes, nose to nose with the ranger. Joe’s blue eyes bored into him like drills, and the man’s mouth twitched as if he fought to bite down on the words he wanted to say.
Finally he smiled and pushed Benny back.
He rubbed his jaw. “Nice punch. I honestly can’t tell you the last time anyone caught me with a sucker punch.”
“I hope it hurts.”
“It does,” Joe admitted. “Though… probably not as much as your hand.”
Benny was trying to ignore his hand. It was a white-hot ball of pain at the end of his wrist.
“Let me tell you something, kid,” said Joe. “Because you’re Tom Imura’s brother, and because you’re probably not recovered from that head wound you got, I’m going to let this slide. I can understand you being upset — your best friend is in there and maybe he’s dying or maybe he’s already zommed out — but you need to learn how to pick your fights. I’m not your enemy, and I’m not much in favor of being a punching bag for someone who wants to vent.”
“I can’t let Chong die without doing everything I can,” said Benny. “I can’t.”
“Fine, I admire that. Bravo for you,” said Joe. “How is all this crap going to help him?”
Benny dug his hand into his pocket and removed the two slips of paper.
“We went out to the Ruin today,” he said. “To a ravine near where the plane went down.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where Sergeant Ortega is. Or was. He’s dead. Really dead, I mean.”
Joe narrowed his eyes and nodded to the pieces of paper. “You took those from him?”
“Yes.” Benny handed one of the slips to Joe. “I think we found out where Dr. McReady is.”
Joe studied the paper. It was the message that read: URGENT: REPT OF R3 ACTIVITY VCNTY OF DVNP — REL. WIT. *** FTF?
Benny watched the big man’s reaction. Joe went dead pale. Then his eyes widened and widened until Benny thought they’d bug out of his head.
“Where…?”
Benny explained about the visit to the ravine, how they pulled Sergeant Ortega out, what they found, and the subsequent confrontation with Brother Peter and the Red Brotherhood.
“He said he wanted what I gave you.”
“Fat chance,” said Joe.
“He said that if I didn’t give it to him by sundown tomorrow, the reapers were going to attack Sanctuary.”
Benny expected Joe to laugh that off, but he didn’t
“Joe?” asked Benny. “The reapers can’t actually take Sanctuary… can they?”
But Joe didn’t answer. “Where’s the satchel you took from Sergeant Ortega?”
“I… um… gave it to Brother Peter.”
Joe’s face went from bloodless to a livid and dangerous red.
“Are you deranged?” thundered the ranger. For the second time he grabbed a fistful of Benny’s shirt. “You stupid, boneheaded little—”
And Benny held up the second slip of paper.
The one with the coordinates.
“You soldiers have been at war too long,” said Benny. “Try having some faith in other people.”
Joe stared at the paper. It had been neatly torn in half. “This is only half of it….”
“I know. We’ll give you the other half as soon as you give me your word on two things.”
“You’re on thin ice, boy,” said Joe in a low and dangerous voice.
Benny leaned toward him. “I’ve been on thin ice since zombies ate the world. I want your word on two things. Two conditions.”
Joe studied him with steely eyes. “What conditions?”
“First, you tell me what’s going on inside the lab and the hangar.”
“Believe me, kid, you don’t want to know.”
“Don’t tell me what I want to know. And don’t assume that I can’t handle it.”
“What’s the other condition?”
“You take me with you,” said Benny. “Me, Nix, Riot, and Lilah.”
Benny waited, his whole body tensing for the argument, the outrage, the refusal that he knew was coming. The ranger looked past him at the three fierce girls on the other side of the trench. Then he turned and looked at the zoms, who were less than a quarter mile away. Finally he looked down at the torn piece of paper in his hand.
“You’re doing all of this because of your friend? Because of that Chong kid?”
“I’m doing this because this is our world too. You don’t have a right to shut us out of the process of saving it.”
Joe drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly through his nose.
“Let me tell you something, kid,” he said. “Because I liked your brother, I’m going to forget that you’re trying to extort me here.”
“Thanks, but it’s not extortion,” snapped Benny. “And even if it was, I can’t let Chong die without doing everything I can.”