Just before they left Lewis approached him and Matt, his expression suggesting he’d thought of something. “What is it?” Trev asked.
His cousin gave him a serious look. “I’d like to head to the refugee camp and see what I can learn there.”
That got their attention. “Are you crazy?” Matt demanded. “If Rogers’s people find out you’re from Aspen Hill they’ll arrest you.”
Trev agreed with the risk, although he could also see the merits of the idea. “Sounds good. Let’s get a team together and we’ll go.”
Lewis shook his head. “I’d prefer to go alone. More people means more attention, and Matt’s right that it’s dangerous. I’ll be more comfortable if I only have myself to worry about.” Before Trev could feel insulted by that his cousin continued. “Besides, you’ve got to focus on the town’s defenses.”
Matt nodded and gave Trev a stern look. “In town, by the way,” he added. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but no more being out on patrols and leaving a leadership gap during a crisis.”
Trev felt his face flush. He and Deb had been going out of their way to be where the other wasn’t since agreeing to take some time apart. Including, he guessed, her staying back in town to protect it while he was out here.
Still, his friend was right that he’d dropped the ball when it came to the sudden appearance of these refugees. He should’ve been there helping organize the townspeople to come out and meet the approaching mob in force. Gutierrez had done a good job, but it was a job he shouldn’t have had to do in the first place. “Right.”
Lewis cut in. “I’ll be going, then. I’d like to hurry, get around the refugees and get to the camp before them.”
Trev reluctantly nodded. “You sure you want to go alone? Not even someone to hang around outside the camp as backup in case something goes wrong?”
His cousin shook his head. “Things would be just as likely to go wrong for him as for me. Nah, I’ll be fine.”
Matt clapped Lewis on the shoulder. “Be careful, then. And if you can try to keep your eye out for any information Chauncey or your dad could use to help our cause, over the radio or with Grimes.”
Lewis patted his pocket. “I brought my phone to record this confrontation, in case we need to prove we aren’t at fault. I’ll see if I can get us something.”
Trev couldn’t believe his cousin had thought of that in all the confusion. And yet it was the sort of thing that could really save their bacon if the town was accused of misconduct.
The low tech existence they currently lived in made those sorts of precautions difficult, but he determined to charge his own phone, currently gathering dust in a plastic bin with so many of the family’s other high-tech relics of the past, and have it handy for the same reason. He’d also get more of the defenders to do the same.
After some hasty goodbyes from Gutierrez, Rick, and a few others Lewis clapped Trev on the upper arm. “Let Jane know I’ll be home by tomorrow morning if I can manage it.” With no more than that he turned and trotted off down the ridge, taking a path that would let him swing wide around the departing refugees below.
Trev joined the remaining townspeople in heading back, feeling a sense of foreboding. He had a lot of people out tracking a lot of potential problems, and there was plenty of danger to them if they encountered those problems. His defenders were careful, and he’d instructed them to make getting away safely and reporting in a priority, but he still worried for them.
He hoped they’d all be careful, Lewis included. Although if there was one thing he could trust, it was that his cousin was always cautious.
One person could travel faster than a thousand people on foot at the best of times, and in the shape Lewis was in he had no trouble reaching Rogers’s camp hours ahead of the refugees.
Even getting in without attracting notice from the soldiers guarding the camp and keeping the peace wasn’t especially difficult, since there were plenty of people coming and going on various tasks, or arriving from elsewhere seeking aid and refuge. It took Lewis less than a half hour to join up with a group of foragers gathering grass for some purpose, maybe to make mattresses or comforters, and return to camp with them chatting about mundane complaints like hunger and aches and pains.
Once inside the maze of poorly organized tents he drifted around to various groups of residents, sharing news of the outside world or even strips of venison jerky from his pack, as long as it got people talking about events closer to home.
A lot of what he picked up he already knew, from what Chauncey had relayed over the radio as well as what Dr. Langstrom, Robert, Hailey, and the other recruits had told him of their situation in camp. Resources were tight, freedom was restricted, and people were getting restless. Crime was running rampant and increasing in severity, there were frequent protests, all of which were ignored or suppressed, and there’d even been a few minor riots.
Nobody seemed to think Rogers was doing a good job, there was a great deal of resentment towards his soldiers, and more than a few people had already left in search of better camps, or even to strike out on their own. Basically anyone who’d already had the possessions and supplies were bailing, leaving only the most desperate and downtrodden behind.
The camp was quickly becoming a slum of the worst kind.
It took Lewis a while to hear anything about the thousand refugees Rogers had sent to Aspen Hill, and when he finally did it was indirectly. A snippet from an elderly woman gnawing on a piece of his jerky, information she tossed out while giving other news, about how Rogers rounding up the camp’s malcontents didn’t seem to have stopped the rising crime rates.
He politely interrupted the woman before she could move on to the state of the camp’s cooking. “He rounded up malcontents? Like protestors?”
She sniffed. “Protestors, petty thieves, rioters, and the sort of scum guilty of more serious crimes like attempting or even carrying out assault with deadly weapons, rape, and murder. Sent them all packing off east somewhere yesterday morning. None too soon, if you ask me, after he ignored what they were doing for so long even when we begged him to intervene. Not that it seems to be helping, since my friend’s daughter had her coat stolen this morning. The thug took it right off her back, said all sorts of terrible things about her to his friends while he did it, too. Poor girl’s lucky they didn’t do worse.”
“Terrible,” Lewis agreed sincerely, although inwardly he was steaming. He hadn’t expected Rogers to send pillars of the community Aspen Hill’s way, but that’s who he’d sent? Trying to kill two birds with one stone by reducing crime and unrest in his camp, and at the same time paying back the town full of people who’d challenged his authority by sending criminals their way?
Granted, most of the refugees were probably just desperate or frustrated, but if the major had really sent dangerous men along with the others, giving them a new place to prey upon victims, it went beyond unconscionable to outright evil.
Well whatever the camp coordinator had intended to happen, his plan had failed. Before too long all those refugees would be returning here and they’d be Rogers’s problem once again. Lewis sincerely felt for this woman, her family, and all the other innocents in camp who would once again be dealing with this. But he’d feel even worse if those problems had moved to Aspen Hill.
They’d faced enough trouble of that sort since the Gulf burned.
Over the next few hours he picked up plenty of useful information about the state of the camp, the disposition of Rogers and his soldiers, and even news about other camps and the world at large. He didn’t dare talk to any soldiers to see what they knew, and he wasn’t stupid enough to poke around in their barracks or headquarters tent in search of damning paperwork. There were no real trade opportunities here, even if he thought he could’ve snuck any deals past guards hostile to Aspen Hill, so all that was left to do was wait for the refugee men to arrive and see how they reported what had happened and how Rogers handled their return.