“Don’t tell me that. What happened?”
“I went to go take a shit and wanted some privacy so I came over here. All I know is some sick fuck came at me when I had my pants down, that’s it!”
“Are you hurt?” Sebastian asked, concerned.
“I’m fine. If you’re wondering if he raped me, no he didn’t. I fought him off. Now leave me alone!” Brandon yelled. He stormed out of the building.
Sebastian walked around the perimeter in search of whoever had approached Brandon, but he couldn’t find evidence of where this person had run to. Not wanting to stall their trip any longer, and knowing that Brandon was safe, he headed back to the car. It wasn’t even noon, and he was already exhausted. It was bad enough that he had to watch out for himself and for his wife, but the quasi-parental role that he was filling was taxing on him. In so many ways, his life was easier when he was a sniper in the Marines.
Neither Conner nor Baxter had done anything about the Cruz situation. He had been Barone’s prisoner for weeks, with no word on his condition.
This was all part of Conner’s strategy, the typical “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” doctrine used so often in the past. Conner had a hunch that Barone would treat Cruz with dignity and wouldn’t harm him or his people. He calculated that Barone’s intention was to leverage the U.S. in exchange for his release. Conner wanted Barone to sweat a bit thinking that his plan wouldn’t work. But now it was time to open up the lines of communication.
Everything was going smoothly in Cheyenne, so much so that Conner had ordered most of the reserve staff at Cheyenne Mountain to join him. Conner was very impressed with how the governor and command leadership from F. E. Warren had prevented a societal meltdown. Conner had reassimilated into the leadership role seamlessly, and now, with a full team at his command, he could focus some of his attention to Barone and to the Pan-American Empire. The report he received yesterday troubled him—it seemed that this was the first legitimate threat from the PAE, so he wanted to address it immediately.
Conner was fully aware of the limited military resources at his disposal. The Marine ARG that had been stationed on the East Coast was now in port in Houston. The alliance with the Republic of Texas was working well and he didn’t want to pull them out of there. Hawaii hadn’t been successful in keeping all the military assets stationed there loyal to them. He was disappointed, but there wasn’t enough time or resources to address this issue now. Meanwhile, the Third Marine Regiment stationed on Oahu had boarded ships and were in route to Portland when they were ordered to stop after Cruz’s capture. Since then, they had been floating around off the coast of Washington State.
The PAE’s force was sizeable, and Conner needed as many troops as possible to confront them. Even with a combined effort of the ARG and the Third Marine Regiment he needed more troops. As for a leveraging point, Barone could be the force that would tip the scales in their favor.
“Dylan, come in here please,” he ordered.
Dylan had re-established his role with Conner and had now taken over as his chief of staff. Though he was relatively young and inexperienced, Conner trusted him completely. What he lacked in experience he made up for in loyalty.
Dylan came in armed with a pad of paper and sat down.
Conner sat back in his chair and gave him a punch list of tasks that needed to be tackled. Dylan took notes diligently as Conner rattled off one item after another.
“That it’s. But before you go, I saved the last task as the most important. Touch base with General Baxter. Have him contact Barone in whatever little hole he’s hiding. I need to speak with him about Cruz. It’s time for us to negotiate.”
Dylan stopped writing and looked up.
“I got your attention, didn’t I?” Conner joked.
“Yes, it’s just that I was thinking about the vice president this morning, and it’s coincidental that now you mentioned him.”
“He’s been on my mind daily. I just couldn’t do anything about him until the entire situation was assessed and I determined the appropriate way to bargain with Barone. But now I think I have the deal that could set him free.”
“I hope so,” Dylan responded.
“That is it, hop to it. Oh, and please call General Vincent from Warren; we need to discuss the status of our nukes.” The mention of nuclear weapons made Dylan pause.
Conner noticed this and chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to push the button on anyone. I just haven’t had a full briefing on how the weapons are being maintained. We already have issues with some of our nuclear power plants. I don’t need a nuclear disaster in my own backyard.”
Dylan noticeably exhaled, satisfied with that answer. “Sounds good, sir,” Dylan said. He stood and left the room.
When the doors closed Conner spun around in his chair to look out the window. He began to strum his fingers on the armrest. The thud of his ring grabbed his attention. He looked at the gold band. This was the ring that Julia had bet her life on. If she had only waited a day, she’d be alive. Frustrated, he pried the ring off his swollen finger and held it in his hand. He didn’t want this grim reminder sitting on his hand any longer. “Good-bye, Julia,” he said as he placed the ring in a drawer and closed it.
A high-pressure system had been hanging over the region for days. It brought with it bitter cold but thankfully no new precipitation. This made it easy to track Raymond’s movements, which had remained etched into the ground like fossils. Nelson, Mack, and Scott had decided that they better track where they led so they could determine where the group came from.
Raymond’s frozen footprints led from the back deck and headed north. Just thirty feet from the deck, Nelson, Mack, and Scott came upon a startling discovery. A large area had been stamped down behind a pine tree.
“Look at that,” Mack commented, pointing at the area.
“Yeah, looks like our friend used this as a hiding spot,” Scott then said.
“That pervert was stalking Samantha, scoping out her bedroom window, I bet,” Nelson added with an edge to his voice. Just thinking about how this man had camped out just yards away from their home made him feel uneasy, even if he was dead.
The men moved on. They weren’t sure how far Raymond had come and they didn’t want to be gone when night fell. Their absence left the community vulnerable, but it was a risk Nelson thought was justified. He brought Scott and Mack along only because he thought they needed to see with their own eyes what they might be up against.
As they climbed and descended the hills, all the men began to complain.
“Holy shit, that drunk fuck went this far to get a glimpse of ass?” Mack panted as he bent over.
“I was in better shape before the apocalypse,” Nelson chimed in.
“Guys, this is a better workout than I ever got before the apocalypse. Woo!” Scott said as he blew out hard.
“Look at you, Scott, am I steaming too?” Nelson asked.
“Yes, sir, you are,” Scott answered.
Mack opened his mouth to make another crack, but stopped short when they crested over the top of the hill.
“Guys, this might be it,” Mack said, crouching down on the hard, frozen ground.
Scott and Nelson jogged the rest of the distance and crawled up alongside Mack.
Nelson pulled out his binoculars and began to survey a small group of buildings. About a half mile down the hill sat a large house with barns and one single-wide trailer.
“Is this it?” Scott asked.
Nelson found the tracks with his binoculars and followed them right up to the front door of the house. “I’d say yes. The tracks lead to the front door.”