“Emperor, I have some very important information that I thought you’d want to know about urgently!” the man exclaimed.
“I told you to never come here at night, never! We are to meet every day at the same time in the garden. You never come inside!”
“Sir, I-I-I know who the general is seeing. I-I-I have a n-n-name!”
Pablo was still holding him but finally let go. “Go ahead!”
“I saw a woman, sh-sh-she’s about his age, oh, and sh-sh-she looks Mexican.”
“So, old General Pasqual is meeting a woman. That’s it. He’s having an affair!”
“N-n-no, sir. There was also a man. Ah, ah, he’s younger.”
“So what, probably her son.” Pablo stepped away from the man and paced the room, laughing. “So, the general is running around for a piece of tail.”
“N-n-no, sir. The younger m-m-man was wearing a uniform.”
“A uniform? One of ours?”
“N-no, sir.”
“You mentioned a name. What’s the name?”
“J. Ortiz.”
“Did you get an address too this time?”
“Y-y-yes.”
Pablo walked to a small end table where he saw a pencil and paper. “What are you doing? Write down the name again and the address.”
The man did what he ordered.
Pablo asked if there was other pertinent information. He told him there wasn’t anything else. Changing his tone, Pablo then thanked him, before reminding him to never come to the house at night again. The man nodded and rushed out.
Pablo looked at the paper. J. Ortiz, 5632 Cloverfield Dr., Folsom. He placed the paper in his pocket.
Back at the dinner table, after a few minutes, Isabelle asked, “Is everything okay? You’ve been quiet and haven’t eaten since your visitor left.”
“I’m just not hungry. This chicken is dry.”
“Was it General Pasqual coming here with another ‘urgent’ message?” Isabelle joked.
Pablo slammed his fist onto the table. “Shut up! Mind your business! What I do and who I meet is none of your business!” He stood up quickly, causing his chair to fall backward. Not saying another word, he stormed out of the dining room.
MARCH 17, 2015
• • •
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
“He’s improving. His fever is gone but he’s still feeling—” Wilbur said before Cruz cut her off.
“Like shit,” Cruz stated flatly. He took a sip of water and a labored breath. Even the effort of sitting up was tough for him.
“Is he well enough for us to get back on the road?” Gordon asked.
“Another day or two. I think he should rest here. It’s so uncomfortable sitting in that vehicle,” Wilbur said, placing a rolled-up blanket behind Cruz.
“Another day or two? We’re already behind schedule; I’ve not been able to communicate with anyone. They’re probably freaking out, wondering what happened.”
“Let them freak out; he needs to get better before we move again,” Wilbur barked.
Cruz raised his hand weakly. “I should be fine to go by tomorrow. Let’s not wait any longer.”
Gordon smiled. He had become very anxious and had dreamed of his wife and Haley during his nap in the office. All he wanted to do was get to McCall.
“Should we try the radio again, maybe drive to a higher elevation?” Christopher suggested.
“No, let’s just stay here. We appear to be safe and we have everything we need,” Gordon replied, then walked away. He stepped outside to get some fresh air and think.
Christopher joined him. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
“This is all so crazy.”
“What do you mean?” Gordon asked.
“Thinking about how life has changed. When the lights went out, I was at work. At first we all cheered because nothing worked. We chatted, laughed, and enjoyed those initial hours. Hey, anything to not have to work. But then the odd stories of cars not working began to come in. I was meeting with the mayor and she was trying to find out what had happened but again, nothing worked. It wasn’t until I walked home and sat down with my wife and daughter that I first became scared.” Christopher paused. He appeared uncomfortable with what he was about to share. “My wife and daughter made the most of it the first couple of nights. She set up a tent in the living room for my daughter. She loved it. The problems started about forty-eight hours later. The stores were ransacked and looting began in the streets. The mayor, she stood up for our town and order. We were lucky, most of the police stayed on the job.”
Gordon watched Christopher. His voice trembled the more he talked.
“I still remember that day. It’s seared into my brain. I was with the mayor working on a plan to close down the roads when the old finance director came in.” Christopher paused again. His lip was quivering now. “She told me that my wife and daughter were killed when a group of men came to the hospital to loot. My wife was a nurse and she started taking Melody with her there. She wanted her to learn the importance of helping others, even when it was more convenient to just stay home. She went there every day to help those who were critical. The men came in and just killed them.” Christopher was now crying openly.
Gordon knew this man’s pain. He had been there himself.
“The man who killed my son, Hunter, gave me this scar,” Gordon blurted out.
Christopher looked over at him at the mention of the death of his son.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Yours too,” Gordon said.
“I watched this man murder my son right in front of me and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. I watched as the life drained out of my boy. The helpless feeling that you had, I’ve known that too,” Gordon shared.
“This is why we need to make this work, this is why we need to support people like the mayor. She has a plan for Coos Bay that doesn’t come from a place of violence.”
While they both shared a common story of tremendous loss, Gordon realized that their lives were completely different. How they approached the new world was not the same and never would be. Christopher was a gentle and good man, but didn’t have the same ruthless pragmatism that Gordon had.
Gordon didn’t want to insult Christopher, so he kept his reply simple. “Your mayor might be a good and righteous person, but the only way to peace in this world is through the barrel of a gun.”
Preliminary searches had been conducted for Nelson but Samantha knew he was gone for good. There wasn’t a shred of evidence that he was alive; nothing pointed them in any direction. Haley wasn’t able to help either. When they asked her where they had kept her, she told them that she never saw because they had her blindfolded the entire time. Looking for Nelson was like searching for a needle in a haystack. She didn’t know what else to do, so while she was out for one of the drives she took along several signs she had made.
Weeks ago she had an idea of placing signs along Highway 55 directing Gordon to where they were. She was inspired from seeing similar handmade signs along the way to Eagle. When she first mentioned the idea, Nelson had scoffed at it, then worried that it could draw attention to them. But now it seemed like the only thing they could do to put their minds at ease.
Eric joined her this morning. As he finished hammering the last sign over the highway sign he turned and said, “I hope this works. Doubt it, though.”
Samantha didn’t answer him.
“The roads are looking pretty good. We might be able to explore farther north soon to see if the route is open to McCall.”