“Is it me or is it weird for you to be discussing leaving for McCall without Nelson?” Samantha asked.
“I was assuming we’ll have found him by then,” Eric said.
“Will we ever find him? It’s been two days and we don’t have any idea what direction they went in.”
“They couldn’t have gone too far, they were on foot.”
“Yeah, but if you go south just a mile there are literally hundreds if not thousands of homes. What do we do—just go from house to house?”
“So we stop looking?” Eric asked.
“No… but how long do we stay here? Do we risk our children? I honestly don’t know what to do. I feel horrible because I’m the one who killed Raymond, and Nelson sacrificed himself for me. How do I not keep looking for him? When do we say that’s enough? Is it weeks, months, years, never stop looking?”
“Ask those questions of Frank and Gretchen. I think you’ll get the answer,” Eric blurted out.
This discussion reminded her of the argument she had had with Mike and his wife, Stacy, back in the desert when she was looking for Gordon and Hunter. The irony of how she was now rationalizing stopping her search for Nelson and heading north to the safety and seclusion of McCall was unsettling.
“If we don’t find him in a couple months, what happens? Do we leave? Do we leave Frank and Gretchen here? Oh my God! They’ll hate us,” Samantha lamented.
“In the end, I guess we all will do what’s important to us and our families regardless of others. Gordon was right. It really is every man for himself,” Eric mused.
She pondered this complex question. Is that what we do as humans? Many people bragged or spoke confidently of loyalty and fidelity, but what do we really do when lives are on the line?
“You know, I would never leave here if it was just me. But I have Haley and I have to think of her safety. Nelson was right, Truman and his people will come back one day when they need things. I don’t want to be here when that happens. So I guess I’ve come full circle in some ways. I’ll keep looking for Nelson, but when we can go, we’ll have to head north. I think that’s what he would have wanted.”
Eric didn’t respond. Something over her shoulder caught his attention. “Hey, look, an elk.”
She turned and saw the massive animal standing a few hundred yards away.
“God, they’re such big animals,” Eric said.
“I think I’ve come to realize we’re the real animals, not them.”
“Nothing? You’ve sent choppers out there and nothing? No communications?” Conner asked, concerned about the report that all contact had been lost with vehicle bringing Cruz back. “Why did they drive? I still want to know why we let that happen. I knew that idea was stupid.”
“We’ve managed to get some drones back online and they’re now operating around the Pocatello area. We have estimated our forces would have linked up with them around there,” Baxter added.
“Any thoughts if this was all a ruse by the colonel?”
“Sir, your guess is as good as mine.”
“We don’t need guesses. I need solid information. Get the colonel on the phone immediately. Let me know when we have him patched through.”
It took an hour to arrange the call with Barone. When Conner picked up the phone, he had no idea where the conversation was going to go. Their treaty was built on trust, and if Barone had betrayed him again, he might very well be faced with a two-front war.
“Colonel Barone?”
“Yes, this is Barone.”
“Colonel, do you have any idea where the vice president is?”
“They’ve been gone for a few days, so I’d suspect they might be close. But they are driving, so there are a myriad of issues that could have happened.”
“Why didn’t you fly them here?”
“We don’t have the resources to fly people everywhere. I’m sorry.”
“You have choppers. I know you have to have surplus fuel,” Conner challenged.
“Mr. Conner, I did what I did because my needs on the ground dictate it,” Barone fired back.
“I’d prefer it if you called me Mr. President.”
Barone paused a few moments before he replied, “No, I’ll call you Mr. Conner; you’re not my president anymore, remember?”
“Whatever! Why didn’t you mention that you weren’t flying them when you called me days ago? If you didn’t have the helicopters I would have offered to come get them. This is just crazy.”
“Frankly, you never asked how they were getting there; I was quite astonished you didn’t ask for that very important detail, but then again…”
“Stop the bullshit, Mr. Barone. Did Vice President Cruz and Secretary Wilbur leave Coos Bay?”
“Ha, you’re asking me because you suspect that I might have lied to you and am holding them? Let me assure you, I want the deal we’ve agreed to. Holding Cruz and Wilbur would do nothing for me now. I wouldn’t be so foolhardy as to blow a good thing.”
Barone was right—it wasn’t sensible for him to hold on to Cruz and Wilbur.
“Why do you suspect that they’re not heading your way?” Barone asked, curious.
“Because they’re not here yet. Once we found out you were driving them, I sent out a team to intercept them. By our estimates they should’ve crossed paths, but nothing. No signs of them. We’ve since launched drones along the route they were traveling. Somewhere along the way they disappeared and we have over twelve hundred miles of road to search. Not impossible, but it’s quite an operation.”
“I see why you’re concerned. What would you like from my end?”
“First, how well do you know the men taking them?”
“I sent one man.”
“What?! You sent one man?”
“Yes, that’s all I could spare. The local civilian authorities also sent a person and my guy had two others who he handpicked to go with.”
“So it’s not just one man, there’s a four-man team that went with them?”
“Yes,” Barone answered, lying about the team size so as to not enflame Conner any more.
“Can you dispatch some air and ground elements to trace the route?”
Barone was silent for a moment.
“Well, don’t answer right away,” Conner said, annoyed by Barone’s silence.
“I’ll put together several teams and have them deploy right away. Please have General Baxter keep in contact with me. If you find them before I do, I want to know so I can recall my teams. I need every person here,” Barone answered.
“Since we’re allies now, may I ask if everything is okay? I’m seeing red flags with all the ‘needing all people’ or ‘can’t spare the resources’ talk coming from you.”
“We are dealing with things not unlike you are. By the way, how is Cheyenne? I hear it’s windy and cold there.”
“It’s just fine here,” Conner replied, then drove the conversation back to a more professional topic. “Please return the favor and stay in touch with General Baxter.”
“I will, if that’s it. I’ll get right on sending those teams out.”
“That’s it, thank you. Oh, before I let you go, I did want to thank you for destroying the PAE’s naval forces. I can’t tell you how much that helps us both.”
Both men hung up.
“Dylan! Get in here,” Conner hollered.
Dylan ran in from the adjoining office. “Yes, Mr. President.”
“Get Baxter on the phone or in here, whichever is fastest. The colonel made some interesting comments and I need to see what is going on over there in Coos Bay.”
“Is everything okay with the colonel?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I need to have Baxter’s help. I’m concerned… very concerned.”