Memory of his walk up to the campus of several weeks back came to him, the young amorous couple playing in the park. That should be their world, holding with it some hope of a future, not another fight to the death. And now one of them was indeed dead. The thought of that stabbed deep, but he had to push it aside for now.
Damn all that created this world for them, he thought bitterly as he nodded, still looking at Linda.
“You’re right, Linda; they’re still kids, or at least should be kids. I’m not going to spend their lives in some final gesture of defiance.”
And even as he spoke, the nightmare of what Bob said might happen—that Bluemont might unleash another EMP—hung over him. After what had happened just hours ago, he was no longer sure of Bob, though as emotions settled, he did want to believe him. Perhaps now the answer to it all was to find out, on their own, what the truth really was regarding Bluemont—and what was happening in this house might be the key.
He suddenly realized that he had been standing in quiet contemplation for several minutes while Ernie and Linda had launched into what he realized was something of a standard method of communication between the two. Ironic as he focused attention back on them. They obviously loved each other dearly, and yet they sure had a strange way of expressing it.
“All right, you two, let’s chill it.” It was Maury who finally interrupted the argument.
The two looked at him, and Linda smiled. “Thank you, Maury. Point taken. At least by me.”
Ernie said nothing and finally turned back to John. “Let’s answer the first question, then. If you are not shutting us down, why are you here?”
“I just want an update and to pass along a few suggestions. I want your team to lie low, but keep the kids working here on task 24-7.”
“So you are not this General Scales’s lackey?” Ernie quipped.
“You know, Ernie, someday when all of this is over, you and I are going to have a real serious discussion.”
“Just remember, Matherson, I saved your life. Fredericks was ready to shoot you in the back.”
“Yeah, right.”
Ernie smiled. “Well, some are whispering I just simply saved you from the dilemma of what to do with that son of a bitch by just shooting him and getting it over with. Either way, I did you a favor.”
John finally relented and nodded.
“This basement is freezing,” Linda announced. “Let’s go up to the Skunk Works.”
“The what?” John asked.
“That’s what we’re calling it now. The kids like the name, especially after I told them about a little side contract work we once did at the real Skunk Works Lockheed had.”
John smiled at that. Lockheed had been a prime contractor for highly specialized spy planes back during the Cold War, their secret R&D lab dubbed the “Skunk Works.” It fit for what they were doing now.
Linda led the way up to the main floor of their home, again cheerily warm thanks to the fireplace and the wood-fueled kitchen stove. She led them up to the second floor, moving a bit slowly, bracing her knee as she climbed the stairs, muttering that she wished she’d had the replacement knee surgery done before everything had hit the fan.
As they reached the top of the stairs, John looked up and grinned at the hand-drawn sign hanging in front of them: “Linda and Ernie’s Skunk Works.” Whoever had drawn it was indeed creative. Linda and Ernie caricatured as cartoon skunks, arguing with each other, with an array of $#*#%& erupting from the skunk image of Ernie’s mouth, even as they were holding hands.
The entire room was now cluttered with electronic equipment, most of it retro from the ’80s and ’90s but some of it looking fairly recent. The work crew had grown from the five he had seen last time to nine, hunched over screens, empty plates and cups strewn on the tables and floor. That alone made John wonder how many precious rations Linda had been lavishing on them. The mere sight of a half-eaten sandwich, packed with what look liked hamburger meat, by Samantha’s work area triggered hunger in John. A half-eaten sandwich remaining unconsumed was something he had not seen in a very long time in this starving world.
All were at work, two arguing in the far corner, each pointing to their respective screens, one of them a fairly new nineteen-inch flat screen.
“How and where did you get all of this?” John whispered to Ernie, those at work not yet noticing his presence.
“Here and there,” Ernie whispered.
“I need to know. If word gets out we are salvaging equipment from people’s basements and attics, it might leak out.”
Bob’s comment about a spy in their midst had been troubling him ever since he’d woken up.
“Let’s just call it Dumpster diving from abandoned buildings in Old Fort. I figured on hunting down there; it’s only five miles away if you take the abandoned road for which I have a key to the gate. I took my sons along, and we prowled around a bit. Hell, the old police station and town hall are down there. Anything that looked to be online down there I assumed was fried, but in a back-room closet, there was a whole stack of tossed-off equipment. Someone told me they had just had a major refit of their entire computer system just a few weeks before everything happened, had stashed the older stuff, most likely to be quietly taken home after being formally written off as junked. It was still there, so I took it, and no one the wiser. Who the hell wants computers anyhow in Old Fort? Smarter than prowling around Montreat where curious eyes might see us and gossip about it.”
It was important to keep this man happy, John realized, and he made the effort to pat him on the back.
Samantha at last turned in her chair, saw John and Maury standing watching them, and smiled.
Whatever Linda was feeding them, the girl looked the healthiest John could ever recall. She must have put on five pounds or more since he had last seen her. She nudged those working to either side of her, and for a moment, all work ceased.
“Don’t let me interrupt,” John said with a smile. “I just dropped by to see how things were going.”
“Is it true that we’ve been occupied by military from Bluemont?” Samantha asked. “We heard the choppers coming over and shut down while they were overhead. We also monitored a BBC report, claiming they had reports of heavy fighting in Asheville and that you were under arrest and standing trial for the murder of ANR prisoners after they surrendered.”
Those bastards, John thought. Of course they would spin it that way.
“None of it true, Samantha, at least my being arrested. I’m still here, aren’t I? Yes, the military has occupied the area. Yes, several of our people and a couple of theirs were killed in Asheville and a dozen others on both sides wounded. But no one over here. There is no more fighting on either side. The general in command is an old friend of mine. We have a peaceful understanding for now. So don’t worry about it, and just stick to what you’re doing.”
He could see their doubtful gazes.
“Please trust me. There is no fighting at the moment. What I am asking of all of you is to keep at what you are doing. I’m counting on you for that.”
Several started to talk at once, but Linda held up her hands like a schoolteacher bringing her class back to order. “Stay on those screens. We’ll have a team meeting over dinner to evaluate the day’s data. Now get to it.” Her voice was gentle but firm, and all followed her orders.