“Lara, she’s coming. I don’t know how, or when, but she made it pretty clear that she’s been ignoring the island all this time because we haven’t been worth her attention.”
“And now, because of the broadcast, she’s paying attention again. So all of this is my fault.”
According to Kate, yes, he thought, but said, “Don’t blame yourself. It was bound to happen sooner or later. We couldn’t hope to stay under the radar forever. We’re a loose end. She said as much.”
“Kate…”
“Yes.”
“Goddammit, Will.” He could hear the exasperation in her voice. And maybe a little bit of anger. Or a lot of anger. It was sometimes hard to get all the nuances of someone’s tone over the radio.
“Look, anything she says can’t be taken at face value,” Will said. “Maybe she’ll attack, and maybe she won’t. Maybe it’s because of the radio broadcast, or maybe she’s just using it as an excuse. I don’t know. But we shouldn’t take any chances.”
Lara didn’t say anything for a while.
“Lara…”
“I’m still here,” she said. “What about Gaby?”
Now it was his turn to take a long pause.
“Will, what about Gaby?”
“The island is vital, Lara.”
“It’s just an island.”
“But you’re on it. And Carly. And the kids…”
“You have to find Gaby. We don’t leave our own behind, remember?”
He wanted to find Gaby, but he couldn’t deny what had happened last night. Kate had all but ended Dunbar and its occupants. It had been so easy, too. That was the most disturbing part. Everyone who was here before last night was dead (or worse), and that included Gaby. Will was still certain she had come into the city. What were the chances she had made it out after last night?
“We’ll keep looking for her on our way back,” he said finally.
He must not have been convincing enough, because she said, “Will, you can’t leave her out there alone. Not again. You can’t give up now.”
“The island is important, Lara. We can’t lose it.” He added, “Gaby would understand.”
There was another long silence, this time from both of them.
“Do you know where she is now?” Lara finally asked.
“That’s the problem. Danny and I tracked her to Dunbar yesterday. If she was still here after nightfall… I don’t know. I just don’t know. I’ll keep looking. But the island, Lara, the island…”
“I know,” she said softly, her voice barely audible over the connection. “I know.”
He didn’t know what else to say and was grateful for the sound of a car engine coming from up the street. He glanced back as Danny turned the corner in a white Ford Bronco.
“Danny found a vehicle,” Will said into the mic. “I have to go.”
“Find her, Will. Do everything you can to find her.”
“Lara…”
“Promise me.”
“The island…”
“Don’t worry about the island. I’ll take care of us here. You just take care of yourself and Danny, and find Gaby. Find her, Will.”
If she’s even still alive, he thought, but said, “We’ll keep looking for her on our way back. But we can’t stay out here forever. Not with the island in danger.”
“There’s something…” she started to say.
“What is it?”
She didn’t answer right away.
“What is it, Lara?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Nothing that I can’t handle. Just find her and come home. In the meantime, I’ll look after things here. You trust me, don’t you?”
“You know I do.”
“Good. I love you, Will.”
He smiled. “I’ll see you soon.”
He put the microphone down and turned off the radio as Danny parked the Bronco in the middle of the street behind him, then hopped down from the raised driver side door.
“How’d it go?” Danny asked.
“It went.”
“You told her about Gaby?”
“Uh huh.”
“And she was fine with us coming back without the kid?”
“What do you think?”
“Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to tell Carly it was all your idea.”
Will grunted. “Sounds fair to me.” He nodded at the truck. “Where’d you find that beast?”
“Auto body garage next to a VFW hall on the other side of town. Harrison might have been an idiot, but he wasn’t a total idiot. There were a half dozen working vehicles inside, including a fuel truck. Working batteries, too. From the looks of it, they kept all the cars running just in case.”
“Any survivors?”
“There was a hell of a lot of blood in the VFW. They had the windows and doors barricaded, but apparently it didn’t work. There was a basement in the back, but I heard scurrying from down there and decided I’d rather not investigate further.”
“Smart.”
“It’s been known to happen.” Danny watched Will pack up the radio. “Song Island or bust?”
“No choice,” Will said. The words came out like gravel. “Can’t take the chance that Kate will attack without us there.”
Danny nodded. Will knew he didn’t like the idea of giving up their search for Gaby any better than he did. But like him, Danny had come to the same conclusion.
The island. They had to protect the island. It wasn’t just the beach and the hotel and the solar power, though those were important, too. It was the people on the island.
Lara, Carly, Vera, and Elise….
We can’t lose the island. Not now. Not after we’ve fought so hard to keep it.
“Well, let’s get truckin’, then,” Danny said. “I’m driving.”
“You’re a terrible driver.”
“I’m a great driver. Better than great. I’m a spectacular driver. Back in college, they used to call me Danny the Driver. True story.”
The back of the Bronco was piled high with supplies Danny had raided from the VFW hall, though to hear him tell it, there were probably more goodies in the basement. He had stockpiled a generous amount of MREs, granola bars, and unopened cases of bottled water. He had also picked up weapons and ammo, along with a Mossberg pump-action and a FNH self-loading tactical shotgun.
Will grabbed the FNH from the back and turned it over. Eighteen inches, black matte finishing, and it didn’t look as if it had ever been used. It had a metal shell carrier along the left side with six shells already preloaded. The shotgun was semi-automatic, which meant you didn’t need to pump it after each shot. Harris County SWAT had been thinking about switching from the Remingtons to the FNHs but had never gotten around to it.
“Nice, right?” Danny said. “For the lazy shotgunner.”
“I can dig it,” Will said.
“There’s a box of ammo in the back if you can find it.”
Will had to rummage around the water and lumps of shiny MRE bags before he found the box of shells on the floor. He tossed it into his pack. “This was all in the VFW hall?”
“Most of it.”
“Last stand?”
“Looked like it. A hell of a mess. I think they had kids in there, too.”
“How could you tell?”
“I just could,” Danny said, but didn’t elaborate.
“So there were definitely more goodies in the basement,” Will said. “An armory, maybe, where they kept more of these.”
“Probably.”
“It might have been worth it to go down there.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“When did you get so queasy around these things?”
“Since shooting them only got me these little keepsakes,” Danny said, touching his broken nose, then rubbing — and grimacing — the red gash along his temple. “Now I know how you feel walking around with that face all day.”