"I have good news for you too. I reported to the brass the unfortunate incident in the detention area, and they said to just dispose of the body and send in the paperwork. I asked 'em where I was supposed to do that- with the body, I mean-and they said they'd just as soon not know. I guess there's more'n enough corpses to deal with everywhere so we luck out on this one." "You know the irony, don't you, Pink?" "Tell me."
"The GC pretended she was dead once too." "I remember that. She must be the woman with nine lives."
"Well, three anyway. And now she has all she needs."
"Amen and roger that. Keep in touch."
When they arrived within airspace of Kankakee, Albie got on the radio to talk to the tower. He identified himself as Commander Elbaz and asked permission to load a body into his chopper for "proper disposition."
"We have no extra personnel to help with that, Commander."
"Just as well. We're not totally sure of the cause of death or any potential contagions."
"It's you and Mr. Berry and the deceased?"
"Roger, and the paperwork has been filed with International."
"Consider yourselves processed. Oh, stand by, Commander. I've been reminded that a shipment has arrived for you from New Babylon."
"A shipment?"
"It's stamped Confidential and Top Secret. About half a skid. I'd say two hundred pounds."
"Can it be delivered to the chopper?"
"We'll see what we can do. If we've got a free man and a forklift, what say we load her for ya?"
"Obliged."
Half an hour later, as Rayford and Albie carried Hattie to the chopper under a sheet, she whispered, "Anyone around?"
"No, but hush," Rayford said.
"I need a new identity. This is really getting old."
"Shut up or I drop you," Albie said.
"You wouldn't."
He pretended to let his end slip, and she cried out. "You two are gonna get us busted," Rayford said.
Once she was loaded, Rayford told her to stay out of sight until they were airborne. He got behind the controls again because he knew the way and Albie had not performed a landing inside a bombed-out skyscraper before.
Before Rayford lifted off, Albie turned and reached over the hidden Hattie and began unfastening the skid and boxes until he found a gross of black spray paint cans. The snapping of plastic fasteners and wrap made Hattie ask, "What in the world are you doing?"
"Just clearing the trapdoor so Rayford can eject you if you don't behave."
A full day had passed in New Babylon, and David felt well enough to leave the hospital. Hannah came to change his dressing. "How are we doing?" she asked, peering into his eyes.
"Nurses all use the collective we, don't they?" "We're trained in it."
"Physically I feel a hundred percent better." "You'll still have to take it easy." "I've got a desk job, Hannah."
"You also have a ton of stuff to do fast. Pace yourself." "I don't feel like doing it anyway." "Do it for Annie." "Touche."
With his new bandage in place, she put her hands gently over his ears. "I wasn't trying to be mean, David. I mean it. I know your heart is broken. But if you wait for that pain to go away before doing what you have to do, it'll be time to get out of here." He nodded miserably.
"You're going to be OK, David," she said. "That sounds trite now, but just knowing you a little makes me certain."
He wasn't so sure, but she was trying to help. "I've been thinking," she added. Uh-oh. "Glad somebody's up to that."
"I knew I wanted to be a nurse when I was a veterinarian's aide in high school."
He raised his eyebrows. "I'm expecting some joke about me as a patient."
"No jokes. It's just that one of the things our office offered was the injection of biochips into pets so they could always be found and identified."
"Yeah?"
"Isn't that what you said the GC is going to do to everybody?"
He nodded.
"And I'm sort of an expert in that, and now you know it."
"Guess I'm still too medicated, Hannah. Spell it out for me."
"Aren't they going to need to train people in how to do this and send experts here and there to supervise it?"
He shrugged. "Probably, sure. What? It looks like a plum job, a way to see the world? You want a letter of recommendation?"
She sighed. "If you weren't hurting, I'd smack you. Give me some credit. You think I'd want to teach people how to apply the mark of the beast? Or that I'd want to watch while they do it? I'm looking for a way we can all get out of here without making it obvious why we left. You want to be among Carpathia's top ten most wanted?"
"No."
"No, so you get in there with Viv Ivins and offer the services of your pilots and even a nurse you know who has some background in this stuff. Get us sent somewhere to get the ball rolling, whatever. You're the one with the creativity. I'm just shooting wild here." "No, keep going. I'm sorry. I'm listening now." "You get us all on the same plane, maybe a big expensive one, because the bigger the lie, the more people want to believe it. Crash it somewhere, like the middle of an ocean, where it would be more trouble than it's worth to confirm we're all dead. We hook up with the rest of your friends, but we're not constantly looking over our shoulders for GC." "I like it."
"You're not just saying that?" "I wouldn't. It's a stroke of genius." "Well, it's a thought."
"A great thought. Let me run it past Mac and Abdullah. They're good at finding holes in schemes and-"
"I already did. They liked it too."
"Anything left for me, or can you keep everybody in the palace healthy and stitched up and do my job too?"
She bit her lip. "I was just trying to help."
"And you did."
"But we both know I can't do your job. Nobody can. So I mean it when I say you have to channel your grief into productivity and do it for Annie. It's the only way to make any sense out of this. Mac tells me the Tribulation Force sees you as second in importance only to Dr. Ben-Judah." "Oh, come on."
"David! Think about it. Look what you've done here. It doesn't have to fizzle when we all leave if you can figure a way to keep it going from anywhere."
When Buck's phone rang, he assumed it would be Rayford, telling him he and Albie and Hattie were close. But it was Mac McCullum.
"Hey, Mac!" he said, holding up a hand to quiet the others. Buck had to sit when he heard the news. "Oh, no. No. That's awful… Oh, man… how's he doing?… Tell him we're with him, will you?" Buck's face contorted and he couldn't control his tears. "Thanks for letting us know, Mac."
Chloe rushed to him. "What, Buck? What's happened?"
TEN
"Excuse me, Rayford," Hattie said, a hand on each of his shoulders as he directed the chopper over Chicago toward the Strong Building. Albie was dozing.
Rayford slipped off one headphone so he could hear her, and she let her hands slip to the top of his chair. "I'm worried about how I'm going to be received."
"Are you joking? I can think of three who will be overjoyed."
"I've been terrible to them."
"That was before."
"But I should apologize. I don't even know where to begin with you. Planting that stuff about Amanda. Making you all wonder about her."
"But you admitted that, Hattie."
"I don't remember apologizing for it. That seems so weak compared to what I did."
"I won't say it wasn't an awful time for me," he said. "But let's put it behind us."
"You can do that?"
"Not by myself."
"Chloe really lost patience with me."