Second Chances (111 page)

The one thing he really liked was the constitution. There were provisions about each community having its own local autonomy and laws...essentially states, he thought. No central government, which in a way was fine with him. He didn't want them to push him to do things he wasn't ready to do any more than they wanted him to do it to them.

The constitution would be taken back to the communities and debated, wrangled, and most likely changed to reflect each community’s desires. He could envision the debates over the fire or during the long winter. There were already plans to meet again, if not in the late fall than in the following spring.

The evening before everyone departed was a celebration of the bonds they had formed and the achievements they had made. Not only did they have a customary bonfire and gift giving, but also a great barbie as Betty Smith would say, followed by dancing.

Both Jims capped the night by firing off fireworks, then their finale was a small liquid rocket test. The rocket got off the pad to cheers and whistles from the audience. A chute failure, however, made it auger into the ground far from the base in the dark.

“I think we should have gone with the Space X design after all,” Jim Conklin said ruefully.

“Better luck next time fellas,” Evan said, patting each man on the shoulder. Jim Conklin winced.

The groups departed the next morning.

------*------

Dunn agitated for Paul to come pick up the animals and deliver what was promised the moment he returned home and sent the other delegates on their way. Maggie convinced Paul to go. They rigged up the animal carrying trailers Mitch had brought which had meant some shifting as the parts were pulled from where they had been used as shelters and fencing and then put together.

The convoy made an overnight stop at East Village to drop off their cargo, then trekked on. They stopped at Prairie just as thunderclouds formed on the horizon. Fortunately it was a false alarm. The storm whipped up some high winds and a bit of hail when it got cold but then kept going on to the East.

“We'll pick up the animals from you folks on return trip if you don't mind,” Paul told Adam as they shook hands.

Adam nodded in agreement. “I know you're good for it since you paid up front. And I'm not an ass like Colonel Dunn, I won't charge you for the feed they'll eat while you're gone,” he said.

“Gee, thanks,” Paul said making a face.

When he arrived at Dunn's fortress he passed on the equipment and materials he'd been sent with. Maggie was excited; she went with Diego to the paddocks and pastures to check the animals out. “And to make certain they don't pass on an animal that's sick or lame,” she told Paul in an aside before she left. Paul nodded sagely.

Ciara asked him to carry a load of glass bottles and small windows they had produced to Prairie. He agreed, but he dickered with her on the delivery charge. They finally agreed on waving the cost of his convoy's camp ground fees as well as 2 percent of the products.

“I don't know why you want it,” she said shaking her head. She'd already planned on sending 4 percent in case of breakage. Everything was packed in dried grass and straw, but there was no telling what would get banged around in the handling and on the road between here and Prairie she thought.

“I may trade it with other people. I may keep them as a novelty thing,” Paul said, holding a glass jar up. It was about the size of a mason jar but lacked a lid. It wasn't clear but it should fit the purpose he thought. He wondered who was making the parts for the vacuum lids. Most likely Jack over at Copper.

“Cute,” Ciara growled. “Well, we've got plenty of annealing kilns now. I've got people working on another run now. I don't suppose you'll be back down this way anytime soon?” she asked hopefully.

He shook his head. “Nope, sorry lady. I'm taking this lot back to Evan, then I have to make a side trip to the Asian village to pick up their animals and a load of that Monazite ore that base is turning into that Neodymium stuff. From there I'm headed back to base to unload, reload, and then off to Copper and then west. We're going to do a road train across the savannah to the west coast if we can swing it. It could take all summer,” he said, making a face.

Ciara nodded. “Is anyone else coming this way?”

“Not that I know of. Oh, Gunny Usher's supposed to be here by nightfall,” Paul said with a theatrical shrug. “We arranged it to do a bit of trade. Sort of get as much as we could done,” he said. He turned as a look out hollered an alert in Spanish. Ciara turned, pursing her lips as the wind caught and ruffled her hair. “Looks like that's them now,” Paul said, getting off the bumper he'd been sitting on.

------*------

Paul checked on the convoy team, then headed off behind Ciara to greet Usher's group. The colonel was out in the field, hunting or so they said so the duty fell to his partner Ciara. From the look on Klinger's face he seemed relieved.

Klinger and Professor Hinkley, a few guys Paul didn't know and Warrant Brown made up the Crash Town group. Warrant Brown was dressed in native clothes but had a flight bag with him. He was to go back with Paul to fly aircraft and eventually fly the AN-38 his community was purchasing down to them. “I'm not sure about flying a Russian design, but I guess beggars can't be choosers,” he said.

“Definitely not. You're lucky to be flying at all,” Paul said, eying the pilot. Brown nodded.

“Got the goods?” Paul asked, crossing his arms.

Gunny Usher nodded. “They coughed it up,” he said. “We made sure they stayed honest,” he said, indicating the bags of material. Paul looked at them and then nodded. “Cotton, vanilla, corn, latex, sugar, and a few others. That should wipe the debt with the Tropics clean,” the gunny said.

Paul grimaced but then nodded grudgingly. He silently pulled a couple guys and gals over to transfer the material to his convoy's trucks.

When Paul returned to his truck he found Maggie talking with a familiar face, Miguel. “Hey kid, long time no see! Where's your mom?” he asked, looking about. He'd promised Frances, Anne, Jolie, Janet and the other ladies that he'd look her up. It was odd that he hadn't seen her; he figured she'd be in the front row when they had arrived. Apparently she'd been on duty or something he thought.

Miguel looked like he was ready to ball. Maggie rubbed her shoulders and pointed to the truck. Paul turned enough to look at the nearby truck. He saw hair and a forehead looking out over the lip of the window. He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “We ready to go?” Maggie asked suggestively.

Paul grunted. “Bad?” he asked softly. Maggie met his eyes and then slowly nodded. He stiffened, then worked his jaw, trying to keep his rising anger in check. They were in a damn dangerous situation. His eyes cut to one of the guys on the wall; he was armed with a rifle with his back to them as he looked out at the terrain outside the walls. He nonchalantly turned to scratch, noting one or two of the other people on the wall were also looking out and about. But one kept looking over his shoulder to them.

“Not good,” Paul murmured.

“Are we ready to get going?” Warrant Brown asked, coming over to them. “Who's this, a local?”

Maggie shook her head. “We're still working on the load. Dunn's guy Diego tried to pull a fast one on me with the pick.” She made a face.

“Shit. Shoulda known they'd do that,” Paul grumbled.

“He's a bastard,” Miguel murmured. He looked up to Paul. The convoy captain could just see a fading black eye. He couldn't look into those black eyes for long though. He turned. “Get in the truck kid,” Paul said, opening the door. Miguel climbed in.

“What, we're taking the kid too?” the warrant asked, now thoroughly confused.

“We'll explain on the way,” Maggie said grimly. “We weren't supposed to leave until morning. Paul...”

“No, I'm not staying here overnight. Fuck that. Go. Get the animals sorted out. We'll load up and get out of here. We've got about four hours of light left,” he said, turning to judge the setting sun. He double checked the watch on his wrist. “Closer to five. If we can get out of here in less than an hour, we'll haul ass for Prairie. I doubt Dunn will come after us in the dark.”

“We...are we seriously in trouble here?” the warrant asked. He looked at them then turned to look for the Klinger.

“Keep it on the down low,” Paul said, patting the guy on the back. “We're just making sure we can bring our people home without any trouble.”

“Um...okay...” the warrant said.

“I think I need to talk to the boss too,” Paul said as he waved to Gary to move the first of the vehicles over to the loading ramp that led to the corrals. “We need our own encrypted channels,” he said.

The warrant frowned thoughtfully.

Maggie swore and then went off to work with Gary and the others to supervise the loading. While most of the locals were distracted by that task, Paul took the opportunity to pull Rozerita out of the truck. He stuck his spare hat and sunglasses he'd kept in the door on her, then manhandled her by the arm around to the back of the truck. “Okay, we've got a minute. Spill. I know it's bad,” he said.

She looked at him, eyes searching him, then over to the warrant. “He's cool,” Paul said. She bit her lip, ready to tear up. She sniffled, one hand going to her face. “It wasn't like you thought?”

“No,” the woman said, practically sobbing. “Not at all. They lured us here. Juan is married,” she said, fighting the sobs tearing at her throat. “I was such a fool! They tried to force us to go with an unmarried man. He got drunk and beat me,” she said, lower lip quivering. She angrily wiped at her face.”

“He raped you,” Paul murmured. She didn't reply. “Son of a bitch,” he said in a soft whisper.

“You can't do anything! They'll kill you!” She said, looking at him imploringly.

“I kind of figured that part out for myself,” Paul said. “So, what do we do? What do you want to do?” He asked, looking at her.

She looked away for a long moment, shoulders shaking. Finally her shoulders slumped as her pride deserted her. “I want to go home,” she said softly. “Please.”

Paul pursed his lips and then nodded. “Okay. Get back in the truck. Keep the kids in there. I know it's hot, deal with it. Pee in a cup or something,” he said. She nodded as she made her way back around the side of the truck, looking around. “Stay natural,” Paul said in a conversational voice. Her hand shook as she opened the door. She turned to give his hand a squeeze then climbed up the running board and into the truck. He shut the door.

“Um...”

“She's one of ours,” Paul said to the warrant. “I'll fill you in later. She got stupid and let them lure her here and paid for it,” he said.

Warrant Brown nodded. When the trucks were loaded Maggie waved to Paul. Paul nodded and blew his air horn surprising the locals. He waved to Gary, and he nodded back primed by a soft word from Maggie. The others had finished securing their gear and climbed into their trucks.

“Well, I wish I could say it's been fun, but I want to get out of here,” Paul said as he rumbled up to the gate. The gate guard instinctively triggered the motors to open the gate. As soon as it was wide enough Paul kicked the truck back into motion and rumbled through the gap and then turned onto the northern dirt road for Prairie. “So far so good,” he murmured. “Keep your heads down,” he said. He felt Miguel's hand pat his arm.

He smiled to the grim warrant sitting in the shotgun seat as they snuck Rozerita and the kids out.

------*------

Miles snarled about the woman's departure when he got word that no one could find her. He snarled even more when he stormed in to confront Ciara. “Why didn't someone stop her?”

“Because everyone was busy?” Ciara asked. He scowled at her. “And before you bitch, no, no one thought she'd jump ship. Well, I did. I could tell she was homesick. But she wasn't happy. We can't afford keeping her as a prisoner.”

“We...could have figured something out,” Miles said looking away.

Ciara shook her head. “You and I both know that wasn't possible. We spun a dream to her, and she bought it hook, line and sinker. But we didn't deliver, and Juan turned out to be a lie. In other words, we didn't have any credibility to bribe her,” she said. She resented the woman's departure; she'd put a lot of effort into getting the woman. That bothered her, but she realized it was best to put the matter behind them and move on. “We couldn't hold her as a prisoner, think of the manpower involved there? No, we're better off without her,” she said.

“I...if you say so,” Dunn said doubtfully. The idea of holding her kids flashed through his head. He could have done it, but she really didn't have the skills necessary to keep one of her kids or all of them as a hostage. He hadn't expected her leaving. “We need to make certain that no one else jumps ship,” he growled.

“I think everyone here is fine. No one else has seen the other communities. Or they've only seen images of the Tropics and Crash Town. No one wants to go south and get sick,” she said, smiling nastily. Ciara shrugged it off. “They are also into what we're doing here. We're improving things steadily. Yes it's hard, but they know it's worth it. Rozerita didn't have the patience to stay and see what we could do. Her loss.”

“I'm concerned about the fall out. What stories is she going to tell about us?” Dunn demanded.