Second Chances (99 page)

“You said I can refuel at Evan's place and Prairie?” She asked, sounding a bit nervous. He nodded again. “Good. And Paul said he left a cache of fuel at Dunn's in case he played any fuel games. That's good,” she said.

“Ang...”

Angie smiled whimsically. The smile was a bit forced, but he felt a bit better for it. “Hey, I'm the angel remember? These people need help. Their kids didn't ask for what's happening. I'll do my part and help,” she said. He nodded.

He had Angie plan to drop it off at Dunn's fortress to relay to them. “I'll call ahead,” he said. Angie gave him a thumbs-up as Akira finished topping her tanks off. He even handed her a couple plastic cans of fuel for good measure. She closed and dogged the door and then took off.

Mitch watched her take off, and then abandoned Sandra to stare off at the dwindling image of the plane to go to the radio room. He called Dunn but as expected he got a cold reception.

“We'll get around to it eventually. It's fall now; I don't know when we'll be going that far south,” Dunn said when Mitch radioed them. “If they want it bad enough, they'll have to come get it. And they aren't coming in. If it is as bad as they say it is, I don't want my people catching it.”

“It's ingested Colonel, not viral. It's some sort of parasite,” Mitch responded. “You can't get it by breath or touch.”

“I'm still not taking any chances,” the colonel replied doggedly. Mitch nodded but didn't echo the sentiment.

“What if Angie refuels at your place with the fuel Paul left behind and drops it off herself?”

“Her problem,” the colonel said bluntly. “She's stupid if she does,” he growled.

“Thanks for the assist, Colonel,” Mitch said sarcastically as he changed channels to radio Angie the bad news.

Reluctantly Mitch authorized Angie to refuel and take the aircraft to the Tropics. “I'm glad Akira sent along the fuel cans. I'm going to top off and leave them behind. And I'm going to lighten the load even more.”

“I'll radio them you are coming,” Mitch said.

“I...okay,” Angie said. She flew through the pass and then landed on the flat dirt road leading to the community.

When she landed she was greeted with the distant sight of armed grim people pointing and coming towards her. Angie opened her door, kicked the bundles out, then turned the plane around and taxied away. She waved as she bounced down the road. When she realized they were still coming after her she pulled back on the yoke and took off. She looked back over her shoulder to see people waving impotently at her.

She'd pushed the carbon fiber plane pretty hard; she was forced to glide to conserve fuel to get back to Dunn's base. Fortunately, she caught a couple of thermals that helped her along the way. Colonel Dunn wasn not happy about the situation, but he was even more unhappy when Angie reported the possible hijacking attempt.

“Well, I'll be out of your hair as soon as I refuel, Colonel,” Angie said, hands in her hip pockets.

“That's a problem; you used up everything Paul left behind,” he said. “And I am not going to sell you fuel for the aircraft.” She blinked at him in surprise. “We need it for the winter,” Dunn told her coldly.

“Oookay,” Angie drawled. She looked at the Salazars, but they just shrugged and shook their heads. “Fine, let me make a call,” she said with a sigh. She sat in the pilot's seat and flipped the radio on and called base.

Mitch was annoyed when he got the news but not really surprised. He had already planned on the colonel being an ass. He called in Jacklynn who was halfway to East with a load of fuel. “It looks like you are on, Jackie,” he said.

“Shit,” she muttered. She'd hoped she could have gone just as far as Prairie, but that was obviously out. “We're going to need another plane load of fuel to get both of us all the way back,” she warned.

“No, I'll cover it,” Evan radioed. “You folks did your mission of mercy. I'll do my part to help out the greater community,” the man said then cleared his throat.

“Thank you, professor,” Jackie said, closing her eyes briefly. “Thank you very much.”

When Jackie landed at East Village she was met by Omar, Evan and a handful of other people. They pulled her aircraft around as the woman got out and stretched and visited the bathroom, then refueled it. Jackie gave Evan and Omar a hug and kiss before she climbed back in and took off.

She flew straight to the colonel's base, spending a good part of the trip over water. She was nervous the entire time; if the engine had cut out, she would have had to glide or dumped it. “That water looked awfully cold,” she radioed as she sighted the near shore. “Thanks for putting the beacon up, Angie,” she said.

“You can thank Irma. She did it, not me,” Angie replied. When Jackie landed she gave Irma a hug. The other woman kept mumbling an apology but Jackie shrugged it off. They transferred the fuel load to the tanks of both aircraft and then turned them around for the long journey back north to home. Not one drop was left for the colonel nor the empty tanks. He watched them with a cold expressionless face as they took off.

“Good riddance,” he muttered, then went back to work.

Both aircraft returned to Capital Base and a hero's welcome two days later.

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

“I'm not sure if it is over, but you were right, you did the right thing,” Mitch said to her. She'd been quiet, almost listless for days, staying near the radio, clinging to every report that came in. She'd become testy when others were around or when reports came in from other communities.

Mitch had slept on the couch; something had told him that he'd been unwanted in bed. He felt terrible, unsure about what to do or say to help rectify the rift. It was a gulf; a spasm that hurt both of them he realized.

Finally, a day before Piotr reported an incoming blizzard was going to hit them they got a radio report from Yves that the medication was working. People were going through withdrawal from the lack of fruit, but the medication seemed to be effective. Apparently the endoscope Sandra had sent him had also helped him clear out those who had blockage. The others passed the worms.

Sandra wasn't sure if it was the medication, lack of fruit or the cooling temperatures. Yves had tried a lot of treatments as well, and he hadn't done a good job of keeping careful scientific notes or passing on what had happened with each test. She shook her head.

She was still unhappy, that much was sure Mitch realized. “I'm sorry, but I'm glad you didn't go. They could have fed you that shit. Do you understand the kind of possible hostage you would be?” he ponted out to her as she put away laundry. She reluctantly agreed. “You noticed they never radioed to thank you?”

“I didn't do it for their thanks,” she said absently. She straightened and turned to him.

“I know that,” he said softly. He gently brushed her red hair out of her face. “I know that,” he murmured again. “And I'm proud of you. I know I've been an ass.”

“You were right to be worried about me. But I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. I'm not some damsel in distress,” she said softly, nuzzling his hand.

“You also realize, if you'd gone south you would have been right in with the migration? Endangering your life? And once there you wouldn't be able to get back once the blizzards hit? You'd be trapped there. All winter,” he said. She shivered, hugging him then.

“It's still not right,” she murmured.

“I know love. It sucks,” he murmured into her hair.

“Don't you even dare say anything about Karma, Mitch Chambers,” she growled.

“Wouldn't think of it,” he murmured.

She snuffled, then broke the hug. She took him by the fingers, tugged, and with a jerk of her pretty red head indicated it was time to go to bed. He wasn't sure if they'd made up, but he wasn't going to question the fragile truce.

Chapter 45

As winter took over and the dustings of snow lasted longer and longer, radio chatter over the medical crisis reached near hysterical levels. There were a lot of false alarms reported. Sandra was called out almost constantly to deal with one radio crisis or another.

When people weren't talking about that, they engaged in a lively discussion on Paul's threat of delivery charges. Some resented it; others took a more pragmatic approach realizing he and his crew were risking their lives and gear to move goods around the continent.

Mitch stayed out of the discussion, though he had Jolie and Pete monitor its tone. Evan and Chief Roberts were some of the pragmatic group. They took over leadership of the discussion and steered it to the idea of a nodule strategy. The idea being for Paul or others to drop off merchandise on a specific route not taking it all the way in.

Colonel Dunn and a few other community leaders expressed a desire to form their own convoys. When Paul heard it he snorted.

“Fine, let them. Or they can do local. Whatever. We can use the competition,” Paul said.

“Are you serious?” Sam asked as they sipped coffee. It was some sort of artificial thing, something Jean and Janet had found in the computer and whipped up. Not nearly as good as the real thing, but at least it was hot.

“Hell yeah. I like the long runs, but I don't like going to Dunn. He's a piece of work,” Paul growled. “I don't mind stopping at Evan's,” he said. He set his tablet in front of him. “We were already doing a nodule thing in some of the areas,” he said, pointing to the map. Sam nodded. “What I'd like to do is stay in contact with Crash Town but range up to the Yukon if possible,” Paul said.

Sam whistled. “That's a long haul,” he warned. “You won't be able to make more than one or two runs per season,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, that all depends on the roads,” Paul said looking at him.

“Maybe I should start charging taxes and fees for the roads,” Sam joked.

“Let them make their own roads,” Paul growled.

“Hey man, I was joking,” Sam said, wide-eyed.

“I wasn't.”

“I think you should talk to Mitch. Figure out what he has in mind and work with him,” Sam said. “I want to stay local, I'm tired of doing shit for people who don't appreciate it. I had to hunt or get supplies from base! Some of those bastards wouldn't even support us!”

Paul nodded grimly. “I know the feeling. I had to park outside a couple times. Believe me, I wasn't happy about that,” he growled. “I chose to park outside Dunn's because the bastard was charging me a fee for staying in the walls,” he said, shaking his head.

“Isn't he a piece of work? Anyway to make a buck,” Sam sighed.

“Tell me about it. The only thing keeping me going in his direction is Crash Town. The rest can all go fly a kite,” Paul said.

“Well, from what I understand Laurence is running the local stuff. Between here and the villages around base. How is that going to affect you going to Copper and beyond?”

“I'm not sure,” Paul admitted. “What I'd like to do is let Gary do his thing and take over the Copper area.”

“This is starting to sound like zones,” Sam mused. “He has his, you are long range, and Laurence has his...” He stopped and took a sip of coffee then grimaced at the taste as he set the cup down. “I do know one thing, we need some decent coffee,” he said.

“And chocolate. Frances wants some bad,” Paul said ruefully. “She's on my ass about that. Only the Tropics has it. I'm going to see if Crash Town can do it. It'll take time though,” he said.

“True,” Sam admitted. “So, what are the brats up to? I haven't heard from them in a while.”

“Well,” Paul sat back, more relaxed. He smiled politely up to Xena as the teenage waitress put a slice of apple pie down in front of each man. It even had a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. “Thanks,” he said.

“Talk about spoiled,” Xena said. “Dutch apple. Mitch said to fatten you two up,” she said, setting forks down for each of them. She heard Giles demand a slice and turned. “In a minute,” she sighed. She shook her head as she went off to get more of the pie.

“Um, as I was saying,” Paul said, picking the fork up and getting a forkful of still warm pie. He took a bite and then smiled. “Damn good,” he said.

Sam nodded, already digging in.

“Kamerin did a number on his knee playing a pickup game of corridor soccer a couple weeks ago. I heard Crystal scolded him about it.” He smiled. “That damn rat of Nora's is still alive. Frances has been praying daily for it to keel over but so far nope,” he said. Sam grinned as he ate. “Aimee's growing like a weed...”

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

Over Sandra's objections Mitch took Tucker outside for his first snow. Cassie enjoyed it, grinning as the little boy explored the winter wonderland for the first time. Sandra came out reluctantly, and when she heard her son's giggling she got over her concern long enough to pummel her husband with snowballs when he wasn't looking.

That turned into a chase and snowball fight before they fell into a cold snow drift laughing. Mitch pointed to the kids looking at them in the window. Sandra laughed when Tera mashed her face to the window and made a goofy face. “I think they want to come out too,” she said.

“We've got plenty of polyester fleece. I thought Selma and Anne made the kids winter clothes?” Mitch asked.