The Emerald Virus (40 page)

    
And without giving more of an explanation he walked out of the RV, followed by
Ted Green.

    
Noah looked at Sam and said, “I think I’ll refrain from using that nickname. He
didn’t seem too keen on it. But what an interesting man he’s turned out to be.”

    
Sam said, “I wonder how old he is. He has one of those faces that doesn’t seem
like it would change much with age. I’d guess maybe mid-thirties or so. What do
you think?”

    
Noah looked at Sam and smiled. Even he realized that Danny was a good looking
man, and he not only had impressive credentials, but a great personality. Noah
knew he was going to like this man, and now he wondered in which way Sam was
going to get to like him. Noah laughed to himself about what a couple those two
strong willed individuals would make. He made a mental note to himself to
mention that possibility to Ben, just in case Ben needed time to adjust.

    
All he said was, “Yeah, I’d guess him to be maybe thirty five, or maybe just
past that.”

    
When he and Sam had finished their planning session for what to do with additional
newcomers, Noah walked the short distance to the lodge. When he opened the door
he saw that Lily was talking to Danny with a real youthful smile on her face.
Noah thought, my goodness, is he going to have everyone in this camp wrapped
around his little finger? He stopped for a minute and watched the two of them.
If he didn’t know better he would have thought Danny was flirting with Lily,
and Lily was acting like she was enjoying it. After a minute or two he realized
that Danny wasn’t actually flirting, he was simply making Lily feel good, and
he was being very successful.

    
Lily finally looked up and said, “Oh, hi Noah. I was just introducing myself to
Danny. His meeting just broke up and he was kind enough to talk with me.”

    
Danny said, “This conversation was my pleasure. It’s nice to know there are
still such graceful women left in the world.”

    
Lily blushed just a little and said, “I recognize the sounds of a hungry man,
but I still appreciate the compliment. Come on back to the kitchen and I’ll
find something for you to eat.”

    
“Noah, are you hungry?”

    
“No thanks Lily; I had a big breakfast this morning. I don’t mind you offering
to feed Danny, as long as you remember who number two in line for the bread is.”

    
Lily laughed and said, “You men are so transparent. I can’t believe young women
think men are complicated. All they have to do is learn how to cook and bake
and all of their troubles will go away.”

    
Both of the men laughed and Noah said, “I’m just looking for a cup of your
coffee Lily. If you would be kind enough to let me have one I’ll get out of
your hair.”

    
Later that afternoon Noah helped Danny and Ted hook a small snow mobile trailer
to the back of one of the pickup trucks they had brought from town. They loaded
a twenty five gallon barrel of gas and two of the machines on the trailer and
went off to do their scouting. They also took a large satchel of gear from
Danny’s trailer, although Noah didn’t know what it contained, he was sure the two
of them would put it to good use. He was content not knowing all of the
military plans, and he was going to keep his eye out for anyone looking too
interested.

    
Noah’s biggest concern was that the insider who was communicating with Turner’s
group would be one of the veterans, or was at least acting as a veteran for
nefarious purposes.

    
He knew Ted and Danny were planning on vetting each of the men and women by
personally interviewing each one about his military background. If the man was
faking military service those two would recognize that fact.

    
If the insider actually was a veteran, that would make life really difficult.
Noah headed back to his RV where he planned on going over the list of newcomers
since Turner had left. However, if Turner planted someone he probably had that
person come to the park like everyone else. If that was the case it could be a
man or a woman.

    
Noah wasn’t sure what he was looking for in the list of newcomers, but he
couldn’t think of anywhere else to start.

    
A couple of hours later his phone rang. It was Sam telling him dinner was on
the table and he was late. That surprised him. He had really been caught up in his
background research. He told Sam he would be right there.

    
They talked briefly during dinner and they both agreed that there was no reason
to change anything they were doing. Sam would conduct the next rules meeting
tonight as they had planned. Noah would spend his time trying to figure out how
to identify the insider.

Wednesday:
Near Phoenix, Arizona   

Andy
sat in his RV thinking about how events had turned out. He was amazed that his
group had voted him second in command behind Ken House. Even he thought he was
too young for the job, although the people who nominated him were primarily
interested in his Engineering degree. They were convinced they were going need
engineers to survive in the future.

    
Ken had asked him to do two things as his deputy. The first was to organize and
monitor all projects. The second was to track the developments of the other
groups, both on-line and by phone. Andy wasn’t sure what that left for Ken to
accomplish, but then again he didn’t really care. He wanted to stay busy and he
liked his job of coordinating and overseeing projects.

    
And he liked finding out what the other groups were accomplishing. He had
started calling other group leaders last week. He would have started sooner but
chaos got in the way of progress as they tried to organize their group. It
still seemed like they were on the verge of chaos all of the time.

    
People were coming and going constantly. Every time it looked like they would
be able to stabilize, someone, usually Ken House would do or say something that
would irritate a group of people and off they would go, even though the core
group remained the same. They had around two hundred members and that seemed
like a lot to try to control.

    
And of course, Ken was a control freak. He was constantly exerting his
authority; it was as if he was not capable of recognizing the fact that most
people were perfectly capable of governing their own lives without his help. It
seemed he just couldn’t help it. He thought that Ken was the kind of person who
would first thing in the morning tell someone to put his trousers on before he
went outside, and would then tell anyone who would listen that so and so needed
his help with dressing in the morning.

    
Ken had been an elected member of the Texas House of Representatives in his
past life. Andy thought that if Ken was a typical politician it was no wonder
the country floundered at times. But he was a good enough politician to have
gotten elected for a year by this group, and he was darned good at delegating
all of the work and responsibility while still reserving all decision making
authority to himself.

    
Andy had to laugh. He knew Ken had wanted him as a deputy because he thought as
young as Andy was, he would be easy to control. After the first two days as
deputy Andy had decided he had had enough. He told Ken that he had decided he
was going to conduct himself independently. He would let Ken know what was
going on periodically but he could not operate with Ken constantly second
guessing him. If Ken didn’t like how he was operating he would be willing to
resign at any time, but he would stay only if Ken agreed to those changes.

    
Ken was astounded. He couldn’t imagine someone willingly giving up a position
of power and prestige. Andy laughed and said the only thing he was interested
in was progress towards a new life. He didn’t need to hold any office to work
towards that goal. Andy ultimately had agreed to stay. Ken finally became
convinced that Andy wasn’t negotiating for anything, or trying to trade for
anything. He was serious about being able to operate freely and he would walk
otherwise.

    
Ken finally understood that he actually had very little power over Andy and
that if Andy left this early in the process that Ken would be the one to look
bad. It was pretty apparent to the community that Andy was as good as promised
and multiple projects had already been started. More than that, it had been a
long time since Ken had actually done anything other than listen to advisors
and talk. He really wasn’t capable of actual work.

    
So now Andy was doing what he wanted, but he wasn’t sure that was enough to
pull this group together. Ken had decided that they only needed to meet as a
group twice a week so Andy didn’t have a lot of opportunities to build the
community into a viable team.

    
The last group meeting had been last night. Andy had publicly shared the
figures that he had kept about who was coming and going from the group. He
stressed the need to stabilize the community and then pulled the same stunt on
Ken that Ken had pulled on him during the last public meeting. He looked at Ken
and said, “Boss I’m really good at numbers and measuring things, but you’re the
group leader. I’m sure the group would be interested in knowing what you plan
to do to increase our level of stability.” Andy had smiled as broadly as he
could while he did this, and tried to make it look to the group like he and Ken
had planned this ahead of time.

    
But Ken was stuck. Andy thought he had done a masterful job of talking and
saying nothing, but everyone in the group now expected Ken to come up with a
solution to the problem.

    
After the meeting Ken was livid and had taken Andy aside and said, “Boy if you
ever pull a stunt like that again I’ll have your hide. I’ll embarrass and
humiliate you in front of the group, I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re
worthless, I’ll….”

    
Andy had smiled at Ken as he interrupted him and said, “You fat slob, get off
your butt and start doing something or get the hell out of here. I’m tired of
your ability to talk nonsense without end and never accomplish a thing. Don’t
forget, I’m an engineer and there isn’t anything I can’t measure. From now on
at every meeting I’m going to put up statistics to show what a lousy job you’ve
done.

    
You either start working at getting this group together and pointed in the same
direction, or I’ll make sure you get tossed out of office. And by the way, if I
were you I wouldn’t bet the farm that you could beat me in an open
confrontation with the group.

    
And then Andy smiled again and said, “And if you do, I’ll simply complete my
trip to California. I like what that group is doing. There isn’t anything you
can do to hurt me, and the only way you can keep your job is by performing up
to my standards.”

    
Andy had turned and walked away from Ken. He had taken a walk to cool down.
Even though it was early December, it hadn’t yet become too cold for a stroll.
The sun had been down for hours and there was no moon. Andy didn’t know where
he was, but he knew he could easily retrace his step. He heard voices in the
distance and walked slowly that way. As he got closer a couple of men started
to talk louder and harsher. Andy slowed down and realized he was close to a
group of about a dozen men sitting in at the bottom of a small arroyo and until
just a minute ago had been talking quietly.

    
Andy realized they were there so they could speak privately. He turned around
and started to slowly walk away. He stopped when he heard a man say, “Bud, I’m
telling you I’m going. If I stay here I’m going to be expected to work, and to
tell you the truth I ain’t interested in working for a living no more. This guy
said there was a group of men and women with him that were going to do nothing
but drink, raise hell, and get together.

    
“I sent him an email about how the women were and he said a couple of them were
attached to one man but most of them moved around freely. He did say if I could
bring any more women with me I should.

    
“Now doesn’t that sound like a better life than anything they talk about here?”

    
One of the other voices said, “I’m not sure how Bud feels but I’m with you
Sandy. I think I even know a couple of women we could talk into joining us for
the trip. But how bad is the snow? I know it gets cold up there, and I can live
with that, but can we still get through?”

    
The man he called Sandy said, “I asked him and he said there was snow on the
ground but you could still get to them if you were careful. But it won’t stay
that way you know. If we go it has to be soon. On the other hand there are a
lot of towns between here and there. We could camp out in any of them and wait
until spring.”

    
I new voice asked, “Sandy, how did you find this guy.”

    
“Well I was browsing the internet, actually hoping to find pictures of naked
women, and I entered a site and there was a notice there saying if you were a
survivor, and were interested in having a good time, to email the address
there. So I did.”

    
“Did he say anything else about what they were doing?”

    
“He did say there was another group in the same region, and that they had had
some trouble with them, and they were planning on taking care of that problem
as soon as they got some more manpower.”

    
“I wonder what he has in mind, although to tell you the truth, a fight wouldn’t
bother me none, it never has.”

    
Sandy said, “Okay, that does it for me, I’m going to plan on heading out of
here the day after tomorrow. That gives us tomorrow to find anyone else who
wants to go, and to try to round up some women. If you ain’t going with us at
least keep your mouths shut about this place. I don’t want anyone getting their
dander up over our plans. And don’t anyone mention anything to the women about
a possible fight; we don’t want to scare any of them off.”

    
Andy moved quickly out into the desert. He knew the sand would cloak the sound
of his footsteps and he did not want to be seen by any of this group.

    
And now it was Thursday morning and Andy was drinking coffee and trying to come
up with a plan.

    
He thought he would start with calling Charlotte. He pretty much knew what he
should do; he just wanted to talk it through with someone first. He was afraid
if he mentioned it to Ken, Ken was liable to go with the group, not that Ken
leaving was a bad idea.

    
He had first talked to Charlotte on this past Saturday. She had answered the
phone with her full name, Charlotte White. He had called her because she was
Jack Sweeney’s deputy.

    
Andy started the conversation by asking about Jack. Everyone always wanted to
know where he was and if he had yet moved on. She said Jack never changed, you
couldn’t tell if he wanted to survive or didn’t. It just didn’t seem to bother
him one way or the other. But by now it was clear to her he was a survivor.

    
Andy thanked Charlotte and they talked for a bit, just exchanging simple thoughts,
and she had mentioned that she was from Atlanta. A couple of minutes later she
mentioned that she had experience with growing produce and the idea hit Andy.

    
Although he didn’t think it was possible he said, “Charlotte my brother and his
girlfriend worked in Atlanta until close to the end. They worked for James
White, would you be related by chance?”

    
After a minute of silence Charlotte said, “James was my husband.” Andy could
hear the pain in her voice and was sorry he had raised the issue.

    
But still he said, “Charlotte my brother’s name was George and his girlfriends
name was Maiya. I think they spent their last night in Atlanta with you and
James, and they left in James’ truck.”

    
“Oh my goodness Andy, I can’t believe I’m talking with someone who actually
knew them, and knew what special people they were. They called James and I every
day until the end. I was so happy they found each other.”

    
“I was too. They were happy with each other all the way to the end. The only
thing they were ever sorry for was that it took so long. They were both
extraordinarily pleased that I was a survivor. It was more touching than I
could explain.”

    
“I know what you mean. This means you were the one who drove the truck during
the shootout. They were both very proud of you when they told us the story.”

    
Andy had to smile, “Actually I was proud of the three of us as well, but more
scared that I could believe.”

    
“I’m glad we got a chance to talk alone so this could come out. I’ll be here to
help you, anytime you need me you let me know.”

    
They talked for a while longer and then promised to talk again frequently. Andy
now better understood why George and Maiya had talked so highly of James and
Charlotte.

    
He had talked again with Charlotte on Monday, and explained some of what he had
been going though, and what Ken had done to him during the last meeting. She
was the one that had advised him to turn the tables on Ken. She assured him
that if things didn’t work out in his favor she would welcome him to her group.

   
He called her now to talk through this new problem. When she answered he said
hi and told her exactly what he had heard and what he was planning to do. He
was afraid it wasn’t enough, but he couldn’t convince himself to go beyond it.

     
She assured him he was thinking the right way. He couldn’t stop a group of
people from moving on, and he had no way to know what they had in mind. If people
wanted to go off and drink themselves to death that was their prerogative, and
she was sure they wouldn’t be the only ones who wanted to live and die like
that. She did agree however that he needed to talk to Sam.

    
He called Sam next and explained the problem. She asked him to wait by his
phone for a minute while she gathered her senior folks; she wanted Andy to
share this with them.