Drought (19 page)

The woman crossed herself. ‘May God have mercy on their souls,' she said.

Considering where those punks are headed, I don't think God will get the chance
, thought Martin. He put his arm around Tyler's shoulders. ‘Come on,' he said. ‘I don't think there's anything more that you and me can do here.'

He shaded his eyes and looked toward the city center. Smoke was piling up in thick black curds now, and at least three helicopters were circling around.

‘Time to go, Tyler. Come on.'

‘We
killed
them,' said Tyler, turning back one more time to look at the bodies of the hoods lying on the freeway. He was so shocked that his voice was thin and breathless, almost like a girl's. ‘I can't believe it, Dad. We
killed
them.'

They drove back up West Kendall Avenue in silence. When they reached the park they found that the Murillo family were waiting for them under the trees. Mikey and Nathan were playing on the swing sets but the smaller children were too tired and too hot, although they had at least stopped crying.

Rita was finishing the last of a half bottle of Jack Daniel's. When it was empty she held it up and squinted at it and shook it hard, as if it would magically refill itself.

‘What happened?' asked Santos, as Martin and Tyler walked across the grass to join them. He pointed to each of his eyes in turn and then pointed at them, as if to show them that he had special powers of perception. ‘Something
bad
has happened, hasn't it? I can tell by your faces.'

Martin said, ‘I don't know, Santos. Guess it depends on your point of view. Let's just say that the Great Spirit moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform, and because of that some very unpleasant characters got what they deserved.'

‘Very well,' said Santos, with a shrug. He didn't ask any more questions. ‘And now we should leave, yes? We need to be well into the mountains before it gets dark.'

Martin led them the short quarter-mile distance to Peta's house. As soon as they parked outside, Peta opened the front door and came hurrying out to meet them. She hugged Tyler as if she never wanted to let him go again, ever, and she looked at Martin tearfully over Tyler's shoulder, shaking her head as if to say,
you shouldn't have done what you did, but thank you.

Santos and Susan and the children all climbed out of the Suburban, although Rita stayed where she was, her head tilted back and her mouth open, snoring. Santos came up to Peta and held out his hand.

‘Peta – this is Santos Murillo,' said Martin. ‘Santos knows a place where we can hold out until the drought's over.'

‘What kind of a place? Where is it?'

Santos said, ‘I won't lie to you, dear lady. It is a place in the mountains where we will have to survive in the way that my Yuhaviatam ancestors used to survive. But we will always have water, and food, and we will be safe. There are caves there, and we can build shelters, but if you have any tents, so much the better.'

Peta obviously didn't know what to say. She turned to Martin and then she looked at the Murillo children with their grubby T-shirts and worn-out sneakers with no laces in them. Mikey had his finger up his nose.

‘The water's not going to come back on, sweetheart,' Martin told her. ‘There
is
no water – not unless you're one of Governor Smiley's chosen few.'

Peta said, ‘This is the USA, Martin, not Ethiopia. This is the twenty-first century. The federal government is not going to let thousands of people die of thirst.'

‘You think? It makes no difference what country we're in, sweetheart, or what century it is. No government has the power to produce water out of thin air. Only God can do that.'

Peta looked along Fullerton Drive, with its neat brown-shingled houses and its well-trimmed hedges and all of the shiny cars and SUVs parked in its driveways. Martin could tell by her expression what she was thinking.
This is my home, this is my security, this is where my friends live. This is daytime TV and chicken dinners and church on Sundays. How can you expect me to give this all up and go to live in the mountains like some primitive pioneer
?

‘These poor children look like they could all use a drink,' she said. ‘I still have one bottle of that water left that you brought me from work.' She beckoned to the children and said, ‘Why don't you come on inside, kids? You can have a drink and some rocky road ice-cream. Tyler, can you sort that out for them?'

‘Sure, mom,' said Tyler, and led the children into the house. Susan followed, giving Tyler the shyest of smiles.

‘Thank you,' said Santos. ‘I have been very worried for them.'

Peta said, ‘Do you really think the situation is so bad we have to leave?'

‘People are rioting downtown,' said Martin. He nearly put his arm around her, but then made out that he was simply stretching. ‘The cops are using tear gas on them. They may even be shooting them for all I know. That woman Saskia Vane I was telling you about, she thinks things have gotten so critical that she's going to be coming with us.'

He didn't tell her that Saskia was much more afraid of Joseph Wrack hunting her down than she was of having no water. He didn't want to complicate matters.

‘As a matter of fact, I already have everything packed,' said Peta, and she nodded toward her Hilux, parked outside the garage doors.

‘You do?'

‘Clothes, food, and those two tents we took to Yosemite.'

‘Really?'

She smiled at him wryly and laid her hand on his arm. ‘Martin, for all the arguments we had, for all of those times I hated you, I still trust your judgment when it comes to something as serious as this.'

‘Is Ella any better? Will she be OK?'

‘She's still feeling very tired and she doesn't have her appetite back, but her temperature's back to normal, and otherwise she's fine. I wouldn't think of taking her if I didn't think she was up to it.'

‘OK. Great. Thank you.' He leaned forward to kiss her, but as he did so he saw Rita climbing awkwardly down from the back seat of Santos' Suburban. Rita's scraggly bleach-blonde hair was sticking up even more wildly than usual and her purple cotton dress was creased and stained down the front. She stood blinking at her surroundings, keeping one hand on the Suburban's door to steady herself, and then she turned around and frowned at Martin and Peta as if she had just arrived on the surface of Mars and they were two aliens.

‘This is Rita, the kids' mother,' said Martin. ‘Rita is what you might call a non-recovering alcoholic.'

‘And she's coming with us?'

‘I didn't have a choice. She wouldn't have let us take the kids, otherwise.'

Rita came up the driveway, walking stiff-legged. She patted Martin on the shoulder and said, ‘My hero. He's simply the best. Better than all the rest.'

Peta said, ‘Hi, I'm Peta.'

‘Peta? How about that? You look like a girl to me.'

‘It's Peta with an “a”. Not an “er”.'

‘Well, thank the Lord for that. The number of times I've been taken to ER. Fractured my ankle the last time.' She patted Martin on the shoulder again and said, ‘My hero.'

‘I'll go in and make sure that everybody's ready to leave,' said Peta. She went inside while Rita stood next to Martin, swaying slightly and clinging to his sleeve to keep her balance.

‘Santos said you had a case of vodka,' she said slowly, and with special emphasis on the word ‘
vod-
ka
.
'

‘I do, Rita. I'll load it into the trunk of my car, so that we can take it along with us.'

‘It would be good to have a taster. I have to tell you, Martin, I'm jonesing for a drink.'

‘Listen, Rita, you sit down here on the bench and I'll see what I can do.'

He helped Rita to ease herself down on the low marble bench beside the front door, and then he went into the house. In the kitchen, the Murillo children were gathered around the table, clattering their spoons as they ate their ice-cream. Tyler and Susan were standing by the sink, talking. Tyler looked pale but Susan was blushing.

‘OK?' asked Martin. ‘Nearly ready to hit the bricks?'

He went along the corridor to Ella's bedroom. Ella was up and dressed in a pink checkered blouse and jeans. Martin came into the room and gave her a hug.

‘You're sure that you're up for this?' he asked her.

‘Daddy, I'm fine. I think it was maybe a flu bug, that's all.'

‘You still look a little washed out, if you don't mind my saying so.'

‘Daddy – I'm
fine
!'

Martin went into the living room. He opened the cupboard doors underneath the TV, and there it was, untouched since the day that he had left this house, a bottle of Maker's Mark whiskey with only one measure taken out of it. He had taken that drink as a regretful toast to the past – a past that he had always hoped was going to be his future. He had meant to take the bottle with him, but just then Peta and Tyler and Ella had arrived outside, all ready to move back in.

He went back outside and handed the bottle to Rita. She stared at the label for a long time before she said, ‘I'm not complaining, Martin, but this doesn't look much like vodka.'

‘I've already stowed the vodka in the car. We can crack that open later. Now, we need to be leaving, Rita. And for Christ's sake don't drink that all now. At least take a breath or two, in between swallows, OK?'

He checked his watch. Saskia should have reached the park by now. He helped Rita and the Murillo children to climb back into the Suburban, while Tyler and Susan got into Peta's Hilux and Ella joined him in his Eldorado. They started their engines and Martin could see several neighbors coming out of their houses to see what all the commotion was about.

Martin was just about to back out of the driveway when two black Cadillac Escalades with tinted windows came up the road and drew up nose-to-tail by the opposite curb. He gave Ella what he hoped was a confident smile and said, ‘Hold tight. I think we may need to get the hell out of here somewhat
prontissimo
.'

He had backed only halfway across the road, however, before the Escalades' doors all opened and seven men climbed out. Three of them stood in front of him holding up their hands while the other four stood behind him to prevent him from backing up any further. Two of them wore light gray suits, white shirts and dark blue neckties, while the rest of them were dressed in the dark blue uniform of Empire Security Services.

One of the suits approached him. He had cropped gray hair and a squarish head, and he walked with the rolling gait of the very fit and the very muscular. He reminded Martin of one of his drill instructors in the Marines.

‘Misterrr Makepeace?' he demanded. He didn't stand too close, and Martin could see his eyes darting from side to side as he tried to take in what was happening here – Santos' Suburban blowing out exhaust fumes and Peta's Hilux all ready to back out behind him.

‘What if I am?'

‘It happens that I
know
you are, sir, and what I need you to do is turn off your engine, exit your vehicle and come with us.'

‘O
h, really?' said Martin. ‘On whose authority?'

‘Empire Security Services, sir, with posse authority from the San Bernardino Police Department.' The agent reached into his inside pocket and produced a black leather wallet. He flipped it open so that Martin could see his silver-and-blue enamel badge.

Martin looked around. He was going to have to play this very carefully. There were so many innocent people around, including his own children, Tyler and Ella. All five of the uniformed security agents were openly carrying sidearms, and he could see by the bulges in their coats that the two agents in suits had shoulder holsters, too.

‘OK,' he said, raising both hands so that the agents could see them. At the same time, however, he turned to Ella and said, ‘As soon as I get out of the car, pop the trunk, OK? You know where the button is, don't you, in the glove box?'

Ella nodded, her eyes wide with alarm. Martin opened his door.

The agent in the gray suit said, ‘Please keep your hands up, Mr Makepeace, and walk across to the vehicle on your right. Curtis! You want to open the door for Mr Makepeace, if you would?'

One of the uniformed security agents went over to the second Escalade and opened up its rear passenger door. Martin, still with his hands held high, glanced over his shoulder. Whatever he did now – even if the security agents took out their guns and started shooting at him – Ella and Peta and Tyler and the Murillo family would all be out of their line of fire.

‘Just keep walking, sir,' said the agent in the gray suit.

But Martin took only one more step before he half-bent his knees and then hurled himself backward, so that he collided with the agent in the gray suit and both of them fell heavily on to the roadway. For Martin, most of the impact was cushioned by the agent's body, but the agent himself struck the back of his head on the tarmac, and he let out a hoarse, high-pitched wheeze as all of the air was knocked out of him.

The other security agents began to reach for their weapons, but Martin was too quick for them. He rolled over on to the fallen agent's right side and hooked his left arm around his neck to throttle him. At the same time he reached inside his coat and wrenched his gun out of his shoulder-holster. He cocked the gun, jammed the muzzle into the agent's right ear and shouted out, ‘
Freeze
! Drop your weapons or I'll blow his head off !'

Two of the security agents already had their guns lifted, but Martin pulled the fallen agent even closer, so that he was at least half-shielded by him, and the agents could see that if they opened fire there was a high probability that they would hit their own man, too.