Fifty Years of Peace (Abrupt Dissent Series) (9 page)

As night fell, Jacob walked from the apartment he rented above Noah Kennison’s tack shop toward the jail. The townspeople called the building the sheriff’s office, but like a lot of other things in New Louisville, that was changing too. He passed a group of Texans who’d spilled out into the street from the Grand Hotel’s bar. As they drained their beers and shouted back to friends still inside, two of the town’s policemen approached to try and prevent the soldiers from getting too rowdy. The officers glared at Jacob as they passed, but said nothing. A part of him wanted to apologize to them, but he shouldn’t feel guilty. From the moment the Peace Festival bomb went off, he’d known the town would never be the same.

For all of his strengths, Mayor Trestle was not a strong administrator. In his short year as a clerk, Jacob had seen so many unrealized opportunities to improve the town that he knew New Louisville could double its economy with a little more forethought. Assemblyman Arnold had been receptive to his ideas about central planning and transportation improvements, and that’s why he’d accepted Linden’s offer to work for the New States. A true patriot fought for the people even when it was unpopular, and he simply wanted what was best for the town in spite of the looks the townspeople gave him. For now though, he still thought mostly of Jenny.

Although he didn’t see Jenny as much as some of the other girls in town, there was always something special about her. She was smart and beautiful, the kind of girl you’d want to spend the rest of your life with, and until recently, she seemed so innocent.

He’d done the right thing in telling the assemblyman about George, but with her grandpa in jail, he knew Jenny wouldn’t see it that way. He worried that she was hiding somewhere scared and alone. If only he could talk to her, tell her that the Texans were here for their protection, he knew she’d understand. He remembered how she’d blushed and smiled in the tent when they were alone, and he knew they would be a good fit for each other. She wanted the best for people, and that’s what he wanted, which is why it was so hard to understand why she lied about the boy in the first place.

“Jacob!” a voice hissed from an alley.

“Who’s there?” he called and took a step back up the street. A strange shape detached itself from the shadows and trundled out into the moonlight. It was the mayor, hunched over his crutch and limping toward him.

“Mayor Trestle!”

“You and I need to have a talk. Come with me.”

“Yes sir,” he said. He’d been dreading this conversation since he’d talked to Linden yesterday.

The mayor had been a great help and role model, but he simply hadn’t known how to tell Jim that he wanted a different path for the town. The mayor limped alongside him in silence until they reached a blue-painted brick house.

“This is…” Jacob said.

Sheriff Dickson opened the door and invited them inside. He led them to his dining table and turned up the lamp.

“Need to do my rounds,” he said as he left the room. “I’ll let you two be.”

The front door closed, and Jacob sat down across from the mayor. Jacob watched the mayor’s face work in the lamplight. The man seemed older than just a few days ago, the shadows deepening across his forehead.

“Jacob, I need to ask a favor from you,” the mayor said. Jacob was nervous, surprised. He hadn’t had a conversation like this with adults before.

“Of…of course.”

“I know you’re working for Linden now, and while I wish you would have told me face to face, I understand. We’re all eager to get to the bottom of this bombing and we’re doing what we think is right.”

“Thank you,” Jacob said.

“You don’t need to worry son. I always knew you were a sharp one.”

“What did you want to ask?”

“I’d like to speak with Richard alone.”

“Mayor, that is the one thing that Linden asked I avoid. He’s worried about sympathizers and such.”

“And what do you think of Assemblyman Arnold?”

“I think he’s got a lot of ideas. Certainly a vision for where he wants to take the New States.”

“A vision, huh? Do you think everyone fits into that vision?”

“I’m…I’m not sure what you’re getting at Mayor.”

“As you get older Jacob, you realize that you won’t see eye to eye with most people. And in spite of whatever faults or mistakes we might lay on others, it’s still possible to recognize a good heart. I’ve known Richard Williams my entire life. He was one of the pre-wars that helped build this town. He’s a good man who’s got a scared daughter, and one of the things I have to do as mayor is to help my people. I don’t want to see that girl hurt. Just give me ten minutes with him is all I ask. I think I can get to the bottom of things.”

As Jacob studied the mayor, he realized that the town’s changes weren’t all external. People were being affected too, and suddenly his job as Linden’s aide and the decisions he would make seemed much heavier than he’d ever thought.

“I’ve known you all my life too Mayor. I’ll give you ten minutes. Just please get him to cooperate. I’m…I’m worried for Jenny.”

The mayor gave him a sad smile that stayed with Jacob for a long time after they’d left the sheriff’s house.

“I am too son,” he said. “I’m worried for all of us.”

***

“The harvest left this morning,” Assemblyman Arnold said. “Its arrival in New Orleans will occur within the hour.”

Linden had left the bus curtains open, as all his aides except for Josey were either standing watch or coordinating accommodations for the Alamo Division as the brigade settled into town. This conversation was going to be one of the most important of his career, and he didn’t want to feel boxed in.

“That’s excellent news,” President Hickock said. “Our buyers will be quite pleased.”

“How do the markets look?”

A frown crossed the president’s face.

“I don’t want you asking questions outside of your need to know Linden.”

“My apologies sir; I’m just excited about...well about everything.”

“You’re excited about the profits aren’t you? You haven’t forgotten that I handle the distribution, have you?”

“Of course not. Again, my apologies if I implied…”

“Accepted. Let’s move on to the security situation.”

“We’ve taken a pre-war into custody. We didn’t find anything when we searched his home, but he and his granddaughter aided the bomber. I haven’t had a chance to question the man yet, but I think in a way the bombing has actually helped our plan’s execution. The story will be much more…believable now.”

“And the people?”

Linden sat back in his chair, thinking.

“These people are scared Mr. President. They don’t want war. The mayor here should be no problem, and the rest of the governmental structure was quite loose. We’ll have a good base of support here by the time we begin our march.”

“Good. What of the bomber?”

“He can’t have gone far. I don’t think the girl will be much help to him.”

“And if he gets a message out?”

“Satellite intelligence shows at least eight days before the closest U.S. units could reach the border crossing. We’ll be moving in two, as soon as the next train arrives.”

“It’s tight Linden,” the president said. “But you’ve always been a good tactician. Keep your head about you, and you’ll go far in this government. Many eyes overseas are watching you right now, and they want to end the U.S.’s grip on the coasts even more than we do. I hope you are ready Linden, because I want my war.”

***

Jenny squatted behind a cluster of rain barrels next to the barbershop. Doc Stinson lived across the street but she hadn’t seen him come home yet and it was well past sundown. Her legs were close to giving out after a long night and day of forced hiking, and she’d had to dodge dozens of Texan military patrols on her way through town. The few townspeople she’d seen had been hurrying to get home or drawing their curtains. New Louisville felt like it was holding its breath, and she worried that Doc Stinson was occupied elsewhere, or wouldn’t come home.

But then she heard a familiar tuneless whistle, and before long she saw the doctor walking up the street swinging his bag. He looked tired, nodding to a pair of Texan soldiers that passed him and shaking his head after they turned a corner. As he unlocked his front door, Jenny glanced up and down the street. Her heart was pounding, and she hoped no one would see her. Then she sprinted across the road and slapped her hand against the doctor’s door just before he swung it closed. He spun, and she could just make out his startled face.

“Who’s there?” the doctor called. “Is that…”

“Please Doctor Stinson, I need help,” she whispered.

“Jenny, Jenny my God come in,” he said and ushered her inside. He checked the street before closing the door, and then latched it behind her.

“No, please,” she said when he reached for his lamp, “they can’t see me.”

He stayed his hand.

“The Texans arrested your grandfather for treason Jenny,” he whispered. “They’ve been asking everyone if we know where you went. What are you doing here?”

“He’s in prison?”

The news hit her hard, and she felt faint in the dark house, but she had a job to do. Grandpa always said that if people focused on the doing and not the worrying, the worries would clean themselves up.

“Doc, I need to ask you something.”

“Of course,” he said, “anything.”

“Do you believe in the New States? Do you believe in Assemblyman Arnold and what he’s been doing?”

The doctor gave her a long look. He ran his hand through his hair, sighing.

“I don’t know what to believe Jenny. If you’d asked me two days ago I might have said something different, but now you’re here, Richard’s in jail…will you tell me what happened to you?”

She knew she should be cautious because she might not be able to trust him, but the force of everything that she’d been holding back let loose in her and she burst into tears at the thought of her grandfather behind bars. She told the doctor of the technology her grandfather had kept, of his suspicions about the New States’ government, and finally of George and his family in the mountains.

“That’s why I’m here,” she said, “because they’re good people, and they need my help even if the assemblyman says otherwise.”

The doctor reached into his bag and handed her a cotton cloth. She wiped her eyes, smiling in gratitude.

“Good people don’t kill people with bombs Jenny,” he said.

“Will you come? You have to come.”

“Let me ask you something. Why do you believe this boy?”

She swallowed. How did you describe what you knew in your heart?

“Because he wants people to know the truth, just like I did.”

“And you think that justifies killing? That’s not how Richard raised you.”

“No…I…I don’t know. But you have to see that what’s happening isn’t right!”

“Oh Jenny, you’re so young.” He took back the cloth and packed up his bag. Then he turned for his back room.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To get supplies,” he said, “in spite of my doubts, I swore an oath, and if I’m going to do surgery in the mountains, I need to be prepared.”