Shaken (32 page)

There was a long pause. “Maybe you would agree to go undercover and ferret these people out? We can work a deal.”

Carl couldn't stand it any longer. He grabbed the microphone and pushed the button. “I'll never go undercover for the GC. You guys buy all of Carpathia's lies. I used to believe them too, but now I know the truth. Jesus Christ is the true potentate. I'm following him, and if you're smart, you'll ask God to forgive you.”

Carl let the microphone go and scowled. “Stupid,” he muttered. “They wanted you to talk so they could figure out your location.”

He pulled out a detailed map kept in each of the GC vehicles and studied the roads. The GC might know where he was, but they didn't know where he was going.

Vicki knelt as they pitched forward. Rocks scraped the boat with a sickening creak. Twice, she thought a hole had opened and they were going to sink, but each time the boat bounced back. They were headed for a huge drop the boat would never survive. But would the kids?

“Go right!” Conrad shouted.

Charlie put the oar on the wrong side and Conrad yelled again. They were fifty yards from the final drop when Conrad signaled for Charlie to row for the bank. “Too steep!”

Charlie rowed desperately, trying to get the kids to the riverbank. Vicki thought about jumping over the side, but the water was too deep and the river too swift.

Charlie and Conrad fought a losing battle. No sooner did they have the boat pointed toward shore than the current swept the back of the boat toward the fall. The boat spun out of control. Vicki grabbed hands with Shelly and Darrion.

Conrad yelled, “Hang on!”

The boat plunged over the rocky fall backwards. Charlie's oar wedged between two rocks and snapped. The boat crashed against one rock, splintering the side. Then they spun around in the swift-moving current and crashed into a huge boulder, flinging the kids into a pool of water at the bottom.

Vicki bobbed to the surface and gasped. The boat stood upright, lodged between two rocks. Water cascaded around the edges. Vicki turned and spotted Shelly and Darrion swimming for shore.

“Where's Charlie and Conrad?” Vicki yelled.

Shelly turned. “Darrion's hurt. I'm getting her out.”

Vicki frantically searched for the two boys. Finally, Charlie surfaced and gasped. “Help me!”

Vicki swam to him. Charlie beat at the water like a child first learning to swim. When Vicki came close enough, Charlie grabbed her around the neck and nearly pulled her under.

Charlie spit out a mouthful of water. “I don't swim too good!”

“Relax,” Vicki said, tearing Charlie's arms away. “Let me hold you and I'll get you to shore.”

Charlie went limp, and Vicki dragged him to the riverbank. When he could safely stand, he coughed and collapsed next to Darrion and Shelly.

“Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim?” Vicki said.

“I didn't want to be a wimp. And I didn't plan on going over Niagara Falls.”

Darrion had a bloody gash on her forehead. “I hit one of those little rocks as I went in the water. I'll be okay.”

Shelly stood and screamed for Conrad. Vicki put a hand on her arm.

“Look over there,” Charlie said, pointing.

Conrad was making his way back up the rocks to the boat. It stood like a wooden soldier, trapped between the rocks.

“What's he doing?” Shelly said. “He's going to get killed.”

Conrad fought the rushing water and disappeared behind the boat. Moments later he reappeared holding something under his arm. When he got in the water, he held it above his head with one hand and swam with the other.

“It's the laptop,” Charlie said.

The kids were all amazed that the machine had survived the crash. When Conrad pulled himself out of the water, Shelly ran to him and slugged his shoulder. “You scared me to death! You risked your life to save a computer?”

“Calm down. I'm okay,” Conrad said. He checked Darrion's wound and made sure everyone was all right. “I'm sorry about the waterfall. It didn't look that bad when I walked by here a few weeks ago.”

The kids rested a few minutes; then Vicki helped Darrion stand. Vicki could tell she was in a lot of pain. “I wish I had some aspirin,” she said.

“There's some in the sat truck's first-aid kit,” Shelly said. “Let's go.”

It was after 11
A.M.
when Mark reached the bridge. The Jeep was gaining on them every minute. Several locals walking by the road had seen the truck and waved as they passed. Mark knew it was only a matter of time before the GC caught up.

Mark stopped and looked upstream. Nothing.

“What if they don't show?” Janie said.

“Like I said, we'll have to—”

Something banged on the back of the truck. Mark looked in the side mirror and saw Charlie carrying Darrion.

Janie and Melinda rushed to open the truck while Conrad and Vicki sat up front. Mark drove quickly across the bridge.

Vicki explained what had happened with Natalie in the tunnel and how they had escaped. Mark told them about the Jeep that was only a few minutes behind.

“What now?” Conrad said.

Mark shrugged. “The GC will cover this area pretty soon. We should find a car.”

Vicki opened the glove compartment and counted their Nicks. “There's not enough to buy something that would hold all of us.”

Mark wound through the two-lane road into Illinois farm country. Few homes had survived the earthquake, but those that had were farmhouses.

“If we keep driving in daylight they're gonna find us,” Conrad said. “We should stash the truck and head out after dark.”

“Maybe Carl can help us,” Vicki said. “Where's the phone?”

Mark stared at Conrad. “Do you have it?”

“I thought you were bringing it.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Great.”

“It's okay,” Vicki said. “I brought the laptop.”

“If the GC find that phone and trace its calls, Carl's toast and so are the others we've called.”

“We have to worry about getting out of here,” Vicki said. “Then we can alert the others about the phone.”

Mark turned up the radio as the Peacekeeper in the Jeep reported. “Just spoke with some locals. We're not far behind them.”

Vicki leaned forward and looked out the window.

“Pull over. I have an idea.”

Carl was an hour from the Georgia state line when he stopped for gas at a small station. He tried the kids' cell phone, but again it was listed as unavailable.

Carl ran into the station and found a young man behind the counter reading a magazine. When Carl barged in, the boy nearly fell back in his chair.

Carl flashed his identification and said, “Has the Global Community been in contact with you?”

“No, sir. Why should they?”

“There's been an escape. GC officer stole a Jeep like the one out there. This is exactly the kind of place where he'd fuel up.”

“So you want me to keep an eye out for him?”

Carl wrote his own cell phone number on a scrap of paper. “I'm going to gas up and head west. I think he's on his way to Alabama. If you see any GC in this area, call me immediately.”

The boy took the paper and studied the number. Carl handed him enough Nicks to pay for the gas and ran to the pump.

“Here's your change,” the boy yelled when Carl was finished.

“Keep it!”

Carl turned on his phone and dialed the kids in Illinois as he raced along.

A female answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

As Conrad rode the rickety bike toward the road, Vicki closed the barn door. “We're going to stay in here until dark.”

“Where's Conrad going?” Shelly said.

“He's riding along the road so that when the GC come along, he can tell them which way we went.”

“Great idea,” Charlie said.

Vicki checked Darrion's wound, but the others had already bandaged it and given her aspirin for the pain. Darrion said she was fine and wanted to rest.

Mark called from the other side of the barn. “Here comes the Jeep. Let's hope they buy Conrad's story.”

Looking through the small spaces between boards, Vicki watched the Jeep speed past Conrad and nearly run him off the road. It slowed, backed up, and stopped.

As Vicki squinted to see what was happening, someone walked past the barn a few inches from her face. A man wearing a Chicago Cubs hat opened a smaller door and stepped inside. He carried a shotgun.

“You people stay right where you are.”

29

VICKI
gathered the others and stared at the man. He looked the satellite truck over, took off his hat, and scratched his head. “Why'd you park this thing in my barn?”

Mark looked at Vicki. She took a step forward and said, “We needed a place to rest until tonight. I promise we'll be on our way as soon—”

“I heard something on the radio 'bout somebody stealin' a big old truck from the Global Community. There's a reward for anybody finding it.”

Vicki glanced at the others. Janie turned pale and shook. Charlie put an arm around her.

“How much?” Mark said, trying to smile.

The farmer ignored him and looked at Darrion. “What happened to your head?”

“I hit it on a rock. It's okay.”

The man spit on the floor. “You got any guns or weapons of any kind?”

Vicki shook her head and looked at Mark. “We don't, do we?”

“No.”

The radio squawked in the truck. “We just talked with a kid who says the truck went by here a few minutes ago headed south. We're on it.”

The farmer squinted at the kids.

Just then Conrad pushed the bike into the barn and stopped when he saw the man.

“You got any more people, or is this it?”

“This is all of us,” Vicki said.

“You hungry?”

The kids all said they were, and the man led them out of the barn toward the farmhouse. Cornstalks stood brown and brittle in the field.

“It's been a pretty dry summer,” Mark said.