Strengthen What Remains (Book 2): A Time to Endure (9 page)

Hoover’s
eyes widened. “How did Cruz find out that Zach shot him?”

“He
hasn’t, not yet anyway, but he sure wants to know and then…do what he said.”

Caden
sighed deeply. “I’m sorry you heard his sociopathic rant, but I’m glad he
didn’t see you. I have a meeting with the general staff tomorrow in Olympia.
While I’m there I’ll see about getting help tracking down the rest of the
gang.”

Minutes
later as they exited, Maria stopped and looked up at Caden. “Cruz hates you. He
wants to kill you and destroy everything you have…the farm…me.”

“He
threatened you? How did he know…
.
”

“Not
directly. He threatened, ‘your woman.’”

He
smiled that such an independent person as Maria considered herself his woman.
Caden put his arm around her and together they walked toward the car. “Cruz has
already committed crimes that warrant death under the martial law edict. I want
to hold him now and see what
intel
we can get from
him, but if he tries anything, we’ll hold the tribunal and carry out the
sentence.” He hugged her. “You’re safe.” But as he looked across the parking
lot at the cars, RVs and trailers filled with people more desperate with each
passing day, he knew that Hansen was on the knife edge of violence and chaos.

She
gave him a long look. “He scares me, but I’m worried about all of us.”

He
unlocked the car door, and scanned the edges of the lot where a dozen people of
varying ages milled about.
 

Most are probably the
families of patients, with nowhere to go now that Seattle is gone.
All looked tired,
gaunt and poor, in clothes that had been worn too long without a wash. Looking
at a group of men around a fire, he thought of desperation and anger. When
several turned and stared at him, Caden said to Maria, “Let’s get home.”

As
they approached the farmhouse Caden squeezed her hand. “So, when are we getting
married?”

“I’ve
been thinking about it, but…well, you haven’t agreed to a date.”

Caden
parked and stepped from the car. “Tomorrow.”

“What?”
Maria said with a chuckle and exited the car. “You said there were meetings and
a supply run to Olympia on Friday.”

He
walked to her side. “The next day then.”

She
laughed. “Let’s give everyone, including me, time to prepare.”

“Okay…the
first day of spring is in about two weeks. Let’s get married then.”

The
grin faded as her eyes searched his. Then, the hint of a smile returned, but
with a bit of sadness that frightened Caden.

“There
are times that I want to throw caution and everything my mother taught me aside
and just be with you.” She leaned up against him, resting her head on his
chest. “I’ve seen so much tragedy, so many people have died in the last six
weeks. The night we met we both killed someone.”

“They
killed your parents. They tried to kill me and Adam.”

“I
know they deserved to die, but in a saner world we wouldn’t be judge, jury and
executioner.”

“We
do what we have to do.”

She
nodded and looked at him with soft caring eyes. “I guess that’s it. I don’t
want to marry you because I have to. On the day that I know I could walk away
from you and not starve, not be killed or raped by some gang or warring armies,
that’s the day I will marry you.”

“There’s
a new normal. That day may never come.”

“It
will. As long as there are enough men like you.”

She
stepped away, but he held her hand. Pulling her back, they kissed.

An
hour later, Caden drove toward the armory a bit confused about his engagement.
He touched his lips with one finger.
If
she’s having second thoughts, she has a strange way of showing it.

Walking
toward the main building, he saw Zach and a young private working on a truck
engine. He decided to bring Zach along when they went to Olympia. The young man
could help load supplies.

Brooks
was talking to another soldier as Caden entered the office. With his mind
awkwardly drifting between his conversation with Maria and concern about MS-13,
he grasped the coffee cup from his desk and returned to the common area. “Why
is the coffee pot off?”

A
private sitting at a nearby desk said, “Ah, sir…we ran out of coffee
yesterday.”

With
a frown Caden turned back to his office.
One more reason to go to Olympia tomorrow.

“Here
is the requisition list.” Brooks followed him. “Some of the medical supplies
are for the hospital and some of the fuel is for the sheriff and some of the
food is for distribution at the schools, the hospital, the Salvation Army and
the Community Church, just west of town.”

Caden
nodded at the mention of the church his family had attended for years. He took
the paperwork and continued on to his desk. He sat down flipping pages of the
seemingly endless list of needed items. Finally he said, “Add coffee.”

Brooks
gave him a doubtful look.

“We
won’t get half the stuff on this list, but maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll
have coffee.”

Brooks
grinned. “I’ll add it.”
 

*
              
*
              
*

The
next morning several trucks and a fueler waited at the armory for the trip to
the supply depot. Zach was about to climb into the back of a deuce and a half,
when Caden motioned for him to come over. “Keep me company.” He pointed. “Ride
up here in the SUV.

The
boy hesitated,
then
said, “Sure.”

The
two sat in the back with a driver and guard in the front. Caden thought getting
better acquainted with Zach would be a good use of the hour long trip to
Olympia. While he genuinely wanted to know more about the boy, he didn’t want
to reveal that he had been checking into the young man’s background.

Such
a “get to know you” talk could start with something like, “So, what does your
dad do for a living?” But he knew Zach’s father had been murdered and Caden
didn’t want to open that area of discussion—at least not yet. Finally he
settled on, “How has the fishing business been?”

“We
won’t starve. We’re better off than many, but when I have a choice I don’t
think I’ll ever
want
to eat a fish
again.”

Caden
smiled.

The
conversation continued with Zach talking about the traps and where to place
them in a stream.

“Will
you go back to school?”

“Yeah,
I want to graduate, but right now we need to eat. I’ll go back to school when
things get back to normal.”

“Will
things ever be normal again?”

The
soldier in the front passenger seat glanced over his shoulder.

Caden
immediately regretted uttering his own doubts.

“I
hope so.” Zach looked down at the holster on Caden’s hip. “Can you teach me how
to shoot?”

Caden’s
wanted to say no, but thought of Cruz and his promise to skin alive the person
who shot him with the arrow.
Is it right
to tell a sixteen-year-old that someone wants to kill him? The guy is in
custody, but what if his friends find out and want to take revenge?
Zach has a right to know the danger.
He
exhaled slowly. The conversation was not going the way he wanted. “Do you own a
gun?”

Zach
hesitated. “Sure. My mom owns one, but she isn’t very good with it and neither
am I. The gang shootout near the house was crazy scary. The world has gone
nuts. I need to protect my family.”

Caden
smiled at the teenage boy.
So young to bear such a burden.
“Would learning to shoot be
okay with your mom?”

“Yeah
sure, like I said, she owns a gun.”

Caden
looked into the boy’s eyes.
I’m going to
ask her anyway.
Then he told Zach about the interrogation of Cruz. “He
hates everyone, but he seems to especially loathe me, I guess because I’m the
local authority figure and he failed to kill me, and you because you shot him
with the arrow.”

Zach’s
eyes had grown slowly bigger as Caden explained.

“Cruz
doesn’t know your name and I’ll never release him, but he and his friends are
dangerous.” He paused still deciding what to do. He had learned some things
about the boy, but not the kind of things he had intended. “If you own a gun
you should know how to use it.” Caden took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Okay then, on our range with our weapons and under supervision.”

Zach
nodded.

“I
think I’ll have Staff Sergeant Fletcher begin your instruction.”

The
trip to Olympia went quickly. The highway was clear of abandoned, stripped and
burned vehicles and the traffic was light. Caden saw two state patrol cars,
some commercial trucks and military traffic, but few private cars.

Gas is hard to find and
so expensive, I guess people can’t afford to travel.
  

It
had been only a couple of weeks since Caden had been to the city, but the
changes were stark. In the convention center parking lot, several dozen Humvees
and deuce and a half trucks stood idle. Nearby warehouses served as a supply
depot. The convoy pulled in front of the office nearby.

Inside,
Caden presented the requisitions.

The
supply officer looked over the paperwork and laughed. “Coffee? Are you kidding?
You might as well ask for gold.” The supply officer chuckled. “Actually, I
might be able to get some gold.”

Caden
shot him a skeptical glance.

“Yeah,
from surplus electronics, but there’s not an ounce of coffee to be found.”

“Well,”
Caden said with a frown, “fill what you can.” He left the depot for the
Emergency Operation Center.

*
              
*
              
*

After
stepping from the elevator on the third floor of the Wainwright building, Caden
was stopped by two guards. They checked his identification against a list and
allowed him to proceed to the EOC. The operations center was bigger than he
remembered. A large “C” shaped table dominated the center of the room. Lap and
desktop computers faced in toward the center with a dozen people in uniform
hovering around them. Facing the open end of the table were five large monitors
mounted on the wall. Currently they displayed both regional and national news
channels. To his right was a long table with a host of communications
equipment. On his left was a large oval conference table.

Caden
scanned the room for General Harwich, the adjutant general of the Washington
National Guard, but didn’t see him. It took him a few seconds to spot the duty
officer, an army captain. Caden walked over and introduced himself.

“You
command the Hansen armory, right?”

“Yes.”

Stepping
close to a map on the wall the captain pointed to Hansen. “Well, it’s good to
meet you. General Harwich thinks you’ve done an excellent job protecting this
area. He drew a larger circle from the coast, past Hansen, to the mountains and
back to the coast. “Just yesterday he said he wanted to expand your area of
control.”

“Whoa.
Slow down. I came to ask for help, not more headaches.”

 
Caden heard a familiar voice behind him.
“We’ve all got headaches, Major, which one brought you here today?”

He
turned and saw General Harwich a few feet behind him. After saluting and
shaking hands, Caden briefed the general on the recent gun battle near Hansen
and what Cruz had told them about the gang moving up from California.

The
general seemed lost in thought for a bit. “The Chinese don’t tell us anything
that is going on in the areas they control. I doubt they tell the Durant
administration anything, but refugees from the southwest are more than willing
to talk. The Chinese supply food and medicine and have been very effective in
restoring order. Most would call it ruthless. Anyone who loots or robs is shot.
If you collaborate and work when, where and how they say, you are given food
and shelter. If you don’t, they make your life difficult at best, often
impossible. There is no room for gang activity in the Chinese zone of control,
so gang members leave and join the flow of refugees. We think the Red Army may
be…” He seemed to consider his words. “Refugees will be flowing out of the
Chinese zone for the foreseeable future.”

The
general called to a nearby corporal, “Son, get me the current sitrep display of
the country. The soldier moved to a computer on the nearby conference table and
within seconds a large map of the United States appeared on the display.

As
the general walked to it, Caden tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Most
of the U.S. east of the Mississippi was colored red.
That’s the area under Durant’s control.
A red oval also encompassed
Denver and Colorado Springs. The Pacific coast from just north of San Francisco
to the Canadian border and east to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers were
marked in blue.
Those are probably the
states that support the new congress.
Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas were
split.