The Company Man

CHAPTER FORTY

It took a long while for Samantha to get to Garvey’s apartment. In the past few hours the city had come under siege, practically. As Samantha hurried through the gloomy streets she held the pistol Hayes had given her at her side, glad it was there but hoping she would not have to use it. You could hear the din of the crowds and fires far away to the southeast, as if through a radio, and all the sky was smoke. The few cabs that were still out would not stop for anyone and trolleys sat abandoned in their tunnels and stations. Some of the eastern portions of the city had lost power, and there the windows and stoops were lit up with candlelight, little flickering stars spackling the building fronts. It seemed medieval.

When she finally came to Garvey’s apartment she found it deserted. At first she was frightened for him, but then she saw it had not been ransacked. Everything was clean and ordered, as usual. Even the bed had been made. Then she opened the drawer to his desk and found his gun was missing.

“Oh, Donald,” she said sadly.

She thought for a moment, then went east to where the Wering Canal began. She followed the paths down into the canal to where they ran just above the water. As she moved she could hear people running around among the bridges and sidewalks above her, sometimes cackling or shouting threats. She was glad of the solitary darkness down here, underneath the bridges and forgotten piping.

Soon the paths rose up and she was met with a string of small apartments, the first one being Hayes’s safe house. She went to the door and found it unlocked, then thought hard and pushed it open to reveal darkness. She kept the gun pointed down as it swung. There was a sharp click, the sound of a pistol cocking from somewhere back in the room. She shut her eyes, waiting for the bang, yet it never came.

“Goddamn,” said a hoarse voice. “Samantha?”

She cracked one eye and saw a gray electric light fluttering on far back in the room. A figure was hunched on the bed with a pistol pointed to the floor. The light grew to show Garvey staring at her, breathing hard. “What the hell are you doing with a gun?” he asked.

“I could ask the same of you,” she said faintly, pointing at his own weapon.

He looked down at the revolver in his hand as though confused about what it was, then hastily put it on the table. As he stood she ran to him and he caught her in his arms.

“Jesus Christ, Sam,” he said. “Thank God you’re all right.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I went to your apartment, but you weren’t there. What happened?”

“I didn’t think it was safe,” he said. “I waited a while and then I snuck out the window. I think maybe Hayes’s paranoia is catching.”

“I don’t think it’s paranoia if it’s justified,” she said. She let go of him. “Listen, Donald. We found that friend of his. And he told us what Tazz has been doing.”

She went over what she had heard and seen out in the woods. Garvey listened carefully, his body seeming to tighten with each word.

“So Tazz arranged this?” he said softly at the end. “Bringing in these guns and holding hostages?”

“It would seem so. I’m not sure.”

“And then starting this. This fire.”

“I don’t know.”

“Jesus,” he said, and shook his head. “This just got a whole lot nastier. What about that thing you found? Down underground?”

“I don’t know much about that. Hayes seemed to recognize it. It seemed to speak to him. About what, I don’t know. I think he’s handling that. He said he was going up to Kulahee Cave.”

“What the hell? Kulahee Cave? What for?”

“To look for something, he said. I don’t know what.” She glanced around the apartment. “Where are the files?”

“Under the bed. Half of them, at least. I took half in to Collins to show him I meant business.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said to come in. Tomorrow. Or today, depending on whatever the hell time it is. I just hope there’s still a city in the morning.”

“And you still plan to? To go?”

“Yes,” he said. His face seemed starved and thin, like too little skin stretched over too much bone. “Especially now, Sam. I mean… someone has to be accountable. We just need to wait now. Wait until it’s safe to go out.”

Samantha looked out the window at the sheet of smoke pouring off the horizon. “Yes,” she said. “Safe.”