The Fusion Cage

XXVII

‘This isn’t going to work.’

The sun was already low in the sky, bleeding molten metal across the horizon behind Virginia’s rolling hills. The clatter of a freight train passing somewhere far to the south faded into the distance, only the sound of birds in the trees accompanying them as they walked along a dirt track half a mile to the north of the main road.

‘We can’t take the car up here,’ Ethan replied to Amber as they walked. ‘And it’s only a matter of time before Majestic Twelve track our movements.’

‘We have to stay off the grid,’ Stanley agreed. ‘Any time spent in major conurbations could result in our arrest, or more likely our being shot on sight.’

‘This isn’t our first rodeo, Amber,’ Lopez added as they walked. ‘Ethan and I once remained off the grid for six months, completely undetected even by the CIA who were hunting us at the time.’

Amber shot Lopez a concerned glance. ‘You never mentioned that! What did the CIA want with you two?’

‘It’s a long story,’ Ethan said by way of an explanation. ‘Let’s just say we’re used to staying out of the way of government agencies. What I want to know is why here? We’re not that far from Washington DC as the crow flies.’

‘Keep your friends close,’ Stanley smiled in the fading light as they walked. ‘There’s a community out here somewhere and we need to find them. They may be able to help us.’

Ethan looked to his left, where amid the dense trees he could see a few distant lights where the tiny town of Nathalie was nestled in the forests.

‘Doesn’t look like a very large town,’ he pointed out as they walked. ‘You really think that somebody there that can help us?’

‘There is nobody in Nathalie who can help,’ Stanley said. ‘The kind of people we need don’t live in houses.’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Amber asked.

‘The only allies left that we can trust are those who don’t trust the government themselves, who have already chosen to live off the grid and away from electrical supplies and the constant surveillance that goes with it.’

Lopez cast a concerned glance at Ethan. ‘I don’t like where he’s going with this.’

‘Nonetheless, I think I know what he’s got in mind,’ Ethan replied as he looked at Stanley. ‘Preppers?’

‘Preppers,’ Stanley confirmed as they walked, the dusty track becoming ever more vague as it wound its way into the darkening wilderness. ‘Some of them have become quite sophisticated over the years and are able to support themselves on private ranches without any outside intervention. In all fairness to them, our government does not restrict such activity and has not in any way attempted to interfere with the communities that have been formed, however they also don’t advertise or advocate other people to do so. I think that Washington is more than aware that any completely self — sustaining community outside of their control represents a dangerous threat to the balance of power across the country.’

Lopez frowned. ‘That doesn’t really make any sense. The Amish have been living in that way for centuries and won’t allow any electrical goods into their communities. It hasn’t resulted in the rest of the entire American population building barns and buying horses has it?’

‘No,’ Stanley agreed. ‘But that’s only because the vast majority of people like their creature comforts and don’t have any desire to live with Civil War era technology. But give them the ability to have all of their electrical devices fully functional, and yet still be without dependence on the government and you’ve got a whole different ballgame. No administration wants to see that happen on their watch, they’re just too afraid of the consequences of relinquishing too much control to the populace, no matter what you hear the Republicans yelling in Congress.’

The track finally vanished at the edge of a long abandoned field that was overrun with tall, swaying grasses glowing in the low sunlight.

‘End of the line,’ Amber said as she observed the field.

‘Only if you don’t know what you’re looking for,’ Ethan replied as he surveyed the terrain ahead.

‘Since when did you become the great white hunter?’ Amber asked.

Ethan did not reply as he looked through the various copses of trees and saw what he was looking for probably half a mile in the distance.

‘It’s that way,’ he pointed.

Lopez frowned as she looked at the distant valleys and hills. ‘What, our doom in the wilderness?’

‘The prepper community,’ Stanley said as he followed Ethan across the overgrown field.

Ethan smiled as Lopez rolled her eyes and followed them, and decided to put her out of her misery.

‘Any decent size community requires crops if they’re completely self — sufficient,’ Ethan said. ‘These fields are all long overgrown and abandoned, but those near that hillside look like they’ve been tended recently and possibly ploughed. It’s a good bet that the community’s somewhere over there, possibly concealed within the trees.’

‘Top marks, Mr Warner,’ Stanley said. ‘Hopefully we’ll be able to stay with them for long enough to come up with an alternative plan of action. Right now, I feel as though I have half the country’s armed forces chasing after me.’

‘Frankly, you probably do,’ Lopez said unhelpfully. ‘But hey, we’ll be safe out here living in mud huts with a bunch of tree — huggers.’

‘Would you rather be in DC?’ Stanley demanded.

‘I’d rather be in a hotel in some out of the way place, with a beer and some potato chips,’ Lopez replied. ‘I don’t get why we have to be all Cody Lundin about this.’

Ethan ignored Lopez’s grumbling as he led the way through a dense copse of trees that separated the abandoned fields from the ploughed ones he’d seen from the track. The trees virtually blotted out the darkening sky above, already speckled with a thousand tiny stars that flickered like beacons as he walked carefully in the darkness.

‘I can’t see a damned thing,’ Amber muttered miserably, then cursed as her foot smacked into a gnarled tree root.

Ethan was about to answer when he froze mid — stride on the track, the hairs on his neck tingling as he stared into the darkness.

‘What is it?’ Lopez asked, whispering as she almost clairvoyantly sensed the sudden tension in Ethan.

Ethan saw her raise her chin slightly as she detected the same threat as he had done. The odour on the air was faint, just enough to stand out from the pristine scent of the forest itself, as the breeze carried a waft of tobacco and old fabric past them.

Ethan knew that the source of the odour could not be more than a few yards away to have carried so easily on the almost still air, and even before he could say anything he saw a figure step out onto the track before them, a shadow against the shadows, and heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked, pump action.

‘Don’t move.’

The voice was threatening, and Ethan realized that they had technically trespassed on private land.

‘We already stopped,’ Ethan managed to quip, hoping to defuse any confrontation quickly. ‘We were looking for somebody.’

‘Who?’

Ethan could not make out the individual’s appearance in the gloom, but he was smart enough to be standing well out of reach of Ethan or any of his companions, and Ethan had the sense that he might be willing to open fire if he felt truly threatened.

Lopez’s voice cut through the silence.

‘Somebody who can help us,’ she said.

Smart move, make us sound like we’re defenceless and on the run, which in fact they actually were, Ethan realized. It was Stanley who stepped forward, his hands in the air.

‘I’m looking for Jesse McVey,’ he said. ‘Is he still living out here?’

The figure turned slightly to look at Stanley and Ethan heard the man dig around in his jacket for a moment.

‘Who’s askin’?’

‘Stanley Meyer, I’m here to see if Jesse might be willing to … ’

A brilliant light blazed into their eyes and Ethan squinted and turned his head away in an attempt to protect his night vision, but already all he could see was a blurry orb of light seared onto his retina.

‘Jesus, will you cut it out?!’ Lopez snapped. ‘We’re unarmed, okay?!’

Ethan squinted past the bright light as the man stared at Stanley for a long beat and then lowered the flashlight.

‘The Stanley Meyer?’ he asked in apparent amazement. ‘The steam car builder?!’

Stanley nodded, rubbing his eyes.

‘I’ve moved on a bit from cars now,’ he replied.

Ethan saw the shotgun turned aside and made safe as the man strode forward, a broad grin on his features, his hair a brilliant red that sparkled in the flashlight’s glow, a thin beard adorning his jaw.

‘I’ll be damned,’ he gasped. ‘It is you.’

‘You’ve got a fan club?’ Lopez asked Stanley.

‘You bet your last damned dollar he has,’ the man replied, extending one hand and shaking Stanley’s so vigorously Ethan thought he might yank it from its socket. ‘This guy virtually revolutionized car travel, until the government stepped in and banned his inventions.’

‘They didn’t ban them, exactly,’ Stanley said. ‘They claimed the boilers in the cars were unsafe.’

‘Unsafe my ass!’ the man boomed. ‘I’ve been driving a Lincoln with one of your boilers in it for the last ten years! It’s never gone wrong, not once!’

‘Who are you?’ Amber asked, bemused.

‘My name is Jesse McVey,’ he replied in delight. ‘And you are all welcome here. Follow me, it’s this way.’

Jesse turned, and without checking that they were actually following him he set off into the now blackened forests.

‘Douglas Jarvis?’

The FBI agents arrived even before Jarvis had the chance to book out of the building and head for the parking lot. As he approached the security pen that protected the main building from the foyer beyond, guards at their posts alongside each check — point and scanner, so they flooded into the building and locked eyes with him immediately.

Jarvis considered retreating into the building once more, but he knew that it would be a pointless exercise. General Nellis would then have to become involved in allowing the FBI agents access to the building, further exposing his involvement in what Jarvis had been doing, just the kind of embarrassment he would be keen to avoid.

Jarvis had never been one for falling on his sword, but now there was nowhere left to run.

‘It’s okay Mike,’ he said to the nearest security guard, who was looking at Jarvis in confusion. ‘I’m coming through.’

‘Is everything all right Mister Jarvis?’ the guard asked as Jarvis eased his way through the checkpoint and removed his identity badge.

‘Everything’s fine,’ Jarvis replied, and leaned close to Mike. ‘Inform General Nellis that the FBI are here and they’ve taken me into custody. They’re peeved at my breaking one of their cases, Nellis already knows about it.’

The guard nodded as Jarvis walked through the check point and moved to confront the FBI agents amassed before him. Jarvis counted at least ten men, all of them wearing stern expressions.

‘My reputation must have become somewhat exaggerated,’ he greeted them. ‘Ten men, all to apprehend me? Do pass on my regards to Director LeMay.’

‘Douglas Jarvis,’ said the lead agent as he stepped up with a pair of handcuffs, ‘you’re under arrest for suspected treason. Anything you say may be taken in evidence and used against you at any trial or court martial you may be subjected to.’

Jarvis said nothing as he allowed the agent to cuff his hands behind his back.