Chapter 24 Cam
The icy wind blew, not springlike, as the rain slanted down.
Cam trudged through the thick, sloppy mud outside xTerra’s walls, grateful for the wind-breaking qualities of his knee-length rain slicker and waterproof boots.
He shivered, adjusting his hood. Even with decent protective gear, after hours out here, he needed a hot drink, or he might never be warm again.
He’d left Lissa sleeping in his perfectly toasty bed, but he needed to find out what had happened to his brother.
The Watch patrol had left at dawn to search where his brother had initially disappeared.
Kory led the expedition, and Cam brought up the rear of the eight-man troop.
With no difficulty, they located their previous campsite and headed into the wilderness away from the walls.
While this was within the circle he’d drawn on his map, this was unfamiliar territory for him.
Even with proper outwear, he was drenched, his pants and boots soaked through from hours in inclement weather.
They’d been walking for hours when he stumbled across an old overgrown road, which he never would have spotted from a distance.
The surface had never been paved, and most of the gravel had crumbled into sand.
Young trees grew along the center, but hidden among last year’s dead grass, he found indented remains of pitted tire tracks running perpendicular to their path.
This road was old, probably out of use for decades, until recently.
“Kory, hold up.” Cam pivoted left and walked beside the depressed ruts, headed northwest, away from xTerra. “There’s an old road here, and it keeps going.”
“Looks like a lead to me,” said Kory, squelching through the mud to join him. “Nothing’s been here since before the rain, but those aren’t our tracks. Let’s check it out.”
The patrol turned, following the ruts in the uneven ground.
After twenty minutes, the faint tire tracks stopped near a cliff face where the foothills descended to the rolling plains and patches of forest. Cam walked along the rough stone face for fifty yards and around the corner.
There, a wooden door, painted to camouflage with the rock, had been fitted into a recessed opening.
Without a vehicle nearby, it was unlikely to be occupied.
He twisted the knob, trying to stay quiet on the off chance he was wrong. Locked.
He unclipped his pack, preparing to pick the lock, when Kory said, “I got it.” The big man kicked the door, which splintered and collapsed on impact. With his gloved hand, he tossed several broken boards to the side, creating a person-sized opening into the dark space inside.
“That’s one way to do it.” Cam lit a lantern and stepped over the remains of the door. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a barbarian?”
“My wife might have mentioned it a time or two,” said Kory with a toothy grin. “I’m in a hurry to get back to her and out of this fucking rain. I didn’t feel like messing around with locks.” He turned to Dave. “Wait here. Shoot anyone who shows up to investigate unless you recognize them.”
Dave nodded, stationing himself several feet in front of the door in a ready stance, his rifle in hand.
Kory lit a second lantern and followed Cam, with the other five men on their heels.
Inside was dimly lit from the opening, while the air was stale, smelling of mold.
He moved forward, spreading light for a better look.
They stood inside an old tunnel with rough-hewn stone walls.
Man-made for sure. Maybe part of an old mine.
The only sounds were their breathing and their footsteps crunching the grit beneath their boots.
In the quiet, came a faint backdrop of dripping water.
While out of the wind, the tunnel was frigid.
The trail stopped a hundred yards in where a cavern opened up, this part looking natural, with stalactites dangling from the ceiling in several places. Kory pushed forward, holding his light aloft. “There’s a bunch of crates back here. Maybe fifty.”
Cam followed. In the lantern light, the mountain of wooden crates were clearly stamped in red, Property of xTerra.
“Shit,” said Kory. “How’d our supplies end up here? This isn’t our storage. Maybe the tunnel connects to something inside the walls, and someone’s been pilfering for their own private stash.”
Cam walked deeper into the shadows, searching for another exit as he did a circuit of the cavern. Dead end. He shook his head. “It ends here. I think someone inside stole them and cached them here.”
“Who the hell would do a lame thing like that?” said one man at the back. “We outfit anyone leaving. Maybe these crates are old. Like decades old.”
Kory examined several crates more closely and shook his head. “They’re stamped 2025 and later.”
Cam’s stomach turned, a massive lump forming in his throat.
He cleared it with a short cough. “Just a guess, but the former mayor? She may have been paying the Slains or their allies to leave us alone or something for her own agenda.” He sighed.
“My brother was probably sent to make a payment or show them something. Whatever he left camp with that night was never found.”
“Go on,” said Kory. “You’re on to something.”
Cam remembered the scrap of paper in his brother’s hand. “But they upped the price. That’s why he was killed. He could have been running errands for Mayor Montgomery, and someone didn’t like what he’d brought.” His stomach churned.
His mother must have known this was the reason her favorite son had died. She’d acted like the Watch, or Cam, was responsible, when all along she’d been working with the Slains. It was the only thing that made sense.
Kory pried open one of the nearest crates with a screech of nails that set Cam’s teeth on edge.
“Food.” He opened another, Cam wincing at the metallic scraping again.
“Shotgun ammo.” Kory stepped back. “Let’s go.
I’ve seen enough. We’ll send a team to retrieve everything ASAP. We won’t let them keep this.”
Cam led the way out, stopping before stepping outside. “Dave, all clear?”
“Yep. Nothing out here right now.”
Once outside, Kory said, “I’m staying here with three men. You and Dave take the rest and send a retrieval team with a jeep and trailer. There must be fifty crates in there. I don’t want this left here, even for a night. Someone could come to collect at any time.”
“It’s dangerous to stay,” said Cam. “They could be watching right now.” His skin prickled at the thought as he twisted to check each direction. With the rain and clouds socking them in, visibility was poor.
“I’ll take that risk,” said Kory. “We can’t let them shoot us with our own ammunition. Can you let Robin know I’ll be back late and not to wait up?” He grinned, looking fierce. “If it takes too long, or the baby comes early, she’ll kick everyone’s ass. Starting with mine.”
The two of them were close, with the kind of relationship Cam wanted with Lissa.
As Kory must have intended, everyone laughed, lightening the mood as half the patrol turned for the wall.
Despite the cover the alcove provided, it promised to be a miserable night for Kory’s group.
Though sad, Cam felt better for having found the weapons cache and a possible explanation for Aiden’s death.
***
Three mornings after finding the cave full of xTerra’s supplies and their successful retrieval, Cam sat at the Watch Headquarters by the radio. A crackly call came over the shortwave radio. “HQ, this is Tower 17. We have an important update. Over.”
He lifted the handheld receiver and pressed the button.
“Tower 17, this is HQ. What’s your update?
Over?” Since Lissa’s arrival, the Watch towers had upped their active roster and weapons supply at each location.
Guards had rappelled down the walls and gone into the surrounding countryside in teams to ensure no attacks came without warning.
Two separate tower groups had found weapons caches not far from their walls by sending out evening patrols with night vision goggles. Including Tower 17.
“Last night, we took a prisoner. We didn’t dare bring him over the wall.
Instead, we dispatched a team marching him toward the gate.
They’re staying within sight of the walls and are checking in as they pass each tower.
Unknown assailants fired on the escort from within the treeline.
No injuries were reported, and our team moved in, confiscating a crate of explosives. Over.”
“Hold tight, Tower 17. I’ll call the captain.
Over.” Captain Wilson wasn’t on active duty but would want this information.
This sounded like the action they’d been expecting since Lissa’s warning.
Heart drumming, Cam called him, catching the captain up on the overnight activity.
Once finished, he leaned back and relayed orders for a group to meet and collect the prisoner from the Outpost. They should return in a couple of hours.
Minutes later, the phone rang, breaking the silence. “HQ. Montgomery speaking.”
Captain Wilson said, “Was the prisoner questioned? Scrap that. You would have mentioned it if you knew. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” The line clicked.
He arrived and called Tower 17, confirming the prisoner’s last known location—Tower 11.
Close to where Aiden had disappeared. After he concluded the conversation, Cam stuck a red tack into the map hung on the wall.
The towers were numbered 1 to 30, moving clockwise around xTerra.
Most had been built since the asteroid and the community’s population growth.
The captain dispatched extra men to the towers closest and opposite 17, in case it was a diversion, or they had the same situation. He also doubled the guards in the towers on either side of xTerra’s massive gate.
After anxious days of waiting, it seemed like the Slains were making a move.
The radio crackled again. “HQ, this is the main gate. We’ve spotted a vehicle that isn’t one of ours. It drove off-road past the end of the barricade and parked a couple of miles out. How should we proceed? Over.” Kory was stationed on gate duty and wouldn’t ask for help unless it was important.
“We’ll be right there. Over,” said the captain.
Cam and the captain sprinted for Tower 1, taking the stairs two at a time. At the top, Kory passed his binoculars first to the captain, then handed another set to Cam.
“The jeep by-passed the Outpost, but we can send half the gatehouse guards to take them from behind.” The captain was all business.
Cam relayed the order to Dave at the Outpost while Captain Wilson and the gate guards watched, on standby to assist if something went wrong. Or if the interlopers made a move toward the gate. Thanks to Lissa, they’d been extra vigilant.
Twenty-five tense minutes later, Cam’s walkie-talkie crackled again. “Tower 1, we investigated the parked jeep and captured six men. They have several homemade bombs. Over.”
“Bring the men in, but leave the devices under guard out there, away from the walls. They might have remote detonators. Over.”
“We’ll take them further afield. Over.”
With any luck, this seizure had bought them a reprieve.
With close to two thousand adults in residence, xTerra had a larger force than the Slains should be able to muster.
The Watch just had to make it too difficult for them to take and get the Slains to back off.
Hopefully, this would do the trick, even if there was still a traitor to apprehend.