Chapter Nineteen The Gorge
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Gorge
Saint Mercy had once been a town.
Only the church tower remained above the gorge, its bell long gone.
Pre-Burn engineers had drilled through the canyon wall beneath it and installed a pressure gate large enough to control a river no one on the surface could see.
Eden found the entrance behind the altar.
Rhett looked at the broken stone saints.
"Subtle."
"People liked hiding infrastructure under important places."
"Maybe infrastructure was important."
She looked at him.
"Careful. You're becoming interesting."
"Shoulder infection."
The blue key opened the lower stair.
They descended.
Unlike Pump Six, Saint Mercy had power.
A low green light glowed over the control wall.
Eden stopped.
"How?"
Rhett studied the system.
"Hydraulic generator. If the line has pressure, it makes its own."
Water.
Not a dead pipe.
A living system.
They moved faster.
At the bottom, a wide chamber opened above a black shaft.
The sound reached them first.
Deep.
Continuous.
Water moving under stone.
Eden gripped the railing.
Rhett said nothing.
Neither of them needed to.
A gauge on the wall read:
R3 HEAD PRESSURE: 41 PSI.
STORAGE LEVEL: 73%.
Eden stared.
Seventy-three percent of 2.4 million gallons.
More than a million and a half.
Not enough to restore the old world.
Enough to alter this piece of the new one.
Rhett leaned both hands on the control desk.
"Mina."
Eden nodded.
"Everyone."
"How do we get it out?"
She found the bypass schematic.
The main surface outlet had been sealed during the Burn.
A manual gate could feed water back east to Pump Six and three old agricultural branches.
Another line ran west.
Reservoir Three itself sat inside basalt caverns beneath the gorge.
Eden traced the route.
"Open this gate, water flows to Pump Six cistern, then gravity east."
"Can Dustline reach it?"
"Yes."
"Glass Road?"
"If Esme hears."
Rhett looked at her.
Eden knew the question.
Was she ready to tell everyone?
The secret had kept her alive.
It had also put a target on her.
Caro had written DO NOT SELL THE ROAD.
Not DO NOT SHARE IT.
Selling and sharing were different things.
"Radio first," Eden said.
The Saint Mercy transmitter had a range of two hundred miles.
Rhett powered it.
Static.
Then a clear tone.
Eden felt almost drunk on functional equipment.
Rhett called Mina.
She answered on the second transmission.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Found the water."
Silence.
Mina said, "Say that again."
"Reservoir Three is live. Saint Mercy Gorge. We can feed Pump Six."
Behind her, Dustline voices rose.
Rhett looked at Eden.
She nodded.
He gave the approach route.
Not exact underground location.
Enough to reach Pump Six safely.
"Bring everyone," he said. "Fill there. Then continue west if road is clear."
Mina's voice broke.
Just slightly.
"We're coming."
Rhett switched frequencies.
Eden called the Glass Road packing plant.
No answer.
Again.
Static.
Third time, Esme responded.
"Eden?"
"We found it."
The old woman was silent.
Eden continued.
"Pump Six will have flow by noon. Bring everyone you can move."
"With Dustline?"
"Yes."
Another silence.
Harder.
"Eden."
"Esme, water doesn't care."
"People do."
"Then let them care while drinking."
Rhett looked at her.
Esme exhaled.
"We'll come."
Eden ended transmission.
Her hands shook.
Rhett touched her shoulder.
"All right?"
"No."
"Good or bad no?"
"Too much."
He understood.
That was becoming dangerous.
They prepared the bypass.
The manual wheel had not moved in twelve years.
Rhett used a lever bar.
Eden used both feet.
The wheel shifted one tooth.
Then another.
Pressure climbed.
A warning light flashed.
"Slow," Eden said.
Rhett paused.
She watched the gauge.
Another quarter turn.
Water thundered through the pipe.
Somewhere east, Pump Six's dead line was becoming a river.
Eden laughed.
Rhett did too.
This time there was no one chasing them for five full minutes.
It felt luxurious.
Then the radio hissed.
A new voice came through.
Sabra.
"Beautiful work."
Eden stopped.
Rhett reached for the transmitter.
Sabra continued.
"Don't bother answering. I can see Saint Mercy from here."
Eden looked toward the upper stair.
"No."
Rhett grabbed the rifle.
They ran up.
At the gorge rim, three Tollhouse vehicles stood on the southern road.
Too far for gunfire.
Close enough to see.
Sabra's pale coat moved beside the lead truck.
She held something up.
Caro's drafting film.
Then she pointed east.
A black smoke column rose on the horizon.
Rhett's face changed.
"Split Rock."
Sabra's voice came through the portable radio at his belt.
"I found your convoy first."
Rhett grabbed it.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing irreversible."
Behind Sabra, two more vehicles came into view.
Dustline vehicles.
The white bus.
The north tanker.
Mina's people.
Captured.
Eden's stomach dropped.
Sabra had taken the longer road, yes.
Not to Saint Mercy.
To Split Rock.
Rhett's hand tightened around the radio.
"Let them go."
Sabra's answer was almost gentle.
"Close the bypass. Bring me the blue key and the Saint Mercy control book. Then we'll negotiate."
Eden looked at Rhett.
A million and a half gallons moved under their feet.
Forty-six people sat under Tollhouse guns.
The wasteland had narrowed again.
This time it had given them water and asked what it was worth.