“The world never just stops working,” Carson said. “People have to make it stop working. In this case, some very determined, very smart people worked very hard over a long period of time to plan and then execute this thing. It was no accident.”

  “Okay, so who did it? Was it like, al-Qaeda?”

  “No. At least, I don’t think so. This sort of thing requires a bit more finesse than al-Qaeda could scrap together. Not to mention military budget, if it’s what I think it is, an effectively timed super-EMP. I don’t know who did it.”

  “You must know something.”

  “Actually, I don’t know jack squat about the big picture yet. But what I need to know is what’s going on around here, in Denver. Where are the authorities?”

  Dana savored her M&M’s one by one. “The authorities were the first to be targeted. Some held out for about two days, then they bailed. I can’t really blame them. There’s not much they could do with no working vehicles, no power, and thousands of desperate people converging on the police stations. It was every man for himself. The real problem, though, was the terrorists.”

  “Tell me about them.”

  “They showed up almost immediately. I mean, I was downtown in my office working, right? Rick, he’s my boss, called us over to his desk to watch some news feed he’d found, something about the eastern seaboard having a power crisis, I dunno. Right then the power goes out, everybody figures it’s just a blown transformer. Or somebody fell asleep at the big desk, right? I don’t know how electricity works, I just flip switches to turn things on. Maybe we should have put two and two together, realized the news story was related to our power outage, but whatever. Anyway, the lights go out. Rick’s computer goes dark. We’re all standing around talking, then all of a sudden there was gunfire.

  “I’d never really heard any before. I mean, sure, in the movies, but this was loud, you know? It shook the windows. Bambambambambam… like that. We all ran to the windows to see out. From my office, you could see City Hall. There were men there, dressed like some kind of mercenaries. Anyway, they all had big guns, and were shooting at cars, at the cops, at everyone. It was like a bank robber movie, they were wearing ski masks and screaming. I saw them shoot this lady, some poor drone at City Hall. Just mowed her down. It was awful. There was blood everywhere. I saw one of them use a machete on a cop they’d captured. They cut his head off. It was a nightmare. I didn’t think it could happen here, you know, in the States. But it did.”

  Carson was silent. He knew Dana needed to get it off her chest, talk it out. It was a slow way to get the intel he needed, but he wasn’t going anywhere tonight, anyway.

  “We panicked,” Dana continued. “Rick was waving his arms, screaming at everyone to calm down, the cops would show up and take the bad guys down. But the cops never showed up. Not all at once, like they’re supposed to. They’re supposed to drive in fast, lots of cars, jump out, and shoot the terrorists, right? But of course some of their cars weren’t working, and so they showed up in ones and twos, straggling in, and the terrorists shot them. There was gunfire everywhere.

  “Slowly we realized that the cops weren’t going to fix it, at least not that evening. It was getting late, close of business. Some of us were for leaving on foot out the back and making a run for it. Others, Rick included, said we should barricade the doors and wait for the morning and for more cops. But there were fires spreading. We heard explosions in the distance, turns out it was planes. Big jets, dead in the air, crashing into the city. I remember thinking, ‘This isn’t fair, there’s kids on those planes, you can’t kill kids.’ I was such an idiot.

  “The only thing I did right that day was leave the office. I was the only one from my team that went. I don’t know why I took off, I just had a bad feeling, like the cops wouldn’t be able to solve it and staying at work would just trap me. Everyone begged me to stay, but I didn’t.”

  “You did the right thing,” Carson said. “You’re probably alive because you left.”

  “Yeah,” Dana said. “But that makes it worse, sort of. I should have tried harder to convince them to come with me, you know? I should have done something. Maybe I could have saved some of them. I slipped out the back door into an alley just off downtown Main Street. The gunfire was way louder outside. I took off my heels and just scampered like a little rabbit, tried to put as much distance as I could between me and City Hall. I had gone maybe two blocks when I saw a roadblock up ahead. More terrorists, stopping traffic, shooting people. I had to detour. It was getting dark.

  “Carson, the city looks totally different when there’s no lights on. Have you noticed that yet? You can’t see the signs. I was lucky there was a bit of a moon. Took me most of the night to creep home, and my feet were totally messed up.”

  “Was our neighborhood okay?”

  “Yeah, at first. Over the next few days we sort of figured out that things were bad, and getting worse. The power never came back on, and the smoke was blowing in. More fires every day, and no fire engines to put them out. The air was hazy, and in the distance we could always hear gunfire. Sporadic, though. Of course I didn’t think to go pick up supplies. I always kept a pretty well-stocked kitchen. But without power, I couldn’t cook half the stuff, or thought I couldn’t. I actually threw all my meat and dairy stuff away before it could go bad, can you imagine? I was such a little fool. By the time I realized my food was running out, the stores were practically empty. I managed to grab a case of those little diced green chilies, and some dried dog food. Gosh, I never want to eat diced green chilies again in my life. Which is a shame, because I always liked them on nachos.”

  Carson cleared his throat.

  “Right, sorry. Anyway, we in the neighborhood kind of stuck together, at first. We shared a little food and water. I was hungry, always hungry. We kept wondering when the authorities were going to show up and restore order. We were actually getting angry. It was almost funny, if it wasn’t so sad, and scary. We were outraged, you know? I mean, where was FEMA? Where was the power? Why didn’t they airlift supplies in, like after Katrina? What’s the holdup, right? Why pay taxes if they’re never around when you need them?

  “But then, as time passed and the power never came back on, and the looters got bolder, we stopped complaining. We figured something really bad had happened. Like, we got nuked or something. Maybe it wasn’t the Feds’ fault. There was no news coming in. Tons of people were trying to leave the city. Some made it, some got turned back. We heard all sorts of things. No one knew anything for sure.”

  “What about the National Guard? Did they ever show up?”

  “Oh, them. Yeah, they showed up. They shot it out with the terrorists in a few areas, but I guess they didn’t have enough guns or people, or whatever. They eventually retreated and made, like, a... what’s it… perimeter. Yeah, a perimeter around Denver. Then they just held it there. Like they weren’t going to let anyone in or out. That freaked us all out, let me tell you. It was like a quarantine. I wondered if there’d been some kind of outbreak, you know, like Ebola or something. Maybe we were being isolated until the infection ran its course. But then, a few days after the Guard showed up, they sort of broke up. That’s what people were saying.

  “Mr. Hernandez, you remember him? His son had been out on the eastern side of Denver and told us that half the Guard people just up and left. He said there was some fighting, like the officers didn’t want the regular guys to go. But a lot did. Probably worried about their families, and who wouldn’t be?

  “And the terrorists moved in?”

  “Nope. That’s the weird thing. After the Guard broke up their perimeter, we thought the end had come. But you know what? It’s like the terrorists just disappeared. They melted away. One day they were there in the streets, looting and shooting, then they were gone. They had enough sense to bail, I guess.

  “That’s when things got really bad. When the looters realized that no one, not the authorities and not the terrorists, was going to care what they did. They went wild. It was awful. Dog eat dog, everyone just trying to make it one more day, you know? Some banded together, some fell apart. Our little neighborhood group broke up. I was the only one who stayed. Well, no, a couple others stayed too, but they…” Dana sighed. “They didn’t last.”

  “So, there’s no telling where the terrorists went, or who sent them, or what they wanted other than to shoot and steal for a few days?”

  “Yeah, basically,” said Dana. She lay back on the cot with a small camping pillow under her head. A look of such relief and blissful contentment came over her face that Carson couldn’t help but grin. The Dana he knew was starting to come out again, a lady that liked her comforts.

  As the minutes of silence stretched out, Carson’s thoughts turned to his mission. The situation was turning out to be way more fuzzy and difficult than he’d anticipated. It was stupid to anticipate anything in this kind of scenario, he knew that, but at least with active hostiles you had an idea of what to do, where to go. They had an agenda, they had leaders, they had objectives. But to show up right at the moment of an EMP attack, terrorize for a few days, then disappear without making demands was just weird. It was almost as if they’d been tasked with maximizing chaos just long enough to destabilize the whole region, then leave and let the region complete its own destruction.

  But what kind of enemy would do that? What was the point? An invading power would want to preserve resources and structures, control the population. An all-out murder attack would have used nukes or large-yield bombs to kill and destroy everything. What was the point of an almost surgical strike to inflict just enough damage that Denver, a city with no real military or strategic value, would be crippled and eat itself? Dana had told him much, but now it seemed like he knew less than before.

  Carson shook his head. It was time to sleep. Further speculation at this point was counterproductive. He looked at Dana, and found that she had fallen asleep, empty M&M bag still held in her hands. Carson watched her breathing. In repose, the harsh lines on her face softened. She looked younger, almost girlish, and beautiful.

  Hard-beautiful when awake, soft-beautiful when asleep. Again he felt a surge of compassion for her and bitter regret that he had headed into the hills at the very moment when she needed him most. Conflict raged inside him, the lion-hearted sheepdog warring with the cool-headed, calculating warrior who had a job to do. He couldn’t see that either of them would ever win over the other. He would simply have to live with the conflict for the foreseeable future, taking individual situations as they came.

  He turned off all of the lanterns but one, and covered Dana with a sleeping bag gently enough to avoid waking her. When he was sure she was completely settled into a deep sleep, probably the first she’d enjoyed in several weeks, he quietly took the knife from her boot and put it by her rifle, safety on, against the far wall from where she was sleeping. If she awoke in the strange place and freaked out, he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of an armed panic attack.

  Then he spread a backpacking pad on the floor, wrapped himself in an army blanket, and got comfortable. He thought about retrieving a book from the bedroom above, but knew he’d fall asleep before getting far enough to make it worthwhile. Instead, he let his mind play over all the memorized titles on his shelves above, trying to choose which one he would bring with him the next day.

  Overhead, the neighborhood sounded quiet. He knew he’d hear anyone on the floor above long before they discovered the trapdoor in the bedroom. Still, he fell asleep with his AR-15 next to him, night vision goggles nearby, Sig still strapped to his hip.

  He had only gotten through the first three rows of books in his mind when he fell asleep, and still hadn’t been able to narrow it down to less than six titles he wanted to carry with him.

  Chapter 8: Breakaway

  Carson woke first and went about his work quietly, sorting the gear and supplies he needed into a large frame backpack and a smaller possibles bag he could sling at his side. He poked his head out through the trapdoor and listened for a while to make sure no one was in the area. Then he prepared some breakfast for he and Dana.

  She awoke predictably disoriented, having fallen asleep without meaning to, in a strange place, with a man nearby. She blinked and sat up to reach for her gun.

  “Your rifle’s there in the corner, Dana. But let’s have some breakfast before you shoot me. How does some bacon sound?”

  That put Dana’s mind back in its proper frame, and she sat back and smiled sleepily. “Wow, I haven’t slept like that in… I don’t know how long. Are you serious about the bacon?”

  Carson held up a can. “We probably can’t get away with frying it unless we want every dog and looter in the area congregating outside. But we’ll see if we can get it warmed up.”

  A few minutes later they sat down to a meal of bacon, dehydrated scrambled eggs, orange drink, and biscuit-like breakfast crackers that Carson somehow had butter and jam for.

  “I didn’t know butter came in a can,” Dana said, savoring a thick layer of the stuff.

  “Now you know.”

  Dana built a bacon-egg-butter sandwich and held it up to her mouth, enjoying the smell and the anticipation of a bite. She eyed him over the sandwich. “I can’t believe this. Carson, am I still dreaming?”

  “Want me to pinch you?” he asked.

  “That might be fun,” Dana replied, a little of her old flirtatiousness creeping back amid the luxury and security the food-stocked bunker offered. Then she grew thoughtful. “Thank you, Carson. I really mean it. I didn’t know if I’d ever eat like this again. Thank you so much your generosity.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied, taking a drink. “To be honest, I’m showing off a little bit. If I was alone I’d stretch this stuff out longer instead of going full-out gourmet like this. But you haven’t eaten well lately, and I won’t be around long, so I thought we deserved to really enjoy a couple of good meals.”

  Dana felt a slow sinking in her stomach and put her breakfast sandwich down. “What do you mean, you won’t be around long?”

  “I mean, I have work to do, Dana. I lost most of my assets yesterday so I came back here to resupply.” Carson was silent for a moment, remembering the kids outside of Denver in the junipers. They would also have benefitted from his secret stockpile. He hoped they were on their way to easier times by now. “I needed some of this stuff to help me on my way. But I’m not staying.”

  Dana just sat there, a stricken look on her face.

  Carson sighed. “Look, Dana. I’ve got places to be. Thanks for your company and all, but I’ve got to head out in a few minutes. I’m sorry.”

  “Carson, you can’t!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because… because you wouldn’t do that! I thought we were friends, I thought that…” Dana assembled her thoughts, choking back her anger and fear. “When I saw you yesterday, I was so happy. I thought I actually would have a chance now, like, finally, somebody who isn’t trying to steal from me or fight me for garbage rights, or rape me. Finally, I could let down my guard a little and relax and maybe get a decent night’s sleep. You can’t just take that away from me now! We should stick together. Two is way better than one in this kind of a situation, right? Please, Carson. I’m begging you. I need you.”

  Carson shook his head. “You don’t need me. You were doing fine before I came along. Everyone else cut and ran, but you stayed, and you survived. You are a fighter and you will come out of this on top.”

  “Carson, I was eating the trash just to stay alive!”

  She was starting to freak out again, like she had the day before. Carson spoke quickly and calmly. “You don’t have to do that anymore. You know about my little stockroom, and I’ll leave you the key. Just keep it secret and you’ll be fine down here. If all goes well, I will be back in a few weeks, if I don’t have any longer-term duties. We can pick things up from there, make plans for the future for each of us. But right now, I have to go to some dangerous places and you would not only be a liability to me, you would put yourself at needless risk. Just hang tight and go to ground. You’ll be fine.”

  Dana was shaking her head. “No, Carson, no way. Don’t you dare leave like this! How dare you just abandon me like this?”

  Carson spoke authoritatively now, hoping she would get the message before he had to get any more firm with her. “Dana, I can’t stay, and I can’t take you with me. End of story.” This is why contact with civilians is discouraged, he thought.

  “Why? Why not?” she asked. “What, you think I’d slow you down? I wouldn’t! I would totally keep up. Gosh, Carson, don’t you get it? I’m so scared.” Dana was starting to cry now. “You don’t know what it’s been like. You’ve been gone, you have no idea. We needed you. I needed you. Your neighbors, your whole neighborhood, we needed somebody like you! The stuff in your stockroom could have saved lives, you know that?” She drew a ragged breath and continued. “When I saw you yesterday, I felt this big weight off my chest, like finally my luck was turning, you know? I just felt this relief. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because you always seemed so calm, so self-reliant, so quiet. I was so happy just to see you! And now you walk away like some mysterious gunslinger from a Western? What are you thinking?”

  Carson stood up. “That’s enough, Dana. You act like I’m the villain here. Like I owe you something! Nobody owes you anything, okay? What did you think this was? Did you think you’re somehow immune from bad things, that just because you’re a beautiful, educated woman making more money in a year than most people on the planet make in their entire lives that somehow you get a free pass? Nobody forced you to live the way you did, with no food stored, no weapons, no training, no common sense. Weren’t you watching the news for the last few years? Did it even register with you that our country was headed downhill fast?”

  His tirade was making Dana cry, but he couldn’t stop. He was so frustrated, so outraged himself at the kind of irresponsibility and entitlement Dana was displaying, which had taken down his nation so easily in a time of crisis.