the direction of the ocean, the drifting tendrils masking some of the jaggedness of the streets and rubble-filled lots below.
Unfortunately, the mist did an equally good job of masking the movements of people and animals, which was going to make Kyle’s job that much harder. Keeping his eyes moving, paying particular attention to the spots where he knew some of the neighborhood’s troublemakers liked to gather, he settled down to the long hours ahead.
There wasn’t much activity today. A few of the other residents were out and about, mostly scrounging for canned food that might have been missed by earlier searchers. Some of the Ashes’
residents were out, too, though mostly they were digging through the rubble for building materials to prop up a section of the building’s southern wall that Grimaldi’s people said was in danger of collapsing. There was very little gang movement, with only a few members of one of the packs roaming the streets several blocks to the south. That would change when darkness came, though.
As for Skynet, all Kyle could see of its presence was a single HK moving back and forth across the eastern sky. If any of the T-600 Terminators were out and about, they were someplace he couldn’t see them.
Noon came and went. He and Star each had a few sips from the post’s water bottle, and about an hour after noon they shared a small piece of coyote that Kyle had saved from breakfast. By mid-afternoon most of the locals had finished their foraging, either finding what they were looking for or else giving up, and had headed back to secure their homes against the nighttime gang activity.
It was late afternoon when Star tapped Kyle urgently on the arm and pointed to the east.
Hunching over a little, Kyle sighted along her arm, searching for whatever it was that she’d seen.
There it was: a group of people approaching down one of the area’s better east-west streets.
There were six men in the main party, escorting two heavily-laden burros each, and there were at least two outriders Kyle could see traveling along a block ahead of the others. The main group was keeping to the middle of the street, where it would be harder for someone to ambush them.
“Did Orozco say anything about traders coming here today?” he asked Star.
Kyle pursed his lips. This could be exactly what it looked like: a visit by the traders who came in sometimes from the hardscrabble farmlands to the east and north. Just because Star or even Orozco hadn’t heard they were coming didn’t necessarily mean anything. Traders didn’t exactly operate on a regular schedule.
But it could also be a gang of robbers masquerading as traders in hopes of getting the people in the area to let their guard down. The burros might not be carrying trade goods, but merely the robbers’ collection of loot. It was a ploy that Orozco had often warned his sentries to watch out for.
“Binoculars, please,” he said.
She nodded and retrieved the scuffed leather binocular case from the equipment alcove. She handed the case to Kyle, then returned to the alcove, standing ready beside the tray of signaling stones.
Carefully, Kyle removed the binoculars from the case. Technically, he remembered Orozco saying once, this was actually a monocular, since the left set of lenses was broken. Lifting the instrument to his eyes, he focused on the approaching men and animals.
They were definitely not the same men who’d been with the traders who’d come through the neighborhood six months ago.
Kyle grimaced. The fact that he hadn’t seen them before also didn’t necessarily mean anything.
People out in the farming regions came and went as often as people here in the city did. Still, Orozco’s number one rule was that it was better to be safe than sorry. Lowering the binoculars, he gave Star a nod.
“Three and two.”
She nodded back and selected five of the fingertip-sized stones from the tray. Crossing to the ragged-edged opening between the alcove and the stairway, she got down on her knees and carefully dropped the first three stones, one at a time, down the hole. She paused, and Kyle watched her lips move as she counted out five seconds, then dropped the other two, again one at a time.
And with that, there was nothing for them to do but wait and continue watching. Lifting the binoculars again, Kyle first gave his whole sector a careful sweep, then turned his attention back to the approaching men.
The party had made it about half the distance to the Ashes when Kyle heard the sound of footsteps on the stairway. He lowered the binoculars just as Beth, one of the building’s fourteen-year-olds, stepped into view.
“I’m supposed to take over,” she announced, panting with the exertion of her climb. “Orozco wants you down at the main entrance.”
“Got it,” Kyle said, standing up and handing her the binoculars. The girl winced like he was offering her a live snake, but gamely took them. A few months ago Beth had been unfortunate enough to be present when her older brother Mick had been goofing around and had dropped one of Orozco’s other sets of binoculars. She’d also been present when Orozco chewed the boy out over the incident, and had been terrified of binoculars ever since.
Going down the stairs was just as hazardous as going up, but at least it was faster and didn’t take as much effort. Kyle and Star reached the main entrance to find Orozco and three of Grimaldi’s men in quiet but earnest conversation beneath the archway. All four were armed, Orozco with his usual M16 and Beretta, the others with some of the building’s collection of hunting rifles and shotguns.
Orozco looked up as Kyle and Star approached and beckoned them over.
“Report,” he said.
“At least eight men and twelve burros approaching from the east,” Kyle told him. “Could be traders, but I didn’t recognize any of them.”
One of the others, a short balding man named Wadleigh, gave a snort.
“You scrambled us for
“I didn’t recognize any of them,” Kyle repeated, standing his ground. “Who knows who they are?”
“They’re traders, kiddo,” Wadleigh explained with exaggerated patience. “The animals alone prove that. Unless you think someone’s opened a Hertz Rent-A-Burro for the L.A. gangs to use?”
He looked at Orozco. “I thought this stone system was supposed to have enough nuances to keep us from having to drop everything every time one of your sentries got nervous.”
“Is that what you think?” Orozco asked calmly. “That Reese just got nervous? That’s your
“Don’t pull that
“I’m sure you do,” Orozco agreed. “And your suggested course of action?”
Wadleigh rolled his eyes.
“Fine,” he growled. “As long as we’ve been interrupted anyway, we might as well play it through.”
“Thank you,” Orozco said. “Get your fire teams together, and get to your posts.”
“Sure.” Wadleigh threw another look at Kyle, then gestured to the other two men and strode off across the lobby toward the hallway that led to the rear of the building.
Orozco let them get to the far side of the cracked fountain basin in the center of the lobby before clearing his throat.
“By the way, Wadleigh,” he called after them, his voice loud enough to be heard all the way at the back of the balcony,
Wadleigh threw a glare over his shoulder. But it seemed to Kyle that the glare was tinged with embarrassment, and the man turned and kept going without saying anything. A few seconds later, he and the others disappeared down the hallway.
“Idiot,” Kyle said quietly.
“That the way a soldier talks about his superiors?” Orozco asked.
Kyle grimaced. “No, sir. Sorry.”
“Better,” Orozco said, nodding. “Doesn’t change the fact that Wadleigh
But he’s an idiot who’s willing to pick up a gun and help defend our home and our lives, and for that he deserves your respect. Now, what’s your reading on our visitors?”
“They probably really are just traders,” Kyle admitted. He’d stood up to Wadleigh’s scorn just fine, but under
