“Nothing a good coffee and bacon bagel wouldn’t fix,” Mercy responded.
“Yeah, with extra ketchup and scrambled eggs on the side,” Flynn said, helping Mercy to her feet.
Mercy hugged him, burying her face in his neck. She smelled Flynn’s stale sweat.
Jesus, I bet I stink as much as he does. Normally this would be gross, but right now? I’ll take it—
“You smell of fresh lavender and cinnamon, babe,” Mercy released Flynn.
Flynn smiled, mock surprise on his face, “I slept on wild garlic and damp moss so actually that’s pretty amazing feedback, thanks—”
Nearby Annalise pulled the charging handle on her M4 carbine, chambering a round.
Mercy stiffened at the sound, “OK, let’s move out.” Her muscles protested and her back ached from sleeping on the uneven ground.
Suck it up. Plenty of time for rest when you die—
They moved uphill, Barnes leading the way. It took forty minutes to cover the kilometre back to the road. They were relieved to find Sledge waiting with the horses at the Oaks Overlook. Jade brought him up to speed with what had happened. He listened in silence, nodding at intervals.
When Jade had finished Sledge turned to Rose, “You must be one special lady for these folks to put out this much for you.” He held out his hand.
Rose pulled a face, “I ain’t nobody’s special lady but I am glad these people put out for me. I’ll remember it well. Rose never forgets. You’re part of this crew, so thanks for helping get me outta there.” She looked at his hand, then, remembering the old custom, she shook it.
Mercy raised an eyebrow and suppressed a smile.
Old generation meets new generation. My, how things have changed—
They mounted their horses, Rose doubled up with Annalise. They set off along Skyline Drive and made good progress to Baldface Mountain Overlook. Without warning a bright light flashed across the sky, lighting up the trees and hillside ahead.
What the—?
The horses reared their heads, their nostrils flaring. Sledge calmed his horse and swung around in his saddle, staring northeast. A tall, thin plume of smoke rose high into the sky, flattening out at the top into a mushroom shape.
Fuck—
“Jesus—” Rose said.
“That’s—” Jade whispered.
“Oh my god—” Annalise exclaimed.
“That’s DC,” Sledge declared. “Someone’s nuked DC—”
Chapter 28
Rubicon
“That’s a tactical nuclear weapon,” Barnes said, his voice steady. “A low-yield, 5 kiloton nuclear warhead, probably a W76-2… about a third of the size of the Hiroshima bomb. They were deployed on US submarines before the Fall. I heard Constantine had access to some… that one probably came from the aircraft carrier. That’ll take care of Capitol Hill, the National Mall… basically DC central—”
“But why would they want to pull out the nukes again after what happened in Atlantic City?” Tawny said.
“You saw what was going down in DC, on those screens in the Smithsonian. The NSA released tens of thousands of weaponized alphas onto the streets. They released those mechs we saw, god knows how many of them there were. If Constantine’s forces had encountered that lot they would’ve been wiped out. The Resistance would’ve had eyes on the city, it was a calculated decision… a tactical nuclear strike was their only option against that much threat—” Mercy said, her voice loud in the shocked silence.
“Yeah, but a nuke? That whole area’s off limits now—” Annalise said.
“Well it ain’t our problem, it’s just as well DC’s a hundred miles away from here. We’ve stopped Mitchell’s AI launching a much bigger nuke, so let’s hold on to that—” Mercy said.
“It’s a pity we don’t have a sat phone to communicate with Constantine, she probably thinks we’re dead,” Barnes said.
Flynn pointed at the distant mushroom cloud, “Yeah, she’ll think we’ve been vaporized. We’re totally off grid out here—”
Cut off. That might not be such a bad thing—
They sat in silence for a minute longer then Sledge turned his horse and started moving away from the vantage point. Soon they were heading south on Skyline Drive, back towards the campground. They arrived five hours later, tired and hungry. Brody met them at the lodge and listened to their account of events over a hot meal of beef stew. The room fell silent once the food was finished. The fire crackled in the grate sending sparks up the chimney.
Finally, after packing and lighting a pipe, Brody spoke up, “You’ve all had enough for today. You look about done. Get some rest, there’s hot water from the fire for washing, no showers though… those days are long gone up here. We’ll meet in the morning, we’ve got things to discuss, plans to make. I’m just glad you all made it out of that place alive.” Brody stood up and went to the door, “Sleep well, I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He left the room.
Annalise turned to Mercy, “I can tell from his tone; we’re not going to get much of a break. I’ll bet the attack on the prison is coming soon. We’ll see what he’s put together, we tried once before but the prison’s too big, its garrison is too strong… and they’ve got hundreds of tropes chained to the outer fence as an extra deterrent. We lost some good people the last time… there’s only sixty or so of us left now. I didn’t think he’d have the heart to try again—”
Mercy stretched and stifled a yawn, “We’ll see what he has up his sleeve tomorrow morning then.” She glanced at Jade then back at Annalise, “I want to thank you two for coming with us, we couldn’t have done it without you guys—”
Rose turned her head and held up her mug of coffee in salute, “Yeah, I really second that. I owe you and, as far as I’m concerned, I’m in on this prison assault to bust your people out. You can count on me one hundred percent—”
Annalise nodded, “Yes, we need your help,
