Jesse looked at him apprehensively. “Oh, gee, thanks… I guess.”
“However, to answer your question, I’m not militia, but I don’t got nothing against them either. They always paid me well to make purchases and hold stuff for ’em, and they’re all legal like—I got nothing to gain by selling to criminals. Property taxes don’t pay themselves, and an Army retirement check only stretches so far. Man’s gotta run a business.”
They closed up the barn and weapons cache then followed Stone back to the cabin.
“We better lock up, it’s getting dark. Gloria’s got some venison on the stove. Oh, and don’t mention the guns to her—she don’t know about half of them,” Stone said, letting out a deep laugh before stepping inside.
The team followed him in, securing the cabin’s doors. As Stone had mentioned, as soon as they entered the space, they were hit with the smell of roasting meat. They followed him down into the bunker below. Gloria had the table set, and they gathered around for a family-style dinner. The kids had gathered at one end of the room, watching the hungry men devour the meat and vegetables.
Jacob looked up away from his plate and saw a little girl in the corner staring at him curiously. He smiled at her, causing the girl to blush and retreat to the back. Jacob finished his meal and helped the others clean up before they began closing up the bunker for the night.
Stone spread the men out and split them up across the bunker, making sure they were comfortable. James and Stephens would sleep above ground, keeping watch behind the bolted door, while the others slept below on fold-out military cots. Rogers stuck by the radio, managing to get it working, but still not reaching anyone.
He planned to stay awake all night, attempting to make calls, but Stone insisted he get some sleep. He showed one of the kids how to operate it, and they formed a twenty-four hour radio watch, hoping to get a message out. Rogers was satisfied and returned to a cot along the bunker wall. Stone walked the length of the bunker, shutting off lights before retreating to the family space in the back. “Try to get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Eve led them into a lowland next to a small lake. At the north end of the lake was a creek that flowed around and into the larger lake. There were larger streams, even rivers, farther away, but she didn’t think they could reach them without running into the neighbors. Everything else in this area flowed out of the lake and wouldn’t suit their purpose.
The activity was fierce the closer they got into the wetlands. They had to stop often to avoid the wandering Deltas, sometimes forced to lie in ditches for long agonizing minutes while they passed by. They now pressed close to the ground with their bodies prone in the fresh snow.
Jacob looked up, swiveling his head. The ground in the well-traveled area was covered in footprints. “It’s not safe here; we need to make this quick.”
Stephens lay beside him. He knew Rogers would be somewhere on the high ground, perched over a scope, covering them while they worked. Eve crawled toward the bank then stopped and looked back. “How close do we have to get?” she asked, looking away from the black murky water. She was looking at Jacob, the resident engineer. They all assumed he was the expert on all things mechanical or scientific.
“I’m not that kind of engineer,” he whispered back.
“Grace us with a guess,” Stephens snarled through his teeth.
Jacob pushed up from his stomach, looking in all directions. The small lake stretched for hundreds of yards. Eve had brought them in through a thick point on the north side of the small lake. Behind them was the larger lake. Jacob could see where the water pooled and flowed through a narrow channel into the larger body of water, both visibly contaminated by the Delta oil. They were hidden in tall reeds right at the water line. The shoreline to the east and west was met with cottages and larger lake homes. “This feeds into the big lake; it should be good enough.”
She nodded. Jacob looked down at the oily water, watching it swirl and flow. Searching the shoreline, he could see masses on the far sides. There was no denying this was a seed pond. “How fast is the current? How fast does it flow into the big lake?” he whispered.
She looked back at him, her eyes showing frustration. “I don’t know; it’s a creek. What the hell, Jacob; are we going to do this or not?” she snapped.
He second-guessed the plan. They were attempting to mix a few gallons into millions. What if it diluted the solution and it didn’t work, making it useless, wasting the small amount they had. They’d only get one shot. He watched the swirling liquid, observing bits of the lake’s surface flex and relax, as though it wasn’t really water. The fluid motion looked more organic, like a large living organism. What if the entire surface reacted in the same way the Delta’s skin did?
Stephens pushed his pack forward, breaking his thoughts. “This will have to do.” He opened the flap and removed the plastic bottles. He passed them forward to Eve, who was closer to the shoreline, lying just above where the bank rolled into the opaque liquid.
Eve took the repurposed soda bottles and carefully
