Lightning blazed through the dark sky. Normally the stars weren’t visible even on a clear night because of the light pollution from nearby Columbus, Georgia. But tonight wasn’t normal. Nothing had been normal for three days.
The disappearances of some of its inhabitants had thrown the base and the city into turmoil. Not all of the power or the phones were back up. The situation was much worse in the city than it was on base. Fort Benning had fared better than Columbus because the military had backup generators.
The base currently stood on alert. Armed soldiers turned away scared citizens seeking shelter on a daily basis. Reports from base personnel still returning from the outside world, as well as television and radio news, confirmed the continued riots and looting that were sweeping the city. Some people only took advantage of the confusion to follow their baser instincts, but others reacted out of fear, trying to protect themselves and others from perceived threats and enemies. Columbus, Georgia, wasn’t a safe place to be. It was also typical of the troubles in most American towns.
And Joey’s out there in that, Megan couldn’t help thinking. Her teenage son had gotten angry, which was nothing new in his life lately, and had left home when some of the teens Megan counseled on a regular basis showed up there. All those kids had parents or other family members who had disappeared. When word spread that Megan was still around, even more of the kids had come over to her house. She and nineteen-year-old Jenny McGrath had been busy taking care of those children for the last few days while the world tried to recover. But her only living son had run off. She needed to find him—and would as soon as the state of emergency allowed her to look. But right now she needed to deal with this emergency.
Kerby looked her in the eye. “Yes, ma’am. I’m taking point on this for the moment.” Unconsciously, he glanced over his shoulder at the small house that occupied the MPs’ attention. “But I’m not trained to take care of something like this.” The young man was rawboned and looked tired.
“I’m sure you did fine, Corporal.” Megan felt the instinctive need to reassure him. She was thirty-six, almost old enough to be his mom. She’d spent a lot more years as an adult than he had.
“Yes, ma’am. I’d like to think so.” Corporal Kerby pointed his chin at the house and looked bleak. “But that’s one scared little girl in there.”
Megan guessed that Kerby was twenty-one or twenty-two. Leslie Hollister, the girl inside the house, was seventeen. He talked like there was a generation between them instead of a handful of years.
“You’ve confirmed she has a weapon?” Megan asked.
“Yes, ma’am. First thing. A member of one of our families, we’re going to handle this one by the book. Private Collins, he was first man on the scene after we got the report.”
Megan sorted out the details of the frantic phone call she’d received only moments ago. “Leslie had a friend with her.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The corporal referred to his notes, but Megan got the impression the quick look Kerby took was purely for her benefit. Securing information ranked high in standard operating procedures. “Victoria McKean. She’s a member of another of the base families.”
Megan remembered Tori from counseling sessions. She, like Leslie, had a history of not fitting in well with on-base military life and showing her rebellion on a regular basis. Tori had continued her sessions, though, even when Leslie had largely stepped away from them. Sergeant Benjamin Hollister was a career non-com like Goose and was currently serving over in Turkey.
If Sergeant Hollister is still there, Megan reminded herself. A consolidated list of the Rangers still in Turkey, living or dead, hadn’t been compiled yet. Even when it was put together, Megan felt certain that the lists would be held as confidential and only base scuttlebutt would get the news out about who had lived, who had died, and who was among the missing. She’d felt blessed to learn that Goose was still alive, but most of that relief had fled quickly when she learned that he didn’t know so many children had gone missing during the unexplained phenomenon.
“Tori’s clear?” Megan asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Private Collins sequestered her in one of the MP vehicles.”
“Which one?”
Corporal Kerby tapped the radio mike clipped to his left shoulder, talked briefly, then pointed at a Jeep that flashed its lights on and off twice. The lights dimmed. “There.”
“I’ll need to talk to her.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kerby took the lead.
“Tori’s parents have been notified?” Megan matched his stride.
“Yes, ma’am. Her dad is over in Turkey with the 75th. Tori’s mother is at the base hospital. She’s on her way over; should be here anytime. Once she found out you were involved, she said to let you talk to her daughter if you wanted to.”
“I do,” Megan said. “Do you know if Leslie Hollister is still alive?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ve got her locked on thermographic display. She’s in her bedroom.”
Megan knew that thermographic capabilities enabled a soldier to track body heat through solid walls and darkness but didn’t allow a clear view of the environment someone was in. “How do you know it’s Leslie’s room?”
“The other girl confirmed the location.”
Megan folded her arms over her chest against the chilly rain sweeping in out of the night. Beyond the perimeter of the lights and the MPs, neighbors stood under eaves, porches, and umbrellas. Few of them talked to each other. Even the curiosity that normally would have filled them was lacking. It was as if the world was still holding its breath after the disappearances, waiting for the next even more horrible thing to happen.
But it’s already happened, Megan thought. They don’t know it, or don’t want to acknowledge it yet, but
