Somehow Deepak couldn’t imagine him as a geek of any kind.
“What do you plan to pull out of your high-tech grab bag that will get us to Minnesota safe and sound?”
“I’m saving it for a surprise. But first things first.” Slayne consulted the display. “I’m going to bring us in just above the Narrows. From there we’ll cut across to 78.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I always do.” Slayne turned the wheel while watching the display. “You should give me more credit. But then, Kurt Carpenter did say your psych profile showed you have a superiority complex.”
“What?”
“You tend to think you’re better than everyone else. Sorry, that’s not entirely true. You tend to think that you’re smarter than everyone else. I suppose there’s a difference, but to me it’s all the same.”
“Carpenter let you study my psych profile?” Deepak had understood that all personal information was to be held in the strictest confidence.
“I’m one of the inner circle, Mr. Kapur. I designed the bunkers. I designed a special vehicle you know nothing about. I stocked the armory. In short, anything and everything having to do with security is under my oversight.”
“That’s no excuse for Carpenter letting you see my psych tests.”
“Ah. But it is. Kurt needs you. The people at the compound need you. You’re a genius with computer systems, and we’ll need to rely on our computers heavily for the first ten years or so.”
“Ten years?”
“Projections, analysis, communications, those sorts of things.
Don’t worry. The bunkers are shielded. We should be EMP-proof. I say should because the shielding hasn’t been tested under actual combat conditions. We couldn’t hardly set off a nuke, now, could we?”
“But ten years?’
“Maybe longer if the solar arrays and the batteries hold out.
No one knows how widespread the aftereffects will be, or even what they’ll be. Oh, radiation is a given. But there are a host of biological and chemical weapons out there, and only a computer can even begin to make sense of the permutations.”
Deepak began to realize that this man was more than muscle with a gun. “So that’s why Carpenter thinks I’m essential.”
“You are, Mr. Kapur. The sooner that sinks in, the better we’ll get along. Now why don’t you join your friend? I’ll be busy for the next ten minutes or so.”
Alf was at the rail, his face pale in the starlight. “Listen to that, will you? We’re lucky to be out of it.”
From both shores rose the sounds of sirens and wails and occasional screams. Flashing emergency lights pierced the dark.
They passed a well-lit pier where people were fighting over small craft.
“If it’s this bad now,” Alf said, “what will it be like when the missiles hit?”
He answered his own question. “It’ll be insane. Only the strong will make it, and me, I never was very strong.”
“Just remember you’re not alone. I’ll be at your side, come what may.”
“Thanks, pal.”
The Kull swung in parallel with the shore and bore to the south, still without running lights. Eventually it slowed and the deck dipped until it was level. Ahead was a dock bathed by a single light. Beyond that was a brick building.
“There’s no one around,” Alf observed. “It looks safe enough.”
The Kull eased broadside to the dock. Out of the wheelhouse bounded Patrick Slayne. With great urgency he saw to the gangway, then ran to the Hunster and beckoned. “What are you waiting for? Get in.”
Deepak and Alf went over but they were in no particular hurry until Deepak asked, “What’s the rush?”
“I’ve been monitoring government frequencies. Homeland Security just got the word. We don’t have much time.”
“Time for what? Are the highways such a mess we’ll never make it out?” Alf asked.
“It’s not that.” Slayne gazed skyward. “New York City is about to be nuked.”
Fractured Lives
Pennsylvania
It got worse the farther west they went.
The National Guard had been called in to quell the panic and the looting, but most soldiers were sent into the bigger towns and cities. Rural America was left largely on its own.
It was only a hundred miles or so from Trudale to Harrisburg, but it might as well have been a thousand. The interstate was a mess. Twice, early on, Soren had tried taking 76, and each time, within a dozen miles, he had come upon tangles of vehicles. The secondary roads were mostly clear, but they took a lot longer.
Toril wouldn’t stop fretting. “What if something has happened to her? What if a mob ransacked her house like they did our neighbors?”
“I very much doubt it,” Soren sought to soothe her. “Your mom lives in the country. She should be fine.”
“It’s near Interstate eighty-one,” Toril reminded him.
“Half a mile, at least.” Soren couldn’t see anyone tramping that far just to loot an old farmhouse.
Freya and Magni were strangely quiet. Normally they bickered and teased but now they sat staring fearfully out the windows.
Soren had tried to get them to play “I see …” where one tried to guess what the other was looking at. He had tried to get them to play the license plate game, where they got points for each out-of-state license. He had tried to get them to sing. They declined and went on staring.
The radio started acting up. Now and then static and strange sounds drowned out the announcers. Soren wanted the latest news and kept switching stations. Late in the afternoon he stumbled on a pair of bombshells.
“… It is officially confirmed that San Diego has suffered a nuclear strike. It has also been confirmed that the Vatican has been destroyed. Initial reports indicate a backpack nuke was used. In the Mideast, Israel has launched multiple air strikes. Tehran has been hit hard, and there is word that much of that city is radioactive
