“How?” Fred asked.
“He got this weird smile on his face and said something really strange.”
“What’d he say?”
“He said something about his dreams coming true,” she replied.
Zach and Fred glanced at each other.
“Ruby, what exactly did he say?” Zach ordered. “Repeat it word-for-word.”
“I don’t remember exactly. All I remember is that queer smile and saying his dreams had come true. Then he told me to go hide somewhere and he’d find me later. I didn’t hang around. I ran.”
“What was the plan after he’d killed everyone?” Zach asked.
Ruby shrugged. “He never told me. I asked, but all he said was it’d work out like it was supposed to. I had no idea what he meant by that, and yes, I asked, but he never answered.”
The questioning continued for another hour. As they finished, Fred, who had been mostly quiet and letting Zach do the questioning, leaned forward and fixed her with a piercing stare.
“Who else was in on this?” he demanded with a tone so ominous that Ruby jerked and shrunk back.
“Nobody that I know of,” she said.
He pressed it. “Not Nelson? Not Rhinehart?”
“No, I swear to God, I don’t think anyone else knew what he was up to. If they did, he didn’t tell me or D-Day.”
After the interrogation, the two men walked into the president’s office, where Rhinehart was sitting, watching the monitor.
“Do you believe her?” he asked.
Zach shrugged.
“She might know a little more about what his plans were for afterward than she’s admitting to. He probably told her something like they’d live happily ever after, but yeah, she’s telling the truth,” Zach said.
“What do we do with her now?” William asked,
“Leave her be,” Fred said. Both William and Zach stared in surprise. “She’s been through enough.” He stood. “You got bigger problems around here you need to take care of. Zach and the others can take care of most of it, but you need to step up and reassure everyone. Tell them you are going to fix the problems this nutjob caused. Marcus Hook is one of those problems. I’d suggest you get Zach to help you out.”
Chapter 58 - Reunion
Zach had several things he wanted to question William Rhinehart about, but after a few minutes the man concluded the meeting with an upraised hand.
“I believe I want to record a few notes while they’re fresh in my memory and then I’m going to turn in early,” he said. “These past few days have drained me. Perhaps we can meet again in the morning.”
He then thanked them for their help and bid them a good evening.
“Let’s head to the cafeteria,” Zach suggested after they had walked out of William’s office. Fred gave a slight nod and waited until they’d walked some distance down the hallway before speaking.
“He wasn’t looking so good.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Zach said. “I think the stress of the past few days has been hard on him. He’s about to be sworn in as president. I hope he’s up for it.”
“We’ll see I suppose. You know he’s going to need your help.”
Before Zach could respond, they turned to the sound of footsteps. Flash was running down the hallway. He stopped when he neared them and took a second to catch his breath before speaking.
“I’m glad I found you. You’ll never believe who’s at the front gate and they specifically asked for you.”
Zach wasted no time and hurried to the front gate. Fred ambled along behind him. Johnny G and Riley were sitting in a truck that Zach recognized as belonging to Marcus Hook. A tanker was hitched to the back. He walked over as they exited their truck and gave them both a fist bump. Fred stood off to the side and watched without emotion. Riley smiled but Zach sensed a little aloofness in her.
“It’s good to see you two,” Zach said.
“We brought some diesel as a peace offering. We aren’t going to be arrested, are we?” Johnny G asked with a sardonic grin.
“No, absolutely not,” Zach replied. He glanced around. There were several people outside performing clean-up duties. A few had paused in their work to listen in on their conversation.
“Come on, let’s go sit and talk,” he suggested and motioned for Fred to come with them.
The four of them ended up in the horse barn, which made for a decent confidential meeting place.
“We might get a little privacy here. It’s a little chilly, but those people who used to wear suits for a living tend to avoid any place where they might get manure on them,” Zach quipped.
Johnny G chuckled. “Zach, it’s good to see you back,” he said.
“Yeah,” Riley agreed.
“I admit, I’ve missed this place, but it’s only temporary,” Zach replied. “As soon as the inauguration takes place we’ll be heading back to Oak Ridge. Before I go, is there anything I can do to help things?”
“We hope so. Now that VanAllen is gone, we would be more than happy to resume relations with Mount Weather, but we must insist on stipulations,” Johnny G said and explained. They discussed it for several minutes, but it was amicable. Zach assured them all their requests would be agreed to.
“Leave it to me,” he promised.
He found most of them rather quickly. The senators and a few others had gotten together and were cooking up a big meal for everyone. They weren’t fooling Zach. The kitchen was warm, and they did not have to deal with any stinking zed corpses. William was located in his room. He reluctantly agreed to attend.
“Alright, for those of you who are not aware of it, Johnny G is here,” he told them.
There were a couple of head nods, but there were also a couple of concerned expressions. He explained their terms and stipulations for resuming normal relations with Mount Weather.
“It sounds like they want autonomy,” Connie remarked after Zach had finished speaking.
“They don’t want meddling from your people,” Zach said. “Everything they
