Not finding anything out of the ordinary, I went back down to find Duncan had awakened and Nate as well. Eating a granola bar for breakfast, I spread out a map of Ohio and looked around for passage around Dayton. I saw a bunch of lines and circles on the map that weren’t there yesterday and I looked up to see Nate looking at me from across the table.
“Sorry about that. I had a notion last night and spent some time sorting it out,” he said.
“What kind of notion?” I asked, looking at a heavily circled area outside the town of Fayetteville.
“Thorton’s broadcast had to have come from somewhere nearby. Those government stations were set up all over, with overlapping ranges so nothing could get by on any frequency. But listening is different from broadcasting and if the government wanted to keep these things quiet, they had two options. Hide them far away from prying eyes or hide them in plain sight. In this area, they had to be away from sight. Given the range of most radios and equipment I’m familiar with, I’d say Thorton has to be somewhere within a hundred miles of us, give or take twenty.
“Before you get any notions,” Nate cautioned, “Thorton has you outmanned and outgunned. Chasing him down would get you killed”
I shook my head. Nate knew me pretty well. “Why did you circle Fayetteville?” I wanted to know.
“Best guess as to where he might be. I imagine he found one of these stations and was able to determine where others might be located. He’s probably jumping from one to the next, sending out his message, impacting as many people as he can.” Nate said.
I thought about that one. We had to find a way to shut him up before he managed to demoralize half the country.
“You don’t think there might be a way to link those stations, be able to send out a broadcast over a wider area?” I asked, thinking about a general message.
Nate pondered that for a bit. “Might be possible if you had someone at each station, but we don’t have enough men for that. Not sure about the power of those stations, either. I’d know more if we were able to take a look into one.”
“Fair enough,” I said, looking down at the map. “We need to think about a route around this town. It’s too big for a run through.”
“No problem. Have fun with that. I’m going to stretch my legs a bit and look around.” Nate pulled on his gear and stepped outside. Tommy watched him go, then took out his rifle and climbed onto the roof. I’ll bet Tommy didn’t even think about what he was doing. We were so used to backing each other up it was second nature.
Duncan strolled out of the back, yawning and stretching his arms. He popped his neck, then dropped down to do about forty push-ups. His morning routine was pretty close to mine, although I tried to do pull ups on the roof access ladder for variety.
Duncan thumped me on the back as he passed by, settling into the driver’s seat and staring idly out the front window. I buried myself in the maps, pausing every now and then to think about Jake and Sarah, wondering if I was doing the right thing.
My reflections were interrupted by a strange voice coming from the front. It wasn’t Duncan, so I looked up. He had opened the compartment with the CB in it and turned it on. He had been flipping through the channels when a voice came through loud and clear.
“Good Morning, Americans! At least what’s left of you. This will be my last broadcast from this area as promised, until I can reach everyone at the same time. I have some system linking to finalize, then I will be able to speak to everyone. Right now, anyone who has heard me in the past can hear me now.”
I looked over at Duncan. So there was a way. Interesting.
The voice continued. If it was actually Thorton, I expected a more threatening presence on the airwaves. His voice was somewhat nasally and higher pitched than I thought it would be. It deflated him somewhat, making him more vulnerable in my estimation.
I moved up to the passenger seat as Tommy thumped on the windshield, wanting Duncan to open the driver’s side window so he could hear too.
“As I have stated before, being the sole military authority left, I am declaring martial law in the United States, with myself as the authority until such time as a new Congress and President may be elected to lead. Some of you might be tempted to question my authority. Be advised that such defiance will be considered treason and the punishment for treason is death. Anyone helping someone commit treason will be subject to death as well. As of right now, anyone helping John Talon or someone associated with him will be considered committing treason as well.”
I looked up at Duncan. “Guess that means you,” I said dryly.
Duncan grimaced and flipped the radio the bird.
The voice continued. “John Talon is not to be trusted and avoided. He is a known outlaw and is currently under a mission to destroy the founding documents which made our country great. As an officer in the United States Army, I am duty bound by oath to prevent him from succeeding.”
I had taken just about enough. I grabbed the microphone, not really sure if he would be able to hear me and clicked the send button.
“Christ, what a load of bullshit,” I said, actually speaking to Duncan.
The voice went nuts. “Who said that? Who the fuck said that? I am in charge and I will make whoever said that suffer!”
I smiled at Duncan. This was better than I hoped for. I hit the button again. “I said that, you murdering, child-raping fake.”
The radio was silent for a second. I wondered if I had caused Thorton a case of apoplexy.
The voice came on again, low and deadly. “I will ask one more time, then I will find you and make you suffer. I’ll carve you into little chunks and feed you to the zombies one piece at a time.”
I found myself getting angry and less diplomatic than I normally would have thought. “This is John Talon, the so-called traitor. I am guessing I am speaking to Ken Thorton, a self-proclaimed major in the military, while never actually having been in the service. I am sure I am speaking to the same man who ran a concentration camp in California, enslaving survivors and forcing them to hear their babies cry, see their women and children raped and kill them out of hand. The same Thorton who thinks he can run the country after destroying the original Constitution and Bill of Rights. Did I miss anything, you worthless coward?”
This time, the delay was longer and I was pretty sure Thorton was kicking himself for setting up the relays so everyone could hear us. When he did get back on, his tone was much more controlled.
“Well, John. You seem to think you know a lot about me. But that sword has two edges. For example, I know you set up a community in Illinois and you left behind your wife and son to try and stop me. Where was it? Oh, yes. Starved Rock. Interesting name, that. I sent ten of my men up there to make an example out of dissenters, just so you know. If you hurry back, you might arrive just in time to see my Captain put a bullet in your son’s head. By the way, Dan Winters says ‘hi’.”
My emotions spun. I was first afraid Thorton had already been to Starved Rock, but when he said he dispatched men to go there, I was both relieved and terrified. Oh, God. Jake, Sarah. What had I done? I gripped the microphone so hard the casing cracked. I struggled to control my emotions. Charlie, Charlie, please be okay. Save my family, I prayed with everything I had. Anger then gripped me. Winters, you bastard! When I’m through with Thorton, you’re next! I swore silently.
I clicked the send button. “If you have any way of calling your men back, I would do so. If they have made it to Starved Rock, they’re already dead. I did not leave my family defenseless, as you will find out.” I took a deep breath. “But for you, Thorton, I will not be merciful.”
“Do tell,” Thorton mocked.