Hayley was kicking herself now for her earlier attitude. She approached Tara, but Tara backed away, resisting her touch. “Tara, I’m sorry,” Hayley whispered. “We didn’t know any…”
Danny was taking it all in. Now he understood. “So why come back down here? Why not tell her right after the attacks and get it all over with then?” he asked.
Tara gave a weak half-smile. “That would have made sense—I know—but truthfully we didn’t even know the attacks were real until you guys came to town. I honestly didn’t want to come back down here. I mean, when we left to go visit Mom for the last time Emily had told me she hoped her dad would be here when she got back. She said the same thing to Mom and Dad when we were up there. I was trying to avoid all of it. I guess I’d hoped some miracle solution would pop up, or that my dad would rescue me again and somehow make it all make sense to Emily.”
Hayley had approached her again and this time Tara let Hayley hug her. “Tara, I feel terrible. You could have just told us.”
Tara laughed. “If it were only that easy. I’ve never told anyone. I don’t have any idea how I would have brought it up. To you there may have been a million opportunities you could think of along the way. To me, there just never was a good one. I just didn’t want to do the explaining to Emily on my own, and didn’t want all you guys to be here when she found out he wasn’t here. I realize it doesn’t make any sense to you, but it is what it is. I’m nowhere near perfect…I’m sorry.”
Hayley was hugging Tara now, and Tara wasn’t resisting. “My dad’s plan wasn’t ever for me to come back here as much as it was to take Emily away with me, with you guys, and have some kind of chance of living. He couldn’t bear to watch his daughter or granddaughter die, and he knew it was only a matter of time up there. And you heard him, Mom was way too sick to travel. She wasn’t going to make it more than a few more weeks, or months. Dad didn’t want Emily to watch her die like that either.” Tara sat down on the bed.
“It makes sense, Tara,” Danny said. “All of it. Honestly, I don’t know how I would have told anyone either.”
Tara nodded. “I really didn’t want to cause any problems for anyone. I’m sorry it’s become such a mess. And I’m sorry for however I’ve misled or angered either, or any of you, in any way…”
Danny waved her apology off. “You don’t need to apologize to us, or to anyone. I’m glad you told us though…this did answer a few questions. But if you’re going to continue on with us, you do have to trust me, trust us, and we have to be able to trust you.” Tara nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but Danny continued before she could. “And you definitely have to tell Emily something now about where her Dad might be, whatever you decide to say. We’ll all help you with it however we can, but we have to move on together with the truth.” He tilted his head to look her in the eyes and restated the last two words. “The truth.”
She smiled. “Understood,” she exhaled. “Danny…”
“Ma’am?” he turned back.
“Please don’t ever call me that again, and please don’t tell anyone else about the…” Tara paused.
“He wouldn’t,” Hayley assured her.
“I won’t,” he affirmed.
Hayley hugged Tara again, and as Danny walked out of the room he heard Tara ask Hayley if she’d go with her to talk to Emily now. Danny smiled. That was one less thing on his mind now.
THIRTY: (Eddie) “Cave Men”
While mapping out the area between Keystone and Custer, Captain Eddie found the perfect place to hide for the day. Thirteen miles west of Custer was Jewel Cave National Monument. The legend on his South Dakota map claimed it was the second largest cave system in the world. It was no doubt a sufficient short-term hideout option. Then again, he couldn’t ignore the possibility others might already be there. Americans. Maybe even “his lions.”
It was slightly after 3 p.m. when Eddie, Lazzo, and their fifty-eight men arrived at Jewel Cave. Several burnt vehicles in the parking lot indicated Qi Jia troops or drones had already been here at some point. Eddie’s men found several dozen bodies, but no signs of life above ground. They covered up their trucks and jeeps with tarps and dug out the main cave entrance. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he called into the cold darkness, and laughed. The echo gave him chills.
He was almost disappointed their entrance wasn’t met with a response—gunfire or any form of human resistance. There didn’t seem to be anyone here. It sure would have been an easy place to end their pursuit with a few well-placed explosions. Oh well. He stationed several men near the road with radar equipment to monitor activity in both directions. Eddie and the rest of his soldiers spread out on a level plateau below ground and waited out the day.
Sunset was around 6 p.m. If the other companies had stuck to their plan, they’d be in Hot Springs by now, so Eddie figured it would be safe to move his troops to Custer. They had uncovered the trucks, loaded up, and begun their drive in when their radar screen flashed. Eddie halted the company and backed them up a couple hundred yards. Was it possible the other companies were still in Custer? That didn’t seem likely. Or could they have left some men behind to guard the town? That was more likely but still strange. Custer was a long ways north of Hot Springs to leave men behind. Eddie expected the Americans would likely come this way, as it was the fastest way out of the area, but he couldn’t ignore the one other southern route that would also allow them to pass without going through Hot Springs. He had to make the call. Right now. Every minute he spent strategizing was setting them back.
They had to move closer and find out what was going on in Custer. He sent one jeep forward to scout. They made it to within five miles of Custer with no radar noise appearing in town. Frustrated at what might have caused the earlier flash, Eddie ordered the rest of his troops to move forward. Seconds later he put the pieces together when the scout vehicle called back in noting “four large red dots heading south on 385” towards the other exit out of the Black Hills. That report seemed to confirm Eddie’s hopes and his fears. Four dots could very well be four American vehicles heading away from Custer and Hot Springs. If indeed it was, they were no more than twenty miles ahead. But Eddie would have to lead his men pretty close to the other companies to pursue them.
THIRTY-ONE: (Ryan) “Hot Pursuit”
As darkness approached on the farm Danny gathered everyone together. “Time to go again, guys.” He looked around. “Everyone good?”
By now we figured the large mass of troops we’d followed south had gone through Custer and moved on. We were tempted to stay at the farm another day, but we also knew if we didn’t make it to Colorado, and specifically Estes Park, before snow closed up the mountains, we’d be stuck out in the open. Generally that occurred the last week of October or first week of November—in other words, some time in the next two weeks. This year there wouldn’t be snowplows or road crews to open it back up. We would either make it the first try, or we wouldn’t make it at all.