“I think he had plans to come here all along. Whether from the get go or at the end. Why else would he make sure the specialists were not viable choices for you? A woman, a gay man, old man…”
“Tom’s not old.”
“Peter. I showed Gil that photo in the Inquisitor.”
“What about Tom?” I asked.
“I lied. I told Gil he was gay. I had known Tom forever. The security guys and the armory were my call. This place needed protection.”
“Why didn’t you keep tabs on me through Gavin?”
“Come on, Anna.” He spoke softly. “You know me. My level of trust only goes so far. I mean, I trusted Gavin, but who was to say when push came to shove and the comet was closer, he wouldn’t just take a hike with his family. Which he did, by the way. I don’t’ blame him. When push comes to shove, what it boils down to is ourselves and the ones we love. I did the same thing.”
“Tom was right then.” I sighed out.
“About what?”
“He said it didn’t matter. I… asked him if he knew Tony Garrison from GSS.”
“Ah, he probably didn’t have a clue about me using a ‘face’. Tom’s a good guy.”
“So this whole plan to latch on to me was for your daughter?”
“At first, and I was wondering. Man, what does this chick have that this guy wants her so badly, that he’s all but ensuring her survival with every dime he has. And I’ll tell you by the end of the third date, I knew what you had. I knew that I wanted my daughter to live and I wanted to be there with you. I bought that van, drove to Chicago to get Joie, and was coming here. Then I got the call from you that the van wouldn’t start and I drove right down.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“Anna, it may have started out as a mission, but please know, everything I said I feel is genuine. When I kiss you or touch you, it’s not an act.”
I locked my fingers in his. “I know. I’m glad it wasn’t anything major. I was thinking you were a computer hack and got a jump on things. Although, I’m still waiting to hear why Gil is not good enough to be on that pedestal.”
“That…” Gil’s voice entered the kitchen startling me. “Is something I would be interested in hearing as well?”
Tony slipped his hands from mine, leaned back slowly, then stood.
It was time for everyone to talk.
Tony told Gil everything he had told me. Gil was mad. He was so angry. I’m not sure he was convinced that Tony wasn’t an imposter, but even if he believed he wasn’t, it made him pissed that he trusted Tony with a huge secret and Tony didn’t respect him enough to show his true identity.
They argued. It grew louder and I closed the door.
“Stop it please, both of you.”
“I bet everything he said to me,” Gil blasted. “Was word for word what he said to you. A story he rehearsed for the day he had to come clean.”
“Yes, true,” Tony said with typical sarcasm. “Except in your version, I left out the part about kissing and touching you.”
Gil cocked back. “And I’m the dick? You make a comment like that and I’m the one she should see as the bad guy?”
“What’s wrong with that comment?” Tony asked.
“Because it’s pretty damned obvious, Tony.” Gil stated. “How I feel. Everything I did was because of how I feel. And you said it to get a dig in because you knew it would bother me.”
Tony laughed. “Why is that, Gil? Why does it bother you? It shouldn’t. After all, you’re a married man.”
Like an idiot and I’m sure I looked like one, totally missing the point of his comment, as I did with the hemp, I inched to Tony. As if I were trying to save him the embarrassment, I whispered, “Tony, Gwen cheated on him. They broke up.”
I saw the strain on Tony’s face as he slowly turned his head to me with wide eyes. “Did you… did you just say that?” Then he laughed. “This is unreal. I’ll just drop it. Because despite what you think, I am a man of integrity. Air your own dirty laundry, Gil.”
“What?” I asked. “What did I miss?” Then I gasped. “Gil, were you the one that cheated? Did you blame it on Gwen?
“No!” Gil blasted. “Tony, or whatever his name is, wants to make me look bad.”
“No, I don’t.” Tony said gently. “You know what? You aren’t bad. You’re a nice guy with some serious ambition.”
“There is nothing wrong with being ambitious,” Gil defended.
“You’re right. Nothing wrong with it unless the end of civilization works perfectly for your ambitions.”
“Okay,” I intervened. “I give up. What does any of this have to do with Gwen and Gil?”
Tony faced me. “They’re still married. It was all a ploy to get sympathy and pull the voters away from the Vice President. But I kept thinking, why bother if he knew damn well the comet was coming? Because he needed the last memory the public had of him to be the good guy. This works out perfectly for him.”
Gil clapped his hands slowly and dramatically. “Nice try. But I didn’t cause the comet.”
“Nope you didn’t. Twelve million went to bunkers, forty three million went to underground food storage, water storage, fuel. You name it. You were always prepared and no less for this. Yep, the government is going to rise up and pass out MREs to the starving survivors, and you’ll be there with arms open wide welcoming them to all that you have.” Tony then excused himself, kissed me on the cheek and left.
There was a silence in the room thick with tension.
“Anna,” Gil’s voice cracked. “Listen, about what Tony said…”
I held up my hand stopping him. “I have known you most of my life. I don’t believe for a second you have evil intentions or that you are on some power trip. I also don’t believe for one second that Tony is anyone else and he’s not a good guy. Maybe I’m a fool.”
“No, that’s just who you are.”
“And all this. All that was said will mean something some day. But right now it only means a lot of mistrust and tension in a closed in space. That’s not the way I want us all to live.”
“It is a closed in space. But is it big enough for me and Tony?”
I bit my lip, stepped to Gil and laid my hand on his cheek. “It is. As long as we do the right thing.”
“And that is.”
“Don’t focus on the past. That’s gone,” I said. “We need to focus on the future.”
47 – DECISIONS
October 28
Even though Gil healed physically and was a hundred percent after a few days, things were not fine between him and Tony. They couldn’t be in the same room for very long. There was absolutely nothing they agreed on.
When either of them tried to bring up the other to me, I stopped them. I didn’t want to hear it. Gil hated the fact that I was with Tony and Tony hated the fact that I still, as he put it, idol worshiped Gil.
Tough. Deal with it.
Although with Joie increasingly warming up to Gil, that didn’t help,
Everyone warmed up to Gil.
He was suddenly the man with the stories. The man who saw what it was like out there.
I didn’t ask Tony any more about the past nor did I ask Gil anything. The only thing that surfaced was Gwen. Not psychically, but over the radio.
At first she was relieved he was alive, then she was angry that he was with us.
It also was time for another decision, I personally had been avoiding.
Clarisse.
Peter announced the weather was getting better and while it would be cold for a long time, and unpredictable, it was livable under sheltered conditions.
He knew I carried the burden of her leaving. I had hoped that the others had forgotten about it, but it had to be addressed, so I called a meeting.