Everyone was staring now. Even Tom was looking sidelong at Ledger.
“People exaggerate,” said Ledger.
“No they don’t,” said Black. “People don’t know the stories I’ve heard, and I heard them from the people who know. You’re supposed to be a psychotic, bloodthirsty, ass-kicking psychopath. You’re the one they send in when they want scorched earth.”
Ledger sighed. “Nice to be remembered for one’s accomplishments. I also threw a good breaking ball and I’m pretty good with Donkey Kong and Ms Pac Man, but nobody ever talks about that.”
“And they said you’re a smartass who mouthed off to at least three presidents.”
“Five,” said Ledger. “But who’s counting?”
Black grinned. “So the zombies didn’t eat you.”
“I’ve proven indigestible so far.”
“Where were you when things fell apart? Seems like you’re the guy they should’ve called in when Lucifer 113 slipped its leash.”
“I was out of the country,” said Ledger with real sadness. “Trying to save the world. Wrong apocalypse. By the time I got back it was all for shit.”
They stood there and the cavern was completely silent around them. General Black cocked his head to one side and scrutinized him. Then he glanced at Dr Pisani, who stood nearby with glazed, confused eyes and tear tracks on her face. “What did he say to you, Doc?”
Pisani licked her lips and opened her mouth to speak, but then shook her head.
General Black frowned at Ledger. “Maybe you’ll tell me what you said.”
Ledger shrugged. “I just told her how much I admire what she’s doing here. What you’re all doing here. Saving the world.”
“Saving the world,” echoed Black. “That’s all you said?”
Ledger could feel the anxiety coming off of Tom. The young man had a great poker face but his body was rigid with coiled tension. Ledger caught the subtle shift as Tom moved his weight to the balls of his feet. A martial arts trick; a fighter’s trick — using muscular tension and weight distribution to prepare the body for immediate high-speed movement.
Ledger smiled now and he lowered his voice so that the conversation was private between Black and him. “Listen, Ike, I think I get what you’re doing here. This facility, the sorting of people, the vaccine. I get it. We both get it. The ass fell off the world and it’s either going to go completely down the shitter or it’s not, and the only way it’s not is for someone with the vision, the balls, and the talent to put it back together.”
Black said nothing.
“You were always a bad boy. Blackwater and then Blue Diamond. You’re no more a general than I’m Catherine the Great. I get it. The old system’s gone, so long live the new system. There’s no government anymore, no army, no nothing. Who’s to say you don’t have the authority to pin some stars on your shirt. I’m cool with it because it’s the first smart thing I’ve seen anyone do since this all fell apart. Someone had to do it. I wish I’d thought of it first, but I didn’t. You did. Far as I’m concerned that means you earned those stars. You got my vote, for whatever it’s worth.”
“Really?” said Black in a voice that was heavily laced with disbelief.
“Really. If someone doesn’t start a new government and organize a new army, there’s not going to be a future because there’s not going to be a human race. So, props to you.”
“Funny hearing this from Uncle Sam’s number one problem solver.”
“Uncle Sam’s dead,” said Ledger. “I’m not. The president ate the vice president and congress ate each other, so there’s no one signing my paychecks these days. I’m not a young kid anymore and, quite frankly, I’m getting tired of being a one-man-army in a rerun of The Walking Dead. The odds are against me.”
“You have a friend,” said Black, nodding to Tom.
“Him? Fuck. He’s a sushi cook. He’s good with knives and he doesn’t mind taking orders. He’s nothing to this.”
“To what? You’re talking a lot, Ledger, but you’re not getting anywhere.”
Ledger glanced around and then leaned closer. “The vaccine is bullshit. I think your Dr Pisani is bugfuck nuts, and she’s injecting people with tap water. There is no vaccine for Lucifer 113, and if there was it wouldn’t be antiviral. You know and I know it. Maybe the doc knows it, and that’s why she’s blown out her circuits, though I suspect she was already damaged goods before you started this operation.”
“Still not hearing anything I want to hear,” said Black. “And we have a line of people wondering what the hell is happening here.”
“Sure. How many guys you have here, Ike? Twenty? Thirty? If they’re all like the nuclear scientists guarding the checkpoint then you’re working with inferior materials. How many of them were actually military?” When General Black didn’t answer Ledger nodded. “That’s what I thought. So what happens if all those people coming here get wind of this as a shit operation?”
“What makes you think—?”
“Come on, Ike, I’m not stupid. That color coding thing? Maybe the tourists think that’s some kind of Sorting Hat, but I don’t think the red-band people are going to a nice safe dorm. They’re old, or sick, or useless, or dangerous. You’re weeding out the dangerous ones. Tom and me got through because he’s a cook and I told the guards that I was a ball-player and amateur hunter. Cooking and hunting are important skills for a colony, and that’s what this is. I bet you pulled out the medical staff, anyone who can fix, make, repair or build and they got white bands, too. That’s what the vaccine thing is all about. It’s a beacon to draw people to you, and if you can protect them, they’ll never know that they’re not actually immune. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Black’s eyes narrowed, but then he gave Ledger a tiny nod.
“So, here’s my offer,” said Ledger. “I’ve trained more real soldiers than you’ve ever seen. I know weapons and tactics, I know defense and attack. You said it yourself, I used to be Uncle Sam’s go-to guy for fucking up other people’s days. That’s me. I figured this shit out in fifteen minutes. Someone else is going to do that, too, and they might not be in here. They might be out where they can spread the word and gather a bunch of villagers with pitchforks and torches. If that happens, do you want me dead in a ditch or do you want me overseeing the defenses of your new kingdom?”
It took a long time for General Black to respond. The room remained quiet though no longer silent. There were discrete coughs and the rustling of people shifting nervously. No one interrupted the private, whispered conversation.
Finally, Black said, “How do I know that I can trust you?”
Ledger shrugged. “You’ll have me watched. Put guards on me. Don’t give me a gun until you’re sure. If I twitch the wrong way, do what you got to do. But that’s not how it’s going to play out, Ike. I’m offering a barter. I need a home, I need a clean bed and a shower — God knows I need a shower — and I want three squares, a roof over my head, and a life again. You can give me all of that. In return I’ll give you an army.”
General Black straightened and walked a few paces away. Ledger cut a look at Tom and saw that the young man’s calm was cracking under the strain of uncertainty and imminent danger. Ledger made a very low, very small gesture with his left hand. Calm down.