“That’s a rather unusual word for a young person,” McGinley said. “She sounds smart as a whip, Nate. Like father, like daughter.”
Nate grinned without correcting his friend. Dakota noticed it too, the corners of her lips rising into an expression of happiness.
“I don’t want to worry you more than you already are,” Nate said, taking a deep breath. “But the nuclear plant in Byron and one or two others nearby have gone into full meltdown. My brother Evan was caught up in it and is sitting in a hospital inside the exclusion zone.”
Doris’ hand went over her mouth.
“Seems this was all part of their plan,” he went on. “To burrow their way into the most sensitive and vulnerable areas of American life and tear us apart from the inside out.”
“A few days back, a young couple from Byron came through,” McGinley said. “Woman named Jessie and her boyfriend Doogie. Told us nearly the same thing and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t believe them. Hey, what is it?”
“The woman, did she smell of vodka?”
The chief nodded. “Sure did. It’s why I didn’t believe her story. Why, you know them?”
Dakota also regarded him questioningly.
“I met her on the road,” Nate said, relieved Doogie had finally come along. “It’s a long story.” He decided to change topics. “Is there any chance you saw a convoy of school buses come through here on its way to Chicago?”
The corners of McGinley’s mouth tilted downward. “I’m not su―”
“Yes, one did,” Doris interjected. “Came by a few days ago.”
Nate’s ears perked up and for the first time in days he felt a ray of hope envelop him.
“They tried getting into the shelters around town and were shooed away on account of them places being all filled up,” Doris told him. “I noticed too they’d added some kind of wedge-shaped plow to the lead bus, to help push aside the snow. It’s what gave us the idea for our own plows.”
Hadn’t he seen such a plow tearing down the street after being chased from Jay’s front porch?
Nate felt that heavy weight settling back on top of him. If it had been physical rather than emotional weight, it surely would have buckled his trick knee. Regardless, he didn’t bother mentioning his family was on one of those buses. Slowly, Nate brought the conversation back to the reason they’d come here in the first place.
“So when was the last time you saw him?” Nate asked.
“Who, Jay?” McGinley asked. “Oh, I don’t know. Day or two before the blackout. Why?”
Nate’s gaze fell to the scuffed winter boots on McGinley’s feet. “I don’t think this is simply a case of theft. I know for a fact Jay would never have left that truck of his behind. I have a feeling the lowlifes who stole his house might have also taken his life.”
McGinley stood there, nodding slowly. “So I take it you want me to go down there and arrest them?”
Nate’s face darkened. “To be tried in what court?”
“That’s the dilemma, isn’t it? What do you want then?”
He folded his arms over his chest. “A temporary badge. Swear me in under the Illinois Emergency Act. I’ll go find out what they did with Jay.”
“And if they’re guilty, what precisely will you do with them?” That thin layer of sweat was building along McGinley’s brow again.
Nate’s reply was short and starkly to the point. “Pray to God they resist arrest.”
Chapter 11
Nate caught a lift back to Jay’s house with Ralph “Crazy Horse” Sullivan in the retrofitted snowplow. True to his name, Ralph had been the one they’d seen earlier, cutting a swath through the deep powder clogging Marengo’s streets.
As requested, Chief McGinley had made Nate an auxiliary police officer, a position that had been around in Illinois for decades. The temporary badge dangling from the chain around his neck provided a sense of legitimacy. For all intents and purposes, he had been deputized and was eager to find out what those people had done to Jay. It was a job that would take skill and precision. Like any craftsman, Nate had brought along his tools. The H&K G36 was his primary weapon. For backup he would rely on two pistols—his main pistol, a SIG Sauer P320, and his ‘when all else fails’ gun, a Glock 19 he’d grabbed from the police armory.
Much to Dakota’s displeasure, the chief had agreed to keep an eye on the girl. He had also said he would try to find a mechanic to look at the snowmobile.
Nate watched the plow’s windshield wipers flicking back and forth at lightning speed. Outside, a cloud of snow sprayed into the air on either side of them as they pushed through. They were going a good clip. The radio wasn’t working, but that didn’t stop Ralph from singing along to the radio in his head.
“Hit me, baby, one more time,” he shouted, giving the horn a playful little honk with each lyric. “Don’t you worry, Officer Bauer,” Ralph said with a wink. “The Beast and I will get you over there in no time.”
“Beast?”
Ralph tapped the top of the steering wheel. “Just look at the way she annihilates this stuff. Doesn’t matter the consistency. Fluffy or hard, it’s all the same to her. A regular snowplow couldn’t handle stuff this deep. Made a few modifications after those school buses came roaring through town. Good ideas like that are meant to be shared, that’s what I say. Not that I wouldn’t have come up with something similar myself. I seen trains use ’em before. They call ’em snow wedges. They use ’em to keep the tracks clear after a big snowfall. Mark my words, if this weather keeps up the way it’s been, don’t be surprised if you start seeing more and more of these things. Only thing you gotta watch out for is buried cars in the middle of the road. Wasn’t for that, I’d be going a lot faster.”
Nate found that hard to imagine. “The Beast is impressive,” he said instead.
“And those wipers,” Ralph said, flashing that grin again. “Couldn’t help seeing you admiring them too.”
“I can’t say I’ve ever seen any go that fast before.”
Winking, Ralph said: “I tweaked the motor. Managed to squeeze some extra torque out of the old girl. Now flakes don’t stand a chance. But once the power comes back on, I was thinking of getting one of those spinning portholes they use on ships. It’s like a window that rotates. You can throw a bucket of water at it and it won’t block your vision one bit. Damn thing just shrugs it off.”
Nate wanted to tell Ralph not to hold his breath. That the power wasn’t coming back on any time soon. And yet he found that his lips wouldn’t let him form the words. Maybe it was because a large part of Nate agreed with the crazy snowplow driver’s optimism, however naïve it might be. It was an attitude that had helped get Nate through many challenging patches in his life. Maybe he just wasn’t willing to give up on watching for signs of a rainbow after the storm.
Swallowing his many concerns, Nate instead said: “Can’t wait to see that.”
“No kidding. When I was―” Ralph jerked the wheel. The Beast fishtailed, tossing the two men around in their seats. “You see that?” The driver’s complexion had suddenly become three shades paler.
Nate looked out the pickup’s back window. “What’d I miss?”
“A freaking wolf. That’s what you missed. Was standing right in the middle of the road. Woulda hit it too if I wasn’t such an ace driver.”
“Shadow,” Nate said, under his breath.
“Come again?”
Nate shook his head. “Never mind.” They pulled onto Jay’s street and Ralph brought the truck to a crawl. Nate checked the time on the console. “Four thirty,” he said, thankful for the approaching darkness. “Can you swing by every ten minutes? I’ll come outside if I see you.”
“How about this?” Ralph said, reaching into the back seat and producing two walkie-talkies. “I got an adaptor that plugs right into the car battery, so they’re topped up. I’m gonna keep making my rounds, and you just holler when you’re ready.”