A Billion Earths by Dean Wesley Smith

Author:Dean Wesley Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WMG Publishing

CHAPTER 3

I am no threat to you,” Angie said. “All we wanted to do was tell you about what was happening. You are free to stay here for the rest of your lives. No one cares.”

“Someone always cares,” the man said.

The two women nodded. Both of them looked very pained. Clearly the year after the Event had not gone well for them.

The man pushing the bike had stopped behind her about ten steps right at the tree line. She had no doubt, without looking, that he had a gun trained on her as well.

If these people were so worried about being found, maybe Angie had one last thing to say to save her life.

“If you allow me to leave here,” Angie said, “I will just cross this compound off as not interested.”

“I am sure you would,” the man said.

“But if you kill me, if anything happens to me, the new government will come swooping in here faster than you can ever imagine. Murder is still murder in a civilized world.”

“No one knows where you are at,” the man said, laughing. “You’re just like those religious types who used to bang on doors back when the world was still alive. You just want us to follow you to your church so you can take our things.”

“Check the bag on my bike,” Angie said, staring at the man. “There are satellite images of this compound that were taken just recently. They are watching us now as I speak because they knew I was going to be here. You think I am stupid enough to walk in here alone?”

She was damn proud of herself that her voice didn’t shake when she said that, even though she had been just as stupid as she claimed not to be.

The man nodded and behind Angie she could hear the other guy rummaging in her pack. He pulled out the photos of this compound and let out a small gasp. Then he let the bike drop and moved around Angie to hand the images to the man between Bonnie and Bettie.

The man looked at them and suddenly didn’t seem so sure of himself.

“So go ahead and shoot me,” Angie said. “But expect the helicopters and police to descend on this compound in less than two hours. But you let me go, I just cross this place off as you not being interested and you can go on with your lives for as long as you want.”

“I think you are bluffing,” the man said.

“Look at the photo,” she said, actually bluffing her socks off. “Can you tell when it was taken? I left Portland two days ago with it. They took it for me so I would know what they were watching and so I could find this place easily. You are my third stop. They watch me closely at every stop.”

The man looked at the photo, then simply tore it up and dropped it on the ground.

“We let you leave and for sure you tell everyone about us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.