“And how is this supposed to be a random moment that makes sense again?”
“I was retired before the flu. But I worked for the CIA.”
That’s surprising. There’s always been something cop-like about Cal, but spy wasn’t even on my radar.
“Most of my time I was stationed in Afghanistan. We were required to withdraw in 2021, and the government promised us that our interpreters and assets who were still there would be evacuated and given US citizenship. Seven of my assets and their families were supposed to be rescued during the evacuation in Kabul. But they never made it, and I never found out what happened to them. So trust me when I say, you can run off into the empty roads of America, end up wherever you end up, and hope for the best for the others here. But you know how this world is. In the back of your mind, it’s the uncertainty that’ll drive you crazy.”
He really just said all that to make me feel like shit, to make me feel guilty for not telling him. “Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel better. I’m trying to make you realize something needs to be done.”
I stare at him, trying to read his unreadable face. “Something like what?”
“You can’t just keep running. And you can’t stop them on your own.”
The uneasiness I felt this morning. Hearing Cal say all this seems to help put those pieces together for me. I want Andrew, Cara, and me to continue on our own, but I’m worried about what might happen to the others.
“So what am I supposed to do?” We ran to begin with because we knew it wasn’t safe. Then we kept running when they caught up to us, but this just keeps happening.
“If they did go down to the Keys to find you,” he says, “that means they probably sent whoever they’re using as a new military force to kill you or bring you back. Which means Fort Caroline itself is weak right now. There’s probably only a skeleton crew or bunch of civilians with guns watching over them.”
“So you’re saying... we attack them?” That’s the easiest way for Andrew and me to die. Yes, I’d shoot whoever I had to, to protect Andrew. It’s very different from the deer I didn’t want to shoot back at the cabin. Deer don’t target humans; they don’t try to kill us like people do. The memory of my own gunshot wound returns. Iwantanyone who would hurt Andrew, or the others in our group, to feel that pain.
But Cal shakes his head. “We don’t attack. We destabilize. From what I learned yesterday, it sounds like this Fort Caroline place is already heading in that direction with the psyops they tried to pull with Denton. So what happens if we show up with you as our ‘prisoner’”—he even uses air quotes—“say we’re there to collect the bounty, and everyone else finds out the people in power have been wasting their supplies hunting you when we’ve had you all along.”
“What’s to stop you from just turning me in?”
“Because I don’t trust them.”
“But I’m supposed to trust you?”
“Yes. Because we’ve lived through all this before. We stayed up late last night talking with Denton and Nadine. Hearing them talk about their experiences there gave a few of us flashbacks of Pastor Phillip. Less religiously fueled, but the same tactics. Authoritarianism doesn’t go away on its own. A few brave people need to push back, tell everyone who will listen what the future will look like if things continue. And I’ve told you whatyourfuture is going to look like. Worrying about my assets didn’t end when the flu hit. I still think about them, and I know you’ll think about everyone in that room there.” He points at the lodge.
“And, honestly, I’d feel the same about all of you,” he continues. “There’s nothing I can do about the world ending. But I can at least wish for some peace of mind. And maybe that’s making sure the people I’ve been traveling with—the people I’ve trusted with my life, despite them not trusting me—don’t have to worry about being hunted down.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
Cal nods. “It’s possible it won’t. But think of it this way. If it doesn’t work, you don’t have to worry about them anymore.” He doesn’t clarify who the “them” is. He could mean Fort Caroline, because I’d be dead. But I’m thinking of Andrew. And the Kid and Cara and Amy and Rocky Horror. If I went along with this plan and they weren’t involved, it would mean they were safe.
“How do you imagine this destabilization would work?”
“We show up with you, we pretend a couple of us are the leaders ofour group, while the rest of our people act as citizens. They plant the seeds of dissent, and we wait for them all to explode.”
“So people still die.”
“People always die,” he says. “That’s the price of freedom.”
“There you are.” I turn to see Andrew coming out alone.
“Think it over. The Faraway folks have invited us to stay another night. Let me know your decision tomorrow.”
He nods to Andrew and then goes inside. “Think about what?” Andrew asks.
“He wants to know what our next step is,” I lie. “I mentioned that we might be separating from them and heading to Henri’s.”
“It’s going to hurt,” he says. “But it’s for the best. For all of us.”
I nod. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”
