Page 67 of Freedom Fighters
Duardo got straight to the point. “There’s a Category 4 hurricane bearing directly for the south end of Vistaria. It’ll be here by mid-afternoon.”
The heat. Daniel sighed and nodded, even though Duardo couldn’t see it. “I’ll find somewhere solid to hole up. Thanks for the warning.”
“It’s not a warning,”Duardo said shortly. “I have new orders for you.”
Daniel could feel his eyes widening. He answered automatically, his mind racing. “What are my orders, sir?”
Duardo told him.
“You have to be fucking kidding me!” Daniel cried.
* * * * *
Calli woke with Nick’s hand on her shoulder. She sat up, scanning him for injury. “What happened?” she asked, alarmed, for it was still an hour before dawnand the operation should have taken another forty-eight hours yet.
Nick straightened up. “Get dressed,” he told her. “It’s an emergency. We have to move everyone in the house and camped on the beach as far inland as we can get by noon.”
“The hurricane? It’s going to hit us? The weather reports said it was veering away.”
He shook his head. “They wobble like tops and their path is elliptical.I’ve just spent twenty minutes I can’t spare going over the United States’ National Weather Service data.Servicio Meteorológico Nacionalsays it will veer, only the data doesn’t support it. We have to prepare.”
Calli threw the sheet aside and reached for her jeans, already building in her mind a list of supplies they would need to take with them. “It will take hours to move the whole household,”she said. “There’s close to three hundred people looking to us now.”
“The army won’t be coming with us,” Nick told her. He handed her a teeshirt.
It was one of his. She took it anyway. “Where are you going to take the army, then?”
“I’ll be with you,” Nick said shortly.
Calli looked up at him, startled, as she drew the hem of the teeshirt down over her hips.
Nick’s mouth turned down. “I’mthe head of the state right now. Flores and Duardo refuse to let me go with them. Besides, we may have to deal with the Mexican authorities and I can smooth the way.”
“Then the armyisgoing somewhere else.” She gave him a small smile. “That means whatever they’re doing this time, it’s a much higher risk than occupying the Big Rock.”
Nick grimaced. “What Duardo has planned is so insane I don’twant to share it with you. You’ll have nightmares.” He glanced behind him. The door to the room was closed. “I won’t be sleeping until they get back.” He picked up her cellphone from the bureau and handed it to her. “Minnie and Rubén both think in systems. They should be able to come up with the most efficient way to move everyone the farthest distance possible. Do you want to wake them up, orshall I?”
“You do it,” Calli told him. “I’m going to wake Mama Roseta and stir the kitchen to life. We will all do this much better on coffee and an early breakfast.”
“As long as the breakfast is eaten with one hand and standing up,” Nick said. “Noon is our deadline and that’s pushing it. By then the winds will be howling.” He moved to the door. “There’s an old motel, ten miles east of us, onthe other side of the highway. We’ll make for that.”
Calli shuddered and pushed her cellphone into her pocket, then headed for the door. She had never been through a hurricane and wasn’t looking forward to this one. Then she thought of the people on Vistaria, the refugees who were living in camps and lean-tos since the revolution had wiped out their homes and villages, or because the Insurrectoshad taken their homes for their own use and turned them out.
Whatever Duardo was planning, she hoped it worked.
* * * * *
Once they had run out of options to consider, Garrett folded the blanket and settled on it with his back against the wall. He tugged Carmen’s hand, coaxing her off the chair. She settled next to him, her head on his shoulder. Her arm ached.
Garrett slid his arm under herinjured one. His hand settled on her stomach. His lips pressed against her forehead.
Carmen didn’t sleep. She was too hot and uncomfortable. Although, she must have dozed, for she woke with a start and looked up at Garrett. “Did you say something?” she whispered, wondering what had roused her.
His head rested against the wall. He rolled it to look at her. “Listen.”
She heard the soft whistleof wind skirting eaves and scraping around corners, stirring sand and rattling anything loose. Her heart thudded. “It’s coming.”
“I think the Insurrectos have finally got a clue,” Garrett murmured. “I heard shouting a while ago and there’s a lot of activity for this time of night. Day, really. It must be almost dawn.”
