36

The first drops fell in the hour before dawn. The rain was slow in building, but the soft patter of early droplets was overlaid with a constant rumble now, promising far more to come. They were all up and washed and fed and safe in the truck by the time the storm arrived in earnest. Kevin sat in the rear hold, with Pablo across from him. Doris had worked for a transport company and could handle the truck. When gusts of wind began blowing rain into their cubby, Pablo ordered the rear flaps shut and the lanterns lit, turning the vehicle into a safe little cave. A faint mist still drifted in under the canvas ties, but they were warm and they were content, mostly. It was time.

Kevin was seated next to Forrest. The more he got to know the man, the more he liked him. Forrest was steady. He made no bones about who he was or the life he’d made for himself. It was an engineer’s ability, Kevin thought, being able to see life for what it was and go about arranging it into as comfortable a position as possible.

He asked, “How long ago did Charlotte start the sweeps?”

Forrest said, “Three, maybe four days before we got out. Perhaps five. No more than that.”

Which was why they had escaped as easily as they had. The collection and imprisonment of specials had not yet become fully organized in Charlotte. Kevin recalled the argument he had seen between Hollis and the Washington suits. The treaty or whatever agreement Charlotte had made with the capital was not resting easy with some.

He told them, “I’ve got a lot of questions and almost no answers.”

“That’s the role of a good leader, seems to me,” Pablo replied.

“And that’s what we need to talk about. I don’t think I’m the leader you seek.” He held up his hand to stop their protest. “But let’s leave that for a second. There’s something you need to decide first.”

“We decide,” Carla corrected.

When Kevin merely kept his hand upraised, Pablo asked, “What is the question?”

“Where are we going?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“We all agreed coming to Atlanta was the right move. But then what?” He pointed at Carla. “You said I would tell us. The problem is, I have no idea why we’ve come or what to do now that we’re here.”

Carla’s serene confidence remained unfazed. “You don’t know yet.”

Kevin shrugged. “Now or later, I’ve only got one possible answer.”

The team had shifted around so they were all silently involved in the discussion. Those inside the cab listened through the sliding rear window. The faces turned Kevin’s way were slick with droplets blown under the cover. The canvas ties fluttered nervously, like they feared what was being discussed.

Kevin went on, “I think maybe my job was to bring you to a different leader.”

Carla halted Pablo’s outburst with a tap on his leg. She asked, “Who do you have in mind?”

“His name is Caleb.”

“You’ve spoken of him before.”

Pablo demanded, “What makes you think he’ll know more than you?”

“He’s one of you, for a start. An adept. I’m not.”

Carla asked, “What is his attribute?”

Kevin turned to Forrest. “Remember the guy I mentioned this morning?”

Forrest nodded. “Who doesn’t know his real ability.”

“That’s him. Caleb senses things—events that haven’t happened. And he’s a truth-teller. His girlfriend is an adept as well. Her name is Maddie, and she forged a communication between them. She moved to Atlanta when her father became a professor at the university. Then she vanished a week or so ago. Caleb lost communication with her. So he came down here looking for her.”

Forrest asked, “When?”

“He left Overpass the same day I met Carla.” Kevin knew he was making a mess of this, but he had no choice except to press on. “I think he’s the one. The leader you’re needing. Caleb is a born strategist. He works a problem better than anybody I’ve ever met.”

Pablo looked ready to argue. But once again his outburst was silenced by Carla tapping his leg. Kevin liked that about them, how she balanced him and he trusted her. He knew a moment’s yearning for someone he could rely on like that. And love.

He went on, “I’ve known two real leaders. I mean, the kind of people others will not just follow but trust with their lives. One was the sheriff of Overpass, the other was my mother. I think Caleb is the third of this rare breed.”

“Say you’re right,” Carla said. “What do we do now?”

“I have no idea.” It was only when Kevin wiped away the slick covering his face that he realized his hands were shaking. “I don’t know where he is. Or how we can find him.”

“No,” Irene declared. “It is not possible.”

Carla asked, “Shouldn’t you at least try to do what Pablo suggests before you shut the door in his face?”

From her place beside Kevin, Irene gave Carla a very cool look. “Pablo wants me to communicate with somebody who isn’t listening and has never mind-communicated with anyone except the woman he loves.”

Forrest had shifted down one place so that Irene now sat between him and Kevin. “Maddie probably broke through the guy’s barriers with that same love.”

“And intimacy,” Irene said. “And time. She and Caleb grew up together, didn’t you tell us that?”

“Since childhood,” Kevin confirmed. The longer he was in Irene’s company, the more he felt drawn to her. Despite the fact that they were bedraggled, weary, and dirty from three very hard days without proper baths, she remained a lovely and alluring figure. Heat seemed to radiate off her, defying the gusting rain that drifted through gaps in the canvas cover. Kevin knew he should be focused on the myriad of problems they faced, but just then he found a distinct pleasure in sitting there, absorbing her warmth.

“All right, I get it,” Carla said.

But Irene went on anyway. “But the more important thing, to me at least, is that Caleb is listening for her. He is desperate to hear she’s alive and okay.”

“Enough,” Carla said.

“No, no, this is good,” Kevin said. “My sheriff used to say, sometimes you find the right answer by discovering what is wrong about other options. I like hearing all this.”

“So do I,” Pablo said. “It’s drawing things into focus.”

“I have no idea what abilities we have here,” Kevin said. “I know I need to learn what you can and can’t do, but now isn’t the time.”

Forrest shifted forward, leaning his elbows on his knees so he could see around Irene. “What if, just suppose . . .”

“Tell us.”

“No, forget it.” He leaned back. “It sounded crazy even before it came out of my mouth.”

“Crazy is better than nothing,” Kevin said. “What are you thinking?”

The distance from the hotel to Hamlin Turner’s office was less than a thousand paces. Down a broad avenue, across a rectangular park fronted by elegant townhouses and offices, two blocks along a busy street fronted by elegant shops, and Caleb was there. He was sheltered beneath an umbrella the hotel supplied but still arrived with the bottom half of his trousers drenched. The rain fell in solid sheets, a veritable wall of water. The streets were turned into fast-flowing creeks. Most people he passed cringed every time the lightning flashed, which was often. As though they feared not the rain but the other possible causes for such blasts. As though they all felt vulnerable.

The second image struck just as he climbed the building’s broad stone staircase. Lightning flashed close by, and in its crackling aftermath Caleb felt this new concept become branded on his mind: an eagle in full flight, carved from a far larger storm.

The thunder spoke to Caleb then, at a level far deeper than mere words. It said the present tempest assaulted all of America. Caleb’s entire nation was in need of a different direction.

The eagle’s image remained poised overhead, branded upon the clouds. For one brief instant Caleb watched it feed upon the lightning, drawing strength for the conflict to come. Just as he must ready himself.

When the image passed, Caleb climbed the stairs, entered the building, and stood dripping in the grand stone foyer. He had made the decision. He would do his best to grow beyond his upbringing and the enclave’s comfortable existence.

He had been moving in this direction since leaving Catawba for Overpass. Even before. He knew that now. Since the moment he had stood and watched Maddie’s wagon roll out of sight, he had been heading for this moment, when he would see the nation’s symbol of defiance and strength emblazoned on the sky overhead and understand what it meant. Challenging the might of those who sought to oppress and enslave. Rebelling against the wrongness. Confronting the enemy. And defeating them.