After the Fall Ch. 01

"I'm sorry I kicked you," Mariah apologized. "I didn't know what was happening."

Ezra reassured her. "It's perfectly understandable, Ms. Williams. I feel like I ought to be the one apologizing for interrupting the thrashing you were giving Hawley." Mariah flashed him a grateful smile.

"And this," Michael indicated the younger man, "is Jack." Jack had curly brown hair, amber eyes, and an infectious grin.

"Please give Mariah any assistance she needs. I will be available by radio. Please check in when you get there and again when you start back to the compound. If you encounter any problems, notify me immediately." With a last glance to Mariah, Michael left the room and she was left with Ezra and Jack.

"Would you come this way, Ms. Williams?" Ezra asked.

"You can just call me 'Mariah,'" she said as she followed him from the room, with Jack bringing up the rear. As they walked, she was uncomfortably aware of the slickness between her legs from her response to Michael's kiss. They stopped near the foot of the stairs at the house's main entry, where an elevator was disguised behind two wooden doors. She was hesitant since it had to have been years since the elevator was serviced, but the polished, well-lit interior suggested it was used regularly.

Jack pushed the button for the basement as Ezra spoke. "The garage is part of the basement complex. We'll get a vehicle down there. While we're outside the compound, please stay close to us. When we get to a new area, give one of us a chance to go first and make sure it's safe."

"Okay, but I don't think there's anything to worry about. I don't have any enemies."

"Besides Brad Hawley!" Jack laughed.

Mariah was getting the impression that these guys had been wanting to punch Hawley themselves for a long time. "I see he's got a lot of fans," she remarked dryly. Jack snorted.

The elevator door dinged but didn't automatically open. She noticed Ezra and Jack looking up at a monitor in the corner of the elevator. The screen was black until Jack pressed a button above the elevator controls. Then it showed the lights coming on in a parking garage that looked a lot like the ones under large city office buildings. Tapping controls beneath the monitor, Jack zoomed out and panned the camera. He tapped again, and the screen turned dark blue, with a few shapes visible in green. "Thermal imaging," Ezra explained. "If anyone was down here, they'd show up in red and yellow, even if they were hiding behind something." The screen went back to the regular view.

"But isn't this part of the compound?"

"Yes, but we're down here less frequently, so we like to be extra careful." The door opened and Ezra gestured for her to stay back while Jack walked out and inspected the area. Mariah wondered who they thought might be lurking around their own garage, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.

When he was satisfied with his sweep of the area, Jack got into a large van and drove off. Ezra chuckled at Mariah's confusion. "He'll be back for us as soon as he takes a circuit around the garage. Can't be too careful."

She looked around while they waited. There were an awful lot of vehicles for one house, even a house this size. It looked like someone with a very large bank account had gone to a dealership and bought at least four of everything. There were Jeeps, pickup trucks, ATVs, sedans, and a smattering of high-performance sports cars parked in the rows in the main garage space. There was a line of motorcycles along one wall and a line of golf carts along the other. They all looked shiny and new, even though they couldn't have been manufactured in the last ten years. All the vehicles, even the golf carts, were black.

Jack returned shortly with the van and stopped in front of the elevator. He kept the vehicle running while Ezra slid the door open for Mariah and helped her up to the bench seating installed behind the front seats. Instead of a third row of seats, the van had a large cargo area with straps to secure whatever it was people transported with small fleets of black vehicles they kept parked in mysterious underground garages. She was still contemplating that when they reached the end of the long tunnel leading from the garage.

Jack pressed a button on the dash, and the door in front of them rose to reveal a ramp leading up into the ceiling. Where the ramp met the ceiling, part of the ceiling rolled back, allowing them to drive up into... another garage? Jack grinned at her in the rearview mirror. "Just watch." He drove forward, then pressed another button. The floor slid closed behind them, hiding the tunnel entrance. Another button raised the garage door and they drove out onto a dirt road. Mariah recognized the building they'd just exited. It was the garage attached to the hanger on the old private airfield. It had been derelict for years, even before the world had started falling apart.

"That's brilliant! Who came up with that idea?"

"It was Ezra."

"Ezra, you're either a genius, a paranoiac, or just very bored."

"All three," Ezra said with mock seriousness. "Okay, Ms. Williams, where are we headed?"

"It's just 'Mariah,'" she reminded him, then gave them directions to her house. "Could we stop for my bike? We'll pass it on our way."

"Sure," Jack answered. "Just tell me when we get close to where it's parked."

A sort distance outside the main part of town, Mariah pointed out a large culvert. "It's through there."

Ezra heard her taking her seat belt off and stopped her. "I'll go get it."

"You can't. I don't know how to explain how you get to it."

Ezra looked back at her. "Do the best you can, and I'll take it from there."

"You have to go through the culvert that runs under that hill. You can't go around from the other direction because the other end of the culvert is caged in with an electric fence. Then there's a fence around the electric fence to keep people from touching it. I stashed my bike between the two fences. There's no power from the electrical plant most of the time, but you never know when it could come on. I've insulated a section of the electric fence so I can open it. It's not obvious where that section is, and I don't want you to touch the wrong part of the fence based on my description."

By the end of her explanation, both men had turned in their seats and were looking at her like she'd grown a second head. "You must really like that bike," Jack remarked.

"I really need that bike. Or at least, I did. And it wasn't just that. I didn't want anyone following me home. Not very many people know where I live. Nobody ever saw where I went when I left town because I used the dried riverbed as a shortcut through the woods. It's firm enough to bike over and it comes out on a road near my house."

They both nodded in approval. It made sense to them now. After all, these were the guys who hid their garage entrance inside another garage.

"Okay, you win," Ezra said. "Wait in the van while I go down to the other end of the culvert to make sure it's clear. Then I'll come back for you and we'll go get your bike while Jack keeps the van running."

"You know Hawley's holed up drunk somewhere, right? He's not going to be sneaking around culverts."

Ezra nodded as he got out of the van. "I have no doubt of that, but some of his charming companions are probably sober enough to be out looking for you."

Mariah sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. She almost wished she hadn't punched Hawley. Almost. A couple of minutes later, Ezra returned for her and they made their way down the culvert. She could walk through without ducking, but he had to stoop. She showed him the panel she'd rigged and pulled the bike out.

"How'd you get through to the other side when you went home?"

She showed him a panel in the outer fence that she'd altered so she could open it. It was clipped to the adjoining fence from the inside. From the opposite side, it wouldn't have been obvious how to get in, even if someone ventured this deep into the ravine. She couldn't help feeling proud of herself when Ezra looked impressed.

On the way back through the culvert, Ezra agreed to let her wheel the bike so he could walk ahead. Just in case one of Hawley's minions was skulking about, she supposed. She had a lot less confidence in his goon squad's initiative than Ezra and Jack did. They probably spent less than an hour looking for her. By now, they were either making drugs, using drugs, or sleeping off drugs they'd already taken.

With the bike secured in the back of the van, they continued toward Mariah's house. She could bike the shortcut through the woods in about fifteen minutes. It took them almost as long in the van because there was no road that led directly where they needed to go. Finally, they reached their final turn and Mariah pointed out where to stop. Her road was little more than two old tire tracks obscured intermittently by tall grass and barely distinguishable from the field it ran through. "My house is only about half a mile ahead in that grove, but this road is so full of ruts and so grown over that I don't know if the van can even make it."

"We'll make it," Ezra said. "It looks like a van, but it's technically a panel truck. It's built on a truck chassis and the suspension's been upgraded." Sure enough, they pulled up outside her door a couple of minutes later. Mariah swallowed hard. This was really starting to feel real. She gave her keys to Ezra, who insisted on going in first.

"You'll have to let me stand outside the door, though," Mariah insisted. "My dog will run outside as soon as you open it, and I need to let him know it's okay." They could hear Henry barking and growling ferociously inside. As soon as Ezra got the door open, Henry came flying out. He jumped up and put his paws on Mariah's shoulders for his hug. Henry looked at Ezra and Jack, then demonstrated what a complete clown he was by rolling on the ground with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his whole butt wagging in counterpoint to the swishes of his tail.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "What a brute!" Henry came over to give Jack a good sniff while Ezra checked out the house.

"Careful of the cats!" Mariah called after him.

After Ezra gave the all-clear, Mariah offered them seats in the living room, feeling awkward and strangely out of place in her own home. She loved her little house, and she was already starting to feel like she didn't belong there. Ezra checked in with Michael by radio as instructed. She didn't want to think about Michael right now. With a sigh, she pulled two suitcases she'd stacked to make a coffee table back to the bedroom.

It didn't take long to fill one suitcase with her clothes, a few keepsakes, and cat and dog toys. Her books and some dried herbs filled the other suitcase. She wasn't ready to look the cats in the eye, so she grabbed the mouse cage. Mister Barnaby poked his head out of his little mouse house to investigate. "Moving day," she told him. Next, she set the terrarium holding Quincy the one-legged cricket beside Mister Barnaby's cage. All that was left was to add her philodendron to the pile and she was finished.

Mariah plopped on the bed. Waking up here this morning seemed so long ago. She put her head in her hands. How did her life get turned upside down so fast? Her stomach fluttered when she remembered Michael's kiss. She wasn't supposed to like it. He hadn't given her any real choice about her future. He was probably gloating right now while she was saying goodbye to life as she knew it.

She shook her head. Being dramatic wouldn't help. She'd made her deal with the devil and now it was time to focus on the reason she'd made this choice. If she could help Michael pull this project off, a whole lot of people would gain some safety and food security. They might even be able to start rebuilding. A school for the children would change the course of their lives. As it was, kids were growing up without even learning to read. She was already thinking about a possible curriculum that combined practical knowledge with classical education.

Ezra coughed, and Mariah looked up to find him standing in the doorway. "Ready?" he asked.

"No, but let's go anyway."

Ezra smiled sympathetically. "Jack, could you give us a hand?" he called into the living room. They decided that Jack would carry everything out to the van while Ezra stayed in the house to guard Mariah from the boogeyman. After Jack carried everything out, Henry jumped into the van on his own, giving the interior a thorough sniff.

Time for the cats. They were about to find out what the pet carrier in the back of the closet was for. Then, Mariah thought grimly, they were probably going to hate her forever. Julia was hiding in the bathroom sink. Mariah apologized profusely as she eased the elderly cat into the carrier. Duncan was more of a challenge. He'd been sitting in the windowsill while she packed, but now he was glaring down suspiciously at her from a shelf in the closet. He yowled pitifully as she dragged him down from the shelf, then splayed all four legs to avoid fitting through the carrier's door, screaming bloody murder. She was covered in cat hair by the time she got him stuffed in.

Henry was still goofing around in the van when they wedged the cats' carrier between the front and back seats. Mariah bit her lip as Jack locked up her house. She didn't know when she'd see it again. Ezra radioed Michael to let him know they were on their way back. She still didn't want to think about Michael.

On their way back to the garage, Jack radioed the compound. "Hey, Andy. We're about four minutes out. Could you meet us in the garage?"

By the time they pulled in, Andy was waiting by the elevator. He was wearing the same combination of a black tee shirt and camo combat pants, but where Ezra and Jack were on the brawny side, Andy was lean and wiry. He had sandy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and an air of barely suppressed energy. He seemed like the kind of guy who would rather run than walk.

As soon as Jack parked the van, Andy came over and slid the side door open. "I'm Andy," he announced cheerfully.

"I'm Mariah. Thanks for coming to help." Up close, she could see he was even younger than Jack.

"Happy to help. And who's this fine specimen?" he asked, looking at Henry.

"This is Henry, professional mutt and amateur jester." Andy ruffled the fur on Henry's head.

"Don't let her fool you, Andy," Jack said. "That dog threatened to eat us. He's vicious."

Duncan chose that moment to let out an unearthly scream from the carrier, reminding them to get down to business of unloading. Andy pulled her bike out and went to park it by the line of motorcycles. There was something sad about the beat-up teal bike standing crookedly in the sleek black fleet.

"Careful!" Jack called. "You wouldn't believe what Ezra had to go through for that bike!"

"It's true," Ezra agreed.

Mariah leashed Henry, and between the four of them, they managed the two suitcases, cat carrier, mouse cage, cricket terrarium and philodendron in a single trip, even if it was a bit tight in the elevator. When the elevator opened on the third floor, they were met by a middle-aged woman with sparkling hazel eyes and chestnut hair frosted prematurely white at the temples. She was all smiles and wasted no time fussing over Mariah and taking the cat carrier from her. Andy gave the woman a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, mom."

"Mariah, I'd like you to meet my mother, Paula. She takes care of things around here. Basically, she's the boss."

"Now, Andy!" Paula tutted. She turned to Mariah. "I'm nobody's boss. He just likes to tease his poor mother. I swear I don't know about some people's children!"

"Let's get you oriented, sweetie. This is the third-floor sitting room." She pointed out double doors on either side of the room. "The east wing is through the doors on the left. That's where my quarters are, if you ever need to find me. The west wing on this floor is dedicated to Michael's private rooms. That's where your bedroom is."

Paula bustled over to the doors on the right and swung them open. She led them down the hall, identifying the rooms as they went. "This door is just a linen and supply closet. We keep all the linens for the master suites up here in case you want an extra blanket or towel. There are extra toiletries and that sort of thing in there, too. The kitchenette is the first door on the left. It's not as well stocked as the main kitchen, of course, but you'll find most of what you need there. The second door on the left is the lounge. The second and third doors on the right are your offices. Yours is still being set up, though."

The end of the hall connected with a hall going off to the right. Just after they passed the turn, Paula threw open a door on the left. "Here you go, dear. This is your room. The last door is Michael's."

Ezra, Jack. and Andy set Mariah's things down and she thanked them on their way out. Paula shut the door behind them and turned to Mariah with a huge smile. "I'm so happy you're here! Now, I know you'll want to get more comfortable. Your bathroom is right through there. You'll feel so much better after a nice long shower. Well, maybe not too long. I told Michael to let you get settled, but he's impatient. If you take too long, he's liable to show up looking for you."

"I'm going to go find something tasty for your kitties and this handsome fellow," Paula rubbed Henry's ears, "and see if I can't keep Michael occupied. If you need anything before I get back, just give me a call on the house phone over there. I left a list of all the extensions next to it. I'll be back to check on you in a bit."

Paula closed the door on her way out, and the room was suddenly quiet in her wake. Mariah let Henry off his leash and looked around. The bedroom was much bigger than her living room at home. She liked the color scheme of pale blues and greens against white walls. A big four-poster bed was centered on the right wall. Henry jumped up on the ice blue comforter and plopped squarely in the center of the silvery arabesque motif. She wondered how long it would take him to start rolling around in the pillows piled against the headboard.

The wall opposite the door held three large windows trimmed with airy white curtains above a long, upholstered window seat. The floors were the same light-toned wood as the floors in the other parts of the house she'd seen so far. The bed and nightstands sat on a large, pale green rug. A cream-colored area rug edged in the same pale green defined a seating area in front of the windows. The bathroom was through one of the doors on the left. She assumed the other was a closet. Further exploration could wait until she had more time.

Mariah opened the carrier and both cats streaked to the bed and hid underneath. She tried some baby talk, but they weren't ready to forgive her. Not even close. She placed Mister Barnaby's cage and Quincy's terrarium on a shelf and put the philodendron on one of the side tables in the seating area. She left the suitcase full of books to unpack later and opened the suitcase with her clothes. She pulled out an outfit to change into after her shower and headed to the bathroom.

It was nothing short of opulent. Sunlight streamed in through a row of skylights. A large vanity on the left held an array of toiletries. The interior walls of the water closet on the right were decorated with blue and green glass tile. A long teak bench divided the rest of the room. A spacious glassed-in shower stood to the left, and a large bathtub was centered beneath a chandelier to the right. Fluffy white towels were stacked on the bench and on the shelves beside the vanity. The floor was tiled with ceramic squares in a spectrum of pale stone-inspired colors.