July never fully understood how much power he had until he gave the order to capture Red-Rock Tower from the Raiders. Soon men would die because he wished it, their lives taken away with no more than a few words, July wouldn’t even have to leave his chair. They discussed the first move of this new campaign against the Raiders at the council table, however July left the finer details to his military advisors. Alister, Thomas, Charlie and Wade would lead the mission.
“We’re better prepared than we were before,” July explained. “You don’t need me slowing you down. I leave it all to you, Alister.”
At first light, two dozen armed men and women set out in three jeeps, a truck and the light tank, and July watched them solemnly until they disappeared behind the hills on their way to The Pass. Leonard stood like a ghost peering from an upstairs window, his lips moving ever so slightly as he stared down at the convoy.
“So, uh, what now?” said Alice, who now stood at July’s side, although he wasn’t sure how long she’d been there.
“What do you think,” said Jodie, who also appeared near July. “We still got stuff to do.”
“We always have stuff to do. Why can’t we take a break until they’re done taking Red-Rock?”
July turned around. “Maybe later, but not this time. Come on, I need you.” He led them back to his house. “Yes, we’re waiting for Alister to take Red-Rock, which shouldn’t be too difficult. The hard part comes after – holding the tower against Mitch Buster’s retaliation force. Which means that when Alister takes Red-Rock we need to be ready to send in our own reinforcements and supplies. Jodie, I need you to get some gear ready to go. One more thing, did you manage to track down a supplier?”
Jodie shrugged. “You’ve had me track down a few suppliers. Mind being more specific?”
“Weapons.”
“Well, according to Charlie’s little hounds, there’s at least one dealer hidden somewhere in the old metro. Classifies as a raider but they say he’s reliable.”
“Good. It’s certainly a start. And if he’s not reliable then maybe we can track down his pipeline. Who’s your source?”
“Guy named Carlos, pretty decent. Like I said, one of Charlie’s scouts.”
“Tell him if he locates the dealer to get a message to him. I want to meet.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
July nodded. When Jodie left the living room July turned to Alice. “How’s the recruitment process going?”
“Oh, uh, three operatives so far but I don’t think I’ll be finding anyone willing to go too far from Haven while were still in Haven. We need people who can look after themselves, some of Charlie’s men, or Alister’s?”
“All in good time. Are they secure?”
“Yep, no one knows about them except me and you.”
“When they’re ready, put one on Leonard. I want to know what he’s doing. Have the others investigate the remaining inhabitants of Haven. No doubt, sooner or later our enemies will send informants our way, we should be ready.”
Alice rubbed her arm and laughed. “It’s funny, you know, when we met I never thought I’d end up with my own network of spies.”
Afterwards, July spent some time wandering the streets and talking to people – he wanted to know who had had under his control. He double checked Haven’s inventory, even though he knew the equipment required for holding Red-Rock was already organised, and then he wandered around some more, reaching the outskirts of the settlement, not realising that he had been slowly meandering towards Sophie’s grave. By mid-afternoon his leg ached. It often became sore at the end of long days, but he avoided taking pain-killers when he could.
By nightfall he sat alone at the council-desk glaring over a map of The Valley when Alice stepped through the doorway.
“Knock-knock,” she said.
July looked up and gestured for her to sit down. Once she was across from him she delivered a report. “So, I maybe thought you were being a bit, you know, paranoid, but I actually think I got something. Excluding our own merry band of misfits, everyone living in Haven has been here for at least a couple of years, if not, their whole lives. Everyone but a guy named August Headley, who arrived about eight months ago…”
“Right after Alister was captured,” July pointed out.
Alice snapped her fingers and pointed. “Exactly. Get this, apparently our friend August was on pretty good terms with the Royalist soldiers posted here.”
“Sounds like a spy.”
“There’s more. Supposedly Leonard and August have been having little get-togethers ever since you, you know, stole his job. I’m thinking Leonard and August are either secretly lovers, or they’re feeding information to our enemies.”
July stood up. “You’re amazing, Alice.”
She blushed. “Oh you.” And then, more seriously, “They’re meeting at the grain silo in…” She checked her watch. “Oh shit, they’ve already met.”
“Just now?” July’s tone became urgent.
“Yeah.”
He started for the door. “Come on, I want to see this for myself.”
Alice quickly fell in behind him. “Shouldn’t we have them, you know, arrested, or something?”
“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. We have to think about how that would look. A lot of people relied on Leonard while he was in charge, then we came along and took over, and everyone knows that Leonard is the only one here who could challenge my authority. If we arrest him now on suspicion charges it looks like cowardice on my end.”
As they moved, the night was cool and relatively quiet, especially outside the main township, and despite the pain in his leg July hurried towards the silos with Alice trailing behind him. Alice carried a handgun in her belt in case August became hostile, but she seemed strangely excited as they snuck through the bushes, dashed across to the barn and then crept up on the Silos.
“This is so cool,” she whispered. “I feel like James Bund.”
“What?” said July.
“James Bund,” she repeated. “The spy in that book they were reading on the radio.”
“It’s Bond. The spy’s name is James Bond.” He quickly ducked down. “There they are.”
Leonard and August stood in the open beneath the silo. They were barely recognisable in the dark except for the glowing buds of their cigarettes. August appeared to be holding an envelope, which potentially contained the only evidence July had that Leonard was a spy. The two spoke in quiet tones that were barely audible. There was no way to get closer without being spotted. But July thought he heard his name mentioned one or two times, as well as Alister and the leader of the Royalists, Oliver Mason.
The information was irrelevant, the threat was real, and that’s what mattered. July stepped back and tugged Alice’s sleeve, and they made their way back to the town.
“So, what do we do?” said Alice, once they were far away enough for no one to hear them.
“Right now, nothing,” July responded. “Once we receive word from Alister that Red-Rock is ours, our top priority will be securing it from the Raiders. Don’t worry about Leonard, I’ll handle him when the time comes.”
When July got home he went straight for his bottle of pain killers.
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