John Barnes - Daybreak Zero

Heather ate dinner in the public mess hall because she didn’t want to appear elitist, and besides it was fast and she had unlimited meals there. Sometimes it was great—venison stroganoff; usually it was adequate—shepherd’s pie; just once, rebellion had threatened when it was rabbit, onion, and cabbage aspic.

With just Leo for company, she was finishing a pile of routine messages, and a plate of fish loaf and field green salad, at her usual table by herself, when Patrick materialized beside her. “Ms. O’Grainne, from crypto, marked OPEN NOW URGENT FAR. You said no matter what—”

“I did.” She paid him twice the usual meal coupons. “The second payment is for you to never admit you carried a message or found me tonight, no matter what . Not even if I ask you in front of others; if I do that it’s because I need you to alibi me.”

He stood taller. “No messages for Ms. O’Grainne since ten this morning.” He was gone.

She grabbed up her things and gathered up Leo. “FAR” meant Field Action Request, i.e. somebody out there had a situation that required immediate action. Just bad luck that I’m out in public and can’t rip it open right now.

At home, she checked the lock, put Leo in his crib with a gentle settledown kiss on the forehead, and opened the radiogram.

Debbie Mensche. Good, so she was alive and—

Oh, Christ.

The message read:

Arrived Blmgtn, rvz w DA & R BRK

Extractn now, expect full success BRK

URGENT: De follwd from border & attacked 4x BRK

Da follwed from border & attacked 2x BRK

R nothing till spotted @ Blmgtn by patrol BRK

Full rept from Ft Knx BRK

DeEOM

She knew what it meant but checked anyway. Black envelopes in her safe held materials for her eyes only. Black envelope number 19 held a piece of paper with three simple notes:

De: A/L

Da: J/L

R: A/J

The Daybreakers had been waiting and ready for the two scouts Leslie Antonowicz had known about. The scout Leslie hadn’t known about had gone undetected.

Crap.

It’s Leslie.

“Well,” Leslie said, “you can cook, and that’s something. Seriously, James, you can’t spend the rest of your life being my best buddy and nursing your crush on me. You’re way too nice a guy for that.” She spooned some of his elk-liver gravy onto the hot cornbread, and joined him at the table. “I can’t be your whole social life, dude, it’s not natural.”

“Who says I’m pining? We like each other’s company, right? That’s why we keep hanging out together. It was kind of painful, and obviously I wish you’d felt differently. I admit all that, but that was way back before Daybreak. I’ve been alone most of my life. I just like to have a few good friends, and let it go at that.”

“James—really. The city is crawling with widows, nice women your age who would be glad—”

“If I’d be glad. Look, Leslie, we’re calling each other by name a lot, and that usually means we’re pretending we’re not fighting. We’ve been having dinners together most Mondays, pretty much forever. That’s not my whole social life. I teach Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Friday nights I go to martial arts after the school meeting, and Saturday I have the RRC Board meeting. If I like to spend Saturday nights with a book and Sundays loafing around the house, well, that’s the only alone time I have for it anymore. I don’t spend my whole week pathetically waiting to cook for you on Monday night, and I don’t feel like I’m alone too much, in fact—or wait, is it just you want to do something different on Mondays? Without me, I mean?”

“See, James, this is how I can tell you’re lying, you should see how afraid you look right now. And the answer is no, I hope we have twenty more years of Monday dinners, especially if you keep making that mixed berry pie, but my point is, the way you reacted to—”

The knock was very loud.

When James opened the door, three big, muscular militiamen came in, without invitation, and a slim young officer came in behind. “Leslie Antonowicz, our orders are to take you with us, and not to let you communicate with other people. We’re required to cuff you, and you won’t be allowed to bring a purse or personal effects; Sergeant Mason will confiscate any of those and take them with him.”

James asked, “Don’t you have to read her rights?”

“Not for a national security case.”

“When can I say I’m innocent?” Leslie asked.

“As often as you want, but you’re not going to be seeing anyone who will do anything about it for a while.” The officer added, “We’re authorized to use force.”

Leslie stood still for a moment, then picked up her purse from the table and said, “Sergeant, this is all I was carrying.” James made a noise, but she said, “James, let’s not get your house trashed, let alone you arrested. I’ll come along. James, please feed Wonder, and get Heather and Arnie—”

“Ms. Antonowicz, we said no communication. Is Wonder your dog?”

“Yes.”

“Does he have food and water and somewhere out of the weather for tonight?”

“He’s in my house, but he’ll need to, you know, go, and he’ll be hungry—”

“Is he friendly?”

“Too friendly. He’ll want to be buddies with everyone.”

“Good. I’m supervising the search and seizure on your house. We’ll take care of Wonder this evening, and then, Mister Hendrix, if we can set you up—”

“I have a key,” he said, flushing furiously. “I’ll go over tomorrow morning and move Wonder here, or you can bring him here tonight—”

“We’ll bring him here tonight, then. It won’t be late.”

The care they were taking of Wonder made it all real, somehow. Leslie wiped her face angrily as the tears poured down, but they pushed her hands down to cuff them behind her.

James tried once more. “Can’t you say what this is about?”

“Specific orders not to. The order is direct from Heather O’Grainne.”

Leslie’s blood froze. Her eyes met James’s, and he looked as stunned as she felt. Before either of them could speak again, she was dragged out the door, not roughly, but with no possibility of resistance.

The guard held up the lantern just long enough for her to see that her room had a pitcher of water, a cup, a squat toilet, a cot, and a blanket, but no window. He left her in total darkness, sitting on the cot, crying. She had no idea how long it was before she felt for the cup and pitcher and found her way under the blanket, or how long she lay there, willing herself to sleep, and failing.

When Arnie walked into his home, Aaron was apparently asleep in his bed. Arnie grabbed a heavy paperweight, but before he was in reach, Aaron sat up. “Well, you are very fortunate that I am here to save you.”

Arnie kept his grip on the paperweight. Aaron rose from the bed, reached out, and took it from him. “Now then. Your information was invaluable. If you hadn’t kept digging until the pattern of dummy missions became clear, we might not have realized how important it would be to leave young Roger Jackson entirely alone. But you’ve done such an excellent job—such a very excellent job. Without your having realized that you had been excluded from the dispatching of Mister Samson on that dummy mission, those eager lads from Castle Earthstone might not have known to look for him and intercept him.”