After Oil Read online

  “It’s not too late to run… I do have a car,” Daniel pointed out.

  “Don’t tempt me,” she said, crinkling her nose.

  He followed her back through the underground garage below City Hall to the entrance. The plain white tile floor, while clean, was scuffed and worn by the thousands of footsteps that walked through here every single day for the nearly thirty years since the three towers comprising the square was built.

  “What do you think he wants?” asked Daniel as he stepped inside the elevator.

  Victoria was right beside him as she leaned on the wooden rail and stared out the glass as the elevator ascended to the Fourth Floor.

  “I have no idea what he wants,” she answered with a shrug, staring down through the glass of the elevator and the wall of windows. She pointed to the snow-filled square just outside of these windows. “I’ll deal with it. I hope whatever it is can be handled quickly so I can just grab my keys and go before we’re socked in with snow and can’t.”

  She paused and Daniel said, “Sheridan’s house is in Whitefish.”

  “Like I said, don’t tempt me. I don’t get to see her often enough,” answered Victoria and she grinned. “She still as horse crazy as I remember her being since grade eight?”

  “More so now that she actually has horses now,” he chuckled as the lift opened and they stepped out onto the carpeted floor. “I’ll stay here. I’m sure you can resist the urge to murder someone. If not, well, I guess I’ll have to arrest you.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him as she walked through the maze of desks to her office, motioning to her assistant to open the door.

  “May as well get this over with,” Daniel overheard her say from across the large open room as the door opened. “I’m sorry, didn’t catch your name…”

  What else she could have said or what the other man said in response was lost as the door closed. Daniel leaned against the rail of the balcony that overlooked the main lobby four floors. As he stared down at the brown hexagonal tiles of the mezzanine he saw a small group of uniformed soldiers milled near the security desk.

  A group of armed soldiers—with their rifles in hand, he noted. The first inkling of worry slid into his veins.

  This isn’t a normal meeting, he thought. What the hell is going on?

  He walked down the stairs, the carpeted stairs silencing his steps despite being in the open. Daniel slipped around by the elevator behind the security desk, which hid him from their sight.

  Daniel sighed heavily.

  While he had meant to see Victoria out, and remind her that one of her friends from high school was having a party over the holidays, there was one other he needed to meet before she headed out to her parents.

  Fitz is probably wondering what’s taking me so long, Daniel thought. I’m already a few minutes late and getting later by the second.

  Daniel took out his BlackBerry and surreptitiously aimed the camera in the smart phone towards the soldiers. He was not familiar with their patches—but he knew someone who was. Failing all else, Terrence or Derek will know what this is all about. Then again, so would Fitz.

  Fitz, of course, was not her real name. Felicia Moss had gained the rather unusual nickname while still in the Navy. She was no longer Navy, nor even military, but the nickname had suited her so well that it was nearly impossible to think of her by any other name.

  He softly swore to himself he realized, again, he was running late for his meeting with her.

  With one last glance at the soldiers gathered in the mezzanine, Daniel walked away and through the halls into the tallest of the three towers to the café where he was meeting Fitz.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Two cars pulled off to the side of the road just down from the overpass bridging Copper Cliff and Lively. Here the intersection had a set of lights so Sheridan could turn around with ease and go back into Lively. Russell got out of the rental, a newer SUV, and kicked at the loose snow on the road.

  “Are you sure you have to go back now?” asked Sheridan as she walked over to him.

  “I should,” answered Russell. “I’ll stop by Uncle Kirk’s and then head straight down through Parry Sound.”

  “The roads are atrocious,” she pointed out.

  “In town, maybe,” answered Russell. “But not so bad on the highway. Once I get to the main highway, things will be far better.”

  “If you say so,” Sheridan crinkled her nose. “I don’t think it’s any better anywhere.”

  Russell hugged his niece. “I’ll drive slow,” he pointed out as he turned back to the rental. “You drive safely… at least I’m driving something that’s four-by-four. I don’t know what to call that.”

  He pointed at Sheridan’s car, which was an older Smart Car. She lifted a brow. “What of it?”

  “Sheri, you’re a surgeon and you drive that.”

  “Gas is too expensive—even for me,” she pointed out. “It’s what I could afford to drive from the house to Sudbury Regional, and around to the offices I need to bounce around to.”

  With a sigh, he hugged her again. “Well, you drive safe and I’ll call when I make it to Parry Sound. Deal?”

  “Fine,” she conceded. “Just make sure you actually do. You know you’ll drive Gramma spare if you don’t. You know how she worries.”

  “I know,” he answered as she got into her car.

  He watched her drive back down the hill then settled himself in the driver’s seat of her car. Before he could pull away, a line of military trucks drove past him down the hill, leaving one truck by the ramps and bridge.

  Russell shook this off, and sighed as he put the rental into drive and headed to the bypass.

  At least with this weather everyone else typically stays off the road, he thought. Having no traffic to compete with is a definite highlight.

  Unfortunately, after the first hour of slogging through the snow, he decided to call it quits. He pulled over and waited.

  After a few moments of waiting, he let out a sigh and pushed on until he could see a small lake. Almost there… that new overpass should be close.

  The new overpass served as the turnoff into the Four Corners area of Sudbury where his aunt and uncle lived. He sighed with relief as he checked the time again.

  It was in that one moment he took his eyes off the road that two things happened.

  Beneath the deep snow was a coating of ice. The tires slipped and the small import SUV swerved in response. Russell looked up immediately as he felt the tires slide.

  Russell tapped the brakes and then inhaled a quick breath. Oh shit, that was stupid…

  The SUV’s tires lost whatever tenuous grip they had on the ice coated asphalt and his entire world slid even faster as the back wheels slid, but the front did not. Knowing that panic steering would only make the spin out worse, Russell allowed the SUV to follow its course, but corrected it gently, slowly.

  A tell-tale rattle of his front tires on loose gravel told him what was coming next and there was nothing he could do at this point. With no sand and no salt on the pavement the tires simply had nothing to grip.

  The impact caused a cloud of loose snow to explode into the air as the SUV spun backward into the ditch.

  * * * * *

  “I’m sure you can understand the necessity of this,” said the Colonel, as he motioned the view outside of Victoria’s office window. “Look at your city, Madam Mayor. It may be quiet now but it won’t be forever.”

  Victoria circled her desk before she sat behind it, forcing the man to get up and out of her chair and back around to the guest seating. While she kept her expression as still as possible, she felt like her eyebrows were battling her to rise to her scalp.

  “You make it sound like we’re at war,” she pointed out, leaning forward on her desk and finally allowing one carefully groomed eyebrow to rise slightly. “Are we?”

  The Colonel, a man who did not look any older than her and had, brusquely, introduced himself as William Harnet, shook hi
s head. “Not at present, no, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean ‘why’?” he demanded.

  “I want to know why you believe that not only my city, and all its people within—that I am directly responsible for as Mayor—but also my country could be in danger of war,” she demanded, shrugging slightly as she shook her head. “Because clearly something has convinced you that it could happen, and imminently.”

  “That’s ‘need to know’, Madam Mayor,” he retorted, and she could see a slight reddening in his cheeks.

  He clearly thought he could push me around and I’d not question it, she thought. “Don’t get me wrong, Colonel, I respect your position and responsibility—but you have to understand that I also have a similar duty that I cannot set aside,” said Victoria, motioning for him to sit down. “Now, is my city, and the people in it, in immediate danger?”

  He tapped his fingers along the edge of her desk. “I don’t know for sure,” he answered, and Victoria sensed that—for once—he was being bluntly honest. “However, I strongly believe that it could be in the next few days.”

  “Days?” she clarified, her voice rising.

  “If not that, then hours,” he answered, and Victoria’s mouth dropped open slightly. “Now will you listen to me?”

  “You have my full attention,” she answered.

  “Madam Mayor,” said Harnet. “I think we both know that’s not necessarily true. If I called martial law, that renders you and your council defunct—yes, temporarily, but it still puts me in charge of your city.”

  “Be that as it may, the martial law would still have to be legal and confirmed by Ottawa, not Toronto,” she answered, picking up her phone. “And we’ve got a slight problem with that, don’t we?”

  Harnet sighed and Victoria grinned. “I know the phones are out,” he said as he remembered. “I tried to call someone earlier and I couldn’t.”

  “Exactly,” she answered. “Now, I’m not going to push this on you. If you’re right, then we need to act. You have that permission, and my blessing.”

  “What about your council?” he asked.

  “Are the citizens of the city of Sudbury in immediate danger?” she asked again.

  “Yes, I believe so,” he answered.

  “Then coordinate with our police services and make it safe,” she answered. “I have that authority—council or no council. That, Colonel Harnet, is my duty to my citizens.”

  “They’ll terminate your term and your deputy mayor will have to take over your office after this is finished,” said Harnet, his voice quiet.

  “Citizens first,” she reiterated, but she ran her finger along the letter she had typed just before leaving the office the first time, Not that it matters anymore. “If I have to sacrifice the remainder of my term, then so be it.”

  “Then thank you for your service,” said Harnet as he tilted his head in salute, and then he stood up. “I should get back to work then. Who should I contact with your local police service?”

  “I don’t know who would still be on shift. With the holidays, most of those in the office will have headed home—or on holiday,” she answered, shrugging her shoulders. “You were lucky to catch me.”

  “Indeed,” he said, his voice quiet and she noticed his eyes thinned slightly at this.

  Unless you hoped I wasn’t here, she realized. You bastard. That’s exactly it. If there was no member of city council here, or me or even the deputy mayor, you could have rolled over City Hall and it would have been too late for us to do anything about it by the time any of us found out.

  Victoria smiled and motioned to the door.

  “Well, lucky for us both my assistant was able to find me,” she said. “Now, there should be someone on call in dispatch, and perhaps a few who are working a strange shift. I would suggest talking to one of them. My assistant has the necessary clearance to at least get you into their public area where an on-duty officer will be able to further assist you.”

  Once he was gone she took a breath and let her head fall into her hands. All I wanted was one day with my husband and family. One day before everyone knew… she mused as she sighed heavily. Small wonder so many are driven to drink.

  A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up. “Who is it?”

  “No assistant?” asked Daniel as he pushed the door open.

  “I had to send him to help my new ‘friend’ out,” she answered, motioning for him to enter her office, lifting her brow as he was followed in by someone she did not recognize. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Fitz, meet Victoria Piacentini, who is not only the mayor of Sudbury, but also an old friend of Sheridan’s from high school,” said Daniel, and he turned to Victoria more completely.

  He did not have a chance to finish introducing the two women when the sharp retort of gunfire echoed from outside. Daniel moved over to the desk and pulled the two of them down behind it. “Stay here,” he ordered them, pulling out his own side arm.

  “Dan, I didn’t just get out of the damned Navy to spend it hiding behind a desk,” growled Fitz, grasping his arm.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” he returned her growl. “You don’t have a gun and you’re not an officer.”

  “Fine,” relented Fitz. “But I’m still not spending my holidays under a desk.”

  Daniel rolled his eyes as he moved from his place behind the desk and back to the door. He pulled it open slightly and looked outside. Not seeing any movement, he shook his head. “There’s absolutely no one here anymore,” whispered Daniel, and then he spotted those same soldiers searching the cubicles.

  He was about to call out when the soldiers found something, and fired a few rounds into it. One of them threw the body of Victoria’s assistant out into the open. Daniel backed away from the door and back to the desk.

  “We have to leave, now,” he hissed. “Please tell me there’s another way out of here.”

  Victoria blew out a breath and then pointed to a door he had always assumed was a closet. “There’s a hallway that leads from here to the council meeting room. There’s a fire exit on the other side of it.”

  Daniel motioned for them to follow him. Fitz was quiet but he could see the look she kept shooting at him. You’ll get your chance, he promised her silently. I have a feeling this is long from over.

  * * * * *

  Sheridan pulled into the driveway and parked her Smart Car in the garage. As the garage doors closed, she mused over the circumstances of her very unusual day. Terrence would tell her if the soldiers at the grocery store had been honest or pulling her chain. Her gut was in a turmoil about the encounter.

  She opened the door into the house and called, “Hello the house! Can I get a hand over here?”

  It was at this point her cousin, Shiloh, started clapping.

  “Funny,” said Sheridan as she pulled a face. “Now, seriously?”

  “All right, all right,” said Shiloh as she got up from the stool at the kitchen bar. “You look troubled.”

  “Had a strange day,” answered Sheridan just as the lights went out.

  “What in the name of hell?” muttered Shiloh. “Jeremy!”

  “I’m coming!” cried her husband.

  “Bring a flashlight!” yelled Shiloh back. “The power’s out again.”

  “I really wish they’d get their act together. Is everyone all right?” came Terrence's voice as he came up from the basement, with a flashlight in hand. “Sheri… thank the Gods… you’re back.”

  “I only went to Lively,” she answered, slightly annoyed, and she pointed at her husband. “Although, I have something to ask you.”

  “Hello the house!” greeted Derek and Marissa as they made their way into the house.

  “Why is it so dark in here?” asked Derek.

  “The power’s out!” called Terrence.

  “Naturally,” said Derek, more than slightly sardonic sounding as he moved closer,
flashlight in hand. “Hello, Sheri, I see you got some shopping done…” He flashed the light at her car. “Good grief, woman, did you buy enough?”

  Sheridan had taken lessons from the game Tetris. Her car resembled the game in the way it was packed. The only area empty was the driver’s seat but she had filled every conceivable space—including up to the dash level in the passenger seat.

  “You want to eat over the holidays?” asked Sheridan sarcastically. Then she said in a serious tone, “I had the strangest experience in town.”

  “If was anything like mine, you and I have something we need to talk about,” said Derek seriously. “Let me guess—the military was there?”

  “Yes!” answered Sheridan as she looked up at him. “Why, was the military in Garson?”

  “No idea. We came down through Coniston. They were there, though. Needed to pull in a favour from a friend of mine to get a ‘travel permit’ so I could even get this far. Would have been turned back if not for the fact that the road back to Garson was closed.”

  “What was their excuse?” asked Terrence darkly.

  Terrence had military training and was a veteran from duties in the Middle East. He had been discharged medically from Iraq and Derek and Sheridan’s exchange had his military sense screaming that something was happening. It was clear that Sheridan and Derek were aware of his suspicion. Their minds were on the fact that Sudbury was fully of innocent people who did not have access to Terrence’s experience.

  “Military training exercise—anti-terrorism using Falconbridge as the supposed target,” answered Derek. “But apparently the main part of the city was the nameless Colonel’s live fire zone.”

  Falconbridge was past Garson and it made very little sense for the military to cut off Sudbury proper if a smaller town on the outskirts was the supposed area for the exercise.

  “That’s strange, they told me the exercise was practice for natural disaster response up near Chelmsford as the target,” said Sheridan. “They, too, were using live fire… and again, the downtown was limited to military business only.”