E-DAY plus 14 YEARS, 31 WEEKS
[Port Farrall, 1400 hours]
Cole got the newborns, their mothers and the old man settled in with Doc Hayman, then went to the admin office to see what the Keller woman was up to. He was damned curious about how she had managed to keep hidden from the Stranded all those years, especially because she admitted to often sneaking into Stranded camps to steal non-food supplies from the brutal sons of bitches.
She was filling out paperwork in one of the side rooms just like he thought she'd be. She was still wearing the cleverly designed camouflage hoodie and pants, but she'd cleaned off most of the face paint. A few caked bits were stuck in her brown hair, but he imagined once she had showered it would come right out. "How's my favorite nomad?" he said loudly. For some reason, people liked it when he was loud. Probably they assumed it was confidence.
She smiled at him. "Buried in paperwork. Have you ever tried to fill out three hundred applications for citizenship?"
"Can't say that I have, Mrs. Keller."
"I don't recommend it. Please, call me Sharon. Mrs. Keller is my mother-in-law." Her golden eyes darkened for a moment. "Was my mother-in-law."
Cole had learned that I'm sorry had been said so many times it no longer had any meaning. Instead he replied, "That sucks." A frank acknowledgement of the general shittiness of the world was a little more palatable to people than empty platitudes.
"Yeah, it does suck. Thanks, Cole Train."
"Please, call me Cole. The Cole Train only comes out to play during firefights."
She smiled. "There are probably a lot of Thrashball plays you can use to flank the Locust."
"You got that right." He noticed a sketch on the sheet of scratch paper by her elbow. "What you got there?"
She ran an affectionate finger over the sketch. "Just an idea I had while my mind was wandering during this boring paperwork. It's an add-on that would make the ammunition machines produce bullets just a little bit faster. I figure the COG could put something like that to good use." She went back to the paperwork with a reluctant sigh.
"You're an engineer? Nice. Baird will want to pick your brain about a few things."
She halted in the middle of her signature and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Baird, huh? He have a first name?"
"Yeah. Damon." The woman let out a slow, shaky breath and put down her pen with exaggerated care. This time it was Cole's turn to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Why, you know him?"
"Yes, I know Damon Baird. We grew up together. I'd rather steer clear of him if it's all the same to you."
"Why?" Cole asked. "I know he can be kind of a jerk sometimes, but—"
Sharon interrupted him by holding up her hand. "The last time I talked to Damon Baird was just before E-Day, when he beat my husband half to death."
Cole's head rocked back at that bombshell. He opened his mouth to say something disbelieving, so she continued. "Literally. James lost a kidney, the hearing in his left ear, three teeth and a liter of blood."
Cole's jaw shut with a snap, then fell open again a moment later. He found himself blinking rapidly and running a hand over his buzzed hair. "Man, I just ... I just ..."
"Can't believe he'd do something like that?" she finished for him. "Yeah, neither did I." Cole opened his mouth again, but once more Sharon beat him to the punch. "You want to know why, I'm sure. I think you'd better ask him. I didn't stick around to ask questions, and I'm not exactly an impartial witness." Her face softened a fraction. "I mean," she drew anxious circles over the sketch with her finger, "I know why he was angry to begin with, but I don't know specifically what tipped him over the edge."
"I should tell you that Baird's one of my best buddies. You'll have to forgive me if I want to get his side of the story first."
"Go ahead. He'll tell you the truth. Maybe not the whole truth, but he won't sugar-coat it either. Just – just warn me if he's coming, okay?"
"I don't think you're in any danger." He paused thoughtfully. "Your husband might be, though. Baird can hold a grudge like nobody's business."
"That won't be an issue," she said quietly. "James is dead."
"That sucks too."
She smiled a bit. "Yeah, it does."
Cole excused himself and went off to find Baird. He checked the main garage first. Sure enough, Baird was there, in the process of removing the cracked engine block from an Armadillo APC.
"So..." Cole began. Baird turned his head toward Cole, a blandly attentive look on his face as he continued to work on a stubborn bolt. "I met someone you used to know."
The corner of Baird's mouth quirked up. "You'll have to be a little more specific, Cole." He was smeared in thick engine grease up to his elbows, with tools hanging off every spare inch of his belt and his favorite goggles pushing up into his hairline. He looked so content that Cole almost dropped the subject. But he needed to know why Baird had almost committed cold-blooded murder. Cole felt momentarily ashamed that it had only taken one conversation with a complete stranger to fracture his absolute trust in Baird. But that hairline crack was there now, and if he didn't deal with it immediately, it might cause the kind of split-second hesitation in a firefight that could get them both killed.
Cole continued, hoping with everything he had that this Keller woman was simply off her rocker. God knew enough people had lost it over the course of this war.
"Sharon Keller."
Baird's blue eyes went wide and he collapsed onto the APC's grill like he'd been gut-punched. The sudden torque on the wrench caused it to slip off the stubborn bolt, and Baird's full weight drove his knuckles down the front of the engine block. Baird hissed, yanking his bleeding hand out and cradling it with the other.
"Damn, Baird! You all right?"
Baird stared at Cole, still wide-eyed, and shaking far more than the pain from his flayed knuckles would account for. "Sharon? You're sure she's Sharon Keller?"
"That's what she said her name was. Here, man, let me get that." Baird stared into space while Cole snatched up a clean rag and bound up his hand. Cole snuck glances at Baird's face between tying knots. "So you do know her?"
Baird looked like he was in shock, slumped awkwardly against the APC, deathly pale under the smears of grease and dirt. "Where is she?" he mumbled.
"Baird–" Cole began warningly.
Baird's eyes came into focus on Cole and he straightened up. "Where is she?"
"Listen–"
"No! Tell me where she is!" He was shaking like he'd just sprinted a mile.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
Baird bristled, and a dog-like snarl began to curl his lip. "Why the hell not?" His eyes narrowed, flashing dangerously.
Cole was a Thrashball player, a veteran Gear and had nearly eighty pounds on Baird. Still, he took a step back. Baird lowered his head like a bull about to charge, and Cole half-expected steam to come out of his flared nostrils.
"Is he with her?" Baird snapped.
Cole casually inched back a little more. A guy couldn't be too careful. "He, who?"
"James Keller. Her husband." Baird practically hissed the last word through his clenched teeth.
"No, Baird. She's a widow."
That brought Baird up short. He blinked rapidly, the rage melting away. "A widow? James is dead?" He turned away from Cole, bracing his hands on the edge of the APC's engine compartment. "James is dead," he repeated softly to himself. Baird hung his head. "God, no. Not James."
Cole started in surprise. A moment ago Baird had been spitting nails about the Kellers, and now he seemed almost crushed that one of them was dead. Cole moved so he could see Baird's face better. "Baird, what the hell is going on with you?"
Baird twitched slightly toward Cole but didn't turn to make eye contact. "James..." he took a deep breath. "James was my best friend in high school." He gripped the edge of the engine compartment tightly, not noticing the spreading blood on his bandage. "He stole something from me, and I was so angry..." he hung his head. "I nearly killed him right in front of her."
"Yeah, she mentioned that."
"Oh, she did, did she?" Baird looked up at Cole. There were so many emotions flickering across his face that Cole couldn't keep track of them all. "Did she tell you what he stole?"
"No, she said if I wanted details I should ask you. Said she wasn't exactly an impartial witness."
Baird blew out a huge breath. "He stole DENIS, my prototype robot."
"Oh. Shit." Baird loved machines more than he did any human being. Especially things of his own creation. That would explain a lot. Not excuse it, but explain some of it. "Yeah, I could see how that would make you a little homicidal."
"Tell me where she is, Cole. I need to find out about DENIS. I won't hurt her, I swear."
"All right," Cole said slowly. Baird would run into her eventually and Cole would rather be there to referee their first meeting. "I'll take you to her." He looked Baird over. "But are you sure you don't want to clean up first? You look like you rolled in a grease pit, and you're bleeding all over yourself."
Baird looked down at his dripping hand and smeared clothing as he shifted from foot to foot, clearly torn. "Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right." He glanced up at Cole with sudden alarm. "She's not going anywhere, is she?"
"Naw, baby, she's got nowhere else to go. Don't seem like she wants to, anyway. All her people are happy to be back with the COG. Got some of them settled in already."
"Okay." Baird nodded to himself. "Okay. I'll shower and find some clean clothes. Don't go anywhere."
"I'll wait right here." Cole watched Baird hustle off to the Gears' dormitories.
