Part 4
I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.
- Harriet Tubman
Chapter 50
Monday, November 12
"Come on back here." Madge said. "I need to get you into the system."
The RV was mostly dark, was rocking its way through the night like a ship on the ocean. Unlike most JJ had seen this one did not have a straight path from one end to the other. Instead the traffic flow curved around the galley and then around the bath. It would give people time to hide if someone came in, she realized. "In the system?"
"Yep. You are officially riding the Underground Railroad." She took them into the back bedroom and started fiddling with some kind of cabinetry on the wall. "Just stand over there a moment, and stand your son in front of you. Just to make sure I have the right person what was your last job before the war started?"
"I was a Supervisory Special Agent for the FBI, in the Behavioral Analysis Unit." JJ said as she went to stand where bidden, her hands on Henry's shoulders. "Are they the ones who sent you?"
"I can't say for certain." A hidden panel popped open in the wall, revealing a computer system. Madge put on a pair of reading glasses and peered at it before going to work. "But we have picked up a lot of FBI agents lately. All right, let's get the picture while this thing is finding the satellite." She picked up the small camera and snapped a quick picture.
"You're using a satellite uplink?" JJ asked
"Have to. The Brethren have blocked all network access over the border, phone and internet. I don't know how the techs are doing this and keeping it from being tracked and I don't want to know. All I know is that it works. All right, let's see now." She typed faster than JJ had expected for a moment. Madge realized she was staring. "I was a hospital secretary for decades. An IBM Selectric isn't that different from a keyboard. Okay, here we go. Give it a moment and we'll get your ETA to the transfer point."
"Transfer point?"
"I don't know what happens there, and I don't want to know."
"Compartmentalized network." JJ nodded. "That's good opsec. What happens next?"
"We get the next station where you'll pick up the next train car. Another older couple like us. The Brethren don't look at us old folks that closely, they think we're too old to be sinning. Nope, all we do is travel from grandchild to grandchild, visiting old friends along the way." The computer bleeped and Madge peered at what it said. "ETA in forty-six hours, next transfer outside Memphis in about five hours. Whoo, that's a lot of driving. You gonna be all right honey?" She called out to her husband.
"I'm good." He called back.
"Are you really going from grandchild to grandchild?" JJ asked.
For a moment Madge looked her age. "I have one daughter." She said. "Her and her husband are Brethren. They don't believe in vaccinating children you know."
With the epidemics that had been going on JJ knew what that had to mean. "I'm sorry."
Madge shook it off. "These days I like to think of every one we're getting out as a grandchild. Giving them a chance to grow up strong and healthy. Are you hungry?" She asked Henry.
He shook his head. "No Ma'am. Just tired."
She laughed. "Oh course you are! It's the middle of the night for you, isn't it?"
"For us?" JJ asked.
"Bill and I worked the night shift all our lives. For us the hard part is staying up for church. We slept all afternoon." Madge busied herself putting the computer away. "You two get some rest back here. If it sounds like trouble at all the front of the pedestal under the bed pulls away, it's a hidey hole. But we have yet to be stopped so I wouldn't worry. If you need anything don't come forward past the galley, just call to us, all right?"
JJ nodded. "Thank you for this. I don't…"
Madge shook her head. "We do what we can hun. Get him into a good college, make grandma proud. I'll wake you when we get to the station."
A few hours after the first transfer, as JJ and Henry were heading north out of Memphis, Will and Morgan were sitting on the floor of the old gym, going over their pack checklists in preparation to leave. Morgan looked up as a familiar pair of hot pink clogs and a pair of Converse sneakers came into view. "You two didn't have to get up early to see us off." He said.
"Yes we did." Penelope said. "But that's not the only reason."
Now they had Will's attention too. "What's up?" Morgan asked.
"I know we're not supposed to show you but…" She took a deep breath and handed him her tablet.
Morgan took one good look before handing it off to an eager Will. "Damn, he's gotten tall." Will said as he gazed at his family.
"And she's gotten skinny." Morgan said.
"James Blake said he thought she could make it." Spencer said. "But you might want to pack more of that high energy drink mix just in case."
"Good plan."
Will only reluctantly passed the tablet back to Penelope. "How far out are they?"
"Thirty-nine hours." She said. "They're somewhere between Memphis, Tennessee and Springfield, Missouri."
"Thirty-nine hours isn't a lot of walking time." Will said.
"It's more than enough." Rian Nock said as she came into the gym. "Remember to pace yourselves. You'll need to keep enough strength for the trip back, and in case you need to defend yourselves along the way. We have another team on the way in; you'll have to stay in the high hide at Fourmile tonight."
"We can make it in one day, Colonel." Will protested.
"Which would mean waiting in K Falls, giving you a higher risk of being spotted and caught. Follow procedure, wearing yourselves out and risking capture won't get her there one minute sooner. That's an order."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Don't worry." Morgan said. "I won't let him run."
"Good."
"Can we go?' Penelope asked. "I mean, to the footbridge. I know it's dangerous and all but they're family and they're going after family and we want to see them off. Please?"
Rian looked at her best tech and their skinny science teacher. She looked at her friends and saw the worry and the fear in their faces. "All right."
An hour later the old farm truck bounced down the road leading to the border. It didn't take long, five minutes of driving on the winding mountain road got them to where the simple wooden bridge crossed the rushing waters of the creek.
Will and Morgan and Spencer climbed down out of the back as Penelope got out of the cab. "It's strange." Spencer said as he looked at the bridge.
"What is?" Morgan asked.
"We flew all over the country on different cases. It got to the point where none of it was any different. Now it's a foreign country."
"It always was." Will said. "We just didn't know it."
"Come here." Penelope said. They gathered to her and exchanged hugs all around.
Then Morgan and Will got into their packs and Rian said the same thing she said to every team. "Don't make me come after you."
"Yes Ma'am." Morgan said. And then with last waves he and Will walked across the footbridge and into the wood and were gone.
Penelope and Spencer watched until half their family had disappeared. Then they got back into the truck and returned to town.
