I nodded. “Winter is coming, and there are more people than we have buildings for. We need more power. I also need whatever solar panels we have left to power the hospital, now that my team and I secured it.”

  Jonathan looked at me for a moment. “You make me nervous.”

  “That’s probably smart, because I don’t like obstacles.”

  He grimaced. “Jeremy will never go along with this.”

  “Do I look like I care? Look, I can probably get this done without your support. I’ll explain to the Defense Force what we need to do, and why, and they’ll do it. None of them want to see any more family members starve or freeze to death. It would be easier with actual trained soldiers though.”

  He sighed and threw his hands up. “Okay, I’ll talk to Jeremy and see if I can convince him.”

  “You know, Jonathan, Jeremy really doesn’t serve a purpose here…”

  “Don’t even go there, Smith. We both know you destroyed the imprinter, so just let it go.”

  I shrugged and stood. “Whatever you say.” I flashed a smile and walked out of the boardroom and back to my apartment.

  * * *

  The next day, I got a message from Jonathan, through Ted, that they were putting scouts up on skyscrapers around the city with a good view of Port Lands. Their mission was to learn the patrol schedules and try to isolate their main headquarters. Ted left after he delivered his message to check on Bill, who would probably be ready to get out of the med bay. For me, the time in which I’d feel safe in this building was quickly running short. I packed up a few more things in a backpack and started toward the school.

  About halfway there, I heard the sound of a helicopter bounce off the buildings, and I shielded my eyes to look up. It was the CH-53K, with a load of large solar panels. I chuckled and shook my head. I had planned to take care of that, but I guessed Jonathan went ahead and gave the instructions. Good. Maybe he would survive after all, but Jeremy still had to go.

  I pondered that as I resumed my walk. It would have to be done in a way that I couldn’t be blamed. I didn’t think many people would care, but Jonathan still had control of the soldiers and their arsenal. That wasn’t the kind of war I fought. It would have to be public and look like an accident. Plans started to form.

  I was met at the school by Donald, David, and Cindy, who were all sitting on the steps outside. I raised an eyebrow. “Something going on?”

  Donald stood and shook his head. “Just making sure you got back. If you hadn’t gotten back here by lunch, we were going to go look for you at the plaza.”

  Cindy stood up and ran over to wrap her arms around me. “We were worried they’d killed you.”

  I patted her on the back. “Well, they didn’t.”

  “Come on, let’s get inside; you can fill us in over some bad coffee,” David said as he got up and walked inside.

  We sat in the teacher’s lounge, and I recounted the early morning’s conversation with Jeremy and Jonathan.

  “So,” Donald asked, “did you do it?”

  I smirked. “Of course I did. You have no idea what that thing is capable of.”

  He nodded. “I probably don’t want to know, eh?”

  I nodded. “Pretty much.”

  The way Cindy looked at me made me nervous. Not that I thought she was dangerous, but she looked like the young women who would always sit in the front row in my classes.

  “In other news, it looks like the hospital is getting solar panels,” I said. “Depending on how the wiring goes, it should have power in a few days, maybe a week, with the battery installation. Also, our next target is going to be Port Lands. There’s an old natural gas generation station there that could power a lot of buildings. They’re setting up scouts now to get an idea of what we’ll be facing.”

  “Damn! You move fast,” David said.

  I shrugged. “Every day is getting colder, and we don’t have enough places for everyone.” I turned my attention to Cindy. “How’s the elbow feeling?”

  “Hurts like hell.”

  I nodded. “It will for a few weeks. You need to take it easy. Light duty using your good arm only, and keep the bandages changed and clean.”

  She groaned. “Yes, Dad.”

  “I’ll see to it,” Donald said.

  “Good. Thanks, Donald.”

  Cindy grumbled. “I’m not a kid.”

  “No one is saying you are,” I said, “but you’ve never been hit by a bullet before, so some instruction and guidance is perfectly warranted. I’d say the same to anyone else.”

  “Whatever.” She put on a perfect sulky face, crossed her arms over her chest, and winced.

  I grinned. “Okay, I’ve got some planning to do. I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me.”

  A good plan is often necessary for survival in this Fallen World.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next few days were mundane, as much as they could be. Power was restored in much of the hospital, and volunteers started to show up. We still had members of the Defense Force guarding the doors, so I got good intel on what was going on. Doctor Adwani was as good as her word. She’d shown up to evaluate and direct those willing to help get things organized. Her first priority was to get all the operational equipment down to the lowest two floors and store extras on the third.

  Unfortunately, powering the hospital used up the last of our solar panels, so what we had, was what we had. As the temperatures dropped, we would encourage as many people as possible to open their homes if they had power and room; the hotels and other buildings that had power would be filled to capacity.

  I decided to pay a visit to the hospital on the second day of prep work. It had, unfortunately, gotten to a point where the good people of Cabbagetown wouldn’t let me go anywhere without at least one bodyguard. It didn’t matter how much I explained that I could handle myself, they wanted someone present in case something happened. I really couldn’t argue that point, other than to say that whoever was with me put their life in danger.

  As it happened, Cindy was accompanying me as we walked into the hospital. I learned something I didn’t know—she was ambidextrous, so she had a pistol on her left hip. It was a left-handed semi-automatic with the ejector port on the left side of the weapon.

  We walked into the hospital, and I nodded to myself. “Impressive.”

  They had cleaned the lobby and surrounding area, and you could smell the disinfectant in the air. It certainly smelled like a hospital. I was surprised to see Marcy Chow sitting at the reception desk.

  “Well, Ms. Chow, we meet again,” I smiled as I approached the desk.

  She scowled at me. “You may be fooling some people, but I know what you are, Mister Smith. That’s the name you’re still using, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is, and if you’re referring to the fact that I’m a trained assassin, they know that. Doesn’t seem to bother them.” I shrugged.

  “If he wasn’t, I’d be dead, whoever you are,” Cindy spat as she walked up on my left.

  “Where are my manners? Cindy Todd, this is Marcy Chow, a former student of mine who was spying on me from the classroom for Obsidian back in the day. Unfortunately for her, I got to her boss anyway.”

  “You were a teacher?” Cindy tilted her head and looked at me.

  “Did I fail to mention that? Yes. Nuclear physics, among other things.”

  “Huh. Figures. You have that teacher voice.”

  I chuckled and shrugged. “Guilty.”

  “What are you doing here, Smith?” Marcy asked.

  “Just checking on things. Where might I find Doctor Adwani?”

  “She’ll be in the ER, triaging some people. It’s been busy now that people know she’s here.”

  “I’m sure it has been. Thank you, Ms. Chow.” I nodded, and we turned toward the emergency room.

  “She doesn’t seem to like you very much,” Cindy said once we were out of earshot.

  “No. She had the unfortunate luck of being the person who tried to crack me when they first brought me in. Let’s just say she wasn’t trained for the task she was given, and it showed. She’s actually fairly lucky to be alive.”

  If that bothered Cindy, she didn’t show it. She kept her eyes forward and scanned for threats like her father had taught her.

  We made our way through a set of doors and into the ER. There were ten people on various exam beds, all being tended to by someone wearing a white rag tied around their right upper arm. Dr. Adwani was busy as well, so we stayed out of the way, watched, and waited. She glanced up and acknowledged me, which was about all I was going to get based on the number of people there.

  “I’ll check in later, Doctor. Going to take a look around.”

  I led Cindy out, and we took a tour of the rest of the first floor and walked around the second. There was still a lot of work to do, but it seemed like a lot of people were pitching in. Everywhere we went, people were cleaning, setting up equipment, or directing others on what was yet to be done. It truly was a sign of people pulling together to survive.

  Just as we got back to the ground floor, I felt it. “Shit.”

  “What?” Cindy looked at me.

  Then the windows that were still intact rattled in their frames. A few seconds later, we heard the explosion.

  “That.” I said and ran outside.

  Once I was outside, I quickly scanned the horizon and saw smoke rising from the direction of Port Lands. I immediately ran east on Queen Street so I could get to a point with a better view. I heard Cindy fall behind quickly, shouting for me to wait, but I kept going.

  I ran all the way to the Don Valley Parkway and turned south. It was as I’d feared. Much of the far section of Port Lands looked like it had been levelled, including the Portlands Energy Centre, which I’d hoped to get running again.

  Cindy finally caught up to me a few minutes later. She was out of breath.

  “Need to work on that conditioning,” I said.

  “Bite me,” she said between pants. “You cheat.”

  She took a minute to get her breathing under control, then saw what I did. “Holy shit! What happened?”

  “Our hope for more power just went up in smoke, that’s what.”

  “Who would do that?”

  “Anarchists, probably. They have at least one mole inside, so they know we were looking at taking it over. Looks like they had other plans.”

  “Can’t you find them? Isn’t that kinda what you do?”

  I nodded. “It is, and I plan to, but first, there’s something else I have to figure out.”

  “What?”

  “Who’s going to lead New Toronto. I don’t trust Jeremy or Jonathan to do it. Jeremy’s going to have to go; no doubt about that. Jonathan can be useful, but he’s not leadership material.”

  She didn’t seem bothered at all by the casual mention of killing Jeremy. That was good. “What about Mayor Evans?”

  I blinked and looked at her. “He’s still alive?”

  She nodded. “Dad would take me to visit him every now and then.”

  I rubbed my chin. “That might just work. If I recall, he won in a landslide, but that was over 20 years ago.”

  “Yeah. He went into hiding after the war. He was afraid Obsidian would eliminate him.”

  I nodded. “They likely would have—especially with Bethany in charge—while the rest were in hiding. You know where he is?”

  “Yep! He lives on a houseboat along the waterfront, unless he’s moved again.”

  “Well then, let’s go pay him a visit, shall we?”

  * * *

  We walked slowly to allow her time to recover from the earlier run and eventually reached the harbor where the former mayor had his boat docked. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t far from Rogers Centre. As we walked down the dock, I saw movement.

  “He’s watching us.”

  “How do you…” Cindy started, but cut herself off. “Never mind.”

  She waved at the boat, and I saw the barrel of a shotgun come out of one of the windows in the front, probably the wheelhouse.

  She stopped, and I stopped with her. This was her show for now.

  “Mayor Evans! It’s me, Cindy! Paul Todd’s daughter!”

  “Where’s Paul? And who’s that with you?” came a voice from the yacht. If he was nervous, it didn’t show in his voice.

  “This is Mr. Smith. He’s a friend. Dad’s dead…” her voice trailed off at the end.

  “What do you want?” he yelled.

  “I want you to lead New Toronto, Mayor Evans,” I said.

  “You’re nuts!”

  “Perhaps we could talk inside where it’s a bit out of the wind? Miss Todd is injured and should really be resting instead of following me around.”

  She glowered at me before turning back toward the yacht. “It is kinda cold.”

  The barrel pulled inside the window. “Okay. Come aboard.”

  We made our way onto the yacht, while I watched our surroundings closely. It was in the open and made me nervous.

  We walked to the rear of the yacht, which I estimated to be about 43 feet long, where an aged Mayor Evans waited with his shotgun still in his hands. “Come on in.”

  I gestured for Cindy to go first, and then followed, ducking down the few steps into the inside cabin. It was sparse, but clean. We took seats at a small café-style table that was integrated into the deck. It looked like it could be folded away and stored to save space.

  After a moment, Mayor Evans came in and closed the hatch behind him before he took his seat.

  I gestured at the gun. “You won’t be needing that.”

  “I’ll decide what I damn well need on my own damn boat.”

  I shrugged. “Fair enough.”

  “Damn right it is. Now, what’s this about me leading New Toronto?”

  For the next half hour, I brought him up to speed on the major events that had happened since I’d been brought to the surface, starting with the nuke and concluding with the destruction of our best chance at more power.

  “Sounds like you have a mess on your hands, Mr. Smith.”

  I shook my head. “Consider me a consultant. I’m not in charge of anything.”

  “You’re in charge at the school!” Cindy objected.

  “Nope. That’s really Donald, whether he realizes it or not. I just take the lead when certain things need doing.”

  Evans glanced between us and grunted. “I see. So, what makes you think I’d want to do it? I’ve been out of things for over 20 years. I’m just scraping by.”

  “Mr. Evans, here are the facts as I see them.” I ticked them off on my fingers as I went. “First, I have no desire to lead anything. I’m a professor, and I possess certain other skills. Managing a city is not one of them. Second, Jeremy is going to have an accident soon, so he’s going to be out of the way. Third, Jonathan is very good at intelligence, but he’s not equipped for the leadership that’s needed, though he would probably try, and fail. Fourth, you were elected by the people, so you have a right to it. Fifth, if you don’t, I consider the odds of long-term survival of the people of Toronto low.”

  “Look.” He sighed. “Sure, I was elected, a long time ago, but that was as the mayor of a peaceful city. I’m not the man to see the people through a crisis involving the military.”

  “There are people who can help you with that. Those with military or law enforcement experience. I can also consult. While my area of expertise isn’t truly in military actions, I have enough frame of reference to know what a good idea is and what will get people killed.”

  “You never said, Mr. Smith, what exactly are these other skills of yours?”

  “Put simply, Mr. Evans, I’m good at making people disappear, permanently.”

  “And he really cares; don’t let him fool you,” Cindy said.

  Evans tilted his head and looked at her.

  “He saved my life.” She raised her right elbow in its sling. “I got shot, and he took out the person who shot me. He didn’t have to. He’s helped us get a hospital going again. He saved the city from a chemical attack. That’s got to prove it!”

  Evans looked back at me. “Some people do things that seem like they’re for the greater good, Cindy, but they’re really for selfish reasons.”

  I shrugged. “I sleep well at night, Mr. Evans. How will you sleep if you don’t accept my offer?”

  He grimaced. “Who are you to make this offer anyway, since you say you’re not in charge.”

  “I can be incredibly persuasive.”

  “Meaning you’ll kill anyone who disagrees?”

  I pursed my lips. “Not necessarily, but it’s within the realm of possibility.”

  “That’s not how I work, Mr. Smith. I ran an honest campaign, and I’m an honest man.”

  “Jeremy would kill you if he thought you were a threat to his dominion. He has but one goal, accumulate and exert power. I simply intend to make sure he doesn’t get a chance to do that.”

  “You have a way of justifying pretty much anything, don’t you?”

  “It’s an art.” I winked humorlessly.

  He shook his head. “No. If, and I mean if, I decided to do this, it would have to be completely above board.”

  “He’s right Mayor Evans. I’ve been in the room with Jeremy. He’s…scary. I mean, Mr. Smith is scary, but at least I know he’s on our side. Jeremy is on his own side.”

  “Mr. Evans. If you’d like to attempt talking to Jeremy, and get yourself killed, that will be your choice, and you will die knowing I warned you. Again, I will still sleep just fine. I’d just go find someone else with less experience.”

  I got up from my seat. “Come on, Cindy. We’ve done what we could.”

  “Wait! Mayor Evans, please!”

  He sighed. “I’m an old man now, Cindy, I don’t have a lot of fight left in me.”

  “Then at least come on board long enough to teach someone else.”

  He looked up at me. “Talk to this…Jeremy. Try to do this the right way. Then come talk to me again.”

  I considered him for a moment. He might be too honest for what the city needed, but he also seemed like he’d probably adapt well to pretty much anything. He’d survived on a small yacht, after all. “I’ll broach the subject.”

 

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