Snow(61)

“About those things sending signals or whatever down from the clouds and screwing with the computers. I don’t think that’s what they’re doing.”

“Then what are they doing?”

“See, I think maybe they did send some sort of signal,” Todd said, digging around in his pocket, “but my guess is, it was probably a single pulse sent out earlier in the week. Just one initial jolt that’s kept everything screwed up.”

“Why do you say that?” said Bruce.

“Because of this,” Todd said, producing his cell phone. He powered it on and handed it to the deputy. “I’ve got no signal but it isn’t scrambled. The two other cell phones we found in one of the houses in town looked just like your computer screen—a jumble of characters that made no sense. But my phone’s fine.”

“So was mine,” Kate said, still holding the bottle of bourbon.

Bruce was staring hard at Todd’s cell phone. After a moment of contemplative silence, he said, “So you think whatever was in town when the attack started was affected by the pulse or surge or signal or whatever it was, but anything new that’s brought into town—”

“Is completely unaffected,” Todd finished.

“Jesus,” Tully muttered. He took a step closer to Bruce so he could see Todd’s cell phone more clearly. “Is there a way we can hook that phone up to the fiber-optic cables?”

“Shit,” said Bruce, “maybe some electrical engineer could, but I haven’t got a clue.”

“We’re so close,” Tully said to no one in particular. “There’s gotta be something we can do. I can feel it.”

Footsteps out in the hallway caused Todd to turn toward the door. Brendan materialized through the gloom, his arms laden with fresh, clean clothing. “Hey,” he said, skidding to a stop. “Was wondering where you all went off to. I got you some clothes.” He handed out sweaters and pants to Todd and Kate. “Also, I been heating up some hot dogs in the office down the hall with some candles. They’re probably still cold on the inside, but hell, if you’re hungry…”

“Todd’s cell phone works,” Tully said.

“No shit? You mean we can call for help?”

“Not exactly,” Bruce said. “There’s still no signal, but at least the screen ain’t scrambled.”

Sighing, Bruce handed Todd back his cell phone, then rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Smirking, he said, “Too bad you didn’t bring a f*cking computer with you, too. Then we’d be in business.”

Almost grinning, Todd said, “I did.”





CHAPTER TWENTY



Out in the hallway, one of the children screamed. Kate nearly dropped the bottle of bourbon on the floor. Tully and Todd went to the door as Bruce popped out of his chair, one hand already reaching for his service pistol.

“It’s Cody,” said Tully, rushing out into the hallway and taking all the light with him. Kate set the bottle and the new clothes down on the desk and hurried out after the men, her heartbeat already strumming in her ears.

The hallway was a black mine shaft. At the end of the hall, a shape flitted past one window. Something was outside.

Cody Dobbins came racing down the hallway toward them, her face pulled back in a mask of absolute terror. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She slammed against Tully, who hugged her awkwardly with one arm while adjusting one of the fuel canisters clinging to his hip. Behind Tully, Bruce had his pistol raised and was advancing down the hallway with his back against the wall.

“What did you see?” Tully asked the girl.

“There’s someone outside!” Cody cried into his chest.

Todd pulled his own gun and crept along the wall opposite Bruce. They looked like mirror images of each other.

“How many?” Tully asked Cody.

“Just one. A girl. She’s outside in the snow.”

There were only a few windows of pebbled glass at the far end of the hallway, each one reinforced with wire. Bruce and Todd approached them cautiously and attempted to peer out, but the distortion of the glass made it impossible to see anything outside.

“Go back downstairs with Molly and Charlie,” Tully told the girl. He withdrew himself from her embrace and produced the muzzle of the flamethrower from under his coat. He moved down the center of the hallway like a firefighter approaching a burning building.

In the doorway of the office, Brendan stood like someone who’d just been startled out of a sound sleep. His eyes looked muddy behind the thick lenses of his glasses.

Kate took Cody’s hand. The little girl looked up at her with wide, terrified eyes. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you downstairs with your brother.”


“I see someone,” Bruce said. He was leaning against the wall, his back flat against it. He held his service weapon down at his waist and gripped with two hands. He craned his neck to see out the pebbled windowpane, the milky issuance of daylight spilling across his features. Todd noted an angry-looking scar like a cleft in his chin. “Or something.”

Breathing heavily and sweating through his clothes, Todd squeezed the hilt of his own weapon tighter. He kept leaning over to peer out one of the front windows, but everything outside was blurred by the pebbled glass and wire meshing. “I can’t make anything out,” he told Bruce.