Ashes (Ashes Trilogy 1)

“But what if they’re not?” asked Tom. “What if whoever’s there is trying to attract attention for the wrong reasons?”

They all stared at one another. Then Ellie said, “You mean, like a trap?” at the same time that Alex said, “That’s ridiculous.” But Alex was thinking: If Jim could remember his training, would a ranger remember how to work a record player? A tape deck? A generator?

Tom said nothing.

All of them, Mina included, listened to the putta-putta of the generator and, in the silences between, that unrecognizable line of music. Ellie fidgeted, then said, “Aren’t we going?”

“Yeah,” Tom said finally. He thumbed the carrying strap of his Winchester, shrugging from a cross-carry to his right shoulder where he could get at the weapon in a hurry. “You’ll have to walk the rest of the way, okay? I know you’re tired and it’s all uphill, so we’ll go slow. But I need my hands free.”

“It’ll be fine,” Alex said to Ellie as they followed. She made the girl get between them with the dog, though, and when Ellie wasn’t looking, she draped the Mossberg over her right shoulder and rechecked the safety. Just in case.

Hours later, Alex inched closer to Tom and said, “Now what?”

Tom only shook his head. The night had slammed down, a hazy galaxy of stars like sequins in black velvet. The moon would not rise for several more hours—a good thing, because that uneasy green color was like an old bruise and it really freaked her out. No moon also meant that they could be fairly certain of near invisibility, although they crouched not sixty yards from the hulking skeleton of a fire lookout tower to their right. The tower was dark.

The station was not. Set upon a rocky plateau, the station shone, each and every window of the low rectangle fired with light. Elongated buttery-yellow rectangles spilled over the ground, and Alex could see the corner of an armchair butted against one window and a tower of books on a low coffee table. Music seeped through the open windows, and they had listened as Mick Jagger vented over his lack of satisfaction only to give way to Robert Plant’s screaming about eyes shining bright red. There was so much light, the panes of a nearby structure to the far right sparkled. A garage, probably: Alex picked out a twist of gravel.

“Look at the dog,” Tom said into her ear.

She did. Mina was staring at the station with what seemed like curiosity but not alarm. Not like the reaction those wild dogs showed when they smelled Jim, Alex thought. Then, feeling a little stupid—hoping that Tom wouldn’t notice—Alex took a cautious, experimental sniff. The only aroma she detected was wood smoke mixed with creosote. Fireplace, or maybe an outdoor fire pit, but that was all. No dead smell, which might not mean a thing. What, she’d turned into a bloodhound?

“If the dog’s not worried, then it’s probably okay,” Tom said. “Let me just check it out.”

“Wait.” Alex put a restraining hand on his arm. “I should go with you.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve done plenty of recon.”

“Don’t you always have someone watching your back? If I stay up here, I’m too far away to hit anything with the Mossberg.”

“Believe me, if you have to go shooting at people, I’m just as happy to keep you as far away from me as possible.”

She bristled. “Hey, don’t diss me. It’s not like I’ve never handled a gun before.”

“I’m only saying the odds are against there being anything to shoot at.”

“If the odds are so against that, why are we having this discussion?”

“Are you always this difficult?”

Ellie piped up. “Yes, she is.”

“Hey,” said Alex.

Tom said, “This isn’t Iraq or Afghanistan. I’m just checking things out. Besides, someone needs to stay with Ellie.”

“Well, at least take the dog.”

Ellie: “Alex is right, Tom. Mina searched for bombs.”

“You guys watch too many movies. There won’t be any bombs,” Tom grumbled. But he took the dog.

They watched as the darkness swallowed up first Mina and then Tom. Robert Plant had finished screaming about his dreams only for the music to segue into a bluesy guitar and something about a boss man. Alex didn’t know the song. She was straining so hard to pick up any sign of movement—outside, in the house—that her eyes felt as if they were going to pop right out of their sockets.

“Alex?”

She kept her eyes trained on Tom as he darted right, well away from the tidal wave of yellow light washing over the rock, and headed for the garage. “What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“For saying you’re a pain. I mean, you are a pain sometimes.”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” She twisted around to flash the girl a grin she probably couldn’t see in the gloom. “It’s okay.”

“I just didn’t want to be alone … Oh, look, there he is, there he is!”

Tom peeled out of the darkness to their left. He was crouched very low, his head well below window level. Mina was only a dark slink, briefly visible as the two cut beneath the far left window, and then were gone. Alex watched as Tom eased his head up for a peek and then ducked down again before duckwalking to the front door. Alex saw him dart quickly from left to right, and she tensed, waiting for the boom of a shotgun. None came. A moment later, Tom and the dog wheeled into the house. She could see him clearly now, passing into the room on his left, stopping for a moment to stare at the books. He reached for something, and a second later, Billy Joel cut out, and then there was nothing but the sputter of the generator. After another minute—it felt like twenty—Tom and Mina reappeared as dark silhouettes in the doorway. Tom waved an arm.

“Let’s go,” she said to Ellie, then grabbed at the girl’s waist as she started to spurt forward. “Me first.”

“Why?”

Alex could hear the eye-roll, but she didn’t smile. “Because I’m a pain, and in case Tom missed anything, they can’t get to you unless they go through me.”

The station was deserted and frigid. “Whoever was here left in a hurry,” Tom said. He pointed to the coffee table. Alongside the books were two plates crusted with petrified spaghetti and three mugs still half-full of scummy coffee. A red wooden clothes tree with two sheepskin jackets—one men’s medium, one woman’s small—and a khaki ranger’s hat was snugged into one corner. A braided rug lay in front of a stone fireplace, the charred remnants of several logs resting in gray ash.