this and head into town?” Elaine asked.
“Don’t know,” Schiavo said. “But we have to make sure they aren’t holed up somewhere else nearby. With that radio.”
She was concerned for the absent garrison, I knew. But the radio, some link to higher authority, was at the forefront of her focus. Almost an obsession, I sensed.
“When they get back with the boat, we’ll scout the town,” Schiavo said.
“I’m going,” Neil said.
Schiavo eyed him.
“I decide who goes,” she said.
“Then decide that I’m going,” Neil challenged her. “I’m not sitting around here waiting for you to do your job. We need to get moving. We need to get to Skagway. So I’m going into town to find your lost garrison, or not find them, so we can get back on the water.”
The moment was charged. Lorenzen glared at Neil. Schiavo, though, showed nothing beyond a determined stare. No animus in it. No raised chin superiority.
“You’re going,” she said. “I need two of my men to stay here with the boat and the station. The sergeant will take two with him, and you three will be with me.”
She took a few steps toward Neil, facing him, but not facing off with him.
“That was going to be my decision before you volunteered ,” Schiavo told him. “Understood?”
Neil sensed he had come close to a line Schiavo couldn’t let him cross. Couldn’t let anyone cross while she was tasked with completing a mission. I’d never seen my friend retreat from a fight, but this wasn’t that. This was him being eaten alive inside from worry over Grace and Krista. He wasn’t thinking with one hundred percent clarity. But in that moment between himself and the lieutenant, I saw that he realized he needed to at least make an attempt at rationalizing the reality of our situation.
“Yes,” Neil said. “Clearly.”
Schiavo stepped back and let the moment settle before looking to her sergeant.
“Leave Acosta and Hart here,” she said. “We’ll head out now. You follow when they get here with the boat. Take the northern end of town. We’ll cover the south.”
“Will do,” Lorenzen said.
Schiavo said no more to him. She just looked to us and gestured to the door.
“Gear up.”
Sixteen
K etchikan was a ghost town. Like any other of the tens of thousands of places waiting to be haunted in the new world.
If they weren’t already.
“Neil, you and Elaine check the right side,” Schiavo directed.
I followed Schiavo up the left side of the street. The rain had come, steady and cool, long torrents of it spilling from rooftops and awnings along the avenue. We stepped around the drainage but kept close to the buildings on this block. The seventh we’d checked. Switching off our pairings each time. Putting fresh eyes and perspectives together, Schiavo had explained it. That was our purpose on this foray into town—looking. And searching. And, hopefully, finding. Someone or something that would shed some light on the missing garrison.
As we passed every shop or store or eatery or business of any kind we’d pause and check briefly within, one member of each pair waiting just inside the door, covering while the other made a cursory search of the inside. So far we’d found nothing.
That changed at the real estate office two doors from the corner.
“Stop,” I said from my position just inside, watching as Schiavo moved through the interior. “Don’t move.”
She froze calmly, her weapon coming up with an easy motion, eyes sweeping the space around her.
“What is it?”
I didn’t answer her. Instead I leaned back through the open front door and spotted Neil and Elaine across the street, about to enter a pizza restaurant.
“Stop!” I shouted. “Don’t go in. Hold right there.”
Neil and Elaine read the urgency in my voice. They spread out, each taking positions across the street to cover approaches from either direction.
“Eric...”
I looked back to Schiavo and pointed to the desk on her right. Its drawers had
“Don’t know,” Schiavo said. “But we have to make sure they aren’t holed up somewhere else nearby. With that radio.”
She was concerned for the absent garrison, I knew. But the radio, some link to higher authority, was at the forefront of her focus. Almost an obsession, I sensed.
“When they get back with the boat, we’ll scout the town,” Schiavo said.
“I’m going,” Neil said.
Schiavo eyed him.
“I decide who goes,” she said.
“Then decide that I’m going,” Neil challenged her. “I’m not sitting around here waiting for you to do your job. We need to get moving. We need to get to Skagway. So I’m going into town to find your lost garrison, or not find them, so we can get back on the water.”
The moment was charged. Lorenzen glared at Neil. Schiavo, though, showed nothing beyond a determined stare. No animus in it. No raised chin superiority.
“You’re going,” she said. “I need two of my men to stay here with the boat and the station. The sergeant will take two with him, and you three will be with me.”
She took a few steps toward Neil, facing him, but not facing off with him.
“That was going to be my decision before you volunteered ,” Schiavo told him. “Understood?”
Neil sensed he had come close to a line Schiavo couldn’t let him cross. Couldn’t let anyone cross while she was tasked with completing a mission. I’d never seen my friend retreat from a fight, but this wasn’t that. This was him being eaten alive inside from worry over Grace and Krista. He wasn’t thinking with one hundred percent clarity. But in that moment between himself and the lieutenant, I saw that he realized he needed to at least make an attempt at rationalizing the reality of our situation.
“Yes,” Neil said. “Clearly.”
Schiavo stepped back and let the moment settle before looking to her sergeant.
“Leave Acosta and Hart here,” she said. “We’ll head out now. You follow when they get here with the boat. Take the northern end of town. We’ll cover the south.”
“Will do,” Lorenzen said.
Schiavo said no more to him. She just looked to us and gestured to the door.
“Gear up.”
Sixteen
K etchikan was a ghost town. Like any other of the tens of thousands of places waiting to be haunted in the new world.
If they weren’t already.
“Neil, you and Elaine check the right side,” Schiavo directed.
I followed Schiavo up the left side of the street. The rain had come, steady and cool, long torrents of it spilling from rooftops and awnings along the avenue. We stepped around the drainage but kept close to the buildings on this block. The seventh we’d checked. Switching off our pairings each time. Putting fresh eyes and perspectives together, Schiavo had explained it. That was our purpose on this foray into town—looking. And searching. And, hopefully, finding. Someone or something that would shed some light on the missing garrison.
As we passed every shop or store or eatery or business of any kind we’d pause and check briefly within, one member of each pair waiting just inside the door, covering while the other made a cursory search of the inside. So far we’d found nothing.
That changed at the real estate office two doors from the corner.
“Stop,” I said from my position just inside, watching as Schiavo moved through the interior. “Don’t move.”
She froze calmly, her weapon coming up with an easy motion, eyes sweeping the space around her.
“What is it?”
I didn’t answer her. Instead I leaned back through the open front door and spotted Neil and Elaine across the street, about to enter a pizza restaurant.
“Stop!” I shouted. “Don’t go in. Hold right there.”
Neil and Elaine read the urgency in my voice. They spread out, each taking positions across the street to cover approaches from either direction.
“Eric...”
I looked back to Schiavo and pointed to the desk on her right. Its drawers had
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