Impact (Book 5): Black

night, but he doesn’t have a phone. I was going to try to contact the last number he called me from to see if they’d heard anything from him, but it never connected. I’d do it now, but you know…we’re off the grid.”
He perked up. “I’ve been thinking about that. Why don’t you change your voicemail message? Tell your dad we’re heading east, and he shouldn’t go to my parents’ house. When he finally gets to a phone, he’ll dial your number and hear your plans when he goes to leave a message.”
“It’s pretty brilliant, but I don’t have a signal,” she said, hopeful and disappointed at the same time.
“No problem. When it links back up, your voice message will automatically update. This way you don’t have to worry about it, for now.”
She was already tapping on her phone. “Dad, if you get this message, I’m heading east on a train. Please don’t go to Denver. TKM is trying to hurt us. They’ll try to hurt you if you show up.” She paused, thinking how to end it. “If you hear this, please tell me you’re all right. And tell me where you are. We need a new place to meet. For now, I love you.”
Grace almost hung up, but added one of her trademark claps, putting the game back in Dad’s court. Only then did she feel all right hanging up.
“You going to be okay?” Asher prodded, putting his hand on hers as she held the phone.
“It was a great idea, Ash. Let’s figure out where we are, and maybe I can update my message when we have a better place picked out to meet my dad.”
He withdrew his hand. “Sounds good.”
They walked next to a long line of oily, black coal cars.
Robert caught sight of them arriving. “Hey, you two.” He left his worker friends and met them next to one of the train tracks. “I’m glad you’re awake.”
She waved him off. “Where are we?”
The greasy man ran his fingers through his hair, then scrubbed his forehead with his sleeve. It appeared as if he’d already been hard at work. “We’re at the Sidney Progress repair yard. It’s kind of a sister shop to the one I work at in Denver. I’ve ferried cars up here for years. This is where they fix them up.”
“You went somewhere you were familiar with,” she said, knowing the feeling.
Robert nodded. “Bingo. Go with what you know. With all the shooting back in Denver, I’m glad to be out here in the wide-open country. However, I didn’t expect all this action. There must be a thousand broken cars here. A dozen engines are waiting to take them after the boys fix ’em.”
“What’s it all mean?” she asked, taking notice of how many cars were being serviced inside the machine shop.
“Every hopper car in America is being drawn into TKM’s asteroid dig sites, apparently. Mostly it is TKM doing the drawing, but other companies are trying to cash in by leasing their cars at ten times the market price of freight. It’s driven up the value of these busted cars…” He pointed all around them.
The whumping action of the helicopter rotors carried in on the air. Grace tried to ignore it for a few seconds, but it was unmistakably approaching their position. She pointed behind Robert. “I don’t suppose you also repair helicopters? It looks like they’re coming right for us.”
The older man turned. “Ah, a MH-60 Blackhawk. Like from the movies. If I had to guess, I’d say the military was doing a sweep of the area. I wonder what they want?”
Grace had other ideas. She tugged at Asher’s hand. “Let’s move.”
Near Columbia, MO
“After getting everything we needed to survive out in the wilderness, how the hell did we miss the most important thing?” Ezra asked as he, Butch, and Haley stirred in the early morning mist on the river.
“Coffee?” Butch replied.
“A protein shake?” Haley added, cuddling her puggle in her arms.
“No. Sleeping bags and pillows. Either of them would have made sleeping in the boat a lot less like the torture I endured last night.”
Haley sat up, stretching. “Eh, it wasn’t too bad. I guess I’m a little sore. I had this pack as a pillow.”
Butch laughed. “It wasn’t half as bad as Iraq. At least last night I was fairly certain we wouldn’t get shot at. There was still a slight chance, mind you, but that’s the cost of doing business with E-Z.”
Ezra realized he was the only one who’d been miserable. The two kids could probably sleep on concrete and be happy. They were young.
Last night, they’d sped upriver to escape the TKM search parties around St. Charles. They found fuel near Herman, Missouri, and traveled another forty miles before calling a halt. They’d agreed to hide the boat in a side channel and skip posting a guard, so everyone was able to sleep. Ezra was awake most of the night anyway, which was why he was the one to greet the others as they woke up.
“I’m going to let Liam do his business. I’ll take Victoria with me, too.” Haley slid the cat carrier to the front edge of the boat where it was easy to hop down onto the riverbank. She also pulled out a travel litter box and other gear, though Ezra had no idea what she planned to do with it.
Butch watched her debark as if she were the star of a popular TV program.
As soon as the young woman was out of earshot, he scooted closer to Butch. “Hey, I’m glad we picked up the extra passenger, plus her two friends, but I’m worried this is going to be too dangerous for her. We know there’s been a disaster in Kansas City. All the trash we saw floating by last night was enough