Authors: Thomas Koloniar

Cannibal Reign (44 page)

T
here were dozens of gulls in the sky as Marty Chittenden and Shannon Emory disembarked from the
Boxer
, walking the ladder leading down to the pier. They stood off to the side watching the birds for a long time, unable to take their eyes off them. The only other wild creatures they had seen in the last year were rats, and the sounds of the gulls were like sweet music.

“Nobody knows where the damn things came from,” said a voice from behind. “They just showed up one day.”

They turned around and there was Ester Thorn, bundled up in her coat and leaning against her cane.

“Holy shit,” Marty muttered, a grin coming to his face. “It’s really you!”

“Who is she?” Emory asked.

“It’s Ester,” he said, walking over to the old woman and giving her a hug.

“You look ten years older, boy. Turned you into a man, hasn’t it?”

“Not the kind of man I ever wanted to be,” he said, turning toward Emory. “Ester, this is someone I’d like you to meet. Shannon Emory. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had. We’ve been taking turns saving one another’s lives.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Ester said, taking her hand. “Pretty thing.” Then she turned and gestured with her cane at all of the construction taking place around the harbor. “Take a look at the new power grid we’re building! It’ll be the most efficient grid there’s ever been. Of course, for now we remain largely dependent on the Navy’s nuclear reactors to pick up where the wind farms leave off, but it won’t always be that way. We’re harnessing the tide, Marty. Our engineers believe we’ll be drawing up to eighty percent of our power from the sea within the next five years. After that, who knows?

“Of course, I won’t be here to see it,” she added. “But you will, Marty, and don’t worry about a thing. Everyone in these islands knows who you are now, and they know they’ve got you to thank. I’ve made sure of it.”

“Ester, all I did was spot the rock.”

“No, son, you did a lot more than that. You got this grumpy old woman up off her ass and sent her to Hawaii to carry out your vision.
Your
vision, Marty. This sure as hell wasn’t mine. I would have said to hell with it all. And now, with a little honey here and a little honey there . . . you’ll keep the Naturalist Party in power for the next twenty or thirty years. The Federalists are growing weaker every day now.”

Marty laughed. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“You will, son. You will. There’s a lot to do—a lot for you to live up to! This is your baby as much as it is mine, and now you’ll have to help me raise the damn thing. I didn’t turn the Navy around and give up one of my destroyers for you to sit on the beach and watch the lava cool.”

Emory chuckled and bumped Marty with her shoulder. “Told you,” she said. “There’s still a need for your skinny ass.”

“Captain Bisping!” Ester said suddenly, a scowl coming to her face the moment she spotted him coming through the crowd.

Bisping touched Andie’s arm and asked for her and Trinity to wait for him. “Madam President?”

“Captain Bisping, I’d like to know just who exactly that goddamn
Christmas
greeting was intended for!”

“Well, it was intended for you, Madam President,” he replied equably.

Ester laughed aloud and clapped him on the shoulder. “Old Longbottom thought it was meant for him!” she cackled, leaning heavily into her cane. “Boy, you should have seen the look on his face. He got so red I thought he was going to have himself an apoplexy. Honest to God! I told him, though. I said, ‘Oh, Admiral, don’t think so damn much of yourself! That message is meant as an affront to me. I’m the fool who sent him out there with only one escort! Not you!’

“I’ve apparently got a lot to learn about military matters, Captain, but you and I, we know how to talk to one another. There’s no messing about with you. We’ll get this fleet allocation business worked out in a way that we can all live with. Don’t you worry. You’re hugely popular now, Captain. A bona fide hero of the deep!”

By now Bisping was grinning, seeing easily into Ester’s political stratagem. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I don’t suppose I can talk you into giving up the
Boxer
for a cabinet position, can I?”

“Madam President, I’d rather be keel-hauled.”

She cackled some more, saying, “Well, then I’ll get as much mileage out of you as I can whenever you’re ashore. How’s that?”

Then she took him aside, saying in a low voice for only him to hear: “Maybe you could suggest to the admiral that he send his
requests
through you in the future. It might keep things running a little more smoothly—provided he thinks it’s your idea.”

“Ester,” Bisping said, “suppose we let him think it’s
his
idea?”

She laughed and squeezed his hand. “We’re going to get along fine, Captain, you and me. Be sure to come by the hotel in the morning, will you? I’ve got a meeting with Longbottom about this supposed Chinese threat, and I want you there for it. I’m half worried he thinks we should invade.”

“The admiral may have some extreme ideas,” Bisping said, “but he knows the sea.”

“The sea!” Ester said, pointing at him. “He knows the sea, sure enough. But the man’s got no vision. We need people of
vision
in these islands. I keep saying it!”

She turned around and put her hand on Marty’s shoulder, dismissing Bisping almost out of hand. “Marty, I haven’t felt this good in years,” she said, taking his arm and leading him up the pier toward a waiting black limousine. “Now, I want you to come along with me. We’re meeting Harold Shipman over a late lunch—he’s the man who put me into office—and I don’t want you to worry about your friends. They’ll be fine. You’re all staying in my hotel for the first few weeks until we get the kinks ironed out. The people want to see you all and to get to know you. And I want you to tell me about these Green Beret friends of yours too. All of Honolulu’s talking about the five heroes who built some kind of an ark beneath the ground. It’s craziness, I know, but the people need heroes these days, Marty. They need the inspiration to keep them working!”

Marty looked back over his shoulder at Emory, shrugging in a gesture of helplessness.

Emory laughed and waived him goodbye as Ester pulled him into the backseat after her, still talking a mile a minute as Marty closed the door.

Acknowledgments

T
hank you, to the following . . .

My parents for putting me through college where I came to love this craft, which so many of us slave over, willingly, like oarsmen rowing for our very lives.

Alice Austin of Manchester High School, the first to indulge the earliest scribblings of a fledgling writer.

Professor Robert Pope of the University of Akron for all of his guidance these many years. No writer could ask for a better mentor. No student could expect a finer teacher. And no man could hope for a truer friend.

Elicia Skelton for restoring to me that which I had lost. Mere words cannot adequately express the depth of my appreciation for your appearance on the scene. My finest wishes are with you always.

Lisa Cron and Doug Michael for their many hours of diligent work and, most of all, for believing in me.

My agent, Ian Kleinert, for believing in this story.

And finally, Dr. James Helmuth and Mr. David Lynn Jones . . . for saving my life.

Just as I have attempted to demonstrate within the pages of this novel, no one is an island, and no one does it alone.

About the Author

T
HOMAS
K
OLONIAR
is a former police officer from Akron, Ohio. He now lives in Mexico.
Cannibal Reign
is his first novel.

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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

CANNIBAL REIGN
. Copyright © 2012 by Thomas Koloniar. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062136435

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062025821

FIRST EDITION

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