Burn (30 page)

“Simpler is better,” Sonja agreed. “But we’ll have to be older.”

“Oh, God.” Rena mocked a groan. “I’ve sunk to providing false ID for minors.”

Rena threw an arm around Sonja’s shoulders and gave her a hug.

“I’m really going to miss you two,” she said. “Nobody else alive can possibly know what we’ve been through, and what you two accomplished for the rest of the world.”

Harry cleared his throat.

“So, Scholz,” he said. “Why don’t you just stay with us?”

Rena Scholz shook her head slowly, and ran a hand through her buzz-cut hair.

“No,” she said. “No. I can’t do that, much as I’d like to. It would be desertion, you see, and I signed on to serve my country, not to leave it when it needs me most.”

“But you might be immune,” Sonja pointed out. “You’ve survived a lot of exposures. They’ll turn
you
into a lab rat.”

Rena laughed again.

“Yes, that’s possible. But that’s a service, too. And I agree with Marte Chang’s assessment—by the time someone comes up with a vaccine or a cure, this thing will have run its ugly course. Someone’s got to tell them how this all happened, so it won’t happen again.”

“Somebody’s got to take the fall, you mean,” Harry said. “They’ll pin the whole thing on you; you’re the highest-ranking survivor.”

Rena shook her head.

“No, Harry, I have to go back. Even if it’s to take the heat. I signed on for that, too, and I have to see this through. Your lives are just starting. Your father didn’t turn tail and run when he had the chance, and neither will I.”

Sonja saw Harry’s spine stiffen, and his lips compress into a tight line.

“He accused me of that, once,” Harry said. “‘Turning your yellow tail to run?’ he asked me.”

This time Scholz’s arm went around Harry’s shoulder.

“He told me about that,” she said. “While he was getting patched up after the ViraVax flood, he told me a lot of things he had done to you and your mother that he was ashamed of, and that was one of them. He loved you, and respected you—both of you.”

Sonja was glad that Harry hugged Rena back. Clearly, Scholz had been in love with Rico Toledo for a long time. Now, in his exhaustion, Harry looked more like his father than ever.

Harry must remind her of Rico,
Sonja thought.
I’ll bet that’s hard.

“Will you stay in touch, Scholz?” Harry asked. “We have a lot of scramble skills between us, and almost a thousand satellites to shuffle through.”

Scholz smiled, and kissed Harry’s cheek.

“I think we could arrange something,” she said. “You two . . . well, you’re the only family I’ve got. I couldn’t stand having you sail into the sunset without a trace.”

Sonja felt a wave of happiness break over her tiresome despair. Yes, it was true; she was not dying, after all, but preparing to be born. She followed the others below and snugged the hatch behind her. Then she sat at the table and sipped another coffee as she waited to find out who it was that she was going to be for the rest of her life.

Chapter 44

The Way of the warrior is death. This means choosing death whenever
there is a choice between life and death. It means nothing more than this.

—Yamamoto Tsunenori

Father Free jumped into the surf next to Rena Scholz and pulled their inflatable raft onto the pebble beach of Maude Island. The two of them collapsed against a grassy dune and watched the sails of the
Kamui
disappear into the haze that was only now beginning to blend into the overcast. No one challenged them on approach or on the beach, and Father Free knew by this that everyone inside Maude Island was dead.

Rena caught her breath before he did, and only then did he realize the excellence of her physical shape.

“I’m glad you married them,” Rena said. “At least we were able to give them
that.”

“Maybe they’ll get lucky,” he said. “But granddad’s President Granddad now, and he seemed pretty determined to find them.”

He smiled up at Rena, glad to be stranded with someone he liked and respected.

“Besides,” he said. “They can always come back here.”

“It’s pretty quiet here for a high-security facility,” she said. “What if they’re all dead?”

Father Free chuckled.

“Then I guess we have the whole island to ourselves.”

“You mean,
stay
here?”

“Why not?” he asked, and sat up. “I know the place; it’s got everything we’d ever need. If there’s a world left out there, they’ll come and find us soon enough.”

“What about the dead?”

“They’ll probably stay dead,” Father Free said, and laughed. “Harry had the right idea, after all.”

“What’s that?”

“He said something last night about Pandora’s box. ‘When Pandora opened the box, where was the safest place to hide?’ “

“I give,” Rena said. “Where?”

“‘Under the lid,’ he said. ‘Until they’re all gone; then you can hide in the box.’ “

Rena shaded her eyes and searched the area of sea where
Kamui
had been.

“So,” she said, “they’re going back.”

“It’s the life they know, with people they understand,” Father Free said. “Grandpa President can look the wide world over, but I’m betting that they’ll sail out their supplies and set up housekeeping back in Costa Brava. They have a coffee farm, a plane, new identities . . . I think they’ll do just fine.”

“And what about us?” Rena asked. “How will we do?”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” he said.

Father Free stood, brushed off his wet clothes and opened the plastic bag that he carried with him.

“What now?” Rena asked.

“Now it’s time to say a Requiem for the dead,” he said. “After that, it will be time to go on living.”

The End