Carrie Vaughn - Discords Apple

Finally, after driving all night, Evie arrived.

Close to town, bells and candy canes made of faded tinsel decorated the telephone poles. The same decorations had hung on the poles every year for as long as Evie could remember; they had no sparkle left. Or maybe she was too tired to notice. In the last two days, shed only had a nap outside Albuquerque.

Hopes Fort, Colorado, was one of those small towns that dotted the Great Plains, where Main Street turned into the state highway and the post office was attached to the feed store. Hopes Fort had been dying, one boarded-up building at a time, for the last fifty years. Still, somehow the town held on, like the aged relative whose chronic illness never seemed to worsen despite all predictions to the contrary. The holiday decorations, no matter how tattered, still went up every year.

Her phone beeped, and she hooked the hands-free over her ear.

Bruce scratched at her on the other end of the connection. Evie?

Bruce, speak up. The connections funky.

Have you seen the news? Panic edged his voice. Shed been out of L.A. for only two dayswhat dire crisis could possibly have struck?

No, Ive been driving all day.

You havent even listened to the radio?

No. Rather than try to find radio reception while driving through the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico, shed depended on her digital player.

He made a noise like a deflating balloon. The Kremlins been bombed. Obliterated. A Cessna filled with drums of kerosene rammed it. Theyre thinking its Mongolian rebels.

She took a moment to register that he was talking about current events and not a plot point in their comic book. Then our May storyline is out the window.

The Eagle Eye Commandos couldnt raid the building complex if it wasnt there. She should have seen this one coming.

Yeah. Unless we can put some kind of how things might have been spin on it.

We did that when India and Pakistan dropped nukes on each other. Why dont we do Westerns like everyone else?

Because we got a letter from the President thanking us for our patriotic creativity.

I didnt even vote for him.

Then maybe its because we sold half a million copies last year.

Oh yeah. She pressed her head back on the headrest, stretching her arms against the steering wheel. She had to drive all the way through town to get to the farmland on the other side, where the familys house was. The town looked desolate; she hadnt seen anyone even walking around. At least the issue hasnt gone to press yet. So. The Kremlins been bombed. The Eagle Eyes can still raid it. They just have to search the rubble. Well look really up to date.

It sounded silly, but then all Eagle Eye Commandos storylines started out silly. Working them through to the end with some degree of earnestness transformed them somehow, from adolescent military fantasies towell, sophisticated military fantasies. They could search the rubble for... for hidden evidence on the whereabouts of captured American spies, which was what the original storyline had them looking for. They wouldnt have to change a thing. Except all those gorgeous panels Bruce had drawn of Red Square would have to go.

Im going to have to redraw the entire book, arent I?

Ill e-mail you a new script in a day or two.

Yeah. Hows your dad?

She let out a sigh. I havent seen him yet.

Well, good luck.

Thanks.

She clicked off her phone and rubbed her eyes.

The Tastee-Freez where shed spent so much time in high school was gone, the ice cream cone sign on its pole dismantled. Nothing had moved in to replace it. The hokey ice cream stand had been the only place to hang out, unless one of your friends had a car to drive into Pueblo, an hour away. More kids must have had cars these days. Or Hopes Fort had fewer kids.

Since high school, shed only been back here for holidays, when the town was at its bleakest. No wonder it always depressed her. But maybe she wasnt being fair.

Halfway down Main Street, a cop had set up a roadblock: a single hazard barricade pulled into the middle of the pavement. The one officer manning the checkpoint climbed out of the car, which was parked on the curb, and held up his hand, directing her to slow down.

Smiling, she stopped and rolled down her window. Well, Officer. You got me.

Evie Walker? Hell, its been years!

He wore a starched blue uniform, but the blond crew cut and bulky shoulders were the same. Johnny Brewster had been a linebacker in high school. Hed gotten a little rounder in the middle since then.

Who thought giving you a badge was a good idea?

Me and some of the guys had a little too much to drink and drew straws. I got the short one.

Ouch.

Can I get you to pop your trunk while we talk?

Checkpoint searches. In Hopes Fort.

Amused, she popped the trunk lever, then climbed out of the car. She put her hands in the pockets of her green canvas army surplus jacket and leaned against the door while Johnny opened the trunk door and made a survey of the contents: two filled gas cans, blankets, a roadside emergency kit, and odd bits of travel detritus. Her suitcase and a few gallon jugs of water were in the backseat.

Thanks, he said. A lot of folks arent this understanding.

Im the last person to complain about security.

He looked away and muttered, I guess so.

With better checkpoints, her mother might still be alive.

You have a permit for the extra gas?

Shed brought the gas because she hadnt wanted to face fuel rationing or closed gas stations on the drive across the desert. The slip of paper was in her glove box. I didnt think security restrictions would be in effect out here.

Rules are rules. We have to keep track of people coming in and out of town.

So shouldnt you have roadblocks at either end of Main Street?

He shrugged, unconcerned. We only have enough people for one checkpoint.

They have real checkpoints in L.A., she said. And lots of them, at every major exit and interchange. It sometimes took all day to get from Pomona to Hollywood.

I bet. They also have a reason for em. I dont know how you stand it. He slammed closed the trunk. Hows your dad?

This was Hopes Fort: everybody must have known about him. I havent seen him yet. You probably know better than I do.

He says hes fine.

That sounded like her fatheralways cheerful. I should probably get out there.

Johnny pulled the barrier out of the way (L.A. had automated titanium barriers) while she got back in the car.

Thanks, Johnny.

For three generations, the Walker family had lived in a brick ranch house on a few acres of prairie. Evies grandfather had grown up on the farm the land used to be part of. The farm had long since been broken up and sold, except for the token parcel and the house to which her grandparents had retired. Theyd died when Evie was in college. Evies father had lived in town and worked as a mail carrier until five years ago, when he took his own place in rural retirement.

Evie still thought of it as her grandparents house, a place she went to for holidays and backyard adventures. Her father hadnt changed it much when he moved inhe took over the furniture, the heirlooms, the pictures on the wall, the shelves full of books. At first, Evie had had trouble thinking of her father as anything more than a house sitter there. But over the last couple years, when she noticed that his hair was gray and that he had started wearing bifocals, he reminded her more and more of her grandparents. He had stopped being a visitor and metamorphosed into the houses proper resident.

She was his only child, and the house would come to her someday. By the time she retired, thered be nothing left of Hopes Fort and no reason to be here. Except it had been the place where her grandfather and father had grown up. She supposed that meant something.