Donovan O'Niel's Arc

Chapter 9 of 11

By midmorning the truck rolled up to the Atomic Cats Trade Emporium. The strip-mall ran long, red and grey brick under a camouflage-tiled roof. Signs marked each section: radio, trade, repair, sleeping quarters. Donovan climbed out and read the whole front like a schematic. Somewhere inside that building was the key to his network. Mary Long guided the three wounded traders toward the repair wing, where a medic waved them in. She counted her patients off to the staff, clipped and sure, then looked back once to confirm the team had cover. Inside, the bar hummed with traders and salvagers. A grey-and-orange cat in a tan safari shirt leaned on the counter, swiping a tablet with one paw. He looked up before Logan reached him. "You're the Rangers off the caravan hit," he said. "Word travels faster than you drove." This was Otto Morgan, who ran the Emporium's radio feed. He set the tablet down and pulled out a battered field notebook instead. "The tower," Donovan said. "We came for the tower." Otto flipped the notebook open. Pages crowded with handwriting, old ticket stubs, call signs. "Twenty years we've run a live sports feed off that tower. WADC, WKLM, WMLB." He tapped a line of notes. "It's not just metal on a hill. It's a working backbone. The Cats keep it humming." Donovan leaned in. "Can it carry more than ball games?" "It already does." Otto turned a page. "But here's the rule. We close tower access at night. Ghouls on the roads, same ones that hit your traders. We open it early, first light." He jotted a note to himself without looking down. "You don't reach it today. Nobody does after dark." Logan studied the ledger with a salvager's squint, reading what wasn't written down. "So we wait," he said. "Story of my week." Kira set her pack on the bar. "Look, waiting I can plan around." She pulled a folder and started logging the schedule Otto named. "Fixed open and close times. That tells me everything about how they run it." Her pen moved fast. Then the dash radio behind them crackled. Logan stepped to it. A voice came through, hurried but easy, a friend's voice. Brad. Donovan watched Logan's ears come forward. "Message is for me," Logan said after. "Brad says wait here today. Tomorrow morning, go to the tower. Ask for the Cats' area commander. Amy Gill." He almost smiled. "Brad knows her from Broken Hill. Says she's a good friend. She'll open the door for us." Donovan let out a breath. No forcing the gate. No cold pitch to strangers. A name, a friend, a scheduled morning. He folded the trader's map back into his case. "Then we camp here tonight," he said. "At first light we meet Amy Gill and make that tower ours." Kira closed her folder. "Hah. Now that's a deal I'll shake on."