Chapter 19

“Sal sends his regrets for the day,” Aubrey said as she snatched a piece of brie and tomato from the plate on the kitchen island. “It seems that all of us are somehow mired in this China brouhaha.”

“You should not have invited him here in the first place,” Nicola said. Mikel could see that her anger was simmering, but she was in control again.

“You have to face your demons sometime,” Aubrey said, wiping her lips delicately with a napkin. She checked the napkin for lipstick afterward.

“I would prefer to face him in a courtroom with him sitting at the defendant’s table, mother. As you always say, context matters.”

Aubrey turned to Mikel. “You see again, a little bit of education is a dangerous thing. They start thinking for themselves with the unreasonable expectation that they are always right. Nicola, you can discuss it with your father when he arrives.”

“Mr. Yarwood is expected to arrive today?” Mikel asked.

“Yes, he cannot do anything more in the city,” Aubrey said. “Even with the sophistication of the communications boards in his office, no one is getting through and now Japan, India, and Australia are shaky as well. We both agree there is no sense fretting over the situation when nothing is going to change today other than battening down the hatches. A dip in the pool and drinks are the order for the evening.”

Mikel picked up a grilled cheese sandwich from a platter and wended his way through the house to the pool. Sitting in a cushioned deck chair, he took a bite of his sandwich. He almost spit out the bite in surprise as real cheddar cheese flooded his taste buds. He remembered this taste when he was seven or eight years old sitting on the back steps of his house. He had been kicked out for muddy shoes when guests were coming for dinner. His mother had been so angry he was afraid to ask for another sandwich.

He switched on his phone. “Ned? Did the shit hit the fan?”

“The blades, the base and the gears,” Ned said. “What do you want?”

“I have updates for Hyun, but she isn’t answering,” Mikel said.

“Yeah, some of the mobile phones have ceased functioning as the day continues,” Ned said. “I guess foreign spyware is a real thing after all. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary are calling you to church.”

“Here they call it ‘a dip in the pool with drinks,’” Mikel said. “Are you able to pass updates to her?”

“I’m looking at her across the room,” Ned said. “People are hunkering down in place, going to ground as it were. The west side is moving again even though the sewers are not repaired from the storm water overflow. One of the north-south roads is miles of porta-potties lined up, one after the other. Great photos though.”

“Sounds resourceful and yet unsustainable,” Mikel said. “The wife and kids?”

“She is standing in line at her suburban grocery store, stocking up on the essentials again. I told her to buy rice and potatoes and she’s yammering about yogurt and low-fat milk. God help us all.”

“God or the A.I’s,” Mikel said. “Transfer me to Hyun, please?”

“The world’s fucked, Mikel. What do you have?” Hyun said.

“Whole continents are closing down their airspace and nations are shutting down their international communications links,” Mikel said. “I heard your cell phone went to shit.”

“Did I not tell you an epoch ago that the Chinese were everywhere? Now we all know they were everywhere and now they are nowhere to be found. We, my friend, are in deep, deep doo-doo. Anything from your A.I. friends?”

“They went offline in the middle of a conversation,” Mikel said. “Double deep doo-doo.”

“Have we reached your Nexus point yet? Inquiring minds want to know.”

“No. I will receive a specific communication when we hit that moment. I’m sitting in the lap of luxury with a front row seat to watch the end of the world. As the slow rolling boulder approaches, the inattentive children are playing their silly games in the field.”

“Leave them be, Mikel. Let them enjoy their last minutes of innocent play,” Hyun said with a sigh. “What should I do?”

“Get out of the city with a bicycle. I stopped in a quiet, half-abandoned town with a defunct university surrounded by farmland and mountains when I left the hospital. Downing is the train stop. I recommended it for a friend, but now I’m thinking the town is a good place to start anew, that is should we all survive nexus.”

“I’ll consider it. Want to know what’s really freaking people out?” Hyun asked. “The federal government has said nothing but ‘we’re studying the situation as it develops’ and ‘we have no constructive comments at this time.’ All people hear is that our government has no clue and no clue of what to do. The lines are already ticking up at the stores.”

“Run, Hyun,” Mikel said as crows chased each other across the lawn from tree to tree. “I just got a text, gotta run.”

He read the text twice as he tried to comprehend what Bass Clef wanted him to do. He rose reluctantly from his beach recliner and went in search of Nicola. She had resources and maybe, transport. He found her upstairs with headphones on, staring out the window.

He tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you up for a short road trip?”

“Hell yeah,” she said. “Where to?”

“I’m not entirely sure except to say the location is relatively close if we can drive,” Mikel said. “Car?”

“My electric vroom-vroom is in the carriage house,” Nicola said. “Can you drive? These meds leave me questioning my reflexes.”

“Do we need to tell your mother?”

“No, we’ll tell Louisa though. She’s my non-bio mother and the only one I can rely on,” Nicola said. “Let’s get while the getting’s good.”

“Micky Spillane? You’re quoting pulp mysteries?”

“I may be a drug-addled princess, but I can still read, dumbass,” she said as she tossed the headphones on the overstuffed chair. “You made the offer; now, move your ass.”

After slipping out the kitchen door, Mikel was scratching his head in front of the opened garage. “A pickup truck? The princess drives a pickup truck?”

“Chalk it up to my teenage rebellion,” Nicola said. “Daddy likes that it’s big and sturdy; mother pretends that it doesn’t exist. Louisa likes it because I can’t cram the cab full of friends who will distract me.”

“I knew I liked that woman,” Mikel said as he plugged his phone into the cradle on the dashboard.

“Choo-choo, muthafucka,” the deep bass voice blasted through the speakers. “ETA is forty-two point five minutes. When you arrive at the street, turn right.”

“Lower the volume, Bass Clef.”

“What is this app? It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard,” Nicola sang.

“Thank you, my beautiful lady,” Bass Clef said. “Your eyes are like sparkling sapphires resting in limpid pools of the clearest waters. Your voice is a sweet call in the dead of night that sets the world aright when all is almost lost and near forgotten.”