Free Gone to Ground by Cheryl Taylor Page B

virulent disease that they were more than willing to let anyone who acted as though he knew what he was doing take charge. The concentration of the population of southern Nevada and the adjoining areas of California and  northwestern Arizona had gone much easier than Rickards had ever imagined possible. Nevertheless, a few holdouts remained and now he asked impatiently for the deputy’s report on the most recent excursion of the exorcism team.
    “Team A surprised a small group of ghosts northwest of here about ten miles,” Knox reported. “They were well armed, with weapons apparently taken from abandoned homes and businesses in the area. There were five adult males and two adult females, as well as three children, two of them infants.”
    Knox paused. “What was the result?” Rickards rapped out.
    “The adults put up a fight, and all seven were terminated. The three young children were brought in and taken to the Nursery. After the fight it was discovered that this was the group that intercepted the supply shipment from the Elko APZ two weeks ago. They had the truck with all the food hidden in a large barn on the property. It has been recovered and brought in.”
    “Good,” said Rickards . That was the worst thing about the ghosts. Until the government was able to get the farms and factories back up and into production with a limited task force, APZs were forced to be extremely careful with the food and other goods that had been on the shelves prior to the climax of the disease when all production and importation halted. These ghosts had probably stolen enough food to last them six months to a year, while others here in the APZ went without .
    Deputy Knox stood at attention, waiting for a dismissal from the captain.
    “One last thing before you go, Knox,” said Rickards, “Has there been any word of O’Reilly?”
    “From what we can tell, O’Reilly made it out of the APZ, probably through the northwest entrance. We think from there he headed north, but it’s not certain.” A slight note of amazement crept into the deputy’s voice. “He’s done an impressive job of hiding his tracks, sir. He just seems to have disappeared into the back country. There have been no suspicious sightings on the seekers, nor have any of the patrols caught wind of him.”
    Rickards’ stomach soured again at the thought of O’Reilly, gone without a trace. With the information the man possessed, he was a danger that the authorities could not afford to leave at liberty. The odds were, with his taciturn nature, O’Reilly might easily head somewhere remote by himself and never encounter another human. However, recently he’d seemed different, less the self contained hermit, although he didn’t interact any more with his fellow Enforcers. But there was that girl in isolation at the nursery. He left her there, though, when he disappeared. He couldn’t have been that invested , Rickards thought.
    It had always been hard to understand what was revolving in O’Reilly’s mind. There were rumors of a tragedy not long ago in his past that changed him. Hard to say if those rumors were true, since no one here knew him before the creation of the Enforcers and the concentration.
    Hell, he thought, no one knew anyone here before the concentration. Survivors were too few and far between for it to be anything more than chance that someone might know another person in his unit.
    Considering his options, Rickards said, “Have someone see if they can do some research into O’Reilly’s past. There might be something in the personnel file that would help us understand him and where he’s headed. Go back as far as possible. There’s got to be some clue about where he would go.”
    Deputy Knox nodded and, saluting again, turned to leave.
    “Knox, tell them to make this a priority. We have to find him and either bring him back in for questioning, or eliminate him all together. Am I understood?”
    “Yes, sir,” Knox stated, standing again