Eden's Hammer - By Lloyd Tackitt Page 0,7

and he was enjoying himself more than he could have ever hoped to in the pre-grid failure world.

He walked up the two flights of stairs to his floor. It was shared only by the radio operator and a guard watching the operator. Rex had discovered the operator on one of the earlier raids on individual homes. The man had a top-notch ham radio setup. Instead of letting his men rape the women and killing all of the family as usual, he saw an opportunity. Rex had the equipment and the operator moved to the third story of the mansion. The equipment was set up under the operator’s direction and the antenna was installed on the roof. The operator lived in a small bedroom with the equipment, typing reports on all the traffic he heard on an old manual typewriter. The operator’s loyalty was assured by Rex’s holding his family hostage in a nearby house. The operator’s family was provided food and water and was kept under guard at all times. Occasionally, when the operator brought in especially interesting news, he was rewarded with a short visit with his loved ones. Rex had instructed the guard to ensure that the operator didn’t make up stories in order to see his family.

JANUARY 15, AFTERNOON

Rex was relaxing in his office after granting audience to the usual stream of informers. At three o’clock in the afternoon, the operator brought in the day’s dispatches. Rex took the typed paper from the operator and grunted, his way of dismissing the man. He settled back in his chair, putting his feet up on the desk, and began reading. There were the usual reports from around the world. Ham operators were an unusually resourceful and independent lot. Many of them had managed to scrounge up a source of electricity one way or another, usually using car batteries and inverters, and would go on the air briefly to announce and describe the local goings-on in their area. The stories were similar: mass starvation, and gang violence over food.

Third world countries had been the least affected by the huge coronal mass ejection as they had had little to no reliance on electricity before the grid went down, but raiding gangs still appeared as governments disappeared. From time to time, Rex would get news from his own area that was useful, so he kept the radio operation going around the clock. One report segment caused a stirring in his subconscious, something nasty started squirming deep in his mind. A man in Colorado was reportedly taking on a large cannibal raider gang single-handedly. Not only had he taken on the gang, but he was doing it with primitive weapons, and was apparently winning. Rex immediately wanted to know everything he could about this man. His subconscious was ringing a loud bell, and Rex never ignored those signals.

He quickly stood and went to the radio room. He told the operator, “I want everything you can find out about this Colorado mountain man, every detail there is. Get your transmitter running and question the operators out there. Track down every rumor and story you can. Report to me in detail. You get enough information, and your family will get extra food and you can spend a night with them.” He turned to the guard. “Vet everything—every report, every transmission, and the typed report.” Rex walked out, not waiting for a reply.

Twenty-four hours later, the radio operator turned in a one-page typed report. The information was still sketchy, but one fact sent wild electricity surging through Rex’s nerves: the mountain man’s name—Adrian Hunter. Rex lost focus for several minutes while he absorbed the information. His obsession blinked and came out of hibernation with a roar.

JANUARY 16, AFTERNOON

Rex sent for the operator. “Double rations for your family for a week, and you can spend the rest of today and tonight with them. Show the guard how to operate the receiver and tell him to take notes on anything remotely related to this man, and anything else out of Colorado and Waco areas, too. Tomorrow morning, you’ll resume. From now on, the only thing I want you to concentrate on is this. I want full reports every time you get more information. Otherwise, stay by the radio. Get enough information, and you’ll get to spend more time with your family.”

It took a full week for Rex to get a reasonable idea of what Adrian was doing. During that week, a plan was forming on how to find