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I could see her mind racing and waited for her to say something.
She nodded after a moment. “Sharing the news of the immune woman will work for us. Whether they believe it or not, I’ll insist on establishing communication with your group. That will give us time to continue working on the vaccine. And if you’re still willing to leave for supplies, that will enable you to gauge what’s happening outside the barrier for yourself. Do you agree?”
“Yes,” Molev said. “But I would like one more thing. The three of us need to start planning how we will move the volunteers I’ve selected from here to Whiteman. We need to save as many as possible.”
A heavy silence settled over us, and I watched Waurlyn look down at the table briefly. She understood what Molev was asking her to do and why now. But would it be enough to gain her cooperation, or would she toe the line those above her had drawn.
“How soon do you think we’ll need to leave?” Waurlyn asked, looking up again.
“Sooner than either of us would like,” Molev said.
She tapped her fingers on the table, deep in thought.
I glanced at Molev. We were still four weeks away from our original six-week mark goal. Was he moving up the timeline, or did he simply want to be prepared? After today’s high number of accepted volunteers, I suspected it was the former option.
“Any emergency evacuation of the personnel from here would be nearly impossible with most of the aircraft allocated to supply retrieval and transport to the sanctuaries,” she said. “However, if you’re leaving on supply runs and I request more airlift support for that, no one will deny me. Irwin likely wouldn’t be the waypoint, though. That would mean moving the personnel from here to a primary waypoint.”
“Like Gypsum was?” I asked.
“Exactly,” she said. “Somewhere inside the barrier with enough room to accommodate everyone. But any waypoint would question housing unnecessary personnel. So they need to be necessary. We can train your volunteers and ensure they all have a purpose. The team working on the vaccine will be the hardest to move.”
It sounded like Waurlyn was committing to us completely with those words. Her body language and calm demeanor made it hard to say for sure, though.
“Your people will be unable to choose between food and a cure when supplies are running low,” Molev said. “To have both, I believe they will be willing to allow the team to come to me to obtain their samples.”
Waurlyn smiled slightly. “You’re a smart man, Molev. I hope I’m not misplacing my trust.”
She stood, a clear signal that we were done for now.
“I have messages to send and a lot of moving pieces to arrange. Continue with your normal routine for now. I’ll let you know when I have a supply location set. Will you want your team to go with you to the waypoint, or will you want them to stay and continue evaluating volunteers?”
Molev and I shared a look. We needed more people if we were going to leave for good.
“I should stay,” I said. “At least for now.”
“For now,” he said with a slow nod.
“Good,” Waurlyn said. “We’ll talk soon.”
Soon.It was something people said instead of eventually. So I told Molev we should return to the training course.
A decent number of soldiers had joined the team on the field. Too many to have any kind of confidential conversation. Nodding to Roni to indicate everything was fine, I joined in with what I could.
A vehicle showed up a few hours later, and the driver jogged over to Molev.
“Waurlyn’s made the arrangements. Everything is in place to fly you out just after dark.”
“After dark?” I asked. “Tonight?”
The man nodded.
“Waurlyn wanted to get him in place tonight so he can leave whenever he’s ready.”
Or because removing him would be the best way to ensure no one would try taking him into custody. Especially if he was in the middle of rounding up food.
The soldier looked at Molev. “Thank you for your service, and be careful out there. I’ll be back to pick you up at dusk.”
He started walking away, and Brandon, who had been nearby, jogged over.
