Cascadia Fallen: The Complete Trilogy, page 59
Stu took a slight breath and then sighed as he looked down at the floor between them all. “I do like being here, but…I have to go. I hope you guys understand.”
“We do,” Josh said, trying to get his two cents in. “I’ve thought a bit about this since our last talk.” He looked at Phil, who gave him a small nod. “I want to go with you.”
Stu was dumbfounded. “G-go with me? Why?” He realized that must have sounded rude. “Sorry. That came out wrong…but…why would you do that?”
“Don’t get all emo, Doc,” Josh said, chuckling. “It’s purely self-serving! We’ll get your folks and bring them back. That’s all.”
“Ohhh, you don’t know my mother,” Stu said, shaking his head skeptically. “She’s not leaving. She might even stay out of spite just because I suggested she leave.”
“I get that, Stu,” Phil said. “But you might be surprised. If your parents are faring well, you might be surprised how much their perspective has changed. I mean—how much have you changed in a month?”
Stu was silent in contemplation. “You’d really go with me?” he finally asked.
“Yep. I might even drag my nephew along.” He thought of Phil’s recent escapade when he said, “There’s strength in numbers.”
“When do you think we could go?”
“The sooner the better,” Josh said.
Phil concurred. “I’d like to run you through a little training first. Make sure you can be useful in an ambush,” he explained. “But in a couple of days, I’d think.”
Stu thought about it, before standing up and sticking his hand out. “Thanks, Josh. I’d really appreciate it. I learned a couple of weeks back just how...” He froze up thinking about what had happened to Carmen. Josh and Phil looked at each other and then back at Stu. “Something happened to my travelling partner that…forever changed me.”
Josh shook Stu’s hand. “You don’t have to explain, Doc. We’re all changing.” He looked at Phil. “And in some ways for the better.”
Payton and Tony’s big “common” still had some minor details to finish before it would be one hundred percent complete. That wasn’t stopping the celebration, though. The sheriff and several of his deputies had come out earlier in the evening. So had the leaders of several other groups on the peninsula, including the sheriff from nearby Mason County, Skinny Kenny, Gary Stonefence, and several others. It had been a productive day, which began with a service for the seven killed in the action—four range members and three Guard personnel. Gene Hackett had volunteered to lead the service. They also commemorated that it had been one month since the events had started. Plans were made for another get together for Thanksgiving in just a couple of weeks.
Eight had been wounded and had been transported to the temporary hospital at the Camp in Bartlett. It was the first example of how the agencies and civilians began to work together. “The summit” was not just discussing procedures and protocols for peacekeeping, but how to address crimes of need. People were going to starve in the coming months, there was no debating that. Better to solve that issue than arrest people. Josh instructed everyone in the methods that they had started mapping and scavenging. There were no more food banks and EBT cards—those with food were going to have to help those without. It was better for everyone to think it through together. There was a lot of work ahead of them.
After the guests had left that windy and wet evening, Josh and Payton sat near the one working fireplace in the new common. The roof was working well—it was dry and cozy despite the wind and rain. Their lawn chairs were touching. Payton reached out from under her blanket and over the armrest to Josh’s chair, grabbing his hand. She pulled it back with her, under the blanket, placing it on the kicking bump in her belly.
“Whoa!” he said excitedly. “That was a big one!” The flames danced off the small tuffs of hair sticking out from under her beanie. Josh slowly pulled himself up and leaned over the armrests of the two chairs. He put his rough hand along the side of her jaw and neck softly, pulling himself over for a kiss.
After he relaxed and leaned back, Payton said, “It’s about time, soldier. I was about to send out a search party for your sex drive!”
He laughed and smiled. “Ummm, sorry. I’ve just promised myself after two failed marriages and a bad bout of drinking that I would never make the same mistakes again.”
“You think I’m a mistake?” Payton asked sharply.
“No. I think I am.” She looked hurt. “I was the problem in both of my marriages…the common denominator.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Bryant,” Payton said. “I’m not looking for a husband. It’s just lonely here at the end of the world.”
Josh thought about his words carefully. “Look, I don’t know all the answers. I don’t even know the questions. But…I’ve had something going on lately in my heart…my mind. When I’m around you, I feel…” He shook his head. “Forget it. It sounds cliché and corny.”
“You don’t get off the hook that easily, mister!” she said. “Keep going!”
He thought some more. “I guess I feel…hope. I think that maybe, just maybe…I’m not meant to live the rest of my life alone.” He looked into her eyes for a long silence, watching the fireplace in them.
“Maybe when you and the doctor get back, you can think about moving into the insulated cargo trailer with me and Savannah,” she suggested. “Get to know each other a little better when she’s at school!” she teased.
He laughed softly. “I have to be honest with you. This thing I’m feeling…it’s bigger than me. Kind of…spiritual, in a ‘12-Steps’ kind of way. With everything that’s happened, I’ve come to realize that I’m looking for something I’ve never had.”
“What’s that?” she asked, grabbing his hand again.
He paused for a bit, finally admitting something he’d told nobody. “Happiness,” he explained, looking into the fireplace. “It’s almost like my life got a reset button when the quakes hit.” He could see she was still missing the point. “I want to find God,” he said openly and honestly. “I need to get my head wrapped around life, death, what comes next…” He could see she was hurt. “I still want this…thing we’re doing. I just want it to mean something. To know that it will last the rest of our lives. For the first time in my life, I want to be in a relationship built on friendship, not sex and emotion.”
“Sounds to me like you’re looking for your soul mate,” she joked.
Josh fell silent and looked into the stone fireplace once more.
You’ve found her, you jerk, she thought. How long will it take you to realize that I’m in love with you?
Tahoma’s Hammer Plus 29 Days.
“You bring them back safe to us!” Payton joke-scolded Stu.
Stuart laughed. “I will.” There was a small crowd bidding him, Josh, and Jeff a safe trip. The three of them plus Charlie and Phil were getting ready to get into the deputy’s SUV.
It had taken Eli teaming with Josh to convince Alana to allow the seventeen-year-old to go on the mission. Jeff had proven very capable in Savannah’s rescue and the attack on the meth-heads, but to Alana he was still a baby. Even Grandpa Don wasn’t a fan of the idea. It ultimately took Eli’s experience rescuing Phil to convince Alana. She was at the departing ceremony in the parking lot, giving Jeff the evil eye. “If anything happens to him, don’t bother coming back,” she said coldly.
Josh gave a little chuckle, “I know, sis, I—”
“Not joking, Joshua Bryant.” She looked at Eli. “You’ll wish you’d never met me, too,” she said bluntly.
“Mom! I’ll be fine,” groaned the tall, blonde youth as he rolled his eyes. He leaned close to his mother for a hug and kiss to take the heat off his uncle and dad.
Charlie walked over to the group. “You guys all packed?” He glanced over at the open rear hatch on the rig where Stu was putting his bag inside.
“Think we got as much as we can reasonably carry,” Josh said. He and Jeff started loading stuff into the back.
Phil walked over and mumbled into Josh’s ear, “Let me help you with that, brother.”
“Huh?” Josh almost laughed. “I got it. It’s just a pack and a rifle.” He had a “what’s up with you” look on his face.
“I don’t think you’re receiving my transmission,” Phil said, casting a purposeful glance across the parking lot at his daughter and granddaughter.
Josh followed Phil’s gaze. “Awww…Roger. Wilco.” He strolled over to the two ladies in his life.
Savannah grabbed him around the waist. “I wish you didn’t have to go,” she mumbled.
Josh tried to cheer her up with a smile. “I won’t be long, sweetie. I just want to help the doctor and get him home safe and sound.” He looked up at Payton.
“Be careful. Come home,” she said, trying to not seem worried in front of her daughter.
Josh reached out and took her in his arms, giving her a sensitive kiss goodbye, not too long and not too short. “We’ll be home in a few days, week at the top.” He broke his grip and headed towards Charlie’s rig. He looked back and smiled. I could get used to all this attention!
The three travelers piled into the middle bench, while Phil rode shotgun. He and Charlie were on a mission from the sheriff to begin recruiting for the north end posse. They would give the guys a ride to where a barter-for-ferry service had sprung up near the now un-drivable Hood Canal Bridge.
“You set, Doc?” Josh asked Stu as the short doctor was being squeezed into the middle like they were heading to Grandma’s for Easter lunch.
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” Stu gave Josh a meaningful glance. “Thanks for doing this.”
“No worries, Doc. Just promise me you can talk them into coming back, would ya? We’d kind of miss having you around here!”
“I’ll try,” Stu said as the five men departed the safety of the property. With the fanfare of a departing cruise ship, the green SUV started making the bumpy trip north on the Canal Vista Highway.
31
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.”
—Archilochus
Tahoma’s Hammer Plus 30 Days.
“What is a posse?” Rey heard his boss, Javier Ortiz, on the other end of the HF radio ask in Spanish. Both he and Rey had taken the hand-held microphones over from their radio techs so they could talk directly.
“It’s like when the American cowboys would follow their sheriff on a manhunt for a bank robber,” Rey explained. “Citizens with guns.” Javier actually keyed up his mic to laugh, Rey could hear.
“Careful, Reynaldo!” he warned jokingly. “They might run you back to Mexico on horseback!” He busted up laughing again. “Don’t the idiots know that you obliterated their police?”
Oooo – need to reign that in a bit. “Only one portion of them, Jefe. Remember – that was just North Seattle.”
“But that’s the biggest city, Rey…” His boss’s tone changed. “Don’t tell me that you’re having apprehensions, my friend,” he warned.
“No, Jefe. I just want you to remember that there are police and Army units in many locations we still need to contend with.”
“Then why are you focused on this posse, Reynaldo?”
All business. Good—he’s listening. “Because that is the wild card, Javier. Once they figure out how to organize, they’ll become an insurgency against us. Guerillas…” he explained. “We need to find the biggest one and set an example—just like with the local gangs.”
“So why that one over on that peninsula?” His boss had clued in on Rey’s concern. “Why does that one way over there make you worry, my friend?”
“Our sources tell us they are resourceful, well-trained, and…”
“And what.” It wasn’t a question.
“And they just struck a pact with the local police. They’re joining forces. They’ve figured out how to bridge the divide with their elected officials. Soon they’ll be providing the necessities for the people.”
“Come on, Reynaldooooo,” his boss said skeptically. “They don’t have ships upon ships of food and medicine like you do! You’re over thinking this. Stop worrying about little fish.”
“No, Jefe. I agree that they’ll have a rough time at the start. What worries me isn’t what they do—it’s what they believe…what they know. They won’t just feed their own poor—they’ll teach those poor to feed and protect themselves. They’re going to remove the dependent mentality that’s required for our business model to work. This, Jefe. This is why I want to start with them.”
“So—what is your plan? You certainly can’t take everyone over there. You need to hold the area you’ve gained, too.”
“I have a plan to draw them out to me, Jefe. But first I need to gather some information from them.”
“Captain, I don’t need your excuses, I need your results,” General Russel Driscoll told Navy Captain Marie Darnell via the secure video chat. “I want the Halsey certified for return to the fleet in three days! Clear?”
Three days! What are you smoking, General? “Crystal, sir. I’ll need to talk to my chain about using some war-time waivers to make some of the tests and signatures disappear.”
“Go ahead, Marie. I guarantee you they will approve.”
“General, I understand need-to-know, but is there anything you can give me that will motivate my people? They’ve been burning the candle at both ends since the beginning, sir. I’m not sure if you remember that a lot of them lost their homes seven weeks ago.” Oops. Shouldn’t have said that.
The general in charge of all things military in the entire Pacific sighed and looked down briefly. “Captain, I know you regret saying that just now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’re trying to get the task force re-loaded and turned around. And we know that your folks are heroes. We won’t forget. Just let your team know that getting their jobs done now is the most important mission the shipyard has had since the last world war.”
The ‘last’ world war. Marie caught what the general was throwing out there. “Roger that, sir. We’ll have her ready for Captain Hawke to steam in three days.”
“Good. Now. Have you figured out a plan for the El Paso?”
“She’s too far gone, sir. She’ll make a fine parts boat for the rest of the fleet, but the reactor was too badly damaged. We burnt through a lot of people’s exposure limits getting her stabilized and buttoned up from the rain.” Marie knew she had to tread carefully. “Sir—all due respect, I think I need to impress upon you that this shipyard is rapidly approaching a point of diminishing return if the Feds don’t get some relief in here. My workforce is depleted, sir.”
“Understood, Marie. I’ll relay your concern to the Joint Chief Chairman tonight. Regarding the El Paso, I want you to get every usable part and classified piece of tech you can off her.”
“Sir? That will be man-power intensive—”
“I know, Captain. I get it. I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that we have a watery grave in store for her. You should consider this your highest priority once the Halsey sets sail.”
“Martinez!” the Damage Control Locker Lead Petty Officer called out to Carmen. “Good job. Way to step up!”
“Aye, LPO. Thank you.” Carmen never even looked up from rolling the hose back up into a donut. Just as every Marine is a rifleman, every Sailor is a firefighter. When the supercarrier U.S.S. Halsey was at General Quarters—battle stations—Carmen was assigned to one of the many damage control teams. Her primary job during those drills was to operate the valves that charged the fire hoses. Since returning to the ship, she had found a new passion for perfection.
Her shipmates were surprised she had come back, assuming she’d made it home on leave before Tahoma’s Hammer fell. She was a different person—harder, meaner. She’d told none of them what she’d endured on the trip back. When they asked what coming all the way back had been like, she would just say, “Leave. Go find out if you wanna know so badly.”
Carmen had thrown everything she had into being the best—at anything. It didn’t matter what the task was—cleaning the deep-fat fryer, chopping onions, or rolling firehose. She was never going to be in a position to rely on anyone again. If her life was on the line, she wanted to be the person people asked what to do, not the person who had no idea what to do.
Most Sailors didn’t value physical training as much as the Soldiers and Marines did. Carmen broke that mold. She was up at 0330 every morning except Sundays, working out. That way she would still be ready to start working in the galley by 0500. She was one of the breakfast and lunch cooks. After 1400, her day was usually over. She threw herself into the damage control manuals, learning every aspect of the job—firefighting, flooding, hull patches, and shoring. She was on a personal mission to cross over to the Damage Controlman rating—she was done with cooking.
There were many ways Carmen could have reacted to the atrocities that happened to her. She chose strength, knowledge, and perfection. Carmen was a warrior, and her leaders were starting to notice.
Tahoma’s Hammer Plus 32 Days.
The patrol being led by Tyler Wilson was scouting a line of homes four miles north of the range. They were in a hilly area, horrible for radio communications. Some of the driveways were long, and so to make better use of time, Tyler had reluctantly agreed to split the team and work both sides of the road in two pairs. They had parked the truck near the main road and hiked in. The other pair were two of Lonnie’s family—Kendell Kramer and Julia Everly. They had agreed to try to maintain radio chatter every fifteen minutes.
Tyler and Gene were working together, something that neither of them particularly wanted. Tyler could tell by the way that Gene talked that he’d finally figured out he was gay. Gene wasn’t rude, but he was definitely not as sociable as he used to be. He spoke as if he was always talking to a cop or lawyer, carefully choosing his words. In his own mind, Tyler kept asking himself if he was guilty of the same judgmentalism that he felt Gene had.
