“Yep, and the damn thing seemed so real, I can’t believe I’m here with you two now.”
“Can you get back to sleep Dad,” Sarah asked.
“Let me have the gun, Sarah. I need a weapon I guess, like a small child needs a teddy bear.”
Sarah retrieved the pistol she had taken from Jack earlier. She handed it to her Dad butt first, as she had been taught, with the chamber checked and empty. He took it from her, and hugged her to him tightly. He released her after a time, and repeated it with Jake.
“If ever there were a premonition of shit on the horizon, I would have to say I’ve been warned.” He let Jake go, and then grabbed both of them around the shoulders.” I love you both; and when I see you, I can still picture the two of you running around at my shop, so little… so damn little.” He released them. “I know you both can take care of yourselves. Humor me. Let’s stick together wandering around in this complex. Anything you see that appears out of kilter, tell me. Trust nothing.”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Sarah said seriously. “It was just a dream. We’ll be fine.”
“I’ve had dreams before Sarah. I never had anything like this, and I don’t want to ignore it. You two get some sleep. I think me, and Wolf here, are going to stay up for a while, and wait for my hands to stop shaking. I’m going to take some more aspirin anyway, and give it time to work. I tensed up like I was in a plane crash, and it didn’t do any good for my ribs. Goodnight kids, sleep in if you can.”
“Goodnight Dad.” Jake waved, as he turned towards his bed. “I hope you can sleep too.”
“I will, boy. I will see you both in the morning. Wolf and I guarantee it.”
Both kids laughed, and went back to bed, leaving Jack and Wolf together on his bed. Jack decided to return to the bathroom where he took more aspirin. He then doused his face once more with cold water. He could still smell the fear on himself, but he didn’t want to have his ribs re-wrapped before morning. He used a washrag the best he could, and sat with Wolf on his bed. He wished he had a novel or something to read, but he settled for stroking Wolf, until exhaustion finally claimed him. He slept dreamlessly until morning.
“Good morning Dad,” Sarah said. “I have coffee for you. How do you feel?”
Jack’s eyes came open slowly. The lighting in the room was still turned down, and Jack could see Jake making his bed. He could smell the coffee. He could also feel every ache and pain from the top of his head down to his toes. Wolf lay happily under his hand. Jack reached over, and took the steaming cup from his daughter.
“I feel okay. You, my dear, are the greatest. Have I slept in very long? It feels about 8:30.”
Sarah laughed. “How do you do that? Anyway… you call 8:30 sleeping in? For your information, you’re seven minutes off. Here are some more aspirin. I figured after you get loosened up a little, we’ll take the wrap off, so you can take a shower.”
“Yes! Aspirin and coffee, um… um… good. What could be better?”
“In your case, not much,” Jake said as he came over. “Can we go out with Wolf, and scout around the area?”
“Let me ask Tom when I see him at the meeting. I’ll let you know afterwards.”
__
Later, while Sarah and Jake waited in the outer office, Jack sat quietly, as Doctor Morrison examined him.
“Do you feel as bad as you look,” Dr. Morrison asked smiling, as she re-wrapped Jack’s rib cage.
“Living inside takes some getting used to… who knew? Jesus, you smell good,” Jack stated, trying to change the subject.
“I heard you didn’t sleep well last night. Would you like something to help you sleep?”
“I’ll be okay. We had a few hard days at the end there, and it caught up with me. I’ll do better tonight.”
Dr. Morrison finished with the wrap, and then examined the side of Jack’s head. “Most of the swelling has gone down around your head wound, and it’s scabbing over nicely. Are you sure you don’t want some surgery done. The scalp wound over your ear, and down your jaw line, will stay bare. Even when it heals, it will leave a very noticeable scar.”
“I earned it, Doc. I guess I’ll keep it. On the other hand, I’ll have to live with the pain in my ribs for a couple of months, if memory serves.”
“I’m afraid so Jack. You’ve had some experience with rib injuries, huh?”
“I have. My son and daughter can wrap me up from now on, Doc. I’m sure you have more important cases. You don’t seem to have much of a nursing staff here.”
“We still have a hospital ward here. The nursing staff works most of their time in there, unless I need a hand. I do think you’re well enough to get wrapped on your own though. I would like to see you before you leave the complex. If the scab starts to bother you, bathe it in peroxide as we talked about. That will speed up its falling off.”
“That sounds good. Thanks.”
“If you change your mind about something to help you sleep, let me know.”
“Thanks Doc.” Jack stuck out his hand, and Dr. Morrison took it firmly in her own. “I’ll see you before I go.”
Jack put his shirt back on, and started towards the door.
“Captain Kardel wants me in on your meeting later, after he fills you in on present day reality. I’ll see you then.”
Jack looked back at her curiously, and then he smiled, and waved acknowledgment. He walked out and found Tom Kardel in uniform, waiting with his kids. Kardel stood up and shook Jack’s hand.
“Did you check out okay?”
“As well as can be expected, Captain.”
“Ready to catch up on the State of the Union?”
“If you have a pot of coffee, I’m your man,” Jack replied.
“The kids told me you had a bad night. We can put this off for a while if you want.”
“No, Tom, I want to know all you’ve got, and where we can fit in. By the way,” Jack turned the instant Vulcan Death Stare in the direction of Sarah and Jake. “Did you two pass out flyers about my sleeping habits, or do a PA announcement?”
“Turn off the stare, Dad,” Sarah ordered. “You’ll live through the embarrassment.”
“Okay, for now little missy, but payback’s a bitch. You two can take off for now, and see how Wolf’s doing. I’ll go with the Captain.”
__
Fifteen minutes later, Jack sat in Captain Kardel’s office drinking coffee. The Captain laid a file marked Top Secret, Eyes Only on it, in bold red print, on the desk in front of him. “I checked your military record, and you held a Top Secret Clearance, while on duty aboard the Aircraft Carrier you were assigned to. I’ll leave you with this for a while, and come back, and then I’ll answer your questions.”
“Fair enough,” Jack agreed. He opened the file, and began speed reading through the papers. He stopped, and reread parts in amazement, before continuing on. He felt like cheering in some parts, and crying in others. The file read like a convoluted Tom Clancy novel. As he waited for the Captain to return, he thought of the tiny thread of common sense sanity, which separated victory from defeat.
Captain Kardel found Jack doing slow pushups, and cursing the pain it caused his ribs. Jack stopped, and got back up off the floor, smiling self-consciously. “I was trying to stretch a bit. You put this file together, didn’t you Tom?”
“I did. I felt better knowing you found out what happened, with back up evidence, rather than me shooting my mouth off.”
“You did a hell of a job, my friend.”
“Hard to believe, is it not?”
Jack nodded in agreement. “A General in the Joint Chiefs listens to a farfetched idea, conceived by a lieutenant working in CIA Special Ops. In the end, they manage to plant agents in the engineering departments of the companies Clinton let sell super computers to Red China. The chip architecture of those super computers allowed us a heads up on everything. Unfortunately, for a large part of our population, Clinton held up movement on preventing the virus attack, by refusing a first strike
. I guess he didn’t need any of his scandal headlines off of the front pages. If it had happened during the impeachment proceedings, he would probably have ordered them to obliterate China.”
Tom laughed, and then said seriously, “do you really believe Clinton did it all on purpose?”
“The Joint Chiefs didn’t let him in on their operation with the CIA, until it was time to move militarily, and they couldn’t get around him. If they could have, they would have certainly prevented the loss of millions of lives. Clinton held up action until it was too late,” Jack pointed out. “Let me ask you Tom, “why do you think he did it?”
“Why bother with that now Jack? He’s dead, along with many people we loved, and millions more we didn’t. My entire family died in the first week; along with people I knew all of my life. I hope Clinton rots for all of eternity in the seventh level of hell, but what does that have to do with the price of potatoes?”
“You’re right, Tom… well put. With all that went wrong, I should be grateful for how well things came out. I just hope if all goes well, we as a people will never again put a dishonorable miscreant like Clinton in charge of anything, let alone the Presidency of the United States.”
“We have a lot of enemies out there Jack, but they know after all we’ve done, we are crazy enough to blow the hell out of anyone who even blinks their eyes at us. General Anthony warned everyone through official channels, we would launch a first strike against any threat, or hint of a threat. Naturally, Iraq and Iran, whom we suspect had agents in on this from the beginning, challenged the edict. Tehran and everything around it, including Iran’s vaunted defenses were vaporized. We knew they had been infiltrating everywhere. Baghdad went next within hours. General Anthony ordered the satellite photos of those attacks sent as proof we mean what we say. The governments of Iran, Iraq, and Syria have been overthrown. The Red Chinese are no longer a force of any kind. We hit them with everything we had. Believe me when I say this, Jack: the Red Chinese now know what biological warfare means. They now also realize what MIRV guided, multiple warhead, long range delivery truly can do.”
“How do we stand on resources?”
“Many of the factories have been converted to National Defense, and we have been stock piling fuel. Everyone serves in one way, or another. Power and water facilities are under heavy guard, and we execute violators of security policies. The farming regions have been supplying more than enough to feed our somewhat reduced numbers.”
“Sounds like a good start on the road back, Tom. Where do we go from here, and what can my little band do to help?”
“We have trouble in some of the larger cities, and surrounding areas. The gangs have taken advantage of the almost nonexistent police presence. Foreign soldiers, and infiltrators from our supposedly friendly South of the Border neighbors, along with military units retreating through the country, are hiding amongst the gangs that are left in the cities. If we send in military units, the people are going to resent it.”
“I’m sure everyone loves a gang full of renegade foreign soldiers,” Jack countered.
“It sounds wild, but the gangs keep to themselves, because everyone has a gun. They don’t terrorize individuals, but we have acts of sabotage we can trace to them. We need agents in place, the people will trust, who can weed out the enemy.”
“You need help in the Bay Area?”
“Exactly, but only if you’re comfortable with it. You would have unlimited authority and support. There have been attempts on the refineries, and the armories we have re-commissioned. The Naval base in Alameda has been fully reactivated, and has been the target of several acts of sabotage.”
“Full authority to do what exactly?”
“Anything you deem necessary, and NSA credentials to clear your actions with the local police. They have enough to worry about, and will be glad for the help.”
“We’re not cops Tom.”
“We don’t need cops, Jack. Frankly, we need killers, and we need control of our cities. If anyone in an official capacity gets in your way, you will have a number to contact. We will deal with them. The NSA credentials should work in most cases.”
“You want us to work as your personal assassins?”
“No,” Tom answered calmly. “You wanted a way to help. I want you to work doing exactly what you have been doing, killing the enemy. We just want you to do it from home.”
“I get it. Leave It To Beaver meets Rambo, huh?”
Tom laughed. “You don’t have to do it Jack. Thanks to your capture of Dr. Chen, and those computer files, we are in the process of cooking up antidotes for everything they have. You can all go home whenever you like, with no strings.”
“I’m in,” Jack said. “I’m goal oriented. I like the one step at a time approach, but I will need credentials for everyone, if I’m to sell this idea. I would also like to recruit John Liang, the soldier we captured. I speak Spanish, but I need someone I can trust, who speaks Chinese.”
“You want licenses to kill for your children, and the release of an enemy soldier who you shot?”
“Tom, my kids have more confirmed kills than you have fingers and toes. They follow orders… my orders. As to John, some things just feel right. If I’m mistaken, I will be the one to pay for it. How about it?”
“Agreed. I will have some trouble getting the soldier released, but it can be done. We also need you to set up Dr. Morrison in a well-secured clinic, where she can get an operation developed to distribute the antidotes we come up with. She can also help with any medical problems, which you incur. She has authorization to hire, and train, as many assistants as she needs. Your kids might like her line of work better.”
“I want them to learn it too. They can help with both, and guard the clinic. I’m going to want a whole lot of equipment to do this. Will there be any trouble getting me what I want?”
“You can have anything but nuclear weapons, how does that sound? Just come up with a list, and we will get it ready, along with anything you brought in with you. Shall I call in Dr. Morrison, so we can discuss an outline of what we want to do?”
“Sure, but the first thing I want explained to her is the chain of command. I don’t want any misunderstandings. She is to follow my orders to the letter. I promise I don’t order anyone without cause, but I don’t want anyone ad-libbing the script I give them. Chances are we will never come to cross purposes, but I only want one opinion at the end: mine. Can she do that?”
“She was aware of who would be in charge, but I will remind her of it right now. Tom leaned down and worked the intercom, Sergeant, send in Dr. Morrison.”
Dr. Morrison walked in smiling, and nodded at Jack, before shaking hands with Captain Kardel. She took a seat near Jack. “He knows about me coming along to start a clinic?”
“Yes, and Jack said he would present this to his family, and get back to us on it. Jack will be first in the line of command, and you will not have to deal with anyone else, if he takes the job. Can you live with that?”
“Yes Sir, I can take that if Jack can, but I thought this was all settled.” She turned to Jack, “I thought you were in charge of your unit. They all act…”
“We’re a family Doc,” Jack interrupted. “They follow my orders in the field, and we have been in the field for a long time. I promised I would let them know how things are. We have been out of touch with people, and I want to give them a voice in this. I don’t even know if they want to go back with me. I can give you an answer before the end of the day, if that’s okay.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like it did. Because of the Scientist you and your family brought in, I can go into the field, and prevent almost anything they throw at us. It will be different from standing helplessly by while I see thousands die. You know the Bay Area, and I figured I would have the easiest time getting things started with your help.”
“I will tell you this Doctor, no matter what my family decides, I will help you get started. I’m going back into the Bay
Area, and I will take you with me, whether my family goes or not, but I have a feeling I can sell this to them easy.”
“Good,” Kardel joined in. “We will wait for your word on this Jack, and please make up the list you will need if they agree.”
“Jack,” Dr. Morrison called out, before Jack could get to the door, “can I walk you up to your room?”
Jack smiled. “Sure. I was wondering how the hell I could get there without a map. If I can use the phone, I’ll call the kids, and get everyone down to the mess hall for another meeting. You and I can talk while we wait for them.”
__
Fifteen minutes later, they were sipping coffee in the mess hall, while Sarah rounded everyone up to meet them. Dr. Morrison spoke. “I know you probably think I’ll be a liability, but…”
“Woe, Doc,” Jack interrupted. “I wanted to make sure you followed orders, in situations where a mistake could kill us. Your mission sounds a hell of a lot more important than mine. They want you to save lives. I will have to settle for taking as few as possible.”
“I’ve been following orders Jack. I have a real chance to make a difference.”
“You’ll be in charge of everything except when I say there’s danger.”
“Of course, I hope your family will agree to this.”
“They will. We have a home there, so if we have trouble, they know we will be defending our home. I’ll tell you one thing, Doc, once I get back down out of these mountains; I ain’t going back up, except to visit. I’m too old for another wilderness relearning stint. The next death stand I make, I’ll be doing it in my living room.”
Dr. Morrison laughed as she stood up. “I don’t think you’re as old as you let on. I see your family coming. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? We can talk again then.”
“You’re on, can I meet you here around six?”
“Sure, I’ll see you then.” She waved at Jack’s crew as they came up, and she moved away.
Chapter 16
The Family and The Date
“You rang Master,” Mitch said. He hunched over with his hand up like a claw, and his face twisted into his Egor imitation. After the laughter subsided, they all got something to drink, and sat down.
American Survival (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 5) Page 18