Later in the afternoon, Jim repeated his performance with the forsaken, asking them to work in agriculture until the vaccine was available, otherwise to use any specialty skills they might have to help rebuild the country. After so many lean months, they were ready to move mountains for anyone who would promise them food, but Jim knew that it would take more than that. He promised reassignment after the vaccine to those who wanted it. He also reviewed infection prevention measures with them.
By the time he finished, the forsaken were every bit as willing to move mountains for him as the forgiven.
JUNE 3rd
Jim placed Jake in charge of the Flagstaff effort and was pleased to see immediate results. The forgiven were being sent out in working cars and trucks to evaluate farms, clear roads, scavenge equipment, and look for more survivors. Ranches and farms that could be made operational quickly were slated for forsaken contingents. In some cases, the forsaken were sent out that same day with truckloads of supplies. It was late in the season for planting, but it was better now than not at all.
Jim was encouraged by the progress, but the scope of the tasks remained daunting.
Will was waiting for him. "Hey Reaper, what's going on?"
"You probably shouldn't call me that, boss."
"Oh. Wish you would have told me sooner."
"It's just that I got the name in college ball, but it stuck because of some ugly things that I've done since then. You don't want to be caught calling me that on video."
"Okay, Will it is then. Thanks for letting me know."
"We've noticed something really interesting about the ethnicity of survivors we're finding. It looks like Native Americans are almost immune to the virus."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know," said Will. "God has a sense of irony? More of the local Hopi and Navajo have died from running out of insulin than from the flu."
"Can we get them working for us?"
"We're trying. They're fully aware how valuable they just became."
Jim said, "Good! And it's about time, too. Can you find out who I need to talk to in their communities? I want some of them working with me and with Jake. Are they getting supplies?"
"It's already in the works."
"Thanks, Will. This is incredible news!"
Later in the day, Jim flew to the Hopi reservation and met with the tribal chairman, Daniel Honanie, his son, Leroy, and several other members of the tribe. Jim found that he warmed to them quickly.
After discussing their situation, Jim said, "Right now I have to focus on saving as many lives as possible. It looks like Native Americans have a natural immunity to the disease, which means that you have freedom of travel that most of us won't have until the vaccine is widely available. I need all the help you're willing and able to give, especially with transportation issues. I don't expect to have a tremendous amount of power in the long term, but I will do everything I can for you whether you can help us or not."
Daniel looked at him and said, "We've heard that before, white man." As Jim's face dropped, he said, "Oh, just screwing with you." The entire group laughed. "Of course we'll do what we can, but we're going to hold you to your offer to help."
Jim laughed, too. "You had me going there. That was painful."
"Imagine how we feel," said Daniel, dryly.
"Point taken," said Jim.
"The land that we lost was sacred to us. We're not just connected to it. It's part of us and we're part of it. It's like losing an arm or a leg. You don't have to understand, but I ask that you do everything you can to return our land."
Jim paused. "It would seem that there are a lot less people needing land. I don't see any reason why land can't be returned to you, though there might be issues with where and how much. It's not an area that I know much about right now, but I will do whatever I can."
Daniel looked at him and said, "I believe you will." He looked at Rob intensely and turned back to Jim. "And I think you have much more power than you know. I'd like to send George here with you to represent us. We'll pass the word on to the other tribes in the area."
Jim shook his hand and said, "Thank you. I brought satellite phones so you can stay in touch. Let me know what you need and we'll get trucks on the way to you with whatever we can put together. I'm going to try to get aircraft for you so you can start pulling in other tribes as well."
George left with Jim and Rob on the Black Hawk. He was in his early thirties and Jim immediately noticed that he was well educated. On the flight, Jim told him, "I'm going to be using you as a liaison with the tribes but I also need you as an advisor. I'm thinking we can change a few things out there."
"I would like that, Jim."
"So what's your education?"
"I'm the tribal attorney."
Jim laughed and said, "I'm happy to hear it. Welcome aboard!"
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
JUNE 4th
Matt, Luke, Julio, Will, Stew, Jamie, Manny, Rob, Samantha, and four forgiven volunteers were among the first to travel to Phoenix. The volunteers didn’t need it, but everyone else had received the vaccine. The first group in was dropped at the airport and was tasked with clearing runways and setting up a base camp.
Within an hour of landing in helicopter area, Julio and Will had been able to start two tractors and put the volunteers to work on moving planes. Rob took Matt and went searching the smaller hangars for smaller aircraft that were functional, while Luke and Jamie climbed into one of the towers to stand watch. Stew and Manny went to work on refueling the chopper.
They now had working satellite phones, though the network was very small. Rob called Helen and Julie to let them know that it was okay to start the trip down in the Piper. He looked forward to having them there. He also called Jim to update him.
Once the Airport camp was set up, they would start working on the Arizona State University camp. The idea was to collect people and move everyone who was willing over to rural farms or to support positions. People who weren’t willing would be given a strong lecture as to how crime or interference with the rebuilding could be dealt with by immediate execution. Once they agreed that they understood, they would be turned loose and left to their own devices.
This time, supplies were delivered by C5 cargo aircraft. Rob had the supplies unloaded in front of a large empty hangar. The first flight in brought a squad of Marines with it. Rob would have liked more, but they were severely limited by the lack of available vaccine. Still, he was happy to have the Marines there.
The first civilian survivors showed a few hours later when an SUV drove up to the airport fence. Julio instructed them to drive around and come in the cargo entrance to the airport. It was a Hispanic forsaken family. Julio gave them food and questioned them about survivors in the surrounding area. They described seeing survivors, but being afraid of them. They had witnessed Hispanic gangs executing all other races and any Hispanics who wouldn’t join. Julio thanked them for the information.
Will and Stew gave them food and drinks, and set them up in an airport lounge for the time being. He also filled them in on the plan for the next few days.
Rob called Jim to report about gangs. “It’s bad down here. We’ve gotten a report of Hispanic gangs slaughtering all other races in the area.”
“It’s credible?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause, and then Jim responded, “You have my authorization to execute gang members of all races on sight. Specific gang tattoos are sufficient evidence. Other tattoos are not. Make sure people know the difference. I’ll have Al put it in the log.”
“Will do. You’ll take hell for it later, but it’s right.”
“Remind me of that at my war crimes trial. I’m sending all of the forgiven who are willing to go. I’ll send them by bus down to the pickup site. You can shuttle them from there.”
“Thank you.”
When Julie and Helen arrived, they refueled and Rob sent them back out in the Piper to fly the sky banner, �
�FOOD AT SKY HARBOR & ASU.”
Rob dropped Matt, Julio, Will, and the forgiven volunteers with several cases of MRE’s and bottled water to the ASU campus and set down in an open area. Survivors soon began to trickle in. One of the first was a small group that was obviously on reconnaissance for one of the gangs. Julio took them into a room to talk to them then shot all five of them from behind with a silenced pistol. A search of the bodies revealed that they had been armed to the teeth.
Afterward, Will called Rob and said, “We’re going to need that manpower soon, boss.”
Rob was already picking up the first group of 12 forgiven with their equipment and ammo. He shuttled the first two groups to Julio and then started alternating between sites.
Rob called Will between flights to get a status report. Will said, “The gangs are sending small groups in to try to infiltrate. We’re taking them into interior rooms and using the silencers on most of them. We’ve interrogated a few. The plan is apparently to hit about 3 in the morning, take the supplies and weapons, and then fight a guerilla campaign for the city. They were trying to get enough inside to make it an easy victory.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“There’s more. A lot of these folks are from the cartels. There is no border anymore, so the fallen are coming up from everywhere. There are thousands of them now.”
“Just what I needed to hear. I’ll line up reinforcements. You’re authorized to do whatever you have to do.”
“Roger that.”
Rob hung up the phone. Shit. This is going to be ugly.
Rob called General Whitman directly and requested any available help. Hopefully it would be enough.
At midnight, an Osprey landed and was directed to an empty hanger. Whitman had come through with a platoon of Marines, infantry and snipers.
Captain Young was in charge of the Marines and asked to report to Colonel Mullins immediately. Rob was delighted to receive the information that armed drones were already overhead monitoring enemy movements closely.
Will brought out aerial map of the airport area, pointing to one section and saying, “Our interrogations of gang members indicated that the gangs would be meeting first then moving into positions to launch the attacks in this area sometime around 03:00.
Young opened his laptop and pulled up an infrared view from one of the drones. “This will be their primary meeting place, then,” he said as he pointed to a group of at least 250 gathering at a parking lot in a warehouse district about two miles away. Pulling up another screen and pointing out a number of heat signatures, he said, “They have scouts all around the airport. The snipers should be able to take care of most of them without a problem.
On a third screen, there was another large group formed near ASU. Young continued, “Now these folks are going to be more than your guys can handle. They’ll have to be taken out from the air.”
Rob said, “Good work Captain. Get your men set up and launch on your judgment.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The Captain walked over to the Marines in the front part of the hangar and started giving directions.
Young ordered the missile strikes as soon as the snipers were in position to protect the camp. There were loud explosions in the distance and rifle shots nearby as the snipers killed off the enemy scouts. In a few minutes, it was over. Both enemy concentrations were eliminated and the stragglers were tracked through the night to see where they would go.
Once the stragglers made it to an area with several people, that site was taken out as well. Rob cringed, knowing that a certain number of those were going home to their families and that missile strikes would be taking out noncombatants, but this wasn’t the time to be screwing around.
Will reported a quiet night after the missile strikes.
JUNE 12th
The gangs were offered the option of leaving the United States via Mexico by whatever transportation they could find. Jim ordered food and fuel to be left periodically along the route. Rob asked him, “Are you sure about this? We just let them go?”
Jim answered, “They slaughtered American citizens. Of course I’m not going to just let them go.”
Ambushes were set up in desolate areas and the gang members were never given a chance. Those who attempted to flee elsewhere were eliminated as soon as they were far enough from the city to prevent collateral damage.
Those tasked to carrying out the ambushes were sworn to secrecy on the matter. Jim knew that word would get out, but a year down the road didn’t matter. Right now, on the other hand, mattered a great deal. I'm not letting any of those murderers away if I can do anything to prevent it, thought Jim.
He moved his headquarters to Sky Harbor Airport and soon had Phoenix more or less subdued with the help of Cobra helicopters from Yuma. Jim was very happy to see Luke Air Force Base back in their control even if it would be a while before it was functional again.
Vehicles with loudspeakers were driven through neighborhoods with loudspeakers announcing that the city was under control of the Federal Government.
The forgiven and the forsaken were asked to work on necessary tasks. Most were eager for to join in and be fed. The freeways and main roads were soon cleared enough that they could be used and semis were being repaired for use hauling goods and produce.
In Tucson, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base remained locked down and its personnel were anxious for a real mission. Jim requested that it shut down the border to prevent any further cartel members from crossing north. General Whitman gave orders for patrols of the border with armed drones and gave authorization to fire on anything unauthorized coming north across the border. Discretion about warning shots was left to the pilots.
Jim had set up his headquarters at Sky Harbor Airport. At the morning meeting, Jim was insistent on getting the power grid up and running. “You can’t have a desert city without water, and we can’t pump water without power. We need Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant up and running.”
Al said, “It was shut down after the EMP and much of the staff and their families were squirreled away at Luke, then moved to Davis-Monthan.”
Jim responded, “Get them vaccinated and get them out to the plant. Top priority is getting power to the water pumps. We need water or the city won’t survive the summer. In the meantime, get some water trucks filling the ponds at the power plant. Use lake water if need be. I want a realistic estimate on how long it will take to have basic power as soon as you can get it for me.
“Next priority will be transportation of food. I need someone working on the railroad system. Replace whatever we have to on the engines, jury rig if we need to, but we’re going to need those trains running. Same thing for any trucks and buses we can manage to get working.”
Dave said, “So far we’ve been able to pull in a few diesel mechanics and we have them working on semi tractors. Can we pull from the military?”
General Whitman was on the large monitor at the front of the room. “I think we can arrange to loan you a few. You’ll need to figure out how to repair the trains and what can be worked around. Once you have that, let us know how and we can fly mechanics out to the trains that are stuck so we can get the tracks clear.”
Jim answered, “Sounds good. I want to get into Las Vegas and on to California as soon as possible. We need to keep the momentum going. We need to clear the freeways as soon as possible.”
Rob said, “I have teams working on that now.”
“Okay, what about vaccinations?”
Whitman answered, “Production is coming along steadily. We should have about 8,000 more doses for you in the next few days.”
Jim thought for a moment. “Al, what is our total population now?”
“We’re up to 27,437 registered between Sky Harbor, Luke, and ASU, and the other centers we’ve opened. We anticipate that increasing to about 40,000 in the next few days.”
Jim said, “The population was over 1.6 million.”
Al continued, “There will be
another 10 or 15,000 that won’t come out until they have to, but there won’t be any more than that.”
The room was silent for several seconds as the numbers sank in.
Rob asked, “Why are the numbers so low?”
Al answered, “Food and water ran out while the flu was still working its way through the population. All efforts to organize were overrun and eliminated by the gangs, who took everything and killed anyone they wanted.”
Jim stood and addressed everyone at the table, “This is where things get brutal. We have a short time to get agriculture up and running, and we don’t have enough food to support the population we have here for many months. George and his folks will help, but we can’t grow enough food in this area to meet all of our need.
“We’ll put people out on small farms to start producing food, but the bottom line is that we have to have large factory farms working and transportation systems functioning. That means that we’ll need to leapfrog into areas like Southern California and the Midwest in order to get food production working while we provide enough security to prevent people from setting up shop as local warlords.
“General Whitman, I’ll need as much coordination from your people as possible to identify the appropriate farmland and to transport people quickly.”
The General said, “Not a problem, Director Ambrose.”
“Is everyone here clear on their tasks?” After getting affirmative answers from around the room, Jim said, “Let’s wrap up then unless there’s anything else.”
General Whitman said, “One thing, Director Ambrose. We found someone I want you to meet.”
The door to the conference room opened and a man in a black suit was brought in by two National Guard troops. General Whitman continued, “This is Tom Hunt, former Secretary of State and currently the Governor of Arizona.”
The Governor walked up and shook Jim’s hand. “Director Ambrose, I want to personally thank you for what you’ve done for our state.”
Jim said, “Thank you Mr. Governor,” but he was actually wondering whether the politician was going to help or hinder his job.
The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken Page 14