“Ellen, get your ass in the bunker. I’ll assign you a room and you can take a shower.”
“Oh my God, did you just yell at me? You have never yelled at me.”
Henry said, “Joe yells at you, El.”
I closed my eyes. I actually felt relief when I heard my father’s voice.
“For crying out loud. Get in here,” my fathered ordered. “Now.”
Ellen and Henry scurried toward the door.
“It’s no wonder I haven’t had a stroke. See what I’ve been dealing with?” my father asked. “You run this place, right Hal?”
“Yes,” I nodded making my way to him.
“Good.” He gave a grip to my arm, and smiled. “They’re your problem now.”
I stood alone in the tunnel after my father went back in the bunker. My problem? I’m sure later I would think it a problem, but at that moment, I laughed about the remark.
***
The purple dinosaur, or rather man dressed in a purple dinosaur suit, was cuddly, large, cute and welcome to many children. Many mothers believed him to be the babysitter while they cooked or did dishes. Some, like me, found him annoying and his songs stroke inducing.
Frank’s wife, his three daughters and Ellen’s two children went to a morning matinee, live performance of this dinosaur at Madison Square garden.
Peter, Ellen’s husband was meeting them there since he worked in New York City. Ellen stayed behind to take care of Johnny who had an ear infection. My father told me he was somewhat offended, he was there, he could take care of Johnny, but Ellen was insistent.
Trust me it wasn’t the Good Samaritan in her that made her stay home; it was the hate of the dinosaur.
Although we don’t know the fate of Kelly, the girls, Ellen’s children and Peter, we can only guess considering they were in the heart of New York when the bombs went off.
My father had worked for the CIA for many years, and obviously, in his positions received information or at least bits and pieces. It was such information that made him take an emergency vacation.
“Something was up,” he said. “I knew it.”
En route to Ashtonville he bought supplies; items he knew would be needed. He had even purchased a Geiger counter, but it ended up not working.
He was convinced something was going to happen in that three weeks.
He was right.
They were arguing about Starbucks coffee, he and Ellen that morning. Ellen wanted to take the hour ride into Stamford to get one, and my father was telling her she was ridiculous.
It was about quarter to nine in the morning that Johnny informed them about a news interruption.
Reports were sketchy; my father said the news broadcast. Limited nuclear exchange in the mid East. Between troops.
He didn’t waste any time, he called his office
And that’s where his survival story began …
***
“Not good, Joe,” his partner told him on the phone. “The president’s been evacuated. He’s out of Washington. We’re on our way out too. Congress, Senate …”
“When?” Joe asked.
“About an hour ago.”
“Is this just a precaution? What?”
“Lid’s on it. Not even the press is being told about this. No, I think this is the real thing.”
“Any other indications.”
“High alert. Launch systems are on standby.”
“Dear God.” Joe closed his eyes. “Get out of there, Brian. Now.”
“Trying Joe. They aren’t predicting anything for about an hour.”
Joe shook his head. He disconnected the call, wishing Brian luck. He looked at the back of his phone, the battery, and made a mental note to remove it.
“What’s wrong?” Ellen asked.
“We have about an hour?”
“Until?”
Joe turned to Johnny, “Johnny I need you to run home, get some things in a bag, Things you’ll need. OK? Toss your toothbrush there.”
“Ok, Pap, no problem.” Johnny stood.
“Joe?” Ellen questioned.
“Ellen I need you to do the same. I need you also to try to get a hold of Kelly …”
“No. Joe. This is a joke. Nothing’s gonna happen.”
“Kiddo,” Joe laid his hands on her shoulders. “It’s looking bad. Why else do you think I came here?”
“But my kids … my kids are in New York.”
After a long blink, Joe nodded. “I know. Call Kelly. Peter. Try to get a hold of them. Tell them to get out of the theater... now. They’ll not make it out of the city in time, but if they can get to the outskirts, get underground, they’ll stand a chance.”
Ellen’s eyes watered, a single sob came from her.
“Now is not the time, Ellen, stay strong. Got that?”
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “I can’t stay strong. You’re telling me something’s going to happen. Bombs, something. My kids are in the worst place imaginable and you want me to stay strong.”
“Yeah, I do. Now I have to finish packing the car, and I need to find us a basement. One that’s strong. Concrete…”
“What about my basement?”
“I’m fearful of the frame structure Ellen. Fire, radiation can seep through. I just want to find a safe place. What about the clinic?”
Ellen nodded. “Yeah, we have a …no. It’s a frame.”
“We need almost a vault type …” his speech slowed down. His eyes met Ellen as they both hit a revelation. “Vault,” he said.
“The savings and loan.” Ellen whispered.
“We’ll head there when Johnny gets back.”
***
“I stayed pretty calm,” Ellen told me, sipping on her coffee, savoring it I should say.
My father fluttered his lips. “Please. Calm?”
“No, Joe,” Ellen said. “At the house I was.”
A shift of his body and my father faced me, “Hal, she was upset at the house. Right fully so. She cried. But did what she had to do. Calm? No. Especially when it came time to leave.”
I watched Ellen’s head lower.
“She kicked and screamed as I took her from the house. It got worse. I was at the liquor store …”
“Stop.” I held up my hand. “You stopped for booze?”
“Go figure,” Ellen added. “Slagel trait.”
My father continued, “While I was there I got a call from Brian saying we launched. Which meant we had anywhere from seven minutes to a half hour tops before a SLBM’s or ICBM’s arrived. I kind of knew blast wise were we safe in Ashtonville, but fallout. No. So we high tailed it to the bank.”
Ellen interjected “Actually, Hal, the bank story is pretty good. Very action hero like.”
My father asked, “Is that why you saved the surveillance disk?”
I quickly looked at Ellen. “You saved the disk?”
“It’s good,” she said.
“Do you have it?”
She nodded.
My father cleared his throat. “Anyhow … outside the bank, I had loaded up the flat dolly. You can imagine how weird I looked lugging all that stuff. We were in the lot next to the bank. I removed the car battery. When it was time to go in, Johnny started helping me move the dolly, and that’s when she freaked.”
“I freaked,” Ellen said.
“She freaked. Kicking, screaming, crying, and yelling out ‘No’. It was not becoming.”
Ellen gasped. “It was a traumatic time.”
My father waved his finger at her. “I taught you better under stress, didn’t I?”
“Wait,” I said. “How did you get her into the bank?”
My father continued his story …
***
There were several factors that played into the pandemonium that erupted in the bank when Joe and Johnny pushed in the over stocked dolly. But the number one thing wasn’t his calling out, it was more than likely the fact that Joe had Ellen secured to the dolly and her mouth duct t
aped.
“Shut and lock that door,” Joe told the guard. A guard about seventy.
“But you have … you have …”
“That’s my daughter, don’t worry about it. Lock the door.”
“I can’t …”
Joe pulled his revolver and at the same time flipped out his badge. “CIA. Lock the goddamn door. Now!”
The guard did, hurriedly.
The tellers must have spotted his gun, because panic screams ensured.
“Silence.” Joe ordered.“Every shut up!” he fire a single shot. His eyes shifted to the teller. “Press the panic button. Go ahead. No one’s coming. Where’s your manager?”
She sobbed and pointed.
Joe winced. “Quit crying. I’m not hurting you. Someone put on a radio.”
He noticed the thin Asian man, Henry, making his way to the door. “Where are you going?”
“I’m ... I was just getting a deposit slip. I don’t …”
“Stay,” Joe instructed. “Where’s the manager?”
A nervous man named Ed, stepped forward with his hands up. “I’m ... I’m the manager.”
“What’s your name?”
“Ed.”
“Listen, Ed. I’m not here to rob you, put your hands down.” Joe yelled out louder. “Someone put on a goddamn radio. Now!”
Ed lowered his hands and nodded to a secretary.
“I need you to take this boy,” Joe instructed. “And the dolly to your basement.”
“What about the woman tied up?” Ed asked.
“Take her as well. You can leave when you’re done, I don’t care. While you’re there, shut off all the water intake valves and gas lines. Got it?”
“Why?”
At that second, finally, the radio played, and the broadcasters voice announced. “Two … we believe Nuclear warheads have exploded over Andrew’s air force base in California …”
“That’s why.” Joe said.
Screams. The four tellers screamed.
Joe closed off one ear. “Enough.” He shouted. “Listen, if you want to go. Go. If you want to stay I don’t’ care. Ed, take that dolly now. Do you have a water cooler?”
Ed nodded.
“Supplies? Extra bottles?” Joe asked.
Again, Ed nodded.
“Good then just show them to the basement, and get back up here to help me with the water. You …” He turned to Henry. “Help them with the dolly into the basement. You’re in charge of shutting off the water and the gas.”
Henry didn’t hesitate, he rushed the dolly, asked Ellen is she were all right, and, he, Johnny, and Ed took the dolly to the back.
Joe nodded to the bank guard. “You can open the door. Anyone want to leave? Go now. Anyone who wants to stay. I can use help with the water, and locking this place back up.”
Two tellers and the secretary rushed out the door, the other two, along with the guard stayed.
As he and the tellers were pulling together the water surplus, Henry returned with the dolly. He had removed the items from it as fast as he could.
“Valves taken care of,” Henry said.
“Good. Good. Ladies to the basement. We’ll finish up.”
“Eight bottles, Henry loaded one on the dolly. “You think that’ll be enough.”
“This are pretty large amounts,” Joe said, he and Henry loading them fast. “We have these, the water tank, the water I brought.”
“Food?”
“Got it. Grab an end,” Joe began to push the dolly with Henry’s help. High tailing it, they neared the elevator.
Henry reached for the bottom. “Do you … do you think we’ll even feel anything?”
Just as Henry asked that questioned, the entire bank turned white encompassing them was a blinding white light, silent. The electricity went out.
“Oh my God, they did it,” Henry said. “Steps?”
“No. help me get these to the vault.”
They ran with the dolly, water bottle juggling. As they neared the vault of the bank, the ground rumbled. It rumbled hard, louder, and stronger. Shaking them in their task.
Both men used everything they had, and shoved the dooly into the vault. Henry dove inside, and so did Joe, pulling the door closed just as the winds of destruction began.
***
“When they didn’t come back,” Ellen said. “When we felt the bombs, I thought Joe was dead. I lost it again. The bank manager duct taped my mouth.”
“But made it there in a half an hour,” My father added. “It took time making sure the stairwell was clear and carrying the jugs of water.”
“What happened to the guard?” I asked.
My father shook his head. “He died right away. Heart attack.”
I nodded. It made sense and didn’t surprise. My father was actually surprised that we hadn’t lost more people to panic.
I filled him and Ellen in on all that occurred on my end, but the time drew near for me to stop ‘hogging’ my family and share them.
The stories of survival were told. It was time to integrate them into my camp. I foresaw no problems in that aspect.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ray chuckled when he came into my office. I had planned on doing it eventually, but with my father arriving, my nervous energy went into making my office my room. I removed the desk, built that countertop and the old tin armoire fit nicely next to my bunk in the far corner.
“Bet the boys are glad,” Ray said.
“Somewhat.” I replied. “They’re sharing a four sleeper with Johnny now. They know I’m not far off.”
Ray pulled up a chair. “Busy?”
“Writing?”
“I am very glad for you, Captain. Very.”
I nodded. “Me, too.”
“That Henry guy seems as if he’s gonna work out well. A little annoying, but he’s got an inventor’s instinct. I like it.”
His remarks made me smile.
“I tried to talk to your father some more, but he went to sleep early. Ellen was getting the run through of the clinic with Mary Agnes.”
I winced. Ray must have seen it.
“What?” he asked.
“I just don’t know if those two will hit it off.”
“Nah, they’ll be fine. They seemed fine. You know her well?” Ray asked.
“Very.” I sighed out. “Very well. Her and I … we were very good friends. I can recall as a teenager, her and I staying up all night watching old John Wayne movies.”
“So now you have family and a friend returning.” Ray took a breath. “I’ll let you get back.”
“Ray, is there something you wanted?” I asked.
“Ah, gees, yeah.” Ray laughed at himself. “Marcus wants to take the Fox in town tomorrow. Hit the school for some books. He wants to start teaching the kids since we have eight now.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“So it’s OK I take him out tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. First light?”
“Just before. You want to go as the third man? We always like to have a third man.”
“I can do that or …” I smiled. “Ray, ask my father. He may enjoy that.”
“Will do, Captain.” Ray opened the door. “Good night.”
I nodded my goodnight, and just as I returned to the computer I heard Ray say in the hall, “Oops. Sorry. He’s in there.” I looked up. Ellen was there.
“Marcus told me you had a computer.” She smiled. “Are you writing?”
I smiled in return. “Yes, I have a computer. Yes, I am writing.”
“Want me to leave you alone?” She asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Come in.”
Ellen closed the door. “What are you working on?”
“A story. It’s a bit longer than I thought it would be. I think it’s going well.”
“Can you read it to me?” she asked.
It took a moment because the request felt really good. “I’d love to do that.”
“Good. Oh!”
She pointed to my bunk. “I’ll kick back there, while you read.”
“Ellen, did you need something. Surely you didn’t come here to discuss my writing.”
“Actually, Hal, I did.” She sat on the bunk. “When Marcus told me about the computer and you writing, I was so happy. My life has fallen apart, Hal. I have wanted something normal again. And reading your stories is just that for me. Normalcy. So here I am. And I brought you a gift.”
“A gift.”
She lifted a disk. “The bank scene.”
A grin wide and genuine hit my face as I reached for this. “Can I watch it on computer?”
She nodded.
“Wait.” She called out when she saw me ready to load. “No, Hal. Read.”
I set the disk down, stared at her for a second, watched her get comfortable on the bed, and then, with a pleased look she did not see, I faced my computer and pulled up my story.
***
“And he took the gun …” I read aloud. “Firing the single and final shot into his head.” I breathed out. “And that’s all I got.” I clicked on the keyboard. “Are you sleeping?” I swiveled my chair.
“Not at all,” Ellen sat up. “I’m not understanding why he killed him so quickly.”
“He was dying anyhow. He wanted to put him out of his misery.”
She nodded.
“What?”
“OK, don’t get mad. But you never led me to believe his injuries were so severe his brother would shoot him in the head.”
“I didn’t? Good God, Ellen he was shot in the chest.”
“So. What side?”
“This is the nurse in you.”
She cringed.
“I’ll add more deadly description to let you know the brother is dying and suffering.”
She smiled. “Cool. Well … I better get some sleep. Johnny and the boys have to be in the one meeting room at 8:30 for classes.”
“My boys?”
“Who else.” She smiled. “I promised them we could all have breakfast together.”
“I’d like that.”
“Oh.” She blinked.
“What?”
“Are you joining us?” she asked.
“I’m not invited?”
“Of course, you are.” She smiled. “Anyhow, get some rest or get that scene done. I really, really like it, Hal.”
Greek Island Page 10