Survivors

by Rich Goldhaber

  Corcoran’s two doctors did not want to leave the area, but agreed to help train Mary and our medical team, and with Major Connors’ satellite phone system, they could stay in touch. It would have to do for a while at least.

  All in all, it was a successful trip. We left with a plan to put the country back together, and we had established communications with another group. It would be interesting to find out what we discovered on our trip to Boston.

  With the refueling tanker still almost fully loaded with fuel, we flew non-stop back to the MacDill airbase, and then Blaine flew us back to the campus. Mary had been waiting for us at the dining tent. While we had something to eat, she explained what she had found out about Margaret.

  Margaret had cancer a few years back. She’d been taking a pill called Tamoxophil. It’s a specialty cancer drug, and she ran out of the pills one month into the pandemic. Now the cancer’s starting to come back.”

  I asked, “Can’t we find some more pills from a pharmacy?”

  “No, she was getting it in the mail, a one month supply at a time.”

  “Where’s the place she was getting it from?” “I did some research in the library. The supplier is Paragene Industries, and they’re located in an industrial park just south of Columbia, South Carolina.”

  “Why didn’t she tell us sooner?” “You know Margaret; she didn’t want to create any problems. She felt she was getting old, and it was just fate intervening.”

  “Where is she now?” “She’s in her apartment resting. I think she’s got only a few more months to live unless she gets the drug.”

  Chapter 43

  Of course we would get the drug; we couldn’t let our chief librarian down; she had done so much for the community. I called Major Connors and explained the situation. Mary had given me the address, and I asked him to have Private Duncan use the satellite to monitor the area.

  Meanwhile, we began to immediately plan our trip to the drug manufacturer in South Carolina. Jessie and I looked at some maps. We knew the area north to Ocala was probably clear of threats, but the group Ralph had seen in Georgia would be a problem. We needed to avoid them at all costs.

  We figured it was about a twelve hour drive to Columbia. Driving at night was the safest. If we left the campus about five o’clock in the evening, we would arrive at the industrial park just before dawn.

  Jessie left to find some volunteers while I visited Margaret. I knocked on the door to her apartment. It was partially ajar; she heard my knock, and a weak voice asked me to come in. I looked at her, and she started to cry. I sat down on her bed and held her hand. “I didn’t want to be any trouble Jim. It’s time for an old lady to die.”

  “Well it’s nice you want to end it all, but you’ll be letting your family down. Who’ll interview each new resident? Who’ll publish our daily paper? Who’ll know how to research some obscure topic? Sure, you’ll say someone else will have to do it, but the truth is they won’t do it as well as you can. Margaret, you and Beth are the matriarchs of the community. I refuse to let you just pass on. Tomorrow, we’re going to get you some of that specialty drug.”

  Margaret tried to speak, but her crying prevented anything more than a thank you and a hug.

  Chapter 44

  It was about noon when Major Connors called with an update on the security situation around the Columbia, South Carolina area. “There appears to be a small band of people just east of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. They’re in a group of cars in a parking lot, maybe about a dozen all together. They just appear to be milling around. You need to approach the industrial park from the east. Take your satellite phones, and we’ll update you when you get closer to the area.”

  “Thanks, Arnie, we’ll keep in touch.” Jessie had picked two volunteers to go on our mission, Rich Glasgow, a young biochemist who had recently arrived from the Fort Lauderdale area, and Elizabeth Crowley, a rocket scientist from NASA’s Cape Canaveral facility. She was one of those engineers who sat behind monitors during space launches.

  It would just be the four of us, and we would take two U-Haul vans just in case we needed to bring back any manufacturing equipment. We had packed enough food for five days. Even though we expected to be back in two, we decided to play it safe.

  A group of about forty residents wished us good luck as we left the campus around five o’clock. We were in constant communication with Private Duncan who was giving us periodic updates on the presence of any bad guys on the roads ahead. We switched drivers every two hours and by midnight we had entered Georgia and stopped for a rest in a wooded area east of Valdosta. We had already left the main interstate roads near Lakeland Florida. We drove without lights, however each driver had night vision goggles supplied by Major Connors.

  Around 2:00 a.m., Private Duncan reported some car headlights just east of Augusta, Georgia, so we moved further east on some side roads to avoid any contact. We arrived in the Columbia area around sunrise. Each of us had been able to catch a few hours of intermittent sleep, so we weren’t overly tired. We decided to stop on a quiet residential street. I wanted Private Duncan to give us a last-minute update on the area. There was no need to be surprised.

  Private Duncan called us at six o’clock. There was still activity in and around the Columbia airport. He recommended we approach our destination from the east. The area looked completely free of a human presence. The drug company was located on Mauney Court, just off Shop Road. We pulled into their parking lot just after eight o’clock and parked both trucks behind the building in an out of the way spot.

  A sledge hammer made quick work of the building’s lobby window. The four of us entered the darkened facility and walked slowly around the office area with our flashlights to get a feel for the place. We had two goals; first we wanted to collect enough pills to keep Margaret supplied for at least five years; and second we wanted to get enough equipment and raw materials to be able to synthesize more of the specialty drug if necessary.

  We split up. Jessie and Rich began a search for raw materials and manufacturing equipment while Elizabeth and I began looking for the finished product. While driving to Columbia, we had discussed the best places to look for the pills. Rich thought the released product would be stored in a temperature and humidity controlled room, and the storage facility would probably be located in the company’s warehouse. Rich and Jessie would focus their search in the R&D labs where they would be able to find manufacturing procedures, and if they were lucky, pilot plant equipment for making small batches of the drug.

  It took about twenty minutes to locate the released inventory location in the warehouse. Unfortunately, it was inside a caged in area with a steel door, and the entrance looked strong enough to withstand an assault from my sledge hammer. Rich had been correct; a small room was located inside the caged in area and was clearly labelled as Released Drug Inventory.

  I tested the strength of the wire cage. The steel wires used were almost a quarter-inch in diameter, and the structure was anchored to the concrete floor with bolts requiring a special tool to remove. What could we use to break into the cage? Elizabeth and I discussed the problem. The cage had been designed to prevent people like us from breaking in.

  We settled on a few possibilities. We could cut through the wires with an acetylene torch, or a heavy duty wire cutter might work. We found a machine shop next to the warehouse with a variety of tools but nothing seemed appropriate. Elizabeth finally suggested, “I saw a Home Depot just off the highway about five minutes from here. Let’s check the place out. I’m sure we can find something there we can use.”

  I liked the idea. We found Rich and Jessie studying a large binder with manufacturing procedures in the R&D labs, and they were making good progress. We let them know we were going to find some tools at a nearby Home Depot to open the caged in area.

  Elizabeth drove our U-Haul because she knew where she was going. We retraced our route and found the Home Depot in a huge shopping center just off the main highway.


  After breaking in the front door, we began searching in the tool department. We found a heavy duty wire cutter, but its jaws looked too big to grab the wire. Nevertheless, we placed it in our cart and then moved onto the equipment rental section. After scrounging around for a while, we found an acetylene torch complete with oxygen and acetylene gas tanks. Elizabeth, who seemed to know what she was doing, turned the system on, and using a striker, ignited the mixture of the two gasses. “This will definitely do the job,” she said.

  Together, we lifted the torch with its two gas cylinders into the cart. We found two more gas cylinders in case the first ones were used up, and then we proceeded to the checkout area. I shouted to the invisible person behind the register that we would pay our bill later, and the two of us laughed as we rolled our cart over the broken glass at the front door and loaded the equipment into our UHaul truck.

  Elizabeth headed back toward the drug company’s parking lot. We wheeled the acetylene torch system into the building, and I yelled to Jessie and Rich. There was no answer, but they might have been unable to hear me. We rolled the equipment into the warehouse and Elizabeth lit the torch and began cutting through the cage.

  It took about five minutes for her to cut through enough wires for us to bypass the lock on the caged-in area. My sledge hammer made quick work of the locked door leading to the released drugs. With our flashlights leading the way, we easily found the Tamoxophil. It took us another ten minutes to move the fifty-three cartons of the specialty drug out into the warehouse. We found several hand trucks near the loading docks, and it took us another ten minutes to move the drugs out to our U-Haul.

  With our work done, we went looking for Jessie and Rich. There were no responses to our repeated calls, and the reason became clear when we entered the R&D labs. Rich was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Jessie was nowhere to be seen. I bent down and checked for a pulse. It was there, but very weak. He opened his eyes and tried to speak. “There were four of them. They sneaked up on us. They wanted to know what we were doing. We told them, and then they shot me and dragged Jessie out of the lab.”

  Rich coughed up a mouthful of blood; his whole body went rigid and then suddenly became limp. I checked for a pulse, but there was none. Elizabeth looked in shock. Rich had been a good friend.

  We both stood there for a moment in disbelief, and then I jumped back into reality. “Quick,” I said, “we have to contact Private Duncan.”

  I ran out into the parking lot with Elizabeth following me in a daze. I grabbed my satellite phone from the front seat of our truck and punched in Private Duncan’s number. He immediately answered. “I’ve been trying to reach you. Four men entered the building and ten minutes later they dragged Jessie out and pushed her into a red SUV.”

  “I know; they shot Rich, and before he died, he told us what happened. Do you know where they went?”

  “I’m following them right now; they’re heading west in the direction of the airport. One of the cars is a red Lexus SUV, and the other is a black Hummer. The satellite is going to lose them in another thirteen minutes.”

  I looked at Elizabeth. “We need to follow them now. I’m sorry, maybe we can come back for Rich’s body after we find them.”

  Elizabeth was still in shock. She couldn’t find the words, but she nodded her head in agreement.

  Private Duncan guided us as we chased the two cars heading toward the Columbia airport. “The satellite has just lost video contact with the cars. As best I can tell, they’re heading to the same group of cars located just east of the airport. I’ll pick up the video signal again in twenty-nine minutes with our next satellite.”

  I was driving and Elizabeth was still in shock. “Elizabeth, I need your help. Turn on the navigation system and find a way to get near the airport, but have us approach from the south.”

  She just stared ahead. I squeezed her arm and repeated myself. She finally snapped out of her shock-induced fog and turned on the navigation system. Elizabeth analyzed the problem and had me turn left at an intersection, and then one mile later we turned right onto a residential side street. The streets were deserted, and I pushed the UHaul up to fifty miles per hour.

  One mile east of the airport, I slowed down to a crawl. I had been so intent on saving Jessie, I had not thought through just how we might free her. Elizabeth and I each had a gun and a few rounds of ammunition, but that would not stack up against several dozen heavily armed men. The correct move would be to monitor and observe, and then execute a plan for releasing her from captivity.

  Elizabeth was finally fully rational. “From what Private Duncan was telling us, this grouping of cars should be about three blocks to our right. There’s a parking lot there, and I think he said they were congregating in a parking lot. We can park our car in one of these driveways and walk over to the parking lot.”

  I pulled into the nearest driveway and pulled the car up to the garage behind the property. We both took our guns and extra ammunition and began walking between houses as we moved closer to the parking lot. As we approached, I could hear voices and loud music playing. A red SUV was parked in the center of the parking lot, and a dozen men and a few women were taking part in an animated and heated discussion. A young woman was looking into the SUV, and I could make out the faint image of Jessie being held captive in the backseat of the car.

  Elizabeth and I didn’t dare move any closer, and we stationed ourselves behind some dense bushes on the side of a house across the street from the parking lot. I looked over at Elizabeth and she was crying. “Are you okay?”

  “I can’t believe they killed him. What did he do to deserve to die?” It really wasn’t a question needing an answer. I put my arm around her back and squeezed gently. It was all I could think to do. I called Adrian Duncan back, and Arnie Connors answered the phone. “Private Duncan is getting some sleep. I’m your new set of eyes in the sky. Where are you now?”

  “Arnie, we’re hiding behind a house just a block away from the parking lot where Jessie’s being held. They’ve got her locked up in a red SUV. There’re about forty men and women just hanging around the parking lot. It just seems like a meeting point. Nobody’s living here.”

  “Okay, the satellite will be passing overhead in another seven minutes. What happened at the drug company?”

  I gave Arnie the full detailed account of our day, and by the time I finished, the satellite was giving him a live feed of the parking lot. “Are you hiding on the side of the white house in the middle of the block on the south side of the street?”

  “Yep, that’s us.” “Okay, I see you. I’m checking out the surrounding area now. There’s a car moving in from the north. It will probably enter the parking lot in less than three minutes.”

  The arrival of an army Hummer seemed to provoke excitement from the people in the parking lot. A tall guy in army fatigues stepped out of his car and approached the red SUV. He opened the car’s door and leaned inside. He finally slammed the door shut and then began talking to his people who were gathered around. This was clearly the guy in charge of the group.

  After the short meeting, everyone got in their cars, and the leader led the convoy out of the parking lot heading west. A minute later the parking lot was totally empty. Elizabeth and I ran back to our U-Haul while I was talking to Arnie who was following the convoy with his satellite’s camera.

  “Okay, it looks like they’re getting onto Route 20. The guy in the army jeep is in the lead, and the red SUV is third in the convoy. They’re heading south on Route 20 in the direction of Augusta, Georgia. I’d say they’re traveling at a speed of about seventy miles per hour.”

  By the time Elizabeth and I had started up the U-Haul, Arnie was just about to lose the live video feed. “The next satellite passes over in exactly fifty-seven minutes. Lieutenant Monroe and his men are in California to help defend their community. We’ve got about a dozen soldiers left on the base. I’ll put together a rescue team. I’ll call you before the satellite makes its next p
ass.”

  With Elizabeth providing directions on the navigation system, we found Route 20 and headed south toward Augusta, Georgia. I kept my speed at seventy miles per hour, and we both kept a lookout for the convoy up ahead.

  Chapter 45

  We drove along in total silence. I was thinking about Jessie. Why hadn’t they killed her? Of course I knew the answer. If she hadn’t been raped already, it would only be a matter of time. Even if Arnie could assemble a rescue team quickly, it would still take them several hours to reach us, assuming they could get Sammy Lafayette to fly them up in a helicopter.

  For right now, we would have to figure this out for ourselves, and the highest priority was to follow the bad guys to their destination. I wanted to speed up to ensure we didn’t lose the convoy, but we couldn’t risk being seen. I set the cruise control to seventy miles per hour, and we both looked ahead to make sure we weren’t closing in on the caravan.

  About forty-five minutes into our drive I reached the crest of a hill and saw the last few cars in the convoy. I immediately slammed on the brakes and waited for five minutes before I reset the cruise control to sixty-five.

  Our navigation system indicated it would take a little over ten minutes to reach the outskirts of Augusta, Georgia. I looked at my watch; we had another seven minutes before the next satellite made a flyover, and Arnie still hadn’t called back. I thought about calling him and decided not to interfere. A road sign indicated it was another fifteen miles to Augusta.

  We just passed the sign when Arnie called back. “There’ll be five of us squeezing into Sammy’s helicopter. He’s flying back from the campus now. I don’t want to leave until we know where they’re going. The next satellite will be live in another three minutes. How are you guys doing?”