by Chris Hechtl
“A little bit. No sound of course so I wasn't sure what was going on. Bill didn't order back up so I guessed it was okay,” he said.
“It got a little tense. Bill fortunately had a couple of his guys around the perimeter just in case,” Jayne said.
“I didn't even see them,” Jen said shaking her head.
“They blend in when they need to,” Jayne said smiling. “A trick your husband taught them I guess. Where is he anyway?” she asked.
“Around,” Jen said with a smile.
“Back to this ID thing. It'd have to be new. If we tried driver licenses then people could pick up stuff and use it.”
“Um...”
Jayne was nodding. She glanced at a confused Jen. “What he means is people out scavenging could bring in a bunch of ID's and sell them on our black market. They could then use the extra ID to game the system.”
“We have a black market?” Jen asked surprised. Jayne snorted at the naivety of that question.
“Julio?” she asked. Jen shook her head catching on finally.
“Never mind,” she sighed turning to Gabe. “I'm for the ID. It'll make logging into work sites easier. It'll let us keep track of everyone too.”
“True,” Gabriel said. “I take it you mean places where you don't want people to have access?”
“Like food stores yes,” Bill said coming in. “We just had a run on some of the food stores. People heard the mess in the food court and tried to steal some of the supplies. We've got it locked down but I can't have my people guarding that. If we use locks they'll just cut them off. I'm spread thin as it is. Damn it we need a better solution,” he said.
“Yes we do,” Jayne said. They turned to the big programmer.
He winced and then shrugged. “Sure. There is a laminator thing over there, card programmer; we can get it done no sweat. Well, we'll have a lot of people to go through,” he said wincing. The big guy didn't like to be around crowds.
“We can start with core people. Then work on one group at a time until everyone who is in a work party has an ID. That will let us weed out the ones who don't,” Jayne said, suddenly smiling.
“What do we do about them?” Jen asked.
“If we even scoop any. Once they hear that ID's are going out they'll attach themselves to a group to get an ID.”
“Or jump someone who has one...” Bill said darkly.
“Photo ID and if they report it stolen or if they abuse it...”
“We lock it out,” Gabe said with a nod. “Can do.”
“Then we'll have to do a comparison head count,” Jen said slowly. She turned to Gabriel. “Starting with the core and council is a good idea. You can start with me,” she said smiling.
“Photo ID,” Jayne said reminding her. Jen grimaced at her. She shrugged. “You were right about that Jen. That way they can't pass around an ID and use it over and over. We'll need a system to log each person's use and cap it too Gabe,” she said turning to him.
“Damn,” he said nodding. “What about the boss man? He on board with this?”
“He will be. We'll run it past the council once you've got it in motion. We'll run them all through first thing,” Jen said.
“Don't you think you should take it up with him?” Gabe asked. Bill looked at the big man and snorted softly. Gabe looked at him.
“He'll do it if he knows what's good for him right ladies?” he asked.
Both women smiled wickedly. Gabriel looked at those smiles and stopped asking stupid questions.
“Oh god my hair! I don't have any make up on either!” Jen said running a hand through her hair. Bill rolled his eyes at Gabriel. Jayne glared at the two men who quickly looked elsewhere.
“Come on, it'll take Gabriel a couple of minutes to get set up. Let's go find a hair brush and check on things. We'll be back in thirty gentlemen. And I do use the term loosely,” she said winking at Bill.
“You need one too?” Gabriel asked. Bill took out his ID and clipped it to his breast pocket. “Already got mine,” he said.
“Oh,” the programmer said. He squinted at it. “Okay, I can use yours as a template I guess.”
“Use the template in the system Gabe, its all set up for you already,” Bill said pointing to the computer.
“It is?” Gabriel asked surprised. He turned to the computer and tapped until he found what he was looking for. He pulled up the template file. Database was all linked up, everything was there. “Ah, okay, it is. I forgot about it. Good. That means we can do this a lot quicker than I thought. Cool. No long nights I guess. Darn,” he said typing. “Well, maybe the food court part. Getting it all tied in...” he said. He stuck his tongue out one side of his mouth and then picked up a toothpick and chewed on that instead.
Bill snorted. “Boss, we've got problems. People are leaving work groups to go eat when they aren't supposed to. Food court is getting out of hand here,” a guard said over the radio, voice rising a little. They could hear a babble of voices over the net. He glanced at the food court monitor and scowled. “And so it begins,” he said and walked out.
Chapter 22
Torres nodded to the others. “This it?” she asked Wayne. He shrugged as her face grew cold. She'd handed her last squad over to Bert and Cord and was now starting over again with new faces. Well, mostly new faces. A few were following her over from her old squad as noncoms.
“It's a start,” he said nodding to the fourteen others in their group. He got off the box he had been sitting on and stood. They all turned their attention to him. “You are here because you've got some training and want to take the fight to the enemy. All the way. So here's the deal. We're going to hit them wherever they nest. Wherever. During the day. We're going to hit them, clean them out and then let our people come in and strip the place clean and then bulldoze it.”
“Um...”
“We've got flash bangs but only so many. Use them only if you know the building is heavily occupied. Otherwise we'll have to work out techniques. Oh,” he looked at Torres. She shrugged. He turned to the others. “We need to conserve our ammo. Which means everyone pick a melee weapon. I prefer an ax,” he said picking up a fireman's ax and hefting it.
“Now that's what I'm talking about,” one guy said nodding. “Name's Tom. I'm a bit of a pyro guy though. I'm more interested in setting a big blaze than putting it out.”
“Gotcha covered,” another guy said. They looked at him. He shrugged. “Crew, one of the guy's in the machine shop I know is making a flame thrower. Couple of them. One per team actually. Boss ordered it,” he said nodding his chin to the mall.
“Cool!” Tom said, eyes blazing.
“Each of you has a general idea by now of how to kill these damn things. Pin them and hit them from below or the sides. Right?” Wayne asked studying each. They nodded. “You're the A team. Our best if not our brightest.” He smirked a little as the dig hit home and eyes narrowed.
Torres snorted with a few of the others and then shook her head. “We going to make sure no one's pocketing shit and hoarding?” she asked, sounding disinterested.
“That's someone else's problem,” Wayne said with a shrug. “We've got enough on our plate right now keeping people alive. Focus on that. We'll let the rest work itself out.”
“Heard a guy was malingering. Said he couldn't do squat. Wanted a doctor's note,” Ursilla growled. “We really laying our lives on the line for trash like that?”
“Not everyone is like that. And this is an all-volunteer outfit. You want some payback fine. As for the malingerer,” Torres said smiling a cruel smile. “Let's just say he had some counseling and is now reconsidering his options. If he or anyone else goes down that route they get one warning then a long one way trip.”
“Ouch,” Tom said wincing theatrically.
“Couldn't happen to a nicer class of dumb ass,” a bald guy, Quincy, said shaking his head. “We don't need ticks. Got enough of the real kind let alone the human variety,” he said.
“As I s
aid, don't worry about it. Focus on covering your ass, covering your wing man. We're going to sweep the Target stores and work on our team skills before we branch out for new territory. Try to think of ways or weapons to improve our killing spree. Got it?” Wayne asked. The others gave various versions of a nod.
Torres hefted her SWAT MP-5, checked the breach and the safety and then nodded.
“Here,” Wayne said holding out an extra ammo clip.
“What's that?” she asked taking it.
“Cop killers. Make your shot's count, we don't have a lot of them,” he said as she ripped the Velcro on her vest pocket and stuffed the clip in. She looked up into his eyes. He gave a tiny shrug. She smiled a little and then went back to readying her gear.
...*...*...*...*...
Shane nodded to a tired looking Jayne. She wasn't looking very happy. In fact she looked pissed. He tried not to wince as he came over. He didn't want to bother her when she was in an obvious snit, but he didn't have a choice, he needed a sit-rep.
“I'm busy,” she growled, running her hands through her hair. “Of all the...”
“Maybe I can help?” he asked helpfully. She turned on him and glared for a moment and then paced.
“Jayne,” he said shaking his head.
“Sure, fine, whatever,” she muttered turning on him. “We've already got a hoarding issue, malingering and now a black market issue. I'm waiting for gambling to crop up. It hasn't yet but if it or drugs get in...”
“Easy Jayne,” he said holding up his hands. She grimaced and sat down. He snorted softly as people passed, looking at them. When they were alone he sat as well. “Now, from the top. I know about the malingerer. I think Torres or someone got that sorted out.”
“Right. I know we had one guy, the fat ass used car salesman too,” she said.
“The black market issues?” he asked. She looked at him. He shrugged. “I knew it was going to kick in, I just wasn't sure when. We can't control it; it's a form of economy. We just have to keep an eye on it and prune back the excess.”
“Yeah well, problem is people are stealing from stores to sell on the black market. No idea why.”
“Human nature,” he said, immediately deciding to add guards to watch the stores and have what's his name Gabriel get someone to check the video feeds daily. “I bet its not just that. The harvesters too. I bet some are pocketing some stuff and what they don't want they are selling.”
“True,” she said sighing. She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
“A little,” she admitted after a moment. “Still didn't solve anything,” she said.
“What we are going to do is a sweep. I'll get Gabe to identify the culprits. We'll give them a warning. Two and they are gone. I'll have someone do a sweep inside. Anyone with a lot more than they should have will be encouraged to turn it in or leave. If we find hidden stashes its turned over to stores.”
“Ouch,” she said wincing. “People have the right to survive.”
“It's a community here Jayne. We've got to come together, to pull together. All for one and all that,” he said.
“All right,” she said nodding, looking down. She toed the flag stones. “I just, well...”
“You always hated being a hard ass. I mean, not completely, everyone likes being well...” he squirmed a little as she looked up and glared. He cleared his throat. “What I mean is you hate being in the hot seat with lives on the line. People doing things like this. I get it. I know. We'll get on it. I promise Jayne, we'll figure it out. Just, give it time,” he said lamely.
She nodded, getting up and brushing her lap off. He looked up to her. “We've got work to do,” she said simply. He nodded and got up as she walked off.
...*...*...*...*...
“This ID thing, I'm not sure how we're going to get it in place,” Jerry said. He stood with the others. There was a flash around the corner he glanced at it. “Won’t my ID work?” he asked holding up his hospital one.
“Bill pointed out that people could go out and get ID's from outside and game the system doc. Sorry,” Shane said shrugging.
“What else can they do to game the system?” Bob asked. “Malinger?” He glanced at the doc.
“Malinger?” the doc asked, brows knitting. “Not sure what you mean,” he said, tone cool.
“He means someone going to you and saying they need a script saying they can't work. Psychological, stubbed their toe, bad knee, whatever,” Jayne said coming around the corner. “Next?” she said pointing.
Shane nodded and went around the corner. Jayne looked at the doc. “Jerry we know you won’t do it,” she said at his set face. “Just make sure your people won't either.”
“Some have a legitimate excuse not to work,” Jerry said.
“Some? The injured sure. They need to rest up. But anyone else can do something. I don't care if they're pushing a broom or mop. As long as they are helping out and not sitting on their ass eating us out of house and home,” Bob said firmly. “No way. I ain't going down like that to vultures and parasites. No way, no how,” he said firmly. Jayne and Jen nodded with him.
“I'll...” the doctor cleared his throat. “I'll talk to my people,” he said quietly after a moment of internal struggling.
“Counsel them to find something that works for them. Notice we're not asking you to inform on them. As much as some would like it,” Jen said. “We'll figure it out. Once the pattern is established in the social fabric it should become self-sustaining.”
“Um...”
“She means once they get used to doing a day's work for a day's pay they'll take pride in it and social pressure will get those not doing work to contribute,” Shane said as he came back and hefted his shot gun. “I'm done,” he said pointing to the temporary ID. “The final one will be ready in a week he said.”
“Is that what's going on?” Jerry asked, looking around the corner. A photo booth was set up. A woman was working the camera while another girl was taking information.
“Yup,” Bob said, patting his shoulder and taking a seat in the chair. “We ready?” he asked, tipping his ball cap up.
“Just as soon as you take that off,” the girl behind the camera said smiling.
He chewed on some gum for a moment and then took the hat off. He handed the girl his driver's license. “Tamara's going to have a fit about her outfit and clothes. Not to mention the kids,” he said shaking his head.
“At least you've got a driver's license,” the girl said typing the information in from that. “Anything wrong here we need to know about?” she asked.
“You worked in the DMV?” he asked amused. She nodded. “Figures,” he said. “Least I'm at the head of the line instead of the tail,” he joked.
“Two hour wait?” she asked amused. “We'll get through it,” she said.
“Ten thousand people are going to take time to process you know,” he said amused.
“Ten thousand?” she asked looking at her partner in surprise. Her partner shrugged. At least they now knew they had plenty of steady work ahead of them. Work they knew how to do and it was better than pushing a broom or risking their necks.
“And change,” Jen said, sticking her head around the corner. “Line's getting longer by the minute ladies,” she said.
“Um, okay,” the girls said and got to work.
...*...*...*...*...
Jen leaned against the wall and smiled at the others. “How are we going to keep people from going through the line twice? Getting two ID's?” she asked. “And when do we do the change over to the system?” she asked.
“We do it in stages,” Jayne said. Jen glanced at her. Jayne was leaning against the opposite wall, one foot planted under her rear so her knee was sticking out. She rolled her shoulders a little in a shrug. “We can take one area, say the hotel and get them sorted and online. Or here. Or Lowes. Or just one shop. Cinnabon or the pretzel place or one of the restaurants. Anyone who wants to e
at there has to have an ID. Work our way through the system.”
“What if they try to game the system with a fake ID?”
“Oh they may try,” Bill said standing next to Jayne. “Some probably will. They'll be rejected. Gabriel set up the database. If they swipe and aren't in the system they don't eat. Period. It's going to have bugs, but we can work them out like Jayne said. In stages and test trials,” he said shrugging.
“We're going to catch flak from this aren't we?” Shane asked quietly. Jayne leaned over Bill to glance at him. She nodded.
“Probably. Hell, most definitely grumbling. We'll try to steer it, but its like riding a bull.”
“Working with the mob usually is,” Bill muttered.
“Mob?” Jerry asked.
“Public. John Q public. The Q is the interesting thing. When people get together their social IQ drops by their number and the circumstances around them.”
“In other words they tend to get angry or panic easily,” Shane said. He shrugged at Jerry's inquiring look. “Training seminar we took on handling crowd situations,” he said as way of explanation.
“Ah,” the doctor nodded. Bob passed him and he nodded.
“Doc you're next,” he said.
“Right,” the doctor said going in.
“And you are?” the girl asked looking at him.
“You've got to be kidding right?” he asked, indicating the rumpled stained lab coat with stethoscope in his breast pocket.
“Sorry, um...” he handed her his ID. She handed it to her partner behind the computer. “Doctor. Doctor Niederman. “Okay then,” she said nodding.
...*...*...*...*...
“Folks, we'll keep this simple,” the deputy sheriff said pointing to an alien carcass. A few people had their hands over their mouths. Just about everyone looked uncomfortable, mainly due to the smell.
“This is what's left of a Hellcat.” He nodded to Lois who poked the thing over onto its stomach. “Notice the back, head, and shoulders. Its armor plate. When you shoot at it, it,s coming at you low.” He made a motion about a meter off the ground. “So you fire down. What you're doing is hitting that damn armor plate, so your bullets bounce off.”