Chapter 11
Jake knew what was going on and he knew for sure that Sari knew and as usual her first thought was about Ryan. From the moment her sister was born, Sari had always looked out for her sister. Paul didn't make it easy for her to do so but she was able to do it and Ryan loved her. Once Sari was sure Ryan was okay, she would be back to give a hand. Right now he had to get things started.
He made his way through the clinic looking for April. It was her clinic and she knew the place better than he did. He gritted his teeth from the soreness of his leg. It wasn't a deep cut but deep enough to hurt. He was going to have a limp for a while but right now he was filled with a sense of urgency as he walked around the center to find his brother's wife. He ran into his mother who was asking him where the hell he had been.
"Jake, what is going on?"
Jake was struck with the sense of urgency looking for April. Still he couldn't ignore his mother so he replied, "Get Dad on the radio."
He found April in an examination room putting a splint on Heather's leg. He barely noticed Heather since his immediate concern was getting the town ready for what was to come. He focused on April, "April, does the clinic have a fallout shelter?"
April realized something was up by the way Jake was asking the question. She replied as her face went into a slight frown, "Yes, what's going on?"
"It's bad. Come on," Jake motioned. He didn't mean to scare Heather but he wasn't one to waste time on explaining things since they needed to get the whole town ready.
"Can you explain what is going on?" April asked as she followed Jake.
"There's a storm coming from Denver," Jake replied. He stepped aside so April could show him the way to the fallout shelter. He limped a little but he was focused on the current problem. He continued, "If it was a nuclear explosion, the storm could bring the fallout on top of Jericho."
"How can you be sure?"
"I'm not but better safe than sorry. Sari agrees with me. She went home to take care of that and she'll be back to give a hand."
April nodded. It seemed that the chaos was only going to get worse from the day before. They were going to do the best they could. She quickened her pace as she showed him the way. "Seems like you two never left; you picked up right where you left off."
Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Sari's always been easy to talk to. There was never any bad blood between us."
"I know. I think it's good that you're both here."
Jake looked at April as he picked up the radio that would connect him to the one in the mayor's office. He tested it before speaking, "Dad."
I'm here Jake.
Jake looked around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping. "We got a potential problem from the explosion."
~0~0~
"Jericho has two underground shelters. One right here under the town hall and the other under the medical clinic," Johnston Green reported. He had a not too lengthy discussion with Jake about what was coming. It was one of the things that he was grateful for in his sons. When it was important, they didn't beat around the bush but told it like it is. They had a problem and they needed to find a way to get it solved in order to make sure that the people of Jericho were safe.
Gray Anderson was there when he heard the news. He asked, "What about the people with basements and storm cellars?"
"That's better than nothing."
Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. Johnston recognized him as Robert Hawkins. The man had been helpful in helping Chief Carroll with last night's problems of lighting up the town. He was a stranger but he had jumped in with both feet to help the town through this crisis. He motioned for Hawkins to continue.
Hawkins realized that he was being given consideration. He continued, "Folks will have to seal off the rest of the house with duct tape, plastic sheeting… anything you can get your hands on."
Eric looked at Hawkins a little suspicious about his knowledge. Normally people wouldn't think about it but in times like these you couldn't be too careful. "How do you know so much about radiation Mr. Hawkins?"
Hawkins was expecting that. He looked at Eric in the eye and replied, "Because I was a cop in St. Louis and after 9/11 we got up to speed." He understood the need to be suspicious. They wouldn't be the leaders of Jericho if they didn't look at every angle. "So our biggest problem could be the rain."
"Won't the rain clear the radiation out of the air?"
It was a good question and it had merit. Hawkins was rather glad that questions were being asked rather than be taken at his word. He replied to Shep's inquiry, "Yes and bring it down straight on Jericho." Hawkins emphasized the seriousness by making a dropping motion with his hand. "A direct concentrated hit. Anyone exposed for too long…" Hawkins looked at everyone. He couldn't voice what would happen. He didn't need to since the people there had a good idea about what could happen.
Johnston knew the situation was serious. His attention was directed to one of the fireman bringing the plans for the shelters in Jericho. Now he had to get to the serious business of making sure the people of Jericho were safe. "Alright, we're gonna divide the town in two." He motioned on the map and said, "Everyone here can go to the town hall shelter. All those on the north side can go to the clinic."
"We'll get the word out Dad," Eric said and started getting people organized. It was going to be a hell of a job to get people where they needed to go.
Johnston nodded off his son and turned towards Hawkins and asked, "How long before the radiation gets here?"
Hawkins looked up from the map and replied apologetically, "Oh I'm new here. This is your town. How long does it normally take for a storm to get here from Denver?" He looked around at the locals hoping that someone could voice the answer. He recalled the hurried state that Sari was heading towards her home. He suspected that she knew the answer and was doing what she had to. It was another reason why he wanted to find out more about her.
Gray Anderson came up with the answer, "About two hours." He looked at Shep with a questioning look and got the confirming answer. That started people murmuring about the time they had for getting the town ready for the storm.
Johnston felt a weight come down. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. They had two hours to get both shelters ready. "Well let's not waste time," he said. He turned to get Jake back on the radio. "Jake."
Yeah?
"We've got two hours." Johnston didn't ask if Jake could get the other shelter ready. He didn't have to since his boys could pull meaning from as few words as possible.
On it. We'll get it up.
Johnston sighed. He could count on Jake. Even with everything that had happened, he knew Jake was capable of stepping up to the plate when the occasion called for it. He remembered a few instances where he did the right thing. It was easy to forget those moments in light of the bad ones. Now… He spoke into the radio, "I know you will."
Johnston motioned for Eric to follow him. They had to check out the shelter in town hall and get it ready for people. He grabbed a flashlight and headed towards the basement area. From the looks of everything as they got to the entrance to the shelter, it looked like no one had been down there in years. That wasn't surprising since they didn't really expect to use it. Now they had to and it made Johnston regret that they didn't get up to speed about this kind of thing. At least they had Hawkins around to give a few pointers.
Eric followed close behind Johnston. He remembered when he and Jake were kids and they actually used to play down there. He remembered one time though that it wasn't all fun and games. It was after Jake introduced the family to Sari.
It was supposed to be a game; a great adventure. Eric said that there was a bunch of stuff down there that was really old and there were plenty of places to hide. It had been his idea to make the old hide and seek game an interesting one. He suggested combining it with a scavenger hunt and included Sari in the game.
Sari was the one that came up with the riddles that would lead Jake to where everyone was hiding. She wrote them out and showed them to Eric for approval. She was shy about it like she was afraid of getting criticized for them. Eric though was impressed. "Wow, these are really good." He read each riddle and noted the cleverly constructed clues.
Sari shrugged her shoulders, "I write a lot. Besides reading, it's another thing you can do when you're by yourself." She then handed Eric the one that was going to start Jake off from the house and then eventually end up at town hall.
Eric looked at Sari. She was extremely shy even when Jake brought her over for the first time. Yet she would speak willingly around his older brother. He figured that she was just nervous but something about the way she talked about being alone… that was different.
They set up the riddles and left the starting point for Jake and went off to their hiding spots. Eric showed her the fallout shelter in town hall. She volunteered to hide there and held the clue to find Eric. What happened, Eric blamed himself for.
Where Sari had been hiding, the door was not working properly. Eric had forgotten to tell Sari how to work it so it didn't bolt shut. He didn't think about it and he ended up getting found first. Of course they had a backup plan and he had the clue to find her. When they found her, she was passed out. It had been a hot day during the summer and no cool air.
Eric was scared as well as Jake as they pulled her out. Sari was okay once they got some fluids into her at the clinic. She called him and Jake her heroes and she opened up to him just as she did with Jake but since then Eric always felt guilty about that. Jake never said anything further about it but managed to get the door fixed.
Eric recalled that perfectly as they entered the shelter. He wondered how Sari would feel about being down there. As far as he could remember, she never developed a case of claustrophobia but one could never tell. Out of the blue he said, "Jake and I used to play down here when we were kids. Sari too."
Johnston remembered that one time. It was an accident and no harm, no foul but it continued to bother Eric afterwards. He never brought it up so they didn't really talk about it but he figured Sari and Eric worked it out since Eric stopped mentioning it after a time. He replied, "I don't think anyone's been down here in ten years."
Nothing more was said as they along with the others looked for the switch and turned on the lights. The shelter looked as Johnston said; it was dusty and pretty much like no one had been down there in ten years or more. It didn't look very promising but it was all they had to work with. Gray asked, "How many people can we fit in here?"
"Three hundred."
Gray looked at Johnston like he was crazy. "You do realize that there are about five thousand people in this town?"
Johnston knew that it was going to be a tight squeeze but there was a solution. He turned towards Eric and said, "Eric, make sure all the people who have basements use them. We are not running out of room here today. You understand?"
"Got it," Eric replied. He called on the radio to spread the word.
~0~0~
Sari ran up and down the stairs of the Green house and made sure that everything was secure before running over to her house. She still had trouble accepting the fact that the house was hers. Now her first thing regarding the place was to secure it against fallout.
She had gotten to the Green house and found that Ryan had been munching on a piece of fruit. It was a relief to see her sister okay. She said, "Sorry I didn't come home Ry."
"It's okay sis. Mrs. Green came back to check on me and said that you were making sure Jake was okay," Ryan replied. She threw away the apple core away. She took in a moment the stance that her sister was taking.
Ryan knew her half-sister most of her life before her dad sent her away. She knew that Sari was a silent communicator which she had learned living under their roof. She could tell that her sister had something serious to say. "Something bad?"
Sari nodded and replied, "Yes but if we get prepared, everything will be okay."
"That explosion? That was a nuclear blast wasn't it?"
Sari nodded but smiled reassuringly. Ryan didn't need to be terrorized by unnecessary explanations. "We just have to seal the windows of the house and get to town hall okay?"
Ryan said no more but was ready to go and helped with the Green house. She then followed her sister out the door. It was hard not to run in a panic but she followed the brisk pace that Sari set and able not to panic. It was scary in that the storm coming could be poisonous. Ryan didn't know too much about this kind of thing but she read in her spare time and learned about the atomic bomb in history class and of course Oppenhiemer and the Manhattan project.
The Harrison house was a two story house with no basement which was why Ryan was going to town hall. How they managed to find enough plastic sheeting to cover the windows was a mystery to Ryan but they pulled it out from everywhere. She suspected that Sari stripped some of the plastic coverings from the machinery in the garage and used them.
Ryan was finishing one of the smaller rooms when she started on the living room. The main window was huge and it was a struggle trying to get it on the window. She was helped by Sari who had finished the kitchen. She smiled at her older sister. "You always were taller than me," she teased.
Sari smiled as she tacked up the top of the plastic. "Don't worry habibiti. You'll hit another growth spurt soon. JJ did say that you grow when he's not looking."
"How is JJ?"
Sari thought about what to say. She didn't want to get into all the gory details. "He's fine. He was a little banged up when I found him but everything is good."
"Did you two kiss?"
"What?" Sari looked incredulously at her little sister. Where did the girl get her ideas? "What are you talking about?"
"Gotcha sis," Ryan replied laughing as she tacked the sides of the plastic on.
Sari narrowed her eyes playfully at Ryan. "You keep this up and I might just put you over my knee and teach you a lesson."
"I'd love to see ya try."
"Don't tempt me Rye bread," Sari replied as she finished tacking up her side. "You forget that JJ and I ran together for years. We became masters at all sorts of tricks." She glanced at Ryan and grinned a little devilishly. "Trust me. You wouldn't survive one of our pranks."
"JJ wouldn't pull a prank on me."
"You'd be surprised habibiti."
Ryan paused a moment as she gathered up her supplies to put them away. She had been curious about what her sister and her best friend did while they were away. True they talked but it always seemed that Sari was guarded, like she couldn't say the things she wanted to say. "Where were you while you were away?"
Sari paused as she picked up the excess plastic. She could put it away later. Right now they needed to put the stuff away. She knew that question would pop up. Hell when she came into town it was the first thing out of people's mouths. She sighed, "I've been working… with the Navy."
"Were you in Iraq?"
"Afghanistan and Iraq… mostly patrols. No serious fighting." Sari uttered the lie effortlessly. She could never really tell anyone the things she saw and the things that the independent contractors did. She remembered the aftermath at Saffa and the surprise she got there.
Ryan knew that there was more to the story. She could tell by the way her sister seemed to get a wistful look or something like that. It told her that there were things that her sister would never mention and maybe she didn't want to know. She did know that whatever her sister did, she did it for her country. If there was one thing about her sister it was that Sari was loved her country and she was loyal to it and would do anything to protect it. So she replied, "Oh. Did you help any of those kids?"
"We did some relief work. Part of our protection was to help out the locals," Sari replied as she went up the stairs to check and make sure everything was secure. "You make sure your room is secure?"
"Yes," Ryan replied as she went to the coat closet to pull out her jacket. It was autumn and it was pretty cold and storms made it worse. "So where are we going?"
Sari came back down the stairs pulling on her jacket. She checked her pockets to make sure her phone was among her portable stuff. Out of habit, she stopped by the closet she had put her duffle in and pulled out a gun and checked to make sure it was loaded. She knew that Ryan wouldn't flinch at that. Most of the people in town had a gun and they knew how to shoot. She tucked it in her waistband and replied, "You're going to town hall. You'll be safe at the shelter there."
Sari greeted Ryan at the door and ushered her out. She made sure the door was secure and pushed Ryan into walking fast.
"And what about you?"
"I have to help get the med center's shelter up and running," Sari explained walking at a fast pace.
"Why can't I come? I can help." Ryan was used to being on her own. She could have handled being at the town hall shelter on her own. She just wanted to be with her sister and to be honest she was scared about something happening to her. Sari was the only relative she had left since she wasn't sure about her dad's mom in New Bern and as much as she liked the old lady, she just wasn't Sari.
Sari heard the wistful tone in her sister's voice. This was the hard part of parenting and she was sure of it. She would like to spend time with Ryan but she needed to make sure that there was a place for the people of Jericho to go and she could do that a lot better if she knew that Ryan was safe. She replied in what she hoped was a reassuring voice, "I need you to stay at town hall." She paused when she heard Ryan pout a little and stopped to look at her younger sister and explain, "Look. I know you want to help and I know you can but right now I need to help the medical center so we can help the people of Jericho."
"Why you?"
That was a good question and one that Sari carefully answered, "Because someone has to. It's not the best thing in the world but if no one did it then we would be in trouble. Now I need you to stay in town hall with Mayor and Mrs. Green while I help."
"But…"
"I know it sucks but it's one of those things that adults have to do." She stopped and made a slight face. "I sound like Mom don't I?"
"A little but I guess I understand. I just don't want something bad to happen to you. You're all I got Sari," Ryan replied with a slight smile.
Sari returned the smile and rubbed Ryan's hair in that affectionate manner she did. "I know Rye bread. I get the feeling that tough times are coming and some people are going to have to grow up faster than they should. That doesn't mean I won't be careful."
Ryan smiled feeling a little better. "So you're just going to go help JJ?"
"Yes."
Ryan started walking and was joined by Sari. "Then I guess I can handle that. Maybe I can help Mayor Green at town hall. He knows I won't be in the way."
Sari smiled. No doubt Johnston Green would ever consider Ryan to be in the way. Maybe her sister might be able to convince the man to take it easy while dealing with a crisis. She had noticed that he was a little off. She may not have seen the man in five years but she could recognize the signs of a cold when she saw one. "I know that habibiti."
They continued onto town hall and Ryan disappeared into the building leaving Sari to walk to the medical center. On the way there, she checked her phone for a chance that something might be different than the missive she had been given. There was nothing and she sighed in disappointment. She had known that by getting the full sales pitch into Janus, she was in and there was no way of getting out and at that thought, she gave a dry chuckle.
Being in Janus was like being in a gang. Once you were in, it was for life. That's probably what would have happened if she had stayed. She would have ended up working for Jonah and in an effort to keep people off of Jake's back. The town was in a real mess the day that he left and since then, even though she said what was done was done, she would go over in her mind thinking about what she could have done differently.
Then there was Saffa and the other villages like Fallujah. It was like a bad unending dream then. Jake had no idea the lengths she went to in order to make sure that he wasn't made a fall guy. It was a big risk to her career and position within Janus since she was brand new to that. That was her job though to watch his back and it was something she took seriously for the first person, the first man to teach her that she didn't have to let people push her around. Stanley helped in that too and the three of them along with Eric got into so many scrapes…
Sari was glad to be back in Jericho even though it was going to be tough with the past still there. It put an extra bounce in her step as she walked towards the med center. She was unaware that she was being watched by Robert Hawkins who was helping out at town hall.
A/N: Time to prep the shelters before the fallout and it looks like Hawkins suspects something about Sari. More to come on Forces Collide...
