ALL HELL
That day had been busy. I'd driven, and one of my underlings rode shotgun. Blaine had had appointments and functions all over the city. One out in the country. I was glad that my guy was with me because I let him drive some. Again, another first. He did all the jumping out to get the door for The Commander.
It was on our way back from the final function that the radio sprang to life. "Explosion at the Chancery. All units, secure your packages," meaning secure our Commander.
Back at the house, I was expected to stay with Blaine. But I assigned one of my guys to Blaine's office, and the other to perimeter patrol. Because of the emergency, Guardians were being pulled from street patrol to the Chancery, effectively lessening the security in these neighbourhoods. Not good, not good, but that could not be helped. My turnaround was short, and I was glued to the radio while racing to the Chancery.
It was because of the line-up of ambulances blocking the way that I abandoned the SUV a few blocks shy of the Chancery grounds. Securing my weapon and donning armor, I raced the last blocks on foot.
There it was, smoke billowing up from the front. Half of the ornamental front stairs were missing, as was some of the wall to the right as one faced it. On site security had set up a perimeter, and it was plain that this was a disaster of major proportions. As it was, I was not let through. Smart. I mean, what was I doing there anyway?
I spied some of the other Guardians from the vehicle pool. They were similarly equipped with weapons and armour, and it seemed that their adrenalin had got the better of them, too. All itching, because all they could do was stand around. I knew for a fact that most of them were the only Guardians assigned to their specific Commander. Not good, not good, they should be with their packages. As should have I. It then occurred to me, them being here meant that their Commander had been inside.
The guys were all yelling at once. So much for training. The following was what I got.
Half the Chancery membership, the Guardians of the Faith, were either dead or missing under the rubble. Probably heavy casualties among staffers and support personnel as well on the hardest hit part of the building. The third and fourth floors above the explosion site had collapsed. It may be weeks to locate or identify everyone. It would be months to evaluate what records had been destroyed.
I was asked about Commander Blaine. "We were out as far as Amherst today. Some sort of Township dispute with the local Chancery. You know how it is. Blaine is now secure. Not here."
To that one of my other colleagues said, "Well, from the list of casualties I've seen, Blaine could be top dog by tomorrow morning." At that, I thought I'd better get back.
I literally ran back to the SUV. If I'd not been in my gear or been carrying my service weapon, I'm sure I'd have been fired upon. I secured everything in the back, came around and jumped in the driver's side, hearing the radio in chaos. Through it all, I heard my name on our home radio.
"Jefferys. Jefferys. Come in." I acknowledged the call. "Jefferys, get back here. The Chancery, all that remains, is here. Every Guardian in Gilead is here. It's chaos. The High Commander wants you back, now."
I picked up the mike, "High Commander!?" The answer was, "Yes, Blaine wants you back. Now!"
HIGH COMMANDER BLAINE
SUVs were lined up down the street from the house, as well as past it to the next block. The security perimeter had been set up two blocks away. I had trouble getting into my own assignment, reminiscent of that day I'd gone to Ardua Hall.
At the checkpoint, I said to the duty officer, "Am I going to have trouble getting onto the parking pad at the house?" The guy reached for his shoulder microphone and mumbled something. Thirty seconds later a reply came back. He turned to me and said, "not now, sir. Please go ahead." I was ten years younger than this obviously seasoned Guardian, and he had just called me, 'sir'.
All I can say is, Gilead.
I parked the SUV and one of my guys was there to meet me. SUV's parked every which-way, the place was crawling with Guardians. From here you could see into the kitchen. Inside, the place was crawling with marthas as well.
My guy said, "Guardian Jefferys, the High Commander is waiting for you. But when you're done inside, please come out here and take charge. No one knows what they're doing. Everyone just showed up!"
At the house, a Guardian was standing post at our front door, the one facing the street. Once I got inside, I saw a few Commanders going into the kitchen. I took a peek in there, saw Beth. She was yelling orders at the dozen or so marthas that had descended on the place without her knowledge. None of them knew where anything was kept. Beth took half a second to look at me with a frustrated exacerbation. Then she turned back, grabbed a martha, and shoved her towards the sink.
At the top of the hall to the Commander's….. High Commander's study was yet another pair of Guardians standing post. You could hear the yelling in Blaine's office from there. It only got louder as I approached. The two Guardians at the door were almost knocked over as it opened, two Commander's I didn't recognize came forcefully out arguing about something. One of them strode straight out the front door past the sentry there, presumably to get into his SUV and go somewhere. Who knows where? Obviously not to The Chancery.
The Guardians at the study door stepped aside for me (a good sign) as I entered without knocking. Inside, every chair was taken leaving twice that number standing. Everyone was shouting. Blaine was on one of the couches, and an officious clerk behind was handing him files and paper, then gathering other things from him in return, passing them to an equally officious pair of clerks standing farther behind.
Blaine spied me, handed the pile of files he was holding to the clerk behind him and yelled, so as to be heard, "Jefferys!" He bounced up to his feet, motioned me to his desk, said, "Over there!" Behind his desk where his chair was, was literally the only space we could muster.
As I shouldered my way through the mass of Commanders, I heard calls for salvagings. "Not since the Rachel & Leah Centre bombings…." One Commander was yelling about closing the northern border. It was complete chaos.
When we got to behind his desk, I said, "I wish it was in differing circumstances that I could wish you congratulations for your promotion, High Commander," the first time I'd called him that. All he said was, "I'm going to need your prayers, Jeff. So will Beth. It gets bumpy from here."
At that he grabbed a manila envelope on his desk and handed it to me. "A few things, Jeff, then I have to get back to this mob. Don't open this here. It's about the Červeňák's. Also the Jefferys. After reading, burn it." He then reached for a smaller packet. "Here. Chancery passes. Decals for the car. You'll have access. Eventually you'll go get the armoured SUV. Once this gets sorted out - and wherever the Chancery site ends up being - you're going to be managing security. For Gilead."
He surveyed the look on my face. "Don't worry about the High Guardian. Or that Eye you've got the arrangement with. They'll be gone by this evening if not already. Allowing a bombing on their watch was bad for job security."
He then pointed to the chaos outside, Guardians running everywhere. "Take charge. Start with that." He then returned to his place on the couch. Opening the small packet, I noted the access-pins inside, worn by Guardians with unfettered Chancery access. I reached in, took one, tried and failed to get the clasp off of the back of the pin.
Right then, I noted Beth grabbing it. "For mercy's sake, you're such a child. Here, let me." She was standing right there in the High Commander's study, with four or five other marthas serving the mob behind her. She quickly got the pin settled and secure onto my lapel where it would be noticed. She then plucked some lint off of my jacket, and brushed with her hand some debris off of my shoulder. Which she then grabbed, turned me and pushed and said, "Get out there! Gilead is under attack!"
THE MANILA ENVELOPE
It had been the 'insurrection' which had blown up the Chancery building. At one time it had been called 'Mayday'. Me, I was now still in my 20s, but I was now the supervisor of a staff of 50 Guardians - charged with the protection of the High Commander. This did not include the 100 people who offered clerical and logistics support. They had security needs too. This had been the second time that the insurrectionists had penetrated our security and taken out huge swaths of Gilead's leadership.
Such was the evil that Gilead faced. It did not matter, not really, that I had not been up to the task of seeing to this level of security. See to it in all its aspects. In many ways I did not need to be an expert on the various disciplines - each had its head, and they reported to me. Mostly I just nodded.
What was important was that High Commander Blaine wanted me at his side. I served at his pleasure - until he withdrew it, which he had (so far) not.
The District had expropriated the properties immediately adjacent to Blaine's. Each home on them was converted to house one aspect of the High Commander's security detail or administration centre.
Given that it had been 'insurrectionists' who'd been given the credit for the bombing, no one was quite sure who or what that was. Perhaps that was the point. Which group of people antithetical to the goals of Gilead had arranged a bombing? Take your pick. Rather than investigate, we hard packed the shell around the High Commander.
Meetings continued at his house. Beth now supervised a staff of 20 marthas. Most of them stayed in a house two doors down, but still within the security perimeter. If a delegation descended on to the house, Beth pressed what she called 'the panic button' and a squad of marthas would be there in 20 minutes, even if in the middle of the night.
And High Commander Blaine made a major concession. He agreed to take a Handmaid, Ofnick. Since there was no Wife in the house, it was unclear if there was ever to be a Ceremony. However, that's not my area, so I stayed out of it. There was too much else to occupy one's time. She was another on-site pair of hands for Beth.
Blaine was good for his promise that I was never to hear again from either the old High Guardian or the Eyes of God about reporting on the goings-on in the house. The two who'd been in the room with me that day at Guardian Headquarters spent a month on the wall by the river. It's unclear if that's something that Blaine himself had arranged, I mean it would have been me he would have come to to arrange it. Between him and me, we never talked about it after the day of the bombing.
Oh yes, the manila envelope. It is in my safe up in the bed-loft where I resided. I've never opened it, not yet at least. Once again, there'd been too much to do in the security area for me to worry about private, selfish concerns.
Oh yes, yes another 'oh yes'. The High Commander now traveled in the armoured SUV. I didn't drive it, but it did have a lot of zip for such a heavy vehicle. I sat with the High Commander in the rear, unless he was having a rolling meeting. Then I was on the jumpseat facing them. I hope never to have the hypothesis tested, but the Guardian depot claimed that it could take an RPG direct hit. It could drive 60 mph with the tires blown out, and the tires could not be blown out.
Such were the concerns, given that our lives had been upgraded. Thanks to the insurrectionists, who ever they were. God has a way of shoving one's selfish concerns to the side.
