JOAN'S FLASHFORWARD
Chapter 5 Fallout
Will stared in astonishment at the mess on the street. Euclid Avenue was normally a quiet street, averaging about one accident a year. But now he was staring at two pileups on the road.
Imagine the accidents that can happen when a driver falls asleep at the wheel. Now imagine if every driver on the street does it.
He tried to help out at a couple of the sites, then he decided that there were priorities. I'm the Chief of Police. I need to be at the center of things.
He got out his cell phone again and dialed headquarters.
"Carlisle," said a frantic voice.
"This is Girardi. I'm coming to headquarters, but accidents have made the streets impassable. I'll have to walk."
"Do you want me to send one of the helicopters?"
That was tempting, but -- "No. Hold them in reserve for life-threatening emergencies, because they will be needed." Will could only imagine how much worse busier roads would be. "Call me if any important decision needs to be made. Use your discretion otherwise. I'll trust your judgment representing me."
"Yes, sir."
Will set up a steady pace – not running, because that would exhaust him before he could reach his goal. When he reached Sidney Street, the damage looked far worse than on Euclid. Sidney was a major traffic artery, running to the park and City Hall downtown. People would have been going faster on it.
Will punched his cell phone and held it his ear while continuing to walk briskly. That was a useful skill that he had learnt years ago.
"H-H-Helen Girardi."
"It's Will. Are you ladies all right back there?"
"I think so."
"Wonderful. Try not go out, but if somebody comes by needing help, do your best."
"Of course. Listen, Will, did you have a dream?"
"I don't have t—"
"It's important, Will. Did you? What about?"
"Lily and I were in a church."
"She was getting married?" asked Helen.
"Yes! How--?"
"We both dreamed it too."
"That's bizarre, but we have more immediate things to worry about. I'm calling the kids."
"All right, I'll get off."
He punched in Joan and Adam's number.
"Joan Girardi-Rove," Joan spoke shakily.
"This is your Dad. Are you all right?"
"Adam and I, yes. Agnes is dead. Do you remember the girl from the drama club, played the Amazon."
"Yes. I'm terribly sorry. But Luke—"
"I called him. He's safe, but he's very upset. He had a dream about Grace dying—"
"Tell him to forget dreams for the moment. We have a real crisis to deal with." He momentarily felt bad for his son; he could only imagine how scary it would be seeing the person they love die, even if it was just in a dream. But there were more pressing things that needed to be thought about.
"I know. Mom---"
"They're OK, I just spoke with them. Now, I need to call some other people."
"I understand. Bye-bye."
Will punched in a third number. It was long distance, but the hell with the cost at the moment.
"Amita Ramanujan" said a woman's voice, sounding stunned.
"This is Chief Girardi of Arcadia Police. Professor Epps worked with me once. May I speak with him?" Charlie Epps was a mathematics professor who often used his skill to help law enforcement. If anybody could figure out a weird problem, it would be Epps.
"Charlie's on the other phone, to Washington."
"Did something happen there too?"
"You mean California or Washington? I think the blackouts hit both."
Will wanted to curse. " Well, I'm glad Charlie seems to be on it."
Headquarters again.
"Carlisle."
"This is Will. What happened didn't just hit Arcadia. My daughter's in Pennsylvania, my son's in Massachusetts, and I just talked to somebody in California!"
"You think it's some kind of multiple terrorist attack?"
"I don't know. Try to contact some of the national organizations, see if they know anything more."
"Yes, sir."
Will concentrated on walking now. There was one silver lining: in spite of the obvious chaos, there didn't seem to be any looters taking advantage of the anarchy. Maybe the potential looters were as frazzled as everybody else.
He finally reached headquarters and got to his office. People were running it as efficiently as they could under the circumstances. Will asked that as many people as possible man the telephones; he didn't want to risk a life-or-death 911 call getting a busy signal. He asked Carlisle to try to organize reports and find out which corners of Arcadia needed the most help. Then, reluctantly, he called Lucy Preston in Washington. He hated Lucy, who among other things had tried to arrest Grace once, but Lucy worked for Homeland Security and this was an emergency.
"Do you think it was a terrorist attack?" he asked on getting through.
"Not unless the terrorists were trying to terrify themselves too." Lucy said bitterly.
"You mean--?"
"We've been getting calls from the Middle East. Mass blackouts an hour ago, in both Israel and the Arab states. By a miracle, they talked to each other instead of starting to shoot immediately, and established that they were equal victims."
"Victims of whom… or what?"
"That's what we'd like to know."
- - -
That evening, Will looked at the reports at dismay. The highest accident rate in Arcadia's history for any one day. The hospitals were overflowing. At least his family was safe at home during the crisis.
A thought struck him suddenly.
The blackouts had happened at 2:00 in the afternoon. Precisely when Helen and Lily had scheduled lunch. And they had been very insistent that Will be seated at the table with them at two. As if they had expected something to happen.
Could Will's own family somehow hold the key to a terrible disaster?
TO BE CONTINUED
(Author's Note: Charlie Epps is the mathematician/detective from NUMB3RS. Amita Ramanujan is his fiancee and former student. Ironically, the actress playing Amita on NUMB3RS also made a guest appearance on FLASHFORWARD. I had Will meet Charlie in an earlier story, NOT WITH A BANG)