Cold Hard Fax

Rufus shrugged. "The device that measures wind speed here was only rated at 150 miles." He pointed at a pole stuck at the top of the bunker. "It hit 164 miles before getting ripped away."

I squinted and saw a mass approaching in the distance. "What the hell is that?"

Mac and Rufus looked at each other, a knowing glance passing between them.

Rufus waved at our collection of buildings. "We are the probably the only thing still standing for miles."

Mac steeled his eyes. "Those are survivors, looking for help."

****

I had not seen anything like this except in the movies. They just kept coming and coming. Migrant workers, schoolchildren, adults, teenagers, seniors, every age and race. My boy scout first aide skills were quickly overwhelmed, and our medical supplies just vanished.

Mac was like a whirlwind, I do not know what they taught in the SBS, but he had groups organized for latrines, water rationing, firewood, scavenging, you name it. Rufus was keeping track and seem to know every person as they staggered in.

That night was the worst, children were crying and the fires just illuminated the faces of the moaning injured laying on makeshift cots of paper, cardboard and bits of cloth. I also knew we were running out of drinkable water.

The morning brought no relief, until just after noon a helicopter began circling overhead.

I tore off my shirt and began waving frantically, looking around I was not the only one signaling. Rufus was next to me.

"Rufus, looks the cavalry has arrived." I shouted as a Vietnam era Huey settled onto the ground, and the crowd surged around the slowing rotors.

We were four deep when the Helicopter side door slid opened. Several men in suits carrying cameras popped out, turning around snapping pictures of the figure standing in the Helicopter door.

A silver haired man in a tailor made suit posed for the photographers before waving to the crowd and stepping out of the Helicopter.

In a booming voice the man declared. "Citizens of Florida. I am from your government and I am here to help you."

Rufus spat on the ground as the man continued, while nattily attire staff members exited the chopper flocking around him. The man smiled a mouth full of perfect teeth. "Senator Brainwright at your service. Here personally to access the situation."

Rufus stepped forward and grabbed the Senator while the man attempted to shake hands with the stunned crowd. "Your Highness, can you come this way please."

Senator Brainwright seemed put off, but let Rufus lead him off with the Senators staff following in his wake.

A graying man in a worn flight suit came around the back of the helicopter. I did not know him, but I knew what he was. This man was the crew chief and I saw it was an Air National Guard unit, and he looked like retired reserve. That means he had been there, done that, and gotten the tattoo.

He took one look at the crowd and began handing water bottles onboard to the crowd. At the same time, Mac came out leading some men carrying the more seriously injured.

The two old warriors' eyes met.

The crew chief turned to the helicopter. "Clear the decks!" He bellowed. "We got wounded coming aboard. Toss out anything not nailed down."

With that, the Crew Chief began throwing out briefcases, camera bags, most all of the trappings of the Senators staff.

As Mac was supervising the loading of the injured, a young blond female staffer came running up.

"Stop! Stop!" she shrieked in a heavy southern accent. "Put that stuff back! This is the Senators Helicopter!"

Mac and the Crew Chief did not even acknowledge her. The blond girl grabbed the pilot who was going over a checklist. "You, Pilot General! Stop that man! He cannot do that without the Senators permission."

The pilot looked at the girl over his sunglasses. "I just fly this bird, you are gonna need to speak to the Chief."

"Well I am Marysue Savannah Glantry, the Senator's second undersecretary for Human Capital."

The pilot just shrugged and went back to his charts.

Marysue pulled at the Crew Chief's sleeve. "You MUST get these people off the Senators transportation. We have many more stops and are behind schedule." She shoved a leather binder with paper in the crew Chiefs face.

Despite the situation, I had to keep my laugher in as I saw the older man try to compose a sentence that would not burn pretty little Marysue's ears off.

He finally just batted away the binder and jerked a thumb at the helicopter. "My aircraft" he blurted out, then pointed at himself. "Me, mine."

I burst out laughing. Marysue spun around and exploded at me. "I did NOT become head of my sorority at one of the best universities in the south to be talked to like that by some... soldier."

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Listen Mary, on my knees sorority leader. Number one, he is Air Force, not an Army soldier. And number two, nobody cares who you had to jerk off behind the ivory tower. Personally, you are lucky the Crew Chief did not treat you to a more colorful language lesson."

Marysue pointed a finger in my face. "Listen, Yankee..."

"MARYSUE!" an authoritative voice barked out.

We spun around to see the Senator, now without tie or suitcoat in the company of Rufus and a crowd of people advancing toward us.

The Senator stopped in front of the helicopter. "Let these men do their jobs. These people need the bird much more than we do."

"Senator, our schedule?" Marysue pointed at her binder.

The Senator ignored her question. "And do not be getting too high and mighty on me. Me and your Daddy started out cleaning sceptic tanks together." He looked around at the helicopter gear on the ground. "You were premed before switching to law, correct?"

"Yes," Marysue squeaked.

The Senator shoved a bag from the helicopter with a Red Cross on it at her. "Then please follow this man Rufus and see what you can do."

****

The afternoon sun was fading and Rufus, Mac, the senator and his staff were gathered together.

"We got to get more people medical care." The Senator mused. He pointed at the nose of Rufus's school church bus. "How about driving that thing to safety?"

Rufus shook his head. "Not enough fuel. The storm surge flooded our diesel tanks, which is why we can't get the generators running."

"What about those cans of Transmission fluid, and motor oil in the garage?"

We turned to see Marysue, hair astray, dirty and sweat stained, holding a bandaged child on her hip.

"What?" Mac said.

Marysue shifted the child to her other hip. "In a premed class on disaster relief they said Diesel engines can run on Motor oil, Transmission fluid, booze, even veggie oil."

Mac smacked himself on the forehead. "Bloody hell, she is right. I did not even think about it." He pointed at me. "Grab some of the more able bodied men and head down to the wrecked petro station in town. Bring back anything that can catch fire, motor oil, veggie oil, kersone, whatever." Mac pointed at Rufus. "There is always a still in a place like this. Who is the moonshiner?"

Rufus did not even hesitate. "McGinity's place"

The Senator clapped his hands. "Let's go!" He wiped his brow. "I could use a drink."

****

It was dark and Rufus was driving when we got stopped by a bunch of cars in the road shining their headlights at us.

It was a tiring slog, we had had to backtrack several times due to hurricane debris blocking our way.

Rufus stopped the bus in front of the line of headlights. Suddenly Red, flanked by his cronies and all armed, stepped in front of the headlights.

"Everyone OUT!" Red yelled gesturing with his rifle. "Now!"

Mac, Rufus and I, along with a few of the walking wounded exited the bus steps.

Mac walked right up to Red. "What the Fuck are you doing?" His Scottish accent pronounced.

Red grinned. "We are like a self-deputized law force. To you know, keep order in these hectic times. Now we only ask a small fee for our service." The rest of his group laughed.

Mac snorted. "Go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut, you dozy cunt."

The smile disappeared from Reds face. "Is that any way to talk to authority?" With that Red swung a vicious punch that staggered Mac.

Mac touched his lip than spat at Red. "Fanny balls, you punch like a fud."

Red leaped at Mac and knocked him down with the butt of his rifle. His cronies gathered around as Red started kicking at Mac.

I had been slowly creeping back into the brush the whole time. A few more steps and I could dash into the woods. Not a chance in hell they could catch me, and I would be safe.

I was almost completely covered by darkness when I started running. Only one problem, while my brain wanted me to dash into the woods, my feet did not have me running into the safety of the thick brush, but toward the group of Reds pals, now also kicking at Mac.

Slamming into one guy, the domino effect knocked down almost the entire group. The darkness had everybody punching everyone, like a crazed rugby scrum.

I was actually doing pretty well despite the odds. Mac was fighting like the 3^rd monkey on the ramp to Noah's Ark before the flood. I never saw the kick to the head that took me out of the battle.

Suddenly deafening shotgun blast thundered into the night. The roaring discharge froze everybody.

"Back off! The next round scatters your brains."

It was Rufus' voice!

Mac pulled me off the ground to a spot where I could see Rufus with a shotgun pointed at Red and his gang.

Red was standing with his hand wavering at a revolver in his waistband.

"Gimme that gun, you stupid nigger." Red spat.

"Listen peckerhead, I've faced the Klan, Bull Conner's dogs and goons in Birmingham. You think I'm gonna sweat a little pissant like you?"

Red gestured around him. "You think you can take all of us."

Rufus smiled. "No need to. No matter WHAT happens I am gonna shoot you as many times as I can." He gestured with his gun. "I got stage 4 renal cancer and am ready to meet my maker. How about you? You ready to join the jubilee with me?"

Red dropped his hand away from his waist.

Rufus jerked his head toward the bus. "Mac, you get these people on the bus. Me and these young men are gonna have an extended conversation on race relations."

"Can you drive?" Mac asked as we got onto the bus. I nodded and slid behind the wheel.

****

We had only gone a few miles when we heard gunshots ring out. I made out three shotgun blasts and a whole lot of other gunfire, then nothing.

I slammed on the brakes.

"What are you doing?" Mac said

"We gotta go help Rufus." I replied putting the bus in reverse.

Mac put his hand on my shoulder. "We can't help Rufus, we can only ask God to take care of him now." Mac waved at the people on the bus among the scattered containers of oil and other combustibles. "But we can help the people who Rufus wanted to help."

I put the bus in gear and drove on.

****

It was early morning when we got to a place with a bunch of state troopers. They got medivac flights for the more serious and ambulances for the rest. A Trooper sped us in a car toward the hotel FEMA had set up as a Command center.

"It's a complete cluster fuck" The trooper said, as he filled us in on what was going on. "Bureaucratic assholes at their worst. North Carolina sent truckloads of water and portable shelter. Fucking weigh station stopped them at the border for being overweight. The FHP duty officer had to arrest the stationmaster and escort the trucks to get them here."

I was stunned.

"Gets worse." The trooper said, slamming his hand on the dashboard. "Our Gov is a democrat and because Pres is a Republican, POTUS won't send help until our Gov files a formal request, which he won't do." He wiped his brow. "God Damn it. Americans are dying while those two play political games."

Mac looked at me in bewilderment and shook his head.

****

The hotel was bedlam, volunteers were flooding the room and every one with a FEMA badge just seemed to be running from meeting to meeting. The level of frustration was rising.

"I got a semitrailer of camping gear"

"There is a bunch of Doctors and Nurses out here with four full loaded ambulances"

"The construction company in West Palm Beach has dozers, where do you want them?"

"The bottling plant switched to canning water; two semis are ready to roll."

"A tanker of fuel just arrived from the Depot. Where can we set up?"

A Navy Officer, flanked by four marines and a whole company of sailors with tools entered the hall. The Navy officer grabbed a passing FEMA guy.

"We just docked from Gitmo. I have the ships company at your disposal. Where do we put them?"

The FEMA guy thought for a second. "Can you stand by? We are having a kickoff meeting to assign task goals to ensure proper roles and divisions."

The Officer scowled "The US Navy does not 'Stand By'. I just need transport."

Someone shouted from the crowd. "The Dade school system bus compound is next block over!"

The Officer turned to a Petty officer. "Chief, commandeer those buses in the name of the US Navy." He took off his hat and wiped his brow. "Go out and do some good. I leave it up to your discretion."

The FEMA official grabbed the Officers arm. "You cannot do that, we have procedures."

The Navy Officer looked at the FEMA guy like he was dog crap. "YOU are NOT in my chain of command." He said in an icy tone as the FEMA guy let go. The Navy officer gestured to one of the Marines. "MARINE this civilian touches me or interferes in any way, slap him in irons."

The crowd cheered as the Navy crew exited and the FEMA guy scurried off.

A guy in a flight jacket next to me said. "Fuck, I wish I could go with them. I got a plane of supplies and nowhere to deliver them."

Mac reached over me and grabbed the guy. "Come here, Laddie, we are gonna talk."

****

Perry Airport is a small private airport in the middle of a suburb. Today it was a makeshift airlift operation.

I stood in amazement as Mac shouted orders. In just a few hours we had gone from a couple of pilots to a mini Berlin Airlift.

"Where the hell did all these pilots come from?" I wondered out loud to Mac.

It seemed every person who owned a plane was flying in and out of the tiny airport. People were pulling up in every kind of vehicle possible with supplies.

Churches, Temples, Mosques, even the Hara Krishna's were loading and unloading the planes.

Supplies were flying out and injured people were flying in as a steady stream of ambulances departed from our makeshift combo first aid and triage station.

Mac just waved at me as he coordinated a fuel truck over a CB radio.

"The TV Station did a story and everyone wanted to help." replied a familiar female voice.

I had barely turned around when Janet jumped into my arms. I fell down as she smothered me with kisses.

I broke our hug. "Janet! How did you find me?"

"You were in the background when the news crew did a live shot from here." She laughed. "I would recognize your backside anywhere."

Mac smacked me on the back of the head. "Very sweet, but you two can get a room later. Right now, I need your help."

****

It was hours before Janet and I could take a break. A local barbeque joint had towed his whole pit operation to the airport and set up shop.

"Power is out. Be a sin against the Almighty to let pork this good go to waste." he said as he loaded me up with a plateful and stuffed napkins in my pocket.

Janet's had sauce smeared across half her face. "Gary this is the best barbeque on earth!" she exclaimed, taking another mouthful, careless of the sauce dripping off her chin.

I laughed, reaching into my packet for a napkin. As I pulled out the napkin, some mail fell out of my pocket.

I had complete forgotten about them. It seemed a lifetime ago when Janet and I were sitting on my bed at Rufus's overseers house.

As always, it was mostly a bunch of junk mail, I shook my head. Most of the places advertised did not even exist anymore. There was a crumpled letter from Hals Pawnshop.

I sat down and tore opened the envelope.

Gary,

I called in some favors and had these pulled from the investigation. No need for this to be part of the report and made public record.

Best Regards,

Hal

I read Hal's cryptic writing twice before unfolding a piece of paper holding four Polaroid pictures.

Good thing I was sitting down, because my vision blurred and I almost passed out.

"Gary? Gary? Are you okay?" I had my head between my knees but I could hear Janet's voice and feel her standing over me.

I held up my hand holding the four Polaroid pictures. It felt like a thousand pounds as she took the little squares of paper and synthetic plastic from me.

A few seconds later Janet was vomiting the best barbeque on earth into a trash can.

I looked at the four Polaroid pictures that had landed face up where Janet had dropped them. They showed a naked Janet in the most pornographic of positions with several men at the same time. The most distinguishing feature being her beaming smile around the penis in her mouth.

I scooped up the pictures, not to look at them, but to prevent a passerby from viewing the photos.

Standing up, I walked to a corner of the building. Janet staggered over to me a few minutes later.

"Gary, I am... I am so sorry."

I took a deep breath. "Me, too, they say the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. Apparently I have an abundance of one of these and it is not hydrogen."

Janet put her hand on my arm. "It was me that was stupid. I was at his house to just drop him off from jail after we got his dog. I was only going to stay a few minutes to play with the dog. He offered me a wedding hit of meth"

I looked up at Janet. "The dog offered you a wedding hit?"

Janet stifled a chuckle. "No, my old boyfriend. I thought 'What the hell', nothing was going to happen. It was one for the road. But I forgot the rush. One led to two and two to four. Then he called some friends over who had more meth. Next thing you know the sun was coming out. I am so ashamed."

"Just that one night, Janet?"

Janet gripped my arm. "I swear, Gary, it was just that one night. A slip, that's it all it was a one night slip."

I looked up at her. "A one night slip, Janet?"

Janet did the cross my heart sign. "May God strike me dead if I am lying."

"Well I better move away from you then." I said.

"What?"

I held up the pictures to Janet. "You said only one night, Friday night only, right?"

Janet nodded her head while biting her lip.

"Janet, look at the pictures and tell me what you see."

Janet pushed away the Polaroid's. "Please, my stomach is still upset."

"Okay Janet, just tell what you see on the TV in the background."

Janet peered at the pictures intently. "Some blurred out of focus girl"

"What color dress is she wearing?"

Janet looked at the pictures again. "She has a red dress in two pictures and a yellow dress in the other pictures. Don't torment me, what are you getting at?"

I took a deep breath before speaking "That girl is Vicki, the weather lady from my old TV station, I'd recognize the news set anyplace. Vicki only works weekends, which means these pictures were taken on a Saturday or Sunday. The fact Vicki is wearing two different color dresses means the pictures were taken on two different days."

Janet gasped.

I stuffed the pictures in my pocket. "So if we add in your Friday night admission, that means you spent not only Friday night, but the whole weekend getting high and gang fucked." I looked at Janet. "None of the pictures shows condoms. So not only were you having unprotected sex with multiple drug users. You put me at risk, I hope if I have anything, it is something a medical drug will cure."