Missing (20 page)

Chapter 40

     Mark had always been proud of his wife, and never passed up the opportunity to brag about her.

     “It sounds like the city, whether they intended to or not, saved the lives of thousands of people. But I can do you one better.”

     The driver asked, “Oh? How so?”

     “The woman we’re going to see at Wilford Hall… her name is Hannah Snyder now. But it used to be Hannah Jelinovic. Have you ever heard of her?”

     “You know, the name sounds vaguely familiar. But I can’t place it. Can you give me a hint?”

     “Hannah is my wife. Three years before the freeze she was working for a NASA contractor and found Saris 7 streaking toward the earth and on a collision course with us.

     “She reported the incident to her superiors, but they already knew about it. They said they would tell the public in due course, but to do so too early would cause widespread panic.

     “Of course, they had no intention of telling the public at all. Meanwhile they and the fat cats in the federal government were making preparations to protect themselves and their families, and their political cronies.

     “They weren’t going to tell the average citizens at all. Well, Hannah and her friend Sarah risked going to jail for revealing classified information by going to the press and spilling the beans. It was only because they did that, that many millions of people had a chance to prepare themselves, and to move to warmer climates or stockpile food.”

     The driver’s eyes grew wide.

     “I remember that now. I didn’t remember her name. But I remember her giving that interview at the television station. The government put out a warrant for her arrest, but she disappeared. She and her friend.”

     “Right. We all went into hiding and starting making preparations ourselves. The government eventually stopped looking for Hannah and Sarah, because after the news got out they had enough problems to deal with. The public was demanding answers, and demanding they do something about Saris 7.

     “And, of course, the government knew there was absolutely nothing they could do about Saris 7. So they bought some time by saying they were going to send missiles up to divert it, and gave the people false hope that they were telling the truth for a change.

     “And while the people were busy buying into that, the politicians were busy locking themselves into their bunkers, planning to ride out the storm. It turned out that President Sanders was trying to portray himself as a man of the people, but he was just the biggest scumbag in charge of a whole bunch of other scumbags.”

     It was obvious that after eight years, Mark still harbored a lot of resentment toward Washington’s handling of the Saris 7 disaster.

     “Well, he and his cronies got what was coming to them.”

     Mark was curious.

     “What do you mean?”

     “You didn’t hear what happened to them?”

     “No. After Saris 7 hit, we isolated ourselves so completely, we lost all contact with the outer world. Once CNN went off the air three months after Saris hit, we had no clue what was going on on the outside.”

     “So you don’t know how President Sanders and the others died?”

     “No.”

     “Word got out that Sanders and all the members of congress and their big business buddies were safely tucked away in the cold war bunkers beneath the streets of Washington D.C.

     “The public never knew it before that, but there was a vast network of tunnels beneath the capitol. They were stocked with enough food, water and fuel to keep hundreds of people alive for many years. And not only that, they had grocery stores, shopping malls, putting greens, theaters and bars. The whole nine yards.

     “Just before the big collision, all the Washington bigwigs snuck their families and friends into the bunker system and sealed it from the outside world.

     “Well, shortly after Saris 7 hit and the rest of the country began to die, the contractors who’d built and maintained the bunkers began to talk. Word got out, and hundreds of vigilantes got together and decided to punish the president and the members of congress.

     “They obtained the secret construction plans that showed where all of the ventilation shafts were located, blended in with normal looking sewer lines and such.

     “And they capped all the ventilation intakes.

     “The hundreds of people in the bunkers eventually noticed that the air was getting stale, so they pushed open one of the big bunker doors.

     “And they were mowed down with machine guns.

     “The survivors retreated back into the bunker, the door was sealed behind them, and the vigilantes reloaded and continued to wait.

     “They tried several more times to come out, sometimes waving white flags or tossing out notes apologizing to the American people.

     “But the vigilantes weren’t having any of it. They had all lost friends and family members, and they wanted revenge.

     “Eventually, the air ran out and all the people in the bunkers perished. Every man, woman and child who thought they had a right to use their power and influence to buy their own salvation, when the typical American had to fend for himself.

     “They’re still there today, eight years later. Somebody erected a monument outside the main entrance where some of them were shot down.

     “The monument reads:

When the government ceases to be by the people, for the people, it ceases to be a protector of those people. And the people who run that government lose their protection as well. Let this be a warning to all.

     “I understand it’s become the most visited monument in Washington since the thaw. But instead of leaving flowers, people walk by it in disgust.

     “Someone painted a caricature of President Sanders on the sidewalk in front of the monument. It’s become a tradition, of sorts, for passersby to spit on the painting, and Sanders’ face is constantly covered with human saliva. I understand the Park Service people have to hose it down every couple of days so it doesn’t get too disgusting.

     “Of course, what’s really disgusting is the way Sanders deceived the American people.”

     “True. It’s just a shame that the innocent children had to perish with them.”

     “Yes. That’s the only sad part about it. But the parents are to blame for that too. They chose to take them down there. They should have considered the possibility that the word might get out. And who could blame the citizens for being angry? Their leaders betrayed them, yet protected their own.

     “And it backfired on them. See that building up there?”

     “Yes.”

     “That’s our final destination. That’s Wilford Hall Regional Medical Center. I’m going to drop you off at the main entrance. Just inside the door is an information desk. I understand that someone will be standing by to escort you directly to your wife’s room.”

     “Thank you. I’m sorry, sir, but I didn’t catch your name.”

     “Pietro. Pietro D’Ambrosio. But you can call me Pete. Everybody else does.”

     Mark shook Pete’s hand.

     “It’s nice to meet you, Pete. Thank you for a very informative ride. It was very enlightening.”

     “You are welcome, my friend. May I ask a favor of you?”

     “Certainly.”

     “When you see your wife, would you offer her my best wishes, and my thanks? Without her it’s very likely that I wouldn’t be alive today, and neither would my family, if she hadn’t been so brave. We were able to make it because she gave us the precious time it took us to stock up on food and water. That same food and water kept us from giving up, and got us through the worst of it.

     “That, in my mind, makes her a true hero.”

     “Pete, that’s a message I would be more than happy to pass along to her.”

Chapter 41

     Mark sat at Hannah’s bedside in disbelief. He knew she was severely injured, but it never dawned on him that she would be anything less than the gorgeous wife he’d said goodbye to the previous morning.

     Now here she was, her face swollen like a balloon because of the invasiveness of the jaw surgery they’d performed on her.

     Half the face was wrapped in white bandages. The rest of it was covered in ugly black and brown bruises.

     But he didn’t care. She was still beautiful in his mind, and she was alive, and that was all that mattered.

     Once he got past the initial surprise, he was glad that she was still sleeping.

     Had she been awake when he walked in, she’d have seen the shock on his face and would have felt extremely self-conscious. And that was all she needed in light of everything else she’d been through.

     The others who’d made the journey sat and waited in the hallway. It was only right that Mark have some time alone with his wife before everyone else stepped in to rain on their parade.

     While they waited, they perused ten year old copies of Airman and Time magazines and looked at the official portraits of every base commander Lackland Air Force Base ever had. The portraits were all encased in elaborate wooden frames and lined up in order in the hallway.

     On the other side of the hallway, a similar row of portraits and paintings depicted the past presidents of the United States.

     Conspicuously missing from its frame was the portrait of President Sanders.

     In its place, someone had written, in large block letters, the words “President Scumbag.”

     The fact that such a slander, in a military hospital on a military base, would be tolerated, said a lot about the way the military felt about the former president.

     Karen stopped a passing nurse and asked about the last portrait in the line.

     “Is this our new president?”

     “Oh, yes, ma’am. That’s President Cullen.”

     “Strange. I never heard of him before. And I used to be pretty current on politics before the freeze.”

     “Don’t feel bad, ma’am. Nobody else ever heard of him either. He was the freshman congressman from Rhode Island when Saris 7 hit the earth. A real nobody. Never introduced any legislation on his own, or even co-sponsored a bill with anybody else.

     “The only reason he even ran for president was because nobody else wanted to. There were only five members of congress left alive. Nearly all the others hid in the bunker with Sanders and died there. The five congressmen who survived only made it because they took their families to stay with other relatives and suffered through the freeze with all the rest of us.

     “The five surviving congressmen wanted to select one democrat and one republican from their midst to run against each other. The loser would become vice president.

     “The problem was, Dave Cullen was the only one of the five who even wanted to run. The others wanted no part of it. Apparently they didn’t mind enjoying all the perks of political office while it was easy. But being the one in charge of getting the country moving again when eighty percent of the population was dead was a different matter.

     “It wasn’t easy, so everybody else passed.”

     Karen wasn’t surprised. She had despised congress and the federal government for years, even before Sanders pulled his stunt to protect his own and shafted everyone else.

     “But who’s his Vice President?”

     “He doesn’t have one. He’s going it alone. But here’s the thing. He’s doing a pretty respectable job. He said going in that there are no more republicans versus democrats. He’s selecting the best people available for the job regardless of their party affiliation or background.

     “And it appears to be working. They’re supposed to crank the treasury up again in a couple of months and the first thing they’re going to do is create a new monetary system. I heard it’s going to be called the ‘new dollar.’ Then they’ll offer all kinds of incentives for people or groups of people to start up essential businesses again. Like utility companies, cell phone companies, gas stations and grocery stores, and all kinds of manufacturing companies.

     “Word is they’ll seize abandoned businesses and give them to people, just for an agreement that the people will get the business running again and produce a certain number of widgets in each of the next five years.

     “Their thinking is that once there’s a dollar worth having, and companies working, then the jobs will be there and people will have a reason to work again.”

     The nurse winked at Karen.

     “You know how we can tell for sure it’s starting to work?”