Garrett sat down at one of the computers and punched in a few of the commands. He blinked.
The young man was right—it was as though no one was home at Head Office. The command went out but nothing, not even the servers at the other end, answered back. He was no computer expert but he was guessing that his colleague was correct—someone had pulled the plug.
“What do we do?” asked the younger man.
Garrett sighed and asked, “Did you try calling them?”
“We couldn’t even call you to see how long you were going to be,” he answered. “We even tried your home number and there wasn’t anything, not even a dial tone. So…” he ended up shrugging.
Garrett shook his head and then looked up at him. “Until the roads are cleared and we can contact someone to get up here, we can’t do anything but wait it out.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Dawn over the small lake was clear and—much to Russell’s dismay—far too still. Adrienne brought him coffee and sat down beside him. The dining room, and table, in her parent’s house had a large picture window overlooking the lake. The view was often spectacular, especially in the autumn, when the leaves changed to fiery reds and oranges and reflected off the lake.
“The emergency channels are all still down,” she pointed out.
“That’s not good,” he answered knowingly.
Before his retirement, Russell had been a network administrator for the City of Toronto.
The emergency network was engineered to survive collapses. There was really only one way the entire network would vanish. It had been purposely turned off. The mere thought of why this would happen was utterly chilling to Russell. No reason was good enough to warrant that outside of the government doing it on purpose to limit communications in the case of civil war. Unless an act of war had destroyed it.
No, it was more likely that someone in Ottawa had ordered the action but who was the real mystery.
Either way it did not matter.
Far more important to think about was what they needed to do now in order to survive until someone—the same someone or another who turned it off—in Ottawa saw fit to turn everything back on. What little there was around the tiny suburb outside of Sudbury would not sustain them for much longer. Russell knew that they needed to move if they had any chance at all of surviving the next week let alone the rest of the winter.
“There are some people on the lake,” said Adrienne’s mother as she made her way to them.
Adrienne crinkled her brow. “People?”
“That’s what your father says,” answered her mother. “Maybe you should go look and find out what he means.”
Russell groaned inwardly and followed Adrienne to the other side of the house. People meant others searching for supplies that the small group currently had too little of. Reaching his position, they looked in the direction her father pointed.
“Is it me or does something feel wrong about this?” asked Russell.
The people he saw were clearly coming from the city, why, he had no idea.
This tiny suburb was too far to reach casually. Adrienne checked her weapon and headed out to the deck as the first person stepped foot on land.
Russell waited just inside. He had no idea what he could do if she ended up needing back up but it did not sit well with him to leave her alone.
A few moments later, she backed back into the house and half turned to him. “They’re from the city…” she began, her tone subdued.
“And?” asked her father.
“I think it’s best if we all sat down around the table,” she answered, nodding in their direction. “All of us, including them. We need to discuss just how long this is going to last.”
Russell took a breath and released it, resigned to being in the background. Not that it was his place to lead here. This was not his house, nor even his family. He was a stranger in their home.
He sat down abruptly as it felt like the clouds outside had made their way inside and his own gloom made it impossible to remain standing as he watched Adrienne bring the other people in to sit at her parent’s table.
It was her mother that looked over and saw Russell as he rubbed his hands over his face. She walked over, a cup with something hot enough to steam in her hand. “Russell, are you all right?” she asked.
“Just a bit overwhelmed,” he answered as he looked up. She handed him the mug and sat down on the arm of the chair. “I feel like everything is sliding out of control.”
“You feel lost,” she observed, and he lifted a brow. “It’s normal.”
“Mrs. Constantapoulos, what were you before you retired?” he asked.
She motioned to her daughter. “Like mother, like daughter.”
With that she stood back up and walked back into the dining room. He watched as he sipped on the hot tea she had given him. Traditions always run the strongest up here, he mused. Not that they don’t in Toronto, but up here it always seems like if you ask someone why they do what they do it ends up being a list of names that came before—it doesn’t matter what that is. Mining, electrical, contracting, or policing. Someone in their family, and before that someone else.
It was the same in his own family. His father had been an electrical line worker, but only because his father’s chosen line of work was slowly being phased out. Russell had started with the intention of continuing that tradition, but computers and electronics had caught his attention instead.
Garrett, on the other hand, had followed almost exactly in the same path as their father—right down to joining the same union.
The only one who had not followed close to the elder Russell’s line of work was Daniel, although he had pursued what their father always wanted to be.
Much like Adrienne had followed her mother’s tradition.
“Russell, I think you need to come over here,” said Adrienne.
Russell opened his eyes and pushed himself out of the chair. “Okay, what is it?” he asked.
“They’re saying it’s the entire city,” said Adrienne. “There’s no rule of law. It’s like it all vanished.”
“That’s not possible,” said Russell, crinkling his brows. “There’s an emergency plan. City Council and the police would have enacted it the minute things went sideways.”
“And you know this personally?” asked Adrienne’s mother.
“No, but my niece would. She’s a trauma surgeon at Sudbury Regional,” answered Russell. “Her father is also OPP, like your daughter.”
“Anyone we know?” asked Adrienne’s father.
“Been through this, Dad, no… no one we know,” answered Adrienne, and she shook her head when Russell looked over at her, raising a brow as he did. “Mom, can you take Dad upstairs?”
“Of course,” answered her mother as she guided her husband away from the dining room.
“Adrienne…” began Russell, as he stepped close. “Is there anything we need to know?”
“I’ll deal with it later,” she retorted sharply as she motioned to the others at the table. “Back to the immediate matter at hand.”
“What if they didn’t have that chance?” asked one of the people at the table, and she shrugged as they looked at her. “Look at all the snow. Right before this happened everyone was celebrating the holidays. Most people would be on holiday—some maybe not even in the country. What are the chances that two days before Christmas that anyone would be even at City Hall?”
“There’s an emergency call list for a reason,” pointed out someone.
“No phones,” realized Adrienne, looking over at Russell. “You said your phone didn’t have signal.”
“It didn’t,” Russell said, and then his eyes widened. “No way to find anyone. What good is an emergency plan if there’s no one around to enact it? No way to tell people to do it. Without leadership the city would just flounder.”
Adrienne blew out a breath. “It still doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t care that it doesn’t
make sense,” said her mother as she rejoined them. “I only care what it means for us now.”
“She has a point,” said Russell. “We need to worry about immediate survival first. Follow the suggested emergency plan and wait it out.”
“I suppose it works for now,” said Adrienne.
“No, you don’t understand,” said one of the people, jumping up. “The city is literally falling apart. It’s like someone dumped a can of gasoline and lit a match. We ran because there’s people looting their neighbours. With no one to stop them they’re just taking what they want. They’re looking at anywhere they can get to—and if we got out here then so will they. It’s not safe here.”
“If we don’t leave, are you going to leave us behind?” asked Adrienne.
The man fell silent as the thought sank in and he took a deep breath. “No,” he finally answered.
Adrienne nodded and touched him on the shoulder. “We’ll play this by ear. Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. There’s enough gas in my truck to get us someplace safe if we have to make a run for it. Even with the snow, they’re not going to be able to keep up with it.”
“What good will that do?” asked the woman.
“Well, it being a rather distinctive white and black patterned SUV with lights on top and crash bars on the front might be a suitable deterrent…” pointed out Russell, as he looked over at Adrienne. “I imagine you have a few weapons to spare if you have to use any emergency powers or authority to ‘make auxiliaries’ of a few people.”
The man sat down and finally nodded. “Yeah, I can see that being a deterrent. Okay, fine, we’ll wait for you to make that call.”
* * * * *
“Let me guess, you couldn’t find her?” asked Colonel Harnet as the two soldiers came into the office once held by the Mayor.
“There are more nooks and crannies in this place than in an old castle,” answered Zoe as she sat down heavily in one of the chairs. “And I suspect more secrets as well, for all its modernity.”
Harnet snorted, “If you call this modern.”
“Considering the comparison I just drew, sir, it certainly is more modern,” she responded.
“Well, then I suppose we could turn to other matters,” he pointed out. “I would like to head out towards Falconbridge and Skead—take control of the mines and the airport before one of the others gets the same notion.”
He stood up and Zoe followed him to the filing cabinets and maps of city.
“Once we have these we can start circling the rest of the area, take the farms to the airport’s west and control the whole city. We won’t need outside trade,” he said. “Which is a good thing, considering…”
Blinking, he gazed out of the south windows as a plume of black smoke rose from just beyond the rail bridge and over the mountain.
“Is that coming from the Armoury?” asked Zoe as she walked over to the window.
“Or very close to…” he said and his words trailed off as the lights flickered and died.
The emergency lights came on as the rest of the towers went dark, but City Hall was not alone in the dark. As they watched the city lights die, Zoe realized something. “The hydro control centre,’’ she pointed out and they watched as the city darkened for the first time in over a hundred years.
Harnet nodded and he turned to Zoe. “Send a team to Garson immediately, and keep looking for the Mayor.”
The door opened and another soldier ran in. “Sir, the city is coming apart at the seams. What do we do?”
“Forget the damn Mayor!” ordered Harnet, whirling back to Zoe. “Lock everything down. Use whatever you can to create walls around the towers of this block. Board and seal off any and all windows or other access points into here. Brick it all off. Use anything you can find, just make this compound secure!”
“Yes sir!” answered Zoe and the two other soldiers.
The three of them saluted Harnet and left to carry out his orders.
Harnet returned to the window while rubbing his chest. I’m too young for a heart attack but this… this might do it, he thought as he drew his attention back to the map. Locking the place down had a two-fold effect—the second was that it would prevent the Mayor and her staff from leaving—or calling in support. I just hope I called martial law fast enough… he said to himself.
* * * * *
Looking around the empty offices and out the window to the streets outside, Daniel felt like he was on a deserted island. There were no cars on the streets, and what cars he could see sat abandoned. The snow was undisturbed and the drifts blew against walls and into corners.
In some places the pavement was bare where the wind blew the snow up into a much higher drift. But these empty patches were rare.
Daniel could not see any tracks betraying human or animal movement. Even though he was in a tower he was only a few floors up from the street below.
Footfalls into the room made Daniel turn around. “Never thought we’d see this, eh?” asked Lescelle. “The Mayor said you actually got a picture of these bastards before everything went down.”
“I do,” answered Daniel, as he pulled out his phone. “Still no signal.”
“I figured that BlackBerry would have been dead by now,” said Lescelle, as he took the phone from Daniel’s outstretched hands. “They aren’t our military, that’s for certain.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think so either,” said Daniel. “I wanted to show Fitz, but I didn’t have time.”
“Who’s Fitz?” asked Lescelle, handing the phone back to Daniel.
“Friend of my daughter’s,” answered Daniel. “Coincidentally enough her father is also a friend of the family—friend of my brother’s actually, but then became a friend of all of ours. His kids, my daughter and my nephew and my niece… after about grade eight all went to the same schools. Same with Victoria.”
Lescelle looked up and watched Daniel for a few minutes. Daniel looked back out the window.
“I don’t have anyone waiting for me,” said Lescelle. “But I still don’t like the idea of being stuck here. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you.”
Daniel shook his head. “My family understands that when you have a job to do it’s not like you can set it aside. I’m more worried about how we’ll survive the winter. How much food there is in reserve and how we’ll find it. How to support any survivors.”
“How to unseat a Colonel who isn’t who he claims,” surmised Lescelle.
“That too, but if we’re technical that’s more your arena than mine,” answered Daniel. “But I’ll support you, if you find having me there useful.”
“I don’t even have a plan at this point,” admitted Lescelle. “You?”
Daniel shook his head. “No, but I would suggest asking Victoria. She used to play those online strategy and tactics games with Fitz.”
Lescelle lifted his brows and snorted. “Not what I expected her to be into.”
“Vic was the biggest tomboy you ever met before she hit university,” pointed out Daniel, with a bit of a laugh. “Loved the outdoors and getting dirty, paint ball… Counterstrike…”
“She was a war gamer?” asked Lescelle, his voice rising.
“When she has time she still is,” answered Daniel, grinning.
* * * * *
Sheridan rubbed her arms to ward off the cold as she walked down the central set of stairs to the main floor below to light the fire. There was a main central fireplace that could heat the whole house. The stones that formed the foundation of the fireplace also formed the foundation of the house and ran straight through the house as a solid load bearing stone wall.
This in turn kept the house warm like central heat. It was still a bit cool for comfort. Enough to prevent pipes from freezing in the winter and—if worse came to worse—hypothermia if someone forgot to light a fire.
This system was old as some castles in England and France and worked even in the coldest of Canadian winters. It did work far better in warmer climates
but with proper planning it worked just as well in theirs.
Terrence learnt the idea at university in San Francisco and Sydney, Australia. There ‘green designs’—while still up and coming in Canada—had been in vogue for years and almost perfected. Thankfully, since the power was out and the other methods of keeping the house warm were out of order until the power came back on, it was a practical addition.
Now that this—whatever this was—was going to last awhile she was glad Terrence had pushed for it.
Not that it had taken much. She snorted.
Give a Scadian a reason, and the money, to build a house fit for a historical reenactor to host gatherings and celebrate a shared hobby and I, of course, did it, she thought. Right down to the storage for all our garb and eventing gear.
Once she lit the fire, building it to a roaring blaze for sustainability, she went to the front of the house and looked outside.
“What the hell?” she muttered aloud.
The roads still had not been cleared and there was no sign of it happening soon. In fact, there was no sign of any movement at all.
“That’s not right,” she muttered and then turned back to the bed where her husband still slept. “Terrence, I think we have a problem…”
He never moved, although she could plainly see him still breathing. “Terry…” she called, a bit louder. “Time to get up.”
Still nothing.
Sheridan chewed her lip, trying to think of exactly how long it had been since they lost contact with the city… and how long it had been since her husband had been to his pharmacist for his Metformin and diabetes testing strips.
Too long, she realized as she ran over to his side of the bed. Stupid, stupid! You really should have known to ask him… to push him…
Not that it would not have happened eventually anyway but she could have bought him more time. They could have found something.
He was still breathing, but it was shallow. His heartbeat was sluggish and slow. Sheridan knelt by the side of his bed and waited.
After Oil Page 4
