She retrieved our medical kit from the truck, looked at me, then pulled out the suture and needle.
“Hey, don’t we have some of Pavel’s whiskey?” I asked hopefully.
“No. This is your fault and it’s going to hurt. Take it like a man.” Without further delay, she pulled the skin of my knuckle out and jabbed the needle into it. I grunted in pain and my knees buckled. She pushed me against the truck fender to hold my hand steady. She quickly finished the two big stitches and tied it tightly on top of the wound. I was sweating and felt faint. I looked at her in horror
“Have I married a dominatrix?” I gasped.
“What would make you think that, lover?” she said smoothly. “Maybe you should find those things out before you tie the knot.” She gave me her flask, and I drank deeply. The cool water helped. She gently stroked my face and smiled softly.
I had to admit that I did like her fingernails.
I also admitted that she was right. I needed to stay above the fray. I wasn’t alone. Not anymore.
“So, do you think they can have the lodge ready for people within a month or so?” I asked Lucas as he finally felt comfortable enough to approach.
“I don’t know, Chuck. The negotiations kind of stalled, with the beating and all,” Lucas said, laughing. “I can go ask, if you’d like?” I thought about it and nodded. Lucas turned and headed up the stairs toward the main entrance. He stopped and returned to the truck where he dug out an ice bag from the med kit. It was a one-use item where after breaking the chemicals inside, it cooled down. He knew that it would feel good on Daniel’s face and make any conversation a little more friendly.
He was gone for a while, but when he returned, he wore a big smile and carried a piece of paper. “We’re good. Here’s what they need to start things up.” I looked at the list and thought some of it was overboard, but when you ask someone a question, you need to be ready for their answer. It was a starting point, and the fact that they talked about our proposal gave me hope.
“I’ll take that, and let’s see what we can do for them.” I waved at the windows where I could see the couple watching us. They did not wave back. I really wanted to give them the finger, and my hand started to lift of its own accord, but Terri stopped me.
“You do that and you won’t get any tonight,” she said matter-of-factly.
“What? You’re going to use sex to control me?” I asked more loudly than intended. Lucas shielded his eyes as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I haven’t been a wife in an awful long time. I think it’s my prerogative, don’t you?” she asked as we leaned against the fender. I had my arm around her lean waist and she had her hand on my chest. Her eyes sparkled. “Chuck, I’m not Madison. Yes, we make love and it’s really, really good.” She bit her lip and smiled. “But I’m with you because I like being with you. I like talking with you, and I like arguing with you. You listen, but you have your opinions. I think that you will be an incredible first president for our new country. I want to see it first-hand, and I know that you need help. I know that you aren’t as confident as you present yourself in public. I know all this stuff, and it makes me love you more. So, no. I have no intention of trying to control you and expect that you will give me the same consideration, which you have. We’re partners, Chuck.”
Then Terri kissed me and I was no longer angry, or hurt, or weak. I was what I needed me to be.
“Partners,” I replied as she climbed in the front and shut the door quickly. She hung an arm out the window and mouthed the word “shotgun.” I looked at Floyd panting at my side. He had feathers stuck in his whiskers. “What the hell did you eat?” He simply perked his ears and wagged his tail.
VALDEZ
It took three days to make it to Valdez. None of the bridges were out and the debris on the road was easily removed. We could have made it in one day had we pushed, but it had been a pleasant drive, and I liked looking at this country of ours through new eyes. Alaska was a beautiful place, and if we were successful, then we’d be able to open it up to tourists from all over the world once again. Starting with infrastructure, we’d rebuild and open our world. Denali was glorious and we could see it from our front porch on clear days. Others should get the chance to see it, too.
Valdez was a shell of the city that it used to be. The port still operated, albeit barely. There was a port operator, but the old man did it because it’s what he had always done. He fished during the day to keep himself fed. His wife maintained a garden so they had more to eat than just fish. People in Valdez were barely surviving.
I had not been there before and felt remiss. These people were Alaskans and deserved better treatment. Of course, I was partial to New Fairbanks, but there were people scattered throughout the great land. I added that to my running list of things that needed done. We had to have a census. Maybe next year we could commission a ship to travel the coast and find at least all the people living along the ocean and larger rivers.
Bethel should have been thriving, but no one had heard from them since the fall. Flyovers showed a ruined runway and what looked like an abandoned city. I wanted to send a team out there to figure out what was going on and what was available. We needed a fleet of helicopters.
And we needed power. That was holding Valdez back. What would it take to bring in some small nuclear reactors? Lucas laughed at that suggestion, but in my mind it was the biggest bang for the buck. We didn’t have any uranium deposits in Alaska, but Russia wasn’t far away. I wondered if they’d install one for us? The sky was the limit with my thinking.
More likely, we’d be refurbishing our coal-fired power plants. The old Usibelli mine near Denali had enough coal available from surface mining to power all of Alaska for the next fifty years. Maybe that was the biggest bang for the buck.
Then again, since the Russian government was the one that put us in this position, it made coal more attractive. Maybe I wouldn’t approach them. I found myself thinking of the Japanese. They’d had some problems with their reactors and decommissioned a number of them. I wondered what it would cost to get one or more of those?
We drove slowly through the town. There was a crude store established down by the wharf. It was set up for trade like a farmer’s market.
That made my day. Lucas stayed with the truck to forestall any issues with people helping themselves to what we had in the bed. Terry and I walked into the market. The first person inside the door looked at us oddly. She seemed to be in charge as she sat in a chair by the door, watching people enter.
“Is the ferry early?” she asked. We shook our heads. “Then, where’d you come from?”
“I’m Chuck, Chuck Nagy, and I’m the governor of Alaska. I’m so sorry that I haven’t made it down here before now. We are set up in New Fairbanks where the UN sanctioned our settlement and reestablishment of the state. I have a question for you. What kind of support are you getting down here from the shipping line, from Washington, or anywhere else in the States, for that matter?”
“Governor, huh? You’re not much of one. We’ve been on our own for a long time. We have a mayor, you know. That’s me. I’m the mayor, and I started this market because we needed it.” I had judged her poorly because of her dirty clothes and straggly gray hair. She was proud of her market, as she should have been.
“We have about eight hundred pounds of moose meat and we’d love to bring it in here to trade with the good people of Valdez. Do you have anyone who can sell it for us, for ten percent of the meat, of course?” I asked her. Her eyes brightened and she hugged me.
“Fish, we have plenty of, but we have no way of getting out of town to hunt moose and then no way to bring the meat back here. This will make our day. Hell, this will make our whole week!” She snapped her fingers and a couple of young men appeared. She directed them outside and then which stall to take the meat to. Terri went with them so she could tell Lucas.<
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The young men happily made multiple trips. Mayor Marcia Spaten was pleased, too, and welcomed us readily once the meat was delivered. She hugged us all like a grandmother would. It was hard not to like her. She took us from stall to stall, introducing us to the vendors and shoppers alike. We learned that there may have been around two hundred people in Valdez, but that was it. They looked forward to the arrival of the ferry as the captain always brought things to trade in order to stock up on fresh fish. Unfortunately, not everything he brought made us better. He brought whiskey and cigarettes, things that didn’t help the people move forward. The good news was that I would see him personally.
I didn’t care what the people said they wanted. I wanted them to have what they needed and it sure as hell wasn’t cigarettes and booze.
Marcia committed to taking us around town once the market closed. In the interim, we toured ourselves. Floyd was a big hit as he chased away the numerous mutts and seagulls that plied the wharf. We talked to a few captains who were fishing from the back of the boats. They were waiting for the ferry to come in with the precious barrels of diesel to keep their engines running.
Maybe the ferry captain wasn’t all bad. I asked Terri to stay close when I talked with him.
She looked at me oddly and then said, “Always.” I thought I knew her, but I didn’t know anything.
For three days we milled about town, getting to know people and, most importantly, laying the foundation with the mayor to expand and improve the transshipment capabilities of the port, while at the same time bringing the city back to life. We would need housing for hundreds of new arrivals. We looked at old warehouses and anything that might do. Almost everything was in a poor state of repair. So much to do.
Frank! I hoped that he was up for a challenge because this was a big one.
When the ferry arrived, we were on the wharf with most everyone from the city, waiting and waving. Frank stood at the second deck railing with an Asian gentleman which raised my hopes that a deal would advance quickly. I also saw what looked like a government official. The only reason I guessed at that was due to his government-issue blue windbreaker with a logo on the breast that I suspected had a Presidential seal.
I leaned toward Terri and shared my thoughts. “Government guy? My first inclination is to deny him entry into the state and hold him on the ferry, but since we’re the good guys, we have him out, cook up some nice moose steaks, and then drop the news on him, putting him back on the ferry tomorrow. What do you think?”
“I like the second plan. We don’t need a confrontation here on the wharf. We need it where we outnumber him in a private environment, and whatever you do, don’t punch him in the face, even though I know you’ll want to,” she replied, eyes sparkling as usual. I held her to me for a long time, enjoying the smell of her hair, the feel of her body against mine.
“I love the way your eyes always sparkle,” I told her.
“Maybe it’s who I’m looking at. Does your friend Frank know about us?” she asked. I shook my head.
“There was no us the last time I talked with him. And now we’re married. Maybe we keep that part quiet. No, wait. It is how we are. No secrets, lover.” We turned back to the ferry, holding hands as five people got off, then a number of pallets were broken down and their goods removed by hand carts and dollies. The last three off the ferry were Frank, the government official, and whom I suspected was the Japanese trade representative. They were all here to see me.
“Frank, my man! Welcome to Alaska, the last frontier, the great state, and all that.” We shook hands and man-hugged. “You look great and a lot younger than me. What’s your secret?”
“Clean living, of course, and then there’s flush toilets,” he quipped. We shook our heads. “Let me introduce Tanaka-san, the representative from Sumitomo, and this refugee here is Richard Bustamante.” I felt fingers gouge my ribs to remind me not to call him Dick.
“Ohayo gozaimasu, Tanaka-san,” I said in Japanese with the appropriate depth of bow. I was the governor and his should have been deeper, which it was. I appreciated that. “Rich, good to finally meet you.” I held out my hand while feeling Terri’s hand slide down my back to fondle my butt.
So that was it. When I did something right, that was my reward. Suddenly, I wanted to do everything right.
“I’d like you all to meet my partner, Terri Nagy.” Frank’s eyes raised for just a moment before greeting her warmly. Lucas jumped onto the ferry to help others unload it.
“We have so much to talk about, Rich, and you, too, Tanaka-san. Rich, why don’t you get yourself settled in your home while I catch up with my old friends.” Before he could reply, I led Frank and Tanaka-san away.
“So, you two are married?” Frank asked.
“Living in sin is so nineteen nineties. We wanted to set a good example for the kids…” I almost went in to our current situation, but that wasn’t for the ears of our trade partner. Frank excused himself as he returned to the ferry to get his truck and trailer. It was packed with supplies and consumables so he could make it through the next six months while running a modern shipper’s office. Lucas loved Frank’s truck and rode with him as he drove off the ship.
We guided him to the small building not far from the port that Marcia had offered us. The most important thing it had was a locking garage.
Once in the office, Tanaka-san produced a vast quantity of papers that he insisted we sign immediately as he wanted to be on the ferry out the next day. I didn’t laugh at him, but said that we would read every single word three times to ensure that we didn’t sign anything we didn’t intend to. Tanaka-san excused himself to return to the ferry where his stateroom awaited. He suggested we start reading the contract as soon as possible.
We bowed to him and told him that we’d see him in the morning before the ship sailed.
We each took a copy and started reading. I crossed out passage after passage. “What an arrogant little prick,” I said.
“Easy, dear,” Terri said as she was doing the same thing I was, circling some passages and crossing others out. “This is just the first draft. I wonder if he has a way to print a new copy, because this is garbage and doesn’t look like anything you have in your notes.”
“How convenient that I took the time to put something together. It’s handwritten, but I think we can incorporate a thing or two from what Tanaka brought, like their name, the date, and the signature block. I’m not sure there’s anything else in here we can use,” I stated, putting my copy down after making it less than halfway through. The key terms of the contract were up front and they were wrong. Better to start over.
Frank made it through three pages before going to his truck and starting to unpack. “I have a lot to tell you. You wouldn’t believe what’s happened in just the past three weeks…”
We laughed heartily over me getting shot by my new son-in-law. Lucas didn’t think his thirteen-year old daughter being head over heels in love with my son was very funny. So we commiserated on that one instead, while making faces when Lucas wasn’t looking.
“They grow up so fast, even more so here. Have they completed school?” Frank asked. I nodded. They’d finished all the requirements for high school during the previous winter. They were both studying different fields. Aeryn seemed to be Colleen’s assistant. I’d thought that Charles wanted to work with animals, but he seemed be taken with the outdoors. Maybe he would be a hunting guide or tour guide for people who wanted to see the wild Alaska. I didn’t know and it wasn’t for me to decide. I only had to create the conditions where he could do what he liked for a living, make more opportunities available.
“Charles got a grizzly, a big fella, just a few weeks ago. Toby’s family is tanning it for us. That should make a nice rug to put in the living room, assuming Floyd doesn’t attack it and rip it apart,” I said as I scratched his ears.
With all of us helping,
we were able to set up Frank’s temporary home quickly. We got the generator set up, chained it to a post and locked it up. We kept the two barrels of gas in the bed of the truck, which was kept in the garage, even though that wasn’t optimal. The trailer was parked in the yard.
Frank called his wife, spending a good amount of time on the phone while we returned to the market for our moose steaks and whatever vegetables we could trade for. It appeared that the moose had made us rich in things grown and IOUs. We had slips of paper for everything from nights in people’s homes, to whale watching, to fishing adventures, to home cleaning. We gave it all to Frank as his way to get to know the people in the Community.
The moose steaks were part of the ten percent we’d agreed to pay the vendor, who suggested that it was too generous since the moose sold itself. So we recovered some meat and everything else that seemed to be ours and headed back to Frank’s house. We waited for Dick to show up before cooking the steaks, but his intransigence knew no limits. I ended up asking Marcia for help, and she went and got him for us, plus I wanted her to attend.
Dinner was superb and we all made appropriate small talk. Terri let me know when I was saying the right things, so that made it easy. Finally, it was time.
“Mr. Bustamante, I have to put on my official hat now and deliver this to you.” I handed him our neatly handwritten declaration of independence with the signatures of all the council members. Mine was at the top and prominent. “As of the date of that notification, Alaska no longer accepts its status as a protected territory under the United States. The great nation of Alaska is born. As such, your presence here, in your current capacity as liaison, is no longer relevant. I invite you to take the next ferry out.” Silence greeted me.
The man studiously reviewed the declaration. It was short and clear. Our way ahead would be rough, and we needed the United States, but as a trading partner, not one who kept us cut off from those who could help.
Fury (End Times Alaska Book 4) Page 13
