by James Hunt
Before dialing, Paul looked at the display screen on the hotel phone. The small digital screen listed a brief call history of previous numbers dialed. The last call made on the phone, despite Samantha's number, was the exact same number listed on the back of the card. Paul attempted to dial in haste. His fingers flubbed over the digits. He had to hang-up and try again three different times.
3--0--3--2--5--4--5--5--4--7
He was greeted with a few-rings followed by voicemail. "Hey, this is Jeff, please leave a message, and I'll get back to you ASAP."
After the beep, Paul received another automated message about a full mailbox. He had no choice but to hang up.
"Jeff?" Paul said to himself with curiosity.
"Did you get a hold of anyone?" Julie asked.
"Not yet," Paul answered.
He held the backside of the card, then flipped it over. The front part had professional lettering embossed over material. It read: The Legal Offices of Bryant and Bryant, Offices Denver.
There was no official phone number or addressed listed on the card. "Jeff Bryant," Paul said, putting the first and last name together. "Who is Jeff Bryant?"
He looked around the room for other signs. In the bathroom, Samantha's hygiene products sat along the shelf. The only thing that had been taken was her traveling suitcase. Either she was coming back or she wasn't. Paul had to make a decision.
"Julie, we're going to leave the hotel and look for your mom."
Julie jumped off the bed in excitement. "I knew you'd listen to me," she said with a smile.
"Yeah right," Paul thought. "She contacted this lawyer. There's no address, but maybe we can find his law office around here."
"Why would she call him?" Julie asked, almost sounding jealous, even more so than Paul.
"Maybe she needed help," Paul responded. Their minds were made. They were going to take their chances outside. As they came to this conclusion, a great deal of commotion followed outside, on the ground below. They both walked to the window overlooking downtown Denver and witnessed an army of police trucks, with several dozen armed officers on-ground.
A growing crowd of displaced people, mostly young and anonymously concealed wearing jackets, pants, hats, and T-shirts covering their faces approached several barriers. The barriers were intended to prevent people from entering "restricted" parts of the city. The police were dressed protectively. They held riot guns loaded with tear gas cartridges. One officer, gripping a large blue megaphone, shouted to the group from atop his horse.
"This is a restricted area, city occupants are not allowed to get too far from the convention center. Return to the designated areas immediately."
The crowd disregarded the officer's request, and pushed against the barriers in defiance.
"Masks!" the officer ordered. His men donned gas masks in response.
The lead officer placed his mask on then shouted again into the megaphone, "Fire!"
Tear gas canisters launched into the air and hit within a few feet of the crowd. The smoke instantly engulfed the air, causing the protesters to fall to the ground rubbing their stinging eyes while violently coughing. Other kids pushed past the barriers while covering their faces with shirts, jackets, or whatever else they could find. The group was on the front lines now, practically touching the police officer's shields. Several ran away in fear after taking a hit or two. Others took their lickings and were knocked to the ground unconscious.
"Yeah perfect, let's go down there," Julie said, walking away from the window.
"We got lucky the first time the police came up here. They could do another sweep of the floor," Paul said.
"You said no more danger. You said everything was going to be okay," Julie started.
"And I'm trying to make it so," Paul said. "We're going, and I don't care what is happening out there. This Jeff Bryant knows where your mom is, and we're going to find him."
Paul went to the door and opened it. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. We'll stay out of sight, out of mind," he said in his most reassuring voice. Julie pulled the blinds shut, walked to the night stand and scribbled a note on the hotel-provided memo pad.
Went looking for you, don't leave! Love - Julie.
"Hurry up," Paul said, as his eyes shifted to both sides of the hallway.
Julie grabbed her mom's pocket-book and purple T-shirt. She took one look around the room and then joined Paul in the hallway. Whatever else left behind in the room they could rest assure that they may never see it again.
The streets outside were chaotic. Paul had reservations about going the way they came in, not discounting the fact that a team of police had recently gone through the very door they had smashed. Paul and Julie moved swiftly and carefully from the second floor hallway to the hotel lobby. Once downstairs, they heard the very real sounds of civil unrest right outside the hotel. Out on the streets, the police had effectively pushed the crowd back behind the barriers. Tear gas flowed through the air like hazy fog on an early morning. To Paul, it still looked too dangerous for them to venture out in.
"We have to look for another way out," he said to Julie, pulling her along.
They moved into the small dining area where, under different circumstances, they would be having a free continental breakfast. Just looking around the room made them both realize how hungry they were, though not a crumb of food was around. Paul spotted an emergency exit, designed to trigger an alarm if opened. Their plans for a low-key escape looked slimmer by the minute.
"We'll have to take our chances out the front door," Paul said as they circled back to the lobby.
They walked outside the dining room to see an agile team of gas-masked riot control officers storm through the front doors in hot pursuit. Paul yanked Julie away from the lobby like a rag doll and ran back to the dining area. He charged the emergency exit door as Julie struggled to keep up. As he pushed the door open, the alarm sounded, naturally drawing the unwanted attention Paul feared. The team leader immediately signaled to his men.
"Move out!" he shouted from under his gas mask.
They scurried to the dining area like hawks. As they cleared the room, the emergency exit slowly shut. It didn't take a brilliant tactician to figure out that the person or persons they were looking for had just fled the building.
"Why are we running from them? We haven't done anything," Julie said.
She had grown tired of fleeing. Paul slowed to a fast-walking pace and beckoned her to keep up. "We can't let anything get in the way of finding your mother. If they catch us, they're going to prevent that from happening. Understand?"
Before Julie could answer, the police team stormed outside and took instant notice of them. "Stop right there!" one of the officers said, from only twenty feet away. The surrounding streets were nearly empty due to the new off-limits zones. Paul and Julie found themselves directly in the middle of a restricted area. There was no crowd they could blend into. No open store they could hide in. From both sides, empty shops remained closed and the bars on their windows, impenetrable. Their only option was to run. Julie gripped onto Paul's sweaty hand as they ran down the street. The police were close on their heels. She had always been a fast runner, but fear had taken over and she could barely keep up.
"I said stop!" the lead officer shouted. No time for the Taser gun, he was prepared to make a tackle.
Paul looked around for anywhere they could evade the authorities. The best he could see was an alleyway ahead past a store on their left. The curvature of their path allowed them a few seconds where they could not be seen by the officers chasing them. Paul took quick notice of this brief advantage.
"This way," he panted.
He pulled Julie down the alleyway with him and was instantly filled with dread upon noticing that their path would soon reach a dead end. Brick walls surrounded them. Two large green dumpsters on one side, one on the other. If they could make it behind one of the dumpsters before the police noticed, they would effectively be out of their ran
ge. It was exactly what Paul hoped for. One more mad dash and they would be safe. He could hear galloping boots not far from them. They were gaining and there wasn't much time.
"We're going to hide by the dumpsters," he informed Julie.
Her silence meant agreement as far as he was concerned. Just as they made it to the first dumpster on the right, a familiar voice shouted from underneath a gas mask.
"They're moving down the alleyway!"
Paul looked around in panic. The buildings they had found themselves between both had doors resembling exit doors for nightclubs. If they weren't bolted shut, it would be their ticket to escape.
"I seen 'em," one of the masked officers said. "They're hiding down there."
Paul crept along the brick wall, kneeling as Julie crawled. He pushed on the first door and was met with resistance in return. Footsteps marched carefully towards them, though Paul and Julie still remained concealed. Paul pushed on the other door. It was locked, but he could hear voices talking inside. He pounded on the door, not considering the fact that he sounded like he was the police. A slot opened on the lower part of the door. As Paul peeked inside, all he could see was darkness.
"Who the fuck is it?" the voice asked.
"Please help us. My name's Paul. I'm with my daughter Julie, the police are after us."
Several bolts were unlocked systematically. A moment later, the door creaked open.
"Hurry up, and come in," the unseen voice said.
Paul and Julie slipped in, finding themselves in a dark, stuffy hall. A man behind them slammed the door shut and reapplied the bolt locks. "Move, move," he said, scurrying Paul and Julie forward.
Outside the door the police ran past, then reached the end of the alleyway. "They were down here, sir, I swear," one of the officers said while catching his breath.
"Either they disappeared into thin air or they slipped into one of the buildings. Either way, we have more important things to take care of," another voice remarked.
"Won't be the last we see of them, I imagine. They always end up coming back," one added.
The riot officers left the alleyway in collective indifference. They had a growing crowd of evacuees to contend with who grew more unruly by the day with their additional numbers.
"So why were you runnin' from the cops?" the man asked them.
He walked out from the shadows and into a single ray of light that beamed from a small yellow-stained window above. He looked to be in his sixties, or possibly older. His white buttoned dress shirt and black slacks had been rendered torn and ragged by weeks of possible neglect. He had a thin but scraggly beard, poorly groomed. His brown thinning hair stuck out in all directions.
"I believe I asked you a question," he repeated.
Paul gained his composure and attempted to provide an answer. "They've got parts of the city blocked off. I don't know why, but they do. My daughter and I are trying to get somewhere and I guess we wandered in a restricted zone."
The man studied them suspiciously, then he looked to Julie. "Is he telling the truth?" the man asked, pointing at Paul.
"That's what happened," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Always trust kids, they say. Kids don't lie. But as soon as they can think for themselves, they realize that you can just make shit up, and then they ain’t so trustworthy," the man said with a laugh.
“I’m telling the truth,” Julie said.
"I want to thank you for helping us. Is there a way out of the building you can show us?" Paul asked.
"Now wait just a minute, Paul, we're not through here," the man said, cutting him off.
Paul felt a tad nervous. He didn't know if they were any safer in the building with the stranger or outside with the police.
"You from the Denver area?" the man asked.
"No, we're from," Paul said, pausing. "We're from out-of-state."
"Well if you're not from the area, you probably don't recognize me. Here, follow me," the man said beckoning them down the hall.
They were led into a large cluttered room acting as a recording studio. In the middle of the room was a table and chair; in the center of the table hung a professional microphone. Under the microphone was a perfectly square shaped electronic switchboard. The room was split by a panel of glass where, on the other side rested an intricate mixing board. Several old tube-televisions sat stacked along the wall, each one displaying color bars. Newspapers littered the ground, their headlines similar in apocalyptic language:
Nuke Strikes U.S.!
Worst Attack in History!
The End of America!
Millions Perish in Nuclear Holocaust!
Paul was eager to read every paper in view at the hope of gaining some insight through tangible reporting. The man sat on his chair, leaned back and plopped his feet on the table. Next to him was a mobile reel-to-reel audio recording unit. He casually pressed the record button on the unit, sending the audio reels spinning in a clockwise fashion.
"Welcome to the Arthur Williams Radio Show. I'm your host, Arthur Williams, and today we'll be talking about the current status of the once beautiful city of Denver and the current hellhole it is now. But before we get into the meat of everything, to include the sudden availability of power after three weeks, I would like to introduce my two guests from out of town."
Arthur looked up from his microphone and signaled Paul and Julie over. "Why don't you come closer to the mic and say hi to everyone?" he asked.
Paul and Julie were hesitant to move anywhere near the man. He took notice and laughed. "Relax. This isn't going live. Couldn't broadcast live if I wanted to. I've been making tapes for posterity. Last man standing. End of the world. Been running the recorder off the back-up generator. Here at the Arthur Williams Show, we often tackle subjects of a deep and serious nature. We're ostensibly opposed to the past system, the current system, and the future system. And as you two know, after fleeing from the fucking cops, it's a jungle out there. That's right loyal listeners, it's a fucking jungle everywhere."
With his voice droning out, Arthur pressed the pause button on the recording machine. He looked at Paul and Julie with disappointment. "You two need to lighten up already. I'm trying to do a radio show here."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Miller, we're not in the mood."
"Not in the mood. Ha!" Arthur responded. "I want to know what the hell is going on out there. My listeners want to know what's going on out there. Not ten minutes ago I watched the biggest bullshit newscast of my life. Some fake, nameless anchor up there reading his lines like a trained monkey. They're up to something, and it ain't good."
"What are you suggesting?" Paul asked moving closer to Arthur.
"I'm suggesting that things ain't what they seem. They never are. What do you think I talk about here Monday through Friday six to nine P.M. Central Time?"
"I have to admit that I don't know exactly what's going on, but my daughter and I came from Pennsylvania. We were fleeing a nuclear attack. Things have changed out there. It's--it's different. Lack of power and fuel has put everything on high alert. I haven't had a moment to think about my friends and family. My father. Anyone."
Arthur saw his opportunity and pressed the record button.
"So Paul, if you don't mind, what the hell brought you to our police state of Colorado? Don't tell me that it was the only place you had left to go? If that's the case, we're all fucked."
Paul took a deep breath. "I'm looking for my wife."
"Your wife?" Arthur asked leaning into the microphone.
"Yes. She was at the convention center on Day One--the day of the Wall Street Bombing."
"Ah, of course. We mustn't forget about what started it all. I remember it like it was yesterday. Then--well, we know what happened next."
"What do you know?" Paul asked. "Is everything they're saying on television true?"
Arthur ignored Paul's question and continued. "So tell us about your wife. Have you found her yet? What's the deal with that? Sounds like we have a
real human drama here."
Arthur raised his arms up in the air like a promoter. "One man against the world. His daughter in tow. Will he find his wife as the world crumbles around him, or will they perish with everyone else? Tune in at eleven." Arthur burst out into laughter following his mock announcer voice.
"I'm glad you find this amusing," Paul said.
Arthur wiped his eyes. "No, no, no. Don't misunderstand me, Paul. I'm completely sympathetic to your predicament. You say your wife is in the convention center?"
"She was," Paul said, corrected himself. "But she's not there anymore. My daughter and I are looking for the Law Offices of Bryant and Bryant because we have reason to believe she may be there."
Arthur looked stunned. He narrowed his eyes at Paul in suspicion. "The Law Offices of?"
"Bryant and Bryant. I believe his first name is Jeff. Jeff Bryant," Paul said.
Arthur had no quick response. He scratched his head then spoke into the hanging microphone. "Exactly how did you come to this conclusion?"
"Because of this card," Paul said pulling the business card from his pocket.
Arthur took the card and examined it. After a careful look, he slowly placed it on the table. "Bryant and Bryant don't exist anymore. I don't know what this is, but it's not a business card. You're talking about Senator Jeff Bryant, Colorado's own esteemed philandering corruptocrat. I'm not surprised that your wife may be with him. But if she is, then I would seriously fear for her safety."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Paul asked with anger, moving inches within Arthur.
"Paul stop!" Julie pleaded.
Arthur took notice of Paul's agitated state. He moved his feet off the table in response.
"If, for some reason, you think your wife is with Senator Bryant, then the only place you're going to find them is at the Denver Airport," Arthur said.
It was just more confusion. Paul wanted answers. "No more riddles, Williams. Just tell me where I can find Senator Bryant."
"I just did. At the Denver Airport. Listen, everyone knows that there's a secret underground bunker at the airport. It's a place for the elites. The Masterminds. I don't know, maybe he convinced your wife to go with him."
