by T. Jones
"Three possessions, just Gonja, and one DUI."
"Turn them loose. You're all getting a free pass, so don't fuck up again. Don't ask me how you're going to get home, just go. Patrick, don't argue with me, we need every body out on the streets. I'm going to have to stay here, and coordinate things. We've all been trained for this. Just get out there, and try and keep a lid on things. We need to send every man, woman, and child home, or to a shelter. Get their asses off the street, understand? We need the roads open for the ambulances. As bad as this is, the president will have the Defense Force out soon. By dark, we'll be under martial law. First thing, you take Bernice home, before she has a stroke." He looked to the west. "It looks like all the hotels are okay, they're still standing anyway. Callie Fisher, you can ride with Constable Allen, he can get you to your hotel. They have a contingency plan for taking care of their guests, and the buildings themselves are the best on the island. You'll be safe there."
"You need help, if Bernice is going. I can help, answer the phone, whatever." He started to object. "Not leaving, so put me to work."
"We'll have to go back in the building, hopefully the phones on the main floor are working. I can talk to my officers from there. Maybe you can field calls. How are you with Patois?"
"I'm all you've got, does it matter?" He managed a smile.
"No, I guess not. Let's go in there, I'm sure the phones are going crazy."
The main floor office, adjacent to the holding cells, looked slightly better than Inspector Henry's. Several ceiling tiles and a couple of fluorescent lights had fallen, two computers and a printer lay on the floor, but most of the lights were working. There was a dispatch radio that must have been attached to the table. Callie could hear a frantic voice, yelling through the earphones. On the next desk, the phone was ringing, three lights indicating multiple calls. Lamar Henry picked up the headset and started talking to one of his officers and Callie lifted the receiver of the phone, and pushed a random button, hoping she would be able to understand what the caller was saying.
She managed, with Lamar's help. Most of the people were just scared, not injured. Lamar gave her the numbers of the local hospital, fire and rescue, and she passed those along when they were needed. People called fearing the worst was yet to come, there were rumors of a tsunami. That proved to be false. The brunt of the quake had been inland, according to the official reports Lamar was getting, and the Kingston harbor protected the city from tidal threats. The worst of the quake had been east, in the mountains, but there was extensive damage to the whole city, especially the older downtown area, Tivoli Gardens, and Trenchtown, names that meant nothing to Callie. But she knew that Danielle had been in the mountains.
She tried her cellphone. It looked like she had service, but she got no answer, not even voicemail. Of course, Callie realized, Danielle thought she was in Minnesota, sitting at the Loft with Jenny. It wasn't likely she would answer Callie's call in the middle of such a crisis. She should have just taken the ass chewing, and called her the night before. Hopefully she and the seismologist were alright. But then the vision had been of Danielle, lying in a city street, not on the side of a mountain.
***
The closer they got to the city, the worse it looked. Surprisingly the road had survived in reasonably good shape and Danielle only had to drive around a few small sinkholes and carefully crawl down a separation in the asphalt where the ground had pushed up a foot. But it was slow going, and as they got closer, the traffic slowed them down. There weren't a lot of cars, but debris on the road and emergency vehicles blocked their path several times. They were stopped twice by the Constabulary and instructed to get off the road as soon as possible.
Danelle dropped Lamar's name and explained that he was waiting for Lucy, since she was the earthquake expert that had predicted the catastrophe, and they were hurried on their way. In the west, in the area of the Trench, Danielle could see multiple plumes of thick black smoke. They drove south, creeping by scenes of destruction, some minor, some severe. Twice they met trucks, loaded with soldiers.
"Are they like the National Guard, they show up when there's a natural disaster to help out?" Lucinda asked, watching the JDF trucks pass.
"Kind of, but they're probably sending them out to keep the peace, stop any looting before it happens. Something like this brings out the best and the worst in people. They'll be out in force by tonight. I have to get to the Trench as soon as I can. Once it gets dark, the whole city will be on lockdown, it'll be fire and rescue only. I'm taking Felicity out of there. I'll get you to Lamar, you'll be safe at the station."
"Bullshit, I'm staying with you."
"No, it's going to start getting dangerous, there aren't enough officers. There may be riots, the older part of town probably has a lot more damage."
"So, we go down Maxfield, then hit Lyndhurst, sneak down Slipe Pen and come in from the east. We'll miss Old Town that way. I'm staying with you. Camp Road will be a nightmare anyway, we'd be lucky to get anywhere near the station from here."
"How the hell do you know Kingston that well?"
"I looked at some maps before I came over, I have a photographic memory."
"Of course you do! Let's hope the roads are open. From the smoke, it looks like that's where most of the fires are, that and Old Kingston. God, the buildings there aren't built to survive a quake like this."
Lucinda reached into her large bag, and pulled out her laptop. "Hey, I've got signal, some of the cell towers must be working." Danielle glanced at her phone, Callie had called. She would have to call her later. "The Professor's been trying to get ahold of me, he says I proved my point, my thesis will be groundbreaking."
"You might remind him that a whole lot of people are dead here, celebrate your PHD later."
"Maybe next time Danielle, between your psychics and my science, they'll listen to us. Eight point four, that's what they're calling it. The epicenter looks to be at…" She paused studying the laptop. "Oh God, a mile north of the Evans' house. Half the damn mountain probably came down on them." They drove in silence. There was no way to know, and there were others to try to save.
When they got off the main road, things slowed down. The roadway was twisted and torn up, and there was one spot where they had to backtrack a few blocks to miss downed powerlines. Most of the buildings seemed to have survived, although they saw a couple of collapsed roofs. There were a few yards with people standing around, gawking at the damage. But there were fewer emergency vehicles. The police force was out, stopping cars. They sat in a line of a half a dozen vehicles, and Danielle decided to call Callie.
"Callie, did you hear? Is it on the news? You were right, it's bad here."
"Yeah, I know. Don't be mad at me, but I'm sitting here at the station with Lamar Henry right now, taking calls."
"Damn right I'm mad! But not surprised, I guess. Jesus Christ, why would you put yourself at risk too?"
"I'm fine, never been in an earthquake before, had to try it. Scared the shit out of me, I will say that, and I knew I was going to live through it."
"I'm going after a little girl and her mother, distant cousins, they're in Trenchtown. Lucinda is with me, because she's as stubborn as you are. I have to try and get them out of there Callie, it's like looking at myself, twenty-five years ago."
"Be careful Danielle, I don't have to tell you why."
"That's why what you can do is so important Callie, at least I know what might be waiting, and it's all about changing fate. Right now, it's the future of Felicity Campbell that concerns me." She ended the call, glancing at Lucy Mitchel. "What do you think about Callie Fisher and the Sisters now, Brainiac?"
As they drove south, it seemed like the quake had been stronger, like it had jumped, from the Blue mountain to the part of the city least able to withstand it. Danielle knew the reality was that the older parts of town weren't subject to newer building codes, and that most of the impoverished houses were poorly built and poorly maintained. The traffic disappear
ed as they drove into the Trench from the north. Collapsed buildings became more frequent, and there were emergency vehicles everywhere.
At one intersection a fire truck was pulled across the road. There was room to get around, but the view of the carnage made them stop. A small apartment building had collapsed completely and part of it was burning. The fire fighters were pouring water on the small blaze on one end of the building, while several people were digging through the rubble on the other end, trying to locate survivors. The two women jumped out of the truck and worked for half an hour with the other frantic volunteers, lifting debris and helping the fire crew try to reach the injured. When a pickup truck full of teenage boys arrived to help, they got back in the Land Rover and continued south.
The air was thick with smoke and they passed several houses that were burning, some still partially standing, some just a pile of smoldering rubble. There were no fire trucks, there weren't enough fire trucks in all of Jamaica. The lucky stood outside their damaged homes, afraid to go back inside. Those less fortunate lay buried below the rubble. Danielle thought of the haphazard two-story shanty that Kendra and Felicity called home. What were the odds that house had remained standing?
***
Callie hung up the phone, and walked out of the station. She needed air. People kept calling, crying, screaming, begging for help, when there was none to send. She sat on the curb for a few minutes. She couldn't stop the vision of Danielle that kept replaying itself in her head. She was lying on the ground, dead or dying. There was blood. Then suddenly, Callie could feel the impact, the crushing impact of a bullet ripping into Danielle's chest. It wasn't some accident, some collapse of a building, or any circumstance of the quake. Danielle was going to be shot.
Lamar Henry walked out of the station to check on Callie. He expected to find her crying, overcome by the barrage of calls, but he walked into one of his childhood nightmares, the Obeah.
Callie Fisher turned to him, her eyes white as the crystalline sand that adorned the beaches of his island home. He stepped back, sucking in a breath, petrified, afraid to move. She looked at him, speaking in a whisper that filled his head.
"Get in your truck, we have to go to Danielle, she will die if we don't stop it."
Lamar turned on the lights and siren, he knew they were heading for the Trench, but it wasn't clear exactly where. He glanced at the small blond woman to his left, afraid to ask. He had a feeling she would know how to find Danielle.
***
It took Danielle and Lucy a half hour to cover the last six blocks to Kendra's house. There was debris everywhere and they had to drive over some it, watching for anything that could puncture a tire. They passed a group of young men, throwing wood on a huge fire, drinking and yelling at them as they drove by. Danielle glanced at Lucy and shook her head. "Once it gets dark, things will get ugly. They know the fire trucks will come here last. They will drink and get angry."
They turned the last corner and Danielle let out a moan. The house was down, nearly gone. Just a pile of smoking ash. A few people stood around, looking warily at the Land Rover.
"Stay in the truck okay? They might talk to me. God, if they were in there, they didn't have a chance. God, no." She got out of the truck, stumbling through more debris. She walked up to the few people standing there, three women and half a dozen children. The house no longer existed, and there was no possibility that anyone could survive in what was left, what had not burned. There were still flames licking at what had been a part of the roof. The pieces of galvanized steel that had kept the rain out lay scattered on top of the debris, stubbornly resisting the flames.
A little girl ran to Danielle and threw her arms around her legs, burying her face and crying. She looked down, and recognized Felicity's friend, Alysia. Her mother came up quickly and pulled her back. Alysia pulled at her hand, trying to talk to Danielle. "Momma, that's Felicity's Momma's friend from Minnesnota. She's nice." The woman eyed Danielle, then turned and pulled her daughter away. Danielle called out to them.
"What happened to them, Felicity and her Mom? Were they in there? Are they gone?" She was sobbing now. She turned to the other women there, one her own age, with children hanging onto her hands, the other much older. "Do you know what happened to them? Are they in there?"
"All gone, many people dead." The old woman shook her head. "They all gone."
"Come, Momma, we must go, it will be dark soon." The woman with the children pulled at the older woman's arm, and they walked away, glancing back cautiously when they were a distance away. There was nothing to do, Danielle stood, staring at the smoldering rubble, crying.
She heard the crushing of gravel as the vehicle pulled up and stopped. They had driven around the Land Rover, sliding their small pickup within a few feet of where Danielle stood. Two men rode in the back and they jumped down, laughing, walking toward her. A third man climbed quickly from the passenger seat, a man Danielle recognized. The driver's door opened, and the thick man behind the wheel smiled broadly at her, then laughed.
"Oh, it is a good day after all. Ennis Brown is happy to see you pretty woman! I think that I will have to kill you, because you broke my fucking nose. But first, we will have some fun, no?"
Danielle didn't hesitate, she knew she couldn't give them time to surround her. She went straight at the first two before Ennis and his accomplice had walked around the open doors of the truck. She scooped up a chunk of brick from the debris and hit the first man on the side of the head with it, aware that she might have killed him. The second man came forward and she grasped his hand as she twisted it over the elbow of her closet arm, snapping the Ulna in his forearm and dislocating his elbow. He screamed and fell away from her.
"Get her." Ennis yelled to the third man. But he had seen enough of Danielle. He looked toward Ennis, and over his shoulder saw the flashing lights, as Lamar Henry and Callie rounded the corner, two blocks away. He ran passed Danielle, jumping over burning remnants of the house, and disappeared down the street. Danielle turned toward Ennis grimly. He laughed at her.
"Aw, bitch. I wanted to screw you some, but now I will just have to kill you." He pulled a small hand gun from his pocket and pointed it at her.
"Drop the fucking gun, asshole!" Lucinda Mitchel stood on the running board of the Land Rover, both hands very steady, anchored on the open door. She had Lamar Henry's spare Glock .38 aimed directly at Ennis. He glanced at her and laughed.
"I am not afraid of you, stupid woman." He fired twice, both rounds hitting Danielle in the chest. He would have continued, but Lucy Mitchel, well trained by her father, squeezed off three shots in rapid succession. Ennis was dead before he reached the ground.
Danielle felt herself falling, then being dragged a short distance. She knew she'd been shot, but her chest was numb, that wasn't what hurt. She had fallen onto the burning remains of Felicity's house, that was where the pain came from. Lucinda was in front of her, then Callie. She knew she was crying, that she was talking to Callie Fisher. "I couldn't save her, Callie, she died, because I couldn't save her." Then it was dark.
Chapter Twenty
Twelve hundred and seventy-three people died in the earthquake that hit Kingston that day. William and Barbara Evans, along with their maintenance man, Raoul and his wife, and the beautiful house built on the side of the mountain, were swept away, erased from existence in a moment. Fate had finished with them. Nigel, the powerful pastor who refused to leave his clergy, was among the dead. Ennis Brown was listed as a casualty of the earthquake. No one bothered to question the gunshot wounds, no one cared.
Danielle Ogren, despite what seemed like Fate's best efforts, survived her wounds. The handgun Ennis carried was a .22, big enough to kill, but not capable of tearing large holes in anatomy, the way a larger gun would have. Lucy Mitchel kept her from bleeding out while Callie held her head in her lap, talking to her, trying to keep her awake, and Lamar shouted orders to the local hospital and the EMT's. Every hospital in Kingston was overwhelmed, b
ut Deeann Long spared no expense in having Danielle flown to the Caymans, where a surgical team waited to save her life. It was there, four days later, that she woke up.
It was the middle of the night, and the lights were dim, but she could smell fresh linen. She realized she was in a hospital, and that two people slept in chairs nearby. She was able to turn her head enough to see that one of the people was Callie Fisher, and after a minute, realized that the other was Anna Hendriks. She smiled, trying to remember what had happened. It must have been serious, but at least she was still here. Fate had decided to be kind to her. She closed her eyes again and drifted off.
When she woke up again, it was morning, and she felt much more alert. Lucinda Mitchel sat in a chair next to her bed, reading a magazine. She dropped it when she heard Danielle stirring.
"Hey sleepy head. How're you feeling?"
"Dumb question, Brainiac." Danielle mumbled. "My chest hurts, but I got shot, didn't I?"
"Yeah. Turns out that Ennis guy holds a grudge, held a grudge." It took a minute for that to register.
"You shot him, didn't you? I'm sorry that you had to do that. But you saved my life, thanks."
"Shot a few skunks, when I was a kid in Kentucky. Didn't bother me then either. I shouldn't have waited, I should have just killed him when I saw the gun."
"Thought I saw Callie, and Anna, did I dream that?"
"They're down having breakfast. My ego was bruised a little when you turned me down the other night, but now I see why."
"Funny, but when Ennis started shooting, that's what I was thinking, that I should have kissed you. I should have been thinking about Anna."
"I don't have a response for that. You are heavily medicated." Danielle laughed a little.
"Don't, it hurts to laugh. Be warned, you're on my bucket list."
"Quit getting shot and you might live long enough to collect. Sounds like I'm heading back to Jamaica. Turns out the Prime Minister was impressed that we knew the quake was coming, wants me to come work in Kingston. I couldn't give your psychics any credit, sorry."
