by Radclyffe
“Damn it, I was afraid that was going to happen. You’re flooded on the first level, aren’t you?”
“Into the stairwells. And it’s hot inside. I’m okay, but some of the older residents in particular are starting to suffer. To give him credit, he got here, but he only made it as far as the front door.”
Stan’s stomach cramped. “Is debris blocking you in? Anna, that’s a fire hazard. That building needs to be evacuated.”
“I agree with you—the power situation is just too unstable. But it’s not debris. Stanley…there’s an alligator in the lobby.”
“You’re not just saying that to lift my spirits, are you?” Stan said slowly.
“You know I’d do anything to help you through this, darling,” Anna said dryly, “but even I couldn’t come up with that. It’s big too. So the maintenance guy is not going to venture inside.”
“Can’t say I blame him. Did he call someone?”
“I suspect they probably heard him yelling without the phone. We’re waiting for the National Guard.”
“Where are they taking you?”
“No one knows, but I imagine one of the local shelters. I’ll call you when I land.”
“I’ll do my best to get you some kind of transportation to a hotel, if we can find one that’s operational yet.”
“You know, Stan,” Anna said, “I’ll be fine at a shelter for a few days. You just worry about Leo.”
Stan glanced at the weather map. Leo liked Florida and didn’t look like he was going anywhere soon.
Landfall plus 50 hours
“And I don’t want to see you for twenty-four hours,” Dara said to Penny as Sawyer pulled the Humvee to the curb in front of Penny’s sister Cissy’s house in Miami Springs. Dara was happy to see Cissy’s house had fared better than many others in the same neighborhood, even though the yard was littered with tree branches, and here and there a stray piece of siding. Most of the areas they’d driven through had been like that—some blocks devastated, others surviving with fairly minor damage. The rain had finally abated to a light drizzle, and some streets were passable. The state emergency management division had still not opened the city for the return of the general population, but in sporadic patches residents could be seen clearing the roads and driveways of wreckage. Many streets were only passable in specialized high-water vehicles or boats, and people could be seen transporting bags of clothing and animals in fishing boats, kayaks, and canoes, and even the occasional rubber raft.
“You will call me if you get short,” Penny said, her forehead wrinkling.
Dara leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll keep you updated, I promise. But really, with Rod coming back this morning and Kim Lee and Raul both checking in, we’re going to be a lot better off than we were up until now. You deserve a break.”
Penny squeezed her arm and glanced over at Sawyer. “The both of you do too. Make yourself at home at our place. The freezer is stocked. There’s even a bottle of wine on the counter, and you know I’m not going to be drinking it, so feel free to break it open.”
Sawyer laughed. “Thanks.”
“I hope you get a little time to unwind.” Penny climbed out, waved to them, and hurried up the sidewalk as the front door opened and her sister came out to engulf her in a hug.
Sawyer turned the vehicle around, backtracked to the adjacent block, and pulled in where Dara directed her. Happily, Penny’s modest coral-pink bungalow had fared as well as her sister’s. The yard had taken the brunt of the wind damage with uprooted shrubs and a toppled tree that had missed any of the vital structures, but the house had escaped with only a few missing shingles and a detached rain gutter.
Sawyer shut off the engine and stretched. “I think we might’ve earned a glass of wine.”
“I think you’re right. I don’t even know what time it is, and I don’t care.” Dara leaned across the wide compartment and slid her hand onto Sawyer’s leg. “How tired are you?”
“Who said I was tired?” Sawyer murmured.
“Good. Let’s go open that wine.”
Sawyer stopped to open the hurricane shutters on the front windows, and once inside the single-story house, with the generator running, life seemed almost normal. They had lights, fresh food in the refrigerator, and the promised bottle of wine sitting on a sideboard in the cozy living room.
“I think there’s a corkscrew in one of those drawers by the sink,” Dara said, searching one of the overhead cabinets for wineglasses. “How do you feel about drinking wine out of water glasses?”
Sawyer laughed. “Right about now, I’d drink it out of anything, so that sounds fine.”
“Done.” Dara turned, held out the bottle, and Sawyer swooped in for a kiss.
Dara reached blindly behind her and set the bottle on the counter before wrapping both arms around Sawyer’s neck. “God, you feel so good.”
“Is there a guest room?”
“Down the hall, second room on the right.”
“Grab the wine.”
“What—oh!” Dara made a grab for the bottle.
Sawyer picked her up and started down the hall.
“You’re really doing this, aren’t you,” Dara said, relaxing into Sawyer’s arms. “Carrying me.”
“Hundred pounds of equipment, twenty-mile marches, remember? You feel positively light.”
“I feel positively amazing.” Dara kissed Sawyer’s neck and secretly reveled at the feeling of being swept away. She laughed at the silliness of the thought.
“What?” sawyer asked.
“Nothing. Just…happy.”
“Good.” Sawyer took the turn into the bedroom, gently deposited Dara in the middle of the bed, and unlaced her boots as Dara kicked off her shoes. Leaning over, Sawyer kissed her. “I’m hoping to make you feel even better than amazing.”
“Mmm, not so fast,” Dara said when Sawyer tugged on the zipper of her jeans. “I think I have a present coming.”
Straddling Dara on her knees, Sawyer opened Dara’s jeans. “I sort of thought—”
“I think I have a pretty good idea what you have in mind.” Dara grasped Sawyer’s wrists, twisted her hips, and Sawyer let herself be tossed over onto her back.
Dara could have anything she wanted.
“But I’m getting my present first.” Dara shimmied out of her jeans and pulled her shirt off over her head. In just her bra and panties, she sat astride Sawyer’s middle and started working on the buttons on Sawyer’s shirt. When Sawyer went to help her, Dara pushed her hands away.
“I always like to take my time opening my presents,” Dara said conversationally. “I’m very careful not to tear the paper when I loosen the tape. I even fold up the wrapping paper and keep it if it’s especially pretty.”
Parting the fabric on Sawyer’s uniform shirt, Dara let her fingertips trail down the center of Sawyer’s body. By the time she got to Sawyer’s belt, Sawyer’s thighs were trembling and her hands were clenched in the soft cotton quilt that covered the guest bed.
“Sometimes, I don’t even open the actual present for a while. I just leave it so I can see how pretty it is.” Dara unbuckled the brass buckle on Sawyer’s belt, then unbuttoned the fly of her BDUs.
Sawyer groaned.
Dara’s throat was dry and her hands trembling, but she would not hurry this most incredible moment. She pushed up Sawyer’s T-shirt, bared her stomach, and felt everything inside her clench. Muscles starkly etched beneath satin skin, elegant planes and strong curves. She leaned down, kissed the hollow above the top of Sawyer’s briefs.
“Dara,” Sawyer said dangerously, her voice low and hoarse.
“This might be the best present I’ve ever had.” Dara grasped the top of Sawyer’s pants and pulled them down. Her legs were long and lean, as she knew they would be. She brushed her palms up the inside of Sawyer’s thighs, over skin so incredibly soft, until her hands disappeared inside Sawyer’s underwear.
Sawyer’s hips came off the bed, and Dara laughed. “M
aybe I’ll just enjoy looking at my present for a little while—”
“If you don’t—” Sawyer jackknifed upright, her arms circling Dara’s waist, and kissed her. One hand slid into her hair, holding her head as she plundered her mouth.
Dara raked her hands down Sawyer’s back, heard her moan. Oh, she liked Sawyer undone, the iron control fracturing, the power breaking like waves against the shore. For her. Before her own need drove her under, she braced her hands on Sawyer’s shoulders and pushed. “Lie down.”
Grumbling, Sawyer obeyed.
Dara stripped off Sawyer’s briefs and stretched out between her legs. “Now I’m going to have the rest.”
Sawyer knew it wasn’t going to be long. Dara’s mouth was too hot, her lips too sweet, her tongue too knowing. She slipped her fingers into Dara’s hair, silky as the pleasure streaking through her. When she had nothing to hide, nothing left to fear, she came.
“We forgot the glasses,” Dara said lazily.
“Uh-huh. And the corkscrew.” Sawyer rolled onto her side and kissed her. “I’ll get them.”
“Really? You can move?” Dara frowned. “I’m losing my touch.”
Sawyer laughed. “Not unless you can top the best sex ever in the universe.”
Dara propped her chin in her hand and smiled contentedly. “Hmm. Something to shoot for, then.”
“I love a woman with an agenda. I’ll be right back.” Sawyer paused on the way out to the hall and gestured to the wall screen. “I hate to suggest it, but I ought to scan the news. The governor has a way of making announcements to the press before we hear about it.”
“Politics,” Dara said. “Sure, turn it on. As long as there’s wine.”
“This is Catherine Winchell reporting from Jorge Middle School, one of the forty shelters being managed by the Florida Red Cross. I’m here with Ms. Priscilla Sims, one of the Miami Red Cross board members, and Ms. Anna Oliver, whose husband—”
Dara shot up in bed. “I can’t believe my mother is on the news. Wait, yes I can—but at the shelter?”
“You look like her,” Sawyer said, sliding an arm around Dara’s waist, “only happier.”
“Oh,” Dara said, relaxing against Sawyer’s side, “I most definitely am. Shh—I want to hear this.”
Sawyer grinned and kissed the tip of Dara’s shoulder.
Catherine was talking to an attractive redhead wearing a Tampa Bay Rays baseball shirt and blue jeans.
“Anna,” Catherine said, “I understand you and a number of residents were evacuated from your condominium early this morning.”
“Yes, unfortunately a number of buildings on our block were completely isolated by high floodwaters that have yet to recede. We had power for the first twenty-four hours, but the last day and a half has been pretty difficult, especially for older residents.”
“Absolutely. The heat wave following so quickly after what we’ve just been through is making the recovery efforts much more difficult.” Catherine looked earnestly into the camera. “We urge anyone without power and air-conditioning at risk for heat-related complications to seek refuge at a local shelter. If you need transportation, call the number on your screen or 9-1-1, or make efforts to contact local rescue teams.”
Catherine turned back to Anna. “Tell our viewers about the surprise visitor you discovered in your lobby.”
Anna smiled into the camera. “I think in this case, a picture might be worth a thousand words.” An obviously amateur video came on. “I took this when the National Guard arrived this morning to relocate our friend.”
Sawyer appeared in the frame along with several other national guardsmen and a man wearing a blue windbreaker with yellow block letters proclaiming Animal Control. The camera cut away to the corner of the building lobby, flooded with several feet of water, and the unmistakable snout of an alligator breaching the surface.
“Rest assured,” Catherine said with a smile, “the alligator was captured uninjured and is even now on his way back to his natural habitat.” She turned to Dara’s mother. “And with the tireless aid of the Red Cross, the recovery efforts continue.”
Priscilla said, “We respond here and abroad for just such emergencies, and your generous supp—”
Dara clicked off the TV and glanced at Sawyer. “Catherine never misses anything, does she? Especially not if you’re involved.”
Sawyer snorted. “She’s got an open link to our comm channels. She knows where the emergencies are. And seriously, who would pass up the chance for the alligator story?”
“True.” Dara laughed.
“So how was it, seeing your mother on television?”
“Oh, it’s not the first time. When I was a teenager, it used to be rather humiliating. But now…” She shrugged. “She actually does a lot of good with her humanitarian missions. And you have to hand it to her, she did stay, although I doubt she was ladling out food in a shelter. That took some courage.”
Sawyer took her hand and kissed the backs of her fingers. “You take after her in a big way where that’s concerned.”
Dara tapped Sawyer’s chest. “Look who’s talking. You’re the hero of everybody’s day.”
“I’m not trying to be.”
“I know. It’s just the way you’re made.” Dara leaned over and kissed her. “And I love you for that.”
Sawyer took in a slow breath.
Dara stared.
“That’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me,” Sawyer finally said.
Dara framed Sawyer’s face. “You know what? Nothing has ever made me happier than saying that.” She kissed her. “So let me try again. I love you.”
Sawyer grinned. “It’s even better the second time.”
“Well, wait’ll you’ve heard it a few hundred times, maybe then you’ll be used to—”
Sawyer drew Dara down onto the bed. “Never. I will never get tired of hearing that.” She kissed her, sliding her leg between Dara’s, kissing her way along the angle of Dara’s jaw down to her throat. She murmured against the pulse that beat deep in the fragile tissues, “I love to hear you say it. I love everything about you.” She raised her head, found Dara’s hazy gaze fixed on her face. “I love you, Dara.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Landfall plus 57 hours
Dara’s phone rang, pulling her from a dreamless sleep, the first jolt of adrenaline bringing her instantly awake. She had her cell in her hand as Sawyer stirred beside her, the sudden tension in Sawyer’s leg where it rested against Dara’s signaling she was ready for action. Dara caressed Sawyer’s bare shoulder in the dim room. Early evening.
“Dr. Sims.”
“Doc,” a low, husky voice said, the urgency plain, “this is Brian at Shoreline. I’m sorry to bother you—”
“You’re not, Brian.” Dara’s breath hitched. “What is it? Is it my grandmother?”
“No, no, at least—she’s doing pretty well compared…to everybody.”
Dara jumped out of bed and grabbed her clothes from the floor. She’d known Brian for years, and he’d always been steady and cheerful. Now he sounded scared. “What’s happening?”
“I’m not supposed to be calling. They’re monitoring everybody’s calls, but I…I’m in the john on my cell and I don’t have much time…”
Dara bit back an impatient remark. Slow and easy, just like when she was calming down an anxious family. “Take your time, Brian. Just tell me as best you can. Is there an emergency?”
“Yes…no? I think…” He took an audible breath. “Yes, there’s a problem. We don’t have any power, and the generators can’t handle the load. The AC’s been out for over two days.”
“What?” Dara ordered herself not to shout. They were in the middle of a heat wave with temps over 100 degrees. In these conditions, everyone was at risk, but especially the elderly and infirm. “Has the director called the power company and told them about the emergency?”
“That’s what they say. They keep telling us not to worry, somebody�
�s coming, but nobody ever does. There’s some really sick folks here, and…I don’t think some of them are doing so well.”
“What about the on-call doctors who cover the facility? When were they last by to check the residents?”
“Not since before Leo—they were due yesterday, but then I heard their group had closed their practice until the evacuation was lifted. All we’ve got are a few LPNs, two RNs, and a few non-medical staff.”
For eighty residents.
Dara closed her eyes. Shoreline had a major breakdown in the emergency management system, and right now, how that had happened or who was at fault didn’t matter. What mattered was getting them some help. “All right. I’m coming.”
“Thanks, Doc. You won’t tell them I called you?”
“No. You just try to keep everyone cool and hydrated as much as you can. Make me a list of the most critical patients so I can see them right away.”
“Right. We’re trying to do that, but we’re running out of everything.”
“Don’t worry about your inventory—just use what you have. We’ll get you resupplied.”
“Right. You’ll be here soon?”
“As soon as I can.” Dara tossed her phone onto the bed and grabbed her scrub shirt, pulling it on as she searched for her pants. “I’ve got to go. There’s an emergency at Shoreline, the facility where my grandmother is a resident.”
“I heard.” Sawyer had her pants and boots on and was buttoning her shirt. “I’ve been keeping tabs on Shoreline. We haven’t seen any changes in their status. No reported emergencies.”
“That was one of the nurses. He said they have no AC and the power company hasn’t been responsive.”
“Shoreline’s not on the FPL priority list of facilities. They’re within a critical radius of the nearest hospital, and they have backup generators. Even if they called about a power outage, they might not get service right away unless they told someone their generators were failing.”
