by Fiona Quinn
Suz held the video up, and Jack opened his sack and got in, pulling it right up over his head. He was demonstrating this exactly where they stood, and curled up on the pad that was now in front of them. Suz vaguely wondered who had helped him tape this tutorial. “Watch again while Miss Molloy hands out your hot sack.” As the demonstration repeated, Suz handed the tablet to Tad and had him hold it up over his head for all to see.
At the top of the pack #1 was a sub-zero hooded ski jacket and a pair of fingerless gloves with a note, “You first.”
After she pulled on the blissful warmth of the down jacket, Suz distributed the Mylar-lined emergency sacks. Though the gloves were a relief, her hands hadn’t warmed yet. They were blue and stiff with cold, and the kids needed a lot of help, having lost much of their dexterity from rigid, shaking fingers. At the bottom of the bag, Suz found hand warmers.
The video example repeated three times before he said, “Suz, I need to talk to you for a minute.”
Suz reached for the tablet and stepped away from the students. Jack lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “Open and place one hand warmer per student at the bottom of the sacks near their feet. They’ll last for 8 hours. I’ve included enough that you can last 2 days if need be.”
If need be? What? Suz thought they might be out here for an hour maybe two – not two days. That took her to a whole different level of fear and stress. She stared wide-eyed down at Jack’s smiling face. So calm. Always so gentle and calm.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Jack said with a chuckle. “But don’t worry. It’s just an overabundance of caution. I love you and need to keep you and those kids safe. Okay? Now, if everyone is settled down, I want you to get warm too. Remember they need you functioning. Your health and safety means their health and safety. I have videos loaded onto the tablet for the kids to watch, very very quietly. Let them be distracted. You need to listen to the radio in pack #3, so you know what’s going on. Click this video back on when you all are hungry, and I’ll walk you through heating an MRE,” He pointed and said, “I need to talk to the kids again.” Suz nodded and turned the tablet toward the class, wondering how he knew her so well that he could choreograph this video so precisely that she felt like they were Skyping. It was uncanny.
His voice had been his Jack-and-Suz voice — intimate, loving, protective, a solid team. Now he lifted his volume and sounded more like the lead on a fun-day mission. This was just a great adventure. “Class. I’m really proud of you. But this isn’t over yet. To stay safe, we need to stay quiet. Miss Molloy is going to put down the sides of the tent, so it will be a little dark. Take a nap if you’d like. Watch a video but no noise at all. Everyone seal you lips tight now. Zip them up like you have a secret.”
Suz watched as the kids followed the zipping motion Jack made on the screen.
“Thank you,” Jack said, confident that they had followed through. “I’m with you guys in spirit. Help will be with you soon. Be good for Miss Molloy and most of all be safe.”
It was getting dim behind the flaps of the camouflaged hide. The sun set early in February, and the trees were already masking the last of the what little sunlight glowed through the dove-colored cloud cover. The kids had eaten lunch in the company of Captain Jack. He talked Suz through heating the meals, then told the kids stories about being a boy in Montana, and all of the fun he had going camping. Meanwhile, she got everything together and passed out the meals. It felt to Suz like there were two responsible adults in the hide – it wasn’t just her and sixteen six-year-olds.
Now it was time to get dinner together before it got too much later, and she’d end up groping around in the dark. Jack hadn’t said anything about lighting, but Suz was pretty sure it wouldn’t be allowed.
As the children’s video came to an end, Suz picked up the tablet to get her next instructions to the moans of the children.
“How about we all take a bathroom break while we can still see what we’re doing.”
They had heard sirens every once in a while; but now, things seemed peaceful. Again, Suz had to talk herself out of thinking she had hallucinated the whole thing. The children had heard what she had. They talked amongst themselves speculating about what was happening back at the school. The children all thought it was over. Whatever “it” was. If that were true, why were they still out here?
Suz checked her phone for the millionth time. She had plenty of bars but no reception. Tad said they must be jamming the airwaves in the area. Tad’s father was an executive with Lockheed Marten, so Suz assumed that, even if he was six, he knew what he was talking about. It was possible. Suz worked to convince herself that scenario was unlikely because a) that would mean this wasn’t a freak occurrence where someone lost their mind but an actual strategized, planned, equipment purchased and implemented attack. And b) Suz thought that the police would probably have some way to unjam them, otherwise how would they effect communications?
Suz felt herself getting a little nuts as the night loomed closer. Her mind whirled about all of the things that could be happening and why no one had shown up yet the way Jack had assured her they would. Sixteen little sets of eyes were on her. Sixteen little kids were depending on her. Her decisions would make all the difference in the world. Sixteen human beings would always remember this day, and her, and how she handled things.
At what point did hunkering in this this hide with her students make no sense? The radio station said that there was an active shooter event at a local Bethesda school, rescue was on scene. But that was all that she could pick up. She thought if Jack was there, he’d rig something that allowed her to access the police scanners, and she’d know moment to moment what was happening. But Jack wasn’t here. He was laid up in the hospital. Sedated. In a leg brace. He wouldn’t be riding to her rescue. She was here on her own. She tapped at her phone again, trying to reach Iniquus headquarters. She was met with dead air.
“If you’re getting ready to prep meal number two Suz, I know you’re getting worried. Believe me, no one is going to leave you out here any longer than is necessary. Once they see a whole class is missing, they’ll have Search and Rescue out with the dogs and their trackers. It’s not going to be hard for them to follow a line of twenty students marching through the woods. Stay put. Stay strong. You’re safe. Trust me, if it comes to the end of your supplies, I have a plan for that too. Okay? You trust me?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Good,” Jack continued as if they were having an actual conversation. “Now, this tablet is probably losing battery life, but I rigged up a solar back-up in the tree. It’s recharging a replacement battery. It’s in the bag marked #4. Now, in there you’ll also find an airtight canister filled with chocolate. That’s for you. I bet you could use some right about now, sorry it can’t be Bailey’s – not yet, anyway.” He stopped to give her a grin. “I have a treat for the kids in the pack with meal two. You’re doing great. I’m so proud of you. I love you so much.”
Suz nodded to the screen as his image disappeared. “I love you too, Jack,” she whispered.
Just then, a black nose shoved under the hide flap, making Suz jump. Another nose joined beside the first, both were snuffling hard. The kids scrambled back, some of them giggling others had been wound too tightly all day to have any other reaction than fear.
A whistle went up. “Beetle, Bella heel to me,” a female voice called. “Suz, it’s Lynx. I’m going to lift your flaps up now. Okay?”
Suz supposed Lynx was being cautious lest Jack had provided her with some kind of weapon. Jack hadn’t. He said that she’d never use it, so giving her a weapon was like arming the bad guys. He was right. She could never conjure a situation where she would harm another human being. Stand in the way of someone being hurt? Yes. Wield a blade or pull a trigger? No. Never.
Suz lifted the flap herself. The temperature had dropped; the fallen leaves looked like they were dusted with powdered sugar. She turned to her students. “I need you guys to sit still
for a minute while I talk to Capt. Jack’s partner okay? I’ll let you know what’s going on in just a minute.”
The two women stepped away from blind and Suz reached out to wrap Lynx in a hug. Lynx’s two Dobermans pushed their heads against her thigh for their greeting, too.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see anyone in my life,” Suz gasped out.
“Ditto. Are the kids okay?”
“They’re hanging in there. What’s happening up at the school? How is everyone?”
“They have four deceased adults. The principal, a teacher, the secretary, and an unidentified male, we think he was a chauffeur/bodyguard. Definitely not one of the bad guys. He was shot in the back.”
Suz’s body braced for the worst. “And the children?”
“The kids are all safe and accounted for except for your class. I already radioed that I had you in sight. Sixteen?”
“Yes, I have sixteen. Four were absent.” Suz shuffled her feet. Maybe it was a mistake for her to have brought her students out this way.
As if reading her mind, Lynx squeezed Suz’s shoulder. “You did the right thing. Absolutely. No doubt in anyone’s mind.” She leaned down and whispered in Suz’s ear. “They think one of your students had been targeted. Your door was blown in with C-4.”
“One of my student’s?” Suz’s brow pulled in tightly. “But why? Who?” She glanced quickly back to the hide to make sure her kids hadn’t lifted the cover to watch them.
Lynx stepped forward. “We’d better get moving. We need to get these kids to the trailer. Hot chocolate, and some hugs from their families are waiting for them.” Lynx said, looking up at the sky. “Dark is coming, and an ice storm is moving in fast.”
5
Suz
5:00 p.m., Monday, February 14th
Mobile Command Center, St. Basil’s, Bethesda, Md.
Beetle and Bella danced beside Miss Molloy’s first graders as they waddled out of the woods. Suz and Lynx had tucked hand warmers into their clothes and cut their hot sacks across the bottoms and up one side to make them into single lengths that each child could wrap around themselves like they were wearing blankets. They made sure each child had a firm grip on the rainbow rope. Lynx took lead and Suz was the caboose. It was five o’clock when they reached the far edge of the parking lot. Lynx had led them to the responders from a direction that hid the view of the school. Suz wondered what it looked like now that the shooting and blasting had stopped.
The children’s parents tried to rush to their sons and daughters, but the responders held them back. The police made the adults stand behind a yellow crime tape and wait for the child to be identified on the roster. The parents then had to display identification before the child was released to them and the emergency medical technicians who would give them a once over. The students were all in fine shape. There wasn’t a tear on a single face, and only one scraped knee, but that had already been attended to.
A man stepped forward. “Gillian Molloy?”
Suz tilted her head up, taking in the stern face. Suz turned concerned eyes toward Lynx.
“Suz this is Special Agent Damion Prescott from the FBI,” she said. “The FBI were first on scene today.” She turned to Prescott. “Perhaps you could speak to her over at the rescue squads, I’m sure they’ll want to look her over and make sure Miss Molloy isn’t suffering from any injuries, or shock.”
Lynx wrapped her arm around Suz, which made Suz feel warm and cared for, but also a little confused. Why was Prescott giving her the stink-eye? Suz reached out and wrapped a hand around Bella’s collar. The well-trained Doberman felt like a weapon against–well whatever was coming her way.
Though the sky was still a gunmetal grey, the responders had set up a lighting system that was bright to the point of being obnoxious. Suz squinted and made her way to the back of an ambulance where they stuck a thermometer in her mouth, and had her slide one hand out of her ski jacket so they could wrap a blood pressure cuff around her arm.
“Well Houdini,” Prescott began.
Suz’s gaze shot up, startled by his tone.
“You have some explaining to do.” He pulled out a digital recorder.
Suz sought out Lynx, but she was nowhere in sight. Her dogs were gone too. There wasn’t a single friendly face around her.
Suz did her best to explain how her class and only her class had escaped. How she and only she was prepared with equipment. And why she and only she had a cache of supplies back in the woods. But Suz had to explain without mentioning Jack. There was no way in the world that Suz was going to pull him into this situation. Looking over Prescott’s shoulder, Suz could see the TV crews salivating behind the taped line. Their cameras were focused in her direction. If Jack’s name were mentioned, they might try to find images of him to go with their story. As handsome as he was, his picture would circulate over social media and the news sites. His face would become known and that knowing would put him in danger. He had protected her. Now it was her job to protect him.
“Look, it’s really very simple. I was terrified that Sandy Hook would happen in our school.”
“Why? What about your school made you think that would happen here?”
“Nothing about my school made me think it wouldn’t happen here. I’m sure the teachers at Sandy Hook felt that such an atrocity could never happen in their safe hamlet either.” Suz felt like she was a criminal on the witness stand. “I… I… I’m a teacher. I watched the news and saw that other teachers’ only recourse in these horrible events was throwing their bodies in front of bullets to protect their children. And while they are true heroes and heroines, I thought that many deaths could have been prevented had better emergency protocol been in place at the school.”
“Protocol? Were you in the military, Miss Molloy?”
“No, I was not. But I do have a substantial vocabulary.” This guy’s tone was rubbing her like sandpaper. It had been one heck of a long day after one heck of a long night and too many emotions for her to navigate successfully. Her nerves had been stretched to the breaking point. She wanted a hot bath, a glass of Bailey’s and some freaking chocolate. Suz could feel her Scottish blood heating.
Suz took in a deep breath and modulated her voice to low professionalism. If there was one thing she had learned hanging around the alpha males of Iniquus was that there was a tone in their voice that said they were in perfect control. Jack said if you were yelling you’d lost. She always remembered that with the kids. The worse her students behaved, the quieter and more authoritative her voice became. “I am a well-educated woman. I am a woman who can do research. I am capable of identifying where things are not functioning as they should, and I am equally capable of coming up with alternative plans.”
“Plans you kept to yourself.”
“Not at all. I asked Principal Caldwell to invite security personnel to develop a whole-school plan and to train the teachers and run drills. He didn’t believe this was in the best interest of the children. I thought otherwise. And, I acted otherwise. But he certainly knew.” Well, he knew that there was a security door brace. He didn’t know anything else.
“Did he have this in writing as part of the information that he gave the fire department? That would be an important piece to their safety inspections.”
“I can’t speak to that.” Suz began to wonder if she’d need a lawyer. She wondered what she should be doing and saying or not saying at this moment, and she knew she wasn’t in full use of her brain. She should probably cut this short. Suz scanned for a friendly face, but the lights were too bright in her eyes to see past Prescott’s shoulders.
“You hiked the children out into the woods where you had stored provisions. That’s quite the preparation. I’ve never heard of a teacher going to such extremes before.”
“Okay,” Suz said.
“Okay what?”
“Okay, you’ve never heard of anyone doing that before. That has no meaning. No bearing whatsoever on whether other teach
ers have made their own preparations or not. It simply means that you are unaware.” Okay her tone was ratcheting up. She need to take a breath and stay in control. Suz felt decidedly not in control and wondered where these questions were leading. She turned to the paramedic. “May I have some water please? Or maybe something warm to drink?” She turned back to the special agent. “Marla Ferris, one of our fourth-grade teachers, for example, has her trunk filled with cans of tuna, bottles of water, flea collars, and dry cat food. She’s prepared for finding stray cats. That’s where her concern lies, that’s what she spent her time and money preparing for. I suppose in an emergency the canned tuna and water could help her or those with her to some extent. But for me my focus was on preventing myself and my students from becoming victims like in Newtown or the other schools that have experienced tragedies. And I believe I did a darned good job. Unless I’m under arrest or some such nonsense. . . I’m cold. I’m tired. And I’m done talking to you for the day. You can schedule an interview for any further information.”
With that she turned from the agent to accept the Styrofoam cup of coffee from the paramedic. Special Agent Prescott was sought out by a man dressed in SWAT tactical gear.
Lynx came up to her side. “Where’d you go?” Suz asked.
“I needed to take a phone call. I had sent a friend to your house to check on things as soon as we heard your class had gone out the window. I called Jack, and he explained the exfil plan he had put in place. I had the pups with me, so we got to go back and fish you out.”
“Then why did someone go to my house?”
“The reporters announced your name over the news, so we thought they might try to access you for an interview, which would be a mistake. You can’t tell people about your escape route.”
