"I probably won't either. I know I'll always remember how you held that shotgun on Jeff, stopping him in the middle of his killing rage. It made a big difference in my life expectancy."
"Okay, we're here, so let's get this done and back to the meal you cooked. You’ve brought the conversation back to food so many times, now I’m hungry."
It didn't take long for Jennifer to finish what was needed at the store and they headed back through the continuous rain. "So, the reason you needed to return to the job only came down to a password, huh?" Andy asked.
"There's something else going on to cause the fault that I'm not sure about. But yes, once I was in the ADMIN section, all I did was hit 'reset' and it cleared the fault. Do you think the cyber attacks that have been in the news could have anything to do with it?"
"Jennifer, I'm out of the current crisis loop, so I don't know the answer to that, but the implication is scary. I assume your cash register program is connected to the financial web in some way, and a viral attack in that sector serious enough to put a fault on your system would be a huge problem. On the other hand it could be that this storm is straining the infrastructure of your system in some other way."
"Sounds like it’s best to wait until the weather clears before assessing any damage?"
"Yeah, it’s pretty amazing how much a natural event can affect our most advanced technology, just like it did our old tech. Earlier I threw away two books I borrowed from the store because they got wet. Tomorrow it might be computers that suffer the same fate."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud noise and water shooting up all around the front of the compact truck when they hit a pool of water, now much deeper than it had been on their way to the store. The engine died and the truck stopped as water came in at the bottom of the doors.
"This is not good," Jennifer said cranking the engine.
"I think trying to restart the engine is a waste of time, this truck could get washed off the road at any minute. We need to see if we can walk to higher ground."
"Okay, I guess, but couldn’t we get swept away too?"
"If the rain continues and we stay in the truck we will lose our chance, the water will get deeper. Jennifer, if we stick together and go now, I think we can make it."
"How do you want to do this?"
"We need to climb into the bed of the truck. Without our weight the truck might be just light enough to wash over us if we get out on my side, the downstream side. I doubt you can even open your door on the upstream side due to the water pressure."
Jennifer tried to open her door, but it remained closed, "You're right, it won't open. We'll have to get out your side, huh?"
"I'll go first and help you into the bed." He opened his door, stood on the threshold while grabbing a handhold, and swung a leg up and into the bed of the truck, then quickly scrambled into the back. He reached back to help Jennifer.
Jennifer, remembering to grab her purse, scooted to the passenger side and with Andy's help soon stood in the truck bed, already dripping from the falling rain.
"I've been looking and I think we are closer to high ground in front of us than behind us," Jennifer said.
"Okay, let's go over the cab and jump off the hood. You ready?"
"First, tell me why you’re smiling."
"I'm in the middle of high adventure with you, and there is no other place I'd rather be. Now let's move, the truck isn't stable."
As soon as both of them were on the hood the lighter rear-end of the truck started making hop-like movements downstream. Andy slid off the upstream side into the water, pulling Jennifer with him. As soon as his feet touched bottom he lifted Jennifer onto his shoulder and started walking carefully toward higher ground. Jennifer initially resisted, but soon ceased struggling and braced herself; she could feel him fighting the water for balance. Her extra weight helped him keep his footing against the force of rapidly flowing, thigh-deep water.
At the water's edge he gently deposited her on the pavement in front of him, "We made it no problem—but your truck is gone."
"Andy, again you surprise me with what you do." Jennifer looked back to where her truck had been just a minute ago, "Your quick thinking and action got us out of there in the nick of time."
"Think that if you want, I was just taking advantage of the situation to manhandle you. Back to reality in the rain; how far is your house from here?"
"Not even two miles; and dinner's waiting, let's go."
~~~
Twenty-five minutes later, shivering and completely drenched they arrived at Jennifer's house, "Guess what," Jennifer said.
Andy looked at the bedraggled woman standing beside him. "From the look on your face it isn't good. It's got to be the keys, right?"
"I didn't think to take them out of the ignition."
"And you don't have one hidden or you would be going after it. Any unlocked windows?"
"Not on the first floor, maybe on the second."
After walking around looking at the house Andy suggested, "I can boost you onto the garage roof, if you think one of those windows above it is unlocked."
"I'll break it if I have to. Let's do it."
Andy stood beside the wall as Jennifer started climbing up his body while steadying herself with an occasional handhold on the wall and a gutter downspout. Once she stood on his shoulders she could reach the roof. He worked his hands under her feet and lifted slowly as she pulled herself onto the roof. Moments later she crawled through the window and a light came on inside the house.
The garage door rattled open and Andy finally got inside, and out of the rain. He stood in a growing puddle of water looking at Jennifer, "Is it tomorrow yet? I've had about all the excitement I can handle in one day."
"You stay right there for one minute, okay?"
"Sure."
Jennifer disappeared inside the house, but quickly returned with a couple of towels, "Do you have some dry clothes around here somewhere?"
"They're in the utility room stacked on the dryer."
"She tossed him some of his clothes. Do you mind getting dinner on the table while I make a couple of calls about my truck? I don't want them searching for our bodies, if someone finds the truck. Plus, we're stranded, I need to beg, borrow, or rent a vehicle."
~~~
Andy had generous portions warming for them when Jennifer joined him in the kitchen, "Let's try this again," he said, gesturing to the table.
"I'll pour the wine. We can have as much as we want since there’s no chance of drinking and driving tonight. Funny how my life took such a wild turn when you rode in; though I sometimes wonder if you brought trouble, or if you timed it just right to help me get through it. More has happened to me in the last few days than the last ten years," Jennifer mused, as they sat across one another at the table. "Apparently, I led a boring life before now."
"That brings up something that has been on my mind, can I ask you a personal question, Jennifer?"
"You need to work on your lead-in, it was weak, but since you carried me across the flood I'll let it pass. Ask away."
"Calculating the chances of meeting a young woman as attractive as you, who’s not involved in a serious relationship by this stage in her life, is akin to winning the Powerball lottery."
"Was there a question in there?"
"Are you in a relationship?"
"No."
"Do you want to be?"
"Andy . . . I think I know where you're going with this, but I'm not sure I can answer you in a way you will understand. So, please, don't jump to conclusions. Okay?"
"I’ll do my best."
"Does the person who happens to be rich attract other people, or is it actually their money? Once a person's money is spent, or their looks fade, or whatever the initial attraction was has gone, for any relationship to withstand the test of time it has to start with a solid foundation."
"A Mr. Right, with a solid enough base, hasn't come along yet?"
"Andy, there’
re probably many Mr. Rights out there. Maybe none have found me to be Miss Right. Dad says I'm opinionated and bossy. Mom thinks I need to eat more and add some curves. Melissa tells me that with my looks, Mr. Right is afraid to ask me out."
"You don't scare me . . . but the memory of you holding that shotgun on Jeff gives me a strong desire to stay on your good side."
"You think I have a bad side?"
"Good side as compared to a more assertive side."
"Good recovery. Now go relax and finish your wine while I clear the table."
"If you insist, I think I will," Andy said as he left the kitchen. He slipped into the same comfortable spot he'd found earlier, a rarity on a female-owned couch, in his experience. Like male-owned couches, this not only fit his length, it did the job comfortably and came with a pillow. The person that designed this couch had spent a night or two in the living room, he thought as he drifted off.
~~~
A short time later Jennifer found him asleep on her couch. She sat down beside him, but he didn't move. She leaned back against the opposite armrest from the one he leaned on and watched him sleep. The chances of a man riding a bike from Seattle and ending up on her couch in Texas were slim. To feel totally non-threatened by him surprised her even more. The way he had appeared out of nowhere and given Jeff a brute-force tumbling lesson, and the easy way he had thrown her over his shoulder in the flood were intimidating displays of his strength; yet she felt completely safe around him. She tenderly draped a blanket over him and went to her bedroom.
[email protected]—Outbox (to encryption)
Message 1: To the following recipients: Ethos@uscybercom, Duenna@noaa, Reeve@nsa
Better than expected initial results with electricity off to more than one million addresses, and the Internet suspended. All effort should now shift to denying relief efforts. Suggested targets include distribution hubs, Interstate highways, railways, and airport facilities. Burn down the pillars of an unsustainable society.
From this point on communication will become impossible for us, as well as the rest of the world, because of the weapons we've released. Make your way to the rally points previously set up with your teams and evaluate. Further instructions by courier will be possible at that time if it is decided conditions warrant further stimulus from us.
Day 5
Tess - Corsica River, Chesapeake Bay, MD
A light rain started overnight, cleaning the air, but doing little for comfort. It remained hot with Amazon rainforest-like humidity aboard Robin. The word "dryness" had reverted from a noun to nothing more than a doubtful concept days ago.
Just before dawn Tess climbed into the cockpit with a cup of coffee to enjoy the quiet and to witness a new day breaking over the anchorage. The bimini, a canvas cover over the cockpit, kept the rain off Tess while she used her binoculars to look for the pilings, and other landmarks, to determine if Robin had moved during the night. She did that out of habit more than need; there had been no wind during the night of steady rain. Satisfied the anchor held her in the same spot, her thoughts turned to the "list" of things she needed to do today.
First, she wanted to get a handle on the current weather and the forecast of what to expect in the next 24 hours. That would lead to her radio-net weather report, due shortly. After she completed the radio broadcast she needed to decide what to do about the awning. While the awning admirably accomplished its primary task of shading Robin from the sun, the web of ropes used to suspend it above the deck complicated her ability to move the boat, as well as move around on deck. She felt she should take it down and then move beyond Eric's jurisdiction, in spite of his offer. On the other hand, taking down the wet awning led to other kinds of issues, such as how and where to dry it before stowing it. Mold lurked everywhere in this weather; after she checked the forecast she'd decide if avoiding a man, now, was worth dealing with mold, later.
At the navigation station, just to starboard at the base of the companionway steps, Tess took a seat at what she liked to think of as her command center. From here she had two-way communication with most parts of the world, by using the same method used before the advent of the Internet and cell phones, HF SSB radio. Of course, with a cell phone tower close by, things online went considerably faster, a purloined Wi-Fi connection faster yet, and she had the capability to find and connect to the Internet by all three methods. However, this morning she could not access the Internet by any method.
Tess spent the next half hour trying to make radio contact with anyone, but the airwaves were constantly jammed as if the transmit button was being pressed by multitudes of radios. Since the Chesapeake Bay is surrounded with military installations the jamming probably came from one of them, she guessed.
Deprived of the modern tools of weather forecasting she reverted to the ancient method of poking her head outside and looking at the sky. Like it or not, the sopping wet awning needed to come down, or the thunderstorms she saw in the distance would do it for her. She decided to loosely roll it and stash it in the head until it stopped dripping. Then, a few days from now, when the cold front hit, she could spread it out in the cabin, turn on the cabin heater and dry it out.
What a terrible time to block communications, she thought. The approaching storm could prove to be the super storm that takes us by surprise if that jamming continues. Her world shrank to fit within her visual horizons without the radio, still she had been forewarned and the time had come to get prepared. First she would tend to the awning, and then she'd move Robin to a friendlier neighborhood. The Creep in Chestertown, Eric on the Corsica, and a looming Abe had taken all the serenity out of being at anchor. She wondered if it was just she, or had the whole world just gone nuts? Hard to tell without the Internet, she decided.
Andy & Jennifer - East Texas
For the second time Andy awoke to the tantalizing aromas of coffee and bacon, a dangerously addictive occurrence. Seeing Jennifer at the stove with a set of tongs in her hand could add to that addiction, Andy thought as he stopped in the doorway to watch.
The bright, yellow-tinted kitchen lights cut through the gray light of dawn, highlighting Jennifer's silver earrings against her tanned neck. Wearing a simple, white blouse tucked into a pair of snug, calf-length jeans, the universe seemed to revolve around her for a moment of his time, as he watched her shift her weight from one foot to the other, while methodically turning the bacon in the sizzling pan.
Jennifer caught him watching her. "Morning!" she exclaimed and smiled at him. "You're even more colorful this morning." She handed him a mug. "You hungry?"
Andy considered her question rhetorical since he was always hungry, and usually thinking about a menu for the next meal before finishing the present one. He poured a cup of coffee and between swallows started to set the table with plates and utensils.
“Good morning, Jennifer, my apologies for falling asleep on the couch. Not sure if it was the full belly or the comfortable couch that made me so sleepy."
"Might have been rescuing damsels in distress and carrying them through floodwaters that wore you out."
"Jennifer, it wasn't your weight I noticed while I had you over my shoulder. Not to change the subject back to food, but this is a wonderful breakfast, thank you," he said after the first bite.
He thought about who was paying for all this food and felt a stab of guilt. "Speaking of this food, it’s important to me to pay my way. Once you get transportation can we swing by some place to refill the larder, on me? Despite my appearance and being temporarily homeless, I do have a credit card in good working order, begging to be exercised," Andy said.
"We'll get that worked out, right now we're short-handed at the store with Kim taking the day off, so your brawn is more appreciated than your dollars."
"I’m yours to command, got any more coffee before we start?" As Andy refilled his cup at her direction his attention was drawn to the stove. "Is that leftover bacon?"
"Fuel for your tank," Jennifer said. "We need to get going and
meet the sun halfway, Dad should be here to drop off a farm truck I can use for a day or two."
Looking out the kitchen window, watching the rain getting caught and carried by wind gusts, Andy listened to the echo of thunder before replying, "Looks like you are the only ray of sunshine in this part of Texas today. Does your dad know that I've been staying here?"
Jennifer leaned over and looked out the window, "Here he comes now, you can ask him yourself. Be nice though, I think that's a shotgun he's carrying."
Gus - Uncompahgre Plateau, CO
Gus gratefully awoke to chilly air and feeble light seeping in from the east. Each time he'd gone back to sleep during the night, he had done it with some doubt of ever waking up.
The makeshift lean-to that he'd built over the tent, now drooping with the weight of the night’s snowfall, had done its job. It had protected his tent from possibly collapsing under the weight of the snow and had added protection from the wind, which had barely ruffled the tent last night.
The fire was out and cold, even though he had been up often during the night to feed it. After the exertion of getting dressed he felt a bit warmer, so he decided not to take time trying to rekindle the fire. Building a much smaller fire in the Kettle proved easy and fast. During his breakfast of rehydrated bacon and eggs he realized today would be the do-or-die day. He decided to leave almost everything, making his pack as lightweight as possible. Go light, make the pavement, and find help—or die trying.
In the immediate area around the boulders the snow was now six, or so, inches deeper than last night, and it made walking exhausting. The north face of the gully above the camp appeared to have a substantial stand of pinyon trees and looked like it had less snow on the ground than here. Due to the steep climb, getting to the top of the ridge would be an ordeal, but the easier walking on the windy, barren ridgeline gave him his only chance of making it to the pavement.
Ready to leave he took one last look at his tent pitched under the lean-to and gave thanks for the shelter; then he started climbing. He slipped and climbed and panted in the thin air, feeling the strain on his lungs and muscles immediately. Doggedly he tried to concentrate on anything else as he pushed himself, physically and mentally, up the sheer grade.
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