Outside the Fire

by Boyd Craven

  He was dumping raw data through anonymous file servers, sending torrents. What he had, if it was real, was shocking. Proof that Russia was about to turn off natural gas and oil to both Europe and China. The reasons were many, but what it boiled down to was that the UN had been thumping its chest about Syria and the annexation, and the EU was talking about sanctions against Russia. Russia was exacting financial revenge on China for currency manipulation in an effort to weaken their economy while they were in a shooting match with us.

  Steve knew he was no political analyst, financial expert, or even more than a slightly gifted coder who was good at trouble shooting. Still, what he found was troubling, and they weren’t even hiding these details very hard. If anybody in the EU got wind of this…it would turn bad…and quickly.

  “You still coming to church?” Angela asked, startling him as she spoke and placed her hands on his neck.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said, standing and closing the lid on his laptop.

  Both Amber and Amy stayed back after the service, sitting in the front pew with Joseph. They had been friends almost immediately when they had first found Holy Spirit Lutheran Church when they moved to Georgia almost two years ago. It had only been in the last six to eight months that Joseph suddenly realized that Amber was not only a girl, but a young woman who could soon drive. Steve smiled as he overheard his pitch to take him to Six Flags near Atlanta. Both Angela and Steve were standing in line to say their goodbyes as people made their way out of the church.

  Here they felt the southern hospitality. In their subdivision, both Angela and Steve felt like their friendships were soured almost immediately by the Wilsons and Doug Morris. It wasn’t the case here, even after coming for a year and a half, they were still warmly welcomed as if they were newcomers. Angela had been missing her church family more and more lately, and with Steve home now, she had been taking the opportunity to get out more, especially with the girls getting a little older and not needing constant supervision. She’d started making friends but slowly. Steve on the other hand was outgoing and forward, something she couldn’t pull off as easily.

  “And Mr. And Missus Taylor,” Pastor James said holding his hand out.

  The two men shook and then Steve took his wife Mary’s hand and shook it as well.

  “Thank you, Pastor. I find it interesting that you got into the Book of Matthew today,” Steve said.

  “It seemed very appropriate,” Pastor James told him.

  “Either that or the book of Revelations,” both Mary and Angela chorused, and then burst out laughing at the jinx moment.

  “Listen Pastor, your sermon today brought up something I wanted to talk to you about, when you get a moment.”

  “I can after we finish our goodbyes? Would you like to wait?”

  “Sure, we might have to anyways. I think the girls are planning some sort of nefarious plan involving Joseph and Six Flags.”

  “Nefarious? It’d only be nefarious if Matt went along. It’d crush Joseph,” Angela chided.

  “It sounds like kids being kids. I’ll see you two in a moment,” Pastor James said smiling and gave them both a hug.

  “Thanks for letting Joseph hang out with the girls. It’s done a lot for his self-esteem,” Mary said as soon as they walked back.

  “What do you mean?” Angela asked.

  “You know.… Your daughter didn’t tell you?” Pastor James Johnson asked.

  “No, is it something I should be concerned with?” Steve asked.

  “No, no. She’s just a really kind kid. Joseph was being bullied by an older kid on the bus before school let out for the summer. You know how cruel kids can be.”

  “Yeah, I was one once,” Steve said, not sure where this was going.

  “Well, you know, preacher’s son. A girl in his class and a couple of boys were ragging on him a bit. Amber told them off and then took him by the hand and led him to the back of the bus with her girlfriends. Suddenly, he’s sitting with the older pretty girls and it…I know it isn’t very Christian of me, but it backfired on those that were picking on him.”

  “Big man on the bus,” Angela said, touched that her daughter had done that.

  “I think so. It really helped a lot, at least for him,” Mary said. “It also made him…surer of himself. More confident. Anyways, I haven’t had a chance to personally thank your family for that.”

  “Maybe that’s why there’s a little bit of crushing going on?” Steve asked.

  “Crush?” Mary asked, an eyebrow raised.

  “Now he stepped in it,” Angela said with a grin. “We think Joseph is crushing on Amber a little bit and Amy is crushing on Joseph. If they weren’t so innocent and young it’d be something right out of a soap opera.”

  “Or an old episode of Dallas,” Mary shot back, and both ladies busted up laughing.

  “I feel like, suddenly, I don’t want to hear anymore,” Steve said.

  Pastor James stuck his fingers in his ears and made lalalalalalalala sounds while the ladies laughed. As soon as they noticed the very obvious eye rolls and gagging sounds of Steve and Pastor James they cut it a little bit.

  “Now, you wanted to talk to me about something?” Pastor James said as he motioned for them to have a seat in the front pew.

  They all sat, and Steve turned to his side a bit so he could see the pastor better, even though he was sitting on his right.

  “With what’s going on in the world, and what you all picked up on with the Book of Matthew’s study lesson today…I think it would be prudent for you and the members of the church to prepare for hard times.”

  “You mean the financial meltdown and potential nuclear war with any of three countries we’re trading shots with?”

  Steve chuckled, not realizing how plugged in some people were. He was used to being treated like a mental defect for his prepping and crazy-sounding conspiracy theories, but right off the bat, he felt comfortable talking with the pastor about this, and it had been worrying him all day long.

  “That’s exactly what he’s worried about,” Amber said walking over. “He’s got some kind of superman complex, planning to try to save the world, one damsel in distress at a time.”

  “There better be only one damsel in his life,” Angela shot back.

  “There’s only one in mine,” Joseph said, his voice dreamy.

  Only the grownups saw Amber’s rolled eyes, but she was smiling. Amy on the other hand, had her mouth opening and closing like a guppy gasping for air. Steve made a motion with his head for her to let the grownups talk.

  “Hey, can I take Joseph and Amy for a ride around the block for a minute or two? He wants to check out my Jeep.”

  Steve looked at Mary and James who both smiled and shrugged.

  “I don’t mind,” Steve told her.

  “What if I do?” Angela asked him, poking his shoulder.

  “Then you can deal with it,” he said and ducked as she flicked at his ear.

  “Let’s go before he changes his mind,” Joseph said and the three of them started to run down the now empty church.

  They waited until the doors closed. “You know, Pastor, I’m worried that soon the money isn’t going to be worth anything anymore. It’s already started out slowly and it’s getting faster day by day.”

  “I noticed that too. I don’t know what to do about it though,” he said. “Donations are down, money is tight with everyone. It isn’t a rich or poor thing, it’s an everybody thing.”

  “Yes, and I think it’s only going to get worse,” Steve said softly.

  “I fear you’re correct. That’s why I’ve gotten myself a Sam’s Club card. I’d love if we had a Costco down here, it’s—”

  “Wait, what do you mean?” Angela asked.

  “I know, right? When he said he wanted to start prepping food for us and the church, I thought he was….” Mary made a twirling motion next to her temple.

  “Yeah, we’ve become preppers over the past two years,” Pastor James said.
/>   “Huh,” Angela said, “So you do the whole beans, bullets, and Band-Aids?”

  “Honey,” Mary said, “It’s the south. Guns are a way of life.”

  Steve grinned, “Pastor, in the event of hard times, would you be helping feed the church, or are you still building your family stash?”

  “I’ve built my family stash. We don’t need extravagant food, and there’s three of us. As for the church, yes. I don’t have much saved, but I’d like to do more with that.”

  Steve looked to his left at Angela who gave him a broad smile and nodded. His heart soared, suddenly he didn’t feel…uncomfortable.

  “Pastor, I’ve been into prepping for a while. I’ve built up my stash pretty good, but a friend pointed out to me that I’ve got all my eggs in one basket. I have an idea, but only if you’re willing to—”

  “Spit it out,” Pastor James said, in his no-nonsense voice.

  “In the event something happens, my biggest worry will be the roughly ninety thousand people from the Macon area. We’re outside of downtown, but not too far.”

  “If something major ever happens, they’ll head North towards Atlanta would be my guess,” James said.

  “I would think they’d head west towards the countryside, wouldn’t they?” Mary asked the three of them.

  “Anything’s possible. But…I’d like to think I’d like to start prepping with our church family in mind before things are needed. It’d make me feel better, and if things go really south…I mean, we might need some of it ourselves.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t mind the assistance. That’s very generous of you. You know, we have an unused Sunday school classroom. It’s the one that has the bad electrical. I haven’t had a chance to finish it off yet. I’ve been storing the church’s provisions in there. You’re welcome to add to it, if you’d like.”

  “If that isn’t too much of an intrusion,” Steve said.

  “No, not at all.”

  “Hon, I know you were nervous about pitching this idea, but I can see it might be a lifesaver. If something happens, it won’t be forever. It might help people get over the gap if they aren’t as ready.”

  “That’s the other thing,” Steve said and then surprised them all.

  He laid out his idea, if the Pastor was willing, and he was. The next sermon would be more Matthew, and then some book of Revelations. A lot of this was just a modified hurricane prep, but every little bit would help. Then the Pastor surprised them when he suggested that he’d ask members to forgo the donations to buy their own stash of emergency food, or food for the church. Feeling much better about things, he said his goodbyes and collected the kids who were in the parking lot, the Jeep now parked next to Angela’s BMW.

  CHAPTER 12

  The next week was worsening foreign relations and watching the price of all goods creeping up. Bread had gone from two dollars and eight cents a loaf to almost three dollars since the start of summer. People were visibly worried and the stock market trembled. Steve thought about how he wanted to do his backup to his backup plan. He’d been paid for the month, paid his bills for the month, and then it occurred to him. He’d asked and gotten permission from Angela when he pointed out if he was wrong, he could always donate it against taxes.

  “Dad, I want to do the running with you,” Amy said as he headed into the garage to fire up his truck.

  “Not this time, baby,” he told her, hating to say it.

  “This has been a boring summer. All I want to do is get out of the house. I mean, sheesh!” Amy told him and stomped to her bedroom, slamming the door.

  “I’m sorry,” he called halfheartedly.

  Angela had been spinning salad greens she’d gotten from the store now that it was too hot to grow their own without it bolting. She gave him a shrug.

  “Want to eat before you go prepare for a Mad Max dystopian type of world?” Angela asked, nodding to the chicken breasts sizzling in olive oil with onions on a skillet.

  “No thanks. I want to get rolling. I have to hit the bank first and now that I’m done working for the day, I can make it there before they close.”

  “What about the other place you were heading?”

  “I’ll know more when I get there,” he told her with a grin.

  “Ok, you be safe,” Angela said and walked up and kissed him.

  “I was disgusted before, but now it’s…double!” Amy shouted from her doorway.

  Both broke the kiss to look at their daughter amusedly, then Steve grabbed Angela by the waist and spun her like they were dancing and then tilted her back and kissed her deeply. Puking noises were met with that and Angela started giggling despite the kiss. He gave up and let her back up.

  “I’ll see you ladies later on. Have Amber text me when she gets home would you?”

  “Yeah, your favorite daughter,” Amy said and slammed her door again.

  “What’s up with her?” Steve asked, confused.

  “Joseph and her had a talk—”

  “Did she—”

  “No, she didn’t. She knows he’s way too old for her. I mean, she’s going to be ten soon; he’s already thirteen.”

  Steve let out a breath he’d been holding for longer than he’d realized.

  “Ok, well, I’ll get her some chocolate or something on my way home.”

  “I don’t have PMS!” Amy yelled.

  Steve flinched and fled as quickly as his dignity and man card allowed, hearing his wife call goodbye. He fired up the truck and headed into town, something he was actually doing more of lately. With Dwight’s help and permission, he’d buried two food grade barrels on the far side of Dwight’s property to stash some dry goods that were packed in Mylar and oxygen absorbers. One of his smaller tractors, a beast almost the size of Steve’s truck, easily scooped out a hole with two swipes. Then he’d rolled the nearly full barrel most of the way into it before the old farmer had gotten bored and used the bucket of the front loader to roll it in. Then they were filled in and a discrete marker was put down: a flat piece of shale.

  What he was doing today was even furthering his preps, and with the price of goods constantly going up, he was now putting a plan in motion. First stop was the bank. He was pulling in when his work phone rang. He pulled over and answered it.

  “…Yeah, I’ve specifically coded against that…yeah, I know. I saw the WikiLeaks thing too…yeah, I’ve known about that vulnerability for a year…oh yeah. I’ll run a brute force attack as soon as I get in front of a terminal…oh…Um…8:00 p.m.? Good. Thank you for calling.”

  “Man,” Steve said to himself after he hung up the phone, “things are really going to get interesting. Vault number eight. People didn’t learn from last time.”

  He was always amused when a customer saw something on the news and called to inform him. In this case, it was an electronics factory in Monterey, Mexico. They had their own IT guys, but they were looking for an outside expert. The owners didn’t trust anybody local. In the past, they had been taken advantage of. Steve walked into the bank, half distracted thinking about how he was going to run a simulated brute force attack on them that was obvious enough that their IT guys could see it live.

  “Good afternoon sir, how can I help you?” the teller asked, as he stepped towards the ropes that made the line.

  “Uh, pretty good. Dead in here, huh?” he asked looking around at the empty bank.

  “Yeah, it’s been quiet. What can I get for you, and your account number?”

  “9703-331 is my account number, and I’d like to withdraw twenty-five thousand dollars from my savings account.”

  For a second, the extremely young and pretty teller did a double take at the amount and then started tapping keys. She hit a few more buttons and a printer whirred to life.

  “Just need to see some ID, and because it’s an amount of ten thousand dollars or more, I need you to sign an extra form for me.”

  “Not a problem,” Steve said, already mentally prepared for this part. “Buying a new truc
k. I’m getting the cash discount!”

  “Oh wow, I hope you’re getting a good deal.”

  “Twenty-five thousand dollars,” Steve told her with a fake grin plastered on his face.

  “Oh, um…” she stammered as he signed. “You know they’re going to charge you sales tax, license fees and plate transfer or new plate fees and stuff.”

  Steve’s smile faltered and he smacked his forehead and looked at the earnest young lady.

  “You know what, you’re right. Make it an even thirty thousand, and that should cover it,” he said, liking the sound of the round number better, one that was a decent chunk of the nest egg and severance package he got from Brandi.

  She pulled the forms back and then reprinted things. As he was signing, she got a phone call. She spoke into it quietly and then took the forms when he was done.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said.

  It took her a few minutes and he was starting to think there might have been something wrong when she came back out with three stacks. She pulled the bands of each stack and ran it through a counter, three times per stack, before bundling them back up.

  “I don’t have an envelope big enough for three stacks. How about three envelopes?”

  “Works for me,” Steve said, feeling nervous.

  The delay had made him wonder if he might have missed out on some new obscure banking law designed to catch money launderers. They prosecuted those like no joke, so he had no idea what they would do to people who were looking to do what he was going to do. Put a black mark on his record? Write him off as a loon?

  She finished packing up his money and he put the fat stacked envelopes in his pocket. Steve felt nervous as he walked out of the bank, as if for some reason the stacks of bills suddenly weighed more. Getting his concealed carry permit had been something he’d done early on after moving from Ohio, but he’d never really done it until after the secret was out that he’d purchased the guns. Now, he hardly left the house without the comforting weight of the pistol.