Arks of America

by D A Carey

  “After Midlothian, you have more places to be wary of, a canal to cross, and another expressway to go under. I’d watch those spots if I was you.”

  “Thanks,” Vince answered, storing away the information.

  “You make it through there, then you should be okay for a while longer. Soon after, there is a shopping center on the right called Green Oak. I heard they got hit hard by looters. You might see some of the same as you did at Lincoln Mall. Then more of the same with some of the strip malls a few miles further north. After that, you’re going to hit Ford City Mall. Whatever you saw at Lincoln Mall will be peanuts compared to Ford City. If there is any way possible you can go around that, I suggest you do. I have no idea what side streets might be open or blocked. Side streets could be worse than racing through the gauntlet. That choice is on you, man.”

  “Thanks,” Vince said wryly. “You’re all good news.”

  “After Ford City Mall, the road elevates to cross the railroad tracks, and that’s another good spot for the gang bangers. Still, you have to get across those tracks. After that, you come to Midway Airport. I have no idea what you’ll find there. If you make it through all that, you still have another expressway to go under and another canal to cross. All that does is get you more into the home area of some of these gangs.”

  Even though Vince was taking a few notes, his memory was sharp. He was visualizing and storing in his mind all that Malcolm said. He didn’t like what he was hearing.

  “You’ll see more shopping centers and movie theaters that will probably be looted or burned. After that, keep an eye out for another expressway, I-294, which you need to go under. When you get close to us, you need to cut over to your right on a side street before you get to Milwaukee Avenue. We’re on Kilpatrick in the Irving Hill area. You have the house number.”

  “I do and I’ll be there.”

  Malcolm responded in a much more somber tone. “I sure hope so, man. We need you. It’s a hell of a trip. If you want to me try and load everyone up and meet you partway, I will. I don’t know if we’d make it, though.”

  “You all stay put. I’m coming to you. When I get there, we’ll be making the same trip out. You can be a hero then.”

  “Thanks. I don’t want to be a hero. I also don’t want to be the reason your people or these girls get hurt. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  As a last thought before he broke connection, Vince asked Malcolm to do one more thing.

  “Cut some white bed sheets into strips and tie those to the cars you’ll be using. Do the same for the people. Tell them to tie them around their arms or necks. I don’t want any mistaken friendly fire casualties if things get dicey in a hurry.”

  << Dave >>

  Dave resisted the urge to call. More and more he thought of Vince, Ellie, and Kate as his closest family. Although they didn’t talk as often as some, they shared a mutual respect, understanding, and love.

  Dave and his wife never had children before she died many years ago. Vince was as close to his own child as he could get. He carried his DNA, his last name, and more importantly his spirit. While Vince may not care much about business, in truth neither did Dave. He was just good at it.

  It hurt his soul sometimes thinking about his wife even after all these years and the sons and daughters he didn’t have. He might have been much less successful in business and so much more successful in life had he been a father. When his mind went down those paths, he got back to work and focused on what a fine man Vince was and that through Kate his family line and legacy would live on.

  Dave’s brother, also Vince’s dad, lived in another state. They had different views, and he could never talk to him like he could Vince, Kate, or even Ellie. Sometimes his brother still acted like the bully from their youth, though he could be polite when he wanted something. It was almost as if his brother resented Dave’s success. It was hard for the two of them to talk. He used to have other family members in his generation that he was close to. They had died one by one over the years. That was the worst part about getting old. Most people thought it was declining health or receding hairlines that hurt. His health was fine, and he never cared about his appearance much. What hurt most was seeing friends, family, and peers die off. It was lonely and a constant reminder of his mortality. It forced the thought into his mind of how much closer he was to the end of his timeline on this Earth than the beginning. It also filled him with a sense of urgency to leave something important behind.

  As a leader of companies, tens of thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in wealth, Dave wasn’t accustomed to waiting. Yet he was smart enough to know when he was meddling and needed to back up and let a plan work itself out. What he could do was beef up security at some plants that were still running and creating essential products to his communities. He could move certain manpower and supplies to other communities and secure locations.

  He added extra security people to the Kentucky location and directed Louis to get them anything they needed in terms of supplies. He wanted to make sure they had anything they could possibly need to complete any unfinished work and stock the community.

  If all went well, that was where his family and Liz would be headed soon. While he couldn’t do much more to help on the ground for this mission, he could make damn sure they had a safe homecoming arranged when they got there.

  ***

  The next day Dave was catching as much information as he could through the satellite feeds set up for him in the South Park location. The technology people on his staff helped him gather a lot of information, making him probably one of the best informed private citizens in the country at this moment. Yet that wasn’t saying much. The blackouts were many and the news fragmented and delayed.

  No one would have thought SAT phones would be this unreliable. His tech people couldn’t decide if it was due to increased traffic, atmospheric conditions, some type of sabotage, or monitoring by the federal government. Dave was betting on the latter. Now more than ever, the government wanted to know who was saying and doing what. It was clear they weren’t making much headway putting down the violence and chaos.

  Levi and Louis spent a lot of time with Dave as he went through the news feeds and various personal messages. He valued both of them as a sounding board in different ways, and it was clear the men were frustrated.

  Louis liked to have all the information at hand and the ability to reach out to anyone he needed. He didn’t like making the hard decisions or else Dave would have put him in charge of something much larger long ago. He was happy to be the Radar O’Reilly to Dave’s Colonel Potter. Having late and partial news and not having ready access to all his resources was extremely irritating for Louis.

  Levi’s frustration was from not being in the field. His good friend was on a mission, and although he was committed to serving Dave, his heart was in the field. If South Park was at risk, Dave could have justified keeping Levi here. As things stood, the only thing holding him back was the belief that he couldn’t get Levi anywhere in time to help.

  << Liz >>

  As Dave was working on preparations, he got a phone call from Liz. She said she’d been trying a few times a day for the last two or three days to get through.

  “I wanted to thank you for the phone and let you know I am safe for the moment at Ellie’s place. I’m worried about my family in Kentucky.”

  “The charter town folks in Kentucky and my nephew made contact with your family. They’re safe and doing well,” Dave informed her.

  Liz expressed her joy at the news yet wasn’t shocked. They were a hardy people and didn’t live in the big cities. They were survivors.

  “Vince offered them a place at the charter town in Kentucky, and they declined the invitation.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

  “Yes, your family insisted they were safe and doing well on the family farm. They wanted to stay there because the violence hasn’t come to their part of the country yet and they have the ca
ttle and crops that need tending. I made a deal with them to buy some of what they have through my company.”

  “Thank you, Dave,” Liz said, expressing her gratitude. “You have a good heart, and you’re a man of your word.”

  “My nephew Vince was able to convince your grandmother and a couple of nieces to move to the charter town at least part-time, though.”

  “He what?” Liz exclaimed, astonished.

  “Vince convinced them only partially for safety, but mostly because the school is running in the charter town. Your Grandma Jean wanted the kids to have things as normal as possible and continue their education. Living with her at a townhouse in Chartertown Kentucky is safer than trying to commute to their old school or to and from the charter town.”

  “I can’t put into words how much of a weight that removes from me, Dave.” It allowed Liz to focus on events at hand and on getting home to Kentucky. After that, they could see what was next.

  Dave sensed Liz wasn’t ready to hang up yet. “What’s on your mind, hon?” he asked in his fatherly way.

  “Do you promise to keep what I say to yourself and forget it right after this call?” Liz asked tentatively.

  “Sure.” Dave’s curiosity was piqued.

  “It’s your nephew. I’m dying of curiosity, and I feel foolish for it. Kate thinks of him as a superhero, which I expect from a daughter. I can tell Ellie does, too. That’s not normal for an ex-wife. Heck, even Malcolm is confident Vince is coming to save them, and I don’t think those two even know each other that well,” Liz poured out in a rush.

  “Now I hear he’s helped my family. He even talked my grandmother into moving to the Kentucky charter town, even if temporarily. I never thought I’d see anything like that in my life. She won’t even visit me in California. It doesn’t seem like any one man should be able to do all that. I’m sorry if I’m being disrespectful of your nephew. I can’t afford to get my hopes up and be let down.”

  Dave exhaled with a smile. “You’re right not to buy into all the Vince hype. He’s a deeply complex individual with more than his fair share of flaws. He hasn’t won any gold medals, except a bronze or silver if you count his military service. When he has too much time on his hands, he can drink or be grumpy and brooding. He hasn’t made millions with an invention or rose to the ranks of corporate leadership. Don’t ever forget he lost Ellie to a divorce, so he has flaws as a husband too. He has just a few loyal friends he’s close to.”

  “Okay?” Liz was clearly confused.

  “However, I have never seen a braver man with a truer heart,” Dave said. “He will lay down his life for what’s right or his fellow man. He has a first responder mentality to run in to trouble when others run out and a kind of supernatural ability to make the right decisions in a split second when bullets are flying. Men follow him with a devotion that he doesn’t understand. Women are attracted to him, and they don’t know why. His mind is sharp, and his instincts and decisions are sound. I would let him lead any division of my company in a second if he would agree.”

  “Why don’t you or why won’t he?” Liz asked.

  “His Achilles heel is how his mind works in two areas,” Dave said. “The first is that when bullets aren’t flying and things aren’t chaotic, he feels out of place and drinks or seeks out the next adrenaline rush.”

  “And the second area?” Liz was clearly intrigued now.

  “His guilt,” Dave said succinctly. “He remembers every face, every death, and every mission clearly. He may not have a photographic memory, but in this area, it’s close. He relives old missions and worries about new ones each night. Over the years, each one of those memories is like another brick in his emotional backpack. He can’t unload it, and it partially incapacitates him. Even Ellie couldn’t help him with that. He sees the faces of men who died with him in his sleep. He thinks of the missions that didn’t succeed as well as he hoped and the people he let down.”

  “Wow,” Liz breathed.

  “He will get you out,” Dave said confidently. “In that respect, he is nearly a superhero. He is several years older than you, so I shouldn’t have to say this, but he is too damaged right now for a nice girl to fall for.”

  “Dave, seriously!” Liz said, aghast. “Who could think of falling for a man right now? Besides, he is older than me, and I’m not interested in finding a man right now.”

  “Well I’m going to ask the same of you that you did from me,” Dave said, wondering if he’d gone too far. “Promise to keep what I say to yourself and forget it right after this call. I have violated some of what Vince and Ellie have told me in confidence by sharing this with you. I trust you and hope you’ll forget this when we hang up. I thought you deserved to know is all.”

  Liz, eager to change the subject, said, “Thank you, Dave.”

  Value and Cost

  “Not all of us are called to die a martyr’s death, but all of us are called to have the same spirit of self-sacrifice and love to the very end as these martyrs had.”

  - Richard Wurmbrand

  << Vince >>

  The team fought to make the last few miles to Ellie’s home. There were wrecked and burned-out cars in the road that acted as roadblocks. Vince was sure some of it was done on purpose and some was merely the results of a city tearing itself apart. In either event, they pushed through them when he decided it was the right choice. Other times, they took a detour. He couldn’t always put into words what drove the different decisions or what detail he saw that aided his choice. His track record in making the right call was uncannily accurate. This time, it wasn’t only a mission that mattered; it was his daughter and ex-wife’s lives on the line.

  Moving north on Cicero, they encountered places where gangs were fighting each other over the spoils. Occasionally, they saw police or citizens banding together to preserve an island of sanity amidst the chaos. Vince was happy his team hadn’t yet come under anyone’s special notice. They wanted to avoid fighting and work around it rather than through it. As the day drew on, it became obvious the route up Cicero which would have taken an hour at most a few months ago would take them four, five, or even six now. The problem with taking that much time was the slower they moved, the more likely someone would take notice. The later it got in the day, the more hoodlums would come out on the streets. Twice they returned fire to discourage the attention of someone trying to take what was theirs. Vince’s paramount concern was saving the vehicles and making good time. The men with him were strong and could fight their way to Ellie’s on foot if they needed to. Yet the goal was not only to get there, but to get everyone out of Chicago and back to Kentucky safely. Ellie, Kate, and the others couldn’t fight their way through territory like this on foot the way Vince and his team could.

  As they moved further north, they were forced to fight more. They soon fell into a routine of plan A and plan B. Plan A was to rush the obstacle or attackers fast with the vehicles in line and pouring lead. Plan B was riskier and amounted to a dismounted cavalry option when they found a hard blockage. In that situation, they’d find a hiding place to park the vehicles, behind a building or in an alley. Usually it would be Andy that would guard the vehicles while Vince and Dwight would move up silently. The plan wasn’t to kill them all or take ground. It was merely to unleash a sudden unexpected hell on the hoodlums and make them scatter. The team needed to keep moving north and clearing a path.

  It was close to two in the afternoon before they got close to Ellie’s block. The landmarks Malcolm gave him were good, and the map confirmed it. Still, he didn’t want to go racing in to Kilpatrick Avenue without getting a lay of the land. They found a back alley about a block west of Ellie’s home where they could hide the vehicles in the shadows of an alley between two older homes. Most of the houses on this block were burned out or deserted.

  Vince dismounted and worked his way closer to get a better view. A cold chill ran down his spine when he saw several gang members firing into the front of what he was sure was Ellie and
Malcolm’s home. A flash of panic raced through his body as he worried about his daughter and ex-wife. He forced himself to take a deep breath. It was hard to keep his cool and not rush in. What convinced him there was more time was the high rate of return fire coming from inside. The criminals had time and were enjoying inflicting terror as well as softening up the defenders.

  Vince decided not to go for a full-on assault right this second. He instructed Andy and Dwight to conceal themselves in sniper nests and be ready for his command. All three men were using simple walkie talkies with ear buds and could communicate any strategy adjustments. The advantage of working with men like Andy and Dwight was that they were professionals and only needed a word or two to understand a change in plan.

  Vince took a chance and tried calling Ellie on the SAT phone, miraculously getting through on the second try. It was Kate who answered. Vince was overjoyed at hearing her voice and knowing she was okay, at first. Kate spoke rapidly, her voice rushed and tinged with panic as she related how the gang had sauntered up with their demands. They were led by Raheem and followed by his sneering brother Malik.

  << Liz >>

  The ring of the phone startled Liz. She could hear Kate’s side of the conversation with her dad, and a ray of hope poked through the terror they’d been living through facing the gang. She didn’t understand why so many other people trusted him so thoroughly to make things right. When they spoke of Vince, their body language conveyed a trust that was infectious. Liz listened to the pride and confidence Dave had in his nephew when he spoke of him and the adoration in Kate’s voice when she talked about her dad. While it was natural enough that a daughter would feel that way about her father, Vince’s ex-wife also still cared for and trusted him to save them. Even Ellie’s new husband Malcolm trusted Vince to help keep his family safe.