“Red, you know how I feel about you. You’re a brother and have been since I met you. It’s not going to be the same without you here, and you’re going to be missed by everyone. But now, it’s time for you to go take care of your family and we want to help you do that.” I reached down and grabbed the silver, “Here’s twenty-five ounces of silver bullion worth about $26,000 in the Australian dollar. Now, I don’t want to hear any argument on this. For my last order, I’m telling you to take it.”
He looked at it and with tears in his eyes stated, “Vince, again, you know I wouldn’t consider leaving if it wasn’t for my family. You, all the guys and you also Kim, oh hell, everybody here will always be family to me as well.”
Kim walked up and gave him a hug, “We love you, Kevin. Now make sure you take care of that family of yours.”
After hugging Kim, he grabbed me in a tight hug, “I love you, brother. Thank you. Thank you both,” and he turned and walked out of the room.
“Boy, I don’t think I can handle much more of this,” Kim commented with a tearful face.
Finally, we called in Mike and Brandy. As fast as this relationship happened, I have to admit that there were a few times that I wondered if the marriage was happening too quickly but once I saw the way they kept looking at one another, I knew they were totally in love. Plus, everything in this new world seemed to happen quickly.
The second I spoke, my eyes started filling with tears. Damn, seventeen years as a soldier, five years as a police officer, where I had to be a tough guy. But now, my emotions just flow out of me half the time.
“Guys, we both wanted to tell you how much we’re going to miss you and how invaluable you have been to all of us. We couldn’t have made it past everything that we did without you. Mike, I’m so proud of you. Now, I know you had a serious problem with leaving, but you don’t know how the idea of you guys having a normal life, for however long, well… how happy that makes us.
Brandy, you had already become a part of our family, and now you will be officially. We love you, and I’m so glad that God put you two together. I honestly believe that.
You know, I trusted you from the beginning and that’s why you were made part of the reaction force before any of the other women. Again, without you, who knows how bad things could have gone. When I say we love you, we’re not just saying that because that’s what future in-laws are supposed to say and feel; we truly do.”
Kim couldn't speak as she was crying so much but instead, stood up and went over and hugged both Brandy and Mike and I followed and did the same.
For people that don’t know Mike, they may think he’s cold blooded to a certain extent because he rarely showed any emotion except for maybe some anger at times towards scumballs on the street. But his face had tears running down his cheeks and was close to an all-out cry.
We finally sat back down, and I just started to talk about the silver when Brandy commented, “You know when we were waiting on fuel for the plane in Tulsa? Carmen tried to explain to me why she felt the way she did about you Vince, really both of you. At the time, I thought she was nuts. But now, I understand why she loved both of you so much.” Of course, that brought on even more waterworks.
Finally, I said, “Ok, now, we have something for you guys, to help you start your new life. I had Jim do some checking and silver bullion in Australia is selling for 1040 AUD or $1040.00 per ounce. Here is one hundred troy ounces of silver bullion which is worth around $104,000.00. As I told Santiago, the economy there isn’t that great, so prices ought to be pretty low, so this will really come in handy to start a new life.”
Both their mouths dropped open, and Mike started looking at the various bars of ten-ounce, five-ounce, and one-ounce bars.
“Oh, my God!”
Brandy then looked up at me, “Vince, I personally think you guys need to keep that. Don’t forget, my dad apparently is still set up pretty well financially. Mike, I think they should keep that.”
Kim immediately spoke up, “No, we want you to have it. First of all, you don’t want to have to depend on anyone else for money. You guys need your own. I know your parents love you, and yes, they’ll take care of you, but everyone needs their own safety net.”
She started to object again, but I interrupted, “Brandy, you know Kim’s right. If you didn’t think that way, why did you work for a living when you could’ve lived off the trust fund your grandfather gave you, and by what Carmen told me, that trust fund was more or less intended for daily expenses. Why didn’t you just live off of that?”
She formed a sly smile on her face, “Ok, I guess you did know us pretty well. But this is different.”
“No, it’s not,” Kim stated.
“Listen, we gave twenty-five ounces to Red, Santiago, and Laura to help them get started. We’re keeping twenty-five for ourselves, just in case. Giving you this one hundred will really make us happy. Look at it as a wedding gift. Now, you're not going to insult us and reject our wedding gift are you?”
She paused for a moment then formed that same sweet smile that Carmen had and shook her head no.
“Dad, then why don’t you just give us twenty-five ounces and you guys keep the hundred?”
“Why do we need all that? It’s not like we can run down to the local store to shop. You guys will be able to. No, you guys take the hundred. That’s final.”
“Now, we all need to get some rest. You guys have a big day tomorrow. We all do.” Kim suggested.
Both stood, but Brandy added, “I want you to know that I’m going to have my dad figure out a way that all of you can join us in Australia.”
Kim laughed and while looking at me remarked, “You always promised that someday we’d go to Australia on vacation. It’s a shame that Brandy is the one that may set it up and not you.”
“Hey, if they’re able to set it up, it’s still a trip to Australia. I didn’t say how it would be done,” and with a laugh from everyone, we all headed to our beds.
We got everyone up at 5:00 a.m. All the guys were slow to rise as Paul’s Jungle Juice was also like a powerful sleeping tonic.
After breakfast, Kim and Mia started cutting Mum’s that Kim had planted a few years earlier. Some would be used for the arch that Jake built, some for Brandy and others for the pedals for Lulu to use as the flower girl.
Jake showed up early to check on the steer, even though Mo, Tag, and Wit took shifts watching it and keeping the coals and fire at the right heat.
At 7:55 a.m., we could hear a very recognizable sound coming from the eastern sky, but it wasn’t the sound of choppers.
Chapter Thirty
October 30th:
As I walked outside, I could hear A-10 Thunderbolts approaching quickly. I assumed they were escorting some transports, which we had seen several times over the years, but then suddenly, two came over the treeline on our east boundary right above treetop level. Both flew over the property and flew to about the west roadblock on M Highway where one split off to the north and one to the south. They were obviously performing a security sweep of the entire area. After checking over what seemed to be the entire two-mile section, they left back towards the east as quickly as they arrived.
After their departure, Jonas’s Apache appeared out of nowhere, also at treetop level. He was performing the same security check that he always has, except it was a bit more detailed.
Everyone was outside at this point, and Mo and Tag had just arrived up at the house with the jeep and trailer as they had been with Jake down at the firepit.
Quickly we could all hear the sound of approaching helicopters, even with Jonas being in the area. Soon we saw two Blackhawks approaching, then a Boeing CH-47, followed by another Blackhawk.
“Oh my gosh, a Chinook.” Wit proclaimed with astonishment.
I just shook my head in amazement and called out to Brandy, who was watching from the back door, “Brandy, apparently your parents are here.”
Mo busted out with his famous laugh, “Well, I tak
e it they won’t all be landing here by the house. Are you ready to welcome your future family members, Mike?”
Mike, with a stunned look, replied, “Apparently.”
Brandy laughed, then grabbed him by the arm and said, “Come on. They’ll love you.”
Soon, Jonas took position half way between our dirt airstrip and the house and hovered a few hundred feet above the ground, facing the airstrip. Then immediately the Chinook made its approach landing on the airstrip, followed by one of the Blackhawks. Just as soon as the Blackhawk landed, two men jumped out of it and took defensive positions behind the Chinook while it was lowering its cargo door.
Jonas then rotated and faced the house, and the other two Blackhawks landed in the field between Jake’s and us, where Jim had been landing the last two times.
Brandy, Mike, Mo, Kim, and I started walking towards the Blackhawks and as soon as we had reached the other side of the trailers, two men who were obviously not part of Jim’s normal crew as they weren’t wearing Army uniforms, jumped out of one of the Blackhawks and took up defensive positions and had quite the aggressive stance facing us. This caused us to stop. Then I saw Jim open the door of his Blackhawk and I could see he was yelling at the two security personnel, even though I couldn’t hear him due to the sound of the Blackhawks shutting down their rotors. As soon as he did, they took a much less provocative stance.
Slowly, we proceeded toward Jim’s bird.
Mo whispered, “Hell, for a moment, I was regretting that we weren’t carrying more than our sidearms.”
“No kidding.”
Immediately, a man jumped out of the bird that I didn’t recognize, but as we approached, his stars stood out. Obviously, this was General Winstead, Jim’s Commanding General, and best friend. He turned and held out his hand to help a very attractive woman, who just by looks had to be Brandy’s mother, get out of the Blackhawk followed immediately by a large man which I estimated was in his mid-fifties.
As soon as Brandy saw them, she yelled out “Mom! Dad!” and ran toward them throwing her arms around them one at a time. Seeing their response was what you’d expect. There were tears of happiness flowing, and they acted like a typical family that was reuniting after a long separation but with the additional emotion of relief as for some time they didn’t know whether they would ever see each other again.
I don’t know what I was expecting. Obviously, the family was very well connected and before the EMP was worth millions, maybe hundreds of millions. As far as I knew, maybe a billion. Now normally, someone with money and influence doesn’t intimidate me or even impress me that much. But I had respect for these people, even though I’d never met them. I could tell by what Carmen had told me about them and how both Carmen and Brandy turned out, they were good parents and good people who didn’t consider themselves better than everyone else.
We were standing back giving them time to greet one another privately and to celebrate for as long as they wanted when I heard Jim’s voice call out and saw that he, General Winstead, and a female Major were approaching.
“Vince, sorry for all the extra security procedures. I should’ve warned you ahead of time.”
“Don’t worry about it. I think the only thing that really surprised us were the actions of what I assume are private contractors there,” while nodding at the two security personnel.
“Yes, I can understand that. They don’t belong to us if you get my drift.” Then after a quick pause said, “Vince, I would like to introduce you to General Robert Winstead, my Commanding General.”
I shook his hand, “Sir, nice to meet you.”
“Yes, Johnson, nice to meet you also. I hear you’re one of our military contractors. I noticed the Muststore Flexible Gas Tank there.”
I got a bit of a sheepish look on my face, “Uh, well, yes sir….” and I looked at Jim for some support.
The General started laughing, “Don’t worry about it. I knew all about it. Jim, told me about your situation and during these times, I know when to turn my head.”
I chuckled in relief, “Good. I wasn’t prepared for that. I was expecting Jim to jump in and save me.”
Jim laughed, “Well, for the record, that gas tank isn’t even here.
This is Major Virginia Morsanni from the Chaplain’s office.”
“Oh, I have a couple of people here that are going to be very happy that you came.”
We shook hands, and she remarked, “Oh when Jim approached me with this, I jumped at the opportunity. It’ll be so nice to do this with the way the world is going. It’s been a while.”
Jim immediately spoke up, “Now, we haven’t told the Melrose’s why she’s here. We assumed Brandy wanted to tell them.”
“Really? Wow! You’re probably right, I’m sure she does, but I hope they’re ok with it.”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing.” The General replied.
Just about that time Kim and Mo walked up, and Jim said, Bob, this is Kim, Vince’s wife, and my cousin.
Kim shook his hand, “Hello. It’s very nice to meet you, General.”
He smiled, “Call me Bob, please.”
Jim continued, “Bob, Virginia, I’d like you to meet, Mo... Mo, I know that’s what you go by, but I don’t know your full name.
Mo laughed and shook hands with the General, saying “Sir. Calvin, Calvin Mosely is my name. MO’s what everyone called me when we served together, and since we united again, that’s what it’s back to.”
He then shook hands with the Major.
“Do you prefer Mo or Calvin?”
“Mo’s fine, Ma’am.”
“Mo it is then,…and please forget the Ma’am part. My name is Virginia.”
I looked around to introduce Mike, but he had already been snatched up by Brandy and being introduced to her mom and dad. Very quickly we heard Brandy calling our names.
“Mom, Dad, I want you to meet Vince and Kim Johnson. They are responsible for saving our lives. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think any of us would’ve made it.
You guys, this is my mother Patricia Melrose and my Dad, William.”
Both had a very big smile on their face and acted very friendly.
“Don’t let Brandy fool you. We couldn’t have made it without her. Everyone here pretty well saved us.”
After introducing Mo to everyone and Mike to the General, Kim finally asked everyone inside.
When we got into the house, we went through another round of introductions, introducing everyone to the Melrose’s, and Bob and Virginia. After some more polite small talk and Kim and Mia providing coffee and water to everyone, the Melrose’s, Mike, Brandy, Kim and myself entered into the living room to talk. We asked Bob and Jim to join us but they said, we needed time to get to know one another plus Jim asked if he could borrow the guys and the jeep and trailer as the Melrose’s had brought us some supplies and needed to pick them up as they were on the Chinook.
“Yes, Brandy asked if we could get you some things. We brought all we could, but supplies are limited right now due to the obvious circumstances.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Melrose. Anything is deeply appreciated.”
“Now, none of that Mr. Melrose stuff, Please call us Bill and Pat,” Pat instructed.
Jim and Bob walked out saying they’d be back and we continued to get to know one another. As we were talking, I could hear that Jonas was just landing. Apparently, just finishing up his security sweep. That reminded me that Bill had to be well connected to arrange all of this and hopefully before the day was over, I’d get to know him well enough to find out just who he was connected to.
We talked for some time. I was surprised in a way how easy they were to talk to and how down to earth they were. If this was normal times and someone walked in and just heard us talking, they’d think they just neighbors over for a cup of coffee.
He filled us in on how things are going around the world; he explained that the EU seemed to be turning into a serious problem and how the Chancel
lor of Germany appeared to be another future dictator. We even discussed how Prescott policies seemed to play right into our enemies hands.
We told them where everyone was during the start of everything and even told them how Mike was the one that actually shot Jerome Jackson. That seemed to impress Bill, and he asked Mike several questions about it. I was really worried that Mike was going to be as closed mouth as he usually is but he opened up quite a bit, and I could see a little shock even on Brandy’s face.
Bill then complimented us on our set up and asked why and how we were so prepared and how we all got together. I told him the story, my background and how it was a blessing how the guys just seemed to be having the reunion that week. When I mentioned that Mike was in charge of security, that seemed to impress him as well.
He then asked how many would be flying back with them. I told them who and explained how each had silver bullion to help them get a fresh start so that they wouldn’t be a burden on anyone. Bill said he’d be glad to make arrangements on helping them sell the silver when they wanted to. He then apologized for not being able to arrange for all of us to go but explained how Australia had to really start cracking down on allowing refugees to enter their country, due to the Korean situation, the attack on Great Britain, the unrest around the rest of the world, and of course, the attack on America. He commented that they were giving priority to American, Great Britain, and Canadian citizens, but are very strict when it came to passports, as there were so many people claiming to be from America and England that weren’t.
He also promised to continue working on it and reminded us how he had very little time since learning that Brandy was ok and he was honest in saying that his priority was to make arrangements for her and the ten, which was completely understandable.
Both kept thanking us for being here for both of their daughters and commented on how amazing it was that they were on their way out here, so I explained to them how we told Mia and Carmen to come out to the farm if things really got bad.
When I mentioned Carmen’s name, I did it without thinking. I knew sooner than later that she would come up but I also knew how hard it would be on them, …. and us.
Into the Apocalypse Page 44
