Rage of the Phoenix

by Elizabeth N Harris

  Big businesses are donating and sending their own challenges to business rivals. More oil barons and media owners are donating big bucks. Four actual properties have been donated and five people have donated acres of land for an E.T to be built.”

  “Christ.” I said in shock, not even on our best day, had we ever raised figures near to this sum. Drake squeezed my shoulders and I reached up and grabbed his hand.

  “Someone has told the media about the auctions and we have holidays, cars, yachts being donated. Tiffany’s have promised a ten-thousand-dollar voucher and other jewellers and retail stores are offering vouchers.

  Hotel chains are offering all-inclusive weekends away, to a two-week all-inclusive paid for vacation. Manolo Blahniks have offered a five-thousand-dollar voucher, I think you’re getting the drift.” I nodded. A noise made me glance up and North the Director of Public Relations came into view.

  “The CEO of Ford is crowing on live TV that his company was the first to donate a top of the range car. Chevrolet are on TV too, giving an interview and they’ve donated. The media are going crackers with the stories, making a real big performance of this.

  Sally is giving Skype interviews constantly to the press, and she’s on a flight coming here. She has a team with her answering questions, but she’s the face of the Trusts. Press are camped outside and the RCPD (police), have put up a cordon to keep them back.” North looked across at Drake and Chance and showed awkwardness.

  “Sorry but the press saw you pull in and someone has mentioned both MCs are here. Both MCs have hit the news as well for manning the phones. Sally is taking questions on the MCs being here. Don’t know if you wanted the MC’s in the media. Is free publicity good for you guys?

  Sally’s driving what good MC’s you are to the media, shutting your own businesses to man the phones to raise money for the Trusts. Sally’s even flirting that callers may just get a hot biker at the end of the line. Your own builds are featuring in the press.” I bit my lip and looked at the two MC Presidents. Chance nodded and Drake shrugged.

  “Good press for the MC’s will help drive our builds.” Apache said ending his phone call and clicking on another one.

  “Staff are flying in from Fundraising teams and from Trusts and we are putting them together as a night team.” North said.

  “Get their ticket details. I’ll pay them.” I said rubbing the back of my neck.

  “No need, the airlines are giving them free tickets, great publicity for them.” North said with a shark’s grin and I knew he’d swung that.

  “Wonderful.” I breathed and North gave me a grin.

  “There are calls for you to give an interview.” Drake felt me stiffen and clasped my hand. The one thing I loathed was being in the public’s eye, I far preferred being behind the scenes. “Sally is bypassing them and giving her own. So, don’t worry. We’ve released information on the sum of money raised so far in each state, which has driven a few states into a bigger frenzy.

  Rival states won’t allow the other to outbid them, so its frantic and hot, we update every hour, my team is on that. Computerised tracking is working now. I sent half of our staff who came in as extras home to sleep and they’ll come back tonight to take the night shift.”

  “Okay.” My mind whirled with a thousand things to do.

  “Trust us, you trained us well, we have this.” Diana said, putting her hand on my shoulder.

  “I know, I just need to be into everything.” I sniped ruefully. Drake laughed and cupped the back of my neck. Drake was giving me as much support as he could. It was plain he was struggling to control his bossy side. And as much as he wanted to order me to rest, he didn’t.

  “We know.” North said and laughed with Diana.

  “Have the kids eaten?” Drake asked.

  “Pizzas were delivered and every kid in the building has eaten. Several local restaurants have called on asking how many people are here and are promising to deliver hot meals when we call. The younger children are upstairs in the day centre and the older ones are taking calls.

  They’re cool. Day care reports the children have spilled out into the lounge. But they’ve called in extra staff and have organised night staff. Honest Phoe everything is fine.” Diana said. I nodded and picked up my cell as it rang again. Drake dragged my chair over to his and slung his arm around my shoulder. Drake winked at me and sitting together we took calls for tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of dollars of donations.

  At ten o’clock the night staff kicked in and the day staff five hours after they should have finished began making their way home. Diana had got everyone’s names who had turned up to help. The husbands and wives of my staff, sons and daughters even friends they had made. I watched as night staff approached those who manned phones and then when they ended a phone call, they took over the phone, so the day people could leave.

  Eleven o’clock had gone, when I got up to leave. Hellfire was staying at my home, and Mr and Mrs Ames and Albert had taken my kids back several hours ago. Rage was passing their phones over and most of Hellfire had left. Rage disappeared to their clubhouse, and I was left with Chance, Bear, Drake, Apache and Ace. Drake wrapped his arms around my waist looking stunned but happy.

  “Never could imagine what your job entailed until now. Being part of the excitement…not got the words. Those people you’ve helped, no words. So fuckin’ proud of you angel, can’t say how proud I am of ya.” Drake muttered into my hair.

  “Never seen the like. Now I understand the value of what the Trusts achieve.” Chance finally said looking at me with something akin to awe in his face.

  “Was cool being part of today.” Apache said with a grin.

  “Callers were funny on the phone, they asked a few times if I was a biker.” Bear said grinning, “When I said yeah, the donation doubled.” He laughed and we (apart from Ace) joined him.

  “Yeah, I had a few ask that too.” Ace grunted.

  “Hot, sexy biker men? Maybe I should do a bachelor auction with you lot.” I giggled. “Or publish a calendar, we could make a fortune on that, half naked bikers leaning or sitting on their bikes.” Alpha males growled back a denial, and we began making our way down the stairs together.

  Chance saw how tired I was and snatched the keys out of my hands to drive me home. Drake gave me a look, a kiss on my forehead and I watched his fine ass stroll across Rage’s forecourt.

  “Can’t believe today. Chance we’ve raised one point three billion dollars. It’s crazy. Sheer crazy. The generosity of people is unbelievable. Such large sums being donated, I’ve never seen the like of.”

  “Everyone knows who we owe Phoe, those guys are heroes, the women and children victims. No one wants to see them shit on. As Sally explained over a hundred times, even five bucks can make a change. Yeah, it’s overwhelming how many of the rich donated, movie stars, music stars. Not donating the usual few thousand or whatever but donating mega big bucks. Plus how many will claim tax breaks on their donations?” Chance, cynical as ever!

  “Did you hear that the actor Lan Whist donated his entire fee for his latest film? Sixty million dollars. I mean Christ!” I shook my head and yawned. “He said he wasn’t going to be outdone by a quarterback.” I snickered.

  “Bed darlin’?” Chance murmured putting his arm around my shoulders. By the time we got home, I was sound asleep.

  The next day, I parked in the underground car park and used the internal stairs to avoid the press. Dressed casually as it was the weekend, I opened the door and stopped in amazement. It was Saturday, most of my guys should be off, but I faced most of my weekday staff sitting by phones taking more calls. Tears came to my eyes, and I wandered upstairs and saw more volunteers on calls and more of my staff.

  I was greeted with chin lifts, smiles and cheers. I let my tears fall and then turned on my heel and walked to my floor. Makeshift desks had been set up and Rage and Hellfire, had taken over the conference table. Directors and lots of other people were jammed into our offices a
ll on phones.

  My office was occupied by Drake and Chance. I dropped my bag before logging my cell into the donation line and began taking calls again. Around mid-morning I stopped when Stefan came to get me. Drake and I went to the second floor and watched a TV interview with Antony and Sally outside HQ. The media presence was even heavier today.

  “I’m calling this Thank a Hero weekend.” Antony said. “These three charities are so important to our country, they should be embedded into our national holidays. That’s for the President to decide.” Sally chuckled beside him.

  “I’m asking everyone to dig deep and donate something, five bucks makes a difference. What these charities do is look after our fallen heroes. Look after our vulnerable people who need aid, help children so vilely abused we can’t stand to imagine it.

  Every single day, they dedicate themselves to bettering someone’s life. They walk the street and speak to countless people in attempts to find our fallen heroes. The Trusts visit every soup kitchen, every shelter, they look in alleys and parking lots and under train bridges. They don’t stop and I believe they’ll never stop. Every single one of us has been touched by a hero, a cop, a soldier, sailor, EMT.

  When circumstances go wrong, these amazing angels, right here, step in and make everything better. I’ve been informed today that you can visit any Trust property near you to hand a donation over, but please don’t intrude on the resident’s privacy.

  Banks are open and taking donations across the country and will stay open till eight o’clock tonight. Many retail chains have collection buckets and are showing signs that they will take donations for the three Trusts.” Antony stopped talking and looked to Sally.

  “This was one woman’s dream, a dream to help those less fortunate. Phoenix started these three charities nearly four years ago. Thanks to our dedicated staff and the generosity of donators, we have a P.T and R.T Property in twenty states. We have five E.T Properties. Phoenix’s dream is to open one of each in every state. You can’t understand how much they are needed.

  To do this, we need you, need your money, your time. The Trusts need professional help, doctors, counsellors, dentists for example, if you can donate time please contact us. Most of our Trusts are staffed by retirees who donate one set day a week.

  So many thank you’s, starting with our Texan friends for beginning this. The sports team who started an even bigger ball rolling. Hollywood, Nashville and Broadway, who started their own challenges to raise money. Everyone who is donating money, time and gifts to be auctioned or raffled off again thank you, it means so much you can’t understand how much.

  Phoenix is manning the phones at headquarters. With her are dedicated staff and their family and friends. A huge thank you to them for giving up their weekend. To Rage and Hellfire MC’s, a massive thanks for closing their businesses yesterday and today. For donating their time in manning the phones.

  Lastly, a massive thank you to the local cafes, deli’s, restaurants and take outs who have fed and watered our people since yesterday. It means so much you thought of our people and sent help in the way of food and drink.”

  “Time for me to man a phone.” Antony said with a wink at the camera and I saw him turn towards the building and enter. The screen flashed to the reporters who were standing by the cordon. He began talking about the Trusts and I turned away from the TV and hugged Sally as she walked towards me.

  “I’ve been watching the donations online, we’re rocking it Phoe!” Sally said cheerfully.

  “The country is united as one.” Antony said. “Trusts are on every news channel. A few local channels are running the hourly updates for their state and perhaps a rival one. The President’s happy and intending to make a comment on it later this evening.”

  “The President?” Slick asked near to me.

  “President’s not daft, he’s up for a second term. The country is full of good spirits. This is great for him to support.” Sally smiled eyeing Slick up. Slick returned her interest. Oh boy!

  “President allowed to get behind charities?” Lex asked.

  “He’s meant to stay impartial, but he’d be a fool to ignore what this can bring to his second term. He’ll use it.” Antony replied. “It will be great publicity for him, he’ll get points supporting the Trusts.”

  “Can anyone honestly believe this? I keep waiting to wake up. We have charity days but I’ve never seen a country go as insane as this. This doesn’t seem real. It’s as if I’m in a dream or a story. An alternative reality maybe.” I said breathlessly.

  “As Antony said, everyone knows or has been touched by a cop or EMT or someone that the Trusts help. Lot of negative feeling sometimes in our country, but what’s going on is making people feel good. People are high on that.” Drake said hugging me. He dropped a kiss on my head.

  “Andrew’s on his way with his staff.” Stefan shouted across the room at us and I nodded. Staff looked wired, but they looked tired too.

  “Uh oh.” Antony said, laughing and sat as a phone began to ring. I noticed there was far more strangers in HQ than yesterday. Worried about security, I saw the police and my team at the door and relaxed. The press was still outside interviewing and most of Sally’s time was spent giving them.

  North was organising media for individual states. North and his team were giving interviews praising those who had donated items in those states. Between North and Sally, they made sure each news outlet got at least ten minutes with one of them. Which did lots of good for our public relations.

  Yet again my team managed to keep track of the donations. So as Sally and North were interviewed by local and out-of-state media, they had up to date figures. Yesterday had been manic, after a slower start this morning it picked up again around midday. The President had given a statement mid-afternoon instead of that evening and that went in our favour.

  There were Facebook challenges and Twitter comments, social media was overwhelmed at the posts! The phones were again queueing and the donation site crashed twice overwhelmed by the number of people clicking on it.

  Kyle had pulled his hair out for a full half an hour until it came back up the first time and nearly fell into a raging tantrum the second time. Stuart took him out of the building for a drive while technicians worked on getting the site back up.

  Luckily for us the site didn’t crash on Sunday and everyone was there again. The kids, HQ staff, people who had flown in, Rage and Hellfire. Kyle was much calmer on Sunday than Saturday!

  Come Monday everyone was tired including myself. While it had finally slowed into a more manageable pace of work, it was still busy but a much nicer pace. Rage and Hellfire both spent the entire weekend on phones.

  ◆◆◆

  As I entered the offices Monday, I saw Rage had opened their bay shutters and there were lots of people on the forecourt. The two days they’d shut had doubtless cost them time and money but Drake hadn’t mentioned it once. Nor had Chance or Hellfire who’d left last night. Then again, judging by the number of people on their forecourt maybe it hadn’t cost them money. The two MCs had got loads of free publicity.

  Diana had gathered long lists and left them on my desk. Detailed information of those who had come in on their own time and supported us. I planning to organise thank you gifts for every single person. She’d guessed this and pre-empted me by getting the lists. Diana was finding me a company that could deliver thank you hampers to the people that helped.

  I leaned back in my chair and looked at the pile of mail sitting at my desk. With a sigh, I began to open them one at a time and began creating piles. Many were cheques and donations again, a couple were offers for properties. Others were standard mail and a final letter that made me frown. It was a badly typed envelope, and it had been hand delivered.

  Warily I opened it, slipped out a piece of paper and then read it with stunned eyes. With a cry, I dropped it with a gasp. I pushed back in my chair away from it and ran my fingers through my hair. Stefan entered and stopped as he saw the pall
or of my face.

  “Jesus Phoe what is it?” Stefan asked rushing across my room to crouch near me. Shakily, I pointed at the letter and he went to pick it up.

  “Don’t touch it!” I shrieked at him and his hands froze. He bent over and read it and his face turned angry.

  “What the ever-living fuck?” Stefan hissed. He turned back to me and grabbed my hands, which were shaking.

  “It was hand delivered. He was in my office!” I whispered staring at the vile letter in front of me.

  “I get Abigail to pull footage.” He said. “Don’t touch it, we need to call security and get the police involved.” I nodded eyeing the letter hatefully.

  Stefan shouted for Emily and crouched back beside me. He held me in a tight hug he looked up as Emily rushed into my office. In curt tones, Stefan told her to call Abigail, Liz and the police. Emily paled but hurried out and minutes later Abigail joined us.

  Abigail picked up the letter in a pair of tweezers and read it and then put it back. Liz came in a few minutes later, having been in the building and she repeated Abigail’s actions and then got on the phone.

  I vaguely heard her snapping orders around the children and their safety. To find my children and lock them safely in the Hall. I stared at the letter again and saw the blood-red letters jumping off the page at me.

  ‘Everyone thinks that you’re so great but you and I know the truth. We know what you are, the whore, the bitch and backstabbing cunt that you are. Last night’s sleep was the last peaceful sleep you’ll ever have, you thought you’d done with me. I’m coming for you, not even death can keep us apart. You thought I made you bleed before, prepare to lose every last drop. But your kids first, I’ll break them, cut them, bleed them, then slit their fucking throats while I fuck them into oblivion. You can’t protect yourself, you can’t protect them. Before you die, you will know all the pain you gave me you stupid fucking bitch. I’m coming for you, I swore until death do us part, I meant it.’