“Jesus,” Smitty said. “A for real princess?”
“Dibs on being Prince Charming,” Quade said.
“Can it!” Faith barked. “Second Lieutenant Faith Marie Smith, United States Marine Corps. Are you trapped on the roof, Rapunzel, or just enjoying the sunshine? Over.”
“Oh, snap,” Sergeant Hoag said, trying not to laugh.
“Many of the interior doors are sealed and there are shutters on the windows which have been resistant to our efforts to open them. There is only a small area we can access. We can access the roof and a few interior areas but have thus far found no means of egress. Over.”
“Egress?” Smitty said.
“Exit,” Faith said. “Stand by.” She switched radios. “Hooch, is that front door as solid as it looks?”
“Yes,” Hooch radioed. “Solid steel construction and a keypad entry. We’re gonna need a cutting torch, over.”
“Roger,” Faith said, then switched back to the handheld. “Can you get to one of the windows, over?
“Yes, over.”
“Put one or more persons on the roof, oorah, over where that is, oorah? Then somebody go down to the window and bang on it. We will move to that window and see if we can get in that way. Over.”
“I understand, over.”
“Go,” Faith said, waving a hand. “Which side of the building, over?”
“The seaward side, over.”
“Hooch, we’re moving seaside,” Faith radioed. “On your feet, Marines. Swing this caravan to the seaside of the building…”
“Ma’am,” Hooch said. “Please don’t say ‘Get this window open, Sergeant.’ ’Cause I am clueless, ma’am.”
The hurricane-shuttered window was nearly a story off the ground at its base and the shutter was made of heavy steel construction.
“What the fuck was this place?” Faith said. “This is like no police station I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t know, ma’am,” Hooch said.
“That was a reticle question, Sergeant,” Faith said. “Form a human pyramid up to the mechanism,” she said, pointing to the metal-box-covered lifting system. “Then we’ll get that open and break it if necessary. If that don’t work, we’ll go get a cutting torch from the Grace. Oorah?”
“Oorah, ma’am,” Hooch said. “Quade, Randall, Curran, Haugen, get lined up side by side, palms against the wall, shoulder to shoulder…”
“Sandman, Shewolf,” Faith radioed.
“Sandman, over,” the gunny replied.
“Status on wheels, over.”
“Negative item. All vehicles surveyed so far are suffering from water or fire damage or both. Over.”
“Roger,” Faith said, watching the squad build the pyramid. “Move your unit up to this location. We will extract ground mount. Over.”
“Roger.”
“Be advised, group is…persons of interest. Female celebrities. Discipline issues are cropping up. Request movement this AO soonest.”
“Wilco.”
“Shewolf out.”
“Look out below,” Faith said as she prized the cover off of the mechanism. It sprung loose under the leverage of the Halligan tool and hit Sergeant Hoag in the helmet.
“Thank you, ma’am!” Hoag said. “Can I have another?”
“Oh…crap,” Faith said, trying to balance on the sergeant’s shoulders. “This is when we need Janu or somebody.” She had no clue how the mechanism of the door worked. It was just gears and stuff to her. “Well, I think there’s no such thing as too fucked up…”
She stuck the Halligan tool into the mechanism and prized until something sprung loose, almost overbalancing her. But a push on the roll-top shutter showed it was loose.
“Hey, Rapunzel,” Faith said. “You still there? Over.”
“This is Princess Julianna, over.” The voice seemed a tad chilly.
“Get your people to see if they can get the shutter to lift, now, oorah?”
“Oo—What?”
“See if you can lift the shutter, over. Ok… Oorah, let’s break this down. Carefully.”
“I never thought I’d be glad to see Marines,” Sarah Cassill said as she was helped off the shoulders of PFC Randall.
“We get that a lot,” Faith said. “We’re always so glad to hear it. Why don’t you go over there,” she continued, pointing to where the group of survivors was gathering. “And keep your idiotic mouth shut.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Christy said, throwing her arms around Faith. “Are you gay? Aren’t most girl Marines gay?”
“No!” Faith said, prizing the woman’s arms off.
“Oh, too bad,” Christy said. “I just want to kiss you all over!”
“Ick!” Faith said, pushing her back. “I’ve got a whole platoon of Marines ready to take you up on that.”
“At the same time…” Randall muttered.
“What was that PFC?” Faith snarled. “Why don’t you just go over there with the rest of the…with them!”
“Everything under control, ma’am?” the gunny asked, striding over to the window.
“Get Barnard’s squad securing the survivors,” Faith said. “And tell them to wait on introductions, kisses or promises of massage with happy ending until we’ve actually got them off the fucking island!”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the gunny said. “Barnard…!”
“Thank you,” Anna said as she was helped down. “I truly appreciate this.”
“Disobeying my own order,” Faith said nervously. “Hi…I…Sort of always wanted to meet you…” She stuck out her hand.
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Anna said, graciously shaking hands, then ducked her head. “I…I should go join the others.”
“Wow,” Faith said. “She’s really shy for an actress.”
“I guess, ma’am,” Hooch said.
“I am the last of this group,” the woman said, holding out the radio as she reached the ground. “Lieutenant Faith Marie Smith I presume?”
“Sorry about the Rapunzel thing, ma’am,” Faith said. “We generally don’t use rank or names on the radio. We need to move your group to the boats….”
“If we could speak for a moment, Lieutenant?” Julianna said. “It is important, I assure you.”
“Sure,” Faith said, waving for them to step aside.
“Is it…safe?” Julianna said, looking around nervously.
“No,” Faith said after a short pause. “But I usually nail them before they nail me. You seemed like you wanted to talk in private.”
“There was another group of survivors,” Julianna said. “We…haven’t seen or heard anything from them since we forced our way out of the storeroom. But…they should be somewhere in the building. I know it is an imposition…”
“We can deal with that later, ma’am,” Faith said, pulling out her notebook and making a note. “Any idea where?”
“No,” Julianna said. “They segregated us into gender-based groups when they brought us here. The male celebrities were in the other section.”
“That would be…” Faith said, perking up. “I don’t suppose one of them was Brandon Jeeters?”
“He was accidentally put in with us,” Julianna said after a pregnant pause. “And I regret to inform you he did not survive.”
“Damn!” Faith said. “I was hoping to get his autograph. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, the only previous celebrity I ever met was Mike Mickerberg and that was for just long enough to blow him all over his yacht.”