“Wow, that’s a big responsibility. I would think the government would have ensured their arrival.”
Tony shook his head. “Not at your shelter.”
“How many people does this shelter hold?”
He shrugged. “If I were to guess, fifty, maybe more, but it would be tight.”
“So there will be fifty people there?”
“Ten. You, your son, seven essential people, two of which will be there as security and the foil man.”
“What about you? Gil?”
“I’ll head to the northwest shelter or east, depending on which one is the main shelter. Gil is going to the presidential shelter.”
Was it the alcohol or the information? My head spun. “This doesn’t make sense. A lot of money was spent on this.”
“You think? Thirty-two million dollars.”
“Why would the government spend that money to save only ten people?”
Tony held up his hand stopping me. “You got it all wrong. The government had nothing to do with this. This was all the Senator. His money that he laundered. That’s why it was so secret. He didn’t want the government to know. And he wasn’t doing it to save the world, Anna. Don’t you get it? All that money, all that trouble… it wasn’t to save as many lives as possible, it was to save you. You and your son. Protocol I is for you.”
His words hit me harder than any amount of alcohol I had consumed. It was more to take in. More than I wanted to take in. Everything was speculation up to the point of the date and now it was a reality.
I wished it would go back to crazy speculation on the front of a grocery store tabloid.
But it wouldn’t.
We literally closed the bar, leaving after the waitress and just before the bartender. It was Tony’s way to make sure that the agents were worn out. They were watching to make sure that I didn’t know anything. My shopping was done so even if they watched me around the clock, they would see no signs whatsoever of me getting prepared.
We drove back to my house, saying very little until we pulled into my driveway.
“What now?”
“Wait. That’s all. When the time comes. You go,” Tony said.”Until then. Get used to me being around. I’ll be by tomorrow to play catch with your son.”
“Are you serious? He’s eighteen.”
“I have to make it look like I’m trying to get on your good side and that we’re starting a relationship.”
“You apparently are as good as dating as I am. Playing catch with an eighteen year old seems a bit over the edge. To make it look good, you should just spend the night.”
“I’m game.”
“I’m joking.”
Tony lifted his eyes to the rear view mirror. “I’m heading out. I’ll be by tomorrow. Lean in like you’re going to kiss me. They’re watching.”
I leaned in toward him and he moved in to me. I suppose our silhouettes appeared to be locked into some sort of kiss. When in reality, Tony’s mouth was by my ear.
He whispered. “’You’re a lucky woman. In a few weeks, people would give their right arm to have what you are getting.”
“A bunker.”
“No… a future.” He pulled back. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
I stepped from the SUV, waving to Tony as I closed the door. I tried not to look back at the black car parked two doors down. Again, at my front porch I waved and hung in the doorway until Tony pulled away.
Then I went inside.
“Hey, Mom.” Jackson was in his typical working position on the couch. “How was the date?”
“Informative.” I closed the door.
“What?”
“Jackson…” I sighed out. “You and I have to talk. We have to talk big time.”
“He told you what’s going on?”
“He did.” I sat down on the chair next to the couch and prepared to tell my son everything I knew.
If it was a lot for me, I could only imagine what it would be like for him.
We were in a stalemate. A ‘wait and see’ phase. There was nothing left for me to do but wait for the time to come. But I made a vow, until that time came, I would do everything in my power to learn all that I could. And for the first time in my life, I would take initiative and absorb all that I could.
I always believed I would just let Gil give me the information. But now that I was facing a real threat, I wanted to be the one who knew. Not for myself, but my son. I could no longer be a passive human being just riding the ups and downs of what life brought. I had to learn to be a survivor.
10 – TAKING OFF
July 30
Midland Texas
“Why are you still home?” Gil squeaked emotionally in the first call I had with him in weeks. “Why are you home? You should be on the road or there.”
“I know.”
“Then why haven’t you gone?”
“The van. The van wouldn’t start.”
“Oh my God! That was supposed to be redone. I don’t care now pre-computer car or not. You have to go. Get your ass in the car and go now.”
“I’m not going to fit three more people in my Mazda.”
“Try. Or screw it, just go. You have directions, go! A security team is there already prepping. Go. Don’t forget to wrap the radios.”
“Gil…”
“I’ll be in touch, Anna. Just get there. Please. Where’s Tony?”
“I… I don’t know. He probably went north. I haven’t seen him in two days.”
“Jesus, I had this planned.”
And he did.
We should have been gone. We should have been on the road at least two days earlier, but as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men often go asunder. And ours did.
I spent the previous weeks learning all that I could. I even went to the library to avoid them tracing any of my ‘online’ activity. Other than Fleishmann, I would say I knew a lot about comets. Quite a bit of information could be learned if you lived and breathed it for a month. Although I still couldn’t figure out the need for all the foil. The bunker was supposed to be a safe guard from any EMP. However, we weren’t taking any chances. There had never been a test done on a wide scale. Everything was theoretical and we were working with that along with a lot of faith. So everything got wrapped per instructions from Fleishmann.
I couldn’t wait to meet Fleishmann.
Jackson handled the news of the comet better than I expected. He said to me, “Well, I knew one of these times Dad would be right. I just wish it wouldn’t be about the big one.”
Tony was around a lot. He showed up every couple days like the dutiful pretend boyfriend. Life in the rest of the world went on as if nothing was happening, and to mostly everyone nothing was.
I found myself watching the news every day, hoping the comet information didn’t leak, only because I just wanted to get to the shelter, wherever that would be. If the news leaked or was confirmed by the government, things would get crazy.
Even down to two weeks before impact, we still didn’t know.
Just on the outside chance we could be stuck in Texas, I started making rations. Just like the good old days.
Then eight days before impact it looked as if I was going to fly to Germany. The comet’s projected impact was just east of Seattle on August 3.
We were all ready to go, flights were made and then… the observatory in Puerto Rico notified us that the comet was picking up speed.
It was confirmed and they were a hundred percent sure it would impact on August 1 on or near Manto Equator.
Plans were then finalized. Gas cans were filled, the route was mapped to a facility in a place called Lillyville, Pennsylvania.