Missing (10 page)

     “No, sir, not yet.”

     “Have you completed notifications?”

     “Yes, sir. Over an hour ago.”

     “Who’s the officer on deck?”

     “Colonel Martinez. He’s presently in conference with the general.”

     “Very well. Please advise him of our present status when he returns, and tell him we await his orders. In the meantime, I have one request of you.”

     “Yes, sir?”

     “I need one hundred volunteers, in field uniform, to report to my location by oh six hundred to conduct a search operation independent of the Hilo One mission.

     “I also need a company grade officer with a good head on his shoulders to run the operation. Captain Martin comes to mind if you can find him.”

     “Sir, if I may, it might be hard to get one hundred volunteers this time of night.”

     “We are the United States Army. Do what we’ve always done to get ‘volunteers.’ Send some NCOs into the barracks and grab the first one hundred soldiers they find.”

      Frank, standing directly behind Weiss, couldn’t help but smile. Some things never change, even after the world has gone to hell.

     “Yes, sir. Consider it done.”

     After the colonel placed the microphone back onto its cradle, he turned to Frank and Mark.

     “How much of that ‘military speak’ do you need translated into English?”

     Frank just shrugged. He understood enough to make sense of it all.

     Mark, however, had some questions.

     “One of your helicopters went to investigate some ‘flashes.’ Did they mean explosions?”

     “No, sir. Our infrared cameras detect differences in temperatures. The monitors will show a wide array of colors, depending on the temperature of items the camera sees on the ground. The colors range from various shades of blue, which indicate something is cooler than the air around it. Say, for example, an ice chest. To red, indicating something is very much hotter than the air around it. Say, for example, burning charcoal or a running truck engine. Humans and other large mammals typically show up as dark yellow or orange.

     “When there is heavy ground cover, such as in heavily forested areas, we may not get a good look at something hot. The trees block most of it. But we may get glimpses of whatever it is through breaks in the branches.

     “We call those flashes. They may or may not indicate something we’re looking for. The only way to find out is to investigate them. We’ll typically dispatch one unit to investigate such things, and have the rest of our units carry on their search. If it turns out to be that our chopper landed there and the people we’re looking for built a signal or campfire, then they’ll notify the rest of our units, who will rendezvous in the area and assist in the evacuation.”

     “You asked about walkers and notifications. What did you mean?”

     “If the helicopter had to land because of mechanical problems, standard protocol is for the crew to remain at the chopper until help comes. However, if someone was injured and they had no working radios, they might dispatch someone to go for help. Also, since Colonel Montgomery is a rather… impatient man, he might have dispatched someone to go for help to speed up the process.

     “The same would be true if the helicopter were to crash…”

     He noticed Mark wince at the word, but went ahead anyway.

     “… There would almost certainly be casualties. In that case, an able bodied survivor would go for help.

     “In all these cases, we call them ‘walkers.’ A walker is simply someone who emerges from the area looking for help.

     “The notification I asked about was simply that: standard protocol is for us to notify all law enforcement and fire departments in the area to be on the lookout for walkers or anything else that might be signs of mechanical problems or a crash. People in isolated areas hitchhiking or trying to flag down traffic. Someone hearing loud noises, things like that.

     “In situations where an aircraft goes down in a wooded area in the United States, someone almost always hears or sees something. If they report it to a law enforcement agency, we’ll be notified within minutes.”

     Mark had no more questions.

     Frank said, “Thank you, colonel, for scaring up some more bodies for our search. They’ll be a tremendous help.”

     “It’s not a problem. When they arrive, the officer in charge will serve as a liaison between his search team and your command center. He’ll work
for
me, but will work closely
with
you.

     “Our people will have their own search procedures and techniques, which may differ from your own. To avoid problems, or the butting of heads, if you will, I’d suggest you give our men a sector of their own to work and your people another. Our radios will not be compatible, so our liaison officer will report anything they find to my control center, which will pass it immediately to yours.

     “It would help tremendously if one of you gentlemen were here to greet our team when they arrive at oh six hundred, and already have in mind the area you’d like for them to search.”

     Frank looked at the clock. It was just past two a.m.

     The reinforcements would arrive in less than four hours.

     “We’ll be ready,” he said.

Chapter 18

     Rebecca was in the process of relieving Karen on the security desk when a blood-curdling scream came rolling down the main corridor.

     Karen recognized it immediately as belonging to Sami. She raced down the hallway the short distance to Sami and Brad’s apartment, with Rebecca close behind her.

     Frank wasn’t going to get any sleep at all anyway. He said, “You guys go ahead. I’ll man the desk,” as though he had a choice.

     Brad met the women at the apartment door.

     “Maybe you guys can calm her down. She won’t even tell me what’s wrong.”

     Karen wanted to say, “You big dummy. Her father is missing and could be injured or dead. That’s what’s wrong.”

     But she held her tongue and brushed past him.

     Sami was sitting upright in bed, still wearing the clothes from the previous day. She’d laid down intending to rest, but not sleep, but her exhausted body overruled her.

     She dozed off, and woke up screaming an hour later.

     “I saw him. He was so real I just know I could have reached out and touched him.”

     Neither Karen nor Rebecca had to ask who she was referring to.

     “He spoke to me calmly but quietly, barely above a whisper. He said, “I’m gone now, but don’t fret about it. There’s nothing you or I can do about it now. If it helps, it happened quickly and I felt no pain.

     “I’m up here with your mother now. She’s even prettier that I remembered her. And she knew I was coming. She was waiting for me at the gate.

     “You may think you’re alone, sweetheart, but you’re not. Surround yourself with friends and let Brad smother you with protection. He loves you and would give his life for you.

     “Don’t mourn for me. I’ve led a very full and wonderful life and I have no regrets. Well, maybe one. I regret that I couldn’t hold you one last time and say a proper goodbye. But I know now that there is indeed a better place after death, and we’ll all be together one day. Not soon, I hope. As much as I’ll miss you I want you to live long enough to be a wise old woman.

     “Your life as a mother will be starting soon, and the little boy inside of you will bring you so much joy. I can’t attest to motherhood. But if it’s anything at all like being a father, it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever done, times ten.

     “Raise him well. Make sure he turns out as awesome as you are. That way you can be as proud of him as I am of you.

     “I love you, sweetheart. I have to go now, your mother is calling. You know how she is…”

     Sami was sobbing almost uncontrollably.

     “And then he just faded away into nothing.”

     Karen sat on the edge of the bed and held her friend.

     Rebecca retrieved a box of tissues from the dresser and wiped the tears from Sami’s cheeks.

     “I’m not ready to give him up. I want my Daddy back.”

     Karen said, “You hush now, child. It was just a dream. Your father will be back by the end of the day, laughing and carefree and saying he’s never hitching a ride with the Army again because they can’t keep a schedule. And then you’ll have your Daddy back, you mark my words.”

     But try as she might to sound consoling and sure of herself, Karen was having trouble believing her own words.

     Brad asked Karen, “Is there any news?”

     She shook her head.

     “I caught a few hours of sleep. Is there anything I can do?”

     “You might try to talk some sense into Bryan. He’s been up on the mountain all night watching for fires in the distance. He’s got to be nearing the point of exhaustion, but he says he’s not coming down until it’s too light to see the fires. Then he says he’ll look for smoke. He’s as hard headed as any man I’ve ever met.”

     “Let me get dressed, and I’ll walk up there. He’ll listen to me. I’ll tell him I’ll relieve him for awhile.”

     He turned to Sami.

     “Honey, I’m going to leave you in the girls’ hands. They’re much better at this consoling stuff than I’ll ever be. But if you need me, just get on the radio and I’ll come running back down the mountain. Okay?”

     Sami was out of words, but nodded her head.

    Brad kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the room.

Chapter 19

     “I never knew my real father. He died in a car accident a month after I was born. He went to the store to get diapers and formula for me and a drunk driver ran a red light and t-boned him.

     “When I was seven, my best friend told me that my father died for me. That’s a heavy burden to lay on a seven year old. On anybody, I guess.

     “I asked my mom if it was true and she said no. She said he might just as well have gone to the store to get tuna fish or laundry soap or anything else.

     “But he didn’t. He went to get things for me. I was convinced that if he hadn’t left that night, he’d still be alive today.”

     “You can’t blame yourself for that, Hannah. Traffic accidents happen all the time. Anytime, anywhere. That’s why they call them accidents.”

     “I know. I finally accepted that. But it took years of therapy. And my step-father didn’t help. I needed his support. I needed him to tell me I was worth something. To build my self-esteem. To make me feel wanted. Instead, he was so distant. He isolated himself from my mom and me and went into his own little world. Then, when I was eleven, he committed suicide.

     “He didn’t leave a note or anything. There I was, in fourth grade and having lost two fathers. I realize now it was illogical, but I somehow convinced myself it was my fault again.

     “My mom, she was never the same after that. She began to drink, and never even dated again. She said she didn’t want to fall in love, because every time she did, the guy died. She died when I was twenty from liver disease.

     “As for me, I had retreated to my stars long before then. By the age of thirteen I had given up most of my friends and spent all my free time either researching the heavens or looking up at them. I can’t tell you how many nights I fell asleep on the hammock in the back yard while stargazing. I’d wake up at three or four in the morning and crawl out of the hammock, into the house, and up to bed. Mom always left the back door unlocked for me. She knew I’d be in eventually.

     “Hey, by the way, what’s with all the questions, anyway?”

     “I want to know who you are and all about you. You fascinate me. And you’re the first astrophysicist I’ve ever met. Probably the only one I’ll ever meet. And a damn fine looking one, I might add.

     “Besides, I happen to have an ulterior motive for giving you the third degree.”

     “Oh? And what’s that?”

     Joel suddenly winced in pain.

     “What? Where does it hurt?”

     “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”