head.
“Man, am I glad to you see you, buddy,” he called out over the background roar. “Thought we might have lost you up there, Kip. We lost a lot of peopleupstate. I think Locke’s gone, Owen too. Nobody can find the mayor either, but Nickells wasn’t scheduled to be out of town, so maybe he’ll turn up. It’s chaos, man. Fucking chaos.”
His friend sounded unbalanced, which was one of the more disturbing developments of the morning. Barney Tench was usually as phlegmatic as a statue. Nothing upset him. It was why Kipper had insisted on hauling him in all the way from Pittsburgh when he’d taken the city engineer’s job. There’d been some grumbling about him hiring an old college beer buddy, but that had fallen away as Barn had settled into the job. You couldn’t ask for a better right-hand man.
Except that at this moment, his strong right hand was trembling and pale.
Kipper threw his gear in the back of the truck, yelled his thanks to the aircrew who’d picked him up, and climbed up into the driver’s-side seat, motioning for Barney to follow.
“Okay, Barn, gimme the keys. I’ll drive, you chill the fuck out, and we’ll deal with this like we would any problem. Step by step. First. Has anyone spoken to Barbara since you got my number off her? She’ll be freaking out wanting to know I’m okay.”
Barney had the good grace to look guilty.
“I’m sorry, Kip. It’s just been a hell of a morning. And I … well …”
“Okay. Give me your cell. I’ll call her now.”
Barney shook his head.
“No point, man. The nets are jammed. Your sat phone might work, though.”
Kipper took a small, calming breath. “Okay. Two minutes.”
Kipper hopped out again, and hurried around to retrieve his phone from the backpack in which he’d stored it. The signal strength was good, and he was relieved to get a clear dial tone. The call to Barb’s phone, however, stalled before it began. A recorded voice told him that due to higher than normal demand, his call could not be connected. Kip grunted and tried their home phone number, an old-fashioned landline. It went through to voice mail on the fifth ring.
“Hi, honey. It’s me. They got me. I’m back safe. I have to go into the city. When you get home and get this message, stay there. Don’t go out again, okay? Things are gonna be crazy for a while. Love you. Love to Suzie, too.”
He hung up, hoping that would forestall a scene later on. If Barb wasn’t at home it probably meant they were caught up in some traffic jam somewhere, hopefully not for too long. Some of the roads had looked like parking lots on the flight in. It was going to take them a while to drive into town.
“Okay, let’s get going,” he said, climbing back into the cabin.
They pulled away, with Kipper driving south, toward the main terminal building. As they approached, he could tell it was crowded, with thousands of people lining the big glass windows that looked out over the tarmac.
“You got any idea what’s going on, Barn, beyond the headlines?” he asked.
“Wish I did, Kip. This is like a horror movie. First I heard this morning was Ross Reynolds on KUOW saying he thought we’d been nuked or something. Communications went down. Civil-defense alarms went off. Chaos and fucking madness.”
“But it wasn’t an attack?”
Kipper threaded past a knot of distressed-looking travelers who were making their way toward a transit bus from a Horizon Air Dash 8. Then he accelerated toward a vehicle exit up ahead.
“You’ve seen that thing, haven’t you? Not unless we got attacked by the Death Star or something. Right now the whole fucking world is just as weirded out as us.”
Kipper waved off a security guard who seemed intent on holding them up, and accelerated past, paying no respect at all to his frantically waving clipboard.
The F-150 bounced up and down as they hit the outer road surface, and Kip wrenched them around before accelerating toward the next exit. There
“Man, am I glad to you see you, buddy,” he called out over the background roar. “Thought we might have lost you up there, Kip. We lost a lot of peopleupstate. I think Locke’s gone, Owen too. Nobody can find the mayor either, but Nickells wasn’t scheduled to be out of town, so maybe he’ll turn up. It’s chaos, man. Fucking chaos.”
His friend sounded unbalanced, which was one of the more disturbing developments of the morning. Barney Tench was usually as phlegmatic as a statue. Nothing upset him. It was why Kipper had insisted on hauling him in all the way from Pittsburgh when he’d taken the city engineer’s job. There’d been some grumbling about him hiring an old college beer buddy, but that had fallen away as Barn had settled into the job. You couldn’t ask for a better right-hand man.
Except that at this moment, his strong right hand was trembling and pale.
Kipper threw his gear in the back of the truck, yelled his thanks to the aircrew who’d picked him up, and climbed up into the driver’s-side seat, motioning for Barney to follow.
“Okay, Barn, gimme the keys. I’ll drive, you chill the fuck out, and we’ll deal with this like we would any problem. Step by step. First. Has anyone spoken to Barbara since you got my number off her? She’ll be freaking out wanting to know I’m okay.”
Barney had the good grace to look guilty.
“I’m sorry, Kip. It’s just been a hell of a morning. And I … well …”
“Okay. Give me your cell. I’ll call her now.”
Barney shook his head.
“No point, man. The nets are jammed. Your sat phone might work, though.”
Kipper took a small, calming breath. “Okay. Two minutes.”
Kipper hopped out again, and hurried around to retrieve his phone from the backpack in which he’d stored it. The signal strength was good, and he was relieved to get a clear dial tone. The call to Barb’s phone, however, stalled before it began. A recorded voice told him that due to higher than normal demand, his call could not be connected. Kip grunted and tried their home phone number, an old-fashioned landline. It went through to voice mail on the fifth ring.
“Hi, honey. It’s me. They got me. I’m back safe. I have to go into the city. When you get home and get this message, stay there. Don’t go out again, okay? Things are gonna be crazy for a while. Love you. Love to Suzie, too.”
He hung up, hoping that would forestall a scene later on. If Barb wasn’t at home it probably meant they were caught up in some traffic jam somewhere, hopefully not for too long. Some of the roads had looked like parking lots on the flight in. It was going to take them a while to drive into town.
“Okay, let’s get going,” he said, climbing back into the cabin.
They pulled away, with Kipper driving south, toward the main terminal building. As they approached, he could tell it was crowded, with thousands of people lining the big glass windows that looked out over the tarmac.
“You got any idea what’s going on, Barn, beyond the headlines?” he asked.
“Wish I did, Kip. This is like a horror movie. First I heard this morning was Ross Reynolds on KUOW saying he thought we’d been nuked or something. Communications went down. Civil-defense alarms went off. Chaos and fucking madness.”
“But it wasn’t an attack?”
Kipper threaded past a knot of distressed-looking travelers who were making their way toward a transit bus from a Horizon Air Dash 8. Then he accelerated toward a vehicle exit up ahead.
“You’ve seen that thing, haven’t you? Not unless we got attacked by the Death Star or something. Right now the whole fucking world is just as weirded out as us.”
Kipper waved off a security guard who seemed intent on holding them up, and accelerated past, paying no respect at all to his frantically waving clipboard.
The F-150 bounced up and down as they hit the outer road surface, and Kip wrenched them around before accelerating toward the next exit. There
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