The dogs didn’t move and just continued panting and looking up at him. “Well, I guess it’s hard when you’re inside,” Arthur grinned and dove down, wrapping his arms around the dogs. The dogs started licking his face as he loved on them.
Getting up, Arthur headed for the buggy. “Well, time to put up cameras and some alarms,” he said.
Chapter Nine
Get mom home, lies abound
April 30
Hearing a phone ringing, Arthur swatted over at the nightstand and felt his cellphone. Realizing it wasn’t vibrating, he sat up and crawled over the cats and dogs to Wendy’s nightstand. Grabbing the cordless phone, “Hello,” he yawned.
“Hey, dad,” Joseph said and Arthur came awake instantly, looking over at the clock.
“Son, did you leave early?” Arthur asked, seeing it was just after three a.m.
“No, dad, that’s why I’m calling. My leave was cancelled and I have to fly out to Diego Garcia in an hour,” Joseph told him and Arthur heard the disappointment.
“Son, what about your fighter school?”
“I’ve been assured that I will be reassigned there before the end of the year,” Joseph sighed. “I told them if I wasn’t, I’d be leaving the service.”
“That’s right! You’re hot stuff and you make them give you what you want,” Arthur snapped, even though a part of him had hoped Joseph wouldn’t get the assignment. And that small part made Arthur feel terrible because that had always been Joseph’s dream. “I’ll call our congressman. Hell, I donate to him like I’m paying the mafia for protection, so that son of a bitch owes me!”
“My CO thinks he can get me in this class and I will just have to do some makeup work,” Joseph said, sounding better at hearing his dad pissed off. “Please don’t get the politicians involved yet.”
“Hell, son, you want me to kick someone’s ass?”
Joseph busted out laughing and Arthur relaxed at hearing the sound. “No, dad. The last time you did that, you and mom almost went to jail,” Joseph howled out.
When Joseph stopped laughing, Arthur asked. “Why did they cancel your leave?”
“This flu thing,” Joseph sighed. “Word’s coming down the pipeline that it has gotten stronger and more people are dying.”
“I’ve heard that, but they haven’t said anything about numbers,” Arthur said. “The hospital in Clarksville called yesterday and asked if I could come in.”
“You didn’t, did you?!” Joseph shouted.
Shocked at the outburst, Arthur climbed out of the bed. “No, son, I can’t leave the farm. I just found out that Rudy is a punk-ass bitch and has been breaking into the storage containers.”
“I never liked that cocksucker.”
“Well, I’ve been putting in more cameras and even put in two alarm systems. One here and another at the office house,” Arthur said. “I won’t be done with that for several days. Besides, I don’t have a shift at the hospital until June and that’s fine with me.”
“Um, you heard from mom?” Joseph asked.
“Yeah, she called yesterday, but son, you talk to her as much as I do on the computer.”
“Dad, you think you can get mom to fly back at her next stop if there’s an airport?” Joseph asked hesitantly.
Feeling his heart rate skyrocket, Arthur asked. “Son, is something wrong?”
Several seconds passed and Arthur could hear the phone moving around. “Dad,” Joseph whispered. “It wasn’t just my leave. All leave throughout the military was cancelled. They are putting all bases on lockdown, keeping all personnel on base.”
“Whoa,” Arthur mumbled.
“Yeah, but I talked to an Air Force pilot who flies heavy lifters and he said he was part of a large flight that just flew five thousand troops from South Korea back to the states.”
“Son, when do you fly out?” Arthur asked.
“Wheels up in an hour.”
“You get your ass on that island and call me when you can,” Arthur told him. “Will you have internet there?”
“Yeah, I was there for a week last year.”
“If I find out anything, I will e-mail it to you,” Arthur told Joseph and heard jet engines in the background. “Son, where are you at?”
“I can’t say, but it’s isolated,” Joseph chuckled. “I never knew we had a base here and neither did anyone in my flight.”
“Son, you call if you need us. I know how to drive a boat.”
Joseph swallowed a lump in his throat. “Dad, I’ll be fine. I will be sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It’s you and mom I’m worried about.”
“Love you, son,” Arthur said.
“Hey, dad, my CO just waved at me. I have to go. Love you,” Joseph said quickly and hung up.
Dropping into his chair, Arthur put the phone on his desk and grabbed the mouse. Taking a deep breath, Arthur hit the web. The first thing he noticed was the internet was moving very slowly. “I paid for high speed and I get syrup,” he mumbled.
A few alternate news sites had articles on the flu and Arthur just started printing them because it took the pages so long to load. Then, he moved to two message boards he liked. When the first board’s home page popped up, his mouth fell open.
The first discussion was, ‘Dead bodies being taken from hospital in New York’. He clicked the link and the message board opened up and he saw pictures below a typed message. He clicked on the pictures and then moved them to his second screen as they slowly downloaded. Then, he started to read.
‘Stone Hunter here. I live in NY and the hospitals are overflowing. I was walking around and saw this at the hospital near me, guys in hazmat suits
