Tom was confident that they would return to the plane before it took off, there was no doubt in Tom’s mind.
Gene wished he was as confident.
Wiley, however had no doubt that they’d make it back to the airport.
“I have been to Vegas dozens of times. Tom knows the hotel, knows the floor, all they have to do is find transportation and they make it. Trust me.”
Gene did. But not on that. His gut screamed for Tom to get a Plan B.
Just because they knew the hotel, didn’t mean this woman was there. It was a guess on Tom’s part. And Neither Tom nor his sons said what they would do if they got to the hotel and she wasn’t where they thought.
Would they give up, keep looking or leave?
Time truly was of the essence.
Gene immediately went to where they could go.
Where was the closest place that was safe.
The problem was they could only gauge safety on areas they knew and monitored. For all they knew, a lot of the country was still alive and well.
If that was the case, however, would there be some sort of news from somewhere. Something on social media.
The internet was slow but still running in Billings and the last post Gene saw was a day before.
He had taken a walk to clear his mind and to shake his nerves. After grabbing a couple iced teas and chips from a convenience store, he returned to the center and to Wiley.
Gene’s eyes were glued to his phone, having just sent a text to all three Taylor men asking what was happening and waiting for a response.
“I guess they are out there,” Gene said as he walked in. “Are levels in Vegas okay?”
“From what I am getting,” Wiley answered, “Yes.”
“They must be busy, they haven’t gotten back yet. Then again, I just sent the texts now …” Gene paused. It registered to him that something was off about Wiley’s tone. It was soft, almost depressed. When he looked up he saw that Wiley’s expression confirmed that. “What’s going on?” he asked Wiley. “Please don’t tell me there’s more bad news.”
“It’s like being dropped in the ocean during a violent storm, and saying, ‘here comes a wave’ and then being totally shocked by that.”
“I truly don’t understand what that means.”
“We’re in a storm, me giving you a lightning report shouldn’t come as a surprise. So I’m saying me giving more bad news shouldn’t be a surprise, you should expect it.”
“Christ.” Gene pulled out a chair and sat down. “What?”
“Speaking of water.”
“We weren’t talking about water.”
“I was, you know, the ocean, a storm.”
“What the hell, Wiley?”
Wiley placed his hands on the keyboard and clicked, bringing up an image.
“What am I looking at?” Gene asked.
“The northern east coast. Storm surges, and they’re going to get worse. From satellite images water has come inland, about two hundred miles.” He turned his head to Gene. “Reston is gone.”
“We expected that.”
“Yeah, well we didn’t expect Susan to be there. She went to get her family.”
“Maybe she got out. Last we talked to Gainesville, she was safe.”
Wiley nodded.
“What is Gainesville saying?” Gene asked.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? They don’t know?”
“No, I mean nothing. I can’t get a hold of anyone there.”
“In Gainesville?” Gene asked.
“Last image showed Florida wasn’t submerged, but the storm front is bad.”
Gene sucked in his bottom lip as he inhaled. “I’m going to believe communications are just down. They’re down. Susan is fine. Gainesville is fine. We can’t lose everything. We just can’t.”
His eyes cast upward to the monitor.
Gene wanted more than anything to believe the words he spoke. The logical and scientific side of him believed in those words, but his heart felt differently.
The fight for life and devastation wasn’t over. They weren’t done losing … not yet.
SIXTEEN – EARLY FLIGHT
Las Vegas, NV
Firehouse Number Eleven was a bust. Not that Gary claimed to know where every single fire station was in Vegas, nor did they have time to check them all. The internet was still running which enabled GPS and for the group to search out the fire stations that were located on the way to the hotel north of the strip. They needed to get the Self Contained Breathing Apparatuses, just in case. The first station, Number nine had eight masks. They didn’t need eight masks but they needed the canisters. They were able to get ten, but one was empty. He didn’t let any of them know that, he just tucked it in his bag.
He conveyed that he had hope they’d find more at another station, but that was a bust.
There were only masks.
“Someone cleaned this out,” Gary said. “I thought that was the case in the last station because there were none on the trucks or in storage.”
“So someone else is alive?” Tom asked.
“Were,” Gary said. “They’d be out of air by now and they wouldn’t know another eruption was coming unless they had contact with someone.”
“Let’s hope they did,” Tom said. “Let’s get going.”
They loaded back into the cab they retrieved from the airport. It hadn’t been running when the event hit. Parked on the side, keys in the ignition, driver on the ground on the sidewalk.
Gabe did the driving.
“After we find Delaney,” Gary said. “We need to get right back to the airport.”
“Where are we now as far as time goes?” asked Owen from the back seat.
“Seventeen minutes in,” Gary answered.
Owen said. “We have twenty-eight minutes. It takes six to get back to the airport.”
“Allow ten,” Gabe said. “Just to be on the safe side.”
