The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (38 page)

"And at
the same time, we need them to buy into an ideology of rebuilding and making
the country better than it's ever been," said Helen.  "We're paying
them well because what they do is crucial."

Julie said,
"We don't have anyone else lined up to do this, Mike.  You're the
one."

"You two
don't make it easy to say no." 

"Read
through these and sign them when you're ready.  Your corporate offices are in
Phoenix, but you can work out of anywhere you want.  The first job is going to
be rebuilding Flagstaff.

"Frazzetta
Construction?  Are you sure?"

Helen said, "With
the exception of our import/export business, almost everything with the
Kunoichi name is designed to be turned over to the employees as a for profit
businesses at a later date.  If we don't give away most of what we make, we'll
eventually get skinned alive for having grown indecently wealthy off of the
nation's misery.  We'd rather keep yours as a profit based non Kunoichi venture
so we have something to retire off of eventually."

"You two
are nuts, you know that?!"

"Welcome
to the sanitarium, Mike," said Julie with a large smile.

BALTIMORE, MD

OCTOBER 16
^th

Jim and Susan
were touring the East Coast, meeting with leaders there and looking at various
projects to rebuild the country.  It was impressive.

So far the
European immigrants had been a Godsend.  The US was rapidly approaching a level
of population that was minimally functional.  Jets and ships travelled back and
forth across the Atlantic moving food, supplies, and people. 

Jim wasn't sure
if the Europeans would ever forgive him, but he would do all that he could to
help them rebuild, regardless. 

Today he was watching
Navy ships being loaded with semi tractor trailers with food, electronics, and
generators. All of the trucks and trailers had the logo and name Kunoichi
Shipping painted on the side and a large percentage were driven by very proud
Native Americans.  Truck drivers were the heroes of the day and that fact was
lost on no one.

Julie and Helen
had their people working overtime to provide trucks and get the supplies to the
East Coast.  It was impressive work.    

The good news
was that not all of Europe was hit with the EMP.  Mostly, it was North Eastern
Europe, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.  Western Europe was much less impacted,
with the UK, France, Spain and Portugal not affected at all. It was fortunate
as it allowed those countries to provide the staging for the relief shipments.

The returning
flights and ships were filled with refugees, but no one was questioning the
fact that most of those refugees were form countries that hadn't suffered from
the EMP.  The truth was that most of the citizens of the Nordic countries were
focused on repairing their own infrastructure rather than leaving, and there
weren't many of the Eastern Europeans showing up to be evacuated.

The radiation
in Washington DC was diminishing, but congress wasn't interested in moving to a
radioactive capitol.  In the end, they passed laws moving the capitol to
Flagstaff for a period of 20 years, after which the matter would be
reevaluated.

Later in the
afternoon, Jim gave a speech aboard the USNS Bob Hope stressing the importance
of the aid mission to Europe.  He hoped it would be well received on both sides
of the Atlantic.  Already, he had coined the term The Great Mistake to describe
the attack on Russia that was unavoidable once Kemp had fired those first
missiles.

The rest of the
afternoon was spent in meetings with various Governors and new business
leaders.  He later said to Susan, "No wonder presidents age so fast.  Having
all these meetings piled on top of each other is kind of like an all day root
canal." 

She just
laughed and said, "Suck it up, buckaroo.  Two more to go." 

CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

On the other
side of the country, Kemp was fully into his cover story at this point.  He
looked and moved like Frank and he was his cover was completely believable.  He
steered the boat into the port at Catalina and went straight to the fuel dock
where he purchased enough diesel fuel for at least a day's travel and overpaid
greatly for that.  He wanted to fill his diesel tanks, but he was told that
fuel would be scarce on the Island until the next shipment.  He was able to
completely refill the propane and water tanks, however. 

He paid to moor
the boat in the marina and took the dinghy into shore.  Once there, he was able
to take a taxi into town and stock up on fresh foods, toiletries, paint, and some
other essentials.  He intended to live on the yacht so wanted to be comfortable
within reason.   

He was
surprised to find that the locals were at all interested in him.  He gave
enough information to pass him off as a computer nerd and they generally lost
interest, though when he was invited to a BBQ, that night, he declined despite
almost drooling at the thought.  The steaks he had picked up would have to do,
though he sure would have enjoyed human company, dangerous as that could be for
him. 

When he got
back to the dinghy he found a couple of young women waiting for him.  Sandy,
who he had met in town, introduced her friend Maria.  Both of them appeared to
be in their late 20's and made his mouth water.  Sandy lifted the bags she was
holding and said, "Since you wouldn't come to the BBQ, we decided to bring
it to you!" 

"You two
just want on the yacht," he answered, smiling, but waived them on board
the dinghy.  He pushed off of the shore and paddled out to where he could start
the outboard engine.  He was pulling up beside the yacht a couple of minutes
later.   

The girls both
hopped out onto the boarding ladder and reached back for the various bags he
handed up.  Once everything was on deck, he tied the dinghy and led the girls
to the kitchen and the bar. 

Sandy looked
around the yacht and said, "Wow, this looks like a shipwreck."

Kemp laughed
and said, "The old girl's had a rough few months, with all that's
happened, but she'll bounce back, I promise you that.  Just like the old
USA."

The girls
looked doubtful, maybe on both counts.

"Okay you
two. Here's the rules.  Be comfortable.  I think that about covers it. 
Beer?"  From the way they were looking, he had a feeling things had been
scarce on the island for a while.  He pulled out a beer for each of them and
started pulling items out of the pantry to cook with the ribs they had brought.

"Okay, so
tell me what you want from me now, assuming of course you don't decide I'm a
total douche bag before dinner is over." 

The girls
looked uncomfortable.  "Relax, I don't take advantage of beautiful young
women who fall in my lap, but I'm old and crusty enough to know I'm not your
idea of a romantic evening.  So, you want something.  News, a story, booze, a
ride, a job, something.  You might as well spit it out now so we can enjoy
dinner."

"Maria
said, "We're broke.  We stole the meat this afternoon."

Kemp laughed. 
"Perfect!  Tonight we dine on stolen loot!  I'll drink to that."  He
drank but the girls just looked at him.  "Sandy, open that top drawer in
front of you.  Yes, that one.  Now split the cash evenly between you.  That's
all I'm going to give you and, frankly, until I get into shore and got to the bank,
I don't have much more than that left, but it's enough to get you off the
island and give you a start somewhere.  I promise you that you won't find
anything more on this ship if you spend days looking, and I promise you that
I'm one of the most dangerous men you've ever met, so if there are any untoward
plans, you should call them off now."

Maria started
sobbing.  "We just want off that island.  We got stuck there and haven't
been able to leave."

"Well
then, you want money and a ride.  That's easy enough."

Sandy asked,
"Can we leave now, please?"

Kemp read them
carefully.  "So there are people coming to rob me and take the boat?  Interesting. 
I imagine that the plan was to wait till I'm intoxicated and sleeping so they'll
have an easy time of it, yes?  Okay, I have the picture now. 

"Are there
more like you who need to leave as well?"  The girls both nodded. 
"How many?" 

Maria answered,
"Three."

"And how
many guys?"

"Four."

"Will all
four of them come for me?"

They both
nodded.

"Do you
have any problem with them being deceased?"

Both girls instantly
said, "No." 

"Then I'd
say that we're doing just fine.  See how things work when you communicate?

"Let's get
this dinner going.  I hate fighting on an empty stomach.  So, tell me what you
can about these fellows who do such awful things.  And start looking like
you're having a good time.  I'm sure they're watching us right now.  Am I
wrong?" They both shook their heads.

Sandy asked him
to turn on the heat. They ate a small meal and once it was hot on the boat,
Sandy pulled off everything but bikini bottoms.  Maria did the same.  Kemp was
surprised by the large tattoos each of them had.  Maria's was a large dragon
across her back, and Sandy had a massive eagle. He wasn't into tattoos, but
these he could learn to like.

 He gave the
women his best leer and hit the remote to close all of the curtains.

He said,
"Thank you ladies.  That was a good show.  You can get dressed now.  And
you can put the leftover food in the fridge for later.  No point in wasting it."

Once they had,
he said, "Now it's time to move back into the bedroom.  I'll turn the
light on in there and this one off out here."  They followed him into the
bedroom.  "You stay in the bedroom and play the stereo loudly.  Turn the
lights off in fifteen minutes. There's a clock over there.  Don't come out
until you hear me knock and say 'all clear,' no matter what else you hear.  
Can you do that?" 

They quickly
agreed. 
Hopefully they will follow directions
. 

Kemp slid
through the dark bridge and up onto the roof of the yacht.  Through his night
vision scope he could see four men and three women on the shore.  The women
appeared to be cowering.  He watched as the men go into a small aluminum
rowboat and started paddling out to him. 

Kemp waited patiently
for the men to reach the yacht.  They were amateurs hunting a professional.  It
just wasn't a fair fight.  As the lead man grabbed for the ladder onto the boat,
Kemp fired four silenced rounds.  Each of the men collapsed as they took a round
through the brain.   It was over in less than two seconds. 

He dropped to
the lower deck and hurried aft, where he quickly took the guns off the bodies
and secured a cargo net and a tarp across the top of the small boat.   He gently
pulled the craft to the far side of the yacht with all four bodies still in it
and used a slip not to tie the front of it to a cleat with a rope, leaving most
of the rope coiled loosely on the deck.    

When he knocked
on the door the master bedroom and yelled, "All clear,"  the women
turned off the stereo an opened the door. 

"They will
never bother you again and that's as much information as I'm ever going to give
you about it.  Acceptable?"  Both nodded.  "So, your three friends
are on the shore, waiting.  You are free to go, stay, or whatever.  If you want
to get them and bring them back, that's okay. 

"I'm going
to leave the port in a little while.  I have to fuel up on the coast tomorrow,
but I don't have any firm plans beyond that.  You will all be free to go or
stay at that point as well.  I don't care which."

Maria said,
"I'll go get them."

Kemp said,
"Let's go.  Sandy, are you okay staying here?"

"Sure."

"We'll be
back as soon as we can."

The other young
women asked to come to the yacht, but asked to get their things first.  Kemp
agreed and waited impatiently for an hour until they came back.  He took them
back to the yacht and let them all pick out cabins while he hoisted the dinghy
to its storage place and secured it there. Fifteen minutes later he was easing
the yacht out of the port with the boat full of bodies in tow. 

Out of port, he
left the speed set very low and stepped out to the port side to fire several
rounds into the bottom of the small boat and through the bodies in it and
gradually let the rope out until the boat trailed the full length of the rope. 

He stepped back
onto the bridge and watched the depth finder until it reached over 150 feet. 
That's
good enough
, he thought as he stepped back out of the bridge to release the
slip not.   The aluminum boat was already half full of water and wouldn't float
much longer.  He released the slip knot and put the matter out of his mind. 

He reentered
the bridge and throttled up to a respectable twelve knots.  He routed around
the island and anchored in 75 feet of water a few miles from where they had
started.  It would do for tonight.

He found the
women already half lit in the kitchen and bar area.  A couple of them were working
on dinner.   He looked them over and thought,
They've been through hell and
back.  I don't even want to think about what happened to them.
 

Kemp joined
them for dinner and announced, "I'm heading into Dana point tomorrow to
refuel and do some maintenance.   All of you are welcome to stay or go at that
point.  As far as I'm concerned, you don't owe me anything beyond the understanding
that tonight didn't happen.  Are we good?"  All of the women agreed.  

"For
tonight, I'm going to eat some of this wonderful food, have a small drink, then
tuck in.  There's one cabin that's locked because it's not inhabitable right
now, otherwise sleep where ever you want, except for the main cabin.  I'm
keeping that."