Chapter 14

Sunset, that special time when day turns to night, was the time when John and Ed spent talking on the parapet of the house. John said, “I was going to take my walk when you came back, but I have a feeling that something really big is going to happen soon.”

“How big?”

John answered, “Big enough to activate the Fusion Foundation Emergency Relief organization.”

The men sat quietly for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Quietly, Ed said, “I can handle it. You go on your walk.”

Shaking his head, John said, “This will be our first activation. I think one of us should be here and one on site.”

“I can handle it.”

“No, I’ll go. It’s my service and I must see it through,” replied John.

It made sense and Ed knew John well enough to know that he would want to be as close to the action as possible. It was spring and there were so many things that happen. Avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes could happen at any time. Ed asked, “When will we activate?”

John answered, “Tomorrow. We’ll put the East Coast on alert tomorrow and prepare to move out.”

Ed said, “How many groups?”

John answered, “All of them.”

The idea of putting the entire East Coast on alert was overwhelming. That would activate a fleet of thirty transport planes. Eight of the planes carried medium sized earth moving equipment and transportation. Eight contained portable shelters, medical facilities, and toilets. Those sixteen planes were always loaded and ready to move out at a moments notice. Ten planes would be loaded food and water, sufficient to feed over ten thousand people for a week. Four planes would be loaded with medical supplies.

It would also activate four planes capable of carrying one thousand trained Fusion Foundation personnel. These were specialists, trained in various aspects of rescue and on staff full time. This included doctors, nurses, earth movers, cooks, and others that were multiply trained. Everyone was crossed trained to fulfill any task that might arise.

If John considered putting the entire East Coast on alert, then this meant that it was a big emergency. Ed asked, “Will you be moving out before anything happens?”

Shaking his head in the negative, John replied, “As much as I would like to do that, it wouldn’t be a fair assessment of our capabilities.”

Surprised at the answer, Ed said, “That could cost lives.”

Nodding his agreement at the assessment, John said, “I know, but we have to respond in a real fashion. To do otherwise, could cause significant loss of life in the long run.”

“John, I know you better than that. That isn’t a sufficient reason for you to delay. You would find another way to solve that particular problem.”

Cross at being questioned, John replied, “I have no idea what or where the emergency will be. I can’t act earlier than when the problem is identified.”

This revelation caused Ed to examine John carefully. He asked, “Do you think you are losing your abilities?”

“Yes,” replied John. Ever since the raid on the organized crime, it was as though his abilities had been muted. Previously, he would have sufficient knowledge to respond in the most appropriate fashion. Now, it seemed like it was always a general feeling.

Ed asked, “Did you ever think that it’s because of your preparations that your role has changed from active participant to supervisor?”

John had considered that interpretation many times and believed it was a correct interpretation of the change. In a way, it bothered him as much as the alternative. He said, “Yes. I realize that is a likely reason.”

The next morning, Ed and John headed to the headquarters of the Fusion Foundation in John’s Jeep. Tiger and Rover were in the back, with Tiger on the floor and Rover filling the seat. The trip flew by quickly and it wasn’t long before they were in the parking lot.

As they headed into the building, Ed recalled the time when he had difficulties getting in because none of the staff recognized him. He said, “We might have problems getting in.”

Surprised, John asked, “Why?”

“When I came here, no one recognized me and wanted proof that I belonged here,” answered Ed.

This was a surprise to John who had never thought about problems entering the foundation. The receptionist that had once tried to delay Ed was on duty. As they approached the front door, she paled when she saw Ed and the two cats. Since his last visit, she had learned that Ed and John Carter always traveled with a cat. She realized that the man with him must be John Carter. She picked up the telephone and called Ellen before they had even finished entering the building. When the two men went to the counter, she said, “Ellen is on her way down here to greet you.”

John smiled at that woman and said, “Thank you. I’m John Carter. May I ask your name?”

His introduction confirmed her suspicion. Blushing brightly, she said, “I’m Karen Carson.”

Mentally, Ed kicked himself at not having asked her name the last time he was here. He said, “It’s nice to see you again, Karen.”

She smiled at him and said, “It’s good to see you, Mr. Biggers.”

“Please, call me, Ed,” he replied. As he replied, Ellen came rushing into the room.

John turned to Ellen and said, “It’s nice to see you again, Ellen.”

Remembering her lesson from Ed and Sid, Ellen replied, “It’s nice to see you, John. If I may ask, is there a special reason that you are here?”

Pleased that she went straight to the matter at hand, John replied, “Put the East Coast on alert. Start up the command center on the fourth floor.”

All of the blood drained from the faces of Ellen and Karen, as the full implications of what John had said. Ellen shook her head and said, “Nothing has happened.”

After glancing at John, Ed said, “It will.”

A shiver ran through Ellen before she turned and led the way into the office area. Word had already spread through the entire office complex that John Carter was in the building. People were lined up, standing quietly, in the hallways to see the great man. The cats, unused to such a situation, moved closer to the men as though uneasy although not frightened.

Seeing the people lined up, Ellen said, “Everyone, we need to go to the command center. Once there, put the entire East Coast on alert.”

As everyone turned to head to their business, Ed spotted Kim Green, the woman that he had found at the University being raped. He called out, “Hey, Kim! I didn’t know that you had come to work here.”

Kim turned and looked at Ed, surprised that he had addressed her since she now knew just how important of a person that he was. Seeing that both Ed and John were looking at her, she said, “Hello, Ed. Hello, John. I’m surprised you remember me.”

“Of course we remember you. Is your mother still a volunteer here?” asked Ed.

Kim nodded and answered, “Yes, she’ll be in later.”

John asked, “What is your job here?”

“I’m a translator for Spanish and French,” replied Kim. She wasn’t sure how important of a position it was, but she enjoyed the work. Most of the translation was spent working with Spanish due to the large Hispanic population on the West Coast. She was also going to get trained in Chinese in several months.

John said, “Could you take me to the airport? I was going to get a cab, but I’d rather travel with a friendly face.”

Surprised to be asked to take him, she readily agreed, “Sure. Let me get my purse.”

John left with Tiger, the smaller cat seemed to take to air travel much better than Rover. It would also create less of a distraction than the Cougar. He would fly to Atlanta and land at the Fusion Foundation facility located at the airport there.

Ed didn’t watch them go. Instead, he went up to the floor where the Command Center was located. The room was laid out with desks along two sides of the room. There were computer consoles on each desk. At the front of the room was a number large screens that would allow them to project various pieces of information about the current situation. Each desk had a person seated at it. As the computers booted, the people put on telephone headsets. The headsets were wireless so that they could leave their desk without putting people on hold.

Ed took his seat at the desk reserved for the incident commander at the back of the room and surveyed the action. Rover walked around the room checking it out. Satisfied, he went into the break room and curled up on the floor in a corner where he wouldn’t be bothered.

At the front of the room, the displays came alive as Ed turned on the Incident Commander console. The center display on the wall showed a map of the world. There were four spots lit in yellow that corresponded to existing problems that were already under control. One was a volcano in Hawaii, another was a flood in Peru, another was a very minor earthquake in Romania, and the fourth was an epidemic of a flu variety in Southeast Asia.

Another screen showed the various Fusion Foundation Centers and their status. All of the status indicators were initially green, but as time went by, centers on the East Coast had their status indicators changed to yellow, one at a time. The yellow indicated that they were on alert. The phones started lighting up as centers called in to identify what actions they should be taking.

At that point, Ed pressed the speaker and said, “Everyone, I need your attention. We need to get all planes fully stocked and ready for take off on the East Coast. We are not yet aware of the destination, but we do know that it will be a long flight. I want a full complement of personnel ready for boarding. Please act as though the emergency was occurring, we want to see the time required for our people to get ready.”

He flicked off the speaker and turned to Ellen seated at the desk next to his. He said, “Ellen, I would like to get complete information on how long it takes each center to get ready to leave.”

“Yes, Sir,” replied Ellen. After entering the request into the console, she turned to face Ed. She added, “Are you sure that we will need all of these resources?”

Nodding, Ed answered, “John is positive that something big is going to occur within the next five hours.”

“Has he ever been wrong?”

Ed thought back to the earthquake in California and answered, “No.”

Ellen asked, “By the way, where is John?”

Laughing at the question, Ed said, “He’s on his way to the center in Atlanta.”

“Why would he be going to Atlanta?” asked Ellen.

“He’s going to the emergency with them,” answered Ed. He added, “Since we are only on alert, I would like everyone to review the emergency procedures for natural disasters. That should take about three hours.”

Following his own advice, Ed reviewed the activities that he would be performing in the event of various natural disasters. As they waited, volunteers came through the room delivering coffee and snacks. Three people waited in the relief room waiting to be called in to take the place of anyone that needed a break. Everything looked good.

It was in the middle of the afternoon when an area of the map on the wall indicated that an earthquake had occurred in Turkey. Everyone in the room leaned forward and looked at the display waiting for the magnitude to be displayed. When 7.2 flashed on the display, everyone went to work.

For the next two hours, planes and people were dispatched to Turkey to provide emergency relief. The staff at each center was busy filing flight plans and making arrangements with governments to fly over their airspace. Passports of personnel were double checked. The planes were in the air within ninety minutes of the earthquake.

The news started broadcasting pictures from ground zero, showing total devastation in many of the poorer sections of the country. Casualty estimates ranged up to a thousand with tens of thousands of injuries. The fact that the earthquake had struck at night, meant that the majority of people were inside their homes asleep when it hit.

Typical office hours ended, and the second shift came in to take over. The handoff from one person to the next was seamless. Glancing at the clock, Ed realized that six hours had passed since the earthquake. It would be another ten hours before the planes would be landing. He turned to Ellen and said, “Go to the relief room and get a good eight hours of sleep. There isn’t going to be much action between now and then. I’ll go there in a couple of hours and get some sleep myself.”

Ellen, surprisingly tired, nodded as she said, “Good idea.”

Watching her leave the room, Ed noticed how in the recent events she had demonstrated total professionalism. A man came and took her place at the deputy commander position. He turned to Ed and said, “I’m Paul Nagel.”

Ed replied, “Hello, Paul, I’m Ed.”

Turning to the console, Paul went through the process of catching up on the status of all the activities for which the deputy commander was responsible. Watching him work, Ed considered how well the systems were supporting them. He turned to watch the center display on the wall. There was one very large red spot on it that showed the current emergency occurring in central Turkey. One display was still blank and would remain that way until communications started arriving from the site.

As he sat there, Grace Green stopped by his desk looking fresh and alert. He greeted her, “Hello, Grace. I thought you were off.”

Smiling broadly, she said, “I’m supposed to go off duty, but I’m afraid that I’m feeling a little hyped up.”

Thinking quickly, Ed said, “Maybe you could run an errand for me.”