Tumble: A Thousand Shades of Fear

By Bob Triggs

In this long-awaited sequel in the Tumble series by Bob Triggs, the natural disaster sweeping the globe ticks up. As with his previous books, Bob’s storytelling of an unimaginable catastrophe is relentless and explained with enough science to keep the reader enthralled as the tale progresses. A remarkable book with an incredible amount of research that will take you on a journey we all hope will never happen.

The story opens when Air Marshal Richard Brandon invites Australian meteorologist Quinton Andrews on a flight intended to extract their scientists off their bases on the ice so that he can take a closer look at a strange phenomenon occurring in the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, Cobra and Thelma have a lucky escape after jumping into the Cape Fear River during a hurricane as they attempt to cross south of the 35th parallel.

In London, geologist Dr. Peter Brown investigates what is thought to be an earthquake but concludes the single, sharp jolt that took out the city’s entire utility services infrastructure is the result of something far more disconcerting. After determining that the epicenter of the disturbance is at the Elephant and Castle, he warns the Prime Minister that the city needs to be evacuated post-haste.

In Argentina, meteorologist Carlos Castelli, General Umberto, and Captain Luiggiani make a decision that affects Carlos in a profound way. He flies back to Buenos Aires from Puerto Madryn, where he makes a life-changing decision for himself and his wife, Isabella, who is not happy with what he has done.

The Canadian Prime Minister Michael Davies is beset with his own set of problems. He is trying to avoid a state of anarchy similar to that which has befallen the United States. Keeping the Canadian citizens calm until he is ready to lead them south is an effort. However, the Russian President, Matvei Bazhenov, and Generalissimo Mikail Yegorov offer Davies an olive branch that is hard for him to turn down.

In the meantime, President Sinclair is trying to keep some form of order in the southern US states. However, the expected surge of people attempting to cross the 35th parallel does not happen, and curious as to why, General Morgan orders eight teams of twelve Navy Seals on a 24-hour mission to infiltrate twelve cities. It was a night from hell for the team that went to Las Vegas with only four returning to tell the story. Of the ninety-six men sent out, eighty-seven never returned. But during this same meeting, Dr. Jack Bailey drops another bombshell.

Carl Felton, a wildlife biologist, is commissioned to investigate the devastating effect that a soda ash plant is having on the lesser flamingo population at Lake Natron, Tanzania. His old friend, Mwanyambi Bamgboshe, is the game warden at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and he called him on arriving at Dodoma. Carl had arrived in Tanzania prior to the grounding of commercial flights and, stuck in a foreign country, decides to visit Mwanyambi when the warden calls him to tell him of a strange event happening on the plains. He suggests that Carl should go there as soon as he can. With nothing else to do, he drives out to Mbulumbula Game Warden’s Lodge, and he is stunned by what he is shown. But stranger still is the wind. It is alternating from hot before dropping and blowing up again as a cold zephyr.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Triggs
• Release date: Sep 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005925987

Bob Triggs

Bob Triggs was born on the Falkland Islands in 1957. He developed a proclivity for writing when he was ten, but his aspirations were prorogued at eighteen after he moved to live in England. He resettled in London, where the sprawling, densely populated conurbations were a vast departure to the remote, sparsely inhabited, windswept archipelago in the South Atlantic, but he assimilated to city life with surprising ease. He worked in London for nearly two decades before moving to Los Angeles, where he has been living since 1994.The Andaman Event, which is inspired by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, is the exordium to the six-book Tumble series.

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Contents

Prolegomenon

Saturday, July 4, 2020

1: Travelodge Hotel Hobart Airport, Hobart, Tasmania; 2004

2: Madigan’s Farm, Bladen County, North Carolina; 2116h

3: The World Turned Upside Down, The Old Kent Road London; 2312h

4: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 2334h

5: Turquand Street, Walworth, London; 2334h

Sunday, July 5, 2020

6: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 0203h

7: Turquand Street, Walworth, London; 0345h

8: Senate Building, The Kremlin, Moscow; 0640h

9: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 0945h

10: Camberwell Green, Camberwell, London; 1056h

11: A319 Airbus, Over the Indian Ocean; 1118h

12: Madigan’s Farm, Bladen County, North Carolina; 1214h

13: A319 Airbus, Over the Indian Ocean; 1307h

14: Langevin Block, Ottawa, Canada; 1342h

15: Puerto Madryn, Chubut Province, Argentina; 1432h

16: Langevin Block, Ottawa, Canada; 1506h

17: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 1557h

18: El Palomar, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 1852h

Monday, July 6, 2020

19: Capital Hill, Canberra, Australia; 0721h

20: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 0803h

21: Langevin Block, Ottawa, Canada; 1038h

22: Nora Hartley Center Alamo, Nevada; 1126h

23: Thirty-Fifth Border Control: Unit 71B, Barstow, California; 1152h

24: Langevin Block, Ottawa, Canada; 1345h

25: Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada; 1452h

26: McKay Avenue, North Kildonan, Winnipeg, Canada; 1947h

27: Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada; 2102h

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

28: Blackheath Common, Blackheath, London; 0223h

29: McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada; 0439h

30: Belgrado 596, Santa Rosa, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 0545h

31: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 1134h

32: Blackheath Common, Blackheath, London; 1410h

33: The Nora Hartley Center, Alamo, Nevada; 1600h

34: Mbulumbula Game Wardens Lodge, Ngorongoro, Tanzania; 1826h

35: 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London; 1937h

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

36: Super 8 Motel, Calgary, Canada; 0534h

37: Semaphore Tower, HMNB Portsmouth, United Kingdom; 0827h

38: Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania; 0906h

Eulogy

Acknowledgments

Skip

Prolegomenon

A Thousand Shades of Fear is a direct continuation of the Tumble series, and this recapitulation is to remind current readers of the characters and events in book three. It is recommended that bibliophiles new to the series should read The Andaman Event, The Golden Capricorn, and The 35th Parallel first.

_______________________________________________

Thursday, July 2, 2020.

Prime Minister. The Right Honorable Michael Davies takes measures to keep the Canadian economy stable and prevent anarchy spreading through the northern US from crossing the border. He anticipates a rapid breakdown in the defenses at the thirty-fifth parallel but needs to keep his thirty-eight million citizens mollified until he is ready to lead them south into the twilight zone with the minimum loss of life.

An apparent coalition with Mongolia results in a massive buildup of Russian and Mongolian troops along the Chinese borders. At an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee, Chairman Yuan Tien produces a video recording of President Sinclair’s broadcast to the world announcing the planet is tumbling and the resulting consequences. It was sent to him by President Bazhenov with a request for a meeting. The University of Beijing is requested to confirm the authenticity of the tumble. Yuan Tien invites the Russian president to a conference at Zhongnanhai.

Cobra, Thelma, and friends set their hastily drawn plans into motion. Jacko heads for the home of the City Investment Banks CEO, Jeffrey Burnham, with selected members of his biker gang.

The crooked businessman has embezzled half a billion dollars from customers and redirected the funds into a personal account at a Los Angeles branch. Cobra directs Jacko to kidnap Burnham and his family. He intends to take them to Los Angeles, where he plans to force Jeffrey to withdraw the ill-gotten funds for themselves. The biker convoy escorting the car carrying the Burnham’s is ambushed at East 34th Street and Madison by a pocket gang, resulting in the death of one of the bikers.

Arnie and Chavez successfully negotiate an amnesty with rival gangs in New York. More than nine thousand gang members assert a territorial claim around Pennsylvania Station, key to their plans to escape the city. Cobra, Scooter, Gary, Trevor, and Byron drive over to the Staten Island Armory, where the military has tasked Trevor’s friend to shut the facility down. He lets them take as many RPGs, M4 Carbines, C4 plastic explosives, and munitions as they can cram into five commercial vans. Cobra is leading the convoy through the empty streets of New York when a semi blocking the northeast lane at the intersection of East 34th Street and Madison forces him to pass on the opposite side of the street. As they enter the junction, they are ambushed by the same gang that attacked Jacko. The first four vans get through with broken windows and body damage, but the fifth vehicle driven by Byron hits a concrete block and rolls several times. He is severely injured but lucky to escape with his life. He manages to rejoin the team at Pennsylvania Station a couple of hours later.

The success of their plan lies with Linnet, an Amtrack train engineer, but there is uncertainty among some of the team members whether he will pull through. There is relief when three trains with enough carriages to carry the more than nine thousand gang members pull into the station. Linnet explains that an engineering locomotive with a five-person crew will leave two hours ahead to set the lines manually once they agree on a destination. He studies a network map before suggesting they should head for Charlottesville, North Carolina. The gang members waiting on the station concourse are instructed to board the trains on platforms two and three. The train on platform one will carry Cobra, his team, and the gang members who are keeping the streets around Penn secure. The unexpected sound of machine guns and several explosions echo through the station as they come under attack by an unknown enemy, but assumed to be the pocket gang that conducted the ambushes at 34th and Madison. Scooter, Gary, Jacko, Chavez, and Arnie rush out to lead their respective teams, who have given themselves the collective name of Arnie’s Army. A power outage plunges the station and the surrounding streets into darkness. An ominous silence falls over the district. Scooter and Gary plan to flush out their adversary, who is no match for Arnie’s Army, and they are decimated in a short but fierce street battle. Thirty minutes later, three trains roll out of the station into the tunnel that runs beneath the Hudson River. The coach lights are extinguished when they emerge on the other side, and the long, dark shadows roll unnoticed through districts where rioting is rampant, and cities and towns are in flames.

President Sinclair walks through the Rose Garden for the last time. He ordered select cabinet members, their families, and his wife to the Nora Hartley Center earlier in the afternoon. Most of the housekeeping and ancillary staff left of their own accord as the situation on the streets deteriorated throughout the day. The vice president and two marines are the only personnel remaining on the premises. He is surprised when he wanders into the Oval Office, and Terry informs him there are still a few reporters in the East Room. Lloyd walks in to see five journalists sitting in a group, and he saunters over to join them and deliver his final press conference. When he finishes, the only female, Mary Blackman, makes a plea to the president on behalf of her four colleagues. Their residences and families are south of the thirty-fifth, and they have nowhere to go. She asks him to permit them to go back home. Lloyd notes she does not include herself in the plea. A contrite president invites the small group into the Oval Office, where he obliges Mary’s request and grants permission for the four journalists to be escorted into the twilight zone. He offers Mary a position as the official presidential scribe for posterity. She accepts. The White House is plummeted into darkness, and Lloyd leads the way out of the building to the south lawn where Marine One is waiting to whisk them off to Joint Base Andrews. As the helicopter climbs higher into the night sky, President Sinclair is horrified to see the city’s northern sector engulfed in flames. Huge, orange tongues are curling around the high-rise buildings and flicker up into the darkness, and explosions and gigantic fireballs burst outwards as the structures collapse internally.

Friday, July 3, 2020.

A derailed train at Raleigh blocks the Charlottesville line, forcing the team to change their destination to Fayetteville instead. Gary, Scooter, and Trevor, who was based at Fort Bragg during their days of service, agreed this was a better destination. They were familiar with the city and surrounding countryside, which would be a tremendous help in getting them across the thirty-fifth parallel. They make camp in a heavily wooded area twelve miles northeast of Fayetteville, and once the weapons, ammunition, and provisions are unloaded, Linnet sends the trains back towards New York, unmanned. Gary and Scooter pore over a series of maps of the region printed by Thelma before they left New York. They decide to go on an overnight excursion to scout the defenses and seek out any weakness they can exploit to get through the thirty-fifth parallel.

A massive winter storm blanketing Southern Argentina for ten days finally moves out. Meteorologist, Carlos Castelli, is ordered to Puerto Madryn by President Hernandez, where he will spearhead a search and rescue with Captain Umberto Luiggiani and General Luis Gomez. A spectacular sight greets him on arrival. It did not snow in the northern half of the coastal town, but a wind of incredible strength has obliterated every structure. The southern half of Puerto Madryn is buried beneath a wall of ice and compacted snow three hundred meters deep, which cuts across Argentina and Chile in a straight line. Military aircraft fly deep into the south, but nothing protrudes through the gigantic drift blanketing the country all the way down to Ushuaia.

Along the border at Ola, Arkansas, Captain Hill approaches Private First Class Stanley Wilson, who was on guard duty and struck up a conversation with the insubordinate. The mood swings when Stanley is given a picture of the captain’s wife and three children and told him they would be arriving at the checkpoint later that day. The captain orders him to let his family through with a thinly veiled threat on his life should he fail to obey his command. Several hours later, a convoy of eleven cars and minivans pull up at the barrier. Mrs. Hill is in the first car, and the private quickly learns that Captain Hill’s entire family, including his in-laws, were in the vehicles behind. Stanley realizes he has been hoodwinked but allows the convoy through. Ten minutes later, he was relieved of duty and ordered to report to the CO’s tent, where he was asked to explain his actions. He learns the person who passed himself off as Captain Hill is a phony. The real Captain Hill was ambushed and murdered early that morning, and his body was discovered not far from their campsite. The eleven-car convoy had stopped in a recreation park at Lake Nimrod, and the family was happily barbequing and playing around in the water. The commanding officer assumed this is where the fake Captain Hill intended to rendezvous with his family. Because Stanley is the only person who can identify the imposter, he was included in the unit sent to detain the family. Captain Hill is not with the family, so they observe the group for a couple of hours until a Cobra gunship flies low over the group. It circles over the lake and lands on the small beach close to the civilians. PFC Wilson identifies Flight Captain Steven Daley as Captain Hill, who appears relaxed as he joins his family at the barbeque. However, the flight captain’s interactions with his family change as the soldiers move closer to make arrests, and there is an indication that someone has warned him of their presence. The CO had forgotten a Cobra has a crew of two, and Gunner Gary Hudson remained on the helicopter as the lookout. Daley uses his children as a shield to return to the aircraft, and once they were in the air, they launch a vicious air attack on the soldiers. One team successfully blocks the narrow road into the recreation area, preventing the cars from leaving the campground. Realizing his family were corralled and will be captured and sent back into the north, while they will face a court-martial with severe consequences, the Daley and Hudson make a murder-suicide pact. Whatever happens, they will never see their families again, and rather than let them face an excruciating death, the Cobra launches a rocket attack one car at a time. Stanley manages to save the youngest girl, but everyone else perishes in the savage attack. Daley and Hudson then flew back to their base camp, and after firing the last two rockets into the officer’s mess, they strafe camp, taking all the helicopters on the ground out of service. Once the ammunition is depleted, Flight Captain Daley climbs to a high altitude. He cuts the engine, and the Cobra plummets to earth like a stone, killing both men on board.

President Matvei Bazhenov travels to Beijing and meets with Yuan Tien. He warns the Russian leader that he will not reach the twilight zone if he attempts an incursion. Yuan was willing to sacrifice his army and air force to protect the border, and he reminds the Matvei that they only need to hold them off for two weeks before Mother Nature will finish them off. President Bazhenov knows he is at a disadvantage. Yuan suggests it would be easier to send his troops down through the United States. He lays out all the reasons why it would be an easier path, and as a sweetener, he makes an offer to Matvei. If he withdraws all Russian forces from the Chinese border, he will personally approve a permanent residency in China for himself and his wife. It is an agreement that Matvei accepts.

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Jeffrey Burnham, his wife, and his daughter make a bid to escape from Cobra’s team in the early hours while everyone is sleeping. Burnham disowns his son, Timothy, when he refuses to go with them. Jeffrey is arrogant and believes himself to be above the law, but the businessman has a rude awakening when he walks into Fayetteville Police Department. The banker informs them that he knows where nine thousand gang members are hiding out and preparing to attack the army in an attempt to get through the thirty-fifth parallel. When the police captain asks him to provide the location, Jeffrey refuses to give up any more information until they take him into the twilight zone. His daughter strikes a deal with the police. Jeffrey is arrested and thrown into a jail cell.

Gary and Scooter return from their overnight reconnaissance mission and share what they have observed with Cobra. They do not have enough information on how the military will respond, and volunteers go into Fayetteville to steal cars, which they use to conduct a coordinated drive-by attack simultaneously on two roadblocks using RPGs to try and blast a path through the barrier. A dozen team members, including Cobra, Thelma, Jacko, Arnie, and Chavez, make the fourteen-mile hike with Gary and Scooter to observe the attacks from various advantage points. While they are at the border, they notice a big-scale operation with a continual stream of medical helicopters flying in and out of three locations in Fayetteville. Gary’s knowledge of the city is vague, but he believes a hospital was at each point. What concerns him was that they were coming from and heading back in the direction of their base camp. While they are waiting for the car attack, the skies have been growing darker, and the wind was increasing. Both car attacks go down better than they could have hoped. Before the team leaves to head back to their camp, they were hit by a fully-fledged, force-five plus hurricane. Cobra realizes that Burnham must have tipped off the army, and he is anxious to get back to the camp to help. However, the wind and rain make it impossible for them to leave their shelter. They are surprised when Jam and Timothy turn up. They traveled down to warn them that their camp had been ambushed, and a ferocious firefight was taking place. They were trapped on the wrong side of Cape Fear River, which was beginning to rise due to the heavy rain. Gary and Scooter see the advantage offered by the storm. If they waited until the water level was high enough, they can jump in and let the current carry them downstream past the guard towers and over the boom nets across the river. Cobra was reluctant to abandon their friends back at the camp, but the two veterans convinced him there was nothing he could do to help them. After they pointed out that Mother Nature offered a one-off opportunity to escape and there may never be another, they tie themselves together in pairs and jump into the Cape Fear River.

The story continues …

Chapter 1

Travelodge Hotel Hobart Airport

Hobart, Tasmania

Coordinates: 42° 49’ 54.3 S, 147° 29’ 28.1 E

Saturday, July 4, 2020, 2004h

Quinton Andrews walks towards the Travelodge Hotel with his hands thrust into his overcoat pockets and his shoulders hunched against the cold. It is calm, and a light wispy haze of a heavy frost is visible in the glow of the streetlamps as he processes the events leading up to this moment. He was in conference with the Australian prime minister when Air Marshal Richard Brandon turned up and brought their attention to an extraordinary event witnessed by an RAAF crew flying over the Southern Ocean during an attempt to extract the personnel from three scientific bases stationed in Antarctica. The pilot’s claims that the sea close to the continent is freezing into pack ice at a rate perceptible to the human eye sounds absurd to the nation’s top meteorologist, defying any rational inference to explain the governing influences that could produce such a phenomenon.

When Richard announces plans for a second excursion because less than favorable weather conditions thwarted the first rescue mission, he lures Quinton to join him on the flight, where he can observe the unusual event first-hand. The meteorologist did not intend to stare a gift horse in the mouth and accepts the invitation without hesitation. While there is a possibility the fast freeze may no longer be happening, he considers this to be unlikely if it is associated with the tumble.

Their departure for Antarctica is scheduled for six o’clock the following morning from Adelaide Airport, which means he must leave that night. His wife is unhappy with the unexpected modification to his mundane itinerary, but Quinton ignores her protests and boards the military aircraft in Canberra. He lands in the south coast city at oh four hundred, but Richard is not on the same flight because of a prior engagement. The air marshal told him to wait in the departure lounge, and he would turn up as soon as he could.

The airport is empty when he arrives, and sitting in a seat, he is so tired his head slumps forward often, despite the chilly draft blowing through the building. Almost two hours pass before he is disturbed by the echo of footsteps on the tiled floor, and he opens his eyes to see Richard walking towards him with a smile on his face. The aviator appears fresh and perky, and he greets Quinton in a cheerful voice.

Mr. Andrews. You look bushed.

Quinton’s body is stiff from the cold, and he stands and stretches his arms with a yawn. I’m not a good sleeper while I’m traveling.

I can have a nanna’s anywhere, anytime … even at the controls of an aircraft, Richard says. His demeanor becomes austere. Listen—there’s been a modification to our flight plans. We’re flying over to Hobart in Tasmania and transfer to another plane instead.

Quinton gives the air marshal an enquiring glance. "Oh? Any special reason?"

It’s where the Antarctic Division operates from, and they’re prepping an A319 Airbus in place of the C212s they keep here. He smiles. They needed to be prompted by yours truly, of course.

Is there an advantage … for us, I mean?

"You bet there is. They slice a whole bunch off the flight time, and they’re a lot more comfortable. The twelve’s take a day to fly down there while the airbus can make the same journey in six and a half hours—plus we don’t need to arrange for in-flight refueling. It would’ve been a nightmare trying to hook up with the tankers when we don’t have long-range communications and the GPS is playing funny buggers."

Quinton is content with the change because he is uncertain how he would manage an unbroken twenty-four-hour trip. He picks up his briefcase, which is on the next chair, and falls in step with Richard, who is heading for a door on the opposite side of the departure lounge.

"A military flight to Hobart leaves in forty-five minutes … the only one of the day, the air marshal says. The ETD for Antarctica is six-thirty tomorrow morning, so you’ve got loads of time to catch up on your beauty sleep at the airport hotel."

Sounds like an idea to me—except the bloody credit card suspension buggers up that plan. I’ve only got a little cash on me, and I don’t think it’ll be enough.

Richard flaps his right hand dismissively past his ear. Trivialities, matey. This one’s on the RAAF, but we need to kit you out in survival gear before tucking you in for the night. You’ll freeze your knackers off if you wander across the ice dressed like that.

I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I have no intention of leaving the plane.

"Come on, Quinton. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to step off so you can give your grandkids all the old bollocks about the time you hiked across Antarctica?"

Richard spoke the truth. It would be irresistible not to leave footprints on a continent that may soon be inaccessible to humans. The air marshal steers him to a snack bar that is opening close to the exit. Let’s grab a cup of coffee before we go.

Once they are in Hobart, Richard takes him to an Antarctic Division supply store where he is fitted with clothes suitable for the subzero temperatures. He tries on a bright orange jumpsuit, and while it is a bit cumbersome, it is well insulated. Richard hands him some headgear with flaps that extend down the side of his face to his shoulders and a pair of polarized sunglasses. You’ll need something to prevent your ears from turning black with frostbite … and some shades to make you cool in a cold place, Richard says. He turns to the clerk. Can you sort him out with some fur-lined pussy boots too? He smiles at Quinton. "They’re pr-r-e-tty damn toasty."

After he has donned the gear, Richard suggests he step outside to evaluate its effectiveness in the icy breeze blowing through the city. The bulky padding in the suit’s legs chafe against each other with a swish as he walks, and though it is awkward at first, the benefit of the newly acquired apparel is apparent. All right, I’m sold. How much is this outfit going to set me back?

Richard shakes his head. Zilch. You’re on official government business, so they’ll foot the tab on this one.

Before parting ways, they arrange to meet in the hotel restaurant later in the evening. Quinton contemplates going to his room for a sleep but worries he would be awake all night if he did. He decides it will be more beneficial to turn in after dinner, and with that in mind, he chooses to kill the afternoon by taking a tour of Hobart and the Tasmanian countryside.

Quinton enters the Travelodge Hotel through a revolving door and unbuttons his overcoat as he strolls across the lobby towards the dining room. Richard is sitting at a table at the far end, going through a menu, and he raises his head and takes off his reading glasses as the meteorologist approaches.

"Ah, there you are, my friend. Plonk your arse down and choose what you will from this rather lavish grub list. It’s all on me."

Quinton removes his coat and hangs it over the back of the chair. You or the government?

Richard gives a hearty laugh. You got me, chum.

The weatherman picks up the carte du jour and peruses the dishes on offer. A waiter in his early twenties walks up, flashes a smile, and addresses them in a voice with a strong effeminate cadence. Richard, who has put his glasses back on, slides them down the bridge of his nose and gawps at the server over the rims. Hello, gentlemen. My name is Jules, and I will be attending to your needs this evening. Perhaps you’d like to mourn your disappointments over a drink?

Richard casts a glance in Quinton’s direction before responding to Jules. I’d have a stiff scotch, but this is our first date, and I’m worried I might wake up with a sore arse if I imbibe too much alcohol. I think I’ll settle for an orange juice.

Jules doesn’t miss a beat. "Ooo, I think it’s wishful thinking on your part, isn’t it, sweetie?"

The exchange takes Quinton by surprise, and he stares at the air marshal in astonishment before looking back at Jules. "Uh … I—I’ll have a coffee, black, no sugar."

A wise choice, sir. The waiter’s eyes swivel in his head to look sideways at Richard as he continues speaking to Quinton. I think he’s ruined your plans for tonight, so let me give you my apartment number. It is clear that Jules is comfortable with his sexuality—at least enough to mess with their heads, and he’s not sure whether the waiter is joking. Are you ready to order, honey? I recommend the oysters.

Quinton can barely contain his mirth when he sees Richard rolling his eyes. No. I’ll have the scallops and Greek salad.

Jules punches the keys on an electronic tablet before turning to Richard. And for the incorrigible gentleman on my left?

Richard avoids eye contact but mocks the young man with an epicene languor in his response. Give me the Atlantic cod with chips and peas.

Jules gathers the menus and heads off towards the kitchen with a flamboyant sway of his hips.

Richard shakes his head. "That is one lifestyle I don’t understand."

Quinton laughs. The cheeks of his arse are like two ferrets trying to get out of a sack.

They’re more like a couple of hard-boiled eggs, Richard says. Jules by day; Julia by night. He leans forward, rests his forearms on top of the table, and clasps his hands together. So, Quinton, what do you make of all this tumble palaver?

I’m not sure, he answers truthfully. I’m a meteorologist, not a scientist, but I don’t need a degree in physics to know strange things are happening, and without the Internet, satellites, or communications, we don’t know what’s going on outside of the Australian continent.

"Do you think a dome over our cities will work?"

Quinton ponders for a few seconds. "Arthur Rudd is a brilliant architect with a great concept, a sharp vision, and he’s thought this whole thing out right down to the finer details. He pauses because he is troubled by the results of the calculations using the aircrew data. It is unrealistic to believe it is possible to construct a climate-controlled environment around a city in less than sixty-five days. I think it could work … except … well, time is our inherent enemy."

Richard lowers his voice. Even if they succeed, it’s still fraught with a whole bunch of problems.

The waiter reappears with a pot of coffee and a glass of orange juice, and Quinton waits for him to walk away before he questions the air marshal. Like what?

Food, for starters. There is an emphatic note in Richard’s tone. They can only stockpile a limited amount of kangaroo meat and veggies before the big freeze hits—and it won’t last forever.

You’ve got a point, Quinton says. He wonders why the thought had not crossed his mind before.

Richard responds in a belligerent voice. "I know I do. Unless they find a way to mass-produce nutritional food to keep our animalistic tendencies at bay, I think cannibalism will be endemic. It’s the nature of the beast."

Quinton raises the coffee mug to his lips and takes a sip as he muses the strange but logical augury. I guess it makes sense on an unnerving level.

"Of course, it does. Whether you’re prepared to admit it or not, humans have a primitive instinct to exist; a natural law of survival, and he jerks a thumb into his chest while he continues to speak. When the time is right, muggins here is going to steal an aircraft and fly himself and the missus north to better climes."

The weatherman raises his eyebrows in surprise. Do you think you’ll get away with it?

The airman is exuding so much confidence that Quinton feels he might suffocate. "Hell, yes. Who’s going to stop me? I am the air marshal."

It is true. Richard is in a unique position, and Quinton can tell he is serious despite his gregariousness. Where would you go?

To be determined, Richard says. He cocks an enquiring eye at the meteorologist. Say, would you and yours be interested in joining us?

The unexpected invitation surprises Quinton, and he hesitates before answering. "Now that is something worth consideration … but why me … I mean, us?"

Why not? I’m bound to end up someplace where no bugger speaks English, and I think I would like someone I can have a bloody conversation with sometimes.

Quinton laughs. All right, I’ll accept the offer.

A broad grin spreads across Richard’s face, and he leans back in his chair. Once we’ve saved these brainiacs down south, we’ll get together and finalize the details.

The waiter returns to the table with two plates of food on a tray. He gives Richard a seductive smile before swiveling around on one heel and begins to walk back towards the kitchen. Quinton bursts into laughter when the air marshal turns his eyeballs inwards and stares at him cross-eyed, puckers his cheeks like he is sucking on a lemon, and shudders.

They chat for another forty-five minutes after they have finished eating, and a couple of brandy’s later, Quinton escapes from the talkative aviator and heads for his room where he doesn’t waste time crawling beneath the coverlets.

Chapter 2

Madigan’s Farm

Bladen County, North Carolina

Coordinates: 34° 26’ 01.3 N, 78° 21’ 42.3 W

Saturday, July 4, 2020, 2116h

Fifty-five-year-old Cliff Madigan has worked the fields of the two-thousand-acre farm from childhood, and the lines on his weather-beaten face are concomitant to outdoor life. He inherited the estate on the death of the ménage patriarch ten years earlier, and following the family tradition, his only child, Tom, started to help with the harvesting at an early age. Although the principle of Madigan’s Farm was corn, they were also self-sufficient and reared a few animals and poultry for dairy produce, eggs, and meat. His wife, Jean, and his daughter-in-law, Briana, maintained a garden that kept them furnished with vegetables year-round.

Cliff’s natural somber expression is enhanced by a pair of gray eyes peering from beneath a set of bushy brows. He keeps his medium-length, gray-brown hair parted to the left, and he shaves twice a week—always on a Sunday morning before church and either on a Wednesday or Thursday—whenever the stubble begins to irritate his skin. His once athletic, five-foot-ten-inch body is fast devolving into a middle-age spread since Tom took on many of the heavier tasks he used to do. He married Jean, his childhood sweetheart from nearby Clarkton, just months after graduating from high school, and Tom joined the household five years after their connubial vows.

It is mid-afternoon when dark clouds start building up in the southeastern skies. The Madigan’s lost reception on their satellite TV a week earlier, and the only news source is a local radio station. The forecast gave no warning of precipitation, but his instincts tell him a storm is moving in. He turns to Tom. I sure don’t like the way that sky is looking. I think we should tuck the livestock away just in case.

Tom concurs, and Cliff ushers the cows into the barn while his son stables the horses. He then goes to check on the swine. The creatures are safe in an enclosed pen, but he locks the sty doors open so they can wander in and out as they wish. He is not concerned about the chickens because they are free to roam around the farmland, and they have an instinctive aptitude to seek refuge in the hen house whenever the climate became adverse. Summer storms are common at this time of year, but he is vexed when a full-blown hurricane hits them with unprecedented vengeance. Grumpy announces his arrival by taking out the power within the first two minutes. Outages are part of the norm, and he had the prescience to install a generator before moving into the new farmhouse three months earlier. However, Cliff is more troubled by the loss of the landline. Without a cell phone service, their lifeline to the outside world is severed. His wife worked as a nurse in Bladen County Hospital before Tom came into their lives, and while she can deal with minor injuries, she cannot call for help or seek medical advice if a major crisis occurs.

Their new residence is on the boundary of a thick, wooded area by design after weighing the risk of a wildfire against the damage caused by the frequent storms. Cliff opted for the latter because the trees serve as a limited windbreak from every direction except north, which may be the primary reason why the structure resists the extraordinary buffeting for more than five hours. Jean protested at what she perceived as an unnecessary expense when he had the reinforced glazing installed, but the cost will have remunerated itself twice over if the windows remain intact after the cyclone moves on.

Cliff squirms in his seat each time the house shudders from one ferocious gust after another. Grumpy’s unexpected arrival put a dampener on their plans to celebrate Independence Day with a barbecue and fireworks, so he accepts the challenge when his twenty-eight-year-old son suggests a game of chess. This is a pursuit they engage in during the long winter months, but tonight, the howling wind screaming around their domicile like a crazed banshee keeps breaking his concentration. Hurricane Grumpy is no ordinary storm, and anxiety over the impact the high winds may have on his crops is mounting. Since he can do little to protect the plants, his only recourse is prayer and hope the Lord will spare them from a total disaster.

The deep-oak ceiling beams and red chestnut-stained wooden floor are the principal features of the spacious, Victorian-style farmhouse. A games table is set up contiguously with the back wall, and a four-seat sofa upholstered in plush, cream aniline, flanked by two matching armchairs, are positioned in the center of the room. The suite forms a semicircle facing an inglenook fireplace with a brown bearskin rug in front of the hearth, and the family pet—a young sable and white collie named Bandit—is curled up in a mattress lined basket close to the fire. The lighting in the room is dimmed to create an ambiance of warmth while the flames licking around the glowing logs are casting eerie shadows on the walls, locked in a ghastly death jig as they dance and sway to the rhythm of the wind.

Jean sits on one end of the couch, facing her