Authors: Jessa Hawke
When the helicopter touched down at the airport everyone piled off and scurried over to a small jet. As far as Sally knew it was Kieth's personal jet, and didn't belong to the firm. But maybe he'd managed to finally convince the board of trustees to splurge on a jet so that Kieth could travel around with more freedom and speed. If that was the case then it made a lot of sense that Kieth was all about heading out East to survey the damage himself. If he was able to save the firm a couple of million dollars than the jet was more than justified, even if it cost more. More than anything the board of trustees hated it when clients duped the firm. That was one of the reasons that Kevin had risen through the ranks so quickly; he had this natural knack for being able to tell when a claim was bullshit or not. A lot of people said they could tell, but the only person that Sally had ever really seen exhibit some kind of sixth sense was Kieth.
One time, years ago, a crying mother had called to tell the firm how her barn had burned down. Back then the firm had been much smaller and people hadn't really wrapped their mind around how prevalent insurance fraud was, so everyone was pretty much supportive and just wanted to help the lady out. But not Kieth. He questioned her and questioned her, and finally, when she didn't give the answers he was looking for, Kieth went out there to take a look at the barn. It turned out that the barn hadn't been the only thing burned to the ground, the house had as well. Both of the fires were under circumstances that were dubious, and it also turned out that the women that owned the properties had never even stepped foot in the state to inspect them. Kieth brought the news back and of course everyone was a flutter with facts that pointed to some kind of foul play.
In the end the then just budding firm was able to dodge having to make a shady pay out, and so Kieth started to climb the ladder. Of course he had taken Sally with him. They'd had a thing for each other forever, but for some reason neither ever acted on it. Sally was an attractive woman and new it; her hourglass figure boasted an impressive bust, and she had lovely hazel eyes to accent her porcelain face. Their relationship was often commented on, and the board of trustees had even given them permission to pursue it, but for whatever reason neither of them seemed like they were in that much of a hurry to plunge into romance. Sally was thankful for that because so far Kieth had been someone who she'd been able to admire and even kind of use as a role model. She didn't know if her image of him, so perfect and untarnished, would survive a fling. Things changed so much when emotions got involved. As Sally filed onto the small jet she found Kieth saving a seat for her.
“They have no idea we're coming,” Kieth said. “And they are already claiming millions of dollars in water damage. I have a friend there, not far from the site, who says that there is no way that the federal building has sustained that much damage. I asked if he could go check in order to save us a trip but he said that law enforcement was more or less forcing people to go to the designated zones until after everything settled down.”
“So what will we do when we get there if we can't ask the police for help?” Sally asked.
“Simple,” Kieth said. “The water is up, and the people who own the landing strip we're going to use own property that has a river running next to it. The river is swollen, and although it'll be a little sketchy, the people we are about to meet said they have the kind of water craft people use in the south to travel through swamps. So my idea is that you, me, and a few others head out to snap some photos while everyone else heads out to check on some of the other properties that are more easily accessible. If we are stopped by the authorities we'll just play dumb and comply.”
Sally nodded. As the jet lifted off the ground she wondered if things would work out as swimmingly as Kieth hoped. If it didn't there could be real trouble. Taking a bunch of people into danger was a bold move, but getting someone hurt or killed could mean a lot of bad press, a law suit, and maybe even the board of trustees yanking all power from not only Kieth but Sally. As she closed her eyes the plain ascended into the heavens and she gripped the arm rests of her seat with white knuckles. She just hoped there wasn't any turbulence.
“EVERYONE REMAIN SEATED AND CALM. WE ARE EXPERIENCING TURBULENCE.”
The captain came over the speakers in the jet sounding like he was an announcer on television. He also sounded like he was enjoying himself, which he probably was. Sally wasn't, though. She'd woken to her worst nightmare and found Kieth's seat to be empty. It was so like him to run off to the cockpit to see what was going on. Kieth was a pilot himself, but he hadn't flown enough to be of any use. The most he would end up doing was getting in the way.
“They told me to go back to my seat,” Kieth said as he sat down next to her. “I get that I'm not exactly a real pilot but I do have my license.”
Sally had to suppress a grin. Whenever Kieth didn't get his way he sounded like a sullen child. He always meant well, but he also always had to be near the action. Thus they were in turbulence on the way to the biggest natural disaster in recent history.
“Any word on the situation on the ground?” she asked.
“I'm haven't heard a whole lot,” Kieth said. “But one thing I have heard is that the sharks are swarming the coast. I know this because I have a friend who films for shark week and he says that they are touching down right now—I got this via the international satellite phone, just in case you were wondering.”
Sally shook her head in bemusement. Kieth was always justifying buying that stupid phone. He'd pitched it to everyone as something that we couldn't not have when we need it, “like a life jacket,” he'd said. But no one ever used it. Hell, as far as Sally knew no one even had the number. She smiled thinking it would be just like Kieth to make use of it now just to make a point. But so what if it was just to make a point, it had gotten them information that they wouldn't have had otherwise. That much was better than nothing. So maybe the phone had been a good purchase all along.
“See! See!” Kieth said. “I told you the phone would come in handy!”
Kieth stood up to turn and address the group.
“Didn't I tell you all that the phone would come in handy?”
Someone told him to sit down and buckle up and he did, just as the planes wheels touched down.
“So when will we be able to head out and see the coast in your boats?”
The man that Kieth spoke to owned the land they'd just landed on, and the barn they now huddled in. He looked like he wasn't too irritated to be up super early in the morning. But at the same time he didn't look like he was loving it.
“When day breaks we'll head out. I need to warn all of you to be safe and always wear a life jacket, even when you think you don't need to. Flash floods have already killed over a dozen people, not to mention all the dumb fuckers who decided to go surfing and drowned in the riptides. But beyond that you also need to stay clear of the police because they will, for certain, detain every last one of you and send you back to whatever the fuck state you said you came from.”
Kieth nodded, and Sally could tell he was trying to gauge how to deal with the man. Kieth was good with people because he knew when to be aggressive and when to tone it down a little bit. Sally wasn't sure which one Kieth was going to go with now. Before Kieth could respond the man spoke again.
“Also I think it would be best if everyone shut their phones of until morning. The feds are trying to use signals from phones to track down survivors and stuff like that. Not only will your phone activity confuse the feds and bring them here instead of to people who need help, but it will also get you sent back one the feds arrive. So please, I know everyone lives and dies by however many characters twitter lets you post these days, but seriously, don't use your phones. If you really need to send a message to someone, write it down, then later, after I tell you you can use your phones, send it.”
Everyone nodded. Sally was starting to wonder what they had gotten themselves into. It was one thing to take a chance and follow Kieth on a crazy adventure, but it was quite another to be told not to use her phone or she would be sent packing by the feds. It was starting to sink in that what they were doing was most likely very, very illegal. She hadn't checked the laws or anything before they left but she felt certain there had to be some kind of law on the books that told people not to flock to disaster areas when the federal government was in the middle of one of its biggest rescue efforts. Thinking of this made Sally think of everything she didn't know, like how bad the damage actually was. The man that had just spoken made it seem like the damage was much greater than Kieth had realized back at the firm, when he had made it sound like one big wave had washed up on the shore and gotten everything and everyone wet.
The group was left standing by the man who had been speaking, who introduced himself as Brett before turning to leave. Without knowing what else to do everyone snuggled up together in the hay. Sally found herself being spooned by Kieth right before they both drifted off to sleep. Maybe things would turn out all right, she thought, maybe she and Kieth would be able to figure out if the spark between them was enough to start a blaze or if it was barely enough to fuel a fling. Either way would be better than not knowing, especially considering that Sally had the feeling that after she saw all of the destruction in a few hours that she wouldn't want to be in the insurance business anymore.
It was one thing to intellectually know that the business they ran needed destruction to work, but it was another thing to know it with her heart. She was going to see many homes ruins, and all of those homes had actual people that lived there who weren't just numbers on a page or data in a computer. Not just that but there was a chance they would see even worse things. Sally's imagination ran wild as she thought of all the things that could possibly go wrong, and all the terrible things that she might see. It seemed like there was no shortage of catastrophe in her head, even though she'd never really seen one before.
As she drifted off to sleep she snuggled back into Kieth. She was glad his arms were around her.
“Careful now,” Brett said. “Careful as you board the boats. These aren't normal boats, as you can see. They have these big fans attached to the back that propel us over the water. This is so we can skim over the surface and not worry about snagging on every little thing that might be just under the surface. Now, when you sit down you'll notice that your back is facing outboard and you are facing in board, and there is a loop of rope between your legs. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT stick your hand through the loop in such a manner that binds you to the boat, because if the boat were to flip I'd hate for you to drown over such a simple mistake. Instead just grab onto it with your hand during the rough spots, but don't get to attached to it. No pun intended.”
The boat Kieth, Sally, and a few other interns now occupied wasn't big at all. For some reason Sally thought that the craft they'd be riding in would be big enough to at least make her feel better about all the terrible things she'd been told by Brett, who was more or less their guide, could be lurking in the water. For one shark had come to the coast in numbers previously unknown. This meant that even the swollen fresh water streams leading to the ocean could have sharks in them. Brett had explained that there were a couple of shark species that could survive for up to a week, even longer, in fresh water. Brett had also talked about how the water was full of things that would make you very sick if you got them in your mouth or in a cut. So basically Sally was wishing the boat were bigger so that there could be a larger barrier between her and the water. But the boat they were riding in would have to do.
Sally had expected more talking from Brett once they had boarded and gotten underway, but as they giant propeller droned at the back of the boat she realized that Brett wasn't really a guide at all, that she had no idea what Brett really was. He was probably just a good old boy doing a favor for a friend of a friend. Maybe favor was the wrong word since Kieth was most certainly paying the man. Sally would have felt better knowing for sure, though. Maybe it shouldn't have made any difference to her what Brett did for money, or during his free time, but it did. Sally wanted someone who was used to situations like this at the helm. But who would they find that was used to situations that involved the greatest natural disaster of recent times?
As Sally thought the boat cruised down the river with no problems at all. It was a lot like a dream, except real, so Sally guessed it was more like a Disney ride than anything else. And the further they pushed toward the coast the more surreal things became. Soon enough there were parts of houses stuck in trees, peoples boats capsized and bobbing in the water. A few times Brett told everyone to close their eyes and hold their noses as he maneuvered around something in the water. Sally didn't dare open her eyes or take a whiff of the air. Although she couldn't be certain she got the impression that there was probably something rotting that Brett didn't want people freaking out about. Of course the first thing that Sally's mind jumped to was the most macabre. But afterward when she asked Kieth if he'd peeked he'd told her it had just been some dead cows floating by in the river. What no one saw was sharks, even though that was the foremost thing on their minds so it stood to reason someone should have at least thought they saw a shark. But no dice.