Chapter II: Preparing for the Worst V
[31st January 1984]
[13:00]
Captain Derek Jennings loaded the last box into a dark van parked just outside government buildings. He stood back to take in the scene. There was a small motorcade parked around the fountain in the centre of the courtyard and out the main gate onto the street. Two dozen S-Class Mercedes, jeeps, mini-vans, mini-buses etc were lined up with Garda outriders front and back waiting to leave at 6pm to head to the new government offices in Galway.
He would not be driving with the rest. He would be going in a helicopter with the Taoiseach and key entourage.
There were two soldiers guarding the gates augmented by the Garda emergency response unit, who were eager to prove their worth defending the state after the rangers ''hogged'' all the glory by tracking down the retreating Soar Eire and IRA attackers the other day. The news had neglected to mention that they could not have found them without help from the Garda operations centre which tracked them using CCTV and the new dog unit. He had felt sorry for them and leaked their role to the media, there would be a front page story in the morning in the Irish Independent about their key role in the crises with a few quotes of praise from Haughey. Haughey would be most surprised to learn about them..f*k him...from what Barber told him Jennings was not a fan anyway.
The city was virtually empty. At first most of the city, according to radio reports and phone in talk shows, refused to leave. The consensus was that the Soviets would not ''waste'' a nuclear missile on Dublin.
This consensus did a 180 when the populace saw that the new retail distribution centres/''ration shops'' were all based in the outer suburbs...that was confirmation enough for most people that the state thought Dublin was a target. There was a buzz around the airport but that was about it.
Jennings had seen the projections, he had become an expert in nuclear warfare over the last two days from G2 briefings, army briefings, civil defense briefings and from the robot the British government had sent over..he was SIS probably but would not say which specific agency he worked for, he just had a lot to say about nuclear warfare. He was a rather bizarre hybrid of the jock and nerd archetypes, his forearms were bigger than Jennings biceps..and he worked out...yet he wore these plastic black glasses and spoke as if he had swallowed a thesaurus. ''Wonder who he p1ssed off to get assigned to us?'' Haughey had quipped.
A dozen attack scenarios had been drawn up and made into a briefing packet he was to personally brief the government on during it's last meeting in Dublin before they left. He knew from the maps in this briefing packet that his home down of Blackrock was probably going to be crushed or engulfed in a vicious firestorm.
He wanted to see it one last time.
He took his new army jeep and decided to head down there to take one last look around. He told the Taoiseach he would be back by the cabinet meeting at 4pm and could be reached by radio.
As he was heading out his friend Captain Barber asked to join him ''believe me mate going around an empty city is creepy you don't want to do it alone''
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Barber wanted to check out the city center first, since it was on the way.
The streets were deserted. The normally busting Grafton Street empty. The Stephens Green park empty..''those poor swans are going to get vaporized...'', Barber gave him a look that suggested he was going off the deep end. They drove over to the Burger King, with it's famous bay window overlooking the main street of the capital, O'Connell street.
The Burger King was of course empty. Why had they not locked the doors? He walked over to the window and looked down at the street...listened hard...not even traffic noise. He turned to take in the empty restaurant. He had some good times here.
Flashbacks suddenly came to him of his friends mocking him for not eating the frys because of his fitness plan. He looked over at the seat right next to the left side of the window and remembered sitting there with his first ever girlfriend. The first date had been a complete disaster. He was 18 by the time he realized he was goodlooking and that looks and humility were a combination women liked, he had finally asked her out, they were to meet in the Harp Bar just across from where he was now standing. He did not have ID, she was waiting there, he could see her through the window and he had to tap on the glass like a complete tool and get her to come outside.
Without ID he had nowhere else to go, so they came here, and had an amazing night connecting right away despite the glares of the staff who were probably wondering if he was ever going to finish that one coke.
He remembered coming here with friends after a night out just after he had graduated and became an officer. He suddenly realized with a pang of intense sadness that he only knew where half of those friends were now. Half were safe and sound. Two were in NYC which was a near certain target, one was in London, another three in Australia...maybe they'd be safe. It suddenly hit him that this building was likely to be destroyed in a nuclear explosion soon and
nobody would ever be having a happy day out with their friends here ever again. ''Lets go mate''.
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Blackrock was equally deserted, they took a stroll through the park, more memories, he tried to stay positive. They got to the sea front and sat down. After discussing various matters from how Barber was getting on with the new President to wither Haughey had said anything to him since the new government was formed about their previous encounter over the phone they got up to leave.
They were taking one last look at the peaceful panorama of Dublin bay when they noticed something in the distance. Two people sitting on a bench, one of them with a toddler on their lap who appeared to be sleeping.
They sprinted over to them and asked them why they were still here ''you should have been evacuated by now it's really not safe for you to be in the city''. The woman seemed to be desperately trying to hold back from crying as she told them what happened.
Their child was dying, there was nothing anyone could do for him. They wanted him to die at home peacefully with them instead of in a hospital bed possibly in the middle of the night surrounded by strangers. They'd been given all they needed to make him comfortable.
When the evacuation order came they were torn, they knew he could go any minute and did not want him to die on some overcrowded train or bus. They did not have their own car. They decided to let him stay at home in his own room with his own toys etc. He loved the sea front was always bugging them to bring him down there to see the ships, including ''the big ship'' (the Stena Line ferry) so when it looked like he was on his way they took him there and he had drifted to sleep a few minutes ago, taken one last deep breath and then no more.
The woman could hold back no longer and broke down. Both officers looked at the lifeless toddler and felt a sudden overwhelming empathy with his parents. They both took their berets off and tucked them under their shoulder boards. Her husband put both arms around her and her son ''we can't get out now, we've missed all the trains the busses for this area are gone we've no relatives who can come get us we don't know what to do..can't we just go home? everyone will be coming back here in a few days anyway surely when they see we were not attacked?''.
Jennings and Barber looked at each other then back to the husband ''I'm afraid the danger is very very real sir, I supervised much of the contingency plans personally it's a near certainty that Dublin will come under nuclear attack''. ''But why? what the hell could they want with us??'', ''to stop us aiding the UK after a nuclear exchange, make us tend to our own wounds, so if we decide to join NATO were in no real position to help...many reasons..the fact remains though, you have to get out of here''.
''HOW?'' Jennings put a hand on the mans shoulder ''we have a jeep parked just over there in the town center, I'm a militarily aide to the Taoiseach me and my friend here were taking a last look around my home town before we left the city with the government, we'll take you with us, just come back with us to the jeep and direct us to your house, we'll fit as many essentials from your place in with us as we can manage and we'll get you to safety''.
The woman seemed surprised by the offer as if she had expected them to leave them there. She looked nearviously at the pistols snug in a holster on the side of each mans right hip ''why are you carrying guns?''. ''I'm a solider madam, a guns as much a part of me as my arms and legs, and with things the way they are you never know when it might be needed''. There was something in her eyes. ''Is something wrong madam? You can tell me''. She hesitated ''I heard a rumor before the neighbors left that the army shot some people yesterday who were asking for help at the US embassy, they were trying to get relatives who had emigrated passes to come home or something and wouldn't leave''.
Jennings sighed...fog of war. ''That's not true madam, some protestors hurled petrol bombs at the police and army guarding the embassy, that's why they were shot, no self respecting solider would turn a gun on a civilian for any reason, and if any of my men did so, they'd never make it to court martial, I'd put a bullet in their heads myself''
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They drove towards the street of the Cambridges house to hear alarms going off everywhere on the next street over from their house. Windows were broken in several houses, doors caved in, abandoned cats roaming the street. The looters had been busy.
They loaded their stuff into the jeep as fast as they could. The Cambridges had told them one of their neighbors a single RN (nurse), whos husband was in the army stationed in the outer suburbs, had stayed behind to help them care for their son.
As they loaded the last of their gear into the jeep Mrs Cambridge tried to call her neighbor one last time. No answer.
''Could she have gotten a lift with someone else?'' asked Barber. ''No, she was waiting with us, she had said she might be able to get her cousin who lives in Arklow to come pick us all up but we suddenly lost contact with him so we assumed we were stranded, we told her we'd be back within an hour or two when we went down to the seafront'' Mark Cambridge replied.
The two soldiers looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. ''Were the windows in the other houses on next street like smashed that when you left earlier?''. There was a delay before the reply '' I don't think so'' answered Patricia Cambridge. They looked at each other again, ''What house does she live in?''.
Both men sprinted closer to the house, the door was still in place, windows were not broken. They quietly used the spare key Patricia gave them and crept inside. They immediately saw through the open door that the kitchen window was smashed in.
They began a room-clear one at a time, the living room, dining room, just as they were about to step into the kitchen they heard screams.
They drew their pistols and crept up the stairs slowly, using hand signals to direct each other. They burst into a master bedroom to find a woman tied to the bed, two looters who it appeared were taking turns raping her were standing over the bed, one with an axe in his hand, the one currently heading for the bed had just set a shotgun down against the bedside locker before proceeding to his victim.
Jennings looked at Barber, Barber nodded, knowing exactly what Jennings was thinking. Without any hesitation they both placed perfect shots in each looters forehead. Jennings pulled out his flip-knife and cut the woman free. They were thankfully mistaken, the rape had not yet begun.
They dragged the bodies outside wrapped up in carpeting and tossed them in a dumpster at the end of the street. The gun and hatchet were removed from the house lest any looters come upon them and use them on innocents, the house was securely locked up with a few booby traps set.
They packed up the jeep and after asking if there were any further neighbors they knew to be home, and using the loudhailer to ask if anyone needed assistance as they passed through the streets around the Cambridge's house, they eventually realized they could not clear and search the entire Dublin suburbs with two men and one jeep and headed back to government buildings.
As they were driving along the dual carriageway, far above the peacetime speed limit, they saw two convoys led by Garda outriders heading out of the city. Then they heard a piercing sound, the Doppler effect, two Saab Viggins screamed past flying low enough to spot the tricolor and air force logo on their tails.
They broke formation heading in opposite directions and looping back into perfect formation once more, screaming towards the horizon.
''I guess the new air force training is going well'' Jennings said with a grin as the astonished civilians gazed out the window at the retreating fighters.
{{I think that's enough preparation covered, we'll be jumping forward to February when the sh1t hits the fan next update}}
