Christopher Nicole as Max Marlo Her Name Will Be Faith (epub) i

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.She'd been up all night, she was cold and wet and clammy, and she was additionally exhausted by the nervous strain she'd been under for several days.She knew she was no longer thinking straight.If she could just put her head down for even five minutes, she'd probably be able to remember where the keys were.Just five minutes.And by then the traffic would have eased.The storm wasn't going to hit before tomorrow morning.There was still ample time to get out of town.SATURDAY 29 JULY: Early MorningCity Hall, Park Row And Broadway — 4.00 amThe helicopter dropped out of the dawn murk, swirling in the near gale force gusts as it slowly settled on to the grass.Waiting staffers ran forward with umbrellas, promptly blown inside out, and with mackintoshes to hold over Mayor Bill Naseby as he jumped from the cabin out into the rain.People tried to shout information to him, but he shook his head and ran towards the building; talking out there was a waste of time.He got inside, shook water from his thinning hair."You, you and you," he snapped."Come with me."His aides fell in behind him, delighted to be under his aegis at last; if there was one thing Bill Naseby possessed, it was the ability to make decisions.He entered his office, where Police Commissioner Grundy and Assistant Commissioner McGrath were already waiting, and sat behind his desk.Water ran out of his hair and into the neck of his pullover; he wore an anorak — which he did not bother to remove — but no tie.He was a big man, and when sufficiently aroused, he could look formidable.He was certainly sufficiently aroused this morning.He pointed."I've spoken with the Governor, and he's turning out the National Guard.Tom." he turned to Grundy."We have to have every man on the streets.Do you know what's going on out there?""It's a solid traffic jam the length and breadth of the city," Grundy confessed."Heck, Bill, there's nothing my men can do without bulldozers.And you know what? They're getting nasty.The populace, I mean.""I can believe that," Naseby agreed."I saw some of it as I flew in.""It's all the fault of that mother fucker Connors," growled Assistant Commissioner McGrath."I sent a squad car out to bring him in, and the bastards haven't got back yet.Christ, they must be snarled up in the traffic.But when I lay hands on that asshole I am going to.""You'd better shake his hand and say, well done, boy, at least you tried to help."McGrath scratched his head.Naseby pointed."Because that's what he did.Which is more than any of us, including myself, has done so far.""Well, hell, how were we to know this goddamned thing was going to keep coming straight at us?" the Commissioner complained."She should've veered off by now.They always have in the past.""The past doesn't always indicate the future, Tom.Connors maybe didn't go about it the right way.He may even have made matters worse.But at least he knew something had to be done.And Dr Eisener from Coral Gables confirms that it is going to be every bit as bad as Connors has claimed.He's just had a radio report from a navy plane flying into the eye, and there are sustained winds of 180 miles an hour, with gusts of over 200.You got that? 200 miles an hour.That storm is going to hit this city with the effect of an atomic explosion.And it's quickening up.It's now moving at 20 knots and it's only 200 miles away.That means the eye could reach the mainland at two o'clock this afternoon.And that means we are going to have hurricane force winds here in a couple of hours, and the sea is going to start to rise around nine this morning.And you know something else? The tide is going to start rising around then too."The aides and the policemen exchanged glances; they had never seen the Mayor so agitated."Now you guys listen to me," Naseby went on."I'm trying to persuade the Governor to declare New York a disaster area and put in martial law, right now.He's worried about doing this, because it's before the event, so to speak, so he's checking with his legal department.However, he has agreed to mobilize the National Guard.And I'm prepared to call the President if I have to.We'll get that martial law.But we can't wait for it; we have only five hours before all hell is going to bust loose.Tom, you and your men, and the guardsmen as soon as they arrive, are going to move straight in and clear those streets.Otherwise we could be looking at a massacre.Use bulldozers if you have to, but get people going: everyone who can, out of town.Everyone who can't, by noon at the outside, on to high ground.And anyone who objects, we move him, or his automobile, by force.You got it?""The tunnels and bridges are jammed solid," McGrath said gloomily."So concentrate on them first.There's time, just, if we get moving right away.It's the lower levels that have to be got out first.That means, if necessary, putting a ring of policemen and military round the areas safe from flooding, and keeping people in them until we have those most in danger cleared.I make that like taking a big loop, down West End Avenue to about 34th Street and then back up Park Avenue to say 62nd Street, and then right down to York Avenue.Anywhere south of that is liable to be flooded.By my reckoning that includes the Empire State Building, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy, and of course Wall Street and the UN Building.""You really think that'll happen, Bill?" the Commissioner asked."Surely the Narrows.""I'm told by Dr Eisener that the Narrows won't keep this dame out," Naseby said."In fact, they might just act as a funnel and increase the volume and flow of water.With the rise of tide, he's talking about a possible 40 feet of water coming through there, and racing across the harbor like a tidal wave.""Holy Jesus Christ!" McGrath said.The Mayor gave a brief grin."You guys will have noticed, I guess, that right here we'll also be below the mark – well below it.And so is the telephone exchange.In fact, situated where that is, right on the waterfront, that's going to be one of the first to go.""Jesus," commented one of the City Hall aides."What do we do?""We evacuate, Mitch," Naseby told him."After we have got every civilian to safety.""But the files, the records, the computers.""They go too, right away.Not the computers, just the discs.I've arranged for a helicopter fleet to lift them out.They should be here in another hour.So get packing.But no human being leaves this building until I say so.And that will be when Manhattan has been made safe.""We'll never do it in time," Grundy said."You're talking about two days' work.""Sure we can.""But where are we gonna put all these people?""Requisition every hotel that's above the 50-foot mark.And then use Central Park.""You're gonna send maybe a million people to Central Park, in a hurricane? In lightning, thunder, rain, and 180-mile-an-hour winds.""So you come and tell me when you have any better ideas," Naseby snapped."We've been caught with our pants down, but good.Now we just have to pull them up as best we can." He grabbed his phone as it buzzed."Governor? Oh, hell.Sorry, Joe, I was expecting the Governor.Look, Joe, we have problems down here, as you know… You what? How the hell can you be running out of water when it's acting like a cloudburst out there?.Oh, sure, I know this rain can't help until it gets through the system.But what the hell are people using water for in such quantity right now? I understood everyone was leaving town [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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