Pat Ramsburger then went back behind the bar and found an unbroken bottle of Kentucky Bourbon, peeled of the sealing label, unscrewed the plastic cap, and took a big pull on the bottle. The warmness went immediately down his throat and a calming effect suddenly came over him.
He took another short pull on the bottle, shrugged his shoulders, and began looking for a way out of this hell hole. He walked toward the front entrance and in the dim light he could see the roof had collapsed across the entire expanse of the lobby and they were trapped in the existing lounge area. He walked back to where his waitress was playing nurse to about two dozen people and a warmness, similar to the whiskey, flowed through his veins. Even in a time of crisis, he thought, the good in people is still there, even if they have no idea if they will be rescued, the strong will be strong. He at that point, was happier than he had ever been in his entire life. No matter what happens, some people will still be survivors. With a smile on his face he walked over to the cocktail waitress and said a very sincere thank you, which puzzled her completely and began helping her calm the very scared people who had come to enjoy the grand opening and have a drink to celebrate.
June 14, Saturday 1:04 p.m.
Walt Morgan, head of the security unit at the new resort, was retired from the Chicago Police Department after thirty adventurous years. He retired as chief of homicide and received a gold pocket watch to match his gold detective shield that they had let him keep and they were stuffed in his underwear drawer beneath his pile of white socks in his double wide mobile home on the outskirts of Forest Glenn. He had planned to do a lot of fishing and traveling after his retirement but his years with the police department kept him from totally relaxing. Everywhere he went, he saw a suspicious character. He knew a two-eleven was going to come down every time he entered a liquor or even grocery store. It was in his blood so, he decided the only way he would be happy would be doing police work. When he saw the ad in the newspaper advertising for security guards at the new resort, he jumped at the chance to again put on his shiny leather shoes and his Sam Browne. He didn’t apply for the head position but, after the corporate office reviewed his application, he didn’t bother with a resume for a job as a security guard, they had called him up for a second interview and laid a lucrative position in his lap. It was a lot better than he had wished for and he had ten full time and five part time guards under him. Just like the old days. He was the boss.
His office in the corporate office was quite plush. Black leather chair with arms, a walnut desk with matching credenza and plush green carpeting. The office had monitors on two walls that could focus on every location in the resort and was completely computerized. He had his own secretary in a little alcove in front of his office and everyone called him chief. Life was roses. His assignment of men at the various entrances and other important locations had been reviewed by Datafuture, the designer of the security system, and had been approved with flying colors. He was more than ready for the grand opening.
Being a Saturday, his secretary was off and he was all alone in his office watching the monitors automatically changing from place to place. He could see his guards at their assigned locations smiling and greeting the guest as they wandered around the resort taking in all the
sights. He was looking at the monitor in the kitchen when the chef suddenly disappeared from view. It looked like the chef had slipped and maybe hurt himself. The monitor stopped at waist level in the kitchen and he figured the chef had fallen to the floor. He immediately got on the radio to the guard stationed outside the kitchen door and told him to check on the chef that it was possible he had been injured when he had slipped and fallen. The guard told him he would check on the situation and report back promptly.
Chief Morgan waited over five minutes and heard nothing back from the guard. That is really strange he thought. I should have heard from the guard by now. He called the next closest guard, the one by the front desk and repeated the situation and asked him to check on what was going on as soon as possible.
The retirement benefits were very generous from the package Chief Morgan received from the Chicago P.D. Unfortunately, the only benefit that the chief would get to use in the near future was the burial plan as the elaborate desk, credenza, chair, and plush carpeting and of course the chief disappeared when the entire corporate office building sank quickly beneath the surface of the earth.
Becky McClellan was standing on the grass just outside the back door of the corporate office daydreaming as she stared at the majestic waterfall in the distance when, the entire building sank abruptly behind her. There wasn’t much noise, some slight glass rattling made her turn around, and the building completely disappeared from sight. She could not even see any of the brown tiles on the roof. Just a large hole remained where the building had been and as she stood frozen, completely transfixed at such a horrible sight the hole began spreading. The edge closest to her began folding slowly under with the emerald green grass still attached almost like a blanket undulating in the wind. She stood paralyzed, unable to back away from the approaching danger. The sinking ground was within two inches of her firmly planted toes when an urgent barking broke the spell. She immediately backed away from the hole and began running toward the manmade mountain in the distance. She glanced behind her and was very relieved to see her savior, Bart the dog, keeping pace slightly behind her.
“Come on boy. Follow me. We’ll go where we’ll be safe. You’re such a good doggie. You saved my life. I’m going to cook you a big steak dinner when this is over. If this ever, gets over.”
Steve Sidel touched the attractive brunette on the shoulder and began to speak softly to her when, she raised her tear streaked face and looked him directly in the eyes. He was about to ask her if she was all right and that they should go and see if they could help the other people in the resort when he forgot what he was about to say and just stared back into her brown eyes. He could see tiny flecks of green in her very dark eyes and he became tongue tied for a moment. He regained his composure slowly and instead of laying out a rescue plan he put his hand under her chin and said.
“This might be the wrong time and the wrong place but, I think you are gorgeous. Forgive me. I’m usually not so straight forward like that and I really apologize if I embarrassed you but, I guess I couldn’t help it.”
“Apology accepted.” Kathy Santos replied in a quiet voice. The blush in her cheeks quite apparent. “I appreciate the compliment but, you’re right we have to go and see what we can do to help the others.”
Her look of acceptance of him was a definite chemical reaction and he was pleased with himself that he was able to make her feel even half of what he had churning in his heart. When this is over, he thought to himself, I have to see more of this lovely lady. Well, true love can wait, he thought and then realized he had actually fallen in love at first sight. He had heard of that happening but not to the tough Steve Sidel, mister no emotion, too involved in his work to worry about his love life. Sure a date here and there. A marriage that didn’t work. He thought he was destined for lonely ville and now his heart was tipsy turvey. Oh well. You never know. It just takes a simple little disaster like a hurricane or maybe even a sinkhole, for his true emotions to blossom. He didn’t know what would happen in the future but, as soon as this mess was cleared up he was bound and determined to see what he could do to change his lonely lifestyle.