Chapter 25 –
I herd cats
As we drove off to the warehouse district, the young officer introduced himself. He was Lieutenant Sislou, and it took about forty five seconds to see he was infatuated with Elise. He had lots of questions about her, but when he then asked how well I knew her, I had to remind him, she was my fiancée. That seemed to have little effect on his ardor. This guy was going to be a problem. And yes, he was young and good looking. But so were a million other guys. This could be really annoying.
I returned the conversation – multiple times – to the state of the flooding. Remember that? You know, water coming here when it should be in the river? Making a bit of a problem good soldiers were paid to address? He noted that the waters were still rising. The effort to blow up the bridge/dam and relieve the pressure was delayed. He wasn’t sure why. How long would Minister DuPry be in town? Ugh.
Driving to the warehouse district was not easy. Roads they had used this morning were not passable this afternoon. Maybe blowing the dam would be a really good idea! We would turn down one street, go a couple blocks, find deep water and retrace our route. Finally the driver gave up and went way around town to come at the district from the far east. We made it as far as a truck stop. At least there was a truck stop somewhere in the middle of a mass of trucks. It appeared every rig west of the Appalachians was parked here. Every street was parked up in every direction. The highway in from the east, National Highway 3 was full as far as the eye could see, including not just the traffic lanes but the breakdown lane and most of the medium. There had to be a billion francs worth of goods and trucks sitting out on miles of concrete. That gave me an idea for how to keep Lieutenant hot-to-trot busy.
“If I was a bad guy, either someone who wanted to hurt Canada, or someone who wanted to make a quick franc, I would be heading out here right this minute with my buddies and any vehicle strong enough to haul loot.”
“Yes, I agree.” Good, so he could think of something other than my fiancée.
“What if I walk in to the truck stop from here, while you gather some people to begin protecting these trucks.”
“Yes, I should assemble some troops.” He pulled his phone and started gathering people. I got out and started walking, but before I got two steps the driver was out of the car calling me back.
"I have something you will need." He motioned me to the trunk of the car. He was an older guy, near the end of his career, would be my guess. A sergeant, and based on the hash marks on his sleeve, someone who had been a sergeant for a good long time. I decided he was someone I should probably listen to. Inside the trunk were several backpacks. He pulled one to him and opened it so I could see what was inside.
"There's two liters of water here," he said as he opened various zippers. "Water purification tablets here, food here, cell phone and charger here, and this is for emergencies." A side zipper reviewed a pistol and several ammunition clips. "Take it out and show me you can feed a new clip in and get the safety on and off." I did as instructed, but fumbled a bit with the new clip. He patiently demonstrated the correct way to change a clip (how many thousands of privates had he taught over the years?), then put the pistol away and helped me put the pack on. "It is illegal for the army to provide weapons to civilians, so if you need to use this, when asked, you are to tell people you got the weapon from your company. Understand?"
"Will I need it?"
"In a disaster, almost everyone leaves. Those who stay behind are the best and the worst. By this time tomorrow, you are going to wonder where all the best have gone." On that happy note, I started my walk to the truck stop.
How many trucks were backed up at this location? I honestly had to walk half an hour from where they dropped me before I got to the truck stop. If they were backed up this far from the east, we could assume similar back ups in every other direction. While I walked, I dialed Elise on my new cell phone and told her what I was seeing. She immediately put a team on it. They needed to block traffic or reroute traffic all over the country. Letting any more trucks get to Kaskaskia was just nuts.
When I finally made it to the truck stop, I almost wished I hadn’t. Whatever resources this place had – fuel, coffee, donuts, beef jerky – were long gone. Apparently the showers didn’t work either, since the stench of over-fed male bodies was overpowering. Somehow I was supposed to meet here for a warehouse council? How would I find these people, and where would we even sit? I walked in the main doors and just stood there like a fool, wondering what to do. Immediately a hundred heads turned my way, wondering if I was somebody who could make things better. It was tempting, but I did not shout out, “Don’t look at me, I’m just as confused as you are.”
I had already decided on two very good reasons to give Jacques LeClerk a bonus (minus a deduction for suckering me into that stupid dragon boat race), but he earned bonus number three by spotting me at the door. I saw him work his way through the crowd. Once he saw I had seen him, he waved for me to follow him, and he turned and worked his way to a room at the back of the building. Apparently these were “Council Chambers.”
I don't know what the original purpose of the room was, but it had a table and enough chairs for the sixteen or eighteen men who had gathered there. The fact that they had been able to commandeer any kind of room in this crush of drivers spoke volumes about the status these men had. What did they look like? Pretty much all middle age. About half were large enough I guessed they had started on the loading dock and worked their way up. The other half probably came through college programs - supply chain or operations degrees. There was just something in their look that said they would rather work a spreadsheet than a forklift.
Would we get along and actually be a "council"? I would find out fast enough. LeClerk introduced me around. I was "Doctor Murphy" and I had been in the city for a week visiting with Minister DuPry, and I had been on the island when everything had happened. Basically, he established my credibility. That seemed to be enough. These men were all tired and stressed and from the look of their clothes, most had spent the morning at their warehouse, but at least for the moment they were willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. I might be useful. I thought the best thing I could do is not waste their time, so the minute I had shaken hands with each man, I jumped in.
"I spent the morning with the Interior Ministry. They are organizing their response and getting resources in place. Obviously lots has to be done. Let me give you their big fear, and their priority. Virtually every supply line in Canada runs through Kaskaskia. If Kaskaskia shuts down, so does Canada. They are working to make sure that doesn't happen. The river has to be reopened, and the highways, and the railroads. But it does no good to open the roads if there is nothing on the trucks. The most critical element in the response is you -- the warehouses. We have to get you reopened."
"Sure," one of the men responded. One of the college guys I guessed. "But the water is rising, not falling. I can barely get to my place by boat now."
"Yes, I was told the demolition of the bridge that is damming up the river has been delayed. I think we can assume there will be other delays. This is a huge project, and we all have enough experience with projects to know problems happen. But here is the bottom line. The ministry estimates most manufacturers carry enough safety stock to run for fourteen days. After that, production shuts down nationwide, and Canada stops being an industrial nation. Whatever other people do, you and I have one essential goal -- we must reopen all our warehouses in fourteen days. Two weeks from today, those rigs parked around this truck stop need to be standing at our loading docks." Nice speech. You can imagine how it was received. They didn't throw things, and there was fairly limited profanity (although the French are really creative in that department), but did anyone in the room think we would be open for business in fourteen days? Not a one. I continued anyway.
"We all need to get back to our businesses. But here's what
I want to do. I am going to give you all my cell number. Before you leave the company tonight, send me a text with your needs. Put them in priority order. Also think about priorities at your own company. We don't have to have your entire operation up and running normally. What we need is enough of your operation running so that critical goods make it to critical companies. Think of it this way. Of all the rigs sitting out here today, which are the ones you want arriving that first day, and what products do you need to ship first? Whatever "normal" is may have to wait for Christmas. For now, we think about what is critical." That last little speech was accepted better. I still heard a couple guys say, "Just get the damn water off my street," but mostly they left ready to work. If there is one thing warehouse guys understand, it is priorities. I stood by the door, shook hands with each of them as they left, and then left with LeClerk. If there was one warehouse that would be operating in fourteen days, it would be ours.