Wipeout: Wipeout Book 1 Read online

  That was just one of the many things that was going to change, and fast. Samuel thought of all the food that was imported into the country by air travel. With those planes now grounded, food resources would become increasingly scarce and limited. What food did the United States even produce themselves anymore? Samuel grimaced at the thought of weeks spent eating only tomato and pumpkin. At least cattle farms were plentiful around the States, but then resources would be required to maintain them as well. It almost hurt Samuel’s head to consider everything what would be affected, more and more factors adding up every time he thought about it.

  “Excuse me, sir?” A woman in a steward’s uniform carrying a clipboard appeared in front of Samuel. “Could you tell me which flight you were waiting for please?”

  “Sorry?” Samuel questioned, hearing what the woman had said but not expecting that sort of orderly question or quite sure how to respond.

  “What flight were you hoping to board, sir?” The woman asked again, “I need to take down details of all grounded passengers.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t due to be on any flight,” Samuel finally answered. “Sorry.”

  “Had you just landed then?” The steward continued to question him. “Can I take your name?”

  “No, I’m sorry,” Samuel apologised again. “I haven’t been flying at all. I just arrived at the airport about ten minutes ago. I’ve come from the city.”

  “You’ve just got here?”

  “Yes,” Samuel nodded. The woman looked confused and he felt guilty for complicating matters. She was only trying to do her job and he was making her life harder for no real reason other than his curiosity.

  “Do you have family here that have been grounded?”

  “No,” Samuel was feeling increasingly embarrassed by the conversation, wishing he had never come to the airport. “I’m on my way to see my parents in Freeport. I was just passing through. I thought I might be able to hire a car or something from here. Do you know if anything like that is available?”

  The woman furrowed her brow. “We’re organising a shuttle bus to take grounded passengers back into the city or to a place of safety. Beyond that I’m not sure.”

  “A shuttle bus? Incredible. Thank you, and sorry I’ve wasted your time.”

  “No problem.”

  Glancing around the lobby with a bit more intent now, Samuel saw several groups of people being shepherded towards one of the exits. In some cases, people were pushing and shoving to reach the front of the group, clearly desperate to get back to their families and homes. Samuel started walking briskly in their direction, keen to reach his parents as quickly as possible.

  “Excuse me?” He asked another woman in a stewarding outfit who was ushering people out of the building, doing her best to control the crowds that flocked toward her. “Can you tell me if there’s a shuttle going in the direction of Freeport?”

  “Where?” The woman asked without giving Samuel her full attention. Her accent immediately gave away the fact that she wasn’t an American, but rather someone from Europe – perhaps France or Belgium.

  “Freeport,” Samuel repeated. “It’s further east on Long Island?”

  “There is one shuttle going away from the city,” the woman replied after a quick glance at her clipboard. “Over there.” She pointed in the direction of another group of people, once again jostling for a place at the front of the group escorted by women in similar uniforms.

  “Thank you,” Samuel grinned, already darting off in the direction she had pointed. “Is this the shuttle over the island?” He asked as he reached the intended group, placing a hand on a steward’s shoulder in order to pull her attention away from the rowdy group.

  “It is,” the woman replied. “Are you my last passenger?” She looked down at a printed list on a clipboard in her right hand. “Anthony Calvert-Lewin?”

  Samuel paused for a moment, considering what the woman had just asked him. Looking at the bus just off to the right, he realized that it was already full of passengers, those remaining outside all trying to board but being held back by stewards and security workers alike. The truth quickly fell into place that there wasn’t enough room on all the buses for everyone in the airport. Everything was operating on limited resources and this wasn’t any exception.

  Samuel had two choices: admit he wasn’t the man the woman was waiting for and try to find another way to his parents’ house, or lie and take the final seat, leaving another man stranded at the airport. He had been raised to be a selfless man and to always put the feelings and thoughts of others above his own, but Samuel was tired. He had been through a lot that day and he was worried about the fate of his and his family’s future so, he nodded to the steward.

  “Yes, sorry I’m late.”

  “Do you have any ID?” The woman asked, seeing the pause in Samuel’s response. “It doesn’t say where you want dropping. And do you not have any luggage?”

  Samuel swallowed, reaching into his pocket to dig out his wallet while thinking on his feet. “Freeport please,” Samuel answered, taking his wallet out of his pants pocket and opening it, even though he knew his driver’s license would reveal he was not the man the steward was waiting for. Just as he was about to hand it to her though, the crowd beside him surged forward, knocking a woman off her feet who let out a loud scream. The atmosphere in the airport was getting more and more frightening, the fear of the unknown seeping through the grounded passengers.

  “Just get him on!” The shout of the driver, accompanied by the sounding of his horn halted any further discussion between Samuel and the steward. She gave him one last look and ran to the bus herself. Samuel shoved his wallet back into his pocket and raced after her. He tumbled through the doors just as they started to close and the bus started to move. It tore away from the airport and left hundreds of people behind chasing after it and banging on the windows.

  Samuel found the last available seat as quickly as possible and sat down. Everyone around him was silent as they watched the scene outside. No one batted an eye when Samuel took the last seat, the man who’s place he had taken clearly travelling alone. As the airport was left further and further behind, Samuel felt an overwhelming cloud of guilt settling over him. He had just stolen this seat from a man who needed it. People at this airport were doing everything they could to retain some sense of normalcy and help everyone get home and he had just walked in off the street and asserted himself into that luxury. It was quite possibly the most selfish thing he had ever done. Ashamed, Samuel started shrinking down further and further in his seat until he was slouching completely, making every effort to hide away and not be seen. Whoever Anthony Calvert-Lewin was, Samuel Westchester had just stolen his chance.

  Chapter 10

  “Samuel, my boy! How did you get here? Are you all right?” Charles Westchester greeted his son.

  Seeing his father’s beaming face as he walked into the house in Freeport filled Samuel with a huge sense of relief, his muscles practically sagging with joy as he embraced his father. They had always been much closer than he and his mother were, and if he was ever going to share moments of affection with one of his parents, it would be with his father.

  “Dad! Are you okay? Where’s mom?”

  “Samuel? Is that you?”

  “Hi mom, how are you?”

  “Oh, what a relief it is to see you,” Samuel’s mother, Addison, gushed as she walked into the front hall and welcomed her son in. “What’s going on, Samuel? Do you have any more information? Have you been in the office?”

  “Let the man come inside first, Addison,” Charles scolded his wife. “Come on, Samuel. Do you want a drink? Sit down and tell us what’s happened.”

  “Thanks dad,” Samuel smiled, walking into his parents’ house properly and taking his shoes off. He knew the routine by now, shoes off and left in the front hall, no muddy footprints left behind to damage the rug or the varnished floorboards. His appearance told quite a story. That morning when he had set off for w
ork, he had been in a neatly pressed suit and tie like always, a pocket square even peeking out of the breast pocket on his blazer. Now he couldn’t even remember where his blazer and tie were, the two of them lost to New York City. His once white shirt was an unpleasant shade of gray, with stains he couldn’t even identify – nor did he want to.

  “How did you get here?”

  “I got a cab to the airport and then a shuttle bus from there,” Samuel explained, still feeling guilty about the shuttle bus he had taken from JFK. Samuel hoped Anthony Calvert-Lewin had found other arrangements. He was the third on a list of people Samuel felt like he had let down since everything happened with Trident. It joined R. Hauser and Cassie, the first of whom he had completely failed, the latter being someone he wished he had taken better care of before they said goodbye.

  “You left your car in the city?”

  “I didn’t drive in this morning” Samuel shook his head. “I’ve told you, it’s a lot quicker for me to just walk or take the subway.”

  Addison grimaced, her opinion on the subway well known by her son. She hated using it and would always choose to drive or even walk before being forced down into the tunnels below the city. She found them dirty and unsafe, despite how many years they’d been in operation without a single accident. “I wish you wouldn’t use that,” she remarked while pouring out three mugs of coffee. “I just don’t think it’s safe.”

  “I know mom,” Samuel replied, aware of how pointless it was trying to argue with his mother over this. “I won’t be for some time now, at least. I can promise you that.”

  “Well that’s something,” Addison tutted, handing her son and her husband both a mug of coffee. “Come on now, tell us what’s happened. We’ve seen on the news that Trident has lost everything, is that true? We can’t get onto our account with them but our accounts with Steadfast and with The Dorchester Group are both still fine. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Samuel nodded, listening to his mother as the three of them moved to sit down in the drawing room. It wasn’t news to him that his parents held accounts with all three of the major US banking corporations; they were a very well-off couple and so it made sense that they had spread that wealth around. He was pretty sure they had some money in offshore bank accounts as well, though he wasn’t sure of those details. Perhaps they were some of the lucky ones. They’d lose whatever percentage of their money was with Trident but should still be able to rely on the other pots of money. Though Samuel was uncertain for how long.

  “Have you seen the statement Trident released?” Samuel asked his parents, addressing the question more to his father in the hope of a rational response. “About ransomware? I don’t understand it entirely but…”

  “Ah yes,” Addison interrupted her son, “we looked it up. When an online hacker blocks access to an account until a ransom is paid. So, does that mean the money isn’t really gone, that we just can’t access it?”

  “Theoretically,” Samuel nodded. “But in all honesty, I don’t know how long that will take or even if it’s accurate. There are a lot of people in the city who are questioning why anyone would hold money for ransom, when the ransom is for that money anyway.”

  “Makes sense,” Charles nodded, “I had thought the same thing. I imagine the government and the other big banking groups will need to step in soon.”

  “I agree. There’s got to be a list somewhere of all the organizations that Trident supported. Can I borrow your laptop? I think there’s something on our website actually.” Receiving his father’s laptop, Samuel began to navigate to the Trident website while continuing to explain what he knew. “You’ve got to think; Trident invested in oil, in food manufacturing, in infrastructure. They were – oh, that’s weird.”

  “What?”

  “The site won’t load. It says there’s an error.”

  “Have you tried hitting refresh? Our wireless has been a bit on and off lately.”

  Samuel did as his mother instructed, but it made little difference. Everything else was working; it was just the Trident site specifically that wouldn’t load. It was like it had been taken down, deliberately removed from the web.

  “This isn’t good,” Samuel remarked, doing a couple of other searches to try and get something to load. “It looks like Trident has taken the page down. Like they’ve done this deliberately.”

  “But why would they –”

  “Yep,” Samuel cut off his father’s question. “Look at this.” Turning the laptop screen around to face his parents, he showed them a screen from a news site with the headline: An admission of guilt? Trident website shut down while billions remain unaccounted for.

  “Oh dear,” Addison put a hand to her mouth and the other on her husband’s arm. “You don’t really think all that money is gone, do you?”

  Charles looked at his son, deferring the question to him and hoping his job with Trident would have granted him some additional insight he hadn’t yet shared. Samuel shook his head. “I think it might be, mom. I don’t know how we’re going to get it back.”

  “Oh my,” Addison breathed, grabbing hold of Charles with both hands now. A moment of silence fell among the family, each of them thinking about how this was going to affect them. Samuel still wanted to have hope that Trident could get the money back, but he couldn’t deny how guilty it looked that they had taken down their website. Even if the money could be regained now, the bank would be ruined. No one would trust them to keep their money safe again, the company was done for one way or another – it was now just a question of how many people would be brought down with it.

  “How many different organizations did you say Trident had invested in, son?”

  Charles patted his wife on the hand softly and leant forward, pulling a notebook and pen out from a drawer within the coffee table. Looking up expectantly at Samuel, he prepared to write, determined to not be caught off guard by what was about to happen to his country.

  Samuel cleared his throat, understanding his father’s intentions. “There’s a lot,” he began. “Infrastructure – I remember working on a marketing campaign a couple of years back that highlighted the new builds just outside of the Bronx. We’ve been stepping up our support work for the community over the last decade or so and rebuilding the community and funding the maintenance of the city is a big part of that.”

  “Okay,” Charles started scribbling down notes. “Infrastructure. What else?”

  “Well, there’s the importation of goods,” Samuel thought for a moment. “We issue monthly loans to a large number of companies that are involved in the food supply to the city. Hospitals. Medicine. Power.” The list seemed to go on and on, the more Samuel thought about it, the more he realized how everything would be affected in some way by this disaster. Travel and transportation was something he highlighted more than once, telling his parents how difficult it had been to get out of the city already. He imagined the roads would soon be impassable, restricting people to their homes and the local area. JFK had already grounded all flights as he’d experienced first-hand. In a way he had to count himself lucky that he hadn’t been away on business when all of this happened.

  “We should call Jessie,” he prompted his parents. “This is all over the news, but I have no idea what it will be like over there. We’re at the epicenter, but everyone will be affected.”

  “Good idea,” Charles nodded, “when did you last speak to your sister?”

  “We email most weeks; it’s been a while since I spoke to her though.”

  “Us too,” Charles agreed, regretting how infrequently he and his wife talked to their only daughter. Her moving to Hawaii had been hard – particularly on Addison – their relationship with Jessie had been damaged as a result and that was hard to repair when conversations were only held over the phone.

  “I’ll video call her now,” Samuel smiled, excited to speak to his sister again. He couldn’t help but worry about her. No matter how much he admired her bravery in moving away, she was still
his baby sister and like with many other people, he felt a duty of care toward her. “Mom, can you move over a bit, please? Then I can position the camera to get us all in.”

  Addison did as she was told, straightening the blouse she was wearing as the camera displayed the image of the three of them and the dial tone began. “Oh, perhaps you should change first, Samuel,” she fretted over her son’s appearance. “We’ve got some of your shirts in the guest closet upstairs.”

  “It’s fine mom, Jessie isn’t going to care what I look like,” Samuel said just as the call connected.

  “Aren’t I? Jeez what’s happened to you Sammy? It looks like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards!”

  Samuel laughed, something that he realized he hadn’t done in several hours. It was revitalizing to see his sister’s face smiling up at him from the laptop, showing her sitting in her kitchen in Hawaii, the ocean just visible through the window behind her.

  “Hey Jessie,” Samuel replied, “how are you? How’s it going?”

  “Not bad,” Jessie replied, “well, aside from discovering all my money has vanished into thin air. What’s going on, Sam? Do you know what’s happened?”

  “Hello Jessica,” Addison addressed her daughter, cutting into the easy conversation the two siblings were sharing. “You’re looking well.”

  “Hey mom,” Jessie mumbled, her gaze lowered. Then she smiled and looked back at the screen. “Hi dad. Miss you guys.”

  “We miss you too,” Charles replied, taking his wife’s hand and squeezing it just out of camera. “How is everything over there? I take it you’ve heard the news?”

  “Yeah,” Jessie nodded. “I don’t really get what’s going on to be honest. Is the money gone forever or have they just, like, lost it?”