John was scared and pissed off. The cu..., no, the twa—no. The wretched bitch acted like he and truckers were some lower life form.
“Will you please, please, look at where my co-worker is at?”
“Sir, we already did that, and there's nobody there.”
“I'm telling you, he's there.”
“Again, sir, we looked right after the alarm went off. Somebody must have told him, because there's nobody there.”
“He is there. Will you turn on the camera monitoring that area again, please?”
“I'll tell you again, sir, and maybe you'll hear me this time. We looked right after the alarm went off, and the driver isn't with the truck.”
“Holy God, will you please just turn the camera and look again?”
“Sir, we are busy, and this is an evacuation. I'm going to need you to leave.”
“No. I'm refusing to leave.”
“You're refusing to leave?”
“Absolutely, irrefutably, or whatever other descriptive-type word you need to hear to convince you. I am not leaving until you turn the camera and look again.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, you'll do it?”
“Nope. There's nobody with the truck, so I have to call my supervisor so you'll leave.”
So John waited.
“Operations, this is Bill.”
“Hey, Bill, this is Celia at the guardhouse. I'm trying to reach the operations manager, but I'm not sure who's on since the evacuation happened right after shift change. It's either Dominic or Philip, according to my emergency contact list.”
“Yeah, Dominic had a thing or something, and I couldn't come in until an hour later. Then Big Bill Phil got stuck with it. Let me get him for you.”
“Thanks, Bill.”
Four minutes later: “This is Phil.”
“Phil, this is Celia in security. You're in charge of operations today?”
“Yes, Celia. What's going on?”
“Yes, sir. Um, we have a driver here who is refusing to leave after we told him he had to go.”
“Okay. How is he going to leave if he was in the plant during the evacuation? Everybody is still under the shelter in place.”
“No, sir. He pulled in and parked at the gate. He walked in through the pedestrian entrance and came straight in.”
“That is a serious policy violation. He won't be coming back here anymore, for sure.”
“No, sir, he won't.”
“Okay, but if he's refusing to leave, we'll probably have to call the police.”
“Yes, sir. Do you want me to call them now?”
“No, hold off on that. I'll be up there in a minute. Our part of the plant isn't really affected, and the shelter in place is mostly just to keep people from accidentally going back into those areas.”
“Oh, yes, sir. We'll be here.”
“All right.”
Phil grabbed his phone and sent a text to Dominic.
Hey, Dom, call me ASAP, please. Got a problem at SEC.
Phil's phone rang almost immediately.
“Hey, Dom,” said Phil.
“Hey, Big Bill. What's going on? I'm more of a Big 12 guy myself, but is there some major SEC issue I can help with?”
“Huh?” asked Phil.
“Yeah, go Sun Devils. I still make the trip to see my parents every other month out in Phoenix. I even kept my Sun Devils license plate frame.”
“Oh, yeah,” Phil said, finally catching on. “No, I'm heading to the security building.”
“Ah, they're an outside contractor, just like the scaffolding guys. They handle their own shit.”
“Yeah, I know, but this is a different thing.”
“Yeah, okay. Tell me.”
“Yeah, they tell me there's a driver there who refuses to leave.”
“He can't leave if there's an evacuation or shelter in place. That's what it is, right? A shelter in place?”
“Yeah, it is, but no. They said he pulled up to the gate and walked in, and now he won't leave.”
“Oh, now I see. So did you already call the police?”
“No, not yet. I'm heading up there now to see if I can resolve it.”
“Yeah, good call. That is the next step, though, if he won't leave.”
“Okay, Dom. Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime.”
Beep, beep, beep.
Phil hurried over, and Celia greeted him.
“Hey, Phil. Thanks for coming so quick.”
“No problem, Celia,” he said. He didn't really know her, but he could read a name badge.
“He's the driver.”
“Yes, I am,” John said.
“You're refusing to leave?” asked Phil.
“Yes,” replied John.
“Celia said she told you we'd have to call the police, and that you'd be permanently banned if we do?”
“I don't care,” said John.
“You don't?”
“Not at all.”
“Why is that?”
“I'll tell you why. You've got a driver in there unloading and can't get out.”
“No, we don't.” Celia said it flatly.
“Yes, we do. Turn the camera. Click it. I don't know, but look!” John was nearly jumping and screaming.
“Whoa, hold on, driver.”
“Well, while we're sitting here jawjacking, you have a driver trapped, and he has no way of getting out.”
“Is that true?” Phil asked Celia in front of John.
“Yes, it is,” said John.
“I'm asking security,” Phil said, rather sternly.
“No, sir,” Celia answered.
“Okay, then why is this driver saying there is?”
“I'm not sure, sir,” Celia said to Phil.
“Look at the camera, please. Pretty please, with sugar or whatever the fuck you want on it. Look.”
“Check the tone, driver,” Phil said after seeing Celia's eyes begin to water. “And calm down.”
“I can't be calm. You got a driver stuck back there, and nobody gives a damn,” John yelled.
“Settle down,” Phil said to John in a calmer, cooler voice.
“Sorry,” John said, “but I've practically been begging her for an hour to just turn the camera and look at where the driver is unloading.”
“We know there's nobody back there,” Celia said.
“Did we check the muster list? Is he on anyone's list?” John asked.
“No. We can't see all of them anyway till they lift the shelter in place.”
“Okay, so we have no proof he's safe?”
“Well, sir, no way right now.”
“Well, can we look? At least check the camera?”
“I've already explained that,” Celia said.
“Look, he texted me at 11:43 saying something about a high-low siren.”
“Yeah, that would be the gas release alarm,” replied Phil.
“When did it happen?” asked John.
“We called for the shelter in place at 11:46.”
“And today is alarm test day?”
“Yes.”
“So he might have thought it was a test,” John said.
“I guess it's possible,” Phil said.
“So can we just look real quick?” John asked.
“I already—” Celia trailed off.
“Yeah, let's do that,” Phil said.
“Thank God Almighty,” John said.
“There's nobody there,” Celia said, exasperated.
“Well,” Phil said, thinking for a minute, then looking at John. “What's your name, driver?”
“John,” said John.
“Well, John has me wondering.”
“We looked, sir. There was nobody in the truck,” Celia said.
“He wouldn't be in the truck if he was unloading or setting up to unload. Or disconnecting,” said John.
“Well, okay. Let's look,” Phil said as he walked over to the monitor. Noticing all the camera feeds displayed, he asked, “Which one is the truck?”
“It's not up there, sir,” Celia stated.
“Why not?” Phil asked.
“After we saw there was nobody in the truck, we switched that display to another camera.”
“Why did you do that?” Phil asked.
“Yeah, why?” agreed John aloud.
“Since nobody was in the truck, our shift lead told us to change it to the other camera that pointed up the street, so we could see flashing lights before they got here and could have the gate opened.”
“So when? What time was that?” asked Phil.
“Right after the alarm went off,” Celia replied.
“So nobody has looked at the truck camera in over six hours?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, let's do that right now,” commanded Phil.
“Sir, we didn't see anyone outside or in the truck.”
“Which way does the camera look? Doesn't it look straight at the front and down both sides?” John asked.
“Yeah,” Celia answered.
“Does it look at the back?” John asked.
“No, there's no need to,” Celia retorted.
“Why do you ask, driver?” Phil asked.
“So the driver has to be outside the truck during offloading if he's following the written procedures of our company and the safety guidelines of yours,” John stated.
“Right,” Phil said. “Guess that explains why they didn't see him in the cab.”
“Right,” John said, noticing how Phil was already planning his responsibility escape trail in that word: they.
John continued. “So if the driver wanted some shade once the offload was going good, he would probably stand or sit in the shade behind the truck.”
“Makes sense to me. What are you getting at?” Phil asked.
“You didn't look back there.”
“Oh, shit,” Phil exclaimed. “Let's look.”
Looking at John, he asked, “You want to come around the counter so you can see as well?”
“Gladly,” John replied and made his way to the opening in the counter.
“Which screen is it usually?” Phil asked Celia.
“All the way at the bottom left,” John said, ignoring Celia's glare.
“Open that one, please,” Phil said.
“Give me a second,” Celia replied with all disrespect. “I have to change it to the right camera.”
“Okay, well, let's make it happen. I don't like this feeling I just got,” said Phil.
“There it is,” Celia said.
“Can you make it bigger? It's what, a thirty-inch monitor, right?”
“Thirty-two-inch.”
Celia double-clicked the smaller box to make it fill the whole screen.
Celia shrieked. Phil moaned. John cussed.
A pair of brownish-red rubber boots had their yellow toes pointing up in a V. The filled white pant legs lay on the ground, finishing under the green upper half of the chem suit. His lips were blue and purple, as were the nails of the fingers clutched at his throat. Foam surrounded his mouth. His eyes were red and lifeless.