Firestorm - 34. FS Chapter 34

“Sergeant Grassmere here sir, it is the decision of us men and our wives in particular, that we pack up and return to Australia, it has also been decided that to make the point very clear to our hosts, we will be leaving at the same time, without any notice to our exchange employers” Mike said, “I understand Sergeant, and I agree with you on that second point, I will have my office start organising the transport and freight, right away, we already have the names of every family member of all five families, so just leave it to us, pack and be ready to go in a few days’ time” the Brigadier said.

When the call ended, there was silence amongst the adults for some time, as the children were eating their dinner, and once all the adults had ordered, we discussed the logistics of leaving without the exchange employers knowing, and we decided that it needed to be done as carefully as possible, and we decided to have two sick days off work, to make it possible. We told the children to say absolutely nothing to their friends or anyone outside of us sitting at the table, and they all happily agreed.

We all knew that there was only one flight out of town, leaving at 3pm, and with a time zone to cross, we would arrive at Vancouver at 5.45pm local time, and after some online searching, I found that there is a 11.40pm flight leaving Vancouver, for the 15 ½ hour flight to Sydney. The five-hour layover in Vancouver, would be plenty of time to get the kids to get some exercise before the long flight home to Australia, plus some food as well.

Since we had hardly unpacked, due to us being at the motel, the next morning, Tom and I went over to the apartment building to help the rest of the group with packing, and working as a team with the other 4 men, and two teenage boys, we had all four families virtually fully packed by lunch time. I pulled out my phone and sent a text message, “Sir, working together, we have all five families now packed and ready to go, with about 300kg of belongings to be shipped”, and surprisingly I received a text back, “Understood and well done, we will speed up the planning process, be ready” came the reply which made me smile.

Heading back to the pub for lunch with all five families, in the short time we had become close, which surprised me a little, and we happily chatted as we ate, making a point not to discuss anything about moving, in case we are overheard. After lunch, since it was a fine day, with no snow falling, and the temperature rising at just over zero, and no winds, we all went for a walk around the town, knowing this may be our last time to have a look around, depending on the travel arrangements.

As the families gathered again for dinner, my phone vibrated with a message. “Freight truck will be at your motel at 2100 hours tonight your time, to collect all belongings to be shipped, you are all booked onto tomorrow afternoon’s flight to Vancouver, leaving at 1500 hours your time, arriving at Vancouver at 1745 hours, after a 50-minute stop at Prince George. You are also booked onto tomorrow’s West Jet Flight 1835 to San Francisco, leaving Vancouver at 1945 hours, arriving at 2205 hours.

After a 3 hour stop over, you board Cathay Pacific flight 873 to Hong Kong, leaving at 0050 hours, arriving in Hong Kong at 0610 local time, your final trip after a three-hour layover, is Cathay Pacific flight 139 to Sydney, leaving at 0910 local time, details of flights to your home state are still been arranged” the message read, and I read it out to everyone.

“Well it looks like we are heading home, good riddens Fort Nelson and the Northern Rockies Municipality” Jim said with a smile, “we better eat up and get our shipping luggage over to Mitchell’s place” Glen commented, and so we quickly ordered our dinner, and ate. Leaving the restaurant just after 8pm, we had four car loads of belongings arrive about half an hour later, and about fifteen minutes later the freight truck arrived.

Once loaded up, we all thanked the driver, and he set off south back to Vancouver, were it would be sent by ship to Sydney, in about a weeks’ time., and everyone headed back to their homes to get some sleep, in preparedness for the long journey ahead. The next morning after breakfast, I went to the reception office of the motel, and announced that our family would be checking tomorrow, as we are being relocated, and I gave them a weeks’ rent to cover the short notice.

Just as I entered the motel room, my phone vibrated again, “Inland Auto Service, Dawson Creek, will send a truck to collect all five vehicles and buy them depending on condition, and minus freight costs, leave keys with Dan at the pub” the message read, and I forwarded the message to Les, so he could pass it onto the others. “That’s good, message passed on, I was wondering what to do about our vehicles” Les replied in a text soon after. At 2pm all five families were gathered at the pub, and we handed over the keys to Dan, who was the only one to know what was actually happening, and we each gave him a letter, to pass onto our exchange employers, to be delivered at 7pm, when we are well on our way out of Canada.

We each had delivered invitations to our exchange employers for dinner at Dan’s Pub, for 7pm Sunday, where they will receive the letters. Nervously we all boarded the flight, and we were all a little relieved when we were finally off the ground, and on our way south to San Francisco, which is a 2 ¼ hour flight. It was Tom, who started counting down from 30, and at first, I wondered why till I looked at my watch, and I joined him, and the rest of the group joined in, laughing when we reached zero, while other passengers looked at us strangely.

Meanwhile exactly on 7pm, Dan approached the table of the five local men seated together, a little confused about why they were there, and Dan handed them the envelopes and walked away. Each letter was identical, as we had worked on it together, “Sir, we wish to inform you that on the recommendations of our government, back home in Australia, and due to the unsuitable and deplorable accommodation provided by your local government, we have terminated our Exchange programmes, and we are currently in transit home, thank you for the chance to experience life in Canada, good luck in the future”.

On the flight to San Francisco, we discussed what the reactions would be in Fort Nelson, and we hoped that out actions would improve the situation in the future. On arrival, not having to worry about our luggage as it would continue on to Sydney, we spent an hour walking and looking around the international terminal, and from a viewing area, we could see the skyline of the city, which was the closest we would get to it.

We had kept our phones off, knowing that the exchange employers would try to contact us, but since I hadn’t started yet, they didn’t have my number, as we headed to the departure lounge for our next flight I turned mine on, and sure enough one message arrived. “Mitchell, as expected the five employers were disappointed then angry with the way you all left, but when I told them you were already of USA airspace, there was nothing they could do, so they paid for their drinks and went home, Dan”, I smiled and showed the message to Les, who read it out to the other three men.

The 14 ½ hour flight to Hong Kong was brutal, Simeon was restless for most of the flight, and would only go to sleep in my arms, Tom happily slept and watched movies the whole time, as he enjoyed flying to new destinations, and Angela managed to sleep some, while I had Simeon with me.

With only three hours till our next flight, we all went for a walk again for the first hour, found some snacks, puzzle books for Tom, and a quick change of nappy for Simeon, who was wide awake and looking around at the new surroundings. At the departure lounge for our final flight, with 9 hours till we reached Sydney, I kept Simeon occupied with games, while Angela walked around the lounge, and talked with the other ladies.

With Angela having Simeon, I managed to get about 5 hours sleep, and woke to find Tom not in his seat next to me, “He’s in the toilet, he won’t be long” Angela assured me, and moments later, Tom returned with his face white as a ghost, “Da…dad, you better come with me” he said then walked off back towards the toilets, and he pointed to the second toilet door, “In there, the door popped open and…, I just slammed the door shut and I came to get you” Tom said to me.

“What is the problem?” a female voice said behind me, and I turned to face her, “Ma’am, I am Warrant Officer Mitchell Benning, Australian Special Operations Command”, I said as I pulled out my ID from my pocket, “my son has seen something in this toilet, when the door swung open, by the looks of his face I have a good idea what he saw” I said to the stewardess, “ok let’s open up and see” she replied, “Tom back to your seat please and not a word to anyone, including mum” I said to Tom, and he set off to sit down.

Once Tom was gone, and the stewardess closed the curtains, I opened the door. Inside was a man who was clearly dead, and there was a syringe and needle sticking out of his arm. “Don’t touch anything, lock it up, and keep it sealed, then go to the flight cabin and ask the captain to call the Federal police, tell them my name, they will know who I am, and what we have found, they will take care of things from there” I instructed the stewardess, who closed and locked the toilet, and place an Out of Order sign on it, before heading off, and I returned to my seat.

When Angela looked at me with a frown, I put my finger to my lips to indicate silence, and she nodded her head in understanding, and a few minutes later the stewardess came up to me, “Mr Benning, the captain would like to speak to you just outside the flight cabin” she said to me, and unbuckling my seatbelt I followed her, till we were upstairs and the Captain came out of the flight cabin.

“Warrant Officer Benning, it appears that the Federal Police do know who you are, quite a hero from their reports. When we land, I will ask all passengers to remain seated, till an emergency situated is sorted, Linda here will come and get you, the Feds want you to come with them when they remove the body, and to make a report” the Captain said. “I’m sorry, not this time I won’t, I have my family with me, I will go and make a statement at the earliest opportunity, good day Captain” I said as I turned and returned to my seat.

About half an hour later the stewardess handed me a note, “Feds not pleased, but understand and will wait for you to go to them” the message read, and I smiled and nodded my head of thanks to the stewardess, who returned to work. “Are you ok son” I asked Tom, who had been silent ever since I returned, and he shook his head no. “I know it is a terrible thing that you saw, from what I saw he overdosed on drugs, try not to think about it, if you can” I whispered to him, and gave him a sideways hug.

When we finally landed in Sydney, the Captain made the announcement, and we all sat and waited till the all clear was given about twenty minutes later, before we were permitted to exit the plane. As we stepped out into the arrivals hall after passing through customs and immigration, I was a little surprised to find Brigadier Murdoch standing there waiting. “Who is the top brass?” Jim asked from behind me, “My boss, Brigadier Murdoch” I replied as I stepped forward, to greet him, only to be beaten by Tom who snapped to attention and saluted, and the boss returned the salute.

“You must be cadet Thomas Parker Benning” the Brigadier said to Tom as I arrived and snapped to attention, and Mike arrived shortly after and did the same, “Sir, yes sir” Tom replied smartly, then he looked over to Mike, “and you must be Sergeant Mike Grassmere” the Brigadier said, Sir, yes sir” Mike said copying Tom. “At ease gentlemen and cadet, since it has been 36 hours since you left Fort Nelson so abruptly, there has been a few other developments, the lady you spoke to a few days ago, has informed her counterpart in Canada, of the cancellation of all Exchange programmes to Canada, till a review is done on Accommodation facilities, and apparently the Canadian counterpart was not at all happy” the Brigadier stated.

By now the rest of the group had arrived, and were listening in, “well sir, I thank you and the VIP lady for your assistance in the matter, I think now we need to get some rest, and get to our home states and homes” I replied, and the Brigadier smiled and handed me five folders, each with a name on it, and I handed them out.

“These are your travel arrangements to get to your homes, have a safe journey, and Mitchell, after you have seen your Aunty, and got your family settled at home, I have some fresh orders for you, that Colonel Harding will give you in a few days’ time, once you have rested” the Brigadier announced, and Mike, Tom and I snapped to attention and saluted.

Once the Brigadier had left, I looked inside our folder, we had overnight accommodation, before we fly to Perth at 2.30pm tomorrow, which I was pleased about, so after saying farewell to the other four families, we headed to the train station, to get to our accommodation. By the time we checked into the hotel family suite, it was nearly lunch time, and we had just over 24 hours, before our last flight, so we headed to the hotel restaurant for an early lunch, then headed to our suite to catch up on some sleep, setting my alarm for four hours’ time, so we don’t sleep too much.

When all the family had woken up, we went for a look around the city, checking out the Opera House and nearby Harbour Bridge, and the Botanical gardens, which took just over two hours to complete, and we arrived back at the hotel just before dark. As we sat down for dinner, after everyone showered and changed, including a smelly nappy, we headed to the restaurant for dinner, were I suggested that we head to Taronga Sydney Zoo, straight after breakfast, and Angela and Tom thought that was a great idea. After dinner, we headed to bed early so we could get up early for breakfast, and catch the ferry across to the Zoo.

As soon as Simeon saw the first animals, his eyes were wide with amazement, and he would clap his hands with happiness, as we visited each animal area. Aware that we had to return to the Airport by 12.30pm, we left the zoo at 11am, after 2 ½ hours, to catch a ferry back to the CBD of Sydney, so we could collect our luggage, and catch a train to the airport. Simeon was fast asleep from all the excitement for the ferry ride and train ride to the airport, waking up just as we were going through the security check-in, and up to the departure lounge.

The four-hour flight was uneventful, I had called Aunty Jean at Hong Kong, so she knew that we were on our way home, and she said that she would get a cleaner in to freshen up the house for us. Once we collected our luggage, we caught a minibus home, so as to carry all four of us and all of our luggage, and Aunty Jean was at the front gate soon after we arrived to give us all a hug, including her new nephew, who she met for the first time.

“My word, you have grown a lot in the past 2 ½ years young Tom” she said as she gave him a warm hug, “Thanks Aunty” Tom replied happily, and taking our luggage via Aunty Jeans house and through the side gate, we walked into our home for the first time in over two years, and it looked just the same as we left it. While Tom helped his mum to unpack and sort clothes that need washing, I kept Simeon occupied, by showing him around the house.

“Again” he said to me, and so I went through each room of the house again, when he made the same request, I plonked him on the carpet in the lounge, and handed him some new toys, that Aunty Jean must have bought, and I sat in the lounge to keep an eye on him, as he happily explored his new toys. Still feeling tired from all of the travelling, we had an early dinner at Aunty Jean’s, and went to bed early, with all of us, including Simeon, sleeping the whole night through, uninterrupted.

When I woke up, Angela was already up, and listening for a moment, I heard her chatting to Aunty Jean, so I dressed and headed to the kitchen, almost tripping on Simeon, who was playing with his toys on the floor. “Good morning family, how is everyone today, I asked as I bent down and picked up Simeon, and gave him a raspberry on his cheek, which as usual, made him laugh, before putting him on the floor again, and gave Angela a kiss good morning, and Aunty Jean a hug.

When I heard a noise behind me, I turned to find Tom approaching, rubbing his tired eyes, dressed in boxers and t-shirt, and I stepped to one side to block his view from the rest of the family. Thomas, go and get dressed right away” I said to him sternly, as I pointed downwards, and he looked down then blushed, as he adjusted his boxers and dashed back to his room, returning a few minutes later fully dressed.

After breakfast, Tom helped me to tidy up the back garden, and it was decided that a pool fence was needed to keep Simeon away from the pool, so I called a fencing contractor, and he agreed to come and do a quote later that day. We decided that we needed to keep all external doors locked, to keep Simeon inside till the fence is up, which we knew would be difficult, as he was learning to crawl around a lot now.

Thankfully the small job of building the fence only took three days to complete, and we were able to relax a little more, knowing that Simeon was now safe. Two days later, on the Monday morning, dressed in full uniform, I headed back to Campbell Barracks, to meet with Colonel Harding. “Welcome back staff, I mean warrant officer” the gate guard said to me as I arrived at the front security gate, and I smiled to him as I showed my Army ID, and he let me through.

At the administration building, there was one soldier behind the counter, and ignoring her, I walked down the hall to the Colonel’s office, where the door was half open, and I heard the Colonel talking so I knocked. “Enter” came a response and I pushed the door open and took two steps in and snapped to attention, “Warrant Officer Benning, reporting for duty sir” I said, “at ease Benning, and welcome home” the Colonel replied, “thankyou sir, it is great to be back home” I replied.