Chapter Thirty-Five
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XATHAN WAS IN THE POWER plant, talking to Kelvin Naylor when Judy let out a shriek in the staff bathroom. He raced to the door with one of his guards right behind him. The door opened and the female grinned at them in joy. “The water is back on!” she shouted, then threw herself at Xathan.
Hiding his look of distaste, Xathan glared at his fellow soldier when he snickered beneath his breath.
He submitted to the hug, then gently eased her away.
Water was flowing from a faucet that had been left on.
He could hear water slowly filling the toilet tanks that had been empty for over three months.
Kelvin, Tad and Dustin crowded around them, peering through the open door. “This calls for a celebration!” Mr. Naylor announced.
“I’ve been keeping a bottle of whiskey for when the power or water came back on,” Tad said, shocking them all. “It’s barely eight o’clock in the morning, but what the hell? I’ll go and grab it!”
“I need to report this to my commander,” Xathan said, extricating himself from their revelry. He took his walky-talky out and left the building. “Lord?” he said into the device.
“What?” Rahab retorted crankily.
“It appears Carl Eddy has successfully turned the water back on,” his advisor informed him. “One of my minions at the power plant just noticed it.”
“That’s good news,” Rahab said grudgingly. “Meet me at the Empire State Building so we can inform Mr. Giamano about this development.”
“Yes, Lord,” Xathan agreed. He put the walky-talky away, then his two guards followed him to the politician’s headquarters.
Oliver had already heard the news from his receptionist. Ivy was bent over his desk with her skirt around her waist while he celebrated the news.
Her teeth were clenched in silent hatred and growing rage at being used by her boss.
The mayor couldn’t see her face or he would have punished her for her insolence.
Rahab reached the Empire State Building moments before Xathan. “Wait here,” he said to their guards. Xathan was right behind him as he entered the iconic building and made his way to Oliver’s office. The human cops who’d been posted to guard the mayor knew better than to impede or question them.
“I think Mr. Giamano might be indisposed,” Xathan said wryly when they heard groaning coming from behind the closed door.
Rahab rolled his eyes, then knocked sharply. “It’s Rahab, Mr. Giamano!” he called out.
“Just a second!” the politician called out in a startled tone. “Worst timing ever,” he complained quietly, then thrust a few more times and climaxed. “Get in the bathroom!” he whispered to his receptionist. “Enter!” he called out a minute later.
Rahab hid his smirk as he opened the door. “Where’s Ms. Roche?” he asked as if he didn’t know exactly where she was. He could hear her putting her clothes back in order in the bathroom.
“Ivy’s busy,” Oliver said, straightening his tie. “How can I help you gentlemen?” he asked. Sweat from his efforts still beaded his brow and his pants weren’t zipped shut. Luckily for him, the desk hid his dishevelment.
“Our people have managed to get the water flowing again,” Rahab said. “I wasn’t sure if anyone has told you the good news yet.”
“I just heard,” Mr. Giamano said with a pleased smile. “You’re to be congratulated,” he added. “I trust your employee will be able to maintain the water supply and make sure it doesn’t fail again?”
“Mr. Eddy will train staff to assist him,” Xathan said, hiding a grimace at the smell of sweat and sex that hung in the air. He could hear Ivy quietly complaining about her boss in the bathroom. Apparently, Mr. Giamano didn’t excel in the bedroom, or on the desk in this instance.
“I’ll hold a meeting with my staff to make sure everyone becomes aware of this development,” Oliver said.
Rahab’s head turned when he heard someone running down the hallway. A knock sounded a couple of seconds later. “Mayor Giamano! We have a problem!” the human called out frantically.
“Excuse me for a moment,” the politician said apologetically. “Come in!” he called back. One of his personal guards entered, wearing a harried expression. “What’s the problem?” Oliver asked.
“The water has come back on and someone reported flooding in a nearby store bathroom,” the cop said.
“So, turn the water off at the store,” Rahab said with a glower.
Xathan and Oliver both grasped the implications.
Xathan beat Mr. Giamano to the punch. “Showers and faucets will have been left on by people who were raptured,” he said.
“Bathtubs will begin to overflow. It could cause catastrophic damage to the buildings.” Some structures had already sustained damage after the Rapture.
The flooding had ended once the water had shut down.
“We’ll need to send people inside to turn off the faucets,” Oliver realized with a frown.
“Aren’t we already turning the main breakers off on each building?” Rahab pointed out. “Get them to turn the water off as well. It can be turned back on along with the breakers when we do a more thorough sweep later.”
“Good idea, Lord,” Xathan agreed, receiving a strange look from the humans. They still had no idea they were dealing with aliens who possessed supernatural powers. The idiots thought they were a motorcycle gang. “I’ll spread word to our teams,” he added.
“We’ll leave you to it, Mayor Giamano,” Rahab said, flicking a pointed look at the bathroom door as he rose to his feet.
Oliver flushed at being busted. His guests obviously knew Ivy was hiding in the bathroom and what they’d been up to. “I’d like to be kept in the loop about your progress,” he said, keeping his cool. He was still in charge of Manhattan and he wasn’t about to let them forget how important he was.
“Of course,” Rahab said with a smirk, then exited from the office.
Xathan tagged after him, already relaying the new orders to his human minions through his walky-talky. They would need to start over again on the grids they were working on to switch off the water at each location.
“We’re one step closer to the city becoming a thriving metropolis again,” Rahab said when his advisor was finished. “Soon, the electricity will be switched back on as well.”
“Then all we’ll lack is food,” Xathan pointed out. “The supplies we found in warehouses, stores and homes won’t last forever. Our army is growing by the day and our cache is shrinking. The only way to keep our human allies alive is to ensure food production resumes.”
“I take it that won’t be easy,” Rahab figured morosely.
“Nothing is easy in this era, even with all of their advanced technology,” Xathan confirmed. “We’ll have to force people to work in the factories and farms and few of them will have any experience with their new vocations.”
“Sometimes, I wish this wasn’t our final war,” Rahab said too quietly for their guards to hear him. “Things were far simpler in the past eras.”
“I agree, Lord,” Xathan said, but it was a lie.
He much preferred the modern conveniences of this era.
It was a pity everything had been shut down when the Rapture had struck.
It would take decades to rebuild what had been lost. He doubted the world would ever be the same again now that only scumbags and degenerates were left.
Culture, art and philosophy were dead. Now there was only greed, depravity and death left.
Good people would no doubt be born, but they would be heavily outnumbered.
Rahab returned to the gym with his five guards in tow.
Xathan decided to sweep the city to find the worst of the flooding problems. He stopped just a short distance from the Empire State Building when he saw water leaking from an apartment on the sixth floor of a building.
With a sigh, he entered and sprinted up the stairs. His guards stayed outside.
Slamming into the locked door, he raced to the bathroom to find an overflowing bathtub. He turned the faucets off and reached into the water to pull the plug. “One down, probably two thousand more to go,” he grumbled, wishing he’d removed his jacket before unplugging the water.
He retreated back downstairs and stepped onto the sidewalk, squeezing the water out of his sodden sleeve. He didn’t notice the red light on the camera just down the street.