Tom Ch. 06

"Oh great. We must have lunch sometime."

"Tom, I'm forty-eight and am in long-term lesbian relationship."

"Is that unnecessary declaration relevant? I find it cool being on friendly terms with my bosses."

"Ohmigod, you are so smooth Tom Briscoe," Sadie smiled and walked off. She turned and looked back and Tom waved. She actually gave a little hand flutter back.

Tom was reading the company's Personnel Induction Manual to find if anything of relevance to him when a woman rushed up.

"Hi, I'm Rosemary Clark. I have a client involved in an ammonia spill. A road tanker overturned and one of the compartments fractured and some of the spill has reached a waterway. This is a disaster in the making for the company."

"Just an unfortunate hiccup if we do our job. Get someone out onsite right now with an ID neck card and clipboard to look as if he or she intends doing something and a spare phone battery. Here's my card. Use me as your office coordinator. What are you doing?"

"I'm on my way to the client. I only came to you to ask if you'd be my office coordinator."

"Good girl."

"I'm over forty."

"All pretty women look girlish to me."

"Tom stop it; some other time."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Remember, your client will rise or fall on this one according to the quality of containment. They must be seen doing everything that has to be done and going it perfectly so they are congratulated although censured at the resultant inquiry."

"Oh god, I hadn't thought that far ahead because it's all on out there. The authorities are deciding whether to start evacuating homes."

"In that case use Jasper as your field guy to interface with the media. You can brief him by phone. He'll know to contact me if he runs into anything sticky. Get your ass moving Rosemary. You should be with the client. I'll text you as soon as I've read ordinances relating to ammonia spills."

"Thanks Tom. You're a peach."

Tom looked at Rosemary's not unduly plump ass as she ran off and then sighed, remembering he'd also noticed the wedding ring. Looking down the room Tom saw Jasper grab his coat and dive for the door. He went to Rosemary's PA Diana and got the name of the client and smiled. It was Tina's company. He thought the impact of this big one would scare her pussy dry.

Jerry rushed up. "I was told Rosemary had briefed you. Are you our coordinator?"

"Yes."

"What's the drill?"

"Pacify, cooperate fully with authorities, be frank with the media and emphasis to the client that quality of containment is paramount."

"Good man. Rosemary's a great operator -- I have full confidence in her. I'll call her to emphasize quality of containment is everything."

"I've already done that, using those exact words."

"Have you worked in an emergency like this?"

"No, I simply thought about the end inquiry and then worked my thinking backwards."

"Jesus," Jerry said, slapping Tom on the shoulder. Good boy."

Tom timed his start on this project on a job sheet on his laptop and action taken or recommended since then and with a smile noted the time Jerry had rushed up as senior monitor of quality control. He then read about the regulations relating to chemical spills and added a summary of that to his work sheet and then emailed a précis of that to Rosemary and Jasper. He then called Terry.

"I need a couple of TV sets down here and a support person."

"Oh god, I'm thinking like an amateur," Terry said. "This could be big. Come up to the boardroom and make it your ops center. Rosemary's PA will be the best person for you -- I contact Diana now. Why haven't we given you access to a personal assistant?"

"Why ask me?"

"Ah, quite. There's nothing on TV yet... oh here's a flash announcement... 18-wheeler driver killed allegedly running a red light, crashed into bulk tanker filled with ammonia... huge spill... oh god, 200 homes being evacuated. You better get out there Tom."

"No, I'm far more useful here, especially with TV sets and listening to police radio bands. One person on the ground doesn't get that bird's eye view. TV will be up in a chopper any minute. Send Mason or Sadie to be with the client in their boardroom -- no, send both for bigger impact. This is a PR operation for us too."

"Belinda -- drop everything and come with me," Tom called to the consultant to the security industry. "This is an emergency." She came running and followed Tom to the boardroom. He put her on to the radio scanner listening to police and fire radio bands.

"Jerry call a contact with the police. We need to know if that truck driver did crash a red light. If he did some of the cloud will be lifted off our client." Jerry picked up his phone without saying sarcastically yes boss.

"We have pictures," called the arriving Diana, looking at one of the TV screens that had just switched to the spill scene.

"Minor spill?... it's a fucking major. Look at all those Fire Department crews in breathing apparatus," Tom called.

Jerry, waiting for his contact to return to the phone, said, "Precautionary. You don't fool around with ammonia."

"It's not raining -- that pool around the tanker can't be rainwater. More than one compartment in the tanker might have ruptured and the splits in the tank are hidden from our view."

"Oh damn, Terry swore. "But he came off the phone attempting not to smile. The 18-wheeler driver is confirmed dead. Also logbook indicates he'd been driving illegally, well over the limit. It appears 14 hours with two stops for diesel and take-outs."

"Oh fuck," yelled Diana, "Look, the white cloud, it's going to blow and all those fire crews are nearby."

"No, that's the spilt liquid beginning to vaporize," Tom yelled. "Should be okay."

"Why aren't the fire crews pouring water to dilute it?"

"They have to absolutely drench it hugely with hoses spraying simultaneously Terry," Tom said, having read up on ammonia spills. "Unless it's blanketed with water the liquid could explode massively. That white cloud is drifting downwind, requiring more evacuations I would think and other people will be warned to stay indoors."

One of the TV's switched to filming from a helicopter.

"Ah, that's why we are seeing a pool of liquid," Tom said. "Emergency crews have achieved containment by making that brown line of probably sand-filled membrane we can see."

"I see it," Terry said. "It's acting like a damn."

"Perhaps less liquid has escaped that what I thought," said Tom. "It's just the mass of a ponding effect. Here's a tanker standing off. My guess is they aim to pump the liquid into that tanker. A dangerous operation as any spark could cause an explosion. But water saturation would be massive and drain off into waterways. It's been decided this is the safer option."

Rosemary called and told Tom Sadie and Mason had just arrived. Tom put his phone on to speaker.

"It's not as bad as it would appear. We are receiving continuous reporting from Jasper who being the first media person on the scene is in the command vehicle. The tanker was carrying 10 tons of anhydrous ammonia -- liquid ammonia to you morons -- and it is thought less that half a ton has escaped but that's still serious until properly contained under optimum storage conditions. They are attempting to pump the spilled liquid into another tanker standing some way off to avoid anyone or anything causing sparks within the gas surrounding the overturned tanker. If you are watching TV that white cloud is the liquid turning back into gas and the gas will become invisible as it rises to disperse into the atmosphere. Ten people including one firefighter with burns to a hand because he was carrying his gloves instead of wearing them have been taken to hospital. One asthmatic is in a bad way. Up to 600 homes downwind have been or are being evacuated. This is not going quite the PR disaster the client had expected, thank god. That's it for now."

"Thanks Rosemary," Tom said. "Brilliant report. Need any more resource?"

"No but get the boss to call these two partners he's sent here to just smile and make compliments to the chairman and company president and leave me to call the PR shots. I'm the expert in this field and don't want those jerks fouling up."

"As good as done Rosemary darling. Our chief has heard your comment."

"Oh crap. Um I mean what I say Terry. Over and out."

Tom scratched his chin. "You have some great people on your team Terry."

Terry and everyone in the room looked at Tom and nodded.

Rosemary returned to the office three days later, looking dreadful. She'd only slept during the wee hours. She'd been managing press conferences and one-on-one interviews with the client and had visited the twenty-one people who were hospitalized and every one of the 157 people who were treated at the scene and were referred to their own doctors. She'd gone with the company president to take flowers to the widow of the deceased truck driver and then went to the shaken but uninjured tanker driver to present him with air tickets and full accommodation vouchers for the family of four to a ski resort in Colorado.

She then sat in with company executives for hours of tediously repetitive interviews in the compilation of a multitude of reports by various federal, state and local officials.

"God I'm fucked," she yawned, arriving at the office and walking in on Terry who was working with Tom on the draft debriefing on the emergency to be bound and distributed to every consultant as a case study once Rosemary had signed off on it.

Terry threw his car keys to Tom. "Get Diana to go with you and take Rosemary home. She'll go to sleep in the car."

"I can't drive."

"Of course you can. Every kid in American starts driving when five or six."

"Well I can stand on the bare back of a horse and ride it at a canter but I've never learned to drive a vehicle."

"Well get Diana to drive and you nurse Rosemary in the back seat."

"Oooh, I'll be in Tom's arms. What a wonderful way to end this assignment."

"You are to return with Diana buster; this star performer is married."