by Dave Hazel
Mykal began to think of the things he could do with his wife and kids for the next two weeks. Since he disappeared to Towbar’s world back in June he had not spent any quality time with his family. Having a couple of weeks would take some getting used to. He was glad Pam and his two sons liked Towbar the giant. He and Towbar had become inseparable.
After his surprise visit to Colonel Parker, Mykal planned to make contact with as many returnees as he could locate, to clear up any problems that may be developing. ‘I can’t allow disgruntled returnees to bring up certain facts or suspicions from our stay in Towbar’s world,’ Mykal thought. Things will get worked out one way or another. No threat to my personal life will be tolerated!’
“Damn,” he said aloud when he turned a corner and was forced to stop. “What the hell is going on?” He asked himself as he eyed the police car blocking his path. “It’s too friggin cold to have a damned exercise.” He saw other roads leading to building 631 were blocked by Law Enforcement vehicles with flashing red lights.
Observing the situation further, Mykal saw many military Law Enforcement personnel were surrounding building 631. He watched as EST (Emergency Services Team) personnel guardedly approached the quarantined building. He cautiously neared the guard blocking the road because exercises were treated with the same mind set as real events. Mykal noticed there were several ambulances on scene waiting for entry to the building.
“Always when you’re in a friggin hurry,” he mumbled to himself. He looked at his watch and got out of his car to walk to the barricade. Mykal spotted many armed military personnel crouched behind vehicles making him believe there had to be a VIP on the base they were trying to impress. They were going all out for this exercise on such a cold day.
The two airmen stood beside their vehicle with the doors open and their weapons drawn. One of the two eyed Mykal nearing their position. The other talked on the radio. They were too far away from the building for their .38 revolvers to be of any use. They followed procedure, carrying out their responsibilities. “Sir, get your hands up,” one of the two yelled at Mykal with his weapon raised in the air.
“No problem, no problem,” Mykal quickly threw his hands up. “I just wanted to know if you knew how long this was going to be. I had an appointment with Colonel Parker,” he fibbed and hoped they would allow him to go through before the exercise ended.
“Hey, it’s Mykal Graves,” the airman with the raised pistol called to his partner on the radio. “You better get your head down Mykal.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Mykal asked, somewhat confused. The two airmen both shivered in the cold.
“Cuz you might get your ass blown away,” the radioman said after glancing at Minot Air Force Base’s most famous person.
“This is not an exercise,” the first quickly professed. “You better get back to your vehicle and leave the area. It’s going to be a long time before anyone gets in there.”
“What’s happening?” Mykal asked.
“You know we can’t tell you that,” the first answered. “But since you’re you, I’ll tell ya. From what dispatch told us over the radio someone went into building 631 with a weapon and took hostages. It’s not an exercise. Everybody and their brother is arriving on scene. Over fifty people are surrounding the building and they’re expecting another hundred or so,” he said. “Whoever’s in there ain’t getting out.”
”Not alive anyways,” the radioman quipped.
“Yeah, cuz whoever it is, said he’s not gonna be taken alive. He said they’re gonna have to carry his dead body out of there.”
“That’s crazy,” Mykal shook his head and chuckled with them.
“Yeah, I agree,” the first said and looked to the building. “Whoever this dumb ass is, why couldn’t he do it on a nice day?”
“I hear ya,” the radioman replied. “I have to freeze my nads off cuz someone wants to be a moron on a cold ass day like today. I hope they take him out quick.”
“So the gunman does have hostages?” Mykal asked.
“Oh yeah.” The first airman blew his breath into his gloves for some warmth. “We’ve heard a couple of different stories, but what seems to be fact is the gunman went in the building and shot the place up and then he took some hostages.”
“Still, we haven’t heard anything about any demands,” the radioman added and then quickly responded to a call on the radio. “7 Delta here, please repeat your message dispatch.”
“From what’s known,” the first kept talking. “There were a lot of people in the building. We just haven’t had anything that’s been confirmed.”
“Oh no,” Mykal gasped at the sudden remembrance of his conversation with Boris earlier in the morning. Could Boris have followed through with his drunken threats? Boris did have the ability and experience to kill. He demonstrated that in Towbar’s world. “Do they know who the gunman is?” Mykal asked in a near panic. “Cuz, oh crap, I think I may know who it is.”
“You do?” The Airman had a puzzled look.
“I think I do. I hope I’m wrong, but is there any way I can get through? I think I can help.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” the radioman replied.
“Well get on the friggin radio and find out,” Mykal snapped.
“7 Delta to the On-Scene Commander,” he shivered while speaking into the radio.
“On-Scene Commander to last calling unit, repeat,” replied a flustered and hurried voice.
“Sir, this is A1C Wilson of patrol 7 Delta. We are posted here on road Echo. We have someone here, that famous guy, Mykal Graves. He thinks he may know who is in the building with the hostages. He would like permission to cross our barricade and come to your location. He thinks he may be of some assistance. Do I have permission to allow him through?”
“Stand by one.” There was a pause. The voice responding for the On-Scene Commander returned. “Tell Sergeant Graves to stand by and we will send a vehicle to your location for him. On-Scene Commander out.”
“Roger that Sir.”
“Thanks guys,” Mykal stood and walked to the other side of the Law Enforcement vehicle to await his ride. It terrified him to think it could be Boris in the building with hostages. He should have taken Boris’s drunken threats seriously. He hoped he was wrong and it would turn out to be someone other than Boris. The military would surely lock Boris away for a very long time and he would no longer be in a position to help his desperate friend. Mykal blamed himself for not being there to help Boris when Boris needed him.
Mykal’s mood changed. Maybe he was wrong and Boris was back in his dorm sleeping off his drunken stupor and this just happened to be a strange coincidence. Mykal knew nothing could justify such actions if in fact it was Boris who held the hostages. But deep inside Mykal also knew these people drove his friend to such a stupid act by their constant belittling, bullying, and verbal abuse.
“Who do you think it is?” Wilson called from behind the military police vehicle.
“Huh?” They interrupted his thoughts. “Oh, if it’s who I think it is, it’s just a friend of mine who has some problems,” he answered, glad the approaching Peacekeeper arrived so he wouldn’t have to talk to them any longer. “Thanks guys,” he quickly waved and rushed inside the armored vehicle.
“Is it really thee Sergeant Graves?” The driver asked when Mykal entered the rear of the dark interior.
“Yeah,” he replied and sat across from two airmen who looked comical. They wore their flack vest and helmet over the bulky parka. “I’m in, let’s go,” Mykal requested after he shut the heavy door behind him. “Who’s the On-Scene Commander?”
“For the time being it is Master Sergeant Towns.”
“Towns? I know him.” Mykal smiled slightly. “Why isn’t an officer the On-Scene Commander?”
“They can’t find one. Just about all the Security Police officers were at the staff meeting that Colonel Parker held this morning,” the front passenger answered. “All the back office weenies were
in the meeting too. They’re scrambling just to get an officer from Aircraft Security to take over as On-Scene Commander. Even the On-duty Flight Commander for aircraft was in the staff meeting. It’s a screwed up situation. As it stands, Master Sergeant Towns and his Crew were on standby today. I don’t really know how the missile field people work, but the Crew responded quickly and since he is the senior man that makes him the top dog for right now.”
Air Force Law Enforcement is the equivalent to civilian policemen. They have completely different roles and responsibilities than either Missile Security Police or Aircraft Security Police. Mykal gave them a very brief description how the missile field personnel operate. “So what’s all going on?”
“Hold on Sergeant Graves,” the driver replied and pulled the Peacekeeper behind a maintenance truck parked in the middle of the street in front of building 631. “I’ll let Master Sergeant Towns brief you. He would know as much as anyone.”
“Thanks for the ride,” Mykal said and quickly ran to Master Sergeant Towns. Towns suddenly looked twice his age. Mykal had worked with him a few times years before. “How ya doing Towns?” Mykal greeted him with a fake smile, seeing the gut twisting concern in his face.
“Hi Myk. This is bad,” Towns announced before he asked who Mykal thought might be the gunman.
“Do you know who’s in there?” Mykal asked and hoped Towns would tell him someone other than Boris.
“No. No idea. They said you might know.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I think I do, but I’m not sure. I think it might be Airman Traginsky.”
“Boris? Aw shit,” Towns grumbled and frowned. “I hope not. He’s a good kid and there are a lot of trigger happy people here. Most of them are scared so if he starts shooting I’m afraid they’ll level the building.”
“The first chance I get, I’m gonna nail that sonovabitch right between the eyes,” a young airman boasted loudly to be heard. “I’d like to score me a kill just for being out in the cold,” he snickered and his friend gave him a high five.
Mykal’s disgust and anger soared. “Oh yeah, is that so?” Mykal guessed the kid was just running his mouth to sound tough. But the target of his “tough talk” might be one of his best friends.
“Yeah,” he said and turned to Mykal. “If I get the shot I’m gonna watch his guts spill all over the ground and then maybe the ambulance will be slow in getting to him,” he chortled and turned to his friend who laughed with him. “I’m freezing my ass off out here because of him.”
Mykal knew the kid tried to impress him by his tough talk. The kid couldn’t have known the gunman might possibly be a close friend. “Well, if it’s who I think it is in there, you might wanna keep your big mouth shut and stay a little closer to the ground. He could knock out any one of your teeth from this distance,” he exaggerated to get his point across. “And if it’s who I think it is, he’s already seen all kinds of action and killed hundreds of people so you don’t have to worry about him freezing up. You’ll have one hellova fight on your hands. What’s your name?”
“Airman Langley Sir.” Langley’s character quickly changed.
“Well Langley, you better watch your ass cuz you might get it shot off from here.”
“Yes Sir,” Langley replied and lowered his head. His face reddened, embarrassed that some of his friends laughed at him.
“Don’t call me Sir. I’m not an officer. And don’t talk that G.I. Joe tough shit with me until you proved yourself. Your talk means squat. The guy in there doesn’t have to talk tough.”
“Myk, why do you think it could be Boris in there?” Towns interrupted to end the verbal lashing, drawing Mykal from Langley.
“I was with him this morning and he was drunk. He was talking about people screwing him over. Then he passed out. I came here to talk to Parker, but got delayed. If it’s him, I think I can talk him into giving up. What’s all happened?”
“From the info I have,” Towns paused and sighed. “Someone went in there with an automatic weapon and shot the hell outta the place.”
“So there’s really been some shooting? I thought it was just a hostage situation.”
“No Myk, it’s bad. Whoever is in there does have hostages, but the shooting started in the guard mount room and when the armory personnel opened their windows to see what happened, two of the three armory personnel got hit. We know for a fact that one of the two in the armory is dead. The second is hurt bad, and the third is shook up. We do have land line communications to the armory. He said the guard mount room was filled with the Crew preparing to go to the field. It sounds like they were in the middle of their inspection. He refuses to open the window to see if there are any casualties. I can’t blame him. The poor kid is scared stiff. He said he felt a round whiz by his head.”
“What kind of weapon does the shooter have?” Mykal asked. He knew Boris only owned handguns, but Mykal had been away for two months.
“The armory said it sounds like he has an M-60. He didn’t see it since he closed his armory window as soon as he was shot at.”
“What, an M-60?” Mykal gasped. “How the hell did he get a machinegun?”
“We don’t know. There are some others in the building who aren’t hostages, but they’re hiding. They think it might be more than one person doing this, but they can’t confirm that either. The armory confirmed they issued a four man fire team the basic weapons for a trip to the field; three M-16s, one M-203 and one M-60. So there could be a fire team that went berserk. But that really doesn’t make any sense.”
“I still think it could be Boris, but I don’t know why they would’ve given him a machine gun,” Mykal said. He tried to think through the situation and make sense of how Boris could be involved with a fire team assaulting a missile field Crew in the middle of an inspection.
“As far as it being the fire team,” Towns continued. “We’re still trying to piece together what’s going on with the four man team. Wing Security Control said the team was dispatched to the field today to relieve a different fire team, but the team hadn’t left base yet. Supposedly their vehicle was having issues and they drove over to Vehicle Maintenance so WSC doesn’t think it’s the fire team. When I talked to WSC, obviously they are locked down in their offices. They said there have been no attempts to gain entry into their office but they did hear the shooting. One of their controllers was out getting coffee and he never returned. There are some admin people in the back offices too. They locked the door but that won’t keep anyone out. They are afraid to leave through the windows because they’re not sure where the gunman or gunmen are and what they might do if people try to escape. We know there is at least one ‘bad guy’ in the conference room where the staff meeting was held. That is where the hostages are being held. Colonel Parker is in there with several other officers.”
Hearing Parker is with the hostages made Mykal believe even more that it might be Boris. “Do you have any communication with them? Have there been any demands made?”
“Not really. The last time we heard anything there was a lot of yelling and screaming. Someone, possibly the gunman, yelled out the window that he had a hundred hostages and he was threatening to kill them all. We have hostage negotiators on their way. Right now our orders are to sit tight and contain the situation. We have the building surrounded with my Crew and Law Enforcement. The flight line also sent over some security forces to help. Some think it’s a fanatical terrorist, but no one knows for sure. To say everything is crazy is a mass understatement.”
“I hope it’s not Boris,” Mykal said and paused. “But if it is, I think I might be able to talk him out. If I can’t talk him into coming out and if he has an M-60 you got problems. You’ll have to take him out, but at what cost? Has he tried to shoot out the window at you?”
“No. He’s looked out of the window. Well, someone has looked out of the window. Do you want to try calling to him?”
“Yeah. Let’s at least see if it’s him.”
“Here, talk on
this mike,” he handed a microphone from inside the big truck. “It’s connected to the Public Address.”
“Hey Towns, what are those guys doing on the roof?” Mykal nearly panicked. If it was Boris, Mykal didn’t want his friend to be killed without first trying to get him to surrender.
“They’re just getting into position,” Towns answered. “They know they’re not to do anything until ordered.”
Mykal let out a sigh. He keyed the microphone, “Hey Boris, is that you in there?” He waited and there was no response. “Hey Boris, it’s me Mykal. Can you hear me? If that’s you in there I wanna talk to you.” He paused but there was still no response from the building. “Just let me know if that’s you in there, okay?”
“Yeah, I’m in here Myk,” Boris called back from a small opening in the window. “Whadda ya want? I’m in the middle of something,” he chuckled at his attempt to be humorous.
“I wanna talk,” Mykal said. Suddenly he became sickened to see that his friend had thrown his life away. He really did follow through with his drunken threats. ‘I shoulda done something to stop this before it started,’ he thought.
“Talk about what?” Boris’s voice yelled out the window though he never exposed his face.
“I wanna talk about what’s going on. I wanna see how you’re doing. You’re my friend Boris.”
“I don’t wanna hear it right now.”
“I wanna find out why you’re doing this,” Mykal said in hopes of keeping a conversation going.
“Why I’m doing this? What’s that song by the Boomtown Rats? I don’t like Mondays,” Boris yelled with a fake laugh.
“Today is Wednesday Boris.”
“I guess I don’t like Wednesdays,” he paused. “I told you earlier. Don’t you remember?”
“Yeah buddy, I do. Boris, why don’t you put your gun down and come on out? Give yourself up.”