Caldera

by Larry LaVoie

  “Wish we could travel like that,” Jason said.

  Behind Sanders, fifty yards in the distance, a white helicopter with green USGS markings stood silent. The morning air was crisp and Sanders breath came in white puffs from his full-bearded face. Behind the facial hair were eyes of such a pale blue that he rarely went without protective glasses especially at these high altitudes. He pulled a pair of gold vapor-coated lenses from a case and slipped them on as he strutted along the quarried rock building that once was the U.S. Cavalry’s horse barn. He walked out of the shadow of the building into full sunlight.

  “Do me a favor and be cordial,” Carlene said. “He can help us.”

  Jason unsnapped his seatbelt and with a shocked expression said, “If I didn’t know you better I’d take that as an insult. Haven’t I always been cordial?”

  “Trust me, you aren’t.”

  Jason started walking across the lot, Carlene beside him. Sanders paused and lit a cigarette. “I don’t remember him smoking,” Jason said.

  “Remember what I said, be nice.”

  “Come on let’s get this over with.”

  “You guys are late,” Sanders said reaching out a beefy hand toward Jason as he and Carlene approached. “Welcome back from Sumatra.” He looked at Carlene. “I’ve reassigned Jason to Yellowstone until Peter can find a replacement for Bainbridge.”

  Carlene glared at him, but remained silent.

  “Delighted to see you, too,” Jason said.

  Carlene struck Jason from behind as a reminder and apologetically lied, “We had road construction that delayed us for twenty minutes.”

  Sanders grunted and threw his cigarette in the gravel and ground it out with the sole of his shoe. “Is there someplace private we can talk?” he asked removing his sunglasses to wipe his eyes.

  “Outside or inside?” Jason asked, sensing something was wrong. He saw dark circles under Sanders’ reddened eyes and a haggard worried face.

  “Follow me,” Carlene said heading out at a quick pace. They walked a short distance to the post office and stood in the shadow of the building away from park traffic.

  “You don’t look so good.” Jason said.

  Again Carlene nudged him as a reminder.

  “We’ve got trouble,” Sanders said. He paused and grimaced. “You know Milton met with President Turner. Seems he sent a memo requesting the park be placed on alert and it was intercepted.”

  “The park should be at least a Level Two right now,” Jason said. “There shouldn’t be any people here except those monitoring activity. I reviewed Bainbridge’s data.”

  “Bainbridge jumped the gun,” Sanders said. “I know he was concerned, but it’s far too early to do anything as drastic as evacuating the park. He recommended an evacuation zone of six-hundred miles around the park. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he wouldn’t listen. The White House got his report and they’re asking all kinds of questions.”

  “Wait a minute.” Jason held up his hand. “Bainbridge was right. I’m not talking six-hundred miles, but at least the park.”

  Sanders smoothed his beard with his hand. He ignored Jason and continued, “I told Bainbridge how stupid it sounded predicting an eruption this far in advance. He insisted they close the park immediately. Challenged me to get a team of scientists out here and prove him wrong.”

  “Did you even check his data?” Jason asked.

  “I reviewed his report. A General Montgomery from Washington D.C. called and wanted to know how Bainbridge came to the conclusions he did. I told them I couldn’t vouch for the data. Didn’t agree with any of it.”

  “I went over his data, too, and even if he is off a little, and I haven’t found anything to dispute, the activity still poses a threat to the public,” Jason said.

  “You don’t think he’s right,” Sanders said wiping his brow. He pulled another cigarette from a pack of Marlborough and tapped it on the box. “That’s why I put you here, understand? We can’t jump to any conclusions.”

  “Have you been following the ground movement at Norris?” Jason asked.

  Sanders ears turned red with anger. “You don’t think I’m watching things! Listen to me young man; this system has been active for all of recorded history. What gives you the right to get everyone excited like it’s going to erupt now? You continue on this path and it’ll get you in a lot of trouble. Look what happened to Bainbridge.”

  Carlene butted in, “Jason found a program on Bainbridge’s computer. We had been gathering data for the better part of a year. You can’t dismiss Bainbridge like he was a crackpot.”

  Sanders hands were shaking making it impossible to light the cigarette. He gave up trying and slipped the Bic back into his breast pocket. “Good Lord, you think he was right, too. That makes it even worse.”

  “Worse, how?” Carlene asked.

  Sanders stuffed the unlit cigarette back into the box. “Greg Bainbridge called me after he received news of his father’s house blowing up.”

  “Quite a site,” Jason said. “Did they catch the ones who did it?”

  Sanders nervously rubbed his forehead. “It was arson that’s all Greg told me.”

  “I think it was the government,” Carlene said. “We told the police what we saw.”

  “You got any idea why the government would torch Bainbridge’s place,” Jason asked.

  Sanders shook his head. “It wasn’t the government.”

  Jason was incredulous. “You know something.”

  “I can’t say any more.”

  Jason leaned down toward Sanders and stopped two inches from his face. “You know the kind of activity we’re seeing is serious. If the evacuation isn’t ordered and millions die because of it, who do you think will get the blame then?”

  Sanders didn’t back off. “If we order an evacuation based on the data we have and the mountain doesn’t blow they’ll have all our jobs anyway. Bainbridge put us in an impossible situation.”

  Carlene asked, “Isn’t it better to err on the side of caution?” She looked at Jason for support.

  “Listen to me,” Sanders said between tight lips. “We aren’t going public with any of this until we’re dead certain this thing is a real threat. Bainbridge made all our lives more complicated. Unfortunately he’s not here to take the heat.”

  “Complicated!” Jason raised his voice and was in Sanders face again. “You’re involving us in a cover-up.”

  Carlene grabbed Jason’s shoulder.

  Jason jerked away. “I’m not going to stop here. I’ll go to the media with this.”

  Sanders backed away raising his hands. “That’s the wrong thing to do. I’m sorry you two are in the middle of this, but our official position is Bainbridge spoke out of turn, his numbers haven’t been verified. We don’t see any reason to go public.”

  “And let millions of people die in the aftermath of an eruption! You’re dumber than you look if you think I’m going to keep a lid on this?”

  Sanders stopped backing away and leaned into Jason. He removed his glasses and stared into Jason’s eyes. “You listen to me. You say a word about this to anyone; I’ll have your job in an instant. You’ll not be backed by USGS on any statements you make, in fact I’ll be the first one to deny your sanity, and this is the last job you’ll ever have.”

  “You’re threatening me! It sounds like you’re threatening me.” Jason reached out and pushed Sanders, but Sanders stood rock steady.

  Carlene put a hand on Jason’s shoulder causing him to spin toward her. “What?”

  “We don’t know Milton’s numbers are correct. You said Yellowstone has done this before. Listen to him.”

  Her voice was controlled with more force than he’d heard from her before. “Damn, I hate this.” He turned and walked away mulling it over. He took a deep breath and came back to them. “Forget what I said, Sandy. We’ll go along with this for now.” He shook his head as if defeated. Then in a final plea, “Can’t you at least get them to close the par
k?”

  Sanders shook his head as he walked away. “Not a word,” he called over his shoulder.

  Jason ran up to him and spun him around. “Listen, you milk-toast wimp. I’m staying on this mountain and getting the proof we need and if you don’t back me then I’ll call a news conference so big the world will know you for the coward you are.”

  “And you listen to me. Before that happens, you’ll be as dead as Bainbridge. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Jason watched his boss strut off toward the Helicopter. What the hell did he mean, ‘as dead as Bainbridge’ wasn’t his death natural? The blades on the helicopter started to turn. The whine of the turbine blocked out all other sounds. Jason couldn’t take his eyes off Sanders, now fifty yards in the distance. The man was hiding something.

  He didn’t feel Carlene come up beside him until she slipped her arm under his. He wondered if she had heard the same thing.

  Chapter 16

  Billy Carlson led the other three along the rugged trail. He had hiked this area before and although they were still in the morning shadows, he was searching for a special camping spot he’d remembered from years earlier when his family had hiked this same trail. He turned and encouraged the others to catch up. This was the third day of their hike. Somewhere along this stretch of the Lamar River was a hot spring they could bath in. With luck, he and Terry could talk the girls into skinny dipping. This time of year, they wouldn’t see many other hikers. That was the plan; they’d have the wilderness all to themselves.

  Billy was still uneasy about the first night they’d spent along the river trail. They’d been jostled in the middle of the night by an earthquake. It wasn’t large and they had gone to sleep with little thought. He had told the others earthquakes happen often inside the park although this was the first time he’d actually felt one. Now he watched the three behind him making their way around boulders that had been dislodged during the night. His eyes went up the slope looking for danger signs, but it looked clear. His eyes turned to Wendy, his date, almost as tall as he, her blond ponytail waving from behind a sky-blue duck-billed cap. Her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. Behind Wendy was Becky, carrot-topped, freckled, and overweight. The hike would do her good, he’d told her earlier and she hadn’t spoken to him since. Terry brought up the rear. Terry had a thing for plus-size girls. Being the captain of the football team Terry could have any girl he wanted. He picked Becky. Billy wasn’t going to argue. Becky and Wendy were good friends and willing to go on the hike. This trek through the wilderness was the perfect end to a long school year.

  As Wendy approached she took off her cap and wiped her brow with the back of her bare arm. “I thought you said this would be easy?”

  “Wait ‘till you see where we’re going to camp,” Billy said.

  “It better be good,” Becky panted. Her face was flush.

  “You need some water,” Billy said. “You’re not going to have a heart attack, I hope.”

  “So you could practice CPR. Don’t get your hopes up,” Becky said.

  At least she was talking to him again, Billy thought. It was then he noticed Terry was carrying Becky’s pack in addition to his own.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Billy said to Wendy.

  Wendy leaned over and whispered in his ear.

  Billy grinned. “In that case I might carry yours.”

  “What did you tell him?” Becky quizzed.

  Wendy whispered in Becky’s ear.

  “You didn’t!”

  “Didn’t what?” Terry asked, just catching up with the conversation.

  “We were just discussing the price for carrying someone else’s pack,” Billy said. “You sure you’re getting the going rate?”

  Terry looked at Becky and raised his eyebrows. “You wish,” Becky said hitting him.

  Just then the ground rumbled again and Billy looked up the steep slope to see a large mass of rock hurling toward them.

  Jason slowed the Jeep to a crawl. Carlene stared straight ahead hardly paying any attention to the heavy traffic of motor homes and SUVs. It was a slow trip back to the monitoring cabin. She’d seen a side of Jason that belied the simplistic self-serving man she’d met a few weeks earlier in the dingy bar in Sumatra. What she’d seen in Jason’s interchange with Sanders was a person who genuinely cared about the people around him; passionate about protecting people in spite of the apparent risk to himself. She’d seen a side of him she hadn’t noticed before. Jason was just as scared as she was. Bainbridge was smart getting him involved.

  “Sooner or later it’ll get out,” Carlene said.

  Jason glanced over at her. “You mean the volcanic activity?”

  “Did you notice Sanders is scared to death. I’m still hoping he’ll do something to support us.”

  “He could have fooled me,” Jason said. “I’d swear he’s getting the pressure from someone over him.”

  Carlene nodded. “He’s scared, but I think he’s serious. He isn’t going to back us until he has so much compelling evidence the administration will have to cave.”

  Jason agreed, “He has his marching orders. The White House doesn’t want to deal with this, especially without certain data. Damn shame we have to get in the middle of politics.”

  “If you think about it,” Carlene said pulling at her seatbelt so she could get a better look at him. “People don’t react to an emergency if it’s too long in advance. Milton told me about an incident in Ecuador. The people were evacuated and nothing happened for a month so they moved back in. The police couldn’t stop them. The best they could do was practice for another evacuation. People aren’t going to vacate their homes for long.

  “President Turner is only in office for four years. He’s got nothing to lose if he’s out of office when this thing blows, but if he supports an evacuation....” She grimaced as she was finishing her thought. “The government is better at reacting than preventing disasters. Look at nine-eleven.”

  “I’ve got news for Sanders and the rest of them,” Jason said. “They’re not going to sweep this under the rug.”

  “If we think it’s going to erupt and we still can’t get Sanders behind us I say we take this public ourselves.” Carlene said.

  “I’ve been trying to think of a way,” Jason said.

  “You get the facts together and I know someone we can contact to break this wide open. In the meantime we’re quiet as church mice.”

  “That quiet,” Jason said.

  “Quieter,” Carlene said showing her dimples.

  Jason pumped hard on the pedals, his bare athletic legs burning, fighting the gravity of the incline pulling against his two-hundred pounds. He fixed his gaze on the ascending road and shifted to a lower gear. He had borrowed the mountain bike from a waiter at the Lake Hotel. It had been years since he’d ridden this stretch of the park. The hill would not win this time. Under the strain, his attention was focused. Sweat covered his face in a cool vale. This was the hill that had defeated him as a much younger man. He was concentrating so hard he barely felt the earth vibrate, but he heard the rumble, so loud that he looked to see if a diesel rig was bearing down on him. Without warning he was airborne, the earth falling away from him. He hit the ground hard, amazed he was able to keep the mountain bike upright. In less than a second he was violently tossed sideways. Jason flew one way and the bike another. He landed face down in a ditch, sprawled out, the air squashed from his lungs. He lifted his head gasping for air. The smell of ozone permeated the ground. He righted himself to a sitting position and spread his hands to keep his balance.

  He couldn’t remember when he’d felt an earthquake as powerful, but in the past few weeks he’d felt more than he wanted to remember; none of them the usual micro-tremors notorious in Yellowstone.

  Jason had been too focused on beating the hill and hadn’t noticed the inimitable sign of an impending temblor; the sudden absence of birds, the lack of wild life, a dazed owl wandering on the ground, the eerie silence that env
elops the earth before she unleashes her fury. The ground continued to rock and Jason saw the trees arch sideways, then spring back like giant catapults. In a few seconds it was over; the only sound remaining, the pounding of his heart against his sleeveless jersey. He staggered toward his bike and felt the cell phone clipped to his waistband vibrating.

  “Did you feel that?” Carlene’s voice was high with excitement.

  “What did it read?” Jason asked.

  There was silence on the other end. “Carlene, you still with me?”

  “Sorry. I just got word from University of Utah seismology. It was three point four. It sure felt bigger than that. It was centered at Norris.”

  Jason looked around. The park was still silent. The late spring day was unseasonably warm and he removed his helmet letting a light cool breeze ruffle his dark curly hair. He ran a hand through his hair and it came out wet with sweat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his forearm. “Listen, Carlene, I’m about five miles from West Thumb. I’m going to ride over and check for damage.”

  “You sure you don’t want to head back?”

  “Why, something wrong?”

  “I don’t want you to think I’m afraid, but we’ve got a big crack in the parking lot with steam coming out of it.” Jason heard a pause while Carlene collected her thoughts. “Peter Frank told me to call him in an emergency. I’m just not sure this represents an emergency.”

  The ground started shaking and Jason found himself on the ground again. “We’ve got another one,” Jason yelled above the roar. “Call him!”

  He held on to the grass as the ground violently shook, tumbling him into the ditch again. A loud crack like a gunshot rang out above the roar and a tall pine fell hitting hard against the asphalt where he’d been a moment earlier. Damn, I hope this isn’t the big one, he thought. Again it ended in a few seconds.

  The tree had broken into three large sections blocking the road. Jason carried his mountain bike around broken limbs and over the tree. The road tilted at an awkward angle though the pavement wasn’t broken.