Caldera

by Larry LaVoie

  They had been too busy kicking at the boards to notice the large animal until it took a stance and started growling.

  Carlene looked behind her and froze. “Jason!”

  Jason made another kick and a sliver of light shown through a crack that opened up. He turned and saw a pair of yellow eyes. He could hear the growling now.”

  “Stay,” a small voice said over the speaker on the dog’s collar.”

  “Ignore him,” Jason said. “The boards are starting to give.”

  “I don’t think so,” Carlene said.

  Jason scooted up to get a better angle at the boards and gave a powerful kick. The boards moved revealing more light. “If he was going to attack we’d already be dog meat.”

  Carlene was frozen. “I’ve seen what guard dogs can do to unwanted guests on the ranch.”

  Jason gave another kick and the three-foot diameter panel tumbled out of sight. Hot desert air blasted them. Jason grabbed Carlene’s hand and pulled her toward him. As they retreated toward the opening the dog moved forward.

  “It may be a long way down,” Jason said. “Bend your knees to break the fall.”

  “We’re going to jump?”

  “Better than becoming the next meal for a hungry dog.”

  “I hate you for this.”

  Jason inched his way toward the opening and looked down. Each inch they moved toward the opening the dog moved with them. The pitch of the dog’s growling took on an agitated edge.

  What Jason saw outside made him swallow hard. As far as he could see the landscape was a dull gray. The sun was a red ball in the sky. “We’ve been going uphill,” he said diverting his eyes to the ground thirty feet below. “I’m not sure this is going to work.”

  “You tell me this now?”

  “It’s your call. We wait here until the posse comes or go for it.’

  “Damn you. What choice is that?”

  Before she could change her mind Jason was out of the opening still holding her hand. Their fall was broken by a rock outcropping ten feet below the opening. Jason hit first and Carlene crashed down on top of him. The wind was knocked from him. Flat on his back, near unconscious the world started spinning. His hand went to his side. His clothes were soaked with blood.

  Carlene stood up. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  Jason stared up at her gasping for breath. “I think you broke my ribs he groaned.”

  Carlene looked down at him. “Oh my god. You’re bleeding again.”

  “Look out, the dog!” Jason barely got the words out before it knocked Carlene down and lunged at Jason. Jason rolled to his side. The dog missed him and plunged the next twenty feet to the ground. A cloud of dust rose where it hit and quickly dissipated in the wind. Carlene crawled to the edge and peered down. “I think its dead.”

  Jason raised himself up on an elbow. “You ready to do some rock climbing?”

  “You want to go up?”

  “No down,” Jason said. “I’m not jumping again.”

  “I lost the signal,” the soldier said. “He had moved down the corridor toward the front entrance.

  “The War Room,” Mishenka said. “He must have them cornered there.”

  Mishenka and Talant stopped inside the War Room and looked out at the grating.

  “Not here,” Talant said.

  “I can see,” Mishenka said. “Where are they?” He was glaring at the soldier.

  “I don’t know,” the soldier said. “I listen for the dog and hear nothing.”

  Jason was hanging ten feet off the ground. He dropped and when his feet hit the dust he was fifteen feet from where they had first entered the complex. He reached up to Carlene. “Drop, I’ll break your fall.”

  “Her hiking boots caught him in the gut knocking both of them to the ground. To their surprise there was no activity outside. The siren could still be heard coming through the large metal doors to the complex.

  The dog whimpered and rose to its feet. It was shaken, its legs wobbly. “Get,” Jason yelled. The dog faced them, its growl low and threatening. Jason heard the clank of the latch on the heavy door. He glanced at the door and then at the dog. “I’m going to hate myself for this. When I rush the dog, you run.”

  “Where?” Carlene was searching the area.

  “Your choice,” Jason said.

  Carlene sprinted toward the only thing rising out of the flat desert, a fine camouflage netting covering a large object.

  So far this has been my lucky day, Jason thought as he lunged at the growling dog. His knee hit the dog in the ribs causing it to yelp in pain. It had been surprised by the attack, turned away and ran off. Jason rolled on the ground and rose to his feet. He heard voices behind him and the ground erupted in billows of dust from automatic rifle discharges. He darted for the camouflage netting and dove under it.

  “Help me with this,” Carlene called. She had already removed the netting from the propeller of the small airplane and was pulling it back past the wing.

  Jason grabbed the other side and pulled. The gunfire stopped. The soldiers were probably rushing them, Jason thought. Any second they would come through the netting and it would be all over.

  “I hope you have a plan,” Jason said. “I’m all out of ideas.”

  Carlene scrambled into the small door of the airplane behind the wing. “Come on. Leave it.”

  Jason climbed in closing the door behind him. Carlene was already sitting in the pilot’s seat. Jason wedged into the co-pilot’s seat. “What now? I can’t fly.”

  Carlene was turning over the engine. It burst into life. The plane started to taxi, dragging the netting like a deflated parachute from the tail.

  A bullet pierced the fuselage and struck the seat behind Jason. “This isn’t going to work,” he said glancing over his shoulder.

  Carlene shoved the throttle forward. The plane picked up speed.

  “What are you doing?” Jason asked above the engine noise.

  “Hang on,” Carlene said. The engine was screaming at full throttle. She turned into the wind. The netting flapped behind them like a torn sail. It was holding them back. Now Jason could see a soldier dropping to one knee taking aim.

  “Don’t do it, Carlene, they have a rocket launcher.”

  The plane shuddered as a rocket caught the netting, ripping it from the tail and exploding behind them. Another rocket whizzed over the wing on Jason’s side.

  “Hang on,” Carlene said pulling back on the controls. The nose of the aircraft lifted through the dust cloud from another explosion.

  “You never told me you could fly,” Jason said. The plane was only fifteen feet off the ground.

  “Daddy taught me. We used airplanes to search for strays on the ranch.”

  The plane banked sharply and they were headed down the canyon still only twenty feet off the ground. “We have a full tank,” Carlene said tapping the gauge. “Where do you want to go?”

  A rocket flashed past and burst on the cliff beside Jason spraying the craft with rock fragments. “I think we have company,” he said trying to see where it had come from.

  Carlene gradually gained altitude. Over the radio they heard, “This is Joseph Talant. Land the aircraft now or we will be forced to blow you out of the sky.”

  “Hold it steady,” Carlene said taking her hands off the controls. She had not bothered to put on the headset. She placed the microphone over her head and glanced at Jason. “Do we put it down?”

  Jason looked out over the barren terrain. It was the most desolate landscape he had ever seen. He had not expected the ash to fall this far southwest of Yellowstone. The devastation must have been worse than even Bainbridge had predicted. “Dammit,” he said. “How far can this thing fly?”

  “You have exactly ten seconds to turn the plane around,” Talant’s voice filled the cockpit.

  Immediately another voice came over the speaker. “I would like nothing better than to put a rocket through you right now.” This time it was Vladimir Mishenka’s vo
ice. “Nine seconds. Eight seconds ...”

  “Better turn it around,” Jason said.

  As the plane made a broad arc Jason spotted the helicopter in the distance. A man with a rocket launcher was propped in the open doorway. Jason got up from his seat.

  “What are you doing?” Carlene asked.

  “Checking our cargo,” Jason said.

  Under a tarp in the back of the plane, he found several metal boxes, a long wooden crate and a smaller wooden box. He unlatched a metal ammo box. Nothing but tools. He opened another. It was filled with bullets. He grabbed a screwdriver from the first box and used it to pry open the crate. Inside were several semi-automatic rifles. Not much good against a rocket launcher. He picked up the screw driver and pried open the remaining box. This is more like it.

  The plane lurched suddenly causing Jason to lose his balance. “Sorry,” Carlene said. “I’m on my approach. Better strap in.”

  Jason picked up the box of dynamite and made his way to the front. He squeezed into the co-pilot seat and opened the glove box to the right of the controls. “Bingo!” He held up a Bic propane lighter. Carlene glanced over at him.

  “You think you can make a pass close enough to the complex opening for me to drop this?” Jason held up a stick of dynamite.

  “Are you crazy?”

  “They’re expecting us to land. Buzz the entrance. If I can hit it we may be able to seal them in.” He slid open the window beside him.

  They were approaching the wall of rock. The entrance to the tunnels loomed directly in front of them. Carlene pulled the nose of the plane up as another rocket streaked past.

  “Good thing they’re lousy shots,” Jason said. He was still trying to light the fuse on the explosive.

  Carlene aimed the plane straight at the entrance. “You’re only going to get one shot at this.”

  Jason had the fuse lit. He held the giant fire cracker at arm’s length out the window. In his mind he was trying to picture what the trajectory would be like. He needed to time it just right or the plane would be caught in the explosion.

  “Will you get rid of that?” Carlene shouted. She banked the plane sharply.

  The side of the cliff was coming up fast. Jason dropped the dynamite and turned to see it bounce off the rock wall and fall to the ground. The explosion rocked the plane, but did no damage to the huge metal door blocking the entrance.

  “One more pass,” Jason said.

  A string of bullets zipped along the rear fuselage. “No way. They’re shooting at us,” Carlene said.

  Jason grabbed two dynamite sticks and twisted the fuses together. “Make another pass. Lower this time.”

  Carlene swung the plane around and was headed straight for the helicopter. She pulled up sharply narrowly missing the spinning rotors. Her entire body was trembling. She had buzzed cattle on the ranch, but that had been on open range when she was still a kid. Never had anyone been shooting at her. As scary as Yellowstone was she felt closer to death right now than she had ever been in the caldera.

  There was a loud thud and the plane vibrated violently. “What was that?” Jason shouted.

  Carlene was looking out the window at the wing strut. The rocket had glanced off leaving a bad dent, but otherwise no damage. “This isn’t working,” Carlene said. “I’m going to land.”

  “One more pass, that’s all I’m asking.”

  “Stop firing. I’m bringing it in,” Carlene said into the radio.

  “What are you doing? They’re going to kill us anyway,” Jason said.

  “No. You’re the one who’s going to kill us!”

  Carlene banked the plane for a landing approach.

  “What the hell are they thinking,” Carlene said. “They’re blocking our approach.”

  The helicopter hovered just above the ground in front of them. The black hole that was the door to the complex loomed behind the helicopter.

  “They’re not going to let us give ourselves up,” Jason said. “Aim right for them. Better to go this way.”

  “I’m not playing chicken with them,” Carlene said.

  “Then lure them away so we can get another shot at the opening.”

  “You know what makes me mad,” Carlene said. “You always seem to win.” She nosed the plane up sharply and hopped over the helicopter. “You better be ready,” she said.

  Jason held up the two sticks of TNT. The fuses lit up like a Fourth of July sparkler. The ground came up quickly, too quickly, and Jason wondered if they would end up a permanent part of the desert. “You can pull up any time!” he shouted.

  His hand with the red sticks was out the window. “Now,” he said dropping them. Before the plane had banked fully Jason saw a missile zip below them and disappear into the mountain. For a moment he thought it was a dud. Then he realized it had entered the vent shaft from where they had earlier escaped. “Get the hell out of here,” he yelled.

  Carlene glanced at him. The ground was barely ten feet below, rushing past in a blur. She pulled up in a rapid climb.

  The first explosion was from the dynamite which missed its mark again, but Jason kept his eyes to the rear as they pulled away from the cliff. The second explosion shot out of the entrance of the complex like a giant cannon. The metal doors separated from their hinges and flew through the air like giant playing cards. Rubble from the blast flew past them. The plane rocked in the turbulence.

  Ahead of them the helicopter was rising to challenge them, Mishenka lodged in the door with the rocket launcher. One of the steel doors flew like a Frisbee passing under Jason and Carlene. It smashed into a rotor blade of the helicopter causing the craft to spiral to the ground where it erupted in a ball of fire.

  “Their missile must have hit the munitions storage,” Jason said.

  “Can you take the controls?” Carlene asked her voice cracking.

  “Sure,” Jason grabbed the controls. He noticed she was trembling. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

  Chapter 31

  Carlene’s hands trembled so that she was having trouble holding the single engine airplane steady. She made sure Jason had control of the plane, took several quick breaths and burst into tears. It had just occurred to her they had escaped. They were alive. Now where would they go? There was nothing except bleak gray ash in every direction. For all she knew the entire country was lost under the fallout. If the ash had traveled this far southwest it could be everywhere. She wiped her nose on the sleeve of her shirt and struggled to regain her composure. The black leather flight bag was on the floor beside her seat. She took out a handful of maps and thumbed through them.

  “California or Oregon is our best bet,” she said gaining her composure. “We’re heading due west.” She looked over at Jason.

  “How much fuel have we got?” Jason asked.

  Carlene tapped the gauge, a habit she learned in her father’s plane that was known for sticking gauges. “Not enough for Oregon.”

  “Then its California,” Jason said. “Are you ready to take over?”

  “I haven’t been that scared since Daddy had his heart attack,” she said. “You think Oregon was spared?”

  “I hope so,” Jason said. He looked over the bleak horizon. “It must have been a hell of a blast.”

  They flew for the next four hours at a hundred and forty knots. Below them they saw no sign of life.

  After another hour Jason said, “You know, the sky seems to be getting brighter.”

  “According to the map we just passed over Kings Canyon National Park,” Carlene said leaning forward and tapping the fuel gauge again. She had been eyeing it cautiously for the past hour.

  “Look down there,” Jason said. “That’s an automobile.”

  Carlene tipped the wing slightly to get a better look. “Maybe we can land on the highway.”

  “We’re that low on fuel?”

  The plane sputtered and Carlene set it into a steep glide. “I’ve never had to do this before.” She thumbed a knob on the instrument p
anel. “Mayday, mayday. Fresno this is an unidentified aircraft. We are low on fuel and making an emergency landing on highway one-eight-zero. Requesting emergency assistance.”

  “You can do it,” Jason said. “We can’t die in a crash after what we’ve been through.”

  “Will you shut up?” Carlene said.

  It had all caught up with Jason. He had always been nervous flying in small planes and he liked it even less at this moment. The plane coughed, died, roared back to life and sputtered again. They were losing altitude fast.

  Look for power lines,” Carlene said. “You see any power lines?”

  “On the right. You’re okay with this, aren’t you?” Before Jason got the question out they were below the level of the lines sinking toward the narrow ribbon of blacktop.

  “Brace yourself,” Carlene said pulling back hard on the controls. The plane hit hard, bounced up then dropped hard to the blacktop in as near a perfect landing as Jason could expect under the circumstances. They coasted to a stop at the crest of a small rise in the pavement.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” Jason said letting out a breath he had been holding for he didn’t know how long.

  “My god. No!” Carlene cried. They were staring into the headlights of a tractor-trailer rig coming down the highway at full speed, its air horn blasting an ominous message.

  “Do something,” Jason yelled.

  The smoke from burning rubber rose in a blue cloud. The screaming of the brakes drowned out the blare of the air horn. There was no way the rig was going to stop in time.

  “Get out,” Carlene said. She was already out of her seat and had the door open door.

  Jason fumbled with his seat belt. “Come on,” Carlene screamed.

  Jason scrambled out of his seat. The truck was swinging sideways all eighteen wheels protesting their lack of grip on the asphalt. Jason hesitated a moment at the door. Carlene was nowhere to be seen. “I hate this part,” he said diving for the shoulder of the road. The ripping and crunching of metal filled the air as the trailer collided with the front of the plane. Jason hit the ground, did a somersault, landed on his feet and kept running. Airplane parts mixed with Peterbuilt flew past him leaving behind an acrid cloud of blue smoke.