The Yellowstone Brief

by Larry LaVoie

  “How far can we get from here and still set this thing off?” David yelled back at Renfro.

  They were still on the ground when the pickup pulled out of the tunnel entrance. “Too late,” Trick yelled. “They made it out.”

  “Can’t you get this thing any higher in the air,” Renfro yelled.

  “It’s trying. The air is thin and we have a heavy load.”

  The pickup stopped outside the tunnel and Andy Rhane got out and pointed at the helicopter. A second later a bullet pierced the Plexiglas window on the side door whizzing past Heather.

  “I can’t wait any longer,” Renfro said.

  “Not yet!” David yelled, as Renfro set off the IED.

  A cloud of dust billowed from the tunnel and a second later the helicopter shook from the shock wave. The pickup was lost in the dust cloud.

  “That was close,” Trick said. “How much time before the tunneling machines break through?”

  Heather checked her watch. “Twenty-seven minutes, give or take.”

  “That explosion wasn’t enough to detonate the bomb,” Renfro said. “They wouldn’t have come out of the tunnel that fast, if they had much time.”

  “We’re at too high an altitude for this thing to fly efficiently with this load,” David called back. “I’m going to have to go to the south and hope we get out of the path of the tunnels before they break through.”

  As David banked the craft to the south, he saw the ground lift up toward them. At first he thought the helicopter was losing altitude, but then the craft shuddered from a large shock wave. He struggled to keep it under control.

  “What was that?” Trick yelled, hanging onto the back of David’s seat.

  “That was the bomb,” Renfro said, craning his neck to see what the damage was.

  ”Look out,” Heather screamed, covering her face with her hands. Rocks and debris flew past them like missiles, imbedding themselves in the aluminum skin of the helicopter.

  “Not again,” David groaned, as the turbine engines ingested debris and sputtered.

  “Come on,” David urged the craft. “Don’t stall on me now.”

  “Houston, we have a problem,” Trick said, looking out the rear of the craft. Huge holes were torn through the sheet metal. He could see exposed hydraulic lines and wiring. “David, this is bad!”

  “It’s okay,” David called back. “The engines are spooling back up”

  “I mean the mountain!” The words were barely out when the trees below them and to their rear, flattened as if blown over by a huge wind. In fact it was a huge wind. The south tunnel was spewing an ash cloud 20 miles long to the west. “The tunnel has blown!” Trick yelled, excitedly. “Idaho is no more.”

  David angled the craft so he could get a view. “Near as I can tell, the bomb was sealed in an underground explosion. I think Idaho will escape danger.” While he was still talking, he abruptly brought the helicopter around, the turbine screaming at full throttle. “That second tunnel could go any second.”

  “Get the hell away from here!” Renfro yelled.

  The middle tunnel erupted with a sonic boom. Lava shot from its mouth, like an exploding bottle of champagne. Everything as far as the eye could see burst into flame. The cloud climbed straight up as the winds carried the smoke and flames up the Continental Divide. The prevailing winds from the west whipped the ash and cinders in a giant wall of smoke back toward Yellowstone. As the heat from the man-made eruption rose into the atmosphere, it created its own weather pattern and winds from the west were sucked in across the Yellowstone caldera to fill the void. Smoke and ash continued to rise, creating tornado force winds rushing in to fill the air space.

  “That was close,” David said, looking over at Henry in the co-pilot seat. “Can you get Colonel Mathews on the radio and let him know we’re headed his direction.”

  “We’re losing altitude,” Trick said to Heather. “David, are you trying to kill us?”

  David gripped the controls, trying to steady the craft. “Henry tell the colonel where we are!”

  Chapter 32

  David tried his best to control the helicopter as it continued to lose altitude. Henry frantically called ‘Mayday’ on the radio. They were southeast of the tunnel site approximately 10 miles, somewhere near the southwest corner of the park. As David watched the ground below them rise up, he found the only visible clear spot and aimed for it. The helicopter broke into a clearing and hit hard on a solid slab of rock near the edge of a hundred foot sheer drop off.

  David shut down the engines and looked back at his passengers. Clearly they were all shaken from the hard landing. Hydraulic fluid was dripping from a broken line. “Everybody all right? Better get out before this thing decides to burn.” He got out and helped Heather through the door. He noticed the wind was howling like a small hurricane. “Be careful. This rock is on the edge of a cliff.”

  Henry came around the front of the craft leaning into the wind. “Hell of a landing, Dr. Wayne!”

  David raised his eyebrows. “You can call me David.”

  Heather smiled. “I think we all know each other well enough to be on a first name basis.”

  “What now?” Renfro asked, as he came around the tail of the craft and joined the others. He looked at the shivering group standing clear of the craft facing the strong wind. “Who are we missing?”

  “Where’s Trick?” There was panic in David’s voice.

  A strong gust of wind whipped through them, making it difficult for them to maintain their footing.

  “The helicopter,” Heather yelled.

  David started for the helicopter as the wind tipped it on its side. He lurched for the landing skid as it was tipping upwards. His weight kept the craft from flipping completely over, but it continued to be blown inch-by-inch toward the edge of the cliff. He struggled to pull himself up on the landing skid until he could see Trick hunched over inside, still tightly strapped in his safety harness.

  “Get out of there, David!” Heather watched in panic, as the helicopter, now fully on it’s side, was caught in another gust of wind. “David, it’s too late. Get away from there.”

  Henry, watching the scene play out like an action movie in slow motion, was petrified. Renfro ran toward the craft. David was crawling inside. Renfro jumped for the skid that was as high as his head, but it scooted another few inches on the smooth rock surface, destined to stay out of his reach.

  David slid inside the craft and dropped to the side where Trick was hanging by his seat belt. He felt the craft jolt as it skidded a few more inches. He heard a rotor blade snap as it caught something. That didn’t sound good. He tugged at the release. It wouldn’t budge. He patted Trick’s face. “Come on, buddy, work with me.” Trick moaned in response. He reached in his pocket for his knife and proceeded to cut through the harness. The craft moved again. He frantically sawed through the tough fabric belt. Once through, he grabbed Trick and tugged him toward him. He lifted his friend and cradled him in his arms. He looked up at the door which was straight overhead. “Come on, Trick. We could sure use some of that magic right now!” The helicopter lurched again, and David struggled to stay on his feet.

  Trick looked into David’s eyes. “Hi, David. I didn’t know you cared.”

  “Get your ass through that opening,” David yelled, letting go of Trick’s legs, standing him upright.

  “David, I’m up here,” Renfro called down.

  “Give me your foot, I’ll boost you up,” David said.

  “No, you go first,” Trick said.

  “Are you two going to argue until we all go over the cliff?” Renfro yelled, in his most threatening voice.

  “Right, I’ll go,” Trick said, placing his foot in David’s locked hands.

  As soon as Trick was out of the opening, David jumped for the edge of the door and starting hoisting himself up. He was waist high into daylight when he felt Renfro’s large hands grip his arms. The big man pulled him straight up until David rested his feet on the
edge of the door opening.

  “We better get off this thing,” Renfro said. He turned and jumped to the ground.

  The release of weight and the momentum from his jump set the craft scooting toward the cliff again, this time even faster. The sudden shift of the craft caught David off guard and he fell back into the belly of the craft.

  “No!” Trick let out a scream. He ran to the craft and jumped, wrapping his arms around the landing skid. The helicopter continued inching steadily toward the drop off.

  Renfro turned and grabbed the bottom skid and tried to hold it, but it kept moving with each gust of wind.

  “David, can you hear me?” Trick called, as he pulled himself up.

  Heather was watching, dumbfounded that they all had been so close to escaping the wreck, and now were fighting again for their survival. She grabbed Henry by the arm and tugged him with her running toward the faltering craft. She had no idea what she could do, but she wasn’t going to stand there and watch the man who had saved them perish. “Grab hold. We need to keep it from going over the cliff!”

  Henry and Heather grabbed the lower skid next to Renfro and dug in their heels. It was fruitless. The hard rock had been honed to a near polished surface from thousands of years exposed to the unceasing winds at the top of the Continental Divide. The craft pulled them all with it as it reached the edge.

  “It’s too late,” Renfro conceded. “We need to all let go at the same time. This is going over, and if we continue to hold on, we’re going over with it. On three, okay?”

  “No!” Heather yelled. She looked up and saw Tricks legs dangling from the opening. “Grab him.” She let go of the skid and leaped up and grabbed Trick’s feet.

  The craft teetered on the edge. Renfro jumped and grabbed Heather by the legs. At the same time Henry grabbed the big man by the belt. Now they were all in danger of going over the edge with the craft. One final gust of wind, and in an instant, the the craft lurched one last time and was gone.

  Henry fell backwards with Renfro landing hard on top of him. Flat on his back, he looked up in animated horror as, one-by-one, a mass of humanity fell on top of him. When it was over, it was a pileup of NFL proportions. In the blink of an eye, five bodies landed in a heap. David rolled off the top, then Trick and Heather in rapid succession.

  “You can let go of me now,” Renfro said to Henry.

  Slowly Henry unwrapped his hands from Renfro’s belt. “Sorry, I got distracted.”

  Not willing to tempt fate again, they all crawled away from the edge before attempting to stand. Once they were all together and had insured there were no injuries, David turned to them. “I would like to propose a moment of silence for the one who didn’t make it.”

  Henry looked around. “But we all made it.”

  David nodded. “We did, but the pilot went down with his ship. He was the last person I saw as the craft was taking a dive off the edge. I want to thank you all for saving me.”

  “It was nothing,” Trick said, patting him on the back. “You would have done the same for me.”

  David laughed. “Don’t be too sure about that.”

  They stood in a huddle, in a moment of silence, giving thanks each in his own way.

  Chapter 33

  In the continuing roar of the mountain in the distance, David turned slowly to orient himself. He wasn’t certain, but it appeared as if the tunneling operation had done its job. The volcano was certainly releasing pressure. Whether it was enough to prevent a full-blown eruption, only time would tell. He was looking at the darkest sky he had ever seen. From where he was standing, the sun was shining down, casting a dark shadow of his image across the rock. He concluded by the sun and the dark sky that he was looking northwest. He checked his watch. The five of them had been on the rock for three hours. They had no provisions to withstand a night on the mountain. The wind continued to blow unceasingly and there was no sign of any rescue craft in the sky. He had no way of knowing if their distress signal had been heard. He felt a warm hand touch his, and turned to see Heather. “This is what you get when you seek a life of excitement and adventure,” she said. He forced a smile.

  Heather was trying to lighten the mood. “Somehow I think this is a little out of the ordinary. Is volcano watching always this exciting?”

  David laughed. “Promise not to tell anyone. My life was a constant bore until the last eight weeks.”

  “Six for me,” Heather said, looking up at his twinkling eyes.

  “You had a boring life? I find that hard to believe.”

  “It’s true. I was stuck in an office running down white collar criminals, you know scammers and money schemers. I couldn’t wait to get into the field.”

  He found her easy to talk to. From the moment they had first met, he had sensed a chip on her shoulder, but she seemed like a different person these past several hours. He had felt her warmth when she had bared her shoulder for him to operate on her. He had felt her tremble, while acting like she wasn’t scared, as he cut into her, and admired her determination not to let him know she was hurting as he sewed her up. This was a girl he could like. Should they survive, he was going to be sure to get her number.

  “Do you think they heard the distress call?” Heather asked.

  “Can we move over toward those trees. It may be a little less windy,” David said.

  “Sure.” She turned toward him and was caught by a wind gust, tripped and grabbed him.

  David held her for a moment. “See what I mean?” She laughed. There it was, that smile with the corners of her mouth turned up that seemed to be painted by Da Vinci.

  They moved toward the trees, separated from the others, not wanting to face the inevitable outcome if they were stranded without anyone knowing their whereabouts. “You didn’t answer my question,” Heather said, sitting on a fallen tree at the edge of a sparse pine forest.

  “May I?” David gestured with his hand toward the spot next to her.

  “Promise you won’t bite?”

  “You know, you take all the fun out of this completely ridiculous situation we’re in.”

  “Okay. You look pretty harmless.”

  David sat beside her. “I tend to be optimistic about these things. I’m hoping Trick is coming up with a contingency plan in case no one comes looking for us.”

  “Maybe we should join them. They may need our help.”

  David took her hand in his. He noticed it had turned icy cold. “Give them a while. Once they run out of ideas, they’ll find us.”

  There was something about the way he said that, that caught Heather by surprise. “You know something you’re not telling us!” She slugged his shoulder. “How could you do that to us?”

  “Okay, you got me.” David lifted his hands in surrender. “I didn’t want you all to get your hopes up. The helicopter has a locating beacon that’s set off in the event of a crash. The hard landing didn’t set it off, but the drop over that cliff most certainly did.”

  Heather grabbed his arm and leaned into him. “How long were you going to wait until you told us?”

  “Until now.” He stood up and helped her up taking her elbow. “See that helicopter in the distance?”

  Heather started jumping up and down. “Helicopter!” she screamed.

  Henry peeled off his jacket and started waving it over his head. In another moment, they were all frantically waiving any loose clothing to get the attention of the aircraft. Their long ordeal was coming to an end.

  August 28th, Menlo Park, California

  Clayton Brown was about to address a small group of scientists in the conference room of the Western Regional Office of the USGS. The conference was also being broadcast live to over 26 countries around the world. David and Trick were present, seated at one end of a long table. Clayton looked at both of them as he spoke. “I am delighted to inform you that the very latest data show Yellowstone is resting again. All ground swelling has stopped. For those scientists around the globe, who have monitored the Yellows
tone system, I would like to say, thank you for your cooperation in keeping speculation and rumors as to the activity in Yellowstone at a minimum. That being said, there are still hundreds of conspiracy theorists on the internet with outrageous claims that the government was conducting experiments within the park. I want to go on record in assuring you that there was nothing but Mother Nature working within the park confines. As we have seen in the past, the Yellowstone system awakens, and goes back to sleep periodically. In the latest incident, the system relieved itself through a lateral fault which tapped directly into the Mallard Lake magma pool. Like many active volcanic systems around the world, the system appears to have reached a stable state. Of course, we will continue to monitor Yellowstone, as we would any active system; however, that monitoring should not be construed as anything but what it’s meant to be: a method of gathering and sharing data that can be used by the scientific community to help advance the understanding....”

  Trick leaned into David and whispered, “This is so much bull, I’m about to throw up.”

  David jabbed Trick with his elbow.

  September 6th, The White House, Washington, D.C.

  President Merrill looked across his desk at Homeland Security Director Margaret Ames. “Good job, Margaret. You were able to divert two national crises within the same week. It’s rare when a civilian is able to take command of such a complex operation and bring it to such a remarkable and successful conclusion.”

  “Thank you, sir, but I had some help.”

  “Sure, you did. Thank the rest of your team for me. That being said, you understand, for national security reasons, the public must never know what went down.”

  “But Mr. President, it would be a feather in your cap for them to know what a great thing you have done. You stopped a volcano from annihilating the United States and stopped terrorists ...”