“I got lucky at the library.”
Completely misinterpreting the reason for his smirk, not impressed, Walter said,
“It’s just a map. What are you so thrilled about?”
“Did you know that old lady Jones finally retired as Head Librarian?”
Before Walter could remind him that he was after all the Sheriff of Twin Rivers and of course he knew things like that, Isaac jabbered on,
“Now on the front desk is a beautiful young lady called Fatima Washburn. She is black and single just like me. When you dropped me off yesterday it was closing time but, ----”
He then proudly waved hands up and down his body while saying,
“This total package convinced her to come for a romantic dinner at Chez Romeo’s. After dinner we returned to the library and she got me the copper mine specs you asked for. I presented the bill to Edith.”
Shaking his head, Walter said,
“Good luck with that.”
He replied,
“She already agreed to authorize the expense. It was after all an important overtime assignment.
A deadpan voice retorted,
“Your sex life is not an important overtime assignment.”
With the tube under his arm and Isaac following, as they marched past Edith in the reception area, there was a bit of command in Walter’s tone to her.
“We will be gone for a while. Pin us both out.”
She watched through the window as both got in the Sheriff’s cruiser and turned right onto Maple Street. She didn’t like his tone, so ignored the request and simply returned to her work. She would remember that both ran out of the precinct without following the rules.
While turning onto Jasper Street, for what he had in mind Walter was glad to see a clear sky. He was not sure his plan would work if it was raining. A block before Ruth’s house, Walter turned left and then into a back alley. Isaac understood that they parked behind Mr. and Mrs. Crow’s house across the street from Ruth Albright.
As Walter got out of the car and Isaac followed, he thought he understood why they were hiding from Ruth. Opening the back gate and while walking through the Crow’s back yard, Isaac mischievously asked,
“Are we going to cross the street and sneak up on Ruth?”
Walter hated it when Isaac was in a good mood. Walter replied,
“What we are doing is dangerous enough. Let’s not ruin the day shall we.”
Because it was a deliberate tease at his boss, Isaac grinned from ear to ear.
At the back of the Crow house, Eric Crow was waiting for them on the patio picnic table. Both men joined him and Walter placed the tube on the table. As Eric looked at it, Walter said,
“First of all, I can’t stress enough that what will be said here is absolutely secret and only between us three.”
Eric looked at Walter and said,
“Hey, it wasn’t me who blabbed to the whole town about that meeting at the Elks Lodge. Of course I will respect your request. Since you phoned last night you tickled my fancy.”
A younger Isaac thought it was an inappropriate thing for one man to say to another but let it pass as an old man thing. Walter pointed to the tube and Eric unrolled the map onto the table. All three were now intently looking at engineer specs of the Copper Mountain mine and the tunnels.
Both Walter and Isaac silently admitted what they were looking at what might as well have been codes for a secret invasion of Mars. Eric asked,
“Just what is it you want to know Walter?”
Knowing that Eric was not aware of the secret project in the mountain or the location of the crystal cave, Walter told him what really happened up there. Eric whistled and said,
“No wonder this is a private conversation.”
Then with all sincerity, he added,
“You know you can trust me Walter.”
“I know I can, that’s why I came to a retired mining engineer. I need to know exactly where that crystal cave is on this map.”
After putting on his wire rim reading glasses and looking hard at the lines, numbers and tunnels, Eric eventually put his finger on the map and said,
“Here. This was the last tunnel blasted before everything was shut down. As engineers, we knew there was an underground river behind those rocks because we could hear it flowing. However we also knew that if we blasted through it, there was a danger that the water could flood the whole lower level so it was recommended ignoring that copper vain. However, true to the greed of big money, they decided to go after it regardless. Three miners set the explosives and discovered the crystal cavern.”
He then looked to Walter and sincerely said,
“Thank you for trusting me with what happened to two of the miners. We all thought Gordy Jackson was dead too.”
He then added,
“He is a friend of mine and I would like to help him as much as possible.”
Walter then slid his finger along the map and stopped at the side of Copper Mountain. He said,
“This is where the north arm of the Copper River disappears into the mountain. I need to know exactly how many feet it is from there to the middle of the crystal cave.”
He then quickly added,
“And I want it in feet, not meters or cubits or whatever other code you engineers use.”
Eric brought out a measuring compass and paced off the distance. After tapping a few numbers into his calculator he said,
“It is exactly 913feet and four inches from there to the middle of that cave.”
Walter rolled up the map, thanked Eric for the information. On the way out of the yard, Walter said to Eric,
“We are now off to have a little chat with Ivan Petrov.”
From what little was revealed to Eric and knowing they were going to see Ivan Petrov, it didn’t take him long to figure out what they were up to.
Returning to Maple Street, instead of turning into the Maple Mall and the precinct, Walter drove past it. Although he was secretive about the plan, by now Isaac also had a pretty good idea what the secret plan was. After passing the library and the gas station, he stopped in front of Jinken’s Hardware store and looked at Isaac. Isaac beat the Sheriff to the punch saying,
“You want 913feet and four inches of strong nylon rope and an inner tube right?”
Walter nodded and added,
“Make it a 1,000 feet and I’ll pick you up in about an hour.”
Isaac countered,
“I’ll wait for you at the library.”
Walter then pulled up in front of Ivan Petrov’s house, a white bungalow wedged tight between two massive new homes. Getting out of the car Walter saw Ivan in the front yard raking leaves. They were not from his tree because there was none on his property but rather from his neighbor’s large Birch tree. Like Eric Crow, he was a retired Copper Mountain mine employee. In fact, he was exactly what Walter was looking for, a mining explosive expert.
Ivan was wearing coveralls that he probably stole from the mining company as part of his retirement package. He saw Walter coming and suspected correctly that a conversation was coming. As Walter opened the gate, Ivan turned and sat on the front step of the house. Walter joined him and said,
“Before I start I want to impress upon you the importance of what I’m about to ask is absolute top secret, only between you and me.”
Ivan was born in this neighborhood and spent all of his life in Twin Rivers. Despite that and for some strange reason, he had a heavy Russian accent. He said,
“You don’t worry about for nothing. Eric he already phone and tell me that.”
Walter cast eyes to the heavens and wondered who the gossip queens in Twin Rivers really were, the ladies or the old men. Was it even remotely possible to keep a secret in a small town?”
“Just dandy,” said Walter, and then added, “you were in charge of mine safety and the explosives division before retiring, I and ---,”
Ivan quickly interjected,
“Not retired. Let go when
mine shut down. Big difference.”
“Okay, let go. What I’m looking for is a cache of dynamite. I know that the union insisted the explosives be stored and hidden in various places and ---,”
“Is true. Was done to protect against theft. Plus if all explosives accidently went at once, bang whole mountain she go up in smoke.”
He then laughed and added,
“That what you want to do huh? Not bad idea.”
It was then Walter understood Eric had figured out the plan. Nevertheless, he was determined to carry it out. If he was caught, fine, he would rely on the secret information he had in the ‘black bribe book’ and secret recording with Judge Roy Clemens for his pension. He said,
“Ivan, I need dynamite and lots of it. Of course that has to be a secret as well.”
“Hah,” Snorted Ivan, “nobody use dynamite no more. Too unpredictable and fuses not good either. Just ask Lefty Adam Welsh where arm is. Him not always called Lefty you know.”
“Fine Ivan, what do they use now?”
“For what you going to do, and it stupid but okay, I tell you. Me, I developed a combination of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil along with a secret ingredient. Very good stuff. Is called Ex-5. Good bang and water proof. You tell me how long you want the timers set and I fix the detonators for you.”
It was time to get to the purpose of the meeting. Walter started by saying,
“Look Ivan, I don’t care about theft and I’m certainly not interested in arresting anybody who can help me. I have three children over at the hospital in danger of losing their minds and a good man greatly suffering and possibly dying because of what is still inside that mine.”
“Ivan help you, you bet. Gordy Jackson good friend of mine too.”
Walter then added a pleading tone to his request.
“Ivan, if you have this Ex-5 or know where I can get lots of it, I really need it.”
“Is not a problem. Eric him say you good man and what you gonna do is good.”
He then got up and said,
“You come, I show you.”
In the back yard of the bungalow, attached to the single car garage was a big metal tool shed. Ivan unlocked the sliding doors and Walter looked in to see cluttered tools, a lawnmower, rakes and general paraphernalia of a good but obviously unorganized gardener.
It took a few minutes for Ivan to clear most of the stuff off the floor and toss it out onto the lawn. He then pulled on a rope attached to the plywood floor and secret compartment underneath was revealed. Reaching down, he pulled out three heavy burlap sacks and threw them out on the lawn next to all the gardening tools. After replacing the floor and putting all the tools back in the same haphazard manner he turned, kicked the sacks and said,
“There enough Ex-5 to blow up mountain.”
Walter was shocked and said,
“Jesus Ivan, you keep dangerous stuff like that in your back yard?”
“Not worrying, is dangerous like sleeping baby. Need detonators I keep in basement. Come, I show you how to set timer and insert into Ex-5.”
Chapter 67
After gently placing the Ex-5 in the trunk of his car and slowly closing the lid, Walter carefully drove away and called Isaac.
“Five minutes.”
When he pulled up in front of the library Isaac was standing there with enough rope slung over both shoulders to climb Mount Everest. When Isaac yelled at him to open the trunk, Walter didn’t want to risk half the town of Twin Rivers disappearing in a mushroom cloud. Everything was tossed in the back seat and both sped off in the direction of Copper Mountain.
From the passenger seat Isaac asked,
“Did you get everything you needed to blow up the mountain?”
Walter looked over to him and said,
“How the hell does everybody know what I’m going to do?”
He then added,
“And wipe that stupid grin off your face, we have work to do.”
Isaac beamed even brighter and bragged,
“I got a date tonight.”
While struggling through the narrow canyon on foot, Walter was burdened carrying bags of Ex-5 and very nervous that Ivan may have exaggerated the ‘dangerous like sleeping baby’ metaphor. Isaac was no better off. It was difficult balancing from boulder to boulder with all the rope slung over his shoulder. Finally in position, they stopped at the side of the river just a few yards from where it disappeared into the heart of Copper Mountain.
Because the rain had stopped and the river was low, a rope was easily tied across the river from boulder to boulder. One end of the longer rope was attached to that rope by a mountain climber’s carabiner and fed through a descender loop. Walter sat on a boulder and set the timer on the three detonators. As he carefully stuck them into the Ex-5, Isaac asked,
“How do you know how many minutes to set the timer?”
“Calculated by the flow rate of the river, Ivan suggested a good time-frame would be three minutes for the explosives to be pushed into the crystal cave. Just to be safe, I’m setting all the timers for five minutes.”
The three Ex-5 units were gently pushed into a rubber inner tube and sealed off with more rope. Ivan assured him that the explosives were unaffected by water but sealing it against water was not the purpose of stuffing them inside a large inner tube. The rubber was to act as a cushion when bumping into the stone and keeping everything together on its way through to the crystal cave. Walter asked,
“Did you mark off 913 feet on the rope?”
“Yeah.”
After the inner tube was tied to the other end of the long rope, they lowered it into the river and let the force of the current pull the payload into the heart of the mountain.
When the 913 foot marker came up on the rope, Isaac tied it off and said,
“That’s it. The explosives should now be in the center of the crystal cave.”
Walter looked at his watch and said,
“Three minutes and fifteen seconds to go.”
Then looking at Isaac he added,
“Should we run like hell?”
Thinking it was a good idea, Isaac took the lead.
At a safe distance and on a high point of a ridge, they saw the Factory in the distance. When the Ex-5 detonated, the mountain muffled the sound and there was no great explosion heard on the outside. The flowing river backed up and gargled out of the hole it was running into but then quickly returned to its normal flow. What both saw and did not expect was that every window up in the Factory building blew outward from the concussion of the blast far below. Beams of rainbow colors shot outward hundreds of feet into the distance. Both understood that should not have happened.
If it were true, as the Government claimed, that every tunnel had been sealed including the elevator shaft, then the concussion of the blast should have been contained within the crystal cave. How was it possible for forced air to work its way through blocked tunnels and blow out all the windows. Both knew and Isaac voiced it.
“It looks like the government lied to us about sealing off all the tunnels. Clearly they deliberately left one access to the crystal cave open.”
Walter added,
Looks like they intended to return at some point and continue with the experiments.”
As they turned and walked back to the car, Isaac said,
“Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now though does it.”
Walter was very pleased to say,
“Nope.”
Chapter 68
A few minutes before the explosion
It had rained the night before and although it stopped early in the morning, there were still large puddles galore in the hospital parking lot. Doctor Fran Jorden was out there leaning against her rusty old Honda Civic. She let the cigarette lazily drop from her hands, stomped on it and lit up another one. She was trying to suck in enough courage to do something she was not looking forward to doing. One of the conditions for handing over evidence against the Factory was anonymity.
She did not want the town’s people to know that although unknowingly, she was responsible for alerting the Factory to the children that ultimately resulted in their present condition. As somewhat of a penance, everything in her bank account was donated to the hospital and her services to the three children was Pro Bono. She could barely afford cigarettes and gas for the Civic.
As much as she didn’t want to do it, it was time. She stomped on the last cigarette and entered the hospital. As she walked past the Nurse Station, Nurse Emma looked up and tried her best to smile at her. A very distracted Fran Jorden did not return the greeting but Emma understood the pressure squeezing at her and forgave the unintentional snub. Emma got up and followed her down the hall. Stopping and looking through the glass in the door, both saw what Fran Jorden had requested. All three parents including Mr. Green, who had now returned to his wife, were in the room. Each parent stood looking down at his or her children in separate beds. Although eyes were open, no child moved or was responsive to their parent’s tears.
It was now Doctor Jorden’s regrettable duty to inform the parents that their child was terminally unresponsive and lacking in receptivity. There was no other way to say it but, brain dead. One minute before the detonation and destruction of the crystal cave, she sucked in a great gulp of air, pushed the door open and bravely entered the grave room. Nurse Emma was smart enough to stay out in the hall.
The Factory Page 34