Event: A Novel

by David L. Golemon

  “I’m sure some of you are wondering why we just don’t bomb the valley from the air. We need to keep them confined. If just one escapes, the cycle will start over and we can’t control it. Airpower is never a certain thing, especially after the events of this afternoon; the creatures actually sacrificed themselves for the well-being of the group, so the air campaign is not the answer. I believe along with the docs here that all the animals would have to do is go deep. Dirt and sand is the best bullet and bomb stopper there ever was.

  “When you leave the briefing, we have a gift that has been supplied by the army and a very special engineer from the University of California at San Diego. We’re pulling in a lot of favors here today.” Jack turned away and retrieved something from behind him. When he held it up, it looked as if it were another piece of body armor that covered the chest and back and zipped up like all others. “This is a new piece of armor developed by Kenneth Vecchio, a mechanical and aerospace engineer. He has developed new armor made from, of all things, abalone shell. The shell has undergone what they call ‘depth of penetration’ testing and can resist a steel rod traveling at two thousand miles per hour. In our language, people, it is what is called a bullet stopper. And that means this animal may have a hard time biting or clawing through it. As you can see”—he laid the vest down and brought up leggings, which resembled shin guards like those a catcher would wear, and thick arm bands—“these are made of the same material. Each of you will be issued a set after you leave this tent.” When Jack saw the doubt on their faces, he said, “Welcome to the world of biometrics, people. We are imitating other life-forms from our own world to survive.” He paused for a second. “In this case an abalone.” That elicited tension-breaking chuckles from these hardened soldiers. “Now, a quick brief by our geology element, Specialist McIntire.” He indicated Sarah, in the front row.

  McIntire walked to the front with a rolled-up virtual map. She unrolled it and placed it on the easel Colonel Fielding had placed there.

  “As you can see, our operational area is ringed with granite mountains. This will be the outermost area of the assault. The tunnels lead off in all directions as if the animals are seeking the quickest and easiest way to get out once the food supply is gone.” She turned away from the map and picked up a softball-sized instrument and held it up. “This is a remote-sensing device that will be air-dropped onto the valley below. It will sense the vibrations underground just like the VDF remote devices each of the teams has been issued. These aboveground units will send a signal to an orbiting global-positioning satellite and an AWACS that will relay the coordinates to our teams to allow you some warning. Of course they have never been used in this manner but—”

  “Thank you, Specialist,” Collins said, purposely cutting her off. The men didn’t need to know the what-ifs if all this technical stuff failed.

  McIntire looked at the major, then caught the innuendo about morale and turned and sat, leaving the virtual map out and displayed. The mountains were by far the predominate feature as they circled the valley like wagons in defense against Indian attack, only the Indians were in the circle with them for this fight.

  “Okay, assemble to your assigned assault teams and good hunting,” Colonel Fielding said.

  The men and women of the tunnel assault teams moved out of the tent with not much said. Jack watched them leave with doubt flitting at the edges of his thoughts. They needed more time to plan this assault. He could be leading them into a massacre by not knowing the animal’s full potential.

  The tent was near empty as Commander Everett and Lisa Willing stepped inside.

  “Jack, you wanted to see Signalman Willing?”

  “Yes, I did,” Jack said.

  Lisa swallowed. She didn’t know what was to come; Carl had said he didn’t know.

  Sarah was rolling up her virtual map and gathering her equipment, just getting ready to join her tunnel team.

  “Specialist, if you would join us here, please,” Collins asked her.

  Sarah looked from the major to Lisa and received the slightest downturn of her lips to show she had no idea what was happening. Sarah laid her gear down and joined the small group at the front of the large tent.

  Collins nodded in the direction of Colonel Fielding, who quickly pushed the entrance flap aside to allow a tall, lanky man inside. He was carrying something in his arms that was covered with a white sheet. He walked quickly to the briefing table and set his small burden down, but still held on with his old and scarred hands. He lifted one of his hands and quickly removed his fedora and nodded in deference to the ladies in the tent. Then he looked at Major Collins.

  Jack half smiled and looked at Sarah and Lisa. “McIntire, Willing, we have something to show you. Colonel Fielding brought it to my attention that in case something happened to those who are privy to what you are about to learn, we had no one else in the field that could possibly protect the most vital asset we have in the coming fight. Therefore you were chosen by me in case something happens to those who are in the know. You are to make sure that this item gets back to the complex unharmed. Your lives are expendable in that pursuit. If none of us return from the assault in the tunnels, Willing, you are to immediately leave Site One with this package and return to Nevada and personally turn it over to the director. If you make it out of the tunnels, McIntire, you’re part of the chain. Others have the same orders; you’re just the end of the domino line. Am I understood?”

  They both nodded.

  “Good. This is Mr. Gus Tilly, the man responsible for us even having a fighting chance is this mess. Gus, this is Lisa Willing, U.S. Navy, and Sarah McIntire, U.S. Army.”

  Gus smiled and again dipped his head in acknowledgment. “The military’s changed a mite since I was in, progress ain’t all bad, I guess.”

  “Gus, will you make the introductions?”

  Gus took a deep breath and removed the bedsheet from his friend. Lisa and Sarah both stared wide-eyed at the small being that stood on the table, its large eyes blinking in the bright light. Matchstick looked around nervously until it saw the friendly faces of Gus, Jack, and the colonel.

  “Ladies, this is Matchstick. He’s what you might call one of them little green men.”

  Lisa allowed her mouth to do what it wanted. It fell open. Sarah actually laughed and clapped her hands just once. Her smile was from ear to ear as she stepped up to the small alien. She looked at Jack, who in turn mouthed the words Go ahead. She slowly brought her hand up and held it in front of Matchstick.

  “Well, don’t leave the lady hangin’, son, shake her hand,” Gus said.

  Mahjtic looked from Gus to the woman in front of him. Then it slowly brought its small hand up. The long fingers gently touched and slowly wrapped around her smaller ones.

  Sarah turned to Lisa and took her hand. “Kind of justifies what we do here, doesn’t it?”

  Lisa just kept her eyes on Matchstick as she slowly closed her mouth and smiled.

  Jack pulled Sarah away from the small group and walked her outside.

  “Listen, I have been thinking of something. Do you have your virtual map of the geologic formations of the mountains surrounding us?”

  “Yeah, I have it right here,” she said.

  “Can I see it? I have an idea.”

  Julie, Billy, and Tony were now being led into the very hole Julie had stared into when she’d entered the kitchen. She had pleaded with the blond-haired Frenchman to let her son and Tony stay behind. But he’d insisted, although politely, too politely Julie thought, and they went along.

  Three members of the Frenchman’s commando team were the first to rappel into the hole. It wasn’t but thirteen feet deep below the surface of the kitchen when it trailed sharply off to the south and down. The tunnel was about six and half feet in diameter and smooth around the circumference. The smell was that of a slaughterhouse, with that coppery odor. Julie noticed as she inched her way down the rope that blood was smeared and splattered on the tunnel’s smooth
and shiny surface. She silently prayed it wasn’t Hal’s.

  She waited for Farbeaux to land on the tunnel floor, then she approached him, shrugging off the hands of one of his men.

  “What is it you expect us to do?” she asked.

  “Do? Why, nothing. You may buy my men and me some valuable time, if and when we run into our guests down here.” Farbeaux smiled and not too gently moved past her and deeper into the black void beyond. He knew a small sample of this animal’s DNA would be highly valuable on the open market, and he might need the lives of the three Americans to deal his way out of town.

  Nellis Air Force Base, Event Group

  July 9, 1435 Hours

  Niles was on the video link with Virginia Pollock discussing the autopsies of the animals they had recovered. Alice listened in.

  “Basically, we’re in deep if that third generation is born. There’ll be just too many of them to contain. And you saw the confrontation with those air force fighters. They had adapted well to the lightness of this atmosphere, although we are not sure the parent doesn’t have that same ability because we haven’t seen her yet. In any case, they were trying to seek the limits of the valley and were possibly sending scouts out before heading for greener pastures when they were attacked by the air force.”

  Niles rubbed his weary eyes and looked at Alice, then back to the camera.

  “What makes you think they haven’t already escaped? They could be well on their way to Phoenix, or Albuquerque.”

  “The autopsy of the mangled animal we pulled from one of the holes that were bombed indicated they were void of digested food. That’s why they broke from the main pack, to scout the surrounding area because they’re hungry. We’ve removed their food source by evacuating the civilians, so we believe the rest will seek nourishment anywhere they can before setting out,” Virginia answered.

  Niles gave her a worried look. “The only food in the area is the teams on the ground.”

  “Yes, that’s the obvious conclusion.”

  Suddenly Jack appeared on the screen with Sarah by his side.

  “Niles, I’ve come up with something here. It might be the backup plan we need.” Jack nodded toward Sarah, who removed her helmet.

  “Mr. Compton, do you have virtual reality map 00787 there with you?” she asked.

  Niles reacted quickly and punched in the command on his desk keyboard. As they watched, a tight, multicolored view of the valley popped up on the screen. Niles quickly looked it over and made sure the map numbers matched.

  “Got it,” he said as Alice joined him in front of the large screen.

  “Do you see the eastern end of the valley?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes,” Niles said.

  “Now, the major caught this little item and I missed it. See the rock stratum goes down into the ground at some points more than two thousand feet, but at the eastern end it tapers out to almost nothing, and there is an actual gap in the ring of mountains at the easternmost end. The rock stratum is virtually nonexistent.”

  “I don’t get it, what are you saying?” Niles said.

  “Niles, the animals will try to exit the valley through the point of least resistance. They may just choose the eastern range, because of the shallowness of the mountain stratum in that area. It’s a funnel, Niles, a funnel!” Collins said.

  Compton finally got it. “A trap of some kind?”

  “Right, we need an engineer company at the point where the mountains dip down to nothing, where there is no rock deep enough. We need them there with one of the packages from MacDill, placed about a thousand feet down ought to do,” Collins said.

  “I get you, Jack, but what in the hell is going to keep them from heading to the shallow point before we’re ready?” Niles asked.

  Alice understood and grabbed his arm. “The tunnel teams have to keep them busy for a while, Niles, that’s all.”

  The director stood and looked at Jack and Sarah. “The only way you can do that is to make yourself targets, Jack. You’re there to try and flush them out, and that’s their goddamn territory down there!”

  “Niles, can you get the engineers there ASAP?” Jack asked.

  “They’ll be there, Major,” said a voice from the doorway that caught them off guard.

  Both Alice and Niles turned to see Senator Lee standing in the doorway leaning on his cane. He was wearing a red robe and slippers and was staring at both of them. Alice and Niles both stood in shock at seeing him there.

  “Thought you could get rid of me that easy?” he said as he glared at Alice. “You have to do more than hide my pants, woman, you… you usurper.”

  Alice finally gained back some of her senses and threw her pad on the desk. Niles didn’t know what to do, so he did what came naturally lately, he plopped back down into his chair, shaking his head.

  “You need to be back at the clinic!” Alice said, going to Lee’s side and helping him to the couch.

  “Now, can someone fill me in on how this war is going? Or do I have to wait for the damn movie?”

  Niles explained Jack’s plan to the senator, who sat and listened with his eye closed.

  “Jack, I know exactly what you need, and maybe I can get you some bait out there to ensure the animals’ participation in their destruction. You two go on with your mission and we’ll take care of everything from here.”

  “Yes, sir, nice to see you decided to go to work today,” Jack said, and smiled into the camera, placing his hand oñ Sarah’s shoulder and walking away from the camera.

  “Okay, smart guy, what do we do to take advantage of knowing where they will run if they get by the tunnel teams?”

  “Well,” Niles said while eyeing Lee, “as Jack said, we order some engineers into that gap in the mountains and drill a hole as deep as we can and then booby-trap it. One neutron bomb should do, no radiation. That may just finish them and break their backs, unless they just go deep under any rocks in the immediate stratum and go under the mountains at some point.”

  “We may be giving these animals too much credit,” Lee said. “I mean, are they sentient or just wild beasts? We don’t know, and our only choice is to treat them as animals. So maybe they will take the path of least resistance just like the major said and go where they don’t have to dig deeper. We must hope they are driven by their metabolism, not their brains. So, where we stand is, we need their path to be failsafe and very, very tempting. Get every head of cattle left in that valley and get them to that gap.”

  Niles didn’t comment but just nodded and marked the break in the mountains with his finger, drawing a line that bled into the map as his finger passed.

  “So there it is, the line has been drawn, huh, Niles? Now get on the horn and tell the president Jack’s fallback plan,” Lee said. “If the tunnel teams fail, Major Collins may have to do the unthinkable.”

  Niles looked at Lee and shook his head, hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

  “After you get done there, Niles, we have to sit down and discuss a little e-mail I just received from a traitor in the midst of our enemies. It seems after this is all over, we have an old friend we have to go meet in New York.”

  Alice and the senator sat on the couch exchanging gentle words. It seemed whatever e-mail Lee had just received was like a tonic that gave him a breath of new life and a new mission.

  Niles connected with the president. “Sir, Major Collins has come up with a rather ballsy backup plan. Are you ready for this?”

  Collins followed Sarah, catching her just as she was walking up to Everett and Lisa. “You watch yourself, don’t pull any hero crap out there.” He stopped and looked her in the eyes and then at Lisa. “Because in my experience, a hero is a sandwich.” Then he gave her a soft smile and turned away and left.

  Sarah smiled sadly at Lisa and Everett, then joined the line to get her body armor, leaving Lisa and Everett alone.

  “I’ve decided something,” Lisa said as she watched her friend leave.

  “And that is?” Evere
tt asked, not caring who saw them talking with each other. At this point, Congress could climb into one of those cursed holes and go straight to hell.

  “I’m resigning from the navy.”

  “No, now that Jack is on board, the Group’s security is in the best hands possible. It’s me who’s resigning.”

  Lisa couldn’t speak.

  “That means as soon as this thing’s over, we’re going to your folks in Houston and we’re getting married. That’s an order.”

  She smiled and hit him in the shoulder. “Ow” was all the big SEAL said.

  PART SEVEN

  I SHALL FEAR NO EVIL

  Man has always been wary of the darkness and thus has followed the path laid bright by the moon; therefore I shall steal the moon glow and blacken the night… and show him just why he is afraid of the dark.

  — ANCIENT HEBREW TEXT

  THIRTY

  Beneath Chatos Crawl, Arizona

  1420 Hours

  Sarah turned and watched the Blackhawk carrying Jack and his tunnel team to Chato’s Crawl. She thought he was looking down at her and she gave a halfhearted wave as the big helicopter lifted skyward. She turned and counted the heads that made up her team, then looked toward the command tent. Lisa was there with her arms crossed over her chest. She waved and Sarah just smiled as she threw her nylon rope down the dark hole. Thirteen more ropes followed, and two by two her team rappelled into the darkness.

  The heat and humidity hit her immediately as her light searched for the area where the hole became a tunnel. She came to a stop with her partner on the opposite side and scanned the area with her helmet light. Then she snapped it off and lowered her night-vision goggles and the world became a greenish hue. She nodded and they continued the final few feet to the floor, landing softly and pulling the ropes from their rappelling rings. They both lowered to an assault crouch as they scanned the emptiness of the tunnel ahead of them. Sarah raised her goggles and turned her helmet light on and off twice, signaling it was safe for the next two to finish the drop and enter the hole. Sarah moved to the mouth of the tunnel as the rest of the team came down in twos. Sarah raised her XM8 and stepped into the blackness.