Dirty bomb; father. Which one was the most dangerous over the next hour or so?
"Sure, um, ok, I'll be there as quick as I can."
As she ended the call, Elliott walked up.
"Sounds like trouble. You need to go over there and see if you can help. I’ll call if anything changes."
They made eye contact just to confirm they both understood this is how friends do things.
"By the way Em, state police just located the truck over in Donaldsonville. They're keeping an eye on it until tactical can get there. It will be quiet for a while, so go help your dad."
Emily walked to her car and headed to Torchwood.
Chapter 24
Joey Santiago sat in a booth near the door, enjoying his burrito dinner. He had skipped lunch, so although it might not be as good as what his wife made, he had no complaints. In fact, he came through Vacherie just so he could stop here, rather than going straight down 3213. He had earned these burritos, so it was worth the extra miles. With all of the delays, Joey wasn't sure just how late it would be before he finally got home tonight, and decided to call his wife to let her know.
Mr. Santiago also did not know about the state police watching him finish his meal as they sat in the alley across the street. He didn’t notice them as they followed him out of the parking lot, and then down Highway 20 headed toward South Vacherie, on his way home to Thibodaux.
He was not aware that his rented truck had been identified, and that those following him knew he rented it four days ago, in Thibodaux, and was scheduled to return it there tomorrow morning.
He was not aware of the five vans filled with members of tactical groups from the FBI, the State Police and Homeland Security, all with the one goal of making sure that Joey and his truck did not make it back to Thibodaux.
All that Joey really knew is that he hadn't felt this tired in a long time. He had spent the past three days helping his friend move up to Ponchatoula, from one upstairs apartment to another upstairs apartment, meaning that every box and every piece of furniture was carried down and up three or four dozen steps, around narrow corners and through doors that were not built to carry things through. It hadn't helped that he spent a couple of days helping them pack everything before the move. So overall, while the food had been good, the sleep had been lousy. And why was it that every time you got a rental truck you got one that had problems. The steering on this one was so loose you had to constantly fight it to stay on the road. Between the packing and the carrying and the driving, his arms were dead weights. And just to add to the misery, that lousy dolly kept breaking free from the tie straps, ending up rolling around the back of the truck. To avoid paying extra for any damage, he has had to stop three times and get in the back to tie the thing down again. One of those times was in traffic, right in the middle of a bridge. He fixed it as quickly as he could, but everyone yelled and honked at him, and the people right behind him said some really nasty things. It wasn't his fault he had a lousy rental. It was almost enough to make a good man swear.
He tried hard to focus on the road ahead, shaking his head as he wondered just how this whole trip could possibly get any worse.
Chapter 25
Normal procedure after securing an unknown device was to take steps to identify what the device had been designed to do, and how it intended to do it. Since it was unwise to mess with an unknown device directly, a common step was to send a robot to X-ray the device. The NRC boat followed protocols as they prepared the robot to send back down to get those X-rays.
As before, those watching the monitors on the second boat saw the gray-green water slowly reveal the lines and curves of the device, now resting comfortably between two sandbags. There was no visible movement. As the submersible moved closer, one arm came into view holding a small X-ray unit that could be carefully moved along the length of the device. They completed a full test sweep, to check the currents and make sure there were no surprises that might interfere with full control of the robot. The submersible moved back to the end of the device and positioned itself. Then the video screen went white.
There wasn't time for anyone to ask. Before the surprise registered on their faces, they heard the loud muffled roar. They looked toward the bridge and saw the plume of water being lifted into the sky. As it cascaded back down, it covered them with water, mud, pieces of wood, metal and who knows what else. Water was still falling when the waves hit their boat, tipping it far enough to one side that the river rushed onto the deck, sweeping one crewman into the river. Those on the shore were hit by the mini-tsunami as well, which knocked some to the ground. Windshields shattered from the impact of falling debris.
After the initial shock, and as the mist and smoke subsided, the first thing everyone noticed was that the boat controlling the submersible was no longer there. When the mental haze cleared, other boats began a search and rescue for the men who had been on that boat, ignoring the water, falling debris and possible risk of released radiation.
There were no rescues to be carried out.
It was at times like this that the hours and hours of training paid off. As a group, everyone began to realize that the entire situation had just changed. The threat of a potentially dangerous radiation dispersal device had become a fully involved detonation of an RDD. The threat had become a reality and had taken the lives of three NRC agents. Both the NRC and FBI now had new protocols to implement; protocols that would bring in many more people and organizations. While team members continued their search & rescue, their leaders got to work.
Pete Goodwin, NRC lead, called to Karla, "Where is Agent Graham?"
"She had to deal with a family emergency. We thought she had time."
"Who's next in line there? Where's the head of their joint team?"
"That's Elliott Masterson. I'll get him."
"Yeah, tell him we have a team meeting in five and get Graham back here. Now!"
"Yes, sir."
Karla walked through the mud to where the task force team has set up their temporary base. The group of agents was standing and talking.
"Hey guys, I need Elliott. You know where I can find him? The Chief needs him for a meeting in five."
"I'll take that meeting ma'am; I'm agent Bleyers. I am temporary team lead."
"Where is Agent Masterson? Chief wants him there."
"I understand ma'am," Bleyers said more forcefully than he intended. "But I will handle the meeting. Elliot, uh, Agent Masterson was, on the boat."
Groups like the Joint Terrorism Task Force work hard to build a comradery that created the level of trust needed for group members to put their lives in each other’s' hands. Losing a member of that team was fully unacceptable to them, leader or not. The fact that Elliot was more like a father to most of them than a boss made it that much more unacceptable. They knew when the next teams arrived they would be relieved to deal with their loss, but right now they had work to do. Agent Bleyers followed Karla back to the boat where they explained the command change to the chief.
In the darkness up river, the leader was enjoying a cup of warm coffee when the tech guy ran into the galley.
"We just lost number five!"
The leader nodded, took another sip of coffee, and waited for the call that would explain things. He had been through too much to panic so easily.
As the search and rescue came to a close, the survey began to determine how much damage the explosion had done, and most importantly, how much radiation was released. Another group began collecting pieces from the explosion, hoping to learn something that might help make sense of what had just happened.
The Chief started making his phone calls to notify offices that he had just lost three of his NRC agents, along with an FBI agent by the name of Elliott Masterson.
Chapter 26
Highway 20 travels down from Vacheri, eventually getting to Thibodaux. It is a narrow, two-lane road, lined with villages and other small collections of houses and buildings. There is a three-mile stretch just
below South Vacherie where the road is surrounded by nothing but mother nature and her critters. A boat ramp with a graveled parking area was where the tactical group decided to carry out their activity. In one more mile, the road came back to civilization, so this was an ideal intercept location.
Joey Santiago had sung every song he knew, and since the truck radio wasn't working, had tried to recall poems his mother used to recite when he was a kid. His arms were numb from fighting the wheel, and his eyes were tired. He was curious why he hadn't seen any traffic coming toward him since South Vacherie but was thankful since he didn’t have to work as hard to keep the truck from drifting across the center line.
It was dark and eerie enough that he wished he would pass a house showing some signs of life. He thought about how nice it would be if he was sitting at home, watching television with his family, instead of driving this rented demon through the darkness.
He blinked and rubbed his eyes. It had gotten so bad that now the lights up ahead were flickering, and turning lots of different colors. He glanced at the dark floor for a second to rest his eyes, then looked back to the highway. The bright lights were still blinking and getting much brighter. And now lights appeared in the darkness behind him. He shook his head, opened the window a bit wider and began singing Cielito Lindo at the top of his voice, another of his mother's favorites.
Joey hit the brakes as soon as his brain shouted at him. The truck was surrounded by bright light, and he saw what looked like men walking toward him. But these creatures were clothed in some kind of white suits, and their heads and faces were covered with masks. He remembered the stories his grandmother used to tell him about the abductions in the desert back home. He never paid much attention to them, but they were about spaceships, and about being kidnapped by spacemen in spacesuits; Joey's heart began racing, and it was getting hard to breathe.
Fortunately, this group of aliens spoke English, so Joey was able to dump the idea of alien abduction. Unfortunately, they didn't sound friendly, and he noticed several of them were carrying guns. They yelled at him, telling him not to move, and to turn off the engine. He did.
Some of the suits were carrying equipment, waving it around, under, and up and down the sides of the truck. After a few minutes, one of them yelled, "Clear!", and a bunch of people began moving toward his truck.
Joey Santiago was told to get out, and as he was led to a trailer sitting in the parking area, he saw them opening the doors on the back of his truck.
Over the next three hours, Joey Santiago told and retold his story to many different people. They asked lots of questions, and it felt like they didn’t believe him. Finally, he noticed that everyone around looked disappointed, and one of them walked him back to his truck, said they were sorry for any inconvenience, and told him he could go on home.
Joey was glad he had called his wife about being a bit late getting home.
Chapter 27
It was quiet as Emily stepped from the elevator, and she felt a bit of relief. She turned the corner and saw two guys leaning against the wall. They were not the physical specimens she expected, but their uniforms said they were security guys. She swallowed her grin as she thought how they looked like an alternate Laurel and Hardy; one of them short and thin and the other taller and carrying enough weight to be an NFL linemen.
"I'm really sorry you guys," she said. "He really hit one of you?"
They both laughed out loud, and the short guy pointed to the big guy, "Really nailed him too!"
The big guy smiled, "I'll tell you, he's a strong old guy. It took both of us to hold him back and get him to stop throwing things. And just when I thought we had him calmed down, POW, he got me."
"Throwing things?"
"He threw his shoes at me when I wouldn't get out of the room," Linda said, "so that's when I had to call security. I'm really sorry we had to do that."
"Oh no, don't apologize for that. I'm just sorry you had to deal with this."
"Hey, it’s fine." the guards said, "It made it an interesting night; things were getting pretty boring around here. I can't wait to get back downstairs and tell everyone how Darnell almost got decked by an 87-year-old."
"Well, thanks for being here guys. What's going on right now? Has he calmed down?"
Linda and Emily moved to her father's door.
"We're going back downstairs. Give us a call if you need us." The two guards engaged in more laughter and backslapping as they headed down the hall.
"I think he realizes he went too far this time," Linda said. "He finally quieted down and had been sitting on his bed. I can't get him to lie down, but I don't want to aggravate him again, so I figure he'll lie down when he gets tired enough. As long as he behaves, we're just fine."
"I'm really sorry; you guys shouldn't have to deal with this."
"Don't worry about it. Most of the time he is a sweetie; teasing and telling stories. I'll bet when the guys come back later he'll be their best buddy; probably won't even remember what happened."
"Ok, well thanks anyway. I guess I'll go in and see what happens."
"Just call if you need me."
Emily took a breath and stepped into the room.
"Hi, dad."
No response from the shape on the side of the bed, staring at its shoes.
"What's going on?" she asked.
The shape turned its head toward her, gave her a ‘That's a dumbass question!’ look, then turned back to the shoes.
"What's wrong dad?"
"I'll tell you what's wrong. Those sons a bitches stole my shoes...the ones that cost me three hundred dollars."
It wasn't the time to explain again that the orthopedic shoes only cost seventy dollars, so she tried more of a reality approach.
"Nobody stole your shoes, dad. You threw them at someone."
He turned to face her, "Who the hell told you that?"
"You threw your shoes at Linda, so she had to call security, and you ended up hitting one of them."
"That's a god damn lie!" His fists clenched, his eyes focused on her in a way that she couldn’t help but step back a bit. "They took my shoes just like they took my billfold, and I even caught one of them stealing my TV set: he thought I was asleep."
"TV set?"
"Yeah, he came in with a ladder and took the damn thing off the wall. I'll bet it’s the same son of a bitch that took my shoes."
Emily glanced up at the TV hanging on the wall.
"They're a bunch of god damned liars. Who are they saying I hit?"
"One of the security guys who was..."
"Well, I should have hit the son of a bitch. They came in here to try and throw me off of my own boat goddamn it. They're lucky I didn't throw their asses in the river. What are you doing all the way up here anyway? I thought you were still down in New Orleans."
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and felt a bit guilty thinking that it gives her an excuse to get away for a few minutes."
"I'll be right back dad. I have to go talk to someone."
"Ok, no problem. Would you hand me that control thing there? I can't hear my program on the TV."
She heard the Bonanza rerun all the way in the hallway. "This is Graham."
"Em, uh, we have a problem."
It was Lennie's voice, but strange.
"Ok, what's up?"
"There's been trouble down at the bridge; at the river."
"They found something else?"
"No, there was, um, an explosion. They were trying to X-Ray the device, and it detonated."
"Detonated? Was anyone hurt? Is everyone ok?"
"Well, the explosion hit the boat...the one with the submersible. There were three NRC guys on it."
"Come on Lennie, are they ok? What's going on?"
"No. they didn't make it. The boat was right over the device when it went."
"Oh man, that's horrible. What about radiation...did the explosion spread a lot of radiation."
"We don't know yet. But Em, there's more."
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"More? Ok, what? C'mon Lennie..."
"Em, Elliot was on the boat too."
She realized that Lennie was still talking, but what he said was being sucked into the echo of all of the other sounds around her as the hallway began spinning and swirling around her head, turning everything into a meaningless roar. She had no idea how long it lasted before she felt Linda tapping her shoulder.
"Emily, I think you can go now. He has calmed down again and doesn't even remember what happened. It looks like you've rescued us again! Are you ok?"
The ‘Ok’ seemed to register, followed by recognizing Linda, the hallway, and finally the phone in her hand.
"I'm fine, yeah. Just, um, yeah, I'm fine."
"Why don't you go on then. We can take care of things here now."
Seconds pass before her brain got her legs to start moving.
As she passed her father's room, she saw the two security guys had come back to check on things. They were sitting in chairs next to the bed laughing. Her dad was telling one of his stories, as they all ate the ice cream bars the guards had brought from the cafeteria. She was at the elevator when she put the phone back to her ear.
"I'm on the way back there now."
The phone went back into her pocket as the doors closed.
Chapter 28
Charlie was thinking about cheeseburgers as he guided the boat into the sharp bend in the river above White Castle, Louisiana. It was a nice break from the other thoughts that had been haunting his mind over the past four hours. As he watched the radar screen to stay in the middle of the in the channel around Bayou Goula Towhead, the pilothouse door opened. In walked his entire crew.
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