The engineer said, “We were only given a few hours of fuel over the time schedule because of the shortage of diesel.”
The ever cool Greg lost it a little and said rather vehemently, “Well what the hell do we do now?”
Chuck was the first to respond. “If we could somehow transfer fuel from the snow engine we could, depending how far it was to the top of the pass, let the snow engine pull us down the mountain.”
Greg thought that sounded good and told them he would do his part in this operation. Chuck went on to say that this would not be easy as a large diesel motor would be hard to start after running out of fuel and because it was so cold out, they had better hurry before the oil became too thick for the starter to move the big engine to run.
“Let’s go then and see what we can do,” Greg said without letting any more ideas mentioned.
Greg had grabbed whatever he could on the way up to the front of the engine to protect his hands from the cold. Now he rewrapped and led the way with Chuck right behind him and Bubba swearing a blue streak. The wind hit them again like before when they moved from the passenger car to the engine. This time they went to the ground on the uphill side of the engine to walk to the snow train engine. They climbed up the ladder and entered a warm cabin where the engineer and his fireman waited for someone to say something. Chuck seemed the best to report and he told the two guys what the situation was. Then he told them their plan to transfer some fuel from one engine to the other. The engineer stared on in disbelief as he listened to the plan. He said, “We don’t know how far it is to the summit and how much fuel it would take to get there anyway.”
Greg said someone had to go out and see if they could find the summit and make their way back. Chuck and Greg said they would go. The others just stood there looking on at the fools going out in this weather. Greg was the first out and the rest followed. In seconds his eyes were blurry and his nose froze. His hands were in his pockets of his overcoat. He slipped and almost fell down with his slick shoes on. Chuck was doing somewhat better as his shoes were hiking boots and Bubba was holding on to Chuck swearing like a sailor. Just a few feet beyond the front of the snow train, Greg tripped over something and fell down in the snow. While falling the snow blew off the bundle on the ground and Greg through blurry eyes saw some color through the blinding snowstorm. He turned around on his hands and knees and dug down in the snow revealing a snow suit with a body in it. By now Chuck and Bubba had seen the color and were down on hands and knees digging out what looked like a man in an arctic suit.
Greg shouted over the wind that something or someone had met with an accident and looking around, he saw more lumps in the snow and glimpsed through his vision a tent flapping in the wind. He motioned the other guys to drag this frozen guy over to the tent. Struggling with the corpse they finally made it to the tent and once inside, they closed up the flap and in a few minutes, they could breathe again and their eyes cleared up. Greg and Chuck brushed the snow off and Greg through frozen fingers took the helmet off and saw a white face staring back at him. Greg brushed the helmet off and put it on. His ears were in pain but soon the heat warmed his head up a little. Chuck was stripping the rest of the Arctic suit off and soon the guy was left with only his long handle underwear on. The guy was about Greg’s size and Greg took off his coat and put on the snow suit. Now Greg was ready to go out and see what was under the other mounds next to the track. He told the guys what he was going to do and left the tent thankful for the warm clothes and gloves. His first mound found the other guy and Greg pulled him into the tent. This guy was about Chuck’s size as Bubba was a very big guy and no way would he fit into one of those Arctic suits.
Greg waited for Chuck to dress and they both went out to see what else they could find. After a search they discovered a snowmobile and a snow sled behind it. Greg and Chuck cleaned off the sled to discover two five gallon cans of gasoline. They quickly moved to the other tandem mound and they discovered another snowmobile and sled like the first one. They searched the snowmobiles and found some flashlights and tools for wiring. Greg motioned Chuck to return to the tent and once inside they found Bubba shivering like an Aspen tree. Greg told Bubba what they had found and Bubba had stripped both of the men and discovered bullet holes in the back of the neck of both men. Greg told Bubba to go back to the snow engine and warm up. Say nothing to them about their find and when Greg and Chuck figured out what these guys were up to, they would come back to the train and fill everyone in on what they found out.
Greg said out loud against the howling wind, “That this had the look of terrorist activity and the first thing we should do is check the tracks for explosives.”
He and Chuck started at the front of the snow train and worked forward. The suits were great and they felt warm and after a few minutes of working, they actually started to sweat a little. Then directly opposite from the buried men and machines Greg found what he was looking for.
Chapter 8
Deep in Cheyenne Mountain at NORAD, [North American Aerospace Defense Command] the commanding general was in a meeting with his staff. He addressed the group, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are in a spot of trouble to say the least. Now, even if we go to a war standing how we would even begin to send messages out to the different installations. We will sit back and wait for things to develop. At last report the world was in or moving into a deep freeze and no government has the where with all to launch a strike anywhere in the world, much less against the United States. My orders are thus, we send out a team to investigate the city and make contact with the local National Guard. I also know you are worried about your families and love ones. However, at this point in time we are in the hands of a higher power and we just have to hope they are all safe and warm against a weather system that is totally out of anyone’s control. Washington will get word to us if at all possible. Meanwhile, I want you to form a team to look at the possibility of transporting as many civilians that we could safely house inside the mountain. Women and kids are first priority and young men are second. I know we are playing god, but we must look at the future for our country.”
Not a sound was heard in the meeting as to a person all hung and prayed to his or her higher power. The general looked around and to see if there were any questions and knew that there would be none. He said, “Let’s get to it and stay busy
* * *
Some quarter of a million miles away, cloaked from any electronic or visual detection, three light forms danced in the weightless space of a base on the moon. Through telepathy they all agreed the earthlings were rather resourceful in spite of what they had done to the weather and communication satellites.
“It would appear we began this effort at the right time.”
“Yes, now we must wait and see how the strongest of them react to our plan to save the planet they call Earth,” its thoughts went to the others as colored lights danced in the suspension giving off flashes of brightness when telepathy was used.
* * *
Back in the White House, Tex was talking to a colonel when the president walked into the situation room. In tow were her Chief of Staff and the CIA director walking next to the FBI director. The president waited while the general finished his instructions to the colonel and said to the president with less than the courtesy due, “Madam President, what brings you down here?”
I’m here to ask you to follow me to a meeting of the utmost importance,” she replied with contempt, anyone within hearing distance could easily detect. She turned and everyone followed her to a room with the sound proof capability, but under the circumstances, unnecessary.
“General I’m here to take you up on the offer of moving our government to Cheyenne Mountain.” She watched him very carefully as he took in the information. She didn’t trust the general one iota. She could envision him taking over when she left Washington, but she had a plan of her own for these types of ambitious military men who took advantage of circumstances like the one facing her nation. Once more she
let that sink in for a few seconds and then she went on to say, “I will leave the vice president here in Washington and as commander and chief, I will assign your replacement here in Washington to the Navy Secretary. Please make the train arrangements along with enough security for the long ride to Colorado. Keep me updated as I would like to leave as soon as it is possible. There is an escaped assassin looking for me and I want to make sure we leave before he can penetrate our security.”
She looked at the CIA director and the Home Land security director and said, “Let’s make sure the nut case doesn’t penetrate our White House. So many people coming and going around here, I want security to the max. Now, are there any questions?”
The table was quiet and she stood up and walked out of the room with her Chief of Staff in tow.
A few blocks away from the White House and the guy dressed in Army gear stashed his motorcycle in some brush alongside the road. He wasn’t afraid to be seen, as little traffic was coming and going along the street. He began to walk towards the White House smiling to himself how easy it was to find a soldier who was completely unaware of someone attacking him in weather like this. Quite unseen he knifed the solider in the back, dragged him off the sidewalk and quickly stripped him of his winter clothes. Now as he approached the entry check point to the White House, he put his best smile on. He’d memorized the dead soldiers name rank serial number and hometown. He was a professional and could play any role necessary. The guard outside the gate stopped him with a rife pointed at his body.
“I’m a friendly,” he said with a white toothy smile.
The guard said, “Show me ID.”
Blacky, a name given him years ago because of his dark side, showed the guard his ID with a relaxed attitude. He mentioned the nasty weather and how he missed his home. He rambled on about his family being in danger and so on.
The guard asked him, “What is your business here?”
Blacky replied that he was supposed to report to the colonel in the White House situation room ASAP. The guard noticed he was not carrying any firearms and waved him through. The metal detector had so much snow on the bottom of it that when he walked through it never detected his pistol in his boot. “That was easy,” he said to himself. He hurried to the side of the White House where he knew it would be harder to pass through the checkpoint into the White House.
* * *
Greg scraped away the snow from the track to reveal a stash of dynamite and a pressure detonator. Chuck looked on as Greg, very carefully examined the pressure switch. He asked Chuck to see if in the tool box there was a side cutter. It looked to him routine to cut the switch away from the dynamite. Chuck found the side cutter and hurried back to Greg. The snow was blowing so hard into this face that Greg was having a hard time seeing what he was doing. Chuck used his body to block the wind a little and after a few minutes, Greg had the wires exposed. He slipped his glove off and in a few seconds his hand was so cold he couldn’t feel his fingers on the tool. He put the glove back on and used his left hand to handle the tool. Greg paused a few seconds and looked at the wires. There were three and all were different colors. A red wire a black one; and a blue one. He said to Chuck shouting to be heard, “Which one?”
“I have no idea, but in the end we must cut one so you choose and no one will know the difference after its cut.”
Greg laughed and said he was partial to blue and he cut the blue one with closed eyes and discovered that he was still alive after all. He quickly cut the other two and stood up with sweat under his helmet.
“Let’s get back to the train engine and report what we have learned. We still have the fuel problem to overcome and if we could get to the downhill side of the pass the snow engine could pull us into New York.”
Bubba meanwhile was watching the Arab out of the corner of his eye. The guy was like a statue and hadn’t moved in a long time. Bubba shifted in his seat to face the Arab and closed his eyes feinting sleep.
Abdul’s mind was racing with what to do next if anything. He prayed to Allah to guide him in his hour of need. He was so cold that his feet no longer had any feeling in them. His hands deep in his pockets also were losing feeling. His hand on the detonator box felt like a foreign object and was rapidly losing any sense of feel with his hand. He knew he should stand up and walk to get some feeling back into his body. If I put my hands under my arm pit maybe some feeling will come back he thought. He struggled to get up as Bubba’s eyes popped open. The fat guy next to Abdul was awake now and shivering with cold and loudly complaining to no one in particular. Abdul tried to walk past the fat guy and had to take his hands out of his pockets to brace himself from falling into the fat guys lap. Bubba knew he had to make the move now as soon as the Arab cleared the fat guy.
He would put a hammerlock on him and take him to the floor. Just as the Arab cleared the fat guy and turned to walk down the train car, Bubba made his move. Before the Arab realized what was happening, Bubba had a hammerlock on him and both fell to the floor. In broken English the Arab started yelling to get off him. At the moment, with most of the passengers standing and looking on in disbelief on their faces, Greg came through the door in his snow suit looking like a man from outer space with his snowmobile garb on.
Greg saw Bubba on top of the Arab guy and walked quickly down the train to help him. From his pocket Greg pulled out his gun and stuck it in the Arabs face. Speaking in Arabic Greg told him to lay still or take a bullet to the brain. Abdul quit struggling and lay still while Bubba released the hammer lock and picked the guy up like a twig. Greg slipped his gloves off and reached into the Arabs pocket pulling out a sending unit that was flashing red.
Greg said, “Bubba find something to tie this guy up with to his seat and after that follow me to the back car where we are having a meeting to see if we can get this train moving again.”
The passengers overheard him speaking and all voiced their approval. Greg took off his helmet and stopped to check on the old couple first and then to see how Adell was doing. The old couple, he found, were not so bad, but he was sure, like most of the passengers, had frostbite on their feet. Adell smiled at him and said, “She was fine knowing he was there with her.”
He told her, “I have to go back to the last car and see if we can make this train move. Be brave and we will get through this terrible time.”
He smiled and Bubba was behind him with a warm smile of his own. They walked back to the last car and found Chuck and the conductor in a heated discussion on how to move the train. About that time in came the senator with an overbearing smirk on his face. He demanded to know what was going on and when the train would continue on to New York. Greg had to restrain Bubba and told the senator that he had found a bomb on the train and in fact he was standing right above it right now. The senator turned on his heels and beat it back to his car.
Bubba said, “Greg that was beautiful, but is it true?”
Greg laughed and said no the bomb had been defused and now they need not fear it will go off with the detonator in his pocket.
He sat down at the conductors table and took his gloves off to examine the sending unit. He asked the conductor for a Phillips driver and the conductor from his desk took out a small tool box and handed the driver to Greg. Greg took off the back and looked inside. This was very sophisticated indeed, he thought.
“Bubba, what do you make of this? Do you have an experience in sending units or electronic devices?”
Bubba said with fear in his voice, “Greg, I have no experience in electronics.”
Chuck said, “I have a little on the job training with the kits I used to put together while doing nothing in the winter time.”
He sat down with Greg and looked inside at a complex set of wires that had four double AA batteries powering it.
Chuck said, “I have not a clue Greg. I can’t help you.”
Greg followed each wire from beginning to end and after ten minutes he said with exasperation, “I have no idea either what to make of
this. It is obvious that there is a bomb on board this train destined by the Arab guy to detonate it from this sending unit. The bombs under the track were to stop the train only. This is quite a mystery that I must sort out if I can. It is impossible to look under the train because the snow is so packed from engine to here in the last car we wouldn’t stand a snowballs chance in finding a bomb. We could look in all the other places inside the train but I fear we would not find much. I think the bomb is placed underneath the train somewhere. As long as we have the sending unit, I think we are safe for the time being. Let’s find a way to put some fuel in this train engine and head for New York before we all freeze to death with this dead engine.”
Already the temperature had dropped perceptibly and it would not be long before all the people on board froze to death. Bubba took Greg’s snowmobile suit, struggled with a tight fit, and he and Chuck took off to transfer some fuel from the snow train to the dead engine using the gas cans left by the terrorists. The train engineer showed the boys the pet cock where he drained the water out of the fuel and they made four trips each to the out of fuel engine. After fighting the elements of the blizzard Chuck and Bubba completed the task. Without the snowmobile suits they would have never completed the job. Once back inside Bubba said Chuck was with the engineer who was trying to start the engine. Fifteen minutes later, the heat started blowing into the car; if you could call it heat. The air was blowing but it felt warmer than the air inside.
Ten minutes after that some sense of warm air was flowing into the cars. The train started to move amid cheers from the conductor’s car and Greg smiled to himself. The smiled disappeared as he thought about the bomb on the train bound for New York. He pondered why would they have a bomb on the tracks and another bomb on the train? “Think.” he said out loud. Everyone turned to look at him and silence fell to a man, including the still sitting actor who had taken his lesson and not said a word since he was told to be quiet.
Unearthly Snowbound Page 5