She knelt in front of him. “What’s wrong?”
“The water burnt my sister,” he sobbed.
Jamie stood, grabbed the boy’s hand, and led him into the woman’s side of the building. The little girl was sitting on the beige changing table and the woman was wrapping wet paper towels around her little feet. “What happened, ma’am?”
The woman spun around. “This is your fault!” she snapped. “You people should not have put a campground so close to that hot spring! She went to the pond this morning and I heard her scream. When I got there, the water was steaming and she was lying on the ground, screaming in pain. What’s wrong with you people?”
Jamie felt terrible about what happened, but knew trying to explain it was not the Park’s fault would not comfort the woman. “I’m very sorry for what happened, ma’am. The water seemed fine yesterday. I’ll block off the area so no one else gets hurt.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry I yelled at you. It’s just that I’m hiding from my ex-husband, and now this happens.”
“I have some medical training. Mind if I look at her feet?” The woman nodded.
Jamie stepped in front of the little girl and smiled, but the trails of tears down the little girl’s dirt smudged cheeks and the sad frown broke her heart. She carefully unwrapped the wet paper towels from her tiny feet. “They’re not blistered, so that’s a good sign. They might be painful for a little while, but she should be all right. I’ll get my first aid kit and wrap them for you, but you should see a doctor as soon as you get a chance. Would you like me to help you move to a different campsite?”
The woman shook her head. “Thanks, but I’ll be more careful now that I know it’s dangerous.”
“I’ll be right back. I just need to get my first aid kit.”
Jamie returned and wrapped the tiny pink feet in gauze, then grabbed a small spiral note pad from her shirt pocket and wrote down her phone number, which she held it out to the woman. “Call me if you need anything.”
The little girl grabbed the paper and the woman picked her up, nodded her thanks, and left the restroom.
Jamie left the building, went to the back of her SUV, and dug through a large green plastic storage container until she found a new bundle of yellow nylon rope. She walked through the campground and into the forest until she was standing next to the hot spring. White steam was rising from the surface, and she realized there was more going on in the park than was obvious. She began stringing the yellow rope around the trees to make a temporary barricade and made a mental note to call Patterson after she told her boss what had happened. They might need to shut down the park before anything else went wrong.
*
MOUNT BAKER:
“Oh, crap.” Wesley mumbled and set the sensor on a bed of pine needles next to a large grey boulder. He pulled a handkerchief from his coat pocket to wipe his brow and then plopped down on the boulder, frustrated he would have to carry the sensor back down the mountain. The banks of a small stream had washed away, allowing the water to flood a large area of the small valley, too deep to cross. Out of curiosity, he leaned forward and put his hand in the water, then yanked it back to blow on his fingertips. “Oh, crap!”
His worst fears were coming true. The glaciers were melting fast and the runoff water was flowing deep underground through fractures in the rock until super-heated by magma and forced back to the surface. That accounts for the hot spring, he thought. He made a mental note to check the glaciers and find out how fast they were melting. If it was slow and steady, the water would flood the streams and not rush down the mountain like a lahar.
He stood, hoisted the sensor onto one shoulder, and then began walking back down the mountain.
*
MONTANA COLLEGE, BOZEMAN:
David Conway felt his cellphone vibrate in his front pants pocket and pulled it out to look at the caller ID. The text message was short and simple. ‘Come to my office. Marcia.’ What’s this about? He wondered. Maybe she heard from Alex.
He smiled and slipped the phone back into his pocket, then ran down the hallway and burst into her office. “Did Alex call?”
Marcia Story held out a small package. “No, but he sent this by special courier.”
David tore at the padded envelope, but it refused to yield its contents. “Why do they have to make it so difficult to open?” He glanced over at Marcia, and she was smiling and holding the scissors. He grinned back and took them from her hand. “Thanks.”
He cut the end of the envelope, looked inside, and then reached in and brought out a small glass vial and a hand written note. He tossed the envelope into the trash, set the vial on Marcia’s desk, and looked at the note. He looked over at Marcia. “This isn’t from Alex. It’s from that girl he was talking about. Listen to this. My name is Lisa Harding, and I’m working with our friend Alex Cave onboard the research vessel, Mystic. He told me you have a laser spectrum analyzer and you would be able to determine the composition of the material in the vial. It was collected during our attempt to drill down to a cylindrical object of unknown origin. We know the black material is a type of carbon, but my equipment on the Mystic cannot break it down into a smaller atomic structure. We would appreciate your help, and here is Alex’s satellite phone number. Please call us with your findings. Thank you. Lisa Harding.”
He picked up the vial and studied the contents in the light from the window. When he rolled it around, the material inside appeared to be a fine black powder.
Marcia noticed that David appeared apprehensive as he studied the material. “Is there something wrong, David?”
David looked down at her and nodded. “The last time we did a test for Alex, it was during the Dead Energy situation. That was an unknown material, too. You remember the results of that test. It nearly destroyed part of the science building.”
“I remember. Just be careful.”
“Right.” He turned and walked out of Marcia’s office with the sample.
* * *
Chapter 21
MYSTIC:
Alex heard his satellite phone beeping and pulled it from his coat pocket. He recognized the ID as his college in Montana, and looked at Okana. “It’s my friend, David Conway, from the College.”
He and Okana were the only ones left in the lounge, so he pressed the green button to answer. “Hi, David.”
Alex listened to David explain what he discovered about the black material. “That’s great, David. Hang on a second.” He looked down at Okana. “What’s the fax number here, on the ship?”
Okana told him the number for Lisa’s lab, and Alex read the numbers to David. “Thanks for the help.”
Alex turned off the phone and slipped it into his pocket. “It’s about that black material we found in the methane. I’m going to Lisa’s lab and fax a copy to the Discovery. It should help with the retrieval of the device. I’ll be right back.”
*
DISCOVERY:
Henry set his cup of coffee on the table in the dining room and leaned back in his chair. He crossed his arms and stared out the window at nothing in particular. Retrieving the device was his responsibility, and so far, none of their ideas would work without releasing the methane into the atmosphere.
“Doctor Heinz, you have a call from Alex Cave.”
The announcement did not come from the intercom, and Henry recognized Janice’s voice from the doorway behind him. He stood and turned around to greet her. “Good news, I hope.”
“I don’t know yet. The call has been routed to the conference room. The Captain and Victor are waiting for us.”
Janice took his arm and they walked down the hall and into the room, and Captain Jordan and Victor were sitting near the end of the table, near the phone.
Henry sat down and pushed the button for the speaker. “Hello, Alex. I am sorry, but it appears there is no way to retrieve the device without releasing the methane.”
“This will help. Remember David Conway?”
“Yes, a b
rilliant young man.”
“He analyzed that dark material for me, and it’s a unique formation of hydrocarbon molecules. It reacts to a specific frequency in the microwave range and becomes gelatinous until the frequency changes.”
“Will the water temperature affect the gelatinous state?”
“He couldn’t tell from the sample he had to work with. He did say it’s a onetime attempt. If it becomes solid again, it will remain that way forever.”
“What is the specific frequency?”
“Give me a fax number and I’ll send you his report.”
“In a moment. I do not know the number. How are things up north?”
“I had a few bumps along the way, but nothing you need to worry about. I hope this information helps.”
“Thank you, my friend. We will do what we can. Here is the number.”
“You should receive it in a moment. Call if you need anything.”
*
MYSTIC:
Alex returned to the lounge and sat in the recliner. “It looks like we’re one step closer to retrieving the device in the Pacific.”
*
Harrison sat on the chair in front of the control console, staring through the front window of the bridge. The water was like glass as the Mystic cruised between two of the Aleutian Islands and soon they would be in the Bering Sea. Suddenly, the turbines were silent and the ship’s speed quickly fell away. He stood and checked the control console, the only noticeable problem were the RPM indicators for the turbines showing zero, just as the Captain had planned.
*
When the turbines suddenly became quiet, Alex looked over at Okana. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”
He stood and hurried up the inside stairs, to the bridge. “What happened, Harrison?”
“I don’t know. The turbines just suddenly stopped.”
“Where’s the main power supply?”
“Just inside the engine room, but that’s not the problem. All the electronics are working, but the turbines are offline.”
Alex grabbed the microphone for the ship’s intercom system from its overhead bracket and pressed the button on the side. “Rita, you’d better get to the engine room. We still have power up here, but no engines.”
He clipped the microphone into its bracket and studied Harrison’s expression. “Tell me what happened.”
“I was sitting in the chair, keeping an eye on things, and then the engines just stopped.” He could see the skepticism in Cave’s eyes, and knew he had better think of something in case this didn’t work. “Look, we still have thrusters, so let me get us back underway.”
“How fast can we go?”
Harrison flipped four switches on the master control panel. “Only fifteen knots, but it’s better than nothing. We need to get through these islands.”
Harrison entered the command and the computer took over, then the maneuvering thrusters began pushing the Mystic through the water, toward the other side of the two islands.
Alex heard the roar of a ship’s horn and looked through the windows. When he saw a black ship speeding in their direction, he grabbed the microphone again. “We’ve got company and it’s not the coast guard. We won’t be able to outrun them, so I’ll stay up here. Okana, you know what to do.”
Alex kept the microphone in his left hand as he waited to see what would happen. He lightly touched the handle of his .38 cal. featherweight pistol in the front pocket of his jeans. It was easy to conceal, and after what happened to Okana in Prince Rupert, he had grabbed it from his cabin when they returned to the Mystic.
The black ship was approaching at an angle to block the way, and Alex knew that without the turbines they would not be able to outrun it. “Turn us around, Harrison.”
“What good would that do? We should stop and find out what they want.”
“Use the thrusters to spin us around, damn it! I saw the way they worked in port, and we can stop faster than they can. We might be able to keep some distance between us for a while.” Alex watched Harrison hold his hand above the control panel, hesitant to escape the black ship. “What’s the problem, Harrison? Friends of yours?”
“Honestly, Alex, I’ve never seen that ship before.”
“Then do what I said and get us out of here.”
Harrison pulled back on the joystick and it was like hitting the brakes as the thruster’s rotated one hundred-eighty-degrees at full power. Anything loose was hurled forward and the ship nearly stopped. He twisted the joystick, so that the Mystic spun around and they were moving away from the black ship.
*
Rita threw open her cabin door and ran down the hall to the door across from Alex’s cabin. She stepped into the engine room and checked the circuit breakers, and nothing was tripped. It has to be something to stop both engines at once, she thought. She knew her engine room and quickly identified the problem. Someone had cut the electrical wires for the master fuel solenoid. Whoever it was knew what they were doing, she realized. A workbench with tool drawers was bolted to the wall, and she grabbed the wire strippers. Now all she needed was a short piece of electrical wire.
*
Alex stared through the rear window and kept his eyes on the black ship as it corrected its course, and then it was quickly closing distance.
Dieter and Mike ran up the stairs, and Alex pointed behind them. “Friends of yours, Captain?”
Dieter took his time responding as he studied the black ship. “I have never seen that ship before.” He could feel Cave staring at him, and wondered how much he knew. “Piracy happens in all parts of the world, Professor. What makes you think I would know them?”
Alex did not answer and looked at Mike. “Who chose this route, Mike?”
“John and I agreed it was the fastest way through the islands.”
Alex let the matter drop for now. “They’re gaining fast. We’d better hope Rita fixes the problem with the turbines before it’s too late.” He was counting on Okana to organize a plan if they were forced to stop.
*
Okana waited near the top of the stairs from the lower deck. He grabbed Lisa’s hand as she reached the top. “You should wait in your cabin until I know what’s going on.”
“What about Alex?”
“He knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t need to worry about you right now, so please go below.”
Lisa stepped out of the way as Bett and Joshua ran up the stairs, carrying three shotguns.
Okana found it interesting that Joshua and Bett looked eager for a fight. “We need to control the high ground,” he told them. “You two will be on the bridge. Try to keep out of sight until something happens. If they try to board this ship, it will be from the stern. Everything forward is too high from the water for a fast assault. They may think we’re unarmed, so don’t give them a reason to start shooting.”
“What about you and Alex?” Bett asked.
“We’ll let Alex take the lead from the bridge, so just wait for him to resolve this without a fight. He has a way of doing that. I’ll be the rover and take care of this deck and the stern.”
Joshua grinned. “I might have a hard time hiding, Okana.” A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Hey, Rita can shoot. She’s pretty good, too.”
“If she can get the turbines running, none of us will have to shoot. Let’s go.”
*
Dieter jumped back when Bett suddenly came up the stairs, onto the bridge, and crouched down behind the bulkhead near the left door. Then Joshua ran past him and tried to hide by the right door. Where did they get the shotguns? He wondered.
Alex watched Dieter’s expression, and it was obvious he was surprised they were armed, but did not say anything. Mike surprised him when he opened his coat to show his pearl handled .45 cal. revolver tucked under his belt. Alex saw the small reaction in Dieter’s eyes when he saw Mike’s gun.
When Alex looked at Harrison, he was completely at ease, as if this kind of thing happened every day. On the other hand
, he knew what was going to happen. In order to get on board, the black ship had to make the Mystic stop. As long as the thrusters kept working, that would be difficult. That’s when he heard the cannon fire. The water near the stern erupted like a geyser with a muffled thud, and everyone flinched except Harrison.
Alex grabbed Harrison’s arm and spun him around. “What do you know about this?”
Harrison raised his hands. “Hey, don’t get mad at me, Alex. This is my sixth time dealing with Pirates and it’s usually in the same way.”
“Explain!”
“They threaten to shoot you full of holes, so you stop. Then they send a boat over and rob what they can. If no one tries to stop them, they just take what they want and leave. No big deal. That’s why I always carry a quarter ounce of gold in my pocket.”
Alex watched closely as Harrison slowly reached into his front pocket, brought a small leather pouch, and held it up. “See? Saved my ass a couple of times.”
Alex wondered if he might be wrong about a high-jacking, but that black ship was after something, and it had to be big to be worth trying to rob them.
The cannon exploded again and Alex heard the projectile pass over the bridge, then water soared into the air off the starboard bow.
*
Rita heard the thud through the hull and knew things were getting bad topside. She knew she had a roll of wire somewhere, and had already dug through the drawers. She was frustrated and could not think of another place in the engine room she might have put it, then she suddenly ran out of the engine room and into Alex’s cabin.
*
“Shut it down, Harrison,” Mike ordered.
Alex snapped his head around to look at Mike. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not going to let anyone get hurt, Alex. We’ll do like Harrison says and give them what they want.”
Alex thought about Okana’s encounter with Blacktooth and shook his head. “No, Mike. We don’t know what they’ll do if we let them onboard. As long as we keep moving, we’re harder to hit.”
Mike was still undecided. “What do you think, John?”
The Alex Cave Series. Books 1, 2, & 3.: Box set Page 43