The Phoenix Agenda: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 6)

by JC Ryan

  When the deputies were gone, Owen and Alison surmised that their playact had the desired effect to buy themselves and their friends desperately needed time. The officers would in all probability not return very soon, unless they had more information that could lead them back here – such as someone who’d heard the chopper last night.

  They were still talking about this when they heard the sound of a low-flying small airplane approaching from the south. They walked out onto the front porch and watched as the plane flew overhead. This could very well have been a spotter plane looking for the chopper, or it could have been coincidence, but they were not prepared to make any assumptions.

  About an hour later, they heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter approaching. Again, they walked out onto the porch and watched as the helicopter flew over and turned in the direction of Naturita just five miles to the southwest. Was this a coincidence? Not likely. It was time to wake Daniel and his men and alert them.

  Owen walked over to the cabin and woke all of them. “Wakey-wakey guys!” Owen shouted as he entered the cabin. “We have some very urgent shit to deal with.”

  They were all up and sitting around him when Owen described to them the police visit and the sudden air traffic congestion over his farm in the last hour or so.

  Daniel answered immediately, “I don’t believe in coincidence, they’re out looking for us and the chopper. We have to try and see if we can make that thing fly again or figure out how to get rid of it. I suggest we leave JR and Roy here with Max, get over to that barn of yours, and have a look at the chopper. Any other ideas?”

  Raj had a better idea, “I think we need to get Roy over there as well. He and Doug are the best and if may I say so, the only mechanical minds we have on our team.”

  Owen chipped in his two cents, “Hey! Out here on the farm the past few years I’ve learned my way around a tractor. A helicopter can’t be that different can it?”

  “Good, in that case, let’s all go,” Daniel agreed with a wry smile.

  They asked Alison to keep a look out from the house, where an observer had an unobstructed view for a few miles, including the access road leading to the house. She would let Owen know by cell phone to come and have coffee or something to eat the moment she spotted anything untoward.

  They were all assembled around the helicopter in the barn thirty minutes later. Doug opened up the covers to the port engine and the mechanically minded got busy with their diagnostics.

  We are not the first

  At the Rabbit Hole, the new arrivals had a much better day than the seven on the outside hiding from Brideaux, eight hundred miles to the south.

  The group, numbering fifty-six in total, was up early, had eaten their breakfast and then attended the first ‘town hall’ meeting. The fanciful title was apt as they held it in the big room next to the hot pools.

  Sarah, well aware of her own feelings and emotions brought on by the unfamiliar situation and surroundings, knew that everyone in the caves was probably having the same experience as she had. It was important to immediately put their minds at ease.

  She gave them all a quick but encouraging overview of the prospects of cave dwelling. “I understand that our surroundings here in these caves could be very intimidating. However, it might be good to remember that we are not the first to do it. Over thousands of years, many people have done the same as we are doing now. It has been part of human history, especially during troubled times, to take up sanctuary in caves. Think of the people escaping the Romans, who lived in the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

  “In more recent times and closer to home, slaves living in the southern states and escaping from their masters took refuge in the Caves of St. Louis. They served as a hiding place along the Underground Railroad.”

  By now, Sarah had the undivided attention of everyone as she continued, “In the Philippines, indigenous people called the Tasaday have been living in caves for thousands of years and are still living there today. In Spain, near Granada, there are today nearly 3,000 people living in caves. They have dwellings ranging from a single room up to 200 rooms. They even have churches, schools, and stores in those caves. In China, it is estimated that about 30 million people prefer to live in cave homes called ‘yaodongs’ which they found to be superior to conventional homes.”

  In her element as a former professor, she ended by recounting the conversation she and Ben had the day before about the Australian town of Coober Pedy. The pictures on her tablet, when she showed and talked about them, seemed to excite everyone and lift their spirits.

  This introduction had the impact she hoped for. It was apparent they were all excited and could see the possibilities of turning their current bleak surroundings into a happy place. Sarah then asked them all to start unpacking their belongings and begin to make their new home as comfortable as they could for now. She and her core group, which they called ‘The Steering Committee’ were going to work out priorities and get projects going right away.

  Getting better lighting in place before the end of the day would get top priority. Until that could be accomplished, and dangerous areas properly barricaded and marked, everyone should keep an eye on the children and each other. She thanked them all for responding to her request to write down their skills, experience, and interests, saying it was going to help a lot in the days to come.

  Sarah’s dad, Ryan, who was an electronics engineer, got the first project - to make sure the caves were lit better by the end of the day. They quickly looked through the skills lists and found one qualified electrician, husband of one of Sinclair’s translators, and an amateur electronics enthusiast.

  Ryan left to get hold of his new team members and kick off the project while the rest of them continued with the meeting.

  Ryan and his helpers had all of Roy’s nanobattery and lighting technology at their disposal, which made things very easy. This included, among others, the light that was discovered during the first Antarctica expedition in the Paradise Canyon, which Roy had since reverse-engineered. Within a few hours, to the relief of the adults and delight of the few children, they had lights going throughout all of the occupied areas and had barricaded the rest. They would over time improve the system, but they were all happy that what they had was good enough for the foreseeable future.

  By the time Ryan returned to report that phase one of ‘Project Let There Be Light’ was completed, the Steering Committee had already called Stuart Harding, Raj’s sidekick, in. They gave him the names of two willing helpers and instructed him to secure the servers and computers to make sure no water, dust or anything that could cause damage got near them. They also planned how they could set up a proper server room and the internal network, so that access to the libraries they had stored on the file servers would be available to everyone. Ben and his son Aaron, who were assigned to take care of construction, would help them with that once plans were presented and were approved.

  Ben and Aaron were also tasked to establish the Rabbit Hole’s ‘Department of Public Works.’ They would first study the information produced by Raj and Robert during their expedition to see how they could best provide comfortable and secure living space for everyone. They already knew from the information supplied that the cave system was several miles in both length and width and that there were levels both above and below the main entry level. They needed to map out the entire cave system so that not only would everyone know where the entrances and dangerous places were, but also what other features and facilities the caves had to offer.

  When they got to the discussion about food production, Sarah found Helen Bryant’s skills list, “Hey, everyone look at this!” she exclaimed. “This is Helen Bryant. Not only is she the mother of two children and wife of Mark, the guy who led the rescue team to get our men back, she is also a horticulturist, who until a few days ago worked for The Urban Forestry and Horticulture section of the Parks and Recreation Department in Boulder.”

  “Now there is
someone I am sure my Martha and a few others would like to team up with,” Sinclair O Reilly remarked. “Shall I go and call the two of them?”

  “Yes, thank you, Sinclair,” Sarah replied.

  A few minutes later Helen and Martha O’Reilly, who was a keen amateur gardener, arrived and were asked to set up the ‘Gardeners of Gallatin Society’ amongst the large number of those who indicated that they either had experience or interest in gardening and food growing. Their first task was to find a suitable place or places with the right temperature and microclimate to set up their indoor farm. They’d ask Ben and Aaron, or any of the other handymen in the roster to help them as required.

  The GGS swung into action right away. They quickly grew to be the most numerous group, which included Emma, Sally, and Bess, Sarah’s mother, aunt and grandmother-in-law respectively, amongst at least seven others. To Sarah’s big surprise and relief, Sushma, Raj’s wife was among them. The two of them were good friends, but she never knew or would have guessed that her friend Sushma, who was a very popular glossy magazine model, would ever be interested in gardening. In fact, to be honest, prior to this, Sushma’s background had Sara a bit concerned that she might find it harder than most of them to adapt to this new life. Now all she had to do was to talk to her relatives to make sure they took Sushma under their wings.

  Next, they got to health and hygiene, the domain of Rebecca, an experienced and practicing medical physician and Sarah’s sister-in-law, JR’s wife. Roxanne MacArthur was a qualified and experienced physiotherapist and Cyndi, Rebecca’s older sister who held a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, was assigned to her Medical Center. Rebecca went and fetched the two of them.

  Roxanne was married to John ‘Doug’ MacArthur and had years of experience, including working at a rehabilitation center for wounded soldiers during the Afghan and Iraq wars. They had three children, aged eight to twelve. She’d met her husband at the rehabilitation center when he was wounded in Afghanistan. What she didn’t tell them, which they only discovered later, was that he’d sustained a crippling back injury during a skirmish in the war in Afghanistan when he had to evacuate a section of Marines under heavy enemy fire.

  The wound in his back caused a lot of damage to his spine and nerves. Paralyzed from the waist down, he’d been in rehab for almost a year. He’d had to learn how to walk again, which he’d accomplished due in large part to the unyielding encouragement and help of the physiotherapist, Roxanne. After being declared unfit for further military duty, he and Mark Bryant had established their M&J Security Company in Boulder.

  Rebecca and her team were to set up a clinic and sterile area with consulting rooms, again calling on Ben and Aaron to help with any construction needs they might have. Furthermore, they would have to create a health and hygiene plan for the entire community and educate everyone about it. They were also given the assignment of making sure the food and water were tested regularly, and that the toilet and bathing areas would not cause health risks.

  Rebecca also suggested that they would like to work out a first aid course and train everyone to be able to handle emergencies. She pointed out that until they could work out when and how people were allowed to go outside the caves, they would all have to be diligent about taking Vitamin D supplements to compensate for the lack of sunshine. During the Enigma planning and preparations, Rebecca had ensured that every family knew of the importance of Vitamin D and had brought a large supply of it with them.

  Finally, Rebecca mentioned that she and Salome, their head of security, had already had a few discussions about what they could expect on the psychological front from the group. Salome also had a Master’s Degree in Psychology and was well versed in human and group psychology.

  On this topic, Salome pointed out that psychological issues were to be expected. It was part of human nature to react to new and stressful situations. Their current situation was one of the most severe imaginable, comparable if not worse, to the loss of a loved one by death. They agreed to work out a plan to bring back to the steering committee that could help solve the problems they were sure to face relatively soon.

  At the conclusion of the medical project planning session, it was late afternoon, and they decided to call it the day.

  Get rid of it

  Doug, Owen, and Roy, as far as he was capable of moving without moaning from the pain in his leg, inspected both engines. It took them about three hours to conclude that there was no way they were going to resuscitate the dead engine with their limited skills and knowledge. This left them with one operating engine and the dilemma that their means of getting to the Rabbit Hole had been lost when that engine gave in last night. Although the chopper was instrumental in keeping them out of reach of Brideaux up until now, it was now an enormous and cumbersome millstone around their necks.

  They couldn’t leave it in the shed. It was vital they find a way to get rid of it quickly before someone, more diligent than the deputies from earlier today, turned up and decided to look around the farm. They debated their options. Maybe Doug could fly it out into a remote canyon, dump it there, and Owen could pick him up by car and bring him back. The problem was that they weren’t sure if it would be possible to get the chopper airborne even with just Doug in it. Also, there was the danger of the remaining engine seizing up in flight. It was looking, by their assessment, somewhat unhealthy. Apart from the danger it posed to Doug, the location at the time might not be safe and could leave him out in an open space where he and it would be quickly discovered.

  “Is there not perhaps a lake or dam nearby deep enough where we can dump it?” inquired Daniel.

  “That might just work!” exclaimed Owen. “There’s a deep ravine a few miles from here, a very isolated spot behind that ridge north of the main house. It is on private and unoccupied property. The ravine is wide enough for the chopper to descend without the blades touching the rock walls and at the bottom is a pool of water maybe twenty feet deep. If we can get it down there, no one will ever find it.”

  “Doug what do you think? You’re the one risking getting this thing up in the air and over there?” asked Daniel.

  “I can’t see any other options. I reckon I can lift it. We’ll just have to check and double check the remaining engine and fix anything that looks like it could be broken or leaking. A few miles shouldn’t be a problem and certainly it’s better to conceal it under water than leave it in the open, even in a remote area.”

  They got busy with the engine and did not spare the duct tape in the process. By the time twilight faded to night, they were done and ready for their mission.

  About eight o’clock they were satisfied it was dark enough to get going. Doug got the chopper in the air without too much effort and gave the thumbs up as he turned the nose towards the ravine and kept it a few feet above the sparse treetops. He maneuvered very carefully and descended right into the middle of the pool of water. A few feet above the surface he cut the engine and when the body started to sink below the water, he got out and swam to the side where Daniel, Mark, and Owen were waiting for him. As they watched the chopper disappear under the water and with it, their hope of getting to the Rabbit Hole fast, they ‘high-fived’ and turned back to the house.

  Doug noted, “At least one of our plans worked out as we expected.”

  They all groaned as Daniel remarked with gallows humor, “Well Doug, I guess we will all have to thank you for helping us find our feet. The only thing we have to figure out now is which would be the best route for our eight hundred mile hike home.”

  “Eight hundred miles to home?” Owen asked with surprise in his voice. “Where is home, Daniel? Or are you not ready to tell me yet?”

  “No, I think the time for that has come,” Daniel replied. He told Owen where they were heading.

  Back at the house, Alison alerted them to more news about the manhunt on the TV, which she’d recorded for them.

  They all gathered in the family room in front of the TV with the curtains drawn and the do
gs outside the house to warn them of anyone approaching. They watched in growing apprehension as they saw not only their names and pictures, but also those of Mark Bryant and John MacArthur as well as their families and children. It was reported that the investigators became aware of the involvement of the two ex-Marines when they discovered the purchase of the helicopter in Flagstaff. From there they picked up the trail in Farmington, where they had to land with the old military Lynx helicopter for repairs and fuel the day before. It was also reported that they might be making their way to Boulder. There was still no mention of Max Ellis.

  Lots of speculation by ‘experts’ followed the announcements. Every commentator had his or her own theory about what could have happened and why the Rossler Foundation’s top structure became so corrupt and evil. It was obvious that for now and until another big newsworthy event replaced theirs, this was going to be the prime news story for all the media outlets across the country. Daniel and his men could not dare to make a move anywhere until the dust settled.

  They weren’t sure what to make of the fact that Max Ellis had somehow avoided the limelight. Also the other Rosslerites who were part of the Enigma group and who were supposed to all have evacuated three nights ago. Why was there no mention of Sinclair, Luke, Ben or any of the others and their families? Was this a clever ploy on Brideaux’s part in the hope that one or more of those would become careless and show up somewhere, or worse, abandon the group? Could the reason be that none of them managed to get away with Sarah and the rest who were implicated on the news? Was it only them and their wives who got away in the end?

  There was no way they could find that out without the risk of compromising themselves.

  Breaking News

  The lack of media contact from the outside world was a big contributing factor to the strain that everyone felt in the Rabbit Hole. Their world band radios had no reception. They all needed to know what was going on in the outside world and, hopefully, to get some news about their men still on the outside. They couldn’t even find out if they were alive or not.