by Robert Boren
“Will do, general,” Frank said.
“Hey, one other thing,” George said as he was walking with Ned. “What happened to those two semi-trucks that took off?”
“They went south on Route 54 and then west into the mountains,” Frank said. “They have no place to go from there.”
“Send me the GPS coordinates,” Jerry said. “Jasmine and I have our laptops up, over in the bobtail.”
“Will do, Jerry,” Frank said.
***
Ned and George trotted over to the cavern entrance and rushed inside, then down the switchbacks to the snack area and beyond.
“You clean them out?” Heidi asked, rushing over to George.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I heard Dobie got hit,” she said. “Please tell me he’s gonna make it.”
“He’ll probably be okay,” George said.
“Hey, boss,” Wedgie said as Ned walked up. “Glad you made it.”
“Hearing anything down the tunnel?” Ned asked.
“I thought I heard digging in there,” Charlies Goodnight said. “We’ve got a couple guys in there with rifles, behind some boxes. If any bad guys poke their heads through they’ll get some lead coming at them.”
“Good,” Ned said.
“We got a question for the park employees,” George said.
“What do you need to know?” Pete asked. Marie looked up too.
“We need about a hundred yards of hose,” George said.
“What for?” Marie asked.
“We want to run lines down into that cavern the enemy is in, and empty the gasoline and diesel tanks down there.”
Shirley laughed. “Now there’s a good idea. Reminds me of The Dirty Dozen.”
“Man, that’s harsh,” Spence said, looking at George. “Must have been your idea.”
“I know where we have a whole lot of hose,” Pete said, “but it’s fire hose, not fuel hose. Bigger diameter than any fuel hose I’ve ever seen.”
“No problem,” George said. “We’ll put hoses from both tanks in, and let gravity take it down into the cavity.”
“That’s going to do environmental damage,” Marie said. Everybody stopped and stared at her. “Okay, okay, I get it. We don’t have a choice.”
“How far away are the hoses?” Ned asked.
“They’re in this complex, but we have to go outside to get to them,” Pete said.
“Let’s go,” Ned said. “Wedgie and Spence, keep track of that tunnel.”
“We will,” Wedgie said.
“Yeah, us too,” Shirley said.
Pete headed for the exit with George, Ned, and Heidi. They got outside, walked past all the public entrances, and into a maintenance yard. There were several pickup trucks parked there, in front of a large metal building.
“In here.” Pete opened the large roll-up door and the men flooded into the shed. He switched on the lights. The hoses sat coiled among shovels, picks, fireproof suits, and other brush fire equipment.
“That’s a lot of hose,” Ned said.
“Watch out when you pick those up,” Pete said. “Scorpions love to nest in there. Won’t kill you, but they hurt like hell.”
“Roger that,” Ned said, getting out his flashlight. He pulled on one of the hoses and watched one scurry for cover. “Oh, yeah, here’s one.” He slammed his boot on top of it and pulled more hose out.
Pete went over to the work bench and grabbed two keyrings off of the hooks above. He tossed them to George and Heidi. “For the trucks. Better back them up here. Those hoses are heavy.”
Heidi and George went to the trucks, got them started, and backed them to the door.
Ned and Pete rushed hoses over to the trucks as Heidi and George rushed around to help them.
“Perfect,” George said. “We should have enough to do the job.”
“Yeah,” Pete said. “I’ve got something else that might help.”
“What’s that?” Ned asked.
“Flare guns,” he said, rushing over the cabinet by the workbench. He pulled out two orange plastic cases and set them on the work bench. Ned and George rushed over after the rest of the hoses were in the truck beds.
“Why do you have these?” Ned asked.
“To light back fires,” Pete said. “Four flares in each case.” He closed them and they went to the trucks. “Want me to go with?”
“Your choice,” George said. “You can stay with your people if you want to.”
There was some muffled small arms fire.
“They’re trying to dig through again,” Heidi said. Then there were two small explosions. Ned laughed.
“More grenades,” he said. “Probably just undid all their work.”
“Good,” George said. “Let’s go.”
The two trucks took off toward the building ruins at a good clip. Pete ran back to the cavern entrance and went inside.
***
Kurt, Charlie, Earl, Jackson, and Jeb picked through the ruins, looking for survivors. There were lots of dead men lying around, and lots of body parts from the missile and mortar attacks. The first building was nothing but a huge crater thanks to the bunker buster. Malcolm, Ted, and Agent Williams rushed over.
“George and Ned are bringing two trucks here, so don’t shoot at them,” Malcolm said.
“Really,” Jeb said. “Why?”
“He got a bunch of fire hose from the maintenance shed by the entrance to the caverns. We’re gonna hook them up to those two fuel tanks over there.”
Jeb got a wicked grin on his face. “We’re gonna flood their cavern with gas and set it off, ain’t we?”
“That’s the plan,” Ted said. “Look, here they come.”
The two trucks came in, heading for the men. They parked. George, Heidi, and Ned trotted over.
“You guys want to help us connect these hoses?” George asked.
“I’d take them down there in sections and connect them up from the bottom,” Kurt said. “Those things are heavy, and you might damage them trying to drag them through this wreckage.”
“He’s right,” Jeb said. “Helped out on brush fires before. We didn’t drag connected hoses for long distances if we could avoid it.”
“Okay,” George said. “Let’s unload them and lay them out.”
The men wrestled the heavy hoses out of the truck.
“That’s a lot of hose,” Kurt said.
“Good,” Ned said. “Let’s go look at those tanks.”
George nodded, and the two trotted over. Each tank had a large valve, and a huge reel for each hose, filler nozzles on the ends. There was a pump next to each tank.
“Hey, we won’t have to rely on gravity,” Ned said.
“Yeah, if they still work. I’m surprised we didn’t lose these tanks in all the mayhem.”
“We came close,” Ned said. “Look at that big piece of shrapnel there. See the mark on the tank? Got at least a glancing blow.”
George looked more closely. “Wow. Probably happened when the bunker buster went off.”
“Let’s unreel these as far as they’ll go,” Ned said. They each took a hose, and walked with them. They slowed down as they got to the ruins.
“Wow, these are long,” George said. “We still got hose left.”
“Good,” he said. “Let’s take the first length of fire hose down there and find our opening.”
“Hey, guys, we can enter over here,” Jeb said, pointing. “The stairwell is still intact after you go down a couple floors. We can climb down there without too much trouble.”
“We need more help down here,” George said.
“Heard you,” General Hogan said. “I’ll send down my boys.”
“We’ve got men coming too,” Hopper said.
“I’ll call my guys who aren’t in the caverns,” Ned said.
Soon there were about twenty men standing over the entrance to the stair well, in groups of three, each with sections of fire hose. They started the climb down.
&nb
sp; “Damn, it’s nasty in here,” Ned said, holding the front of the first hose. George was behind him, in the middle, and Kurt was on the end. They got to the undamaged part of the stairwell and then raced down the steps. They got to the bottom quickly and walked along a cinder block wall that had pipes and conduit attached.
“Look at the dirt mound down there,” Ned said, pointing. “They probably busted through the cinder block there and started digging.”
The men got to the hole. “Yep, this is it alright,” George said. “Have your phones on. Watch for the enemy.”
“Seriously,” Kurt said. “We should have more guns down here.”
“We’re bringing more,” Hopper said. “They’ll back you up.”
Ned, George, and Kurt walked into the dirt tunnel. They got down about twenty-five yards when their phones buzzed.
“Enemy ahead,” Ned whispered, whipping out his pistol, holding the hose with his free hand.
“There’s the opening,” George whispered. “See the broken rock up there? They probably had to blast their way through.”
“They’ve got lanterns,” Ned said. “Look at the glow coming from there.”
“Yeah,” George said.
“Listen, voices,” Ned whispered. “Get down, or they’ll see us.”
The men got down into a crouch, and then down on their bellies as they got close to the hole. Ned peered over the edge. There was a huge cavern, the size of a few football fields, with men sitting around everywhere. Across the cavern was another opening at floor level. Men were coming and going in that tunnel with pails, dumping dirt out and returning inside.
“They’re trying to open their tunnel back up,” Ned said. He looked at the dirt in front of him. There was a rope ladder going down, held to the ground with huge spikes. He turned to George. “How about we pull up their ladder?”
“Sounds like a great idea,” George whispered.
George crawled up to the opening, getting next to Ned. They each grabbed a side of the rope ladder and started slowly pulling it up.
“Hope they don’t notice before we get this too far up to reach,” George said.
Suddenly there was shouting in Arabic, and shots rang out, echoing through the chamber. Dirt from the ceiling of the tunnel came down on George and Ned.
“Pull faster,” Ned shouted, getting out of range of the guns and standing, George following. Several men behind them rushed up, and they pulled the long rope ladder as fast as they could. Gunfire continued to pelt the ceiling of the tunnel.
“Here comes the end,” George said. “C’mon, let’s get it out of here fast.”
They ran back with the ladder until the end was all the way out of the opening.
“Keep going,” Ned said. “We don’t want anybody to climb out and yank it back down. Get it beyond the cinder block and tie it to something just in case.”
Ned snuck back up to the opening as shots continued hitting inside and around the opening. He pushed the hose forward so the end was hanging into the cavern, then tried to get a look down. Gunfire halted him. He backed up.
“Can’t see anything?”
“Nah,” he said. “I’d need a periscope,” he said. “Let’s get the hose pieces connected. We might not have much time.”
“Yeah,” George said.
Hopper’s men came up with an M60 and several rifles.
“Perfect,” George said. “Set up a few feet back from that opening, and keep your heads down. Don’t mess with the hose.”
“Got it,” the first man said. They put the M60 on its tripod, and then laid in the dirt and waited as the men behind them connected the hose sections.
“Hey, maybe they ought to fire some rounds at the hole on the other side with that M60,” Ned said.
“I wouldn’t do that,” George said. “We should save the ammo in case there’s a way to climb up our side of the cavern.”
“Good point,” Ned said.
“C’mon, let’s go get the other end of the hoses set up,” George said. He and Ned left, walking by the men connecting up the hoses along the cinder block wall.
“Anybody have duct tape?” George asked over the web meeting.
“Damn straight,” Jake said. “Got a bunch in my bobtail. Electrical tape too.”
“Good, bring it to the tanks in back of the ruined buildings, okay?”
“On my way,” Jake said.
Ned and George made it back to the surface and rushed over to where they left the fuel hoses.
“Think we’re gonna reach?” Ned asked.
“Yeah, look, there’s quite a bit of fire hose left, and we had it connected together almost to the stairwell.” They watched as two more sets of three men came up and grabbed hose sections.
“Hell, we’re gonna have extra,” Ned said.
Jake and Terry ran up with arms full of duct tape. “Here you go,” Jake said.
“Damn, you guys made a mess of this area,” Terry said, grinning.
“Yeah,” George said.
“Let’s pull those fuel hoses over here,” Ned said, running over. George joined him, and they pulled them as far as the reel would allow.
“End of the line,” George said.
Two more sets of three men grabbed sections of fire hose. The lead team only had to bend down into the stairwell hole to connect their section. The other team got the next section connected behind it, and that reached the fuel hoses.
“Okay, let’s connect them,” George said. He pulled out his knife and cut through the hose behind the fill nozzle. Ned did the same. Fuel leaked out of both of them, so the men stuffed them inside the fire hose quickly.
“Bring over that duct tape,” Ned said. Jake and Terry rushed forward, getting to work, wrapping the opening, using several layers. They took several minutes to get it tight enough.
“Okay, that ought to do it,” Jake said, backing away.
“Yeah,” Terry said. “Let’s put some of that angle iron over both sides of hose to keep them from moving when we pump.”
“Good idea,” Jake said. They got up and fetched several pieces.
“Geez, these are still warm,” Terry said.
“We need the men to check for leaks before they climb out of there,” George said.
“Heard you,” Kurt said from inside. I’ll pass the word. We’ll get back to when we have somebody on each joint.”
“Good, thanks,” George said. He trotted over to the tanks with Jake and Terry following.
“There’s a good chance that those pump motors won’t work,” Jake said. “Depends on where the electrical source was.”
“If not, we can probably use gravity, as long as we can get the valves open,” Terry said.
“Those big wheels open the valves,” Jake said, pointing to them.
“Okay, we’re ready,” Kurt said over the web meeting.
The men turned the valves. “Open,” said George.
“This looks like a pump switch,” Jake said. He flipped it. Nothing. “Dammit.”
“Try the other one,” Terry said.
“That one’s diesel. Ain’t gonna do it on its own,” Jake said. “We need the gasoline vapors to get a good spark.”
Chapter 27 – Fire and Brimstone
Jake pulled out a flashlight and looked around the pump motors for the fuel tanks. “Here’s the cable,” he said. “Crap, broken, see?”
“Can you reconnect it?” George asked.
“Sure, but it might be live. Or it might be dead from the source. I need to follow this cable.”
“Well, do it quick,” Ned said. “If you can’t find it, you think we could use gravity?”
“Yeah, but it will take a lot more time. See those valves on the pumps? Those are bypass valves. We’ll open them if we can’t get power.”
“Maybe we should open them while you’re looking,” George said.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Jake said. He turned both of them.
“Hey, I feel it flowing,” Ned said, his hands on the
hoses.
“Kurt, we just opened the valves, but we’re only on gravity right now. Trying to fix the pumps.”
“Okay, we’ll watch the joints,” Kurt said.
Jake followed the cable with Terry. It went behind the first building, to a smaller building on the east side.
“That shed got hit pretty hard,” Terry said. The small metal building was laying halfway down, jagged edges shining back at them in the flashlight beams.
Jake stuck his head inside the wreckage. “Electrical service is smashed. We can’t fix that.”
“Shit,” Terry said.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got another idea,” he said. “Let’s back the bobtail over by the pumps. I’ve got that small generator and a couple of drills. Maybe I can rig something up to turn the pump shaft.”
Terry chuckled. “Figures. You always have an idea.” He pulled out his phone and hit Trish’s contact.
“Who you calling?” Jake asked.
“Trish. She can drive that thing, can’t she?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact,” Jake said.
“Terry?” Trish asked.
“Hi, honey. We need you to drive the bobtail to the buildings. Think you can do that?”
“Sure,” she said. “Do I need to worry about getting shot at?”
“I don’t think so, but be careful.”
“Okay, sweetie, be right there.” She ended the call.
“Hey, get with General Hogan and Field Marshal Hopper,” Jake said. “So they know the bobtail is on its way.”
“Yeah,” Terry said. He called both of them.
***
Frank and Jane were in the clubhouse when they heard the chopper coming in. Vicki rushed to the door.
“Good, they got here fast,” Jane said. “Hope she’s careful.”
“Yeah,” Frank said. “General Hogan, you hear me?”
“Yeah, Frank. Chopper there?”
“Just touching down now,” Frank said.
“Good. Anything on those semi-trucks?”
“They’re just sitting there,” Jane said. “I’ve been keeping an eye on them while Frank has been watching those buildings.”
“Okay,” General Hogan said. “Everything’s alright there?”