“Good. We’ve got to get the explosives and take them out of here. I’ll pull the detonator caps out and you find someplace to hide the explosives,” she told him. They worked together feverishly and quickly picked up all the bombs the guards had placed. Tressa took the detonator caps with her and sent Clyde off to dump the explosives and prepare his part of the surprise.
She saw Mason coming back from his lookout post and he helped her with the handful of detonator caps she was juggling. “Let me take those so you can keep track of everything else. Where do you want these?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter. Just don’t put them where Clyde puts the explosives or we’ll all have a surprise today.”
Chris found Tressa behind the maintenance building in the rendezvous spot she had selected. Mason and Clyde were already there. Ant popped out the back door and said, “We’re all set. Are you ready out here?”
Tressa looked around. Everyone nodded except Clyde. “Clyde, did you get rid of the explosives?” she asked him.
“I didn’t have too much time, but I dumped them someplace safe. We can take them with us when we go if you want.” He replied.
Tressa hoped this wouldn’t mess up their plans. “Ok, I guess that’s alright.” She turned to Ant. “It looks like we’re ready.”
A moment later he drove the little electric truck quietly out of the maintenance building and Ant waved as he drove past them and parked out of sight behind the small building that had served as their makeshift prison.
Chris told Tressa, “I’d better go get ready. The show is about to start I think.”
The rest of the group followed to where Ant parked the truck and waited in the shade. Peeking around the corner Tressa and Mason could see Chris walking a route in front of the maze of pipes waiting on Colonel Zimmer and his entourage from the Board of Directors.
Soon there was an assembly of about fifty people streaming out of the Administration building that was situated several hundred yards across the gravel of the plant facility. Tressa could make out the Chairman of the Board she had seen in Alaska. He was surrounded by various aides and secretaries each trying to be more helpful than the others. The woman Fergus pointed out as the Chief Operating officer was there as well. She also was surrounded by an entourage of helpers fluttering this way and that. Each board member had a larger or smaller group of retainers as their position allowed, and the whole group slowly made their way toward the Reactor Building in the center of the plant facility.
Tressa could see Zimmer pull Chris aside before he entered the maze of pipes leading to the reactor. Zimmer nodded after a moment and pushed Chris toward the maintenance building. Catching up with the group, Zimmer led them off toward the plant’s center. Chris had deviated from the course Zimmer gave him and ended up with Tressa, Mason, Clyde and Ant behind the jailhouse building.
Tressa knew sooner or later Colonel Zimmer would have to come back out so that he wouldn’t get caught in the explosion. So before he could reappear she sent Chris and Ant to go help Clyde while she and Mason confronted the Colonel. Tressa turned and sprinted with Mason over to the Maintenance building and they both hid themselves inside. In just a few minutes, right on cue, Zimmer came hustling out of the reactor area. He shot over to the maintenance area and looked around for Chris.
“In here,” called a voice from the building. Zimmer followed the sound and walked into the garage area of the maintenance shack.
“I told you, I wouldn’t let you get away with this, Colonel,” Mason said stepping out of his hiding spot.
“Well, well, the pup has decided to bark, I see,” shot back Zimmer. He noticed Tressa coming forward from the shadows behind the truck, “And a kitten has joined him, too. This should be entertaining.”
Mason rushed Zimmer and threw several quick punches. The Colonel easily deflected them and launched his own offensive. Mason was not as quick and a few hard punches landed and knocked him back a step. Zimmer followed with a straight kick that would’ve knocked the wind out of Mason had it landed squarely, but Mason was able to slip sideways enough that the blow just pushed him farther away.
Tressa moved out of the shadows and started to circle the Colonel. Mason recovered enough to join her.
“This isn’t going to take too long is it?” Zimmer asked glancing at his watch. I really need to attend to my guests. If they become impatient they may come looking for me and that’s not really in the plan.” He faked a punch at Mason and instead tried a back kick at Tressa.
She ducked his kick and shot out her own foot at his exposed knee. She connected squarely, but she had extended herself too far to do any real damage. Zimmer grunted though and reconsidered his attack.
“Not too bad. You’ve learned a few things, but not enough.” He taunted her. He focused his next lunge at Mason who was moving slowly from the earlier injury to his side. Zimmer caught him flatfooted and landed two quick jabs to the nose. Mason’s eyes watered and as he tried to clear them Zimmer spun around and swept his feet out from under him. Mason was on the ground and vulnerable. Zimmer was preparing to stomp on Mason’s unprotected chest when Tressa slammed into him from behind.
They grappled for position as they struggled on the ground. Zimmer was stronger, but Tressa was faster and much more nimble. As Zimmer would achieve a dominant position Tressa would squirm out of the hold and reverse it. They were equally matched, but Zimmer knew Tressa had more stamina. He feinted going for a choke hold and when she went to counter it he threw a hard, short elbow to the ribs. Tressa heard the crack and felt her chest catch fire. She managed to get loose and roll away. As she stood up every breath was like breathing daggers in her side. She knew this would have to end soon.
Colonel Zimmer had turned back to Mason after Tressa had broken loose. Mason was sitting up and trying to clear his head when Zimmer caught him with a knee to the forehead. Mason blacked out and slumped over onto his side.
“Enough games. This ends now.” Colonel Zimmer pulled a detonator from his pocket and pressed the button. He prepared for the explosion and subsequent shock wave to roll over the facility and knock the power plant flat. Instead, the sun shone brightly overhead and the heat shimmered off the gravel of the work area. Zimmer pressed the button again. Still nothing happened. He smacked the device against his hand and pressed the button over and over again.
“I disconnected them all last night,” wheezed Tressa. “I found all the detonators and damaged them so you couldn’t use them.” She went to the doorway of the garage and waved at her hidden companions.
From among the pipes rose a strange sight. A giant figure dressed like Colonel Zimmer started to rise up. It inflated until it was 40 feet tall. The eye patch was the size of a wagon wheel and the ribbons fluttered in the wind like kites. Clyde had found a hydrogen tank in the workshop and put together the balloon effigy of ‘Colonel Zimmer’ in the dark. Tressa was impressed with his level of detail all the way down to the red stripe on the pants.
“That’s supposed to stop me?” Zimmer scoffed. “A balloon? You’ve just added another bizarre element to my explanation of why you crazies are blowing up power plants.”
A voice crackled out of the balloon figure’s mouth. Colonel’s Zimmer’s voice. It repeated his earlier conversation with the prisoners over and over… “You should understand that you didn’t really have much of a chance. I have been planning this for a long time and you are just a child. You succeeded in causing a spot of bother, yes, but that won’t happen today. Today, the Board of Perpetual Power will all die, and I shall reign supreme. Today, I’m unstoppable!”
Ant had given Chris a tiny pocket recorder that had captured Zimmer’s confession and it was now being broadcast to all the board members and their aides. Zimmer’s face turned ashen. “You’ve ruined me. You little brat! Now I’m going to ruin you and your friend.” He ran at Tressa and threw a barrage of punches and kicks at her. She had never would have believed anyone could move so fast.
She had also ne
ver realized that she could counter them all. Tressa quieted her mind and just let her body take over as she deflected every blow, every punch and every kick. After a few moments she started responding with her own punches and kicks. Colonel Zimmer’s strength was fading. He knew she was getting ahead of him. He made one last attempt to penetrate her defense and then stepped back.
They stood and stared at each other for a moment. Tressa circled toward Zimmer’s eye patch. Zimmer had to keep moving his head to keep her in sight. Once she was between the Colonel and Mason she started to circle the other direction. He started to follow her, but she was prepared for this and shot back the other way into his blind spot.
Leaping up she clapped him on the ear with an open palm and shattered his eardrum. Zimmer howled in pain. Tressa landed halfway behind him, planted her feet and twisted her torso tightly back toward him. Her ribs were in agony, but she grabbed his shirt front, spun back and pulled him over her hip and flipped him onto his back. She heard the Colonel gasp as the air left his lungs and he lay still.
People had started to filter out of the reactor area and were gawking at the balloon figure and starting to look around for Colonel Zimmer. The mood was turning ugly. Tressa knew Zimmer’s time at Perpetual Power was finished. The Colonel’s two bodyguards were awkwardly making their way back to the Administration building to find reinforcements in case the angry mob rushed them.
While nursing her side, Tressa turned, walked back to Mason and knelt down next to him. She lifted his head and smoothed the hair out of his face. He started to open his eyes and look around. “You’re going to be okay,” she said.
Tressa’s attention was snatched back to her surroundings as the door to the truck slammed shut and it shot out of the garage. Zimmer had climbed in and was making a break for freedom. His two goons waved him down and jumped into the truck with him. The truck sped off toward the gate.
Mason weakly said, “They’re getting away.”
“No they’re not. I had Ant pinch off a tiny piece of explosive and stick it along with a detonator cap near the axle on the truck this morning, just in case Zimmer tried something like this.” She pulled out the detonator she had taken from the truck the previous night and eyed the button. “You want to do it?” she asked Mason.
“Absolutely!” he managed as the truck sped behind the administration building. A moment later it came back into view and rocketed toward the gatehouse and Zimmer’s freedom.
She handed him the remote and he happily pushed the button. They watched, waiting for a small puff of smoke to indicate the rear axle was destroyed and stopping the Colonel from taking his plans elsewhere.
Instead the entire truck exploded and the gigantic fireball billowed up hundreds of feet into the air. The truck was lifted high into the air and flipped over onto its top. The guard shack was crushed and all the glass in the Administration building was cracked and blown out. Black smoke poured off the tumbled wreckage as a smoking wheel that had been torn off finally landed in the middle of the gravel work area and rolled almost to the balloon ‘Zimmer’.
Ant, Chris and Clyde pulled up in the little truck and hopped out to see if Tressa and Mason were injured. “Wow! Ant, how much explosive did you put on the axle?” asked Tressa. “I thought we talked about just enough to stop him from getting away.”
“I only put a tiny pinch on there. I swear it. I don’t know what happened.” Ant answered.
Clyde was looking at the ground and kicking at a stone. “Umm, Tressa? I might know what happened,” he said with his hands in his pockets.
“What is it, Clyde? What happened?” Tressa asked.
“Well, I didn’t have a lot of time to hide all the explosives after we retrieved them from where Chris and the guards set them. I knew you were worried about someone seeing us running around and all. So, when I saw Mason put the detonator caps in the back of the truck I figured I’d keep them all together in case we needed to take them with us. I thought it would be an easy place to keep them safe.” Clyde confessed. “I guess they all went off at the same time. But remember, Eye Patch made me miss a couple meals.”
Chapter 30
The group made some quick decisions in the garage. Ant and Chris were sent on ahead before the growing crowd got too curious about the strangers in the maintenance area. They hopped in the little truck and quickly drove out and passed by the still burning upside-down truck that Colonel Zimmer tried to escape in. The gatehouse had been destroyed by the concussive wave of the blast so they picked their way through the rubble and disappeared into town.
Tressa, Mason and Clyde made their way into the living quarters in the next part of the building. Tressa suspected that Fergus was inside hiding so she convinced Mason and Clyde to look for ‘any kind of sign that Zimmer was lying about Fergus being killed’. They found Fergus inside, loosely tied to a chair with some bed sheets that looked like they had been hurriedly pulled off the mattress and wound around him. Tressa could see through the farce, but didn’t say anything as she helped Fergus get loose.
“Thank you, my dear. This has been a most unpleasant experience. Zimmer is definitely up to something. I thought we had reached an arrangement, but he certainly didn’t expect to keep his word.” Fergus slyly looked at them to gauge their reactions.
Clyde informed Fergus, “Colonel Zimmer doesn’t have to worry about keeping his word to anybody anymore. He just got blown up, only not like his balloon.”
Fergus feigned surprise, “Well, that’s terrible, but good for us, of course. He must have fallen prey to his own trap.”
“Something like that,” Tressa said out of the side of her mouth.
People started coming into the room from outside. The Chairman of Perpetual Power and the Chief Operating Officer each wanted to hear the tale of how Tressa and her companions came to be at the power plant. Tressa mostly let Fergus run with it. Mason and Clyde added parts as they felt like, but she just wanted to find a place to lie down and sleep for a while. Eventually, all the questions got answered and the Perpetual Power executives made arrangements for the little group of former captives to be taken care of.
Tressa and Mason were taken to the plant’s infirmary and their various wounds were attended to by the medical team. When they were returned to the dormitory part of the maintenance building they found Clyde on his third meal of the afternoon.
“This stuff is pretty good,” he said holding up a rack of ribs as long as Tressa’s forearm. He noisily slurped on the ribs and wiped the sauce from his face onto his sleeves.
Tressa asked where she could lie down and was pointed to the one of the rooms several doors down from Fergus’. She stretched out gingerly, favoring her cracked ribs and closed her eyes. Breathing slowly and shallowly to reduce the amount of movement of her ribcage she fell asleep almost immediately.
A week later the Perpetual executives had returned, and Tressa’s group was escorted to the Space Elevator Waypoint and given comfortable seats to wait in until their particular Elevator was ready. As they prepared to leave, Jeffrey Chandler, the Chairman of Perpetual Power, pulled Tressa aside and said, “We have much to thank you for, young lady. Had Zimmer’s plans materialized, not only would my fellow board members and I be dead, but he would be in charge of all the remaining Perpetual Power plants. That would have been disastrous for everyone.” He smiled at her and gently patted her shoulder to keep from hurting her sore ribs. “Should you ever need anything simply contact my office and I will make it happen at once.”
Tressa blushed at the attention. “Thank you, sir. I just want to get safely home and see my family.”
“Then let’s get you and your companions aboard,” he replied. “Your Elevator is loaded and ready.”
Following Fergus, Mason and Clyde inside the Elevator, Tressa found a seat and gingerly strapped herself in. The doors closed as they usually did and the yellow lights flashed as they were programmed. Tressa felt herself get heavier. Her ribs felt better somehow which made her pleasantly s
urprised. Soon the doors clicked open and the lights stopped flashing. They had made it back to New Omaha.
Once back in Top Peak, Tressa tried to forget the previous two days. Getting on the Magno-bus in New Omaha wasn’t too bad, but the electric wagon ride from Flatlands Station to Top Peake was a continual reminder of how badly Colonel Zimmer had injured her ribs. She could breathe easier for the most part, but deep breaths and the jolting ride up the mountainside let her know she still had some healing to do.
Tressa tried to blank out most of the trip by musing over the past few weeks. I can’t believe all that has happened. We almost got blown up in Alaska, I climbed a mountain in Bavaria. We were kidnapped and taken to Brazil and we stopped a madman’s plot to take over the power producing plants of the world. And then to find out that Fergus was up to his eyeballs in the middle of it all somehow. I’m going to have to get some advice on how to handle him without giving away that I know he’s mixed up in something bad.
I still can’t believe that I am part of a big family. For years it’s just been Mom, Yvette and me. After Dad died it seemed like the whole world lost some color. I can’t wait to go with Ant and meet my family and especially my grandfather. Just finding out that I have all these family connections has made all the bad stuff worth living through. I can’t wait to spend time getting to know them all.
As far as family goes, I‘ve started to feel like Clyde is part of my family, too. I never thought I’d ever think that. I’m actually going to miss having Clyde around. He said he’d go back to work and wait for us to come through New Omaha next spring. Hopefully, things will be more normal on that trip than they’ve been on this one. Tressa chuckled to herself, He’s got ‘un-improved’ genes as far as I can tell, but he’s always proven himself reliable. Maybe I can take Yvette and mom to New Omaha sometime and they can meet him, too.
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