by Laura Acton
His ability to sleep also improved. Not exactly sure why, but Dan’s nightmares began diminishing. It still hurt as bad, but he woke less often to night terrors, perhaps because he spoke to Lexa about Brody. Primarily they chatted about mundane, non-personal items, but lately, they started to share bits of themselves to each other. Dan enjoyed learning about Lexa.
A stab of pain in his ear interrupted his thoughts. Damned water won’t come out. Dan rubbed at the base of his lobe again as he tuned back into the tactical lead’s rundown on the rules and the scenarios they would encounter. The mood transformed, becoming lighthearted, but focused … everyone primed to kick butt and come out the victor tonight.
Toronto Zoo – 6:30 p.m.
Alpha Team and Charlie Team gathered at the zoo’s entrance where the head of security, Rory Brown met them. Rory introduced his night team and informed everyone of their scheduled rounds. He indicated his three men would be wearing bright orange reflective vests so they would be distinguishable from the TRF officers.
Rory specified the wildlife which had access to their larger outdoor enclosures and which would be locked inside for the night. It surprised all of them the number of animals allowed to roam in their outside areas. The watchman explained they desired to provide nocturnal animals with an environ as normal as possible by allowing them freedom at night. For theirs and the animal’s safety, Rory cautioned them to be aware and stay out of the pens.
Sergeant Winter of Echo Team would monitor and keep score, and a few of his teammates came to act as observers. As both teams made final plans for the first scenario, they held themselves in readiness for tonight’s activities. Two sections had been set up with five bombs apiece. Alpha drew the Eurasia Wilds territorial assignment while Charlie would tackle the Tundra Trek region.
Both sergeants would remain at the command post while the remainder of their teams searched for the fake explosive devices. Each team tuned into a separate channel and did a coms check. All of them were raring to go when Winter set the timer and signaled go.
Jon divided the area into three equal sections. Jon and Ray would search section A, Loki and Bram took on section B, while Lexa and Dan raced for section C. Their strategy hinged on locating all devices first. Twenty minutes into searching, Dan uncovered his close to the Barbary sheep. Lexa found hers on the stairs near the snow leopards enclosure. Bram came across another mock bomb by the red pandas. Ray detected the fourth device by the camels, and Loki pinpointed the last unit adjacent the Asiatic wild dogs.
After each one had been discovered, Jon ran to Loki’s location to hold the flashlight for him so the techie would be able to speak. All the others would grip their miniature flashlights in their mouths to free both hands. Using their comlinks, they planned to disarm all at the same time following Loki’s instructions. Each knelt close to their bombs and waited.
Loki requested they describe the configuration of their devices before beginning. He wanted to ensure they appeared identical. He wouldn’t put it past the lab techs to throw them a curve ball. If they assumed they were alike, they might make a mistake. After everyone reported and sent him a photo, Loki said, “We need to take this slow. Whichever lab tech built these went all out this year. These won’t be a simple wire cut.”
They worked methodically over the next fifteen minutes disarming the complex flour bomb mechanism. Sweat began dripping from each one of them as they meticulously carried out Loki’s directions.
“Okay, guys, this is the last step.” Loki took a steadying breath and rechecked the schematics. He had two choices the dark blue wire or the black wire. Both appeared to be active, but that made no sense at all. He pulled out his tool and scanned the device again. Nothing distinguished the precise wire.
“Nuts!” Loki exclaimed.
“What’s the problem, Loki?” Jon peered over Loki’s shoulder.
“Both wires look active. I gotta ascertain which is the right one to cut. Might be both, or some sort of order,” Loki said in a frustrated tone.
Dan suggested, “We can test one to determine if you picked the correct wire. Four out of five is better than all five being wrong. I’m willing to go first with whichever wire you think best, Loki.”
Loki and Jon exchanged a glance. Christ, self-sacrifice embodied the rookie even with a fake bomb. Realizing he would always be the first one to step up to the risk, Jon said, “No way, Dan.”
“Sounds like a reasonable plan to me. They’re only filled with flour. The worst that can happen is Dan takes a flour shower,” Ray interjected.
Sternly, Nick declared, “We treat this as a real-life situation. That’s an unacceptable risk. Loki, what do you need to figure this out?”
Loki sat back on his heels and pulled out his tablet. He started researching the designs of the department’s three lab techs. It would take a while to go through all three, but then an idea slipped into his head. Distribute the work. “Ray, I need you to pull up the profile on Darrell Evans and check his blueprints. Dan, did you ever work with explosives in the military?”
“Yeah, some. Mostly simple IEDs, but occasionally we came across complex designs our explosives expert disarmed. He showed me a few things on wiring layouts during downtime.”
“Okay, so, can you read schematics?”
“Yeah,” Dan replied nonchalantly.
Loki grinned. We’ve got an advantage over Charlie Team. Three members who understand how to read designs. This will make it faster for us to discern the right sequence. “Excellent. Study Terrance Middlefield’s designs. I’m going through Jason Frank’s. If we can determine which one of the techs built these, we can deactivate them properly.”
The three men spent the next ten minutes reviewing the wiring patterns. Sadly, what had been a sensible idea, turned fruitless. None of the sketches they examined matched the schema they faced.
While Loki checked other resources, Lexa knelt on the stairs fiddling with her flashlight. The battery died. I should’ve checked the batteries. I’ll have to use the backlight of my phone to illuminate the components.
She positioned her cell. Crud, not enough light to distinguish dark blue from black. She pictured the bomb in her mind. Is blue on top? Yes. I’m not sure. “Dan, on your bomb, is black or blue wiring at the top?”
“Blue, why?”
“Flashlight died. Ray and Bram, how about yours?” Lexa queried. Both replied blue, and Lexa relaxed somewhat.
At last, Loki found what he wanted. “Alright, this is a little tricky. You’re gonna need to follow the blue wire back to the source. After you cut that one, you must cut the black one near the mechanism within one second.”
Dan chimed in, “Shall I go first?”
This time Jon peered at Loki. “How sure are you?”
“Eighty percent,” Loki conceded, not liking the looming twenty percent.
Jon wanted to win so someone must take the plunge. Better odds to have one test the option and if this worked the rest would follow. I would never accept odds like this in the field, but Ray is right. It is only flour if this solution is wrong, no biggie, we still have four more attempts. “Dan, go ahead.”
Dan followed Loki’s instructions to a tee.
The team froze when an air horn rent the air followed by Dan roaring, “Shit! Aaaargh. Dammit!”
“Dan, status?” Jon said as he stood and raced towards Dan’s position.
“Not the right solution. Damn thing went off. Shit, my eyes burn!”
“On my way, Dan,” Lexa called out.
Jon ordered, “Remain where you are, Lexa. You don’t have a flashlight. I got Dan. Everyone stay put.”
Staring at his tablet, Loki searched for the solution to this dilemma. Darn … that should’ve worked. He became a bit distracted by Dan’s continual and distressed cursing through the headset. Why would flour burn?
Sliding to a halt, Jon found Dan flat on his back, covered in flour, with a water bottle above his eyes, pouring the liquid into them and blinking rapidly.<
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“Dan, what the hell happened to your eyes?” He knelt and shrugged his backpack off, ripped it open, and grabbed his unused bottled water.
“Burns like pepper spray,” Dan ground out barely hearing Jon through the ringing in his ears from the air horn which sounded when the mini explosive device went off.
Shining his light on Dan’s face, Jon pulled a rag from his pack and dabbed at Dan’s eyes as he took over dribbling water into them to wash them out.
Loki shouted, “Rats. This site labeled them wrong. It is the reverse.”
“We should go one at a time. Looks like we have issues,” Ray said.
“Ya think?” Loki retorted sarcastically—ticked off he screwed up.
Nick asked, “Jon, does Dan need a medic?”
“No. I’ll be okay in a moment,” Dan professed.
“Dan, I’m asking your TL not you. Jon?” Nick stated knowing Dan avoided medics like the plague.
Jon rubbed flour between his thumb and index finger noting the reddish hue. “It appears the idiot tech who built this added cayenne pepper to the mix. Warn Colton, so his guys take precautions.”
Then Jon examined the rookie thoroughly. Despite watering and red eyes, Dan appeared to be alright. He promptly doused his eyes to flush the pepper out before it did much damage. “His eyes will be irritated, but other than that, he is fine.”
Over the headset, they overheard Boss tell Winter what happened so he could relay it to Colton. Then Nick spoke to his team, “Gambrill will be made aware of this breach of safety protocol. He will be none too pleased with whoever added the cayenne, as am I.”
In the end, Alpha Team went one by one to disarm the bombs. No matter which method they used, the device detonated. Everyone, except Dan and Loki, shielded their faces well and didn’t experience the burning sensation of pepper in the eyes.
However, the position of Bram’s bomb resulted in the air horn sounding off only inches from his ear. The team listened as he cursed loudly. Jon and Dan helped Bram back to the command center because the ringing in Bram’s ears disturbed his equilibrium.
Unable to move her device, Lexa attempted to defuse hers in its original location on the steps. Believing they solved the puzzle and earned points when the mock bomb didn’t go off, Lexa smiled and started to rise, but the loud horn blasted, startling her. She lost her footing and tumbled down the stairs. After landing hard on her knee, she limped back to the rest area.
Loki, the last to go, also experienced the shock of a delayed explosion, but what made it worse was his delay exceeded Lexa’s. Waiting several minutes after cutting the wires, Loki celebrated his success with an enthusiastic and loud, “Yes!” In the process of putting his tools in his pack, his unprotected face was too close when it finally blew. Loki ended up on his back like Dan, with Ray pouring water into his burning eyes. Once his eyes cleared, he and Ray joined the others.
Furious every bomb went off, the members of Alpha Team congregated at the training command post, and noted the other team joined them in the same state. Everyone arrived infuriated, covered in a mixture of flour and cayenne pepper, and for some, their ears continued to ring.
Both teams did their best to calm down, dust off, and prepare for the next scenario. Loki and Larry, Charlie Team’s explosives tech, compared notes and determined all the devices were set to go off regardless of the method used to diffuse them.
Aggravated they failed to figure out a solution both team techies wanted to discuss the designs with the person who built them for two reasons. First, they would read the man the riot act for putting in the pepper. Second, they realized the creator possessed knowledge they didn’t and could teach them something which might save lives in the field.
Tinker, Toka, and Tonka
36
March 7
Toronto Zoo – 8:00 p.m.
Nick gathered the team to one side, and they discussed their strategy for being the bad guys in the next scenario. They were given free rein of the entire zoo. Jon plotted out a general plan but told them to use their unique skills to avoid capture. The teams were even in points after the bomb debacle—zero to zero. The longer they evade Charlie Team, the more points they earn.
Dan grinned. “This is gonna be the fun part.” He dabbed at his watery eyes with a damp rag then rubbed at his ear, which after the air horn hurt more than earlier. It still felt like water was trapped, but the pressure increased significantly in the last hour.
Lexa gazed at Dan. He is enjoying himself tonight even with the pepper blast in his eyes. That made her smile in spite of her sore knee. She guessed using his skills when no one would be in danger would be fun for him. Actually, she had to agree with him—evading the good guys would be entertaining.
She would use her size to her advantage. Being smaller, she could hide in places none of the men could. Lexa decided to utilize that strategy tonight because of her aching knee. Lexa suspected Dan possessed several tricks from real-life scenarios in Special Forces. She remembered, from a few of their talks over beer and burgers at Jarmal’s, he liked to be up high. More than likely Dan would take out a couple of Harmon’s team from the treetops.
Sergeant Winter gave the command, and Alpha Team raced off to places unknown to hide from and attack Colton’s team. They would be given a ten-minute head start before the others would be allowed to search for them.
Toronto Zoo – African Savanna – 8:30 p.m.
Having a fantastic time, Dan located a perch affording him a perfect position to pick off targets. His first hit had been their rookie, Justine Forge, his second one, Tyler Cranford. But their sniper didn’t die quiet and spotted him right before he fired, calling out his location to his teammates.
So, Dan needed to find a new place. He shimmed down the tree with ease—almost monkey-like. Climbing trees brought back a fond memory. As he jogged through the African region, Dan remembered the day his mother brought Becca home after her birth. He wanted a little brother instead of another sister, so he spent the day up a tree sulking.
As little sisters go, Becca seemed alright, but he didn’t really know her. She had been three when he was sent far away from everyone he cared about. He only visited her a few days each year when he got a reprieve from the ice prison, meeting Becca and his mother in Vancouver. He wished he could’ve spent more time with her … being his sister after all. Though, he ruined everything when he failed to save Sara.
Dan stopped those thoughts. A pleasant memory turned into unwelcome recollections of childhood events he tried to forget—impossible, perhaps a better word would be … ignore.
As he approached the elephant enclosure, Dan halted at the encounter area, an architecturally structured space designed to promote interaction with and decrease fear of certain animals. Here the fence was lowered so kids could touch the elephants. Awesome. The enormous elephants were more impressive in real-life than in a photo.
At first Dan viewed two huge ones shuffling around their area but catching sight of a baby he grinned. Allie would think the little one is cute. If I ever babysit Bram’s girls again, I’ll request to bring them here. That would be a fun afternoon.
So engrossed in the pachyderms, Dan almost didn’t catch the sound of someone approaching. Well … that, and the fact his hearing sucked with the ringing and increased painful pressure.
He wondered if he might have picked up the same infection Bram and his girls had. Never having suffered from acute otitis media, Dan realized he would not be able to distinguish between the symptoms of the disease or those triggered by residual trapped pool water.
Too far away to tag Paul Miller with the laser and unable to execute any additional options without betraying his position, Dan ducked behind a bush close to him. Holding his breath as Charlie’s tactical lead passed by, Dan knew any movement, and the resulting noise would allow Paul to get the drop on him because Paul’s location offered several cover options and all he had was a tiny bush.
Using his refined sniper skills, the
ability to remain immobile for extended periods, Dan would wait until Paul cleared the area before moving. He wouldn’t earn the points for a kill, but Jon said the longer it took to apprehend their team, the more points Alpha would rack up. As Paul ambled away, Dan smiled. I’ll tag the next one.
Dan checked the time. They had been out here about an hour. So far only Ray and Nick had been captured. He remained crouched and still for another ten minutes, listening as best he could through the incessant ringing. Detecting no noises, seemly all clear, Dan deemed it safe to move positions.
He stood and at the same moment a sharp pain lanced through his left ear along with the sound of a loud pop. He went to take a step and staggered, tilting far to the right. Damn, my equilibrium is off.
Attempting to compensate, he lost his balance completely, listing to the left, and fell eight feet into the animal compound. Smacking his back on the hard-packed earth, stars burst before his eyes right before he blacked out.
Toronto Zoo – Elephant Enclosure – 8:45 p.m.
Tinker wandered over to the new addition to her area and tapped it with her little trunk. It didn’t move. She sniffed all over exploring the thing. A sound she emitted brought her mother over.
Toka poked the inert body as her daughter did before, and it remained still. Recognizing the form, a two-legged animal similar to the ones taking care of her, Toka snuffled over the body, finding a different odor. Not liking the results of her olfactory search, she nudged move forcefully, flopping over the human, but it continued to lie unmoving. Fearing for its safety, Toka prodded it repeatedly, rolling it to near the wall where Tonka couldn’t step on it.
Alerted, Tonka moseyed over to Tinker. What dropped down in my place? Is it a treat or a threat? Crunch. Tonka stopped and backed up a step. He sniffed where his foot had been. Strange? Tonka pushed the pieces around for a bit but became bored. He lumbered over to Toka because what she found appeared more interesting than the specks he investigated.