“Sal!” Luke yelled. “Sal!”
“What are you doing, Luke?” Callie said.
“Sal should be here by now. Sal!”
“Come on, Luke.” Callie bounced up and down. “Let Theo open the gate. We don’t need Sal here for that.”
Maybe he should let Theo open the gate, Luke thought. It was just a gate, and the forest on the outside was almost like the woods on the inside. He could stay inside with Adam until Sal and the helicopter arrived, and Callie and Theo could go through the woods in case the fire spread too fast. He shouldn’t keep them trapped here. They didn’t even know Adam, and the fire was getting closer.
The fire was now about two hundred feet down the road, a wall of swirling colors and smoke. If he hadn’t been able to feel the heat, Luke thought it wouldn’t even seem real. For a moment he envisioned the fire stopping as it reached the fences, sputtering out against the force field of safety they formed. But he knew the fences couldn’t really stop the fire; the wooden one would catch quickly, and the fire would go right through the chain link.
“Okay,” Luke said. “Do it, Theo!”
23
The Woods
A thumping sound worked its way into Luke’s head like a headache without any pain. He rubbed his forehead, trying to make the sound go away, and then he realized it was coming from the sky.
“I hear something.” Luke climbed up on the hood of the jeep. “Can you see anything?” He pointed to the north.
Callie climbed up beside him. “It’s the helicopter,” she said excitedly. “Theo! I can see it…them. There are two of them. Here we are!” She waved, and Luke could just make out an outline in the smoke. Theo came out of the gatehouse.
Luke felt like a weight had dropped off him. “They can land on the road,” he said as he jumped off the jeep. “I’m going to unbuckle Adam.”
As the helicopters drew closer, Callie kept waving as if they needed to see her to find them.
“Those are Chinooks,” Luke said. “The army uses them for rescue missions.”
“That would be what we need,” Theo said.
The helicopters drew closer, and they all waved, needing to do something. Comet put his paws up on the backseat and barked. The lead helicopter adjusted its path, turning in their direction.
“They know we’re here!” Callie jumped off the jeep and ran down the road. Luke couldn’t believe the sense of relief he felt, almost like sinking into a soft bed when he was really tired. In less than an hour they would be back in Washington, D.C., away from all this, and everything would be back to normal.
The wind from the helicopter’s rotors created a funnel of smoke and leaves beneath it as the helicopter started to descend. Another pine tree outside the fence exploded, sending out a cloud of flames. The flames rolled up and up, engulfing the helicopter as if the fire were trying to swallow it. The helicopter disappeared from view, emerging a second later, twisting to the right. The other helicopter swung to the side and it looked like it was going to get clear, but then the rotor of the first hit a wheel on the other.
“Get out of the way!” Luke screamed. He flung himself at Callie and Theo, both standing transfixed at the sight of the helicopters tangled together. “Run! Run! They’re going to crash.” He grabbed Callie’s arm and dragged her with him away from the helicopters, not wanting to look back.
The boom sounded and he felt a surge of heat washing over him. Callie pulled him to a stop. Both helicopters were down. An enormous fireball rose over the trees as the fire spewed out in all directions, fed by the fuel in the helicopters. Luke couldn’t even see if there was anything left of them. The fire was too intense.
“We have to help the people in the helicopters!” Callie shouted. “Come on, Luke!”
“No, Callie.” Luke felt his whole body clench. “Nobody could survive that kind of explosion.” He fought back the tears, looking around for Theo, and spotted him on his knees holding his head. Luke started toward him and then saw the grass light on fire feet away from the jeep. Luke ran forward and tried to stomp it out, but the grass was too dry and there were too many little sparks coming from the bigger blaze, landing all around him.
“Callie, help Theo. Keep moving away,” Luke yelled. “I have to go back and get the jeep.”
“Open the gate before the fire gets to it!” Callie shouted.
“I have to move Adam away from the fire first. It’s too close. You and Theo open the gate.”
Luke jumped into the jeep and started the engine, trying to put it in gear at the same time. The engine made a grinding sound, but then slipped into gear. He turned the jeep and drove it back into the woods, away from the fire, and then stopped, trying not to think about the people in the helicopters. He climbed out and jogged over to Theo, who was still on the ground. Callie came running back from the gatehouse.
“That’s not the right code, Theo. Try to remember.” She called to Luke, “He fell down and threw up, and now he says he’s not sure what the code is. Do you remember?”
The numbers wouldn’t come into Luke’s head. He tried to picture Colonel Donlin telling him the code. “It started with a four,” he said, “and it had some nines and eights in it. What did Theo say it was?”
“Four-nine-eight-nine-two-eight.”
“That sounds right,” Luke said. “Are you sure you punched the numbers in the right way?”
“I tried three different times,” Callie said. “Why didn’t you let Theo open the gate when we could? This is all your fault!”
“Theo, think. Are you sure that’s the code?”
Theo took off his glasses and cleaned the one lens on his filthy shirt. “I think so. I wish I could talk to my mom. My head really hurts. You know, when I’m sick my mom lets me watch as much television as I want.”
Why was Theo thinking about television now? Luke rubbed his eyes. They were watering and itching from too much smoke, but the rubbing only made it worse.
“I wish I could talk to my mom,” Theo said. “I wish I had my cell phone.”
“Let’s try a different code,” Callie said. “Maybe it’s just a little off. You said it started with a four.”
“Okay. Theo, keep trying to remember if that’s the right code.” Luke went into the gatehouse. The back gatehouse was much smaller than the front gatehouse, but it had the same gate lever and a keypad next to it.
“What should I try?” Luke asked, glancing out the window. The fire was close, already in the nearest trees on the other side of the road. If they didn’t get the gate open soon, the whole area would be covered in flames.
“Try four-nine-eight-two-nine-eight,” Callie said.
It didn’t work. Luke punched in as many variations as he could think of using those numbers but nothing worked. Why hadn’t he tried to remember the number? He shouldn’t have expected Theo to be the only one who could remember a number!
“Luke, the fire is getting too close. Don’t you feel it?” Callie said.
The front edge of the fire was just feet from the door, and the metal keypad was getting hotter and hotter. He tried another number. Nothing. Another.
Callie took the hand he wasn’t using. “Come on, Luke. I’m sorry I said that about Theo and the gate. You can’t just keep pushing numbers while the gatehouse catches on fire.”
“It is my fault!” He pulled his hand away. “You’re right. We would be out of here by now.” The keypad was so hot, he felt like his fingers were blistering every time he punched a number. “Go ask Theo if he remembers something else.”
“No, Luke, we have to get out of here.” Callie took his hand again and pulled. “Let’s go call for Sal.”
Luke let her lead him outside. Callie called a few times for Sal, but he didn’t answer. Luke knew he wouldn’t. Something had happened, something bad. Sal would never leave him alone this long. What were they supposed to do now? Luke looked over at Adam, but Adam wasn’t moving. Luke closed his eyes, but he could still see the fireball. This wasn’t sup
posed to happen to him.
The fire came right up to the door of the gatehouse. He knew the stone walls wouldn’t burn, but he didn’t know how long the wooden beams in the roof would last, and with everything burning around him, Luke didn’t even really care. He was too tired to care.
“Why isn’t the electric fence off already?” Callie asked. “I thought Sal said they were going to try to turn it off remotely somehow. What if it’s already off?” Callie and Theo both looked at Luke.
“It hums when the power is on,” Luke said. “It’s hard to hear, though. I can’t hear anything with all the crackling of the fire.”
“I’m going to find out.” Callie ran down the fence line away from the fire. She stopped and then moved farther down the fence. When she came back, he could tell from her face the fence was still live.
“Why don’t they turn it off?” She turned on Luke as if he should know, but he didn’t know. It should be off by now.
“They would have to send a signal from Washington,” Theo said, “either via satellite or underground cable or wireless, to the command center at Camp David to tell a computer there what to do. Something must be wrong with whatever system they’re trying to use.”
“That’s a big help!”
“You asked,” Theo said, shrugging his shoulders. “Luke probably knows more about it than I do.”
Both Theo and Callie looked at him then like he was supposed to do something. No one had ever expected him to decide things. He was used to everyone else making his decisions for him, twenty-four/seven. Except that wasn’t quite right. He had decided they should go to the back gate. Even though it hadn’t worked out, Colonel Donlin had acted as if it was a good idea.
Luke tried to think. What was his dad doing right now? Did his mom even know what was happening? Yield not to misfortunes, but rather go more boldly to meet them. He could almost hear his father’s voice.
He said it aloud. “‘Yield not to misfortunes, but rather go more boldly to meet them.’ Theo, what ancient guy said that?”
“Said what?”
“‘Yield not to misfortunes, but rather go more boldly to meet them.’”
“Uh, that ancient guy would be Virgil.”
“Right,” Luke said. “Virgil. We aren’t giving up. That’s our motto. I don’t want to just sit here anymore. Let’s get back in the jeep, go to the command center, and shut off the electricity to the fence.” He felt a surge of energy at the idea of something to do.
“Are you crazy? How are we going to do that?” Callie said. “I heard the colonel. He said that the defense system was activated and we shouldn’t go back through the woods to the buildings. Those are the boxes on the trees you were so hysterical about, aren’t they? The ones that zap you dead.”
“They don’t zap you dead. They just make you feel like you’re on fire,” Theo said, putting his glasses back on.
“Wonderful. That makes all the difference.” Callie glared at both of them and kicked the jeep tire. She looked like she wanted to kick Luke and Theo.
“I’ve been thinking about that. I think I have an idea. The colonel told me about where the defense perimeter is. It’s supposed to keep out people on foot who are trying to sneak in, not armored vehicles or anything.”
“So what good does that do us?” Callie said.
“You know, if they really are like lasers or microwaves, you should be able to block the beam,” Theo said. He made a scribbling motion with his hand like he was drawing a diagram.
“What blocks a beam like that?” Callie asked.
“It depends on how strong it is. Something solid, like a piece of metal, if it’s not too powerful,” Theo said. “If it’s really strong, it’s hard to stop.”
“They call it a millimeter-wave system, so it has to be more like microwaves,” Luke said. “Those are blocked by metal, just like a microwave oven.” Luke eyed the jeep.
“Then why can’t we just drive the jeep through, and duck down behind the doors?” Callie asked.
“The beams come from overhead,” Luke said. “They would still get us.”
“Even if we had one of the SUVs, we don’t know if the waves will go through glass.”
Luke took hold of one of the jeep doors. “But we’ve got metal right here. We can take off the doors and use them to block the beams, like armor, while we crawl through underneath them.”
“That might work,” Theo said, “except we can’t be sure the doors will cover us completely. I’m a lot bigger than you two.” Theo made more drawing motions with his hands. “This might be a terrible idea.”
“We can’t see the beams, right?” Callie said. “I’m not using some sort of crazy jeep armor and just crawling through hoping we won’t get zapped. Maybe we should move back from the fire when it gets closer, and someone else will get here soon to help us.”
“No,” Luke said. “We don’t know how long it will take for another helicopter to get here, and this other fire is spreading fast now. At least back toward the buildings in the center of the camp there shouldn’t be any fire yet. It will work.” He almost added, I think, to the end of that sentence, but he didn’t want them to doubt him.
“Luke’s right. I don’t want to stay here.” Theo climbed back in the jeep. “Try not to bump around too much, okay? I feel like I might throw up again.”
“Okay,” Luke said.
“I’m guess I’m in too,” Callie said reluctantly, climbing in the back with Adam and Comet. “Just remember, if we get fried, this wasn’t my idea.”
24
Passage
Luke drove slowly, trying to get his bearings. It was harder than he thought to estimate where the nature trail would be, and to stop the right distance away from it. Usually, when he and Adam went running, they picked up the trail right outside Laurel Lodge, but now he was coming at it from the opposite direction. Finally he hit the brake, not daring to go farther. “We should be close. Can you hear the sirens are louder now? That means we aren’t too far away from the center of the compound. I know where they’ve been pruning lots of the trees too. I bet that’s where they put the boxes.”
The three of them got out, Comet jumping down too. Luke was glad they had moved far enough away from the fire so they couldn’t hear it anymore. It made him able to concentrate better.
“Now what?” Callie asked. “How are we getting the doors off anyway? That can’t be easy.”
“First we get Adam out, because it’s going to be rough.” Adam mumbled a little when Theo started to pull him out, but even though he didn’t open his eyes, he wasn’t a total deadweight. He shuffled forward, leaning on Theo, while Luke tried to take some of his weight from his other side. When they lowered him to the ground, propping him against a tree, Luke knelt down in front of him.
“Adam, Adam, we need you to wake up. Adam, please.” Once the words were out of his mouth, he couldn’t stop the tears. He choked and crouched down on the ground, covering his face, knowing he was shaking, but trying hard not to make a sound. Without Adam and Sal, he was nobody, just a kid who didn’t know how to do anything. How was he supposed to know what to do? Maybe they should just stay in one spot, hoping someone would come get them. He could hear his dad’s voice: Make haste slowly. But that advice couldn’t help now. What was he supposed to do? The whole thing was his dad’s fault. They would never be here if his dad hadn’t wanted to be President.
“Luke, come on, let’s try your idea,” Theo said. “The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get help for Adam.”
“Go away,” Luke said.
“I’m with Theo,” he heard Callie say. “Come on, Luke. Get up.”
Luke wished he could shut out the sound of their voices. He waited, his hands still over his face, expecting Callie to call him a baby, but she didn’t. They didn’t say anything else. Luke didn’t know how long he crouched there all scrunched up, but then he felt Comet licking his ear. Luke reached his hand out and ran it along Comet’s back. At Luke’s touch, Comet bar
ked and jumped around him, trying to lick his face.
“Luke, we don’t have much more time,” Theo said. “Look at the air.”
There were bits of ash swirling about them now, like gray snowflakes in a winter storm.
“A helicopter won’t be able to get through this, will it?” Callie said, moving over to Theo. He put his arm around her.
“We don’t need a helicopter.” Luke got up, not looking at either one of them, focusing on the jeep as a way to stop thinking about everything else. “I’m not going to just sit here. I don’t care what my dad says.”
“What do you mean?” Callie asked. “Why are you talking about your dad?”
“Never mind. It’s just something he says that I don’t think is always a good thing. You guys stay back. We don’t have any tools to get the doors off, so I’m going to back the door into a tree and see if that works. Keep Comet clear too.”
“You can’t drive fast enough to break the door off. You’ll be hurt when the tree hits the door,” Callie said.
“He doesn’t have to drive fast.” Theo let go of Callie and picked up a rock about the size of a plate. “If we wedge the rock in the space between the open door and the car, the bolts may break more easily even with just slow pressure. Just make sure you put on your seat belt.”
Luke felt terrible knowing he was going to do a bit more than putting a scratch on the colonel’s jeep, but he didn’t see any other way. Once Theo had the rock in place, Luke positioned the jeep about five feet in front of the tree, put the car in reverse, and stomped on the gas. The door hit the tree and the jeep jerked forward. Without thinking, Luke put on the brake. When the car stopped he could see the door was still attached, even though it was sagging from the frame because one of the bolts had snapped.
“The rock won’t go back in,” Theo said, examining the door. “There’s no place left to wedge it.”
“I’m going to have to run it into the tree again, faster and from farther away,” Luke said. Callie opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Luke was glad; he didn’t think he could stand too much more.
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