Learning to Stand Read online

  “You know? That is me,” Troy said. “Mattie, I could use a hand here.”

  Another headlamp circle of light moved across the dark room.

  “I love the ladies,” Troy said.

  “All ladies. One at a time,” Alex, Raz, Matthew and Troy said together. They laughed.

  Matthew took Raz’s other arm.

  “Can you stand?” Matthew asked. “Alex, do you have your pill packet?”

  “Yep,” Alex said.

  Alex rolled to sitting. Digging through her pockets, she found the packet of pills John insisted she carry with her. She gave the packet to Matthew.

  “Ready?” Matthew said.

  With Matthew and Troy supporting him, Raz stood. He shifted back and forth then nodded. Troy and Matthew let go. Raz tried to take a step but was unable to.

  “Maybe you should sit for a minute,” Troy said, “Collect your thoughts and all.”

  Alex righted a chair and the men helped Raz into the chair. Matthew gave Raz a couple anti-inflammatory pills and a pain pill from Alex’s packet. He offered one to her but she shook her head.

  “I need a report,” Alex said.

  “What about me?” the Weasel asked.

  “Guards?” Alex asked. “Can you stay with your prisoner?”

  “Yes, Major.” The guards helped the Weasel back to a chair then stood with him.

  “Olivas? Where’s my feed?”

  “MAJOR!?!?” A man’s voice boomed over the room’s audio system.

  “Sergeant?” Alex asked.

  “I was able to hook up everything, but the connection wasn’t working,” Troy said. He walked with her over to where he’d hooked her pocket computer to the phone lines. “The last explosion must have connected the wires.”

  “Major?” Alex’s Sergeant asked. “I can hear you talking but I can’t tell what you’re saying. Cheyenne Mountain reported a ping from Shelter 17. I informed them you reviewed the shelters last week.”

  “Sergeant? Can you hear me now?” Alex moved over to the phone.

  “Oh, thank God,” her Sergeant said. “Colonel Gordon is here as well. He’d like a report.”

  “Sir, we were taken to Shelter 17 prior to explosion. The explosions began while we were in the stairwell. Outside of minor injury, we are all accounted for.”

  “And that little weasel?”

  “He and his guards are present.”

  “Well done, Major,” Colonel Gordon said.

  “Sergeant, the last explosion seems to have knocked out our power. Can you ask Cheyenne Mountain about back up power?”

  “Major,” Colonel Gordon said. “We have a report from the Jakker. The last explosion caused extensive damage to the mountain. He’s hovering right over Shelter 17 and believes he can see the door. We are sending a team into the area.”

  “Sir, we experienced an explosive chain. Let’s wait to be sure. If we get power...”

  There was a mechanical hum. The lights flickered before coming on. Climate control kicked in and the room began to cool off.

  “Power and climate control,” Alex said. “Thank you, Sergeant.”

  “Cheyenne Mountain has control of the room. They needed to know how many people to control the oxygen flow. They say there’s MREs near the front of the room. Do you remember where to find water? Latrine? Field protective masks? Oxygen?”

  “Yes, Sergeant. Thank you.”

  “We’ll wait to hear from you,” Colonel Gordon said. “In the meantime, sit tight.”

  “Sir?” Alex’s Sergeant asked.

  “Yes, Sergeant.”

  “I will stay at base so you don’t have to rely on back-up assistance. You can reach me when you need me.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant,” Alex said. “Oh, and Sergeant?”

  “Yes, Major?”

  “What happened to Sergeant Flagg?”

  “He’s at Fort Carson bossing everyone around.”

  “Can you relay a ‘knock it off’ message from me?”

  “Yes Major. They have locked him in a room. Will that do?”

  “Yes Sergeant,” Alex said. “Thank you.”

  Alex turned around to see all of the expectant faces. In each face, she saw competence, intelligence, and arrogance. They’d wanted to work for her. They’d each jumped at the chance to stand right here with her.

  And she had no idea what to do next. The familiar ache and annoying longing for Charlie returned.

  “We sit tight,” she said. “Raz, what’s our oxygen supply like?”

  “The room is set up to generate oxygen from the atmosphere,” he said. “As long as we have power, we have oxygen.”

  “Matthew, what did Cheyenne Mountain say?”

  “The mountain is on fire from the explosions. The forest service is flying to put out the worst of the fire before it spreads. They believe we’ll have snow soon.”

  “How much snow?” Alex asked.

  “A lot,” Matthew replied. “Couple of feet at the minimum. The Jakker is in the air over our site. He’s waiting to get us but, the snow...”

  “He can’t fly in a blizzard. We either risk the fire or wait out the snow storm. Any idea of how long that might be?”

  “Three days.” Matthew looked away from her. He crossed his arms then looked back, “Probably five.”

  “Five days of snow?” Alex asked.

  “We’re over 10,000 feet.”

  “Ok, what are you not telling me?” Alex asked.

  “Vince and I checked the door while you were talking to base.”

  “And?”

  “We’re buried. I don’t know what Zack sees or thinks he sees...”

  “And that means?”

  “I estimate we’ll be in this room for at least a week,” Matthew said. “Maybe longer.”

  “I’m not spending a week in this room,” Troy said. “I have a date tonight.”

  Alex tugged on her hair in irritation. What would Charlie do? Exhaling, she chose to go back to basics.

  “We go step-wise. I need an assessment of our supplies. Do we have enough food and water to sustain us for a week or more? Cheyenne Mountain has environmental control. Next step is food. Troy, can you look for medical supplies? We may need those.”

  Matthew and Troy set to work at their tasks. Alex sighed. At least if they were working, they weren’t bitching.

  “Major?” Vince asked. “I was able to use your pocket computer to hook into the base computers. Your Sergeant helped me re-run our models. I believe we’ve seen the last of the major explosions. It’s possible there is one more pocket of methane about ten miles from here.”

  “Houses?”

  “Still wilderness. Thank God. I also have live feed from Zack. I can project it. Would you like to see it?”

  Alex nodded.

  The screen at the front of the room lit up to show the horrifying destruction. The mountain had been ripped apart by the blasts. The pine forest was engulfed in flame. What had been old growth forest and meadow was now barren rock, dirt, dust and fire. Forest Service planes dropped water onto the fire.

  Matthew and Troy moved to stand next to her. Raz stood behind Alex. Stunned by the devastation of pristine wilderness, they couldn’t tear their eyes away.

  “These are explosion sites,” Vince walked to the screen to point to areas of forest. “I would guess we’ll find explosives at every site we chose. We won’t know for sure until we check, but I’d bet a hundred bucks they were set off by hand.”

  “Because of the delay?” Alex asked.

  “Right,” Vince said.

  “We have a leak but it’s not within our group,” Matthew said. “We’re looking at someone with a lot of money and access to our… computers?”

  “Or theirs,” Raz said. He pointed to the guards. “You report your location?”

  “Yes sir,” The guard said.

  “Your life insurance is paid up?” Troy asked.

  Alex turned back to the control panel table and her pocket computer.


  “Sergeant?”

  “Yes, Major?”

  “Can you ask the Jakker to check heat and radar for people? While you’re at it, can you send the satellite feed… uh...?”

  “Heat, motion and visual,” Raz said.

  “Did you get that?”

  “Yes Major,” her Sergeant said. “What are we looking for?”

  “People. I’d hate to meet shooters on our way out of this room.”

  “Yes Major.”

  “Also, can you start the paper chain for a quiet check of our other sites?”

  “Yes, Major.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Major?”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Alex said.

  “Your father called. He asked me to tell you, ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe’.”

  “Yes, thank you, Sergeant, “Alex said.

  Alex closed her eyes. Unable to deal with the expectation on the men’s faces, she turned away from them.

  What the hell did her father mean?

  “Major?” Vince asked.

  Turning toward him, she saw the satellite imaging on the screen.

  “Can you and Raz work with that?” Alex asked. Walking toward the east wall, Alex pointed, “The latrines are here. Water is located...”

  “It’s here with the MREs,” Troy said.

  “Thanks. I need a moment,” Alex said. Matthew moved toward her but she shook her head. Smiling to reassure him, she said, “Need to think.”

  Taking a bottle of water from Troy, she walked to a chair near the back of the room. From her location, she watched the men work with the satellite imaging. She was so lost in thought, she didn’t notice Jessie until he spoke.

  “Boo.” He laughed when she startled. “I always wanted to say that.”

  She smiled at him.

  “Bet you wondered where I’ve been,” he said.

  She nodded while taking a drink of water.

  “I was bored with being stuck in rooms.”

  She laughed. Jesse had been her constant companion last fall.

  “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe?” she mumbled into her water bottle.

  “Walls. Count the walls. You’ve forgotten.”

  She shrugged her ‘What else is new?’

  “Two ways in and two ways out?”

  She looked at him.

  “You're right," he responded to her look. "The second exits were determined to be security risks in the 1980s. They were cemented in. But remember who made these rooms?”

  Alex smiled.

  “I found a tunnel, but I can’t figure out how it connects to the room.” Noting the smile on Alex’s face, he said, “I figured you’d know how to find the door.”

  She stretched her neck side to side to indicate her lack of certainty.

  “Well, Zack is confident you will get out. He’s been ordered to return to base, but he hasn’t gone. The winds are picking up so he’ll have to leave soon.”

  Alex nodded. She glanced at Jessie.

  “You’re welcome,” he said. “Better get going lazy butt.”

  Taking a drink of water, Alex walked from wall to wall. Each wall was supposed to be marked – eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

  Dropping her head back, she noticed a diamond with four boxes drawn into the cement near the ceiling. Walking from wall to wall, the diamonds were repeated. Every diamond shape had the same four letters within the square – E, M, m, M. The letters rotated around the diamond. The south wall had an ‘E’ in the square at the upper point of the diamond. A capital ‘M’ held that position on the east wall. North wall’s diamond had a small ‘m’ at its point where as the west wall had another capital ‘M.’

  Eeny, Meeny, miny, Moe.

  The exit was in the north wall.

  “Ok,” Alex said. “Let’s pack up and get out of here. The Jakker isn’t going to be in the air much longer. We need to get going.”

  Every face gawked at her. She smiled.

  “To answer your question, Captain Mc Clenaghan,” Alex said. “These rooms were built in the early 1930s. As you can imagine, there was a tremendous political unrest during the Depression. The rooms were designed to hold portions of the government for an extended period of time. There’s one in almost every state. The rooms are connected via telephone and wire. The government could run in hiding.

  “Although the Army Corps of engineers designed the rooms, they were built by individual contractors. In most cases, they were built by people who had experience covering their tracks.”

  Alex looked from face to face. She saw only skepticism. Raz’s face pinched as if she had lost her mind.

  “The rooms were built by bootleggers!” Alex smiled. “They knew the rooms would never be used. The bootleggers built then used the rooms to store alcohol. Remember, Prohibition was the law during the Depression. They found forgotten cases of bourbon when they remodeled in the 1980s.”

  “Troy, I need you to distribute the field protective masks; the ones with the mini-oxygen tanks. Vince? Can you make sure everyone is hydrated? Matthew? Will you tell Cheyenne we are getting out? Guards? Secure your prisoner for transport. Remember, the forest is on fire!”

  Raz was about to intervene when she said, “Get moving! That’s an order.”

  F

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Why is the resolution of every B horror movie so anti-climatic?” Raz asked.

  He stood between Matthew and Troy watching Alex work. Standing on a chair, Alex played eeny, meeny, miny, moe with the square at the top of the north wall.

  “Because it’s a resolution?” Troy replied. “Alex, have you found a...”

  Alex hit the last square and there was a soft click. A door sized one-inch depression appeared in the wall. Alex cursed.

  “Our exit is covered...” She started.

  Troy punctured the depression with the knife from his mini-tool. The small blade stuck in the dry wall. Pulling a nine inch bowie knife from its sleeve on his leg, Matthew held the larger knife up to Troy.

  “Now, this is a knife.” Matthew gave his best Crocodile Dundee.

  “Don’t start dissing my mini-tool or...”

  “OLIVAS. MAC CLENAGHAN.” Alex jumped down from her chair. “Knock it off.”

  Mumbling, ‘He started it,’ the men cut the dry wall around the door. Raz grabbed pieces and threw them off to the side. They revealed a metal sliding door.

  “Hutchins? Tell the Jakker we’ll be five minutes,” Alex said.

  Vince relayed the message to Alex’s Sergeant then disconnected her pocket computer.

  “Gas masks. Check to make sure your oxygen is working. Check the person next to you.”

  The men put on their gas masks then checked each other.

  “Special Forces first,” Alex commanded. “Prisoner in the middle. Agent Rasmussen and Captain Hutchins and I will take the back.”

  Sliding open the metal door, Troy revealed another concrete door. He groaned. Alex swatted him out of the way. There was a combination lock on the door. She opened the padlock then stepped aside. Matthew and Troy pulled open the door.

  “Everyone. Guns out. We do not know what we’ll encounter. Let’s make certain we are on guard.” Seeing Jessie ahead, she said, “Ok. Go.”

  Alex put on her mask when Matthew and Troy ran down the tunnel. Raz checked her oxygen. Reaching a turn, Troy ran ahead. Matthew signaled for the Weasel and his guards to enter the tunnel. Alex watched their backs as they moved down the tunnel. Raz nudged Alex into the tunnel.

  They heard the sharp report of machine gunfire.

  “Go,” Alex yelled.

  Raz and Vince ran down the tunnel. Using all her strength, Alex yanked the cement door closed then reset the lock. Running down the tunnel, she found Raz waiting for her. They ran together down the rest of the tunnel.

  “They were shooting so Zack would notice them.” Raz shouted through the mask. “They are going up on wires.”

  “Can you make a wire?” Alex asked.

  “No other opti
on,” Raz said.

  Alex shook her head at his usual response to his back pain. She opened her mouth to ask again about his option to have surgery then realized it was pointless. He was going to do what he was going to do.

  They slowed at the entrance. Troy and Matthew had hacked enough space to step around the enormous Cottonwood tree trunk that grew over the tunnel’s entrance. On fire, the tree dropped flame and ember in the opening. Raz stepped a leg through the opening. Pressing his chest against the smoldering tree trunk, he shifted to pull his other leg through.

  His back seized. With Alex pushing on one side, and Vince pulling on the other, they managed to get him through opening.

  When Alex stepped, her left hip cramped. Vince pulled her through the opening. They stood in a small clearing surrounded by burning timber. She pointed to the wire. Vince clipped himself to the wire and went up with Raz.

  Her forgotten ear bud squealed then began working.

  “Heya Alex,” Zack said. “I’ve got everyone. You gonna hike out?”

  Alex waved up to him. She saw movement in the passenger compartment and Troy slid down with a wire. Hooking her to the wire, he wrapped himself around her.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure,” Alex yelled through her mask.

  “Lost a bet,” he laughed. “Your hip’s off. I didn’t think you could make the wire.”

  She smiled her thanks. At the passenger compartment, the men pulled Alex and Troy into the compartment. They piled their gear and masks into a cargo container then took their seats.

  “Where to?” Zack asked through the intercom.

  “Super Max,” Alex replied. “We’re taking this one home.”

  “WAIT!” The Weasel screamed.

  Troy pulled the helicopter door closed and the men clicked into their seats. Following Alex’s lead, they ignored the Weasel protests. The helicopter flew across Southern Colorado then slowed as they approached the United States Penitentiary Administration Maximum Facility.

  “Last chance,” Alex said. “Talk now or forget it.”

  The Weasel motioned her to sit next to him on the helicopter. She responded by forcing him to sit next to her. Untaped and undocumented, for the remainder of the trip, the Weasel told Alex everything he knew about the murder of the Fey Special Forces Team. When the helicopter landed, the Weasel’s mouth closed. Without saying another word, he and his guards left the helicopter.