The Yellowstone Brief

by Larry LaVoie

  “Captain Hall, sir,” the soldier said, pointing to a military vehicle.

  Renfro walked over to the vehicle. In a few minutes he was able to convince the captain to give up his vehicle. Driving the four-door Humvee troop carrier across the lawn in front of headquarters, he stopped at the front door, got out and signaled for the others to join him. “Henry, you know the park. You drive. Heather get in back with me.”

  Henry got in the driver’s seat and adjusted it to his height. “Where to?”

  “Norris, as fast as you can get there.”

  Henry turned the vehicle around and headed out of town and turned south. “We have about 20 miles. What’s the plan?”

  “I told the captain what was going on. He’s going to keep a few troops behind and monitor the frequency of our radio. He’s going to radio for more troops. If we need help, he says he’ll come. Hell, we don’t even know if these guys are in the park. They could be holed up in a hotel someplace and plan on using the patrons as hostages. What do you think, Heather?”

  “There was a dead man in the van and two police officers are dead. My thinking is they would have caught them by now if they were still on any state roads. Half the State Police force is looking for them. The park is the most logical place for them to hide. These guys are not playing games. I’ll bet they’re here.”

  “Henry, I take it you need Dr. Wayne to know what’s going on with the volcano?”

  “He’s the one with all the experience. They need him to monitor this system and try to figure out if the tunneling can be completed in time. Right now, he’s the one who can tell us all when to get the hell out of here.”

  “You’ve been talking to him. What’s your best guess on timing?”

  Henry was silent.

  “You afraid of being wrong? I need to know what you think.” Renfro was angry.

  “I think we’re driving into the eye of hell. I’m scared to death. I’m in my forties and am sorry I wasted my life out here in the middle of nowhere when I could have been married and had kids and been a normal person.” He was shaking, close to an emotional breakdown.

  “We all wish that, Henry,” Renfro said in a more soothing voice. “If this doesn’t work out...”

  “Henry, what was your last conversation with Dr. Wayne?” Heather asked.

  “He was on his way to Headquarters, to go over the data with me.”

  “Then he doesn’t think we’re in immediate danger. He just drove past the site where the problem is, am I right?”

  Henry nodded. “I’ll be a lot happier when I can turn this data over to Dr. Wayne, and get the hell out of here.”

  “Can you drive any faster?” Renfro asked. “You remind me of my mother.”

  *****

  “That was the dumbest thing you ever did, letting those demonstrators go ahead of us.” The gunman pulled the jeep behind the Headquarters building and stopped.

  “How was I to know the army would be there waiting for them?”

  “It’s the work of the girl. Andy wants her killed and we need to find her.”

  “The tracker showed she was in that building, but she’s on the move again, the signal keeps getting disrupted in the smog.”

  “Follow her, you idiot.”

  The black pickup moved around the rioting demonstrators in pursuit of the Humvee that had pulled out of Headquarters only minutes before. “I don’t like this,” the driver said. “It looks like midnight, yet it’s still morning.”

  “Take your time. The GPS will lead us to her, Allah willing.” He checked his handheld tracking device. “This way. She is moving fast. I wonder what is so important, that she moves into a storm?”

  The driver sped up leaving a horizontal tornado of gray dust in his wake.

  ****

  Gray ash was falling in flakes like dirty snow. The sun was completely blocked out and the day had turned into the darkest night. Trick turned on the headlights and leaned forward trying to see the road with his chest nearly touching the steering wheel,. “I wish we had some of the respirators from the tunnel with us. The ash is getting pretty thick.”

  David leaned forward. “Is that steam coming out from under the hood?” he asked.

  “I was afraid you’d notice that,” Trick said. He glanced down at the thermostat. “Were maxed out on temperature.”

  “You think we can make it?”

  “You saw the same sign I did back there. My guess is, it’s a still a mile or two to Madison.”

  “Stop and I’ll clean off the radiator. The ash must have clogged it up.”

  Trick stopped in the middle of the road and turned off the engine. David got out. The landscape was blanketed in a dull layer of pulverized glass. He covered his head with the parka hood and buttoned the collar over his mouth.

  Under the hood he could see that it was hopeless. The fine particles were caked like mud in the radiator blocking any air movement. When he brushed his hand over it he quickly moved away and slapped his hand against his pants. “That’s hot! Start it up. We’ll have to ruin it until it stops.”

  “Too late,” Trick said, grinding the starter. “She isn’t going anywhere.”

  David got on his radio. “Dr. Evans, come in.”

  “What was that?” Henry asked.

  “You hear something?” Renfro asked.

  “Just a burst of static.” Henry clicked his radio and put it down on the seat beside him.

  “How much farther,” Renfro asked.

  “Only a few miles. The ash is getting heavier over here.”

  The radio made another sound that was loud static.

  “I heard that,” Renfro said. “It must be Dr. Wayne. Give me that thing.” Renfro grabbed the radio. “Dr. Wayne, this is Agent Renfro, over.” There was no response. “Henry, see if you can find this channel on the military radio.”

  Henry twisted the dial to match the handheld radio’s frequency. “Got it.”

  “Try calling Wayne. The antenna on this rig should be a lot better than this.” He held up the radio in his hand.

  Inside the cab of the pickup, David unzipped his coat, and lowered his hood. “I never expected it to be this bad, this far north.”

  “Do we sit here or take a hike?” Trick asked.

  “I don’t know about you, but I think hiking through this ash cloud would be a lousy way to die.”

  Trick started playing with the two-way radio in the dash of the truck. “We’ve been trying to reach Henry on the handheld radio. Why don’t I try it on the truck radio? I think the ash could be interfering with the signal.” Immediately he heard Henry’s scratchy voice. “Dr. Wayne, come in.”

  David took the mic and said,” Henry, we’re stalled a few miles south of Madison, over.”

  “Roger that, a few miles south of Madison. We’re about 20 minutes out. Are you all right?”

  “We’re cozy, inside the pickup, in the middle of the road. You can’t miss us. I’ll keep the lights on.”

  “Keep your radio on. Out.”

  “Well, at least we’re going to be rescued,” Trick said. “A lot of good that will do. Where do they think they’re going to go in this stuff? This thing could blow any second.”

  “Don’t give up yet. No one knows how quickly these things happen. Could be, the volcano relieves itself a little at a time and dies down.”

  “I can tell when your lying,” Trick said, looking at David.

  “It’s not like you to give up this easily,” David said. “You’ve got to get through this for Tanya.”

  “I keep thinking, I was lucky to have her for the time we had together, but it just pisses me off. If we hadn’t come to visit you, I wouldn’t be sitting here in the worst spot in the world at this point in time.”

  David reflected on his friend’s statement and remained silent.

  “What, you’re not going to try and convince me, I’m just feeling sorry for myself?”

  David shrugged. “I know you too well. You’re just talking to keep me
from becoming depressed with the situation. I always thought there would be someone else out there for me, you know, a Tanya of my own. It’s hard to imagine this will all end, before I get to love anyone again.”

  “Believe me, it only makes it harder.” Trick wiped the fog off of the inside of the driver side window. “Where the hell are they?”

  “I need you to see this through with me,” David said. “Are you with me?”

  Trick peered through the window and saw a pair of headlights. “I think the cavalry is arriving?”

  “Good,” David said. “Let’s get ready to save the world!”

  Holding a handkerchief over his nose and mouth with one hand and brushing the ash from the shoulder of his coat before getting into the Humvee, Trick got into the shotgun seat. David climbed in the back next to Heather, who was now sandwiched between him and Agent Renfro.

  “I never thought I’d be glad to see you again,” Trick said, turning to Agent Renfro. He held out his hand to Heather. “Richard Magic. My friends call me Trick.”

  “Special Agent, Heather Martin. My friends call me, Agent Martin,” she smiled. She had always wanted to say that.

  David looked into Heather’s eyes. “Agent Martin, I’m not going to ask how you got here, but I was hoping we’d meet again. I appreciate all of you coming to our rescue. As you can see we have a bit of a situation here.”

  Renfro spoke up, “Fill us in on the situation, Dr. Wayne, and then I’ll tell you why the FBI is running around in the middle of this hell hole.” He turned to Evans. “Dr. Evans, we need to get to the south entrance as quickly as this rig will make it.”

  Henry looked over his shoulder at David. “Do I dare retrace the route you guys just took?”

  “Actually, the ash is much heavier here,” David said. “Beehive is spewing a pretty good cloud, but it’s going straight up. With the wind current, it’s much worse here. The road is a little torn up from the ground swell, but it won’t be a problem for this thing.”

  Henry headed south. “I feel like I’m driving straight into a tornado. My computer is in the seat pocket in front of you. All the bad news is in there.”

  David opened the computer.

  “My password is 15, June, 1991,” Henry said.

  “The day Pinatubo erupted?”

  “I know, not very clever.”

  David entered the password. “This is interesting.”

  “What?” Henry asked.

  “Sour Creek Dome is rising.”

  “Really! I was so concerned, about losing the satellite feed, I didn’t check the latest data that came in.”

  “That’s good news, I hope,” Heather said.

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” David said, glancing at her. “I’d better call Colonel, Mathews. Trick can you get Mathews on the radio?”

  Trick tuned the radio to the tunnel frequency and handed the microphone to David. “Colonel Mathews, come in.” He didn’t have to call twice.

  “Mathews here. Is that you, Dr. Wayne? Over.”

  “I’ve got a bit of bad news. You have to evacuate immediately. Let your team of geologists know that we are seeing significant movement in the Sour Creek Dome as well as rapid ground movement at Mallard Lake Dome. All our seismographs are pegged and we are no longer able to keep them functional. An eruption looks like it could happen any minute.”

  “We’re 12 miles away, and out of the caldera,” Mathews protested. “How certain are you we’re at risk?”

  “Colonel, I’m not 100% certain of anything. There has never been an eruption of a super volcano in the history of modern man. What I’m seeing is way beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. If this thing goes off, you might as well be sitting on ground zero. Everything within 500 miles of the park will be annihilated within hours. My recommendation is you evacuate the park as soon as possible.”

  “Roger that. You are in a safe place, I hope.”

  “We’re sitting on the epicenter. Headed in your direction.”

  “I’ll notify Headquarters to evacuate, but we’re going to keep the tunnel machines going.”

  “Give me the mic,” Renfro said, reaching out his hand.

  “Agent Renfro wants to talk to you, Colonel.”

  Renfro leaned forward holding the mic close to his lips. “We have another problem, Colonel. There are terrorists loose in the park and they have a nuclear device with them. They call themselves The Brothers of Amadon. They may be headed your way.”

  “A nuclear bomb? They must be as nuts as we are. We’re sitting on more blasting powder than the entire world’s nuclear arsenal. What difference will one more bomb make?”

  “A lot, if their intention is to stop what you are doing. They would rather see the world thrown into chaos and the human race annihilated, than to see you succeed.”

  “Thanks Agent Renfro, you made my day. Are you going to try and make it up here for the evacuation?”

  “We’re going to try and find the bastards with the bomb and stop them.”

  “If you make it this far, I’ll keep a helicopter until our evacuation is complete, but I’m afraid that’s the best I can do. If you miss that, you’re on your own. Good luck, Agent. Out.”

  Trick listened to the conversation with his mouth open in disbelief. “David just told the colonel to evacuate, but the colonel is going to keep digging, and you are going to keep looking for a needle in a haystack? Granted we don’t have a chance of surviving this thing anyway, and I don’t mean to be unpatriotic, but shouldn’t we be headed for the nearest exit and saving our own asses so we can warn the rest of the world what’s about to happen?”

  “Washington already knows,” Heather said. “The Yellowstone Brief was put together months ago. That’s why you’re here, why the colonel is up there tunneling, and, I’m sorry to say, the terrorists are here.”

  “This is ridiculous, how do you intend to find the bomb? You aren’t even sure it’s here.” Trick said.

  All the while David was silent. He had heard the name Brothers of Amadon before, and he couldn’t let them succeed this time

  “I’ve got an idea,” Heather said, reaching her right hand and touching her left shoulder.

  Chapter 31

  August 27th

  It was surprisingly clear at the tunneling site 12 miles west of the Beehive Geyser. The prevailing winds were blowing the cloud of ash to the east over the Yellowstone Caldera and from the tunnel plateau, it appeared as nothing more than a dark cloud to Colonel Mathews and his men. The only evidence of danger was the constant rumble of the earth, as one quake after another shook the ground. Colonel Mathews called his chief engineer, Donald Evers, to the tunnel headquarters tent.

  “Sir, you wanted to see me?”

  Mathews stood and shook the engineer’s hand. “I want to congratulate you on the completion of the road. I’m sorry the celebration had to be scrapped.”

  “Part of the job, sir.”

  “What’s the latest on the tunnels?”

  “All three tracking good. We are 2 miles in at a 20˚ slope. We’ll be standing the dirt worms on their heads in another 3 miles.” Dirt worms was the common name the crew used for the NPTMs.

  “What’s your ETA?”

  “To the target? About 12 hours. We expect the tunneling to slow when we bore straight down. May I speak frankly sir?”

  “We’re all in this together. Please do.”

  “We’ve never used the worms in a 90˚ attitude before and I’m not certain we can dispose of all the waste material by melting it and forcing it into faults.”

  “We don’t have a choice, so I guess we’ll find out,” Mathews said. “You are operating the equipment remotely. There is no need for the team to remain on site, am I correct?”

  “Yes, sir, but if something goes wrong, we need the ground team on site to fix it.”

  Mathews looked his engineer in the eyes. “Don, I’m going to evacuate the site except for a skeleton crew. I’ve just received word from Dr. Wayne, there may n
ot be enough time to complete the operation. You are to move your remote control headquarters to the Dolphin, immediately. The tunneling will have to be operated remotely from 50 miles south of the site. We have one helicopter that will remain behind for the remaining crew. At the first sign of danger, lift off and head south away from the path of the fallout. That’s the best hope for survival.”

  “I’d better get moving, sir. Good working with you.” They shook hands again.

  “One more thing, Don.”

  The Chief Engineer turned. “Sir?”

  “There are some bad guys in the park with a nuclear bomb. They may be headed your way. I don’t see them as much of a threat with everything else that’s going on, but the FBI is looking for them. Make sure your crew has their sidearms. Just a heads up, understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  *****

  Andy stopped at the south entrance junction for the loop road. He studied the road signs. “I’m going toward Old Faithful. That’s where the activity has been. Have you been able to pick up anymore radio traffic from the tunnel site?”

  “I just got a transmission from the Chief Engineer. He is moving his crew to the Dolphin. I’m not familiar with that term.”

  “It’s a sea animal, like a whale. You must have been mistaken. There is no ocean for a thousand miles.”

  The man shrugged. “That is what I heard.”

  *****

  The Humvee climbed over broken and melted asphalt and around fallen trees. At times Henry struggled to keep the vehicle from tipping over as it was being pitched sideways from constant earthquake activity.

  “Pull over, Henry,” David said. “If I’m going to cut this thing out of Agent Martin, I’d prefer to keep the wound as small as possible.” He had retrieved the first aid kit and prepped the area on Heather’s shoulder where the tracking device had been injected. He poured alcohol on a piece of gauze and wiped the blade of his pocket knife. “Have you got a bullet or something to bite on?” he asked Heather. “This is going to hurt.”