by Linda Mackay
“My hands are freezing and I needed to warm them up.”
“At least ask first.” Todd moved around the fire and squeezed his way between Frank and Mac. “Ice Princess is your problem now.”
“She may not be our only problem. That scream could alert someone we are camped in an unauthorized site.” Mac gave Amanda what looked like the evil eye.
“It’s not my fault he screamed.”
“Yes it is,” Mac warned. “Keep your hands to yourself. I’m not going to tolerate any further bitchy nonsense.”
Picking up a wad of grass and dirt Amanda tossed it as she walked to our tent and zipped herself inside.
Without Tata’s bickering I could easily sit by the fire and listen for animals communicating. Unfortunately, the small fire created little heat to ward off the cold night air. I was about to retreat to the warmth of my tent when the distant howl of wolves broke the silence. I closed my eyes and listened as wolf after wolf sent messages that could be heard for miles. Some of the howls were so faint it was like eavesdropping through the bedroom door on your sister and her friend whispering about boys and picking up only a few words that left you frustrated to their meaning. Finally, a wolf closer to our location joined in. His pack was moving away from their location, warned of large amounts of humans and huge, loud beasts rolling across the land with death sticks.
“The wolves are being warned away from somewhere north. Seems to be lots of humans, and what I presume are big trucks and guns. They are calling them death sticks, and from my experience that usually refers to their understanding of rifles.”
Mac shook his head. “We’re over 36 hours from the original quake and the President would’ve been out the area immediately. There’s no need for his detail to still be in the area. We heard radio chatter of an explosion possibly at the Bay. Does the park have heavy equipment trucks that would be out dealing with damage?”
Todd didn’t utter a peep when he was finally brought in the loop on another explosion at Mary Bay. However, his mouth was wide open and his head swinging from side to side looked like a bobble head doll.
“Jorie,” Mac prompted.
“Sorry. No. I mean yes.” Nice way to shine your brilliance on the conversation, Dr. Clark. “They do have large trucks, and loaders that could be cleaning the road of debris if, and that’s a big if, it blew. But it wouldn’t be enough to keep wolves from traveling around the noise without being overly alarmed. And workers would absolutely not be carrying rifles.”
Mac stirred the fire with a stick. “Frank, let’s use some battery.”
Todd recovered enough to stop bobble-heading but still had his mouth open. “Hey, better close the pie-hole before the mosquitos take up residence,” I said.
“Oh, yeah right.” Todd rubbed his hands together in front of the fire. “When did you hear the bay blew?”
Mac actually looked sheepish. “Yesterday, a ranger from Lake area reported it on the radio.”
“That’s not possible.” He knew the science as well as I did. The math was definitely not adding up.
Frank returned from his tent with the radio. “What’s on your mind, Mac?”
“Nothing good.”
The crackle and static we’d encountered since the quake was gone. We could clearly hear all the communications in our range. Most of the chatter was related to relaying messages down the line for equipment and supplies to help with quake relief. I began to feel we were wasting battery when we heard, “Proceed with Glory.”
Mac sat up straight and shushed us in case we were dumb enough to speak.
“Activate glory.”
“Firefly active?”
“Firefly extinguished. Repeat, extinguished. Out.”
“Roger that. Out.”
Mac turned the radio off. His chest heaving in and out, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “The President is dead.”
Chapter 7
The sun pierced the tent with welcoming heat. I rolled over in my sleeping bag burrowing my head. My eyelashes were covered with frost. I covered my face with my hands, melting the frosty ice so I could completely open my eyes. Crap! I needed to pee. I unzipped my warm cocoon and pulled on my jeans someone had left in the vestibule after taking down the bear bags. Hopping around I slipped into my boots, exiting the tent with a face-plant. It was so cold I was afraid I’d wet my pants before I found the nearest tree. I did the pee-pee dance trying to get my pants down. I sighed with relief when the pee hit the ground sending up warm steam.
“Morning, beautiful.” Mac stepped out of the bushes.
“Ah crap.” I was so desperate to relieve myself I didn’t notice he’d been doing the same a couple trees in front of me.
“Would you like me to bring you coffee?”
“Nah. I’m good.” I had to go so bad there was no stopping for modesty.
“Be careful. I heard something rustling in the brush.”
I turned to look and peed all over my pants. “Damn you!” I finished my business and headed back to the tent to changes pants.
“Why you walking funny?” Frank asked pouring me coffee.
“Ask Special Forces.”
“Remember that’s sir to you.” Mac said laughing as I zipped myself back inside the tent.
“Ow!” Amanda said.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to step on your leg.”
“It smells like urine.” She buried her head in the sleeping bag.
“Let’s just say I had an unfortunate run-in with a spy.”
“I’m not a spy!”
“How did he hear that?” I mumbled.
“I’m standing right outside your tent.” I pulled on my only other pair of pants and climbed outside the tent right into Mac. “I brought your coffee as a peace offering.”
Some women like flowers. Others candy. My weakness was coffee. “Thanks.”
“I didn’t mean to make you, well you know,” Mac said.
“I know.” I’d get him back. I threw my soiled pants over the packhorse until we reached the river where I could wash them out.
Frank handed me a granola bar and yelled at our tent. “Amanda. Get your ass up or we’re packing the tent with you in it.”
“Bite-me!”
“She always this cranky in the morning?” Mac asked.
“Morning, afternoon, evening, basically all the time when she doesn’t sleep all warm and snug in her own bed.” I reached for a second cup of coffee.
“Must be a real thrill to work with her in the field.”
“Add Todd to the mix and we’re a winning combination.” Actually, we were…most days.
“Someone taking my name in vain?” Todd walked into camp and stopped suddenly at the sight of Amanda leaving the tent. “Girlfriend, what happened to you?”
Bundled up like Nanuck of the North all we could see was her face and hands but that was enough. They were bright red, covered in hives and her face was swollen like she’d just had her wisdom teeth pulled.
“What are you all looking at?” She scratched her cheek.
“Don’t touch your face, sweetie.” Frank said walking over to her. “Come sit by me. Todd you…”
“I’m on it, boss.” Todd unhooked the pack with the medical kit and rummaged through it.
Frank put his glove on, tipped up Amanda’s chin and shook his head. “You get into Nettles?”
“I got up to pee in the night and chose my spot poorly,” Amanda said. “I washed off afterwards but guess I didn’t do a good enough job.”
“Here’s duct tape, ibuprofen and salve.” Todd handed it to Frank.
“For a whiny girl, you don’t complain much when you have a right too.” Frank wrapped the duct tape around his hand sticky side up and touched it to Amanda’s face and hands to pull out any remaining stingers. “Did you get stuck anywhere else?”
“No, they were right in front of me and hit my face, then caught my hands as I was grabbing for my face.”
“Damn good thing they didn’t get
you where you was squatting,” Frank said.
Todd grabbed his privates. “Oh, don’t even mention that. I can feel the burn just thinking about it.”
Mac looked at Frank. “Does that mean she can ride, or should we sit tight for awhile?”
“I’m fine. Just give me a few extra minutes to get ready and have something to eat.” Amanda closed her eyes tight as Frank dabbed the salve on her face and hands.
“Can you hold your coffee or would you like me to help?” Todd asked.
“I can do it. But thanks for adding my creamer.”
“I can’t bear to see you in pain. I’m going to hug you so tight once you’re all better.” Todd put the medicine back in the pack. “Do you want some heavy duty pain med?”
“No, I’d fall asleep, then fall off my horse.”
I flicked Mac on the arm. “She’s not as easy to label as you thought.”
Mac shook his head. “What do nettles look like?”
“They’re a green plant with toothed-leaves and stinging hairs. They look like mint leaves, but sure don’t feel like it if you touch one. But, unlike mint, they have tiny inconspicuous green flowers. They grow to around three feet here, but can be as tall as nine feet. If you touch it you can end up with a sharp burning pain and severe hives like Amanda.”
“Where do they grow, Dr. Encyclopedia?”
“They prefer marshy areas and near streams, but can grow on a slope where the soil remains wet most of the time.”
“Glad I haven’t crossed paths with them.” Mac said watching Amanda carefully finish eating a granola bar. “Do you know this much about everything?”
“Normally your pants and long-sleeve shirt protect you. And yes I know many things, I have a genius I.Q.”
Todd nudged my arm and gave me a flick of his head. “Guess we better not forget we have a backcountry novice with us.”
“My experience leans heavily on terrains in the middle east.” Mac said saddling his horse. “I’m starting to feel out of my element.”
“Don’t worry, once that first bear literally scares the shit out you, you’ll feel right at home.” Todd shoved the coffeepot into a saddle pack and hooked the bag shut.
I hadn’t slept much last night, and when I did my dreams were full of strange and ugly creatures wreaking havoc around me while I silently sat cross-legged in the middle of it all. I was definitely haunted by the enormity of the President’s death and how close we were to where it occurred. I now understand how my mother and dad felt when they learned the news John F. Kennedy had been shot. I remember hearing them talk about sitting at their desks in school filled with fear that the death of this one person would mean the world would end. Dad always said kids went from carefree to panic faster than a speeding bullet chasing Superman. I’m beginning to think that applies to adults also. At least that generation didn’t have social media to compound the event with hatred and extreme anxiety.
I watched Frank and Mac talking quietly and wasn’t about to be left out of the discussion. “What’s the plan?” Both stopped talking. “Cough it up boys. How do we proceed?”
Both remained silent.
“Men can be such jerks,” I said.
“Don’t include me with those two mean boys,” Todd said. “They’re playing bully games with us.”
“You’re a guy and therefore a de-facto member of the club,” I said.
“I can walk in high-heels, which means I can choose to join the other side,” Todd said giving the once over to the other men in the group. “I choose being bitchy with my girls.”
Amanda cringed turning to look at Frank and Mac standing like statues next to their horses. “Normally I love this kind of argument, but the way I feel…someone just tell me what the hell you’re all talking about? If not, I’m going to start screaming so loud everyone in a five-mile radius will hear me and screw up your little covert party.”
Mac walked forward and sat in front of Amanda so she wouldn’t need to move her head. “After you went to bed we heard disturbing news on the radio.”
“Well, spit it out,” Amanda said.
I sat next to Mac. “The President was killed in an explosion at the bay.”
“That’s not possible,” Amanda said.
That makes three for three geology geeks in agreement.
“Which bay?” Amanda asked.
“Since he was giving a speech at Mary Bay, we assume that is where they meant. But I guess we need to include the possibility it could be Sedge Bay,” I said.
Todd sat across from Amanda with Mac and I. “What bothered me all night was there was no mention of anyone else being hurt or killed.”
With everything that happened I hadn’t allowed myself to think about anything beyond our immediate problems. I knew from the guarded expression on Mac’s face it had probably been one of the first things he thought about.
“I don’t want to read too much into what we heard last night because it was all in code. The people talking may only be concerned with the President, or maybe already knew the collateral damage assessment and the President had recently died from his injuries,” Mac said.
“And?” I prompted.
“The code activate glory is bothering me.”
“Why?” It was like talking to a little kid who ate a bag of cookies and didn’t want to admit it to their Mom.
“The code word for this President is Firefly. If the President were not able to carry out his duties, even temporarily, the Vice-President would assume command. However, the code used was glory. The Vice-President’s code name is Fantasia, not Glory. So what were they activating and what did it have to do with the President’s death?”
“This would be a really good time to have access to twitter,” Amanda said.
Mac laughed, “I guarantee we know more facts than Twitter.”
“No way,” Todd said. “I rely on Twitter for the truth about everything.”
“Then you are living in a dream world,” Mac said. “Social media is mostly a tool for misinformation and snooping on you.”
“Double no way.”
“Are you saying you don’t even have a Facebook account?” Amanda asked.
“I’ve got one,” Mac said. “But I only use it to see what people are talking about. I never follow trending news, take quizzes, or click the like button.”
Even I was shocked. “You only read actual newspapers?”
“No. I read all kinds of news on the Internet. However, you couldn’t form a pattern to my beliefs since I read a diverse variety. You wouldn’t be able to deduce if I prefer opera over football or eating out versus takeout.”
“Good grief, you’re paranoid,” Amanda said.
“Not anymore paranoid than everyone else should be.”
I was really glad I had no online presence other my USGS email account. I wasn’t out of touch with the real world. I was on the leading edge. Leading in what I had no idea, but I was feeling good about being more invisible than most of the world.
“Enough chatter. Let’s get down to business,” Frank said.
Here’s a shocker. Mac took charge of getting down to business. “First we operate on the facts we know. There was an earthquake. The President is dead.”
“Well that’s not much,” Todd said.
“Actually, it’s a lot. It allows me to develop a viable plan.”
Colonel Mac was leading the charge again, but this time I was a little more inclined to listen. “Let’s hear it.”
“We need to make some assumptions. We heard there was an explosion, before or after the earthquake is irrelevant.”
“Stop right there, Special Forces, it’s extremely relevant.”
“Not to me.”
“Well, it isn’t all about you.”
“Well it is only about our immediate situation, and that makes your geology irrelevant. All we want to extrapolate is the President was near the explosion, and was either killed instantly or later died from injuries. The Secret Service within seco
nds would transport him away from the kill zone.”
“Kill zone!” Todd stood up like he’d been shot.
“Settle down. It’s just a term used by the Secret Service for the area immediately around the President,” Mac said. “We will also assume there was collateral damage. The agents that didn’t evacuate with the President will secure the situation before leaving. Understand, these agents prepare for the worst: and hope for the best.”
“What if the worst was everyone around the President died?”
“Excellent question, Jorie. And in this case I’d say it could be a possibility.”
“Holy volcano, Batman!” Todd said.
“More like holy hydrothermal kaboom,” Amanda rolled her eyes. “The aftermath does not suggest any large volcanic explosion so your holy volcano is flawed.”
“Maybe the magma under the caldera is heating up and will soon destroy the world.”
“Then it would be holy magma, Batman.”
“Stop holy arguing, Batman!” I couldn’t believe they were arguing over the unknown explosion. “Be quiet and listen.”
Mac continued with his assessment. “If everyone in the immediate area of the President was killed or wounded, there would still be agents in the area to step forward and take control.”
“So you think.” Now we are in my area of expertise. “What if, last fall’s hydrothermal event was just a precursor to a major volcanic explosion. What if, every person within miles of the explosion was killed? And what if, that volcanic event was so massive it triggered the earthquake on the Teton Fault?”
Amanda said in a whisper I barely heard. “I haven’t seen any volcanic ash in the air.”
Todd sat next to her and held her hand. “It’s not the big one Amanda. If so, we’d be dead.”
“I know. But even though we preach to the public it’s a billion to one possibility a major event will happen in our lifetimes; the truth is, it could happen any minute of any day. Then all we’d be is a speck on the geologic time chart.”
That kind of thinking was why I often felt Amanda was better suited to selling art than researching the caldera. The geologic earth kept her moves secretive. All the research the world’s experts have done and we’re still basically in elementary school when it comes to understanding her. I believe there would be plenty of warning signs if the Yellowstone volcano was preparing to explode. It is also possible she could erupt on a historic level and only the post-research would yield clues as to why.
