The Myriad Resistance

by John D. Mimms

  “I love the water!” he said, “And I can’t wait to run free in it. Anyone wants to shut their eyes while I lead the way, just say so.”

  A few hands rose in the air. Chester folded his arms in front of his chest with pride. I was glad to see he was doing much better, as much I was glad to see the tension in the room was starting to loosen somewhat.

  In my mind, walking across the ocean floor at nighttime was almost as terrifying as what Chester endured … almost. I guess after his experience this would be a walk in the park. At least the small spark of his confidence seemed to put everybody a little more at ease, although I harbored no illusions. I knew when we carried the operation out later tonight; we would have several who would back out at the last minute. That was why Danny was bringing along several sets of iron chains. It would be necessary to tether these reluctant Impals to the ones brave enough to attempt it. He privately discussed this with Lincoln and as terrible and hypocritical as this move would be, they both agreed it was necessary. The Impals must go or they would face the Shredder, potentially a fate worse than death.

  The leaders of the Impals stayed to discuss fears and concerns as Danny, Burt and I left the mine. Danny’s jaw locked as if something troubled him.

  “Is there going to be a problem?” Burt asked.

  “Hell yes there’s going to be a problem!” Danny retorted. “Do you think you can ask a group of one hundred-ten people to do something like this and there not be some resistance?”

  “It shouldn’t hurt them,” Burt argued.

  “Shouldn’t,” Danny snapped. “We know salt water is going to interfere with the batteries, how the hell do we know what it’s going to do to them? Lincoln just took a dip in fresh water last night; there could be a huge difference!”

  “You mean nobody has tested this with Impals?” I asked.

  Danny was about to turn his frustration towards me when I held my hands up in a calming gesture. He sighed and dropped his shoulders as if all the air left him.

  “I’m sorry guys; I have a lot on my plate tonight. I guess I foolishly believed we would receive a better reception to the plan.”

  “We have a lot on our plates tonight,” I corrected. “You’re not in this alone.”

  Danny scratched his head and said, “You’re right, I should have given the two of you more information from the get-go.”

  I could not agree more.

  “I felt if I kept it on a need to know basis, it would reduce the risk of our plan being discovered.”

  “What … did you think Cecil was going to run and tell his daddy the moment he knew the full details of your plan?” Burt snapped.

  Danny shook his head and, like the cocking of a gun, I saw his jaw pull tight again.

  “No I didn’t!” he shouted, sending an echo through the canopy of trees. “If either one of you were captured, the information could have been forced out of you!”

  I decided it was time to step in and play peacemaker before things got too far out of hand.

  “You did the right thing, Danny,” I said. “I know my father wouldn’t hesitate to use whatever methods necessary to get information out of any of us.”

  Danny’s eyes flashed between us as if he was trying to figure out who we were.

  “It was the right thing,” Burt said with hesitation in his voice. “I’m sorry, Danny.”

  Danny said nothing.

  “Is there anything we can do between now and tonight?” I asked.

  Danny spoke in a distant voice before he turned through the woods and headed towards his cabin.

  “No, just get plenty of rest today. I need both of you to be a hundred percent tonight.”

  Without another word, he turned and headed through the woods.

  “Five o’clock at the mess hall,” he called over his shoulder. “Don’t be late!”

  Burt and I shrugged. There was nothing more to say.

  I went back to our cabin and was surprised to find it empty; I guess Barbara was doing something with the girls. I hung Barbara’s blanket up over the window and stretched out on my cot to take Danny’s advice. I rolled over and shut my eyes, trying to will myself to sleep. Rest did not come easy. I tossed, turned, and was shaken wide-awake when the girls came back. Barbara quietly ushered them out when she saw me on the cot. She gave me a peck on the cheek before going back outside.

  Sleep finally came, I’m not sure how fast it arrived or how long it remained. It was restful. My head filled with dreams of iron caskets and ocean terrors. I think I endured a few nightmares where I was trapped in an iron casket on the ocean floor. I finally slid off the cot because I couldn’t take another pulse-pounding image. I felt mentally and physically exhausted.

  I stood up and checked at my watch, my heart almost stopped. It was 4:40 PM; I had to be at the mess hall in twenty minutes. I ran out the door to find the girls. There was something I needed to tell them.

  CHAPTER 22

  THE BAY

  “Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.”

  ~Ronald Reagan

  I found Barbara and Abbs down by the lake skipping stones. They paused and greeted me with hugs, then asked if I would accompany them to dinner. I glanced at my watch and saw it was seventeen minutes to five. I opened my mouth to speak then Barbara stopped me.

  “It’s okay, they’re serving dinner early tonight due to your mission,” she said. “I was about to come wake you.”

  “Where’s Steff?” I asked.

  “She’s already there. I told her to save us a seat,” Abbs said.

  I accompanied the women to the mess hall for what I was sure would be another helping of Vienna Sausages, Spam or some other potted meat. However, when we got inside I found a pleasant surprise. Danny took a huge risk and went into town where he brought back several bags of Martian Burgers’ saucer burgers and fries. There was no ‘take me to your liter’ sized drinks, however there was a Styrofoam ice chest full of a variety of sodas. Steff sat at a table beside Danny, devouring a hamburger bigger than her head. Danny motioned us over.

  “What’s this?” I asked as he handed Barbara, Abbs and me our own personal bag of burger and fries.

  “Fuel,” Danny said. “Eat up.”

  Barbara went to the ice chest and brought each of us the soda of our choice or at least the closest approximation to it. Danny was not big on variety or name brand. I wasn’t complaining; I appreciated every morsel of my meal and every sip of my drink. Only, as good as it was, I couldn’t shake one nagging thought. I wondered if this would be my last supper. The fact that we all sat in a row on one side of the table resembling the famous da Vinci painting didn’t help to quell my angst.

  The rest of the appointed crew showed up in the meantime, and after they enjoyed their dinner, we set out for Danny’s cabin. I stopped for a moment and called Barbara and Abbs to the side.

  “Listen, in case anything happens, I want you to go here,” I said, pulling a folded piece of notebook paper out of my pocket. I opened it to reveal a hand drawn map I hastily sketched after my nap.

  “What do you mean … are you expecting something?” Abbs asked in a frightened voice.

  “No, I’m not expecting anything,” I assured her. “It’s just that we are going to be gone for most of the night. There are only a handful of folks in camp tonight. I want to prepare for everything.”

  “Are you going to leave me a gun?” Barbara asked.

  “Well … Taylor will be here. He said he would watch out for you,” I said.

  Barbara repeated her question. This time with a stern face and raised eyebrows.

  “I’ll make sure you get one,” I said with a great deal of hesitation.

  I knew Barbara could handle a gun. She went to the shooting range with me on a number of occasions. That didn’t change the fact I did not like her having to handle one. I guess the chauvinist in me is stubborn.

  I hugged both of them before leaving and even managed to get a
weak one from Steff, which was just what I needed now. It was good to know that I had the support of my whole family.

  We convened at Danny’s cabin as planned with Lincoln, Powhatan and the president. They arrived with batteries in hand to avoid detection. We ran over the plan again. When Danny was comfortable that everyone was on the same page, he sent the three Impal leaders to the mine to begin preparing the refugees.

  “Do you think we are going to have any problems tonight?” Danny asked the three men before they left.

  They all seemed worried.

  “There is some apprehension, which is understandable. Among the three of us, I am sure we can manage it,” Lincoln said

  The president and Powhatan agreed.

  I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as the three men disappeared out the door. There were going to be problems, it was almost a mathematical certainty. There were not only our one hundred-ten Impals to worry about. There were hundreds more meeting us tonight. There would be apprehension and there would be panic. Panic can draw attention, which was the last thing we needed. It was going to be hard enough getting past the shore patrols. Even assuming the majority marched into the water like good little soldiers; a few terrified souls could go berserk and cause a scene. That was why Danny requested the equipment nobody wanted to discuss, the iron chains and restraints

  We took the first group of Impals at six o’clock. There were ten crammed into each SUV and I drove the second vehicle on the first trip while Danny drove in the lead. The truck was waiting as promised in the clearing beside the road. It was an inconspicuous vehicle with a solid white cab and navy-blue trailer. The truck and trailer displayed no discernible markings except for a Department of Transportation registration number.

  Chuck Connelly was a middle-aged man of average height and build. His dark-brown hair, as well as his untidy goatee, was beginning to show the first signs of gray. He possessed a weathered appearance, a man’s man who had spent an abundant amount of his life outdoors. As I reached out my hand to shake his, I involuntarily recoiled as I found myself grasping a steel hook. Chuck laughed.

  “The crocodile got it!” he proclaimed as he let out a boisterous laugh, referring to Captain Hook.

  I laughed uneasily for a few moments until he stopped with a serious expression on his face.

  “No, about five years ago I was wading out in the Chesapeake Bay doing a little surf fishing. I just cast a line when the God awfullest ugly bull shark you ever saw swam up and snapped it off clean,” he said holding his hook up and making a motion with his other hand like his fingers were teeth biting at the end of his stump.

  I tried not to react to a shiver that went up my spine. That was the last piece of information I needed tonight. I was about to be bobbing about in a small boat in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay like a fishing cork.

  The back of the truck contained two twelve-foot aluminum flat-bottomed boats, no motor. The boats were stacked on top of each other. The top one contained a number of iron chains and restraints. A couple of large black canvas tarps covered the boats. This concealed the restraints from the Impals riding back there. The tarps would also provide us a degree of cover over the boats while on the dark water.

  When we got the last of the Impals loaded in the truck, it had been dark over an hour. So far, we were right on schedule. To my relief, we did not encounter a single vehicle or person during our hour and a half evacuation. No, it was more than surprising, it was eerie and it made me uncomfortable.

  I leaned against the back of the truck once we shut the doors to a trailer packed tighter than a can of sardines. If stopped and searched, we were screwed. There would be no hiding any of them. In the event of something like that happening, the Impals orders were to pass through the walls and floor then run away as fast as possible. Some would be caught. The hope was at least most would get away.

  As I leaned against the cool metal surface of the trailer doors, my mind was miles away. I heard the noise of Danny’s voice, the sound of the cicadas in the surrounding woods saying farewell to the day and the summer. I stared in awe at the ultraviolet spectacle of the nighttime. I heard and saw all of this, yet my mind didn’t comprehend any of it. My thoughts dwelled on my girls. I was scared, scared much more than I believed I would be. I wanted nothing more than for this night to be over with as soon as possible. When Danny asked if anyone had questions, I shook my head ‘no’ like the rest of our group. The truth is, I had a ton of questions. Unfortunately, these questions Danny could not answer. No one could. The night would have to play itself out, good or bad.

  Danny and Andrews in the other SUV would be leading our small convoy. The eighteen-wheeler would follow, where Derek would ride shotgun with Chuck, both in the literal and figurative sense. Burt and I would bring up the rear in the other SUV. We all pulled out at thirty-second intervals. We tried to keep each other in sight while trying to keep enough space between us. We didn’t want it to appear as if we were travelling together. We would not stop again until reaching Grandview Natural Preserve, a couple of miles north of the tunnel.

  The drive took almost three hours as we took a number of back roads to get there. Thankfully, there were no problems. We experienced a few tense moments when we met a military convoy. They were transporting Impals to one of the Shredder camps. They didn’t even blink at us.

  Shortly before midnight, we pulled into a large gravel parking lot made for vehicles towing boat trailers. A large boat ramp at the far end disappeared into the murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay like a dark path to Hell.

  I got out and inhaled the cool salty breeze. I usually enjoyed that smell because it reminded me of vacations, beaches and seafood. Tonight it was no more appealing than the acrid scent of death.

  The other groups had not arrived, so we took a moment to walk the perimeter of the parking lot to make sure we were alone. There didn’t seem to be a soul for miles. The only sound was the occasional fire or ambulance siren and the distant drone of traffic on nearby Interstate 64. As we headed back to the vehicles, we took cover behind a garbage bin as a bright spotlight scanned the parking lot. I peeked my head out far enough to see a Navy Cyclone Class Coastal Patrol boat slowly passing our position, a few yards out from the boat ramp. It was a small boat by Navy standards. It contained a minimal crew compliment of only twenty to thirty men. It was capable of bringing down a world of hurt on us with both its armament and its ability to call in reinforcements.

  As it lumbered past and disappeared around a bend in the coast, we cautiously stood up and scanned the water. A mile or two north we could see the spotlight of another patrol boat panning the shoreline. The Navy was conducting a methodical search of the coast; tonight would be tricky. It soon became evident tonight was not only going to be about stealth and a well-executed plan, it was going to require timing as well. We would have to send the Impals and the boats out in between patrols. We would have to observe the boats for a while before we knew how great of a window we might have. This night is going to be later than we planned. We went back to the SUVs to sit, wait and watch.

  About ten minutes later, the patrol boat we spotted to the north came by on the same trajectory as the first boat. They also performed a perfunctory search of the shoreline and moved on. The moment we spotted another boat in the distance, bright lights from behind us flooded the parking lot. We all jumped in unison, ready to fight, until Danny held up his hand.

  “It’s okay, I think it’s the group from the New Jersey camp,” he said.

  A small box truck used for furniture deliveries pulled into the lot as Danny got out to direct traffic. A single full-sized pickup truck followed them. He sent them to park on the far side of our eighteen-wheeler where they would be out of view from the water. Both trucks pulled out of sight then shut their lights and engines off. A few minutes later the next patrol boat passed on the same course, only this time there was a fifteen-minute interval.

  Danny came back to the vehicle a few minutes lat
er with a grim expression on his face.

  “I just heard the convoy from North Carolina got stopped at the state line; they aren’t going to make it,” he said, averting his eyes from us. He stared at the boat ramp and into the darkness beyond.

  He took a deep breath and glanced at us before returning his stare to the water.

  “Pennsylvania should be here soon … God willing,” he said. He sounded far away.

  “How many were coming from North Carolina?” Burt asked.

  Danny shook his head and spoke in a whisper.

  “Enough.”

  Twenty minutes later another patrol boat passed. Its movements and direction were identical to the other two. So far, we could determine that patrols were coming every ten to twenty minutes. This was not a big window to carry out such an elaborate, unrehearsed operation. The third patrol boat no sooner disappeared from view when we spotted another one in the distance. We were all thankful Pennsylvania showed up then. They also drove a dark black eighteen-wheeler escorted by a Jeep and a small four-door sedan.

  Danny got out and directed them to park between our truck and the water. He hoped the dark color would be less conspicuous. He came back and took a seat as we waited for another patrol boat to pass; the next one ended up being at another twenty-minute interval. We felt certain once we spotted one of these craft approaching from the north, we had about ten minutes before it reached our position. We decided to put things in place so we could get a quick start. Andrews, Danny, Derek, a slender fortysomething man from New Jersey and I quickly unloaded the boats and other materials from the back of our truck. The Impals watched us with nervous anticipation. Some asked what was happening.

  “It’s okay,” Danny assured them. “Sit tight and we’ll be ready to move soon.”

  I saw the man from New Jersey glancing with intense curiosity into the group of Impals. His eyes widened with recognition as we shut the door to the trailer.

  “My God … you’ve got the president in there and … and …” he stammered.