34
Although Tim Crocker was first to reach the rooftop and unstrap the child from his basket, to convey him safely inside to the waiting arms of Joanna Sommers, it was Mark Wertman who took command and barked out orders. Above them all, the helicopter roared like some unhappy whale that had been beached.
George Walsh and Gary Hornell tried to hold steady the rope ladder. They let go when Arlene was safely down, and Herb Kennelly conveyed her indoors. But Wertman had shouted to them to regain hold on the ladder.
He pointed to the copter. “The pilot can’t see she’s safe! He won’t return the ladder until he’s certain. I know Cigliani. He’s also come in too low, for the safety of the girl and the child.”
Fred Orme stood beside Wertman, taking in the situation. He almost read Wertman’s thoughts. “If that cable gets coiled around a duct, or blown up into his own blades, Marlo won’t have a prayer!”
“Get back to your radio! Order him to run up those lines pronto!” Wertman howled over the noise of the helicopter and the ferocious wind.
Just as Orme left, a powerful wind took hold of Walsh and Hornell, and pushed them down. Hornell held onto the ladder, but Walsh was stunned and let go. Young Gary Hornell and the ladder were swept over the side of the building, Gary screaming, unable to be heard above the noise. The cable with the basket at the end of it was thrashing around madly.
“Get that line!” barked Wertman, going into action. Mark stood at the edge of the building, and when he couldn’t reach the ladder on which Hornell was tossed about by the wind, he leaped for it.
Tim had returned just in time to see Wertman’s heroic jump. Kennelly, beside him, said, “Some acrobat, huh? Is he out to commit suicide now!”
Tim grasped the situation immediately, seeing the wild, lasso-like cable with the basket almost doubling over in the wind and reaching up for the blades of the helicopter. He saw that Wertman’s added weight to the ladder had brought it back in control. He rushed past Wertman and Gary to try to catch the other cable. But at that moment, the ladder and cable were being drawn in by the pilot, and it appeared all would be well.
Then Tim heard a powerful cracking noise, the sound of a tree snapping at its base. The copter blades had cut down the control tower’s antennae! Tim, Wertman, and the others watched the blinding explosion when the helicopter blades stopped spinning, and the giant smashed against the tall, spiraling aerial over the top of the tower. The helicopter had spun into it when the cable carrying the basket was suddenly forced around the rotor-head, stopping the blades’ spin. The bird went sidewise, out of control, and burst into flames. It shot down the side of the building like the falling Icarus.
“Marlo!” Wertman cried out.
Arlene Stefanuk had run back on the roof. Unbelieving, she cried out too.
35
Tim and Joanna exchanged note pads. “These are the questions I have for him,” Joanna said.
“There’s Mark now,” Tim answered.
Several weeks had passed. The reporters hadn’t seen or heard from Wertman in all that time. All around Chicago, hundreds of thousands of pieces of snow removal equipment were at work, along with the men who commanded them, working day and night, hoping to clear all major arteries of snow and ice.
The total number of dead from the storm rose every day with each newly uncovered automobile or home where someone had become stranded. It would be sometime before the city could truly begin to rebuild. It must first be regained.
“Thank God it’s over,” Joanna had said the morning after Marlo Cigliani had died.
“You didn’t hear the weather report,” Tim had answered, shaking his head sadly.
“What do you mean? We can’t take more of the same!” She sat bolt upright in bed.
Tim’s eyes scanned Joanna as she rose, naked, from the bed.
“The weather boys aren’t going to put their foot in it-not yet, anyway. But they are predicting that there’ll be so little summer warmth that the snow on the ground will still be with us next fall and winter.”
“Oh, dear God,” groaned Joanna. “Not a pleasant long-range forecast, it it?”
“This lull is just a pause in the weather’s true occupation, to annihilate us all,” Tim said angrily.
Now, weeks after that day, they were preparing to face Dr. Mark Wertman at Fieldcrest’s T.V. center on the set of Your Right To Know. They’d been selected to act as panelists from the media. Both Joanna and Tim had won recognition for their stories dealing with Iceman I and II, the international Arctic and Antarctic experimentation projects.
Newspaper coverage claimed that top-ranking scientists and politicians, along with military leadership around the world, had formed a conspiracy of silence and fear, causing the killer storms around the globe, and bringing world havoc.
Dr. Benjamin Nevis was also on the panel which would interrogate the spokesman for Project Iceman II: Dr. Mark Wertman.
Joanna walked over to Wertman, who stood in the wings, appearing nervous. “How are you, Mark?” she asked. “Oh, it’s so foolish asking how are you.”
“I’m glad you’re talking to me. You’re never foolish.”
“But you played me for the blonde fool all along,” she countered.
“I was sworn to secrecy, Jo, you know that. Besides, you’re doing a pretty good job of making me and everyone associated with Iceman look like fools and mass murderers.”
She breathed deeply at this. “I’m sorry you’re being crucified in the papers, Mark. Neither Tim nor I wanted it this way. Least not in the beginning, not ever, really.”
“Tim and you are a couple of cream puffs,” he answered bluntly. “You’ve both been more than fair with me in your coverage.”
Joanna nervously loosened the scarf around her neck. “Pretty,” he said.
“What?”
“Your scarf. Isn’t that the one I bought you? Orange. Your favorite color.”
“Mark, this forum talk show, you know you don’t have to do this,” she said.
“I know that.”
“You could lose.” “Jo, I already have.”
She tried to interpret the remark. The way he was staring into her eyes, she knew he meant losing her.
“Air time, ladies and gentlemen,” barked a young man who went rushing by them. “Take your seats please.”
Wertman ushered Joanna to a seat and sat down beside her.
“No, no, Mr. Wertman,” shouted an assistant producer, who rushed onto the set and led Mark to a seat which was clearly apart from the others.
Mark looked down the long, oval table at Joanna and said,
“I guess I’m the adversary.”
Joanna lowered her eyes. Tim sat beside her, and beneath the table he squeezed her hand tightly.
The moderator of the talk show was Fieldcrest News’ anchorman, Henry Ketterling, whose middle-aged spread was tucked below the table, and whose make up was streaked below his silver-gray eyebrows. He began the discussion, asking Wertman the first question. “All recriminations and fault-finding aside, and I’m sure we’ve all heard enough of it, Dr. Wertman, please tell us what lies ahead? Now that we’re into ice age conditions, where do we go? To Australia?” Ketterling managed a cryptic giggle at himself.
Wertman cautiously and slowly enunciated each word prefacing his remarks with ‘Let me be clear’ and then leaping in with: “There are five possible states to which the planet Earth could fall which have been at times the ‘norm.’ Each of the five is a ‘natural state,’ given the conditions. Project Iceman I altered conditions. Project Iceman II, contrary to some of the reports circulating about it, is primarily an experiment in restoration. Project Iceman II may be our only salvation.”
“Project II is continuing the work of Project I,” Tim Crocker interrupted hotly.
“Please, Mr. Crocker,” interrupted Ketterling. “Will you introduce yourself first?”
“Oh, yes, sure,” said Tim, and he looked blankly into the wrong camera as he proceed
ed to do so.
Wertman took the opportunity of this awkward moment to interrupt Tim. “Project II is continuing controlled heating up and removal of Arctic and Antarctic glaciers. Project Melt, as it is popularly called, is necessary to redirect the swift move Earth has made from Earth Condition Three to Earth Condition Five. If we reach Five, or even Four, we could all be considered extinct!”
“Earth Three, Four, Five,’; muttered Joanna Sommers as Ketterling’s hands flew over his head to indicate she hadn’t introduced herself. “Sommers, newswoman with the Daily also,” she countered, and then returned to Mark. “We haven’t heard these terms before, Dr. Wertman. Will you explain?”
“I have been authorized by the President of the United States to discuss in full the purposes and operating techniques of Project Iceman II. I have also received full clearance from the Worldwide Climate Control Committee, which oversees and helps support Iceman II.”
“Full disclosure?” quipped Tim. “Full disclosure,” repeated Wertman firmly.
“May I help out Dr. Wertman here?” said Ben Nevis coolly. He introduced himself with some pomp. “Earth One, as I understand it, is a superheated state, like Venus. It may sound nice to your viewers after a winter like this, but in such a condition, none of us would be alive to enjoy it. “
“And Earth Two?” asked Joanna when Nevis paused.
“Earth Two, my dear woman, is ice free. All ice in the world would be reduced to water, adding to the oceans thousands of tons of water. The sea level would rise to engulf all coastal regions of all continents.”
Mark Wertman indicated with a nod that he agreed with Nevis’ summation. Then he added, “Earth Three is what we enjoyed in the past. Relative calm, a paradise by comparison, a balance between hot and cold.”
Tim Crocker added succinctly, “Earth Four then is more ice.”
“Four is more,” said Nevis with a nod. “As in the New Ice Age,” said Wertman.
“Isn’t that what we’re presently in?” asked Joanna. “We’re wavering between four and two. We’re at a crucial time,” Wertman said, his hands outstretched. “By continuing the gradual, controlled heating of the Arctic areas, we are continuing to create Earth Four conditions.”
“Then why in hell don’t you stop?” shouted Tim irritably.
“The heat up began as an accident. We can’t go back. There’s no changing what’s already happened. So we have to go with it, or expect-know-that Earth Four conditions will ensue! By continuing the annihilation of the glacial land masses and warming Arctic Ocean areas, we might just pull ourselves out of this!” Wertman was red with anger.
“The authorities do not want Earth Four conditions anymore than we do, Tim,” soothed Ben Nevis. “And I’m quite sure they’re extremely concerned that we stay clear of Earth Five conditions.”
“Super-cooled, super-frozen,” muttered Wertman.
“Our precious Earth would be a lifeless ball of ice,” said Nevis authoritatively. Then the old man grew reflective.
“We’ve varied between Earth Two, Three, and Four since man’s arrival on this planet. Man has avoided the two extremes throughout his stay here, unlike the dinosaurs whose extinction came as a result of a major ice age. There were always the powerful, natural regulators at work-gulf streams, jet stream, air and ocean giving and taking, the weather more or less constant. Now, like children with no idea of the havoc we can create with our technological toys and gadgets, we’ve stumbled onto a deadly control mechanism. Unlike the controls in your Environment Box, Dr. Wertman, this one cannot so easily be turned to the off position.”
Wertman and the others sat in silence for a moment to ponder Ben’s words. Finally, Wertman said, “We may not have found the stop button, Dr. Nevis, but we can and will slow it down.”
“For how long?” asked Tim directly.
But Nevis took the floor with another thought. “The jet stream was one of the powerful regulators. It kept the cold and warm air masses in constant duel, like two lions fighting over territory. A warmer or cooler condition weakened its westerly flow, but it was always there, like a wall, like a river above our heads in the stratosphere. Now, though it is there, it can no longer be called a Westerly!
The flow is near vertical, north and south, or damn near imperceptible. As I indicated, we had a lot to be thankful for.”
“Ben perhaps overstates the importance of the Westerlies,” argued Wertman. “The WWCC believes that the natural ground regulators will fall into place with the controlled warm up.”
Ketterling interrupted at this time. “I’m sure our viewers are glad to hear someone is warming up this old world. It’s been cold outside! But for now, we have to take this commercial break for Sham-Wow! Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more.”
The cameras swung away but Tim Crocker, unsatisfied with Wertman’s responses, began to dig at him. “How do you, or anyone else, know when you’ve warmed up the Earth enough? What are you using? Radiation? A Neutron bomb?”
“We’re using tested, controlled methods, Tim.”
“What if the Westerlies and other natural regulators don’t return to normal?” Tim pressed.
“We can’t expect anything to return to complete normalcy,” shouted Wertman. “1 thought I made myself quite clear on that. We must stabilize at Earth Two. We must trade off our coastal territories.”
“You have now made yourself-clear,” said Ben Nevis.
Joanna walked down to Mark and put a hand on his shoulder. “Mark, what about Tim’s first question. How do we know when things are hot enough? When do we shut down the warm up?”
“Worse,” said Tim, getting to his feet now, “what guarantee is there that we won’t go too far and start heading toward this Earth One, superheated condition?”
“Is that possible?” asked Joanna. Mark sat in silence.
“Mark,” repeated Joanna. “Is that possible?”
“No. Absolutely not,” he finally said with resignation.
But Ben Nevis pounded his fist on the table and glared at Wertman. “Why can’t you just say it, Wertman? We don’t bloody know!”
The cameras swung back to the party around the table.
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert W. Walker is the author of more than forty published novels, beginning with SUB-ZERO in 1979. He has millions of books in print. You can visit him at www.robertwalkerbooks.com.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE INSTINCT THRILLERS featuring FBI forensic pathologist Dr. Jessica Coran
Killer Instinct
Fatal Instinct
Primal Instinct
Pure Instinct
Darkest Instinct
Extreme Instinct
Blind Instinct
Bitter Instinct
Unnatural Instinct
Grave Instinct
Absolute Instinct
THE EDGE THRILLERS featuring Detective Lucas Stonecoat
Cold Edge
Double Edge
Cutting Edge
Final Edge
THE GRANT THRILLERS featuring Medical Examiner Dean Grant
Floaters
Scalpers
Front Burners
Dying Breath
THE RANSOM MYSTERIES featuring 19th century detective Alastair Ransom
City for Ransom
Shadows in the White City
City of the Absent
THE DECOY THRILLERS featuring Chicago cop Ryne Lanarck
Hunting Lure
Blood Seers
Wind Slayers
Hand-to-Hand
THE BLOODSCREAMS SERIES featuring archeologist Abraham Stroud
Vampire Dreams
Werewolf’s Grief
Zombie Eyes
HORROR NOVELS
Dr. O
Disembodied
Aftershock
Brain Stem
Abaddon
The Serpent Fire
Flesh Wars (the sequel to The Serpent Fire)
&nbs
p; Children of Salem
THRILLER NOVELS
Sub-Zero
PSI: Blue
Cuba Blue (with Lyn Polkabla)
Dead On
Thrice Told Tales (short stories)
YOUNG ADULT
Daniel Webster Jackson & the Wrong Way Railroad
Gideon Tell & the Siege of Vicksburg
NON FICTION
Dead On Writing – Thirty Years of Writerly Advice
Excerpt from CUBA BLUE by Robert W. Walker and Lynn Polkabla
ONE
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