Finding Their Path (Down The Path Book 3)

by Travis Mohrman

  “Sorry for all the alarms, but we just got some news and we needed everyone here right away.” General Bahn looked down at his papers and then back up towards the crowd. “Some of you knew that we were expecting some VIPs today. Well, things changed. This morning an attempt was made on the President’s life.” The general took a deep breath while murmurs spread throughout the crowd. “It was a failed attempt. President Tomas is fine, but we have reason to believe that more attempts have been planned. The President will be landing here in twenty minutes. They plan on using this facility as a safe house until everything can get figured out.”

  “They’re going to try to run the country from a bunker?” Kate whispered.

  Marcus leaned into her and whispered back, “This place is modeled after NORAD in Colorado. Feasibly they have everything they need inside here to run the entire country, launch a full scale world war, anything and everything.

  The man behind the podium continued, “Due to this, we are designating certain areas for President Tomas and the rest of her team. They will be given sole access to all of the second level conference rooms, bunk rooms, and eating areas. Most of that level now belongs to them.” He picked up his papers and clicked them on the wooden podium. It was a nervous tic that Kate had seen him do even in small meetings. “Now, we know you all have security clearance, otherwise you would never have been allowed on this base. Understand that even with that clearance, you are not allowed to go anywhere near their level unless invited by her staff. These are very tense times and we all need to make some allowances here.”

  “No one really uses that area anyway, right?” a faceless voice yelled out from the crowd.

  “No, the VIP area is empty, but understand that her staff will be operating with a heavy hand. I assume that when they move through hallways, those hallways will need to be cleared. I honestly don’t know how long this will last, so just continue to do your work, try to stay calm, and stay out of their way.”

  The general then slid his papers into a folder. Kate was always curious what they said. She had a sneaking suspicion that they were just blank sheets of paper. He never seemed to read anything off of them. It was more like they were there just to give his hands something to do while he was talking.

  “Her plane will be landing in twenty minutes. For security reasons, we will need that plane underground as soon as it hits the deck. We can’t allow others to know it is here. This means it will be going into storage while still hot. I need all of the runway and garage personnel to assemble at the head of the garage for help with this immediate task. Everyone else, I am forced to assign you to your quarters until they have touched down and are secured. It’s just much easier this way. Thank you.”

  Kate watched him walk offstage and didn’t even realize that Jeep and Marcus, both personnel for the garage, had already headed in that direction. “Wow, they sure left quick,” she said.

  “In all my time here, I have never seen the general that nervous. I think they’re more than a little worried. I don’t know if they have ever tried putting a plane the size of Air Force One in the garage, much less while the engines were still hot.” Laurel tried to look around the room, but Kate could tell she was much too short to see who else was leaving. “Speaking of which, we should probably get back to it.”

  “He said we had to go to our quarters.”

  “Yeah, I know. My quarters are in my lab though, and yours are almost directly above it. I’ll count that as close enough. We’re nearing a breakthrough in there and it looks like, at least for right now, we’re losing our other helpers.”

  Kate was never really one to break rules, but she wasn’t too sure if she considered this ‘breaking rules’ or not. Plus, she had been in the lab long enough to know that Laurel did truly believe she was close to something important. Besides, she really didn’t have anything else to do and she kind of wanted to gossip about the president anyway. “Okay, let’s go then. May as well go right now just in case somebody wants to stop us, though.”

  Laurel turned while grabbing the corner of her white lab coat and flaring it out like a superheroes cape. It was a little dramatic flair that Kate saw her do at least once a week. The petite virologist then headed back down the hallway they had taken to get the auditorium, with Kate following closely at her heels.

  13

  Beth Tomas had her dark black hair tied up in a tight bun. She had always refused to go for the short haircut, even as the president of the free world. In order to look ‘professional’, it was rarely seen in any fashion other than pulled up tightly in a bun. It had become almost an obsession to check it routinely and make sure stray hairs hadn’t crept out. She was confident everything was in order before she exited the plane.

  She had grown up in Montana, and had actually just been visiting her old high school, Hellgate High, for a campaign speech. No one ever thought it was a real place. They just assumed it was some school created for an angst-riddled young adult book, or something else along those lines. The early settlers had some interesting names for things. She had even once heard that the entire length of the East River in New York was called Hellgate as a bastardization of the old Dutch word ‘hellegat’, which means “a bright passage.”

  Even with her background in the state, she knew very little about the site of this seed vault. As they were circling the location, the length of the runway had caused her a great deal of anxiety. Her chief of staff, a small and greasy man named Jerrod, had convinced her all was well. Unlike any of the other thousands of landings she had been through, this one had a very abrupt, almost yanking, stop at the end. She was told they used a cable snagging system to stop planes, similar to an aircraft carrier.

  Having landed successfully, the strangeness continued. The plane taxied over to a corner of the strip and then began to lower into the ground via the largest elevator she had ever heard of. In several minutes, the plane was in a cavernous underground warehouse. It was so large that the jumbo jet was able to taxi off the elevator platform and move over to another side without the wings ever coming near any other object.

  Beth’s curiosity was certainly piqued, even though she had been briefed about this site in the air. It was a very different thing to see it all in action, but she had more pressing matters to tend to. Most notably, the fact that someone had attempted to shoot her at her old high school. Her guards had surrounded her instantly and two of them had been shot in their bulletproof vests. Thankfully, everyone was fine and the shooter was captured. He didn’t even try to make a run for it.

  She had been swept away and immediately sent to this site, as the shooter was yelling about his ‘group’ and how one of them would kill her. He had seemed to take his own life after yelling out his ‘message’. Well, either it was suicide or an incredibly coincidental heart attack or stroke. They were currently looking into his death.

  As her handlers came back to walk her off the plane, Beth rose. Her brief amount of respite time to think about things on her own was over. It was once again time to be the President.

  Jarrod slicked his own hair back down before speaking, “Ma’am, we are told the facility is prepared for you, and we are ready to head in. Because we had to land quickly and put the plane down here while the engines were still warm, it smells awful just outside the door.”

  Beth lifted her eyebrows and said, “Why are you telling me about how an oversized garage smells, Jerrod? Tell me who tried to kill me. Tell me how long we will be here. Don’t waste my time with smells.” President Tomas had grown very tired of her Chief of Staff. He had been friends with her husband, Mateo, for decades. Jerrod had even served as his Chief of Staff when he was a senator. When her husband died of a massive coronary 3 years ago, Jerrod had offered to step into the recently vacated position of her chief. She had questioned why she had agreed to that nearly every day since. He had been informed already that should she be elected to a second term, he would be replaced.

  Jerrod snapped his fingers and four thick manila
folders were placed in his hands by one of the aides. “Of course, my mistake,” the man said with just a touch too much sarcasm. They began walking toward the exit of the plane as he continued speaking. “This facility is run by a man named Dana Bahn, a four star Army General. He runs the site well, but his staff and personnel are mainly National Science Foundation researchers. I have a feeling things have been less military driven here than other bases in the past years. This is the first visit of any VIP’s here since the opening festivities, but I have been told everything is in order. We have nearly our own level with a full communications array.”

  As they stepped out of the plane and into the garage, the noxious scent of super high octane jet fuel nearly singed the inside of her nose. She did everything she could not to mention it or cough, but it was very difficult. Although she would never admit it, she was glad to have been warned of the smell. “All that sounds fine, but how long will we be here? I would feel much more secure in NORAD.”

  “We are unsure of the timetable at the moment, but I’ll continue to look into it. Truthfully, this location is more secure than NORAD, as it is much more recent. I toured it with your late husband a decade ago when it opened, and it really is fascinating.

  Truly, Beth would just be more comfortable in NORAD, as that was where her Joint Chiefs were at the moment. As long as she could video conference with them, it would be fine. As frightened as she had been by the assassination attempt, that fear was easily trumped by the possibility of war that loomed on the horizon. She had learned that after being only the second president in history to use our nuclear arsenal, the wrong country had been bombed. She was convinced that it still had been a necessary step, but Beth had vowed not to be so easily goaded into ‘going nuclear’ again.

  As she was guided out of the garage, an air wash system built into the doorway stopped the brunt of the hefty exhaust smell from following them inside, although it still seemed to cling to their clothing. As she looked down the hallway, Jerrod continued to chatter in her ear about things she already knew. Once the whole team was inside, she was impressed to see that the facility did seem much more modern than NORAD.

  “Welcome, President Tomas. I am looking forward to working for you. I have already taken the liberty of setting up direct links to the location of all of your cabinet members as well as key members of Congress and the military. Just let me know of anything else you may need.”

  Beth had read about the AI system that existed in this compound, but she did not know it was this advanced. “Thank you,” she responded. She may have judged this location too quickly; she was already feeling quite comfortable here.

  +++

  Jeep had watched the plane land and then get quickly lowered into the underground chamber. He understood the need for urgency, but still didn’t like it. As he watched the guards surround the president and her advisors, like a herd of zebras encircling their young, he chuckled. They were even still wearing their sunglasses! He had assumed that was all Hollywood myth.

  The men he could see were all trying to breathe through the cuffs of their sleeves. That plane had made the air in the garage pretty foul. Jeep had assumed he would be required to check over the president’s plane, so he was walking in that direction when a large man in a suit stepped directly in front of him.

  “Can I help you, sir?” the man said in a deep baritone.

  The humor of it had worn off, and now it really unnerved Jeep that he was still wearing his sunglasses. It was well lit inside the garage, but certainly not bright. “I was told I would need to give the plane a good once over.” Jeep was looking around the man at the biggest metal bird he had ever seen stuffed into the garage.

  “You were told incorrectly, sir. We have in-house personnel that will go through the checklist on the plane. If we find anything, it will be addressed.” The tone of the man’s voice never seemed to change at all. Jeep realized that the computer AI system had more life in its voice than this robot with glasses.

  “Oh, okay.” Jeep stammered. He realized the plane itself was far above his pay grade. That was a novelty for him. Rather than try to be his usual smartass self, he put his hand out. “Everybody calls me Jeep.”

  The man quickly reached into the breast pocket of his charcoal suit coat and placed a triple folded piece of paper in Jeep’s outstretched hand. “Here is a list of tools we need made available immediately for our check of the aircraft.”

  His fingers closed over the piece of paper. It appeared he wouldn’t be making a new friend today. In his slow southern drawl, Jeep responded “I’ll just call you Borg, then.” He was really laying the accent on thick as he rocked back on his heels and made lazy eye contact with the mirrored lenses facing him. “Listen here, Borg. I’ll get on this list just as fast as I can. Bring all the stuff to this spot, right?”

  The man nodded slowly and Jeep continued, “Well that’s great then. I’ll hop to it right now.” Jeep proceeded to turn around and begin walking as slow as humanly possible in the opposite direction of the main bank of tools. After several minutes, he had made it to the far wall; then he scratched his head, as well as a few other more southerly locations, for a solid five minutes. Finally, he called out “Shoot, this here’s the wrong side.”

  Jeep watched as the man seemed to coil tighter and tighter. He was waiting for him to say something, anything, to show that he was frustrated. He never did. The man just stood there.

  It took Jeep nearly two hours, but he had gathered all the tools. Many of them he carried over one at a time. He brought a ratchet on one trip. Then the next trip he brought three sockets, then another three sockets. Once it was done, the man in the dark suit nodded once, then wheeled the cart over to another group of men waiting by the plane.

  Jeep scratched his head again. He had never gotten the reaction he wanted out of the man, but now he was pretty certain he was the one who had just been pranked. His legs were sore from all that walking, and he had just blown several hours of work time on an attempt to be funny that had failed miserably.

  Jeep decided it was best not to mention this to anybody. Thankfully, he knew the man he had affectionately named Borg wouldn’t exactly be gossiping about it either. “I must be slipping or something.” he muttered to himself as he walked toward the steps. He knew he used to be very gifted in the art of annoying others. He made a mental note to poke a few people once he got back upstairs, just to make sure he still had it.

  The door to the steps snapped open, and Jeep began slowly heading up the handful of flights that would take him to his quarters. He knew after spending several hours in the garage that reeked of high octane jet exhaust, his clothes must smell terrible. At least he might be able to have some fun with that. He would just need to find somebody to hug…

  14

  Kate woke up that morning feeling more groggy than usual. As she lay in bed she double checked her clock to make sure she hadn’t misread it. She knew full well that Shunka, the computer that ran everything, wasn’t exactly prone to making mistakes like that. Still, she had not been woken up by Shunka at her regular time. Instead of the standard beeping alarm, Kate was woken every morning by her vid screen slowly lighting up to reveal the image of a lush hardwood forest, complete with tweeting birds. It was something she had always longed for while growing up in the desert. It was the most pleasant way to start the day she could think of.

  This morning, though, she felt poorly rested. She imagined it was the excitement of the president’s arrival along with her late night in the lab. Laurel had kept her awake, running sample after sample, until well past midnight. She kept hoping that Laurel would find what she wanted in one of the results, but they were all cast aside and started again.

  Kate slowly climbed out of bed and shuffled across the room. She was curious about where Bender had run off to when the alarms started blaring, but she knew he would turn up. Still, she had grown very accustomed to that little monster greeting her every morning with his innocent looking eyes. After fidd
ling with the touchscreen and picking a simple outfit of white slacks and a green shirt, she pushed the coffee button. All of these things could easily be requested with voice commands, but Kate wasn’t exactly one for talking much in the morning before her first cup of joe.

  Less than a minute after pressing the buttons, two separate hidden wall panels slid away and the items she requested slid out of each one. As was usually the case, Kate grabbed for the coffee first. She pulled its warmth right up to her face and breathed in the intoxicating scent. Of all the things about the facility, Kate understood the greatest feat of them all to be the spectacular coffee the computer was capable of producing.

  After taking a quick glug, her face contorted slightly and she smacked her lips while rolling her tongue around. She took another glug and followed the same procedures. Kate was confused now. The coffee didn’t taste the same.

  “Shunka, is this a different blend of coffee?” Kate queried the AI system.

  “No Kate, it is exactly the same in every regard. The chemical composition and temperature perfectly matches the last two dozen cups that you drank.”

  “Hmmm…It tastes different.” Kate set the cup down and began getting dressed. She had hoped to start this day on a bright note, but the coffee had let her down. She wrote the strangeness off to her being tired and glugged down the rest of it. “I’ll take my bottle of water now please, Shunka.”

  The wall opened once again to reveal a large, hard Lexan water bottle that Kate had put stickers all over. She was unclear how the computer was able to clean it without any of the stickers coming off. Kate hadn’t written off the possibility that the facility had all the same stickers, or the ability to make them, and was simply re-applying them after washing the others away.