Lean on Me

by Claudia Hall Christian

  She glanced at her team. Trece and White Boy were too large to fit in the pipe. Raz and Colin wouldn’t make it either. After three years of hiding in Crested Butte with only a weight set and three children to entertain him, Joseph was now built like a truck. He wasn’t going to fit either. And Vince’s back injuries made belly crawling almost impossible. She closed her eyes. Her insistence on hiring her friends was biting her in the ass again.

  “Margaret is tiny, Alex. She can lead in case it gets too tight. You, me and Leena can fit,” Matthew said in her ear. “Pete and Bill, of course. MJ thinks he can do it and you know Troy’s game. We’re not going to have space for more. The concrete jelly bean shell isn’t big enough.”

  “Concrete jelly bean shell?” Alex smiled.

  “That’s what Uncle Don calls it,” Matthew said.

  “Uncle Don?” Alex raised her eyebrows. Matthew smiled.

  “We can send the Delta boys in first,” Joseph said. “They’re young and fit.”

  “We know the hostages,” Alex shook her head. “We know the terrain.”

  Joseph gave her a knowing smile. Captain Charlie O’Brien had always insisted on the Fey Special Forces Team going in first. He had used those same words when asked if someone else should lead. Alex acknowledged his smile with a nod.

  “Let’s go,” Alex raised her hand indicating it was time to go.

  “Peaches, Carmichael, any hesitation on leading?” Matthew asked.

  “No sir,” Margaret said.

  “It’s an honor,” Leena said.

  Alex gave her a strong look.

  “I’ll be fine in the confined space, sir,” Leena smiled. “I can do this.”

  “You will work in pairs. Peaches and Carmichael will set the lights,” Matthew said. “Ramirez and Blanco give them the details.”

  Trece and White Boy gave backpacks with battery operated lights to Margaret and Leena.

  “Check to make sure you are outfitted. We need infrared and night-vision,” Joseph said. “Knee and elbow pads. Is everyone wearing body armor?”

  “Yes sir,” the team called.

  “We’ll send Beetle in first to handle Bailey. Peaches and Carmichael will have to go around,” Matthew said.

  “There’s space sir,” Pete said.

  “Good,” Matthew said. “Fey and I will follow Beetle and Bailey. Hargreaves, combine supplies with Scully. We’re setting up a pulley so you’ll be able to get supplies inside, but it’s better to take what you think you’ll need.”

  Colin and MJ began transferring medical supplies.

  “Scully, you’re next and Olivas, you’ll take the rear,” Matthew said. “The rest of you are released to Major Walters’ sole command.”

  “Delta, you are released to Major Walters’ command,” Alex said.

  “We will provide back up and communication for the team,” Joseph said. “Lieutenant Colonel, do you want Sergeant Peaches and Petty Officer Carmichael to set up the pulley lines?”

  Alex nodded.

  “Yes sir,” Margaret said. “White Boy was just showing us how they work.”

  “Good job,” Joseph said. “We have to be prepared to get supplies in and men out.”

  “Yes sir,” Margaret said.

  After removing his winter gear, Pete started down the pegs on the side of the intake pipe.

  “Sir, we’re set,” Leena said. She nodded to Margaret. They were carrying full backpacks. Trece and White Boy helped them with the packs. Margaret gave them a nod and began down the pegs.

  “Alex,” Zack said into her ear bud communicator. “Medivac is here from the 5th Medical Wing at Minot AFB, but they’re whining about the weather.”

  “Roger that,” Alex said.

  “We’re ready and waiting for you, sir,” an unfamiliar voice said on the line.

  “Roger,” Alex said. “Captain Hutchins, you have the com.”

  Nodding, Vince introduced himself to the flight crew. Alex pulled out her ear bud and gave it to Raz. They would be out of contact in the pipe and LEB. Three minutes after Leena started in the pipe, Joseph whistled down to Pete and Bill started down the pipe. After three minutes, Alex gave Raz her jacket. He helped her step up on the pipe. She gave a wave and went down the pegs to the pipe. Once at the pipe, she began to crawl. She heard Matthew join her in the pipe three minutes later.

  Her night-vision infrared goggles allowed her to see the dark outline of Pete’s feet. The sound of their shuffling crawl was accentuated by the light tap of Bill’s nails against the pipe. Metal grates for drains broke up the bottom of the pipe every hundred yards. She heard Troy’s whistle when he entered the pipe behind MJ. They were all in and moving toward the LEB.

  They moved slightly down hill. They crawled where they could and belly crawled when they needed to. Even without her winter gear, Alex was dripping with sweat within minutes of her journey. Matthew tapped her foot. She stopped and rolled over. He climbed over her legs to talk to her.

  “How are you feeling?” Matthew asked. “MJ gave me something for you if you’re in pain.”

  “I’m good actually,” she said. “Just slow.”

  “I sped up to check on you,” Matthew said. “Where’s Jesse?”

  “With the families,” Alex said.

  Nodding, he backed up. There was a short whistle ahead indicating Margaret and Leena had reached the body and were on their way to the LEB. Bill yipped to indicate he’d found the body. Pete sent the dog ahead to the women.

  She smelled the body first. While the cold had preserved the body, the smell was still strong. Her eyes traced the blood pattern of a single bullet through the top of the soldier’s blonde head.

  And she knew.

  This young man had been her goddaughter Helene’s boyfriend and her friend, intern, Sergeant Larry Flagg.

  His face was marked by the surprise of being shot. His movie-star good looks made him seem tragically young and fragile. Grief rose from the very center of her being. Reaching out her gloved hand, she smoothed his shaggy blonde hair off his forehead. Larry hadn’t expected the bullet that ended his life. She closed the lids of his blue eyes.

  He’d graduated from Harvard before joining Special Forces. He was green and naïve to the point of silliness when she’d met him. He’d been terrified to go to war and now here he was, dead in a steel pipe away from everyone who loved him, frozen at least a mile under the North Dakota plain. She closed her eyes to say a silent prayer for who he’d been and a prayer for his soul to find peace. With a sigh, she packed her grief away. The only thing she could do for him now was to rescue his team and find his killer.

  “Oh God, Larry,” Matthew said when he came upon them. He squeezed her leg in comfort. “He’s been here a while.”

  “Cold storage,” Alex said.

  “Presented for your view,” Matthew said. “Yes.”

  There was no way around his prone body. Trying not to disturb him, she climbed over the bright young man they’d called G.I. Joe. His legs were shattered at the shins and he was thin. From this position, he seemed otherwise unharmed.

  She touched Larry’s boot in silent good-bye before continuing her belly crawl.

  “Sir!” Margaret yelled from ahead. “Made it!”

  “Made it!” Leena when she reached the LEB.

  “Made it,” Pete repeated.

  Alex finished the last of her belly crawl and passed along that she’d made it. Pulling herself through the end of the pipe, she scooted her legs around. They dangled a few feet off the floor.

  Uncle Don was right. The LEB looked like the shell of a concrete jelly bean painted in military beige. The tactical equipment had been removed leaving a few feet of bare space. The generator took up most of the wall in front of her. The air was clear and relatively warm indicating that the environmental control had been functioning. Margaret and Leena had set up the fluorescent lights so she pulled off her night-vision and infrared goggles. The women were now working on the pulley system to get things in and o
ut of the LEB.

  But there was no sign of Larry’s team.

  Bill gave a sharp bark and then barked again.

  “He thinks they are up there,” Pete pointed to an equipment loft above them.

  “How would they get up there?” Alex asked.

  Pete helped her down from her perch. Matthew took her place at the intake duct entrance to the LEB.

  “Bill thinks they’re up there,” Alex said to Matthew. She pointed to the loft above.

  “The ladder’s gone,” Matthew said. “Didn’t we bring extra rope? Carmichael?”

  Leena threw him a climbing rope and went back to work on the pulley.

  “Generator is warm, sir,” Margaret said as she placed another fluorescent light. “They must have shut it off when they heard us or maybe Bill in the pipe.”

  “They must be able to get up and down from there,” Pete said.

  “Why wouldn’t they say something?” Alex scanned the loft for movement.

  “The Fey Team is here. This is the Fey,” Matthew said. “We’ve come to take you home.”

  Bill barked again.

  “Dead?” MJ asked from the entrance to the LEB. He moved over when Troy appeared behind him.

  “Hiding,” Troy shrugged and jumped down. “More likely.”

  Matthew and Troy helped MJ get down. MJ bent to check his leg prosthesis.

  “Hey now spirit, whither wander you?” Troy gave Puck’s first line from Midsummer Night’s Dream. He poked Alex’s shoulder.

  “Over hill, over dale, through bush, thorough brier. Over park, over pale, thorough flood, thorough fire,” Alex repeated the fairy’s first lines from Midsummer Night’s Dream. “I do wander everywhere, swifter than the moon's sphere.”

  Alex fell silent.

  “I am the fairy queen,” she added.

  F

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “It’s her!” a young man’s face appeared over the edge of the equipment loft. “Guys, they’re here.”

  A row of men’s faces appeared around the first young man.

  “Merry Christmas, gentlemen,” Troy said. “Ho, ho, ho and all of that.”

  “Margaret?” Alex nodded. “Notify Joseph.”

  “On my way,” she said. Matthew boosted her to the tunnel. “Sir, I’m sorry about Sergeant Flagg.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said. “Pete you may begin documenting the area. We want to have pictures of every single corner.”

  Margaret disappeared into the pipe.

  “We need to know who is most mobile,” Matthew looked at Leena. “We’ll be able to start moving you out… Petty Officer?”

  “Three minutes,” Leena said. “We finished the rigging on this end. Colin is sending the litter. It will only get to… uh…”

  “Sergeant Flagg,” Matthew said. “Go.”

  Pete helped boost Leena up to the intake valve duct entrance. She disappeared into the pipe.

  “Flagg was the bravest man I’ve ever met,” another man said.

  “When we received the assignment, Flagg said it was bogus,” another young man said. “He said we shouldn’t go. He wanted to call you but it was against orders. We went anyway.”

  “He convinced them to take us here,” the Sergeant said. “He knew I could run the generators.”

  “Ladder?” Troy asked.

  A young man threw a handmade army fatigue rope ladder down.

  “Wow,” Alex said. “This is brilliant.”

  “Larry taught us how to make it,” the young man who had thrown the ladder said. “He said you taught him after you made rope to get out of that mine. He was… a good friend.”

  With Matthew and Troy spotting her, she climbed up the rope to the equipment loft. Eleven young men were lying together on the loft. Their legs were broken at the shin but their wounds looked as if they had healed. The loft was tidy and filthy at the same time. The men had made an effort to keep it clean. They had been on this loft for a long time.

  Alex leaned over the loft to get Leena’s pack. Matthew climbed the ladder to the loft with Margaret’s pack. When he moved to sit on it, the metal fittings made an eerie groan. The loft swayed.

  “I don’t think it can take any more weight,” Alex said. “It’s one of those puzzles. Can’t get them down without help; anymore men will take the whole thing down. Troy?”

  “On it,” Troy said.

  Matthew dropped the pack on the metal loft and jumped off. He went to help Leena and MJ roll two empty diesel barrels next to the intake valve duct opening. Leena tested them to see if they would support weight.

  “Support in place, sir,” Leena said.

  “Copy,” Alex said.

  “Except the guys in the corner, we can get down, sir,” the young man closest to her said. “We use the facilities below once a day. It’s not easy, but Larry told us you would come so we…”

  The young man began to weep. She put her hand on his shoulder for support. Digging in Leena’s pack, she took out a water bottle for him. Nodding, he took the water bottle from her.

  “Our medic is here,” Alex said. “We’ll need to take the healthiest first so he can get up here.”

  “We’re running out of oxygen fast,” MJ said. “Can we restart the generators?”

  “No,” a Sergeant near the edge of the platform said. “You can’t run them and use the intake at the same time. Plus they’re beyond loud. We carry safety ear plugs. We’ve worn them this whole time and we’re all a little deaf.”

  “Send notice to the top,” Alex said.

  “On it,” Leena disappeared into the duct.

  “Medics?” Alex asked.

  Two young men raised their hands. She tossed small medicine packs to them.

  “I’m sure you know who needs what the most,” Alex said.

  “We are lying in order of mobility, sir,” the medic nearest to her said. “And health.”

  “Good thinking,” Alex said. “Troy?”

  “I heard that,” Troy said. “Thank you Sergeant.”

  “We’ve notified your families,” Alex said. “They will be waiting for you at Brooke in San Antonio. You’ll be debriefed and will stay in medical isolation until this is over. That’s what’s going to happen.”

  Moving slowly, she crawled to Margaret’s pack.

  “Right now, we’re going to get you stable enough to move from here.” Opening the large compartment, she took out liquid nutritional supplements. “Oh look, vanilla, my favorite. Anyone?”

  Smiling, she passed out the nutritional drink.

  “They were going to lock us in here,” the man nearest to her said. “They broke our legs so we couldn’t get out. Then…”

  “Flagg stole their information from them,” the Sergeant said.

  “That’s why they killed him,” Alex said.

  “But they never got it,” the man nearest her said. “He stole all of their plans, everything, and… He told me you’d find it.”

  “Fey?” Troy asked. “I think we’ve figured it out. Permission to begin work?”

  “Go,” Alex said.

  A litter filled with oxygen bottles and a couple of rope ladders arrived on the pulley system.

  “Who can move first?” Alex asked. “We need to move weight off here to get our medic up.”

  “I can, sir,” the young man nearest to her said. “I’ve been working the generators.”

  She held out her arms and hugged him.

  “Welcome home,” Alex said.

  In her arms, she felt him give a small sob.

  “I thought you’d never…” he said in her ear. “And we’d…”

  “Welcome home,” she repeated. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  The young man pulled back from her. Wiping his face, he gave her a big smile.

  “My girl’s waiting for me,” he said.

  He gave his team a wave. In swift, practiced moves, the young man used his knees on the rope ladder rungs to make a swift journey to the floor.

  “
Lean on me.” Matthew grabbed the soldier.

  With MJ on his other side, they carried him to the intake valve duct. MJ strapped an oxygen bottle onto him. They lay him feet first on the fabric litter Colin and Margaret had modified for the pipe.

  “Morphine?” MJ asked.

  “Yes, please,” the young man smiled.

  MJ shot his arm with a morphine injector. Matthew tugged on the pulley and it began to move.

  “Wait,” Alex said.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Word,” Alex said. “Larry gave you a word.”

  “What,” the young man said. “My word is what.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said.

  “See you on the other side,” the young man yelled.

  They heard him hooting and laughing as he slid through the tunnel. Alex hoped he would be unconscious when they got to the vertical drop. MJ tried the ladder with his full pack. The metal fittings groaned. He set the pack down and was able to climb the ladder to the loft.

  “Medics? Raise your hands,” MJ said.

  Climbing over men, MJ made his way to consult with the team’s medics. After a quick consult, he left them to work on a couple of men near the back edge of the loft.

  “Who can go next?” Alex asked.

  “Take me,” three young men said at once and laughed.

  “One at a time,” Alex said. “We can only take you out one at a time. Medic? Who’s next?”

  “Garcia,” the medic pointed to one of the young men.

  “Don’t worry,” Matthew yelled from below. “Everyone gets out today.”

  “Oxygen levels are dropping,” MJ said. “We need to get the oxygen up here.”

  “Yes, we must hurry along,” Alex hugged the young man. “Welcome home.”

  “We’re supposed to be dead. Suffocated,” the young man in front of her said. “They shot Larry and…”

  “I’m glad you made it,” Alex looked at his misshapen legs “Can you make the ladder?”

  “Not well,” The young man shook his head. “I’m healthy but my legs are bad.”

  “Troy?” Alex yelled.

  “Got it,” Troy passed a drill to her. “Wall.”

  Alex pressed all of her weight and strength against the drill and made a hole in the cement wall. She leaned over to pass him the drill. He gave her a two-inch eyebolt. She screwed it into the wall. He’d already rigged one end of the rope through an eyebolt in the blast door. He gave her the other end.