Patriots Awakening

by R. M. Strauhs

  “Resistance?” Susan stared at him and mumbled, “This is really scary, Stephan. This sounds like the French resistance fighters during WWII.”

  “That’s pretty much what we now are sweetheart.”

  “When do Alice and I get to see this underground place of yours?”

  “How about now?” Cord grinned and reached into the black valise Stephan had sat on a chair between them. He withdrew two small disks on dog-tag-like chains. His grin widened. “If you ladies will put these around your pretty necks and promise to never remove them until this thing is over, we’ll show you our little underground home away from home.”

  Susan and Alice looked at one another, not knowing whether to laugh or cry as they slipped the chains over their heads. Their nerves were pretty shattered and now the men had overwhelmed them with scary information.

  Alice glanced at Cord. “I don’t feel any different. I figured this was some kind of mind control device so you could take advantage of me or something.”

  The group of four had been deadly serious to this point and was ready for a good laugh. So ready in fact they laughed more than they should have.

  “Ladies, if you’ll join us in the basement, I’ll be glad to show you what your new jewelry is for.” Stephan pushed his chair backwards and headed for the basement door.

  The other three followed him in silence. Stephan walked to the far end of the basement where shelves covered the wall. The shelves were filled with quart jars of Alice’s home-canned vegetables from her garden, and fruit from the orchard.

  Remembering back, storing up food was one thing Blake had insisted on the day he brought her to the new home. Alice loved to can, so each year she added a large number of jars to the shelves. She joked with Blake on his last visit home that she was eventually going to have enough canned up to feed the 101st Airborne Division. Blake had only laughed and said, “You just never know, hon.”

  “Now I understand why he wanted me to store up on so many non-perishables,” she whispered.

  Stephan stood at the end of the shelves. “Alice, would you squeeze that little black ornament around your neck?” She chuckled softly, pretty sure she knew what was going to happen, and squeezed it. The shelves moved away from them, opening into a small room. The other side of the room had a steel door. Stephan prompted her to squeeze the medallion again. The steel door opened into a long, well-lit hallway as the shelves swung back in place behind them.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. I see you’ve made some improvements while I wasn’t looking. The automatic thingy, I mean.” Alice giggled. “This is faster than turning the combination lock that was on there.”

  Susan stood wide-eyed. “I know what’s behind door number one. What’s next?” She reached out and took her husband’s hand because of the unknown.

  Cord brought up the rear behind Alice as they continued downward in the cool tunnel. Electric lights were spaced some twenty feet apart. Gas lanterns sat in niches carved into the rock in case of a power failure. “Those are just in case the generators cut off,” Cord told the girls when they slowed to look at one. “Like we told you, we’ve tried to plan for everything possible happening.”

  Soon they came to a steel door, which resembled a hatch in a ship. “This is our first real line of defense,” Stephan informed them. “Of course a good charge would blow it pretty fast.” After swinging the door open, they continued down the tunnel and through another steel door. They were in a much larger room than the one just off the basement. “Here we have showers for decontamination. Never know when we’ll be exposed to some agent, and we wouldn’t want to bring it inside to contaminate the others. You’ll also find several boxes of large black trash bags by the first door. Those can be used to protect the skin if nothing else is available.” After passing through two more steel doors, the tunnel opened into a large room finished like any room in a normal house.

  “Wow, I’m impressed,” Susan whispered. Her head turned to take it all in. She’d never in her wildest dreams expected a cave in a mountain to be turned into something so nice. Maybe living down here like a mole wouldn’t be too bad after all.

  “Well, we’ve made a lot of improvements over what the previous owner did. And of course, we’ve added all the equipment and so on. We have living quarters that are actually pretty nice; plenty of water, a sanitation area, great clean air equipment, and tons of food. Just as important, we have a large stock of weapons and ammo. Pretty much everything we need to survive for a limited number of people for some time without ever going to the surface, including medical supplies and items for the kid’s schooling. So any questions?” Stephan finished his spiel and sat down at the long table.

  Alice and Susan were stunned. Alice knew Blake had spent time in and out of the shelter and knew he’d brought in a few loads of stuff. She’d accepted his explanation that it was extra grain and items for the farm.

  They walked around, opening doors and checking the place out. It was a well planned living area carved under a mountain, including ten bedrooms, with two sets of bunk beds each. Susan was especially impressed with the fact that they somehow managed to include four large bathrooms underground. Where in the heck do they flush to?

  ~ 12 ~

  The Presidential Compound in Montana:

  Major Hayes entered the President’s quarters, accompanied by two armed marine guards. His sudden entry and the look on his face told the President it had to be bad news. “Sir, sorry to report there is no way out of this compound. Apparently the computer crash someone initiated disabled all our equipment and blocked the doors. Also . . .” He hesitated and looked toward the First Lady.

  “You can say whatever you need to say in front of my wife, Major. What is it?”

  Major Hayes had a truly pained look on his face. “Uh, Sir, we’ve found ten sets of explosives planted throughout the compound, and we’re still searching for others. I already have the bomb squad team trying to figure out how to disarm them.”

  The gasp Sharon emitted was quite audible, and the Major said, “I’m really sorry, ma’am. But we’re doing everything possible to get something open and get everyone safely out of here. I have everyone available working on it.”

  The President rose from his chair, pacing and rubbing his chin. “I hate like hell to ask, but what about the charges? Timers?”

  Once more, Major Hayes looked at Sharon and said quietly, “We have four hours, Sir.”

  Sharon stood and came toward them. “Clarence, we have to get the children out of here!” She was shaking and almost near hysterics. “We can’t let the kids be blown up.”

  He put his arm around her. “Please try to calm down. We don’t want the kids upset. We’ll figure something out. Major. Where is the most likely exit point we can get open?”

  “The emergency elevator right here in your quarters would be the fastest if we can get it working, but that might also be a likely place to plant explosives.

  “Sharon, you stay right here by the radio. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Let’s go, Major.”

  ~~~

  As they hurried toward the command center, the worried President asked, “Major, is there anyone at all we can contact on the outside?”

  “I have people trying, but there seems to be some sort of magnetic interference from the surface that screws our transmitters. We’re also trying to get at least one of the outside monitors working again.”

  When they entered the command center, a Master Sergeant sitting at a computer console turned to them. “Major, finally we have two remotes now working on the outside. Have a look, Sir.”

  The monitor at ground level was aimed at a tractor-trailer rig parked only some five yards from the main entrance. The President and Major Hayes leaned over the Sergeant’s shoulder. “What the thunder is that?” the President asked.

  “I don’t know,” Major Hayes answered. “It isn’t supposed to be there. It might contain a device or generator that’s interfering with our communications.”

/>   “Any way to get rid of it?”

  “The truth is, Sir, I don’t know.” Hayes studied the picture on the monitor for a couple of seconds. “If we could get one person up to the surface, I know where to get help within ninety minutes. I have a radio to get a message out.”

  “Any way of doing that? I mean getting a person up top?” Clarence asked the Sergeant.

  “Those folks over there are looking at the ventilation system maps. We’re hoping there might be some way to get someone out.”

  The President hurried to a large table surrounded by a half dozen people. They all came to attention when he approached.

  Major Hayes asked, “Have you come up with anything?”

  A middle-aged woman in Marine uniform answered, “Sir, we have people checking in the complex and, so far, every possible exit they’ve inspected is closed. The elevator shaft in the President’s quarters has been completely blocked halfway up by the steel door, which is too close in an emergency. With all our control systems down, well . . . there’s no way to open it.”

  President Lawson edged up to the table, amazed at how intricate the ventilation system was inside the compound. He glanced up from the map at the lady Marine. “Sergeant, is there anything open to ground level? A fresh air vent we can use?”

  “Sir, the only vent we’ve found open is small. A child could climb it, but I don’t think we have an adult here small enough to fit.”

  President Lawson turned to Major Hayes. “How safe would it be for a child to climb out?”

  “As long as there wasn’t anyone waiting at the top to harm him, I think it would be relatively safe.” Hayes answered.

  “Where is the vent, exactly? Can you take me to it?” Lawson asked the lady Sergeant.

  “Yes, Sir.” The Sergeant turned and led the way.

  Two minutes later they entered another control room. Major Hayes pushed a sturdy wooden table under the fresh air vent and told a Sergeant to remove the cover. The diagram showed a fifteen inch pipe that angled to the surface at forty-five degrees. President Lawson climbed up on the table and shined a flashlight up the pipe, then handed it to Major Hayes. “What do you think?”

  After looking into the pipe, Hayes answered, “Might be our one and only chance.” He glanced at his watch. “Sir, we have about three hours and ten minutes.”

  President Lawson, hearing the urgency in his voice, motioned for Hayes to follow and hurried toward his quarters. “You know my wife will likely give me an argument on this.”

  “Can’t say I blame her, Sir. It would be hard if it were my son. You do have one advantage, Mister President. Barry is quite a bright young man and far beyond his years in a lot of ways. I think he can handle the problem.”

  “Yeah, he is, isn’t he? Pretty good kid, too.” He spoke with a smile in spite of the dire circumstances in which they found themselves. “And, I know he’ll jump at the chance to help.”

  ~~~

  Clarence entered the President’s quarters, and Sharon ran to him. “Have you found a way out of the compound? Please tell me I can get the kids out.”

  He took her in his arms and kissed her forehead. “Sweetheart, we have one way to get a message out for help, but you might not like it. There is one opening . . . a vent for fresh air . . . and only a small person can get through.”

  Pulling back from her husband’s embrace, Sharon shrieked. “You want to send Barry out . . . don’t you?”

  “Yes, we have to. Major Hayes has a link for help that Barry can reach with the Major’s cell phone. Barry has to get topside, and away from whatever is interfering with communications. There’s a tractor-trailer rig parked up there that we think has a generator throwing out a magnetic field to stop all our communications. Barry will have to get to the outside and run a mile for the phone to work. You know Barry is capable of doing a good job. Honey, we don’t have another choice. God I wish we did but we don’t.”

  Before she could answer, Barry and Raechel stepped around the corner from where they’d been listening to their parents.

  “I’m ready to do it, Dad. Mom, it’s okay. I can do it.”

  Raechel walked up to her mother. “Let him go Mom, you know he can do it. I’d go but Barry is stronger than I am.”

  “I know you can handle it, Barry.” She turned back to her husband. “Are you sure he’ll be all right?”

  “Yes. We really don’t have a choice here. He’s our only chance. If someone doesn’t come and get us out of here, we’ll all die. We only have three hours or less to empty this place.”

  She turned back to Barry. “Change into that air force pilot jumpsuit you like. Hurry.”

  Raechel hugged and kissed her Mom.

  It was no more than three minutes when Barry ran back into the room. “I’m all ready. Let’s go.” He looked like a miniature military person in the jump suit.

  His mother and sister accompanied the President and Barry to the control room with the open air vent The Marine Master Sergeant had prepared a small canvas bag with a number of tools and had a thin rope tied around it. When they lifted Barry to the tabletop, she said, “Mister President, with your permission?”

  When he nodded, she tied the rope through a loop on the waist of the jump suit. “Barry, when you get to the top, you’ll find a grill in an upright concrete box. The grill is screwed onto that box from the inside. There’s a battery screwdriver in the bag. You’ll have to remove that grill to get out. Can you do that?”

  “Sure. No problem.”

  Major Hayes looked around for something to protect the cell phone. He quickly unbuttoned the top button on his uniform shirt, pulled it off over his head and ripped off his tee-shirt. As he tied the tee-shirt around the cell phone and stuffed it in the bag, he said, “Barry, when you have the grill off, take the phone with you and run west. Think you can judge a mile?”

  “Pretty close.”

  “Great. You need to run at least that far if not more to get away from the magnetic field. When you’re far enough away, push the cell phone ‘on’ button, and then push the red button. General Parker will answer.”

  “Yes, I understand. I met General Parker one time.”

  “Tell him we’re trapped . . . two hours till the explosives detonate. He’s to destroy the trailer. Send someone to get into the emergency room topside and figure a way to reactivate the elevator system. You have all that?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good. We’ll feed the line out as you climb. When you get to the grill, jerk the line and pull the bag up. It’s a long way up, Barry. If you have to stop and rest, that’s okay. You can’t exhaust yourself getting to the top.” Major Hayes gave Barry a thumbs up.

  “Give me a boost.”

  ~~~

  The pipe Barry had to traverse was 580 feet long. It had been welded together as it was placed into the ground. There was little to grasp or place one’s feet on to rest. When Major Hayes estimated a hundred feet of rope had been pulled up the shaft, it stopped. He yelled up the pipe, “You okay, Barry?”

  “Following orders. Stopped to rest.”

  The hollow sound of his voice from the pipe made everyone in the room chuckle. “Good soldier, Barry. You sure you’re okay?”

  The rope began moving up the pipe once more. “Just fine, Sir.”

  His parents were standing back out of the way but they could hear their son’s reply. A bit of relief flooded over them.

  After four more stops and starts, the rope jerked several times. The Sergeant then tied on the bag and tugged the rope. It immediately disappeared into the pipe. Clarence and Sharon spent the longest five minutes imaginable before they finally heard the faint whir of the drill emanate from the pipe. Everyone smiled but said nothing. After a few minutes of listening to the whirring, the rope began sliding out of the pipe and, finally, the empty bag dropped to the desktop. Major Hayes whispered, “Good boy.” Now, all they could do was wait.

  At General Parker’s compound in Washington State:

&n
bsp; General Parker and Burt Logan were having lunch when the small phone in Parker’s shirt pocket vibrated. He dropped his fork, pulled the phone out, and punched the small red button. “General Parker here.” He knew it would have to be damned serious trouble for Major Hayes to contact him.

  What the hell? “Yes, this is General Parker. Who is this?

  The General paused as a child’s voice answered.

  “Hello, Sir. This is Barry. The President is my father.”

  “I remember you, Barry. Where is Major Hayes?”

  General Parker motioned for Burt Logan to come to his side of the table, and began writing furiously on a notepad as Barry spoke. In turn, Burt snapped his radio from his belt. “Get the F29s in the air! Destination, Presidential Compound in Montana. Destroy a tractor-trailer rig. One pilot. The other seats are to be filled by computer experts familiar with the systems at the compound . . . and explosives experts. This is an emergency. The Presidential compound has been shut down. Explosives set to go off in two hours. The President is trapped. Get a Ranger company on their way immediately!”

  “Barry, where are you exactly?” General Parker asked.

  “I’m about a mile from the complex.”

  “That’s good, son. Stay right where you are. We can locate you by a beacon from that cell phone. You understand?”

  “I understand.”

  “Help’s on the way. We’ll get everyone out okay, Barry. I promise. We’ll take care of General Walker too. I have to go now. We’ll see you shortly.”

  General Parker set the stopwatch on his wristwatch for an hour forty-five minutes when Barry told him two hours. He placed the small phone back in his pocket and stood. Parker pulled a radio from its holster and clicked the frequency to the Ranger Commander. “Colonel Johnson, hopefully, they’ll be evacuated by the time you get there. Explosives are planted below ground. I have no idea how powerful. General Walker is involved and missing. Find the bastard and bring him back here. Uh . . . dead or alive, Colonel.”