He looked at the girls and added, “That’ll leave you women to run everything else. Unless you’d rather work the sandbags instead.”
Hannah looked at Sami and then at Sarah.
“I think I can safely speak for every woman in the camp when I say that we’ll gladly run everything else and leave the sandbags to you guys.”
Sarah added, “I’ll start working with the others. Once the room is finished we’ll start doing drills and having everyone who isn’t essential run to the basement when the panic alarm goes off.”
John said, “Let’s make this our first priority. After it’s done, I want to put our heads together and see if we can figure out a way to dig a tunnel directly from the basement of the big house. If we can connect it to the main tunnel, we can evacuate the big house if it starts getting ugly and go to either the mine or the woods without ever going outside.
“Again, I apologize for leaning on you engineering types so much. But I don’t know a tunnel from a pot hole. You guys are much more qualified to devise a way to do that than I am.”
“We’ll be throwing back and forth ideas while we’re filling sandbags. Once the safe room is done, we can get back together again and make plans for the tunnel.”
Chapter 50
There was a lot of stress in the compound when faced with the possibility of an airborne assault. But it wasn’t all work and no play.
Mark and Hannah both worked the first shift on the project, getting up in time to be at work at six a.m. He went to the mine to fill sandbags, she went to the control center to pull security duty.
Little Markie wasn’t so little anymore. He could be trusted now to wake up on his own, get himself dressed, and go to the communal dining room for breakfast. After checking in with his mom at the security desk and giving her a good morning hug, of course.
The nice thing about the arrangement was that Hannah and Mark came off duty in the early afternoon, while Markie was still in school with Miss Helen and the other first, second and third graders.
And that gave them some time alone.
On the third day of the sandbag project, Mark went to Sarah and asked for a favor.
“Would you mind picking Markie up from school and babysitting him for us? We’ll be back before dark.”
“Sure. But where are you going?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s a secret. But Hannah will tell you all about it when she gets back. And if you want to know more about it, I’ll show Bryan where it is and he can take you too.”
She thought momentarily and said, “Okay, it’s a deal. But I have to keep it a secret, even from Hannah?”
“Especially from Hannah.”
At two p.m., Hannah was coming off her shift and in the process of doing her outbrief with Debbie, who came in to relieve her.
Mark walked into the control center with a smile on his face and a backpack on his back.
Hannah looked at the clock and then at Mark and asked him, “How’d you get off and get showered so quickly?”
“Oh, I talked Joe into relieving me a little early. Are you about done?”
Hannah looked at Debbie, who nodded her head to indicate she was ready to take control.
“Yep. What’s with the backpack? And why are you grinning like a possum eating poop?”
“What backpack?”
“Um… that would be the one on your back…”
Mark looked over his shoulder.
“I don’t see any backpack. Were you sipping tequila under the security console again?”
“Very funny, bucko.”
She reached for the backpack, and he quickly turned and grabbed her wrist.
“Well, you’re awfully jumpy for a man who doesn’t have a backpack on his back.”
He released her wrist and kissed her.
“Hush. You’re imagining the backpack. Just keep telling yourself it isn’t really there, it really isn’t there…”
“Uh huh. And where are we going, anyway?”
They were nearing the feed barn.
“We’re just taking a romantic stroll, that’s all.”
“A romantic stroll… in the tunnel?”
“Sure. After all, it’s dimly lit, private and quiet, rather cozy…”
They walked down the steps and started walking through the tunnel and a minute later Brad came rushing past them with a wheelbarrow full of sandbags.
“Hello, you two,” he yelled as he passed.
“Uh huh… private and quiet. Rigghhhtttttt…”
He just looked at her and smiled.
He led her into the new extension to the tunnel. She’d never been in it before, and was impressed. Even when they got to the part where it transitioned into a narrower and shorter tunnel, she was amazed at how much they were able to do in so short a time.
They came out underneath the floor of the old hunting shack. Bryan lifted the trap door and helped her out, then resecured the door in its original position.
“So, where are we going, exactly?”
“I could tell you. But then it wouldn’t be as much fun.”
“Oh. Okay, so I should just place my life and well being in your hands and trust that you’ll take good care of me?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
They walked through the woods in a seemingly random and circuitous route. Hannah began to be concerned that they might get lost.
“Shouldn’t we be, like, dropping breadcrumbs or something?”
“Have faith, my love. You’re in my very capable hands, remember?”
“I don’t recall ever using the word ‘capable.’”
The truth was, Mark knew exactly where he was going, and he didn’t need a path to get there. He was careful to always keep the hulking vision of Salt Mountain on his left, catching an occasional glimpse of it through the cover of the trees.
He knew it was just a matter of going around the mountain, to a sweet spot he’d seen years before, when he was mounting cameras on top of the wind turbine.
He’d never told Hannah about it, because he wanted to spring it on her at just the right moment.
They’d been through a lot lately. And if John’s suspicions were right, they’d be going through a lot more in the weeks and months ahead.
It was time for a break. A break for just to two of them.
It was time for them to fall in love all over again.
And he knew the perfect place.
As they broke from the woods into a clearing, Hannah’s jaw dropped. She put her hand to her open mouth, and she looked at her husband.
“Oh, honey, it’s beautiful. How did you ever…”
She didn’t finish the sentence. It didn’t matter how he’d found the place. They were here, and all alone, and that was all that mattered.
Before them stood an idyllic pond, about two acres in size, surrounded by grassy shores and tall trees. It was a perfect location to be alone with a loved one.
She turned and put her arms on his shoulders.
“Thank you. It’s perfect.”
And then she kissed him.
He said, “But wait. There’s more.”
He removed the backpack and opened it up, then took out a red blanket.
“I couldn’t find a picnic basket, so this had to do.”
They laid the blanket on the grass and sat upon it. Mark took out a container of fried chicken and another of Cole slaw. A third container held biscuits that Karen had baked fresh that morning.
Then, he took out two white athletic socks.
Suddenly the mood changed.
“Why the socks?”
But she wouldn’t be disappointed. Not today of all days.
From each of the socks he slid a wine glass.
“The socks were to cushion them, so you wouldn’t hear them clinking together. It would have ruined the surprise.”
And last but not least, he pulled out a bottle of wine. A 1976 Spatlase. Her favorite.
“Oh, my goodness! Where in
the world did you get that?”
“Shhhh… I can’t give away all my secrets, you know. I was saving it for just the right moment. And since this is our anniversary, it seemed the perfect time.”
Hannah laughed out loud.
“You sweet, wonderful, silly man, you. Our anniversary is four months away.”
“No, doll. Not that anniversary. This is the anniversary of the day I was in the Baylor Administration building, signing up for my summer classes. Do you remember what happened after I left the building that day?”
“Is that the day you stumbled down the steps and dropped your books and I stopped to help you pick them up?”
“Yes. It was the first time I ever laid eyes on you. And the very last time my heart belonged to me. It was yours from that moment on. I fell in love with you instantly, even though I didn’t even know your name.”
She smiled, and blushed just a little.
“And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Chapter 51
The couple finished their picnic lunch and a good portion of the wine. Mark wanted to polish it off, but she said, “No. This is too good to guzzle all at one time. It’s like true love itself. It should be taken in small doses, and savored.”
Mark reinserted the cork and placed it back in the backpack. Then he cleaned up the mess and stuffed everything except the blanket away. They had other plans for the blanket.
He lay on his back, his arm around his gorgeous wife, her head on his chest. And as the afternoon sun started to dip in the western horizon they watched the clouds roll by.
Hannah pointed skyward. “Look there. That one looks like a puppy. See his ears?”
“Nope, sorry, I don’t see it.”
“You can’t see a puppy?”
“Nope. All I see is a beautiful princess.”
She stared hard at the cloud.
“How in the world do you see a beautiful princess?”
She turned to look at him. And he was staring directly at her.
“Oh. Why, thank you, handsome man. And I guess that makes you, by default, my dashing prince.”
“At your service, m’lady…”
She leaned over and kissed him.
“Thank you, baby, for making this day so wonderful.”
“Are you really having a good time?”
“Only the best time ever. Are you?”
“My best time ever is wherever you are. You know that. It’s always been that way.”
She smiled.
“Baby, I know we’ll have to start heading back soon. Can we walk around the pond first? Do you think we have time?”
“I think so. It’s less than a mile back to the compound. And if we get stuck in the darkness and get lost in the woods, it’s not the worst thing. We can spend the night snuggling and making love in the great outdoors.”
“Um… with the lions and tigers and bears?”
“Oh my…”
“I think not, mister. Let’s get started so we can get back before dark. And we can finish the wine in front of the fireplace after Markie goes to bed.”
“That, my love, is an invitation I cannot refuse.”
Halfway around the pond, though, they stopped short.
They stumbled across a twelve foot aluminum rowboat.
Painted on the bow, obviously by someone with a sense of humor and a love for old television, were the words “S.S. Minnow.”
The small craft was grounded in high grass twenty feet from the water, underneath a towering pine tree.
It obviously hadn’t been used in many years, judging from the several inches of pine needles and cones in its bed.
Hannah asked, “Do you think it’s still seaworthy?”
“I’m guessing probably so. I mean, aluminum doesn’t rust. It corrodes, but it would take many years of corrosion for the integrity of the hull to be compromised.”
He lifted it up and turned it over, then examined the boat’s bottom.
“It looks sound. I wonder who left it here.”
He turned it back over. Without the pine cones and needles he’d just dumped out, they could get a better view of the boat’s interior.
On one of the two bench seats that went from one side of the boat to the other, Hannah spotted some words.
She rubbed off the dirt and grime that had obscured the words for many years.
Then she read it aloud.
“Feel free to borrow. Please return when finished.”
Mark remembered how generous and gracious fishermen are in general. Most of them share a kinship with one another, and help each other whenever possible.
“This must be a fisherman’s favorite spot. I’ll bet he left this here so he didn’t have to drag it back and forth whenever he came. And he was nice enough to let others use it in his absence.”
There was something else, too. Fastened to each side of the boat were two wooden oars. They were weather-worn, but still sturdy enough to do the job.
Hannah looked at the sky, and asked, “Do we have time to take it out?”
Mark thought for a moment and looked at his watch.
“No, we’d better not. We’ll be cutting it close as it is. Help me find a couple of dead logs to prop it up on. I wish the last user had stored it upside down so it wasn’t so full of junk.”
They dragged two small fallen trees out of the forest, and placed the boat upside down on top of it.
“I wish we had a bit more time, but it appears to be in good shape. We’ll come back another time and bring Markie and some fishing gear. And some cleaning supplies so we can get all the gunk cleaned out of it.”
“Oh, Mark, that’s a great idea! Do you think there are fish in the pond?”
“Yes. I know for a fact there are.”
“How can you tell?”
He took her by shoulder and slowly turned her around. It was close enough to nightfall so some of the evening bugs were coming out now.
“Just watch the surface of the water.”
It took a couple of minutes, but there was a sudden ripple in the distance, perhaps forty yards away from them.
“What was that?”
“A dumb dragonfly or mayfly landed on the water to get a drink and became a tasty treat for a fish. They’re in there, all right. I don’t know what kind or how big, but they’re there.”
“Oh, honey, I can’t wait to see the look on Markie’s face when he catches his first fish!”
“Neither can I, doll. Neither can I.”
Chapter 52
A week went by since the helicopter had dropped in to visit. Most of the group forgot about it, or considered it just a cool memory. Much like spotting a rarely seen animal.
Even John and his suspicious mind began to relax a little bit. But he’d never let on.
They were still on what John called their “wartime footing.” The girls thought he was overdramatic when he used that term, but he used it often anyway. He wanted to convey the severity of the situation, and thought the term summed it up rather nicely.
The safe room was ready. Four thick layers of sandbags, filled with dense salt powder, were lined against the outer basement wall of the room. The wall itself was concrete, ten inches thick, reinforced with half inch steel rebar. Would it catch thirty caliber bullets and prevent them from entering the room? Nobody knew for sure. But John believed it would.
The side walls weren’t sandbagged. But the room was in the interior of the building, and bullets coming from either side would have to penetrate several other concrete walls to get to the safe room itself.
From up above, if the helicopter chose to shoot down on the building, bullets would have to penetrate the roof and three floors, and all of the furniture and equipment and anything else that got in the way.
“Do I think it’s safe?” John commented. “I think it’s safe enough to put my daughter in during a firefight.”
Knowing what Sami meant to John, everyone else knew it would be safe to put their own loved ones th
ere as well.
Staying on John’s wartime footing meant that the two work shifts per day continued. But now work shifted to the new tunnel. Even though Mark, Brad, Bryan and Jason were quite experienced in tunnel digging now, there were some rather unique features about this third tunnel. First of all, it wasn’t as deep as the others. There were only two feet of soil that separated the top of the tunnel from the air of the compound above them.
Second, it, like the end of the second tunnel, was narrow, just about wide enough for average men to walk through single file. But unlike the end of the second tunnel, the entire length of this tunnel was dug in such a manner.
The most unique thing about this tunnel was that they were able to dig this one from both ends at the same time.
The most difficult part of planning this project was figuring out how to hide the entrance to the tunnel inside the basement of the big house. Obviously, if they ever had to evacuate, their invaders would want to know how they got out. Hopefully they would assume, like Alvarez and his thugs did, that the group used ladders to get over the wall.
But they got lucky when Alvarez attacked, because Alvarez and his crew were blatantly stupid. They couldn’t rely on their next attackers being so as well.
So their tunnel entrance had to be very well hidden.
It would also be helpful if there were reasons for their attackers not to look too closely at the tunnel’s entrance.
Like the possibility of getting electrocuted, for example.
Months before, when they were going through the trailers they’d pulled off the highway, Mark found a huge electrical cabinet. It looked like a typical breaker box found in millions of houses around the country. Only this one was made for the electrical room of a very large building. By Mark’s estimation, it probably would have wound up in the basement of a very large high rise somewhere.
But then the freeze happened. And instead of a high rise it was sitting in a truck in a hidden compound not far from Junction, Texas.
Go figure.
When they stumbled across it, Mark scratched his head, wondering if they might ever find a use for such an electrical box. He determined they wouldn’t, and they put it aside as something to haul to the trash pit at some point.
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