The doctor says, “It’s a one percent solution of lidocaine. This will ease her pain.”
I let her do this.
The doctor actually pushes pretty hard and with a syringe, forcing more lidocaine into the wound area. Jennifer winces, at first, but soon looks to be more comfortable.
The doctor then takes a sterile scalpel out of a surgical case and holds it up for us to see and then debrides the area around the wound. She then irrigates the wound and area with an IV bag of saline. She then uses a small medical probe to search around further.
The doctor picks up the pliers they were using, shakes her head and puts them to the side.
After that, she grabs a pair of forceps and penetrates the wound deeply. Soon she pulls out a much larger bullet fragment and drops it like a big piece of lead in a metal pan nearby.
Jennifer looks relieved as her eyes fully open for just a second. She glances at the doctor and me before going unconscious again.
She again irrigates the wound then wheels around and grabs some suture equipment. She quickly returns and prepares the damaged tissues for a suture. She then uses a running suture deep inside Jennifer’s upper chest. That means she is weaving it in an out continuously closing the area damaged by the bullet. She begins another running suture to close Jennifer’s dark skin. The nylon suture fits snugly to Jennifer’s skin.
Worried, she reacts and starts speaking in Russian before catching herself.
The doctor turns to me, “In a few more minutes this woman would have bled to death.”
The doctor then turns her attention to Al,
“You can put the gun down, Al. Open that refrigerator and get me two pints of ‘O’ blood.”
Al opens a door and this unit is stacked with blood.
“What is this place?” comes out of my mouth realizing this would have taken some time to put just this room together in the middle of a mountain!
And in the middle of Alaska!
The doctor does not answer me as she is working feverishly on Jennifer.
“I still don’t know if she’ll make it,” says the doctor.
I panic saying, “We gotta go.”
“Impossible. They will kill you and now me too. No one comes in here but me. You’re safe right here,” says the doctor.
Al pipes up, “She’s treated me before. She’s the only person I trust.”
I still don’t trust her; I think to myself.
“You don’t have to trust me but she needs rest,” says the doctor, seeming to read my mind.
“Where are your communication systems?” I ask.
“On the other side of the complex but you’d never make it. They’re looking for you.” The doctor then looks at Al,
“And you, they’ve been hunting you for weeks.”
“Haven’t caught crazy Al Reynolds yet!” says Al with a growl.
“They’re tryin’ ta poison us all with aluminum, ya know. Big shiny aluminum. It’s in all their suitcases. We have ta stop ’em. The only place they can’t poison us in the mine. They’ve stolen my mine.”
That’s not all they’ve stolen! I think to myself.
The Russian doctor reacts to me: He’s nuts but I’ll handle it.
“What is this place?” I ask again.
Tatiana says, “Russia wanted a place in North America that was remote, had uranium, dysprosium, thorium and easy access to deep water. Bokan is the only place on earth with all of the above.”
Just then a beeping sound goes off on a machine in the corner of the room.
“Can we turn this off?” I ask.
“You can but it’s telling you there is excess radiation in here.” The doctor walks to an air conditioning panel by the door and opens it.
I run over and shove a gun into her neck.
“I can either suck the radiation out of this room or you can absorb ionizing radiation into your body which will kill you, eventually.”
Al says, “It’s okay. You can trust her.”
After considering my options, I put the gun down.
Al is in the corner peeling paint off the wall and acting totally insane.
The doctor says,
“He’s a leftover from the old days when uranium was originally found here in the 1950’s. He came here to find gold but instead found uranium. He purchased a couple of these mine claims long after they were abandoned then got everyone in his family to purchase claims too. When the price of uranium dropped they all left.”
The doctor and I look at Al trying to lick paint, “Al never did,” she says.
“I’d say he’s been here long enough,” I say with sarcasm.
She smiles than asks me,
“So what’s your plan?”
Al stops chewing on paint and we look at each other with nothing but blank stares.
I have fallen asleep next to the table where Jennifer is resting.
Jennifer moves a bit which wakes me. I look around. Al and the doctor are gone!
I jump to my feet and run to the door.
Peering out I see no one in the hall.
Knowing I must move her, I close the door and go to Jennifer.
She has on a shoulder arm sling and a new shirt.
I nudge her, “Jennifer.”
Jennifer struggles to open her eyes.
“Jennifer, we have to move.”
“Where are we?”
“Inside the mountain.”
“Bokan?”
“Yes.”
“How can that be?”
“I dunno but we have to leave. Now.”
Jennifer tries to lift her head but she is too weak.
I pick her up and head for the door.
Peeking out the open door, I see nothing and exit the surgical room. I pull the door shut with my little finger as the other nine are holding an unconscious Jennifer.
Stopping at the same door I came through on our way in, I try the handle.
It opens!
Inside the room I run and try to get into the vent we entered.
It’s locked and now we’re trapped. I look around and see a tall stack of fifty-five gallon drums of something in the corner. I set Jennifer down behind the drums. A large red light in the ceiling goes on and starts spinning like An old police car light.
“Great!”
Just then the steel door opens and I produce my water logged Glock, which I’m pretty confident will fire.
Crazy Al steps through the door.
“We’ve gotta get outta here.” I say.
“No. Wait.” Al looks up.
I think he’s nuts.
Then the air system turns on.
“It’s just the ventilation system. The radiation is everywhere in this place.”
“Great! So we were just exposed to radiation in that air blast on the way in?” I ask.
Al looks like he has no idea what I’m talking about. So then I ask him,
“Can’t we go out the way we came in?”
“No. It’s guarded now. They know we’re down here.”
I walk over to Jennifer seeing she is really weak but trying to speak.
Al walks over. “How’s she doing?”
Jennifer rolls her eyes as if: Not too good.
Al says, “I was in the big one: WWII. Navy. Only three things I fear in this world:
“God, electricity and German subs. You know why?”
“You can’t see any of ’em but cha know they’ll all kill ya!”
Al has a crazy laugh and I realize this guy isn’t playing with a full deck but he saved our lives so I strike up a conversation.
“So what’d ya do after the Navy?”
“Went to L.A. and worked for the Department of Water and Power for 30 years.
“What’d ya do there?”
“Repaired power lines.”
Great! This guy spent his whole life with things he’s afraid of.”
“I came up here to get lucky and strike it rich. Wasn’t so lucky, I guess.” says Al.
“So the Russians are after the uranium?” I ask.