“Yes sir. We haven’t located him but one of the security patrols searching in the mountains came across a cave. It was obviously a coyote lair. They went in and found a chewed up pair of pants and one mangled shoe. They are both soaked in blood. We don’t know for sure if it is Mr. Eller’s but it is consistent with what he was wearing. I was going to have the articles sent to the medical lab in Las Vegas for testing to see if it was human, and if at all possible, DNA testing. Would anyone have a DNA sample we could have sent to them for comparison?”
“I have no idea. That’s not something I would know,” the President said, thinking that was a strange request.
“I guess we can go through his personal belongings here and see if we can come up with something that can be used. I just didn’t want to snoop in his items.”
“Well, I suggest you not worry about that and get what you need.”
“Yes sir.”
“Did they find his body?”
“They found bits and pieces of bone fragments and little else. The cave was pretty big so it looks like there may have been a pack of them. We are going to set a trap tonight to try to kill them off,” the general said.
“Just don’t let the animal rights freaks about it. As far as I am concerned you can kill every one of those damn things.”
“Yes sir. I’ll let you know when we have the results back from the lab.”
“Yes. As soon as you know for sure I will need to make some changes and have his next of kin notified,” the President said.
“I’m very sorry about this sir. I wish we could have done more,” the general said.
“It’s not your fault. I am sure he was just trying to do his job and something went wrong. It was one of those things that is out of anyone’s hands. He was a good man and will be greatly missed,” the President said.
“I understand how you feel. We had an uneasy relationship but I respected his integrity and dedication,” the general replied. He smiled as he hung up.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Dr. Yuriss was morose and had little enthusiasm for her work at present. The news about what the security people had found quickly made its way to her group. She was stunned and distressed about Raymond and what might have been. Most of all she was saddened for the loss of a very kind and good man.
She was going through the motions of working but her usual exuberance was clearly missing. She caught herself two or three times not paying attention and making silly mistakes.
“Dr. Yuriss. Dr. Yuriss are you okay?” her assistant said.
“What? Oh, yes. Sorry. I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head to clear it.
“You’re sure? We don’t have to do this right now if you would rather take a break.”
“No. Let’s get this lowered in place so we can get on with the next phase,” she said.
“Fine, but be careful,” he said taking hold of the chain hoist control switch.
He pushed the down button and the multi-directional flow control nozzle started to slowly lower into place. It was time consuming because it had to be guided in such a manner that the directional veins aligned perfectly with the flow nozzle outlet ports. It was one of the critical elements of being able to control the craft direction both vertically and horizontally. If they were not in perfect alignment, control would be virtually impossible.
He was on the other side of the vessel from Lynn and could not see where she was exactly. His eyes were focused on getting the cover in perfect alignment.
“Just about there,” he said, watching the alignment intently.
Only a few more inches and then they would be able to make the final alignment manually.
“Stop. Stop,” Lynn screamed out. “Raise it. My fingers are caught,” she yelled.
He quickly hit the up button and raised the casing.
“Ouch! Doggone it! Son of a gun!” she said, pulling her fingers from under the heavy flow control nozzle.
“Are you alright, Dr. Yurris?”
“No, doggone it. Boy-oh-boy, that smarts,” she said holding her throbbing fingers. They had already started to turn blue.
“Let me take a look at them,” he said.
“No,” she said pulling them back and protecting them with her other hand.
“We need to have those looked at. You might have broken something.”
“Hold on,” she said, leaning against the reactor housing, “I feel sick. Let me just get my breath,” she said.
“Here, sit down before you fall down,” the assistant said, pushing a stool over to her.
She sat down clutching her fingers. She looked at them and could see that blood was seeping out from under two of the fingernails. She could feel every heartbeat in the tips of her fingers. The pain was like shooting bolts of electricity. The ends of her fingers were turning purple and starting to swell.
“You’re right, I think I had better have these looked at,” she said.
“I’ll get some ice to put on them and then I think we should get those taken care of professionally.”
He ran and got ice cubes and wrapped them in a towel. He placed it gently around her fingers but she still let out a small gasp.
“Let’s get you over to the infirmary. They can see what needs to be done much better than the nurse here,” he said.
He called for security and they sent a guard, who took one look at her hand and decided that she needed to go to the main base for medical treatment. Lynn didn’t put up any argument. The pain in her fingers was excruciating and just walking to the Jeep made them hurt even more.
She felt so stupid for letting this happen. If she had been paying more attention she wouldn’t be in this mess. The ride to the infirmary was agonizingly long and every bump seemed to send a wave of fresh searing pain through her fingers. The driver did the best he could to miss the majority of the holes and depressions in the road but it didn’t make her feel any better.
“What happened to you?” Angie asked when Lynn came in holding her hand.
“I did something stupid.”
“Let’s take a look,” the nurse said.
“Doggone it, they really hurt,” Lynn told her, trying to be brave.
Angie carefully unwrapped her hand and looked at the deep purple tips of her fingers.
“I’m Angie,” the nurse said, trying to distract her as she checked the fingers on her right hand.
“Yes. Everyone seems to know who you are. Sorry, I’m Lynn Yurris.”
“Oh dear. You did do a number on those. Let’s do this one step at a time,” she said getting a needle and a bottle of numbing agent.
“You will feel a little discomfort when I stick the needle in, but it will stop the pain quickly,” she said, “Ready?”
“Do it. It can’t be any worse than it already is,” Lynn replied, closing her eyes.
Somehow, having her eyes closed seemed to help when she was getting a shot. She felt the pressure of the nurse’s hands and just a small prick. Within seconds the throbbing started to ease and she began to feel better.
“Wow, that’s much better,” Lynn said.
“Boy, nothing like a couple of smashed fingers to cause pain. I can still remember the time my fingers got closed in a car door,” she said.
“This was my fault. I simply wasn’t paying attention,” Lynn replied.
“It happens. Everyone works so hard around here. The isolation and long hours take their toll,” Angie told her.
“I guess I could blame it on that. The truth is, I just haven’t been myself. I can’t seem to get back on track,” Lynn said.
“Do you think you need to get some help? We have wonderful resources available if you feel the need. I’m not trying to be pushy but sometimes talking to someone helps,” she said.
“I don’t know. I’m just upset and saddened by the disappearance of Raymond Eller. He was from Washington and had some connection to the White House. I got to know him a little and it has been on my mind. To die out in the desert and be eaten by wolves. It's just so gruesome.”