Cleveland’s police fought a crowd estimated to be between two to three thousand. Police initially tried to control the crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets but soon found that they were not only outnumbered but facing demonstrators with weapons.
The Police Commissioner, Mike Cain, authorized the use of deadly force if an officer felt his life was directly in danger. With the downtown area lost, the police set up barricades to contain the rioters. A cordon from 3rd Street starting at the river to Euclid and East to Interstate 90 was established. They erected barricades and brought in water cannons along with armored police vehicles.
By noon the following day they were able to close the ring and regain control of the downtown city area. The damage was estimated to be in the billions.
Twenty-seven police officers and fire-fighters were killed during the melee and over a hundred injured. One hundred and eighty-seven rioters were killed and at least three hundred injured. Two hundred and ten were arrested during the night long rampage.
In other news a family of four had their private airplane shot out of the sky by the Air Force. The family had a small private air strip on their farm and it is believed that they decided to head to one of the seven remaining states that have not recorded any cases of Ebola.
Air Force jets were scrambled and soon overtook the single engine Piper Cub. The pilot refused to communicate with the Air Force planes and the jets tried to force them to land but they refused. As they approached the border of South Dakota, one of the virus free states, the plane was shot down by a burst of machine gun fire.
Air Force base commander Level Horton said that permission was given when all other options were exhausted. It was something that was deeply regretted but necessary to maintain the quarantine of South Dakota.
When asked if he knew if they were infected with the Ebola virus he said, “That was not a part of the decision making process. The law as it stands now was being broken. Intent is never a factor.”
“It’s getting worse every day,” Mark said, looking up from the microscope.
He was hot and tired from stooping over for the last three hours. He was becoming discouraged.
“People are scared. They are waiting for some miracle to happen. I read where church attendance is up one hundred and fifty percent.”
“I don’t feel much like a miracle man,” Mark replied.
“Nor do I. We need to get to the bottom of that hole and see exactly what is down there. I feel like I am just going through the motions here. We are missing a piece of the puzzle and running around hopping we will stumble upon it. It isn’t exactly the scientific way to approach the subject,” Randal replied.
“It is better than doing nothing. Just sitting around doesn’t inspire much confidence either.”
“That reminds me, I need to give the President the daily update.”
Mark shook his head, “How does that remind you to call the President?”
“It doesn’t but it just popped in my head.”
“Okay, someone has been looking into the microscope way too long,” Mike said raising his eyebrows. It was a wasted gesture inside the biochemical suit.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Buck was less than happy. The floor of the tunnel was so soft that getting solid anchor points was almost impossible. He had tried several different systems but wasn’t satisfied with any of them. Just the weight of the cable alone was staggering.
At one point he thought he had found the answer but when they placed the cable over the turnbuckle the anchors pulled out of the floor.
Discouraged, he went back to the drawing board. It was about this time that Randal and Mike happened to be walking toward the mine entrance.
“Why the sour look?” Randal asked.
“Not sour, discouraged. I just ran a quick test and it's a no go. The floor is just too soft. I am going to have to devise a different method.”
“Well it is a coal mine so…”
“Yeah smart butt. I know it’s a coal mine. Says so right above the entrance. My point being that it is going to take longer than I had initially thought.”
“You said cable,” Mike interrupted.
“Yeah, that long thing that has to go five miles down. By the way, I’m going to need the exact depth. The last thing I want to do is leave someone hanging ten feet above the floor and extra cable is extra weight.”
“They have measured the depth. Some company came out with a Doppler and got an exact reading. That’s where the five mile figure came from,” Randal said.
“When I say exact, I mean to the inch or damn close to it. A few feet short won’t do us much good.”
“Okay, we’ll dig it up. Someone has to know where it is,” Randal said.
“Don’t forget, no one from the mining company is still alive,” Mark reminded him.
“Still, it has to be someplace in the office building. We can have someone look through there and see what they can find. If all else fails we can have another Doppler reading taken,” Randal said.
“Whatever it takes. I need to do some calculations and I would rather not have to guess, especially when someone’s life is at stake.”
“We’ll get it and have it sent to you just as quickly as possible. Is there anything else you need?”
“I’m sure there will be, I just don’t know what at this point. I’m going back to the drawing board,” Buck told them.
“Just let us know and we’ll do our best to get it for you,” Randal replied.
As they walked away Randal said, “Buck is a good man but he is overly cautious at times. On the last building he engineered the site forman said the damn thing was designed for five hundred years. Maybe a little exaggeration but still, I guess I would rather have him that way than too laid back.”
Mike didn’t say anything as they walked along, lost in thought.
“Something bothering you? I mean besides the obvious?” Randal asked after a long silence.
“Well, Buck is your friend so I didn’t know exactly what to say,” Mike replied.
“About?”
“About the cable thing.”
“I’m not following you. Are you talking about the weight of the cable?”
“Not the weight as much as why cable? I mean does he realize all we are doing is sending someone down to look around. If we have them bring anything up with them it will be a small sample,” Mark said.
“I don’t know. I guess we never really discussed it with him. Maybe he thinks we are going to want to haul the drilling machine up or something like that,” Randal said, trying to scratch the itch under the edge of his face mask with no success.
“I thought about bringing it up but when I said something about the cable he kind of blew me off. I thought maybe I had offended him somehow.”
“Nah, Buck has real thick skin. He has to in his line of work. Everyone thinks that engineers live in a dream world and don’t understand everyday situations. It’s sort of an occupational hazard.”
“Well, when we get the exact depth maybe we should sit down and go over exactly what we are trying to do,” Mark said, now trying to scratch his nose after seeing Randal trying so hard and failing.
“I agree. We get the depth to the foot if we can and then we will have a pow-wow with big Chief Engineer.”
“Yes Kemosabe, me see great wisdom in such a meeting,” Mark replied.
“Oh Lord, take me now Ebola. I’m ready to go,” Randal joked back.
Acting President Toll was facing her own crisis. Congress wanted definite proof that President Thornburg was not capable of handling the duties of his office. While she had met with both the Senate and House leaders a certain amount of suspicion still existed.