“Let’s wait a few minutes longer,” Jimmy said, taking a deep breath.
“You can count on it,” Frank replied.
They lay there for a good ten minutes before Jane finally looked back down on the facility. Everything looked normal.
“I think it’s good,” she said, “Get your pictures and let’s get the heck out of here.”
“I am all for that,” Jimmy said.
Frank got up on his knees and started panning the camera to get the full facility. He stopped suddenly and dropped back down.
“Oh God. Oh, Oh,” he stammered.
“What?” Jimmy and Jane said in unison.
“They are coming. Three of those big Hummers are headed right for us,” he said and bound up and took off running toward the car.
“Oh crap,” Frank said and ran after him.
Jimmy was a good forty yards in front of him as they ran. Jane pushed deeper into the weeds and slid a few feet down the berm. She could hear the Hummers racing toward their position. Two broke off and headed for the two running men. The third one slowed down and crept past where she lay. She buried her face as far in the earth as she could. She could smell the ground and grass as she lay there.
“Any more?” someone suddenly yelled nearby.
She could hear someone yell something back but she couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“Hold them, I’ll be right there,” the voice said.
She could hear the Hummer as it roared off across the field. She didn’t move. They could have left someone behind waiting for her to give up her position. Off in the distance she could hear voices and suddenly two gunshots rang out. She wanted to raise her head but she forced herself to stay still.
She wasn’t sure how long she lay like that. It seemed like hours. The sun was starting to set and still she didn’t move. She had to go to the bathroom and was considering how she could pull it off when she heard someone cough. She was right; they had left someone to wait for her to move. All she could do was lay there and pee in her pants.
She was getting colder as she lay there. The wetness that had been warm earlier was now making her cold as well.
She must have drifted off because suddenly she heard someone say, “Well this is stupid. No one else is here. How much longer do they want us to wait?”
“I don’t know jackass. Why don’t you call the captain and ask him?” another voice said.
“This is stupid,” the guy repeated but the other man didn’t say anything.
It was an hour later when she heard a Hummer coming her way. The headlights played over the berm and then it was dark again.
“Come on dorks,” someone said, “The captain said we could call it a night.”
She heard the doors shut then listened as it drove off. It seemed even colder now and she finally decided to peek over the rise and see if they had left someone to try to catch her. She stared into the darkness and finally decided she was going to risk it. She was stiff as she got up and crawled over the top of the hill.
She slowly got to her knees and finally stood up stooped over. She started across the field. She was sure someone would sound the alarm but as she got to the trees on the other side of the field she stood up and leaned against one of the trees, trembling.
Jimmy. Frank. Did they shoot them? Are they dead? What had she done?
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The gondola was sitting over the hole while Buck went through the checklist one last time. He fiddled with a gauge a few moments and then, satisfied, he pressed the intercom button.
“Everything looks good, All ready?”
“Let’s do it,” Jones said.
“Ready Buck,” Mark replied.
He glanced over at Randal who gave him a thumbs-up. Buck turned the dial and the gondola began its descent. In mere moments it was no longer visible.
“Doing okay?”
“Smooth as glass,” Jones replied.
“I’m going to increase the descent speed a little. They could see the walls of the shaft sliding by illuminated by their helmets headlights.
“Not as bad as I imagined,” Mark said.
“Piece of cake,” Jones said.
He tried laying his head back to see the top of shaft but it was to no avail.
“You're about half way,” Buck said in their earpiece.
“Copy that. We’re showing 13,200 feet,” Mark acknowledged.
“I’ll keep it at this speed until you are two hundred feet from the bottom then I’ll slow you down again.”
“Copy that Buck,” Mark replied.
“It’s gone pretty fast,” Jones said.
“Yeah, you kind of lose perspective when you don’t have a fixed reference point,” Mark said.
“Okay, once we get down, we unstrap and check our hoses one more time, then we move out,” Jones said.
“Yep, that’s the plan.”
They waited, not saying anything as they sped closer and closer to the bottom.
“Bill, Mark. I’m going to slow you down some,” Buck told them and they could feel it slowing but it was gradual.
“Two hundred feet. Look down through the floor glass and see if you can make out the BARD.
Both men leaned as far forward as their harnesses allowed trying to see through the porthole in the bottom of the gondola.
“Is that it?” Jones asked.
“Wow. I think that may be what’s left of it. Those are some pretty big chunks of metal. That must be it. Buck, we can some kind of wreckage. It’s washed out with the bright lights but I looks like it may have been yellow.”
“That’s it. I want pictures. Not much left huh?”
“Some big pieces of metal sticking up, nothing really discernible,” Mark radioed back.
“Okay, keep a sharp look out I’m going to start your slowdown. The exact depth is unknown because of those metal pieces. I don’t want you to smash into them.”
“I vote for that,” Mark said.
Buck lowered them a little at a time until they were hanging just a few inches above the massive steel protrusion sticking up. A light mist was hovering someplace just below and they couldn’t really see the bottom of the pit.
“Well, we have a dilemma. We can’t go any lower and the bottom of the pit is still someplace below us,” Mark told Buck.
“No way for the gondola to squeeze by?”
“Not possible,” Jones said.
“Any chance you can climb down the BARD? I know it’s not ideal and if you feel it is too risky, I’ll haul you up and we will go about it a different way. At least we know what we’re up against now.”
“I’m pretty sure I can make it down. There are all kinds of hand holds that I can get a purchase on,” Jones replied.
“Mark?”
“I guess. It is kind of leaning to one side and Bill is right, it does have a lot of external pipes and paraphernalia. The big question is what is under the layer of mist?”
“I say we go find out,” Jones put in.
“Mark. It’s your call.”
“I guess we can try. If it looks too dangerous I’ll call it off and we can regroup.”
“Alright boys but don’t take any big risks. It isn’t worth it. I can figure out a new design now that you have seen firsthand what we’re up against.
“Roger that,” Mark said.
Jane looked around, trying to figure out where they had left the van. She stopped suddenly and listened. Hummers. She peeked out from behind the trees and saw three Hummers racing toward where she had come from. Suddenly it dawned on her. Her foot prints were visible from the dew on the grass. She could see exactly where she had run from to the tree line.
She spun around, frantically trying to decide which way to go. Without thinking she started running through the sparse trees, trying to get to where it was denser. Branches scraped at her arms and legs as ran.