"Hello," we turned at the voice and stared. The general was a woman. OK. We looked at each other not sure what to say. I finally settled on "Hello". She just smiled. She became serious when she looked at the men holding us. "You can release them now, men and return to your stations." Smart ass looked like he wanted to argue but placed our weapons on a table, turned and disappeared back the way we'd come.
"He finds it difficult taking orders from a woman. He isn't the only one." Presenting her hand I shook it and stepped back as Mason and Ken did to. I saw Ken held her hand a mite longer than was necessary. Hmm, that was interesting. Just then I heard a squeal, and turned to catch George as she threw herself into my arms. "I knew you would come." She whispered, "I just knew it." Ken came over and hugged the both of us and I remembered what it was like to have family.
The general looked over some papers, nodded her head and returned the salute before turning to us. "So, maybe one of you would like to explain how you got inside and where you got the map, code numbers and pass key."
Crap.
Chapter 4
The cute, little, pixie girl, general stood before us demanding our information source, which we had no intention of divulging. We hadn't planned for this kind of emergency so we just stood there, looking stupid. Worked for me.
"Like we told your men," Ken began, making me jump. "I found the information on the bodies that were taken outside. Each one seemed to have a piece of paper either in his hand or in a pocket. I was looking for a way into the building and whenever someone would be hauled out, I tried to get inside but couldn't get here in time."
"Why is that Mr. Darling? Were you so far away?" She started pacing, just like a real general. Three or four steps one direction, then three or four the other.
"I was living in the fire service lookout tower about a mile east of here." She nodded like she knew the place. "It was the safest place I could find. I tore out the bottom steps and put in a rope ladder. But it was just too far away for me to get here fast enough to get inside. I felt kinda bad for the dead and was going through their pockets for names and address so I could notify their families and that's when I found the codes and whatnot."
"I see and did you ever notify any families?"
"I made up fliers and put them on telephone poles. It was the best I could do." The pacing was beginning to get on my nerves, so I had to fight to keep from telling her to stop it. I felt a nudge at the edge of my mind and thought,
What?
followed quickly by a cough coming from behind me.
Just wait her out, JD,
George said,
she's just posturing for the benefit of the others. She's almost done.
I jumped when Mason said,
Does all your family know how to do that?
I'm not nervous, nope not me.
I hope Ken never finds out, he'll be so pissed. He's tried to it but never could manage it. If he finds out George can do it, he'll be devastated.
The general stopped pacing and stood in front of us with her hands clasped behind her. The change took me by surprise, since I had wanted it to stop already. When she did, I was more nervous. Looking intently at each of us, she took a deep breath. "I have no choice but to believe you. Now that you're here, you have to stay so it might as well be on good terms. Just a note of warning. Those three men who brought you in are hardcore. They shoot first and don't give a damn about asking questions. I'm controlling them at this time, but just barely. So don't get in their way, understood?"
We nodded our heads like good little kids.
"Dr. May, would you find them some bunks and assign them duties we all can live with?"
"Sure, sir." She said to the pixie, who seemed satisfied and turned back to the monitors. We were clearly dismissed so George grabbed my hand and began to lead me to another portion of the Command center. We headed down some more steps and walked into a room that was clearly a lab. It was a long narrow room, with two counters running down the middle nearly to the end. Each counter was loaded down with microscopes, burners and machines that probably did some amazing things. Northern Uncle Bill stood at the other end, talking to a man in a lab coat. They were so intent on their conversation, that George had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. That had evidently been tried before, because he shrugged her off and continued as if she was a pesky fly. She blushed, then stood meekly by waiting for him to notice her. It seemed practiced, like she had done it many times before. I didn't doubt it a bit
He was a tall man with white hair and a white goat tee and mustache. His slender frame had never seen an ounce of fat because he was too busy with his work to eat. Wearing a white lab coat and blue booties on his shoes, he ignored us which I was all too familiar with.
When the other man finally nodded and left, Northern Uncle Bill turned, saw George and his face lit up. The light went out when he saw me and Ken. Yep, been there, done that. I wasn't offended because I already knew where I stood in his heart. It should have hurt my feelings but I only get hurt by the people I care about. I found I was only mildly irritated. That irritation was due mostly to our reception more than his indifference. I wondered, briefly, if he would be hurt that I really didn't care, but only briefly. I turned to Mason and smiled. He looked puzzled for a moment but our connection was solid and he smiled back at me.
"Dad, this is JD's husband, Mason." He glanced briefly at Mason, then turned when Ken spoke.
"We need to discuss the reason we're here. Is there a safe place around here to do that?" Ken asked, clearly not happy.
"Yes, follow me." George started to lead us into what looked like a storage room filled to overflowing with boxes labeled 'files'. Northern Uncle Bill stayed her with a tight grip on her arm. "I think this can wait for a bit."
"No sir, it can't wait. Not even a few minutes ." Mason said, leading the way into the storage room. Northern Uncle Bill hesitated a moment, with a look on his face that my mother would make when she smelled something nasty. He followed us into the room anyway. George looked around outside before closing the door and locking it.
"We have to be careful. They're so scared someone will escape, they watch us like hawks."
"Why don't they care if someone leaves?" Mason asked.
"They're afraid everyone will find out about this place and want in. They can't handle many more people in here, the food and water is getting scarce and our medical supplies are dismal. Of course, in four days it won't matter anymore."
"I would think with basic supplies getting low, they would encourage people to leave."
Northern Uncle Bill made a sound that was similar to a dog clearing their nose or a muffled sneeze. Clearly he disagreed. "The blast radius will be 100 miles so that means we need to leave by 5 pm Sunday in order to achieve maximum safe distance." Northern Uncle Bill said crossing his arms over his belly. I think he thought it made him look important, I thought it looked confrontational but hey, who am I?
"Sunday? We are not waiting till Sunday to leave. I'm not taking any chances on managing to get to a 'maximum safe distance' If we leave tomorrow we can be in Montana when it goes off." Mason replied, "It will take half an hour to get off this mountain, then the land is so flat the blast wall will travel pretty fast. If we cut it that close we'll need to be underground rather than far away."
"Mr. Mason, is it?" He knew his name, he was just being an ass. "I'm sure you may think you know what the situation is, but I beg to differ."
"Mr. May," Mason began.
"Doctor May." He said, puffed up like a toad ready to do battle.
"OK, Dr. May, we just got here, so I think we know a little bit more about the route we need to take than you, who've been sitting on his..."
"Well, this is going well, don't ya think?" I said, jumping between the two of them. "Uncle Bill," and putting my hand up in a stop-right-there signal, "we went to a lot of trouble to find a place that would keep us safe after we leave here, just in case we left too late. Mason is right. The blast wall is going to travel much faster over flat land, so we have no chance of outrunning it. We'd have to hide. Just in case that should happen, we found a place far enough from here to be safe so stop pissing off everyone and lets figure out a way out of here." I was out of breath by the time I finished. Mason had walked to the end of the room and stood with hands in his pockets staring at a spot on the floor. I could tell by the tension in his shoulders, he was infuriated. Not bad, it only took him 3 minutes to become frustrated while it took us years. Northern Uncle Bill just glared at me. George and Ken were staring at the floor.
"Well, it looks like Margie's daughter grew up." He said tilting his head back and literally looking down his nose at me.
"Dad, be nice."
"Why does everyone think I'm not being nice?" Oh well, that answer would just take too much time to answer. So I ignored it.
"Do you have a plan or do we need to come up with one?" Mason said, almost growling. You could see the white line along his jaw where he was clinching his teeth. I sent him some love, and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Then he smiled at me, nodded and rotated his shoulders. He'd be ok for a bit. I just needed to keep them apart for awhile.
"I believe I was the one to send the information out so Ken could get it to you in Montana. I'm also the one that will get us out of here, we just needed a little help from the outside to get clear of this mountain."
"Well, then, we will just let you lead the way out of here then." Mason said, then walked to the door, unlocked it and stomped out.
"I can't abide insolence," Uncle Bill griped. He was still puffed up although his feathers were now ruffled.
"We aren't tallying up who has done what. We got here, we just need your plan to leave. As to insolence, you encourage it from everyone and most people are able to resist or just don't care. Mason cares, so don't push him to far. You won't like the results."
He turned and "harrumphed" at me. When he turned away I said, "and that means you think I am beneath you so you don't have to reply."
"Well!"
"That one means you can't believe I said that and you're insulted."
"Whatever".
"That's my favorite... you think you're right and I don't know what I'm talking about."
He started to say something, thought better of it, then he lifted one eyebrow, fluttered his lips, and walked out of the room also.
George just stood there and stared at me.
"Close your mouth, sweetie and show me where the food is. When everyone calms down we really need to plan to leave."
"How did you do that?"
"Years of hard work and dedication to the dilemma of NUB or Northern Uncle Bill. We would spy on him for hours and then talk about it for days trying to figure him out. The really sad part was, no one had an answer."
"It's his work."
"No, George it's not his work. Remember the Christmas your mom had the family over for dinner? If was the first time for her and she was so nervous. She had the table set, dinner getting cold while she kept checking the driveway to see if he was home yet. He never showed up, didn't call, nothing. There is NO excuse for a man to be away from his family on Christmas. When he did show up, he was clearly mad at your mom for having 'these people invading his home' when he knew we were all coming because we RSVP'd, per his request. I believe that was the reason he didn't get you or your mom gifts for Christmas."
"No, he always got us something, even if he couldn't be there."
"No, George, your mom bought the gifts for you from your dad and she bought herself one labeling it from your dad so you wouldn't know. I don't think he ever gave her a gift for anything. There was no praise, no love. She just covered for him to the absolute aggravation and embarrassment of everyone else in the family.
But that doesn't have anything to do with right now. He has to relinquish control of the situation to us because we just drove the route. We know more than he does ab out what it's like out there and that's chapping his ass. We'll lead the way, once we're get clear of this place but until then you and I and Ken have to diffuse the bomb building between your dad and Mason.
Now, we need to eat, sleep some and find a way out of this prison the pixie has engineered before we all become toxic waste."
The lab was vacant when we finally emerged from the storage area. It took us a bit to find the others, who had wandered into the lab dorms and were gathered around some bunks. Northern Uncle Bill was not present but I didn't expect him to be, because he'd lost the argument. Mason turned as we approached and smiled. That made me smile too.
"The way we have it figured, we're near the base of the mountain. Is that right, George?"
"Yes, that's very good. We aren't far from the exit door hidden in the mountain. The general doesn't believe it's even there and won't let the men check it out. She's afraid they won't come back or worse bring back enforcements."
"How did she respond to the fact that the place will blow up in three days?"
"Disbelief. She thinks it's just a ploy to get out. Says the place wasn't designed to self destruct. Read it somewhere, she says, but not from the information we got. When the fuel that runs the generators run out, the computer is programmed to self destruct. End of story."