"Yes, sir," she said as her arms coaxed Toto over every dip and bump.
Then Marino, Wesley and I climbed steps leading into the mobile command post, which was upholstered in gray and blue, with tables between seats. There was a small kitchen and bath, and windows were tinted so one could see out, but not in. Radio and computer equipment had been set up near the back, and overhead five televisions were turned to the major networks and CNN, the volume set low.
A red phone on a table started ringing as we were walking down the aisle. It sounded urgent and demanding, and Wesley ran to pick it up.
"Wesley," he said, staring out a window, and he pushed two buttons that both taped the caller and put him on speakerphone.
"We need a doctor." The male voice sounded white and Southern, and he was breathing hard.
"Okay, but you're going to need to tell me more."
"Don't bullshit with me!" he screamed.
"Listen." Wesley got very calm. "We're not bullshitting, all right'? We want to help, but I need more information."
"He fell in the pool and went into like a coma."
"Who did?"
"Why the fuck does it matter who?"
Wesley hesitated.
"He dies, we've got this place wired. You understand?
We're going to blow you fucking up if you don't do some thing now!"
We knew who he meant, so Wesley did not ask again.
Something had happened to Joel Hand, and I did not want to imagine what his followers might do if he died.
"Talk to me," Wesley said.
"He can't swim."
"Let me make certain I understand. Someone almost drowned'?"
"Look. The water's radioactive. It had the fucking fuel assemblies in it, you understand?"
"He was inside one of the reactors."
The man screamed again, "Just shut the fuck up with your questions and get someone to help. He dies, everybody dies. You understand that?" he said as a gun loudly went IL
off over the phone and cracked from the building at the same time.
Everyone froze, and then we could hear crying in the background. I thought my heart would beat out of my ribs.
"You make me wait another minute," the man's excited voice was back on the line, "and another one gets killed."
I moved closer to the phone and before anyone could stop me, I said, "I'm a doctor. I need to know exactly what happened when he fell into the reactor pool."
Silence. Then the man said, "He almost drowned, that's all I know. We tried to pump water out of him but he was already unconscious."
"Did he swallow water?"
"I don't know. Maybe he did. Some was coming out of his mouth." He was becoming more agitated. "But if you don't do something, lady, I'm going to turn Virginia into a goddamn desert."
"I'm going to help you," I said. "But I need to ask you several more questions. Tell me his condition now?"
"Like I said. He's out. It's like he's in a coma."
"Where do you have him?"
"In the room here with us." He sounded terrified. "He don't react to anything, no matter what we try to do."
"I'm going to have to bring in a lot of ice and medical supplies," I said. "It's going to take several trips unless I have some help."
"You'd better not be FBI," he raised his voice again.
"I'm a doctor out here with a lot of other medical personnel," I said. "Now, I'm going to come and help, but not if you're going to give me a hard time."
He was silent. Then he said, "Okay. But you come alone."
"The robot will help me carry things. The same one that brought you your phone."
He hung up, and when I did, Wesley and Marino were staring at me as if I had just committed murder.
"Absolutely not," Wesley said. "Jesus Christ, Kay!
Have you lost your mind?"
"You ain't going if I have to put you in a goddamn police hold," Marino chimed in.
"I have to," I said simply. "He's going to die," I added.
"And that's the very reason why you can't go in there," Wesley exclaimed.
"He has acute radiation sickness from swallowing water in the pool," I said. "He can't be saved. Soon he will die, and then I think we know what the consequences might be.
His followers will probably set off the explosives." I said to Wesley, Marino, and the commander of HRT, "Don't you understand? I've read their Book. He is their messiah, and they won't just walk away when he dies. This whole thing will turn into a suicide mission, as you predicted." I looked at Wesley again.
"We don't know that they'll do that," he said to me.
"And you'll take the chance they won't?"
"And what if he comes to," Marino said. "Hand's going to recognize you and tell all his assholes who you are. Then what?"
"He's not going to come to."
Wesley stared out a window, and it wasn't very hot in the RV, but he looked like it was summer. His shirt was limp from dampness, and he kept wiping his brow. He did not know what to do. I had one idea, and I did not think there could be another one.
"Listen to me," I said. "I can't save Joel Hand, but I can make them think he's not dead."
Everyone just stared at me.
Then Marino said, "What?"
I was getting frantic. "He could die any minute," I said. "I've got to get in there now and buy you enough time to get in, too."
"We can't get in," Wesley said.
"Once I'm in there, maybe you can," I said. "We can use the robot to find a way. We'll get him in, and then he can stun and blind them long enough for your guys to get in. I know you have the equipment to do that."
Wesley was grim and Marino looked miserable, I understood the way they felt, but I knew what must be done.
I went out to the nearest ambulance and got what I needed from paramedics while other people found ice. Then Toto and I made our approach with Lucy at the controls. The robot carried fifty pounds of ice while I was in charge of a large medical chest. We walked toward the front door of Old Point's main building as if this were any other day and our visit was normal. I did not think of the men who had me in their scopes. I refused to imagine explosives or the barge loading up material that could help Libya build an atom bomb.
When we reached the door, it was immediately opened by what looked like the same bearded man who had appeared to get the hostage phone not long ago.
"Get in," he gruffly said, and he was carrying an assault rifle on a strap.
"Help me with the ice," I said.
He stared at the robot with its five bags held fast in grippers. He was reticent, as if Toto were a pit bull that might suddenly hurt him in some way. Then he reached for the ice and Lucy programmed her friend through fiber optics to release it. Next, this man and I were inside the building with the door shut, and the security area had been destroyed, X-ray and other scanning devices ripped out of place and riddled with bullets. There were blood drips and drag marks, and when I followed him around a corner, I smelled the bodies before I saw the slain guards who had been gathered into a ghastly, gory pile down the hall.
Fear rose in my throat like bile as we passed through a red door, and the rumble of combines shook my bones and made it impossible to hear anything said by this man who was a New Zionist. As I noticed the large black pistol on his belt, I thought about Danny and the.45 that had so coldly killed him. We climbed grated stairs painted red, and I did not look down because I would get dizzy. He led me along a catwalk to a door that was very heavy and painted with warnings, and he punched in a code as ice began to drip on the floor.
"Just do as you're told," I vaguely heard him say as we walked into the control room. "You understand me?" He nudged my back with his rifle.
"Yes," I said.
There were maybe a dozen men inside, all dressed in slacks and sweaters or jackets, and carrying semiautomatic rifles and machine guns. They were very excited and angry, and seemed indifferent to the ten hostages sitting on the floor against a wall. Hands were tied in front of them, and pillowcases had been pulled over their heads. Through holes cut out for eyes, I could see their terror. The openings for their mouths were stained with saliva and they sucked in and out with rapid, shallow breaths. I noted bloody drag marks on the floor here, too, only these were fresh and led behind a console where the latest victim had been dumped.