“I think they knew exactly what they were doing,” said Decker ominously.
Jamison said, “And they have one of those vent pipes like we’ve seen around, but there’s no lit flare coming off it.”
“A vent pipe!” Baker looked puzzled. “No way they could be having gas coming up at this stage.”
Decker suddenly flinched. “How far could they have gone down by now?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say no more than a couple hundred feet.”
“That’s what I was afraid you might say.”
“Afraid? Why?”
Decker looked at Jamison. “I think we just found our ticking time bomb.”
When they reached the fenced-in area at the All-American Energy Company, Decker jumped out of the SUV and tried to open the gate. It was locked.
He climbed back into the vehicle.
“Ram it, Alex,” he ordered.
“Are you—”
“Just do it. We’re out of time.”
Baker, who was in the back seat, curled his fingers around his armrest and looked nervously at his brother-in-law.
Jamison gunned the motor, put it in drive, and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal. The big SUV leapt forward and smashed through the gates.
They leapt out, with Decker leading the way to the trailer. The door was locked.
“Decker, we don’t have a warrant,” said Jamison.
“To hell with a warrant, Alex.”
He pulled his gun and shot the lock off. He kicked open the door, and they plunged inside. It was set up much like Baker’s trailer, but there was only one computer monitor on the desk with what looked to be live data covering it.
Decker looked at the screen and said, “Stan, can you make sense of this?”
Baker sat down in the chair and started studying the graphs and other information flowing over the monitor’s face.
“No, I can’t, because it doesn’t make a bit of sense,” he said.
“What doesn’t?” said Decker.
“Well, for starters, I was right. They’ve only drilled down about two hundred feet. At about the hundred-and-fifty-foot mark they’ve started to go horizontally at about a forty-five-degree angle.” He used the mouse to manipulate the screen. Another image flickered up.
“And what is that thing?”
They all stared at where he was pointing.
It was represented on the screen as large and black. “They’ve got imaging sensors in the hole, obviously. And that sucker is showing up.”
“How big do you reckon that is?” asked Decker.
“If I had to thumbnail it, based on the scales I’m used to, I’d say it’s about fifty feet square.”
“So about the size of an average house?”
“About, yeah. Wait, you don’t think there’s a house down there?”
“No. But it’s a big space and you have to wonder what’s in it. And the All-American Energy Company is obviously curious because, from the screen, it looks like they’ve drilled right into it.” He indicated a spot on the screen. “Do you see where it shows one of the walls being pierced?”
“Decker!” exclaimed Jamison. “The biochem weapons!”
“The what?” barked Baker.
“I think we found them,” said Decker. “And so did they.” He glanced out the window of the trailer. “And why do I think that whatever is down there is an airborne weapon? And that right this minute it’s being brought to the surface through that pipe?”
“Holy shit,” said Baker.
“Stan, how do we stop that from happening? As fast as possible?” Baker ran outside and they followed. He rushed over to the drill site and stopped dead. “That’s odd as hell. They’ve got the vent pipe directly attached to the drill hole.”
Decker barked, “It’s not odd if that’s how they’re bringing this shit to the surface. It’ll cover the whole area, maybe the whole state.”
“But how are they bringing it up here?” said Jamison. “It’s not like oil, and the pressure makes it move up into the pipe and to the surface like Stan described to us.”
“Do you hear that?” said Baker.
“What?” said Decker.
“That low hum from somewhere. If I had to guess they’ve got some sort of vacuum system built into their equipment. That must be how they’re bringing whatever is down there up here. They’re creating a suction line.”
“Can we turn it off?” said Decker.
Baker shook his head. “Take too long to find it and figure out how to do it. And if the suction has already been deployed, it might not matter if we turn it off. It’ll be like a siphon hose into a gas tank.”
Jamison exclaimed, “But if they stored that shit down there all those decades ago, won’t it be like in bottles or some other containers and on shelves or even in some sort of secure vault? It’s not like gas sitting in a tank that’ll just be free to come up once a suction is started.”
Baker snapped his fingers. “But it might if they sent a detonator down there first and blew everything up. That would smash whatever containers they’re in and also create pressure vacuums within that bunker. Once pierced, the stuff, if it is airborne, would seek the point of least resistance to get out. And that would be this pipe. At least we have to assume it would be.”
Baker quickly examined the roughly twelve-foot-tall pipe and then pulled out his phone.
“Rick, this is Stan. I need a concrete pumper at the All-American Energy Company site. Yeah, I know that’s not our job. Just do it and tell them to move their ass. We got a pumper all loaded and ready to go over there. I want it here in ten minutes. Five would be better. Do it!”
“Guys!”
Jamison had gone back into the trailer and now appeared in the doorway.
They ran back inside. She was pointing to the screen. “Isn’t that the pressure indicator you showed us back at your trailer, Stan?”
“Yeah,” said Baker.
“Well it just spiked.”
“What does that mean?” said Decker anxiously.
Baker said, “It means whatever the hell is down there is coming up here. And fast.”
“Oh, shit!” Jamison exclaimed.
“Come on!” yelled Baker.
They all ran back outside and Baker started searching the work-site area.
“What are we looking for?” cried out Jamison.
“Something to cap that pipe.”
“Can’t we just bang the shit out of the end of the pipe and close it up that way?” said Decker.
“It’s twelve feet off the ground, Amos, and do you see anything here to bang it with? And if you’re right about the crap down there it has to be airtight.”
“A piece of metal,” suggested Jamison.
“You’re talking a lot of pressure in that pipe, including all the air that’s been trapped in that bunker. Unless it’s welded on we can’t count on a metal cap holding, and we don’t have time to weld it or thread it.”
They all looked frantically around.
“There!” shouted Baker.
It was a hose attached to a thousand-gallon barrel of water.
He grabbed the hose and ran the end of it over to the vent pipe. He flipped a box over and stood on it. “Alex, take the hose and get on my shoulders. Amos, there’s a hand crank on that water tank. Once Alex gets the hose in the pipe, pump like your life depends on it.”
“Well, it does,” Decker muttered, getting in position.
Alex took the hose. Baker bent down, and she climbed onto his broad shoulders. She settled in as he stood up straight. The top of the pipe was still a foot above her outstretched hands, but she worked the hose up and then managed to get the end pointed into the wide pipe.
“Go, Amos!” shouted Baker unnecessarily, because Decker was already pumping like mad. A few seconds later water started coursing through the hose and into the pipe.
“Are you sure this will work?” said Jamison.