Survivors (27 page)

Jessie left to find some volunteers while I
visited Margaret. I knocked on the door to her
apartment. It was partially ajar; she heard my
knock, and a weak voice asked me to come in. I
looked at her, and she started to cry. I sat down on
her bed and held her hand. “I didn’t want to be any
trouble Jim. It’s time for an old lady to die.”

“Well it’s nice you want to end it all, but
you’ll be letting your family down. Who’ll interview
each new resident? Who’ll publish our daily paper?
Who’ll know how to research some obscure topic?
Sure, you’ll say someone else will have to do it, but
the truth is they won’t do it as well as you can.
Margaret, you and Beth are the matriarchs of the
community. I refuse to let you just pass on. Tomorrow, we’re going to get you some of that specialty
drug.”

It was about noon when Major Connors
called with an update on the security situation
around the Columbia, South Carolina area. “There
appears to be a small band of people just east of
the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. They’re in a
group of cars in a parking lot, maybe about a dozen all together. They just appear to be milling
around. You need to approach the industrial park
from the east. Take your satellite phones, and we’ll
update you when you get closer to the area.”

Jessie had picked two volunteers to go on
our mission, Rich Glasgow, a young biochemist
who had recently arrived from the Fort Lauderdale
area, and Elizabeth Crowley, a rocket scientist
from NASA’s Cape Canaveral facility. She was one
of those engineers who sat behind monitors during
space launches.

It would just be the four of us, and we
would take two U-Haul vans just in case we needed
to bring back any manufacturing equipment. We
had packed enough food for five days. Even though
we expected to be back in two, we decided to play it
safe.

A group of about forty residents wished us
good luck as we left the campus around five
o’clock. We were in constant communication with
Private Duncan who was giving us periodic updates on the presence of any bad guys on the roads
ahead. We switched drivers every two hours and by
midnight we had entered Georgia and stopped for a
rest in a wooded area east of Valdosta. We had already left the main interstate roads near Lakeland
Florida. We drove without lights, however each
driver had night vision goggles supplied by Major
Connors.

Around 2:00 a.m., Private Duncan reported
some car headlights just east of Augusta, Georgia,
so we moved further east on some side roads to
avoid any contact. We arrived in the Columbia area
around sunrise. Each of us had been able to catch
a few hours of intermittent sleep, so we weren’t
overly tired. We decided to stop on a quiet residential street. I wanted Private Duncan to give us a
last-minute update on the area. There was no need
to be surprised.

Private Duncan called us at six o’clock.
There was still activity in and around the Columbia
airport. He recommended we approach our destination from the east. The area looked completely
free of a human presence. The drug company was
located on Mauney Court, just off Shop Road. We
pulled into their parking lot just after eight o’clock
and parked both trucks behind the building in an
out of the way spot.

A sledge hammer made quick work of the
building’s lobby window. The four of us entered the
darkened facility and walked slowly around the
office area with our flashlights to get a feel for the
place. We had two goals; first we wanted to collect
enough pills to keep Margaret supplied for at least
five years; and second we wanted to get enough
equipment and raw materials to be able to synthesize more of the specialty drug if necessary.

We split up. Jessie and Rich began a search
for raw materials and manufacturing equipment
while Elizabeth and I began looking for the finished
product. While driving to Columbia, we had discussed the best places to look for the pills. Rich
thought the released product would be stored in a
temperature and humidity controlled room, and
the storage facility would probably be located in
the company’s warehouse. Rich and Jessie would
focus their search in the R&D labs where they
would be able to find manufacturing procedures,
and if they were lucky, pilot plant equipment for
making small batches of the drug.

It took about twenty minutes to locate the
released inventory location in the warehouse. Unfortunately, it was inside a caged in area with a
steel door, and the entrance looked strong enough
to withstand an assault from my sledge hammer.
Rich had been correct; a small room was located
inside the caged in area and was clearly labelled as
Released Drug Inventory.

I tested the strength of the wire cage. The
steel wires used were almost a quarter-inch in diameter, and the structure was anchored to the
concrete floor with bolts requiring a special tool to
remove. What could we use to break into the cage?
Elizabeth and I discussed the problem. The cage
had been designed to prevent people like us from
breaking in.

We settled on a few possibilities. We could
cut through the wires with an acetylene torch, or a
heavy duty wire cutter might work. We found a
machine shop next to the warehouse with a variety
of tools but nothing seemed appropriate. Elizabeth
finally suggested, “I saw a Home Depot just off the
highway about five minutes from here. Let’s check
the place out. I’m sure we can find something there
we can use.”

I liked the idea. We found Rich and Jessie
studying a large binder with manufacturing procedures in the R&D labs, and they were making good
progress. We let them know we were going to find
some tools at a nearby Home Depot to open the
caged in area.

Elizabeth drove our U-Haul because she
knew where she was going. We retraced our route
and found the Home Depot in a huge shopping
center just off the main highway.

After breaking in the front door, we began
searching in the tool department. We found a
heavy duty wire cutter, but its jaws looked too big
to grab the wire. Nevertheless, we placed it in our
cart and then moved onto the equipment rental
section. After scrounging around for a while, we
found an acetylene torch complete with oxygen and
acetylene gas tanks. Elizabeth, who seemed to
know what she was doing, turned the system on,
and using a striker, ignited the mixture of the two
gasses. “This will definitely do the job,” she said.

Together, we lifted the torch with its two
gas cylinders into the cart. We found two more gas
cylinders in case the first ones were used up, and
then we proceeded to the checkout area. I shouted
to the invisible person behind the register that we
would pay our bill later, and the two of us laughed
as we rolled our cart over the broken glass at the
front door and loaded the equipment into our UHaul truck.

Elizabeth headed back toward the drug
company’s parking lot. We wheeled the acetylene
torch system into the building, and I yelled to Jessie and Rich. There was no answer, but they might
have been unable to hear me. We rolled the equipment into the warehouse and Elizabeth lit the
torch and began cutting through the cage.

It took about five minutes for her to cut
through enough wires for us to bypass the lock on
the caged-in area. My sledge hammer made quick
work of the locked door leading to the released
drugs. With our flashlights leading the way, we
easily found the Tamoxophil. It took us another ten
minutes to move the fifty-three cartons of the specialty drug out into the warehouse. We found several hand trucks near the loading docks, and it
took us another ten minutes to move the drugs out
to our U-Haul.

With our work done, we went looking for
Jessie and Rich. There were no responses to our
repeated calls, and the reason became clear when
we entered the R&D labs. Rich was lying on the
floor in a pool of blood. Jessie was nowhere to be
seen. I bent down and checked for a pulse. It was
there, but very weak. He opened his eyes and tried
to speak. “There were four of them. They sneaked
up on us. They wanted to know what we were doing. We told them, and then they shot me and
dragged Jessie out of the lab.”

Rich coughed up a mouthful of blood; his
whole body went rigid and then suddenly became
limp. I checked for a pulse, but there was none.
Elizabeth looked in shock. Rich had been a good
friend.

We both stood there for a moment in disbelief, and then I jumped back into reality. “Quick,” I
said, “we have to contact Private Duncan.”

I ran out into the parking lot with Elizabeth
following me in a daze. I grabbed my satellite
phone from the front seat of our truck and
punched in Private Duncan’s number. He immediately answered. “I’ve been trying to reach you. Four
men entered the building and ten minutes later
they dragged Jessie out and pushed her into a red
SUV.”

“I know; they shot Rich, and before he died,
he told us what happened. Do you know where
they went?”

“I’m following them right now; they’re heading west in the direction of the airport. One of the
cars is a red Lexus SUV, and the other is a black
Hummer. The satellite is going to lose them in another thirteen minutes.”

I looked at Elizabeth. “We need to follow
them now. I’m sorry, maybe we can come back for
Rich’s body after we find them.”

Elizabeth was still in shock. She couldn’t
find the words, but she nodded her head in agreement.

Private Duncan guided us as we chased the
two cars heading toward the Columbia airport.
“The satellite has just lost video contact with the
cars. As best I can tell, they’re heading to the same
group of cars located just east of the airport. I’ll
pick up the video signal again in twenty-nine
minutes with our next satellite.”

I was driving and Elizabeth was still in
shock. “Elizabeth, I need your help. Turn on the
navigation system and find a way to get near the
airport, but have us approach from the south.”

She just stared ahead. I squeezed her arm
and repeated myself. She finally snapped out of her
shock-induced fog and turned on the navigation
system. Elizabeth analyzed the problem and had
me turn left at an intersection, and then one mile
later we turned right onto a residential side street.
The streets were deserted, and I pushed the UHaul up to fifty miles per hour.

One mile east of the airport, I slowed down
to a crawl. I had been so intent on saving Jessie, I
had not thought through just how we might free
her. Elizabeth and I each had a gun and a few
rounds of ammunition, but that would not stack
up against several dozen heavily armed men. The
correct move would be to monitor and observe, and
then execute a plan for releasing her from captivity.

Elizabeth was finally fully rational. “From
what Private Duncan was telling us, this grouping
of cars should be about three blocks to our right.
There’s a parking lot there, and I think he said
they were congregating in a parking lot. We can
park our car in one of these driveways and walk
over to the parking lot.”

I pulled into the nearest driveway and
pulled the car up to the garage behind the property. We both took our guns and extra ammunition
and began walking between houses as we moved
closer to the parking lot. As we approached, I could
hear voices and loud music playing. A red SUV was
parked in the center of the parking lot, and a dozen
men and a few women were taking part in an animated and heated discussion. A young woman was
looking into the SUV, and I could make out the
faint image of Jessie being held captive in the
backseat of the car.

Elizabeth and I didn’t dare move any closer,
and we stationed ourselves behind some dense
bushes on the side of a house across the street
from the parking lot. I looked over at Elizabeth and
she was crying. “Are you okay?”

It really wasn’t a question needing an answer. I put my arm around her back and squeezed
gently. It was all I could think to do. I called Adrian
Duncan back, and Arnie Connors answered the
phone. “Private Duncan is getting some sleep. I’m
your new set of eyes in the sky. Where are you
now?”

“Arnie, we’re hiding behind a house just a
block away from the parking lot where Jessie’s being held. They’ve got her locked up in a red SUV.
There’re about forty men and women just hanging
around the parking lot. It just seems like a meeting
point. Nobody’s living here.”

“Okay, the satellite will be passing overhead
in another seven minutes. What happened at the
drug company?”

I gave Arnie the full detailed account of our
day, and by the time I finished, the satellite was
giving him a live feed of the parking lot. “Are you
hiding on the side of the white house in the middle
of the block on the south side of the street?”

“Okay, I see you. I’m checking out the surrounding area now. There’s a car moving in from
the north. It will probably enter the parking lot in
less than three minutes.”

The arrival of an army Hummer seemed to
provoke excitement from the people in the parking
lot. A tall guy in army fatigues stepped out of his
car and approached the red SUV. He opened the
car’s door and leaned inside. He finally slammed
the door shut and then began talking to his people
who were gathered around. This was clearly the
guy in charge of the group.

After the short meeting, everyone got in
their cars, and the leader led the convoy out of the
parking lot heading west. A minute later the parking lot was totally empty. Elizabeth and I ran back
to our U-Haul while I was talking to Arnie who was
following the convoy with his satellite’s camera.