AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 16
Because they were using their NV goggles, they could keep the headlights off on the carts. That was also going to add to the battery life. They kept their speed slow, avoiding pieces of wooden crates and boxes, as well as other junk that had been discarded and left behind. About five minutes into their ride, the unmistakable smell of something dead hit them all.
Brady was in the second cart with Riley. “You guys see anything up front?”
Armando indicated there was a pile of something about fifty feet in front of them. The two point men jogged ahead and reported back that it looked like a dead coyote had crawled into the tunnel, probably injured, and died there.
“You don’t want to get anywhere near it. It’s covered in maggots,” Armando whispered.
Brady heard a chorus from the drone operators. “Oh thanks. I was hungry until I heard that,” said Carter.
Enemario told Brady he could shut the com down with messages like that. Several of the men in the carts chuckled at that one.
Fredo and Riley began to swear. Brady took out his side arm and readied himself for whatever could be coming next, telling the others to do the same.
The constant flapping of bat wings was chilling. He had no idea whether these bats were the kind that preyed on men or not, but they were damn big, about the size of a small bird, and that spooked him. He hated bats. He liked what they did in his garden as far as eating bugs and dropping fertilizer on his vegetable plants, but he hated the sight of them.
“Are we clear then?” he asked Armando.
“Yep. Just take a wide birth to the left,” Armando replied.
In his ears, Brady heard squawking as somebody on the outside tried to deliver a message. It sounded like Enemario. They had exceeded their range, and Brady wondered if he should send someone back to check on him.
John spoke up first. “I didn’t hear a bit of that, did you Brady?”
“Nope. I’m thinking somebody should go back and double check, make sure they’re not in trouble. I thought these Invisios would last a little longer, but I guess the tunnel’s doing a good job of blocking the signal.”
“Yeah. The concrete is for sure doing that,” said Fredo. “I’ll run on back there, and then if all is well, I’ll head back. You keep calling out what you’re seeing so I can tell if I get out of your range, okay?”
“Will do, Fredo. Next time I’m going to have somebody bring a booster for that signal. I didn’t think of it.”
Armando added his two cents. “Well, with any luck, we’ll be in and out of here quickly. But I sure as hell don’t want to bring four hundred people through this tunnel. It’s going to freak out the women and kids. This is not going to be a viable solution.”
“Yeah, but for a few Americans?” Brady added.
“It’s a shame we can’t bring them all, somehow,” Riley said.
Fredo continued to recite a couple of poems he knew, and Brady could hear that the signal was getting fainter and fainter, the crackle louder than his words, finally.
“I think you’re about there, Fredo.”
“Brady, I’m almost to the entrance. Why don’t you guys stay put and let me go check on him, and I’ll come right back, you copy?”
“Copy that.”
They stopped the carts. John climbed from behind the steering wheel to examine an indentation in the tunnel.
“Hey guys, I think we got a gas main here or something, maybe a steam line. It’s connected to a valve. I’m going to check and see what’s in this box.”
Brady watched him open up what looked like a service box and, to their surprise, found it filled with fuses.
“Well, would you look at that. I got a master switch here. You want me to turn it on?” John asked.
Armando also took a closer look. “Doesn’t look damaged. You think that’s actually going to give us some lights?” he asked.
“Might flood the tunnel with steam. Kind of a negative thought, if you ask me,” Riley said casually.
Brady inserted himself, “Go ahead and hit the switch, but everybody get ready.”
