John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

She was carrying an armload of twisted metal, which she dropped on the pile. “I do.”

“Have you ever used it?”

“No. I’ve checked it out. But you can’t get outside without opening a grate. It has a padlock on it. Should be able to cut the lock with bolt cutters.”

Wilson was walking past them and overheard the direction of the conversation. “How do we know it hasn’t been covered with more of this detritus?”

“We don’t, but it’s worth a try. Tillie, will you take me there?”

She nodded.

Elias whistled to stop Sweezea from operating the loud saw and explained his plan to everyone, which was to split the group in two, leaving some to keep working here in case they ran into the same barrier at the other point of egress. Tillie and Sweezea began filling a pack with a second set of tools, making sure to include a beefy set of bolt cutters, while Crabill rounded up cell phones from Faulk’s men and made sure that their phone numbers were programmed into all of the speed dials.

Elias walked over to Leah. “We need to talk for a minute.”

The two walked away from the rest of the group, making certain that they were well beyond the earshot of Faulk before Elias stopped and turned to his wife. “I haven’t asked yet, but I think now’s the time. I know that you couldn’t possibly have the vaccine on you. They would have found it. But if you have it stashed somewhere, we have a way to communicate now; we can call and tell someone where it is.”

Leah’s expression told him the answer. “I stashed it at the camp. Eric and Khalid searched the place thoroughly and didn’t find it. I put it in the one spot they never really checked all that much, inside a wall in Khalid’s quarters. I never got a chance to go back and get it.”

Her tone fell to a somber note. “I’m sure it was lost in the missile strike.”

Elias was painfully aware that they were running out of both time and options.

“You stay here with Faulk. Hutson, Crabill, and Wilson will keep hacking away at this mess. Keep Faulk’s cell phone handy. I’ll take one of the other phones. If we get there and it’s wide open, I’ll call you. If you break through here, let us know.”

“We’ve been reunited for less than two hours and you’re leaving me?” Leah had an impish smile on her face as she spoke. Elias leaned forward and kissed her.

“Yep. I’ve discovered that absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Jerk!”

He turned to Tillie and Sweezea, who were shouldering the load of implements, and said, “Let’s go.”

“Tillie, I thought you told us that there was no outside drainage for the storm system?” Elias commented as they reached the cavernous basin.

“I lied. It wasn’t actually a lie. I was being very literal. The retention basin does collect all of the storm water. The water does percolate down into the soil at the bottom. But there’s an overflow in case the amount of water coming in exceeds the capacity of the basin. It’s about ten feet down from the top, and it extends past the perimeter wall of Aegis and dumps into an arroyo about four hundred yards outside the wall.”

They were once again standing at the concrete lip of the basin, staring into the darkness.

“How do we get down to it?” asked Sweezea.

“It’s on the face of the vertical wall, about fifty feet that way and about ten feet down. The only way to get to it is by rope.”

Sweezea leaned out over the edge and looked in the direction she pointed, shining his light. “Rope’s got to be tied to something. Looks like a smooth wall to me.”

“Told you, I went down it before, back when I had nothing but time. Follow me. I’ll show you.”

Still wearing her backpack and carrying the shotgun, she casually stepped out onto the lip and walked to the right.

Sweezea muttered, “She reminds me of the captain I left on the outside,” and followed her, walking as surefootedly as a mountain goat on the narrow ledge.

With a chuckle, Elias brought up the rear. Soon, Tillie stopped and began clutching at her backpack, trying to remove it. As the strap slid over her wounded arm, she involuntarily jerked from the flash of pain, causing her to lose balance. As she began to fall, Sweezea’s arm snaked forward and he grabbed her, pulling her back. “Next time, ask for help,” he grunted, lifting the pack from her and setting it on the ledge.

Tillie hurriedly bent over and pulled open the straps on the pack, mumbling, “Thanks,” as she took out a long coil of rope.

In the reflected light from their flashlights, Sweezea looked at questioningly at Elias, who commented dryly, “She isn’t much on asking for help.”

The sergeant glanced at Tillie for a moment, looked back at Elias, and said, “I can relate.” He picked up the coil of rope she had unpacked, as she closed the flap on her pack. “What now?”

Standing, she directed her flashlight on the concrete wall above their heads, where a shiny eyebolt was embedded. “Tie it to that.” She was already slipping back into the backpack, carefully avoiding the bandage on her arm.

Elias, seeing the eyebolt, said to Tillie, “I suppose you brought a rotary hammer down here, along with some two-part epoxy, and put that in yourself.”

She looked at him with a half grin. “Yes…well, no, not really. Actually, not at all. It was already there.”

Elias laughed at the evolution of her answer and shook his head. “Tillie, I’m already impressed. You don’t need to make things up.”

“Hey, it never hurts to embellish a bit.”

Sweezea, as he tied off the end of the rope, asked, “By the way, if the outlet below us is flush with the wall, how did you ever find it?”

“She had a set of plans for the place,” Elias supplied.

“You did?”

“Yep. But that isn’t how I found it. As I was exploring, I saw the eyebolt. I wanted to rappel down to the bottom anyway, so I thought I’d use it. I was pretty surprised when I pushed off and swung out, lowering myself. On my second rappel, instead of my feet hitting a solid wall, I flew right into the opening. I was curious, so I followed it to the end. That’s how I saw the steel grate. Later, I got back to my pad and found the opening on the plans. I haven’t been back to it in a long time, at least four or five years.”

She took hold of the rope from Sweezea and dropped it down the side. Turning her back to the open pit, she tugged hard on the rope and arranged it around her torso.

“You don’t need to check my knots.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Fine. Check them.”

After three more hard tugs, all of which were purely gratuitous, she stepped back so that she was perched on the edge of the lip, her weight resting on her toes. “See you down there.”

Flexing her knees, Tillie pushed away from the ledge as she payed out some rope, lowering herself. Elias and Sweezea leaned over, watching her descent. It took her three rappels this time, as she disappeared into the face of the sheer wall.

From below, they heard her voice. “Next!” The single word echoed around the dark reservoir.

Sweezea looked at Elias and muttered, “Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s kind of cool.”

“THANKS.” Tillie’s voice came up from below.

Not responding to her, he said, “You go next. I’ll come down last.”

“Actually, Tim, I was thinking one of us should stay up here. I’m not one hundred percent certain that we’ve taken care of all the bad guys, and I would hate to be in that pipe while somebody came by and untied the rope.”

“Good point, Doc.”

“So you go ahead. I’ll stay here.”

“Huh-uh. If I’m down there alone with her, I might just strangle her.”