David Golemon - Event

"The autopsy of the mangled animal we pulled from one of the holes that were bombed indicated they were void of digested food. That's why they broke from the main pack, to scout the surrounding area because they're hungry. We've removed their food source by evacuating the civilians, so we believe the rest will seek nourishment anywhere they can before setting out," Virginia answered.

Niles gave her a worried look. "The only food in the area is the teams on the ground."

"Yes, that's the obvious conclusion."

Suddenly Jack appeared on the screen with Sarah by his side.

"Niles, I've come up with something here. It might be the backup plan we need." Jack nodded toward Sarah, who removed her helmet.

"Mr. Compton, do you have virtual reality map 00787 there with you?" she asked.

Niles reacted quickly and punched in the command on his desk keyboard. As they watched, a tight, multicolored view of the valley popped up on the screen. Niles quickly looked it over and made sure the map numbers matched.

"Got it," he said as Alice joined him in front of the large screen.

"Do you see the eastern end of the valley?" Sarah asked.

"Yes," Niles said.

"Now, the major caught this little item and I missed it. See the rock stratum goes down into the ground at some points more than two thousand feet, but at the eastern end it tapers out to almost nothing, and there is an actual gap in the ring of mountains at the easternmost end. The rock stratum is virtually nonexistent."

"I don't get it, what are you saying?" Niles said.

"Niles, the animals will try to exit the valley through the point of least resistance. They may just choose the eastern range, because of the shallowness of the mountain stratum in that area. It's a funnel, Niles, a funnel!" Collins said.

Compton finally got it. "A trap of some kind?"

"Right, we need an engineer company at the point where the mountains dip down to nothing, where there is no rock deep enough. We need them there with one of the packages from MacDill, placed about a thousand feet down ought to do," Collins said.

"I get you, Jack, but what in the hell is going to keep them from heading to the shallow point before we're ready?" Niles asked.

Alice understood and grabbed his arm. "The tunnel teams have to keep them busy for a while, Niles, that's all."

The director stood and looked at Jack and Sarah. "The only way you can do that is to make yourself targets, Jack. You're there to try and flush them out, and that's their goddamn territory down there!"

"Niles, can you get the engineers there ASAP?" Jack asked.

"They'll be there, Major," said a voice from the doorway that caught them off guard.

Both Alice and Niles turned to see Senator Lee standing in the doorway leaning on his cane. He was wearing a red robe and slippers and was staring at both of them. Alice and Niles both stood in shock at seeing him there.

"Thought you could get rid of me that easy?" he said as he glared at Alice. "You have to do more than hide my pants, woman, you... you usurper."

Alice finally gained back some of her senses and threw her pad on the desk. Niles didn't know what to do, so he did what came naturally lately, he plopped back down into his chair, shaking his head.

"You need to be back at the clinic!" Alice said, going to Lee's side and helping him to the couch.

"Now, can someone fill me in on how this war is going? Or do I have to wait for the damn movie?"

Niles explained Jack's plan to the senator, who sat and listened with his eye closed.

"Jack, I know exactly what you need, and maybe I can get you some bait out there to ensure the animals' participation in their destruction. You two go on with your mission and we'll take care of everything from here."

"Yes, sir, nice to see you decided to go to work today," Jack said, and smiled into the camera, placing his hand on Sarah's shoulder and walking away from the camera.

"Okay, smart guy, what do we do to take advantage of knowing where they will run if they get by the tunnel teams?"

"Well," Niles said while eyeing Lee, "as Jack said, we order some engineers into that gap in the mountains and drill a hole as deep as we can and then booby-trap it. One neutron bomb should do, no radiation. That may just finish them and break their backs, unless they just go deep under any rocks in the immediate stratum and go under the mountains at some point."

"We may be giving these animals too much credit," Lee said. "I mean, are they sentient or just wild beasts? We don't know, and our only choice is to treat them as animals. So maybe they will take the path of least resistance just like the major said and go where they don't have to dig deeper. We must hope they are driven by their metabolism, not their brains. So, where we stand is, we need their path to be failsafe and very, very tempting. Get every head of cattle left in that valley and get them to that gap."

Niles didn't comment but just nodded and marked the break in the mountains with his finger, drawing a line that bled into the map as his finger passed.

"So there it is, the line has been drawn, huh, Niles? Now get on the horn and tell the president Jack's fallback plan," Lee said. "If the tunnel teams fail, Major Collins may have to do the unthinkable."

Niles looked at Lee and shook his head, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"After you get done there, Niles, we have to sit down and discuss a little e-mail I just received from a traitor in the midst of our enemies. It seems after this is all over, we have an old friend we have to go meet in New York."

Alice and the senator sat on the couch exchanging gentle words. It seemed whatever e-mail Lee had just received was like a tonic that gave him a breath of new life and a new mission.

Niles connected with the president. "Sir, Major Collins has come up with a rather ballsy backup plan. Are you ready for this?"

Collins followed Sarah, catching her just as she was walking up to Everett and Lisa. "You watch yourself, don't pull any hero crap out there." He stopped and looked her in the eyes and then at Lisa. "Because in my experience, a hero is a sandwich." Then he gave her a soft smile and turned away and left.

Sarah smiled sadly at Lisa and Everett, then joined the line to get her body armor, leaving Lisa and Everett alone.

"I've decided something," Lisa said as she watched her friend leave.

"And that is?" Everett asked, not caring who saw them talking with each other. At this point, Congress could climb into one of those cursed holes and go straight to hell.

"I'm resigning from the navy."

"No, now that Jack is on board, the Group's security is in the best hands possible. It's me who's resigning."

Lisa couldn't speak.

"That means as soon as this thing's over, we're going to your folks in Houston and we're getting married. That's an order."

She smiled and hit him in the shoulder. "Ow" was all the big SEAL said.

Man has always been wary of the darkness and thus has followed the path laid bright by the moon; therefore I shall steal the moon glow and blacken the night... and show him just why he is afraid of the dark.

-- ANCIENT HEBREW TEXT

Sarah turned and watched the Blackhawk carrying Jack and his tunnel team to Chato's Crawl. She thought he was looking down at her and she gave a halfhearted wave as the big helicopter lifted skyward. She turned and counted the heads that made up her team, then looked toward the command tent. Lisa was there with her arms crossed over her chest. She waved and Sarah just smiled as she threw her nylon rope down the dark hole. Thirteen more ropes followed, and two by two her team rappelled into the darkness.