Salby Damned (8 page)

"We owe you our lives and are in your debt; thank you for stopping to help us. I didn't think we would get out of that alive. My name is Steve Grey; my wife Janey, son Luke, and our daughter Gracie." He gripped Nathan's hand and shook it vigorously.

He heard the man talking, the words echoing in his head, but Nathan wasn't really listening.

Evie. Did she say Lieutenant and Doctor? Where had they taken her now? Doctor of what, exactly?

He looked at Steve and his family; they would live to fight another day. His mind raced over Evie; he had become very fond of her in the last two days, exceptional though the circumstances were.

I thought I knew her, but I don't really know her at all, do I?

*******

The teams of doctors had scattered for their tasks. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Connell walked with Charles to the site offices, one of which was now a makeshift meeting room. Upon entering the building, Charles could smell the aroma of medical-grade disinfectants mixed with an underlying industrial cleaning agent; bio-suits hung at the doorways, with respirators on stand-by.

"This area is completely clean, Charles. My team have quite literally taken it apart, decontaminating every possible surface. The virus does not survive in air after three hours from release as far as we know. Without the documented data from Salby lab, we don't know exactly what kills it or if it was designed to self-destruct. There is a group of company officials from the SGFC assembled in the meeting room through here. They are not aware of the existence of the Salby facility but have been told that the site under the town is a designated area of national historic value.” Charles nodded as Richard spoke.

“We have called them in to try to shed some light on the wellhead operations before and up to the point of the explosion. We're also interested to know more of Brin Garrett, their chief production wellhead foreman, unfortunately an early casualty. He was the head honcho on site at the time of the incident. Please, Charles, follow my lead, but by all means, come in with any input you may have," Richard finished.

Charles smiled at Richard and replied, "Got that! I'd like to see detailed plans of the wellhead and access any data they may have in relation to the chemicals used in the fracking operation. I'll have a few questions for them, I'm sure."

***

The stares of three executives from the company greeted Richard and Charles. The executives were impeccably dressed with briefcases at their side and files in folders laid out on the table before them. One of the men stood, pushing his chair with the back of his legs, making room to turn and offer his hand in greeting. He was a middle-aged, a thin, pale-faced chap with slicked back comb-over hair and small circular rimmed glasses; his very expensive suit looked like it had been hung upon him. Extending a fragile looking lily-white hand towards Richard, he introduced himself.

"I am Colin Snape, assistant executive officer for the company. This is Brian Goulding, our chief engineer and lastly, Meriam Stuart, the company press officer. And you would be?" the stringy-looking man asked, leaving the sentence open; he was used to being in authority and control, but not here and now.

Richard too was a man of authority, and like a silent game of chess, where words were the knights and bishops, he cut through the conversation with the grace of a professional adversary.

"Please sit down, Mr. Snape, all of you, please.” Richard smiled as he spoke but only with his mouth, his eyes remained focused and searching as he continued.

“You'll appreciate that time is a critical factor given the circumstances here, so it is important that we ascertain the facts. We have a number of questions for you and your associates that will help us in our investigation. We will require your full co-operation, I'm sure you understand."

Richard was setting the rules of engagement. Before awaiting any response from the executives, he sat, leafing through his own folder, before looking up to indicate that he was ready to start.

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Connell and this is my esteemed colleague Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Fitzgerald. We have been assigned to this incident and report directly to the Secretary of Defence."

Richard oozed authority as he spoke and intentionally held back their first names; tone was all—and he intended to set the rules of play firmly in his own favour.

"We found three bodies upon entering the site. The first was that of Mr. Brin Garrett, previously your chief production wellhead foreman, according to his ID badge. We would like his employee record and profile, please. The second body we found was that of an as-yet unidentified six-year-old girl. We are still looking into that. The final body was another of your company employees, Kevin Juras, an engineer. We'll need his file too, along with all of your records of all employees working on shift at the time of the incident, which we put at between one and three of that morning."

Mr. Snape looked blankly at his colleagues for support. His eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke. He studied the impeccably dressed officer, the crisp creases of his shirt, manicured fingernails visible despite the interlocked hands on the desk in front of him. He was clearly a man of high standards.

"All of the records relating to the number and names of those on shift are on a company laptop that should have been in this office. Currently, there are two laptops and numerous files, folders, and maps missing. Would you know where they might be, Colonel?"

Snape practically spat out the words. He was clearly rattled by Richard's style and barely concealed hint that the company was implicated in his tone. Looking directly at Snape, the senior officer addressed the question.

"When we arrived on scene, the first to enter the site offices made a video for evidence; the surrounding scenes were also recorded. There were no laptops present however, but I am quite sure that a company the size of SGFC will have a hard copy back-up, so we will expect the requested details to be delivered to us shortly."

Charles Fitzgerald could sense the tension in the room between Richard and his slight opponent, so he addressed the chief engineer instead, in a firm but gentler tone.

"Mr. Goulding, can you explain why Mr. Garrett chose to drill to a depth of just over one mile before heading horizontally west towards the town, when the standard drill depth for shale plays is two to five miles down? At that depth, he would have been lucky to have found drinking water, let alone methane shale gas, wouldn't you agree?"

Mr. Goulding looked compromised as he attempted a response.

"Without the more detailed files for the progress at the wellhead, I am unable to clarify the actions of the wellhead foreman and can only speculate. What we do have are hard copies of the wellhead site plan, along with schematic diagrams for proposed exploration plays, umm, boreholes which I am happy for you to take now."

He handed the files in front of him to Charles, who took them. He flipped to the schematic and followed the lines to where the Salby town boundary was. Scratching his head, he addressed the chief engineer again.

"Can you show me where on this schematic that it says there is any likelihood of shale gas underneath the town of Salby? Could you confirm that the Secretary of State denied a previous exploration request in or around the town boundary limits, due to the historic nature of national interest of the land directly beneath the town?"

The final part of the question induced a coughing fit from the now flustered chief engineer. He attempted a reply.

"I, I really cannot comment on the schematic, Sir. However, I am aware of the denied exploration request details, copies of which were given to Mr. Garrett."

Now it was the turn of Meriam Stuart, the company press officer, to ask a question directed at Lieutenant Colonel Connell.

"Colonel, you can understand the delicate situation this accident has caused the company. As the press officer, I must ask that all communications relating to it come through me at company HQ, before being made public."

Charles sensed Richard's metaphorical spines being raised and that both barrels were about to be unleashed from his old friend.

"Ahhhhh, Miss Stuart? Or it is Mrs.? This accident, as you call it, may or may not be an accident, and furthermore, thousands of people are dying as a direct result of your company's actions. If I were in your shoes, I would be looking for alternative employment because by the time the government has finished with SGFC, it will only be capable of filling re-useable lighters. Right now, we have no more questions, but don't go too far as we may need to speak to you once we have studied the data and maps that you
will
provide to us immediately. You'll be given accommodation here for the time being but will not, and I repeat, will not, be given access to the wellhead. That's all. Charles, if you'll join me?" Richard stood to leave, oblivious to his impact upon the company executives.

Doctors Kate Simmons and Hans Goedricht, molecular scientist and physicist, donned bio-chemical hazardous material suits, with respiratory enclosed hoods, gloves, and fold-over boots. From what they knew of the virus, it should be inactive as it was exposed to air for over twenty-four hours previously. This should have rendered it harmless, but given the lethal nature of it, and the capability of it to spread so quickly, no one was prepared to take any chances.

Although access to the explosion site was not possible and would have to be done remotely by drone, they still needed to take test samples, as well as identify the quantity and nature of the explosives used and damage caused. There had been no communication from the Salby underground facility to confirm casualties. Nor were there damage reports for any of the other storage tanks. Identifying the virus strain was a priority.

***

As they approached the locked-down wellhead test borehole, they could see that it now had an airtight container around it, utilising pressurised doors, spray cleansing booth, and halon gas. This would keep any contagion on the ground but was itself toxic to humans. The scientists ran diagnostic checks on the drone to be sent down the well; it had to work flawlessly. They began the slow, precise operation of taking samples every hundred feet; an on-board video stream recorded the descent. It would take a couple of hours for the drone to reach the explosion site. This was going to be a long night.

***

In the makeshift mortuary, Dr. Moses Sighal had begun an autopsy on the body of Brin Garrett, taking blood and tissue samples for testing. He ascertained that the cause of death was penetration to the underside of his chin by a sharp implement. It had entered the brain, killing him instantly. The black, thick, jelly-like mottled substance that had been extracted from Garrett’s arm surprised Moses. At first, he thought that it was additional infection.

He took his scalpel, slicing from shoulder to breast bone to shoulder and then from the middle of the incision, slicing straight down over the breast bone, effectively creating a letter “Y” all the way down to the navel. He peeled back the three flaps of skin he’d created by his incisions to reveal the internal organs and tissue; they were also full of the thick black jelly. Taking a core body temperature would give him an estimated time of death. He would also test for toxins and alcohol, to rule out drug abuse; it was standard procedure.

Taking scrapings from beneath Garrett’s nails for forensic analysis would pick up recently contacted substances, anything from soil to plastic explosives. Finally, he opened Garrett's skull. He cut the skin in a circle at the scalp, and peeling the hair free, he used an electric bone saw to cut away the top section of his skull, which would reveal the upper cranial areas he really wanted to see.

Without sophisticated scanners, it wouldn't be possible to see what was going on inside, but it was possible to see any swelling or retraction of the brain caused by infection. Maybe this would provide a definitive answer as to the strain of virus that had been released, but only if molecular evidence were still present inside a tissue sample, thought Moses.

While taking the scrapings from Garrett's nails, Dr. Sighal noticed the bite mark on the left hand. Upon closer examination, he noticed tiny blood spots at the outer edge, before the black jelly-like substance took over again. This would indicate that, for Mr. Garrett at least, this was the point of original infection. With two more bodies on ice to be examined, it was likely that he would find similar wounds to indicate the source of infection in the others. Fingerprints were taken next. This allowed identity data to be compared in the police and government computers.

***

Shortly after leaving the trio from SGFC licking sore wounds, Robert took Charles on a tour of the wellhead site before returning to the main lab facility, where Charles's team were busy testing and analysing data. With the sun going down and the buzz of diesel generators now taking on the extra load of flood lighting, it was going to be a long night for everyone. Progress had been made, Charles knew, with the three victims found at the wellhead exploration site.

Over a canteen meal, Richard briefed Charles on information that had come to light the previous day.

"You're aware of the facility beneath the town, yes? There were ninety staff, civilian and military, on duty at the time of the incident here; we are expecting high casualties. The town is built over the entire facility. The main access lifts are situated directly above the centre and inside the middle property, which was the responsibility of Dr. Evelyn Shepherd, chief of medical sciences within the facility and ranked lieutenant. As yet, we have had the distress message from Lieutenant Shepherd sometime after the initial explosion occurred, but no more. We are not sure if she is inside the facility or was topside at the time.” Richard took a sip from the steaming cup of coffee, and then continued.

“Our teams have had no luck with any communications from the site. We will be making advances into the town to try to access the facility from the main lift inside the home of Dr. Shepherd within the next twenty-four hours. You are welcome to join the team as I know that Evelyn was a good friend of yours."