The Arcturus Man (33 page)

Jared sensed what Rubio had commanded.
It wasn’t like Jared to panic, but he
understood that there was urgency in protecting Jenny and Ginger. Jenny would be protected by the safe room for a while, but not for very long if Rubio brought the right tools.
Ginger was at risk. He rolled into some thick undergrowth and stayed very still. He slowly tied off his right leg below the knee with his belt to slow the bleeding.
“
The smartest man in the entire world had really screwed up,”
thought Jared.
Jared inserted a bolt in the crossbow and cocked the mechanism. He closed his
eyes and focused on the enemy.
There were only six men coming at him.
One of them
was Rubio, but he was uncertain which one it was.
He aimed the crossbow and waited
until he sensed a kill. He couldn’t be certain that the path of the trajectory was clear but
unless the bolt hit a tree, small branches and leaves wouldn’t stop this potent weapon.
He gingerly released the trigger. This time the strong “thwack” could be heard by
everyone, but too late. Jared used an explosive bolt this time. It hit one of Rubio’s assassins in the abdomen as it exploded.
The attacker fractured into small pieces.
Only his
torso remained on the ground.
A death grimace was frozen on his face, exposing white
teeth locked in a hideous smile. Jared rushed to the carcass and grabbed the man’s MAC
11. It was damaged but looked functional.
The flash of the explosion blinded the men wearing the night vision goggles. The
night vision aids included circuits that limited the blinding effect after being exposed to
strong light, but it was still long enough for Jared to try to escape from the trap.
Rubio
had his night vision equipment turned off and saw Jared dart from his hiding place.
Rubio opened up with his MAC 11. With forty-seven rounds in the clip and one in the
chamber, Rubio fired at the rate of twenty rounds each second.
The clip was empty in
barely two seconds.
Jared was hit again. He was hit in the right shoulder and another bullet grazed his
skull near the temple. The leg wound had slowed him to the point that he was vulnerable.
Jared was in disbelief. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. The .380 bullet tore
through his shoulder and the near head shot stunned him.
Rubio raced through the underbrush to make the kill before Jared could react or strike back.
“The fool has a cross bow,”
thought Rubio.
He recognized his prey. It was Siemels. It was him.
I WILL CUT YOUR GUTS OUT. YOU WILL BE HANGING BY YOUR ENTRAILS FROM A TREE WHILE WE BURN YOU, YOU RICH PIG.” shouted Rubio.
Rubio drew his knife from its sheath. Rubio loved his Sykes-Fairbairn British
commando knife.
It was developed by two British officers during the early days of the
Second World War. It wasn’t as exotic as the modern killing knives preferred by today’s
Special Forces and mercenaries, but it was excellently balanced and a lethal weapon.
Now that Rubio could afford it, he preferred tradition over innovation. He favored things
that had proven themselves.
He was going to enjoy killing Jared slowly. He was going to pay for the lives of
his three brave men. He turned his night vision glasses back on. The remaining four men
in his party had regained their night vision and were close behind, circling Jared.
Jared gathered his strength and low crawled toward a thick bank of fog that
floated above a small stream. His right leg was losing feeling and crawling was difficult.
The bullets sounded like angry hornets as he rolled into the stream.
He could no longer be seen by them but he could still sense everyone one of his
attackers. Rubio had made his first mistake. He hadn’t fired another clip at Jared. He had
chosen his knife. Rubio’s overconfidence had given Jared another chance.
Their night
vision was of little value in the fog.
The dense sea fog would absorb his infrared signature.
Jared was losing blood.
He could feel it sap his strength. Trying to be as quiet as
possible, he slithered down the creek with the current, staying hidden in the haze.
He
sensed that he was being surrounded but it didn’t seem that they knew exactly where he
was. Rubio and his men were staying silent too.
“Garcia, bring one of the LPG units to me,” said Rubio, whispering into his head
set microphone.
Jared knew that Rubio was planning something, but he couldn’t tell what it was.
His leg was numb. His head was pounding. Now his shoulder was beginning to ache. He
was loosing blood and there was no way to stop it.
If he could get to the boathouse, he
had some duct tape on the work bench that could stop the bleeding. He changed direction
and crawled back upstream. He crouched into an undercut of the stream bank.
He loosened the tourniquet on his leg. The wound gushed blood, but he slowly felt some feeling
return.
He retightened the tie.
He lay motionless, controlling his breathing. He concentrated. He focused on mentally tightening and shrinking his blood vessels and capillaries.
It was helping, but not enough. The wounds were too severe. He listened. He stayed still.
He wasn’t going to move or make a sound until he could sense where they were. Minutes
passed.
He heard popping sounds.
Despite the heavy sea fog, he saw pin points of light
from the road flares being tossed into the area of the stream that he just left. Suddenly,
the fog lit up and a massive blast of heat passed over him. They were using some kind of
flame thrower.
Rubio had improvised.
He had refitted high pressure commercial fruit orchard
sprayers so they could spew liquefied petroleum gas. The flares were being used to ignite
the LPG as it was sprayed.
The stream was on fire. The intense heat was creating a miniature wind storm.
The fog bank was being blown away.
Jared would be exposed as
soon as the heat and flame worked its way back up the stream.
Jared made the calculations in milliseconds.
It wasn’t going to work as Rubio
expected. The fog was being blown off, but the wet vegetation that was burning was generating massive clouds of black smoke. It could be suffocating, but the visual cover was
even denser than the fog.
Jared could feel a wave of intense heat sweep over him. He
was exposed again and the smoke hadn’t reached him yet to provide cover.
It would be
suffocating cover, but it was cover nevertheless. Jared scrambled to hide in the smoke.
They opened fire. A stream of bullets worked its way up the creek. Jared jumped
up the bank and dove for cover. He rolled into the smoke bank and then quickly moved
away from the entry point. It was only because of his incredible physical capabilities that
he could gather the strength to escape.
Rubio saw the pool of blood where Jared had hid.
He didn’t need the Luma-lite
this time. His prey couldn’t last much longer.

It had taken Jenny a while to figure out how all of the electronics worked that
Jared had set up in the safe room.
She needed to know what was going on. Who were
the men that Jared mentioned and what were they doing?
Why did they want to harm
him?
She was frightened but trying hard not to panic.
She wished that he would come
back. She felt very alone and totally helpless. She thought about telephoning Krissy, but
what could she tell her. She thought about calling the police or 911, but Jared asked her
not to. Why hadn’t Jared done that already?
Maybe he had and she just didn’t know it.
How could she answer their questions? She was freaking out.

One of the color monitors had a map of the island. She saw flashing red dots everywhere.
She didn’t know what they represented.
The graphic display on the other
monitor was easier to understand. Intrusion alarms had been activated. That was probably what the flashing red dots were.
She went to a panel that looked like it had something to do with a closed-circuit television system.
There were four large monitors that
were blank. She checked and determined that they were all on, but there were no images.
She pushed a button that looked like it might do something. It didn’t. She pushed a few
more. Suddenly, the blank monitors came alive. She noticed that as she continued to push
a green button the scenes changed on the color monitors. A few of the scenes had strange
colors.
She realized that it was dark and foggy outside. Some of the cameras Jared had
on the island must use some kind of special imaging. She assumed that these must be
thermal images. The people were a ghostly, shapeless white on a green background.

It was difficult to make out much as she sequenced through the cameras. A few
scenes were from cameras inside the house. She hadn’t realized that he had cameras inside. All of a sudden, she saw men appear outside. They were dressed in some kind of
military uniform. They were around the house and were easy to see. The floodlights
around the house had come on and an area within a hundred feet of the house was illuminated well enough that the intruders were clear. All of a sudden the monitor went white.
When the video scene finally returned she could see that something had blinded the attackers. The attackers were holding their eyes and staggering.

“That was a two-million candle power strobe light I set off,” said Ginger. Ginger
appeared on a commercial TV set on a table.
Jenny was startled by Ginger.
She looked at the TV monitor.
It was Ginger.
Suddenly, she didn’t feel so alone. Jenny had to look twice. Ginger wasn’t wearing any
clothes. There wasn’t time for this…not now.
“What other weapons can you control, Ginger?” asked Jenny.
“There are no other defensive weapons, Jenny. Jared disarmed them for fear of an
accident while you were on the island,” said Ginger.
“Can you rearm them?”
“No! I’m sorry. I can’t,” said Ginger.
Jenny saw three men on one monitor. She found the joystick control and quickly
discovered that it moved the camera.
It was a lot like a Nintendo video game joystick.
As the men separated she tracked one of them with the camera. He appeared to be carrying a large canister.
She saw him pump a plunger on the canister.
He reached into a
rucksack and pulled out a smaller object. He pulled on the object and then threw it at the
house. It exploded into a red flame. The flame was so intense that the scene bloomed and
she could no longer see the background as well.
The man picked up the canister and
hung it around his neck with a shoulder strap.
He pointed a long rod toward the house
and was shooting a stream of fire.
Flames!
The entire scene was filled with flames.
Now she panicked.
She kept pushing the green button. The numbers that appeared on the bottom of
each scene appeared to match the numbers on the map displayed on the other monitor.
She was beginning to figure this out. As she changed from scene to scene, she looked at
the graphic display and saw where each camera was positioned.
Now she realized what
was happening.
The house was surrounded by these men and the entire house was on
fire.
She leapt out of the chair and ran to the door.
She didn’t know what to do.
Jared
had said that the room was safe, even against a fire.
She didn’t know if she could trust
that sliver of recollection. The entire house was in flames and she was deep inside.
Where was Jared?
What should she do?
Should she try to escape?
It seemed insane to
stay inside of a burning house.
“Not to worry Jenny.
Jared designed this safe room with a two-hour fire separation. We are safe,” said Ginger.
“Are you in here too? Are you safe?” asked Jenny.
“I’m somewhere else but I’m safe too,” said Ginger.
She switched to the cameras inside the house. She could clearly see that the windows had been broken and that the interior of the house was on fire as well. The conflagration was so massive that the smoke quickly obscured all of the scenes.
One of the
cameras went dark.
Now it was too late.
She was trapped. She wanted to curl up in a
corner and close her eyes, but Jenny was strong. She found a fire extinguisher in a cabinet
and set it in the middle of the floor. She checked the fire door, but there were no signs of
smoke.
She carefully inspected the ventilator.
Jared said that everything in this room
was independent of the house, including the air.
She saw a crank and after a few turns
discovered that it was a mechanical means of increasing the rate of air exchange in the
room. The lights went off and on quickly. She glanced at the computer monitor and saw
a display that told her that she was on battery power. She listened for a generator but
couldn’t hear it. Everything seemed to be working properly, but how long would the batteries last?
She walked over to the system console and turned on the radio.
That seemed to
be fine too.
She picked up the phone.
The line was dead.
She picked up a cell phone
and heard a dial tone.
Should she call anyone?
Jared said not to.
For the moment, she
decided to wait. Then she thought of something.
“Ginger?”
“What can I do for you Jenny?” answered Ginger.
“Do you know where Jared is?”
“I do not.
His transponder went out of range and I am unable to identify him on
the video surveillance.”
“Where did you last see him, Ginger?”
“He was 400 meters to the northwest moving quickly.
His movements suggest
that he has been injured.”
“WHAT? How? Is he alright?”
“I don’t have that information.”
“Please! I’m really scared, Ginger. I need a friend right now.”
“I would like to be able to do as you ask, Jenny, but I don’t have that information.
Perhaps you should telephone Krissy,” said Ginger.
“You know about Krissy?”
“I listen and learn.”
“There isn’t anything that Krissy could do, at least not in time.”
Jenny slumped down in the chair and put her head in her hands. She wanted to cry
or to scream or to do something, but she couldn’t think of anything that would help the
situation.
Jared was hurt.
He might even be dead.
He might have miraculous healing
powers but he isn’t fireproof.
Those men were carrying guns and some kind of flame
thrower.
The room was soundproof, so she didn’t hear any gun shots, but they must be
using them. Jared isn’t bulletproof either.
“Ginger, will you tell me if you see Jared, or see his transponder?”
“Of course, Jenny!”
“What is happening inside the house?”
“There is a fire.
I activated the sprinkler system.
It is delaying the spread of the
fire but it has not been able to extinguish it. I am behind a fire-rated door, but I have detected an increase in heat and some smoke.
The fire may reach me. I will alert you if I
believe that I will be damaged. You are entirely safe in your enclosure. You have nothing to be concerned about.”
Jenny was despondent.
She has nothing to be concerned about. That was so ridiculous she could almost laugh. She went over to the console and switched through all of
the cameras.
None of the interior cameras were working. It was really, really bad.
She
saw men running on the exterior cameras but she couldn’t tell what was happening. They
were firing their weapons. Jared was no where to be seen. It couldn’t get any worse.
“Jenny, Jared has reappeared.
His transponder is 400 meters moving in a southeasterly direction,” said Ginger.
Jared was alive. Her spirits picked up immediately.
“Damn it Ginger. I have no idea what southeasterly means. Can you see him on
the video surveillance?”
“Yes, he is on camera 26. Shall I display it?”
“Quickly!”
Jenny ran to the bank of monitors.
There he was.
He was limping badly.
His
clothes seemed to be drenched in blood.
The yellow flood lights made the blood look
black. It was hideous. She could tell that he was hurt very badly. She ran to the door and
pushed the red open button. She wanted to run to Jared.
“Ginger, the door won’t open,” screamed Jenny.
“I have disabled that function. If you open the door you will perish immediately.”
Jenny was angry for a second but then realized that Ginger was being more logical than she was. What was she thinking? The house is ablaze. She reached out and put
the palm of her hand on the fire door. It was warm. No, it was hot.
“Ginger, do I have a sprinkler in this room?”
“Yes, but it is not needed. You are entirely safe.”
“Can you still see Jared?
I can’t see him on my monitor. Has the wiring burned
up?”
“He is no longer on the video but his transponder is now about 350 meters moving toward the house. The wiring is mostly underground so it is safe. None of the exterior cameras are mounted on the house. They are all functioning. I will remain with you
as long as it is required,” said Ginger.
“But what about the fire? Won’t the fire get to you?” asked Jenny.
“I am expendable,” said Ginger.
Jared crawled through the heavy smoke.
Ordinarily, he could hold his breath for
as much as twenty minutes, perhaps much longer since he never tried to test his limits,
but this was not an ordinary situation. He was badly injured. He wasn’t sure how long he
could last but he held his breath. He had to avoid inhaling smoke. It may have only been
minutes, but the instinct to breathe was gaining on him. He had to move.
He crept into a thick patch of undergrowth and stayed as close to the ground as he
could.
He found an area that was relatively clear of smoke.
He drew several deep
breaths.
He looked toward his house which was only about a thousand feet away.
The
house was enveloped in flames.
They had used the LPG sprayers on the house.
The
heavy fog would hide the fire from the mainland.
Anyone on the main land might see a
glow, but they probably wouldn’t identify the source. Help was not coming. Rubio may
have seen Jenny arriving on the island and hoped that setting the house on fire would
draw Jared out of hiding. He guessed right.
Rubio’s men had attacked the house from all sides.
That worked in his favor.
They couldn’t see one another. He gathered his strength and blocked all pain. Jared had
lost a lot of blood.
For the first time in his life, he felt weakness.
It was an unfamiliar
feeling. He didn’t know how to gage how much more he could tax his body. He had never before considered the possibility that he could lose his life.
It was now something he
had to take into account.
Jenny was in danger.
He had to use his greatest weapon.
He
had to rely on his superior intelligence.
He was unsure of how much physical reserve
was left. The thought that he might pass out before he could do anything to rescue Jenny
weighed on his mind.
He began to calculate.
His mind filtered through thousands of options.
An idea
began to jell.
He worked his way through the undergrowth and smoke until he reached
his LPG above-ground tank. It held more than 2,000 gallons of propane. It was situated
about 50 feet south of the house. Brush was already burning underneath the tank.
He could reach the tank from the brush cover.
One of Rubio’s men was on that
side of the house but he wasn’t watching behind. He was waiting for someone to run out
to escape the flames. The man would quickly glance back now and then, but his movements were predictable for Jared. The glances had a pattern.
One idea percolated to the top.
Jared remembered something called a BLEVE, a
boiling liquid, expanding-vapor explosion. The LPG sprayers that Rubio’s men were using to torch the house left flame trails everywhere.
Some of the brush was burning.
Jared gathered more of the burning brush and quietly pushed it under the LPG tank.
Jared gathered more and more combustible debris until a large fire was building.
It was
just one more fire. The men guarding the south side of the house were unlikely to notice
it. He looked at the pressure gage. He conjured up the specs for the tank in his mind. He
recalled the wall thickness and the type of metal used.
Jared’s mind was swirling with
calculations now.
He knew the size of the tank.
He estimated the maximum pressure it
could hold.
He kept watching the pressure gauge and the rate of rise.
He guessed the
heat of the fire. He assessed every factor that came into play and determined how long it
would be before the tank exploded.
His brain churned the information.
LPG is a mix of propane and butane and expands at a ratio of 270 to 1. A 1,000 gallon tank at a vapor efficiency of 10% will yield
about 27,000 gallons of vapor.
Its boiling point is minus 43 degrees Fahrenheit. The
metal of the tank will heat rapidly because the increasing vapor will not absorb most of
the heat. The fuel vapor to air ratio was critical. If it was too low or too high, there would
be no fire ball. It had to be from 5% to 15%. Jared wanted the fire ball.
The blast overpressure wasn’t important. He did the math. Distance in meters divided by the overpressure constant, about 1 psi, equaled the yield factor of 10% time’s kilograms of vapor
times the energy content in Joules, all divided by 3. The superheated LPG would vaporize as it burst from the tank, creating a fire ball that was 60 feet in diameter, releasing
1,200 kilo-Joules of heat energy per square meter.
Half the weight of the wood he was pushing under the LPG tank was water. That
would reduce the heat energy of the wood by 20%. His larger fire would reach about 400
Fahrenheit degrees of heat below the tank. He tried to judge how long the small debris
fire had been burning. The larger fire he started would require about 22 minutes until the
tank burst. That was too much time. He needed more heat.
The noise from many fires and yelling by Rubio’s men easily covered the sound
of the motor drive of the cross bow. Jared no longer had the arm strength to cock it manually. He shot. The bolt went entirely through the skull of the man watching the house.
He dropped instantly.
Jared risked moving into the bright illumination coming from his
burning home but he wasn’t seen. He took the man’s LPG sprayer and covered the tank
from top to bottom.
Kerosene would have been better but Jared decided not to push his
luck. The kerosene was in the tool shed but it was too far away. He pushed more wood
under the tank. He threw a rubber garden house and a rubber rain barrel into the fire next
to the tank. The fuel tank was engulfed in flames. He quickly recalculated. The temperature of the fire was now up to 600 degrees, possibly higher. He estimated that it would
take about 8 more minutes for the tank to reach at least 200 pounds per square inch of
pressure, enough to rupture the tank.
Now he knew it would work.
The fireball will kill any living thing within 300
feet.
It would be 50% lethal within 500 feet.
It would produce severe injuries to 1000
feet. And, if he was lucky, the overpressure and shrapnel would kill as well.
It was crude science but Jared’s ability to process information was phenomenal.
The smoke from the house and the burning wet brush was helping to hide his movements.
Jared kept adding wood to the fire under the tank.
One of Rubio’s men covering the
house could appear around the corner at any time. He found a place to hide—to wait for
the BLEVE. He had to protect himself against the massive radiant heat from the fire ball.
He crawled back into the undergrowth that wasn’t burning and crawled back into the
creek. He kept crawling until it was deep enough to submerge his entire body. He waited.
He sensed movement.
One of Rubio’s attackers came within a dozen feet. Jared
slowly hugged the bank of the creek. He didn’t move. He wasn’t spotted.