The Arcturus Man (34 page)

Rubio’s men were searching for him and they were getting close. It was good that
they were close but did he have 5 more minutes before they discovered him?
He didn’t
have a choice. This was the only weapon he had.
Jared waited until the men were gone. He calculated again. He left no margin for
error.
He crawled back to the tank and threw the MAC 11 he had taken into the fire.
Another calculation! He low crawled back toward the stream. This might work as long as
he didn’t run into Rubio or the men that were flanking him. He tried to sense where they
were, but now is mind was clouded. He felt the first waves of nausea and weakness. He
was close to collapse.
He had to risk it before he lost consciousness.
He found the
stream. They hadn’t spotted him yet. He rolled in and submerged his entire body under
the water.
He tried holding his breath but he felt faint.
Normally, he could hold his
breath for a long time, but now he had to come up for air every minute.
More calculations were processed.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of bees passing over his head. He had been spotted.
Bullets raked across the stream bed as he crawled under a protective overhang.
He
couldn’t survive being hit again.
Finally…the ammunition in the MAC 11 he had thrown into the fire began to explode. It was a burst of gun fire. Rubio’s flankers and all of the men at the house ran to
the south side. Only the man who had spotted Jared in the stream stayed behind. Jared’s
calculations were perfect.
“Here, here, he is here,” yelled the man who pinned down Jared, but the rest of
the men couldn’t hear him.
There was confusion and more gun fire. They were all shooting wildly. And then
it happened. The fireball was immense. People on the mainland saw the explosion, even
through the heavy fog.
The sky lit up.
No one knew what had happened but everyone
realized that something massive had exploded. Most thought that it was a ship explosion.
It happened sometimes.
Jared surfaced and crawled out of the stream.
The forest was aflame.
The overpressure took out much of the already burned out house.
There were charred human remains scattered around the yard. Jared was confident that everyone had been killed. They
had all been near the tank when the fire ball ignited. No one could have survived.
He
stood and limped through the burning trees away from the house toward the well house.
Rubio had worked his way down the stream, away from the house. He wrongly
guessed the Jared would try to get to the boathouse.
The guess was a poor one, but it
saved his life.
When the fireball ignited, Rubio’s clothes were set on fire and he was
burned, but he was far enough away to have survived. He had no idea what had happened
but it was evident that there had been a huge explosion.
His men might have been responsible. Perhaps one of the LPG sprayers exploded, but the explosion was too big for
that. He wasn’t sure what it was.
Pain was an old friend.
He would tolerate an old friend.
He ripped off the parts
of his clothes that were scorched.
His self discipline kept him from running. There was
always the possibility of an ambush.
Rubio never underestimated an enemy and didn’t
think that hunting Jared had been an exception. Nevertheless, perhaps he had underestimate Jared. Perhaps! He tried to stay in the shadows but the burning trees and brush illuminated everything. It was difficult to find any path that wasn’t on fire. He was forced
to walk along an open gravel path. The heat was intense.
As he got closer to the house he saw Jared. He brought up his MAC 11 but held
his fire. Where were his men? He looked into a clearing behind the house and saw a pair
of boots.
They were smoldering.
They had belonged to Ignatius.
What had happened?
Could it be that Jared had survived and his men were dead? He tried raising them on his
headset.
No response. Then he saw a few more of the charred bodies about 200 feet
away. He was alone. The risk was too great. Jared was too important a target to take any
more risks. He shouldered the MAC 11 and slowly backed away.
Rubio worked his way back to the boathouse.
He heard boats approaching.
The
fog was too thick to see them, but it carried sound very well.
He assumed they were
coming because of the huge explosion.
He quickly checked the explosive hidden on
Jared’s boat.
It was an insurance policy just in case anyone on the island somehow managed to escape.
Rubio always thought ahead. He was also aware of the cabin cruiser
that Jared kept at Pea Island at the Ovid Marina. Rubio had hidden a firefly above the fly
bridge. This was a tiny flashing light-emitting diode, but it flashed in the infrared frequencies.
It was invisible to the human eye but if viewed through an infrared scope, it
looked like explosions going off ever 10 seconds. If they actually made it to the marina,
Rubio’s employers didn’t want an attack there. It would attract too much public attention
and scrutiny.
more away.
The firefly would allow him to track the boat from a helicopter a mile, or
He had thought of everything, but then again, had he underestimated Siemels? It seemed that he had. He had to be much more careful from now on.
Old Man Sevigny hand dug the well to a depth of forty feet.
It was lined with
brick and stone and was sheltered by a small cedar shake shed. Finding fresh water on an
island is usually a rarity, but Eagle’s Head was an exception. After failing to find suitable water, Sevigny called on a douser. He was told to dig deeper. Old Maine lore should
never be underestimated.
After drilling forty feet inside the well shaft, Sevigny hit an
artesian well. The existence of a fresh water pond on an island should have been a clue,
but hitting the artesian spring was a small miracle nevertheless.
Jared went into the well house and pulled off the well head cover. He sensed that
he had been watched earlier by someone (so he now understood that someone had survived), but was confident that he was not observed going into the well house. Whoever it
was, was gone now. He replaced the cover as he dropped down.
The shaft was about 5 feet across.
A rusty ladder led down to the bottom of the
pit to allow servicing the pump. He climbed half-way down the ladder and pulled open a
steel door. The corroded hinges creaked loudly. A dark tunnel opened up. This was the
part that Jared added as the log house was being constructed. Jared wasn’t paranoid. He
was prepared.
There is a difference. He was very good at planning ahead. He crawled
along the tunnel until he was almost at the house.
Another steel door led to a vertical
chase up to the saferoom. He pushed the call button on an intercom mounted in the wall.
“Jenny, are you alright?”
“JARED, IS THAT YOU? Where are you? Where are you calling from?”
“Jenny, I know you’re speaking, but I can’t understand you. Go to the intercom
next to the cot,” said Jared.
She pushed the talk button. “I found it.
What’s happening?
All of the cameras
went out.”
“There’s time for that later. Do you see the red tool box under the cot?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Open the tool box and take out the claw hammer.”
She did as instructed. “Now what?”
“Rip out the gyp board behind the cot. Hammer into the
Sneakers
movie poster—
the poster in German,” said Jared.
Jenny smashed through the poster and peeled away large chunks of sheet rock, revealing a steel door.
“Do you see the door yet?” asked Jared.
“Yes, I found it. Now what?” she asked.
“Pull the large lever to the left. It may be stiff. Open the door.”
She pulled away the remaining pieces of the gyp board. It took a lot of effort, but
she managed to unlock the door. She pulled the door open and looked in and then down.
It was dark, but she could make out a form at the bottom of the rung ladder.
“Jared! That you?”
He climbed up the ladder, favoring his left leg and left arm. He crawled into the
safe room. Jenny hugged him and buried her head in his chest. Then she abruptly stepped
back. Her blouse was soaked.
“YOU’RE COVERED WITH BLOOD.”
She began to panic. “Oh no, what did
they do to you. She pushed him to the cot.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. I’ll be OK, but we have to go…right now.”
He grabbed a small duffle go-bag and a suitcase and threw them down the shaft.
They were pre-packed getaway bags. He went to the console.
“Ginger, are you OK?” asked Jared.
The terminal was dead.
He walked over to
the wall next to the computer console and using a coat hanger, shorted two exposed drywall nails.
Suddenly one of the dry wall panels slid to the side.
He removed a small
wooden box. Jenny recognized it. It was the same box that she admired when she toured
the house the first time. It was the box that his father had built. It was Pandora’s Box.
“Climb down. I’m right behind you.” He picked up a first-aid kit and handed it to
her. He tied a cord to the wooden box and lowered it down to her.
When they both reached the well house, he scanned the area from a small window.
“It looks safe, but let me go first,” said Jared.
Jared led her along a path that avoided the charred human remains of what had
been Rubio’s invasion force. As Jenny followed him out, she saw for the first time what
had happened. The house was nothing but flame and charred wood.
Parts were collapsing as she looked on. The woods were ablaze and the air was saturated with heavy dark
smoke. She began to cough.
“Jared, everything’s gone. You’ve lost everything. Who did this? Why?”
“This is just stuff.
There isn’t anything that can’t be replaced.
We have to get
away from here. I’ll explain what happened later.”
He led here down the gravel path to the boathouse and they went inside.
“Get into the power boat, but don’t touch anything. OK?”
She climbed in and immediately sat down.
Jared searched the boat quickly.
He
crawled under the dash board and immediately saw the small bomb that was wired to the
ignition.
He disconnected it and threw the device into the water.
It was someone else’s
problem now.
He checked the entire boat one more time to make sure that two devices
hadn’t been hidden.
It seemed to be clear.
He checked the overhead door operator and
controls. He went to his work bench and found a roll of duct tape.
“Get off again and step about 10 yards from the boat house. I’ll call you when it
is clear.”
Jenny did as she was told. Moments later Jared called out.
“OK, come back. It’s clear. We’re leaving.” She climbed back on board.
There was some damage to the boathouse but the overhead door operator worked.
He started the engine and they pulled out.
He gunned the throttle.
He could hear other
boats approaching. They were very close. He pulled away and steered away from them.
He could faintly see their outlines in the fog as he disappeared across the bay.
He kept
his running lights off. Jenny sat silently near his side. It was evident that she was in
shock.
She was chocking back tears but refused to cry.
Jared needed help.
She had so
many questions to ask, but now was not the time. He needed her.
She went to the first-aid kit and searched it for bandages and disinfectant.
She
wasn’t sure what to do even though she had a great deal of emergency medical technician
training. The classes didn’t cover gun shots.
She began to pull off his clothing.
The wounds were terrible.
She tore off the
sleeves of her shirt and dipped them into the cold salt water. She was shivering.
“Reach inside the duffle bag and put on one or two of the flannel shirts. They
should help,” he said. She did.
She took the salt water soaked rags and cleaned his scalp wound and then his
shoulder and leg.
The leg was still bleeding.
Jared tried to help but had difficulty in
reaching all areas of the wounds.
“Get the duct tape,” he said.
She found it.
“There is a small bottle of Betadine. Mix it half and half with water and help me
wash the wounds. Use the bottled water, said Jared.
Jenny washed his wounds. The Betadine made his skin look jaundiced.
“Is that enough?” Asked Jenny.
“That’s fine. Dry off my leg as much as you can.”
She did.
“Rub a little of the Polysporin into the wounds then wrap the duct tape to cover
the wound. Both sides.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said.
“Trust me. I know it sounds gross, but it will stop the bleeding until I can tend to
it properly,” he said.
Jenny dried his shoulder, calf, and head. She took tour off pieces of duct tape and
applied it to his wounds. Jenny sat back in disbelief that she had just duct-taped huge gun
shot wounds.
“You’re crazy. Its going to get infected,” said Jenny.
“I’ll clean them out properly later.
I don’t have any adsorbent haemostatic agent
in this kit. I also don’t have sutures to close the wound. There is still plenty of time to do
that later.
I have medical supplies on my large boat. I just need to rest for a while,” he
said.
Jenny kept forgetting that she was talking to a very smart guy. He could probably
be a doctor if he wanted.
“Good idea. Lay down. Where are we going?” asked Jenny.
“I’m fine for now.
You can take over after we switch boats.
You do know how
to operate a power boat, don’t you?”
“Sure.
I’ve done it a few times.
How big a boat are we talking about?” asked
Jenny.
“We’re talking about a 1999 Carver 350 Cabin Cruiser. It has a length of 36 feet
and a 12 foot, 9 inch beam.
It can sleep six and has all the usual comfort features,” he
said.
“Great!” said Jenny. “But why are we running? Do you think those men are still
after you? Shouldn’t we find the police—right now?”
“It’s complicated. The police are going to have a lot of questions and aren’t necessarily going to be on my—our—side, at least not for a while. They can’t protect us.
You have to trust me on that.
We’re a lot safer getting away from everyone for a few
days until I have time to sort this mess out,” said Jared.
“Won’t your big boat be easy to find? Even the police are going to be looking for
you now,” said Jenny.
“The boat is registered in Panama under my Latvian name. INS has the information about my name but I am confident no one else does. The federal government still
isn’t very efficient about sharing information even in this post-9/11 period. You can still
count on that,” said Jared.