Wildfire Run (9 page)

“You're so determined not to leave Adam behind,” Callie said. “I'm not leaving Comet.” She ran back to the gatehouse.

“Callie!” Luke pounded his fists on the steering wheel in frustration. “She hated Comet a half hour ago. I don't understand.”

“Me neither.” Theo took off his glasses and tried to straighten them. “But then, I don't understand any girls.”

Callie came back carrying Comet. “He was lying by Isabelle's SUV. I don't know why he didn't come when you called him. I hope he's not hurt.”

“We can't worry about that now. He has to sit in the back with you,” Luke warned. “He's caused enough trouble today.”

“Okay, okay, he's being very quiet anyway.” Callie climbed in the back.

Once everyone was in, Luke glanced back at Sal and gave a strangled cry. Tendrils of fire were
only feet away from the agent, advancing on him fast. Sal was still talking into his phone, staring at the fire as if he couldn't believe it would come any closer. Flaming leaves fell from the trees, the wind catching them and blowing them in crazy patterns. One hit Sal's shirt and he jumped back, trying to brush it away, but it disintegrated into tiny embers, speckling his hand. He jerked it back and turned to Luke, his face an unreadable mask.

“We're going
now
!” Luke yelled. “Run, Sal!”

“Stay close to the
fence!” Sal shouted as he plunged into the forest. Luke started the jeep and pushed on the gas pedal. The engine roared.

“Wait!” Theo said.

“What?”

“Buckle your seat belt.”

In any other situation Luke would have laughed. Leave it to Theo to remember seat belts.

“Don't gun it,” Callie said. “Just push on the gas a bit.”

“I know, I know,” Luke said. He handed Theo the microphone and the earpiece. “See if you can talk to Sal.”

Luke knew how cars operated; he had just never
driven one. Taking a deep breath, he put the jeep in gear and gave it some gas. The jeep jolted forward and he pushed hard on the brakes.

“Let me drive, Luke,” Callie said. “
I
can drive.”

“No, I've got it. I was just getting used to it.” He pushed on the gas pedal again, more gently this time, and the jeep moved forward. “Hold on,” Luke said. “Since we can't drive on the road, it will be rough.”

It was rough. Luke hadn't expected it to be so tricky to hold the steering wheel when the jeep bounced over a rock or an exposed root. It was hard to figure out how much to turn the steering wheel without going too far, and he threw himself and everyone else from side to side until he got the hang of it. He could still hear the sirens in the distance, but the sound was so constant, it was easy to ignore now.

“Why can't we go on the road? How is the helicopter going to land in the woods? I don't want to get lost in there,” Callie said.

“We won't get lost. Camp David is like a big doughnut, with the road cutting it almost in half.”

“What? A doughnut? What are you talking about?” Callie said.

Luke could picture the layout of the camp in his head, but he realized it would be hard to explain to Callie. She hadn't been here long enough to understand it easily. “We don't have time now. I'll tell you later. Just trust me,” he said.

“Let me drive,” Callie said. “I drive the pickup at the ranch. You sit in the back.”

“No, I'm driving.”

“Who made you the boss?” Callie said. “I'm sure I can drive better than you.”

“Look, Callie, I know how to get to the back gate. You don't. And I drive the golf carts all the time.” A golf cart couldn't be too different from a jeep, Luke thought. He wanted to add that he had no intention of moving out of the driver's seat, but he knew that would make Callie mad.

“Theo, what about Sal?” Luke asked, hoping Callie would stop arguing.

Theo put the earpiece in his ear. “Sal! Sal! Can you hear me?” he yelled. He listened for a moment. “Sal can hear me. He says I don't need to yell. He's following the fence around the outside to the back gate. He said we would get there before he does, so we're supposed to wait for him before we open the gate.” Theo turned the microphone over in his hand. “One of the wires
connected to the microphone is almost broken. I hope it holds together long enough.”

Luke felt better knowing Sal was going along with the plan. As far as he could figure, it shouldn't take Sal more than twenty minutes to get to the other gate. It couldn't be more than a mile or two.

“I heard you,” Theo said into the microphone. “Sal says we'll have to get out in an open area once the helicopter gets here.”

“They'd better hurry,” Luke said. “I've been in enough of them to know they don't do so great in fog, and the smoke is getting worse fast.”

Theo wasn't listening. “Sal says they're going to put your dad through in a minute. He's on Air Force One. Stop so I can give you the earpiece.”

“No, just hold it up to my ear.” Luke felt as if the fire were really chasing them now. If he stopped, he was afraid something terrible would happen.

Theo shook the earpiece. “Something went wrong,” he said. “Sal, I can't hear you anymore. Are you there?”

“Did you lose the connection?” Luke slowed the jeep.

“Sal, are you there? I guess we did lose it,” Theo said. “Sal just said to hold on for a minute; then
there was a noise, then nothing.”

“Maybe when they tried to patch my dad through to Sal's frequency, something went wrong. Just keep listening. With all the equipment they have on Air Force One, they can let my dad talk to anyone anywhere.”

Adam gave a loud moan from the back. Luke looked back to see Comet, sitting in the backseat, licking Adam's face.

“Adam, can you hear me?” Callie asked.

Luke didn't hear a response. “Is he waking up, Callie?”

“No, his eyelids moved but they didn't open. Does anybody else notice it's getting darker? I didn't know it would get darker.” Her voice was small again.

“I think we should keep moving,” Luke said. He didn't like the darkening sky either. “The helicopter is on its way and I have my locator disk. We'll see Sal in a few minutes anyway.”

“What about just using a cell phone to talk to Sal?” Callie asked. “Or is that too normal and not high-tech enough? Who has a cell phone?”

“I do,” Theo said, “but not here. They wouldn't let me bring it. You have to have security clearance to have cell phones here.”

“Wait, we should get Adam's phone,” Luke said. “All the agents have satellite phones, so his should work no matter what. Callie, it's in his vest. We can call Sal, except I don't know what his number is.” Luke had never had a reason to call Sal.

“We can just dial nine-one-one,” Callie said. “That's what regular people do in an emergency.”

“Okay,” Luke said. “Where's Adam's phone?”

“I can't find it,” Callie said. “Part of a pocket is ripped. I think it fell out when we were moving him.”

Luke stopped the jeep, all of a sudden uneasy that they couldn't talk to Sal.

“It's at the gatehouse. We should go back,” Theo said.

Behind them Luke could see the smoke thickening.

“No, we don't need it. We have the code. You remember it. Right, Theo?”

“Of course I remember it. It's four-nine-eight-three-two-eight. How open is the ground around the back gate? Can the helicopter land there?”

“They can land on the road either right inside or right outside the gate. They've cleared the trees
just like at the front gate, and those pilots can land in really small areas.”

Luke put the jeep back in gear. This time, he did a better job of steering, even though he still had to fight to keep the vehicle from swerving too much or hitting anything too big.

“Luke, why is there more smoke in front of us? I thought the fire was coming from the other way.” Callie's voice trailed off. She was right. The sky in front of them was starting to get as dark as the sky behind them.

“I don't know. The back gatehouse is right up ahead.” They came over a small rise and Luke pushed on the brake so quickly he felt like he was going to fly over the windshield. Outside the back gates they could see fire in the distance, treetops blazing, sparks jumping and dancing in the air. A pine tree caught fire with a loud popping sound, exploding like a huge firecracker.

“What's the fire doing here?” Callie screamed. “It's not supposed to be here. What are we going to do? We can't use the road!” She climbed out of the jeep and ran a few feet toward the gate and then stopped. “Luke!”

Luke didn't understand how the fire had gotten here. The back road ran out of the park to
the northwest. If the fire started in the east, it shouldn't be on this side of Camp David.

“It's weird the fire is here too,” Luke said. “It shouldn't be.”

“Well, it is,” Callie snapped. “I hate this place.” Luke knew Callie was really frightened now, because those were the times she tried to cover her fear with anger.

“I think fires started in more than one spot because of the earthquake. Fires are the most common danger from earthquakes after the initial damage.” Theo looked around as if he had lost something. “I wish I had my notebook. I could draw a map.”

“What good would a map do us?” Callie pounded on the hood of the jeep. “What's wrong with you two? You act like you're not even scared.”

Luke realized he hadn't thought that much about being scared. He had been so busy concentrating on his plan, he guessed he hadn't had time. Besides, he knew his dad and Sal would figure out what to do.

“This is really not good,” Theo said. “I don't know if anyone can get through the fire to us.”

“Don't just sit there. I don't think the fire is all the way to the gates yet. The wooden fence
isn't on fire. We can open the gates and get out ourselves.” Callie pointed back behind them, the way they had come. “We know there's fire that way.” She pointed in front of them. “And we know there's fire that way, so we go this way.” She pointed out to the left. “What way is that?”

“It's sort of southwest,” Luke said.

“Well, there isn't any fire there yet that we know about. Once we get through the gates that way should still be clear, and we can go through the forest until we find somebody. Let's go.”

“Callie, it would be really hard to get the jeep through the forest. They don't clear out all the underbrush like they do inside the fence, and Adam can't walk,” Luke said.

“We'll leave him here and go find someone to help him. Come on, Theo. Let's open the gate.”

“I'm not leaving Adam.”

“Theo, go on,” Callie said. “You're the one with the code.” Theo was out of the car and inside the gatehouse before Luke could stop him.

“Wait,” Luke yelled. Now that they were here, he didn't feel as sure of himself.

Theo stuck his head out the gatehouse door. “What?”

“Sal told you to wait until he got here.” It was
strange for Luke to move around without any agents nearby. They had been with him so long, like some sort of human armor all around him, he hadn't ever thought about how it would feel without them. He tapped his fingers on his legs, uneasy.

“Sal!” Luke yelled. “Sal!”

“What are you doing, Luke?” Callie said.

“Sal should be here by now. Sal!”

“Come on, Luke.” Callie bounced up and down. “Let Theo open the gate. We don't need Sal here for that.”

Maybe he should let Theo open the gate, Luke thought. It was just a gate, and the forest on the outside was almost like the woods on the inside. He could stay inside with Adam until Sal and the helicopter arrived, and Callie and Theo could go through the woods in case the fire spread too fast. He shouldn't keep them trapped here. They didn't even know Adam, and the fire was getting closer.

The fire was now about two hundred feet down the road, a wall of swirling colors and smoke. If he hadn't been able to feel the heat, Luke thought it wouldn't even seem real. For a moment he envisioned the fire stopping as it reached the fences,
sputtering out against the force field of safety they formed. But he knew the fences couldn't really stop the fire; the wooden one would catch quickly, and the fire would go right through the chain link.

“Okay,” Luke said. “Do it, Theo!”

A thumping sound worked
its way into Luke's head like a headache without any pain. He rubbed his forehead, trying to make the sound go away, and then he realized it was coming from the sky.

“I hear something.” Luke climbed up on the hood of the jeep. “Can you see anything?” He pointed to the north.

Callie climbed up beside him. “It's the helicopter,” she said excitedly. “Theo! I can see it…them. There are two of them. Here we are!” She waved, and Luke could just make out an outline in the smoke. Theo came out of the gatehouse.

Luke felt like a weight had dropped off him. “They can land on the road,” he said as he jumped
off the jeep. “I'm going to unbuckle Adam.”

As the helicopters drew closer, Callie kept waving as if they needed to see her to find them.

“Those are Chinooks,” Luke said. “The army uses them for rescue missions.”

“That would be what we need,” Theo said.

The helicopters drew closer, and they all waved, needing to do something. Comet put his paws up on the backseat and barked. The lead helicopter adjusted its path, turning in their direction.

“They know we're here!” Callie jumped off the jeep and ran down the road. Luke couldn't believe the sense of relief he felt, almost like sinking into a soft bed when he was really tired. In less than an hour they would be back in Washington, D.C., away from all this, and everything would be back to normal.

The wind from the helicopter's rotors created a funnel of smoke and leaves beneath it as the helicopter started to descend. Another pine tree outside the fence exploded, sending out a cloud of flames. The flames rolled up and up, engulfing the helicopter as if the fire were trying to swallow it. The helicopter disappeared from view, emerging a second later, twisting to the right. The other helicopter swung to the side and it looked like it
was going to get clear, but then the rotor of the first hit a wheel on the other.

“Get out of the way!” Luke screamed. He flung himself at Callie and Theo, both standing transfixed at the sight of the helicopters tangled together. “Run! Run! They're going to crash.” He grabbed Callie's arm and dragged her with him away from the helicopters, not wanting to look back.

The boom sounded and he felt a surge of heat washing over him. Callie pulled him to a stop. Both helicopters were down. An enormous fireball rose over the trees as the fire spewed out in all directions, fed by the fuel in the helicopters. Luke couldn't even see if there was anything left of them. The fire was too intense.

“We have to help the people in the helicopters!” Callie shouted. “Come on, Luke!”

“No, Callie.” Luke felt his whole body clench. “Nobody could survive that kind of explosion.” He fought back the tears, looking around for Theo, and spotted him on his knees holding his head. Luke started toward him and then saw the grass light on fire feet away from the jeep. Luke ran forward and tried to stomp it out, but the grass was too dry and there were too many little
sparks coming from the bigger blaze, landing all around him.

“Callie, help Theo. Keep moving away,” Luke yelled. “I have to go back and get the jeep.”

“Open the gate before the fire gets to it!” Callie shouted.

“I have to move Adam away from the fire first. It's too close. You and Theo open the gate.”

Luke jumped into the jeep and started the engine, trying to put it in gear at the same time. The engine made a grinding sound, but then slipped into gear. He turned the jeep and drove it back into the woods, away from the fire, and then stopped, trying not to think about the people in the helicopters. He climbed out and jogged over to Theo, who was still on the ground. Callie came running back from the gatehouse.

“That's not the right code, Theo. Try to remember.” She called to Luke, “He fell down and threw up, and now he says he's not sure what the code is. Do you remember?”

The numbers wouldn't come into Luke's head. He tried to picture Colonel Donlin telling him the code. “It started with a four,” he said, “and it had some nines and eights in it. What did Theo say it was?”

“Four-nine-eight-nine-two-eight.”

“That sounds right,” Luke said. “Are you sure you punched the numbers in the right way?”

“I tried three different times,” Callie said. “Why didn't you let Theo open the gate when we could? This is all your fault!”

“Theo, think. Are you sure that's the code?”

Theo took off his glasses and cleaned the one lens on his filthy shirt. “I think so. I wish I could talk to my mom. My head really hurts. You know, when I'm sick my mom lets me watch as much television as I want.”

Why was Theo thinking about television now? Luke rubbed his eyes. They were watering and itching from too much smoke, but the rubbing only made it worse.

“I wish I could talk to my mom,” Theo said. “I wish I had my cell phone.”

“Let's try a different code,” Callie said. “Maybe it's just a little off. You said it started with a four.”

“Okay. Theo, keep trying to remember if that's the right code.” Luke went into the gatehouse. The back gatehouse was much smaller than the front gatehouse, but it had the same gate lever and a keypad next to it.

“What should I try?” Luke asked, glancing out the window. The fire was close, already in the nearest trees on the other side of the road. If they didn't get the gate open soon, the whole area would be covered in flames.

“Try four-nine-eight-two-nine-eight,” Callie said.

It didn't work. Luke punched in as many variations as he could think of using those numbers but nothing worked. Why hadn't he tried to remember the number? He shouldn't have expected Theo to be the only one who could remember a number!

“Luke, the fire is getting too close. Don't you feel it?” Callie said.

The front edge of the fire was just feet from the door, and the metal keypad was getting hotter and hotter. He tried another number. Nothing. Another.

Callie took the hand he wasn't using. “Come on, Luke. I'm sorry I said that about Theo and the gate. You can't just keep pushing numbers while the gatehouse catches on fire.”

“It is my fault!” He pulled his hand away. “You're right. We would be out of here by now.” The keypad was so hot, he felt like his fingers were blistering every time he punched a number.
“Go ask Theo if he remembers something else.”

“No, Luke, we have to get out of here.” Callie took his hand again and pulled. “Let's go call for Sal.”

Luke let her lead him outside. Callie called a few times for Sal, but he didn't answer. Luke knew he wouldn't. Something had happened, something bad. Sal would never leave him alone this long. What were they supposed to do now? Luke looked over at Adam, but Adam wasn't moving. Luke closed his eyes, but he could still see the fireball. This wasn't supposed to happen to him.

The fire came right up to the door of the gatehouse. He knew the stone walls wouldn't burn, but he didn't know how long the wooden beams in the roof would last, and with everything burning around him, Luke didn't even really care. He was too tired to care.

“Why isn't the electric fence off already?” Callie asked. “I thought Sal said they were going to try to turn it off remotely somehow. What if it's already off?” Callie and Theo both looked at Luke.

“It hums when the power is on,” Luke said. “It's hard to hear, though. I can't hear anything with all the crackling of the fire.”

“I'm going to find out.” Callie ran down the fence line away from the fire. She stopped and then moved farther down the fence. When she came back, he could tell from her face the fence was still live.

“Why don't they turn it off?” She turned on Luke as if he should know, but he didn't know. It should be off by now.

“They would have to send a signal from Washington,” Theo said, “either via satellite or underground cable or wireless, to the command center at Camp David to tell a computer there what to do. Something must be wrong with whatever system they're trying to use.”

“That's a big help!”

“You asked,” Theo said, shrugging his shoulders. “Luke probably knows more about it than I do.”

Both Theo and Callie looked at him then like he was supposed to do something. No one had ever expected him to decide things. He was used to everyone else making his decisions for him, twenty-four/seven. Except that wasn't quite right. He had decided they should go to the back gate. Even though it hadn't worked out, Colonel Donlin had acted as if it was a good idea.

Luke tried to think. What was his dad doing right now? Did his mom even know what was happening?
Yield not to misfortunes, but rather go more boldly to meet them.
He could almost hear his father's voice.

He said it aloud. “‘Yield not to misfortunes, but rather go more boldly to meet them.' Theo, what ancient guy said that?”

“Said what?”

“‘Yield not to misfortunes, but rather go more boldly to meet them.'”

“Uh, that ancient guy would be Virgil.”

“Right,” Luke said. “Virgil. We aren't giving up. That's our motto. I don't want to just sit here anymore. Let's get back in the jeep, go to the command center, and shut off the electricity to the fence.” He felt a surge of energy at the idea of something to do.

“Are you crazy? How are we going to do that?” Callie said. “I heard the colonel. He said that the defense system was activated and we shouldn't go back through the woods to the buildings. Those are the boxes on the trees you were so hysterical about, aren't they? The ones that zap you dead.”

“They don't zap you dead. They just make you
feel like you're on fire,” Theo said, putting his glasses back on.

“Wonderful. That makes all the difference.” Callie glared at both of them and kicked the jeep tire. She looked like she wanted to kick Luke and Theo.

“I've been thinking about that. I think I have an idea. The colonel told me about where the defense perimeter is. It's supposed to keep out people on foot who are trying to sneak in, not armored vehicles or anything.”

“So what good does that do us?” Callie said.

“You know, if they really are like lasers or microwaves, you should be able to block the beam,” Theo said. He made a scribbling motion with his hand like he was drawing a diagram.

“What blocks a beam like that?” Callie asked.

“It depends on how strong it is. Something solid, like a piece of metal, if it's not too powerful,” Theo said. “If it's really strong, it's hard to stop.”

“They call it a millimeter-wave system, so it has to be more like microwaves,” Luke said. “Those are blocked by metal, just like a microwave oven.” Luke eyed the jeep.

“Then why can't we just drive the jeep through,
and duck down behind the doors?” Callie asked.

“The beams come from overhead,” Luke said. “They would still get us.”

“Even if we had one of the SUVs, we don't know if the waves will go through glass.”

Luke took hold of one of the jeep doors. “But we've got metal right here. We can take off the doors and use them to block the beams, like armor, while we crawl through underneath them.”

“That might work,” Theo said, “except we can't be sure the doors will cover us completely. I'm a lot bigger than you two.” Theo made more drawing motions with his hands. “This might be a terrible idea.”

“We can't see the beams, right?” Callie said. “I'm not using some sort of crazy jeep armor and just crawling through hoping we won't get zapped. Maybe we should move back from the fire when it gets closer, and someone else will get here soon to help us.”

“No,” Luke said. “We don't know how long it will take for another helicopter to get here, and this other fire is spreading fast now. At least back toward the buildings in the center of the camp there shouldn't be any fire yet. It
will
work.” He almost added,
I think
, to the end of that sentence,
but he didn't want them to doubt him.

“Luke's right. I don't want to stay here.” Theo climbed back in the jeep. “Try not to bump around too much, okay? I feel like I might throw up again.”

“Okay,” Luke said.

“I'm guess I'm in too,” Callie said reluctantly, climbing in the back with Adam and Comet. “Just remember, if we get fried, this wasn't
my
idea.”