Zero Point (41 page)

The missile penetrated into the heart of the complex, detonating as it reached the core. The resulting explosion sent a monstrous fireball into the early evening sky that was seen from all over the island. People everywhere on Tenerife stopped to look at the curious aberration coming from the old dormant volcano. Osama felt the tremor of the explosion, but paid little mind since he was safely away from the complex at that point.

The ZPGs in the facility were completely destroyed in seconds, terminating the power to the Scalar weapon’s two parabolic dishes and huge electromagnetic oscillators. The EM waves that were directed towards La Palma reacted just as Yashiro had feared. The immense power carried in the EM waves over the vacuum of space-time now had no origin, nor termination point. With no direction, the powerful EM waves exited to the nearest reference points. The first was the Bishamon facility, and the other was at the convergence point deep within the magma chamber on La Palma.

Osama halted his progression as he felt a new tremor. He listened to the growing reverberation in the ground increase in veracity as the earth began to shake beneath him. What followed next was a shock wave of tumultuous force that shook the entire lava tube and sent Osama reeling to the rocky floor. The last thing he saw before the overhead lights went black was the ceiling of the lava tube cascading to the floor in a thunderous roar, effectively sealing his only exit route.

The complete and utter darkness consumed him to his very core. He cursed himself for not bringing a flashlight, since he now found himself confined to the darkness like a blind man. Slowly getting up, he shuffled his way toward the direction of the cave, only to find a huge pile of debris blocking his route.

I’ll have to go back the other way,
he thought, growing uncertain and for the first time in his life, afraid.

Osama slowly stumbled his way back to the entrance of the facility. With relief, he found the door by groping in the dark for the cool steel. He tried to slide the steel bolts on the lock, but was unable to budge them. With ensuing panic, he desperately began screaming and pulling on the slide bolts. To his dismay, the collapse of the facility and tons of falling rock had jammed the steel door on the outside and twisted the frame.

Winded and terrified, he sat down and tried to figure a way out. There was none. He was trapped, all alone in the
darkness, with no way out. His muffled screams went unheard for three hours as he lay on the floor cowering in panic. Total madness set upon him after four days. While immersed in darkness, he could see into his own mind, the hundreds of people he’d murdered in his long, violent reign, all looking at him from the blackness of the sealed lava tube. They were condemning him, laughing at him, and taunting him.

Yagato Osama, the powerful Japanese Yakuza Oyabun who controlled the life and death of many; the man who would be rich and powerful, died a very slow and lonely death.

36

F
or Eli Turner and Maria Santiago, still trapped on their precarious perch on La Palma, the situation was becoming dire. Though the massive landslide had ceased its progression, the tremors became numerous once again as a result of Osama’s reactivation of the exothermic Scalar weapon. Their brief respite on the narrow ledge of basalt high above the deserted town of Puerto Naos was now shattered by a series of violent shock waves from deep within the fiery magma chamber beneath the Cumbre Vieja.

The volcanic ash presented their most immediate danger, as tons of toxic, airborne ash emanated from the eruption and rained down upon them. Likened to dirt-laden snow, the suspended particles of crystalline silica irritated their eyes and throat, causing uncontrolled coughing and burning in their eyes.

Maria now cradled the elder Turner in her arms. She had fashioned makeshift face masks by ripping her parka into small pieces and tying them around their faces. Using the remainder of the material, she applied direct pressure to his chest wound in an effort to stem the blood flow. Doing so had also somewhat helped his breathing. She knew that if he
didn’t get required medical attention soon, he would not survive.

“I’m not able to get through on the cell phone,” she yelled to Eli as another tremor shook the fragile ledge beneath them.

“It must be atmospheric interference due to the eruption,” Turner said weakly. “We’re lucky that you got through the first time.”

As another massive tremor hit, Maria closed her eyes and held on to Eli. She covered his face as pieces of basalt rock and dust fell from the outcropping rock above them. The fierce trembling precipitated another fissure just to the right of Maria. As it began to fracture, the crack traveled towards the edge of what used to be the floor of the lava tube. She opened her eyes to find herself looking at an increasingly widening fissure and she scrambled to drag Eli away from its edge. With a resounding crack, the tiny ledge they had just been laying on tumbled downward into the void beneath them. What remained was a balcony-sized section of floor that was now the only thing keeping them from falling to certain death far below.

“I’m so sorry for getting you into this mess, Maria,” Eli managed weakly as the tremor subsided. “Please forgive me.”

“No one twisted my arm to come here, Eli. This is not your fault,” she replied. She picked up his hat that had fallen off during their frantic repositioning and placed it into the back pack. “Besides, it was worth the risk to actually find these
relics and know that they’re real. It’ll be sad if they are lost again.”

“Maria, I don’t think I’m going to make it,” he said weakly as he looked into her eyes and had another coughing fit. “I want you to tell Josh that I met my end doing what I loved the most, and that—”

“Don’t talk like that!” she yelled, tears of despair beginning to flow from her eyes. She knew that they were both doomed if help didn’t arrive soon. “Just hang on. We’ll get out of this somehow. I know Josh and Samuel will find a way,” she added optimistically, even though she knew that it probably wasn’t to be.

More ash and debris began to swirl about them, accompanied by a sound that she thought was another tremor. Realizing that this was most likely the end, she held on tightly to Eli and laid back in silent resignation. As she gazed above her, Maria realized that this wasn’t a new series of shock waves, but a much more familiar sound.

The huge CH-46 Sea Knight appeared out of nowhere and hovered above her like the vision of an angel. Maria jumped up on the ledge and started shouting.

“Eli! They’re here! We’re gonna' make it!” she yelled, looking at the elder Turner, but seeing that he was no longer conscious. Her sudden joy was transformed to despair as the Sea Knight drifted away from them and moved upward along the ridge. “No!” she screamed. Waving her arms wildly, she saw Turner leaning out of the emergency door of the chopper
as it moved slowly away from them. “Please, don’t leave us,” she cried again as the Sea Knight moved further and further away.

With the access door behind the cockpit of the Sea Knight open, Turner and the Marine medic peered through the swirling debris of dust and ash. They searched for any sign of life on the now devastated rocky slope, while Samuel rooted through the box seat behind them for the rescue harness assembly. Major Zibrinski kept a close eye on the pilot caution panel indicators for any sign of engine trouble as she hovered along the partially collapsed fault line.

“If the map coordinates for the rock formation you spoke of are correct, we should be in their vicinity,” Zibrinski said over the aircraft intercom sets that all of them now wore. “Be advised, we won’t be able to stay here too long with the amount of ash in the air. The particles in the ash will basically sand-blast these engines until they seize,” she stated as the big Sikorsky pivoted around to give the men behind her a better view of the rocky edge of the slope.

“Any luck, Mr. Turner?” the major queried as she held the CH-46 on a steady track.

“Nothing yet, Major,” he replied tersely, seeing the devastation caused by the eruption and separation of the fault line. “Most of the ridge is obscured by ash. It’s going to be difficult to see anyone down there.”

“This is impossible. We’ll never find them in this,” the medic said nervously as he surveyed the disaster below them.

“We’ll find them, amigo,” Samuel said optimistically, but beginning to have some doubt as to their success.
This is like trying to find a needle in a burning haystack
.

Just then, the CH-46 intercoms came to life with the familiar voice of Colonel Kyle Sears. “Sid, swing around and fly south along the ridge. I’ve got two targets on my thermal imagery; one standing and one down. Over....”

Sears, after receiving the recall from the
Hazleton,
made a side trip en route to see if he could lend support. He now stood five hundred feet from the top of the newly-formed rock slide that menaced the small towns and sea far below.

“Roger that, Colonel,” Zibrinski responded in acknowledgment as she deftly swung the big chopper around and headed south towards the small ledge holding Eli and Maria. “Okay, I have a visual on them,” she said as she swung toward the tiny outcropping of basalt and came to a halt over the two besieged archaeologists. “Alright, gentlemen, get that winch going and be damned quick about it.”

“Major,” the co-pilot said anxiously, “I’m getting a caution light on the number two turbine gearbox. It’s the ash intake into the compressor.”

“Awe, crap,” Zibrinski said, and then advised the rescue team behind her. “We have got to do this now, guys. We’re flirting with engine trouble, but I’ll hold for as long as I can.”

“Got it,
Major
,” Turner replied as he grabbed the Blue Water rescue harness from Samuel and began climbing into it like a pair of trousers.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the medic yelled in protest as Turner began suiting up. “You’re not trained in rescue recovery.”

“Are you?” Turner asked as he grabbed the aluminum locking d-ring karabiners and snapped them on the end of the Kern mantle nylon rope.

“No, but—”

“Just get your medical supplies ready to receive my father when I come back up. He can’t wait for you to finish bringing both of them in,” he said in decisiveness as he swung himself out of the hatchway and into the swirling wind of the rotor wash. Samuel manned the winch controls and proceeded to let out the line, lowering Turner down to the miniscule ledge below.

He reached the rocky ledge in moments. Maria’s strong grip pulled him close to the wall and away from the steep ledge. He was stunned to see the amount of blood his father lost and was heartsick to see him so lifeless and pale as he knelt beside him.

“Dad, can you hear me?” he yelled over the roar of the Sea Knight’s rotors.

“Go! Take him first, Josh.” Maria yelled, looking at the anguish in his eyes. “I’ll be alright.”

“Okay, Maria,” Turner said, brushing her cheek with his hand, “I’ll be back in a minute. I promise.”

He grabbed his father around the mid-section, and wrapped his arms and legs around his limp body. Giving Samuel the thumbs-up sign, the line went taut as the two started to rise upward.

“What’s your engine situation, Sid?”Colonel Sears asked over the radio.

“Number two turbine is giving me trouble and…” she paused for a long moment. “Shit! There goes the CHIP alarm on number one,” she said, signifying metal fragments in the 90-degree gear box.

“Sid, you’ve got to abort right now,” Sears said in an alarming tone.

“No problem, Colonel, I’ve got plenty of time. The first survivor is coming aboard now.”

“Major, that’s an order! You can’t risk your aircraft trying to save them both. Abort now!”

“Sorry, Colonel, he’s already on his way down for the second survivor now,” she lied, hoping to gain a precious few moments.

Turner reached the entrance to the Sea Knight carrying his father, while Samuel and the Marine medic grabbed his unconscious body and pulled him inside. They laid him on the stretcher and the medic went to work immediately. Samuel hit
the electric winch motor, sending Turner back down to recover Maria.

“Major, these turbines are going to flame out soon if we don’t get the hell out of here,” the co-pilot warned with trepidation, even though he was willing to follow the Major’s orders to the very end.

“We just need a few more minutes. Don’t worry, kid, this is a tough old bird.
He’ll
hold together,” she said to the co-pilot, and then whispered softly, “I hope….”

Maria watched expectantly as Turner was lowered back down on the electric winch line. She grabbed his outstretched hand as he came within reach and pulled him in away from the edge of the precipice, while Samuel let out more slack on the Kern mantle rope.

“I told you I’d pick you up at seven,” Turner said smiling, referring to his promise to her in the lava tube the night before.

“I never had any doubt,” Maria answered, her eyes revealing a longing that over-shadowed their weariness from the long ordeal. They both took one last glance at the destructive forces at work around them and prepared to ascend to the Sea Knight, when all at once the devastating process unleashed by Osama struck without warning.