Chapter 50: God laugh at our plans

מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט.

Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht.

Translation: Man plans, God laughs.

"We transport someone to SL 35. From there, this someone accesses the ventilation shafts through an opening on the wall and climb down to SL37. We can access the room through the EPA filter openings, the structure there must be easier to get through in that point. We pack up mom properly and climb back to SL35, where Sam can transport us out."

There is a moment of silence, as everyone absorbs the crazy plan. But it doesn't take long for someone to express his displeasure about it, and that someone was, of course, McKay again.

"That plan is madness. Even if you got to her, there's not enough time for you to properly prepare her for transportation, specially considering that the ventilation shaft is too narrow, there's no space for a grown man to crawl there, with the bulk of the HazMat suit, much less someone who is unconscious and probably dying and bleeding from innumerous sores."

"McKay," Daniel shakes his head at the scientist, who lifts his hand, resolute.

"I'm being realistic here. That's not going to work. The ventilation shaft is too narrow for that."

"I agree with him," says Joy through the radio, and surprising McKay and everybody at the bridge. "You said the right thing. A man can't crawl in there. A small woman could."

Jack sighs out loud, as he was afraid that was what she was planning to do. "You can't go in there alone, Joy. I won't let you risk yourself like that. Your father would never forgive me if he'd lost his wife and one of his daughters at the same night. No."

"I'm going with you," says McGee, staring down at Joy, but she shakes her head, not open to discussion.

"No."

McGee gets incensed, as he feels like he's losing control of the situation and something bad is going to happen and there's nothing he can do to stop it. He feels bile coming up and he shakes with fear and anger at the same time, as he sees how stubborn she is being, "Joy, that's insane. I'm not going to sit here while you …"

"Tim, you can't. You're too big." She approaches him and touches his shoulders, which she had so many times praised and lain against, "Your shoulders… They wouldn't fit the ventilation shaft, especially with the equipment we have to carry down, with the HazMat suits and air tanks, you would get stuck in there and you would die."

"But Joy…"

"I won't let you make this sacrifice."

He stares at her for a minute, showing all the hurt in his eyes, and crushing her under a very heavy weight of guilty. He bites his lower lip, before asking in a cracking voice, "And I'm supposed to sit back and let you do it."

"I'm sorry. I have to. It's my mom. Even… even if it's just to retrieve a body. I have to try."

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There is a deep silence in the bridge as they hear the angry conversation happening down at the base. Gibbs looks at Jack, and sees how tortured the old man is as he has to decide to give a go on a mission that, most likely, will result on the deaths of all involved.

"She's not going alone." Ziva says as she takes a step ahead, receiving surprised looks from everyone on the bridge. "I'm as small as her or even smaller than her. Besides, she will need some help to blow up the walls down there."

Tony and Gibbs turn to stare at Ziva, who glances at the two men with a stubborn face. Tony can barely hide his fear for her, but Gibbs takes slow steps until he's face to face with the Israeli. He meets her gaze, which she returns without flinching.

"Are you sure, Ziver?"

"She can't go alone and McGee can't cover her six this time… but I can."

Joy's voice comes loud and clear by the radio, "Have you ever been rock climbing Ziva?"

Ziva smiles a little, remembering her childhood, '"Every spring in the mountains close to Haifa."

Joy keeps looking into McGee's eyes, which are incapable of hiding how hurt he is by her actions. She sighs and speaks to the radio, "then get your ass down here, we have to suit up and gather all the gear we might need down there. There will be no chance for a second try."

She gives a second glance to McGee, who is silently standing there staring down at her, before turning her back and walking towards the door, "I'm going to talk to Ducky. I need a crash course in decontamination procedures."

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Once outside, she walks to the field hospital, where Ducky and Jimmy were dutifully working and helping the CDC and the NEST officers in the decontamination of the few patients who were still being tended by them. Most had been transported by the Hammond directly to the Military Hospital by the Cheyenne Mountain, and a whole section of the hospital had been converted to radiation and decontamination center.

A man in a full body orange bunny suit, its glaring orange color being easily recognizable in the half light of that starlit night, blocks her path as she tries to enter the field hospital.

"Sorry ma'am, just people duly suited are allowed from this point on."

She nods, "Can you please call Dr. Mallard? He's helping the field medics with the victims. I need to talk to him."

The man bobs his head and turns around, talking to another HazMat clad person, who walks into the tents of the field hospital.

Joy turns around and rubs trembling hands over her tired face, feeling the onslaught of a blinding headache which had been simmering the whole evening, and had blossomed into a full tribe of pygmies playing drums inside her skull.

"My dear Joy, how can I be of any assistance?"

Joy blinks, and turns to look at Ducky, who is wearing a hideous HazMat Level B suit. His voice came muffed by the mask, but he motions for the young agent to follow him some feet away, and as soon as he is away from the field hospital tents he disconnects the mask and takes it off, smiling as soon as his sweaty skin gets into touch with the cool air of the night and he can finally breath something other than filtered oxygen.

"Ducky I need your help. We've figured out where mom is but… ah… We ran into some problems."

"What kind of problems and how may I assist you?"

"We can't beam her out like we did with the others," Joy's points to the hospital tents and the antlike movement of doctors and CDC specialists going from one tent to the other. "The radiation is not allowing the Hammond to lock onto any life form down there."

"Oh, then how are you going to get her out?"

She stays in silence, looking at the M.E. with tortured eyes for a minute, and the old Scot sighs, "Oh God."

"I'm going down to rescue her. We narrowed down her current position to a small lab in the very last level, and … ah… The Hammond is going to transport me down there, I'm going to get mom out of that lab, prepare her for transport and then the Hammond will transport us out."

"You can't go on your own. The radiation symptoms we've seen so far are… Joy, this is madness."

"I'm not going alone. Ziva is going with me. But that's not the reason why I came searching for you. If she's dead, she's dead. I'll retrieve at least her body for us to bury her. But … if there's the slightest chance of her being alive… I'll do my best to keep her like that."

"I see. Now –"

"She's in a sealed lab, probably receiving a good dose of radiation despite of it being completely cut off from the main ventilation system. The lab has its own air filtering system, but we have no way of knowing of how efficient it is on keeping the radiation out at the same time it keeps the air coming in. I'll need to drag her through ventilation shafts for the equivalent of three floors, until I get her into a part of the structure where Sam can lock on our beacons and transport us out. And I have to do it in less than five minutes."

"My dear, that's…"

"Madness, I know. But I have to try."

Ducky studies the resolute face before him.

"Well, first of all, if she is in a sealed lab, once you breach the seal she will receive the environment radiation. You will be protected in your suit; she won't so you will have a very small window to prepare her.

Joy nods, and settles down to hear him, "first, I need you to cut all her clothes and leave her naked. Her clothes will probably be full of radiation residue, and the furthest away from her, the better. Then you will carefully rub a decontamination gel all over her body, which will block further contamination and it will slowly counteract any absorbed radiation on her skin. You will then carefully put the first layer of a HazMat suit on her, known as Tyvek suit, and don't bother with the gel, just add some more if you see any surface of her skin without gel. Rub a lot particularly over her hair, which might absorb radiation and it might be a while until all of it is cleaned out of her system."

"In ideal circumstances, I would ask you to wash her skin, but the circumstances are a far cry off being ideal, so the gel must be enough until you bring her to surface."

After that, you will need to ensure that she breathes through the transport, so you will adjust a mask like this one over mouth and nose," Ducky shows the mask he's currently wearing hanging from his neck "but hers will probably be a SCBA gear, not an APR like this one, before finally sealing her into another level of the HazMat suit."

"What is the difference between the SCBA gear and the APR?"

"The SCBA gear stands for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, and it works very similarly to a Scuba tank. It provides oxygen in a positive pressure mask, which means that the air is always flowing, whether the person is breathing or not, thus ensuring that any contaminant will not breach any seal of the suit. The APR stands for Air Purifying mask, and it's used when conditions are not so serious, not necessarily requiring the SCBA."

"How much time will I have once I put her into the SCBA?"

Ducky looks back at the field hospital, frowning, "In ideal circumstances, a full tank might last up to forty five minutes. But it actually depends on the breathing rhythm of the wearer: under extraneous circumstances, when the person is exercising or making a lot of physical effort, thus, expending more oxygen in his muscles, its efficiency is greatly reduced, being able to supply fifteen to thirty minutes of oxygen."

"So, for mom, as she is unconscious, the same oxygen tank would last up to forty five minutes, while for me, as I'll be busting my ass trying to get her out of there, it might last only for fifteen minutes."

"Basically yes."

"Perfect. Bloody perfect."

"Once we have her under our care, other methods may be applied, such as a thoroughly cleansing of skin and conjunctivae, such as eyes, ears, mouth or any cuts found on her, but that must be done once you have her out of there."

Joy nods, "can you gather all the equipment I might need and have it ready here in five minutes?"

Ducky looks at the young woman, noticing her frown, "I'll do my best my dear, but you will also have to take some precautions for yourself. You and Ziva will have to drink water and go to the bathroom before donning the suits, as once in them you won't have the chance of taking it off for any a quick visit to the ladies' room. Besides, when the full layered HazMat suit is sealed, the wearer is completely isolated from the outside atmosphere. Nothing hopefully can come in, but also nothing can come out. That includes heat and sweat. With all layers in, you will be wearing up to 70lbs of gear, that excluding any tools you might need on your venture. It will also be approximately up to 30 F hotter than outside the suit. So you have to be careful, and not overdue yourself before you finish your task at hand."

"I'll keep that in mind," she stands up, "I have to go in. Will you ask some of the airmen to call me when you have everything ready?"

"I will. Give me some minutes."

"Five minutes, that's all I can give you."

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