Chapter 6 – If You Go To San Francisco Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair
WOOHP security has arrived and is cleaning up the cell.
Jerry says, "Another excellent job, ladies!" But the FTF leader is quietly smug.
"You may have captured me, and my headquarters, but you'll be too late to stop the next quake, so I still win!"
"Jerry! We have to get to the San Adreas fault in San Francisco! That's his next target!" cries Alex in alarm.
"Oh, my. You'll really need speed! I'm afraid we'll have to employ the WOOHP missile to get you there on time!" Soon the missile is overhead, vacuuming the girls into it. The girls know that the target zone is right by the Golden Gate Bridge, thanks to Alex and her x-ray contacts.
In a matter of 15 minutes, the girls are unceremoniously dumped on the beach in San Francisco. "Whoooaaaa."
"Ok, girls! Let's jet pack backpack over to the fault line!" says Sam.
"Right, Sammy!" responds Alex and Clover.
The San Francisco cell of FTF has received their orders. They are transporting 15 boxes of dynamite to the designated location.
"Deploy the Worm," says the cell leader.
"Worm deployed, sir!" says a henchman.
"Good! Now drill us down to the fragile point of the fault!"
"Yes, sir!" And the FTF squad starts drilling toward the target for their explosives.
"And if we fall short, detonate the dynamite immediately! It will be our contribution to the cause!"
Sam, Alex, and Clover arrive on the scene, just as the Worm starts tunneling.
"Let's laser the Worm and disable it!" says Clover.
"No, Clover! Even if they explode the dynamite at the depth they are at, they can still trigger a pretty devastating earthquake! We must follow them down, and disarm the dynamite without them knowing it!" says Sam.
"Do you really think they would blow themselves up, Sammy?" asks Alex.
"I don't know, but I don't want to find out either!"
"Good point, Sam," says Clover.
The girls decide to hitch a ride on the back of the Worm, unseen.
"This is the ONLY way to travel!" whispers Clover.
Soon the people in the Worm arrive at their destination – a magma chamber. They start to unload the dynamite. The spies quietly crawl to the top of the Worm to remain unseen.
In five minutes the dynamite is placed. The leader attaches a timing device, set to go off in 15 minutes, allowing the Worm time to get to relative safety. The FTF cell reenters the Worm, turn it around and head for the surface.
The spies bungee down from the top of the Worm, and head straight for the detonator.
"All we need to do is disconnect the hot wire!" says Sam, as she examines the device.
"Well, Sammy! What are you waiting for?" asks Clover anxiously.
"I want to make sure that I pull the right wire! If I choose the wrong one, we're ashes!"
Alex says, "Take your time, Sam. We have 12 more minutes!"
Sam studies the device. It appears that the green wire is the hot wire, and the red is the ground. To make sure, she traces the wires to the battery and the boxes. Five minutes left.
Sam slowly walks back to the detonator and picks it up. She slowly pulls the green wire, and closes her eyes; Alex and Clover flinch.
Nothing happens!
"YOU DID IT SAMMY!" exclaims Alex as she hugs her around the neck.
"YOU WERE GREAT, SAM!" exclaims Clover as she also hugs her around the neck.
Sam is drenched in sweat. "Thanks, guys. I wasn't exactly 100 percent sure I was right! I was about 90 percent sure!"
After taking a break for about one minute, Sam says, "Let's get those worms in that Worm!"
"Right!" says Clover and Alex as all three girls fire up their jet boots and start flying up the tunnel. When they see the light of day, the girls decide to walk carefully out, until they can locate the Worm.
On the surface, they see the Worm's tracks. They activate their jet pack backpacks and follow them.
About 2 miles away, the Worm awaits the explosion, but the time passes without one.
"The detonator must have failed! Quickly! Turn the Worm around, we must activate the dynamite manually!" says the leader. The crew follows the orders with blank expressions on their face. They know this is a one-way trip.
But as they begin to turn, the Worm loses one track, and then another. It can't move! Within seconds, a hole is being lasered into the top of the Worm as the spies go in to clean out the cell.
There are only five people in the Worm, and they are unarmed.
"Let's clean 'em up!" says Sam as she jet boots into the Worm. She immediately turns off her boots just as she hits one of the henchmen. He goes flying into the Worm's metal wall, and is in La La Land.
"Right behind you, Sam!" says Clover, as she uses her laser lipstick to cause a piece of equipment to fall on three of the henchmen, pinning them helplessly.
"I've got 'Mr. Big'!" says Alex, as she smacks him with a roundhouse kick. He is knocked out, face down.
"Now let's see who this guy really is!" says Alex, as she turns he on his back. She gasps, "It's Cal! Cal the Luge racer!"
Soon WOOHP is taking all five henchmen into custody.
Jerry is explaining about Cal.
"You see, ladies, Cal used his status as a World Class Street Luge competitor to get free transportation to potential quake cites. He would then hook up with a local cell, and carry out their nefarious scheme."
"That's right! The prior week's exhibition was in Nashville!" exclaims Alex.
"Yes, Alex. While he was there he hooked up with the local cell and started the earthquake. Esteban Ocello was visiting the local cell, delivering the dynamite. When Dr. Terran showed up, the local cell captured him and ransacked his field lab. You arrived on the scene approximately 30 minutes after they had done this. When they spotted you, they waited until you deployed the RATVAT, before trashing your jet/copter. They wanted to remove all traces of their presence using bleach, but you got back too quickly, so they had to leave in a hurry."
"But Jerry, why did they want to cause a major quake in the USA?" asks Clover.
"Because they wanted to instill terror in all the US citizens. They felt that if they could trigger earthquakes whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted, the US citizens would react like Spain's and appease them by giving in to their demands."
"But with WOOHP capturing the dynamite cache, and the headquarters, we shouldn't have to worry about them anymore, do we Jerry?" asks Sam.
"Well, Sam, that's not entirely true. They have been stopped for now, but dynamite is relatively easy to obtained, and there are other FTF cells. We just have to monitor their activity very closely. The important capture was the Worm. Without a device to get them down to the actual fault line, their attacks cannot take place."
"Thank goodness!" says Sam.
The tone of the meeting changes from formal to friendly.
"By the way, Alex. Good luck tomorrow in the Street Luge!" says Jerry with a smile.
"Thanks, Jerry! I'll give it my best!"
"We'll be rooting her on!" says Clover with an affirmative nod from Sam.