Day 18-3
There is a wide cleft in the rock-wall, about five feet above ground and we climb up. The entrance is tight, but after a couple hundred feet it opens into a huge cave. The first thing that catches my eye is a nice, cozy fire, and a group of men leisurely lounging around like they belong here. I get some curious looks when we walk in, and a tall, skinny guy with gray hair gets up and comes toward us.
"Hey, Frank," Cut greets him with a smile. "Want you to meet my buddy Chase. Chase, this is Frank Hughes. Kelly's dad."
"Sir!" I shake his hand and he grins.
"Just call me Frank."
"Okay, good to meet you, Frank," I nod back.
"So you are the notorious Sergeant Riggin? Man, Billy sure told me a lot about you."
"Nothing good I'm afraid?"
"Nah, he thinks very highly of you. But anyways, I see you decided to join our little party here."
"Actually I didn't have much choice in the matter."
"None of us did," he laughs ruefully. "Look, Sergeant, there's some serious shit going on up here. Not all of it quite natural."
"Know what you mean there," I agree with a glance over at 'Harry'. "So who are these other gentlemen?"
"Come on, I'll introduce you," Cut volunteers and we step toward the group.
Fourteen of them, I count quickly. They all appear to be in pretty good shape, but it is obvious that some of them have been here quite a while. Seven of the men are dressed in regular military BDUs, five wear the black jumpsuits like I had seen on the sniper, the other two seem to be civilians.
"Gentlemen," Cut gets their attention, "may I introduce Sergeant Chase Riggin."
Gees, Cut, any more formal and you'd think we're in church.
He draws some wide grins however, and I get a bunch of friendly handshakes.
"Pretty good, huh, Chase?" he smirks. "Guess we found 'em all."
"Sure looks like it. How long have you been here, Sergeant?" I direct my question to one of the soldiers—Sergeant Drake, according to the almost faded nametag and the rank insignia on his uniform.
"Me personally, since September twenty-second last year."
"Man..." I exhale a long breath and count in my mind.
"Eleven months and four days," Cut comes back while I am still thinking.
He always was better with math.
"God, it didn't seem that long," the Sergeant smiles wry. "I suppose they have us written off by now, don't they?"
"Not at all," I assure him, then draw him off to the side, a little away from the Government Agents. "Look, let me just say this much for now, there is something going on in this area and we have stirred up a bit of heat about it."
He gives me a curious squint, but asks no questions, and our conversation is over when Chief steps beside me and taps my shoulder.
"He wants to talk to you," Cut translates with a nod toward 'Harry'.
"Why me?" The question earns me the familiar "don't know" sign.
"Maybe he thinks you're in charge here," Cut chuckles.
I deliberately ignore it and reply instead, a little embarrassed, "Great! Jimmy, I guess you gonna have to help me out on that."
"No problem," Chief answers impassively and motions me along.
I look up again, still in amazement of the guy's size, watching what he signs.
Jimmy nods, then turns to me. "He wants to know, how you found the tunnel."
I don't answer right away, too surprised, one at the question, and two, because Chief doesn't have Cut translate for him. "Well," I finally admit, "actually I was the one who dug that tunnel, years ago. Don't ask me why, it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But how does he know about it?"
Jimmy shrugs and signs to 'Harry' again, stopping every now and then, apparently thinking of the correct way to say what he means to. I am sure not one to be easily impressed, but I have to admit that I am in this case. Damn Chase, he deserves a lot more credit than you thought.
Chief regains my attention. "They have been in there to check it out," he answers my previous question. "Chase, he asked, if you have anything to do with..." he hesitates and gives a few signs to Cut, looking frustrated.
"With the chemicals up here," Cut helps out.
"You know damn well, I don't," I snap, earning myself a puzzled squint from Chief.
"I know. But he asked why we went up there."
"Well? Did you explain it to him?"
"Yes!" he replies scarcely.
"So what the hell is the problem then?" I start to get impatient.
"Chase," Cut breaks in, "I think I know. Jimmy, see if you'n explain to him that we're trying to get somethin' done about it."
A nod from Chief and he turns back to 'Harry'.
"Thanks, Cut."
"You're welcome. Just keep cool, alright?"
"I'm trying like hell, man, but this is just too weird."
"No, shit! Being interrogated by Bigfoot ain't really your average, everyday thing."
Both of us snicker despite the situation, then another thought comes to mind.
"Jimmy!" I place a hand on his shoulder. "Think you can get it through to him that we have to leave here?"
"I'll try..."
"Wait a minute." I keep him from turning. "Maybe if you explain that there's some people on the way up here who can help. But we have to be able to get to them, before they run into the agents down at the camp."
He acknowledges with a short nod and signs to 'Harry' once more.
I watch for a reaction in the hairy face—there is none. Only a thoughtful look at Cut and me, then over at the others. They are staring at us. Probably wondering if we're gonna sell 'em out. That's definitely how I would feel.
"Hey, Cut, why don't you go fill 'em in on what's going on," I suggest with a sideways glance at the group of men.
"Think that's a good idea?"
"Couldn't hurt nothing. I'm just wondering how much those government boys know."
"Not sure, Chase. Maybe I'n find out?"
"Yeah, go do that."
He gives me a quizzical look, then walks over nevertheless.
"Chase," Chief sounds rather serious, "we can't leave."
"Damn, Jimmy, we have to. At least I do."
"I know, but..."
"But what?"
He doesn't answer, just glances across the room toward Cut.
A grunt from 'Harry', and since Chief can't hear it I tap him on the shoulder, getting his attention. He turns around and I motion with my thumb. This would almost be funny if it wasn't so serious.
"Well, Chase," Cut is coming back, "you ain't gonna believe this, but I really think they don't know."
"None of 'em?" I squint surprised.
"None except Frank."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty much. Seems them agents were really just up here lookin' for Drake and his bunch, and Sarge and them had come to find Bigfoot."
"Gees, Cut..." I shake my head.
"So what's going on now, Chase?"
"No idea! Apparently he don't want us to leave, at least that's what Jimmy said. Hell, them two been arguin' in sign-language for a good five minutes now."
"Seen that," Cut snickers, and I can't help but do the same. For some reason though, we are met by a puzzled look from the hairy guy.
Chief turns, signs quickly, and frowns when we keep grinning.
"Damn, Chase, Harry thinks we're makin' fun of 'im," Cut mumbles, trying to be serious. "Jimmy says, to quit the bullshit or we'll never get outa here."
"Okay, okay!" I put on my best straight face. "So does that mean he'll let us go?"
"Maybe," Chief answers scarcely, then switches back to signs.
"He says, Harry's worried about us gettin' hurt," Cut relays. "He watched us check out the chemicals, and by the way, that's how the other one got the scar. You hit 'im, blasting the trees."
"I did?"
"Yup! But he says don't worry about it. Anyways, they seen it when I got shot, and took me and Jimmy so we wouldn't run into them agents. You just made it to the camp 'cause you came around the other way."
"Damn..."
"Jimmy says, Harry understands what he's told 'im, you know, why we gotta go. But apparently he thinks we don't stand a chance."
"Maybe not, but that's a risk we have to take."
"I told him," Chief confirms. "And he understands."
"So?"
"We can go."
"Great! Thanks, Jimmy!" I exhale a sigh of relief, but know he didn't get the "thank you" because he is looking at 'Harry' again.
"Now we just got one little problem." Cut scratches his head.
"No firepower, right?" I am thinking the same thing.
"Exactly! So what we gonna do about that?"
"Don't know yet, Cut. Maybe my MPK and the Llama are still at the spot where the other one caught me."
"Doubt that, Chase. They don't leave no evidence."
"We know that now, don't we?"
"Yeah," he chuckles low. "By the way, Jimmy and I figured that one out, too."
"What one?"
"Well, you know the thing with gettin' buried in the leaves. They do that to get you off a little ways, then they go back and erase all tracks before they bring you here."
"Oh!" It dawns on me now. "So when I found Jimmy that time and saw something runnin'..."
"Yeah! You scared 'im off. And when he had me, I just woke up too quick and got outa there before he came back."
"Same here," I admit. "I was up too, just thought I'd stick around to get a closer look."
"Little closer than you thought, wasn't it?" he says with a nasty smirk on his face.
Chief breaks our conversation with a snap of his fingers and signs.
"Oh, man! Guess what, Chase..."
"What, Cut?"
"Jimmy says, he explained the problem with the guns to Harry, and we don't gotta worry about it. They're all here."
"No kidding?"
"No kiddin' at all. Come on, he's gonna show us where they're at."
#####
I can't believe my eyes as we walk over into another one of the caves. It is smaller than the first, but when 'Harry' lights a torch, we can see that it is stocked to the ceiling with guns, ammo, explosives, and several other kinds of military equipment. An arsenal of weapons and gear.
"Jesus Christ the Almighty!" Cut mutters between his teeth. "Look at this shit, Chase. There's enough here to hold off a fuckin' army for a year."
I don't answer, but start checking around instead. M16s, M60s, AR15s, 'Grease'- Guns—I stroll along the line, stopping at a .50 caliber Barrett M82 Sniper Rifle that stands out like a sore thumb.
I turn back and get Chief's attention. "Jimmy, can you ask him where they got all this stuff?"
A few quick signs, and 'Harry' stares over at me with a sad expression—at least that is what it looks like from under all that hair.
Now what did I say? I get the answer right away from Jimmy.
"It doesn't matter, just take what you need."
"Okay then, Cut let's go see."
He walks up beside me, still grumbling beneath his breath.
I pick out one of the MPKs, not sure whether it is the same I had before since there are several of them. The Llamas are easily found, and so is Cut's Bullpup. Jimmy's SIG is here, too, right beside his Bowie knife. He sure looks happy to get it back. Finding matching rounds for all six guns doesn't pose a problem either.
"Hey, Cut, look what I found," I grin, holding up three blocks of C-4.
"Damn, Chase, what you gonna do with that?"
"Oh, I'm sure I'n think of somethin'. Jimmy, ask him if it's okay to take a few."
Chief squints uncomfortably, but then signs to 'Harry' anyway. "It's okay!" he comes back with the answer.
"Great! Tell him I said thanks."
"Hey, Chase," Cut wears that solemn expression again, "what about the others?"
I hesitate, because this is something I haven't considered yet.
"We can't just leave 'em here, but we can't drag 'em along neither."
"Right!" I agree, rubbing my forehead. "Look, maybe we...no, that won't work. Damn!"
"Let's go talk to 'em," Cut suggests. "That Sergeant Drake seems to be a pretty reasonable guy."
"Yeah, I had that impression, too. Besides, somehow I got the feeling we ain't the only ones who been set up. Sure would like to..."
"Chase," Jimmy breaks in, looking uncomfortable again.
"What's up?" Cut inquires for me, getting some hasty signs in return. "Shit! Look, Chase, Jimmy says, Harry's real worried about keepin' this place a secret."
"Little late for that, ain't it?"
"Not really, considerin' once you're in here, you can't find a way out. Believe me, I tried. Apparently they been livin' here for generations, without anyone findin' 'em."
"Tell him not to worry about it, Jimmy. I don't intend to let this get out in any way."
Chief squints unconvinced, but relays the message to 'Harry' nevertheless.
A curious look from the big guy. Guess he's still in doubt about me.
"Chase, I got a suggestion," Cut changes the subject.
"What's that, man?"
"Well, how about we stay here tonight? It's pretty comfortable, you know. Would give us some time to talk things over anyways, figure out how we gonna work this shit. What you think?"
I hesitate, actually thinking about Buck at the moment. He is out there somewhere, and I can't help but worry about him.
"Well?" Cut inquires impatiently.
"Well," I finally respond, "I'm sure as hell curious about this place. Like to look around a little closer, see what all is here, but..."
"But what?"
"Damn, Cut, Buck's still out there. If he gets the notion of headin' back to the camp..."
"Ah, he'll be alright. He'n take care of himself just fine. Besides, he's been runnin' around out there for the last two weeks now. Bet he's on first name basis with every tree and bush by now," he grins roguishly.
"Guess you got a point. I's just thinking about that bunch of trigger-happy assholes down at the camp."
"So what if he bites a couple of 'em? Would just do us a favor. Oh, come on, Chase, quit worryin' so much. This place is great, and the menu here is a definite improvement over them damn MREs."
"You ever think about anything besides food?" I can't help but laugh.
"Sure do! Didn't happen to bring a few beers up by any chance, did ya?"
I just roll my eyes and shake my head.