For A Fall
Eddie rammed the flimsy chain fence with the Jeep for a second time. Solly pulled aside the uncooperative fragments and jumped back onto the vehicle running board. "Go!" he shouted.
The Jeep tumbled carelessly down the hill, headlamps quenched, crashing aside loose brush and spraying out the top-powder of snow. Solly hooked his arm confidently around the roll-bar above the bar and strained his eyes ahead.
"There's guards ahead," shouted Eddie thru the open window. "Take them out."
Solly leaned out from the careering vehicle, its thick tread crunching over the icy surface. He spotted two lurching figures ahead, each with the crouching gait of military men. The shotgun cracked once in his hand. Then again.
:::
"More shooting?" said Stokes. "Have you brought back-up?" She looked around the worn edge of the plastic cabin and returned to the stack of discarded propane tanks. Booted feet could be heard running back and forth, accompanied by the heavy clatter of metal and equipment.
"I thought they'd all left," said Mulder. "There might be twenty guys. But, now that I think about it, it might only be two."
"Why would your officers leave?" she asked. "The trouble is here. Whatever they're up to, illegal arms, weapons testing, they're doing it here."
"My men, if I can call them that, are more like temporary deputies. And we have a very loose chain of command."
She sighed. "Then our best way out of here is by sea."
"Do you have a boat? Or a dinghy?" He looked towards the shore as if he would see a shining rescue vessel moored conveniently.
"There's a big enough boat hanging there in the center of the camp."
Mulder shook his head slowly. "No. Isn't that a submarine?" he felt a cold breeze run down his spine. "A broken one at that."
"As long as we don't submerge, it'll float just fine."
"I'm going to suggest a better plan. We highlight my position as a law enforcement officer and demand that we are let go. They can't just run this place like their own jurisdiction."
"Good luck with that," she sneered. "This isn't your jurisdiction either. We already shot at them. They already shot back."
"You fired," he emphasized raising his index finger in her direction. "I tried to break up a fight."
She shrugged and raised her palms to dismiss the conversation. "Fine. You be the peace-keeper. Just don't tell them I'm stealing the saucer sub." She went back to the vantage point at the edge of the cabin. "Let's do this now."
He watched her slight movements and her sharp focus. She knew what she was doing and Mulder was fast changing his mind. "How do we get in the sub?" he asked quietly.
She turned back, gave a sad smile. "There's a release handle off to one side. Once it's on that little trackway, gravity will pull it into the water."
Mulder mentally set aside all his reservations about her crazy scheme. "How do we get into the sub?"
"Any way we can."
:::
Vern stood behind the widest possible tree trunk that he could find. In the gloom he could recognize Eddie's Jeep racing by, and the barkeep Solly waving around one of his guns. The whole research plan was falling apart. He laughed a little to himself. His father's disappearance was partly to blame if he thought it thru. But it was a disaster waiting to happen anyway. He thought briefly about Beth, then decided that now was not the time. He would think more about her later. Once he found his father - dead or alive? - he would try to make things right for her. Not because he felt anything for her anymore, but because it was time to move on. They knew each other better than anyone else.
:::
Allbright held the facecloth to all the cuts on his face. "I knew she was a liability. We should have gone for a military diver, not some dolphin-hugger." He turned from the map on the wall.
Vauxhall had managed to dress and hobble to the control room. He laughed out loud. "I think you're wrong about that, Weed. Stokes has strong opinions about not approaching dolphins. We needed her expertise. We got it wrong. Let's tidy up our mistakes and move on." He poured more tea from a Thermos flask. The steam curled out enticingly.
Allbright kept his lips pressed together and let his nostrils flare. "That material is out on the water now. I just got the signal. Half the township probably heard the engines before they hit the surface of the lake. We haul it in and then regroup. But we ask for further orders or more support. It feels like everyone is watching us now."
Vauxhall shook his head. "Your 'everyone' is about a half-dozen nosey locals and a few moose. We're thousands of miles from any kind of civilization. No-one cares what we're doing." He punched Allbright on the elbow. "But we'll do what you say, Weed. Get that shiny bauble in from the lake and we'll consolidate."
"You'll speak to them, Chief?" Allbright's shoulder twitched minutely.
Vauxhall smiled and shrugged. "I'll speak to 'him', to Fowler. But I can't promise you he'll pass his concerns up the line. Fowler hates a lot of mess. It makes him look bad. Well I imagine it does. I can't possibly know what 'they' think of him."
Allbright snorted. "If he hates mess, why do all his projects end up so badly?"
Vauxhall shook his head then leaned forward and rested his good arm on Allbright's shoulder. "You've maybe heard of one or two legends," he whispered. "But everything else? The rest is completely under wraps." His face returned to its usual calm state. "Let's do our job."
Allbright nodded, reassured for a short second, before the sound of gunfire erupted again and approached the compound.
:::
Eddie shrieked as the Jeep turned in a rut in the ice and flipped onto its side. Solly rolled into the drainage ditch, felt his face smash onto the snow and stones. A favorite molar cracked onto the ground and flew away.
"Eddie!" he shouted, but the vehicle kept spinning on the ice until it hit the lower corners of a pair of cabins. They cracked and buckled and fell onto the ground.
Solly could see armed figures stalk out from both sides of the rudimentary square, ready to open fire again. He tried not to whimper, tried not to think about the damage to his limbs. He pulled his body slowly to the edge of an access ditch, listened to the commotion, Eddie's cursing, and the final pops from his pistol, before passing out.