Chapter 833

Wide And High

Cameron and Anna were aware they were working against a timeline. The railroad crewman was on his way back to inspect and check the railcars while the train sat at the red signal. They didn't want to be spotted and they didn't want anyone to know what the cargo was.

It seemed that the group that they currently dealt with had a lot of influence with what happened at the railroad facilities. There was still the possibility the crewman was a Gray too. They would probably know soon enough when he reached the two boxcars. What he actually did when he arrived at the two boxcars would probably indicate whether he was or not.

Cameron hopped up into the first boxcar. She was followed by Anna. She wanted to disable the equipment in a specific order based upon its threat level.

"You take the HK drone." Cameron said. "Disable it and then start on the HK Tracks. I need to disable the HK Tread."

Anna wasn't sure how much time they would have to do everything.

"We can work on reprogramming them later." Anna said

Cameron knew that they still needed to check the second boxcar.

"It's all about time right now." Cameron said

Cameron and Anna disabled their first targets and switched to the HK Tracks.

Savannah kept track of the crewman's position as he inspected the train. He was much closer to where Cameron and Anna were at now.

"Cameron, The crewman is still headed your way." Savannah said. "They are within fourteen cars of your position."

Cameron wasn't sure if they were going to have enough time to do everything that needed to be done before the crewman arrived. She didn't want any type of alarm raised or warning sent out. She didn't want a threat hanging over her head.

"We still need to open the second boxcar." Cameron said. "The crewman may be a Gray. I will terminate him when he approaches. That will end the threat."

Savannah didn't need to think about what Cameron said for more than a few seconds. It was a really bad idea no matter how it was looked at. If Cameron took any action like that, it was only going to create more and bigger problems.

"You don't know that, Cameron." Savannah said. "What kind of a problem is that going to cause when he doesn't return to the locomotives? The train isn't going to leave without him. That will start some type of investigation for sure. There's no way to know what's happening."

Cameron didn't want to argue with Savannah but she could see that her concerns were valid. It would probably prevent movement of the train from where it currently sat if someone else was sent to find out what happened to the crewman. Nonetheless his presence in their area was going to be a problem

"He's a threat." Cameron said. "I know that."

Anna and Cameron finished disabling the Skynet equipment in the first boxcar. They jumped out, closed the boxcar door and latched it.

Cameron briefly inspected the welds that she'd broken. They were small to begin with and one needed to look very close to see that all of them were fractured.

They moved to the second boxcar. They didn't know what they were going to find. It didn't really matter because they were going to find out anyway.

Cameron repeated the same procedure she used on the first boxcar door to open it. She cracked the spot welds and opened the door slightly. There was a screech of metal sound that emanated from the movement of the boxcar door.

The pounding on the metal or sliding noise of the boxcars door made the brakeman look in the direction Cameron and Anna were. He was still on the other side of freight cars from them. He was only a few freight cars away.

Savannah could see that the crewman looked a little more animated now. He looked towards the area where Cameron and Anna currently were outside of the second boxcar.

"Cameron, the crewman is hurrying now, he must have heard you." Savannah said. "He's coming to investigate. He may think there's a loose or shifted load. I don't think he expects to see anyone out here in the middle of nowhere. I'm going to have CamNet try something."

Cameron heard Savannah tell CamNet to give the train a green light. Seconds later the locomotive blasted its air horn. It was to recall the crewman to the locomotive.

Savannah could see that the crewman looked over the boxcar Cameron and Anna just left from.

"The crewman is at the first boxcar." Savannah said.

Cameron and Anna checked for any booby traps and entered the boxcar. They knew they were out of time. They slid the door closed behind them. The door gave off a slight screech sound as it closed. The interior contained the same HK equipment as the first boxcar.

"We're inside." Cameron said. "We closed the door. I'm trying to avoid the need for a termination."

Savannah could see that the crewman looked all around the boxcar that Cameron and Savannah were in.

"The crewman is directly opposite the boxcar you're in." Savannah said.

The locomotive blasted its air horn again, twice this time.

Savannah could see that the crewman was still highly interested in the boxcar that Cameron and Anna were in. What he did next appeared to increase his chances of termination significantly.

"The crewman is violating railroad protocol and moving under your boxcar." Savannah said. "We can't see him anymore until we complete our orbit."

Dan and Frank set up a counter rotating orbit at the extent of their Terminator vision to observe the train. With their faster speed they were able to be on the side opposite the girls were on, even with their wider orbit. They were also able to observe things further in all directions around them.

"He is on the side where Cameron and Anna entered. He's about to try and open the door. He probably noticed it was unlatched." Dan said. "We're leaving the airspace for a few minutes. We want to check on something up ahead that may be of interest to us."

The locomotive blasted its air horn again. The twin blasts were longer and louder.

Cameron held the door closed as she heard and felt the crewman try to move the door. She was aware that Cam went through a procedure very similar to this at the old newspaper plant. She also knew what happened to Cam right after she held the door closed so that the Grays couldn't open it.

Moments ago:

The crewman looked over the boxcar where he thought he'd heard some noise. He could tell that the engineer wanted to get moving again. Where they were at currently was a segment of their run where they'd never experienced any problems before. He clearly heard some type of metallic noises around the two boxcars where he was currently at. Everything looked in order on the side he was on. He knew that the engineer was ready to go but he wanted to check the other side of the boxcars to see if there was a problem. There wasn't time to walk around to the rear of the train and come back up on the other side.

He decided to take a risky shortcut. He went underneath the boxcar where he'd heard the noise. When he came up on the other side of it he saw that the door wasn't properly latched. His first instinct was that someone may have attempted to tamper with the load. He tried to open the door to take a look inside. The door wouldn't budge. He flipped the latch closed to secure the door. It was time to go.

There was a loud 'clang' as the crewman secured the latch on the boxcar. That act sealed both Cameron and Anna inside. Now they were trapped in the darkness of the boxcar.

The locomotive blasted its air horn again.

Young Allison opened the throttle and headed for the side of the boxcar the crewman moved to.

Savannah watched everything that Young Allison did. She wanted to make sure Young Allison was aware of what she'd just done. She'd just pushed her equipment past the safety margin.

"Watch the redline." Savannah cautioned.

Young Allison felt her actions were justified based on what was currently happening on the ground. She wanted to see what was happening on the other side of the boxcar.

"I can push the redline for a short time." Young Allison said.

Savannah thought that response needed a little qualification.

"When you NEED to do that you can." Savannah said.

Young Allison backed the throttle down slightly.

The Cessna was back to the side of the boxcar that Cameron and Anna entered on.

They saw the crewman try to open the boxcar door. Then they saw him throw the latch.

Savannah could see that act for the trouble that it was. It looked like everything just got more complicated.

"Great. The crewman just threw the latch." Savannah said. "Cameron and Anna are now trapped inside…."

The reports that came in to the Command Center weren't what John wanted to hear. Now everything would be even more complicated. He wasn't sure if it would have been better for Cameron to terminate the crewman. No, that would have been worse.

"Beautiful…." John said.

John Henry didn't think there was a major issue.

"They can break the latch with enough force." John Henry said. "There are two of them inside of the boxcar. It won't be a problem."

John was sure that a broken latch would send up a red flag once the train stopped in Las Vegas and was inspected by the Skynet forces. It would soon be clear that only a Terminator could have broken the steel latch.

"That will give our hand away at the next stop." John said.

John Henry knew that the girls wouldn't be in any danger if they were out of the boxcar at that time. It seemed there were several options available for them to use. He wasn't sure if he wanted to point all of them out to John right now or not.

"They will get out." John Henry said. "Don't worry."

John was still very steamed. He quickly looked at John Henry.

"THAT is ALL I do is WORRY." John said.

John was very worried about all of them there at the scene. He was still very disturbed that Young Allison was there and a part of this. He needed to tell himself that Cameron didn't do this intentionally. She started the day out to train the girls and have some fun with Savannah and Young Allison. Now they were in the middle of an operation.

It was clear to John from his earlier conversations with Young Allison that she very much seemed to enjoy this new wrinkle. She could understand her enthusiasm but she didn't know how quickly things could go bad when they went bad. He would need to rely on Savannah to be a moderating force on Young Allison. He hoped that she would be able to be one on Cameron as well.

It always seemed that whenever operation Cameron was involved in that he had very little control over what happened and when it happened. The current operation was no different.

Moments ago:

Cameron and Anna hurried to get inside the boxcar and slide the door closed. They could hear the crewman outside the door.

He tried to slide the door open to see why it was unlatched.

Cameron was aware he must have heard the noise when they opened and then closed the boxcar door. It made several loud screeching noises both times it moved. She currently held the door closed.

The crewman struggled with the door for a few more seconds before he determined it was jammed. He figured that was why no one bothered to latch it.

There was a loud 'clang' as the crewman secured the latch on the boxcar door.

Cameron and Anna we're now sealed inside of the boxcar.

The locomotive blasted its air horn again.

They both waited in silence. They could hear the crewman carry on a conversation with the head-end crew over his radio.

In the distance towards the front of the train they could begin to here a series of noises.

Clang – Clang – Clang….

"What's that?" Anna asked as the noise intensified.

Clang - Bang – Bang….

The noise intensified some more.

Cameron quickly deduced what was happening.

"The train is backing up to retrieve the crewman." Cameron said. "That seems like a highly unusual move. It appears it's being done to save time. Let's get to work here as quickly as possible. I'm sure we're in for a big jolt."

Anna and Cameron started to disable the HK equipment.

Bang – Bam – Bam…

The noise continued to intensify.

Anna and Cameron worked faster.

Savannah watched as a thick black cloud of smoke came out of each of the locomotives exhaust stacks. She figured the train was about to start out. She wondered why they hadn't waited for the crewman to return to the locomotives. She quickly realized why. She sent out a warning to Cameron and Anna.

"The train is starting to move backwards. The crewman is waiting for the locomotives to back up to him." Savannah said. "He's still outside your boxcar door."

Bam - BAM – B-A-M….

There was a severe jolt as the slack was compressed by the backing train. The boxcar lurched backwards.

Cameron and Anna were both nearly knocked down. Only their Terminator agility kept them from falling.

BAM – Bam – Bang….

Cameron was appalled at the train handling. It was clear to her that all the equipment was being abused.

"That was way too hard." Cameron said.

They still needed to deactivate the last HK Track.

Bang - Clang – Clang….

The last HK Track began to start its automatic 'power up' sequence.

Cameron sent out a warning.

"An HK Track is going hot." Cameron said as the clanging continued behind them.

Clang – Clang – Clang….

John Henry could see John was becoming increasingly agitated.

John was worried about the latest news from Cameron.

"They need to get out of there." John said.

John Henry felt that they should have time to act before things became critical. He did note there could be a few hiccups.

"They may be able to disable the HK Track before it is ready to become hostile. It will identify them as Terminators." John Henry said. "They don't have a transponder code. They're not wearing their vests to squawk a transponder code even if they possessed one."

John didn't want them to chance it.

"It's too risky." John said. "Cameron, abort. Break the latch and get out NOW."

Cameron was reminded why she liked to work alone. She could do without the 'Armchair Quarterback' or 'Chairborne Ranger'.

"NO. I almost have it disabled." Cameron said. "There, the threat has been neutralized."

John felt that was cutting it a little too close. There was no need to stay any longer.

"As soon as that crewman is picked up, I want you out of there." John said.

Cameron still wasn't sure if she wanted to break the latch or not. The crewman was still going to be on the side with the door that they could open easily. They could try to force the door open on the other side as well.

"I'll get out of this boxcar as soon as the crewman gets on the locomotive." Cameron said.

Savannah was on the constant lookout for any danger in the sky or on the ground. Dan and Frank had flown on ahead to check out something that they'd spotted. Right now Young Allison and her were the only ones over Cameron and Anna.

There was a dust cloud in the distance that seemed to be headed towards the train.

"Allison, look there." Savannah said.

Young Allison spotted the dust cloud as well.

"That looks like bad news." Young Allison said.

Savannah thought they were about to get some visitors in a vehicle.

"It can't be anything good." Savannah said.

Young Allison cranked up the power and began to climb.

"I better increase my altitude and orbit." Young Allison said. "Tell Cameron and John what's coming."

The dust cloud was much closer now. Savannah could see what was that the front of the dust cloud.

"There's a 'four by four' approaching the train from the rear. It's on the dirt road that follows the 'right of way'." Savannah said. "We are increasing the size of our orbit and altitude."

John was disgusted to hear the news. Now there was an additional complication.

"Great." John said. "Now what's going on?"

John Henry figured that the Skynet forces were alerted by whoever their operative was in the railroad system.

"It's most likely Grays or a Skynet Terminator coming to see why their cargo isn't moving and stopped in the middle of nowhere." John Henry said.

John wasn't sure if Cameron and Anna would be able to get out at this point.

"Cameron…." John started.

Cameron didn't need to hear the same thing twice. Anna and her went to work. They wanted to hedge their bet and improve their position.

"I heard it when he said it." Cameron said. "We're starting to reprogram the equipment now. I want to get the HK drone active for us."

Savannah was worried about their safety. If there was someone here to check on the cargo, they might check elsewhere as well to see what was around them. She didn't want to get clocked. If they were spotted as an airborne target it might draw an HK drone. She was aware that Young Allison already increased their altitude and orbit area. She wanted more.

"Allison, fly a double wide pattern." Savannah said. "I don't want them to spot us loitering in the vicinity. If they suspect something, I don't want us to be part of it."

Young Allison knew that would put them out of contact with Cameron and Anna for a longer period of time.

"What about Cameron and Anna?" Young Allison asked. "We can't leave them."

Savannah didn't want Young Allison to make an emotional decision.

"Rethink our situation." Savannah said.

Young Allison quickly understood what Savannah meant.

"We're in the air. We don't know what we're facing with the 'four by four'. We have no easy way to get to Cameron and Anna and we are under armed. We don't have any Terminators to back us up." Young Allison said.

Savannah wanted Young Allison to consider all of the factors.

"What else?" Savannah asked.

Young Allison thought about Savannah's latest question. She quickly looked at Savannah and frowned.

"You're not willing to let me enter combat or be injured." Young Allison said.

Savannah wanted Young Allison to see that she already knew what the correct answers were based upon what their current situation was. It just took some thought first without emotions being drug into it.

"See, you knew the answers all along." Savannah said. "Think it through. You're getting caught up in the moment. It's easy to do or get target fixation and not see what else is happening around you."

Young Allison leaned forward and tapped the fuel gauge with her index finger a few times.

"We're nearing 'Bingo' fuel." Young Allison said.

Savannah understood what Young Allison indicated. They were almost to the point where they would need to turn around to return to their point of origin with the remaining fuel on board of the aircraft. She knew there were other solutions to that problem.

"We will be able to find a smaller field to tank up." Savannah said as she checked the map.

Savannah saw the train stop it's rearward motion and the crewman returned to the locomotive.

Savannah asked that CamNet continue the green light.

Young Allison quickly looked over at Savannah. She thought that would be a problem for Cameron and Anna.

"They need to get out first before the train starts moving forward again." Young Allison said.

Savannah saw a deeper issue that she wanted to avoid.

"I don't want anyone in the 'four by four' to check the doors and see they've been opened." Savannah said. "We need to get that train moving now."

The locomotives began to move forward. There were thick black clouds of exhaust billowing from each locomotive as the 'turbo lag' effect occurred with the increase of power. There was a repeat of the clanging and banging process as the locomotives took up the slack again it created when it backed up.

Cameron looked over at Anna as they worked. They were in total darkness inside the closed boxcar.

"That's good thinking, Savannah." Cameron said. "CamNet or John Henry can 'stab' the train later on with another 'red-eye'. It will be better for us if the Skynet forces can't alert anyone that their cargo has been breached."

Cameron used railroad slang to say the train could be stopped again with a red signal.

Cameron and Anna reprogrammed all the equipment as the train increased to maximum track speed. The cars swayed back and forth as the speed increased.

Savannah was a little disturbed that the Skynet operatives were currently next to the boxcar as the train sped along.

"Cameron, the 'four by four' is next to your boxcar now." Savannah said.

Cameron knew exactly what they wanted to determine.

"They're trying to see if the boxcars have been opened." Cameron said. "Unless they have a Terminator with them, the boxcars will appear unopened."

Savannah was pleased to see them move away from the boxcar Cameron and Anna were in and on to the next one.

"They've moved up to the first boxcar now. They're kicking up a ton of dust trying to keep up their speed on the dirt road." Savannah said.

Cameron knew they weren't out of the woods yet. As long as the truck remained next to them, they were a threat. She wanted to make sure the girls weren't in immediate danger.

"Keep your plane wide and high." Cameron said. "You know where we are. We aren't going anywhere."

Dan and Frank flew on ahead to see what was in front of the train and if there'd be any place to unload the HK equipment.

"We're fifteen miles ahead of the train." Dan said. "There's track work going on here. The line is double tracked after the bridge over the canyon two miles ahead. There are some 'work cars' and a 'burro crane'."

John didn't want to endanger any innocent bystanders.

"Is there personnel on the ground?" John asked.

Dan and Frank both double checked the area.

"None have been spotted." Dan said. "It's Sunday. The work crew is probably off for the day. We might be able to get to work from this location."

John needed to think about what he'd indicated. It sounded like they were going to land

"Are there any roads to set down on?" John asked.

Dan and Frank thoroughly scoped out the area.

"There is an old paved highway nearby. If we can stop the train at the work site, we can use the 'burro crane' to unload the box cars." Dan said.

John was aware that there were Resistance teams headed there by road.

"Can we get any big rigs in there?" John asked.

Dan felt based on the equipment that was parked around the work area that it wouldn't be a problem.

"It appears so." Dan said. "There is some heavy construction equipment there as well."

John felt that the Skynet operatives in the truck were the biggest problem.

"Savannah, where's the 'four by four' at?" John asked.

Savannah noted that they were doing a very thorough job of their inspection.

"They've dropped back and have crossed over the tracks to inspect the other side of the train." Savannah said. "They were stuck for a while as they tried to get over the tracks."

John Henry was actually surprised to hear they even attempted a maneuver like that.

"The tracks were never intended to be crossed like that with a street vehicle. They're lucky they're not still stuck." John Henry said.

Cameron was pleased that she now possessed a way to deal with the truck and its occupants.

"I'm going to get this HK drone active and have it take them out." Cameron said. "Get ready to cut all communications."

John didn't see the need to push things too far too fast.

"I don't know if that is an option we should use yet." John said. "If they become a bigger threat we may need to do that. I don't want any extra attention if we can avoid it."

Cameron was more worried about Anna and her than she was about a few Grays.

"I don't want a drone strike called in on us if they suspect anything." Cameron said.

John Henry viewed the satellite map and the train's current position. It looked like they just drew a lucky break

"You're coming up on a canyon that the train will cross on a bridge. The 'four by four' will have to go back and around to continue." John Henry said. "It will be thoroughly delayed before it can catch back up to the train again."

Should Be Sufficient

There's nothing about me
That you can consider deficient
I can take things slow
Or be quite efficient

I've tried to be better
Becoming very beneficent
You can see that over time
If you want to be reminiscent

I won't go away or back down
I'm very driven and persistent
You should know by now
I'm very consistent

I know what I am
I can be very omniscient
Everything I have
Has the same coefficient

Look no further than me
I'm very proficient
What you have
Should be sufficient

Nobody