CHAPTER 4

It was actually something of a relief to Nate Caldwell as he ducked into what was a little laundry room that was down at the end of a breezeway. He was indoors, with a roof over his head, and he could pull out a pack of cigarettes and light up without having to worry about someone bitching. When Nate had first arrived in England he had been somewhat disappointed that the Brits had also jumped on the anti-smoking wagon like back home. Then he got to Coven Hill and found that many of the nationals working here came from places that did not know of such things. There would have been a riot had they tried to ban it here.

This did not relieve Nate of complaints however. Katie Mack looked away from the drizzle that was just starting outside in the parking lot. She was about to say something about getting her people under cover and then she was met with the foul stench of Nate’s cloud of smoke. She sneered at the guy and then got back to business by pointing to her First Sergeant, Jack “Snake” Sun, “Top, would you please get the formation to cover for me?”

As the company first sergeant, for Bravo, walked out the door, Nate snuck a peek down the line and saw his people. Delta Company was already finding cover and nobody had to tell them to do it. He almost laughed until he turned back around and saw the sneer on Katie’s face. She pointed a finger at him, “I’m going to get you for this. Why don’t you take that shit outside.”

Nate shrugged, “cause I don’t have too?” He then nodded to the open door to the laundry and said, “had to rain didn’t it.”

Katie waived at the smoke and told him, “remind me Nate. When was the last day that it didn’t rain here?”

Before he could give the answer, that they both very well knew, they were joined by two other Captains. Charlie Company’s commander, Evan Capps, was nominally the senior company commander in the battalion. He was also something of a natural leader and the combination usually put him in command when either the Colonel, the exec, or Major Conner wasn’t around. This time was no exception, “lets’ get everybody on the buses. Their gear is going to get soaked sitting out in that parking lot.”

Katie rolled her eyes at the order and then looked to Nate, “he didn’t want to mount up. He’s afraid he can’t smoke on the bus.”

The other Captain with Evan, was Less Horton, and he commanded Alpha company. Katie had never figured how this guy managed to be a soldier, let alone run a company of Rangers. Too her eyes, he always looked so damn sloppy. Right now was no exception and, Less went that one step further by putting out his hand and asking Nate, “mind if I get one of those?”

Katie slapped her forehead, “not you too? You don’t even smoke!”

Less took a cigarette and laughed as he let Nate light it up for him, “never traveled through a rip in time and space before ether. I figured if I’m going to get beamed up I might as well go in style.”

Nate actually took the guy seriously, “is that what they really do over there?”

“How the hell should I know,” Less replied. “It’s not like the Brit’s have let anybody near that place.”

“To be honest,” Nate replied, “I don’t care about some dusty old bunker, I just wish they wouldn’t have restricted us from that big mall on the other side of the tracks. I heard they got a really killer dance club over there.” Less laughed at the idea of Nate trying to dance. If anything, Less was pretty sure that nobody in that club, over there, knew the first thing about line dancing. He was equally sure that was probably all Nate knew how to do.

Capps ended the banter with, “come on guys, let’s get this done before it really starts coming down out there, please?”

“Well,” Nate put his smoke out with his boot and then said, “since you asked so nice, and all, how can we possibly refuse?” Nate stuck to the breeze way where a motley assortment of Rangers, who were now refugee’s from the rain, were starting to clump up. When he reached the outskirts of his own company of soldiers, one of his platoon leaders, Danny Stevens, jumped out in front of him, “sir, I’m missing somebody.”

Nate snapped his fingers and then rubbed his forehead as he replied, “don’t tell me, um, that girl.. What was her name?”

“Specialist Thompson,” Stevens said.”

“Yeah,” Nate replied, “the little shy girl with the Squad Automatic Weapon. Trust me when I tell you this Danny, when it comes to a combination of shy and machineguns, you got too watch them carefully.” When it was clear that the Lieutenant was confused by the humor, Nate went on in a more business like fashion, “she got pulled for a detail at Battalion. I meant to tell you but, I got, um, busy?” The boy saluted, even if it was not required, and Nate had to tell the kid, “Eltee, do me a favor, just relax.”

Before the boy could reply, someone came along that Nate could not possibly ignore. It was his Company First Sergeant, Hap Rodriquez. The guy relayed the news, “word just came down Captain. The advance party is already at the runway. They said it’s time to mount up.”

Nate remained unconcerned as he gave his own command, “well don’t let me stop you First Sergeant. Get ‘em on the buses.” Nate stayed under his cover as he listened to the whistles blowing up and down the line. He watched the Rangers rush into the parking lot and recover their gear. They did it very quickly and, when they were finished, there was a battalion formation that was standing in the rain. Nate looked over to Evan for his cue and the commander of C Company just shrugged. For that reason, Nate did not bother to step out and take charge of the formation. He stayed out of the rain and yelled out to Rodriquez, “mount up Top!” Nate stayed right where he was as the troopers began to make orderly files that wound their way to their transports.

As Nate watched he quickly noticed that he had a visitor. The battalion executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Pong, had snuck up behind him. Nate had already pulled out another smoke and wondered if he should put it away. Then Pong stuck out a hand and wanted one as well. Nate gave his superior officer a cigarette and told the man, “sir, I think this is the best way to quit smoking.”

“How’s that Captain,” Pong replied.

Nate snickered, “let everybody else know you smoke and soon you won’t have anything left to give up.”

“Good point,” Pong replied. At least the colonel had his own lighter. After he got a good puff he said, “finish up. We’re pulling out in the next ten minutes.”

Nate checked his wrist watch, something he had still not gotten used too, and then asked, “little early aren’t we?”

“Hurry up and wait Captain,” Pong told him. He then patted his Captain on the back and said, “you know the drill.”

It was not anything that Nate did not already know or could not figure out. Someone at Battalion noticed the rain. That was how Nate wound up sitting in the front seat of a bus and looking at the ass end of another one that was parked in front of his. There were also buses behind him and on all sides. The drivers were not army, not American, and not even military. They wore blue uniforms that sort of resembled those worn by airline pilots. Judging by the accent of the guy driving Nate’s bus, he was from somewhere in Africa. It was a good thing because he spoke beautiful English and Nate almost liked listening to the guy talk just for the sake of hearing it.

Of course, at the moment, Nate was more interested in some useful information. Unlike many of the employees, here at C.H.I.E.F, these bus drivers seemed to be very talkative and, Nate supposed, they were kind of like cabbies in that respect. This guy gladly answered Nate even if he did not quite have the nuances of military protocol, “yes Mister Nate. If it were not raining right now, and we did not have this fog, and we did not have all these buses in front of us, you would be looking right at building thirteen. You know, that is the big hill I am sure you have seen.”

Nate tried to see some more but, it was pointless. He just asked, “so this is what they call the runway?”

“Yes,” the driver responded. “It leads right to the front door of the bunker. You will see soon enough.”

So, Nate was about to find out what inter universal travel really felt like. He had been too busy up till now to even give it a second thought. Now he was starting to wonder if, maybe, he should not have been more afraid. He decided to ask the bus driver, in a round about way, about some of his concerns. The driver laughed as he could easily figure out what this Army captain was trying to ask him, “yes Mister Nate, I have been through it several times now.”

That made Nate wonder, “I didn’t think they had really opened up travel for a lot of civilians and stuff, just yet.”

“True, they have not,” the driver replied. He went on by pointing out, “however we are being trained for a time when this will be routine. These are special buses and we have to make the trip three times to certify.”

“Um,” Nate fidgeted, “was it hard?”

The driver laughed, “as easy as crossing the street, Mister Nate.” A call came in on the drivers radio and he quickly answered. Nate did not recognize the language they used but, he really did not have too. The driver put his vehicle in drive and sat on the brake till the buses in front him began to lurch forward in the rain. The more they moved, the faster they went. As was stated, Nate got a look at the giant cavern they were entering. He had never seen the north face of this building before but, he had heard about the giant roll away doors that, by all accounts, looked to be blast proof. When they were retracted, like now, they left an entranceway that was more than enough for three files of buses too enter and, in fact, there was still so much room on each side of the convoy that the people working in those area’s barely even noticed the traffic. It made Nate wonder exactly how big this Dell thing was.

So far, the curiosity had kept Nate’s mind off anything bad. Then, after all the buses were parked inside the cavern, the doors began to close behind them. They were slow moving so it gave Nate some time to notice the people who were working in the cavern. He had no idea what they were all doing but, when a horn began blasting away, most of them started filtering out of doors that looked more like they belonged on a submarine than in some cavern in Wales.

You could hear the doors shut since it sounded like a small earth quake. Nate looked down and noticed that the driver began doing something with knobs and buttons on his dash board. Nate had to ask, “I hope all that’s normal.”

Even inside the bus, that was sealed air tight, Nate could hear the whine of giant fans that were cranking up and starting to echo in the cavern. He could barely hear the driver say, “all perfectly normal.” The guy even sounded happy about it. Nate had his doubts and was still wondering if it was too late to back out when a blinding light got his attention. It was coming from the front of the convoy that now began to slowly move forward. Finally the light evened out and, as Nate’s eyes adjusted, he looked out the window again and realized he was no longer in the cavern. He was in a huge, similar sized structure but, it was most definitely not the place he had been driven too.

All Nate could say to that was, “son of a bitch.”