My Journal

By Harriman Nelson

27

It was a while before the team managed to get to the long abandoned sewer network. And thanks to a little well placed dynamite by Jackson, opened the sealed hatchway.

The ambassador, Wixom, and I had a ringside seat so to speak thanks to the men’s  helmets, equipped with the latest audio visual night vision cams (it  was pitch black down there). We were tuned to Jackson’s but could switch from one helmet to another at will.

“It’s really creepy down here, like,” Riley was saying as he and his shipmates walked behind Jackson and the Special Operations team into the ancient tunnel of brick and stone. “Stinks too.”

“It ain’t that bad,” Sharkey said. “Quit your griping.”

“Yeah,” Pat said, “No sewage that I can see. Just stagnant puddles from the stuff dripping in from topside.”

“Nobody asked you,” Lt. Clarke said. “Commander,” he added, “did they really have to come along?”

“Hey, you...you...”Ski began, hesitating as this was an officer. An Army officer.

“Pipe down, all of you,” Jackson said. “Remember what we’re here for! And keep your eyes peeled. I wouldn’t put it past Ozno to have placed booby traps.”

“Oh God,” I moaned.

"Easy, Harry,” Jiggs said, patting my shaking hand. “You smoke too many of those,” he added as he grabbed the cigarette out of my hand. “I thought you gave them up.”

“I did...I just can’t...I can’t stand this, Jiggs....”

“I don’t mean to be harsh, but smoking won’t do Lee any good if he’s rescued and finds you dead from a heart attack, now, will it?”

I had to admit he had a point.

“There it is, JXB 174,” Clarke said of the small engraved stone on one of two tunnels veering off right and left. “We go to the left about five hundred yards and there should be the alligator’s tunnel. And next to it, we should find the captain.”

“Excuse me, Admiral,” the ambassador interrupted my viewing, “the president’s on the phone for you. Our president, not France’s.”

“Now what? Probably wants me to stop the team from killing the gator if it charges. Cruelty to animals and all that...damn politicians!”

“We don’t know that. Will you take the call?”

“Right now? They’re about to rescue Lee!”

“There’s only one tunnel entrance here,” Jackson was saying, “Lee’s must be accessible from inside. We’ll have to blow the lock.”

In minutes, with a little plastic explosive, Clarke and his men blew open the heavy metal door.

The men held their guns at the ready as they sloshed through the gooey greenish muck.

“There’s definitely poop in this stuff,” Riley said.
“Did you know,” Ski said, “that there are more germs in your mouth than in your toilet? Alligator poop can’t be all that much different from ours.”

“Stow the chatter,” Sharkey said, “this ain’t the time or place...”

“I see something up ahead...”Pat interrupted.

“All right,” Jackson ordered, “be ready to fire....”

There was no sign of the alligator as they headed closer to what looked like an old fashioned jail door, only this one had digital controls.. “Skipper? Skipper?” Sharkey shouted though the grid, grabbing the metal bars.

“Anyone see him?” the Lt. asked, adjusting  his night vision binoculars and flashlight to the max.

“Can’t hear him either...”Ski said.

“Stand back,” Jackson said. “We’re going to force the door like the last one. Go ahead, Lt.”

The Lt. and his men expertly applied their explosives and detonator.

"Take cover," the Lt. ordered.

“It’s really important that he speak with you, Admiral,” the ambassador interrupted.

“Damn it, not now!”

The slight boom and whoof of air broke the lock and the men rushed in.

“Where is he?” Riley whined.  “Where is he?”

“Gentlemen,” a man’s voice cackled as he turned on the light. “The captain’s not here. Though we must congratulate you on your search.”

“Who are you? What have you done with  Lee?" Joe demanded, aiming his gun at the man. “Where is he?”

“Shut up! Your precious captain’s with Ozno now. He's going to have to  watch, correction, to hear, all of the mass destruction before it's his turn to die. However, since you took all the time and trouble to come here, you might as well enjoy our hospitality,” he said as he clicked a button on the wall and iron cage fell from the vaulted ceiling and locked into the floor, trapping the men.

“Fire!” Jackson ordered, but to no avail. None of their weapons worked. Not bullets, not tasers.

“A little improvement from the original  Magnus Beam. You are impotent as far as your weapons are concerned. But mine is not,” he tased Riley, who fell to the ground writhing.

“Okay you creep,” Sharkey said, “ you win. But time’s not up yet. “Some of those countries will pay, I’m sure of it.”

“Do you think money will make any difference? Ozno even turned down an offer from the People’s Republic for the captain. He has no intention of sparing the world’s famous places, sticking to a schedule, or sparing your captain’s life. In fact, I’ll let you watch your capital building blow up,” he said, pressing another button to reveal a TV monitor that popped out from the wall. “And afterwards, you can join your captain in the alligator’s stomach, well, it might take some time for it to eat all of you. By the way, we’re cancelling your transmissions to ONI and other diverse places now. Yes, we know all about your special equipment.”

Our  sound and pictures went blank.

“Admiral...”the ambassador handed me the phone, “he’s waiting.”

“What do you want?” I took the phone. “Don’t you know what’s going on right now?”

“Yes,” he said. “I was going to tell you that congress had agreed to both  ransoms, but now...”

“Yes, Ozno’s shown his true colors.”

“Where are you right now, Mr. President?” Jiggs asked, taking the phone from me....”yes...no sir” he continued as they spoke. “No need to feel humiliated. You’re not a coward. It’s policy to put you on Air Force One if Washington’s in danger...there was no choice. Yes, I’ll tell him.” Jiggs handed the phone back to the ambassador.

“Says he’s sorry about Lee,” he told me.

“You think I give a damn about what he thinks? There’s got to be a way to stop this...stop Ozno from killing those men...killing Lee...”

“There is no way,” Jiggs sighed. “Harriman, I know you’d like somebody to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but this time, well, I’m afraid Providence just won’t allow it.”

Just then Ozno hacked into the broadcasting networks again.

“I changed my mind, time’s up,” he said holding his hand over the remote.

“You bastard!” Lee’s voice yelled.

 “I thought I told you to keep him quiet,” Ozno said, as he (and the image) turned toward his prisoner. Lee was barely able to stand, weakened from his wounds which now included a gunshot to his shoulder, his wrists and ankles shackled, two armed guards holding him upright.

“Never!" Lee was shouting, "Not while I have breath in my body! You, you Hitler!”

“Do I condemn anyone because of what they believe? No, Captain. I simply blow up things that people cherish. Not my fault if they’re hanging around,” he snickered.

“Hypocrite! If you’re not a monster, then let my crew and the men with them go. And give everyone a chance to get out of harm’s way.”

“My dear boy, I can’t do that. It would ruin the fun. As for your gallant rescuers, well, because I want you to die, and they don’t want you to, why, I’m going to let you listen to their agonized screams while they're being torn limb from limb and eaten by the Alligator. But first, you’ll have to listen the wails of despair around the world when all its special artifacts and people in the way are no more. By the way, your president may think he’s escaped the obliteration of what many in your country hold dear, but I have a bomb aboard Air Force One, too.”

“Ohmygod,” I gasped.

Lee was struggling in vain against his bonds and the men holding him firm. I recognized their weapons included standard firearms, tasers, and heavy batons.

“Squirm away,” Ozno said. “It won’t do you any good. Ah, let’s begin with the president, shall we? There’s a two second delay for the rest.”

“Stop! For God’s sake, stop this madness!”

“Shut him up!”

The guards began to beat Lee with their batons, and he doubled over in pain, falling to the floor while they laughed.

“Too bad you're so weak now. Would make for more of a struggle. As for your president, well, it’s no secret you don’t even like him, or his politics. As for the rest of the world, well, too bad. Now...let’s see,” he said as he glanced at the remote in his hand, “Five, four...three...”

“No!” Lee screamed and rolled toward into one of the guards legs, causing him to loose his balance.  A tangle of the three struggled to get the upper hand, but Lee managed to grab one of the tasers, blindly firing.

The guards went down, and Lee kept firing, around and around.

 “Lee! Lee! Stop firing! It’s me!” Joe  yelled as  he and the team barged into the room, their former guard captive in the arms of the Lt. behind him. “It’s okay. You got them, bro...you got all of them,” he added as he neared Lee and took the taser from him, kneeling beside him.

“The remote...Ozno....” Lee gasped.

“We got it skipper, a lot of good it did him,” Sharkey said as he took the remote out of Ozno’s  paralysed hand.

“Yeah,” Ski said, “you sure fried all the computers, Skipper.”

“The firing controls have been shorted out,” Lt. James confirmed. “But we’ll remove all the mother boards to be sure. Okay, men, case the joint for anything we missed.”

“The...president...” Lee was saying as Ski tried to examine him.

“The pilot of Air Force One reports they’re okay and are headed back to Andrews...” Pat said handing Jackson his ear bud.

“How...” Lee asked... “how did you get free...”

“Well," Pat said,"when you zapped things down here, the lock released and the cage went back up in the ceiling. In the confusion, Commander Jackson  overcame the guard. You know, I don’t think he was very well trained. We tased him and then the gator that he’d only just released. The gator should still be down for the count. We tased him a couple of times.”

 “Oh God,” Lee leaned wearily against Joe, “that was close...too too close Chief? Pat? Ski? Riley? Just what the hell are you doing with the rescue team?”

“Well, Skipper," Sharkey said, "we kind of talked the admiral into letting us tag along when he decided to take a little trip to Paris. Strictly private venture, he said, to find you."

“He’s here? Ohmygod. Harry?” Lee shouted,  his head turning this way and that.

“He’s fine, bro,” Jackson said. “Safe  and sound with the American ambassador.

"Hold still, Captain," the Lt. said, "while we get these manacles off you, courtesy of the keys your downed captors carried.”

“You need a hospital, Skipper," Ski said as he helped one of the rescue team render what they could of first aid.

“I thought," Lee gasped, "I told everyone not to call me that anymore.”

“Mr. Morton ordered us not to call him ‘skipper’ and that you were stuck with it."

“An ambulance is on the way,” Lt. James said after adjusting his ear bud. “They’ll meet us at the top of sewer line 007 and....”

Lee and Joe began to laugh before he could finish,

"Oh, that hurts," Lee said weakly.

“Private joke,” Jackson explained, “didn’t know James Bond here had his own manhole cover.”

“I wasn’t trying to be him, Joe. Honestly, I wasn’t.”

“I know, bro. I know. How long before the paramedics get here, damnit?” he asked the Lt.

“Won’t be too much longer I’m sure.”

“I’m fine!” Lee argued. But he couldn’t fool anyone.

“Skipper...” Sharkey said.

“Anything vital hit? Ski? Am I bleeding to death?”

“Well, you're bleeding but it looks like the gunshot didn't hit anything vital.”

“Case closed,” Lee said, rising, slowly, painfully, clinging to the men for support.

“Just the same,” Ski said, “Doc’s gonna’ kill me for not getting you outta’ here on a stretcher.”

“He can’t,” Lee said. “Strictly private venture, remember?"

“Come on, then,” Jackson said, after Lee rubbed his freed wrists, knees and ankles. “The Lt.'s men will handle the computer stuff, and blow what’s left of them up.”

“And we’ll,” one of the newly arrived gendarms appeared, “take care of Dr. Ozno and his thugs.”

“Wait,” Lee said. “What about the gator?”

“What about it?”

“You can’t just leave it down here.”

“Does he want to make a meal of it?” the gendarme asked, aghast.

“No,” Lee said, “think of what it’s been living on. But, it’s been stuck down here all this time...blind when you think about it. Just like me. About time we took Pierre topside and gave it a real home...in a zoo or something.”

“Pierre?” Lt. James asked, incredulous.

“Why not...and it’s a French alligator isn’t it?”

“Uh, Skipper?” Ski asked. “I’m not a corpsman but um, I do know that the gator I saw was a girl.”

“Oh....um...Joe? What’s the feminine for Pierre?”

“I don’t think there is one. Pierre is Peter. Never heard of a girl version.

“Okay...how ahout Pierre-ella, then...kind of an alligator Cinderella....”

“Pierre-Ella,” Joe said, shaking his head. “Very well, we need a couple of volunteers to drag Pierre-Ella topside with us, tasers at the ready for when she starts to move again. Cheech, Lee. Only you could have any sympathy for the monster that was going to eat you.”

“It’s the right thing to do.”

“Yeah, yeah...you know, Lee, one of these days, the ‘right thing to do’ is going to get you killed.”

“But not today.”

“All right. Everybody out,” the Lt. said,” we’re going to detonate as soon as the cops clear the place. Oh, and turn off your audiovisuals...bound to be some reverberations down here when we do. If they’re on they could be damaged.”

In seconds, Jiggs, Wixom, the ambassador, and I, were staring at a black and silent screen.

I hardly noticed it as placed my head in my hands and began to sob in sheer relief.

We would have gone down to manhole cover 007, but the ambassador advised us against it as there was a lot happening down there, and we would only be in the way and need extra security. The press, the public, Lee’s waiting ambulance, police vans, an Animal Control wagon, even the mayor was there. Why the hell couldn’t I go meet Lee too, when he came out?

Jiggs told me it would be best to wait until Lee had been released from the hospital...give us more privacy than we’d have at the scene.

So, I relented and had to watch on TV.

It was only about thirty minutes later when the men carting Pierre-Ella emerged. The alligator was whisked away to parts yet unknown. Then Ozno and his three men, still shaky, were dragged up and hauled away by the police vans to jail.

Then my traveling companions emerged, receiving a rousing welcome as the mayor shook their hands and escorted them to a waiting city limo.

The Special Operations team was next. They too, received a rousing greeting and were whisked off by an Army truck to only God knew where.

Jackson was next, ignoring the cheers for him, turning his head down toward the manhole and extending his arm. Lee’s arm reached up and he climbed up and joked, “That sewer tour is not to be believed!”

The cheering was louder than any I’ve ever heard in my life. Not for the joke, I’m sure, but because he saved their beloved city from a great loss.

The mayor embraced Lee and kissed him on both cheeks. It was impossible to hear what he was saying. Lee simply gave him a sheepish grin, then blindly, weakly, waved to the crowd, wild with emotion, with his good arm.

Lee needed help to climb into the ambulance, Joe accompanying him. The ambulance had a police escort, sirens blaring, lights flashing.

Yes, I realized it would have been a mistake for me to intrude in the welcome meant for him.

“I could use a drink,” Wixom said. “I know a great little place not far from here. How about it? On me. Let’s share in the celebration with all Parisians.”

“Thank you,” I answered, “how about a rain check. When both Lee and I can join you?”

“I’ll go with you right now,” Jiggs said, deserting me,“if the first offer still stands.”

And so, back in my hotel, I looked at the Eiffel Tower in all its undamaged glory, and thinking of all the other landmarks and powers of government that were still standing and their citizens unscathed.

Jackson called and promised to let me as know when  the doctors finished treating Lee. The ambassador has a driver  waiting for me so I won’t have to bother with a cab to get to the hospital.

I might have to deal with the press, but all they’ll get out of me, I’m sure, is a soppy and relieved smile. No, I’ll tell them, in fact I’ll tell anyone who will listen, that I’ve never been prouder of anyone in my life.

 And I’m going to tell Lee that too. As soon as the hospital staff lets me see him, which God willing, won’t be too long.