Chapter 24

Roy was staying in the hanger. Art had said he didn't think it was even safe to cross the river at the ford and that we should expect a flood at anytime now. Roy offered to take a flight up the river, but Art vetoed this idea. He was afraid we may have some bad guys living up that way and there is no need to advertise our presence. I had to agree with him, besides, even if we knew what the river was doing, there was nothing we could do about it.

Saturday: This morning we received a call from Lee saying there was a blip on the radar and it was heading down river towards us. We all took cover inside the nearest building. By the time the plane arrived, no one was outside. It continued down the river, turned, and then flew back up. It circled above us once, before flying south over the mountain and directly over the radar dome. The only glitch I could think of was Roy's chopper. Yes, it was covered with netting, but the netting was not the color of snow.

About 4PM, we had another surprise! We heard a loud grinding and snapping sound. The ice broke on the river from a surge of water that flowed under it. Shortly, you could see the flow back up and the level in the basin rose. The ice in there broke also. The breaking up of ice and the rise of the flood waters ended about 6 PM. Art called, "I took a snowmobile along the base of the mountain and am now even with where the stream joins the river. Looking downstream to where the river narrows, I can see the ice jam, that's what causes the river to back up."

This was good and bad news. We now knew WHY it flooded each spring. No big surprise. We now knew WHERE, which might be a help, if we could figure HOW to prevent it. THAT was the problem. A quick fix after it happened was to set off a small charge, breaking up the ice jam but that was a cure for the flooding after it took place.

Roy became THE pet project for Aunt Lee and Nukka. Except for breakfast, they tried to monitor everything he ate. If it hadn't turned out to be so funny, I think Roy would have been annoyed but they would bring him his meal and sit there with him while he ate, to make sure he ate it all. Most of the time, after they left, Roy went on the prowl to find additional food complaining, "They expect me to eat JUST that LITTLE amount. Art or Uncle Lee would just barely survive."

Tuesday — three days later: Roy looked a lot better and he had gained several pounds. I noticed he seemed to be cutting back on his food during diner so I asked him, "Are you feeling okay, you seemed to be eating less?"

"I feel great. Right now, I'm near the weight I was, when I was in the service. I don't want to be a fat slob again." said Roy.

"I will tell Aunty and Nukka what you have said. Maybe they will leave you alone." said Lee.

Jenn and I both agreed with her and I told Roy, I guess you will have to do some serious clothes shopping while in Fairbanks."

"Yeah, I'll need to get a half dozen or so, flight suits."

"You know, you could get other clothes for casual wear and work around here." commented Lee.

"Why? They are comfortable and I can work in them. Do you have something against them?"

"No. But you could dress like the rest of us." interjected Jenn.

"You mean you want me to wear bras and panties too?"

The look on all four faces of the women was priceless and I burst out laughing saying, "That I would LIKE to see; you strutting down to your chopper, in bra and panties. Matching? WOW!"

At this point, for some unknown reason, the conversation changed to other topics, and continued for awhile. Then Lee asked, "Why can we not put up the net where the chopper is now, to fool anybody who flies by?"

This got us thinking, so we walked over to Art's and asked if he could get the net back up after we left. "Yes, I can do that, we still have the tent poles from this summer and we can use them to hold the netting up, but it will take everybody's help." replied Art.

Wednesday: We met at the chopper at 5 AM and started to remove the netting and secure it so that it would not get blown away when the chopper was started. By 6 AM the chopper was idling ready for us to leave. Additional advice and good-byes were said and we took off less than ten minutes later. We had been in the air for about 45 minutes when Roy received the message "Net is in place."

We did not respond and continued our way to the Walker's Hanger. We arrived shortly before 11 AM, we circled the hanger twice to be sure no one was in the vicinity. Roy touched down, Jacob and I left the chopper and Roy ascended again. We scouted the area and then Roy landed again about 50 feet from the doors of the hanger. We spent the next hour moving our stuff to the hanger and getting the cars going. The power to the hanger was out and had been out for some time. It took us quite a while to get the pick-up running. We determined we would need a generator if we came back during the winter again.

After lunch, Jenn, Lee and Roy stayed at the hanger, while Jacob and I headed into Fairbanks. On the way to the State Police building, we swung by Fred Myers. The store had been broken into, which was to be expected. What surprised us, were the three dead bodies lying in front of the store. We did not stop but continued downtown.

At the State Police building, we received another surprise! Heavy steel bars had been placed across the doors and windows up to the third floor of the building. We walked around it and could find no way in. This was good if we could gain entrance. Jacob said, "There is a helicopter landing pad on top of the building, I bet they did not block the roof door like this." as he waved his hands at the bars over the front door.

I agreed and we drove off to check on the Maytag store next. It was still intact; so we just kept driving, knowing tomorrow we would be able to pick up a couple freezers easily. Next we drove to the mall, again it had been broken into but we decided to investigate it anyway. What was a surprise to me, was what stores had been broken into. Both jewelry stores had been cleaned out, a hobby store and toy store had been broken into and messed up.

Breaking into these four stores did not make a lot of sense to me since they provided little in the way of survival equipment. On the other hand, the Radio Shack, camera, cutlery and sporting good stores had also been broken into. The surprise was the sporting goods store. It looked like it had only recently been broken into, and although all the weapons were missing, most of the clothing remained and we would be back to visit it tomorrow.

The next stop was next door at Sam's Club, here again we parked as close to the door as we could get.

Jacob and I wandered up and down the aisles checking what was left that we could use. About half way back, we both heard a noise and the sounds of feet running towards the other side of the building. Jacob yelled, "Hello" but no one answered and everything remained quiet. Jacob and I decided it was time to withdraw and we backed our way to the door carefully, so as not to be surprised.

The last stop was the gun shop where I had bought my pistol. It too had been broken into and there were two bodies near the building. Jacob stayed outside standing between the building and the truck, while I looked though the shop. The only thing I found of any use to us was some targets, so others could practice. Otherwise, the building had been basically stripped clean.

We were both quiet on the ride back to the hanger. At one point, I thought I saw someone on one of the side streets, but by the time we stopped and backed up, there was no one to be seen. Jenn and Mindy were happy to see us arrive back at the hanger.

Jenn, Mindy and Roy had been busy while we were gone. They had moved a tractor to face the open hanger doors. We would be standing watch there during the night. In the office, they had boarded up the windows and had a fire going in the small wood stove. Dinner was in the processes of being cooked.

During dinner, we described what we had seen. No one had much to say, except the women, who said it did not seem like we would have much competition for what we wanted. I didn't say anything, but I felt we might be in for a fight if someone took offense to our trying to gather things.

Roy took the first watch and I would take the last one before everybody got up in the morning. The rotation was determined by the luck of the draw. Mindy would wake Jenn who would wake me. Jenn and I decided to sleep in the second tractor and retired there. Now Jenn and I had not been able to spend a night alone in a long time. We tried to make up for that time and I am sure the tractor stank by the time we fell asleep. I didn't hear or feel Jenn leave to go on watch.

Thursday: Nor did I realize that Mindy had snuck into bed with me. I woke to find my prick encased in wonderful warmth, and someone riding me. When I reached up to caress Jenn's breast, I woke instantly.

That is when all hell broke loose! Jenn gave a yell from the door of the tractor and a body was ripped from on top of me. Words were exchanged before the confrontation became violent. By the time I was able to get up and grab Jenn around the waist, Mindy was on the floor by the passenger seat crying.

Now, if anybody had been asleep before, they were awake now. When I looked at the cab doors, Roy was standing in one and Jacob the other. I said, "Gentlemen, would you please go fix breakfast."

They agreed and left immediately. Then I said, "Mindy get up and get dressed now. Jenn settle down and please sit in the driver's seat. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure." And she shook my arms off and moved to the seat. At this point I dressed too. The silence was becoming unbearable so I said, "Mindy, why did you get in bed with me without my permission?"

"Mandy and I want to be part of the family."

"Why didn't you talk to me or the wives?"

"We tried, but Jenn and Lee changed the subject every time we tried. I just wanted to show you how much we loved you."

"By making love to me?" I asked.

"By giving you my virginity!" cried Mindy as she broke down and started to sob.

Surprising, I was not the first one to her, it was Jenn, so I took the cowardly way out and went to the hanger office. As I entered Roy said, "We live in interesting times."

I just nodded and started to pour a cup of coffee. Jacob said, "I sure could use some eggs and milk for breakfast." changing the subject.

"The eggs would be great." agreed Roy.

Before I could reply, we heard car doors slam out front of the hanger. The three of us made a mad dash for the front of the hanger, grabbing our rifles as we went. Jacob stayed by the front corner of the tractor, while Roy and I took a position at each side of the door. Then we heard "Hello the hanger."

Roy yelled back, "Please move away from the chopper."

"I am Ken Wortham and these are my wives. We would like to talk to you."

"We would be glad to talk with you AFTER you move away from the chopper." I yelled back.

"How we know you will not shoot us?"

Before I could say anything, Jenn yelled, "I am one Bob Wagner's wives and am coming out." She strolled through the hanger doors before I could stop her. Mindy followed right along behind her. At that point I handed my rifle to Roy and followed along keeping my hand on my pistol in case something went wrong.