Texas Nights - Book 13 of the Damned of the 2/19th

Foxes

Chinook Lima-Six Serpent Four
In Flight
Undisclosed Location SECRET (OMAHA)
New Mexico, United States of America
27 September, 1991
0945

I had the Geiger counter in my lap, my analog wristwatch positioned so I could see the face and the readout of the instrument at the same time. A cable ran to the closed gunport, attached to a sensor I'd used 100mph tape to adhere to the side of the helicopter as a field expedient detector since the Chinooks weren't geared for it. I knew by land speed and time that we were approaching the site. Outside the windows the sun had risen two and a half hours ago while we were refueling, and the scrub had given away to lifeless appearing orange and ocher desert.

I yawned, flexing the muscles in my shoulder and neck, closing my eyes.

When the Geiger counter started crackling my eyes snapped open and I looked down.

24

One heart contraction

50

Half an inhalation

75

One full beat

The Geiger counter began screaming a warbling warning.

105

A full inhalation.

I reached out and slapped the Crew Chief's leg. He looked at me, pulling one of his ear coverings free and frowning as I grabbed his uniform and pulled him close.

"VEER OFF! ALL SERPENT ELEMENTS VEER OFF! CUT SOUTH BY SOUTH-EAST RIGHT NOW! HEADING ONE THREE FIVE!" I bellowed at him, pointing at the Geiger counter face. I slapped the silencer on the alarm.

148

He went a greenish color and spoke into his mic . The helicopter tried to stand on its tail. Rucksacks that hadn't been secured slid to the back and two of the Rangers lost their footing as the engines screamed and the pitch of the rotors changed. The Chinook tilted to the right like a ship that had slid into a wave sideways, the engines screaming. I could hear the alarms going off.

182

235

222

209

194

162

I breathed a heaving sign of relief.

The radiation dropped sharply as the helicopter tilted toward the nose, the engines still screaming. I knew the pilots were getting the hell out.

I looked out the window.

62

We were at least three miles from canyon and the bridge. I could see a plume of steam rising from where the trestle had been and went cold. It was rising to about five thousand feet and then dispersing South. According to my memory, there were only a few towns and one city in range of the fallout.

God be with everyone.

The rubble was definitely simmering. The enhanced jacketing and the burst enhancing cage must have been crushed around the uranium, pressed against it, with water flowing over it.

31

I'd have to dose everyone with potassium iodine and Prussian Blue as soon as we landed. It had only been less than 15 seconds, but that amount of radiation wasn't a joke. At least we had the light armored skin of the combat insertion helicopter to protect us.