Scratchgravel Road A Mystery

TWENTY



Josie followed Otto outside the building and into the rain.

“I thought we were supposed to get a reprieve today. Didn’t you tell me that?” Josie asked as they jogged to the car.

“I was thinking positive. Isn’t that what you’re always harping on me to do?”

Once inside the jeep Otto turned on the local weather station. He drove down Plant Road grousing about Paiva’s arrogance. Josie had found his demeanor more down to earth at this meeting, but she let it go. She could tell Otto’s mood had turned dark. She had worked with him long enough to know the missing money box in Santiago’s apartment would be eating at him. He would feel responsible for not making the connection earlier.

“So where are we with Leo? What would give us enough for a search warrant?” he asked.

Josie rubbed her temples and sighed. “I think he stole the money. The judge may allow it since we’ve got the wallet and Santiago’s fingerprints on it. But I doubt it.”

“Hell, he’s not going to have that box. Making minimum at a part-time job? He’ll have that money long gone or squirreled away somewhere,” he said, dismissing his own idea. “Out of Cassidy’s reach.”

Josie considered Otto’s comment. “Or, we catch a break, and Cassidy knows Leo took the money. I’ll pay her a visit. Ask her if she’s found an extra set of keys.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Otto said, “but maybe we discounted Cassidy too soon. Maybe she factors in.”

Josie frowned. “It’s crossed my mind. I hope I didn’t misjudge her.”

“She and Leo could both be tied to the murder. The evidence supports it,” he said.

The cell phone in her pocket vibrated, and she slipped it out.

“Chief Gray.”

“This is Diego. We have a problem. Can you come back? Now?”

“We’re on our way.” Josie twirled her finger in the air to signal Otto to turn around. He gestured to either side of the road to show her it was too washed out.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Sandy Davis, the lead engineer studying the flood problem, is here in my office. She and another engineer took a helicopter up to check the mountains. They spotted a breach this morning. The chance of a mudslide just increased tenfold.”

“How much time do we have?”

“She said it was hard to speculate. They spent all morning checking measurements. There’s so many variables. Including the current rain.”

“What kind of problems are you talking about?”

He sighed. “It’s best if we talk in person.”

“Okay. Worst-case scenario. How long?” Josie listened to Diego’s muffled voice as he conferred with his engineer. He finally came back on the line. “If the mountain runoff breaks loose, a mudslide is imminent. She thinks worst case is three hours.”

Josie felt the panic well up in her throat. “Have you started making calls for resources—people and agencies who can help with an evacuation?”

“Sylvia is on the phone. Another engineer is helping her place the calls. She’s already called your county maintenance.”

“We’ll be there in five.”

* * *

On the drive back to the plant Josie reached Lou and filled her in on the situation. She requested that Lou call Marta in for assistance but was told that the mayor had just sent her over to Presidio to aid in an evacuation. Two families were stranded in their homes due to flooding and the water was rising.

“I was picking up the phone to call you and Otto out when you called. I’ve lived in Artemis twenty years and never seen flooding like this,” Lou said.

“Keep me updated. I’ll check in after my meeting at the Feed Plant.”

Ten minutes later Josie and Otto were sitting in a large meeting room at a conference table. Sylvia Moore had ushered them in and placed coffee on the table for them, then sat down at the far end where she turned on a laptop. Diego entered shortly after and one woman and three men followed behind him. Lines radiated from his eyes as he talked quietly to the woman, who Josie assumed was the lead engineer at the company. He pulled her chair out for her and she sat, the conversation never missing a beat. She had short gray hair cut close to her head and wore a tasteful starched blue shirt and dress pants. Josie figured she was in her late fifties and thought she appeared to have an easy disposition.

Diego remained standing and called them together with few formalities.

“I realize we don’t have the full group. As more people become involved, we’ll update as needed. Sylvia will be typing up our plan so we’ll all be clear on the details.” He glanced at the wall where her notes were being projected.

He sat down and cleared his throat. “First, introductions. To my left is Chief of Police Josie Gray. She and Officer Otto Podowski actually met with me earlier this morning about our disaster preparedness plan. I appreciate the department’s forethought.” He gestured to Otto, who nodded to the engineers across the table. “They will be our liaisons with the law enforcement agencies and will be key to moving this plan forward. If we need additional manpower I will count on Josie’s help to work with area residents.”

Diego looked at Josie and she nodded in agreement. Rarely were the local police afforded the respect that they deserved for their experience and expertise in dealing with local disasters.

“To my right is Sandy Davis. She is our lead engineer. She knows the layout of the plant, including the danger areas, better than anyone.” Sandy introduced the three men sitting to her left, all of whom were engineers. They obviously would be taking their orders from her. And, finally, she introduced Scott Franklin, a chemical expert.

Diego took over the meeting again. “Sandy, I’d like for you to first explain the concern you shared with me before the meeting. It’s important we put this into perspective for everyone.”

She straightened her back and folded her hands on top of her legal pad. Her face was lightly freckled and it reddened as she began speaking. Her voice was quiet but controlled and confident.

“I have been following radiation disasters throughout the world for thirty years. There have been surprisingly few. Given the potential for disaster, the industry has put strenuous safeguards in place. With that comes a cost. When a catastrophe does strike, there is very little to fall back on in terms of response and baseline data. To my knowledge, I don’t know of another former weapons plant that has faced flooding, or more specifically mudslides.” She turned to Josie and Otto. “This is new territory, and we don’t have a sufficient response. The tsunami that hit Japan was a completely different situation. We’re not dealing with reactors or meltdowns. We’re dealing with enriched uranium byproduct. Waste that is highly radioactive.”

“Are you referring to the barrels?” Josie asked.

She nodded. “In part. They are the most immediate concern because the mudflow would hit that area first. But there are other areas of the plant that could be in more serious jeopardy. The pilot unit has a significant amount of high-level radioactive matter. It would be disastrous if that building was compromised. We also have two concrete silos that are not in good shape.”

“What’s inside them?” Otto asked.

“Sludge. Radioactive byproducts. The waste is safe inside the concrete, but you know the immense damage that can be wrought by a mudslide. If the slide gains momentum as it comes down the mountain, and picks up debris along the way, it will act like a bulldozer by the time it hits the plant. My greatest fear is that it will pick up those metal barrels and they’ll have the force needed to tear down the silos and certain buildings in their path.”

She stopped, and no one spoke for a time.

Finally Diego broke the silence. “Our current disaster plan does not sufficiently prepare us for a mudslide of the magnitude that we’re facing. Mudslides have never been a serious risk until now. In the past, heavy rains have funneled to the east of the plant due to the natural contours of the land.”

Sandy broke in. “It’s the mountain range behind the plant. Specifically, Norton’s Peak. Our pilot’s been flying over it the past two days. It’s crumbling. And there’s a great deal of mud and debris coming with it. We have concrete barriers in place, but the response won’t be enough if we have an actual slide.”

Diego said, “I’d like to list the major issues we’re facing, and then we’ll prioritize.” He turned to Josie. “Finally, we’ll come up with a command group and dole out responsibilities.” He glanced around the table and received nods.

Over the next twenty minutes the engineers made a list of key areas that had to be protected. They also agreed they needed the helicopter back in the air to monitor the flow. Once the list was generated, they prioritized and starred the situations that had to be dealt with immediately. Finally, Sylvia took the list and put it into a table format and they began listing agencies and key personnel that needed to be called for information or manpower.

One of the engineers walked to the back of the room to call the helicopter pilot, who was fueled up, ready to fly, but on hold waiting orders. He was told to take two other engineers to fly the area and collect information to share with Mike Ramey, one of the engineers at the table. In his early twenties and fresh out of graduate school, Mike wasn’t quite smiling with excitement, but he was obviously glad to be a part of the response group.

“Let’s get a camera up there too,” Mike said. “We can get a live feed in here to monitor what they see from the air.”

Sandy gave him a thumbs-up and he left the table to get it set up.

Diego was saying, “Our number-one goal is to shift that slide so it moves around the plant, not through the middle of it. This was part of our emergency plan, but we hadn’t seen it as an immediate threat. The flows have always taken place east of here, but something broke loose in the mountains with the foot of rain we received this week. Everything has shifted course.”

“Wouldn’t it be faster and more reliable to organize a quick-response team to move the material? Why not get as many flatbed trucks and semis—every truck we can find—to move those barrels to higher ground?” Josie asked.

Diego stared at Josie for a moment and she assumed he was choosing his words carefully.

He pursed his lips and ran a finger between his neck and shirt collar as if trying to stretch the fabric. “The barrels are not in moveable condition. We’ve held off on the waste in the barrels because we’re close to a better solution for storage. They were better off stationary than moving them twice,” he said.

“So what you’re saying is that the barrels are corroded to the point that we can’t move them?”

“That’s correct.”

“What happens if they’re moved in the mudslide?” she asked.

“The barrels in the back third of the parking lot were placed there first. They’ve received the most weathering. They are what we’re most concerned with. The metal on some of the barrels has weakened. They are not leaking. There’s no groundwater contamination. However, I would not feel comfortable moving them without precautions.”

“We don’t have the time to move them safely,” Sandy agreed.

“How do you divert a wall that could weigh hundreds of tons by the time you figure in the momentum of the moving debris?” Otto asked. “I’ve seen news footage of people trying to divert mudslides, and they usually end in disaster.”

Sylvia raised a finger and held a phone receiver against her chest. “Mr. Paiva?”

He nodded for her to continue.

“Department of Transportation is sending a team. They should be here in thirty minutes. Environmental Protection Agency is flying in a team as well, but they’re about an hour out.” Paiva thanked her and she put the phone back to her ear.

He continued. “We’re in agreement. We’ve all seen the slides in Japan where entire interstate systems were wiped out in a matter of seconds. Those massive structures didn’t even slow the mudflow.” He glanced at Sandy, who took over the conversation.

“Fortunately, we’re not facing a mudslide of that magnitude. It is the location of this slide that is our concern. We’re thinking our best bet is to go down, not up.”

Josie said, “In other words, dig a trench instead of building a wall.”

Diego nodded. “Have you had any experience using explosives to divert mudslides?”

Josie and Otto both shook their heads no.

“We have the explosives. But we need an explosives expert to develop a plan.”

Otto said, “You want to blow holes in the ground. Make a trench to divert the flow?”

“That’s exactly it,” Sandy said.

“Why not just use a trencher?” Josie asked. “Wouldn’t that be safer?”

“We can use it to lay the explosives, but not for the whole diversion,” Sandy said. “We have a Ditch Witch Quad trencher on site, and it’ll dig down eight feet, but only twenty-four inches wide. That won’t help with the mudslide. We need a five- to ten-foot width to do any good.”

Diego’s face was grave. “Here’s another concern. We can make estimated guesses, but in the end, we don’t know what the explosions are going to do to the equipment and the volatile nature of some of our experimental solutions.”

“When you say volatile nature? Are you referring to a nuclear explosion? What do you mean?” Josie asked.

The chemical engineer sitting to Sandy’s left raised a finger and looked at Diego. “Mind if I take this?”

Diego nodded. “Please do.”

The man had been introduced as Scott Franklin. He was a chemical expert who said he specialized in designing and implementing cleanup solutions.

“Part of my job is to supervise volatile chemical experiments in the pilot plant. We deal with chemicals that quite honestly are just as dangerous as the radiation everyone fears. The explosive nature of some of the chemicals is enough to kill us all several times over.” He pursed his lips and glanced around the room, letting the weight of his words sink in. “I guess my point is that we’re working in unpredictable conditions. I have chemical compounds that haven’t been exposed to tremors. There are a lot of variables with explosives that I don’t personally feel comfortable with. What kind of tremors will be felt in the lab?” He frowned and looked around the table, his expression full of worry.

Sandy’s face reddened and her eyes widened. “We’ve been through this. None of us are comfortable with any of this! We’re operating in crisis mode here, Scott. This isn’t the time for covering your ass. We need your expertise to help us figure out solutions based on the facts we have. Not what we would like to have.”

Scott looked hurt by her response but he said nothing in return.

“Do you have an explosives team?” Josie asked.

Diego smiled grimly. “I was going to ask you the same. Sandy and I have talked. We’ve got the explosives, but no one on site with the experience to work with them.”

Josie glanced at Otto, who nodded agreement.

“Otto and I know someone who might do it. He works at the County Maintenance Department in Artemis as a mechanic. He was in the army. Served as an explosives ordnance disposal tech.”

Diego looked skeptical. “How long ago was he in the service?”

“He’s been out of the service a little over a year,” Josie said. “He served two tours of duty in Iraq. I don’t think you’ll find a better option than Mitch.”

Otto said, “The local paper had a writeup when he came home. He was a master EOD specialist when he left the army. Received some kind of commendation for valor.”

“Let’s get him out here then,” Diego said.