"Well, I know you've never lied to me before Sam. At least not that I know of. I'll take you at your word and tell the sheriff that you are going to climb out and that you will release her as soon as you are free. Are you all right Kathy?"
"I'm fine Steve. Just a little waterlogged. Please don't worry. I don't think your brother will hurt me as long as we do what he says."
"I'll go with you Steve." Tyrone volunteered. "To help convince them that no one will get hurt."
Steve and Tyrone headed out the door of the kitchen sloshing through the almost chest deep water. The flow of the water had mellowed out a bit and it was a lot easier traveling than they had originally figured.
"Do you think he will hurt her Steve?" Tyrone questioned.
"I hope he doesn't. Up to this point he has always been just a petty thief but, you don't know how those partners of his might have warped his mind. They were going for a pretty good heist here from what I understand and greed has a way of really changing someone's personality."
"Well, I hope you're right. Some people go really nuts in crisis situations."
They got to the ramp and Steve started to climb up into the daylight. When he reached the roof he looked back and didn't see Tyrone behind him. He yelled back down into the hole.
"Hey Tyrone. Are you coming up?"
"No Steve. I think I'll stay right here until you get back. Someone might come wandering through that needs help getting up the ramp and I'll be right here to assist them. I can't really do anything up there that you can't do so, I might be a lot more help down here."
"Okay Tyrone but, be careful. I'll be right back."
Steve climbed up the ladder and saw the sheriff leaning over a stretcher that two attendants from the helicopter were waiting to transport.
"Hey sheriff. I've got a serious problem down there. My brother is holding a woman hostage and he wants safe passage out of here. He said he'll not harm her if you let him get away. I believe him. I think we should let him have his way."
"You're that Steve Sidel fella aren't you? The one I heard was leading this whole rescue operation before I got here."
"Yes, I'm Sidel. I don't know much about leading a rescue operation. I just got a few people out. That's all."
"Well, you're already pretty much of a folk hero around here. Even that Tiffany Royal had some very heroic things to say about you. I guess since you did so good I'll go along with what you are saying since it's your brother and all. I just hope this doesn't get screwed up. You tell him to come on out and I'll let him just walk away as long as he doesn't hurt anyone. Okay?"
"Thanks sheriff. I'll go and tell him."
Steve climbed back down the ladder and again descended the ramp. He was surprised not to find Tyrone Washington at the bottom but, he decided Tyrone must have found someone to help. He waded back through the by now almost still water and entered the kitchen.
"Okay Sam. It's all set. Now remember. You will let her go as soon as you're free.
"You have my word Steve."
Sam(Stretch)Sidel prodded Kathy with the knife and they began moving through the water toward the kitchen door. Steve backed off to the side and let them pass. He gave a worried look to Kathy but, she smiled at him and he immediately felt a lot better. He watched them go through the door and he began to follow.
"You son of a bitch." Yelled Stretch as soon as they cleared the doorway. "I'll fix you."
Kathy came flying back through the doorway as fast as the water would allow and Steve could see Stretch wrestling with someone through the open doorway. He grabbed Kathy around the waist and pulled her behind him. The moment she was safe he waded through the doorway to see what was happening. He found Tyrone clutching his arm and bright scarlet was covering his hand. He looked around and saw Stretch moving through the water toward the caved in part of the roof.
"What happened Tyrone? How bad are you hurt?"
"Your brother stabbed me in the arm when I jumped him. I didn't think he was so quick with that knife. I'm all right. Nothing a few drinks won't cure."
"You could have been killed pulling a crazy stunt like that. I'm just glad you saved Kathy though. Don't ever pull anything like that again!"
He helped Tyrone back through the kitchen door and grabbed a cloth towel that was still laying over a holder. He fastened a temporary tourniquet to Tyrone's arm and reached for Kathy who was still shaking. He walked his two friends through the water and helped them up the ramp. When they got to the roof, the two twins were back on duty and helped Kathy and Tyrone up the ladders.
"Aren't you coming Steve? We're safe now." Kathy asked.
"No. As long as you're safe I have to go find my brother. Somehow I have to do something."
"Please be careful Steve. I can tell I wouldn't be able to talk you out of this. Just come back safe and sound to me. Okay."
"I will Kathy. I will. My brother would never hurt me."
Steve went back down into the hole and Kathy followed with her eyes. She knew this was the man for her and she would wait an eternity for him.
June 14, Saturday 3:19 p.m.
Front entrance road
Sergeant Gary Sutton of the Florida National Guard jumped out of the military transport before it came to a complete stop and looked around at the total devastation that lay around him. The truck had pulled in directly behind the patrol car and he could see emergency vehicles lining both sides of the roadway and two helicopters, one of which was taking off and another whose rotors were spinning in anticipation of leaving shortly. Two men with medic outfits on were carrying a stretcher toward the waiting helicopter and the sheriff was walking quickly along side saying something to the man on the stretcher. The sergeant barely heard over the roar of the blades the sheriff telling the wounded man he was going to be all right and that he would visit him shortly in the hospital.
The attendants loaded the stretcher into the waiting helicopter and it began to lift off as soon as the two men climbed aboard. The sheriff gave a farewell wave and turned toward the sergeant.
"Man, am I glad you guys are here. We have a hell of a mess in there and we really need your help."
The sheriff looked back at the military convoy and was relieved to see all the soldiers that were disembarking from the trucks were armed.
"I'm glad your men brought their weapons. We have some crazies in there, just like the one that shot my deputy. I don't know where any of them are right now. The water from the lake started pouring in the hole and everything turned upside down. I don't believe they are holding any hostages at this point but, I know they are armed."
"We can take it from here sheriff. My Captain put me in charge of this disastrous situation and my men have been fully trained to handle any emergency."
"I wish you the best of luck, sergeant but, I guarantee you have never seen anything like this. Every time you turn around, the ground caves in. Sort of like a series of mini earthquakes. You never know if, where you are standing, will be there five minutes from now. We have hundreds of people trapped, they were in the main building when it sank, and we don't even know how many might still be alive. From the last report I heard, the water is more than four feet deep in the sinkhole. It has slowed down in intensity but, I know a lot of people were unconscious when it flowed in and there is no way they could have gotten above the water level. The death toll must be tremendous down there."
"We will access the situation and report back to you as soon as all the data has been accumulated. Ready men?"
The sergeant broke his men off into their predetermined groups and they headed out to start their rescue attempt. The sheriff followed them with his eyes and prayed they would get the man that shot his deputy. He crossed back over the ditch and walked up to the survivors that were gathered around the main driveway in front of the sunken lobby. There wasn't a lot of people out here he thought to himself. How did one rich man's foolish att
empt to make more money turn into such a loss of lives. Well, he thought. It's in God's hands now.
June 14, Saturday 3:20 p.m.
In the tunnel
Kevin Backlin and Bill Forham led the firefighters back to the outside doorway of the computer room. They heard the roar of the water long before they reached the end of the tunnel but, the intensity of the water flow was nothing like they expected. The water from the lake was pouring through the small office with such force that the computer monitors and the rest of the previously large amount of electronic equipment had been virtually stripped bare from the walls and counters. Just when they approached where the door had originally been placed across the opening in the floor they heard the screams.
"Help save me. I don't want to die."
The majority of the water was pouring into the chasm and it resembled a miniature Niagara Falls. The over splash that didn't fall in the hole was forming a small river that was starting to fill the tunnel where the men stood watching. The screams continued and the lead fireman shined his high intensity light at the doorway leading from the main lobby. They saw a man being forced by the heavy current trying to hold on to the doorway with both hands but they could tell the force of the water was winning the battle.
"Hold on man. We'll try to grab you." Two of the firemen who were carrying a ladder pushed past Kevin and Bill and tried to lay it across the opening in the floor. "Just try to hang on." Continued the Lieutenant. "We'll be there in a second."
The man kept screaming as his grip on the doorway got weaker and weaker. The firemen managed to stabilize the ladder in the heavy flow of the water by having several of the other fireman put their weight on the base of the ladder. One of the firemen began crossing the ladder after securing a rope around his waist that was tied to the fireman closest to him. He was halfway across the ladder, struggling against the heavy weight of the water when, the man lost his grip on the doorway. He washed up to the opening and the fireman grabbed the tail of his tattered tuxedo just as he was falling over the edge. The fireman reached his arm to place it around the man's neck and the tail of the tuxedo ripped apart from the rest of the suit. The fireman was still holding the ripped tail in his right hand as the man disappeared from view in the waterfall. The fireman knew the image of the man going over the edge would burn in his mind for a long time because of the look of horror on the man's face and the sharp contrast of the black tuxedo and the man's white albino features.
June 14, Saturday 3:25 p.m.
In the hole
Steve Sidel, gripping his flashlight in his right hand, waded through the muddy water, which had dropped back to waist level. He headed north toward where the roof caved in looking for some sign of his brother. He knew it was a slim chance that his brother would give up but, he figured it was worth the chance. They were never been close, Steve had gone to college, graduated, gotten married and went to work as a computer programmer. Sam(Stretch)Sidel had dropped out of school in the eleventh grade. Hung around with a gang of street punks and made a living selling drugs and committing a large amount of petty thefts. He was arrested fourteen times as a juvenile and been placed in detention only three times. When he hit eighteen, three of his street pals and he stole a car, robbed a gas station, and tried to rob a liquor store when they were caught by an off duty detective who was buying his nightly booze fix. Sam was sentenced to three years in state prison but served only nine months because of overcrowding.
The day he was released from prison, he and two ex-gang members were caught in an attempted rape of a middle-aged housewife who had been shopping in a mall. They grabbed her as she was unlocking her car and forced her into the back seat with Sam and one of his pals pinning her down. The third member of their little group grabbed her keys and roared out of the parking lot looking for a deserted area to fulfill their pent-up sexual desires. Sam and the boy in back managed to rip the clothes off the terrified women and were getting ready to assault her even before they found a place to park. An unmarked patrol car, whose occupants had just finished lunch at a fast food restaurant across from the mall, saw the woman's car peel out of the parking lot and radioed for back up when they spotted the woman screaming in the back seat.
The patrol car followed for several blocks until they were advised that the backup units were waiting directly ahead. They hit the siren and placed a flashing light on the dashboard and attempted to pull the fleeing vehicle over. The driver of the stolen car pushed down on the accelerator in an attempt to lose the pursuing car when he ran into a roadblock that had been set up. He swerved to avoid the two police cars that were blocking his path and lost complete control and crashed into the glass front of a coin Laundromat. The three startled customers in the laundry scattered as the car came to a stop halfway through the front window. The terrified lady jumped out and ran naked out the back door while the three would be rapist sat stunned in the car. They were hustled, not too gently back to jail and Sam was sentenced to ten years in state prison.
He served only three years and seven months before being released and had continued with his life of crime but only on a lower profile. He had gotten the idea to extort money from rich widows while serving his latest jail term and had only been arrested four times since his long stint in prison. He served only six months at the longest of his four arrests and he met Frankie Medford while serving the latest time.
Steve approached the crumbled roof that was laying in the lobby and noticed an opening he could squeeze through. When he managed to get his entire body through the tight area, he looked around with his flashlight and saw several bodies floating in the now still water. He waded through the murky water and saw another opening on his left side. Just as he cleared the fallen debris and found himself in a larger area he heard a gruff voice out of the darkness.
"Well, welcome back. I was wondering what happened to you and that dark haired dame you tried to pass off as the governor's wife. I ran into your brother shortly after I almost drowned in that torrent but, I'm tough and he explained to me who you were and to think you almost had me fooled." Steve Sidel could see in the light of his flashlight that Frankie Medford was pointing a gun at Steve's chest as he approached him out of the darkness. "I liked the idea of having the governor's wife as a hostage but I think you'll make a nice replacement. Come on move it. I'm going to get out of this stinking mud pit with your help."
Frankie jammed the gun in Steve's chest and forced him back out through the small opening. "Don't try any fancy moves computer boy or you'll get a large bullet hole in you. Let's get the hell out of here."
June 14, Saturday 3:27 p.m.
Front entrance to lobby
The sheriff watched as the TV crew interviewed various witnesses. He heard a lot of different versions of the same story and he figured in a few days most of the tabloids would be paying large sums of money to the different survivors. He thought they would base the rate of payment to each person the tabloid featured in their magazines, not on their personal experiences but on how well they could articulate to the public. The more interesting way the same story was told, the more circulation they would achieve. Fact of life. A boring person didn't sell copy even if they were captured by aliens. A very interesting person could find a gopher turtle and sell a million copies if they told the experience in a very people oriented way.
A small garrison of national guardsmen arrived at the entrance to the lobby in full battle dress and heavily armed. They were lead by Sergeant Sutton and they began to descend the two ladders that led to the roof. They were a picture of military discipline and would shame a swat team in their punctual movements and well-rehearsed battle plan. The sheriff watched spellbound as they split into two strategic groups when they reached the bottom of the ramp and began to wade through, the by now, knee-deep water.
The lake pumps, having been earlier shut off by Becky McClellan did not refill the lake when the level dropped and the flow of water due
to the lower level was almost at a standstill. The sheriff descended one of the ladders and then the ramp in order to follow the exquisite moves of the national guardsmen. He walked about five feet forward in the slow-moving water until he could get a good view of the operation and marveled at how well they performed their job. The bright lights that they had carried into the sunken lobby lit the place up like a movie set and the sheriff could see quite a few piles of sodden clothes that were jammed against fallen beams and against the back wall. He knew without looking closer that the piles of clothes contained unfortunate people who had drowned in the sudden flood from the lake.
The guardsmen were searching every square inch of the exposed part of the lobby for any sign of a living person and they began helping a small group of people they had found huddled together near the front double doors of the lobby. A large floral display had been mounted on a specially built platform near the doors and the small group of people had climbed up on the platform to avoid the sudden rush of water that suddenly filled the lobby. They knocked over the elaborate display Dilford Bailey had painstakingly organized and crowded into the small area atop the platform. They huddled together dripping wet until they heard the guardsmen arrive and a small cheer went up when they had realized the Calvary had arrived.
The guardsmen escorted the group of survivors over to the ramp and up the ladders and the sheriff heard a loud scream of joy from the two movie stars, Tiffany Royal and Brandon Miles when they realized their two lost companions had been found. The guardsmen shined all their available lights at the caved in section of the roof and began to explore the fallen down section with as much enthusiasm as they had displayed on the previous hunt for survivors in the open section of the lobby. The sheriff waded through the knee high water till he reached the point where the main part of the roof caved in and watched the guardsmen as they continued their rescue mission. The screams had long since faded from the fallen in section but, the sheriff figured out of the at least seven hundred people still trapped, at least a few were still alive.