Speed the Dawn by Philip Donlay

Author:Philip Donlay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Published: 2018-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

LAUREN DIALED ERNIE’S cell phone and waited for him to answer. She was back on the bridge, standing, leaning over to study the details of an aeronautical chart Montero had retrieved from the helicopter. She ran her finger along the shoreline of Pebble Beach and then beyond, wondering where Donovan could have taken refuge.

“Deputy Director Rincon.”

“Ernie, it’s Lauren. We need to talk.”

“You’re damn right we do. Where in the hell are you?”

“I’m out on the Eco-Watch ship, the Buckley.” Lauren ignored Ernie’s understandable anger at her disappearance. The playing field was changing rapidly and the men in San Jose only had part of the picture. “Are you someplace you can talk?”

“Hang on a second,” Ernie said. “Give me time to walk down the hall to the office you were using earlier.”

Lauren heard a door shut and Ernie exhale. “Ernie, I’m sorry I bolted like that. The helicopter was called in for a rescue, and I needed to leave. To be honest, the chaos there with all of the politics and posturing was less than productive. Plus, I needed a place where I have unlimited use of the latest communications equipment. This ship provides me with all of that.”

“I get it,” Ernie said with a sigh. “If I could get out in the field, I would. We keep getting bits and pieces of what’s happening in Monterey, and none of it is good. Several volunteer crews, including some K-9 units, have gone into the city trying to locate survivors and establish usable routes that EMS crews can utilize at first light. We haven’t found much, mostly victims who for whatever reasons didn’t evacuate. Besides fire and carbon monoxide, the bigger problem with urban fires is the high levels of poisonous gases that some materials give off as they burn. Hydrogen cyanide, sulphur dioxide as well as phosgene are formed when certain household products, such as plastics, PVC pipe, and vinyl are burned. These gases don’t dissipate outward like gases from forest fires—they can linger and build up in structures, form deadly pockets where you don’t expect them. We had to pull all the units out—it’s just too dangerous right now.”

“I think you need to start pulling everyone back,” Lauren said. She’d been around Ernie long enough to know that his firefighter mentality pushed him to get in there and fight the fire and save the people. It was a mind-set that existed in everyone who fought fires, a necessity that allowed a unique group of people to run toward the fire instead of away. “I’m waiting for data to confirm my theory, but I think we’re only hours away from a significant change in the meteorological conditions.”

“What kind of a change?”

“High winds out of the southwest.”

“No way. We just looked at the forecast while we planned our air and ground attacks for first thing in the morning.”

“Check the time and date of those forecasts. There haven’t been any updates because two of the GOES satellites are down. We’re trying to

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