Free Three by William C. Oelfke

crate in its
grip.  Joel and Enoch watched in horror as the determined guard ran closer and
closer to their commander’s position.  He vaulted past the back end of the fork
lift, pushing with his right hand, in order to rush around it.  Just when Joel
and Enoch were certain that he would pounce on their commander, the guard
continued on, running to the opposite end of the hangar to a door.  He yanked
open the door and entered.  The three then heard the zipping and ripping sound
of his removal of his cold weather gear, followed by the familiar sounds of him
relieving himself in the hangar bathroom.
    At Joshua’s signals, Joel and
Enoch joined him and moved to a secure hiding place behind the crates of
mechanical parts.  There they waited breathlessly as the now relieved guard
made his way, less hurriedly, back across the hangar to his warm vehicle.  On
both passes he had failed to notice the forklift; or if he did, he was unaware
of it’s being out of position.
    After he had re-locked the
door and started his Sno-Cat, Joshua exhaled and whispered, “That was close!”
    To which Joel replied, “I
almost had a heart attack thinking we had been caught!”
    “We should now be safe to
continue the exchange.  We will probably have no other interruptions.”
    After four hours of working
and hiding in the hangar, the exchange of crates was finally accomplished and
Joshua said, “This part of our mission has been completed successfully; it’s
time we got some rest for tomorrow’s loading of the trailers.”
    The three quietly returned to
their quarters and settled into their bunks for a few hours of needed sleep. The
false food crates would be loaded onto trailers during the morning twilight,
and by noon the caravan would start its run to the Amundsen – Scott South Pole
Station. After finishing this phase of the mission, Joshua planned to return to
Christchurch on the next flight north, and then continue on to Beirut where he
would pick up the last piece of equipment needed for the Reverend’s cleansing
of the temple in Jerusalem. 
    Joel and Enoch would remain
at McMurdo for the next few months to continue working on the transfer of
supplies to and from this storage hangar.  Joshua had instructed them to make
sure none of the food crates, now labeled as oil and hydraulic fluid, would be
shipped out to some garage here in McMurdo where they would be discovered. 
    They would eventually return
to Christchurch where they would remain until their final mission was
accomplished.  There they could continue monitoring the communication in and
out of the supply depot until it was clear that the McMurdo LC-130 had been disabled. 
The two would then carry out their attack on the last remaining LC-130 in Christchurch,
and then make their escape back to Jerusalem.  Neither Joel nor Enoch had any
idea how their commander planned to cleanse the temple, but they wished to be
present for the prophetic event.

4
Waxahachie
     
    For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger
and thirst?
     
    - Khalil Gibran
     
    Before Oliver left his
Chicago apartment for his drive to O’Hare, he again called Maxine on a secure
line, knowing she had now been briefed on Peter’s death at Fermilab.
    She picked up and immediately
said, “Dr. Saxon, I’m sorry for your loss.  I know what it’s like to have
someone close to you suddenly die.  Director Clark has filled me in on your
continuing responsibilities there.  He’s staffed me into your Texas project.  I
didn’t let on that I had already been looking into the Father Abraham conspiracy,
but I had an uncomfortable feeling he knew I’d been snooping around.” 
    “Thanks for your care, Maxine,
I’ll have to keep some contact with my friends here during the next two weeks,
but for now I’ll concentrate on playing tourist in Waxahachie.  By the way,
please call me Oliver.  I left Dr. Saxon behind when I left the college campus
for the summer.  Incidentally, have you learned