![A New World [7] Takedown](https://fs.ageofbook.com/469904/thumbs/152x264/a-new-world-7-takedown.jpg)
Reaching out, I don’t sense any night runners in the area.
A few more twists in the road and I see a few residential areas that mark the beginning of Lead. We slow and creep through the outlying areas looking for any indication that someone is around. The big, open pit we saw from the air appears beside the highway. Just prior to entering the town itself, a parking lot opens to the side with a viewing area of the actual mine. I have us pull in to take a look and listen prior to entering.
The lot is empty as we pull to a stop and disembark. The teams form a small perimeter within the lot itself. There is a park next to the parking area and adjacent to the mine itself with a larger building located near the edge of the mine that appears to be visitor center. I have the Stryker shut down so we can listen. The battery stays on in case we have need of the heavy caliber weapon system. Keeping in mind that someone here may not be all that interested in us being around, it’s my plan to remain on the edge of town to give them a chance to make contact. I hope that contact doesn’t come in the form of a hail of bullets streaming into our midst. With that thought in mind, I have the teams take up covered positions around the house-like center.
The diesel shutting down brings a quiet to the surrounding area. The breeze picked up since we descended into the first valley and a low moan is heard at times as it blows across the monstrous open pit mine – much like blowing across a bottle opening. Other than the occasional sound of the wind, it’s quiet.
Greg and I walk along a path leading to the edge of the mine. The size of it cannot be adequately described. It’s much like looking down into the Grand Canyon except that is much prettier to look at than the scene stretching before us. The mine is a series of deep, terraced sides leading down to a small lake of brown, muddy water. The step-like wall sides are black with tan and reddish clay mixed in. There are a lot of places where dark-colored seepage runs down the walls like sludge. Several landslides, some going all of the way to the bottom, mar the terraced walls. A single switch-back road heads down into the depths from the opposite side ending at the brown lake.
It’s there, at the edge of the pond, that something catches my attention. At the end of the dirt track is a larger black mound. Several small wisps of smoke drift upward from it and are blown away as the occasional draught of wind catches them. Whatever is smoking down there was done recently giving a further indication that someone is around.
“What do you think that is?” Greg asks.
“I have no idea,” I say, lifting a pair of binoculars up to look at the pile. “It looks like a large ash pile. There’s something else there but I can’t make out what it is.”
“There’s no way we’re going to get the Stryker down that,” he says, pointing to the narrow road leading down.
“They must have had those large dump trucks that drove down at one point, but fuck if I’m riding in the Stryker along that road,” I reply.
“I’m with you on that. We’d probably bring the whole thing down on our heads and I’d rather not roll the Stryker today if it’s all the same to you.”
“It would be a rather long walk home.”
“If we do decide to investigate, maybe we can find a four-wheel drive somewhere,” Greg says.
“Have fun with that.”
“What? No sense of adventure, Jack?”
“Oh. I enjoy a good adventure. It’s dying I’m not overly fond of.”
The signage near the fence surrounding the mine states that this was the site of the Homestake mine which was once the largest mine in North America. It was apparently closed in 2002 and there is some mention of something about a deep, underground lab that was supposed to be opened. Something by the name DUSEL, whatever that is, or was. There’s more on the history, but I’m not interested in reading the wall of text that entails.
Off in the
A few more twists in the road and I see a few residential areas that mark the beginning of Lead. We slow and creep through the outlying areas looking for any indication that someone is around. The big, open pit we saw from the air appears beside the highway. Just prior to entering the town itself, a parking lot opens to the side with a viewing area of the actual mine. I have us pull in to take a look and listen prior to entering.
The lot is empty as we pull to a stop and disembark. The teams form a small perimeter within the lot itself. There is a park next to the parking area and adjacent to the mine itself with a larger building located near the edge of the mine that appears to be visitor center. I have the Stryker shut down so we can listen. The battery stays on in case we have need of the heavy caliber weapon system. Keeping in mind that someone here may not be all that interested in us being around, it’s my plan to remain on the edge of town to give them a chance to make contact. I hope that contact doesn’t come in the form of a hail of bullets streaming into our midst. With that thought in mind, I have the teams take up covered positions around the house-like center.
The diesel shutting down brings a quiet to the surrounding area. The breeze picked up since we descended into the first valley and a low moan is heard at times as it blows across the monstrous open pit mine – much like blowing across a bottle opening. Other than the occasional sound of the wind, it’s quiet.
Greg and I walk along a path leading to the edge of the mine. The size of it cannot be adequately described. It’s much like looking down into the Grand Canyon except that is much prettier to look at than the scene stretching before us. The mine is a series of deep, terraced sides leading down to a small lake of brown, muddy water. The step-like wall sides are black with tan and reddish clay mixed in. There are a lot of places where dark-colored seepage runs down the walls like sludge. Several landslides, some going all of the way to the bottom, mar the terraced walls. A single switch-back road heads down into the depths from the opposite side ending at the brown lake.
It’s there, at the edge of the pond, that something catches my attention. At the end of the dirt track is a larger black mound. Several small wisps of smoke drift upward from it and are blown away as the occasional draught of wind catches them. Whatever is smoking down there was done recently giving a further indication that someone is around.
“What do you think that is?” Greg asks.
“I have no idea,” I say, lifting a pair of binoculars up to look at the pile. “It looks like a large ash pile. There’s something else there but I can’t make out what it is.”
“There’s no way we’re going to get the Stryker down that,” he says, pointing to the narrow road leading down.
“They must have had those large dump trucks that drove down at one point, but fuck if I’m riding in the Stryker along that road,” I reply.
“I’m with you on that. We’d probably bring the whole thing down on our heads and I’d rather not roll the Stryker today if it’s all the same to you.”
“It would be a rather long walk home.”
“If we do decide to investigate, maybe we can find a four-wheel drive somewhere,” Greg says.
“Have fun with that.”
“What? No sense of adventure, Jack?”
“Oh. I enjoy a good adventure. It’s dying I’m not overly fond of.”
The signage near the fence surrounding the mine states that this was the site of the Homestake mine which was once the largest mine in North America. It was apparently closed in 2002 and there is some mention of something about a deep, underground lab that was supposed to be opened. Something by the name DUSEL, whatever that is, or was. There’s more on the history, but I’m not interested in reading the wall of text that entails.
Off in the
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