Chapter 26: The Anadarko Subway

However, the trip to Anadarko didn’t happen right away.  The kids didn’t know when their next chance to eat would be, and Frank figured another hour or so wouldn’t hurt anything, so Zach drove around until he found the Chickasha Braum’s.  Everyone enjoyed burgers for dinner, but only Frank got an ice cream cone.  He was so excited, he didn’t finish.

“I’ve never seen you get full at this restaurant,” Nancy told her brother.

“It’s just—it’s exactly like the day of the big game,” Frank told his sister.  “In baseball, you have the playoff game—the chance to be the champion of whatever league you’re in.  You don’t get to that game without hard work, though—hard work that you’re successful at.  It’s the same sort of thing here.  After all the twists and turns, all the false leads, all the near misses, we’ve finally tracked down the gang!”

“Hopefully.”  Auburn took a sip of her root beer.  “Keep in mind, we still haven’t found them yet.  We don’t even know for sure that they’re—”

“Don’t say it!” said Ashley.  “I don’t even want to think about that possibility.”

“We’ll know soon enough,” Zach commented wryly.

“Also, there’s only five of us,” Ashley brought up.  “Who knows how many of them there are?  They might have four times as many people down there.  Plus, they’re all adults, so they’re going to be bigger and stronger than we are.”

“That’s why we’ll try to avoid running into them,” said Frank.  “Size and strength aren’t the only advantages, though.  God’s only on one side in this conflict, and you don’t really think it’s theirs, do you?”

In spite of the situation, Frank’s comment brought a smile from everybody, Ashley included.  She turned around in the booth, eyed a trash can about six feet away, and made a perfect throw to get rid of her burger wrapper.

“What are we waiting for?” she said.  “Let’s go!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This time, Frank gave Ashley the benefit of the front seat.  He joined Nancy and Auburn in the back, where the three started making preparations.

“There’s your walkie-talkie,” he said, handing one to Ashley.

“How many of those do you have in your closet?” Nancy looked up from some papers she was holding.

“I’m not sure,” her brother replied.  “At least ten.  One of these days, I’ll be able to start a walkie-talkie museum.”

Nancy laughed.  “You think anyone will come see it?”

“I’m sure people will,” Ashley spoke up.  “Keep in mind, people actually go see that art museum in Norman—and you’ve seen some of the stuff they have in there.”

“That’s a good point, Ashley…I would rather see Frank’s walkie-talkies, any day!”

“The only question is, where would I put it?” Frank mused.  “I suppose I’ll take over some abandoned building in Norman—perhaps the Justin-Credible Auto Care store, or that chapel that’s part of the abandoned mental hospital—”

“Didn’t you say we weren’t supposed to use them unless it was an emergency?” Auburn asked

“That’s right,” said Frank, “and—if at all possible—DO NOT let the crooks know we have them.  We’re going to split up, and if any of us are discovered, we need them to think they found everyone.  Walkie-talkies just imply that there are more people hanging around.”  He glanced over at the Blackwell girl.  “Got your voice recorder?”

Grinning, Auburn held it up.  “Fresh batteries!”

“Good.  Don’t use it unless it’s absolutely necessary, though.  Our job is to rescue Brittany and Stephanie; then, the police can do the rest of the work.  And speaking of getting down there—Nancy, let’s take a look at the map.”

His sister had made five copies of it in the library, which she’d then distributed to everyone in the car.  Zach had to keep his eyes on the road, but the other four studied it intently.

“Looks like there are pretty much two lines,” Nancy said.  “There’s one that starts up by Kansas Avenue, heads south down 1^st Street, circles west around Oklahoma Avenue, then runs north up 2^nd Street until it loops back over to 1^st at Kansas Street.  In the middle, there’s a line that runs east-west along Broadway Street, from 3^rd on the east to a loop around a park.”

“Got it,” said Frank.  “Question is, how do we get in?”

Nancy continued.  “The factory should be located here,” she said.  “North of the regular train station, by NE 2^nd and Market Streets.  On that spot is the yard where the subway trains were stored when not in use—”

“—and where a lot of the cars are probably stored,” said Frank.  “That’s probably one of the entrances.  Any others listed?”

“I’m not seeing any,” said Nancy.  “However, the stations are all on the map.  There’s 1^st and Broadway, Methodist, and Miller—”

“Sounds like street names,” said Frank.  “I’ll bet there’s an entrance at each of those sites.  Particularly if they were training rescue crews.  After all, a lot of train accidents happen at the stations.  They had to have some way of getting the crew in to help with trouble.”

“Which ones will we use?” said Nancy, “and how exactly are we going in?”

Frank held up his copy of the map.  “I think Zach ought to stay with the car,” he said.  “In the event of an emergency, we may need someone to go for help, and Zach’s the only one of us who can legally drive.”

“I’d love to go in with you,” Zach said, “but you’ve got a good point there.  Alright, I’ll stay, but the rest of you had better be careful.”

Auburn gave him a sarcastic grin.  “Did you expect us to be otherwise?”

“Cut the jokes,” Frank said.  “We’re getting closer.  Alright, now.  There should be an entrance right around the old plant, so some of us should go in there.  If Zach’s waiting outside, that leaves four of us, and I don’t want anyone going in alone.  However, I don’t think we should all go in together.  Two groups can find Brittany and Stephanie faster than any one group would.”

“I see,” said Nancy.  “Alright, who’s going in at the plant?”

“You know,” said Ashley, looking at her map, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Brittany’s hidden there.  I mean, if they’re just using the tunnels as a place to hide cars, the whole system’s probably not in use.  It makes sense that they’d keep her where they could get to her easily.  I’d kind of like to go in through the plant.”

“Alright,” said Nancy.  “I’ll go with you.  Frank, you and Auburn can slip in somewhere else—if that’s alright with Auburn.”

“Suits me fine,” said the girl.  “Which one will we go in by?”

“Let’s find Miller Station and go in there,” said Frank.  “Auburn and I will search the western half of the system—you girls will search the eastern half until we find some sign of our friends.”

Nancy was still looking at the map. “That Broadway extension looks funny.  I wonder why they only put a loop on one end of that line.”

“Beats me,” said Frank.  “Once the gang’s arrested, we can explore the tunnels to our hearts’ content.  Until then—let’s be careful.  The last thing we want is for any of them to catch us…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was still up when the Andersons reached Anadarko, but clouds covered the sky as they had all day.  This produced really strange lighting, with the sides of certain buildings standing out more brilliantly than usual while everything not in the line of the sun looked dull and gray.  On another night, Nancy might have tried for a photo—but this wasn’t another night.

Anadarko itself was nothing much to look at.  It was a small town, barely more than a mile across.  Like most Oklahoma towns, it had its downtown—crumbling, brick buildings that dated back to either statehood or the rebuild after the great fire (as in Ardmore’s case)—and its more modern section, where most of today’s commerce took place.  Its downtown, though, seemed to have more than its fair share of out-of-business stores.  Less than fifty percent of the buildings seemed to be operating, though the Andersons didn’t get much of a look at them.  They were too busy trying to find the corner of NE 2^nd and Market Streets.

“I love how straight these streets are,” Zach said, as he navigated the hot rod past some empty buildings.  “Too bad they’re not wider.  Ah, there’s Market,” he said, turning left.  “We should be seeing the plant any minute now.”

“It’s probably kind of a big building,” said Frank.  “Funny, I don’t see anything that looks like—”

“Wait a minute,” said Auburn.  “Look at that vacant lot—with the gravel on it.  See how big it is?  I’ll bet that’s where the building used to be.”

“It’s gone?” said Nancy.  “That’s not good.”

“Well, it’s not bad,” said Frank.  “That’s just the above-ground portion.  If that’s where it was, then the entrance must be somewhere—”

“Hey, look!” Ashley pointed at a nondescript stone building on the left.  Small and rectangular, the structure had lost all its paint, along with the glass in the windows.  Ashley noticed something else about it, though.

“See those blue smudges on that block up at the top?  That’s the Boeing logo!”

Frank focused on it.  “Goodness, you’re right!” he said.  “Stop the car, Zach!”

Nancy was already opening her door.  “I guess we’ll know soon whether this is the way in or not.”

Ashley led the way, darting towards the building like she was just going to burst inside.  She knew better, though.  Pausing at the door, she glanced in, then slipped inside.  Nancy followed close behind.

Once inside, things got a lot darker, and both girls hastily switched on their flashlights.  The interior was just as much of a ruin as the exterior.  Insulate was pouring out of the walls, tiles were falling off the ceiling, and debris covered the floor, as evidenced by Ashley’s flashlight beam—

“Look!” she suddenly exclaimed.  “A path!”

Nancy trained her light in the direction of her friend’s.  Sure enough, there was a little trail through the debris, where feet had obviously moved back and forth several times recently.  The girls shone their beams up the path, until they found a rusty, steel door in the wall.  Originally, it had possessed no handle, but a makeshift wooden one had been bolted on.

Cautiously, the two advanced forward, until they’d reached it.  Nancy placed her hand on it, then looked at her friend.  “Say a little prayer,” she told Ashley.  “Alright, here goes!”

Jerking it open, she shone her beam into the abyss.

“Whoa, cool!” said Ashley.  “A spiral staircase!”

“Rusty,” commented Nancy, shining her light on the handle.  “I wouldn’t want to slide down that one.”

“I would—”

“That’s not a good idea, Ashley.  We’d better just walk.”  Nancy led the way, going slowly so as to keep creaks to a minimum.  Her voice echoed weirdly in the hollow chamber.

“I’m glad there aren’t any lights on,” she continued, whispering.  “If someone were down here, they probably wouldn’t be in the dark.  We should have this place all to ourselves, for now.”

The descent seemed interminably long, though it was less than a minute before Nancy reached the bottom.  Ashley was right behind her.  The girls gave each other a look, then boldly swung their lights ahead—

“Oh, my goodness!” Nancy explained.  Hastily, she pulled out her walkie-talkie.  “Frank, this is it!” she radioed.

“You found the subway?” he asked back.

“Did we ever?” Ashley shouted, before her friend shushed her.

“There’s like six subway trains parked down here!” Nancy whispered excitedly.  “You’d love it.  They look kind of like those ones in Boston—two cars, sort of, with a rubbery connector in between.  Big wheels, headlights towards the bottom on front, and antennae connected to cables on the ceiling.  Only, all of them look a little different from each other—different models, I guess.”

“Can’t wait to see them!” said Frank.  “What colors are they?”

“Different ones!” said Nancy.  “Three of them are mostly white, with a blue stripe going under the windows.  They say Boeing in the middle of the stripe—must be a test scheme.  A couple others have the Boston scheme—completely green under the windows, only with that circle around the T on the white background.  The final one looks like it those San Francisco subway cars—mostly white, but with that red stripe underneath the windows.  They look in nice shape, too.  Someone’s kept them up.”

“Great!” said Frank.  “Any sign of Brittany or Stephanie?”

“Not yet,” whispered Nancy, “but there’s more.  The subways are all parked on the second and fourth tracks of the five that lead across.  The middle one has a large, hydraulic metal system in the middle of it, connected to a large rectangle on the ceiling with a hinge.  Looks more than big enough for a truck to go down a ramp, when it’s lowered.”

“That’s how they deliver the cars, then,” Frank said.  “Seen any of those yet?”

“Seen any?” said Ashley.  “This place is packed with them!”

“They’re all over the tracks on the loop that leads around, and some others are on the cement platforms in between,” said Nancy.  “Several of the ones on this side have been worked on.  There are a lot of car parts stacked against the wall, and there’s a BMW in front of me that’s missing its upholstery.”

“The back of it’s a Mercedes,” noted Ashley.

“Not really,” said Frank.  “It’s one—or the other—in real life.  Well, sounds like you girls found the place alright.  I’m going to have Zach take me and Auburn to Miller Station.”

“Alright,” said Nancy.  “If you can’t find an entrance…”  She quickly explained how she and Ashley had gone in.  “See you later!”

“Bye.”

The girls clicked off their walkie-talkies temporarily, then shone their flashlights around.  “Let’s walk around this room,” said Nancy.  “Just make sure that the girls aren’t hidden in here!”

They searched the room from top to bottom—a complicated process that took a good twenty minutes.  At the end of that time, though, they had to conclude that Brittany and Stephanie were nowhere to be found.  There wasn’t even a trace of the girls.

“They must be somewhere else,” Nancy said, consulting the map.  “There are the tunnels to the main tracks.  See?  They form a Y, so engines can get in and out from either direction.”

“It’s kind of fun walking through a subway tunnel when it’s not in use,” Ashley said.  “You don’t have to worry about a train coming, you don’t have to worry about not being supposed to be there—although, we should be careful about the third rail.  It’d be terrible if we got electrocuted.”

“That won’t happen,” Nancy pointed out.  “This line runs on overhead power.  That’s why the cars have antennae.”

“Oh,” Ashley smiled wryly.  “I guess you’d know more about that, having lived in Chicago for so long—”

“Those weren’t overheads, though,” Nancy pointed out.  “Chicago has an elevated railway, and I think the power there came through the third rail.  However, we’ve been to Boston a few times, so we’ve seen the MBTA ones in use.  You’ll notice there are only two rails here.”

“Isn’t it funny?” Ashley said, as they reached the main part of the tunnel and turned south.  “To imagine all the trains that must have come through?  I’ve been in the DC Metro before, but that’s about it, and I’ve always been inside.  Out here, you probably start to see a light—oh, and then the rails probably sing a bit, as the vibrations get closer.  I can almost imagine it.”

“So can I,” said Nancy.  “It does seem to be getting brighter up ahead.  I can almost start to make out my shadow—”

Suddenly, cold chills came over the Anderson girl.  She stopped dead in her tracks, and cast a glance over her shoulder.  What she saw nearly froze the blood in her veins.

“A-a-ashley!” she said.  “Don’t panic, don’t get scared, but THERE’S A SUBWAY TRAIN COMING STRAIGHT AT US!!!!!”