One hour after the plans were laid out, a thought crossed Ryder’s mind in regard to how Mayor Goodway would be extracted.
“Even if we cut the last car free from the train, how will the last stage of the rescue be carried out? The altitude in that area is twelve miles above ground, and the cliffs are treacherous. One wrong move could result in falling to your death.”, he told Octavio.
“You’ve got a point there, Ryder. If we had helicopters to lift the car off the tracks, we could fly to safety.”, Octavio replied.
“Don’t sweat it, Octavio. We’ve got plenty of helicopters. There are two on our ship, along with Mickey and Minnie having one on their ship, and Skye has hers. Last but certainly not least, some of us can use our own wings.”, said Flurry Heart.
“Are you sure we’ll need all of that power?”, asked Octavio.
Knowing Flurry was right, Ryder assured Octavio that her plan was a good one.
“It’s always a good idea to have more power than you need instead of not having enough.”, he said.
“I never thought of that. I learned something new, which is good.”, said Octavio.
After determining that the planes for the paratroopers would be black to hide better in the night sky, it was time to get ready.
All of the rescuers started putting on their black suits at once. After he had gotten his boots on, Taylor started prepping his splattershot, as well as a bow and some ink arrows. When Ryder saw the bow, he was puzzled.
“Wouldn’t a bow and arrows be loud?”, he asked Taylor.
“That’s true for a regular bow.”, said Taylor.
“However, Taylor’s bow is made with specialized materials, therefore allowing it to shoot whisper-quiet.”, added Callie.
Taylor brought Ryder to a quiet area of where they were and set up a target. Before getting ready to shoot, Taylor instructed Ryder to put a hand up to his ear. After nocking an arrow, he pulled back and then let go. Ryder only heard the arrow hit the target, which surprised him.
“Your mom wasn’t kidding when she said your bow shoots whisper-quiet. I’m impressed.”, said Ryder after Taylor retrieved the arrow.
Returning to the base camp, Ryder met the two octolings that Octavio had assigned to rescue Mayor Goodway. One of them was his granddaughter, Jenny, and the other’s name was Rosa. Both of them would be wearing night-vision goggles to see in the dark once they were on the train. Normal flashlights would be seen on the security feed and give them away.
“I assume you have a plan to cut the car free in a quiet manner. After all, this mission involves stealth.”, Ryder inquired.
“You would be right. We can’t use a plasma cutter or an acetylene torch. They make a loud hiss as they cut through metal. Also, we don’t have enough space in our backpacks to carry a water-jet cutter. An apparatus of that size is HUGE and is designed to stand on the floor in a metalworking shop.”, said Jenny.
“That’s why we have this device.”, said Rosa as she pulled out a laser cutter.
“This laser only makes a quiet buzzing noise when cutting metal.”, explained Jenny as Rosa demonstrated with a metal plate.
Skye looked at a forecast for the mountain area of the train tracks and saw that it would be very windy, which would dampen the sound from the laser. Checking her watch, she also saw that it was time to mobilize.
“Here we go. It’s now or never.”, she said.
Right away, Skye started up her helicopter’s engine as Jenny and Rosa put on their helmets. As they waited for the helicopter’s engine to warm up, they checked their gear to make sure it was properly calibrated until they were certain that all was in check. After grabbing their zip-line equipment and rescue tools, they joined Octavio and Everest, boarded Skye’s helicopter, and shut the door.
“Skye, this is Octavio. We’re ready.”, he said over his radio.
Skye quickly acknowledged Octavio’s confirmation and started getting her rotor up to speed for takeoff. At the same time, all of the other helpers took off and flew to a hidden area in the mountains. Skye took off a minute later and flew to a ledge in an area to the right of the tracks and above the tracks at the same time.
This ledge was way too small for Skye to land on and she was starting to reach critical on her altimeter. So she flew to a lower ledge below the tracks. After Skye had said her chopper was stable; Everest, Jenny, and Rosa all rappelled from the chopper until they touched down. Before unclipping, they drove an anchor into the rock and then tethered themselves to it. After flashing a light to give Skye the all-clear, they unclipped from the helicopter line and started climbing up the rockface until they were on the ledge overlooking the tracks. They were not at an altitude where they needed oxygen tanks, which was good. After Everest had radioed Skye that they were ready, Skye flew to meet up with the other pilots.
After Skye had landed with the other helicopters, Octavio set up a radio with which to tune into the train’s radio so he could listen in and figure out who was driving. He was also wearing a headset to keep Ryder informed on their progress. Currently, the train was not moving yet, so he couldn’t tap into the radio yet.
Jenny looked out over the tracks through her binoculars to find a spot where Rosa could shoot the zip-line at an angle where it would run parallel to the train. This angle would allow them to board without landing sideways and possibly falling off. She spotted a fairly small crack in the rockface and then Rosa loaded a rocket with a spike on the tip into a launcher. This rocket had their zip-line cable attached to the side, which meant this zip-line could be deployed anytime and anywhere. Once Rosa had loaded the rocket, she put the scope over her eye and switched on the laser sight. After aligning the crosshairs with the narrowest part of the crack that Jenny had found, Rosa pulled the trigger.
With a pop and a loud WHOOSH, the rocket fired off and flew straight at the crack until the spike was driven deep in. The other end of the cable was coiled around a ratcheted winch. Jenny cranked back on the winch to tighten the cable and to check whether or not the spike was secure. When the cable didn’t snap back, which would indicate a failed attachment, she and Rosa knew the cable was locked in tight.
“BULLSEYE! Good shot, Rosa.”, she yelled.
“Thank you very much.”, Rosa replied as she put away the launcher.
“Grandpa, this is Jenny. Deployment of zip-line is successful.”, said Jenny.
Octavio relayed the news to the others at the base camp and they started cheering while the others clapped from their helicopters. As soon as the train got rolling, it would only be a matter of time until Mayor Goodway could be rescued.