Carlton sat perched on a stool within arms-reach of the whiskey, a look of displeasure pasted across his face. The room’s other occupant was a younger man sitting at a round table. He was in his late forties with a shadow of graying stubble darkening his chin. He wore a yellow florescent jacket and tan hiking boots. A hard hat with a light attached sat on the table in front of him.
“This is the guy that reported the deaths in the mine?” Charlie asked, glancing toward Robyn.
“Yes.” Robyn nodded. “He’s one of three geologists that went up there. We hired them to inspect the stability of the mine entrance and passageways so that we can run walking tours in the mine.”
“And that’s what they were doing when the incident occurred?”
“Yes. They went into the mine together, but he’s the only one that came out. I tried talking to him but didn’t get far.” Robyn glanced toward the geologist. “Most of what he’s said so far sounds like gibberish to me. He keeps talking about monsters with glowing red eyes.”
“I told you nothing good would come of opening that mine,” Carlton said. “Now look at the mess we’re in.”
“Don’t you have something better to do?” Robyn asked, glaring at the old man.
“Not really.” Carlton reached for the whiskey and poured some into the shot glass. He pounded it back and smacked his lips. “I’m comfortable right here.”
“If you must stay, keep your opinions to yourself.”
“Hey,” Charlie said, stepping into Robyn’s line of sight. “Deep breath. He’s just trying to rile you up.”
“He’s doing a good job of it, too.”
“We won’t achieve anything with the pair of you snapping at each other.” Charlie motioned to Glenn. “Why don’t you take Miss Miller out into the lobby and take her statement.”
Glenn nodded. He placed a gentle hand on Robyn’s elbow and steered her out of the room.
Charlie watched them go and then turned his attention back to the man at the table who hadn’t yet spoken a word. He approached and pulled a chair out.
“Mind if I sit down?” Charlie asked.
“Free country,” the man replied. He looked up, then quickly dropped his gaze again.
“Thanks.” Charlie took a seat and observed the man for a few moments, noting the distant look in his eyes, as if he were barely aware of his surroundings, and the way he rubbed his hands back and forth on his thighs. “What’s your name?”
“William Fenton. Bill.”
“Hello Bill,” Charlie said. “I’m Officer Walters. Going to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?”
Fenton nodded.
“Good.” Charlie leaned forward with his elbows on the table. “First things first, we need to find out what happened to your friends. Get them out of that mine.”
“You can’t go in there.” When Fenton looked up, his face was a mask of terror. “It’s not safe. Besides, you won’t find them alive.”
“That’s something we’ll have to confirm for ourselves.” The geologist’s answers and demeanor confirmed what Charlie already suspected. The man was suffering from psychological shock. “How far in were you when the accident happened?”
“It wasn’t an accident. Something attacked us.”
“That’s not possible.” Charlie shook his head. “The mine’s been closed for years.”
“I’m telling you, there’s something in there. It had the devil’s eyes, and it tore my friends apart like they were confetti.” Fenton looked at the police officer with wild eyes. His bottom lip trembled.
“Okay. Calm down.” Charlie was aware of Carlton, still watching from the bar. He wished the man would leave. “This is important, Bill. Where were you when this happened?”
“I don’t know. About half a mile in, maybe more.”
“How do I find that location?” Charlie knew that the gold and silver mines dotted throughout the surrounding hills were akin to underground mazes. He’d accompanied rescue teams a few times over the years, pulling out lost hikers. Sometimes alive, but more often, not. “Can you take us back there?”
“There’s no way I’m going back into that mine, and you can’t make me.”
“Then you’re going to have to tell me how to find your friends.”
“Just follow the adit until you come to a fork where the drifts go off in different directions. That’s where it happened.”
“Drifts?”
“The horizontal passages in the mine. The adit is the entrance, the rest of the tunnels are drifts. There are probably some vertical shafts in there too, but we never came across any. Didn’t go deep enough.”
“Ah. Got it,” Charlie said. He sensed movement to his rear and glanced around.
Glenn was standing in the doorway. “Paramedics are here. Search and rescue too. They’re antsy to get up there. You find out where we need to go?”
“I think so.” Charlie stood up. He tapped his fingers on the table and looked at Fenton. “I’m going to pull your friends out of that mine now. I want you to stay here, understand? I may have more questions when I return.”
“Sure.” Fenton met Charlie’s gaze. “If you make it out alive, that is.”
Chapter Seven
Hunt fell silent for the swift journey down into the bowels of CUSPS’s island facility. Decker stood anxiously next to him, unsure if he wanted to see where his employer kept those it deemed too dangerous to remain free in the world. It wasn’t exactly a prison. There were other facilities serving that purpose. The residents at this location were of a more unusual persuasion. It was here they transported Grendel after the confrontation in Ireland, spirited away along with his mother by an elite squad known as the Ghost Team. The Zoo, Decker surmised, was an apt name.
When the elevator arrived at level D1, the doors slid open. Hunt and Decker stepped out into a large room with a concrete floor and walls. The only furniture was a metal table and a chair, upon which sat a man wearing a uniform that Decker recognized from his encounters with the Ghost Team. On the wall facing the desk, a row of monitors flicked between different views of The Zoo. When the guard saw Adam Hunt, he swiftly stood and snapped to attention.
“Sir,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting any activity today.”
“As you were,” Hunt said. “This is an informal visit. I’m giving our latest recruit the grand tour.”
“Very good.” The guard retook his seat and watched as Hunt approached a second optical scanner, this one mounted next to a steel door directly opposite the elevator.
“We took a retina scan during your physical this morning,” Hunt said to Decker. “It will allow you to move through the restricted areas of the facility based upon your security clearance.”
“I wondered what they were doing,” Decker said, remembering the laborious eye test they had given him. He now realized that it was more than that. “How will I know which areas I can enter?”
“Every secured door is color-coded,” hunt said, pointing to an orange decal affixed to the wall next to the optical scanner. “There are five access levels with light blue being lowest security and red being the highest.”
“Where does this door fall on that scale?” Decker asked, nodding toward the orange decal.
“One below red. Security zone four. Your clearance allows you to access zones one through three, which are represented by light blue, dark blue, and yellow color codes. We’ve given you onetime temporary access to enter The Zoo. It’s good for one retina scan only, after which it will expire.” Hunt nodded toward the scanner. “We allow only one person at a time through. I’ll go first. Wait for the door to close behind me and then follow my example.”
“Understood.”
“If you have any issues, speak to the guard,” Hunt said. Then he leaned in and let the scanner do its work.
A brief alarm sounded, and the door opened. Hunt stepped through before it swung closed again.
Decker heard the clunk of hidden locks re-engaging.
He glanced
toward the guard, who was paying no attention, his unwavering gaze still fixed upon the monitors. Decker stepped up to the scanner and leaned close, looking directly at the optical reader. After a moment, a red light on the scanner turned green, and he heard the locks draw back again. Seconds later he was standing with Hunt on the other side of the door.
The corridor was featureless, with blank white walls, a white floor, and a ceiling that exuded light with no visible fixtures. It ran thirty feet to a second door identical to the one Decker had passed through moments ago. The only visible items were two small security cameras, one mounted above each door. Decker felt strangely claustrophobic and hurried after Hunt to the second door.
“This corridor acts as a safety valve between The Zoo and the outside world,” Hunt said. “The system only allows one door to open at a time. The guard in the antechamber we just left can also override the optical scanners and instigate a lockdown to prevent either door from opening if the situation warrants it.”
Decker didn’t ask exactly what circumstances it would require for a lockdown. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Instead, he remained silent while they repeated the process with the scanners, and then he stepped out of the corridor and into a place unlike any he had ever seen.
“Welcome to The Zoo,” Hunt said, clearly amused by the look of surprise on his companion’s face.
“This is nothing like I expected.” Decker had visited many prisons, and The Zoo resembled none of them. He stood on a high gantry that ran through the middle of a vast space that fell away beneath them. Other gantries ran off at right angles leading to metal doors set into the cavernous chamber’s exterior walls. On the levels below, he could see more doors. Like the corridor they had just left, the ceiling was one large, illuminated block with no visible fixtures. It flooded the chamber with clean white light.
Hunt gave Decker a few moments to take in the spectacle before he spoke. “Each level has room for one hundred and twenty containment pods, which we call suites. There are sixty bays on each side, accessed only by these suspended walkways.”
“Containment pods? Suites? Those sound like fancy words for a jail cell.”
“An accurate assessment. We try to avoid associating this facility with a regular prison. We use the containment pods to transport those we bring to The Zoo from the location of their capture. Once the pod arrives at this facility, we move it to an empty bay where it becomes part of the structure.”
“The transportation doubles as the inmate’s permanent cell.”
“Again, we don’t like to use terms like inmate or cell,” Hunt replied. “But yes, at least partly. The pod becomes part of a larger suite designed for the occupant’s specific needs.”
“Got it,” Decker said. “How many levels are there?”
“Five, all of them independently accessed via the elevator we just rode down here.”
“There’s no movement between levels from this chamber?” Decker asked.
“No.” Hunt shook his head. “Each level has its own access point and security. That way we can control entry to different parts of The Zoo. For example, your own temporary security clearance will only allow entry to this level. Travel down to D3 and you won’t get in. Likewise, we can set security clearances suite by suite. If you have business with a particular guest, as we call the occupants of The Zoo, you won’t be able to gain admittance to any of the other suites unless your basic clearance level allows it.” Hunt started along the gantry. “Follow me.”
“This place is incredible,” Decker said, glancing around as they traversed the high walkway. He looked over the railing to the levels below, noting how the bottom floor contained rows of tables and chairs much like the rec area in a conventional prison. The occupants of that level, it appeared, enjoyed greater freedom than those on the floors above.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Hunt replied. He turned left and led Decker along one of the branching gantries. They stopped in front of the metal door and once again repeated the ritual with the scanner in order to gain access.
The door opened.
Decker stepped over the threshold into a dimly lit room with an opaque wall made of a shiny material that resembled glass.
Hunt crossed to a narrow podium that held a touchscreen. He played with the controls for a moment and then, much to Decker’s surprise, the wall’s opacity faded and became transparent to reveal the room beyond.
Decker took a step forward, his eyes wide. A dim cavern sat behind the glass, with rugged stone walls and a gravel floor interspersed with small boulders. Beyond this, at the edge of darkness, Decker could see animal bones strewn in the dirt. He looked sideways at Hunt. “What are you keeping in here?”
“You’ll see.” There was a smile on Hunt’s face. As if reading Decker’s mind, Hunt motioned toward the bones. “Before you ask, we’re feeding it sides of beef and pork ribs. We are not sacrificing goats to it or anything.”
“Feeding what?” Decker moved closer to the glass and peered into the gloom. From the darkness, a pair of yellow eyes glowed. Then a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows and returned his stare.
Hunt joined Decker and stood, arms folded, mesmerized by the creature beyond the glass. “Not so scary now, is he?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Decker felt a shiver creep up his spine. He approached the glass and Grendel did the same. Their eyes locked briefly, and Decker suppressed a shudder of revulsion. “He’s just as frightening as I remember.”
Chapter Eight
They made their way up the canyon path toward the mine opening. Charlie went first, followed by two paramedics and the three-person search and rescue team. Glenn, Charlie’s rookie partner, was last.
When they arrived at the Ghost Canyon Mine, the search team commander, a man named Ryan Colbeck whom Charlie had worked with a few times before, took charge. He made sure everyone was wearing their protective headgear and handed each member of the group a flashlight. His colleague, a young woman named Sasha Martin, gave out two-way radios. Before entering, she warned the group to stick close to each other. It was easy to get disoriented underground, and she didn’t want to lose anyone. Then the group stepped out of the sunlight and into the mine’s cold, dark world.
They proceeded slowly, with the search and rescue team taking the lead. Glenn looked around anxiously, his flashlight beam bobbing off the walls and ceiling.
“First time in a mine?” Charlie asked, glancing sideways toward his partner.
“Yeah.” Glenn nodded. He looked uneasy. “How far in do we have to go, anyway?”
“About half a mile according to our witness back in town.” Charlie kept his own flashlight pointed straight ahead. He knew from experience the dangers that lurked in old mine tunnels. “You okay with that? You look a little green there.”
“It’s narrow in here, that’s all.”
“You can go back and wait for us at the entrance if you want,” Charlie said.
“Not a chance.”
“Just putting it out there.”
“Yeah, and how would that look if something happened to you down here, with me waiting back up top like a sissy. We’re partners. Where you go, I go.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
Charlie returned his attention to the mine tunnel. There was an obstruction up ahead. At first he wasn’t sure what it was but quickly realized it was old ore carts abandoned when the mine closed. He wondered just how much junk was actually down here, rotting away in the darkness. Judging by the amount of crap littering the ghost town they had just come from, probably quite a lot. It amazed him how people left so much stuff behind when they moved on, especially out in the desert where there were entire communities abandoned once the flow of precious metals that sustained them dried up. He guessed it was just too much trouble to move everything. When he was a kid, his parents had taken a drive out to Death Valley. They’d stopped at a settlement full of nothing but tumbleweeds and dust. At one time it had been a boomin
g frontier settlement that made its money pulling a mineral called rhyolite out of the surrounding hills. All that now remained were a few crumbling stone buildings that had long ago lost their roofs. But the thing he remembered most was the train station. It was the only structure that had survived intact. It sat empty and dark, the rail line that brought prospectors and bankers and women of ill repute to that desolate town long gone. It was hard to tell where the tracks had even been. It was a sad and lonely place. A moldering temple to the lust for money that drove men into a harsh and hostile wilderness. It was somewhere he would never forget.
“Watch your step,” Colbeck shouted back as they edged their way around the ore carts. “There are some sharp edges here. Don’t want anyone to cut themselves.”
The sudden voice snapped Charlie back to the present.
“You see anything yet?” He shouted forward to the front of the group.
“Not so far,” came the reply. This was a man Charlie hadn’t met before, but who Colbeck had introduced at the mine entrance as Enrique.
They carried on walking and met no more obstacles. After a while Glenn spoke again. “You believe what that guy back in town said?”
“About what?” Charlie asked.
“That something is down here, and it killed his colleagues.”
“Not really.” In Charlie’s experience, there wasn’t much that hung out in old mines. There might be rattlesnakes around the entrance, or even a bobcat or two looking for a cool place to lay awhile. But this far into the tunnel there should be nothing bigger than a bat, and maybe a few spiders.
“Then what do you think happened?”
Ghost Canyon (The John Decker Supernatural Thriller Series Book 7) Page 4