by Terry Mixon
“Look at the floor,” he said. “Maybe there’s a hidden elevator.”
Only there wasn’t. The floor was one solid piece of rock, polished smooth and flat. The ceiling was also uncooperative, another slab without lines.
That left the walls. There were three large arches with cavities behind them, but they dead-ended. No exits there.
They looked at one another, confused.
One of the men scratched his head. “Boss, not to tell your friend his business, but he should’ve left a way out when he built these things.”
“Look inside each of them,” Nathan said. “Let’s be sure no one is hiding behind us.”
The craft were all empty. A third of them looked like fighters. The rest were jazzed up troop transports. The controls came online with a swipe of the consoles, but they made no sense. Perhaps once his mother arrived, she could shed some light on what they said.
“Gather round,” Nathan said. “We’ll head up a level and see what we find there. I know this seems confusing, but rest assured, you’ll hear the real story soon. Just not right now.”
The next level up was more interesting. It looked like a mustering point where troops gathered. There were lockers filled with equipment and an armored door with a keypad. No place for his little chip.
He stepped back. “Time for the explosives, boys. Let’s open this up without wrecking whatever is inside.”
It took three tries to crack the egg. They used wrecking bars to tear the thing open.
The room inside was an armory. One filled with alien weapons and armor.
“Jackpot!” he exulted. “This is something we can use!”
He looked at his watch. The other men should be upstairs by now. He’d bring them down and call his mother before continuing. She’d land before long.
“We’ll explore further as soon as we go get the rest of the boys. Come on.”
He led them all back up the elevator. Sure as anything, one of them would pocket something valuable if he took his eyes off them. In fact, he’d arrange a strip search when they got back into Paris.
There was no one waiting when he got back to the road. He pulled out his phone and called the man he’d sent back.
“Yes?”
“The boys aren’t here. You sent them, right?”
“Oh, yes. I sent them. To see their infidel god.”
It clicked that he wasn’t speaking to his man. Obviously.
“Who is this?”
“What? You break into my apartment, blow it up, kill my friends, and you don’t remember me? Allahu Akbar, my friend.”
Shit! The bastard had somehow escaped and killed his men. What was he? The Muslim James Bond?
“Well, well,” Nathan said. “You’re a lot more resourceful than I gave you credit for. That’s fine. I did what I needed to do. I’m sure you’ll be looking for revenge. Get in line. I don’t have time to waste looking over my shoulder for you.”
The other man laughed. “You mistake me. I, too, have better things to do. Such as going through all the papers and computers you thoughtfully left behind.”
Great. He couldn’t remember what was on the computers. Nothing they could crack easily. He’d encrypted the critical data.
“Well, as entertaining as this is, I’ll have to let you go,” the terrorist said. “I’m picking someone up. We’ll meet again soon. Very soon. Until then, sleep well, my friend.”
The line went dead.
He frowned. Picking someone up?
His body flashed cold, as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. He’d probably questioned the man he’d taken the phone from. He knew Nathan’s mother was coming to Paris.
* * * * *
“What are our options?” Clayton asked Penny. “Is there another way down that we could use to evade them?”
“Not really,” she said with a shake of her head. “They’ve marooned us up here pretty effectively. But that doesn’t mean we have no options. There’s a cave. It looks to go in quite a ways. It’s not very obvious, so they might miss it.”
She gave him a meaningful look. There was more to the story than she was saying.
“Give me a moment, Mick. And I won’t forget your support.
The man nodded and headed off to talk with his friends.
“What do you really have?” he asked.
“A cave in. It’s under an outcropping and out of sight. I took a quick look inside and it’s an artificial corridor. Based on the amount of water damage, it’s been open for quite a while. If there is a base down there, we can probably get nice and lost.”
“And they’ll eventually find their way in. Then the US government will know what’s really going on. Hell. Everyone might know.”
She shrugged. “So what? You pretty much have a lock on the good stuff. It’s in space. Tell everyone and let the chips fall where they may.”
“That might be an option if they weren’t jamming us,” he grumbled. “Still, my choices do seem rather limited. It won’t take them more than an hour to get someone up here. Probably less. Then this game is over and they cart me off to charge me with treason or whatever. I wonder how the weather is in Cuba this time of year.”
He sighed and stared at the clear sky for a moment. “If we take Mick and his men down there, they’ll talk.”
“Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone,” she said. “Come on.”
They walked back over to Mick. Penny gestured for the young man to follow her. “Come look at this and see if you think we can climb down this way. I initially dismissed it, but maybe I was wrong.”
She led the two of them to a cliff wall on the other side of the ridge. It dropped straight away to a pile of rocks about fifty meters below.
Mick leaned over and looked down. “Sure. Me and the boys do our share of rock climbing. It’s not the safest rappel I’ve ever done, but we can do it. You ever went down a rope, Mister Rogers?”
“No, and I don’t intend to start now. Here’s what I want to do. Lead your men down the rope and take our pursuers on a merry chase. Penny and I will hide up here in the place she found. Make it obvious how you got down and that should keep everything scrambled.”
The young man pulled off his pack and dug out a rope. He tied it off around a handy rock outcropping. Based on how sturdy the last one had been, it was probably safe enough. He used some spare clothes to keep the rope away from the sharp rocks on the edge when he dropped the loose end down.
He brought out a small bag of sturdy metal rings and a second rope that he began cutting into lengths of a few meters each. While he did so, he gave the men instructions on how he wanted them to lead the troops away.
His men got the idea quickly. They all seemed familiar with the process and tied ropes around their waists and legs. The rings both secured everything together and attached them to the main line.
Carefully, one at a time, they dropped down and slid off the end of the rope. In less than fifteen minutes, Clayton was alone with Penny and Mick.
He held out his hand to the young man. “I appreciate everything. I’ll make that clear in time, I promise.”
Mick shook his hand with a grin. “I’d hold off on that for a bit. You see, I’m staying here with you.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Clayton asked. “How loyal are you prepared to be? If you stay, I’m going to have to let you in on a secret that might be more than you care to know. And I’m going to have to insist that you keep it to yourself.”
“Now you’re going all mysterious. Sign me up. I can keep my trap shut. Just ask anyone. Besides, you have to trust me now or throw me off the cliff.”
“That’s a good point,” Clayton admitted. “Come along, then. We need to get under cover before the young officer and his men get up here. Drop one of those metal rings here, just in case they don’t get the idea.”
Penny led them off to another part of the ridge and down past a large outcropping. The far side had subsided a little, and a da
rk opening was just visible. It wasn’t large at all.
“You went in there?” Clayton asked Penny. “You’re quite brave. I’d have been afraid that an animal was denning inside.”
She slid down into the depression. “I think any number of them have over the years. Come on.”
Clayton followed her through the hole. He had to shove his pack through first, but he managed to avoid getting stuck.
Mick brought up the rear. He used a leafy branch to rub away the signs of their passage before he turned to look at them.
The only light came from the hole, so it was pretty dim, but the regular lines of the corridor left no doubt they were inside an artificial construction. A scattering of animal bones and other detritus verified Penny’s guess that many creatures had denned up in here over the years. The stench was astonishing.
Mick looked around and turned on his light. “This isn’t natural.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Penny said with a smile to take any sting out of her words. “This is what we were really here looking for.”
The young man looked around for a moment and then shook his head. “I know there has to be a story behind this, but we really don’t have time for me to hear it. Your secret is safe, though. In for a Penny, or so they say.”
Something in his voice made Clayton’s eyes narrow. Ah, so that was how things rolled. Mick had a crush on Penny. And, from the looks of things, she wasn’t objecting to the concept. He hoped things flourished there.
“Well,” he said after a moment. “We need to find our way down into the base without leaving a trail they can follow. Just in case they find the opening.”
“I have an idea,” Mick said. “Hang on.”
He crawled back out through the hole and pulled some loose brush into the opening. “There. Now it looks like a plant instead of an inviting cave. With any luck, they’ll go haring off after the boys and we’ll be safe.”
“But we can’t count on that,” Penny said. “We need to get some space.”
Clayton dug into his pack and pulled out his flashlight. After hearing about Jess’ exploits in the Mayan pyramid, he’d made certain his assistant had stocked it with things that might prove useful in an emergency.
The man had seemed to think it was a waste of time with all the prepared men along for the ride, but he’d done a thorough job of it. Someone else was getting a nice Christmas surprise in the stocking this year.
His light was bright and steady. “Since we know nothing of this place, let’s go this way.”
He led them deeper into the abandoned facility. He hoped whatever the important information his assistant had found could wait, because he wasn’t going to be giving any input for a long while.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was almost one in the morning when Kathleen’s plane landed and taxied up to the hangar. Three men stood waiting for her as the steward lowered the ladder.
One of them was putting away his phone as she came down. He stepped forward and spoke in French. “Mrs. Bennett?”
“Yes,” she said. “I only have a few bags inside. Be careful of the laptop. If it gets broken, I’ll take it out of your hide.”
He bowed. “Of course. My men will take care of everything. This way, please.”
Her phone rang as she walked with him toward the hangar. Her son. Couldn’t the idiot even wait for her to get off the plane before calling?
“Nathan, I’m a little—”
“Don’t land. Stay on the plane. Go anywhere else.”
She frowned. “What are you babbling about? I’m already on the ground. Your man is taking me to the car now.”
“He’s not my man. He’s a nutjob terrorist.”
The man pulled a pistol from behind his back and aimed it at her midsection.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to let you go.” She disconnected the call and stopped walking. “Whatever you want, I can pay it.”
“I’m sure you can,” the man said with a smile as he took her phone and removed the battery. “Your son is wrong about one thing, though. I’m not a ‘nutjob terrorist’ at all. I’m a warrior of God. One he and you have engaged in battle. I am uncertain why, but I look forward to finding out.”
Several shots came from the plane behind them. That didn’t speak well for the health of the flight crew.
“I didn’t send my son after you,” she assured the man. “He made that choice on his own.”
“So do we all,” the man said agreeably. “Perhaps I will release you after you answer a few questions. Walk. Someone will come looking for the customs man soon enough. I prefer to be elsewhere by then.”
He forced her into the middle seat of the small van. His companions sat on either side of her as soon as they threw her luggage into the back.
The man took them out of the airport and onto the streets nearest it. “My associates and I have a place close by. The trip is short.”
Her mind raced as she tried to figure a way out of this. She certainly wasn’t going to overpower them. It had to be through skills she actually had.
“I won’t give you a thing unless I have a way out. If we can come to an arrangement, I’ll see that a large sum of money is put into escrow, only to be released once I’m free.”
He smiled at her in the mirror. “Money isn’t everything, though it is a useful tool. Tell me, Mrs. Bennett, how much is your little toe worth to you?”
“What?”
“How much would you pay to prevent me from cutting it off with garden shears? What would you pay to stop me from pulling one of your teeth out with pliers? The number of parts you would likely wish protected is legion.
“Cast aside the belief that you have any control over what happens from now on. You will do exactly as I tell you or you will suffer great pain. Allah does not care what we do to the infidel.
“What is the saying in your country? God helps those who help themselves. What happens next is in your hands.”
* * * * *
Jess watched Harry and his people come through the portal on Mars. He shook his head once he had it free from his suit. “You shouldn’t have taken your helmet off.”
“I didn’t know that when we arrived. Too late, now.”
He sighed. “Just my luck. Did you turn the ship around?”
She grinned at him. “Nope. We found the same neat quantum tunnel you did. Nice name, by the way. I like it.
“We had an area where there had been some fighting. We found a controller and this was the first code up. I guess someone from Freedom Express came here after the fight.”
“And hopefully went on somewhere else,” Harry said as he sat down on the tine of a forklift. “This base is huge. It’ll take us weeks just to look into every room. And that doesn’t even begin to count the place we just visited.”
She sat down beside him. “No one here knew exactly what that was. Where have you been?”
“I think it was a big city in space. It’s orbiting a dark world and it dwarfs this base. The central hub is over a kilometer across and it must be ten times that long. It also has some pods that come off it like branches on a tree. Those alone have to be almost the size of this base. I’m wondering if that’s where Freedom Express is going.”
Jess tried to work her mind around the size of it and failed. “Wow. That’s like New York in space. And it was dead? Fighting?” She cringed at the amount of death that entailed.
“More like abandoned. The atmosphere was breathable, but cold. Really, really cold. Think of the worst the Arctic can throw at you.
“We also visited a world with two suns. Definitely not in this system. So, I was the first man on Mars and the first to leave the solar system. Will they make a statue of me?”
She laughed. “I’ll see that we commission one. Emily Adams is an amazing artist. I’ll have her draw something suitably heroic.
“We’re not close enough to see whatever Freedom Express is heading toward, so it might be that city. There are a lot of objects in
the trans-Neptunian area. They suspect there might even be one or two the size of Earth. Or bigger. We’ll know in a bit more than an hour.”
Sandra made her way over to them. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve gotten word there’s trouble back on Earth. Harry, your father is up a tree in New Zealand.”
Harry frowned. “What?”
“He’s on the run. The message just came in. The US military cornered him in the wilds of New Zealand and are working to catch him. Some of the men with him got away and finally called it in to the station on a sat phone.”
He shook his head. “Well, isn’t that just dandy? We haven’t found a code that leads us back to Earth, and I’m leery of just trying everything in memory. We’ve been damned lucky up to this point. All it takes is one wrong number and we’re toast. Hell, the entire planet might pay for that mistake.”
Jess narrowed her eyes at him. “So. We’re just leaving him?”
“Don’t think this makes me happy, but yes. Either he’ll get himself out of this mess or we’ll rescue him when the time comes. Fretting about it now isn’t going to do anyone any good. Your ship is about to make a rendezvous. We need to focus on that.”
She sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t have to like it, though. What’s the plan for Freedom Express?”
He stood. “We’ll come back with you and see what happens. If it’s bad, everyone can retreat through the quantum tunnel to Mars. If not, we’ll make a different call. I want a full report on everything you’ve found.”
She nodded. “Will do. I can tell you that Emily Adams has been a hero. She’s working tirelessly with Doctors Powell and Young. They’ve cracked the language barrier. Mostly.”
He grinned. “That’s wonderful!”
“Yes, it is. It’s still very rough, but it will get better going forward. Come on, let’s get everyone together and get back to Freedom Express. I want to be out on the surface when we get there.”
* * * * *
Queen ended the call and stopped Agent Cabot from going back into the room. She’d found some water and was standing there waiting for him.