Darren didn’t speak right away. He waited until the driver of the car had disappeared into the mansion, as if he thought he might be overheard. “The way I see it these cameras are going to pick us up no matter where we try to enter.”
“Right. So, what do we do?”
“I noticed something about that driver after he parked the car.”
“What? He didn’t park between the lines?”
“No, wise guy. I noticed he didn’t have any keys, or a clicker in his hands.”
“So, I guess he didn’t lock the car.”
“Not only that, but I think he left the keys in the car. And why not? There’s a fence surrounding the property, a sturdy gate at the entrance, and multiple cameras situated about the building. Someone would have to be crazy to come in here and try to steal a vehicle.”
“Interesting, but what does that have to do with us?”
“We can’t just walk into the building. But if we drive up to it in one of their vehicles whoever is watching those cameras might just assume we belong here.”
“Okay, but the cameras might still pick us up going to the car.”
“Maybe, but the driver side faces us, and the car itself blocks out some of the light coming off the wall packs.”
“Alright, you’ve sold me. I just hope you’re right about the keys being in there.”
“Let’s go then,” Darren said. “Just keep low.”
The two of them shot across a short span of parking lot to the car. They squatted beside the driver’s side door.
“Let me see if you’re right about the keys,” Bass said. He stood up enough to peer through the window. After a moment he dropped back down into a squat. “No keys.”
“Oh.”
“Is that all you’ve got to say?”
Darren didn’t speak right away. “Let’s get in the car. I’m betting we’ll find the keys tucked away somewhere inside.”
Darren slipped into the car first and moved over into the passenger seat. Bass got behind the wheel and quickly closed the door.
Darren reached over and pulled down the sun visor on the driver’s side. Keys fell into Bass’s lap. “My dad was into construction work. Whenever he parked his truck that’s where he would put the keys.”
“Alright then,” Bass said, picking up the keys. “Let’s do this.”
Bass drove them up to the building, stopping next to the door where they had seen the other man enter. They exited the vehicle attempting to be as inconspicuous as possible, hoping not to draw any attention to themselves.
Bass got to the door first. He pulled on the door handle half expecting it to be locked. It wasn’t.
Just inside the door, they were faced with a flight of stairs to their left and another set of double doors straight ahead of them.
“Which way?” Bass asked.
“I don’t know,” Darren answered. “Uh, up, I guess.”
“Then up it is.”
They climbed the stairs slowly, tentatively, their eyes searching for any cameras that might be perched along the plain white walls surrounding them, or placed somewhere within the large pendulous chandelier that hung from the center of the ceiling. There were none that they could see.
At the top of the landing, they paused in front of the single door that opened to the second floor. They realized that the possibility of cameras being located down the hallway was quite high.
“Act like we belong here,” Darren said.
“Sure thing,” Bass said. “Whatever that means.” Bass pulled the door open and stepped into the corridor. Darren followed.
Bass immediately noticed the camera at the top of the door at the end of the hallway. He imagined that there was another camera at their end but didn’t want to call attention to himself by turning around to confirm it.
He noted four rooms on either side of the corridor. Tarter could be in any one of them. Assuming he had been taken up to the second floor, and that it really was Tarter that they had seen. Either way, they had to find out what was going on. The problem was that if they started opening door after door anyone watching the monitors might become suspicious and send someone up to investigate. But what choice did they have?
Bass stopped at the first door. He hesitated a moment to push away a thin nervousness that had begun to gnaw at him before reaching for the knob.
A door suddenly opened a few yards down from them.
Darren placed a hand on Bass’s shoulder. Bass drew his hand back from the knob and turned around to face Darren.
“Two people exiting the room ahead,” Darren whispered. “One man, one woman. It looks like the mayor and the Mira woman. They’re heading the other way. Like they’re in a hurry. Fortunately for us. Let’s give them a few seconds to disappear.”
“You think that’s the room?”
“I think it’s a good bet,” Darren answered. “Okay, they’ve left the hallway.”
The two strolled to the room that the man and woman had just left. Bass tried the door. It was locked.
Bass shrugged. “Now what?” he whispered. They both knew that they would have to break in and that would not look good on camera.
“We don’t have a choice,” Darren said, then moved behind Bass and between the nearest camera. “Break it.”
At six feet one and a solid two hundred twenty pounds Bass looked strong. But his looks were deceiving. He was very strong.
Bass backed up a few feet then slammed a shoulder into the wood door. There was an audible ‘snap’ as the wood frame supporting the lock broke free. The door swung inward.
Bass rushed inside and quickly slipped out his gun. Darren came behind him, then to his side, brandishing his gun as well.
For a few timeless seconds, they stood there looking about the small room.
It was an office. On the wall to their left was a small bookshelf. Straight ahead was a large desk with a computer at its center. And directly in front of the desk a man sat tied to a hardback chair.
After another glance about the room to confirm that it was otherwise empty Bass and Darren put their guns away.
“What are you two waiting on?” James Tarter said. “Cut me out of here before they get back.”
Darren stepped over to Tarter, pulled his knife from his pocket and began cutting away at the ropes.
Bass turned to face the door. He slid out his gun once more. He half expected an army of men to burst through the door any minute. Getting to Tarter seemed too easy.
Once free from the ropes James Tarter stood up and rubbed at his reddened wrists. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Next time I see this place I want it to be behind about fifty agents.”
“What exactly is going on around here?” Darren asked. “Mayors don’t normally kidnap FBI agents.”
Tarter grinned. “Eh … this sounds kind of crazy, but the mayor insists that he and many others in this town are aliens.”
“Aliens?” Bass asked. “You mean like illegal ...”
“No,” James cut in. “Aliens. Like from another world.”
“What?!” Darren said. “That’s crazy. You don’t believe him, do you?”
“I don’t know,” James said. “But something big is going on around here.”
“Whatever,” Bass said. “Right now, let’s get out of here. We can figure this out later.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” James said. “Let’s go.” He started toward the door. He suddenly stopped and turned around. “How the hell did you guys get in here?”
“We just walked in,” Darren said.
“Well … then let’s just walk out,” James said.
“Sure,” Bass said, “but once we're out I say we run.”
The others laughed.
They strode out of the room and headed down the hallway the way they had come. Bass held the door open for the other two agents to go ahead of him. Just as they passed through he started after them but had to stop suddenly to keep from running into the back of them.
“Hey, what …”
“Shush,” Darren whispered.
“Who the hell left that car parked that way?” It was a man’s voice coming from the floor below them.
“Who knows. Probably that jerk Otto.” It was the gravelly voice of another man.
James eased silently to the edge of the stairs. He was just in time to see the two men push through the outside door.
“Uh oh,” Darren whispered. “Looks like they’re not too fond of our parking.”
“You two did that?” James asked.
“It was the best way in. Now, I guess we need to find another way out.”
James sighed. “Okay, let’s go.” He pushed back through the door and started down the hallway.
“I just hope no one’s watching the camera’s real close,” Darren said walking a bit behind James. “I imagine we look a little suspicious.”
“It seemed to take forever before they finally made it to the other end of the corridor. James pushed warily on the door hoping no one was waiting there on the landing. Fortunately, the landing was vacant.
Almost at once they each breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Then the relief instantly faded as male voices wafted up to them from the bottom of the stairwell gradually growing louder as the voices rose up the stairs.
“Now what?” Bass whispered.
“Just be cool,” James said. “Hopefully we can walk right by them and out the door.”
Darren stepped ahead of James. “Might be best if you stay between us,” he said to James. “You might be recognized.”
“Right,” James answered.
Bass walked slightly to the side and just behind James as they headed down the stairs.
They were halfway down the steps when they began to pass two men. One of them was a very large man that James instantly recognized as the one who had posed as the motel clerk, then subsequently slammed a ham bone fist into his face.
“How are you guys doing, Bass said as they passed.
“Good,” one man answered. Then he stopped. “Hey, wait a minute.”
Bass and the others stopped. James looked down slightly, hoping that he wouldn’t be recognized.
“Why were you three upstairs? And … who are you?”
“Well,” Darren began, “we were, uh ...” he found himself unable to come up with an explanation.
“I know you,” the big man suddenly said pointing to James. “You’re the FBI fellow!”
James took a quick step and drove his fist into the man’s stomach as hard as he could. The burly man doubled over. “That’s for the sucker punch to my face,” James said.
The smaller man swung at James. Bass caught his fist in mid-swing then hit the man in the jaw with his other hand. The man slammed back against the stairwell wall then slumped forward into a sea of blackness.
James brought a knee up to the big man’s face. The man fell sideways and tumbled down the stairs. “That’s for the sucker punch,” James called after him.
Darren followed the limp man’s body down to the bottom of the stairs to see if he would get back up. He didn’t.
Bass picked up the smaller man and hoisted him onto his shoulder.
“Let’s see if we have a spot under the stairs for them,” James said. “I think we got a good chance of getting out of here before they wake up.”
Bass and James started down the stairs. Darren looked up as they approached. “How come you get to carry the smaller guy and I get Andre the giant?”
Bass laughed. “I’ll get him once I drop this guy off.” He continued down the steps and under the stairwell. He set the man down on the concrete floor and walked over to the big man.
There were two doors at the bottom of the stairs. The one to their left apparently led outside, the other door, to their right, deeper into the building.
“There’s an alarm on the outside door,” James noted, standing next to the door. “Probably not a good idea to go that way. We’ll save that for option B.”
Darren slipped the door open a crack and peeked through the opening. “It’s a corridor. No one is around. A couple of doors on the right and left. Double doors at the end. Camera above the door, the same as the upstairs.”
“If we keep down the hallway we’re going to end up at the same place we were trying to avoid,” James said.
“Maybe we can disarm the alarm on the back door,” Darren offered.
James turned to look at the alarm. “I don’t know. I guess we can take a look at it.”
“You know,” Bass began, “there’s a front door to this place. One of these doors ought to lead us to it.”
James nodded. “That sounds better. We’ll try the front door first. Neither of us have enough experience disarming an alarm.”
Darren pushed the door open and they began heading down the corridor.
They had only gone a few steps when the door to the left suddenly opened, and a tall gray-haired man took a couple steps into the hallway. He eyed the three men as they approached then took a tentative step backward. Darren looked questioningly at James for a split second then bolted for the door without waiting for a response.
The man scrambled back inside the room and tried to slam the door behind him. But he was too slow. Darren hit the door hard knocking the man backward. The man flailed his arms for one quick moment trying to grasp something. But there was nothing there, and he toppled over onto his back.
Darren’s momentum sent him after the man, into the center of the room.
Another man, younger, shorter, and heavyset, sitting off to the side, was surprised by the commotion and almost fell out of his swivel chair. He pushed himself to his feet and scrabbled for his gun hidden underneath his suit jacket.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Bass said, standing near the door with his gun drawn.
The big man in the suit suddenly froze, then slowly let his hand drop to his side.
James, who was a little to Bass’s right side, shut the door.
Darren stepped over to where the other two agents stood.
The man Darren had knocked across the room slowly rose to his feet, plainly shaken and thoroughly confused. “Who are you people? I’ve never seen any of you. What do you want?”
“Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Darren said displaying his badge.
James noted the many monitors mounted about the small rectangular room. Three of them were turned off. “So, this is where the spying is done,” he said.
Neither man answered.
“I see three of your monitors are turned off,” Bass said, motioning to the monitors.
“Two of the monitors are for the upstairs,” the heavyset man said.
“Then I guess the upstairs cameras are off,” Darren asked. “Why is that?”
“Orders of the mayor,” the fat man said. “That’s all I know.”
“I guess he didn’t want everyone to know what he was up to,” James said.
Bass laughed. “Man, we did all that sneaking around for nothing.”
“I guess,” James replied, half hearing what was said, his attention spilling over to the monitors on the wall. “How about explaining what we’re seeing here,” James said.
Just then one of the dead monitors suddenly came to life. It showed three people, two men and a woman. James recognized the woman from her file. It was Special Agent Candace Caine.
“What just happened here?” James asked. “What are we looking at?” He looked at the big man in the suit. The man stared at him with frightened eyes but didn’t answer.
“You might as well answer,” James said. “We’re going to find out anyway. And it could be a lot less painful for you.”
On the monitor, Candace and the two men slipped through a door disappearing from the eyes of the camera.
“I need answers,” James said with more force in his voice.
Other figures quickly replaced Candace and the two men. It was the mayor, Mira, and two other men.
“What is going on?” James asked. “W
hy is the mayor following them?”
“I … I don’t know,” the fat man said.
Bass ambled over to the man. He pressed his pistol to the man’s head. “Answer the man’s question before I run out of patience.”
The man began to shake. When he first tried to speak the words wouldn’t come off his tongue. When at last they did the words came out stuttered and jumbled.
“The camera is triggered when anyone gets too close to the door,” the gray-haired man cut in.
“What door are we talking about?” James asked.
“Hey, Granger,” A voice called from somewhere on the console behind the gray-haired man.
“That’s me,” the man said. “It’s the mayor calling.”
James looked over at the monitor where the mayor was. The mayor was looking up at the camera, a walkie-talkie in his hand. “Can he see us?” James whispered. “Or hear us?” He looked about the room for a camera pointed at them.
“No.”
“Then see what he wants. But we’re not here. Understand? I would hate for anyone to get hurt.”
“Understood,” Granger said as he moved over to the console. He flipped a toggle switch. “Go ahead, mayor.”
“I noticed the camera had been activated,” the mayor said. “Did anyone go into the cells?”
James whispered in Granger’s ear. “Tell him they went in another direction.”
Granger hesitated a moment, silently considering his options. Looking at James’s stern demeanor he quickly made his decision. “Uh, they stopped there but then headed toward the Transportal.”
On the monitor James watched one of the men walk over to the door that Candace and the two men had passed through. He raised a hand as though to confirm that the door was locked.
“Let’s go,” the mayor said. He began to head away.
The man at the door lowered his hand to his side. He turned and began to follow the mayor.
James stepped over to the console and flipped the toggle switch off.
“Where is this at?” James asked, pointing to the monitor.
The monitor suddenly turned off.
“It’s … It’s in the caves.”
“You have caves?’ Bass asked.
“Yes. Underneath us.”
“So …” James started. “How do we get to these caves?”
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