When he was a kid, he thought his brother was the greatest and followed him into all kinds of crazy and dangerous situations. Even as they grew older his brother continued his ways, gradually moving into petty crimes and drugs. Somewhere along the way, Bass had severed his connection with his brother for a time. Even though he was a couple years younger than his brother he realized that the road that his brother was leading him down was full of trouble.
Their parents were not much help. His dad was a hard worker and a hard drinker. When he wasn’t at work, he was most often ensconced in his recliner watching TV and drinking a beer. More often than not he was oblivious to his surroundings.
Their mom wasn’t a bad person. She did take care of their basic needs and kept up a good home. She probably had the best looking house in the whole neighborhood. Everything in the house was always in order. Dishes were cleaned and put up as soon as a meal was done. The dining room table, when not being used, was spotless and often had a small vase of fresh flowers from her garden standing at the center. Floors were routinely cleaned. The Carpet was vacuumed daily. Clothes were neatly hung up in closets or folded and set in drawers.
Neatness was one of their mother’s things as well as the little get together she often had with the local women. She especially liked having them over so she could show off the house she was so proud of. And, of course, to partake of the wine, and Margaritas, and other assorted drinks that would be part of their social gathering.
The problem was that, even though their mother took good care of the house, paid the bills on time, and supplied their basic needs, she rarely spent time with her boys. If school wasn’t in, she would put them out the door the first thing in the morning and not allow them back in until lunch, and then after lunch it was back out the door until supper. In between meals his mother rarely knew where they were. They were pretty much left to their own devices.
In his middle teens, his brother began to get in trouble with the law and his parents couldn’t understand why. As for Bass, he went the other way. Not that he was always on the straight and narrow – he still had a few mischievous tendencies – but he never strayed too far. He got good grades in school, and even worked part-time at Piggly Wiggly to earn some spending money. Later he would wed his high school sweetheart whom he was still married to.
His brother had finally settled down somewhat. He was on his third marriage, but this one looked like it might stick. He had gone through a lot of jobs, but he had been working on his current one for almost two years now.
There was a light up ahead of them seeping down from another grate. Bass moved cautiously forward not sure if someone above them would be able to see them crawling down this drain. When Bass heard voices above them, he stopped just short of the grate. James paused right behind him.
“I heard someone got killed out there in the corridor.” It was a lady’s voice. “Who was he? What happened?”
“He was an intruder,” a man answered. “Don’t know the details, but there’s no reason to concern yourself. The body’s been taken to the morgue. And as soon as these intruders are taken care of the body is to be burned. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.”
“I don’t like any of this,” another man said. “I didn’t come to this planet to get involved in this kind of stuff.”
“You’re a convict,” the other man answered. “You don’t have any choice.”
“Falsely accused.”
“It doesn’t matter. In the eyes of our law, you’re still a con. Now just chill out for a while.” The man crossed the floor, his feet pattering over the rock floor. He paused near the grate, but neither Bass nor James could see anything of him.
Then a door opened, and he was gone.
“They must have been talking about Darren,” Bass whispered. “About burning him up.”
“We can’t be sure,” James whispered back.”
“Let’s go up there and find out for sure.”
“I don’t know it that’s such a good idea. Besides this opening hasn’t been broken out. I’m not sure you can fit through.”
“I can’t leave here if they’re going to burn Darren’s body. As far as the opening goes it’ll be tight but I’ll fit through there.”
“You sure you want to? We don’t know what we’ll be facing.”
“Altogether I heard the voice of two men and one woman. One man left. By my calculations that leaves one man and one woman to deal with.”
“Yeah. That we heard. But there may be people up there we didn’t hear. People too busy working to talk, perhaps.”
“Whatever. We can deal with it.”
James had to smile at the fearless determination that Bass displayed. He sighed. “Okay,” he whispered. “Let’s do it now before I lose my nerve.”
Bass took one end of the iron grate and James the other. Together they were able to lift the heavy grate a few inches and slide it a few feet across the smooth rock floor. With a few grunts and groans, Bass was able to squeeze out of the drain. Darren came behind Bass easily extricating himself.
They were somewhat surprised as they climbed up out of the hole into a squat. They were expecting to have to move quickly to gain control over the two or more people that were above them. Instead, they found themselves alone in a small room. On two sides of them, the Sheetrock walls extended upward only about four feet before changing over to long lengths of glass windows. Looking about they immediately realized what room they had just entered.
They were in a break room. Behind them, two drink machines and a snack machine stood against the wall like stocky soldiers. Sitting several feet in front of the machines were two round tables. Cheap, plastic chairs were pushed up to them.
To the front of them was a single door constructed of metal and glass. From their position peering through the glass door, they could see only a small portion of an apparently large room.
James crawled over to the wall next to the door. Bass followed. James poked his head past the wall to peer out the glass door into the other room.
“Best I can tell there are only two people around. One man and one woman.”
“Like I said. Now let’s take them. Easy peezy.”
James’s lips tightened. “I hope so.” He stood up and opened the door immediately drawing his gun as he stepped out into the big room. Bass moved in beside him and brought his gun to the ready.
Ahead of them was a long countertop that extended across one full wall then turned and continued halfway down the next wall. Most of the countertop was filled with small instruments such as various types of mixers and monitoring devices. There were also a couple of computers, notepads, pens, markers, and a couple of odd-shaped things that they didn’t recognize. Judging from the size of the working area this place was intended for more than two people.
The man and woman had their back to them and were too involved in what they were doing to hear them slowly approaching.
“May I have your attention,” James said suddenly, and loud enough for the two to hear but hopefully not loud enough to carry into the corridor. He held his gun a bit in front of him so they could see that he was armed but didn’t feel the need to point it in their direction.
A tall, thin, gray-haired man almost knocked over the dish he was mixing compounds in. He whipped around abruptly. “What are you …?” the man’s voice fell off as his eyes settled on the guns that were holding. His face quickly drained of color.
A woman was sitting in front of a computer when James made his announcement. She twisted around in her chair looking frightened, but still managing to keep somewhat composed.
“What do you want?” the woman asked in a tremulous voice. The woman, who looked to be quite a bit younger than the man, had her long, auburn hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Large, silver-rimmed glasses sat near the edge of her nose.
“Where is …” Bass started, then had to pause a moment as a strong wave of emotion hit him. He pushed back the tears that were threatening to appear
. “Where’s … the deceased? The intruder?!”
“In … in … in …” the man stuttered. “The … the morgue.”
Bass glared at him. “Where’s that?” His voice was low and angry.
“Eh, eh,” the man started, but now was unable to find any other words.
“Downstairs,” the woman said finishing for the man. “Near the transportal room. I can write down the directions.”
Bass looked questioningly at James.
“Yeah,” James answered his look. They would stay here a little while longer. “Why not. And while we’re at it maybe we can find this Agent Caine and her two friends.”
“I don’t want to put you through this,” Bass said. “You go for backup. I can go this alone.”
“No, you can’t. It’ll take the two of us and a whole boatload of luck.”
“I can’t ask you to ...”
“It’s settled,” James cut him off.
James turned back to the man and woman. They both stared back at him, their eyes wide, terrified of what their fate might be.
“Write down the directions,” James ordered. He looked to Bass. “Let’s take a look around and see what we can find. Anything that might pass for a weapon, or ammo.”
“You got it, chief,” Bass answered.
CHAPTER 36
Stone reached out and tried the heavy, metal door. It was indeed locked as Hands had said. He pushed inward employing the computer-generated power of his left arm. At first, the door held. It was a lot stronger than he had thought. He pushed harder, mustering every bit of his strength. When he was just about ready to give up the metal groaned angrily, and he could feel the door giving way. At once something snapped and the door swung free.
Stone stepped warily through the open door. Candace moved in behind him followed by Walter.
They were in an enormous, warehouse-size room. Directly ahead of them, nearly fifty yards away, was the rear of a tall octagon-shaped building that stretched to just over two stories high and was capped by a rounded roof. Large frosted windows were interspersed around the building. The rest of the exterior was composed of a rough, gray texture that looked like hard plastic, or rubber. The building stood about twenty feet off another building. This was a long, single-story, rectangular building with a flat roof.
“Wow,” was all that Candace could think to say.
“I guess that’s the thing they call the Transportal,” Walter said. “Or, at least, the building that houses it.”
Stone looked about the big room. The ceiling was high, reaching a height of forty feet or more. Scattered across the huge room were big, rounded lighting fixtures that hung from the rock ceiling by lengths of cable. The power was supplied by black electrical cord.
“We’re in luck,” Candace said. “There doesn’t seem to be anybody here.” She began to gaze about the room.
Stone looked to the left and instantly noted the set of double doors. He surmised that they led back into the main corridor. It was good to know if they needed another exit.
He looked to his right. A couple of small, yellow forklifts were parked near the far wall, some thirty yards away. There were small pockets of shadows about the machinery. They would not be as conspicuous over there as they now were standing in the insipid light of the overhead fixtures.
“Let’s not press our luck,” Stone said. He motioned to the right and began heading that way. The other two strolled behind him looking anxiously about at their surroundings.
They slipped behind the forklifts into a spot of gray umbra, before pausing to consider their next step.
Stone looked to the octagon structure. He could make out the edge of a door at the front of the building. Adjacent to the door was a gray dresser-size metal box. Thick, armored-encased cables snaked out of the bottom. Some of the cables made their way into the octagon structure while some crossed the short distance over the floor and into the other building. Not far from where the cable entered the single-story building was a single door. To the left of the door, at four feet off the floor, was a long window that extended several feet past the octagon building on either side.
“If that Octagon building is the transportal than the other building must be the control room,” Walter said.
“It would seem so,” Stone answered. “Which means the primary computer must be in there.”
Walter suddenly stiffened. “They’re making plans.”
“Who?” Candace asked.
“The aliens. Stone’s people.”
Stone started to object to Walter’s last statement—he didn’t want to be grouped with these common criminals—but quickly decided that now was not the time to be offended. There were more important things to consider.
“How do you know this?” Stone asked. “Have you the power to see them?”
“A little. But not by myself. I feel that Hands is in my head helping me. Giving what abilities I have a little boost.” At once his eyes became glassy as though he were looking deep within himself. “They’ll be coming soon.”
“Okay,” Stone said. “Then let’s move.”
Stone raced ahead to the single door of the control room. Candace and Walter came right behind him. Stone swung the door wide, but temporarily blocked the entrance while he quickly scanned the room for possible trouble.
Though the light was off in the room there was enough illumination from the high bay lights slipping through the window that Stone could see that there was no one lurking inside. He moved cautiously into the room just in case someone were to pop through the door that was at the back of the room. Walter and Candace followed.
“No lights,” Stone whispered as he stepped over to a bank of computers sitting on a countertop off to their left. He sat down at the first chair. “I need a few minutes.”
“Hurry,” Walter warned.
Stone pushed in the power button on the desktop computer then placed his left index finger close to one of the ports. A tiny stainless-steel-like rod extended from the tip of his finger and slid into the port.
Candace looked about the long, rectangular-shaped room. It was mostly composed of a long countertop where Stone sat, and a row of computers. A few feet above Stone was a large two hundred inch or better flat screen. She figured that its primary function was to monitor the inside of the Transportal building.
She looked up. A couple of big square vents had been incorporated into the ceiling. A concrete ceiling, not the natural rock of the cave. Which made her think. Why go to the trouble and expense of pouring concrete? Why not something simple like a wood and plaster ceiling. She had another thought. She quickly looked to the window. Were these windows more than mere plate glass? Perhaps strong enough to endure an accident that might erupt at the Transportal?
Candace moved over to the one door at the back of the room. She cautiously began to inch the door open and peered through the steadily increasing gap. A narrow hallway ran off to her left. At the end of the corridor was a single metal door. Two more doors were situated on the right side of the hall. The corridor was empty, and she could hear no sound emanating from behind the doors.
Walter looked from Candace to Stone. “How long is this going to take?” he asked. “They’re coming.”
A few minutes more,” Stone replied.
Candace stepped out into the hallway and stared down its length. She was acutely aware of the doors off to her right and watched closely for any subtle movements from any of them. After a few moments, she gazed up at the ceiling. There were more vents just like the ones in the other room. She wondered if one of their functions was to keep the air clear of these poisonous gasses that exuded from this Transportal. She inched her way cautiously over to the closest door. She slipped out her handgun. She hadn’t forgotten the warning that Hands had told them, but after seeing the vents she wondered if firing a gun inside here was as dangerous as he had said. Or maybe he hadn’t meant this building only the space where the octagon building was housed. Still, she had told herself that she wo
uld only use the gun as a deterrent.
She turned the knob slowly until the door came free of the frame then suddenly pushed the door open.
No one inside.
It was a big room. There was a large, walnut-colored desk straight ahead near the far wall. A leather settee off to her left. A couple of small bookshelves mounted on the wall on either side of her. And at the far right, a few feet past the desk, was a steel door. It was secured by a heavy padlock.
She walked over to the door. A slight breeze wafted into the room through the chinks around the door. She wondered what was through there.
She left the room and moved further down the hall to the next door. She tried the knob. That door was also unlocked. She tentatively pushed it open about a foot. The room was dark. She pushed the door open a little further. She saw no movement inside except for a few tiny green lights. She reached her hand inside and along the wall. She found the light switch and flipped it on. Stepping inside she was instantly hit by a rush of cold air.
CHAPTER 37
James and Bass descended the stairs without a problem but had to quickly dive into a pool of darkness against the backside of the steps when a heavy metal door only a few yards past the foot of the staircase began to open.
“Have them keep the weapon fire confined to the office area,” the mayor said emerging from the room. “Just in case.”
A woman followed him. James immediately recognized her as Mira Capilano, the mayor’s right hand.
“No problem,” she answered.
Four brawny men exited behind Mira carrying pistols with a barrel that looked like a stubby exhaust pipe attached to the handle. The barrel was much larger than the rest of the gun. This was not your standard handgun.
The mayor paused near the rock wall across from the room he had just exited. He was no more than five yards from where James and Bass hunkered down in the shadows.
James held his breath. From that distance, the mayor would surely see them if he should decide to take more than a cursory glance in their direction. Their hiding spot was far from perfect. The umbra where they squatted was weakened by the overhead lights. Though the fixtures were not directly over them they were close enough to lighten their hiding spot somewhat.
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