by Dale Mayer
"I'm going to take a walk around," he said. "Make sure no one else is here but us. It'll make me feel like I'm doing something useful. Feel like coming with me, Ian?"
Ian nodded, a questioning look in his eyes.
David and Ian walked down to where the three computers sat in what appeared to be a monitoring station and found someone working on them. As David tried to enter, a large male in a lab coat stood and blocked the way.
David eyed him curiously. "Is there a problem?"
"Nope. Just minimizing damage to the scene. That means only authorized people are allowed in here."
"I didn't catch your name." David studied the easy grin on the man's face. "I'm David."
The man nodded but remained planted like a mountain and just as immovable.
Friendliness wasn't going to help, apparently. With a nod to the tech sitting in front of the computer, David retreated and continued down the hallway away from the others.
Ian walked close on his heels. "See what I mean? They won't let us help."
"They won't let us watch, either."
"Does it matter? I guess it's their right. They don't know us. Don't know that we're good with computers."
"I don't think that's it." The more David thought about it, the more he didn't like what he'd just seen and heard. Not that everyone on the team was bad, but he couldn't help but feel that something was off.
With a quick glance around, he slipped down to a room at the far end of the hallway.
"Hey, where are you going?" Ian whispered. "What's down here?"
"I think the backup server is in here." David sent his friend a look. "Let's find out for sure."
"If it is, shouldn't we tell the others?"
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
Silence.
David glanced back. Ian had halted in the middle of the hallway, so he stopped, too.
"What are you saying?" Ian asked.
With a shrug, David met his eyes. "I'm not sure. It's just a feeling. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe Jared is wrong...but something seems off about this whole mess."
Ian snorted. "Off? Hell, yes, a lot is off. Just look around. What in here is right?"
So true.
David continued down the hall with Ian behind him. At the doorway, David turned the knob and slipped inside.
Ian followed him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Whomph! Tessa landed hard on the thick branch, her knees screaming, her face stinging as needles slapped against her cheeks. She needed to glide longer and farther before she froze up entirely. Only, her gliding skills had frozen with her body. As fatigue and exhaustion took their toll on her, her movements had retreated back to crab walking. A slower system that was more stable, but somehow burned her fuel faster.
She couldn't go much further.
Tessa shivered. Huddled up deep inside the boughs of a huge fir tree, she tried to warm herself. Her feet had turned to chunks of ice, and with her last jump, she'd barely avoided tumbling to the ground. Frozen and hurting, she buried her face in her arms and let shivers wrack her soul.
Did she dare sleep? Or would she never wake up?
Her vampire heritage wasn't helping her very much right now. A different blood ran through their veins, making cold easier on their systems. Why didn't she carry that trait? She really, really wanted to warm up right now.
She closed her eyes and rested.
Her cell phone rang.
Blinking herself awake, she scrabbled in her pocket for it. That she had reception at all blew her away. She'd tried to text several times with no luck. That single link to her family kept her going.
Her mom had sent her a text.
"Hang in there, honey," Tessa read it aloud. "The fliers will be out in less an hour. Find a visible location where you can see them, and where they will be able to see you."
An hour. Relief washed over her. So doable. She could survive that long. In fact, she might need that long to find a suitable place to wait. She'd need to hide from one group, and be visible to another. Great. Good thing she was looking for another challenge, something to keep her from thinking about how cold she was.
She also needed a vantage point of some kind. That meant she had to go up as high as she could. From where she'd hidden herself inside the tree all she saw darkness. She needed to use her dad's techniques and reach for the tops of the trees instead.
Sigh.
Stretching stiffly, she shook out her legs one at a time and prepped for another jump. She'd have to climb in stages. Or...
She gazed upwards. Maybe she could climb the tree she was in for a bit. Might be worth it. Making that decision, she grabbed a branch above her head and laughed. She hadn't climbed a tree since grade school. Easy peasy. A few minutes later, she peered out through the top boughs of the tree. That was better. Several large dead pine trees sat down the slope another thirty-odd feet. If she could reach them, they'd offer her a better position to see the fliers.
Only, with their dead branches, those trees wouldn't give her much in the way of cover.
Taking a chance, she jumped.
The idea of an imminent rescue had boosted her inner spirit and lent her a sense of relief and renewed faith. Her landing wasn't half bad. Clutching the cold trunk with both hands, she balanced on the largest of the branches and searched the area. The sun was setting and clouds were moving in. Her rescuers might get out early. She studied the landscape and shook her head at the sheer lack of landmarks. Looking back the way she'd come, she could track her descent. She'd finally breeched the snow line, and now green stretched out in front of her. And there was no sign of the vampire holding.
However, being on the upslope looking down, she probably wouldn't find it until she damned near fell on top of it. That also meant missing it would be easier than finding it. She'd descended the mountain instinctively. No telling if she should have gone left or right. Her headlong rush hadn't provided her with detailed directions.
Standing in the bare tree, she soaked up the last of the day's heat. The encroaching night would bring even more cold. Still, better for her to be alive and cold instead of captive and warm.
Ahead a small cliff-like formation rose from the landscape. She should be able to stay there, hidden flat against the rock until she caught sight of her rescue party. Goran and Cody. Her dad might want to come with them, but the fliers could cover the distance faster alone. As much as her father hated to admit it, speed was Goran's thing. Now if only the cloud cover would thicken and darkness would fall early.
If so, they might arrive within half an hour. She had to get moving.
***
Cody couldn't resist. He started down the stairs. A small voice inside him said he should let someone know his plans, maybe even grab Ian or David so he wasn't alone. He justified not doing so by telling himself he wouldn't go far. Just down a flight or two to see where the stairs led.
So far, all he'd seen were the same pristine white floors and walls. Yuck. He was beyond sick of the lack of color. Still, endless white appealed over the rows and rows of vacuum-sealed bodies in the main warehouse.
His cell phone rang.
Cody read the text and laughed. Ian had already missed him.
Ian had apparently gone to a server room with David, but Jewel had followed, so Ian wanted to go with Cody.
Cody didn't want to wait, so he went on down the stairs a little further and texted Ian directions and told him to get a move on it. He carried on down from landing to stairwell to landing. Finally, he thought he heard Ian racing down the steps above him. About damn time.
He'd have thought Ian would have moved faster than that. Wanting to tease his friend, Cody ducked down a flight and hid around a corner. Ian wouldn't see Cody until he was almost upon him.
Cody waited and waited. No one came.
He frowned. What the hell? Surely Ian would've continued down the stairs. Unless that wasn't who Cody had heard. Peering around the corner, he frowned as Jared came aro
und the corner.
Scowling, Cody stepped away from the wall. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I followed you to see what you'd found." Jared glared at him, a defensive gesture Cody recognized.
Cody sneered. "This isn't some grand adventure. Go back upstairs."
Jared straightened and looked back the way he'd come just as Ian raced down the stairs.
"Oh." He came to a surprised stop.
Jerking his hand toward Jared, Cody met Ian's eyes. "About time you got here. I was just telling Jared that he should go back upstairs with the others."
"Well, I'm not going to," Jared said.
Ian shrugged. "He might as well come with us. He's here already."
Cody frowned. He didn't want Jared to come. He'd been Tessa's date, and logical or not, Cody wanted nothing to do with him. Nothing personal, of course. He asked Jared, "Why won't you go upstairs?"
"I don't trust them." Jared jutted his chin outward.
"Them?" Ian frowned at him. "The team?"
Jared nodded. "Something's wrong with that whole setup, and I don't want to be anywhere close to them."
Ian and Cody stared at each other. Then with a curt nod, Cody turned and headed down the next staircase. With the others following behind, Cody swung past the landing and on down the next flight of stairs.
"Hurry. I want to see what's at the bottom." He wished he could grab a bit of air and fly down. Even then, he couldn't see what was ahead. If he didn't have room to stop, he'd crash either way. Frustrated, he ran even faster.
"Hey, slow down."
"What's the matter, Ian?" Cody grinned. "Life in the slow lane more your style?"
"As if." Two seconds later, Ian dropped in front of Cody, barely avoiding Cody crashing into him. Tossing him a wide grin, Ian bounced ahead and led the way down the stairs.
"Not fair."
"Yeah? Well, such is life."
Cody glanced behind him. Jared was still several flights up, struggling to reach them. He really shouldn't be here. He was human and weak. Not to mention ill. But he was gutsy, too. Cody had to give him that.
They went down one more stairway, and the hall ended. Ian actually bounced into the door as he tried to stop in time and didn't make it. Cody laughed while his friend recovered his balance.
Cody reached the door knob first and tugged it open. Eager to see what was on the other side, he stepped around Ian and dashed through the door. Skidding to a stop, he waited for Ian to join him. Jared wouldn't be down for awhile, and Cody didn't give a damn. The guy pissed him off a little more every time he saw him.
"Holy crap. Is that what I think it is?" Ian gasped.
Cody studied what appeared to be railroad tracks. Only not full size. Like maybe for a mini tram system. He shrugged. "I don't know. But I'll bet this is the way they took Tessa."
"It's like a miniature railway system."
Jared ploughed through the door and stopped beside them. His chest heaved, and he bent over gasping for breath. He turned to look down the tunnel. "What the fuck is this place?"
"A tunnel used to haul stuff in and out of here, I guess," Ian said. "And possibly to connect various parts of this underground mausoleum."
"Do you think this tunnel connects to another warehouse? All the way down here?" He stared at the tracks in shock, then looked back at the others. "Did you guys know this was here?"
"Hell, no."
"We need to tell the others." Cody pulled out his phone. "We have no idea how many other men might have escaped this way when we first arrived."
"Good thing Tessa escaped." Ian shook his head. "It would take days if not weeks to search this place."
***
David stood inside the small room and shook his head. He'd seen the computer setup earlier, but not the walls of servers behind him. Nuts.
Jewel stepped through the door and gasped. "Wow. This is quite the setup."
"I think this is their server and backup system." David cracked his knuckles as he contemplated the machines. A keyboard and monitor sat in the middle of the stack. The flashing blue light indicated the monitor was on. Good. "I'd really like to know what's in there."
"Call the techies. They'll get in. Maybe not tonight or tomorrow, but they'll get it done eventually. I'm sure it's on their to-do list."
"It will be." David walked around the rack of servers. Nice system. And very sophisticated. Several other monitors, more like television monitors, were turned on but he couldn't figure out what they were running through them. He wanted to, though.
Turning his attention back to the main computer and keyboard, David said, "Now, let's see what we've got."
Of course, there was no GUI, just a command window. Figured. Well, he could deal with that, too. He searched for directories, his eyes widening at the stream of information running down the screen.
His phone rang. Cody.
Not wanting to take the time to read the text, David handed his phone to Jewel. Who knew how long they had alone? "Check it out, will you?"
He turned away and burrowed deeper into the system.
"Holy crap." Jewel squeezed his shoulder. "They've figured out how Tessa was spirited out of here."
David turned to her and snatched the phone out of her hands. "What?" He reread the text, then opened the phone and dialled Cody. "Hey, what's going on?"
Cody explained about the stairs leading to the tunnel and train system.
"Really? Then your Dad was right about them using the mine infrastructure for their business." He glanced up at Jewel and grinned. "Did I hear you say Jared's with you? And Ian. Now, that must be fun."
Jewel laughed and leaned in to hear the discussion.
"I'm going to check out this train system more closely." Cody's voice broke up over the phone.
David jumped in. "Wait. Don't go alone. Let's tell the adults." He stared down at the screen. "Cody hung up."
"Really?"
"He's gone down the tunnel." David redialled. "No signal. Shit."
"Should we go after them?"
David looked at the computer monitor, where figures were still streaming. "I need to capture some of the data and send it home first."
She frowned. "Can you do that?"
"Yes." He looked at her. "But I won't be able to hide my tracks."
"So? Let the experts handle it."
"Yeah. Maybe." He stood and logged off. He didn't bother telling her he'd already sent several random files to an offsite storage site that he used as part of his student Council role at university. He'd try to come back later and dig a little deeper. He didn't want to trip any alarms by staying on too long. He might have already alerted the techs he'd been on the server. Better to leave and let them guess who might have been on the machine.
He motioned toward the door. "Let's go see what Cody found."
***
Serus strode over to Rhia. "Goran thinks he can head out now. He's searching for Cody to tell him it's time."
"Oh, thank heavens." Relief ripped across Rhia's face. "I want Tessa back by my side, where she belongs."
"We'll get her." He wrapped her in his arms. "Don't worry, honey."
"I'll worry until this nightmare is over, and we're all home safe and sound."
Serus couldn't answer right away, a big ball of emotion blocked his throat. He couldn't blame her. He wouldn't rest until his family was home safe, either. "We'll get her," he said, his voice hoarse.
"I want to go, but I also want to stay here?" She stared at him bravely. "They need me. These people. They have no one to speak for them."
"Look at you." He smiled gently. "Always an advocate for the underdog."
A whisper of a smile stroked across her face. "Someone has to be. Please find our daughter and bring her back."
"I will. As soon as we find the others. Where did they go?"
Rhia frowned and looked around. The medics walked up and down the lines of hanging bodies, making notes. The techies had returned to the computer labs awhil
e back. "David and Jewel were together a few minutes ago. Jared is missing, too." Rhia spun around and looked for them. "Have you seen any of them?"
"Not in the last half hour. I thought they were all hanging around here." Uneasiness tingled at the base of his neck and lodged in his chest. He hated it. "They have to be together somewhere. Would they have gone to lie down?"