by Dale Mayer
Releasing the first door, he opened the second one. Jared called out after Cody, asking what he had found, but Cody had ignored him; his gaze was riveted on what was right in front of him.
A stairway.
*.*.*
David's phone pealed as he walked toward the computer lab. Reading the text, he changed direction and hurried to where his parents stood in tense discussion with the others. He cried out, "I just heard from Tessa."
At Rhia's excited shriek, he held out his cell phone and showed her the text.
"Still traveling down the mountain," Rhia read aloud, barely holding back a sniffle. "She's all alone out there."
Serus wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "She's a tough little nut. She'll be fine."
"Jared is up and moving about too, Mom."
Rhia turned at the sound of her name and looked at David blankly for a moment. Then she brightened. "Oh, good, I'm glad he has no lasting damage."
"He's still weak, though."
"That's most likely due to the drugs." Rhia frowned. "That's one of issues the doctors are trying to sort out right now. Apparently the drug cocktail was individually tailored for each person."
David deliberately averted his gaze from a young woman suspended in front of him. "I hope the doctors can save them."
"I do, too." Rhia said softly. "I'd hate to think of Tessa being strung up at a different facility."
David froze, the color leaching from his face. "Surely they wouldn't. They couldn't!"
"Why not?" Jared asked bitterly as he walked over to join them. "Because she's a vampire? Well, I’ve got news for you; they're not all that picky."
As if on cue, the entire group spun around to look at him.
Goran marched right up to him. "What do you know about that?"
"Not much," Jared shrugged. "I never thought you vampires had any blood to give. But the techs mentioned some other elements they needed to isolate for something they were doing and said the best source was vampires – preferably, old ones," he added with a raised eyebrow. "Whatever that may mean."
"Old ones? Or ancient ones?" Serus's voice dropped to a deadly overtone of stealthy intent.
Jared retreated and then stiffened. Anger washed over his features. David had to admire his gutsiness. His dad had been known to send men running from the room.
"I don't know," Jared snapped.
Goran and Serus exchanged grim looks, and David could only guess that with this news, the threat against them had moved to a whole new level.
Human victims were one thing; vampires were another. This was now a game changing scenario. They'd seen Darren and Moltere, but had thought that those two had been targeted. They hadn’t thought of widespread harvesting.
"Mom, I'm going to check with the computer techs to see if there's anything I can do. I'm feeling pretty useless at the moment."
"Don't bother." Ian walked up to him. "I just checked with them. We're not even allowed in the room – like we're punk ass kids and don't know anything."
David grinned at the disgust in his friend's voice. Ian was a computer whizz. The techs should make good use of him. "Guess they don't want us learning more than they do."
Rhia smiled gently. "I'm sure they know what they are doing."
"Yeah, probably."
David studied Jared's face. Disgust and disbelief shone from his eyes. Jared clearly didn't believe in the team at all. David considered their conversation, and then turned to stare in the direction of the computer lab. Alone, inside that room, the techs could do anything they wanted to with the information they'd found – including hiding or deleting information they didn't want accessed. Of course, that would only happen if they were the bad guys. He trusted the vampires he knew, but he hadn't recognized any of the team members and couldn't get that sliver of suspicion out of his mind. Damn it. What chance was there that Jared was correct?
With a frown, David shook his head. He didn't know what he could do to allay his suspicions. Then he thought about the computer systems he'd seen in other rooms. One had appeared to be a server room and it was the perfect place to investigate further.
He sent Ian a message with his eyes and gave a slight nod in the direction of that particular room.
"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 with a questioning look apparent 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 up and blocked the way.
David eyed him curiously. "Is there a problem?"
"Nope, I’m 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 meaningful 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."
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?"
David continued down the hall with Ian behind him. At the doorway, David turned the knob and slipped inside with Ian following him.
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. While it was a slower system that was more stable, it 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 up. 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, if she did, 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.
Then her cell phone rang.
Blinking herself awake, she scrabbled in her pocket for it. That she had reception at all had blown her away. She'd tried to text several times with no luck. That single link to her family had 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. That was so doable. She could survive for 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 could see was 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; it 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 thirty-odd feet away. If she could reach them, they'd offer her a better position to see the fliers.
But with their dead branches, those trees wouldn't give her much in the way of cover.
Taking a chance anyway, 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 then 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 told him he should let someone know of his plans, or maybe he should grab Ian or David so he wasn't alone. He justified not doing so by telling himself he wouldn't be going far. Just down a flight or two to see where the stairs led to...
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 again. Finally, he thought he heard Ian racing down the steps above him. About damn time too.
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 around 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 defensively.
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. It was 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 up. I want to see what's at the bottom." He wished he could grab a bit of air and fly down. 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. "Is life in the slow lane more your style?"
"As if." Two seconds later, Ian dropped in front of Cody, barely avoiding a crash. 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 and 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 sized ones. Maybe it was 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 it was possibly used 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, and 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 through this route when we first arrived."
"Good thing Tessa escaped." Ian shook his head. "It would have taken 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. That 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."