Cody saw Valerie’s frantic eyes and put a hand on her shoulder. He remembered the story about her brother’s prank with the hole in the ground. “Hey,” he said with a smile, “we’re down, Valerie; you can open your eyes now.” He swung the door to the cage open as the two technicians stood by the car.
The series of lights the two men had installed in the dark chamber now washed over everything around them. Valerie could hardly catch her breath as Cody helped her out of the car. The spectacle surrounding them was overwhelming and breathtaking.
“Quite a sight, Mr. Larson,” the older technician said with a beaming smile, “I’ve done my fair share of work for the state, but this project takes the cake. No wonder they wanted us to sign all those security forms.”
What they were looking at now was so much more than they saw through the lens of the dropped in camera. The chamber seemed to go on for hundreds of feet in all directions. The tall walls were covered with hieroglyphics, and hundreds of carved images. Tall stone columns lined both sides of the wide chamber, and mysterious arched doorways were spaced equally between the columns. Accents of blue turquoise and shallow veins of gold ran across the walls in thin straight lines that disappeared into darkness. The animal and bird carvings were enhanced by their size, most ten feet tall or more. The bright beams from the halogen lights played across every surface and created sharp shadows that seemed to bring the ancient carvings to life.
Valerie had been in Grand Central Station only once, but this huge underground space reminder her of the vastness and splendor of that incredible structure in New York. She removed her camera as Cody called up to Ben.
“We’re safe and secure, Ben,” he said as Valerie moved away. “You can bring Williams down with you.”
Don Williams was the secretary of state’s administrative assistant, and was on site to record and report the historical events as they happened.
“He’s with me now,” Ben answered back, “we’re coming down.”
The interior of the secret chamber below Death Valley was experiencing more activity than it had seen in thousands of years.
The technicians were moving more lights deeper into the space as the smaller generators were put on line. The quality of the air was also being checked by the minute, and readouts were constantly being monitored and sent to one of the program engineers in the project trailer.
Cody felt good as he watched Ben and Don Williams step away from the number two car. He shook Don’s hand, and then looked at Ben. “We’re probably going to need additional power cables, Ben; this space spreads out a lot farther than we thought.”
As Ben looked around him, he saw that he now stood in a gigantic tunnel, where the sidewalls were clearly defined by the harsh artificial lighting but the ends of the tunnel disappeared into blackness. The tall stone walls were chiseled and carved with incredible animals and birds he’d never seen before. Ben could not get over the volume and size of the underground space. “I’ll radio Mark and let him know,” Ben responded. “How is Valerie?” he added casually, “she handle the drop okay?”
Cody had not thought about Valerie since she walked away with her camera.
Ben saw the stress in Cody’s face as his boss stepped deeper into the huge space.
“I don’t see her, Ben,” he said frantically, focusing on every inch of the illuminated chamber, right up to where the white light faded to cold blackness. “Valerie’s gone!”
THIRTEEN
As Cody and Ben shouted her name, Valerie stepped out from the shadows of two wide columns. It was the same alcove that they had both seen on the screen in the trailer – the alcove that housed the mounted Scarab Beetle.
“Where did you go?” Cody scolded, “You don’t go roaming around down here without an escort…you remember what we talked about – the buddy system; nobody goes anywhere without someone else tagging along.”
Valerie had no apologies; in fact, she just stood in front of Cody and gazed passed his aggravated face.
Ben stepped up next to Cody. “You alright, Ms. Case?”
Cody looked for a place he could take Valerie to sit down. “I’ve got this, Ben,” Cody said as he moved Valerie to a shallow stone ledge that protruded from the nearby wall. He sat her down on the ledge and studied her vacant expression. “Valerie, you need to speak to me,” Cody said as he watched the others pretending not to see. “Where were you?” he asked in almost a whisper – “what’s got you so shook up?”
Valerie finally turned to Cody, and stared into his concerned eyes. “It’s gone,” she managed to squeeze out in one quick breath.
“Damn it, Valerie,” Cody said taking one of her hands, rubbing his thumb across the top of her fingers, “Just take in a deep breath and relax, get your feet back down to earth.”
Valerie seemed to come around as Sue came over and stood in front of her with a bottle of water.
Looking up at Sue, then back to Cody, Valerie took a long pull from the water bottle and searched the giant space with her frantic eyes. She repeated her earlier revelation, “It’s gone, Cody; I know it’s impossible, but it’s gone.”
“What’s gone Valerie?” Cody asked, trying his best to be patient.
Valerie looked back at Cody, and then swung her eyes to her concerned assistant. She sucked in a breath and swallowed; “The Scarab Beetle that was here yesterday,” she said, “the one on the wall in the alcove – the one we all saw on camera. I came over to photograph it, but it had been removed from the wall – it’s not there anymore.”
Cody actually felt relieved. He assumed that someone in the chamber had removed the relic in preparation for recovery to the surface. “We’ve got eight people down here, Valerie; evidently someone took it upon themselves to remove the Beetle without official permission.”
“Everyone down here knows not to touch anything, Cody,” Valerie said, the spark in her eyes returning. “Everyone down here signed the same binding agreement; nobody was to touch anything until I authorized it.”
“I think you might be making too much of this Valerie,” Cody said, trying to calm her down, “We know that we’re working with eight people in a confined space; it’s just a process of elimination. Maybe for someone, the temptation was just too great, but they can’t get it to the surface without us knowing. We’ll talk to everybody and eventually the guilty party is going to feel bad about what they did and your ‘beetle’ will suddenly turn up.”
Valerie asked Sue to check with Ben on the status of the video camera equipment. A separate container was to be sent down with the other specialized equipment.
“I should stay with you,” Sue said with genuine concern.
“Cody and I need to talk; would you go check with Ben?”
Sue nodded, “I’ll go check, Ms. Case,” she said simply as she rushed away.
“That was a little abrupt, don’t you think?” Cody asked with a worried frown.
Valerie watched Sue move away and knew that Cody was the only one that could hear her. “The beetle moved itself, Cody.”
Cody could hear mechanical noises and echoes coming from the workers around him. The surrounding sounds must have caused him to misunderstand Valerie. “What did you say, Valerie?”
Valerie reached over and touched Cody’s hand. “The beetle moved itself, Cody,” she repeated, “the Scarab Beetle of Talisman moved itself.”
“Now, Valerie,” Cody started, trying his best to smile but only managing a distorted grin. “You know as well as I do that…”
Valerie shook her head as she interrupted. “I need to tell you something else, Cody.”
FOURTEEN
Her hand still on Cody’s, Valerie began to talk. She began to speak of things she never really wanted to think about but knew that she had to – especially now. She had waited long enough.
“The dark cases in the basement of the museum, Cody,” she continued, “everyone was afraid of them – afraid of their contents.”
Cody was on another magic carpet
ride and was trying to pull in the reins. “Whoa, little lady,” he said in his best John Wayne voice, “First you tell me that our big gold beetle is off wandering around on its own, right here in this chamber, then you refer back to the dark cases in your museum, as if the two stories are tied together; Can you sense my confusion?”
Valerie took in a deep breath, “I’m sorry Cody, I wanted to tell you before, but it all seemed so foolish – so crazy. The movement of the Scarab Beetle and the dark cases in the museum are tied together,” she continued as she tried her best to explain the unexplainable; “The artifacts that came from the Grand Canyon also move, Cody, they move about within the dark cases every night. I was the first to discover the phenomenon and the only one to ever see it.”
Cody saw Ben motioning for him to come over. “If I’ve got this straight,” Cody said as he waved at Ben, “The Grand Canyon artifacts and the artifacts here in Death Valley have the capability to move about on their own?”
“I never wanted to consider it, Cody, it seemed so bizarre, but I believe now that the artifacts from both sites are somehow animated and they are trying desperately to find their way back to Egypt.”
Cody stood and looked toward Ben. His mind was reeling and he felt as if he’d just fallen off a cliff. “Okay, Valerie, you’ve just gone about ten stories above my comprehension level, let’s talk about this when we get back to the surface.”
Valerie could see the total disbelief in Cody’s face. She knew that she had done a terrible job of explaining what she thought she should explain. She wanted to start over and was about to say something else when Ben approached with a frown.
“We’ve got a problem, Boss,” Ben said as he studied Valerie. She managed a weak smile as she stood.
“Power has been stretched out for one hundred yards in both directions,” Ben continued, “following east and west in the main tunnel, and we’ve got everything lit to the ceiling.”
“The problem?” Cody asked
“We can’t raise the technicians, Harper and Alex,” Ben said, “even their personal GPS locators have dropped off the grid.”
“You mean the guys have disappeared?”
“Vanished, Cody,” Ben said with wide eyes, “they’ve simply vanished.”
“They’ve gotten entangled in the energy field,” Valerie said, without thinking. She had forgotten that Ben knew nothing of the moving artifacts.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Case?” Ben responded.
“I want you to get everybody together right now,” Cody ordered, “have them meet me here ASAP.” He was hoping that Ben would forget about Valerie’s energy field remark. “We’ll form two search parties and search both ends of the chamber beyond the lights. I don’t want anyone on the surface to know about this yet. These two lost guys could have simply stepped behind a big rock to take a leak.”
“I’ll go round everyone up, Skipper,” Ben said as he headed out to find Mark, Sue and Mr. Williams.
“You’ve got to be careful, Valerie,” Cody said, with a frown, “no one is going to believe or understand if you start talking about inanimate objects moving about on their own.”
“I saw them move about on their own, Cody,” Valerie responded with obvious anger in her voice, “I saw them move with my very own eyes. I would stand in front of those dark cases in the archives and see the relics move from one side of the case to the other. They didn’t sprout arms and legs, they just moved.”
“Through the air?”
“Sometimes,” Valerie answered without hesitation. “Cody, I believe that the relics somehow become energized to the point where they can defy the laws of physics.”
“Energized by what?” Cody asked, his face showing more skepticism than astonishment.
“A force that is thousands of years old,” Valerie said, “the same force that moved the building blocks to construct the pyramids.”
Cody’s face lost some of its color as his skepticism morphed into fear – a deep down, gut wrenching fear of the unknown. He saw Mark Stone approaching with Don Williams, followed closely by Ben & Sue. “Valerie, I think it’s best not to discuss your theories with anyone but me right now. Let’s just concentrate on finding our two missing guys.”
Valerie wanted to scream at Cody – she wanted to shout to anyone that would listen that she had seen the relics move with her own eyes – she wanted to shout out, I saw it happen, Cody! It’s not a theory!
Ben, Sue, Mark and Don stood in front of Cody and Valerie and waited to hear what was going on. They could all see that the faces of their two leaders were stressed and concerned. The harshness of the light made their worried faces appear hard and static, almost like they were chiseled from stone.
“Everybody here knows that Harper Harris and Alex Bell are missing. I want us to see what we can find out before we get everybody in a panic up on the surface,” Cody said, looking over at Ben. “Ben will take Mr. Williams and Ms. Perkins, and search the west end; Ms. Case, myself, and Mark will search the east end. We’ve got over one hundred yards of the chamber under light, but the missing men have probably wondered off into one of the dark ends of the tunnel or one of the side rooms. Everybody check the battery status on your lanterns before we move out.”
Everyone pushed the small button on the side of their lanterns to make sure they got the green power-up light.
“Alright,” Cody said as he looked at the group in front of him, “Use your radios to call if you find something, but above all, don’t get separated, everybody has to stay together; Any questions?”
Don Williams, the observer for the Secretary of State, raised his hand. “Mr. Larson, I believe maybe we should let the people on the surface know what we’re doing.”
“I plan to do that, Mr. Williams, as soon as we find these guys or don’t find them. Either way, we’ll let everyone know our situation within a couple of hours; We should know something more definite by…”
Cody’s voice went silent as all the halogen lights in the vast chamber went off at the same time.
FIFTEEN
There were several audible gasps in the darkness. The blackness seemed to be part of the stale air, total and complete.
“Lights on everyone!” Cody shouted.
Five battery powered lanterns lit up the dark air – five out of the original six. Don Williams was missing from the group.
“Where’s Mr. Williams!” Sue yelled in a panicked voice.
“Everybody stay calm and stay close,” Cody responded, “we’ll find him.”
“As soon as we find Don, we need to leave, Cody,” Valerie said, her voice not much more than a whisper. Her concerned face appeared like a Halloween mask in the lantern’s yellow glow. “We can’t stay down here much longer, they don’t want us down here – we need to get back to the surface.”
“We can’t leave until we’ve got everyone accounted for, Valerie,” Cody said; “You know that.”
“I know, Cody, but it will eventually take us all.”
Everyone stared at Valerie and knew that she must have some kind of answer to the chaos.
Cody took in a deep breath, removed his weathered cap and ran his left hand through his hair. He looked at Valerie as he nodded, then addressed the others. “There is evidently some type of force,” he said with reluctance, but going with Valerie’s theory anyway, “an energy force in the chamber that is responsible for the disappearance of our colleagues. Valerie actually discovered it months ago at the museum in L.A.” He turned to Valerie for a better explanation.
Valerie saw four panicked faces staring at her, and she knew that she didn’t have much time to explain. “I’ll tell you what I know and what I believe about what is happening to us, but…”
Everyone’s lantern lost power at the same time, and they all felt it – a twist of cold air swirling around them. Someone yelled and Sue screamed. The lanterns came back on, but only four this time. Mark Stone was missing.
Cody was on the verge of panic; he had no control at all over
the situation and knew that he was up against something that he had no power at all to control. “Radio the trailer, Ben,” he shouted through the dim light of the remaining lanterns, “tell them that we’re coming up and we need immediate rescue assistance for four people currently trapped in the chamber in addition to medical assistance.” He began to herd the frightened group toward the surface shaft, shining his lantern on the number 2 car that sat empty in the travel cage. “Sue and Valerie go first,” he said as the four neared the cage.
The air in the chamber seemed to thicken and become cooler. Even in the semi darkness the four could see gray shadows circling around them. Occasionally a shadow would wrap itself around one of them and whisper something inaudible. The group’s forward progress toward the surface shaft seemed to be blocked by an onslaught of twisting shadows. Cody could see the number 2 car in the blurry light but it seemed like a tornado of gray air was trying to push them all back.
Then the air in the chamber went calm, and the chill left their bodies. The roving shadows seemed to be gone.
The four that were left looked at each other in the eerie silence. Cody had a feeling that this must be the lull before the storm. “Valerie,” he shouted, “you and Sue get in the car – now!”
“I’m not going to leave without you, Cody!”
The chill and the shadows started to come back.
“Don’t worry about me, Valerie; I just want you and Sue to get the hell of here, now!”
Ben approached Valerie. “Cody’s right, Ms. Case,” he said, his troubled face awash in the lantern’s glow, “you and Ms. Perkins need to clear the tunnel – me and Cody will be right behind you.”
As Valerie was about to answer Ben, the four lanterns went out again.
Three came back on.
Valerie was gone.
SIXTEEN
City Of Sand Page 4