by Tom Hunter
Noah smiled, then, explained further, “Quite honestly, I don’t even need to bribe you and your cronies. Even if this operation were to be discovered, I could just pay the fine and be on my merry way, but I had hoped to avoid that, so I ‘employed’ you, if you will. Unfortunately for you, I do not negotiate. I have ways of punishing those who get in my way.” He glanced at Miss Welker, with a subtle nod. “Miss Welker has instructions, that if I hear again of demands for more money, or if those who aren’t supposed to know about this dig find out about it, force will be used. Knowing this, do you still wish to negotiate?” Noah concluded.
“N-no. Please. My family,” Pedro pleaded. Noah smiled.
“Thank you, Pedro. I see we understand each other. Everyone, yourself included, has nothing to worry about now. Please, tell your friends the same. The photographs of your wife and daughters, are not the only photographs I have. Do you understand?”
“Si, senor.”
“Excellent,” Noah smiled. He turned to Miss Welker. “Please see that Pedro is returned to work, safe and sound.” Miss Welker took Pedro by the shoulder, and Noah was once again left to his work.
Noah leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his forehead. Guess a nap will have to wait, he thought, and picked up the walkie-talkie to call Ramon.
A crackle and then, “Ramon, here. What you got for me?”
“Ramon, it has come to my attention, there is a new expedition coming to dig. Mustard Canyon area. See what you can, uh, dig up, and see if the new team will be a threat.”
Thirteen
It had been three weeks since the “A-Team”, as Abby affectionately called them, met at her home. Now they looked down at an alien landscape moving swiftly by below their helicopter, as they neared the dig site at Mustard Canyon. The whirring rotors above made conversation difficult, but didn’t deter anyone from trying.
Thomas Knight, Pediah Lapp, Alexia Fraga, and Robbie were all suited up and looked every bit the professionals they were. The first night, at Abby’s, they had rested. But, for nearly a month, they had trained. Everyone was ready to work, even Robbie; though he didn’t miss an opportunity to plug his channel and record segments for later posting. Below, the noonday sun beat down upon parched earth, as it had for countless ages. Great cracks split the earth.
Excitement ran high, as they flew lower, approaching the new dig site. Alexia, for the moment, had traded tapping her fingers against her lips for chewing the ends of her hair. She wasn’t a fan of flying, and she’d decided helicopters were worse. Robbie had his phone out, recording the proceedings, and acting as tour guide to his subscribers. Thomas and Pediah glanced out the window, but remained deep in conversation over strategy, roles, and what to do should they run into Noah again. Abby watched and listened. She hadn’t been on a dig since… well, she preferred not to think about it.
The first moments before the dig are like anticipation at Christmas, thought Thomas, smiling. But, even better, was seeing the light of excitement in the eyes of those who are on their first ever dig. He glanced at Alexia.
White and beige tents dotted the landscape. The dig site set up had been under way for weeks, by a small army of hired hands. A village of supply tents, food, sleeping tents, storage, and utility areas, had sprung up in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. It was early afternoon, and the vestiges of activity, still bore the residue of many hands working to get everything ready. But, now, in escape from the sweltering rays of the desert sun, most had taken shelter within their own tents, waiting for the sun to give way to the coolness of the moon. Powerful floodlights enabled work to go on through the night.
Thomas Knight wasn’t given much to speeches, but there was something about a new dig that made everyone a little bit giddy and excited. The promise of discovery, no matter how small, bringing something historical out of the earth with his own two hands, was powerfully intoxicating. “I hope you remember this experience,” he began. “I gotta admit, there’s always a part of me, no matter how many times I do this, that still gets impressed, excited, and nervous about a new dig, all at once. The exhilaration can’t be beat.”
As the team disembarked the helicopter, a short distance from the site, a flash of white caught Thomas’ eye. A heavy-set man, in a bright white suit and hat to match, came toward them at a brisk pace. His face, red from the heat, dripped sweat, which he sopped up with a white handkerchief. In the sweltering heat of Death Valley, the man seemed out of place, and very uncomfortable.
“Who’s that?” asked Robbie and Alexia, in unison.
“That, guys, is Dr. Donald Cunningham, Director of the California Museum of Natural Science,” explained Abby, as they walked toward the hover shuttles that would take them to their destination.
Leaning in closer, Abby whispered conspiratorially, “He is also our funding. Or rather, he’s the signature for our funding, for this venture.” Then, a little louder, “Let’s go meet our benefactor, shall we?”
“Donald!” Abby called to the man in the white suit. “How kind of you to be here!” Thomas and Pediah beside her, Robbie and Alexia directly behind, Abby stepped forward and extended her hand in greeting. “Team, allow me to present Dr. Donald Cunningham. Dr. Cunningham, Donald, meet the team.” Abby stepped aside then and introduced each one. “Alexia Fraga, our maintenance professional, Pediah Lapp, spelunker extraordinaire from the original survey team, Robbie, man-about-town and jack-of-all-trades, and of course Thomas Knight, our fearless leader.”
“That’s quite a crew you’ve got there, Abby. Nice to meet you all.” Then spreading his hands as if to embrace the scene before him, he added, “Welcome to the dig site.” Chuckling, Donald hummed a little tune no one could make out, just a few gurgles, and he continued, “Abby is quite the negotiator, and came to me about the discovery made by Mr. Knight and Mr. Lapp at the initial survey.” Another chuckle, followed by humming, the team looked at each other, their eyebrows raised in question at one another. “She believes, as do I, there is much to discover within this cavern, most interestingly, that of cavemen dwelling below the earth, in the hottest part of what we now call the U.S. Hehe. Hmm. Mmhmmm. Hmmm.” His nervous chuckles and strange humming seemed out of place on for man such as this, and Thomas wondered if he was hiding something. Another reason, perhaps for wanting to be here, on this dig. His dig.
Abby leaned over and whispered to Thomas, “I see your wheels turning. It’s strange, I know, but it’s just his way. A quirk really. Not much different from you and your beard. You’ll get used to it.”
Thomas nodded, and realized Donald had begun speaking again, “I believe we’ll all get on famously together,” he exclaimed with a flourish. “Abby, your team is top shelf, bar none. It was a pleasure and a delight to meet you all. The chariot that brought you here, shall take me home again, back to civilization, once they’ve finished refueling it.”
Once everyone was seated in the cool of the hover shuttle, the doors closed, and it traversed the desert at speed, leaving a wake of dust in the air.
Fourteen
Three men dressed in desert camo hit the dirt at the first sign of the helicopter overhead. Together, they watched and waited. Ramon was particularly interested in the new arrivals to the area. The others on his team were Gunther and Pietro. They were all he needed.
With the powerful binoculars Noah had given him, he could see easily from Red Wall Canyon, the goings on at Mustard Canyon, just under ten kilometers southeast of his position.
The few rocks the desert did provide did little to shade them from the elements, but it was a start. Nearby, they kept a light weapons kit and survival gear, should they be unable to get back to camp or run into trouble. Ramon smiled briefly. We’re the trouble people want to avoid, not the other way around. And with the current occupants filling his binocular lenses, he knew things might get tense soon. Just the way he liked it.
“Well, what do ya know?” Ramon muttered under his breath as he watched the new team arrive.
&nbs
p; That guy is some kind of fool, he thought as he watched Thomas Knight, Abby Hogan, and Donald Cunningham separate at their site.
“Vhat is it? Who do you see, Ramon?” Gunther asked in his thick German accent, trying to roll the “R” in Ramon like he’d heard others do. Unfortunately, his attempt sounded more like a spoon getting ground up in a kitchen disposal. “I know two of those guys down there,” he gestured with one hand, still looking through the binoculars. “Had a run in with them about a month ago. Things didn’t work out…well…for them. So, I’m wondering… what’s brought dem back?”
“Last I was here,” Ramon recalled, “all that was down there to find, was a couple of metal veins, an abandoned mine, and an old book.”
Gunther opened his mouth to ask another question, but a quick glance at the expression on Ramon’s face silenced him. There would be time enough for briefings later.
“Here. Take a look for yourself. Let me know if you see anything…unusual. If you do, make a note of it, and fill me in later,” Ramon said, as he handed the binoculars over to Gunther and sat up to reach for his pack.
Ramon drew a laptop from his pack. It turned on as he flipped the lid open. Working to coax the image from it he wanted only caused him frustration. For every poke and jab at the buttons, there were Windows error messages and then nothing. Holding it high in both hands, his frustration ruling his common sense, he stood up as if to throw or smash the machine. Suddenly Pietro, the third member of Ramon’s team, snatched it moments before it was splintered on the rocks.
“Look out, hey, we need this thing. It’s a pain in the ass, I know, but it does work. See?” And with a few clicks, Pietro soon had the image they needed. “Why don’t you let me handle the tech stuff, man?”
Ramon watched as Pietro worked his magic. In no time, the holographic AR display of the region appeared. The trajectory of the shuttle was such that the Thomas Knight team could only be headed to one place: Mustard Canyon.
“Yep, that’s where we left him and the other guy,” Ramon confirmed with a nod. “He’s going back to the same place. I told them he would. Tell me I’m all brawn and no brains, and we’ll see who lands on their feet,” Ramon muttered to himself, remembering an old conversation with Miss Welker.
Once Pietro had donned his AR gloves, he was ready to begin the marking up of the map. Under Ramon’s orders, Pietro moved what they needed into position. Ramon may be clueless about machines, Pietro thought, but the man is eerily proficient in battlefield tactics, and the use of terrain to hide small group movement. Though he would never dare ask, Pietro had wondered how they’d do anything in the desert, with little to no cover and burning heat and mirages by day.
With the plans drawn to Ramon’s specifications, Pietro hit save and send.
“Sent.”
“Good,” replied Ramon. Then turned to Gunther and asked, “Anything?”
“Nein, er no, Ramon.” Gunther put down the binoculars, and looked away from the landing pad at Ramon and Pietro. He shrugged. “It doesn’t look like there is much going on.”
“Okay. Pack up,” Ramon ordered. “Let’s get back to camp. I’ve got a report to make.” Everyone did as they were ordered and headed back toward their vehicles, and hence their campsites, for some welcome relief from the scorching sun.
Fifteen
The shuttle rushed smoothly towards the dig site, on a cushion of air. Abby looked to Thomas and his eyes sparkled, his knowledge ready to share. “There are ghosts in these hills,” he began, missing only the eerie flashlight and the campfire. “Legends that should scare us away, but instead drive us to seek. Death Valley is a place of legend and rumor…” Thomas trailed off, as he turned toward Robbie busily fiddling with his iPhone. He was about to tell the kid to enjoy the scenery, when Robbie spoke.
Robbie had flipped record on his iPhone to document Thomas’s legends for his subscribers. “I’d love to hear legends of Death Valley. I heard a few from – “ his eyes darted toward Abby, who shook her head. Thomas caught Abby’s eye, and understood. Without delay, he launched straight into what he thought was a well-known legend of the area.
“One legend we’ve heard of most often is that of the missing army lieutenant,” began Thomas. As Alexia, Robbie’s, and even Pediah’s eyes widened, Thomas went on.
“Did you know people have been swallowed up by this desert never to be found again?”
Encouraged by their silence, Thomas leaned in further. “Let’s call it, the strange case of the missing Army pilot, First Lt. Paul Byron Whipkey. So the story goes, Whipkey left his fellow officers for a quick drink off the base. Most thought he’d met a girl. He checked into a hotel, then the next day bought fourteen gallons of gas. Why fourteen? I have no idea.”
“Anyhow, sometime after buying the gas, he disappeared. His car was discovered in a remote, forbidding region in Death Valley, fifteen miles from the main road.” Thomas paused for dramatic effect, “and 400 miles from Fort Ord.”
“How does one, er, explorer just up and vanish? In the desert? It’s flat land, right?” asked Alexia.
“Well,” supposed Thomas, “if there were areas above the caves we’ve found, perhaps it was something like quicksand, and he fell into the cave? It’s a thought, and after the rumblings Pediah and I experienced it stands to reason there may be fault lines upon which the entire area rests.”
“Oh, dear Lord, I hope not,” Pediah prayed under his breath.“I hope we don’t see any skeletons of the modern age in our excavations”.
Alexia continued, “Wouldn’t the officers notice he’s been gone for longer than, say… let’s be generous here, an hour to get a drink?”
Robbie shrugged, “I’ve got a few army buddies,” he began. Alexia rolled her eyes. “Really, I do! And unless a higher up or an officer is around, or specific orders are in play, most just figure they’re busy or on the can.”
Thomas made a face, as if deep in thought, then expounded, “Okay, sometimes that’s true. But, usually, that’s more of a sitcom thing. Hollywood’s answer to the question. Not ours. Besides, there are no sources pointing to the officer’s reactions to Whipkey’s disappearance. If any of us were missing, wouldn’t you wonder why? I know I would, and I’d raise a stink.”
“Fair enough,” Robbie conceded. “Then what do you think he was doing that required so much gas? Even if he filled up his car, I imagine he’d have a bit left over, right? I can only assume he bought canisters and didn’t just fill up his vehicle.”
“That’s a good question, and like I said, I really have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine,” he looked to Alexia. “I see your wheels turning. What are your thoughts on this?”
Before Alexia could answer, Robbie piped up, “Maybe he found the people that lived in the caves and wanted to trade gas for gems or something!”
Alexia rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly! Cavemen, or whatever, wouldn’t have engines. Even if they were around during Whipkey’s time,” she theorized. “I’d be more likely to consider the gem angle. You guys did discover an old mine, right?”
Thomas became tightlipped. His head cocked to one side, his eyes tilted upward to the right, considering the thought.
It doesn’t seem plausible, but then again, neither did doors so far below the ground…
“I guess, at this point, anything is possible….”
Robbie, ever the clown, grinned, “For my part, I’d bill my role here as a dance with death. Wouldn’t that make for a great show! Imagine,” and he held his fingers up, a mock camera taking panorama shots of the team, the site operations, the desert, at last turning the imaginary camera on himself. “Robbie braves the hungriest earth, which could swallow him whole, as he solves the decades old mystery of army pilot Lt. Whipkey.” He finished with a flourish, and blew out his imaginary camera like it was a smoking gun.
Thomas looked at Abby, whose eyes had widened in surprise and a flicker of shadow. He knew Robbie was acting this way to conceal his own pain, but he didn’t seem t
o be taking other people’s pain into account. This had to be dealt with right now.
“Robbie,” Thomas caught Robbie’s attention, held his gaze, then slid his gaze toward Abby. Robbie followed his gaze. “This is a dangerous business we’re in, on the best of days, and sensationalizing missing persons isn’t amusing or appropriate. I think you of all people know and understand that,” Thomas Knight’s voice was gentle, but the message was clear.
His head cast downward, Robbie muttered into his chest, “I was just joking. I would never treat death – I’m sorry Abby. Thomas. It’s the only way I know how to process – well – you know.” His head still downward, he raised his eyes to the three most experienced members of the team, in a silent plea of forgiveness. Alexia looked at him then, glad she hadn’t said what was on her mind.
Alexia sat back in silence and watched the looks pass between the four of them, looking glad when Pediah broke the awkward silence. “I wonder if there is or was an underground civilization down there? Could that be why the doors won’t open? Locked from the inside or some such,” half talking to himself, half to the team. “Do you think they might come out to meet us, if they’re still around? If not, if they’re gone, what happened? Were they forced to leave? Did they die off? In other words, what happened to them? We’re all in this business to solve puzzles, aren’t we?” Everyone nodded, and Pediah smiled.
“That’s the plan, man,” agreed Thomas, smiling. Leave it to the Amish kid to bring everyone back to focus on the task at hand.
Pediah had been like a kid brother to him, eager to follow, to learn, and so their kinship had developed over the years. When Thomas’s mind floated into the ether, it was Pediah who reigned him back in. “It may be a tall order,” Thomas continued, “but we’re here to give it a go, right, guys?”
“You bet!” exclaimed Abby and Alexia in unison. They looked at each other and laughed, “Jinx!” exclaimed Alexia. The tension had been broken.
