by T C Miller
They left the freeway an hour later and traveled a single-lane blacktop road in considerable disrepair for a couple of miles before stopping briefly at a double security gate in a sixteen-foot tall chain link fence. Gunter made note of the distance.
The enclosed land contained a massive two-story tall steel building with few openings. A newly paved blacktop road led around to an entrance that consisted of a double-steel door with wire-mesh reinforced windows protected by an overhang. Three loading docks at least two hundred feet down the wall could each accommodate a tractor trailer rig. Three bay-windows fifteen-feet off the ground were the only other openings in the light-blue steel walls
It looked like any other trucking terminal, except for the dozen surveillance cameras mounted at numerous locations on the building. Similar cameras on poles stood guard around the facility.
The car came to a leisurely stop in front of the double-wide steel door. Leopold stepped out of the vehicle and was about to press a call button on a keypad when the door was shoved open by a large bearded man in jeans and work shirt wearing rough construction boots.
“No need to trouble yourself, my friend...Gate announces arrival...I, Ivan Tcharnovsky, director of facility, will personally welcome Mister Wilhelm...Where is guest?”
Gunter stepped from the car and walked toward Tcharovsky. “I am Wilhelm...Call me Gunter when we are alone. Otherwise, it’s Mister Wilhelm...and I am not your guest. As of this moment, I’m in charge, which makes me your boss...Is that clear?”
The smile froze on Ivan’s face and he started to lunge forward. Instead, he leaned in and spoke in a low tone, “You piss on boots one minute after meeting man? Yes, I understand position and I follow protocol.”
“Good...Then I see no problem. Now, if you would show me to my office so I may call the Commissioner, I would be grateful.”
“Yes, Mister Wilhelm...” Ivan said with grim face and clenched jaw.
“As I said, when we are alone you should call me Gunter. After all, we are future friends, are we not?”
Ivan was startled by the change in tone and stood quietly in search of a reply.
Gunter reached into the large satchel he was carrying and produced a bottle of premium vodka. “After my call, why don’t we crack the seal on this and become new old friends?”
“Any man with taste for vodka is friend...”
An hour later they left Gunter’s new office for a quick tour. Part of the building contained living quarters that could easily accommodate a hundred people. A well-lighted and spacious cafeteria served food prepared on-site.
They passed men and women dressed in workout clothes entering a well-equipped gym.
“Is also swimming pool, spa and steam room...We must, of course, have steam room,” Ivan remarked.
“Indeed, it helps purify the body and the soul.”
They stepped into an elevator for a trip to the underground portion of the complex.
“Is this elevator the only access to the facility?” Gunter’s voice was slurred, but hardly noticeable to Ivan, who had matched him drink for drink.
“Is usual access for most supplies...No need to carry down eight sets of stairs. Missile silos have heavy concrete doors we have made to work. Large items can be lowered down with crane.”
“I noticed three of them are open...”
“My...er...our men pump forty-years of rain water out from them...Is thankless task and dangerous...Two men perish before I impose new safety rules.”
“To protect the workers?”
“To motivate other workers to continue...Death sometimes slows them down.”
“I understand why that might be. Back to my original question...How many entry points are there to areas below ground?”
“Main entrance...Three missile silos and antenna silo. We also create entrance to operations dome...”
“Operations dome?”
“Is smaller concrete dome...Contains environmental service equipment...air handlers and filtration...water treatment and power generators. Is one hundred thirty-feet across at base and fifty-feet high in center with second-level balcony for controls. Administration dome has offices and living space. First level is one hundred feet in diameter. Second level is seventy feet in diameter and thirty feet high...Entire dome is seventy feet high.”
“And these areas are all connected by eight foot tubular steel tunnels like we’re in...Amazing engineering feat.”
They stepped into the elevator for a ride to the top.
Ivan sighed. “Was shame to breach technical dome...but necessary...Elevator can not hold big equipment. New opening makes for easy work and hidden way to move material in and out. I will show you...What do you see ahead?” Ivan said, with a wide grin as they walked out of the building.
“Grass and soil...What I would expect to see on the Colorado plain.”
“To be sure, but walk some more...and some more.”
Another thirty paces and they stood at the edge of a precipice twenty feet above a ravine. A road at the bottom snaked from the far edge of the fence that enclosed the thirty-five acre site and sloped to a loading dock below.
“Never would have guessed it was there...Fits seamlessly into the site.”
“Is how I design...Trucks pass through hidden gate and proceed undetected to loading dock. Cargo and men depart from facility undetected.”
“Sheer genius...My compliments...But, I didn’t notice it on diagrams of the site.”
“Should remain so...Is secret which may serve well if we need quick exit.”
“Hope that doesn’t happen. By the way, what is the activity below?”
“Clients from California...They are to stay a long time .”
“I assume they’re unloading cargo for storage in the technical dome?”
“Materiel, I am told must be underground...To be stored in silo service area. I have no knowledge of content...Is confidential Consortium business.”
There was an uncomfortable silence before Gunter spoke, “I believe, my new friend, that traveling has gotten to me...not to mention, vodka. If you could show me to my quarters, I will rest.”
“Director’s apartment is in Command Dome. My belongings are moved to crew quarters in aboveground building...Close to men I supervise. I have short notice of your arrival...Some of my possessions may still be in there. Tell guard outside door if you wish them to be moved tonight.”
“Guard?”
“Yes...Commissioner says guard must be outside quarters when you are here.”
“To guard me from what, or whom?”
“Maybe visitors we have...Maybe something else...I do not know.”
“I’ll speak with him.”
LICIA MARTINEZ’S DORM ROOM
BOULDER, COLORADO
“I can’t believe everything worked out like it did,” Star screeched. “We’re actually going on the camping trip. I don’t know what your uncle said when they had dinner, but it worked.”
“He can be pretty persuasive,” Licia replied. “Has a way with words.”
“Doesn’t hurt that he’s a stud.”
“Don’t know if I’d go that far...”
“You’d be drooling all over him if he wasn’t your uncle.”
“Never thought about it.” Although, in reality, she had. “But even if he wasn’t, he’s like, old.”
“Isn’t that the dream of some college girls...Affair with an older guy...like a professor or wealthy businessman?”
“Again, never thought about it...Too busy trying to figure out my schedule and how I’m going to find study time. By the way, what’s your major? Mine’s business and pre-law.”
“Mom wants me to go into entertainment management...so she can have someone she trusts handling her money.”
“Has she had trouble?”
“When she was just starting out...Boy friend who was her manager for a couple of years...Split with mom’s make-up girl and a couple million bucks...Guess that’s how you learn.”
“You’re lucky...Mom’s been touring since I was little. My nannies never wanted to fight with me over stuff like that, so I pretty much did what I wanted...Which is probably why she insisted on a bodyguard when I got older. Kind of wish somebody watched over me like your dad.”
“Where’s your dad?”
“Dead from a drug overdose when I was three...You probably heard about it...Dirk Pendergrass, lead singer of The Untamed.”
“Don’t really follow gossip stuff.”
Licia had recently read the sordid details of the rock and roll lifestyle that claimed Pendergrass’ life. “But that’s all history, anyway. Right now, we need to get you setup for the camping trip. I’ll tell security so they’ll get the car while we get dressed.”
Forty minutes later a highly polished, black Suburban with heavily tinted, bullet-resistant windows pulled away from the curb in front of the dormitory with the two young woman in the back seat. Gwen was in the passenger seat in front and Brad, “Dog” Johnson, Star’s risk management specialist, drove.
Star noticed that Dog kept watching the rearview mirrors and even checked under his jacket to insure the 1911 A, .45 caliber pistol he called Joan, after an ex-wife, was firmly in place.
They stopped at an intersection for a traffic signal. He cut across two lanes of traffic when it turned green, causing a squeal of brakes and chorus of honking horns from cars he barely missed. Dog took the right turn with the heavy vehicle leaning sharply. Everybody strained against their seat belts.
Star screeched, “What the hell you trying to do, kill us?”
“Sorry,” he said in a calm voice. “No time to warn you...A white van’s tailing us...Wanted to see if I could shake it.”
“Must have worked,” she replied with a sarcastic tone. “Prob’ly just as pissed off as the other drivers...Was that really necessary?”
“Only if you want to be safe...It’s two of us against who knows how many of them.”
“Did it work?”
“Maybe not...They just turned the corner.”
***
CHAPTER 11
VENTILATION TUNNEL PLATFORM
OUTSIDE BSOG OPERATIONS CENTER
Jake drove a locknut into a crack in the rock face next to the concrete platform while Joanna anchored a braided climbing rope to the base that supported the lifting winch. She fed him the other end of the line and he threaded it through a loop attached to the locknut. He ran about a hundred feet through before locking it off with a looped Prusik knot. The opening in the mountain was slightly below them and on the other side of a rock slide.
“That should be more than enough to reach whatever is over there,” he commented.
“Or at least enough for exploring.”
They went by the dormitory earlier to change clothes and to the BSOG storage area in a secure warehouse to pick up climbing gear.
She was glad they included jackets, since there was a chill to the air and the smell of an incoming storm.
The guards at the entrance offered skeptical looks when they returned to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex with backpacks and climbing ropes over their shoulders, but said nothing.
The special passes that had been reluctantly issued a few days before gave them unfettered access to anyplace in the mountain except for the security center. Besides, the word had spread to avoid conflict with members of the BSOG.
Ten minutes later they were buzzed into the outer entrance to the isolated part of the mountain that was their command center.
“You two like this place so much you can’t stay away, even when you’re off duty?” the gentle gibe came from Technical Sergeant Jesse Matanane, their entry control person. He was a full-blooded Kickapoo from McLoud, Oklahoma who took his job seriously, but always had a smile on his face.
“Naw, Jess,” Jake replied. “Gonna do a little exploring back in the cave.”
“Be safe...We still gonna work out Friday?”
“If you’re ready to get your butt tossed around.”
“Always ready for some Judo.”
Jake and Joanna finished signing in and passed through the concealed entrance to the ops center. Twenty minutes later they were ready to step over the pipe railing and work their way across the side of the mountain.
“Think I got my harness a little tight,” he commented.
She grinned. “Something in danger?...Wanna go back?”
“Think I can live with it.”
They strategically placed locknuts across the fifty-foot span of the rock slide in case they lost their grip and fell. Both were soon on the other side of the outcropping, standing on a ledge that continued past the opening in front of the cave. It gradually sloped down the other side toward the road below.
“No footsteps or any sign of disturbance...Wonder why nobody’s poked around in here?”
“Probably that rock fall,” Jake answered, pointing to a hundred foot wide pile below them. “Debris piled up would block the view of the opening from below and the outcropping above would do the same thing.”
“Makes sense.” She pulled a flashlight from her backpack. “Like to know more...Opening looks manmade...Let’s see where it goes.”
“Why not,” he said as he fished in his pack for a flashlight and glow sticks. They were useful for checking to make sure a cave wasn’t occupied by a hibernating animal.
A dozen steps inside showed it had once been a mine. Old wooden beams supported the ceiling, but dry rot and neglect made it precarious.
“Don’t know how much further we should go...Looks a little dicey,” he said.
“Scaredy cat...Been here forever...Hasn’t fallen-in, yet.”
“Day ain’t over.”
A few more steps proved her wrong as they encountered solid rock and dirt that blocked their progress.
“Uh, looks like a cave-in to me.”
She made a rude noise while exploring the wall of material with her flashlight. “Look...Up there...Opening of some kind.”
“Oh, yeah, at the very top...Doesn’t look big enough to enter.”
“Maybe not you...Pretty sure I can squeeze through.”
“Question is, do you really want to?”
She looked askance at him.
“Because, it could maybe collapse the rest of the way?” A frown formed on his already dusty face.
“You’ll be here to rescue me if it does.”
“I don’t know...Looks kinda risky...”
She brushed past him before he could finish the sentence and left a trail of footprints up the fifteen-foot distance to the opening. Her head and shoulders barely fit through the space as she went in with her arms above her, flashlight in hand.
He heard muffled sounds but couldn’t make out the words. Tugging on her feet produced no results, so he grabbed both of her legs and pulled her back.
She came out of the hole and slapped at him three times without much success. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Making sure we both have all the information...What’s in there?”
The petulant look was replaced with one of excitement as she began a rapid-fire report. “Oh, man, it’s really cool...Bunch of wooden crates with US Army markings...Cases of C-Rations...Mummified bodies in old-fashion fatigues. Looks like there was a fire of some kind...Blackened...But, mostly not burnt...Like Indiana Jones, or something...You gotta see it!”
“Slow down...There enough room to stand up?”
“Once you get past the opening...Not a lot, but we can move around.”
“Can I fit through?”
“Have to make the hole a little bigger, but seems pretty firm.”
Jake had already found his folding shovel. They took turns scraping dirt out of the opening until it was almost large enough to accommodate both of them.
; “Think that’s about enough,” he cautioned. “Don’t wanna cause a cave in.” He had taken off his shirt and was now covered in a fine sheen of dust-covered sweat that colored his chest hair a light tan.
“Here, let me wipe you off.” She grabbed a hand towel from her pack to brush the dirt away.
He held his arms up at first while she worked, but eventually moved them down to encircle her.
She looked up into his hazel eyes.
“Never noticed how blue your eyes are,” he whispered and brought his face close to hers.
She closed her eyes and parted her lips. The moment their mouths touched she felt a wave of excitement course through every part of her body.
“Mmm,” she murmured as they lingered and clung to each other. Finally she placed her hands on his chest and gently nudged him back. “We’re supposed to be exploring...”
“I am...Oh, you mean the cave?”
“Let’s concentrate on the task at hand and I don’t mean your hands.”
They turned toward the opening in unison and started up the pile of rock and dirt. He put out his arm to stop her progress.
“Hang on a minute...Need to come up with a better plan than just rushing headlong into this.”
“Why? What harm is there in looking?”
“May be a crime scene...Don’t know who they are or how they died...Plus, there may be hazardous substances...Don’t know what’s in the crates...Could be unstable explosives or other chemicals.”
The excited look faded from her face. “Hadn’t thought of all that, but you’re right...could be dangerous.”
“What happens if we go in there and something explodes...even a small amount? Might cause another cave-in...We’d be trapped and nobody’d know it.”
“So, what do you wanna do?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “For the time being...nothing. Nobody else knows and none of it’s going anywhere in a hurry. We research who they might be and how they ended up in there...Technically, it’s a burial site.”
“Well, then, guess we might want to get back to the base and figure out what to do about supper.”
“Exactly...Exploring has made me hungry...”
She grinned. “Everything makes you hungry.”
