by RM Brewer
They must have cut a tree down, he thought, looking at the fresh stump and a stack of wood piled next to the cabin. "Actually, several trees," he muttered, noticing rings of sawdust and two more tree stumps. He walked over in the woods and stood next to the second stump, then pushed a few of the logs in the pile over, revealing a hole blasted in the side of one log. "Gotcha," Isaiah said. About five minutes later, he was finished carving a hole in the log and retrieved a slug. "Wow, Jodie. What went on here? This looks like some serious ammo."
Isaiah searched the cabin again, and locked it on his way out. The report he received late last night indicated there was some trouble with Jodie’s neighbor too, so Isaiah got back in his SUV and pulled out of the rutted path and onto the forest road. He drove about a mile before he saw the first driveway and turned in. The place looked quiet. Maybe too quiet. Isaiah pulled his muddy vehicle in front of the cabin, got out, and approached the door. He knocked. No answer. He leaned over and tried to get a view of the cabin interior through the front window. Everything looked okay, no evidence of a break-in and no sign of anyone at home. Nothing here to look at, nothing at all, Isaiah thought, which for him was a huge red flag. "Time to see what’s up the mountain," he said.
Getting back into his rental, Isaiah followed the forest road as far as he could take it. The road appeared to be freshly graded, making the trip much easier than what he experienced earlier. He found it odd they didn't grade the other road, too. He was starting to feel quite confident in his assessment that a highly skilled cleaning crew had come in and cleaned up the mess. Isaiah was sure they were responsible for starting the vehicles blocking the forest road on fire, too. He drove until the road narrowed into a pathway and pulled the truck over to the side, stopping and watching for any movement. When he was satisfied he was alone, Isaiah jumped out of the vehicle, grabbed his map and a bottle of water, and started walking.
About half an hour later, something lying on the side of the path caught his attention. Isaiah bent down to investigate, finding a Three Musketeers bar wrapper. Even though it might mean nothing, he took a photo of it lying on the ground, bagged it and noted its location on his map. About a mile ahead, his hike ended at the base of a steep incline. Checking the map, it seemed like the tunnel he'd read about must be close, so Isaiah took out his GPS unit and entered the coordinates he sought while checking for tracks, human footprints, or anything that would tell him where Jodie and Bob walked. Looking down, he noticed a black, tarry substance on his pants and reached down to wipe it off with a tissue. The tissue came back stained red. He looked around closely at all of the vegetation. Blood was everywhere on the ground, mixed with the morning dew on the shrubbery, staining the trampled wildflowers. Isaiah started to fear the worst for Jodie and Bob.
He prayed that this blood wasn't theirs as he continued following the GPS signal to the coordinates Jodie gave him earlier. He stopped in his tracks when he stepped down and heard a hollow sound. Whatever he was standing on was not forest soil. He stamped his foot down again, hearing the emptiness of the sound below him. He reached down, pulling away a thin layer of pine needles and dug about six inches down. Feeling a flat surface, he kept digging, sweeping away needles and soil, clawing at the dirt. Finally, the edge of a piece of plywood was visible. Isaiah lifted it, pushing hard upwards as soil slid off the board. He shoved the board aside and soil spilled through a grate and into a vent below, making a far away echo underground.
Isaiah took out his flashlight and shined it down into the cavern below. A dim greenish darkness greeted him. He called out Jodie's name, then Bob's. No response. He thought he could hear the echo of something deep down in the earth. This has to be it, he thought. The entrance. He tugged on the grate, not able to budge it. Just when he was thinking there would be no way anyone could have moved it, he saw dried blood smeared down the wall of the vent. He followed it up to the top, thinking, someone was hurt going in here. Isaiah called out frantically again for Bob and Jodie, tugging on the grate and hearing only silence from below.
Knowing the idea of getting into the vent was hopeless, Isaiah thought about his next move. "Time for me to pay a visit to your father, Jodie," he said. He replaced the board and covered it with the displaced soil and pine needles, taking care to conceal it as best he could. Then, Isaiah ran as fast as he could to his vehicle.
* * *
Evan Watts poured himself a double Crown Royal and sat at his desk, waiting. The office he occupied was paneled in dark wood and lined with bookshelves. Recently, he’d begun replacing his aeronautics and hydrodynamics texts with selected works of Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence and Hunter Thompson. Most afternoons, he could be found immersed in these, his favorite stories. He felt the comfort of being transported back to a simpler time, a time when all things were possible and his life felt like a beautiful gift.
He stared out the window of his tenth floor office, realizing that he never really looked at anything the same way since his divorce. Now that what was left of his life was all coming to an end, he was finally taking time to smell the flowers, so to speak. He let the irony of the situation strike him. Wait until the show is just about over and look back at the years as if they were a series of photographs. Only, he didn’t like the pictures he was seeing, especially of the time he left his little girl standing in his parents’ driveway, crying her eyes out.
Jodie was so smart, even as a tiny girl. When other children were reading nursery rhymes, she was already consuming literature by the bookcase. He remembered her sitting in front of the fireplace at seven years old, engrossed in the fantastic tales of Ray Bradbury and impending doom of Aldous Huxley, thinking how odd it was for a little girl to be so enthralled with such serious subject matter. On one hand, he was so proud of his little girl. On the other, he was concerned she’d never find joy in simple things as a child.
When Jodie was eight years old, Evan Watts knew that he would lose her for good. The day he dropped her off, handing her over to his mother, was the saddest and most confusing day of his life. He drove fast, away from his parents' house, into the forest, and parked the car on the side of the road. There he stayed for two hours, sobbing, cursing his wife, Helen, and that damn Gypsum Corporation.
As the years went by, he knew Jodie would never really be a normal part of his life. She’d hate him for what he’d taken part in. She would never understand why he had to do what he did until he followed through with his own little part of the plan. Then, she would hate him for that, too.
The last time Evan Watts heard from his daughter, he knew he’d run out of time. Once Jodie became aware of something, some clue, a lead, a direction to move in, her progress would be swift. Even though he was sure she knew nothing too specific, he also felt in his heart if anyone could find out, it would be her. Then, he received a call from the FBI. A man named Isaiah was coming to see him today, wanting information about his involvement in the Gypsum Corporation. He said Jodie was missing and likely in danger. He sipped on the Crown Royal, hoping his fears would be calmed so he could think about his next move.
The buzzer on his desk beeped and Evan pressed the intercom button. "Yes, Shirley?"
"There’s an Isaiah Thomas here to see you."
"Please send him in. Thank you, Shirley. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? Mr. Thomas and I will likely be talking for some time."
"Thank you, sir. Do you need anything before I leave?"
"No, but thank you for asking. I’ll see you in the morning." Evan could hear the click of the intercom, followed by his office door opening. Shirley escorted Isaiah in, said good night to both men and closed the door behind her.
Evan walked toward Isaiah in the center of the room and shook his hand. "Evan Watts. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Thomas."
"Please call me Isaiah, thank you."
"And me, Evan. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business. Isaiah, you said Jodie might be in danger. Do you have any idea where she is?"
"Yes, I d
o. But first, what can you tell me about the Gypsum Corporation and their involvement with the military?"
Evan Watts felt unsteady on his feet. He sat down on the couch in his office. "I can tell you a lot, Isaiah. But, you’re going to have a hard time believing most of it."
Isaiah sat in a chair across from Evan. "I think I know some of it already. Why don’t I tell you what I know and you can stop me when you have something to add? Okay?"
Evan nodded as Isaiah pulled a notepad out of his jacket pocket and started reading.
"The Gypsum Corporation is a worldwide conglomerate, specializing in aeronautical navigation and development of alternative energy sources for space travel. You worked for them for about ten years and quit your full-time involvement shortly after your divorce from Helen, who is Jodie’s mother. Helen still works for the company and is the chief of Aeronautical Advancement. You provide consulting services for them yet, correct?"
"Yes. So far, so good," Evan said, thinking how similar Isaiah and his daughter were. Focused on the details, trying to find the truth.
"I’ve been helping Jodie investigate several suspicious deaths around Crescent City. What seems to keep coming up over and over with these cases is exposure to radiation. Jodie’s arm was burned when she came into contact with a dead woman on the forest road going up to her cabin. Did you know that?"
Evan Watts felt sick to his stomach, thinking about Jodie being injured. "No. I didn’t. We don't ... Helen and I ... don't have a close relationship with Jodie. I've only seen her once or twice a year since she was a little girl. To my knowledge, she hasn't seen her mother for almost five years. How bad was it? The burn, I mean?"
"It was second and third degree, but only on a small portion of her arm. There were other people affected, too. Two boys came into contact with a corpse floating in the river and both were burned. What really got me wondering was the case of a woman named Leah, who lived near Crescent City in the sixties when she was a child. She was burned on the day her cousin went missing. Presumably, the cousin was abducted. Leah developed extensive burns on her arms and the analysis of those burns pointed toward radiation exposure. That led to me thinking about energy sources and the Gypsum Corporation’s name kept coming up over and over again as I conducted my investigation."
Evan Watts was starting to feel angry. He gulped the remainder of his drink and stood. "Can I get you one of these while I pour myself another?"
"No. Thank you, but don’t you think you might want to keep your wits about you? I mean, I’m going to ask for your help on this and need you functional."
Ignoring Isaiah, Evan poured himself another drink. He wanted to tell Isaiah everything, but was starting to feel the full weight of the situation. The drinks might help him to finally tell the truth. He would need to if he was going to find his daughter. "Where is Jodie?"
"I think she’s in the tunnel. You know what I mean, don’t you?"
Evan felt panic creeping over him. He pictured Jodie, lost underground, not knowing the danger she’d put herself in. "Yes, I know what you mean. Tell me what else you know."
"Jodie asked me to do some research on the underground installation in the mountain above her cabin. I found some correspondence the Bureau received from a man named Lucas Bender, who apparently worked for the Gypsum Corporation. He sent an email to a field agent that was very disturbing. It had a message in it that something called Number 49 would trigger a catastrophic event, but I couldn’t make out what that meant because most of it had been redacted. I only made out the number. I have no idea what that means. Do you?"
Evan Watts stared down at the swirling ice in his glass, not responding.
"I sent a text message to Jodie about it. I didn’t know what else to do, other than to make her aware of the number. I told her to stop it."
"You did what?" Evan stood up abruptly. "You don’t realize what you’re dealing with. Number 49 is a train car housing a massive explosive device. We have to go and get her out and we have to do that right now. I have a lot to tell you, but we have to get moving right away."
"Hold on," Isaiah said. "What do you mean? What kind of explosive device?"
"Big enough to trigger a tectonic shift underneath the entire northern half of the state. Is that enough information for you? I know this is a lot to take in, but if we don’t take action now, I can guarantee you we’ll all be dead by the time you find out I’m telling the truth. There’s no time to waste."
CHAPTER 23
The train rocketed through the dark tunnel, its occupants thrust into high alert. The smell of food was definitely in the air, which could only mean they were coming close to some sort of civilization. Jodie could only assume that whomever they would find wouldn’t be friendly. She listened for a change in the sound of the gently humming train, signaling they were slowing down.
Jodie wondered about the plan to jump off before it arrived at the platform, knowing that not everyone in the group could accomplish this feat without serious injury. She knew she’d be staying on the train with Leah, waiting to see who would be meeting them. It was their only chance, even if they had to split up. Someone had to find a way out to get help and Jodie wanted Bob to be the one to do it. He had a life above the ground. A full life with a family who needed him and she was alone, with no one, not even a normal relationship with her parents. Everyone kept at arm's length all these years to avoid being hurt. Yet, here she was in this situation, with new friendships beginning. Not with just anyone, but for the first time in her life, with people she felt comfortable being herself around. The irony of the situation seemed cruel.
The essence of lavender floated in the room and Jodie closed her eyes, imagining what it would be like to wrap Mei in her arms and be lost in that embrace. The thought was fleeting as she let the gentle vibration of the train guide her softly into long overdue slumber. Jodie slept a dreamless sleep, her mind too spent to contain thoughts. It seemed to her to be only moments later when a far away voice floated into her unconsciousness.
"Jodie, wake up," Bob whispered, rocking her shoulder gently.
Jodie awoke with a start, her eyes wide. "What? What’s happening?" she blurted out in a raspy growl.
"We’re slowing down. Time to move," Bob said.
Jodie looked up to see everyone already moving toward the back door of the train. "Bob, you know Leah can’t do what we’re planning, right? I mean, she’d never make it onto the platform without seriously injuring herself. We can’t drag another injured person around. It would put all of us in danger."
"Yeah, I thought about that. I’ll stay with her. You take everyone else and find a way out," Bob said.
"No, I don’t think so. You can make decisions like that for yourself, but you’ve got more than only yourself to take care of now. You’re going and you know better than to argue with me, so get on with it and get them ready." Jodie could see a little bit of relief spreading on Bob’s face, mixed with what looked like sadness. She turned to Leah. "Seems like it’d be better if we stayed here, don’t you think, Leah?"
"You go, too, Jodie. I can take care of myself," Leah said, holding up her twisted cane.
Jodie smiled at Leah and stood up. "I know you can. Thanks, but no way." She turned to everyone in the back of the train. "When you jump, make sure that, if you’re falling, you tuck your arms in and roll. No one needs to get injured. Nick, will Hunter be okay with this?"
"Yeah, Hunter loves to jump, don’t you, boy?" Nick said, patting the dog’s head. Hunter responded with a brisk tail wag.
"If anyone is there to meet us where Leah and I stop, stay hidden until we find out what’s going on." As Jodie finished her sentence, the train jerked and she grabbed an overhead strap to steady herself. "Looks like it’s time."
Bob opened the rear door, ushering Nick, Christy and Noah out onto the train deck. Mei lingered behind. She turned. Jodie wanted to say something, but the words weren’t there. She reached out for Mei and pulled her close, cradling Mei’s head in
her hand, feeling her warmth. "Don’t worry, okay? We’ll find our way home."
Bob’s voice interrupted. "Mei, we have to go, now." Jodie pushed her away, reluctantly.
"Sorry, Bob, but I’m not going anywhere. Jodie needs help with Leah. Go now, or you’ll miss your chance."
Nick stuck his head in the door. "I should be the one to stay. You're gonna need help, Leah," he said.
"Come on you guys, there's no time left. You have to go now, too" Jodie said, pushing on an unyielding Mei.
Mei's feet were firmly planted. "Not gonna happen." Turning to Nick, Mei said, "We'll be fine here. Now, go before you miss your chance."
Jodie shrugged at Bob. She didn't know if anywhere was safe, on or off the train. It seemed pointless to argue. "Go ahead, Bob. We'll see you soon anyway."
She stepped over by Leah. "We better get down now." They crouched below the window. Jodie hoped Mei hadn’t made the wrong decision, but she could see the pain etched all over Leah’s face, and felt a little relieved that Mei decided to stay with them. The train started to slow down and they strained to see over the edge of the window. Jodie stood up a little to watch as Bob hit the platform with Hunter in his arms, running, stumbling, then staying on his feet. He was followed by Nick carrying Noah, then Christy. She crouched back down. "Looks like they made it onto the platform okay."
Leah shifted on the hard floor as the train bucked. "I’m so sorry you two had to stay with me. I’m not sure what we’re going to be up against, but I have to admit, I can’t really walk too well any more. If you have to leave me, I understand."
