Denver, CO
“Sir! I have some great news. We have a credible report on Asher Creighton’s location.” Howard stood at the door to Petteri’s office, positively giddy with excitement.
“At the Crow reservation?” he asked, not sharing the enthusiasm. He’d almost sent Misha there straightaway, rather than Denver, so he hoped it wasn’t the case.
“No, not even close. One of our reconnaissance assets picked up a 9-1-1 call and we got a hit on the license plate of a National Park Service vehicle. The man speaking with the operator said the truck looked like it had been rolled over a few times, with missing paint and dented fenders. I’d stake my reputation it belongs to the woman, the park service ranger.”
“So, where are they? We can send a team out and put an end to this nonstop pain in my ass.”
“I don’t think they’ll have to go far, but I can’t tell for certain. The Colorado State Police have taken over the 9-1-1 system due to all the stresses we’ve placed on local law enforcement. As best I can tell, the call came from somewhere north of Denver.”
“Longmont? Greeley?” he asked, trying to remember what other towns were to the north.
“No, closer than that. Possibly as close as Thornton. I looked at the police report, but it didn’t have an address attached to it. An anonymous man called in the plates six times in fifteen minutes, so whatever they did, it must have pissed this guy off really bad. In looking at the paperwork for the case, I learned Asher Creighton’s parents live in Highlands Ranch, which is a suburb of Denver. If he came all the way from Montana over the past two days, it might be where he’s going.”
“This is great news,” Petteri said, immediately thinking of the implications. He didn’t like the idea of diverting resources from his operation for purely personal reasons, but it became a lot easier to justify his actions if those resources didn’t have to go far from his dig site. He could also bring some of those assets back into the fray. “I want you to call Misha. Tell him to get his ass to this building as soon as possible. When my Venezuela team finally makes it here, delay their, uh, meeting with Mr. Gagarin. I want them to go to Mr. Creighton’s house immediately. I have something else in mind for our Russian friend.”
Petteri had one more card to play. “Is Diedre here?”
Howard nodded quickly. “Almost. She had to be driven from the airport and picked up in a field by a helicopter, like we did for Stricker. When she makes it here, I’m going to put her in an interior room, without communications, so we can keep control over what she sees and whom she speaks with.”
“You’ll tell me when she’s ready to answer a few questions?”
“Of course. It’s—”
Petteri held up his hand. “He’s on!”
Stricker’s ugly face came on the big screen television sitting in the corner of his office. It was obviously a hastily constructed news conference taking place in front of the asteroid mining operation on the street below. After all their negotiations, the news conference would make it official.
“Let’s see if Stricker is true to his word.”
Chapter 13
Denver, CO
Grace drove for another few minutes after getting by the old man and his lawn chair, but they quickly approached the end of their journey. They’d made it to an industrial area at the edge of the taller buildings of central Denver. Hundreds of railroad cars were parked up ahead. Several tracks crossed bridges over the creek, and many ended inside a rusty-looking train shed to their left. “Maybe someone’s in that place. We should ask where to go from here.”
The bike path was relatively empty, though a few riders came down from nearby buildings and pedaled away. The stream went on, along with the trail, but the damaged ball field sat a half mile behind the railroad depot. It may have been the start of many people’s journey, but it was the end of theirs. It was time to leave the path.
“I like your plan,” Shawn said from the back seat. “We can ask if they know where the TKM operation is set up. These guys have probably been on the job here since the beginning. Railroaders are some of the hardest-working people you’ll ever meet.”
“If you say so,” she agreed. “Ash, what do you think?”
Asher faced forward, absently tapping his watch.
“Ash?” she repeated.
“What? Oh. I think we should ask them, too. I see trucks and cranes on the bridge up ahead.” He pointed to a vehicle bridge among the three others built for the trains. All the trucks and cars were stopped up there.
“We can park in this railroad yard, but we might have to go on foot,” she said quietly.
She drove up a gentle slope of gravel and entered the train yard. As she came closer to the giant building, she got the sense it was designed for the repair of train engines and other cars. Hundreds of fresh-looking metal wheels were lined up next to the building, and there were numerous engines in various states of repair. One had been torn apart completely. Its outer shell sat next to the machine, reminding her of discarded clothing.
Grace pulled up to the entrance, which had six rows of tracks going into the vaulted building. Inside, her assumption of a repair yard was confirmed. Several cranes hung from the ceiling. One held up an entire flatbed railroad car. Far in the back, sparks were thrown around by someone who seemed to be grinding metal.
“Let’s check it out,” she said, grabbing her hat and exiting the truck.
The other three got out and flanked her as she strode down the oily tracks. The screeching and buzzing from the metalworker pierced her eardrums. It also made it impossible to talk.
The repair worker was wedged between two wheels of another train engine. Sparks bounced wildly underneath the frame of the big machine, and many also splashed to the next track over. It seemed like a major fire hazard, though as she scanned the area for flammable things, she didn’t find any. The back walls were metal, as was the ceiling. She waited until the man took a break, which didn’t happen for about two minutes. “Hello!”
The guy jolted upright, hitting his head on the underside of the engine. “Damn! You scared me. What are you doing in here? I don’t have any money.” The Hispanic man wore a blue jumpsuit, though it was filthy with oil and grease. He tilted his heavy welder’s mask, revealing his flash-burned face.
Ash held up his hands. “We aren’t here to rob you. We’re armed to keep from getting robbed ourselves.”
“That’s great, but why did you come in here?” the man said cautiously.
“We’re looking for information about what’s going on in the city.” She pointed behind him, which was the direction of the damaged stadium and, she assumed, the fallen asteroid.
He came out from between the wheels and stood up. She took notice of the wrinkled face and stooped posture. Grace figured he was in his sixties, or maybe even seventies. He appeared to have spent his entire life under cars or trains. It was a look she recognized from Dad’s friends in the automotive repair industry. His hands were in gloves, but she’d bet they were thick with calluses.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
Shawn stepped closer. “We’re looking for the people in charge. We think TKM is down there. Possibly at the same place as the meteorite.”
“We want to kick his ass,” Logan added.
Shawn glared at his son, but quickly faced the man. “Sorry. We don’t want to hurt anyone.”
The man shrugged. “I don’t care if you do. As best I can tell, he’s the one who’s made my life miserable. I want to go back home, but every road in and out of downtown is now a parking lot. I have too far to go to walk.”
“We drove in on the bike path. Maybe you could drive out?”
“Way ahead of you. I live to the south, so I walked the bike path for a few minutes through downtown, mainly to see if it went all the way through the traffic. Unfortunately, it goes right into the wreckage. There’s no getting around it.”
“Is TKM down there?” Shawn pressed.
“I
have no idea. I’ve been working on this pile of trash around the clock.” He reached up and banged the outer skin of the big diesel engine. The orange and yellow machine didn’t appear very old, but she took his word it wasn’t in the best shape. “If I can get it running, it’s how I’m going to save myself a long walk.”
“Can you?” she asked, realizing they’d have to escape the city at some point, as well.
He motioned all around the giant hangar-like train depot. “I have every tool known to man when it comes to heavy trains. I probably have enough parts to build an identical version of this engine about six times over. What I lack is time. Maybe if I had some help…”
Grace couldn’t afford to spend time tooling around on a train engine and was about to say as much, but Shawn Runs Hard spoke first. “My son can stay with you and help finish the repairs. We’ll be back after we talk to the head of TKM.”
The man seemed as grateful as Logan was shocked.
“Dad, no! I want to come with you.”
Shawn stepped closer to his son. “I don’t know what we’re going to find out there, but this seems like the last safe place before we get into trouble. I want to know you’re safe, and if you can help someone at the same time, it’s a double win.”
“I don’t even know him,” Logan said with his best effort at sounding calm and reasonable.
Shawn looked back and forth between Logan and the man. “What’s your name, sir?”
“Robert.”
“Robert, meet my son, Logan. Logan, meet Robert.”
Logan smiled as best he could.
“It would be awesome to have a couple of extra hands,” Robert went on. “And if you guys want a ride when I leave, I’ll wait for you to come back.”
She saw the look of distaste on Logan’s face, but she knew exactly why Shawn took the risk to drop off his son. Without the screams of the grinder, gunshots echoed through the thin metal walls. It sounded a little like the Fourth of July.
Maybe working on trains would be boring to the boy, but it would be a lot safer.
St. Charles, MO
“We don’t look suspicious, do we?” Ezra asked as he, Butch, Haley, and the puggle happily walked the streets of the St. Charles Historic District.
Haley fought Liam’s leash as the puppy tried to pull her along. Its nails dug into the pavement as he frantically swung his little legs like he was running fifty miles an hour. The strong young lady was more than capable of keeping her dog in line, but her arm jerked with each tug.
“We’re out walking our dog,” Butch said in a reasonable tone, afraid someone in the houses nearby might turn them in.
“It doesn’t take all three of us,” Ezra said with a laugh.
“For this one, it might,” Haley replied. “I normally only walk him around the block. If we’re going all the way to the store, we might have to take turns.”
Butch did a quick double-take. “Wait. You can pull that huge tire around your back alleyway, but this little guy makes you tired?”
She giggled. “Wait until you take a turn. I don’t know what it is about him, but he never lets up on pulling. I know he isn’t trying to get away from me; we get along great. But, dang, he loves pulling at this leash every second we’re outside.”
“Maybe he wants to be free,” Ezra suggested.
“I had a cat like that,” Haley responded instantly. “Her name was Victoria. She would spend her days inspecting each window and door, always on the prowl for the one that would let her out of the house. We caught her trying to escape probably a dozen times.”
“Do you still have her?” Butch asked. “I didn’t see any cats in your house.”
“I, uh,” she stuttered for a few seconds, “don’t believe it.” Haley pointed to a police cruiser coming around a corner about fifty feet ahead of them. The officer in the driver’s seat had his window down and was looking directly at the three of them.
Without waiting, Haley stepped off the sidewalk and walked through the lawn of a small single-family home. Liam was pleased to be off the hard concrete; he anxiously ran toward the wooded backyard.
He and Butch shared a concerned look, but Butch was already on the move.
“Follow me, please,” Haley said as if leading a walking tour of wine country.
The house backed up to a small creek. Many homeowners had put privacy fences around their yards, making it easy to stay hidden from the street. On the far side of the creek, where he expected another row of homes, he instead found a small tree-covered rise. It kept them shielded from that direction. Ezra was positive he heard the roaring engine of the police car, though he had no idea if it was coming or going. He also had no idea why they had to stay away from it. They weren’t carrying weapons. Well, except for…
“Hey, are you afraid they’re going to find that pistol?” he asked Haley, who was a good twenty feet ahead. “Is the gun why we’re hiding?”
She seemed to think on it for a few paces. “Yeah. This is my only means of self-defense. If they take it away, I’m hosed.”
Ezra didn’t think of her as a shrinking violet at all. She could probably take care of herself in most any situation. However, guns were the great equalizer. If bad guys broke into her home, and she had no gun, no amount of physical strength or agility could save her. He thought of Grace and how he would feel if she’d been put at risk by those around her. Even good guys could make mistakes.
He slowed, trying to decide if they were being too selfish. Why did she need the gun to go to the store? Were things worse in St. Charles than she let on?
In moments, Butch and Haley were obscured by trees as they jogged the footpath next to the small creek. Before they got too far on their adventure, he had to get some answers. He needed to think ahead.
“We’re here,” Haley called out from the dense greenery ahead.
“I can see it,” Butch added. “Bass Pro is right across the street.”
He closed the distance to rejoin them, certain Haley wasn’t telling them everything.
Chapter 14
Denver, CO
Grace and Asher walked ahead of Shawn as they left the train yard next to Robert’s repair shop. She figured he lagged behind due to leaving his son, so she gave him a little time to adjust. She hopped across more train tracks, following a pair of them going toward the center of the city.
“What’s downtown like?” she asked Asher.
“It’s always been pretty clean. Lots of tourists come here to shop and look at the mountains.” He pointed to them. The white-capped mountain range was easily visible from where they were, even though it was still thirty miles away. “But most of them visit the lower downtown area, where they have restaurants, bars, and that.”
They both looked ahead to the fancy baseball stadium at the edge of the high-rises. It was constructed of red brick and black steel, and appeared new and fresh. Tall brick apartment buildings sat to one side, designed to peek over the upper decks. Even from their vantage point about a mile away, it was apparent the stadium had been damaged.
“Do you think the asteroid did that?” she asked, knowing it was almost certainly true.
“Yes and no,” Asher replied after checking out the surrounding buildings. “It probably rolled close to it, but the broken girders and fallen walls on the other side were destroyed by flying debris, not the rock itself.”
“But we’re getting close?” she continued.
“The people we passed on the path said the rock was in Lodo. That’s on the other side of the stadium. I’d say we’re as good as there.”
They walked underneath roadway bridges built to cross the tracks, which shielded them from the lines of trucks parked around them. There were still gunshots booming from various directions of the city, but none close to them. She’d hoped they’d dodged the worst of it, but when they passed by a bridge pylon a pair of dark-clad people were waiting for them, guns drawn.
“Keep on walking!” a man shouted. He pointed a black shotgun at t
hem.
The three of them put their hands up. “We’re with the park service,” she lamely responded.
Everyone likes park rangers.
The man spoke at a more reasonable volume. “Park rangers? What in God’s name are you doing down here?”
“You mean under this bridge?” she asked, finally getting a good look at the police officer.
He lowered his shotgun. A female officer sitting next to him had also drawn a pistol, which she held low as well. A third person was sprawled on the ground beyond her, though it was impossible to determine if it was a man or woman due to the heavy riot gear they all wore.
The man chuckled. “No, not under this bridge. What are you doing in the city? Don’t you know the whole state of Colorado has converged here for a scavenger hunt?”
Asher took a step forward. “You’re talking about the asteroid remains. We’re trying to find it.”
The officer seemed to raise his shotgun back up. “Are you with the rest of them? Are you trying to get a piece for yourself?”
“No,” he reassured the man. “We want to find TKM’s head guy. He’s the one responsible for all this destruction. We believe he’s here overseeing things.”
The tired cop put his shotgun against the concrete. “You’re probably right. We’ve had a good relationship with TKM for the past several days, but the situation is now totally out of hand. We got paid a ton of money to protect the mining effort, but there was no way to prevent all the prospectors from going in. You saw all the trucks?”
Everyone looked straight up. The trucks stood sentinel on the bridge above them.
“Yes, we saw them crowding the highways to the north of here. There were thousands of vehicles. We had to drive on the bike path to avoid those roads.”
The man seemed to think on it. “I’m surprised you got through. I mean, I didn’t think there was enough room for a motorized vehicle to fit on a bike route.”
Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 70
