“Walter!” Candace said scolding.
Stone met Walter’s eyes. He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Walter asked.
“No.”
For a few moments, no one spoke.
Candace broke the silence. “If you switch your arm on won’t they be able to pick up the signal like before.”
“Not necessarily. It depends on how far away their monitoring gear is. Besides, I won’t leave it on but a minute. The pulses given off by my arm wouldn’t have reached enough strength in that short time to be picked up.”
“Alright. I say you do your thing.” She looked to Walter. “Are you good with that?”
“Sure,” he answered.
Stone closed his eyes a moment. “It’s done,” he said upon opening them. He turned to the iron bars. With his left hand he grasped one of the bars at the center of the grate. He pulled, and the iron groaned, but at first did not move. Then, slowly, the rock began to crumble about the edges. In another moment the grid of iron came completely loose. He set the grate to the side. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds then opened them. “My arm is offline now.” He lay back and slipped his feet into the opening. “I promise not to run away,” he said and pushed his body into the opening. He dropped approximately three feet to the rock floor.
Candace went next, slipping lithely through the passage.
Walter was much slower. His big body did not bend nor maneuver through the hole as skillfully or as smoothly as the other two. He went feet first into the hole like the others but when his feet touched the ground he lost his balance. Stone and Candace caught him before he fell.
Candace now wished that Walter hadn’t come with them. She worried that he wouldn’t be able to protect himself as well as her and Stone. He was slower, less flexible, and presented a bigger target.
Evening light slipped lazily through the open square where the iron grating had once been set into rock and crept several yards over the floor and walls painting them in shades of gray.
Walter flipped on the flashlight he had been carrying and aimed the beam ahead of them chasing away a patch of darkness. A rudimentary trail nearly six feet wide unfolded before the light. To either side of the trail was a wall that rose straight up and fused with the fifteen-foot-high ceiling. It seemed that they were in a long tunnel.”
“May I?” Stone asked gesturing to the flashlight. “I should probably lead. Caves can be quite dangerous. Not to mention what we might be facing. Anything happens to me you two can escape.”
Walter didn’t respond right away. Giving away the flashlight felt like he was giving away the reigns of leadership. But then again it made sense that Stone should go first. He was the more agile one. He could better react to any dangers or hazards they’re sure to face on their trek through this cave. Reluctantly, he handed the flashlight over to Stone.
Stone led them down a slowly descending path of rock and dirt that curved gradually to the right like a crudely made ramp. For several minutes they walked. The width of the trail stayed steady but after going so deep Walter began to feel claustrophobic. His breathing became heavier though he tried to control it. It didn’t help that it was as dark as a tomb in here except for the weak stream of light that emanated from the cheap flashlight that Stone held.
The trail suddenly widened to about ten feet as they exited the tunnel into an enormous chamber. After a few steps, Stone abruptly stopped. He aimed the beam of the flashlight ahead, and they could see where the ground broke off sharply in front of them to fall over a hundred feet into a pool of black water.
“Whoa!” Walter exclaimed. “This is incredible!” He took a tentative step toward the precipice. “This is just ...”
“The most beautiful thing,” Candace finished for him. She moved a little past Walter to stare down at the dark water. “And more than a little terrifying,” she added.
Stone turned to Walter. He shone the flashlight on his chest. “Do you feel anything?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Like a sense of where we should go next. It’s obvious we can’t go any further.”
Walter slowly shook his head. “I don’t feel anything. Only that were supposed to be here. In this general area, nothing exact.”
“No way you could have been mistaken about this vision of yours. Maybe you misinterpreted it?”
“No. I don’t think so. Many of these visions are like puzzles. I see a piece, or sometimes several pieces, in my head. I search out the first piece, and this leads to the second piece. The second to the third and so forth until the puzzle is complete. We found the first piece so there has to be a second piece somewhere nearby.”
“Okay,” Stone said. “We head back up and hopefully something will come to you. If not, we should go back and get more powerful flashlights to be sure we’re not missing something.”
Stone headed back up the path more slowly this time as he panned the walls with the flashlight looking for any irregularities.
They had only gone about thirty feet when Walter abruptly stopped. “Hold up!” he said loudly.
“Do you feel something?” Stone asked.
“Yes. But I’m not sure what it means. It’s like a sudden nervousness.”
“We must be close,” Stone said. He began looking more earnestly at the walls enclosing them. After a minute he paused the beam of the flashlight on a spot on the wall close to the ceiling. “Do you see it?”
“See what?” Candace asked.
“There’s a flat piece of metal on the wall. Looks to be an air vent.”
Walter and Candace looked up where Stone had paused the light.
“I don’t see anything,” Walter said.
“Me neither,” Candace said.
“The metal is the same color as the walls. Your eyes may not be able to discriminate the subtle differences in this dull light.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Candace said, “but what does ...” her words broke off as she understood the significance. “So, there must be another part to this cave beyond this wall.”
“Yes,” Walter agreed, “but how do we get past the wall? And don’t tell me we have to climb through the vent.”
“No. The vent is too small. But there must be a way in.” Stone moved over to where the vent was directly above him. He began to run his hand over the cave wall pushing and pulling, moving his hand one way then another.
Candace headed over to Stone. She stood a few feet to the side of him. “What are we looking for?”
“A hidden mechanism that would open the door to the other side. Perhaps a rock that would shift one way or another.”
“Oh, okay.” Candace moved down the wall several feet from Stone and began probing the wall.
Walter stood there and watched, at once skeptical that they would find a way in. He figured that more than likely it could be opened manually from the inside but would require a remote to open the wall from this side of the wall.
He began to wonder if Stone wasn’t right and that he completely misconstrued what the vision was telling him. Maybe the bars he saw in his mind’s eye were just supposed to let him know that there was a cave here, but not necessarily the way to enter.
“I think I’ve found something,” Candace said. She looked over at Stone while pushing on a small sunken rock near the base of the wall. It wouldn’t budge. “It moved a second ago. I pushed it in a few inches.” She looked along the wall searching for a small notch that had suddenly been revealed. She saw no evidence of such.
Stone slid beside her and began pressing on the wall just above the rock she had pushed inward. “I’m guessing we’ll find another one. Sort of like a combination lock.”
About four feet off the cave floor Stone came across a rectangular rock that he was able to shift slightly to his left. When he let go of it the rock sprung back to its original position.
A soft rumble suddenly emanated from somewhere deep inside the wall of the c
ave. Then a humming, and a sound of metal casters rolling over concrete as a jagged section of cave wall about six feet high began to trundle backward. After rolling back approximately four feet it abruptly stopped.
“I guess that clairvoyant flash I had meant something after all,” Walter said with a sense of relief.
“Let’s go,” Stone said as he slipped around the rock door, “before the door closes.”
Walter waved Candace ahead of him, then pushed through behind her.
They paused on the other side of the wall allowing their eyes to adjust to the insipid yellow light that emanated from a wide expanse of ceiling. There were no light fixtures. It was as if the ceiling was one giant night light.
Behind them, the wall trundled closed.
They looked about their surroundings. They were in a thirty-five feet by twenty feet room. Against the length of one wall was a large metal unit. Several ducts stubbed out of the top of the unit and went in various directions through different walls. On the opposite wall of the big unit was a length of electrical panels. Rows of conduits extended from the tops of the panels and through a long cavity that was near the ceiling.
In front of them was a closed metal door.
Stone stepped over to the door and pulled it open. Before him was a long set of descending stairs that steadily disappeared into a pit of blackness.
Walter and Candace moved in behind him. Stone turned to the other two. “Let’s go.” He twisted back around, pointed the flashlight into the darkness, and began to lead them down the stairs.
“When I was a kid I had prayed that I would never go to hell,” Walter said. “I hope this isn’t it.”
CHAPTER 21
James Tarter parked his car in the very back of the Ingle’s parking lot next to a pea-green Nissan Sentra. He got out of his car and slipped into the back seat of the Sentra.
Darren Strottle, a slim muscular white man, sat in the passenger seat peering out the front windshield through a pair of binoculars. He didn’t appear to notice as James settled into the center of the back seat.
Bass Robinson, a large, brawny, black man with closely cropped black hair and a days’ growth of stub over a big round face, turned around in the driver’s seat.
“What’s the status?” James asked.
“Not much to report,” Bass said. He handed James a small disc. He stuck it into his shirt pocket. “For the most part, the mayor’s meetings were rather innocuous. However, there is a point where a councilwoman named Mira Capilano has a somewhat cryptic conversation with the mayor. I’ll leave it to your interpretation.”
“Alright. Any idea what’s going on here?”
“Not sure. After their little meeting the mayor, this lady named Mira, and two other men departed rather quickly in a black Lincoln. We followed them to this motel. They parked on the shoulder of the road and hiked up to the manager’s office. Seemed a little sneaky if you ask me.”
“Can you see into the office?” James asked.
“Sure,” Darren answered. “There’s a big window to the left of the door. The window’s a little dingy, but I can make out the parties. Not much happening, though. Just a lot of talking and gesturing with the hands. Wait. They’re coming out.”
James leaned forward against the front seat. He stared through the windshield trying to discern what was happening, but because of the great distance to the motel, all he could make out were shadowy shapes. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“They’re moving down the sidewalk, mostly single file. Rather slowly, stealth-like. One man is looking about as it to see if anyone is watching. Okay, they’re stopping at one of the rooms. It appears that two of the men have drawn handguns. I only saw their hands for a moment, though, before they brought them to their sides opposite us.”
“Oh, shit,” James said. “We need to get over there.”
“No time. One of the men just unlocked the room door. They went inside.”
James Tarter held his breath. “I don’t hear gunfire,” he breathed after a long moment. “Still, we need to ...”
“They’re out,” Darren commented. “It’s just the five of them. Maybe no one was in the room.”
“Yeah,” James answered. “Let’s hope that’s true.”
“Now they seem to be arguing,” Darren continued. “Wish I could read lips.” He paused. “That didn’t take long. Looks like they made up. They’re parting ways. Four of them heading back to the car. One man, the manager I would guess, is headed back to the office.”
“I’d like to know what that was all about,” James said. He watched the four figures walk down to the street and slip into the black Lincoln parked against the curb. “Why don’t you two follow them. See if they’re calling it a night or moving on to something else.”
“You got it,” Bass answered.
James waited for the Lincoln to pass the entrance to the Ingles parking lot then quickly retreated from the back seat of the car.
Bass started up the car and pulled away in nearly one smooth motion. They merged onto the highway and increased speed rapidly until they could see the taillights of the Lincoln. Luckily, traffic was light, and Bass was able to maintain a good distance between them without the fear of other cars interfering with their tail.
They had followed the car for several miles. It began to feel as though they were merely on a Sunday drive. Neither had spoken since they left the parking lot. Finally, Bass turned to Darren. “What’s up doc? You’re awfully quiet this evening. Most of the time I can’t get you to shut up.”
“It’s nothing. I just got some things on my mind.”
“Okay, but if you want to run some things by me, I’m here.”
“Well, it’s eh, oh what the hell. Trudy and I are seeing a marriage counselor.”
“I’m sorry it’s come to that, but the fact that you’re going to a marriage counselor is good. Isn’t it?”
“I guess. We can’t seem to work it out between ourselves. Still, there’s something of a finality about it. If the counseling doesn’t work, then we’ll both have to concede that it’s over.”
“Don’t be talking like that. You’ve got to have a positive outlook. That’s the stuff you’re always telling me.”
“Yeah, but now it’s me.” Darren effected a weak smile. “It’s not easy.”
“So, how’s Kelly and Alicia taking it?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure they really understand what’s going on. They’re both awfully young. Kelly’s just five and Alicia’s eighth birthday is coming up next week. Got a big birthday party planned for her.”
“Me and Wanda invited?”
“Of course. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You is a good white man, boss,” Bass mocked.
“Oh, shut up,” Darren said.
Bass laughed, then suddenly turned serious. “Man, you and Trudy have got to stay together. You two been tight since high school. So tight that for a long stretch you forgot about your buddy Bass.”
“Hey, you can’t fight hormones.”
“True,” Bass said. “So true.
CHAPTER 22
After several moments of slowly descending into the depths of the cave via the hewed steps of rock, they came upon a wide landing. To their left was another set of descending stairs. Stone doused the flashlight. Below them, a faint light crept up the remaining stairs but faded completely just before it reached them.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Stone,” Walter whispered.
“And what’s that?”
“If you’re some kind of interplanetary bounty hunter how come you don’t have a weapon?”
“I have many weapons. Unfortunately, I cannot get to them right now. I proceeded with one weapon, but due to some malfunction, which was also the cause of the problem with my computer arm, the weapon didn’t make it to the ground with me.”
“So, how did you intend to make an arrest?”
“For the most part, I consider this a reconnaissance mi
ssion. Later, I’ll go back to where I first disembarked and try to retrieve a weapon. In the meantime, if something should arise I’m fairly good at hand to hand.”
“Walter and I have a gun,” Candace said.
“I know,” Stone answered. “Hopefully, they won’t be needed.” He gazed down the second half of the stairs. “Looks like a sign of life,” Stone whispered, referring to the dull light at the bottom of the stairs. “We might want to take it slow until we know what lies ahead.”
“No argument here,” Candace said.
“Slow it is,” Walter agreed.
They crept down the stairs in near silence. The only sound was the soft patter of their footfalls against the stone steps. When they reached the bottom, they paused before a crudely arched opening constructed of limestone and concrete. From where they stood, they could make out part of a rock wall beyond the arch, but nothing else.
Stone motioned to the other two to stay put. He squatted and cautiously moved to the edge of the arched wall and quickly peeked around the corner. It was no more than a second or two. He counted about five seconds then took another quick peek.
“Okay,” he began, whispering to the other two. “We’re at the end of a lighted hallway. I didn’t see anyone, but there are two wall-mounted cameras. One is pointed at a single door. I’m guessing that whatever is behind that door is considered highly sensitive. The other camera is at the far end. It’s a mobile one. It swings one way then another canvassing the length of the hallway.
“You saw all that in two blinks of an eye?” Walter asked.
“It’s all I needed.”
“I’m impressed,” Candace said. “So, what do we do now?”
“I guess you got a way to jam that camera,” Walter said. He was mostly kidding, but a part of him thought that Stone just might be able to.
“I do have the capacity to disrupt the signal of the camera, but I cannot say how long it would be disabled. Too short and we get caught on camera. If it stays out of commission too long than a security team may be sent down to investigate. We don’t need to take that chance.”
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