“Yeah, well me first. From what I’ve learned about you you’re a smart man. You’ve got to know about the murder investigation involving you and some of your friends. So why in the world would you want to add the charge of kidnaping an FBI agent to your list of crimes?”
The mayor nodded. “First, I didn’t kidnap you. As if it matters. As to my question I was about to ask you what you know about me, and in turn what the bureau knows. You’ve answered one of my questions. But, apparently your not seeing the big picture.”
James didn’t know how to respond to that. Instead, he looked about the room—as much as he was able to—taking in his surroundings, hoping to spot something that might help his situation. He didn’t see anything, but his eyes did settle on the small adhesive bandage affixed to the inside of his arm.
“What’s the bandage for,” he asked, turning back to the mayor.
“We needed some blood.”
“Why?”
“It’s for a little project we're working on.”
“What project? And who are we?”
“The we? Hm. How shall I put this?” He stood up. “I guess you could call us distant neighbors.” He smiled broadly. It made James think of the Cheshire Cat.
“Okay, now you’re losing me.”
“We’re part of the picture you haven’t gotten yet. But, you know, I believe the man who’s position you filled had it figured out. It’s too bad he didn’t let you in on his theories before his untimely death.”
For a moment Horace’s face flashed in Tarter’s mind and he was suddenly overwhelmed by the sorrow at the loss of his friend and an anger at the mayor’s flippant mention of Horace’s death. He clenched his teeth tightly and his face reddened to the color of a tomato. He felt as if he were about to explode. It took all his effort to swallow his feelings. He felt that he had to put up a strong front if he hoped to get out of this situation alive.
“Horace knew that I and my men were capable of finding out the answers on our own.”
“I’m not worried about your men. We’ll take care of them. As for you, I think I’ll tell you my little secret. I don’t think you’ll be telling anybody.” He squatted in front of James. He grinned. “I’m an alien.” He stood back up, still grinning.
It took James a few moments to find his words. “Okay,” he said slowly, tentatively, as if he were talking to a mental patient and didn’t want to upset him. “What does an alien want with me and my blood?”
The door suddenly opened and Mira stepped in. “Sorry to bother you,” she said. “We’ve just located Stone. He’s here. He’s somewhere on level one.”
“This is getting serious,” the mayor said, and began walking out of the room ahead of Mira.
“Hey. What are you planning on doing with me?” James called.
“You’re in luck,” the mayor said looking back. “You have a rare blood type, one that might prove beneficial to us. You’ll be around a little while longer.”
The mayor and Mira walked out of the room. Mira closed the door behind them.
CHAPTER 27
“What is this?” Candace whispered. “Looks like some kind of kennel.”
They were in a large room approximately thirty feet by forty feet. Above them were several lines of florescent fixtures hung from the ceiling by long lengths of chain. In front of them were rows of caged animals. From where they were, they could see guinea pigs, white mice, snakes, and a few small dogs.
Stone gazed over at the cages. Most of the animals just lay there, but a few of the dogs had stood up and were pressed against the metal bars staring curiously at them. The dogs were preternaturally quiet though, their eyes wide and glazed as if they had been drugged.
“We need to get out of here,” Walter suddenly said.
“We will,” Stone answered, and began to slowly crack the door open to get a view of the hallway.
“Go,” Walter said. “It’s clear.” He seemed highly agitated. “Go. No one’s watching the cameras.”
“Are you okay?” Candace asked.
“Yes. Now we have to hurry!” His voice rose sharply. He pushed past Stone and through the door into the hallway. Stone followed him not sure whether he should stop him. Candace hung close to Stone. Walter lumbered down the corridor in the direction they had come. The same corridor they had bypassed by traveling down the drainage ditch. After a few yards, he cut to the left and pushed through a set of double doors.
They stopped. They were on a landing. A set of stairs ran straight down then cut sharply ninety degrees to disappear into the darkness.
“Walter,” Stone began, “What did you mean when you said that no one was watching the cameras?”
“I … I meant what I said.” Sweat had begun to bead across Walter’s face. He leaned back against the concrete wall of the stairwell.
“You don’t look so good,” Candace said. “Maybe you need to sit down a minute.”
“I hurt my foot kicking a spider.”
“A spider?” Candace asked. “How could you …”
“A metal spider, or something just as hard.” He suddenly pushed away from the wall. “We have to move, now. There’s yet another stairway above us. People are coming down the stairs heading this way.”
“Your psychic powers must be growing,” Stone said.
“I don’t know,” he answered, sounding a bit irritated. “We just need to get out of here.”
Candace acted as though she were about to say something then quickly dismissed it as Walter pushed past her and began to lumber down the stairs.
Stone took up behind him fearing that he would lose his balance and fall.
Candace had the same thought and ran to the side of him.
Halfway down the long set of stairs, just before they passed underneath the ceiling of the lower floor, Walter abruptly stopped, wheezing and panting, out of breath. He propped against the wall and pushed out words through quick breaths. “Two … down the hallway … below. We can’t go back.” He pushed his gun toward Stone. “Take it.”
Stone hesitated a moment, but then took the gun. “Why don’t you stay here for a minute. Rest up. We’ll take care of this.”
Candace ran a hand over Walter’s left arm. She wasn’t sure what to say. She felt like she needed to stay with him, but if the approaching people weren’t dealt with then there could potentially be a lot of trouble for the three of them.
“Go,” Walter breathed.
Reluctantly, Candace turned, and she and Stone began to head warily down the steps. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs partially hidden in a gray to black shadows between sections of light fixtures that dangled from the ceiling. Many yards ahead of them, two people were strolling down the corridor toward them just as Walter had said. They were relatively young. A male and a female. Both looked to be in their early twenties.
“We should wait,” Stone said. “Let them come to us.”
The two continued ahead talking and laughing about something that had happened earlier. They were oblivious to Stone and Candace standing in the shadows at the bottom of the stairs.
“Now,” Stone said whispered when the two came within just a few yards of them. They both stepped out of the shadows. Candace swung her gun in the direction of the two. Stone kept the gun Walter had given him at his side.
“Don’t move,” Candace said sternly.
“What do you want?” The woman said, eyeing candace’s gun pointed at them.
For a moment Candace didn’t know how to answer. She looked down the hallway. There was a door on the left not far from them. “What’s in that first room down there?”
“Sleeping quarters,” the woman answered.
“Is anybody in there?” Candace asked.
“I don’t think so,” the woman said.
“Why don’t we step inside? We’ll put our guns away but be good, so we won’t have to bring them back out.”
“Okay,” the woman whispered nervously. The man at her side nodded.
&
nbsp; Candace and Stone looked up at the sound of Walter staggering heavily down the stairs.
“Go to him,” Stone said. “He needs someone to help him balance. I’ll take care of these two.”
“Sure,” Candace said. She turned and began heading back up the stairs.
Stone followed the couple into a large rectangular room. He looked about noting the many military style bunk beds and the line of metal lockers. There was one door at the back corner of the room. He figured that it must be a utility closet.
There was no one else here. That was good. He motioned to the back corner of the room toward what he assumed to be utility room The couple moved in that direction.
“Who are you?” the woman asked as she and the young man came up to one of the bunk beds.
“I’m what people here would call a bounty hunter.”
The couple exchanged a nervous glance.
At once Walter pushed through the open door and tottered into the room. Candace walked beside him holding onto his arm. The couple watched him with eyes that seemed both scared and concerned. As he came to one of the bunk beds Walter grasped the metal rail of the upper bunk for support. He twisted slowly about then at once plopped down heavily onto the mattress. A jarring pain rattled his body and for a moment his world began darkening before him and he thought that he would pass out. Somehow, he kept the blackness at bay until it slowly receded.
Candace sat down close beside him. “We need to get you out of here.” Unfortunately, she didn’t know how. She looked to Stone for an answer, but he wasn’t facing her.
“I guess you two aren’t from around here?” Stone said. “Me neither.”
“I figured so much,” the man said. “You should know there’s no warrant out for us,” the man said quickly and defensively.
“But you’re still in some kind of trouble. Right?”
The woman and man looked at each other. “Might as well tell him everything,” the woman said exasperated.
The man nodded and began to speak. “Two weeks ago, we were arrested for possession of two ribs of Abrocone. Our friends put up bonds for us. We have court dates for next month.”
“Abrocone?” Stone asked. “That’s the stuff that’s used in power plants. I understand it’s very volatile and unstable. Isn’t there less dangerous stuff you can steal?”
“We didn’t steal it for the money?” the man answered.
“Okay. So, why?”
The man sighed. “We’ve been working with other scientists to incorporate Abrocone into the Transportal beam to give it more power, range, and less atmospheric breakdown.”
“What! I thought the portal project had been shut down by the government citing safety concerns.”
“Yes, that’s true. But they never gave us adequate time to address these issues that they found. We offered viable solutions that would make the risks far less than what the government estimated but that wasn’t good enough for them.”
This project was the lifeblood of the company,” the woman added, “the projected earnings would have given our company solvency for decades to come. Instead, we’re struggling to keep the doors open.”
“The way I understand it is that this is simply a way for criminals to make a quick exit.”
The woman shrugged. “It can be, but after it’s finished and licensed and such then regulations can be set up to keep that from happening.”
“What is this Transportal thing?” Candace asked.
“It’s a little complicated,” the man said.
“Try me,” Candace returned.
“It’s a means of transport. Mostly from one planet to another.”
“And how does that work?” Candace asked.
“You have to have two units communicating with one another. One unit at one place and another unit at another. In this case one on our planet and one on yours. One acts to transport while the other acts to receive. The initiating machine, the one transporting the host, breaks the body down to its subatomic level. Moments later it shoots these particles down the stream. The stream is the path, or conduit, created between these machines. When the host arrives at the second machine that machine reconstructs the host.” He looked to Stone then back to Candace. “That is a painfully simple explanation.”
“How long of a trip are we talking about?” Stone asked. “From our planet to this planet.”
“Without the Abrocone it can take as long as three days. With the Abrocone it can be done in about five hours.”
“Five hours! By ship, It took me nearly two months to get here. And that was with me skipping. Finding these wormholes and such.”
“It’s a new age,” the man answered.
“What is your success rate of getting someone from one planet to another?”
“It was only about five percent when we got shut down, but now we’re up to over sixty percent.”
The odds are a lot better but how many people have died for you to reach these new odds?”
“Nobody forced anyone to make the trip,” the man said. “These volunteers were willing to bet against the odds rather than to live life on our planet. And what other option is there? You have to be rich or connected to the government to be able to obtain a craft.”
“And I assume that most of the volunteers are criminals.”
“Probably. We don’t ask.”
“People willing to risk life rather than to face justice, huh?”
“For some, there is no justice.”
“I don’t have time to debate you on that issue. I have a couple more questions I need answered.”
“Okay,” the man said slowly.
“How many people down here?”
“In the caves. Right now, maybe fifteen or so. Most of the arrivals have assimilated themselves into the local population.”
“So, how many?”
“A hundred or so.”
Walter stood up suddenly. “We have to go.”
Stone turned. “Why? What’s up?”
“People are coming.”
“How do you …” Candace started.
“I don’t know,” Walter answered. “I just … I can see it happening. In my mind. Pictures like before, but without any kind of stimuli. And feelings. I just know.” He started to sway. Candace held onto his right arm trying to steady him. “We have to go,” he stressed in a hoarse voice.
“Where’s this Transportal located?” Stone asked the man.
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet. But I don’t like the idea of a conduit between these two worlds that allows quick access for criminals.”
“Eh, well,” the man started. “I … can’t tell you.”
“I think this Transportal thing is what must have influenced Walter’s visions,” Candace said. “This is why we are here. Not just to round up some bad guys.”
Stone looked at her briefly as if pondering what she had just said.
Candace quickly crossed over to the man, her pistol pressed in front of her. “We don’t have time for this.” A deep anger suffused her voice, though in reality, it was just a show. She aimed the gun at his head. “Where is it. Now!”
The man’s face suddenly grew ashen. “Eh … out the door to the left past the cafeteria, then to the next door on the right.”
Stone quickly led the couple to the door in the corner. It was a utility room – a supply room – as he suspected. He used his computer arm to manipulate some of the ingredients of the serum that kept him alive to form a sedative then injected them with enough of it to put them asleep for a couple of hours.
Stone, Walter, and Candace stepped into the corridor moments later. Stone had moved to Walter’s left side to aid him if needed. To their left down the hall was the cafeteria. A bit further was the door that opened to where the Transportal was supposed to be housed. A camera was mounted on a wall pointed at the door. To their right was the stairway they had come down minutes ago and where Walter had said the people were coming.
The first door on the left, which should be the cafeteria entrance, was too far away for them to get there quickly, especially with Walter’s faltering steps. Instead, Stone started to back up, to retreat into the room they had just exited.
“No,” Walter muttered, and lumbered toward a single door across the corridor and only a few yards up.
Stone moved quickly ahead of him and grabbed the doorknob. Candace was right behind him. As soon as he touched the doorknob, he heard a slight whirring sound like a small fan. He turned around quickly and listened. But the sound was gone. Then he heard something else. Faint footfalls off to his right. Up the stairs. They were almost upon them.
Turning back to the door he found it locked as he had supposed. Instantly flipping on his arm once again he pushed in on the door breaking the lock.
Mere seconds after Stone had shut the door behind them, they heard footsteps pattering ever closer. Then they stopped. They were just outside the door.
CHAPTER 28
Bass Robinson, squatted among the shadows as he spoke into his cell phone leaving a voice mail for James Tarter to return his call. He wasn’t confident that he would. He was fairly certain that he was the man who had been carried bound into the mayor’s mansion.
In frustration Bass pocketed his phone.
He and Darren watched as a short, rather thin man, exited the house and slipped into the black sedan. After a few moments, the car pulled away from the house and into a parking space some thirty-five yards away.
Darren looked on with keen interest as the driver left the car and headed back to the house.
“I’m all for knockin’ some heads together,” Bass said, “but I don’t think me, and you are going to be able to stand up to all the goons that must be in that place.”
“I don’t think it will come to that. I’m hoping that we can get in there without alerting the whole damn mansion.”
“You got a plan?”
The Nexus Page 16
