Lure

by Brian Rathbone

  It was everything Sam could do to keep a straight face, and it seemed the younger man couldn't get up the stairs fast enough. Sam doubted he would need the whole twenty minutes. They discussed such a possibility before enacting their plan, and Sam was confident that Greg would have hidden in Shells' room while Maddie would take the young man to her room. This meant that Sam would be responsible for distracting the other man and giving Greg the all-clear signal. At the moment she was at a complete loss, but the way the older man was looking at her made it clear that he was willing to work with her, and that at least gave her hope. Maddie's comment about the twenty minutes seemed to have given the older man reason for suspicion, and Sam knew she would need to think fast. If this man suspected that they knew he and the younger man were posted here as guards, it could put him on even higher alert.

  Before he could think it through any further, Sam stepped up to him, rubbed up against him and whispered in his ear, "I think my top is going to fall off. Could you please help me?"

  This broke what concentration the man had left and he just looked at her with something of a blank expression.

  "It'll only take a minute," she said as she took him by the hand and pulled him down the hall that led to the spa. Once in the shadows beyond, Sam reached behind her and pulled the string. "Oops," she said.

  The man looked at her appreciatively, and his hands were equally appreciative. Sam let out a loud gasp of pleasure, and she thought she heard Greg make his way down the steps. He was supposed to be quiet, but the sound was traveling, so Sam turned it up just a bit. A moment later, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Could you tie me up?" she asked with mock innocence, and the man looked as if he might melt. He did as she asked, and let his hand drift lower and gave her ass a squeeze before they walked back to they lobby.

  "Ooh," Sam said with a wicked smile. "Why thank you."

  "The pleasure was all mine."

  Not long after they got back to the reception desk, Maddie and the younger man returned. Maddie looked quite satisfied with herself, though the young man was red in the face.

  "Twenty minutes might have been overkill," Maddie said, and the young man flushed even deeper. "Don't be ashamed sweetie, you were almost more than I could handle." Her words might as well have called him inadequate, and he returned to his post quite sheepishly. "Shall we get some time at the beach before we evacuate?"

  "That sounds good to me," Sam said, and they walked out the front doors with all three men watching them go. Once outside, they turned to the right and quickly made their way over the hot blacktop to the garage, hoping no one else was watching all that closely. Given some of the catcalls that came from traffic, it seemed unlikely; but that was a risk they would simply have to take. Going to the side door, they quickly slipped inside and found Greg and Shells waiting for them.

  "It took you long enough," Shells said.

  "I had a little something to take care of," Maddie quipped, and Sam couldn't help but laugh.

  Chapter 16

  Huddled within the carriage house, Sam and the others watched as the steady stream of traffic continued to flow out of Lake Lure. She wondered how many others would stay behind, and just how much the evacuation order would be enforced. The fact that what looked like National Guard vehicles were gathering along the shoreline did not bode well for leniency.

  The late afternoon sun cast orange rays through the valley and across the surface of the lake. Despite the chaos, it was among the most beautiful things Sam had ever seen. In those moments, she felt insignificant in the face of nature's majesty. The mountains seemed to look down on them with something akin to tolerant patience, as if knowing they would remain when the people had long since faded away. It was a strange realization, and it put Sam in a reflective mood. She had to ask herself what difference her life made in the grand scheme of things, and she found no answers.

  When Michael emerged from the tunnel entrance, which remained exposed, he didn't look happy. "You all need to get back into the tunnel until after dark. When the time has come for you to emerge, I'll come get you."

  "Aw, c'mon, Mikey," Shells said. "I don't get any cell signal down there. I can't even check my email."

  "And believe me when I say that's a very good thing," Michael said, his mood still dour. "Cell phones can be used to track your location. Especially ones with GPS, like the one you have. You would be best served by turning that thing off."

  "If I have to go back into that nightmare of a tunnel, the least you can do is let me play some games or jam to some tunes, dude."

  "Suit yourself, but at least consider putting that thing in airplane mode. I wouldn't put it past someone to put up a dummy cell tower to find out exactly who ignores the evacuation order. Do you want to be on a list with homeland security for the rest of your life?"

  "I'm pretty sure she's already on a few lists," Greg said.

  "Whatever," Shells said. "If I turn off my phone, can we just hide out up here? It's seriously funkin' down there, man. That place is a good place for a stick up."

  "Light a match," Michael said. "If you stay up here, I can almost guarantee they'll haul you out of here. After all we've done to get this far, I'd rather not see that happen."

  "Some of it wasn't all that bad," Maddie said, and Michael raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

  "Let's get back down there, then," Sam said, and no one in the group seemed enthused or in any real hurry to comply. "It'll be over soon enough. It's only a couple hours until dark."

  "I'll close the door behind you and move the bench back in place," Michael said. "Let's get a move on. I don't want this tunnel discovered, remember?"

  "Yeah, yeah," Shells said, reluctantly going back into the tunnel. "I'm telling you man, something crawled up your garage's ass and died. Damn it stinks down here. For real, yo. Straight up."

  * * *

  By the time Michael returned, Sam found herself in agreement with Shells. Most times, extended exposure to foul smells would desensitize the olfactory nerves, but it was as if the ground released new foulness over time.

  Shells cast a dark look at Greg, whose stomach had been rumbling for much of the time. "Seriously, dude. I have one word for you: Beano."

  "It wasn't me," Greg said. "This hole in the ground just stinks, that's all."

  "Uh huh," Shells said. "Whatever you say."

  Michael appeared to be in a much better mood, and he even smiled at Shells' remarks.

  "What the hell are you smiling about?" Shells asked.

  "Can't you feel it?" Michael asked. "The time is almost here."

  Despite all the distractions, Sam could feel something. The pulling sensation she had experienced in the past seemed to be growing stronger, and the more she concentrated on it, the more intense the pull became. Maddie met her eyes and wordlessly communicated her agreement. Sam wondered a moment at Maddie's ability to communicate with her without saying anything. The two hadn't known each other for long, yet there seemed to be a connection between them that defied explanation; just as many things about this situation did.

  "It's just about dark," Michael said, "and the military types are busy getting into position. By my calculations, they've got just a few more hours before the big show begins."

  "Calculations?" Sam asked.

  "There are some things I haven't told you," Michael admitted.

  "Now there's a shocker," Shells said. "Spill it, Mikey."

  There was a long moment of silence, as Michael looked each of them in the eyes, as if trying to decide if he could really trust them. Then with a long sigh, he settled himself into a comfortable position and seemed to be talking to himself more than anything else.

  "Years ago," he began, "I was a respected astrophysicist."

  "Bullshit," Shells said, and everyone else cast angry glances her way. "Fine. Fine. The manager of the Lake Lure Inn is an astrophysicist. I guess I can buy that."

  "My colleagues would only take their research so far, and whenever their finding
s pointed to the extraordinary—to things outside conventional wisdom—they were pressured to stifle those findings. The establishment did not want them to tarnish the reputation of the field, and much of what I found was considered too far fetched for the 'real scientists'." There was a note of bitterness in Michael's voice that Sam could relate with. She'd felt much the same when those in law enforcement had shunned her because of her paranormal research. It was as if people only wanted to learn things that did not take them outside of their comfort zone. No matter how much evidence she, or in this case Michael, could present, if it was too strange or outrageous, they would be cast aside and considered heretical.

  "I kept most of my findings secret and only let others see the research that they would consider legitimate," Michael continued, his voice low and at times husky with emotion. "That is until I began to put all the pieces together. The conclusions I reached were too important to keep hidden. There was far too much at stake to keep it hidden any longer."

  Michael trailed off and sat in quiet contemplation for a time, as if he had left the present and traveled to a painful past.

  "What did you do?" Maddie asked in almost a whisper. There was a note of compassion in her voice, and that seemed to bring Michael back to the present.

  "I bypassed my colleagues," he said after a few moments, and now his words were defiant. "I knew they would not listen to me, so I went to those who would have no choice but to at least look at my findings. I went to the governments of the world. This was not just a matter of national security; it was a matter of global security. It still is."

  His words were filled with a mixture of rancor and conviction, but they were cut short by the sound of voices coming from above. It sounded as if someone was breaking into the carriage house. A panicked look came over Michael's face, as if he had just remembered some terrible mistake. Moving quickly, but as silently as he could, Michael scrambled to the old switch that controlled the lights and plunged them all into darkness.

  * * *

  The silent blackness seemed timeless, and the group had no way to gauge the passage of time save by their internal clocks. The lingering sounds of boots on the cobbled stone floor of the carriage house kept the group vigilant, and they knew silent darkness was their best defense. Deprived of sensory input, save for her sense of smell, Sam found her mind churning at a high rate. Michael's words had piqued her curiosity, but she dare not ask him to continue his tale. On top of that was the increasingly insistent pull of the lake. Though at times she had thought the urges were nothing more than a product of her imagination, this pull could not be denied; it was as physical and real as the wind, and about as easily defined. She could not capture it, or show it to her companions, yet it was still there.

  Pale light poured in through the shoddy workmanship of the panel that concealed the entrance to the tunnel. It was that gap that Michael had so feared. As darkness had fallen, surely the lights in the tunnel would have been visible through that gap, and all their subterfuge would have been for naught. Despite the reality of this, Sam knew that her companions wished as strongly as she that they could turn the lights back on and make their way out of the tunnel.

  Not long after she had that thought, there was a shuffling sound in the darkness. Sam thought she'd heard the carriage house door open and close at least an hour before, but no one had been willing to risk discovery, and they had remained still. Now though, the urge to go to the lake was almost irresistible, and Sam suspected the others were losing patience as well. She could not tell who it was that now blocked that tiny sliver of moonlight, but she knew someone was looking into the carriage house. When the moonlight suddenly grew brighter accompanied by the sound of the bench sliding over cobbled stone, Sam held her breath. Michael was pushing the door open from the inside.

  In the bluish light she saw the faces of her companions blinking in the relative brightness. Michael climbed from the tunnel, and turned back and whispered, "It's clear. Come on out, but try to keep the noise down, they may still be nearby."

  Shells wasted no time getting out of the tunnel; in fact, Sam was pretty sure she climbed over Greg before he could get out of her way. Her suspicions were confirmed when Greg said, "Damn, Shells, you're not getting any lighter, you know."

  "Bite me, Greg. I couldn't stand it in there any more."

  "Shhh." Michael said.

  Sam offered her hand to Maddie and helped her stand, knowing just how cramped and sore her muscles must be from personal experience. There were more than a few grunts as they emerged into the pale light.

  Nothing moved in the stillness of the carriage house or the parking lot beyond, but the landscape crawled with movement. Sam rubbed her eyes, certain they were playing tricks on her.

  "Let's gather up the equipment," Michael whispered. "We need to get in position if we are going to capture any footage of the event."

  The way he said 'the event' made Sam's skin crawl. He hadn't yet told them exactly what he expected to happen, but there was no doubt he expected it to be big—global security threat big. That thought alone was enough to make Sam's knees tremble, but her entire body thrummed with energy. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before.

  "What time is it?" Maddie asked.

  "Two forty-five AM," Michael said. "We only have about a half an hour to get into position."

  "Three-thirteen," Sam said, goosebumps rising on her skin and the hair on her neck standing on end. Michael cast her a knowing glance but said no more.

  "There is a place south of the beach where we can get a good view and still remain mostly hidden. I know the way. Just follow me and try not to fall behind. We don't have any time to waste. If we miss this, I'll never forgive myself."

  Without another sound, Michael moved away, flitting from shadow to shadow, which made it even harder to follow him. She would have preferred he stay out in the light of the nearly full moon, but she knew he was trying to remain unseen. Much of the movement she had detected was the result of troops stationed around the lake; and they, too, were trying to remain unseen. What bothered her most was the movement that did not seem to be caused by anything natural. Fingers of blue light danced at the corner of her vision, and at one point she saw electric light, like the plasma of a neon sign, crawl from the edge of a kudzu leaf and leap into the open air before dissipating and disappearing.

  "Did you see that?" Sam asked, despite knowing the need for silence.

  "See what?" Shells asked.

  "Never mind," Sam whispered under Michael's accusing glare.

  "I saw it," Maddie whispered, and Sam wasn't sure she felt any better.

  "Saw what?" Shells asked, making it clear she wouldn't shut up until someone explained.

  "A bit of blue light jumped off of that leaf," Maddie said.

  Shells looked dumbstruck, and her mouth dropped open. "Oh, great. Everyone is tripping except me. It's like college all over again."

  "It's beginning," Michael said in an agitated whisper that silenced the rest of them and urged them for more speed.

  Greg and Shells moved right behind Michael along a narrow footpath that wound through ancient pines. Much of the surrounding forest was choked with kudzu and the entire scene, bathed in moonlight, seemed like a dream. Sam slowed for a moment waiting for Maddie to catch up, and she noticed that it was not moonlight alone that illuminated the scenery; there was also light coming from the lake. In the area to which Sam and Maddie had been drawn, a blue light was radiating, dark shadows moving within the water, as if someone had submerged a spotlight and giant fish were swimming around it, only Sam didn't think it was a spotlight at all, or that there were fish that large in the lake. Once again, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand. She didn't think her senses could be any more heightened.

  Maddie seemed to sense it as well, and the two of them had fallen behind. Sam was about to grab Maddie's hand and pull her into the shadows where she had last seen Greg and Shells, when she saw the Lake Lure Inn through a gap in
the trees. With her senses on high alert, her eyes were drawn to what she knew had been the window to her room. There, surrounded by darkness, was a mass of even deeper black. Even from a distance, she recognized the shape of the apparition she'd seen that night, and once again it pointed to the lake; and once again, Sam felt drawn to the water. The urge was so strong that she almost turned aside from the path and leaped into the waiting waters, feeling as if she could swim to that light and all her questions would be answered. In the end it was Maddie who grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the shadows.

  Fear crept into the pit of Sam's stomach, and she thought they had lost the trail; that the others had moved on without them, but they soon came upon a very annoyed Michael, who looked as if he wanted to wring their necks. "There is no time for sight seeing," he said, and they did their best to keep up with him.

  Shells cast a lopsided grin at Sam and mouthed the words, "There is no time for sight seeing," while doing an exaggerated impression of Michael's ire, before rushing forward to catch up with the men. It almost made Sam laugh, and it temporarily lessened the tension. The lessening was short lived, and a shadow stepped out into the trail between her and Maddie. The figure in camouflage made a grab for Sam and missed. He made another grab for Maddie and caught her in his arms.

  "Just hold still," a rough voice said. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're in grave danger out here. I'm just going to take you someplace safe. You, too, just come with me."

  The man had turned to face Sam, but he had his hands full with Maddie, and Sam was torn. Maddie faced her with a look that showed the strength of her spirit. "I'll be fine," that look said, but still Sam hesitated. "Go!" Maddie mouthed the word and somehow made it a command. Despite every fiber of her being telling her to stay with her friend, Sam did as she was told. Still there was a tear in her eye as she ran. The feeling of guilt was also short lived. A moment later, a loud grunt filled the air, followed by the man shouting, "Hey! Come back here!"