The Alex Cave Series. Books 1, 2, & 3.: Box set

by James M. Corkill

  “We’re fine. See you shortly.”

  As they rose above the silt, they could see white bubbles rising from the billowing gray cloud. Okana looked in the mirror at Mike. “Send the rover to the surface, Mike. Harrison will pick it up in the motorboat.”

  Mike nodded, entered a command, and the rover climbed up out of the silt and began its return to the ship. He keyed his headset. “I hope you got all that, Lisa.”

  “We did, but you didn’t get a sample of the bubbles.”

  The mention of bubbles jogged Okana’s memory of the first trip. “I didn’t see any bubbles when we arrived, Lisa. It must have stopped after we left earlier, but we can see them rising out of the silt again. Something crazy is going on down here. I’ll see you on the ship.”

  *

  Joshua waited on the stern, rocking from foot to foot while waiting for the ship’s first mate and the deckhand to set the sub into the storage bracket and the ladder against the side of the sub. He looked up as Mike climbed out first and climbed down the ladder.

  “I hope that was as good on tape as it was live.” Mike inquired.

  “It wasn’t that great for me, boss. We couldn’t really see anything because of the silt.”

  Okana closed the hatch and climbed down the ladder to join them. “We had better go talk to Lisa. We were hit by a tsunami wave down there, and the ultrasound should not have caused that to happen.”

  They walked into Lisa’s lab and she rewound the recording until she found the moment when the blue light appeared. When she enhanced the image from the ultrasound, she noticed something unexpected and pointed at the picture. “That clear ice under the methane is over a thousand-feet-deep, and it looks like there’s something at the bottom. Watch this.”

  Lisa used the mouse to zoom in, and they could tell it was an oblong object. “That’s the best picture I could get from the ultrasound. Whatever it is, it’s been down there since the crack first opened.”

  Okana was more worried about what he felt. “When that blue light appeared, something forced the water to create a pressure wave and it slammed into the sub. We were tossed around pretty good, so I need to check for damage. Once I make sure the sub’s okay, we should go back down and try to figure out what happened.”

  * * *

  Chapter 6

  SEATTLE, WASHINGTON:

  Alex stared out the window at the Cascade mountain range as his commercial jet swung around on a final approach to Seattle/Tacoma International Airport. The glaciers on Mount Rainier and Mount Baker looked much smaller due to the greenhouse effect. He lightly shook his head when the pilot announced the temperature in Seattle was eighty-five degrees. It was a comfortable seventy-eight in Montana. He tried to see the San Juan Islands and Victoria, but the elevation of the aircraft was too high to see any discernible features.

  After landing, he rented a car and drove north on interstate five. An hour later, he took the off ramp toward Mount Baker and across the Tempest River Valley. The two-lane highway began climbing a gradual grade up the side of the mountain and crossed a large stone bridge over the Tempest River. On the other side of the bridge, the highway continued up over a long rocky ridge line, along the side of the mountain.

  When he drove over the top, he looked down into a vast expanse of flat land called Sparrow Valley, once the bottom of a massive lake on the side of Mount Baker.

  The State Park was another twenty-miles east of the valley, so Alex pulled over into a picnic area and entered Wesley’s number. “I’m here, Mister Patterson.”

  “I live up past the State Park. There’s a little mom and pop grocery store just up the road from the park entrance. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Yes, I remember. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  Alex tossed his cellphone onto the passenger seat and drove down into the valley. The two-lane highway followed the left side of the Tempest River, straight across the valley before climbing up the west side of Mount Baker. When he drove past the only grocery store in the valley, he noticed the large white sign on the side of the red brick wall.

  This year’s high school track and field championship game was against their number one rival, Darrington High School. The games would be hosted by Sparrow Valley High School this year, on Friday, at 4:00 PM. He remembered how fierce the competition had been while he grew up in the valley. At least one hundred visitors would drive up the mountain from Darrington just to see all the sports events, and the Sparrow Valley community went down the mountain when the games were in Darrington.

  He drove onto the shoulder of the road, next to a forty-foot-long stone bridge over the river. On the other side of the bridge, the asphalt road continued for two-miles before becoming a dirt road that ended at the Cave Appaloosa Ranch, his boyhood home.

  Because of the deaths of his brother and sister in law, Ken and Doreen Cave, Alex would never consider going home again were it not for his nephew and niece, now living with his father, Robert, on the ranch.

  Alex knew the strange circumstances of their deaths could have been his past catching up to him. While working for the CIA in Holland, the Russian mafia had tried to kill him and his wife, Sevi, but only succeeded in killing her. He remembered the loss of his true love drove him to madness and he had gone on a killing spree against those responsible. That was three years ago, but the Russian mafia had never forgotten about him. Alex suspected they took their vengeance out on his family. The police reported it as an accident, but Robert knew about his past and suspected Alex was the reason they were killed. Robert would never forgive him for their deaths, so Alex did not even try to mend things between them.

  He drove back onto the road, and twenty minutes later, he drove into the parking area in front of the old grocery store. The two orange gas pumps and the neon signs in the windows were just as he remembered. The dark green Humvee parked outside had a tall suspension package and wide tires.

  Alex climbed out of his car and went into the store. The pleasant aroma of bread, spices, and coffee had permeated the wood walls over the past sixty years. A big man standing next to the old wooden counter turned to look at him.

  Wesley Patterson’s long, shaggy brown hair protruded beneath a sweat-stained cowboy hat, just as he remembered from the seminar in Iceland. He could barely see Patterson’s grin behind the thick beard as he walked up and extended his hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Patterson.”

  Patterson’s handshake was firm. “Wesley will do,” he said in a slow, deep voice.

  A slender, silver-haired woman came around the counter and looked up at Alex. “I haven’t seen you in twenty years, Alex.”

  It took a moment before he recognized the storeowner, then he smiled down at Carry Sorenson. “It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Sorenson.”

  Carry remembered the last time she had seen Alex. He had stopped at the store to buy a six-pack of beer on his way up to the reservoir to go fishing with his brother and father. He had a few new scars on his tanned, ruggedly handsome face since then, but his shiny black hair and thick dark eyebrows were what she remembered most. The difference was in his deep blue eyes. They expressed a sense of sorrow, unlike the sparkle of enthusiasm when he was a young man.

  “Doing just fine, Alex. The last I heard, you live in Montana. What brings you out this way?”

  “I came to see Wesley.”

  Carry looked up at Patterson. “I didn’t know you knew Alex.”

  “We only met briefly three months ago, when I went to Iceland. Let’s go to my place, Alex. There’s something I want to show you.”

  “Is it very far? I still need to find a place to stay for the night.”

  Carry stared up at Alex. “Aren’t you going to stay at your father’s place?”

  Alex shook his head. “I’m not welcome anymore. Not since my brother died.”

  Carry nodded. “We heard. I’m sorry, Alex.”

  “I have a guest room you can stay in, if you like?” Wesley offered. “Once I show you what
I’ve discovered, you won’t want to leave right away.”

  “I accept.”

  Alex followed Wesley out of the grocery store. They climbed into their vehicles and Alex followed the Hummer up a dirt road behind the store. The single lane road wound its way up the mountain, through a thick forest of evergreens, and Alex took a deep breath of pine-scented air through the open window. Twenty minutes later, Alex followed Wesley into the large green meadow, with a small lake and a modest cabin covered with cedar shake siding and matching barn a short distance from the edge of the lake. They parked in a graveled area next to the cabin.

  Wesley climbed out of his Hummer and tossed his hat through the open window onto the seat, while Alex climbed out of his rental car and looked around.

  The Cabin was high up the mountain. The temperature was slightly cooler, and tall fir trees enclosed three sides of the meadow, leaving a gap through which he could see the Pacific Ocean.

  “What I want to show you is in the barn.” Wesley said to get Alex’s attention.

  Alex walked beside Wesley, to the rear side of the barn. Wesley unlocked the door and Alex followed him inside.

  Alex abruptly stopped and looked around. Straight ahead, an array of modern electronic equipment was mounted in a metal frame, six-inches from the rear wall. Behind the rack of electronics, a bundle of cables went up to the open wood beams across the ceiling, where four satellite dishes were aimed in different directions, through a section of clear glass panels in the roof.

  In the large open space on his left was a two-wheeled, galvanized trailer with a fourteen-foot aluminum boat with a gas outboard motor, but what drew his attention was the two-person yellow snow cat with black rubber tracks sitting on a four-wheeled galvanized tilt trailer.

  Wesley had continued over to the beat up desk and sat in a brown leather swivel chair, while Alex sat on a wooden chair next to the end of the desk. Wesley entered several commands on a computer keyboard, and the picture on the television was from a video camera focused on a seismographic sensor arm, drawing a black line from top to bottom on the screen. A digital clock was displayed on the upper left corner of the screen, next to a straight black line indicating no abnormal seismic activity.

  “You’ll find this interesting, Alex. I’m going to rewind back to when that second event happened earlier today.” Wesley entered a command and the time on the digital clock stopped thirty seconds before the time when the seismic event occurred. “Watch what happens.”

  Alex stared at the TV and waited as the clock ticked past the time of the event.

  Wesley hit pause. “Notice anything unusual?”

  Alex studied the readout. “No, it looks like nothing happened.”

  “That’s right. Now watch this.”

  Wesley moved the mouse pointer to a small area just past the seismometer needle and zoomed in. Now magnified, Alex could see a gap in the line. He looked over at Wesley. “What the hell happened?”

  Wesley leaned back in his chair and frowned at Alex. “It didn’t vibrate like an earthquake, Alex. The damn needle just jumped off the paper for an instant.”

  Alex leaned back in his chair, surprised by the magnitude of what he just saw. “Any idea what could have caused that needle to jump?”

  Wesley slowly shook his head. “Nothing I can prove, but I have a theory. If part of the North American tectonic plate rose up temporarily, that would allow the Pacific plate to move underneath it at the Cascadia fault line. The movement would not have been a jarring motion, like an earthquake when the pressure was released. More like suddenly sliding a thin spatula under a large rock. It wouldn’t cause a major earthquake, but it could change the elevation and shake things up pretty good.”

  “It shook things up, all right. Even so, it would take an enormous amount of energy to force a fault line to expand.”

  “I agree. Something might have occurred beneath the mantel. My idea about what could have caused it to rise like that is a possibility, but it’s only a theory.”

  They felt a small thud in the concrete floor and stared at the television when they heard a quiet beeping tone. Wesley quickly typed another command into the computer. The television picture now showed two different seismograph pictures side by side, each with a wavy black line above the seismic needles.

  “What’s going on, Wesley?”

  “The one on the left is from my mountain, Baker, and the one on the right is from Mount Rainier. These are readings from my own sensors. They’re more sensitive than the ones the government uses. I can activate them remotely when I need to, so I don’t drain the batteries. I turned them on after that first seismic event in Victoria. The problem is that those smaller events should not have affected my volcanos. That’s the basis for my theory.”

  “How can you tell the difference?”

  “Because that’s what my sensors do best. Back in 1980, the one I had at Mount Saint Helens indicated the eruption would happen in three days. I told those damn USGS people, and they wouldn’t listen to me. I was right, so to hell with them. I do my own research now.”

  “Are you saying we’re going to have an eruption?”

  “No. At least not right away. If they continue, it will definitely increase the possibility. Especially if they begin getting greater in magnitude. Whatever is causing this has to be sub-tectonic and there isn’t much we can do about it. I’ll have to keep an eye on the activity. Hopefully, there won’t be another seismic event.”

  “We have to figure out why this is happening, Wesley. If it only happened one time, I’d say it was odd at best. Two times is a different matter. That indicates it could happen again.”

  Wesley swung his chair around and stood. “Not much more we can do right now. I set the alarm to beep at the cabin if anything happens, so let’s go inside and you can fix us some dinner.”

  “Sounds good. Don’t you cook?”

  “Not if someone else can do it.”

  They walked out of the barn and Alex stopped long enough to grab his bag from the trunk, and then followed Wesley into the cabin.

  * * *

  Chapter 7

  THE MYSTIC:

  Lisa looked up from the computer when she saw a reflection on the screen. She spun her chair around and frowned up at Okana standing in the doorway to her lab. “None of this makes any sense, Okana. I can’t figure out how that could be pure ice below the methane.”

  Okana leaned against the doorframe. “The ice is a problem, all right, but I’m more concerned about what hit us in the sub.” He could see her frustration. “Dinner’s ready. Let’s get something to eat.”

  Lisa stood and Okana follow her across the walkway. When they entered the lounge, the aroma of hot spices filled the air. They saw the rest of the crew walking past the kitchen serving counter, so they continued across the room to join the others filling their plates.

  Lisa looked up at the ship’s mechanic, a red-haired woman named Rita Harrow. She had an engineering degree like Okana, and had been flirting with him for the past two months. She was nice looking, and about five-foot-ten. With Rita around, Lisa knew she did not stand a chance of hooking up with Okana.

  Okana stood beside the first mate, Sam Harrison, a crusty old seaman with a face made of leather from being on the water most of his life. “Smells like your kind of food, Sam. Hot and spicy.”

  Harrison smiled and exposed his yellowed teeth. “The hotter the better, since my taste buds ain’t what they use to be.”

  Joshua stepped back to let Lisa get close to the counter, and then looked at the pile of food on the plate of the ship’s deckhand, Leroy Bartram, a skinny twenty-four year old kid with remnants of a bad case of acne. Bartram did the routine maintenance and cleanup, and any small tasks needed on the ship.

  As each filled their plate and grabbed silverware, they walked to a four-foot by fifteen-foot, dark brown table. Once everyone was seated and well into their meal, Lisa decided to tell everyone her idea.

  “I think we caused that dis
turbance in the methane when we fired the ultrasound. We need to drill down through the ice to find out what that object is at the bottom of the crack. The ultrasound can’t get past it, so I think it’s a metal object reflecting our signal back to us.”

  Okana looked up from his meal. “I don’t think we should do anything, for the moment. If Lisa’s right and we caused this, I don’t think we should try anything else until we have more information. I’m going to call an old friend of mine about it. He’s a geology teacher.”

  Mike brushed his white paper napkin across his lips and set it on the table as he looked at the group. “I agree with Okana. We should check this out before we try anything drastic. In the meantime, I’m going to have the Discovery leave port and start heading in our direction. I’m not saying that we’re going to drill down into the ice just yet, but since I’m paying for it anyway, I want to have her nearby, just in case.”

  Harrison reached over the table, grabbed the dish containing the spicy red sauce, and poured some over his chicken and pasta. “I was up on the bridge when that happened down below. I saw something on the surface of the water a short distance from the ship.”

  “Can you describe it?” Okana asked.

  “It only lasted a fraction of a second and I was lucky to be looking in the right direction. It was just a large circle of neon blue light on the surface of the water, about thirty-feet in diameter. I could tell it was shining up from below.”

  “The blue light is what we saw from inside the sub.” Okana told him. “I was wondering if it could be seen on the surface.”

  “It would look pretty at night.” Harrison added.

  Okana stood and picked up his plate and utensils. “I’m going outside to make my call.”

  Okana set his dishes in a plastic tub on the kitchen counter and left the room. He turned left, down the walkway and out onto the stern of the ship. He leaned against the large white post near the back edge of the deck and stared down into the clear water.

  He could tell Mike was more shaken up about being tossed around in the sub than he was showing. I was a little unnerved myself, he thought. The energy released by that object during the ultrasound test seemed unreal. Where could something like that have come from?