“What was that?” I asked.
“The monitor for the compound’s surveillance system. At least it’s not one of the drone feeds.”
I could just hear the small machine whirring high overhead.
“All right, keep us posted on conditions down there,” I said, waving the team onward.
As I caught up to Chepe, he turned his face partway toward me. Water dripped from the eaves of the hood he’d fashioned from the sheet of plastic. “It is ahead, yes,” he said in a milder voice. “But I cannot say how far. Maximon still leads me. I feel his pull. But I feel other things too.”
“You mean the tremors?”
“Tremors out there. But tremors in here too.” He tapped his chest.
A strange foreboding crept over me. “What kind of tremors?”
“When life becomes death, I feel them,” he said. “Because my magic now surrounds the group, I feel them very strong.” He was referring to the ceremony he’d performed on us. He had done the same for Olaf before we stepped into the woods. “Tremors tell me someone dies tonight.”
I looked from Chepe to my teammates. “Someone in our group?” I asked in a lowered voice.
“Someone in group,” he affirmed.
“But from what? The Chagrath?”
“From he who comes behind.”
I turned, my weapon in firing position. My teammates reacted in kind, but there was no one and nothing in the foliage at our backs. When I turned back, Chepe had forged ahead. I radioed Takara.
“Keep a close watch on our six,” I said. “Could be someone following us.”
“I’ll try, but I’m still recovering from the spell. You sure we can trust this man?”
I watched Chepe use his staff as a walking stick to step deftly through the thick growth. The truth was, I wasn’t sure. But it was like I’d told Sarah: we didn’t have much choice at this point.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” I radioed back.
The rained had tapered under a darkening sky when my satellite phone buzzed. I pulled it from my vest. I could have let it go, but it was either going to be William Beam or Reginald Purdy, and it wasn’t fair to make Sarah run interference from a sick bed. When I answered, though, it was neither one.
“Captain,” a macho voice boomed, “how the fuck are you?”
“Segundo,” I said in a lowered voice. “Good to hear you, buddy, and thanks for getting me that intel, but I’m mid-mission. I’ll have to call you back.”
“Unless you’re getting shot at, you need to hear this. I’ll keep it short. I told you my brother was gonna check some other databases?”
“Yeah?” I said, a knot already forming in my gut.
“Turns out this Kurt Hawtin was arrested twice in the last month for suspected abuse. He was never charged, though, ’cause his girlfriend denied he did anything to her. Last time was about a week ago. She ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw and some nasty bruising.”
That would have been right before Daniela’s parents saw him in our hometown.
“Something else you should know,” Segundo continued. “He applied for and received a gun permit about a month ago. The guy’s packing.”
For a moment the slick green foliage and steady march of my teammates faded out. A man who once swore he would kill Daniela was armed, dangerous, and way too fucking close to her.
You need to be home, I thought. You need to be protecting her.
“All right, thanks,” I said as my surroundings rushed back in. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Good luck, bro.”
I hung up and dialed Daniela. The call went straight to voicemail.
“Dani, it’s Jason. Listen, I want you to take your dogs and gun and go to your parents’. You’re not safe at your house. Stay there until you hear from me. Kurt is armed, and he might be looking for you.”
I was about to sign off when Chepe waved to the rest of us and then pointed ahead. We were approaching a massive wall of stone—the top of the mountain that looked over El Rosario.
“It is on the other side,” Chepe said.
“Your parents’ house,” I repeated into the phone. “Right away. I’m going to try to get down there as soon as I can. Love you, Dani. Be safe.” I ended the call and put the phone away. As we emerged from the trees, I leaned my head back and took in the impressive yellow-stoned peak. The earth let out a low rumble, sending a small slide of scree down its tall face.
We had arrived at Maximon.
It was another hour of following Chepe in the growing dark, the old man’s sandaled feet picking their way nimbly through a maze of boulders, until we arrived at a large crevice in the backside of the mountain. A foul odor of earth and decay leaked from the opening.
“Is the site in there?” I asked Chepe.
He nodded. “I could not get this close before. Vampires always waiting.”
I peered around and took several sniffs. Four of the vampires were dead, but one remained. I wasn’t picking up anything—either outside or coming from the cave. As Takara rounded into view, she signaled that our six was clear.
“How we looking, Rusty?” I radioed.
“You’re clear down to the tree line,” he replied.
Beneath Drone 1’s watchful eye, I waved the team forward. “Takara and I are going to scout the cave,” I told them. “Olaf and Yoofi, I want you to stay outside with Chepe. Wait till you hear an all clear before bringing him in.” I paused before turning from them. “Anything yet?” I asked Yoofi.
“Sorry, no,” he replied. “Dabu is still hiding.”
Then hopefully we won’t need him, I thought.
I readied my MP88 and took the lead through the opening. Beyond the crevice, a cave stretched ahead. Its stone walls glistened with moisture and moss. Takara entered behind me. We proceeded carefully down a long corridor that made several turns, lizards and spiders scurrying from our path. When I peered back, I caught the red crescents of my teammate’s eyes glinting in the darkness.
With every step forward, the smell of decay grew stronger.
The cave ended in a chapel-sized room. My gaze immediately fell to the floor. I could see the implements Chepe had used in his ceremony the month before—candles, cocoa beans, balls of resin, an incense burner—but they were scattered everywhere. In the floor’s center, about ten feet across, was the black portal he had spoken of. But I couldn’t see it as anything other than a giant mouth, pressed to the glass of our world, as Croft had put it.
Beyond the Chagrath’s writhing lips, a gelatinous range of humps stretched to a blackness not even my wolf vision could penetrate. The descent was ringed with rows of hook-like teeth. Takara made a sound of disgust.
“Can’t believe we’re going down there,” she whispered.
I couldn’t either, but if that’s where she said the children were…
“We have the Chagrath in sight and we’re clear,” I radioed. “Bring Chepe in.”
“All of us come?” Yoofi asked.
“Yes. Rusty will keep watch outside.”
As my voice echoed off the stone, the Chagrath stopped pulsating, as if trying to listen. Takara’s gaze crept up my visor. Without warning, the giant creature began to shake. We braced ourselves as the cavern vibrated. I imagined the Chagrath shrieking beyond the glass, but the only sound I could hear was the dull boom of falling rocks outside.
After several moments, the creature’s body relaxed and resumed pulsating.
“What the hell did you just do?” Rusty asked. “I thought the compound was gonna fall down on my head!”
“It senses someone’s here,” I whispered.
Meaning we needed to get a move on. I turned toward the entrance. Moments later Chepe stepped into view, holding aloft a small torch made from resinous sticks. Yoofi and Olaf flanked him. As they arrived in the sacred site, I signaled for them to remain as quiet as possible.
While Yoofi and Olaf stared at the Chagrath, Chepe closed his eyes. After several moments, he nodded a
nd opened them again. A low resonance seemed to hum around him.
“Maximon says it is time,” he whispered.
“How long will you need to prepare the wormwood?” I asked.
“Not much.”
“All right, while you’re doing that, Takara and I are going to find the children.” I pointed to Olaf and Yoofi. “Your job is to protect Chepe.” Not least of all because he was our ticket back out of the portal. “Rusty, let them know if anything’s coming up the mountain.”
“Will do, boss.”
I turned to Takara. “Ready?”
Her lips wrinkled as she stepped to the edge of the portal. “Let’s get this over with.” Her hair billowed up as she dropped in. The interface between our worlds rippled, and Takara disappeared. The Chagrath’s throat convulsed like it was choking on something. I eyed the rings of teeth.
“Here,” Chepe said, giving me a small handful of wormwood as the mountain rumbled. “You can use it on anything down there. When you are ready to come back, magic will show the way.”
It better, I thought, and dropped in after Takara.
25
A powerful wave of nausea passed through me as I dropped. I expected to launch down the long chute of the creature’s throat. Instead, I was suddenly standing in a tunnel, mist swirling around me. The ground squelched as I took my first steps, MP88 poised to unleash hell.
I raised my head. Even with my suppressed sense of smell, the odor of decay was overpowering. Made sense. According to Croft, a Chagrath was the equivalent of an underworld bottom feeder.
“Takara?” I called.
“Over here,” she whispered.
I turned to find her stepping from the mist.
“To reach the children, you said it’s just a matter of thinking about them?”
Her leathers glistened as she slid her free arm through the crook of my elbow. “Close your eyes.”
I sniffed to make sure it was really her and then did as she said. A moment later, everything began to spin. When we stopped, I opened my eyes. We were standing in a misty cavern.
“Dammit,” Takara muttered. “They were in there.”
I turned to where she was looking. A chamber about the size of a large living room stood empty, but I could imagine the greenish liquid Takara had described as well as the suspended children. Gone now. The thought that the Chagrath had consumed them made me queasy all over again.
“Cover me,” I said, and stepped into the chamber.
I eyed the walls, wary of the attacking tubes Takara had told us about. Nothing moved from the walls now. I sniffed the air. The scents of the missing children were still in my olfactory vault, and I was searching for matches beneath the prevalent odor of decay. I was picking up another odor now too, slightly acidic, like bile. I didn’t like what that suggested.
“Anything?” Takara asked.
“My sense of smell isn’t at peak strength, but…” I turned my head. “Hold on. I’m getting traces of the children.” I followed the scent trail until I was stepping from the chamber again. “They were moved,” I said in profound relief. “They were taken this way.”
Takara followed me through the mist. We hadn’t gone far when shrieks sounded from above. Takara and I angled our weapons up. “Crap,” she said. “It’s those bats I told you about.”
A section of mist swirled as one of them dove toward me. In a glance, I saw leathery albino wings, a writhing tail, and an eyeless head. Either Chepe’s concealing magic was wearing off, or it wasn’t effective down here.
I flipped the switch for the flamethrower. As the tail reared to lash around my throat, I unleashed a blazing jet of napalm. The creature burst into shrieking flames and thudded to the ground. I swept more fire across the mist that formed a ceiling. To my side, Takara squeezed off precise shots with her M4.
“Keep moving!” I called.
We fought back to back as I led us along the scent trail. More of the bat creatures fell around us, some in fireballs, others in spattered messes. Whatever Takara’s and my personal problems, there were very few others I could think of whom I would’ve wanted down here with me.
As the bats thinned, we sped our pace. The trail led to the far end of the cavern, where the mist thinned. A sudden proliferation of stalagmites and stalactites jutted from the floor and ceiling. They reminded me a little of the back of the White Dragon’s palace in Waristan. I switched to my rifle, and Takara and I picked off the remaining bats.
“Trail leads to the far wall,” I said.
“There’s nothing there,” Takara pointed out. “Just wall.”
“My nose isn’t lying.” I began to thread my way through the stalagmites.
“Watch out!” Takara called.
Something wrapped my right arm and both legs. A looked down to find several ropelike tendrils tightening around me. They were coming from a large stalagmite to my right, only it was no longer a stalagmite. A dozen amber eyes had opened over its rocky body. And now a goopy mouth of teeth yawned into view.
The hell?
I tried to rip myself from the tendrils, but they only stretched. Then, without warning, they contracted, yanking me toward the giant mouth. I struggled to angle my weapon toward it, but several tendrils had wrapped the barrels. A guttural rumble sounded from the creature’s throat.
Takara’s blades slashed through the tendrils, releasing me.
“Thanks,” I grunted, pivoting my weapon toward the creature’s mouth.
I fired a single grenade round past its teeth and ducked away. The detonation was muted—the creature must have tried to eat it. When I looked back, green fluid seeped from its blown eyes, and it toppled over. But the other stalagmites had come to life. They were sliding toward us like slugs, tendrils writhing from their craggy bodies.
“They’re trying to get between us and the wall,” I said, suggesting my nose had been right.
Takara got the message. “I’ll check it out. Can you take care of these things?”
“Yeah,” I grunted, already firing off more grenades. The creatures must have been operating under some kind of bite reflex, because to the last, their mouths snapped closed around the grenades. And to the last, the explosions blew out their eyes and knocked them over.
Irises blazing, Takara rose into flight. Seeing her move through the air was pretty damned impressive, but I didn’t look for long. Another wave of creatures was coming in. Fortunately, they were just as dumb as the others. As long as I stayed clear of their tendrils, I could pop grenades into their mouths all day long.
As I paused to switch mags, I glanced up. Takara had reached the wall and was feeling over it. Slinging her M4 across her body, she popped the blade from her right sleeve and drove it into what had looked like stone. The wall rippled beneath the impact. She sawed down a short distance, then retracted the blade. A piece of the wall sagged like a loose corner of wallpaper. She seized it and pulled. Beyond the façade was a fluid-filled chamber.
Inside, the shadow of a suspended child came into view.
Movement overhead caught my eye. “Above you!” I called.
The creatures were on the ceiling too. Concealed by the mist, one of them had inched into position above Takara and then dropped. She shoved herself from the wall, but not in time. The pointed head of the massive creature slammed into her thigh. She grunted and fell.
If that thing lands on her, she’ll be crushed.
Switching my trigger finger to the rifle, I took aim and released a tight burst of fire. The incendiary rounds burst over the creature’s body, taking out a couple of its eyes. More importantly, the attack knocked the creature off its trajectory. Takara landed hard, but not underneath the thing. It crashed down behind her. As it righted itself, the creature whipped several cords around Takara’s neck and began dragging her toward its gaping mouth.
Hurdling the creatures I’d taken down, I arrived above Takara and slashed through the cords with my talons. I then scooped her up and jumped back as another of the
creatures crashed down. More of them were converging above us. I found a recess in the wall to set Takara.
“You all right?” I asked.
She peered around groggily. “Just need a couple of minutes.”
“Wait here.”
Flipping the rifle to automatic, I sprayed the creatures sliding across the ceiling. The explosive impacts knocked them loose, and they plummeted like wrecking balls. Upon landing, the dozen or so creatures lurched onto their slimy bases and began sliding toward us. I swapped fuel tanks, switched back to the flamethrower, and coated them in fire.
Choked cries went up. Ropey tendrils writhed blindly from torched bodies. The cavern shook. I didn’t know how the creatures were related to the Chagrath—whether they were from its realm or parts of the Chagrath itself—and I didn’t care. I just wanted the disgusting things dead.
Within another few moments, they were.
I scanned the ceiling to make sure there were no more before turning back to Takara. She was already back on her feet, but her first several steps were staggers. The leather had torn away where the creature had struck her thigh, and blood welled from the already-scarred skin.
“Stay there,” I said. “I’ll get the kids.”
Her response was to rise into flight again. Seizing the peeling corner of wall, she pulled until she’d returned to the floor and a large section of the chamber was exposed. I counted the suspended figures. Nine of them, all with tubes running into their nostrils, mouths, and ears. More of the tubes squirmed along the walls. When Takara started to enter, I grabbed her arm.
“The Chagrath will try to snag whoever goes in,” I said, setting down my weapon and stripping off my vest. “You’re a better shot than me. I need you out here to pick off the tubes before they get to me.”
For a moment she looked like she was going to argue, but then she nodded and moved her M4 into firing position. I removed my helmet and boots so that I was only wearing the Kevlar suit. Finally, I donned my sun goggles and tightened them. They were protection against the sun, but I hoped they’d also help me to see through the green suspension.
Blue Shadow (Blue Wolf Book 2) Page 20
