Hawk looked down and could see nothing to indicate that there was an end to the darkness below and asked, “Is there a bottom?”
Caia answered, “There is always a landing. This one just happens to be a long way down.”
CHAPTER XX
Norton’s two new guards who had been ordered to watch for Caia and Thea followed in the wake of their quarries when they had finally made an appearance earlier. The two men had gone out of their way to stay clear of the tidal waves when they noticed them begin to roll onto shore. When the tide started to head out again, they noticed there were no signs of the two girls, or the two men who had been with them. They marked the spot of the last place they had seen them, then returned to the house where Norton was to report.
Norton wasn’t in a very good mood when the men he had assigned to keep watch over Caia and Thea return empty-handed in the middle of the day. Nothing had been going right over the last week, and he got the impression these men weren’t about to bring him good news. Norton noted the gloomy expressions on the faces of the guards and considered this to mean there had been trouble. Well, Norton thought to himself, he had had enough of that to report to his superiors without adding more to the mess this assignment had become.
Norton reflected on how over the last forty-eight hours he had not only lost over twenty trusted men, but the schooner in the harbor had broken free from its moorings and drifted off to sea. The first matter had already been reported, but the second Norton had been reluctant to talk about. So instead of telling the men at the top about the loss, Norton had tried to rectify the situation on his own. So far he had been unsuccessful. At this point, Norton was faced with no other choice but to tell the powers in control about the loss, which meant he needed to get some good news to accompany the bad to temper the one with the other.
The moment the two guards entered, he ordered, “Report.”
The guards recognized the sound of a man who was at the end of his rope and they got the impression that Norton fit that profile perfectly. Despite the possibility that this could go badly, the guards stood at attention, and the first guard began his report. “When Caia and Thea returned to the second house, as you suspected they eventually would, they were accompanied by the two men who fit the description you gave us of those who had defeated them in the volleyball game. They all retired early and rose before the rising of the sun. It didn’t take long for them to leave the building together afterwards. The two couples followed the shoreline for several miles until they reached the cliffs lining the northwest shore.”
The second guard continued on as the first one stopped. “We were careful to maintain a discreet distance while taking note of the area where they went. You will find this spot marked on the map you gave us for this reason. What we witnessed, however, was beyond strange.”
Norton’s attention was suddenly focused on what he was being told and he urged the two guards on with their story. “What happened that was so strange?”
The guards exchanged a look, and then the first one said, “Shortly after they arrived, one of the girls touched the wall of the cliff and a doorway opened to allow them entry.”
Norton grew excited at this news and quickly pushed for more information. “Did you see what she touched? Do you know the exact location?”
The guard who had reported the event to Norton replied, “We can show you the spot, but not what she touched. We weren’t close enough to see that. Moments after the group left the tide came in. It only took a few minutes for the area to be covered with over fifteen feet of water, and that arrived with strong waves that crashed against the cliffs. There was no way to follow up on what we had seen. Later, after the tide went out, we retraced their steps, but all signs of their presence had been washed away.”
Norton thought about what he had been told for a few moments, and then grabbed a light coat. This was something he wanted to check out for himself. It wouldn’t take long before the tide would be coming back in, and he wanted to check out the spot while the event was still fresh in the minds of these guards. What he wanted to find out was whether he could see some sign of a trigger mechanism. If Norton found this, he might be able to follow the girls to the treasure they were hiding. Before Norton followed through, however, he had to contact his superiors to give them the news. If Norton tried to do something like this on his own, and those over him in the organization found out, his life wouldn’t be worth living. This would be especially true if he attempted to do this and then failed.
By the time Norton and the guards arrived at the shoreline, the waters were at the farthest point away from land. They, however, knew it would only be a matter of a short time before this was reversed. They figured they had approximately an hour to get to where they needed to go and check out the spot before returning. Because of this, they moved quickly to reach the place the guards had marked.
The guards who had told Norton the story walked up to the spot where they had seen the others disappear, and the first guard reported. “I swear this is the last place we saw them. The rocks of the cliff opened to form a doorway and allowed them to go inside.”
The second guard added. “There is nothing I can add to what my partner has told you. Everyone knows the coastline here is dangerous. The waves are vicious during the best of weather, and the undertow is more than anyone can fight. If you get caught in the water at the wrong time, you will end up dead. When the tide is coming in, it can be even worse.”
Norton only half listened to what he was being told. Instead of paying full attention to what the guards were saying, he was searching the face of the cliff to see if he could find the key. There could only be one, and Norton thought that if he could find it, he would also be able to gain access to the interior of the cliff. Eventually, he had to give up. He had a suspicion he knew were the lever was, but there was more to this than only touching a pebble or slab of rock. It was also time to leave the area before the tide came rushing back. He was going to return to the cottage to where there would be proper access to a decent tower so he could call out. The higher level officers of the organization were going to want to hear about what they found, and they would want to know why he had kept them waiting unnecessarily.
It took Norton three tries to find a spot where they could find a clear line to be able to connect to his superiors from the cottage. It was a problem that not only aggravated him, but also them, because the static and loss of towers kept interrupting the flow of their conversation. This lost everyone valuable time.
The person who answered the call had the same voice Norton remembered from before, and he sounded frustrated. “This better be worth the aggravation.”
Norton tried to ignore the menacing sound of the man, but failed. It was why his voice wavered as he replied. “We have found a hidden passage in the cliffs. It is dangerous to access, and can only be done at certain times of the day. But, I believe someone with the right amount of power will be able to open the doorway. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I am the right man for this task.”
There was silence on the other end as the person there thought about what Norton had just told him. To Norton’s superior it suddenly seemed like they were starting to move ahead with this venture. The man had been faced with one failure after another by the people he had been sending to the coast where Norton was. Now, there finally was good news coming from that quarter. It wasn’t a great report. That would have only been the case if Norton said he had enough power to break through the barrier on his own. However, Norton at least had the sense to recognize his shortcomings, along with the guts to admit to them. It took a man with brains and balls to act on the truth in Norton’s position.
With these thoughts going through his head, the man on the other end of the connection asked. “If I sent you men with enough power, could you lead them to this doorway?”
Norton immediately answered, “Without a doubt.”
The answer Norton got was curt, “Expect three visitors to arrive by tomorro
w. Be ready for them.”
The link was broken less than a heartbeat later.
CHAPTER XXI
In the later part of the afternoon three men arrived as Norton had said they would. There were no introductions, no preliminary requests for information. The men acted like they had already been given all of the instruction they needed, except for the specific details only Norton and the guards knew. They needed to get the location of the doorway from Norton, but that was all they seemed to want from him.
The moment the three men settled into the cottage, their designated leader ordered. “Now, take us to where we will find the doorway you told the boss about.”
Norton looked out over the horizon to check on the location of the ocean, and then nodded. “It is safe enough to go now, the tide is out and won’t be back in for a while.”
As the four men walked towards the cliffs where Caia, Thea, Hawk, and Adriel had disappeared, they quickly exchanged names, beginning with Norton. “I am Norton. I assume you have already been briefed on everything you need to know, but it might be an idea for you to give me your names in case of injury or accidental loss. This assignment has been a nothing but bad news since the beginning as far as I am concerned.”
There was a pause in the conversation, as if the three men were considering the matter, and then the leader spoke. “I am David.”
With a curt nod, the second man added, “My name is Alfred.”
The third man ended, “I am Wayne.”
David quickly began to fill Norton in on what they already figured he knew. “We are the three who have been the luckiest at finding things so far. It has not been easy in some cases to figure out what they are, but we think we have the gist of it by now. As far as this area goes, we have been briefed about the moodiness of the coastline. We took time to study about the region while we were traveling. According to our information, the character of the sea changed over the last few weeks and is more dangerous than it was. When we looked for a reason, we found none. Personally, I am surprised we weren’t sent here to see what was going on in this part of the world months ago. Haltom, our boss, was impressed with how quickly you found the problem, if not the solution. It was smart of you not to pretend to know how to handle things on your own. Haltom could respect that. Troy made it sound like he was on top of things, so when the schooner went missing, Troy paid the price for his arrogance. The schooner is another thing we are to check into while we are here.”
Norton sighed, “I am becoming more aware of how dangerous this particular job is getting to be as it unfolds, nor do I understand how some things happened.”
David’s voice turned harsh and demanding. “I suggest you start to find some answers and quickly. Haltom doesn’t have a lot of patience, he might respect you for your honesty, but he has no use for ignorance. It doesn’t matter how good you seem to be at what you do, if you are screwing up, he will terminate you.”
Norton was not about to put up with the type of attitude he was getting from these men. He had done everything he had been asked without question. “It isn’t my fault these things happened. An investigation found that the anchor chain broke, which allowed the ship to break free from its mooring. The insurance investigators told me rogue waves along this coast are common and was probably the cause. The ship could be anywhere by now, on or under the surface.”
Alfred grumbled, “Well, the insurance company won’t pay for the wreckage unless they know the ship was lost for sure.”
Norton shot back. “They may never find that schooner if it sank. It is a big ocean, much larger ships go missing and are never found.”
David nodded as he added. “We are doing an underwater search by satellite for the schooner. We assume the men who were on it are dead or they would have reported in. It is not something Haltom is happy about, especially as the headcount on this project is getting to be so abysmally high.”
Norton already knew this to be the case. “I realize this, and I understand that we only have so many resources and people in the organization. Not many believe in the same things we have come to. Has Haltom followed up any of the other leads I sent him on the other two portals?”
David nodded. “Three men were sent into the area that shows one hovering in the air. They have instructions to shoot to kill if necessary. This happened only a day ago after you reported so many deaths here. The men are to secure the area until Haltom gets there in person. The leader says he has a feeling about this area and wants to handle things in person. He says this is getting to be more mysterious the deeper we dig into things, and there are fewer hands available in the organization to help figure things out. Haltom is getting frustrated, which is bad news for people like you.”
Norton wondered, “Why me?”
Alfred answered, “Because it is your information that is being used to direct operations. It seems very suspicious to those higher up in the organization when every time you turn in information, it is followed up by a barrage of deaths.”
Norton quickly muttered, “It isn’t my fault the men who were sent to the areas are inept.”
David reminded Norton of a matter he had to wonder if Norton had conveniently forgotten about. “You led a team of thirty men into this spot. This included you. Only four are left alive. Three of them turned in their resignations because of the slaughter they saw the day after it happened. What is Haltom to believe?”
Norton hadn’t known about the resignations, and it angered him that those men had deserted. What had they been thinking? Did they believe he had been the one to kill the others on his own? How was he supposed to have done that? True, he was capable of murder and had no trouble committing it when he felt it was necessary, but not in the way the guards had been taken out. Nor could Norton do it in such a way that would prevent an alarm from being sounded in the way these killings were. Norton didn’t know of any assassin who was that good. If he knew someone like that, he would have gone out of his way to recruit the man or woman to their side. And yes, Norton did believe women could be as lethal as men. Women might be weaker than men physically, but in some cases it was this that made them more lethal. Females were often underestimated because of what they were. In Norton’s estimation, this was a matter of programming. Men were taught that they were omnipotent. Norton gave a snort as he considered what fools men could be.
Norton shrugged in response to the loss of all of the men who had come to this part of the world with him. There was no doubt in his mind that the three who had resigned would never be allowed to go home to their families with the information they knew about the organization. It would be foolish for Haltom to allow them that freedom. Those in command couldn’t allow any news about what their people had been doing to get leaked to the media or the authorities. There had been too many crimes committed for them to cover up, and not all men could be trusted to keep their mouth shut.
Norton came to a stop in front of the spot where Caia, Adriel, Hawk, and Thea were last seen and pointed at the face of the cliff. “This is where they entered.”
David walked straight to the trigger, splayed a hand over it, and then closed his eyes while he collected the information he would need to enter at a later date. When he was finished, David turned to the others and reported. “We cannot gain access through this area tonight. Tomorrow morning we will return. I want everyone ready to move on it before dawn, and this includes you, Norton. You are coming with us.”
Norton was surprised. “I thought I wasn’t to be a part of this. Any great magic is beyond my power.”
David didn’t pause to look at Norton. Instead he answered, “I changed my mind. We will need the manpower if we expect to get to where the others are going. You are to be ready to leave when the rest of us do.”
CHAPTER XXII
By the time they reached the end of the tunnel, Hawk and Adriel had no idea how far they had really traveled from the entrance. Most of the journey had been done in the dark, and while this shouldn’t have bothered them, the fact
that they were surrounded by rock threw off their sense of direction. They had gone through so many twists and turns during the last few days that they hardly knew where they even were. The only thing they could be sure of was that they were underground, and it was dry. They were now at a standstill, as they were surrounded by rock on all but one direction. They had no intention of turning around to head back the way they had come, not unless Caia and Thea did.
Hawk watched as Caia and Thea sat cross-legged on the floor of the passage and seemed prepared to settle down for whatever amount of time it took to get through what they presumed was another test of patience. Hawk asked. “So what do we do this time?”
Caia answered, “We rest and wait. As you have found in the last few days, things have a way of happening for those who are patient.”
Hawk and Adriel exchanged glances as they watched Caia and Thea place their palms against the floor then closed their eyes in deep concentration. There had to be a good reason for their actions, and although Hawk and Adriel were curious to know what it was, they kept their questions to themselves. As Hawk and Adriel watched their Life Mates, it seemed to them that Caia and Thea were trying to reach out with their powers to check on something. The determination that showed in Caia and Thea’s faces gave the impression they weren’t being very successful. They needed help, and Hawk and Adriel got a feeling this was one of the main reasons they had been ordered to bond with Caia and Thea before they went with them.
With the words of the High Lord General Gabriella Eagle Claw racing through their minds, Hawk and Adriel took their places between Caia and Thea, and then emulated their positions. The moment Hawk and Adriel pressed their palms against the stone between them and their Life Mates, Caia and Thea reached out to clasp their hands to create a circle of power. It was then that the group of four fully understood what Gabriella had been trying to tell them. As powerful as they were on their own, they were so much more as fully bonded couples.
Water Bonded Page 9
