Captured (The Prometheus Project Book 2)

by Richards, Douglas E

  They arrived at the entrance a few minutes later.

  At least they should have.

  The opening was gone!

  Regan gasped, while Ryan’s eyes widened in horror.

  The alien force-field was perfectly intact. No kaleidoscope of colors that represented an opening in the field. No doorway out of the city and back into the cavern. There was no question they were in the correct location. But where was the opening? The city’s only exit was gone!

  They were trapped! Just like the first time they had entered the city.

  “Impossible,” said Ryan, in total disbelief. It was like a very bad dream. How could this be happening again. “What’s going on?”

  Regan said nothing, continuing to stare straight ahead in shock. The last time this exit had disappeared they had been completely alone. At least this time they wouldn’t be. She was at least thankful for that.

  Her brother must have been thinking the same thing. “We need to find the rest of the team,” he said worriedly after a few long seconds of silence. “Even if the entrance closed down at three in the morning there should be at least fifteen people here. Maybe one of them will know what’s going on.”

  They rushed to the nearby building that Carl had selected as his headquarters within the city and went inside.

  It was abandoned!

  Again, this was impossible. There were always at least a few of Carl’s people planning and watching security monitors twenty-four hours a day.

  They drove to four additional alien structures that had been converted into labs or were actively being studied by members of the team with the same result.

  The city was a ghost town. Maybe they were alone, after all.

  With each new discovery of abandoned quarters that shouldn’t have been abandoned the sick feeling in the pits of their stomachs intensified. Changing their strategy, they drove toward the center of the city, stopping periodically to enter multistory buildings to use as lookouts.

  They were each at a different window on the third floor of one such building, silently searching the city below for any signs of life, when Ryan’s voice exploded through the silence. “Regan!” he shouted. “Quick.”

  She raced over and joined her brother who was pointing at something through the window. She looked out in plenty of time to see the reason for his alarm. A chill went down her spine as what she was seeing fully registered. A Hauler was slowly passing the building. They both watched it in shock, their mouths falling open.

  Inside the flatbed compartment three men were kneeling, clutching machine guns against their chests expertly with both hands, one hand at the trigger and one hand supporting the butt of the weapon.

  The men were dressed from head to toe in black. In addition to black socks, black shoes, and a black jumpsuit, they each wore a thick black nylon belt with a variety of black pouches and gear clipped on, and a black ski cap. They each faced a different direction, carefully scanning the city as the vehicle slowly advanced, their intensity and alertness unmistakable even at a distance. There could be no doubt that these were superbly trained and extremely dangerous men.

  Inside the large driving compartment were two more of the black-clad men, one driving and the other pointing a machine gun at a man in civilian clothes, handcuffed to a thick steel pole running across the back of the compartment.

  It was Cam Kincaid!

  And he was clearly a prisoner.

  If there had been any doubt before, there was none now.

  Prometheus had been invaded!

  CHAPTER 8

  Spies

  Things had quickly gone from bad to worse.

  They watched from the window as the vehicle passed a powerful waterfall that gushed from the top of a nearby building and slammed into a shallow pool far below. The water seemed to appear from nowhere and lead nowhere, but this was because the waterfall didn’t really exist. It was a perfect holographic simulation, utterly realistic, right down to the roar of crashing water. The Hauler came to a gleaming, arch-shaped structure about fifty yards away, just beyond the waterfall, and stopped. The structure was bright gold in color, and the two tapering legs of the arch were joined together by a rectangular building that shimmered, as though its walls had melted and were forever flowing around it like molten metal. All five of the black-clad figures jumped out, with the one in front prodding Cam roughly forward with the butt of his assault rifle.

  Moments later they disappeared inside the rectangular structure, except for two of the men who stationed themselves on either side of the door with their rifles at the ready.

  Ryan shook his head violently to break out of his near-paralysis. “How could these guys have made it through security?” he whispered. “It’s just not possible.”

  “I don’t know,” said Regan. “But anyone who could do it has to be incredibly dangerous.”

  “Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better,” said Ryan wryly, but he knew she was right. “Okay, so they’ve taken Cam prisoner. Where is everyone else?”

  As Regan considered his question her eyes went wide and such a horrified expression came over her face that Ryan instantly knew what she was thinking. She was clearly thinking the worst.

  “I don’t think they’re dead,” he said softly, trying to reassure her. “We didn’t see blood or any evidence of that anywhere. Cam is handcuffed but other than that they didn’t hurt him.”

  Regan considered her brother’s argument, and while still unsettled, brightened visibly. “In that case, since we haven’t been able to find anyone, those soldiers probably already captured everyone else and brought them to that building,” she said, nodding her head in its direction.

  “Yeah. That makes sense. Those guys were on a hunting expedition. Searching for anyone they missed the first time around.”

  Regan nodded gloomily.

  Ryan paused for a long moment in thought before coming to an inescapable conclusion. “We need to spy on them,” he said finally.

  Regan sighed heavily. “I had a feeling you were going to say that,” she said.

  “Unless we learn what’s going on as soon as possible, we don’t have a chance.”

  “We might not have a chance anyway. And we might get caught while we’re trying to spy.”

  “Maybe. But I think we need to risk it. Besides, we’re in luck. I know every inch of the building they’re in.”

  “Really?” said Regan, surprised. “I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Dad and I practically lived there that weekend you were busy helping Mom study some of the zoo planets. There’s just a single, rectangular room inside, completely surrounded by a narrow corridor. They must have set up headquarters in the main room.”

  “What were you and Dad doing in there?”

  Ryan raised his eyebrows. “You know the ceramic samples Dad is always studying?”

  “The superconductors?”

  Ryan nodded. “He got them from inside that building.”

  Regan’s eyes widened. Her father considered this to be among his most important projects. A superconductor was a material through which electricity could flow without losing any energy at all. This was extremely rare. The only superconductors Earth scientists had developed would only work at icy temperatures far below zero. But the material their dad had found would work at room temperature, something that could revolutionize such things as computer technology and the generation of electricity.

  “The inner walls of that building are made of a complex ceramic material. Once Dad realized they were superconductors, I couldn’t get him to leave; even to eat. He spent the entire weekend there doing experiments and taking samples from the walls.”

  “Okay,” said Regan. “So you do know the building well. But how does that help us?”

  “While Dad was working, I did some exploring. Along with the one entrance you can easily see in the front, I found an invisible doorway on the other side of the building. It leads to the hallway surrounding the central room.” His eyes
blazed with determination. “Once we’re in the hallway we should be able to hear what’s going on in the other room. Even better, if I’m remembering right, the samples Dad cut from the walls left small holes that we should be able to look through.”

  “Great,” said Regan, frowning. The set-up her brother described really was as perfect for spying as they could possibly hope for, which left them no excuse not to do what he was proposing. “Lucky us,” she mumbled unhappily.

  “We can do this, Regan,” he said confidently. “All we have to do is make it through the invisible door without being seen.”

  Regan peered cautiously out of the window once again. The guards were stationed at the front entrance only. If they snuck up from behind, they really should be able to make it to the hallway.

  “Okay,” she said as bravely as possible. “What are we waiting for?”

  Keeping out of the guards’ line of sight, they drove back the way they had come for several miles and then circled back so they could approach the structure from behind. They abandoned the golf-cart behind a small cylindrical building about sixty yards from their target and cautiously closed the remaining distance on foot. They crouched low as they approached, keeping out of sight behind exotic vegetation and a few Haulers parked haphazardly behind the structure.

  Finally, they were at their destination. A section of the flowing gold wall dutifully vanished as they approached and moments later they were inside the hall surrounding the central building.

  They had made it!

  Regan’s heart beat like a jackhammer, so loudly that if she didn’t know better, she would have sworn that everyone in the building could easily hear it as it pounded explosively against the walls of her chest. Ryan’s pulse matched his sister’s beat for beat and his stomach churned nervously.

  While they could hear chatter from the main room quite clearly, several people were talking at once and they couldn’t make out anything specific being said.

  Ryan motioned his sister to follow him. He gestured to a series of quarter-sized holes bored through the smooth, bright-orange wall about a foot off the ground, evenly spaced about every ten feet. “Dad’s samples,” explained Ryan telepathically.

  All they needed to do was lie on their stomachs and line up one eye with a hole and they would both be able to observe the entire main room. So far, so good.

  Regan felt an odd tingle in her brain. She had the feeling it was a telepathic signal, but a very faint one. Was it the Teacher trying to contact them? If so, the Teacher was weaker than ever and was using a strange frequency that didn’t quite work.

  “Do you feel that?” she broadcast to her brother.

  “Yes. Could it be the Teacher?” asked Ryan.

  “I don’t know,” she replied.

  Ryan was about to broadcast something else when he was stopped cold by an eerie sixth-sense.

  He froze! What was that?

  Ryan strained, his senses extended to their farthest possible limits. He heard an incredibly faint, but unmistakable, shuffle coming from directly behind him!

  Someone—or some thing—had snuck up on them.

  Ryan remained perfectly still, just able to fight off his instinctive urge to almost literally jump out of his skin. His stomach was in knots and the tiny hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. “Regan, behind us,” he alerted his sister telepathically.

  But as he was about to wheel around to face whatever was approaching, he felt hot breath on the back of his neck, and he knew with a horrible certainty that he had waited too long.

  CHAPTER 9

  Captured

  Before Ryan or Regan could even think about moving a pair of giant hands lashed out from behind them, one clamping itself firmly over each of their mouths. Their startled grunts were entirely muffled by the large hand. Ryan fought for control and while doing so finally caught a glimpse of his assailant.

  It was Dan Walpus! Captain Dan Walpus. He was wearing civilian clothes as usual—tan slacks and a blue knit shirt—but a military assault rifle was slung over his shoulder.

  Regan recognized him an instant later and both she and Ryan immediately ceased struggling.

  What a relief!

  Dan caught each of their eyes and gave them a reassuring nod and then gestured with his head in the direction of the main room. They nodded back, letting him know that they would stay quiet. He gently removed his hands from around their mouths and crouched down to their level. “Sorry,” he whispered, so quietly they weren’t sure if they were hearing it or reading his lips. “If I just tapped you on your backs you might have called out in surprise and given away our position. Had to do it this way.”

  “What’s happening?” whispered Regan.

  “Not sure,” mouthed Dan. “But I’m the only adult not captured. I was doing reconnaissance when I saw you and decided to follow. Glad I did. Didn’t know about the back-door access to this building.” He looked around and spotted the quarter-sized holes in the wall. “Very glad I did,” he remarked with a slight smile.

  Dan removed the rifle from around his neck and propped it gently against the wall. “I’ll watch from this position,” he whispered. He pointed to the next two small holes in the wall that appeared at ten-foot intervals. “You man those. We need to learn as much as we can. If I think I have a chance to take them out at any point, I’ll signal you. If I do, I want you out of the building. Quickly and quietly. No hesitation, no argument. I will not have you in this building when the shooting starts. Is that understood?”

  Both kids nodded.

  “Good.”

  They spread out, each lying on the floor. They cautiously put their eyes to the holes, slowly enough so no one in the other room could possibly catch any movement.

  Against the far wall of the main room, about twenty scientists were huddled together on the floor, bound and gagged. Regan fought off an inadvertent gasp.

  Two of the captives were her parents!

  They didn’t look injured, nor, fortunately, did any of the other captives. The hands and ankles of each captive were bound together with thin, but extremely tough, strips of black plastic. These plasticuffs, also referred to as zip-strips, were currently in favor with Special Forces teams because they were light, easy to carry, extremely fast and extremely effective. They resembled tie strips used to bind bundles of electrical cable. A soldier could pull a zip-strip from his belt, wrap it around an enemy’s wrists, insert the end in something resembling a tiny, hard plastic belt loop that was attached to it, and pull. Small teeth in the strip would ratchet it to the desired tightness in seconds. Unlike metal handcuffs, there was no lock mechanism to pick. They could only be removed if someone cut through the ultra-hard plastic, a surprisingly difficult task. It was virtually impossible for a prisoner to free themselves from these restraints.

  Carl and seven of his men were separated from the scientists, and each also had their hands behind their backs, their wrists locked tightly together with plasticuffs and their ankles bound in the same way.

  In the middle of the room, five enemy soldiers were milling about. When they spoke it was in low tones and they appeared to be waiting for something. A few minutes later it became clear what when an imposing, black-clad soldier entered the room. He was unmistakably different from the others. He was unusually pale and towered over everyone in the room, including some of Carl’s men who were well over six feet tall.

  As he entered the soldiers stopped talking and a hush fell over the room. He looked around and scowled. “There’s still one man left to collect,” he barked. “Were you all planning to just stand around here all day!” he demanded.

  “You assured us that you would locate him yourself once he regained consciousness,” protested a soldier who was as thick as a tree trunk and looked strong enough to lift a car. “If you like, we can send out another search party.”

  The tall man radiated an unmistakable air of authority. “No, Captain Hanly,” he said, calming down. “That won’t be necess
ary. He isn’t going anywhere. I’ll get him myself in due course.”

  He walked up to where the members of Prometheus security were tightly bound and lying on the ground and pulled Carl roughly up off the floor. The head of security looked small in the giant’s grasp. After he was let go, it took Carl several seconds to steady himself on feet that were bound tightly together. Once he was balanced, the newcomer pulled the gag roughly from his mouth.

  “So this is the great Colonel Carl Sharp,” said the tall, pale soldier, sneering. “It’s my understanding that while Dr. Harry Harris is in charge of this entire project, you are in charge when there is any threat to security.” He raised his eyebrows. “Would it be safe to assume that I qualify as a threat to security?”

  Carl met his captor’s eyes unflinchingly. “Who are you?” he said evenly. “And what do you want?”

  The man laughed. “I already have what I want. I want this city. I have one last man to capture and then I’ll have it completely locked down.”

  “You are sadly mistaken. I have over twenty men remaining in this city who are planning their attack even as we speak. To secure this city they will consider me and the others expendable. If they can’t take you out any other way, they’ll bomb this building back into the stone age.”

  This caused the man to laugh even louder. He stepped forward and stooped until he was directly in Carl’s face. “Nice try, Colonel,” he growled. “But you can’t bluff me. I know everything there is to know about your security. I know the name and background of everyone in this room. And finally, I know Captain Dan Walpus is still at large—the only person in this entire city who is. Once we neutralize him, there won’t be anyone left who can stop me. So don’t think you can scare me with your imaginary force of twenty men.” He smiled cruelly. “You have no idea what you’re up against here.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me,” said Carl evenly.