The Road to Round Mountain II - The Alliance: By C.G Roberts

by C. G. Roberts

  Marques.

  “Great, just what Bill doesn’t need more Mexican food? Just make sure that wherever we’re staying at, that Bill gets his own room”, the Sheriff demanded. The Captain looked over at me and gave a shrug of his shoulders that seemed to

  confirm the Sheriff’s concern. The Sheriff was tapping and typing on his phone

  and asked, “This Tanopah, does Thomas live there or is it someplace he’s familiar

  with”? “Both”, Cory replied. “He’s been there almost two years and I doubt that I

  would find the place if I didn’t follow him there”.

  I’ve never heard of Tanopah, and come to think of it, I hadn’t even heard of Round Mountain until a few weeks ago. The bustle of last minute planning continued as I focused my attention on the view outside. This area could have been one of those places where people said the filming of the moon landing was

  false. If it was, it was filmed here with hills of rock and dust surrounded by valleys

  of rock and dust. Occasionally we would pass the skeletal remains of a tree and a

  smattering of cactus here and there, but otherwise a barren environment.

  Then it started to make sense as to why have the compound located in such a

  desolate place. Quite simple, no one would think to look out here. No person in their right mind would ever build anything out here. The operative phrase here was, ‘in their right mind’. We were dealing with an entity consisting of greed, power, and just plain evil. Add a dash of insanity for flavor and presto you have the perfect ingredients for Bellevue West.

  Continuing our trek down highway 395 we stumbled upon a slice of

  civilization in the way of Tanopah, Nevada. El Marques was on the left and the restaurant was built in typical southwest fashion, a single story adobe type structure, as were a lot of the buildings in the area.

  I’m not sure if it was because I was starving or the smell coming from the kitchen was heavenly, but I was ready to order two of everything. Cory and Hank led us to a large table in the back with a view of the front of the restaurant with window views of the parking lot. Thomas and Bonner joined our party a couple of minutes later.

  It was quiet for the most part until our food came. I had the burrito platter and wasn’t shy about digging in as soon as it was in front of me. I had devoured almost half of the first burrito and things were looking u p when, “Vargas is alive”, Thomas announced to our now shocked group. “I picked up a call from the compound and Vargas made it through surgery and is being transported to the compound”, Thomas added.

  “I swear Walt, I got him right between the shoul der blades”, The Captain

  offered. “Hush Bill let him finish”, The Sheriff scolded. “Evidently your shot deflected off of one the implants in his back, but he has lost a lot of blood, and there is only one reason for him to be taken to the compound”. We looked at

  each other in a clueless manner. “If they get him charged up, he won’t feel any

  pain, and will be more dangerous than a wounded bear”, Thomas explained.

  I went back to my dinner after Thomas’s news concerning Vargas. His

  condition wasn’t a huge concern for me until it sank in about being full of

  electricity. I could recall Detective Hargrove’s hands around my neck when I was

  in the Hospital, but I couldn’t feel it at all.

  This was starting to concern me, especially if they were successful with Vargas, in addition to the other guy they had there with power similar to mine. I looked up from my plate and notice that everyone was staring at me. They could sense my diminished lack of confidence after Thomas’s news.

  “This might change our strategy a bit if, and I say a big if, they have any luck with Vargas. We’ll go over and update our plans once we get to our location”, Thomas tried to say in a calming manner. My appetite vanished but I continued

  as I knew that I would need all the strength I could muster. My mind kept filtering different manners of which I could get recharged. None of the options seemed likely outside of being kidnapped by Dr. Frankenstein and put in his lab, and that option was fictional which should tell you the level of my desperation.

  My headache returned as the thought of facing not only one, but two entities like myself in a setting that they know and I’m unfamiliar with was making me feel somewhat helpless. Perhaps once we go over the plans tonight I would feel better, although I would seriously doubt it.

  50

  A light blue Chevy panel van pulled up to the fenced area of the compound. The Van and occupants were greeted by two armed guards with their assault weapons pointed directly at the driver. Hendricks had his hands up as he stuck his head out the window, “Contact Mr. Baily, tell him his son is here”. The smaller but stockier of the guards grabbed the phone outside the guard shack. The taller and younger guard kept his eyes on the driver.

  “Stand aside, Mr. Baily’s expecting them”, the gray haired muscular one of the duo shouted at his partner. His partner took a couple of steps to his left but hi s weapon remained poised at the driver. His older partner hit the button that opened the gate. Once inside, the gate stated closing and Hendricks felt somewhat relieved that he would arrive inside the compound on his own two feet instead of a body bag.

  As Hendricks pulled the van up to the huge semi-circle entrance to the

  compound, he could fell the ground rumble slightly and the half-moon shaped

  door started to rise. Two men in white jackets came through the open door wheeling out a gurney. They opened the side van door and positioned Vargas safely on the gurney and quickly wheeled him inside. Hendricks pulled the van over to the side of the entrance, parked it and ran inside to keep up with the gurney transporting Vargas.

  Hendricks passed two more guards once inside and passed a young man who had a dazed look in his eyes. He ran right passed the young man who was seated on a stool, but gave no attention to him or his destination. Having long legs aided Hendricks in his efforts to catch up to the two men rolling the gurney.

  This was Hendricks second trip inside the compound. His first trip was to meet with Mr. Baily whose office and labs are to the left once you make it through the half-moon door. The two men in the white jackets turned right and followed a long narrow hallway that had a slight curve to it. He couldn’t believe how smooth the walls were considering they were rock.

  They approached an intersection and turned left down another long hallway. This hallway had numerous rooms, laboratories he thought and plenty of them. At the fourth door on the right, they went in. Inside was filled by a good dozen people or so, but the two men made sure that he remained outside with instructions to go to Mr. Baily’s office .

  After weaving his way back towards the entrance he followed a small area off

  to the left that was home to Mr. Baily’s office, two of his Labs and beyond that

  was where it was believed that was where he resided.

  He opened the door to the small reception area which of course was closed on a Sunday. He approached the door straight ahead which read Dr. Armond Baily. He knocked softly.

  The door opened slowly as Hendricks poked his head in the room. “Come in,

  Come in”, a raspy voice invited. Hendricks reluctantly came in as the door closed

  on its own. The figure standing behind the desk looked like Mr. Baily, but one

  that seemed twenty years older than the one he saw some months ago. Mr. Baily

  stood there and smiled. His white dress shirt hung from his almost skeletal frame

  like a shirt on a hanger. His eyes were almost lost as the black circles around them took center stage. Hendricks noticed that Mr. Baily’s hair was not the shiny gray full head of hair that made him look worldly. His hair reminded him of gray straw and looked anything but real.

  Hendricks had no idea that Mr. Baily was sick and by the way his hands were shaking, he wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to last. “Please m
y boy, have a seat, you look simply exhausted”, Mr. Baily motioned for Hendricks to

  have a seat in front of his desk. Hendricks sat as requested but kept staring at the

  emaciated condition of Mr. Baily.

  Mr. Baily sat down at his desk, coughed a few times, though nothing as

  severe as earlier, opened his top desk drawer and brought out an envelope and

  handed it to Hendricks. He smiled as he took the envelope, but would not insult his host by being so crude as to count the money that was nearly exploding from the envelope.

  “Let me say, that’s it’s been a privilege to have you on the payroll”, Mr. Baily

  commended. Hendricks was getting ready to reply but became speechless as a bullet pierced straight through his chest. It was an old ploy, but still useful as Mr. Baily reached under his center desk drawer and unclipped the revolver with the silencer on it that was attached under the drawer.

  Shaky but determined, Mr. Baily got to his feet and made his way around to where Hendricks was seated, grabbed the envelope and pulled his phone from his pocket, to have staff members collect and dispose of one Mr. Hendricks.

  51

  “Where to now”, The Sheriff wondered as we piled back into our vehicles? “Mile, Mile and a half, maybe”, Cory responded. I wondered as well, since our view consisted of a whole lot of nothing. It would be dark in about thirty minutes as an orange hue was cast on the western horizon with the sun vanishing behind

  the mountains.

  As we got back on highway 6 headed east, we went past a few small hills, or buttes as they call them around here and turned right on a gravel road that appeared to be not much more than a path. We slowly went up and around the undersized mountain as I continued to look for a house or cabin but saw nothing

  but rocks and more rocks. Our Expedition slowed down as we got to a rusty old

  gate.

  The gate was not a strange sight in itself; except that there was nothing on the other side, except of course, more rocks. Hank pulled his visor down and retrieved a small remote and pressed a button that made the gate doors swing inward. Great, now we have access to rocks on this side of the fence. I needed some rest as even I could tell that my mind was in a whiny mode.

  Our motorcade followed the trail down the right side of the mountain. After a

  few turns we came upon a small shack that might have passed for an outhouse. I was tired after that huge Burrito dinner that I really wasn’t that hungry for as we stopped at the shack.

  Slightly confused at our stop, everyone piled out and went to the shack. From my vantage point it looked like the Bermuda triangle as Cory and Hank went in, as did Bonner, followed by The Sheriff and the Captain. Thomas motioned for me to follow as his phone rang. He answered the call while motioning me to follow.

  Reluctantly I went inside only to find out I was the only one in here.

  I looked around as the inside was only three feet by four feet wide. The noise

  from behind me made me jump as the weathered wooden wall opened behind

  me. I was somewhat relieved now that I could hear familiar voices coming the

  opening. I followed a long hallway that was lit just enough so that I could see

  much brighter light farther down the hallway.

  I could tell that Thomas and Vargas were of the same blood line, as the unconventional entrance was eerily similar to the exit at Vargas’s cabin. The hallway ended as I stepped into a large musty smelling room. For the most part, the room was rectangular in shape, perhaps twenty by thirty feet wide with huge wooden beams framed throughout the room. The wooden frames ran across t he ceiling to the corners with a wooden beam in each corner for support. I suppose

  this was in case tons of rock caved in on us; we would be protected by the

  wooden frame, extremely unlikely though.

  Against the wall to my left were a group of computers and laptops with all of their respective screens buzzing with activity. The Sheriff and Captain were in awe of what they were staring at. I joined in their amazement but my attention was drawn to a large table in the center of the room.

  I wandered over towards the table. It was maybe four feet by four feet and on it was a smaller version of the area surrounding Round Mountain. This was an amazing effort to put together such a realistic scale model. I could see the smaller mountain at the edge of the table which was where we are located. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight out at the thought of being this close

  to Round Mountain.

  Bonner, Hank and Cory were seated on the right side of the mini model of

  Round Mountain pointing out potential areas to breach access to gain entry.

  The Sheriff took off his hat and scratched his head, “Damn Bill, you ever see anything like this before”, referring to the model, the underground lair, and all of the high tech equipment that surrounded them? “Never have Walt. This looks like a combination; Indiana Jones meets Bill Gates and doing battle with Dr. Evil. I think I would go see that if they ever made a movie”, The Captain chattered while gawking at his surroundings.

  The Sheriff chuckled as he playfully tapped him on the shoulder. I felt a bit of a breeze and turned to see Thomas joining our little party. I looked above where Thomas came in and all along the top of the wall where the entrance is located

  was a series of monitors with different views and angles of the outside perimeter. This place was amazing compared to the cellar that Vargas had his setup, though I have to admit Vargas’s techno world was impressive as well.

  “A bit of news to share”, Thomas stated as he pulled up a chair along the back side of the display. That bit of news brought their attention towards Thomas. “It appears that Vargas is back at the compound, but it seems the driver of the van that brought him there might have been disposed of”. Not a word was uttered, just heads shaking in disbelief. “Let me guess, one of the guards drove the van over the ridge to where the garbage gorge is right”, Cory offered. I had no idea what a garbage gorge was and I didn’t have to wait long for an explanation as

  Thomas continued.

  “For those who are new to these parts I’ll explain how the compound has its

  own built in trashcan. On the back side of Round Mountain there are adjoining

  mountains but also a huge crevice, gorge, or canyon that separates them. It’s a good thousand foot drop into the dark bowels of the mountain and a perfect

  place to hide what you don’t want found. This is what my contact just outside the compound witnessed, so it just might be that they do have plans for Vargas which

  we will have to incorporate into our plans as well”, Thomas explained.

  I was at the front of the mini model with the Sheriff and the Captain. Still amazed at the intricate detail put into this project, I was drawn to the larger mountain towards the center with some type of fence surrounding a strange

  looking door. Thomas, Bonner, Hank and Cory were comparing notes as I scanned

  around the room. It looked like there was a hallway back behind Thomas and

  Company and I’m sure that the living quarters were located back there.

  “How long have you guys been in this location”, inquiring minds want to

  know? Thomas looked up at me, “A little over two years for me and these guys pop in and out depending on our needs”. The Sheriff gave a strange look at the Captain and added, “I thought you NSA guys were all located back east”?

  “Administration people mostly, although there are a few high ranking folks that still strap on their weapon and head to the field occasionally”, Thomas responded. “This”, as he waved his arms about the room, “was at one time, a place they would hide out while they experimented with various bombs back in the nineteen forties and fifties”.

  Thomas pointed at the model and added, “Now, let’s, get back to work”. I could hear them talking about various things but all I could focus on was the fence that was the barrier between me an
d getting inside the compound. I didn’t notice

  it at first but then I saw a small sign with what looked like a lightning bolt on it.

  “What’s this sign mean”, I interrupted rudely? Hank, poked his head up and saw what I was pointing at, “That means the fence is electrified, so remember, don’t touch it”, he added in a stern manner. Maybe it was because I was tired, but it sank in immediately. My means for recharging had just presented itself.

  The planning continued though I paid little interest in it and perhaps I should, but I kept studying the model some more and noticed a few other details that peaked my curiosity. There were two small pipes sticking out of the top of the mini model Round Mountain about an inch or so apart from each other. “Sorry guys, but what are those”, as I pointed at the pipes? Thomas looked up from his notes and replied, “Those are the air vents for the compound. They’re not exactly to scale as they are actually six feet in circumference. The one on the right is the

  intake and the other of course the out flow. The one on the right has a high

  powered fan to pull in fresh air and farther down the pipes are cooling systems”.

  “Anyone trying to get in or out that way looks like they would end up rather shredded”, I added. “The fans are at a steady twelve hundred RPM’s, which translates to about thirty five miles per hour, so yeah, that one is not an option to gain entry”, Thomas explained.

  Bonner came back from the hallway to our group at the table. He was carrying a twelve pack of Widmer amber ale and sat it on one of the chairs next to

  Thomas. I didn’t even see him leave, and apparently I’m the only one not of age to drink, which is fine since I’m not too wild about the taste of beer anyway. Bonner saw my look of disappointment and added, “Down the hall to the right, there’s some soda’s in the fridge”. “Thanks”, I answered. Bonner added, “The room just past the kitchen has a huge exhaust fan in it if you need a smoke”.

  I nodded in appreciation and that sounded good right about now, a coke and a smoke. I was not getting my expectations too high to actually think there might be Dr. Pepper in amongst the choices. There were no Dr. Peppers to be found, so I settled for a Pepsi and went into room just past the little kitchen area. I pulled out a smoke, found the exhaust button on the wall and lit up as I got out my phone to call Jenny.