Page 25

R yker

The outer facade of the lab was not what I’d expected it to be. On the surface, it appeared to be a lodge of sorts, or maybe a solitary wilderness research station at one point, but I knew it to be more than that.

All the evidence that Naomi had uncovered, along with the logs that Pacifica had revealed, indicated that this facility was once one of the top research labs in the country and was affiliated with the United States government as well as Mexico’s.

This building didn’t look like it could possibly be that.

The whole structure was overgrown with weeds, saplings, and brambles.

The vines were so thick in some places that I would have to cut through with my machete.

“This doesn’t look big enough to be what we thought it was,” Naomi whispered.

Cautiously, the group made its way forward. The front door had fallen off its hinges, so I just walked through the opening, hearing the soft crunch of broken glass beneath my feet. Water dripped from somewhere further inside. Off in the distance outside, a bird sang, and another cheerily answered.

I’d been on many acquisition missions before in search of old materials, much of it tools and machines that we’ve lost the technology and knowledge to produce, but every journey was different.

Each one was an adventure of its own. This place had been completely overtaken by nature, so we’d just have to search it until we found what we’d come for.

For a while, I just wandered through the first floor.

I didn’t dare climb up the stairs due to the state of decay of the upper floors of the building.

There were holes in the ceiling and whole sections of the second floor had collapsed, making much of the first level completely impassable.

Eventually, Naomi, exploring on her own, shouted for me.

When I joined her, it turned out she’d found a locked door, but it was a curious door.

At one point, it might have been powered by hydraulics, but of course, there’d been no electricity to operate it in a very long time.

It appeared to be thick steel, but it had external hinges bolts, meaning we could remove them and maybe get this door opened.

I reached into my bag for my toolkit. Taking my time, I removed each bolt with painstaking care until the hinges were completely separated from door.

When it was ready, the other men and I had to wiggle and persuade it out of place, disengaging the long, thick dead bolts from within their deep mortises and tossing it to the floor with a deafening bang.

There was a steel staircase leading down into the ground behind where the door had been.

The damage from the invasion of nature that was steadily destroying the upper levels of this building appeared to stop at the door which may have sealed off the lower level.

At least from my place at the top of the dark stairwell, I could detect no sign of moisture or intrusion of plant, animal, or insect life.

I leaned over the stairwell and looked down, careful not to put too much weight on it.

With my hope of finding the fusion cell once again intact, I turned back to Naomi.

“Nice find,” I grinned. Her face lit up as she came to my side. I threw my arm out to stop her when she went to grab the metal barrier. Immediately, she pulled back and looked to me with raised eyebrows.

“I don’t trust it to hold anyone’s weight,” I explained.

“So, they hid the important parts of the labs underground,” she murmured.

“It does appear that way.”

Using the rope secured around myself to provide a type of safety harness in case the stairs gave way, and getting Seth and Jamie to act as my anchors, I made my way cautiously down the stairs.

To my surprise, they were solid and seemed to be completely intact, making no disturbing noises or movements as I went.

Turning my headlamp from side to side as I went, I further reassured myself that this area seemed to have weathered the years completely unaffected by the chaos that had reigned above.

Once safely on the landing, I called to the others to join me.

When I opened the door to the first level beneath the ground surface, the entire structure started to tremble as if the place had been struck by an earthquake.

All of us hit the deck and curled up, making our bodies as small as possible in case anything fell from above.

Dim red light lit up the perimeter of the stairwell. Overhead lights flickered several times, some of them burning out with a loud pop, but several coming on without further incident.

“Remarkable! There must be a generator somewhere,” I exclaimed, more than a little astonished.

“Maybe it was triggered by our movements, or by the opening of the door,” Naomi offered.

Not trusting the locks, I propped open the door with my flask.

The security team followed, and Naomi looked over her shoulder at them with annoyance.

As the days had progressed, she had become less and less happy with their presence and to be honest, I understood.

They made no effort to get to know either of us.

Most of the time, they chatted among themselves and ignored us entirely.

My distrust of them had only increased as time went on.

Since the near disaster with Jamie at the bridge, they’d only gotten stranger.

Jamie wouldn’t look at her without getting this insanely guilty look on his face.

Maybe he was too proud to admit that he got his ass saved by a woman and his ego was bruised, but I had a strange feeling that there was much more to it than that. I was going to get to the bottom of it.

They made me uncomfortable enough that I didn’t leave her side the entire time we searched the lab.

The first underground level seemed to be secure, but there were no hints of nuclear research anywhere to be found.

Most of it seemed centered on the wildlife in the valley, at least on the surface.

Further in, I found a few notebooks. When I pointed them out to Naomi, she quickly donned a pair of cloth gloves and very carefully opened the first.

Only some of it was legible. Much of it had either disintegrated or was written in some sort of shorthand that I couldn’t quite make out.

“I think they were researching poisons. Maybe airborne ones?” she whispered this to me with an inflection of concern in her voice. She brushed her hand gently over the piece of paper. The date was mostly blurred out, but the year 2041 was still readable.

There were a few computers in the room, but when I tried to power one on, it never got past a blue flickering screen.

“The cyberwar attacked even the most secure digital storage. I don’t think any of the computers will work down here,” Naomi explained, her expression a bit sad. I offered her a smile, hoping to comfort her and her face softened. She moved on when Seth came into the room behind me.

We made our way down the levels one by one, and I was somewhat stunned to discover the extent of this place.

It made more sense now that this was a major government facility; the building above ground was really a modest disguise for what was really going on down here.

There were several more floors to go when we found a level that must have been the living quarters for all the scientists who had worked here so long ago.

I checked my watch and was shocked to see how late it had gotten; we’d been at this for hours.

“Why don’t we continue this tomorrow? Let’s pick beds for the night and search the other floors in the morning,” I suggested to the group.

Everybody mumbled their agreement.

There were several apartments that might have been meant to house the senior staff.

While the guards and I began to split up the supplies, I sent Naomi in to determine if they were suitable for us to use.

She picked out one for her and quietly insisted that I take the one immediately next door.

Her eyes sparkled, the rest of her unreadable.

More than a little curious, I agreed without further argument.

The security team decided to take some of the bunks by the doorway in the much more open area. They liked keeping to themselves and that was fine with me.

With a reserved sigh, I walked into the one chosen for me and immediately smirked when I saw why.

There was a door that connected our apartments. Safe from the eyes of others, she flung herself into my arms and squeezed me tight.

“There’s even hot water. And a bathtub!” she exclaimed excitedly. I wrapped my arms around her, not wanting to let go.

“I should paddle your bottom black and blue for that stunt you pulled out on the bridge,” I scolded lightly.

“He needed help and I knew what to do. I knew I was secure before I grabbed him, I promise,” she quickly countered. She pouted adorably and turned her pretty green eyes back at me. I could see a hint of concern there that I might actually be serious, so I decided to quell that immediately.

“You did a good job. You scared me, but I’m proud of you all the same,” I replied. For a little while, I just held her in my arms before I lifted her off the floor and carried her into the bathroom. There was a separate shower as well, which I was delighted to find.

“You rinse off in the shower. I’ll prepare you a bath,” I suggested.

She blushed prettily when she began unbuttoning her shirt.

I made no effort to keep myself from looking as she undressed.

I knew that she wanted me to see. She got a bar of soap out of her bag and hopped into the shower.

She scrubbed off the dirt and grime from the trek and turned the shower off when she was done.

I filled the bathtub and helped her into it.

“You relax in here for a little while. I’m going to wash and then I’m going to put you to bed.”