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Angel and Sheriff Danzig approached the rock formation. She looked down at the GPS app on her phone and stopped in her tracks.
“We’re here, Sheriff.”
Danzig nodded. “Yep. This here spot seen a couple other disappearances too.”
Angel turned her head sharply. “Wait. You knew about this spot? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Danzig touched the brim of his hat. “Miss Bonebrake, you’re a civilian. There’s a lot of things I know about this case that I haven’t shared with you.”
Danzig ended discussion by scanning the forest floor between them and the rock. He pointed an index finger crooked enough that it must have been broken more than once in the past. “Looks to be a right struggle happened there.”
Angel nodded. “You’re right. I see signs of two people walking side by side right before there. One of them had huge feet, just like my brother.”
Danzig regarded her with signs of interest. “That there is some fine tracking skills.”
Angel smiled. “From the time we could walk, our grandfather taught me and Bones about tracking and moving in the woods. This is like a neon sign compared to tracking a deer over ten miles of rolling forest.”
Danzig’s chuckle was a rasp. “I reckon it is. You being a civilian and all, I guess I should have asked if you was armed?”
“If I say yes, are you going to confiscate it?”
“No. Just wanting the lay of the land.”
“I’m not that big into guns, but I do have a knife. You need to see it?”
“Nah. How well can you use it?”
Angel grinned. “Better than I can track. Speaking of which, let’s see where they went after the struggle.”
When they arrived at the rock formation itself, Angel shook her head. “I’m thinking it was at least three and maybe four people. They came from at least two different directions. Two of them were carrying something really heavy the last thirty yards.”
Danzig chewed his bottom lip. “Where did they go from here?”
They circled the rock formation, finding no sign of tracks leading away. Angel smashed the heel of her hand against the rock. “Damn it, I know they were here. And they didn’t just fly away.”
Danzig spoke almost under his breath. “They surely did not. I been to this spot ten times and ain’t found a damn thing. But we’ll look anyway. Search every inch of this here rock.”
Angel put her hands on her hips and her lips trembled. “And if we don’t find anything?”
“Then we look again.”
––––––––
Maddock gasped, whether from the mist or the six-foot fall onto his shoulder he couldn’t say. He reached back up through the portal and dragged Bones down into the hallway with him. Bones had succumbed to unconsciousness just as he had broken through the second hinge, his exertions undoubtedly causing his heart to pump the toxic air through his lungs more quickly.
Maddock laid him on his side and started firm raps on his upper back. Bones had only been out for a few seconds, and it only took a few more before he started coughing. Maddock stepped away to give him space.
When Bones got to his feet, he smashed his head into the ceiling and said a word unequivocally not allowed on network television. Maddock bit back a smile.
“You okay, Bones? I owe you one for getting that door open.”
Bones coughed again. “You owe me so many I lost track. You had a chance to scope out this place?”
“Nope, we just got here.”
They were in a long hallway with walls, floor and ceiling constructed of smooth concrete. The ceilings were right at six feet high and florescent tubes provided minimal illumination every ten feet along the top of the walls.
Bones bumped his head as he turned to look the other way down the hallway. “It’s a damn bunker. Not even any graffiti.”
Maddock said, “Well, there are only two directions we can go. Any ideas?”
Bones fixed his gaze on the floor, his eyes methodically scanning. Then he pointed to their left. “This way. More signs of traffic that way.”
Maddock shook his head. It all looked hard and gray to him, but if Bones said there were signs then there were. They began to walk, and Maddock took out his knife.
Bones reached down and did the same, chuckling as he came up. “I must still be a little out of it, not thinking to have Mr. KA-BAR ready.”
Maddock said nothing, but his mind was on what they might find at the end of the hallway. He didn’t expect to make it out without a fight. He knew that Bones would have figured out the same thing. He allowed all five of his senses to focus and maximize his chances of reacting quickly to the unexpected.
The locked door was not really a surprise. They’d been walking for about ten minutes when the hallway turned and they came to a steel door with a keypad on it. Both men quickly lunged back around the corner as soon as they saw it.
Maddock spoke not much above a whisper, “Something tells me our quiet walk is about to get loud.”
“No doubt. It’d be even worse if I had explosives. Maybe I should try to kick the door down.”
Maddock frowned. “I don’t know. If it didn’t work, they would know we’re here.”
“There was a security camera above the door so they probably know already.”
“Then we better move quickly. Did you see what was above the security camera?”
Bones groaned. “I knew you were going to suggest it. Yeah, I saw the ventilation grate. We’re not all puny like you and can fit into spaces like that.”
“Tell you what, Bones. You try smashing the door and I’ll try the ventilation shaft. Whoever gets killed first loses.”
“What if it’s a tie?,” Bones growled. “Fine, but I get to go first. No way I’m gonna be staring at your butt the whole time.”
Maddock motioned with one palm toward the corner. Bones took a deep breath and moved quickly back that direction, Maddock right on his heels. At the door, Bones reached up to the grate and gave it a tug. It moved a little bit, but didn’t come down. Bones tried again, this time with both hands, and the grate tore off its hinges and nearly struck Maddock in the face.
“Careful, man.”
“Sorry, I forgot how strong I am.”
Fortunately the opening was wider than his shoulders, so Bones stuck his arms through and pulled himself up high enough that he could see into the horizontal shaft. After a second, he dropped back down.
“Well, it’s not the smallest I’ve ever seen.”
Maddock couldn’t resist. “That’s what she said.”
Bones grinned. “Hey, there’s hope for you. The shaft is concrete, so it should support our weight. Here goes nothing.”
First his upper body disappeared into the opening, then his legs as well. Maddock followed him. Maddock could move okay and he didn’t suffer from claustrophobia, but all things considered he would have preferred to be almost anywhere else.
Within seconds they were over whatever space was behind the door. After travelling about twenty feet, Bones stopped and squeezed his head partially around toward Maddock. “Another grate.”
“Can you see anything through it?”
“Yeah. A room with some monitors and at least three people in it. There must be steps down behind the door, because it’s at least a ten foot drop to the floor.”
“Could we drop right onto a couple of the people?”
“That’s a negative. We’re in the middle of the room and they’re against a wall. No idea if there are others I can’t see either.”
Maddock thought for a moment. “If you can get over the grate, I say we keep going. Maybe get past here and drop down into an unoccupied room.”
“You’re assuming they won’t hear us.”
“Well they haven’t so far. If they had, they—”
Bullets suddenly tore through the ceiling right behind Maddock. Bones gave a roar and smashed his fist through the grate, then dove headfirst through the opening. Maddock was right behind him, though his smaller size allowed him to squeeze his body through feet first. He just hoped Bones had managed to hit the floor in a controlled roll rather than cracking his head open.
Another roar from the big man confirmed that he had landed safely. Before he had even landed, Maddock had identified both the man with the gun aimed at the ceiling and the nearest other target. Bones was already moving toward the gunman so Maddock allowed his knees to bend when he landed and then sprang toward the second man, who was trying to clear a pistol from a holster.
The move for the pistol died as Maddock smashed the hilt of his knife against the man’s temple. It was a risk not to simply slice the man’s throat, but Maddock wasn’t going to kill any more people than he had to. Maddock grabbed the gun, a Glock not unlike the one Bones carried. He didn’t stop moving though, diving in a different direction into a roll and scanning for threats as he came out of it.
Bones was grappling with the first gunman, whose compact automatic rifle pointed straight in the air. Actually, grappling overstated the amount of resistance the man was able to muster against Bones. In another second Bones had the man in a chokehold with one arm, the gun in his other hand.
Maddock saw three other people in the room. Two were seated, clear expressions of terror on their faces. The third stood near the five steps that led up to the door. The third man was bringing a pistol to bear on Bones.
Almost without conscious decision, Maddock fired two shots from the Glock. The first knocked the pistol out of the man’s hand and the second created a neat hole in the center of the man’s forehead. The power in the shot knocked the corpse back onto the steps.
Maddock swung his gun toward the two remaining men. “Hands in the air!”
Their hands couldn’t have moved more quickly if they were connected to the power grid. Out of the corner of his eye, Maddock saw Bones lower the now unconscious gunman to the ground. Bones said, “He’ll be taking a nap now.”
Maddock nodded, taking deep breaths to slow his heart rate. He maintained a watch on the two seated men, though they looked too scared to even blink. “One of you guys want to tell me what the hell this place is?”
Before they could answer, Bones’ voice sounded. He had walked over to the dead man on the stairs. “Nice shooting, Maddock. I told you the Glock is the better gun.”
“I guess they’re okay in a pinch.”
Bones looked down at the body “You gave this one a third eye.” Then he looked back at Maddock with a twisted smile. “Very Zen.”