Alex looked at Mike. “Taken a solider like Johnson, in just seconds, with all his skill and firepower? No way; he’d have taken them apart.”
Alex looked back down into the darkness. “Do you smell that?” There was the lingering smell of ammonia in the air. Alex went on. “No. He was ambushed and taken by someone or something unexpected and overwhelming.” Alex spoke to Mike and Tank who had again joined them, and he also voiced-in Takeda via his comm unit. “Soldiers, we are not alone. Prepare to go hot.”
The two teams joined up and Takeda mentioned that the SINCGARS relay module must have been resetting as the line to the surface had dropped out. Alex immediately tried Benson but received no response. A knot formed in his stomach. With tons of rock, and magnetic interference between them and topside he knew losing transmission was to be expected. Still…
Alex stood for a moment, looking up at the dark rock above them, as if trying to see through the layers of limestone and miles of cave. He was tempted to drag them all out, but he had no information to cause him to think Benson was in trouble. He had to assume he was OK and therefore his priority was to find Johnson. Alex didn’t think he had disappeared due to an accidental fall; if he found proof it was a hostile intervention, he’d decide then whether to withdraw or engage. Alex felt a flame light inside him; his senses amplified and the hand on the stock of his gun squeezed until a small popping could be heard from the toughened polymer compound. Not now, he thought to himself; he closed his eyes and smelled green apples until the flame subsided.
He opened his eyes. He’d put it to the scientists, let them think about it and decide if they wanted to proceed or return to base camp. It was still their mission. Alex would try to persuade them to head back so he could run a search for Johnson unencumbered by civilians.
“Listen up, people, here is our situation. We are offline with HQ, probably due to nothing more than magnetic disturbance. We were expecting this as the polar ionosphere tends to fragment our signals, resulting in temporary drop-outs in our global comms. There is nothing to worry about, however, what does concern me is that one of my men may have engaged with an unknown adversary farther down in the caves not twenty minutes ago — that man is now missing. There are tracks everywhere indicating that the Hendsen party was in motion, or was herded further into the cave system. It is my firm belief that there is significant danger of a hostile encounter if we proceed.” Alex looked at the group and gauged their reactions. Mostly confusion, but no panic — good.
“Could he have been found by the previous party?” Alex could see the hope in Aimee’s eyes as she asked the question. She desperately wanted to find evidence that could lead them to Tom Hendsen. He wouldn’t tell her about Johnson reporting that he had seen her colleague; he thought she might grab a torch and charge off into the dark.
“That’s a possibility, but we don’t believe the previous party is involved in his disappearance.” Aimee was about to ask another question but he cut her off — he wasn’t ready to share his thoughts on who or what Tom Hendsen had encountered just yet.
“We could proceed, but I believe the best option is for you to return to the base camp temporarily with Takeda. This will allow my men and myself to do a rapid search. If there is no danger and we find our man, we can meet you and return, time permitting.” Alex knew a return was unlikely; it would take them several hours just to retrace their steps. Waiting for Alex and then coming back down would not give them enough time to meet the returning helicopter — it certainly wouldn’t wait long in below-zero temperatures.
“I’m for returning to base camp.” Corporal Margaret Anderson hadn’t looked comfortable since they headed into the darkness of the caves, so Alex wasn’t surprised that she would vote to leave. He suspected Zegarelli would follow his partner’s lead. He was military and would be able to read Alex’s signals about the dangers in going forward.
“Dr. Silex, we should probably move immed—” Alex was cut off mid-sentence by the lead scientist who had stepped forward from the group.
“Captain, you said that your man had disappeared. Could he not have simply run off into the dark and fallen into a chasm? This area is honeycombed, you know.”
“We don’t believe that is the case, Dr. Silex.”
“What do you believe, Captain? I didn’t hear any yelling or gunshots. Did you see this unknown adversary? What even made you think there was an adversary? More than likely your man got disoriented in the dark and is lost with a broken radio. More plausible than your Special Forces soldier getting jumped by someone hiding in the caves. I know you’re champing at the bit to assume command, Captain, but this is still a science-led mission and I say we proceed.”
Alex couldn’t tell them what he sensed without it sounding like baseless fears, but he would try one last time to turn them. “Aimee, Matt, Monica, everyone gets a vote here. Aimee, can you take your readings at this level?”
“Sorry, Alex, it’s like standing on the top of a tall building; too many floors to see through before we actually get to solid bedrock. Dr. Silex is right; too much honeycombing. Besides, I feel we’re close. If there is a chance the previous party is alive then we need to find them.” Alex nodded and looked to Matt.
“I vote to proceed. There is evidence of an ancient civilisation like nothing I have ever seen. You know, the previous party may have found something and went deeper to investigate.” Alex could tell Matt probably didn’t think that this was the case, but the hordes of hell weren’t going to stop him from investigating his ruins.
Monica just shrugged. “Stable environment, low-angle slope; no problems. I’ll go with the flow.”
Ah, civilians, thought Alex. “OK, we proceed, but at a more cautious rate. However, if we encounter any form of aggressive interference, this ceases to be a science mission and we evac to the surface immediately.” Alex didn’t wait to get agreement and as he was about to turn away he caught the narrowed eyes of the lead scientist. He held them for a moment before Silex shook his head and looked away. In that glare Alex could tell the man was silently fuming. Maybe he didn’t like the idea of the potential change of mission command or having to return to the surface. It didn’t matter; Alex’s priority was to keep the team safe, not make friends.
Alex called his men in. They had been silent hulks in the dark, facing away from Alex and the group, sensor units set to maximum as they scanned the depths of the cave. “We go forward. Tank, at point with me. Mike, Takeda, rearguard, eyes front and back, stay on red.” The HAWCs nodded once.
“Let’s go, people.” The group shouldered their backpacks and marched forward into the yawning, black cave.
Eleven
Alex and Tank moved through the stygian darkness like phantoms. Tank was about ten feet up and to the left, his huge bulk barely making a sound. Both had their Patriot scopes engaged but Alex was now finding that his own eyes were delivering depth, peripheral and light enhancement that exceeded the military technology. He disengaged the night scope; for light amplification their background illumination was second to none, but the trade-off was in full-field perception. Alex preferred his own eyes.
His mind wandered, either his physical changes were accelerating or they were just flexing like new muscles being tried out for the first time. Only a few minutes earlier a small fury had started to burn within him; he had managed to contain it this time, but he worried about being in a more pressured situation — what then?
Tank suddenly dropped from view. Shit! Alex’s mind snapped back into focus. He covered the distance between them in less than a second — an abyss; the cave floor had abruptly ended.
Tank was just over the lip of a drop off into a black chasm, dangling with his back to the wall. The toughened fingertips of his caving glove were buried in the top of a small shelf, the other holding his knife as he tried to reach up and dig it in behind his head for higher purchase. In one smooth motion Alex leaned out over the rim of the cliff and took the knife from Tank’s hand. Swinging it around in an arc, he embedded it six inches into the cave floor with the sound of a sledgehammer striking a rail spike. His hand now secured by the deeply wedged knife, Alex grabbed the front of Tank’s reinforced caving suit and lifted. Tank, fully kitted out, must have weighed over 250 pounds; Alex lifted him up and over the lip like he was little more than a laundry bag full of linen. He sat the big man down next to him.
“Watch that first step, big fella.”
Tank looked at Alex, then at his knife sunk into the stone of the cave floor. “Been working out, boss?”
