Dragon Down (18 page)

Chapter Twenty

Traygen woke with a start at the sound of voices outside his room. The doctor was talking to the nurse and scanning the chart he had in front of him. Apparently satisfied the doctor flipped the chart closed and headed toward Traygen’s room.

“I see you are awake. How do you feel today?”

“Fine. I am hungry and I am getting cabin fever.”

“Glad to hear it. The nurse will bring your food
in as soon as I finish checking you out. Have you remembered anything? Do you have any idea how you got here?”

“No. I don
’t have any more idea then when I woke up here. Perhaps, if I could move around a little something might spark a memory. What do you say doctor? Can I get some exercise?”

“I can watch him,” the nurse offered.

The doctored scowled at her but, he seemed to be considering it. He jotted down a few things and flipped the chart closed.

“You can walk the floor on this level
, when the nurse has the time. You are not to leave this floor at any time. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir and thank you.”

“Nurse, I expect you to see he does as he is instructed.”

“I will make sure he doesn
’t leave the floor and I will be with him at all times.”

The doctor nodded and then left. The nurse brought in my breakfast and then left to continue her duties.
Sometime later that morning, she stuck her head in my room and told me she had time to take me for a walk. I told her I would get dressed and she left without further comment. I got out of bed and was dressed in five minutes flat. I peered out of the room to find the nurse waiting for me.

“What took you so long?”

I started to answer when I realized she’d been teasing me or at least I thought so. I walked toward her and fell in step beside her. We walked without comment for several minutes.

“Can I ask why your city is at the bottom of the ocean? I don
’t really belief in Atlantis or should I?”

“I can assure you this is not Atlantis and I am not at liberty to discuss our cit
y’s location. As you have noticed the doctor takes our security very seriously. Now we are back at your room and I need to attend to my other patients. So, you need to stay in your room.”

She turned and left me standing in the hall outside my room. I went in and closed the door. I didn
’t want to do anything to cause them to monitor me any more closely than they already were. I would wait for the right time and continue my exploring. There just had to be a clue to my identity in this place. They had to know something or at least suspect something. I was beginning to think I was as much a prisoner as a patient.

The floor quieted down after dinner and rounds. I waited until I had been checked on several times before I again crept from my room.
This time instead of moving down toward the docks I headed up the nearest staircase. I had a greater chance of being spotted in the stairwell but, I had to take the chance. I needed to know why they were so secretive. I continued up seven floors and then slowly opened the door and listened.

When
I didn’t hear anything, I stepped into the hall and let the door close slowly behind me. I looked up and down the hall in front of me and it appeared to be deserted. I moved deliberately down the hallway that opened up in front of me. There were doors on both sides of the hall. Randomly, I tried one of the doorknobs but it was locked. I peered inside at what looked like an office. There was a desk, chairs and some cabinets. I moved further down the hall and continued to check the rooms. They all looked like offices. Then I came to another hall way and I decided to follow it. I kept trying doors until I found one that wasn’t locked. I carefully turned the knob and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. I froze and listened and let my eyes adjust to the dim light. I didn’t dare turn on a light. Thankfully the door had a window and some light spilled into the room.

I scanned the room or at least what I could see from where I stood by the door. I inched along the right wall moving slowly in case I bumped into so
mething I couldn’t see. I worked my way cautiously and deliberately around the room. When I guessed I was about opposite from where I had entered, I noticed a faint glow which got brighter the closer I got. The nearer I got the brighter the room got and then I realized it was a floor to ceiling window.

The window looked out at the ocean. It was like I was standing inside a giant aquarium. There were fish of
every imaginable shape, color, and size gliding past the window. What kind of place was this? I was on the top floor and lights spilled out of various windows below me. As I stood there mesmerized by the scene outside the window a vessel like the one I saw last night moved out from the lower level. I watched as it moved off and out of view and just as quickly another vessel followed. This was a busy place.

I
reluctantly turned from the window to look around the room. The light from the window emitted enough light for me to see the room. This looked like a conference room. There was a large table in the center of the room. There were charts or maps on the walls. I moved closer to see if I could make out what they were. They were maps but, of what I couldn’t be sure. They all appeared to originate from this underground city. At least now I knew where I was or at least where the map said I was. Oceania. I left and crept back the way I’d come. I was afraid I might have been gone too long but, I made it to my room without incidence. Lax security, but then we were at the bottom of the ocean. I guess they didn’t have a lot of uninvited guests which is why I freaked them out.

I
’d just crawled back in bed when the night nurse came by. Satisfied I was where I belonged she moved off. Tomorrow I would check out the rest of the building and ask some more questions. As I drifted off to sleep I tried to imagine why they were so secretive about this place. It was hard for me to imagine any legitimate reasons. I knew I needed to get my memory back before they decided I was a threat of any sort. A threat to what I had no idea, but it gave me a bad feeling. Call it an educated guess, even if I didn’t know whether I was even educated

I woke with a start as sirens blared all around me. People were running down the halls and shouting instructions. I listened and it didn
’t take long to learn there had been an accident aboard one of the ships or had it been attacked? I couldn’t be sure, but when I tried my door I found it was locked. This was new. I had no choice but to sit and listen. Sometime after mid-day the commotion subsided and food was brought to my room. I tried to ask questions but was told it was none of my concern and I was to stay in my room. To insure I complied, I was again locked in.

With
nothing better to do, I listened. It appeared one of their submarines was attacked and there were many injuries. They were still working feverishly to save lives. No one mentioned why they were attacked or by whom. Just when I’d almost decided to go back to bed I heard the doctor speaking angrily to someone.

“Do we know who attacked the sub?”

“Doc, all we know is our shipment was hijacked and then the sub was hit by torpedoes.”

“How did they know when and where to attack or for that matter
, what we were shipping?”

“Doc
, let me know how the survivors are doing and I’ll find out who is behind this”.

“I will
General. Let me know when you have some answers and I’ll do my best to save these men’s lives.”

The men seemed to have moved
on to their respective duties, because the hall was quiet except for the people caring for the wounded. The man moved back to his bed to contemplate what he had learned. Whatever was going on these people were obviously under attack or at least their submarines were. Nothing he had seen or heard here made much sense. What he knew for certain was they were at the bottom of the ocean. They had submarines that were shipping who knew what or to where. Apparently, they had men that turned into dragons. This was probably the most disturbing piece. Who knew dragons could swim. Whatever is going on I don’t think it is good for me. I may come under further suspicion if they don’t find out who attacked them. I need to get out of here to continue my investigation. Still, I didn’t think they would let me out any time soon.

The man fell back on his pillows and studied his room with a new interest. If he couldn
’t get out the door was there another way out of this room. There didn’t appear to be anything in his room. Wearily, he got up to check out the bathroom. That is when he saw the vent cover on the wall over the shower. If he could get the cover off it, he thought he might just fit through it. It would be worth a try when things settled down.

The activity outside his room continued throughout the day. It was less frantic and he tried to listen to any conversations he could hear. But, he didn
’t learn anything new. At some point the guard brought him some food. He tried to get the man to talk, but he just put down the food tray and left. Eating made him sleepy, so he retired to his cot and slept. He woke with a start when a nurse entered his room to check on him. When she left he got up and went to his bathroom.

He closed the door and climbed up to look more closely at the grate. He thought he might be able to get the screws out using a nail file he found in one of the drawers under his bathroom sink. It wasn
’t easy but, he was making progress. Periodically he checked to make sure it was quiet outside his room. He fixed his covers to make it look like he was sleeping in case anyone checked. Unlikely since, they were busy with more pressing issues and he was locked in.

Yes, the final screw was finally out. Tugging lightly
, he pulled the front of the grate off and placed it on the floor by the toilet. Locking the door in case someone checked on him, he stood up on the counter to look more carefully at the opening. It wasn’t a standard air shaft but, he guessed that was because they were at the bottom of the ocean. Maybe they needed to equalize the pressure as well as circulate the air. He wasn’t sure, but it was better for him. He would fit in with some room to spare. Grabbing the edges of the vent he pulled himself up and into the shaft. He had no idea where this would take him. Nevertheless, he was glad to get out of his room.

He crawled along at a steady rate until he saw light ahead. He inched more cautiously toward the light and listened. There didn
’t appear to be anyone in the area and he moved forward to try and see into the room through the grate. It wasn’t a room it was a hall way, which was empty. Purposefully, he continued along stopping and listening at each opening. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the area. He needed to get to another floor if he wanted to find out what was going on. The upper floors were where he had seen the offices and conference rooms. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen any vertical shafts. He reasoned there must be at some point. Just when he was about to give up and return to his room, he found a larger shaft which moved up and down. Yes, he was able to wedge his back against one side of the round vent and his feet against the opposite side. Pushing and pulling he moved slowly upward. It wasn’t long before he reached another series of horizontal shafts. This had to be the second floor. He kept at it until he reached the top floor and moved off down the shaft on his right. His hard work was rewarded very quickly. There were definitely people on this floor he could hear movement and voices. The closer he got to the voices, the more carefully he moved forward until he could clearly hear the conversation.

“Can anyone explain to me what the hell happened out there today?”

“General Tunis, as you know, our submarine was making a standard delivery when it was hit by a torpedo or some kind of large shell. There was extensive damage which caused a fire onboard.”

“Tell me something I don
’t know, damn it. Was the cargo damaged? Do we have any idea who is behind this?”

“The cargo was ruined because of the extensive water damage and fire. Between the lost cargo and the damage to the vessel we lost millions today. As for
whom we aren’t sure and until we can look at the ship more closely we won’t know. The engineers will inspect the damage and hopefully find out who was behind the attack.”

The general was quiet for some time before he spoke, “who would stand to gain the most from our loss of cargo? If we can figure that out
, we will probably find our culprits. Varns, you are our head of security, what do you think happened or do I need a new security chief.”

“I can assure you
General every precaution was taken and no effort is being spared in finding out who was behind this attack. As for who would benefit, our competitors wouldn’t mind seeing us suffer the financial loss and the vampires could have double crossed us. If we default on our payment we will owe them unlimited access to our ports. Then there are the fae who are none too happy we are doing business with the vampires.”

“
Varns, you know the vampire and fae delegations will be here by the week’s end, for our annual business meetings. Not to mention King Oran will be here and if he finds out about this people will die. We don’t want to tell any of them we are under attack and can’t guarantee the safety of their product. We stand to lose a great deal. Get this figured out.”