The Dark Rift: Ascension (The Dark Rift Book Series 1) (15 page)

Jodie crawled into the kitchen and grabbed the laptop. The video ready icon was blinking. She clicked on it and a grainy picture appeared. She could see the outline of four figures huddled behind some trees. "Okay, I see them." The video ready icon flashed again and Jodie clicked on it. The computer screen split and three more figures appeared at camera seven, about one hundred feet away from camera four. "I've got bad news. There's three more at camera seven."

"Dammit. Can you get everybody ready to go? You better get out of there."

"Yeah, I'll get them going. Stay on the line. Let me know when those guys move." Jodie crawled to the bedroom. "Get down into the crawl space. Move to the east side of the cabin and wait for me."

Noah looked out from behind Christy. "What about Hunter? We have to take him, too."

"Noah, you'll have to keep him very quiet. He cannot make a sound or I'll bring him right back up here. Okay?" Jodie said.

Noah nodded and called Hunter over. "You've got to be quiet now, boy. Do you understand?" The dog sat still and Jodie motioned to Noah to take him.

"Mei, let's grab those backpacks in the kitchen," Jodie whispered. They crawled forward together. Putting the phone up to her ear, Jodie said, "What's going on out there?"

"You're not gonna like this, but one's headed up to the door."

"Mei, there's someone coming. You need to hide."

Mei crawled underneath the kitchen table, bumping the box of wine bottles as she went. As the front door burst open, the bottles made a tinkling sound. Jodie raised her gun. Seeing the man's weapon trained at the sound in the kitchen, she fired, not knowing if she hit or missed her target. The black-clad man spun around in a wide arc, staggering toward the table, then falling. Jodie watched as Mei finished him off by bringing a wine bottle bashing down square on his forehead. He sprawled in a rubbery heap on the kitchen floor. A second person crept into the cabin, his weapon aimed directly at Jodie. This time, her shot went high, hitting him in the face, pushing him back out onto the porch.

Jodie slammed the door shut and pulled a chair in front of it. She moved quickly to the body on the kitchen floor and grabbed the gun in its hands. She could see he was still breathing. "Mei, can you find something to tie him up?" she said, her gun trained on the front door.

Mei nodded and crawled over to the wall, pulling out an extension cord. Jodie had to smile, even with the situation they were in. She never saw anyone being tied up that fast and made a mental note to ask Mei if she'd been a cattle roper in a previous life.

"Bob?" Jodie whispered into the phone.

"Yeah. You okay?" Bob's voice shook as he spoke.

"So far, yes. We got one in here and one on the porch. I don't know if I hit the guy in here or not, but Mei clocked him in the head with a bottle of wine. She's got him tied up. I think the guy on the porch is dead. Do you see anyone else?"

"Yeah. It looks like they've all moved over by Nick. He's in a blind pretty much directly in the middle of them. I'm gonna have to make some noise or they'll step right on him."

"Let me get Mei out of here first." Jodie motioned to Mei to head to the crawl space.

"I don't want to leave you," Mei said. Jodie could see the tears in her eyes, even from across the room.

"I'll be okay. I'll be even better knowing you're out of the line of fire. Go now."

Mei reluctantly moved toward the bedroom, dragging the backpacks with her, looking back at Jodie before she made her exit. "God, please keep them safe," Jodie whispered. "Okay, Bob, they're out. What's going on?"

"They're sitting over there, re-grouping. I don't think we've got time to bring the local cops in. Wending wouldn't be very much help, anyway."

"I'm going to take a look at the guy we've got tied up and see if I can find any ID." Jodie crawled over to the unconscious man on the kitchen floor. In the faint light, she could see her bullet had found its mark. His shoulder was bleeding; probably not enough to kill him, but it was a serious wound, nevertheless. She was shocked by the condition of his forehead, which had a noticeable bottle-shaped indentation. She rifled through his pockets, turning him slightly, seeing an emblem near the wound on his shoulder. Even though it was partially blown away by the blast of her gun, she could still make out what it said. "The Gypsum Corporation," she mumbled into the phone.

"What? What did you say, Jodie?"

"I said, the Gypsum Corporation. These guys are from their security detail, by the looks of it," Jodie said.

"They're still sitting there, waiting. By my assessment, that means they're calling for reinforcements. We need to get everybody the hell outta here," Bob said.

"Agreed. Any suggestions for a plan on how to do that?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna blow up your car as a distraction to get them away from Nick and then we're all gonna pile in that four wheel drive and blow this pop stand. Get ready."

"You are most certainly not going to blow up my car. Bob? Bob? Oh, shit." Jodie heard a rapid succession of bullets striking metal and looked at the window in time to feel the shock wave hit her chest, followed by her ears being assaulted with a
thwuump.
A fireball lit up the cabin windows. She quickly moved across the floor and into the bedroom, jumping down through the trap door and closing it behind her. She could see Christy and Leah huddled together with Noah, who was holding Hunter's jaws shut, trying to keep him quiet. She crawled over the gravel and damp earth toward them and moved to the access panel, unlatching it and quietly moving it aside. Jodie pulled herself through and spun in time to see a giant man running toward her.

"Nick, help me here," Jodie called as quietly as she could, waving him over.

Nick was running in a full sprint, each stride covering what Jodie thought was ten feet or more. He changed direction, moving toward them. Jodie reached down and pulled Leah out of the crawl space. Christly passed Leah's cane through the window. Suddenly, more gunfire erupted from the front of the cabin.

"I have to go help Bob. Take them to your truck. Go as fast as you can. If we don't show up in fifteen minutes, drive further up and hide until you can find another way out of here," Jodie said.

"I got it, Jodie." Nick pulled Christy out of the crawl space and reached in to help the rest of the group as Jodie crept away.

Jodie sprinted along the side of the cabin, stopping at the corner. She turned around in time to see her friends escaping through the forest, Nick carrying Leah, everyone rushing. She peeked around the corner of the cabin, the scene in front of her illuminated by the burning car. I loved that machine, she thought, wondering if that wasn't a little selfish, given the situation they were in.

No one was in sight, but the gunfire appeared to be coming from behind the burning car and from near to where she stood. Jodie crept up and saw the first man. His weapon was trained toward the fire as Jodie came up behind him, smacking the butt of the gun into the back of his head. He dropped the weapon, still conscious, and Jodie picked it up. She slammed the rifle stock down on his head until he stopped moving. "That's for my car, you son of a bitch."

She kept moving, creeping along the side of the cabin, and looked up in time to see Bob aiming his gun directly at her. She dropped to the ground as the shot rang out and the would-be assailant behind her fell over backward.

Jodie moved as quickly as she could. Her position was no longer hidden from the remaining gunmen. Gunfire erupted from the woods to her left. She dove behind a tree, landing in the dark soil and pine needles, covering her face. She was sprayed with bark exploding off the tree as bullets tore through the wood. From her vantage point, she thought she could hear shots from three separate guns in the same area. That would mean they were all together. The last three of them. Obviously, they'd never taken any sort of guerilla training or they would have known staying together put them in a compromised position. A rapid succession of gunfire erupted and Jodie realized Bob also knew their attackers were clustered together. He was using Nick's automatic weapon. She watched as it pulverized everything in its path.

Jodie saw two of the men get hit, one man's chest exploding in a spray of blood, the other shot directly in the forehead, bits of the back of his skull coming off, slapping into a tree and oozing down to the forest floor. She stifled the urge to vomit. She crept closer to see if she could see the third man. He jumped up within five feet of her, a shocked look on his face. She didn't want to shoot him.

"Stop. FBI. Lower your weapon."

The man raised his gun. She pulled the trigger and watched as her bullet struck him in the mouth. Jodie could see blood and bits of teeth and bone spraying out the side of his face. The man fell backward, still holding his gun. Jodie ran up to him, screaming, "Drop your weapon. Now." The man let the gun fall to the side, clutching his chin. Blood poured from his eye and forehead. A hole about the size of a tennis ball was blasted through his cheek. Jodie approached, her weapon aimed at his forehead. She called out, "Bob, all three of them are down. That makes seven. Two in the cabin, two behind me, and these three. Are you okay?"

"I'm right here, Jodie." Bob's voice was close now. He approached and knelt down next to the wounded man. "Who sent you here?" he said, grabbing the man's collar. "Who in the fuck sent you here to kill us?"

"Bob, he can't answer you. Let it go." Jodie gently pulled Bob off of the man, whose eyes fluttered and closed. His body went limp.

Bob put his hand on the man's neck to feel for a pulse. "That definitely makes seven. Before these guys started shooting, Isaiah called me. He said he was having problems getting through to your cell. He said we shouldn’t trust anyone, not even the Bureau."

"Tell me about it after we get out of here. Right now, let's get whatever we can from the cabin. Everybody's waiting up the road, by Nick's truck," Jodie said. She sensed all along that something was wrong with this situation. Yet, it still surprised her that the Bureau could be involved in such a heinous attack on innocent people.

Jodie and Bob went into the cabin. Bob stuffed belongings into suitcases and Jodie packed food and water. She grabbed the weapons she took earlier from the two men she and Mei disabled.

"You're bringing their suitcases?" Jodie asked.

"Yeah, if someone searches the cabin, which is likely, I don't want them to know who was here, so I grabbed all their stuff. I'll go throw them in the Camaro," he said.

"The Camaro? Are you going to burn them up? The car's still on fire." Jodie's confusion turned to enlightenment as she realized what Bob was telling her.

"Actually, I think the Bureau will be buying Leah a new car," Bob said, with a sheepish grin on his face. "Hers is the one burning. I hope she wasn't too attached to it. Let's get going."

Grabbing as much as she could in one load, Jodie flew out the door and ran to the Camaro. Bob followed along and went back in for the next load and a fire extinguisher, which he emptied on Leah’s burning car. Jodie crammed everyone's belongings in the back seat and the two jumped in the Camaro.

Isaiah sat at his desk, wondering if his phone would ring again. He knew Jodie was in trouble, maybe deep trouble, and he needed more information. Since she asked him to look into the old military facility, he'd become more confused by the moment. In the records he searched, the facility appeared to be completely abandoned. Scratching a little deeper under the mound of closure records, he found something that surprised him. A company named Exim Genetics had apparently purchased some equipment from the installation. The disassembly of that equipment was contracted out to another company, which was a subsidiary of none other than the Gypsum Corporation.

From cases he'd worked on, Isaiah knew the best way to follow a lead was to find the money trail and track it back to its source. He arrived at his office early on Saturday morning, and went to the records room, finding a box related to the old military facility. He pulled it from the shelf and set it on a large table. Much of the information he was looking at had been redacted, with the amount of text struck so substantial that he couldn't really discern the meaning of most of it.

He walked over to the microfiche station, wonder- ing if the FBI would ever move into the twenty-first century and digitize the information. Yet, there was something comforting about looking at the records without being in cyberspace where someone could be watching. As he suspected, he picked up the money trail with Exim Genetics, only to come to a dead end.

Isaiah took his laptop out of his briefcase and turned it on. A minute later, he typed Exim Genetics name into the search prompt. A web page appeared, expounding Exim's work on the human genome project. He scrolled through the information, not finding what he wanted and went back to the search prompt, where he typed in 'Exim Genetics subsidiaries'. A list of over twenty companies appeared. Searching each of these names, he found dozens of subsidiaries under each of the twenty companies listed. "You're buried pretty deep under all of this, aren't you, Gypsum?" Isaiah said. His heart began to race when he read the names of lead scientists associated with genetics research. At the bottom of the list, two familiar names appeared. Evan Watts, followed by Helen Watts. Jodie's parents. Evan was listed as a consultant, while Helen was identified on the web site as the lead geneticist. Isaiah hoped they weren't tied to anything that could put them in danger, too.

He recorded the names of the companies, comparing them to FBI lists of federal funding recipients. Four hours later, Isaiah added up the grand total. He was shocked that almost two trillion dollars had been funneled through these corporations since the 1950s. He wondered what Gypsum was up to and why the government payments were buried so deep within the records of its subsidiaries. The realization that he should be scared was slowly creeping into his consciousness. This kind of money would be protected. If this much effort was expended in burying the money trail, obviously, there was a secret involved. A big secret. If anyone knew he was on to Gypsum, his life could be in jeopardy. The odd thing was, all the information was available in the FBI records. Why hadn't anyone uncovered this money trail yet? The answer to his question was obvious. No one at the FBI would be uncovering anything if they were already involved in it.

He came upon several more documents with blacked-out text, but could make out a few words and numbers here and there. It seemed that whatever plan was being discussed, it involved something referred to as '49'. Isaiah felt his face flush when he made out the word 'catastrophic'. He wrote the information down, thinking he'd discuss it with Jodie, later, when he heard the outer door of the room opening and closing. Isaiah stuffed his notebook and laptop in his briefcase. He quickly replaced the contents of the records box, stored it back on the shelf and made his way to the door, finding no one. Isaiah cursed himself for leaving his service revolver at home. But, how could he have known he might need it in the records room?

Isaiah left the room and headed for the parking garage. He opened the exit door and turned, walking head on into Roger Emmetts, a young agent in his division. "Hi, Roger," Isaiah said, trying to catch his breath.

"Working on weekends again, Isaiah? No rest for you, huh?"

"Actually, I just thought I'd finish up a few things and take a couple days off next week. The Nelson thing is over with and I haven't had time off in quite awhile." Isaiah tried his best to look sincere.

"Headed anywhere special?" Emmetts said.

"No. I might do some fishing, but mostly, I just want a few days away. I better get to it. You have a good week, Roger."

"Yeah. You too. Have a good time."

Isaiah walked up to his car and opened the door. He could see Roger Emmett's reflection in the driver's side mirror. The man was still standing in the same place, with an odd expression on his face. Isaiah wondered if he should even get in the car, but forced himself to push thoughts of exploding vehicles out of his mind and sat down. His hand shook as he pushed the key into the ignition and turned. The car started.

Isaiah drove home and pulled in his driveway, pressed the button on the garage door opener remote, pulled in and turned the car off. He closed the garage door and checked the security panel. Still activated. He punched in his security code and the deactivation light illuminated. Once inside, he went directly to the cabinet he stored his handgun in and removed it, slipping the shoulder holster over his arm and sliding the gun in the cradle. He stepped over to the side of the window and pulled back the shear drapes enough to see the unmarked car wedged in between two other parked cars on the street. Someone was tailing him. Either they followed him home or were waiting for him. Regardless, it would only be a matter of time before they paid him a visit, only he didn't intend to be there to welcome them.

Isaiah grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed it full of clothing, food and ammunition. He exited into the hallway of his duplex and reset the alarm. Then, he ran up the back stairs to the roof entrance. Crossing the roof to the other side of the duplex, he climbed down the fire escape, which was not visible from the roadway. Isaiah jumped off the ladder and hit the ground running. About ten minutes later, he came to a car rental agency he'd used on several occasions. The owner knew him as an FBI agent and understood the need for discretion, so didn't object when Isaiah asked to pre-pay in cash.

"Sure. Whatever the feds need. You'll need a receipt, though, won't you?"

"Yeah. When I return it," Isaiah said. "If I need to keep it longer, can I give you a call?"

"You got it, pal. Ain't a big run on SUVs in downtown San Francisco, anyways."

Isaiah thanked him and jumped in the SUV, stopping only to send Jodie a text message. He was on to something and didn't know what, exactly, but knew he needed to warn Jodie that it was something big. He sent her the text and then took the phone battery out. Isaiah headed toward the back roads to Crescent City. With any luck, he'd be there by morning.

* * *

Jodie drove up the road slowly with the headlights off, scanning for any movement. She turned into the neighbor's driveway. Nick's truck was nowhere to be seen. "Oh no, I hope we can find them."

"Think you just did," Bob said. Nick stepped out from behind some bushes in front of the cabin.

He approached the Camaro. "Man, we were really worried about you. It sounded like World War three was going on back there." Nick reached out and touched Jodie's arm. "You're probably gonna want to see this." He motioned toward the cabin.

Jodie turned the car off and got out.

"We got here and noticed a light on in the cabin. I went up to tell your neighbor what was going on and we found him there," Nick said, pointing to a crumpled body lying beside the house. "Looks like he got it in the forehead. Mei checked him out. Sorry, but he's dead."

Jodie bent down by her neighbor. There he was, his kind face staring back at her. One of the only people she wanted to remember from her childhood who was still alive. But, now he was gone. "Let's get out of here," she said, holding back the tears. She wanted to cry, but felt like screaming more than anything. She knew she couldn't take the time to do either. They were in grave danger.

"Where's your truck, Nick?" Bob asked.

"Christy drove it up the road a bit. Just in case things didn't turn out well on your end. I thought it would be safer," Nick said.

"Good man. Jodie, are you okay to drive? You look like it would be best if you took a breather."

"I'm fine, but, yeah. Why don't you drive for a while. I don't know where Nick is going to sit, though. We've got the whole car packed."

"Got that taken care of," Nick said. "We borrowed your neighbors' trailer. It had two ATVs on it. I thought we could use them if the going got rough. I left one here in case I needed to get out quick. I can ride it back to the truck. By the way, we went inside and raided his gun cabinet, too. I hope that's okay with you. None of us wanted to be unarmed again."

Bob shot Nick a look of concern. "I don't know. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Who all has a gun now?"

"Everyone except Noah. Christy says her husband taught her how to shoot. Mei and I target shoot all the time, so I know she knows what she's doing. Leah has never shot a weapon, but promised not to kill any of us." Nick waited for a response.

Jodie and Bob stared at each other. "Well, let's be on our way then, shall we?" Jodie said, thinking this wasn't the time or place to discuss gun safety.

Nick walked behind the tree line while Jodie surrendered her keys to Bob and got in the passenger side of the Camaro. The sound of a small engine echoed across the forest and the ATV burst out from the trees and stopped.

"Ready?" Nick said.

"Yeah, you first," Bob said.

Jodie felt like she had a few days earlier. Unraveled. The fear, shock and sadness of the attack, along with the loss of her neighbor, gripped her in an icy embrace. Neither Jodie nor Bob spoke as they followed Nick up the forest road. As they drove, Jodie couldn't help but notice the way Nick's body dwarfed the ATV. Images of an elephant riding a tricycle at the circus flashed in her mind. On any other day, she and Bob would have laughed themselves silly about it, but today, she felt anxious and irritated.

"I need to call Isaiah before we lose the cell tower. We will in a couple of miles. I'll have to take the chance and tell him where we are, or no one will know what happened to us. It probably won’t matter anyway, because I think the people chasing us are well aware of our position." She pushed the speed dial on her cell. It rang once and went directly to Isaiah's voicemail. Jodie left a message describing their situation, telling Isaiah what happened and where they were headed.

As she ended the call, the question Noah asked earlier nagged at her. What if Isaiah was in trouble, too? And now, she'd left a message with a map directly to them. After about ten minutes, Nick slowed and pulled off to one side. He waved for them to wait and drove behind an embankment.

Jodie finally broke the silence. "We've seriously underestimated what's happening here. As a matter of fact, I'm really not sure what's going on anymore. What could be so important about what any of us knows that someone would want us all dead?"

"What really disturbs me is not knowing what the Bureau’s connection is," Bob added. "As naïve as this sounds, I’d like to think there’s more transparency in the federal government than what we’re seeing right now."

"Tell me exactly what Isaiah said."

"He said we shouldn’t trust anyone on this, including the locals or the State Police because he thought they were being misled. He didn’t say why, but I got the sense he didn’t feel too safe himself. One thing’s for sure, it looks like we're all determined to find out what’s going on now," Bob said, pointing at the truck. Nick's truck was on the road now, moving, towing the trailer with the two ATVs. Noah was sitting in the front seat with Christy driving, Leah poked a shotgun out of the back window, and Nick and Mei crouched in the bed of the truck, each armed. Only Hunter seemed to be enjoying himself, with his head out the side window of the back seat, the wind streaming through his fur.

Jodie had a bad feeling about the entire situation. "Good God. They have every right to defend themselves, but I worry about them shooting each other." Pulling out her cell phone, Jodie said, "I'm going to try Isaiah one more time." She opened the phone to find no signal bars. "Bob, stop. We need to go back down to get a signal."

"We can't stop now. We've got company."

Jodie looked in the rear view mirror. Behind them, the forest canopy was dimly illuminated by headlights, some distance back.

"We have to block this road," Bob said. "Slow them down somehow."

"I have an idea. Signal Christy to stop," Jodie said.

Bob waved his hand out the window and the vehicles slowed to stop. Jodie jumped out, yelling out orders, spurring the group into action. Nick backed the ATVs off of the trailer and Bob pulled up past the truck, where the road became very narrow, flanked by embankments on both sides. Mei and Nick pulled the ATVs in front of Bob. Bob jumped out of the Camaro, ran back and unhooked the trailer.

"This should be about the right length," Nick said, sweat streaming down his forehead. Bob went to his side and the two men tugged and pushed the trailer into position, perpendicular to the roadway, wedging it between the embankments. Nick grabbed a tire iron out of the back of the truck bed and slammed the pointed end into each of the four tires of the trailer, while everyone else threw whatever rocks and branches they could find in front of it. "This won't stop 'em for long, but should give us a few minutes," Nick said, tossing the tire iron back inside the truck bed.