Kraken Rising

CHAPTER 40

The thumping explosion was felt milliseconds before it was heard. Grenades, Casey thought, reacting first, yelling out to her team and diving. She took Aimee and Soong with her as she crashed to the wall of the cave chute they were descending in. Dust and debris rained down on them as the shock waves pulsed through the stone, and then raced past them.

They stayed down, hugging the rock for a second or two more, before Casey lifted her head.

“Gimme a source, big guy.” She spat and blinked away grit, and then shined her light up at the ceiling.

Rinofsky held up the scanner, first one way, and then the next. “Speed of the tremor wave, and echo duration, gives us a source of about two klicks southeast. With a downward inclination of twenty-five degrees.” Rhino pointed. “Down and that way.” He looked at Casey. “Got to be our Chinese friends.”

Casey stood slowly. “Looks like they decided to clear some blockage, huh? Great idea under freaking miles of stone.”

Dawkins coughed and wiped his mouth, spitting and grinning, and displaying his chipped tooth again. He got to his feet. “Maybe they ran into something they could only fight with explosives.”

“Well,” Casey said, and dragged Soong to her feet. “Whatever it was, I wonder if they achieved little more than a free burial.” She must have noticed Soong’s disapproving expression, and shrugged. “Ah, whatever.”

Aimee dragged a sleeve across her eyes. “We’re probably moving parallel to them. Maybe we can intersect if we find a conjoining tunnel. Provided they made it through.”

Casey held her flashlight in the air. “Interesting, look…” She nudged Aimee. “The dust, it’s moving.”

Aimee watched the floating specks within her own beam. The tiny motes should have been settling straight down to the cave floor, but instead they gently floated towards the dark end of the cave tunnel.

“Air movement,” Aimee said.

“Gotta be a good thing, right?” Casey’s brows were up.

“Better than a dead end, boss,” Rinofsky said, smacking Hagel on the shoulder, and raising a puff of chalky dust.

“Got that right. Let’s move ’em out.” Casey turned to Hagel. “Lieutenant, take point, fifty paces out.”

Hagel hesitated for a moment, and then spun and jogged off into the dark.

Aimee grimaced. “We shouldn’t split up.”

Casey half grinned. “Nah, he enjoys his own company.”

They eased around through a narrowing in the cave, and Aimee saw the glow from Hagel’s light. The man stood silently, pointing his beam to the floor.

He lifted an arm and pointed to their flashlights. “I don’t think you’ll need those anymore.” He switched his own off, and then stood aside, holding out an arm and half bowing, like a maître d’ showing guests to their table.

Casey kept her light on, and moved past the young HAWC. “Holy — fucking — hell.” She immediately pushed her gun up over her shoulder and stood with hands on her hips, grinning. “It’s all true.”

Their cave ended, and they found themselves high up on a cliff wall. The hint of light that Hagel had first seen gradually turned to a twilight blue from the ceiling — a ceiling that traveled away for as far as their eyes could make out.

“Glow worms,” Aimee said. “Permanent twilight, but be careful with loud noises, or they shut down.”

Rinofsky snorted, elbowing Ben Jackson in the ribs. “I didn’t believe it could be real. I mean, I read it, but never thought…” He shook his head. “It’s so goddamn huge. This ain’t no cave.” He grinned. “It’s a world.”

“A world beneath the world,” Jackson said softly.

Aimee pointed. “That’s the sea in the distance.” Before the colossal cave curved away with its own horizon dipping from view, there was the glint on a flat surface that hinted at water. Aimee stepped forward to peer over the edge. “We weren’t here before. I don’t remember there being a jungle. We never traveled over the other side of the sea. I guess this is what was over there.”

“Well, it sure wasn’t in Hunter’s report,” Hagel said sourly.

Casey used a scope to look out over the landscape. “Nothing on visual. Blake, where’s our signal source?”

Blake read from his scanner. “Got it, loud and clear — five miles due east.” He looked up and frowned. “But that would put it near the water at that far rock face, or maybe, in the rock face.”

Casey exhaled through compressed lips. “Must be on the shoreline, then… still hidden.” She turned. “What, you thought it was going to be easy?” She lifted her scope again, moving it over the jungle. “If our Chinese friends survived, I’m betting that’s where they’re gonna end up.”

Rinofsky also waved a small box over the edge. “Whoowee, I’ve got so many life signs, I might as well be pointing this at the San Diego Zoo.”

“Great.” Casey turned to Aimee. “Good to be home?”

Aimee shook her head, her eyes focused on the water in the distance. Casey leaned out over the edge, and then whistled. “That is one helluva long way down.”

Hagel stood beside her, also leaning out. “Stuck up on a cliff wall.”

Franks looked up. “Make that, in a cliff wall.”

They were about half the way up the sheer wall of granite, with about a thousand feet to the jungle below. Further along the wall waterfalls fell slowly, most turning to mist before they ever struck the ground. Some had huge torrents pouring out and turning into rivers that wound their way towards the sea in the distance.

“Grab my belt.” Franks began to lean out even further, and Hagel hung on so she could gain an extra few feet.

Aimee watched as Hagel’s lips curled just a fraction, and saw Rinofsky look hard at him from under lowered brows.

“Okay,” Casey said, and Hagel pulled her back.

“Going to be tough, but doable.” She walked a few feet into the cave mouth and into the center of the group. “This wall is Swiss cheese. It’s riddled with holes and caves. It’s a sheer cliff, but with all the pockmarks in it, I reckon we can lower someone down to the next cave. Some places we can scale down.” She bobbed her head. “I’m sure we can ease the non-climbers down a bit.”

Jennifer Hartigan briefly stepped forward, before quickly stepping back. “I don’t think I can do that.”

Hagel nodded and confected a concerned look. “Good idea, you wait here for rescue team.” He lifted his brows in surprise. “Hey, I just remembered; we are the rescue team.”

“You can do it,” Aimee told her. “I’m scared witless of heights, but I’d be more worried about staying behind if I was you.” She turned to Casey. “Have we got enough rope?”

Big Ben Jackson shook his head. “I got nothing. Dawks, Jennifer?”

Both Dawkins and Jennifer shrugged.

“We’ve got a hundred feet, from each of us,” Casey said. “That gives us four hundred; maybe just enough.”

“Ah, boss, make that three hundred.” Rinofsky grimaced. “I never recovered mine.”

“What?” Casey’s brows went up. “You can fucking climb like a mountain goat. How the hell did you not recover that loop?”

Rinofsky hiked massive shoulders, looking pained. Aimee could tell he was concealing something.

Franks ground her teeth. “I ought to make you go back and get it. Why didn’t you climb back up like you were ordered? And why the fuck didn’t you even tell me?”

“Ah, shit.” Rinofsky stared off into the dark momentarily. “There was…” He grimaced. “There was something, ah, there was something that had hold of it. And I saw…”

In two paces Casey was in front of him, grabbing his arm and turning the huge man around, her eyes blazing. She grabbed his suit front and dragged him further into the cave and away from the others. She hung on, pulling him close, near nose-to-nose.

“Listen mister, you came back from the chute white as a fucking sheet. What the fuck happened back there?”

Rhino shook his head. “Bad shit.”

Casey gabbed him with both hands and shook. “Soldier, what… did… you… fucking… see?”

Rhino yanked himself from Casey’s hands, and held fists up on each side of his head.

“I dunno, I dunno what I saw. Something… nothing.” He looked up, his expression pained. “When I got to the bottom of the chute, I think there was someone still up at the rim.” He shook his head again. “They were just fucking with me.”

“Someone? Someone was just fucking with you? What the hell does that mean?” Her voice seethed with fury.

“Jesus.” He grimaced. “They pulled the rope up, slow like. And…” He grinned, confused. “And they rolled a freaking head down at me.”

There was a snigger from out of the dark. “Did you just say, they rolled a head at you?” Hagel, now listening, brayed with laughter. “Goddamn, now I’ve heard everything.”

Casey ignored Hagel to stare for several more seconds into Rhino’s face. “Ah, for fuck’s sake, you big moose. You thought this was best kept to yourself?” Casey’s teeth were bared as she stared up into the face nearly a foot above her. “Someone is jerking you round, and you run like a school kid? I oughta make you…”

She walked off a few paces before coming back in and glaring up at him. The big HAWC’s face was twisted in agitation. At last she just shook her head.

“Fuck it, we’re outta here.” She looked at each member. “We need to be down, and fast.”

Aimee took another peek over the edge and blanched.

Casey half smiled. “Now’s the time to stomach some risks.” She showed her teeth. “Because we don’t really have a fucking choice.”

She turned to walk back to the edge and then leaned out. “Unfortunately, the first part looks like it’s a real kicker with few handholds, then a straight drop for about eighty feet down to the next cave. Means we’re gonna lose a third of our rope straight up.” Casey eased back. “Blake.” She turned. “Find me a tie off.”

Blake quickly removed a rope from his pack, and found a jagged tooth of granite jutting from the cave floor. He tied it off and then tossed the end over the cliff edge. He then stripped off his backpack, and placed it on the cave edge, just under the rope.

Casey looked down, judging distances for a few seconds. She picked up the rope and yanked it a few times. She didn’t bother tying herself off, but instead turned and gripped the rope tightly, her heels now over the edge.

“Rhino, make sure people who need to be secured, are secured.”

The big man nodded. “Got it.”

Casey eased out. “Give me five to check the next cave and make sure there are no surprises.” She grinned. “And if there are, well, you all try another route.” She winked at Jennifer and began to walk backwards.

The group surged forward and some of them got down on their bellies to watch Casey descend. Aimee crushed her eyes shut, feeling her stomach flip and her head spin. Heights — she hated them. She blinked again and tried to focus just on Casey and not the hundreds of feet drop that she’d also be expected to scale down any minute.

Aimee brought one arm up to wipe her forehead. In another few seconds, Casey was already close to the end of the rope, and started to use her legs to push herself one way and then the other until she began to swing and run across the face of the wall. Just watching it made Aimee feel ill, but in another moment, the female HAWC stretched out and caught hold of the side of a new cave, and then pulled herself in.

Casey reappeared to lean out and give them a thumbs-up. Rinofsky stepped forward, and then turned to Ben Jackson, the equally big McMurdo soldier.

“That means you’re up next, big guy. We’ll need your long arms down there.”

Jackson simply nodded and walked to the edge, picking up the rope, turning, and then walking backwards. The rope popped and strained, and Rinofsky laid a hand on it, feeling the tension.

“All good.” He sized up the remaining team members. Still to go was the wiry Dawkins, Blake, Soong, Aimee, and Jennifer, and…

“Hey!” Rhino yelled as Hagel leaned out, and then disappeared around the outside of their cave. Aimee looked across to see the young HAWC just using his fingers and toes to scale the sheer face. He looked back and grinned.

“Haven’t got all day, losers. See you down there.”

“Break a leg,” Dawkins whispered, his mouth turned down, his chipped tooth resting on his bottom lip. They watched Hagel clamber out and across as if he was only a few feet from his back lawn.

Rhino gave him a minute, and then motioned to Jennifer. The woman grimaced, and Rhino removed a length of material from his pack, and tied one end of the material around the rope in a looping knot. “This is an arbor knot.” He tied the other end around Jennifer’s wrist. “You should be able to climb down by yourself, but if you slip,” — he tugged on the material and it immediately tightened and gripped the rope — “then this will catch you. You can’t fall. You’ll be fine, okay?”

She nodded jerkily. Rhino grabbed her and looked into her face. “Just concentrate on the rope, the rock wall, and Lieutenant Franks… and nothing else. Got it?”

Jennifer nodded and he pushed her out. It took ages, but she eventually made it level with Casey. Then it was Soong’s turn and then Aimee’s.

“You’re up, Doc.” Rhino held out one big hand.

Aimee exhaled and got to her feet, but felt her legs wobble. Rinofsky looped the slipknot over her wrist. He placed large hands on her shoulders and looked into her face.

“Just on the rope, just on the wall, and just on me — nothing else.”

And then she was over the edge — one hand after the other, concentrating on the rock face. She noticed the fine grain in the rock, the spots of lichen and mosses like tiny corals embedded in tiny cracks. In a damp pocket, there was something that looked like lice that scurried in and out of the moisture. She focused on the rock wall as she descended, one hand after the other, over and over. There was a piece of crystal embedded in the rock, or maybe it was diamond. A crazy thought of stopping to dig it out entered her head. Forget it, keep going, and don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop, she kept repeating.

Her shoulders screamed and her hands were becoming slick. Aimee chanced a look back up — Rhino was just a dot above her now, but he had started to swing her. Her stomach flipped as she yawed against the cliff face.

“Reach out… nearly got you.”

“Huh?” Aimee spun her head. Casey was only a few feet away, reaching out. Aimee pushed with her legs, one way and then the next, until Casey grabbed her and dragged her in.

Casey slapped her on the back, and Aimee staggered away from the edge to sit down. Jennifer held out a water bottle that she took gratefully.

In another few minutes Blake swung in, followed by Rhino.

Ben Jackson stuck his head out. “Yo, Dawkins, hustle it up.”

John Dawkins, the smallest, was the last to go. He nimbly started down the rope.

Jackson grinned as he continued to watch his smaller friend. “Hurry up, Dawks… no time for sightseeing.”

Still fifty feet up from the new cave mouth, the McMurdo soldier just seemed to hang for a moment, his head tilted upwards as if watching something. Then, while they watched, he lifted back up a few feet.

“What the hell?” Casey leaned out further.

“What’s he think he’s doing?” Big Ben Jackson turned to the group and then leaned out past Casey. “Dawkins, John, you okay up there, buddy?”

The man just hung on, his neck craned as he stared up the rope.

Jackson shook his head. “Something’s up, he wouldn’t freeze. He knows how to climb, and he ain’t scared of heights.”

Aimee hung onto Jackson’s arm and peered around him. Unbelievably, Dawkins started to rise.

“Is he climbing back up?” Jennifer rose up on her toes, trying her best to see.

“Fuck no, not again,” Rinofsky said softly.

Casey Franks turned to glare at him for a second, before watching the McMurdo soldier rise slowly on the rope.

“Is it the Chinese?” Jennifer asked.

Casey edged out further, lifting an arm and looking like she planned to try and make a leap for the tip of the rope.

“Don’t.” Blake grabbed her and held on.

Dawkins suddenly seemed jolted into action, and began to climb down as fast as the rope was being reeled in. But in a few moments he came to the end, and hung on, looking across at the sheer granite wall, searching for something to grab onto. There was nothing, and no choice but to let himself be pulled to the upper cave mouth.

Dawkins soon reached the lip and stuck there, staring for several seconds, seeming to look deep into the cave, and then he simply pushed backwards, into space, and just… fell.

The soldier didn’t make a sound, but as his body passed them, gathering speed, the split second glimpse of his face showed wide eyes and teeth grit in a rictus of pure terror.

They watched his body plummet to the ground. Casey blinked several times, her mouth open. “He fucking jumped?” She shook her head. “Why the fuck would he jump?” She backed up, her fists balled.

Aimee saw that Hank Rinofsky had turned away, one fist held up to his mouth. She looked back down at the jungle that had swallowed Dawkins’s body. There was no trace. After another moment, she turned away.

“He jumped because he decided it was better than facing what he saw in the cave.” Aimee felt ill. The cold knot was in her stomach again. “God help us.”

“Dawks is no coward.” Ben Jackson grimaced as he stared down into the vegetation hundreds of feet below. “No way would he kill himself.”

“Yes, he would. Anyone would… anyone.” Aimee folded her arms tight against her body, and shut her eyes. “You guys read the report, but didn’t actually learn a damned thing, did you?” She turned to look at Casey. “This is no dumb animal. It’s playing with us. It’s probably known mankind for years, maybe hundreds or thousands of years. The people who used to live here had a name for it. They called it the Qwo-to-oan.”

“I think I heard of that,” Hagel said.

“We need to wake up, real quick,” Aimee said, looking at each of them. “Because this thing is big, smart, and we’re right in its home.”

“Jesus Christ.” Hagel glared at Casey Franks. “We’re fucked.”

“Shut the hell up.” Casey glared right back.

“Oh, okay, we’re all fine then.” Hagel’s face twisted as he walked away shaking his head.

Casey’s face was furious, but it relaxed and she exhaled long and loud. “So, this is our job. This is what we do. We’ve had to deal with worst case scenarios before.” She looked along their faces. “And this is one of them.”

“I musta missed that briefing,” Ben Jackson said. He sighed and shook his head. “Fuck it, we’re all in the same boat now.”

The group, bar Hagel, crowded in tight, all eyes focused on Casey Franks. Aimee looked over their heads and into the cave depths. There was no light, and no end to its impenetrable darkness. For all she knew there was something back in there, edging forward, sliding silently, its leviathan strength compressed, coiled, and waiting to flex out and then snatch them up.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said softly.

Casey looked from the group to Aimee, and then into the tunnel depths. She nodded. “Blake, tie us off again. This time, I go last.”