Life Goes On by Tayell, Frank (large ebook reader txt) 📗

Tess took Zach’s arm and pulled him around the corner.

“Clear!” Clyde called a scant few seconds later.

Beneath the pottery dome was a digital camcorder.

“It’s just a camera?” Zach said. “Is there a video?”

Clyde held up the memory card. “Yep. But I’m more interested in why the generator has another power-cable running towards the rear of the house.”

The back of the house had even larger doors than the front, with a clear route to a similarly large rear gate. A massive table suggested the owners might have dined outdoors, while a roofless cube-frame of concrete and steel might have once held an awning. Hanging from it now were three large pulleys, through which a rope had been threaded. From one end hung a hook and chain. The other was attached to an electric winch into which the generator’s power cable ran.

“Hold,” Clyde said, walking up to the door. His right hand on his gun, he ran his left around the ajar entrance. “Clear,” he said, and pulled the door open. “Do you see this tripwire? It’s been disconnected.”

“It’s a trap?” Tess asked.

“Think so,” Clyde said. “Wait here, let me take a look.”

“Winch, pulley, rope,” Tess said. “How long do you think that rope is, Zach? A hundred metres?”

“You’ll want to see this,” Clyde called, pushing the door open wide.

They entered a large hall, in which the furniture had been pushed apart and the rugs pulled back. To the left, through a door-less alcove, lay the kitchen with a restaurant-sized range, two double-wide refrigerators, and an industrial dishwasher. The cupboards above were flat-pack. So was the table, and the sofa and chairs in the sitting room at the front of the house. The paintings, rugs, and the empty flower vases were similarly European, though they imitated a Mediterranean style. She wasn’t sure what style the wainscoting was, except that it had been used as camouflage.

Clyde knelt next to where the cream-painted wood panelling had been removed from the wall.

“It’s C4,” Clyde said. “Did you see where the panelling had been removed in the other rooms?”

“I only went as far as the front doors,” Tess said. “The detonators have been removed, yes?”

“The trigger as well,” Clyde said. “There’s a tripwire rigged to the rear door, another at the front. That should have set off a timer. But it’s all been disconnected.”

Tess turned to Zach who was staring down into the hole taking up half of the rear hall.

The hole was three metres wide, two long, and had another pulley hanging above, attached to a steel pin. When the hole was covered with the floorboards and a rug, a chandelier would hang from the pin. That pulley was in the perfect position for a rope running through the doors and to the winch outside. Tess joined Zach by the hole’s edge.

“Shine your light down there, Zach,” she said. “About thirty metres deep, maybe a bit less.”

“The walls are mostly concrete,” Clyde said. “The C4 is positioned to level the property.”

“Bringing it down on top of this hatch,” Tess said. “A hatch which leads to a tunnel. The whole property is a front. We were supposed to see those bodies outside, then force our way in, trigger the bombs, and level the house, hiding this tunnel from view.”

“The stone cake stand would have kept the camera and memory card safe,” Clyde said.

“Are we going to watch whatever’s on the memory card?” Zach asked. “Or are we going down?”

“Clyde, what do you think?” Tess asked.

He shone his flashlight downwards. “There’s a ladder at the side. Looks like a cage-elevator at the bottom.” He stepped back, and shone his light up at the pulley and hook hanging from the ceiling. “No coal power station, so why set up at a coal mine? Has to be for the mining machinery, so they can excavate long tunnels.”

“It’s for their lab, isn’t it?” Zach said. “This is where they made the zoms! We’re going to look, right?”

“Sooner or later, I am,” Clyde said, picking up a length of rope. “I say now. I’ll belay down, check for bodies, or movement, or more traps.”

“We’ll pull you back up if there are,” Zach said.

“I’ll jump up that ladder if there are,” Clyde said. “Boss?”

“Sooner or later we’ve got to look, and I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible.”

Holding the rope, Clyde stepped into air, and began quickly descending.

“Yeah, nah, it’s not for me,” Zach said.

“What isn’t?” Tess asked.

“Soldiering,” Zach said.

“I’m with you there,” Tess said.

“Clear!” Clyde called up. “Safe to come down. It’s a staging post. Supplies gathered to be taken top-side.”

“I’m going down,” Tess said. “It’s up to you whether you want to wait here for the captain, Zach.”

“Wait here with the crucified bodies and the explosives?” Zach asked. “Yeah, nah, I’m going down. You want me to get a rope?”

“Rule-nine, stick with what you know,” Tess said. “So we’ll take the ladder. Hang on. Let me see your gear. Safety on. Lights on. And the camera. Might as well record everything.” She turned his cap back to front. “Eyes open. Ears, too. If you think you hear something, or see something, say so. Overly cautious has never been listed as a cause of death.”

Chapter 37 - Solar Panels Underground

Puerto Bolivar, Colombia

It took Tess and Zach longer to descend than it had for Clyde, giving the soldier time to finish surveying the antechamber.

“Four metres by five,” Clyde said, when they reached the bottom. “Just over head-height tall, with a horizontal tunnel leading due west. That tunnel’s laid with railway tracks on the right-hand-side, and storage on the left. Two handcars over there, with a generator, rope, winch, and hook at the front of each. Anchor