Pulling The Dragon's Tail (14 page)

With a sigh Campbell sat down at the water’s
edge. Dugan sat next to her and she patted him affectionately. With
her back to Nate, she looked out over the snow-covered mountain
peaks nestled above the lake, their reflections illuminated in the
deep blue waters. “Praying to a fantasy doesn’t sound like a
solution to me,” she muttered loudly enough for Nate to hear.

Nate approached her from behind, and said, “I
thought we were done arguing about this. I’ll tell you the real
myth: the tolerance that you atheists profess to have.”

“I can be very tolerant,” replied Campbell, “but
why do you have to pray so often?”

“Sorry it offends you, but I follow wherever the
Father leads me. Prayer is a way—oh, why bother trying to explain
it? Besides, I’m not the one you’re really upset with. It’s
Hilliard.”

“Don’t psychoanalyze me,” Campbell said tersely,
whirling around to face him.

“Why not? You’ve done it to me the entire way
here,” he spat back. “Talk about tolerance; I’ve put up with a heck
of a lot more of your psychobabble than you realize.”

“So I’m just a meddling bitch. Sue me. All
right, I
am
mad at Grandpa. I’m sure I heard him say under
hypnosis to come to the cabin to find the formula. But what the
hell that is,” she said, pointing to the ramshackle building before
her, “I haven’t a clue.”

Dugan’s ears perked up. “Skip!”

“Not now, Dugan!”

A gun blast sounded, its echo bouncing off the
cabin and resounding across the lake. Campbell glanced in the
direction it came from, somewhere beyond the cabin. Then she
noticed Nate sprawled on the ground. Scrambling to her feet she
ducked low and ran to him. “You okay?”

Holding his shoulder he said, “I think it just
grazed me. We’ve got to get to safety. Dugan, put up the cyber
shield!”

The CCR ran over to them. Instantly, he threw
out an electromagnetic force field.

The sharp, shrill sound of another bullet rushed
over their heads.

“Duck!” screamed Campbell, falling to the
ground, taking Nate with her.

“It’s all right! Just stay behind Dugan!”

“Dugan can stop bullets?

“Deflect them—only briefly,” he panted. “We
gotta get to the cabin!

A moment later they huddled in front of the
door

“Dugan, do you know who’s out there?

“Unable to determine, but sound and velocity
analysis indicate the bullets are from a high-powered rifle, “most
likely an AK 90.

Campbell, trying hard to stay calm, said, “Maybe
we should get back in the car.

“Good idea. We should be shielded from our
attacker by the cabin.”

Nate struggled into the car, grimacing and
holding his left shoulder. Bringing his right hand over to start
it, Campbell noticed blood.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Good assessment, Sherlock.”

“Let’s go! What’re you waiting on?”

“It won’t start!” he screamed.

“What do you mean?” Campbell nervously glanced
past the cabin.

“You heard me! Father Abraham, help us!”

Dugan chimed in. “Skip, sound analysis detects a
vehicle with a two-cycle engine is approaching our position.”

They glanced at each other. He saw the look of
desperation in her eyes. For a fleeting moment he felt sorry for
bringing her here. “Let’s get inside the cabin.”

“What! We don’t even know if we can get
inside!”

“Yes, we can. I think Mitchell Hilliard just
spoke to me.”

She looked at him incredulously.

“The cabin door’s unlocked. Inside there we have
at least a fighting chance. Dugan does have some weaponry.” Nate
didn’t wait for an answer. Opening the door he fled back to the
cabin.

Dugan stayed in front of Campbell, shielding
her. Just as Nate predicted, the door was unlocked. Nate shut it
behind them and engaged the dead bolt.

Inside the ten meter by fifteen meter building,
a thick layer of dust covered several pieces of dilapidated kitchen
and living room furniture. It appeared as if no one had set foot
inside for at least a generation. A great room met them upon
entering, and a large stone fireplace graced the other side of the
spacious room. Still intact windows let in sufficient sunlight that
illuminated beams of dust dancing in the sunlight.

“Stay low!” barked Nate, nursing his shoulder.
They ran to the back of the cabin. “Dugan, when will the PPD
weapons be ready?”

“Two minutes thirty seconds.”

“You mean we’re defenseless until then?” wailed
Campbell.

“We’re still safer in here. Here’s an old two by
four. It’s dark enough that we have the element of surprise if you
know who enters. Ow! My arm!”

“Dugan, do you have a first aid kit?” asked
Campbell.

A moment later, just after putting a bandage on
his shoulder, a warm flushed feeling hit them both in the face.

Dr. Hilliard’s voice resounded clearly.
“Campbell, please state your grandfather’s favorite number.”

“Infinity plus one.”

“Nate, please state your Alpha Group code
number.” He recited it as effortlessly as he had done thirty years
ago.

A large panel behind the fireplace opened,
revealing an elevator.

“An elevator?” they chimed in unison.

Campbell smiled. “Well, I’d hazard a guess that
someone’s been keeping up the place. So this is the kind of
improvement Grandpa’s been up to? The plot only thickens.”

Nate frowned. “The elevator can only go
down.”

“Of course. So what’s your point?”

“I..don’t like small spaces.”

“You handled your little room in the Ellis
Clinic,” she teased.

“That had a window,” he growled.

The elevator opened before them. Nate gulped. “I
just hope it doesn’t come to—Dugan, are the PPDs ready?”

“Thirty more seconds.”

The rattle of an engine grew louder. A
four-wheeler screeched to a halt outside the cabin door.

“Oh, God! He’s here!” Campbell followed a shadow
by the large picture window that overlooked the lake.

The engine was switched off. Heavy boots stomped
onto the wooden porch.

For a moment there was silence. Campbell and
Nate held their breaths.

The massive wooden door rattled as the butt of a
gun rained down upon it. It didn’t budge.

Then there was silence.

A gun blast shook the entire cabin, as the door
splintered open.

Campbell took one glance at her companions. Like
a mother hen, she instinctively shoved them into the elevator
.
Please Grandpa, close the doors
, she found herself silently
praying.

Instantly, the doors seemed to obey her, gliding
to a swift close.

The angry voice of their assailant grew closer
for an instant, then melted away in the darkness.

Nate felt the downward pull. “We’re going
down.”

“Good assessment, Sherlock.”

“Well, now you’ve done it,” replied Nate.

“What? Saved your life? Thank me later. At least
we’re safe from that idiot for now.”

“I’d resume our previous discussion if I could,
but I’m too busy trying to breathe.” He gave instructions to
Campbell, who retrieved anti-anxiety medicine from a tiny
compartment on Dugan. Tenderly, he felt his shoulder. No further
bleeding, he noted inwardly.

Dim lights ringed the bottom of the tiny
elevator, and cast an eerie glow on their faces. Nate grimaced.
“You’ve picked a fine time to feel reassured. We’re in a tunnel
that leads to who knows where, lured here by the man who placed
crazy chips into both our brains, and there’s a maniac trying to
kill us.”

“What happened to your faith in Father
Abraham?”

He glowered at her in the dim glow of light.

Descending what seemed about five meters, the
doors opened and a tunnel lay before them. Nate stepped hesitantly
outside the shaft and into the rough-hewn corridor.

“I’m sorry for what I just said. How’re your
meds and your arm?” asked Campbell.

Taking a few deep breaths in, he mouthed a
prayer. “Between Father Abraham and the medication, I think I’ll do
fine. My arm’s stopped bleeding. I just hope Hilliard had fun in
planning this out. Why couldn’t he just bury the formula by the
lake? Well, I guess we need to keep moving. I guess it could be
worse; I could be stuck in that elevator.”

Dim lights, spaced every few meters, lit the
upper corners of the tunnel. Nate placed Dugan in the lead. The
CCR’s bright flashlight provided ample light. He and Campbell also
carried flashlights.

The tunnel, hewn out of the shale rock that
comprised the Rocky Mountains, curved gradually to the right. Nate
estimated they were paralleling the bottom edge of the mountain.
About a hundred meters later, they were met by another elevator
shaft.

They stepped in and the doors closed. A
momentary lurch up had both of them panicky. However the elevator’s
smooth motor kicked into gear and pulled them steadily upwards.

“This shaft seems longer than the other
elevator,” observed Campbell. The upward motion suddenly
halted.

“Coordinates show us to be inside the mountain,”
said Dugan. “I have accessed the Pegasus Seven computer system
housed inside the caverns.”

“Pegasus Seven?” wondered Nate. “That’s the kind
of computer needed for holograms.”

“Yes,” confirmed the CCR. “Records indicate a
pre-programmed hologram of Mitchell Hilliard is housed here.”

“I just hope that Mr. Maniac isn’t waiting on
the other side of the door,” said Campbell.

“Impossible,” answered Nate. “But I’m sure glad
the PPDs are loaded and ready.”

The doors opened. A bright light filled their
eyes. Blinking, they stepped out of the elevator shaft and into a
mountain meadow.

“I thought you said we’d be inside a cave,”
exclaimed Campbell.

“It’s the hologram,” answered Dugan.

“Welcome to you all,” sounded a familiar voice
behind them.

Campbell whirled around and stared right into
the face of Grandpa Hilliard. He sat in faded blue jeans on the
mountainside. Tall grasses and yellow mountain daisies surrounded
him.

“Grandpa!”

“Campbell,” corrected Dugan, “this is a robotic
mannequin, pre-programmed to portray Mitchell Hilliard.”

“How are you doing, my darling Campbell?”
intoned the real as life mannequin. “It’s wonderful to see you
again. I hear your medical practice is going well. In time you’ll
be running the Ellis Clinic.”

She gasped, blinked her eyes, and shook her
head. Eying Nate, she said, “Of course, he isn’t real, but how
…”

“Now you’ll have a new appreciation for all
those patients you treat for VR addictions,” counseled Nate.

Cautiously at first, she walked toward the
seated figure. Hilliard’s eyes followed her. Then he gazed out over
the mountain range. “Campbell, do you remember that hike we took at
Banff Park in Alberta?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Yes! Yes, I do!”

Nate grumbled, “This is going nowhere. Dr.
Hilliard, Dugan and I have uncovered clues to the longevity
formula. Can you tell us more about how to access it?”

Hilliard glanced away from his beatific
granddaughter as the radiant smile left his face. “Skip, aka Nate
Kristopher, you have made it this far in discovering my clues.
Congratulations. You have one more level to complete. Please state
your mother’s maiden name.”

“Swartz.”

“Now to you, Campbell. I hope you don’t mind
being a sort of a guinea pig. The nanoprobe inside you was the
surest method of safeguarding both the whereabouts and the nature
of the formula.”

“You must have put it in when I had the
concussion on our last visit here.”

“Correct. An opportune moment, and with only a
little arm-twisting of the emergency room doctor,” chuckled the
hologram image.

Inexplicably, the hologram suddenly sat stiffly
upright. In a voice notable for its lack of West Virginian drawl,
he continued. “Please download the information stored in your CCR
in order for us to continue. The purpose is for further
verification of your Alpha Group status.”

Campbell’s mouth hung open in confusion.

Alarm bells sounded in Nate’s dataport. “What is
it Dugan?”

“The protector indicates a security breach to
the integrity of the Pegasus system.”

“Well, something’s sure wrong.”

Lights flickered. The brilliant sun began to
fade. Snow began to fall. Dr. Hilliard’s hologram, now eerily
silent and statuesque, faded away into oblivion. Suddenly the
entire hologram shut off, leaving them in pitch darkness.

They located their flashlights and turned them
on. Nate poured over the data on Dugan’s monitor that had been
downloaded from the Pegasus Seven system. “Eighty-five gigabytes of
information isn’t much.”

Suddenly Dugan’s entire programming shut down.
Nate received an electric shock from Dugan. “Dang it! Don’t do this
to me!”

Campbell heard the slightest of groans from
across the room. “What’s that?” She shone her light back and forth,
her anxiety growing. “Nate,” she said in a hoarse, cautious
whisper, “I heard something!”

But Nate was busily working on Dugan, trying to
get the CCR started.

Campbell screamed. “I see someone!” She aimed
her PPD and fired at the moving target.

Nate finally glanced up, startled. “What are you
doing?” He shone his flashlight in her direction.

“There’s someone who-“

In the swirling darkness two strong hands
emerged to grab her. One hand was cupped over her mouth which
muffled her screams, while the second wrapped around her body. The
hands hoisted her up and carried her away.

Nate desperately tried to find her with his
flashlight, waving it back and forth. “Campbell!” Father! Keep her
safe! He felt his hand reach toward his holster. He fingered his
PPD. He started to walk toward her last scream.

Suddenly, the lights to the entire holoroom came
on. Standing about ten meters away was a muscular man holding
Campbell. The man threw her to the ground.