Hideaway, Highlanders, and Hill Billies were three large camps where politicians, presidents, and the rich CEOs of corporations stayed.
The Land of Happiness was a camp exclusively for lawyers.
The Isle of Aves was a collection of cottages where members of the Justice and Defense Departments stayed along with a select group of defense contractors.
We didn’t actually see Camp Mandalay, but we did note the cable car that granted access to it. Only the very privileged were allowed to stay and attend functions at Mandalay. Neither Enrique nor his predecessor had ever been inside that camp. Everett held out little hope that his tenure at The Grove would be any different.
All this in a gorgeous landscape of rolling, tree-covered hills dotted with glens. On the surface it seemed more like a park than anything else. I reminded myself that everything wasn’t as it seemed. I was especially interested in the mock child sacrifice.
Back at Everett’s Spartan, one-room office in the welcome center, we drank coffee while he searched his files. He pulled out a stack of folders and brought them to me.
There were eleven caterers in all. Four were local businesses and the other seven came out of San Francisco and Santa Rosa. Of these remaining seven, there was nothing that stood out. We spent a good two hours examining every file, but all we had in front of us were forms with names of personnel and their background checks. Everything seemed to be legitimate.
I tossed the folders in a pile. “These aren’t doing us much good, I’m afraid. We’re going to need to see the caterers.”
“They’re already setting things up for tomorrow night. Between now and then you’ll see them all if you have the patience.”
I glanced at Gomer and Burgess. “I might not have the patience, but these two do.”
Burgess looked at Gomer as if to say, We do?
Gomer solemnly shook his head but wouldn’t meet my gaze.
Suddenly the door pushed open.
We all turned to see Major Skip Harold, aka Pretty Boy Floyd, standing there with fury in his eyes. Behind him were two Air Force MPs in white combat helmets, fatigues, and pistols at their sides.
“Major Harold, we didn’t expect to see you here.” I nodded toward the coffee pot. “Come on in and have a cup.”
He glanced at the coffee pot, then back to me. He’d clearly thought his entrance would be a little more dramatic.
“Major Harold?” I asked.
“Colonel Madsen, I thought I told you not to come here.”
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
Gomer did a double take.
“Major Harold.” I stood slowly. “I wasn’t aware that an O-6 had to obey an O-4.”
“When it comes to the security of this compound it does, as you were informed, sir, when we discussed your previous intentions to come to The Grove.”
I glanced at the MPs behind him. They’d probably been told I was some high and mighty army colonel with a too-high opinion of myself. I might not do anything to dissuade that notion, but I was going to make myself clear.
“Then you need to put yourself on report.”
Now it was his turn to do a double take. “What are you talking about?”
“United States Code Title 10,892.” I glanced at one of the MPs – a young black kid who looked like he’d been an all-American linebacker. “Know what that is, kid?”
“Dereliction of Duty, sir,” he said, snapping out the answer.
Pretty Boy Floyd sputtered, “Dereliction—”
“Of Duty, punished under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. You’ve stated that you are in charge of security, yet not one but two Cerberus agents assigned to your compound were attacked and possessed by bone demons.”
He shook his head. “What?” He tried to say something else, but all he could manage was “What?” again.
“You heard me.” To the MPs I said, “Are you prepared to take Major Harold into custody?”
They glanced at each other. This had definitely not been in the game plan.
Pretty Boy Floyd was completely confused.
“Then again, if you want to assist me in my investigation, I could surely use your help. After all, if your desire is truly to see to the safety of the camp, then we can work better together than I can alone. Because as sure as I am a colonel in my country’s army, I know that if we care more about the way we do things rather than what it is we have to do, more people are going to suffer.”
I could see the information processing by the shifting features of his face. Finally he clenched his teeth and locked his jaw. It was then I knew I’d won. I not only had him on my side, but I had three other people to assist in the search.
Meanwhile, I had my own research to perform and needed the Cerberus to help.
It took some convincing, but Everett eventually agreed to allow me to hypnotize him. We’d gone back to his house to spend the night and I’d decided that I wanted to try and retrieve some memory of his possession if possible. We’d put all the furniture back in place and we’d wiped away the heptagrams. He sat on the couch in the same position we’d originally found him. I used voice modulation to lull him into the state I needed and within moments he was under.
It took an hour before I found something useful. Once I did, I woke him and we began to talk.
“Ever heard of The Mothman?” I asked.
“Wasn’t it involved with the Silver Bridge collapse in West Virginia a few years ago?”
I nodded. “It was. Locals believe that it was trying to warn them about the bridge collapse.”
He looked skeptical. “So you think it was The Mothman who came to me?”
“Here’s what we know of The Mothman. He wasn’t warning people, he was looking for something. Special Units Division of the Pentagon had a special detention facility in Point Pleasant. It was well-hidden and ultimately never found. But The Mothman let it be known that he was going to collapse the bridge and kill dozens if not hundreds of people if we didn’t release one of its own.”
“Seriously?”
“It was classified Need-To-Know. The only reason I knew was because I’d just left there for a position at the Pentagon and they called me in to help prepare the prisoners for movement to a new location.”
“When you say special you mean...”
“Yes. Bottom line was that we didn’t give into the blackmailing and a lot of people died. We’ve rationalized that a lot more would have died had the facility been discovered and the inmates released.”
“Why was it trying to—” Then his eyes brightened. “You had someone it knew.”
“There’s a family originally from Stribrna, which now lies in the Czech Republic. Not much of a town, it began as a medieval trading post along one of the mountain routes into Germany back when the country was known as Bohemia. We’ve traced several legends back to this family. They are as smart as they are wicked.”
“What are they?”
“Ever hear of the Spring-heeled Jack?”
He stared toward the ceiling as he thought. “London. 1800s. Killed some men and women. Mysterious figure who could leap incredibly. Flame shot from its eyes. It wore some sort of helmet.”
I chuckled. “It’s all accurate except for the flame part. That was Boniface Zdarsky. Incidentally, the last name means ‘from the forest,’ which was where the family originally came from before they moved to Stribrna. He wore the helmet because he’d sometimes jump so high and far he’d land on his head.”
“How do you know so much about him?” he asked.
“Because he’s the one we have in custody.”