The stairs were steep and treacherous and by the looks of the gathered dust and mouse droppings, it had not had a cleaning visit in many years. The dampness was cloying in smell and in feel. Anya reached the bottom and Sarah joined her, adding both lights to the cluttered scene. There were a few boxes but it was mostly made up of stacked mattresses and old bedding that was piled everywhere.
“Boy,” Sarah said as her light picked out the shambles of the cavernous basement.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. If Moira is as smart as we all believe, she would never have left anything behind she didn’t want found.”
Anya slowly moved back to the stairs and Sarah was about to follow suit when her light briefly caught a water-worn box that had collapsed, spilling its contents. Sarah walked the few steps over and then lightly kicked at the spilled contents that were near ruin after years of water damage. She kneeled down and saw the names on the old assignment papers. She read names like Phizinberger, Rabinowitz, and Wachowski. There were more names as she scanned the old math pages. She looked up and that was when she saw the long dead incinerator. She stood and walked toward its open doors. Her light had spied something white inside.
“What is it?” Anya asked halfway up the stairs.
“Incinerator,” Sarah said as she pulled the right-side door all the way open, allowing the smell of old trash and smoke to fill her nostrils. She waved her hand in front of her face to clear the air as she leaned in.
“Hope you don’t find any bodies in there. I don’t think I could handle that in the dark.”
Sarah reached in and pulled out several pieces of half-burned paper. She shined the flashlight’s beam on the first and she almost dropped the small, half-ashen bundle to the damp floor. Sarah swallowed and then looked at the graphic charcoal art. The disturbing work had possibly been done by a young, although talented artist. Her face screwed up into a mask of horror as she studied the drawings on page after page of heavy paper. Sarah reached into the gaping maw of the long-dead furnace and brought out even more of the heavy art paper.
“What is it?”
Sarah stepped away with her light’s beam shakily illuminating the blackest, most disturbing artwork she had ever seen. She had heard the descriptions but had never imagined seeing anything like these in person. She looked from the names on the old math pages and then at the horrid bundle of half-burned artistry.
“No, no body, but definitely some old skeletons.”
The dark and overcast skies had given way to fog, which suited Virginia and her team just fine. Mendenhall and Ryan had very nearly emptied out the security department with the exception of a bare minimum team at the complex and they were dangerously short on security requirements until they heavily recruited from the military, which is a very time-intensive process security-wise. The result was that they had shortcomings at both ends and Ryan took it upon himself to take both security gates at the complex off line until it was prudent to open them again. He didn’t know if the colonel was going to gig him for that mission choice, but it was his decision to make. The word had gone out about their afternoon visitors and now the twenty-seven security men and women had M-4s, the very much smaller version of the venerable M-16, to accompany their sidearms.
Virginia stood with the general manager of the Navy Yard Development Corporation as he complained about the closing of the waterway, which was slowing water traffic. Ships were waiting to enter the river. The man was about to voice his second argument of inconvenience when Mendenhall approached with two plain-clothed security men, who carried their weapons at port arms. Will didn’t have to say a word. He wanted this man out of the way before Virginia’s surprise for Jenks arrived on station. The navy yard manager saw the weapons and then with narrowed eyes he turned and stormed back to his Mercedes and left.
“Signal the harbormaster that the dock has been cleared,” Virginia said to one of her assistants. “Will, you can inform those boys from Groton their prized possession has arrived.”
Mendenhall nodded and then used his radio to inform the men that stood just outside of the entrance to building 114. Six men in overalls and rain gear came into view as they lined the dock, which had been drained, cleaned, and then refilled with water. They waited.
Virginia greeted Niles and Jack as they escorted a grumbling Jenks to the quay lining the expansive dry dock area.
“Okay, we’re here. I see Slim and a bunch of idiots standing in the fog. I’ve got simulations I need to run. In case you haven’t noticed I still don’t have any damn power. And thus far in simulations we have killed everyone on the team sixteen times before they even step through the gate. Those damn lasers will cut people to shreds if this thing doesn’t work to everyone’s expectations. Remember, Slim, these are Argon light-emitting lasers, the most dangerous light outside of the sun.”
Niles smiled and then shook his head as if he were listening to a complaining school child. Engineers, he thought.
“Harold, will you shut up while we take care of that power problem you keep going on about?” Virginia said as she stepped closer to the river side of the dock and looked as if she was waiting for something. She raised a radio to her lips and the elegant woman half turned and saw Jenks looking on curiously. She smiled. “Harold, what were you before you became our worst nightmare and an engineer?” She spoke softly into the radio to someone, and then turned and faced the three men on the dock. She saw Henri join the group with a questioning look on his face. Jack nodded toward the confrontation between Jenks and Virginia — a confrontation Dr. Pollock was about to conclude rather dramatically.
“You know damn good and well what I was,” Jenks said as he chewed on the cigar and stared down the smiling nuclear scientist.
“Oh, yes, that’s right, something about a career navy man, wasn’t it?”
A sour look from the master chief answered for him.
“Then I hasten to question, sir, why in the hell did I have to think of this for your power solution?”
“What solution?” Jenks asked, spitting the cigar out and walking forward to join Virginia. Niles, Jack, and Henri followed. Will Mendenhall hung back grinning, knowing the master chief had finally met his match, of which said information would be spread throughout the Group in a matter of minutes.
Virginia touched his whiskered cheek and then took hold of his chin and forcefully turned his head toward the fog-enshrouded East River and the entrance to the navy yard.
“This is why the president is now murderously curious and worried beyond measure that our little mission is spreading out rather wide. The Department of the Navy is going to start throwing a fit when they find out what it is we have stolen,” Niles said as he leaned on his crutch. “A lot of strings were pulled. I only hope it’s not enough string to hang us all.”
Suddenly Jenks saw the waves of rolling fog pushed aside as a hulking black form slowly emerged from the white undulating veil. Jenks heard commands being given as the giant sail and conning tower eased slowly out of the river proper. The giant moved as gracefully as she ever had. The maneuver was dangerous in the darkness and fog without a large naval docking team. However, Virginia, who had been employed by the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division in the early eighties, knew the skipper well and knew him to be the best retired boat captain in the U.S. Navy.