Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Gage handed him several bills and grabbed his jacket. “Sounds like an area ripe for a revitalization program.” He flashed a smile and climbed out of the tiny car.
As the cab drove away, Gage stretched and inhaled deeply.
He’d managed to extend the ride an additional hour by pretending to be a housing developer and accepting suggested side quests from the driver for possible run-down areas needing a resurgence.
The voice had lost its mind, screaming and hitting all the buttons for his head and legs.
Gage had to distract the driver so he could mutter into his hand that he was merely approaching Audra’s new location—blinking in his cybernetic eye like the solitary red light of a one-stop town—the same way he approached ordnance retrieval.
Circle around until he could determine the best way to approach.
It was a total bullshit explanation. In truth, he was stalling to give Audra time to do whatever she needed to do and get away. The voice might even suspect his passive-aggressive tactics by now. But regardless, it had finally left him alone.
Assuming the man behind the voice had a life, he hopefully went to bed. Or to dinner. Or to take a long, leisurely crap. Whatever the reason, Gage had a much-needed reprieve.
He looked around. A jungle of overgrown weeds, crumbled roads, and dilapidated concrete warehouses as far as the eye could see. It looked like a post-apocalyptic movie set, minus the zombies. If there were any homeless encampments in the area, they had plenty of places to shelter.
The red blinking dot in his vision had ceased, but he stood at its last-known coordinates.
Which was an intersection of road, the remains of its street sign bent from either a crash or the vines piling on it like a football huddle and creeping their way to erasing all evidence of it.
There was no other structure within twenty yards of the spot.
And no body. Audra was not where the blinking light said she should be.
Gage wandered around, searching for evidence of usage.
Grass crushed beneath tires or feet. Recently disturbed vegetation.
Something, anything, to indicate a human had been this way at some point.
Nothing but random pieces of old trash that could have blown in from anywhere at any time.
And no sign of any homeless individuals.
Not even the flutter or chirp of a bird, much less the shadow of a drone bird passing overhead. The area appeared completely abandoned.
Curiously, completely abandoned. As in, abandoned to the point it looked staged.
He pulled back to the previous street, and the red dot which had flickered off and on as he’d searched glowed in his vision again. In the same spot it had been in previously. The same spot where Audra most certainly was not.
He walked half a block away to approach from a different angle across the overgrown lawns.
When he stepped onto the pavement, the red dot disappeared again.
He repeated this from a yet another angle, retreating a block or two before approaching again.
Same result. The dot appeared in the spot, and then disappeared when he got close.
He did it once more, but instead of approaching the dot’s location, he walked parallel to that street.
As he suspected, the dot disappeared when he reached a certain line invisible to him.
Gage sat on the curb and pondered this information, If Audra didn’t stand where the dot said she should, maybe that was a last-known location before whatever GPS tracker on her separated from her body.
Like dropping a pin. Assuming the tracker was tiny so she didn’t notice it and suspect it, he returned to the spot to comb the area for something that might look manmade.
He circled the area, staring at the ground for something that wasn’t a pebble. Something that might glint in the sunlight. Something, anything that looked… out of place. He called upon his training as an EOD and his eye for details. But still found nothing.
He found nothing. But he learned something.
Every time he circled, half of the time, the dot would disappear.
As if the signal was directional, the dot blinked for half a circle, and no dot for the other half.
On a hunch, he stood on the spot where the dot blinked, then carefully walked away, his gait more an exaggerated side-to-side than forward.
Too far to the left, and the dot disappeared.
Anywhere to the right, and it remained. Gage narrowed in on the invisible line, finding the spot where the dot would disappear from his vision, then carefully walked the perimeter.
It took him an hour, but he marked the convoluted border of the dot. Whatever signal made the dot ping in his vision, something kept it from pinging within a wide expanse of the area. Almost as if the signal was being scrambled.
A warehouse area seemingly more abandoned than it should be, yet with the capacity to scramble a GPS signal.
Yeah, that’s not a bit suspicious. He walked directly toward the middle of the scrambled area and found a warehouse that seemed less derelict than the rest. Less…
crumbled and worn. A faded wooden sign for HydroFoods Inc.
in the weedy grass greeted him. The concrete stairs at the loading dock were in good repair and the metal railing, while rusted, still stood straight.
Piles of dirt had settled in the corners but had yet to grow any weeds.
And there was a faint hum of electrical power emanating from the building.
This place was not abandoned. Someone was using this warehouse, likely responsible for the signal scramble, and maybe even knew Audra. Was she here? Was she safe?
Damn. In spite of his desire to give her time to get away, he’d still managed to find her.
Maybe the voice wouldn’t figure it out, and Gage could sneak away.
Heart heavy with regret that he couldn’t confirm her safety or say goodbye—or kiss her one last time—he turned to leave this area and continue pretending to fulfill his mission.
And ran into a body.
Gage jumped back, muscles tensed for an attack. But no attack came. Instead, the man from the black Mustang merely stood with his feet apart, arms crossed over his chest, his manner relaxed and his expression open.
The man quirked an eyebrow. “Lookin’ for someone?”
“Found someone.” Gage nodded toward him.
Then answered honestly. No reason to be coy.
The guy would either help him or hinder him, regardless of what Gage said.
“But, yeah, I’m looking for a woman by the name of Audra Muir.
We’re coworkers and she went missing a few weeks ago.
I’m trying to find her to make sure she’s okay. ”
“There hasn’t been any gainful employment around here for decades. You sure you’re not lost?” The man scratched the scruff on his jawline.
“I have evidence that she’s here or has been through here today. And since that same evidence also puts her in a car with you this morning, maybe you can stop jerking me around.”
The other man didn’t appear surprised by his accusation. But he wasn’t forthcoming either. “Evidence, huh? You a cop?”
Gage glanced down at his green cargo pants and black shirt. Other than to work and a weekly trip to the grocery store, he didn’t go out much. And he didn’t keep up with the current clothing trends. Was this the going fashion for cops? “No. I’m former military.”
“I figured… the high-and-tight kinda gave that away.” The other man chuckled. “I’m Adam. Saw you back at the motel. Your leg okay?”
“For now. I’m Gage. By the way, you’ve got a sweet ride.”
“Thanks. She’s my baby.”
The soft whine of a cocked weapon hummed in Gage’s ear. Another man’s voice came from his left flank. “Sorry about the formality. But let’s take this conversation inside in case the sky grows wings.”
How had these two men snuck up on him so effectively? Yes, it had been a long while since his active-duty days, but had Gage lost all his skills during his mind-numbing hours at the Pentagon?
He raised his hands in surrender and let the two lead him up the same stairs he’d noted earlier.
He could probably take them both, but someone would get shot or seriously injured.
Honestly, unless Audra was being held against her will or hurt, he didn’t have much interest in fighting.
He’d already lived through plenty of battle, and look where it had gotten him.
Once inside the building, they walked him through what appeared to be a fancy greenhouse.
The ceiling was comprised of panels shining ultraviolet light and heat down on a little over an acre of plants and trees.
As they walked down wide rows or trellised vines, he saw the baskets marked for various kinds of beans.
Another row had hydroponic cages of tomato plants.
Along the edge were fruit trees heavy with ripe apples.
“Who you feeding with all this?” Gage asked. This was an impressive set up.
“We donate to the local homeless population.” The other guy answered, his voice ripe with pride. “Sometimes Doc takes the leftovers to the Zionsville Farmer’s Market.”
The planters stopped in the middle of the back wall, where a stairwell opened up.
Broad, concrete stairs trailed down into the earth.
At first glance, they seemed to go on forever.
Gage paused at the top. It was one thing to let these two take him into a ground-level building without a fight.
But what lay in those levels down below?
What horrors? What torture? After all his years alive—all his time on a battlefield—was this how his life would end?
He held his breath. He might have to try his luck at fighting the two men behind him. Continuing had bad horror movie written all over it. They’d make a skin suit out of him for sure.
“Gage?” A sweet, melodious voice rose from the stairwell. Audra.
His heart somersaulted and he grasped the edge of the concrete banister, leaning over to see where she was. A few stories below, he caught her beautiful face smiling up at him. His knees buckled and his voice croaked with the surge of emotion at seeing her alive. “Audra?”
She smiled even wider and he caught his breath. “Hurry down here. We have a lot to talk about.”