Chapter Seven
0945 – Arkansas2
151 – 2105
"Let's go." Captain Zachary Foxx said to Ranger Goosman as he poked his head into the room shared by Rangers Niko and Hartford.
About an hour after they had left with the critical patients from the general store fire and collapse, the medics had returned to take Niko and Doc to the infirmary. Zachary and Shane had followed to make sure that there were no complications.
Both Niko and Doc appeared to be weathering their encounter with the smoke and fire well. Both were breathing fine on their own now without the aid of artificial breathing apparatuses. They had been admitted to a semi-private room for observational purposes. It was expected that barring any unforeseen difficulties, they would be released late that afternoon.
"You keep an eye on him." Gooseman nodded in the general direction of Doc and winked at Niko as he followed his captain from the room.
After making sure that both of his rangers were settled in and resting comfortably, Captain Foxx had decided that it was time to step up the investigation. The obfuscating local government had been jerking around the rangers since they had arrived planet side. It was time to force a meeting among the authorities and the local politicians.
"Any word on the other two victims from the fire?" Gooseman asked walking beside Zachary as they headed to where the cybersteeds had been corralled.
"Yeah," the muscles in Zachary's jaw visibly tightened with emotion. "The one in the burn unit will likely not survive the night. The other one's prognosis is slightly better as long as they can keep the airway unobstructed. She apparently inhaled some rather noxious chemicals as well as burned her windpipe. By the way, she was Sarah Jamison's daughter."
"Man," Gooseman said softly trying not to replay the images of Niko and Doc as he pulled them from the fire.
"I know. They could have easily been one of ours. And, that is why we are heading to the mayor's office now."
"Without an appointment?" Goose asked with wicked innocence as he opened the gate to the corral.
"Indeed. I think we've waited long enough. No need to give them a heads up to concoct an explanation to the latest string of events." Zachary mounted Brutus and led the way to the seat of the local government."
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1015 – Arkansas2 - Government Offices
151 – 2105
"You can't go in there." The personal assistant said to the two rangers as she planted herself directly in front of the mayor's office door.
"Goose." The captain invited.
"Sorry, ma'am," Gooseman drawled as he carefully picked up the personal assistant and set her out of the way.
Captain Foxx opened the door without even a warning knock. "Seems we were anticipated."
Inside, the room looked as though it had been ransacked. Papers and books were strewn haphazardly across the floor. A pile of finely shredded paperwork lay in a heap next to an overflowing trashcan. The computer and monitor were smashed into bits and pieces across the desk, the only piece of furniture that had not been overturned.
"Gods, what happened in here?" The personal assistant murmured in dismay. "Where is Mayor Landry?"
"We were hoping you could tell us."
"He's supposed to be in here. Right after I patched an emergency call from the sheriff into his office, he stepped out to tell me to hold his calls and appointments. He hasn't left his office since."
"Are you sure?" Gooseman asked gently. "You didn't leave your desk for even a few minutes?"
"I certainly did not!" Tears started to form in the woman's eyes. "Oh, dear, who could have done this? Do you think he's hurt?"
"I'm sure he's fine," muttered the captain still looking at the chaos in the room. "Ma'am, do you think that you could wait outside, while Ranger Gooseman and I look around?"
"S-sure, if you think it would help." The woman agreed as the tears freed themselves to trickle down her cheeks.
"That would be very helpful." Shane agreed. "And, you could be even more helpful by checking to see if somehow the mayor left to an early lunch or maybe an outside appointment."
The woman brightened at the possibility of finding the mayor and quickly wiped her eyes with her hands. "Certainly, I'll get right on that. Maybe he did slip by me when I got that second cup of coffee."
"Maybe." Gooseman flashed her his trademark smile.
"Can I get you gentlemen anything?"
"No. We'll be fine. But there is one thing more you could do for us."
"Yes?"
"Could you make sure that no one else comes in here while we're working? We certainly don't want any leads walking out the door."
"Sure." The woman smiled back at Shane and headed to her desk to start calling around town about Mayor Landry's whereabouts.
As the door closed, Gooseman looked back at his captain who was shaking his head in awe. "What?"
"Is that look something you came up with on your own, or do your bio-defenses create it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Captain." Gooseman replied with feigned innocence and began taking a closer look at the materials lying beside the garbage container.
"I suppose I know what that emergency call from the sheriff entailed." Captain Foxx stated the obvious while he too looked more closely at the ruins of the computer equipment.
"Us, obviously."
"Yep. He apparently had enough time to get rid of anything that is incriminating."
"True, but not enough time to tidy up. Where do you think the illustrious mayor headed off to?"
"That, Gooseman, is a good question. His personal assistant looked too shook up to be in on the cover-up or clean up although this looks more suspicious than clean."
Shane leaned back on his heels as he looked at the room in its entirety. Everything had definitely been disposed of and stripped. Against the opposite wall from the door behind the desk, Shane noticed a very small void area. He walked over for a closer inspection.
"Do you hear something?" Gooseman asked, as he got closer to the wall.
Zachary stood up and listened for a moment. He was very quiet for a second before answering. "I'm not sure. Is that the HVAC system?"
"I don't think so." Shane placed his hands against the wall and felt around the surface. Next to the bookcase, his fingers felt a line depression that ran the length of the wall. "I think that I may have found our mayor's escape route." Pushing and sliding his hands against the wall, he was able to trigger a mechanism to slide the whole partition back.
Zachary came and stood next to Shane looking into the black hole of nothingness. "Looks like the only way out is straight down."
"Or, we could just take the elevator." Shane suggested as he found a small button on the inside of the wall and triggered the motor. Sure enough, a few moments later a very decrepit elevator platform rose to the office level.
Zach carefully stepped onto the platform and winced as the metal made an audible creak of protest. Shane copied the move and was also rewarded with a groan of complaint from the floor. "Sure hope she holds up."
Shane didn't reply as he pushed the only other button in the elevator. A metal grate slammed down under the pretenses of protecting the occupants from presumably falling although Gooseman figured it was only for show as once the elevator started moving there was nowhere to go. There was only a minute amount of space between the elevator and the elevator shaft.
Zach took a breath not realizing that he had been holding it since their descent started. "Is it me or does the air smell, I don't know, stale?"
"Yeah, there is definitely a difference in the quality of the air." Shane agreed. He could even taste the bitterness. "It reminds me of canned spacesuit air after being in the suit for awhile."
Zachary nodded in agreement as the platform came to an abrupt halt. The metal grate that had come down upon their descent needed some persuasion to be raised. Gripping the gate with his bionic arm, Foxx pushed it out of the way with a squeal of metal against metal.
Shane's eyes rapidly adjusted to the very minimal light. "Looks like we're in a mine shaft. At least, I think it's one."
The walls of the enclosure were rock made smooth by machinery and time. There was no natural light to be found. The only illumination came from some wall sconces that were minimalist in design. Next to the elevator shaft stood a wall of cubbies and tacks. On the tacks were what appeared to be fully thermal jump suits. In the cubbies were some kinds of devices to aid in breathing. Zachary went to the storage area and fingered the fabric of the orange jump suit. "Might not be a bad idea to put these on."
Gooseman nodded and pulled a jumpsuit over his ranger uniform. "We'd better borrow these rebreathers as well. The air quality is already degraded; I would bet that it doesn't get any better the further in we go."
"Agreed." Zachary also donned a jumpsuit and slid the small canister onto his back. "Looks like these devices are closed circuit. We'll only have about sixty minutes max on them. Use it sparingly, and set your chronometer for thirty minutes."
Gooseman adjusted his tank and nodded to his captain as they started walking in the only direction they could go. Talking was impossible with the breathing apparatuses in place, so Zachary used a hand signal for Goose to take point. As they continued down the passage the minimal light waned and became nonexistent once they turned a corner. Although Gooseman had the aid of his supertrooper senses to help with navigation, he pulled out his safety light and played it on the ground for his captain.
Senses on high alert, he stopped suddenly and switched off the light as soon as he heard voices raised in anger. Up ahead there was another sharp bend in the tunnel, akin to a hairpin turn one finds on mountainous roads. As they drew closer and turned into the curve, soft light could be seen with two shadowed silhouettes arguing vehemently.
"I told you that I ain't going down for this! Them, Galaxy Rangers are too close for comfort. Something has to be done."
"And, a great job you did on that, didn't you! You get one simple assignment and blow it sky high. You could have burned the whole town down."
"You didn't tell me that the fire suppression system was off line. How was I to know?"
"You're paid to know. Paid very well. Now, we've got the Rangers hot on our tail. Least you could have done was dwindled their numbers."
Zachary felt Shane stiffen upon hearing proof of the attempted murders of Niko and Doc. Fearing the ranger might launch into action, he put a restraining hand on the man's shoulder. Shane nodded his head at his captain, but the tension in his body was still evident.
There was a lull in the argument as both men stopped to inhale from their masks. "This is ridiculous! We know the Rangers are on their way over here, so what are we going to do about them?"
"You eliminated all the paperwork and computer copies?"
"I told you I did."
"Well, now we need to find a way off this rock before it crumbles around us."
Another two breaths from the rebreathers, and the first man continued. "I still don't see how the operation compromised the atmospheric dome. All of the science techs said that it was impossible."
"Doesn't matter. The quakes brought the Rangers here. They know something is up. We need to skedaddle now. Heck, we should have gone yesterday. If you hadn't had that stupid appearance…"
"I was keeping up appearances, remember."
The other man bent his head and took some more air from the breathing mask. As he lifted his head, he also lifted a gun that he had brought along for insurance. "Yeah. And now, I'm taking care of creating the disappearances. I'm going to make sure that you're the one who goes down with the deal."
As soon as Zachary saw the raised gun, he released his hand from Shane's shoulder. Of one accord, the two rangers stepped into the small circle of light. Zachary lowered his mask and announced their presence. "Galaxy Rangers! Drop your weapon!"
With a speed that surprised the rangers, the man who held the gun, whipped the other man around and pulled him close like a human shield. He was still holding the gun but now was pressing it against the other man's temple. "Well, well, well, Captain Foxx, we meet again."