The Medusa Ritual
A Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation
by
CW Hawes
Dotty discovers something about herself, and Mostyn comes up with a new plan to secure her rescue and capture the mysterious and deadly book of arcane knowledge. But when Mostyn and NicAskill run into a living myth, will all be for naught?
Read on! The adventure continues!
Chapter 19
Pierce Mostyn slowly opened his eyes and coughed. He gradually maneuvered himself into a sitting position. He was covered in a grayish-colored dust and bits of concrete, brick, and earth. He looked at the humps of dust and dirt that marked where his team members lay, and slowly stood.
The last one in the line was only a few feet from where a wall of broken masonry and earth stretched from floor to ceiling. Mostyn made his way the that last team member and shook him. The person was Willie Lee Baker.
“Willie Lee, are you alright?” Mostyn shook him again.
A groan came from his lips, and Mostyn brushed away the stones and dirt. “Are you okay, Willie Lee?”
Baker shook his head and opened his eyes.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I think so, Mostyn. I’m not in any great pain.”
“Good to hear.”
Mostyn moved down the row checking on each team member. They all were alive. Hammerschmidt’s back hurt, and NicAskill complained about her thigh. But there were no broken bones. Mostyn breathed a sigh of relief.
“Listen up,” he began, “we can only move forward. Somewhere ahead of us is Dr Kemper and the book and perhaps more unpleasant surprises. Drink some water, clear your heads, and get ready to move out.”
Mostyn took out his phone and brought up the holographic map of the tunnel system. The first thing he noticed was the dot representing Dotty Kemper had moved. He keyed his helmet mic.
“Sumer Base. Come in, Sumer Base.”
“We read you, Mostyn, but you’re breaking up.”
“Same for you, Langston. We had a cave-in.”
“Everyone alright?”
“We lost Petrie.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks. I notice Dr Kemper’s moved. Where is she now?”
“She’s under central Chinatown. Before that she was under a church. I’ve highlighted the most direct route of you to reach her. You should see it on the hologram now.”
“Roger that, Sumer Base.”
“Mostyn, we’ve…”
The transmission disintegrated into static.
“Jones, anything you can do with the phone?”
“No, Boss. Maybe we need to get clear of this cave-in. It might be interfering with reception.”
“Okay, let’s move out. We need to quick time it.” And Mostyn took off at a jog down the tunnel, the rest of the team following. Behind Mostyn was Baker, and him were Stoppen, NicAskill, Hammerschmidt, and Jones.
A half-mile down the tunnel a side branch came in, and Mostyn took it. He continued on for five hundred feet and stopped.
“According to my calculations, we have at least a mile to go before we reach Dr Kemper. I’m going to divide the team. NicAskill and I are going to go on ahead.”
“And we slow pokes,” Dr Stoppen said, “will catch up as soon as possible.”
“No offense, Dr Stoppen,” Mostyn said.
“None taken, Special Agent Mostyn. Go rescue Dr Kemper and secure the book. We’ll catch up as soon as we can.”
“Sure you don’t need a photographer?” Baker asked.
“Sorry, Willie Lee,” Mostyn replied.
“Okay, I can take a hint,” Baker said, with a smile. “I need to go on a diet.”
“Your words, not mine,” Mostyn said.
Baker waved away Mostyn’s comment. “Yeah, yeah. You just want NicAskill to yourself.”
Mostyn simply smiled, and turned to Jones. “Keep everyone safe.” He had Jones study the hologram and the route he’d need to follow.
“Okay, NicAskill, let’s go.”
The two sprinted down the tunnel and quickly disappeared into the stygian blackness.
***
Dr Dotty Kemper took a look at herself in the mirror Zi had provided her. She’d bathed in an old-fashioned tin tub that had been brought in. She’d been given a massage. Zi had expertly applied her makeup.
I look pretty damn good, Dotty thought. To Zi, she said, “So what’s all this for?”
“The master will tell you. He will come soon.” Zi turned and left. Men came in and removed the tub and the mirror. On their departure, the door was closed and locked.
Dotty sat in a chair. “Well, Mr Mask,” she said out loud, “you’re either getting me all dolled up for my wedding or my funeral. And if it’s my funeral, then I guess I’m going out with a bang.”
After a moment, her flippant attitude vanished. “I don’t want to die.” The words came out soft and barely audible. “I don’t want to be some monster’s baby factory either. I want to be with Pierce. I want him to hold me, and kiss me, and make love to me, and treat me like a princess.” Tears collected in her eyes, and then ran down her cheeks.
***
Mostyn and NicAskill ran down the tunnel. The beams from their helmet lamps bounced off walls and floor. Rubble was everywhere. A testimony to the deterioration for the abandoned tunnel.
Holding the phone in hand, Mostyn kept them on course, moving every closer to Dotty Kemper’s location.
“Take that tunnel there,” Mostyn said.
He and NicAskill turned down a tunnel that came in on their right. However, fifty feet in the hologram collapsed and disappeared.
“Oh for crying out loud,” Mostyn exclaimed.
“What, Boss?”
“The hologram collapsed. Either my phone is dead, or we are out of range of Jones’s special phone. Mostyn tried contacting Sumer Base and was greeted with nothing but static.
“Looks like we’re out of range,” NicAskill said.
“It does. But the map should be in the app and shouldn’t be dependent on a connection to Sumer Base.”
“Well, whatever it is, we don’t have it. So now what?”
Mostyn pulled a compass out of a pocket. “She was north and east. We keep going.”
They ran for another four hundred feet and came to a stop. The tunnel came to a dead end in a vertical shaft. Mostyn walked to the edge. He looked up. Nothing but darkness beyond the reach of his helmet lamp. He lay on the floor, and peered over the edge into the shaft. He closed his eyes and swallowed, forcing down the bile rising in his throat. He took deep breaths to quell the vertigo threatening to overwhelm him.
He opened his eyes and took another look. Nothing but incredible darkness beyond the reach of the lamp. He pushed himself back from the edge and stood up.
NicAskill went to the edge and dropped a piece of rubble. After a couple seconds they heard it hit something solid.
“An elevator shaft?” NicAskill asked.
“Maybe. The question is, how do we get down?”
“You sure we want to go down and not up?”
“Not one hundred percent sure, but if I was our masked man, I’d hold dotty in a lower tunnel. Not a higher one. Less chance of her being found in a lower tunnel.”
“Makes sense, Boss.” NicAskill swept the vertical tunnel with her lamp. “Over there, Boss. A ladder.”
“And it has to be over there rather than over here.” Mostyn shook his head.
He and NicAskill slid off their backpacks, rummaged inside and retrieved the abseil lines and a small graphing hook. They attached the grappling hook to one end of the line.
“All set?” Mostyn asked.
“Ready to go.”
“Very good. Ladies first.”
NicAskill tossed the grappling hook across the expanse of the shaft. It caught on one of the rungs. She pulled on the line. Both the hook and ladder held. She sat on the edge, and the scooted off. Through the air she sailed, her boots hit the wall on either side of the ladder. She bounced back out a ways, came back in, and grabbed the ladder with her left hand. She let go of the line.
“Seems sturdy enough,” she called back to Mostyn.
She climbed a few rungs, retrieved the grappling hook and started down the ladder.
Mostyn repeated what NicAskill had done and in a few minutes both were in the lower tunnel.
“I don’t think this is part of the original system,” NicAskill said.
“Or maybe it is the original system.”
The tunnel was narrow, at most three people could stand side by side. The ceiling was only about seven feet above the floor. The walls and ceiling were rough hewn stone. The floor had been smoothed, in places with concrete. Mostyn figured that had been a more recent addition.
The lighting fixtures were few and far between and were not operating. They were located along the wall near the ceiling.
“God, it’s hotter than hell down here,” NicAskill said.
“No ventilation either,” Mostyn added. He looked at the compass. “At least it goes in the same general direction we want to go.”
The two packed up the grapnels and abseil lines, put their backpacks back on and took off down the tunnel. About a thousand feet on, the tunnel made a sharp turn to the left. Mostyn and NicAskill came to a quick stop. For standing before them were two creatures.
“Oh, my God!” NicAskill exclaimed. “There are lizard people.”
To Be Continued!
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