Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3) (12 page)

Tomomi nodded. “I think you’re right, Anna.”

“Sergeant!” Anna turned toward the door.

The squad leader and two of his soldiers appeared in the doorway. “What is it?”

“We need some tools to chip away at the wall. We may have found our way inside.”

For the next hour, they chipped at the wall. This was followed by half an hour of removing the stone surrounding the lever from the wall. Inside was a complicated stone clockwork mechanism that connected the lever to a switch at floor level. It was immediately evident why the lever had stopped functioning.

“One of the cogs is missing,” said Tomomi, disappointed.

“What do you mean, ‘one of the cogs is missing’?” The sergeant looked frustrated.

Anna shrugged. “One of the cogs is missing, preventing the lever from opening the door in the floor. Also, the lever is stuck in place. It probably has something jammed into its works.”

“Well, fix it!”

“Easier said than done. Without the right-sized cog, it may not move properly or at all. Also, a cog made from a weaker material could get crushed between the parts and jam it up even worse. But, I can see if we can bypass it.”

“Then, quit jawing and get to work!” Cooper turned on his heel and marched out of the chamber.

With a heavy sigh, Anna turned back to the mechanism and continued examining it with Cary and Tomomi. They pinpointed the part that unlocked the trap door about ten minutes later, and opened the way inside.

“Sergeant,” Cary yelled. “We found it!”

The sergeant stepped inside and, seeing the open hatch in the floor, nodded. “Alright, boys! Fall in! We’re going inside!”

The group descended the stairs into the dark chamber below.
The sergeant and one of his troopers took the lead. As Anna reached the steps behind Jason, who followed the squad leader, she heard the soft sounds of fabric rustling, followed by a snap and something shaking. A second later, a cool green light illuminated the bottom of the staircase.

“Hicks,” bellowed the sergeant. “Use a light stick when you get down here.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jason turned to her, curious. “Do you think we’ll be alright?”

“There wasn’t anything in here the last time.” Anna shook her head. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

They were in the first chamber within a couple of minutes. The green light coming from the light sticks bathed the room in an eerie glow and cast multiple shadows across the unadorned stone walls. Anna felt the temperature drop a little after moving away from the staircase, and she rubbed her bare arm with her free hand to warm it. Cary and Tomomi, each with their own light stick, examined the room’s contents as they moved toward the next opening. While Tomomi moved immediately to the pottery standing in the closest corner, Cary pored over the murals of flora and fauna etched on the walls.

“This is amazing!” His eyes lit up after a few seconds of close examination. “Although it’s faint, it looks as if the creatures in these pictographs have six legs.”

“Really?” Tomomi diverted her attention away from the urns. “Let me see!”

As she crossed the cramped room, Cary pointed to one subject in the picture.

“Look here. If you look closely enough, you can see that they have additional legs on their backs.”

“Wow! Why would that be?” Tomomi gasped.

“Can it!” The sergeant’s bellow nearly caused Anna to jump out of her shoes. “We’ve got a god-damn pyramid to explore and some sort of EM generator to shut down! Until that job’s done, shut up! You can admire the decorations later! Anderson, move out!”

As the lead trooper moved through the doorway, Anna and the scientists looked at each other before falling in line. Minutes later, they entered a room one level down. Here, faded murals featuring the six-limbed creatures standing upright adorned the stone walls. The golden spearhead next to the doorway leading out remained unchanged from the time Anna had first laid eyes on it years before. “It’s still here.”

Jason followed her in. “What?”

“The spearhead.”

All eyes locked on Anna as she hustled across the room to the artifact.

“Wait! Don’t touch it!” Cary launched his hand toward her, hoping to grab her arm. But, he was too late and missed. “We don’t know…”

“It’s okay,” Anna replied with confidence. “There’s nothing in this room to worry about.”

The two scientists glanced at each other, then followed their guide to the doorway, leaving Jason and the soldiers in the center of the chamber. The sergeant rolled his eyes and stomped toward them.

“What in the hell is so god-damn important over here?” Cooper demanded right before Cary and Tomomi took a step back away from the wall, each with a look of astonishment on their faces.

Cary pointed at the wall. “That.”

The rest of the military contingent moved toward the group and stared at the wall. It was a mural of a six-legged creature standing up holding a spear.

Anderson swallowed and continued to stare. “Holy shit.”

The sergeant said in hushed tones, “Well, dress me in pink and call me Rosie. Is that a fucking alien?”

Silence was the only answer he received.

“I just wish my camera was working right now.” Tomomi’s whisper barely registered.

A few seconds later while Anna still focused on the spearhead, Cary asked, “What are you doing?”

She glanced over her shoulder after a brief moment of silence. “Oh, me? I’m studying the engravings on this spearhead.”

Curious, he asked, “What do they show?”

Anna leaned back. “Well, the side facing us shows what looks like a doorway with three circles around it. I’m wondering if the stones need to be pushed into the wall at the same time in order to open the door, or if they have to follow a certain sequence.”

“Wait a minute. What door?”

The rest of the group turned their attention to Anna.

“The next door we’re going to encounter.”

The sergeant, a stern look on his face, placed his hands on his hips. “And, when were you going to tell us this?”

“Just as soon as we reached the next floor down…sir,” Anna replied.

“Then, we’d better haul ass! Anderson, move out!”

“Sarge,” Anna interrupted. “I need a little more time to study the engravings to…”

“You had enough time to look them over while we gawked at the drawings on the wall. Piece it together while we move. We’ve got people depending on us to get this done.”

“And, we need to make sure we can get to our destination if we are to deliver!”

The sergeant, clearly irritated, opened his mouth to answer when one of the soldiers interrupted, “Sergeant Cooper, we’re ready when you are.”

“Very good, Hunter.

He turned back to Anna. “Look, Jane, we’re moving on. You can stay here and study that gold nugget in the wall, or you can come with us and help.”

While he stepped into formation, she shot daggers at him from her eyes. “My name is Anna.”

“Tell it to Tarzan!”

She grumbled under her breath and stepped next to Jason.

“I have a feeling that this is going to turn out bad,” she whispered to him.

Jason nodded. “Me, too.”

They began to move into the next room but stopped after Anderson and the sergeant had passed through.

“Eggheads!” Cooper’s voice sounded gravelly, prompting him to clear his throat. “Get your sorry asses up here!”

After Cary and Tomomi glanced at each other with amusement, they pushed their way past Anna and Jason and through the door.

As they entered, Cooper asked, “What can you make of that?”

Jason leaned close to Anna’s ear. “What do they see?”

Anna scrunched her face as she scanned her memories. “I don’t quite remember. It’s been a few years.”

“Cary.” Tomomi’s voice echoed through the doorway. “It looks like there are two more of these poles by the far wall, too.”

“Ah, yes!” Anna said. “Now, I remember! Four metal poles drop into the room, floor to ceiling. They’re connected to…”

“The obelisks on top of the pyramid!” Cary’s conclusion cut her off. “They have to be connected to the pillars on top. They appear to be made of the same metal and are positioned about right.”

Cooper asked, “Do you think they are connected with the shield outside?”

Tomomi nodded as Cary answered, “I think so.”

“So, if we continue down, we may find the cause and shut it down. Right?”

“Yes, that is a logical assumption.”

“All right, then. Now, we’re making some progress! Carry on!”

They passed through the far door into a hallway that wrapped around the room from which they emerged and led to another staircase leading down. This flight of stairs was narrower than the others, barely wide enough for one person to descend. It led to a landing where a single door blocked their progress.

Leading the way, Sgt. Cooper and Anderson stepped down the staircase with caution to the door. Cary and Tomomi followed but stopped halfway. Jason stayed a few steps behind Tomomi, while Anna only took a couple of steps down. Hicks and Hunter remained in the hall, guarding the rear.

As Anderson looked it over, Cooper looked up at Anna. “Is this the doorway you were talking about earlier?”

Anna followed Anderson’s hand that held the light stick to see the details of the door. Square stones surrounded the doorway and extended about half a meter from the wall. Half a dozen stones lined each side of the doorway and along the top.

“That’s the one.”

Cooper frowned and turned his attention back to Anderson and the door.

Anderson examined the stones to the left of the door. “It looks like these protrusions can be either pushed into the wall or pulled out. See these seams around the blocks?”

Cooper leaned in and nodded.

“Okay, Jane.” Cooper stood and turned his gaze toward Anna. “Get down here and open it up.”

“I’m not sure how successful I will be if I try.” She stayed in her spot at the top of the stairs. “I couldn’t get through when I tried before.”

Cooper’s face hardened. “You mean you haven’t been through this door?”

“No,” she answered and crossed her arms. “I haven’t.”

Cooper grabbed the bill of his hat and threw it on the floor. “Damn it, woman! We brought you in here to be our guide, and you can’t even get past a stupid door?!”

Miffed by the squad leader’s retort, Anna taunted, “You think you can do better? You open the door!”

He growled and turned on his heel to face the door. “Anderson! Give me the stick!”

Anderson slapped the light stick into Cooper’s hand and stepped back to give him room. While the sergeant looked over the doorway, Cary and Tomomi glanced back to Anna with concerned looks on their faces. Anna shrugged and turned her gaze back to Cooper.

A few minutes passed with nobody saying a word, as they all watched Cooper. Finally, he turned around, frustrated.

“Alright! God damn it, Jane! How do you do this?”

Anna sighed. “You pick a number of blocks and push them into the wall. The diagram on the gold spearhead upstairs may hold the key on how to get past it.”

“Why didn’t you say so before?”

She rolled her eyes. “I did!”

“Sure you did, Jane.”

“My name is Anna!”

“Don’t you get uppity with me, woman. This old dog bites.”

Anna cocked her head to the side, exasperated. “Do you want my help or not?”

“Sure! Glad to have you aboard! Now, what do we do?”

“You wait here, while I go back up and examine the engravings.”

“You
what
?”

She answered with a smug voice, “If you’d listened to me before and waited a few more minutes, we wouldn’t be in this predicament right now.”

Anna stepped into the hallway. “Be right back!” Her statement dripped with enough sweetness to plunge anyone into a diabetic coma.

As Cooper growled loud enough for her to hear, she stopped in front of one of the soldiers in the hall and glanced at his nametag. “Hunter, would you care to join me?”

“Sir?” he called, turning his face toward the stairs.

“Go ahead. Just don’t play patty-cake too long.”

“Yes, sir!”

Anna and Hunter were soon back in the room with the golden spearhead. As she sat on the floor and prepared to study the wall, he walked further into the room, looking at the rest of the engravings.

“Hunter…”

“Ma’am, you can call me Todd.”

“Okay, Todd. But, you have to call me Anna. Please don’t call me ma’am.”

“Yes, ma’am…uh, I mean Anna.”

She smiled at his response. “Since my flashlight doesn’t work, I need the light over here.”

“Oh, sorry!” He moved to stand next to her and positioned the light stick to provide as much light for her as possible.

As she started to pore over the engravings on the shaft of the spear, he asked, “Anna, what’s your opinion of Sergeant Cooper?”

“He’s an arrogant asshole that should learn to listen as well as talk, especially when there may be something worthwhile to tell him. He’s overbearing, pompous, and really annoying.”

Todd nodded. “I see.”

“What about you?” She turned away from the wall to look at him. “What do you think of him?”

“I don’t think I’m in a position to answer that.”

Anna glanced around the room. “We’re the only ones here right now. Why not?”

“He’s my superior. If word of this got back to him, it could make my life really bad.”

“
If
word got back to him. Honestly, I don’t want to talk to him any more than I have to. Your secret’s safe with me.”

She turned back to the engravings. A second later, Todd kneeled next to her and whispered, “I think he’s an asshole, too.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard. Do the rest of you guys think so, too?”

“You mean Hicks and Anderson?”

She nodded.

“I don’t know. I haven’t asked them.”

“Well,” she said, turning her attention back to the wall. “How do they act around him?”

“They follow orders, like I do.”

“Do they seem happy to be around him?”

Todd cocked his head to the side and thought hard for a few seconds. “Not really.”

“Then…”

“Then, they probably feel the same way.”

Anna smiled in spite of herself and focused on the engravings again.