The Delta Chain (50 page)

He pulled her in close to him, turning back the way he
’
d come, and pushing her forward, he said:
‘
Keep moving.
’

One of the SES teams had found a tunnel in a thick tangle of brush when a cry went up from further along. The cry was from the group led by Arthur Kirby and John Harrison. They were further down the slope where lush green forest thinned rapidly to sandy, sloping foothills. From a narrow opening set back in the cliff face, Adam, Kate, Elizabeth and Daniel came staggering out. Rain was beating down harder now and the wind was cold. Adam had hated storms ever since
that
night, the night his sister had drowned, hated them with a vengeance.

He didn
’
t mind this one. It was exhilarating being in the open air, the rainwater a tonic on the skin.

‘Thank God you
’
re okay,
’
Kirby said. Stanley and Kavanaugh from the Task Force were amongst the next group to reach them.

‘Markham is still down there, Arthur, trapped-
’

‘The SES guys are onto it.
’

‘No. Call them together, I need to brief them.
’

‘Why?
’

‘The tunnels in there are crawling with crocs,
’
Kate said before Adam could respond. All four of them were on their knees, taking in deep breaths. Elizabeth was crying.

‘Lord Almighty,
’
said Kirby.

‘There was a constant need for both freshwater and seawater down there,
’
Adam said,
‘
supplying croc pits and human drowning chambers. That means they had an elaborate series of pipes, connected to the mains and to the ocean shore.
’

Realisation dawned on Kirby: flooded caverns filled with the creatures.

Within minutes the emergency workers had erected a temporary shelter. The gravely- voiced Harradin arrived with more men. Adam gave them a run down on the conditions in the partly crushed sub-level and Harradin started giving orders to his men. Daniel and Elizabeth, draped in weatherproof coats by the rescuers, comforted each other silently.

Adam took Kate in his arms, held her tightly.

‘I can
’
t believe we got out,
’
she said.

Harradin approached.
‘
Bennett, I understand you want to lead us back down there, but you
’
re in no condition-
’

‘I don
’
t care, I
’
m going-
’

‘Like it or not I
’
m in charge here now. You
’
re going back with the paramedics along with Ms. Kovacs and these kids. Bennett, I
’
ve got men trained as underground rescue specialists. We
’
ll be pumping gas into the tunnels that will knock the crocs out. While they
’
re being dragged out and caged other teams will find their way through to the lift shaft, dig your coroner friend out and get him up here. But it
’
s going to take a couple of hours and there
’
s no guarantee he
’
s not already dead. You know that.
’

‘Yes.
’

‘The moment there
’
s any news I
’
ll personally be in contact with you. That
’
s a promise.
’

Flanked by medics and with his police colleagues in tow, Adam trudged across the wet sand, arm in arm with Kate. Daniel and Elizabeth were beside them.

‘You
’
re taking some extended R&R after this, Adam, that
’
s an order,
’
Kirby was saying, himself in a mild state of shock,
‘
and if there
’
s anything I can do…
’

Adam was only half listening. He looked out at the ocean. The waves had been whipped up by the winds. The horizon was obscured by rain and mist, the dark clouds as low as he
’
d ever seen them. He looked back over his shoulder in the direction they
’
d come.

Something had caught his eye when he
’
d been briefing the rescuers under the shelter. He looked for it again now. Several kilometres along the coastline, the wide mouth of a bay. The wooded hills on the far side of that bay were the place he
’
d lived as a boy in the rambling country home.

The place from which his sister had gone into the water.

Soon after the family moved away. His parents separated.

Life, a different kind of life, went on.

He looked sideways at Daniel and Elizabeth. They
’
d grown up as prisoners of a secretive, secluded cult. Daniel had escaped this “prison”. Against all odds, he
’
d found the girl he loved.

Something nagged at Adam.

He trudged on. He had an eerie sensation. Was it the shock? The exhaustion?

He disentangled himself from Kate, stopped and turned, looking back across the water. The bay. The woods.

‘Adam. You coming?
’

‘Yes.
’
He rejoined her. He knew what it was he had to do.

‘There is something you can help me with,
’
he said to Arthur Kirby.

The news conference was at 11 AM in the council chambers. The room was overflowing with media from all over the State. Of immediate interest that morning was the condition of Brian Markham. TV crews had been stationed around the cliff face the previous evening as Markham had been brought out. The spectacular footage had aired on the late night and morning newscasts and was taken up by the world news services.

Chief Superintendent Ron O
’
Malley confirmed that Markham would make a full recovery.

After a lengthy and fiery consultation earlier that morning, between O
’
Malley, Adam, the local council members and the chiefs of the Queensland and Federal Police, it had been decided to reveal all that was currently known to the news media.

O
’
Malley had agreement from all that endless streams of ongoing speculation would not help the continuing investigation.

And opening up the can of worms regarding the secretive Nexus Group, they all believed, would help ensure the utmost co-operation between the Australian and American governments.

After he and his team had been formally arrested, Logan Asquith had furiously demanded diplomatic immunity due to his military status. The Task Force had denied this and now they needed the Feds to get the full co-operation of the U.S General Attorney
’
s office in supporting that decision.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance this morning. I have been leading the Task Force codenamed ORIGIN, investigating drowning deaths along the coast. I will be making a comprehensive statement concerning the status of that investigation and about the destruction yesterday of the Westmeyer Institute. I want to make it clear I will not be taking questions at this conference.

‘Firstly, let me confirm that Mr. William Westmeyer suffered a fatal heart attack yesterday afternoon. There are no suspicious circumstances and a full coroner
’
s report will be in hand by the end of today.

‘Senior members of his team have been arrested. We have also detained a group of U.S. backers of the Institute. We believe these men are a maverick breakaway military group, operating outside of the U.S. Defence establishment. All have been charged with causing the destruction of the Institute. The reaon for their action was to cover the existence of illegal genetic experiments being carried out in a hidden area.
’

‘Superintendent,
’
called out one of the reporters,
‘
can you reveal the exact nature of the experimental research?
’

A police media liaison officer, overseeing the conference, rose briefly from the table behind O
’
Malley and called out,
‘
No questions.
’

O
’
Malley ignored the interruption.
‘
These activities were also being conducted in Florida prior to the Institute
’
s relocation to the town here. Reptiles were being used in the research in both countries. The men responsible for the illegal capture of those reptiles, also responsible for the murders of a Northern Territory Ranger and an American photojournalist, are now also under arrest.

‘Concerning the drowning deaths: we
’
ve learned that these young victims, unidentified up to this point, were a part
–
an unwilling part
–
of the experimentation. They had been sent to the Institute over a period of years from a pseudo religious cult with premises here and in America.

‘Our initial data leads us to believe there have been at least fifty young people who have been sacrificed to this experimentation over those years. The six drowning victims discovered these past two years represent, tragically, just a small percentage, the bodies of the others no doubt lost in the oceans.

‘William Westmeyer and his backers had a long association with the leader of that cult. As of last night, the cult has been closed, its Australian and North American premises placed under guard, its adult members placed under arrest. We are now pursuing the backgrounds of the young people taken by this cult. Their welfare is of paramount importance to us, and is in the hands of the Department of Youth and Community Services, and similar authorities in the United States.

‘Finally, I know there are many questions concerning the deaths this week of local reporter Melanie Cail and the Institute security chief Tony Collosimo. Once again, these are part of the chain of events circling the Institute
’
s criminal research. It appears Melanie Cail was murdered with the intention of silencing her, whilst also setting her up as a scapegoat for the security problems harming the Institute
’
s reputation. Mr. Collosimo, it would seem, was sacrificed as part of that plan.

‘The Federal authorities in the United States are now working in tandem with our State and Federal agencies here in a continuing investigation. A further news conference will be called later in the week.
’

There was an eruption of talk from the news people as the conference ended and O
’
Malley and his entourage left the room.

When she stopped to think about it, Kate felt quite strange about being an officially recognised IT consultant to the Task Force. She
’
d been asked to attend the special debriefing organised by O
’
Malley. If she was totally honest with herself, she was chuffed that her initiative with the Landscan III had linked the croc hunters to the Institute and brought about the arrest of the hunters. The remains of their leader, the man she now knew had been named Erickson, had been found on the sub-level.

He was a hunter, a mercenary and a psychopath. The man personally responsible for Greg
’
s murder.

Wal Hester led her past the heavily guarded rooms where the arrested members of the hunting party, the sub-level techs, and Joseph Vender and his head Keepers, were all being questioned by teams of interrogators.

Mayor Bingham had arranged for the area to be used as a new HQ for the Task Force, ironically his last act before being surprised by his own arrest.

Hester himself had led the raid on the Keepers Of The Faith
’
s community at midnight the evening before.
‘
We literally surrounded the place just as the entire group was about to desert the compound,
’
he
’
d reported earlier.

Kate was about to switch off her mobile to incoming calls. It beeped her, the signal that a message had been received. Checking the small display window, she saw it was from Betty Joel.

GOOD GOIN
’
, GIRL. CALL ME, OK?

Kate smiled inwardly, pushing the phone back down into her handbag.

She joined the others in the briefing room.

Adam, now looking rested and refreshed, nodded to her as she entered. O
’
Malley himself was more casual than usual, in an open neck shirt, leaning back in the chair at the head of the council
’
s conference table.

‘As you all know, we have enough evidence, including the incriminating photo of Westmeyer
’
s boat, the remains of the sub-level and the testimony of young Daniel and Elizabeth, to get the convictions we need. I
’
m only sorry Westmeyer and Hunter are not alive to face the consequences of their actions. Westmeyer was a bad example of a scientific entrepreneur, supremely arrogant, convinced it was acceptable to hire professional killers
–
mercenaries
–
and to consort with a criminal religious cult, in order to pursue his grand vision at breakneck speed. Hunter was no better.

‘The good news is we have even more evidence. Erickson
’
s dead so his crew are talking, hoping to strike deals. And Jackson Donnelly doesn
’
t have the steel he liked to project. He
’
s singing like the proverbial bird. We fooled him into believing that just he and his sub-level technicians were the only ones going down for the whole thing.