Kathy Reichs - Code

“Good plan,” Shelton agreed. “A little clichéd, but good.”

Focusing my hypersenses, I noted minute cracks spiderwebbing the stone windowsill. My nose detected dank, earthy scents wafting from the darkness. Molding leaves. Moss. Stagnant water.

“We spend a lot of time in these places,” Shelton observed. “Some might say, too much time.”

“Builds character.” Hi squatted down to examine the chamber’s ceiling. “Makes you tough. Manly.”

“Just what I’m looking for,” I said absently, inspecting the gloom. “Manliness.”

“You guys hear that?” Ben had moved beside me to get a look inside.

Shelton cocked one ear toward the opening. “Dripping water? No.” His face scrunched in concentration. “Something tapping, maybe?”

Ben shook his head. “If you can’t hear it, you know the rest of us can’t.”

Hi was squinting into the inky black. “It’s a small room, with a doorway in back.”

I waited, trusting Hi’s superior flare vision.

“This first chamber seems empty,” he said finally. “We’ll have to go deeper.”

“Great.” Shelton kicked a rock. “Deeper.”

“Come on, Shel-Dogg.” Hi stuck out a fist. “After everything we’ve done, the dark shouldn’t scare you anymore.”

“And yet, it does.” A moment passed, then Shelton reluctantly bumped Hi’s fist. “I’m not going first, and that’s a fact.”

“Gimme a sec to grab lights from the boat.” Ben hurried back the way we’d come.

Hi called into the black. “ Your cache is mine, clown! I’m coming to getcha! Uncle Hiram’s got the scent! ” His words echoed in the darkness as he scrambled through the opening.

“Zip it!” Shelton hiss-whispered. “This building is struggling to hold your buck-sixty. Don’t yodel the roof down on our heads.”

“I’m light on my feet.” Hi’s response came from deep within. “Should’ve been a dancer.”

For a moment, Shelton and I stood alone.

“Hey, Tor,” he whispered, “what was that crap with Ben? Did something happen? He freaked pretty bad.”

“I’m not sure. It was such a strange feeling. For a hot second I thought—”

Ben’s reappearance cut me off. I didn’t like talking behind his back, even if my comments weren’t negative.

And I wasn’t certain what I suspected. What had I seen? How had it happened? This latest telepathic experience had left me with more questions than ever. Could I really have seen my own image, through Ben’s eyes?

I decided to keep quiet. I knew Ben wouldn’t like it.

“Let’s do this.” Ben vaulted through the opening, then offered me a hand. Brushing it aside, I wiggled over on my stomach, then dropped to the floor. Shelton climbed in last.

Two paws appeared on the sill, followed by a whine.

“Stay outside, Coop.” I patted one furry foot. “It’s not safe.”

Another whimper, then the paws withdrew.

“Now what?” Shelton whispered in the dark.

“Spread out.” Hi grabbed a light from Ben, flicked it on. “Look for a box like the one we found on Loggerhead.”

Having only two flashlights, we were forced to pair up. Hi and I went right, Ben and Shelton left. Minutes later we met at the back of the room.

“Anything?” I asked.

“Nope.” Ben’s voice was tense. Flaring, I could make out a tightness to his eyes.

Hi probed a rickety doorway straight ahead. “Let’s try in there.”

The second chamber was half as large as the first, about the size of a tennis court. It, too, was empty.

For several seconds, Hi worked his light horizontally across the room. Something winked in the pale white oval. Beside me, I felt Shelton flinch.

Hi slowly arced the beam back. Flaring, my eyes gathered enough radiance to see.

Another twinkle.

“There!” I said excitedly. “On the ground.”

Ben added his light to Hi’s. A dark metal box sat alone in the middle of the room.

“Buckeye.” Hi’s eyes gleamed golden as he hurried forward.

“Hold up!” Shelton’s voice cracked. “The noise is stronger in here. Regular, like tat-tat-tat . It’s coming from that box.”

Undeterred, Hi scooped our find and began pawing at the lid. “Two for two!” he crowed. “Take that, Bozo.”

“Hi, hold up.” My sixth sense was on red alert.

“It’s ticking!” Shelton yelped. “The package is ticking!”

“Ticking?” Hiram kept poking and prying. “Like a watch?”

My mouth opened to shout a warning. Too late. Hi popped the lid.

“It stopped.” Shelton’s voice trembled.

Inside the box something whirred, then clicked.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Hi aimed his beam into the box and drew his face close. I actually heard him swallow. “That can’t be good.”

“What can’t be good?” I hurried to his side.

The light was enough for my hypervision. I could see a purple plastic container sealed with black electrical tape. Affixed to its top was a digital watch with a tiny LCD.

As I watched, a message flashed on-screen: Failure to Open Properly. You Lose!

“What does that mean?” Shelton drew so close I could smell his sweat. “We didn’t have instructions about opening it!”

“What the hell?” Ben spoke so softly I’d have missed it without my powers.

“Guys?”

“Yes?” I didn’t like Hi’s tone.

“This watch is at thirty seconds. Counting down.”

My scalp began to tingle. “Down to what?”

“How should I know!?!”

“Turn it off!” Shelton yelped.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“How?” I ran my fingers along the edge of the container. “We don’t even know what this is!”

“Fifteen seconds.” Sweat beaded Hi’s brow.

“It’s nothing,” Ben grumbled. “A stupid trick to scare us.”

“Ten.”

Hi had barely said the word when the first message dissolved, and was replaced by a new pair of words: You’re Dead!

“Oh no!” Shelton began backing away. “No no no no no!”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Run!” I yelled. “Hi, ditch it!”

Hi flung the cache into a corner and bolted for the door, hot on Shelton’s heels. Ben and I were a step behind.

How much time left? I’d lost the count. Seven seconds? Three?

Something furry flew past me, arrowing straight for the beeping package.

I froze in horror.

“Cooper!”

How did he get inside!?

I whipped the beam his way. Coop had clamped the cache in his jaws and was shaking it like a giant bilge rat.

The box emitted a screeching tone that grew into a high-pitched whistle.

Coop went still, the package locked in his teeth.

Terrified, I lunged toward my wolfdog.

An arm circled my waist and dragged me to the ground.

“Get down!” Ben shouted.

“Coop!” I screamed, trying to claw free. “Cooper, no!”

Click .

BANG.

CHAPTER 13

A BLINDING LIGHT flashed in the inky blackness.

Once. Twice.

Coop yelped and dropped the cache, then scrambled a hasty retreat.

Flaring, I saw shards of color shoot outward from the container. Red. Blue. Yellow. Green. Fluttering scraps that twirled in and out of the flashlight beams. The chamber echoed with hoots, horns, and whistles that seemed impossibly loud.

“What the hell?” Hi gasped, spitting dust. “What happened? What’s that noise?”

“Coop!” I grabbed a flashlight and rushed to my wolfdog. Coop had backed into a corner and slumped to the ground. “You okay, boy?”

He was panting, and blood trickled through the fur of his lower jaw. Heart pounding, I probed his body for wounds. Finding none, I cautiously grasped his snout. Coop tried to pull away, but I held him firmly.