“We’re from Human Resources,” Vernon said, positioning himself between the guards and their guns. “A couple of feral goats called and complained about the secondhand smoke. This is a nonsmoking mountain.”
Alani collected the rifles and walked into the dimly lit tunnel that appeared to be about fifty feet in diameter.
“This is definitely a lava tube,” she said.
The rolling metal door was large enough for a truck to pass through. It was half closed and covered with jagged pieces of cinder. When the door was completely closed it would be perfectly camouflaged in the lava desert.
“This explains the disappearing SUV,” Emerson said. “I wouldn’t have noticed the entrance if I’d walked right past it.”
“What are we going to do with these two?” Alani said, motioning toward the guards.
“I’m prepared for all events,” Emerson said. “I have zip ties in my pack. We’ll truss them up, and you and Vernon can stay behind to watch them. Riley and I will do a little snooping. We’ll be back in no more than an hour.”
Riley took one of the guards’ rifles from Alani. She checked the clip for ammo and shouldered the gun.
“What about you?” Alani asked Emerson. “Do you want the other rifle? Do you know how to use it?”
“Sure,” Emerson said. “I read about it in a book.” He pointed at the barrel. “This is the end where projectiles exit, right?”
“Maybe Riley should be in charge of firearms,” Alani said.
“Emerson don’t need a gun,” Vernon said. “He can do all kinds of lethal stuff. You should see him do the Vulcan nerve pinch.”
“There’s no such thing,” Alani said. “That was made up for Star Trek.”
“Excuse me, but that is a total load of baloney,” Vernon said. “I’ve seen him do it. We were in this fight at the Pig ’n’ Whistle bar one time, and I saw him do the pinch. You probably don’t believe in Bigfoot either.”
Alani did a gigantic eye roll. “You are so gullible,” she said to Vernon.
“Yeah and you are so—”
“So what?” Alani asked.
“I don’t know. Actually, you’re kind of pretty.”
“Oh jeez!” Alani said.
“Anybody got a Snickers?” Vernon said. “I really need a Snickers.”
Emerson pulled a roll of antacids out of his pack. “This is all I’ve got,” he said.
“Good enough,” Vernon said. “Hand them over.”
“We’re losing time,” Riley said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
TWENTY-FOUR
EMERSON AND RILEY WALKED INTO THE TUBE. Almost immediately they came to a large diesel generator that hummed and buzzed, providing power to the flickering electric lights lining the slick black rock walls.
“I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but this is even spookier than the fog,” Riley said.
“I rather like it,” Emerson said.
The tunnel opened up into a large man-made cavern with a poured cement floor. The SUV was in the corner of the room, parked next to several Ford F-150 pickups, a bunch of ATVs, some heavy machinery, and a military transport like the one at Sour Creek Dome.
Riley inspected the SUV. “Looks like we found the bad guys’ secret hollowed-out volcano parking lot. But where are the bad guys?”
Emerson pointed to the other side of the cavern. “The lava tube continues that way.”
Riley crossed the cavern with Emerson and peered into the adjacent tunnel. There was a heavy-looking steel double door blocking their path and muffled voices on the other side. She put her ear to the door.
“It sounds like someone is crying and calling for help,” Riley said.
Emerson carefully opened the door and peeked inside. “It’s a bunch of jail cells lining one side of the lava tube. There’s a woman in one. I don’t see any sign of Tin Man or the guards.”
“If we’re caught, there’s nowhere to run. We’re trapped in this tunnel,” Riley said. “We’ll end up in one of those cells.”
Emerson pushed the door open wide enough for them to squeeze through and closed it quietly behind them. The woman in the cell was standing at the bars and sobbing hysterically.
“Are you okay?” Riley asked.
The woman scrambled away from them into a corner of the cell.
Riley stepped closer. “I’m Riley and this is Emerson. Maybe we can help you.”
The woman cautiously approached the bars. “I’m Margo Tanner. We were hiking in Kilauea and got lost. We ended up spending the night in a cave. The park rangers who found us told us we were trespassing in a restricted area.”
“Did you see anything unusual?”
“They were drilling for oil,” Margo said. “I didn’t even know there was oil under Hawaii.”
Emerson and Riley exchanged glances. “We have to get her out of there,” Riley said. “I’d shoot the lock, but the gunshot would definitely be heard.”
Margo pointed at the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel. “There’s an electrical panel over there that locks and unlocks the doors.”
Emerson pushed the button marked CELL THREE. There was an audible click, and the door popped open. The woman rushed out and hugged Riley.
Emerson looked around the room at the other cells. They were empty.
“You said ‘ We were hiking.’ Is there somebody else here too?”
Margo nodded. “His name is Richard. I don’t really know him. We met on the hiking trail and were walking together when we got lost.” She pointed down the tunnel. “About half an hour ago some scary military-looking guy with a close-shaved head and a three-day-old beard came and dragged him away. I thought I was next when you two came in.”
Riley grimaced. “Tin Man.”
“You’re in a lava tube underneath Mauna Kea,” Emerson said to the woman. “There’s a bunch of ATVs in the next room. Take one and follow the tube about a half mile to the exit. We have some friends there, and they’ll help you get back to the main road.”
Margo looked nervously in the direction Tin Man had taken Richard. “What about my friend?”
“We’ll try to find him,” Riley said. “You just get out of here, and don’t tell anybody about what you saw. You can’t trust anybody.”
Margo ran down the tube, and Riley turned to Emerson. “What do you suppose Tin Man did with the other hiker?”
“He didn’t take him to Disneyland,” Emerson said. “You stay here. I’m going to go further down the tube and look for him.”
“We’ll both look for him. I don’t want you to have to rely on that pathetic Vulcan nerve pinch if you run into the bad guys.”
They walked past the cells and down the tunnel for another hundred yards before it opened up into a large, clean, well-lit room set up similarly to the laboratory in Yellowstone, minus the equipment for processing the magma.
Riley and Emerson paused, plastered themselves against the side of the dark lava tube, and looked inside. A large Penning trap sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by four smaller portable traps. Tin Man and Bart Young were there, as well as a dozen soldiers wearing Rough Rider uniforms. They were all standing around watching a glass cage in the southwest corner.
A small Asian woman, dressed entirely in black, was manning a control booth in front of the cage. She had a slim, athletic build and long black hair, and she was wearing large, round glasses with black frames.
A middle-aged man with a bloody lip and a bruised eye stood in the center of the cage, shackled to the floor, like a zoo animal.
“That must be the hiker,” Riley whispered.
Bart Young was fixated on the enclosure. “Berta, are you certain we’re safe out here?” he asked the Asian woman.
“Absolutely. I can’t say the same for him,” Berta said, gesturing toward the man in the glass cage.
“How does it work?” the director asked.
“The enclosure was built based on the same principles behind the Penning trap. There’s a magnetic field surrounding it and acting as a barrier between what’s on the inside and what’s on the outside. Everything outside the case is safe, and the glass is also protected. You will soon see what happens inside the case.”