BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) Read online

  “My birth father that is; My Uncle acted as my real father. I am not sure Ramesh. You respect him because of his words, but I disrespect him because of his actions. It is not easy to forgive someone that leaves you and your mother.”

  “What did you think of his sermon?”

  “I found myself in agreement with some of the message, but the rest comes from a different faith than mine. I am not sure that I believe in Demon Lords who strive to control us.”

  “Well maybe you will come round. How is Dakota anyway?”

  “She is good. She doesn’t hang with me so much now, and she definitely didn’t want to come today. Shondran has her back working as a dancer at the Mira Belle.”

  “How is the boss today?”

  “He is like a bear with a sore head with me. There have been a number of PCS officers making enquiries about me, or at least about Citizen Eli River. I think he will get tired of me if they continue.”

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Sergeant Ray Scott pulled into the lay-by close to the fast food restaurant beside the main exit route out of District 16. He was considering joining the queue at the drive-though for a pre lunch snack, but when he saw the Major’s vehicle already in the parking lot, he swung his enforcement vehicle around and parked it out of view of the other car. Exiting his vehicle he switched on the personal privacy setting which Anton had incorporated on to his audio-visual recorder. He then set off looking for his friend, whistling ahead as a warning. Nathan had watched him arrive and had already switched to his privacy setting as he staked out his colleague and lay in wait for him at an outside table with coffee and doughnuts. This was not the first time that they had utilized this function together. They were almost wearing out the algorithm that ran it. They had both become masters of stealth, and also made sure not to be recorded together by any other local surveillance cameras. They also chose to meet away from their own enforcement vehicles which had in-built audio-visual monitoring. Most of the time, the two men had nothing actually to hide. They just enjoyed the principle that they could go offline. Today was different though. They both had a legitimate reason to be downtown, and had been using the opportunity to search for River. Anton would supply them with the latest credit transactions made by River’s re-mastered identity bracelet. They would divide these between them and make discreet enquiries with those retailers.

  “I called at that Chinese Diner in East Filton again,” said Nathan. “He is placing regular large orders there but the owner who goes by the name of Wendy is not being helpful. She makes out that she does not know him by his name Citizen Cactus and nor can she recall his large orders. I left a message that hopefully she will pass on, using an alias that he will recognise.”

  “I am getting the same story with my retailers. They either do not know or don’t want to know,” Ray Scott sucked his teeth disparagingly. “This is what I hate about policing in this area.”

  “Do you think he is working for Shondran; Ray? Because that guy has got this whole area wrapped up tighter than Citizen Naighal’s butt. We have been at this on and off for a month now and we are no closer.”

  “It was the only lead I gave him. I am assuming he got inside.”

  “I am not as familiar with this Shondran character as you are Ray. You know these ex-natives much better than me. You are married to one. What can you tell me about our man’s history?” Nathan knew about the extent of Shondran’s criminal empire, but knew very little about the man.

  “He was an outlander; a native Navajo. He was brought in and processed thirteen years ago. He used to work as a manual labourer underground, but he started stealing to supplement his income. He was arrested and incarcerated in an underground internment camp. They are pretty rough places and he was put on heavy work details under strict guard supervision. However he got away by beating a guard to death and escaped to the surface. This was about ten years ago and he has never been caught since. He seems to have found ways to confuse his implanted identity. Shondran doesn’t exist anymore. He is a ghost. Anyway, the rumours say that he started working back then as door security. Then he ran door security for a chain of premises. He developed a security enterprise; it was part security and part protection. He developed a ready army of tough security and doormen. This was when he started turning his outfit into a criminal organisation. As you know he controls nearly all of the native criminal enterprises and all of the port work detailing. They say that he controls the labour unions, even though they have free and secret ballots. He controls all of the vice trades enjoyed by ex-natives and non natives alike and owns many businesses, but always in other people’s names. He makes out that he looks after these people, but in truth he is a ruthless cold killer. We don’t know if he has got any serious rivals, and we think that all of his criminal enterprises do not equal the swag that he gets from hijacking freight.”

  Nathan showed his respect for Ray’s expertise. “You certainly know this man well. I wish River really was working the inside for us on this guy, because I tell you Ray. I would love to bring that sonuvabitch Shondran down.”

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Isa had staked out and watched the cavern from dawn till dusk despite his own prescience which told him that River would not be coming. Such was his conviction that River would fail to honour his promise to meet him here that he had chosen not to bring a horse. Instead he had chosen to run to Lizard Ridge so that he would not have the concern of returning the horse to his community when he chose to honour his own pledge. That was to enter the citadel of the Blue Horse, find his brother and bring him home.

  His uncle Geren knew of this pledge and had expressed only his contempt for it. His reasoning was that if River failed to return, it would be likely through his own choice. Isa did not see it this way; he had always had a knowing conviction that River’s allegiance to Nathan would lead him into some kind of danger. His sister Ishtur had recently told Isa about a meaningful dream of hers in which she had seen Isa passing down a dark passageway towards a distant figure who turned out to be River. Now that River had confirmed his foreboding by not turning up, he had drawn inspiration and meaning from Ishtur’s dream. He would head north to the outskirts of old Denver City. There he knew of a location that might offer a way into the Blue Horse City.

  Isa had set off in the morning at a jogging pace and had reached the south western outskirts of Old Denver within five hours. Fortunately he didn’t need to venture too far into the overgrown ruins and streets. Old Denver was known to be a haunt of disassociated outlanders. These were people who chose to live outside of any community often on their own. They were targeted by the Citadel’s Rangers and had become both fierce and elusive as a result of these encounters. Isa searched through some old ruins of a municipal building with his hunting knife drawn and ready. It was possible that he was already being watched but if he was any lone scavenger was unlikely to engage him unless he displayed some threat to them or reason to be robbed. Isa made his way down into the unlit basement. He halted for a while letting his eyes adjust to night vision. It was better moving through darkness without a torch. This way you didn’t give away your position. He still carried an unlit torch but didn’t want to ignite it until necessary. He had been here before and he knew of a man made entrance to a tunnel that was hidden here. When he found it again, he listened attentively to hear if he was alone and then lit the torch. The tunnel entrance was sealed shut with a heavy steel hatch which was about eight foot across. He was not expecting it to be open but somehow he would find a way to open it and enter. He was convinced that the tunnel entrance would join a fabled network of underground tunnels which would lead him inside of the city. He didn’t have bona fide proof of this just old rumours and a complete conviction that he was on the right path.

  This was Isa’s first opportunity to examine this hatch. When he had first come across it previously on an expedition to Old Denver with River, they had not realised exactly what its purpose was and had not bothered to examine it. Sin
ce then, Isa by himself had observed from a distance a similar hatch being opened by Rangers. They were testing it or carrying out maintenance because some of them disappeared inside for a while but later came out. That tunnel entrance was located within sight of the Citadels great walls. It was out in the open with nothing to act as cover and it was likely monitored by the Rangers. This tunnel hatch appeared very similar but it also appeared to be impossible to break or force open. Isa had already considered this eventuality and he planned to use the services of the Rangers to open it. He was working on the assumption that these tunnel hatches were being monitored by the Rangers. What he was actually studying right now was whether he could find some way to stress the hatch so that it might send an alarm to induce a response from Rangers or some engineers. He considered finding a water source and flooding the basement but realised that they would be less likely to open the hatch than if he was to create a fire. He opted for this solution.

  For the next hour or so, he searched for, collected and dragged much combustible material down to the place against the hinge side of the hatch. He collected mostly natural products such as wood as he wanted to create more heat than smoke. He lit the huge bonfire and whilst it developed its heat, he set about finding the ideal hiding place. He chose a pit in the floor that was only about 20 foot away from the hatch on the opposite side to the hinge. He had thoroughly soaked the pit and rolled a rain barrel over to partially fill it. He then pulled a large sheet of rusted metal over the pit allowing him enough room to crawl in. He brought with him some reasonably clean rags to soak and use as a filter against smoke. Once inside he lay sideways in the shallow pit of water in a position which allowed him to remain concealed but able to breathe and also watch the hatch. Now he waited and hoped that some Rangers might take the bait.

  The fire raged for a good hour, creating a fierce heat before he heard the first voices reveal themselves in the room. He watched and observed and soon saw the three figures in camouflaged fatigues and heavy boots walking around above. One guy had even stepped on the sheet metal and it had warped and buckled above his head. The Rangers cast dark silhouettes and shadows as they stood in front of the still raging fire directing fire extinguishers at the base of it. The shadows were soon replaced dense wafts of smoke from the open hearth of the residual smoking bonfire. Isa breathed through a wet rag which he held over his nose and mouth. As the fire dampened down and the heat dissipated somewhat, He could hear some Rangers raking the ashes away from the hatch and he could see them examining the main hinge for damage. One of the Rangers spoke into a communicator and asked some remote controller to test the hatch. Isa surveyed the scene and got ready. Darkness and better adjusted night vision were on his side, but he only had the briefest window of opportunity and he would have to stealthily run or sneak past one or possibly two Rangers. He would be obscured from the others by the large diameter of the hatch which was now slowly creaking open. When it was approaching vertical axis, he made his move, crawling out of the pit and running forward quickly in a half stoop. On approach to the open entrance, he dropped to the floor and rolled in, discreetly sliding along a slight inclination of the bevelled entrance. He was able to catch hold of one of the two incorporated ladders that ran the length of the vertical drop. There was no alarm; apparently nobody had seen him.

  As he climbed down the ladder, he could make out the hatch closing up above. He had noted that there were no operating controls for the hatch on the inside of the entrance. This meant that he would not be able to use this as an exit on his return leg of this journey. Right now his resolve was only to reach the citadel and find River.

  This vertical shaft dropped for some considerable distance. He had climbed down for what seemed like ages. At regular distances the shaft would open out into small landings with locked panels which suggested that they served as service tunnels as well as emergency escape routes. Eventually he reached the bottom of the shaft and found another steel door that fortunately opened into a 12 foot diameter horizontal tunnel. This was dimly illuminated by red light emitting diodes along its length which stretched as far as he could see in either direction. Isa took out his compass and found that this tunnel nearly had an east west axis. East was the direction that he needed to go, and the slight north-easterly bearing off the tunnel strongly suggested to him that it might take him all the way to the Blue Horse City. This tunnel did not seem to serve much purpose. It had a flat even floor which might fit one of their vehicles but it would not be wide enough to even turn that vehicle about. The mystery became solved after 400 yards when he came across two small 3ft diameter diagonal shafts which ran downwards in opposite directions. Exploring them both he found that after about 15 ft they opened out into wider tunnels which were maybe 20 ft in diameter. He worked out that these identical tunnels seemed to be built adjacent to each other and held precisely the same axis as the smaller one which probably served as a service tunnel to them. They did not have a flat level base but were completely concentric like a long tube. They too were lit with the same dim red light emitting diodes evenly spaced in lines running as far as the eye could see.

  Isa decided to follow along the path of the second of the large tunnels. He climbed down an access ladder and continued walking in the same direction. However after a while he began to feel a growing sensation of nausea and fear overcoming him. He could not explain it and nor did he care to find out the cause. So as soon as he found another recessed ladder leading to another exit shaft he hurriedly climbed it and found him self back in the same original smaller service tunnel. Here he continued onwards along its north westerly path. The sensation of fear had dissipated and the feeling of nausea soon subsided teaching him to associate these with the larger tunnels, which he decided to avoid where possible.

  He continued walking for a few hours and noticed more sets of the diagonal access shafts spaced at regular intervals of perhaps a mile. He passed many of them and the trek was beginning to seem endless before he encountered another person. He was likely an engineer or a technician and appeared preoccupied with an electrical panel which he was working on. In the dim light Isa found it relatively simple to slip past the man undetected. Staying on the blind side of people who didn’t expect to see you was easy. Continuing his journey, he began to encounter other branches running off this service tunnel in different directions. Sometimes he would see a person walking or working along one of these offshoots. He took this as a sign that he was getting closer to the citadel but also decided to keep on the same path. He did so, until his path was literally blocked by a steel partition. He had little choice but to head back to the last set of diagonal exit shafts.

  Isa chose to climb down to the main tunnel on the right side. He resolved to constrain any sensations of fear and nausea as best he could. He peered ahead along the large tunnel and noticed that it was only about a thousand yards before it appeared to open into to a larger space. Climbing down the recessed ladder, he headed in that direction believing that he was probably in the right vicinity to now start seeking a route going up and hopefully an exit into the city. He walked stealthily, but at a steady quick pace. The nausea was coming back confirming that it must be something to do with these wider tunnels. There was a throbbing in his head which resonated throughout his body. At one point it became an audible throbbing noise which seemingly was getting louder and more intense. He quickened his pace to a jog but the need for stealth still required him to run as quietly as possible. This was a strange concept considering the rushing noise in his head which was disorientating him. He was also experiencing that creeping sensation of fear again which made him want to look behind. It was fortunate that he did. What he saw was pulsating rings of light along the tunnel walls flashing in a synchronised path that appeared to pass backwards along the tunnel, but at the same time seemed to be getting much closer in his direction too. He then saw in the feint distance at a point where the light rings merged an extremely fast emerging concentric bullet shaped train which practically f
itted flush into the tube shaped tunnel. The train was travelling so fast that he reckoned he had seconds to reach safety. He literally ran for his life and as soon as he reached the opening, he dived to the side and onto a raised platform. He made it with no more than a second to spare and rolled and stumbled to his feet to find him self on a level terrace that fanned out from the platform. Looking around he could see that there were many more people here and he quickly ran to a nearby wall and then ran along it until he was able to dart behind a large steel container.

  The train had actually been decelerating and moved at a decreasing pace along the platform edge to come to a halt. Some guards checked the trains positioning and then signalled with a loud alert which brought the whole vicinity into life. Big lights were switched on to illuminate the train and platform that was abreast of it. Heavy crane and lifting machinery drove forward on caterpillar tracks to meet the train. The outer surface of the whole train began to revolve and as it turned it opened up the train to reveal a long line of freight containers. As a mobile crane picked up a container from one side and carried it away, another mobile crane working the platform from the other side of the train would be replacing it with a new container. Other mobile cranes, each operated by a driver waited in queues on both sides of the train to proceed to the next relevant container. Isa watched and observed. He could see that this was a freight depot with one side unloading imports from the incoming train, and the other reloading it with exports. The whole operation was fast and efficient, and in no time the train was ready to be resealed, before it began to accelerate and disappeared back into the tunnel it had emerged from.

  Isa looked around and noticed that everyone wore similar overalls and high-visibility protective clothing. He realised that he would also need to wear these if he had any chance of disappearing amongst the depot workers. He found his chance when he saw a guy working with a stone grinding machine who was cutting a new recess in a rock wall. The man had built up a sweat and had stripped to the waist. River slowly approached him tracing the wall for stealth and then quickly walked beside him grabbing the man’s jacket and high-vis vest. He slipped it on and stooped down to collect a hard hat that was close by and proceeded to walk in a direction of a large gate that many other workers were exiting through. As he walked through he was astonished at the sheer size and vastness of this man made underground cavern. It was stacked full of containers which were waiting to be checked through customs and passed above to ground level.