Vortex (3 page)

“I don’t know. I thought about it, but didn’t because I think they’re in on it.”

“Who?”

“The police.”

“In on what?”

“I don’t know. But whatever it is, I get a strong sense that they’re in on it.”

Karen and Gavin exchanged a suspicious look, then turned to Burgess.

“This sounds like something for law enforcement,” Gavin said. “I’m not sure why you’d want us to—”

Burgess held up a forefinger and smiled. “Wait, hold it.” He turned to Crystal. “Tell them.”

She ate in silence for a moment, then cocked a brow and cast a challenging look at Karen. “You’ll probably say I’m crazy, but there’s something... different in town. Something new.” Karen frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure what it is yet, but I can feel it. It’s disrupted the mountain’s energy.”

Karen resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Crystal smiled and said, “You’re trying not to roll your eyes, aren’t you? That’s okay. It’s still true. Something’s come to Mt. Shasta. Somehow, it’s, like, connected to the mountain. But I don’t know how yet. Whatever it is, it’s bad. And it’s got something to do with the disappearances.”

“And you think the police are aware of it?” Gavin said. She nodded. “I think they’re protecting it. I suppose I could be wrong. But I feel that’s the case.”

“But you don’t know what
it
is?” Karen said.

A shadow seemed to cross Crystal’s face as she looked down at her plate. “No. Only that it’s something bad. And it scares me enough to think about leaving Mt. Shasta.”

“But before she does that,” Burgess said, “I wanted you two to look into it. I had Crystal write down the license plate numbers on those strangers’ vehicles she’s been seeing around town. I gave the numbers to a friend of mine who owed me a favor. Are you familiar with Km Services?”

“The mercenary company?” Karen said.

“A private military company,” Burgess said. “Of course, that’s just a euphemism for ‘mercenary company.’ They’re scary as hell, if you ask me. They do a lot of work for the government and—well, you know all that, I’m sure. They’re on their way to becoming another Praetorian Guard. The founder is a far-right-wing Christian who believes homosexuals should either be cured of their homosexuality or thrown in prison along with women who have abortions. He thinks doctors who perform abortions should be executed. And he has his own personal army, which has become the personal army of the government. Scary, huh?”

“What about them?” Gavin said.

“The vehicles belong to Km.”

Karen said, “What are they doing in Mt. Shasta?”

“Were not sure what they’re doing yet, but we think we know where they’re doing it.” He nodded at Crystal.

“I have a new client named Gertie Mahler,” she said. “She has problems that are, like, out of my league. I’ve tried to gently suggest that she see a therapist, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. She’s in her fifties and lives with her parents. At first, she seems slow. You know, like, retarded, or something. But it’s more than that. Bad self-esteem, no self-confidence, and I think she’s, like... damaged. I sense a lot of pain in her—from old emotional wounds. Anyway, her parents came here from Germany and I think she was raised to be suspicious of psychologists. But she’s very open to psychics and the paranormal. She started coming to me two weeks ago. She seemed worried about something during her first session.”

Crystal stopped to sip some tea then picked at her food as she continued.

“Marty and I had been talking about all this other stuff for a while by the time Gertie came to me. I wasn’t sure what was on her mind, and she never brought it up during that first session, but right away, I had this feeling there was a connection. That whatever was bothering her was, like, related to what had been bothering me.”

Burgess nodded. “She told me about it and said this woman—this Gertie—was somehow connected to whatever it was that had come to Mt. Shasta.”

“She was worse when she came the second time,” Crystal said. “Something was eating at her. I got a strong feeling that it was, like, an intrusion. Something had... invaded her life. I asked about it that time. She was cautious, but she opened up a little. She said some people had come to her house to investigate something. They’d set up some kind of lab on her property and had been there for weeks. She wouldn’t say what it was they were investigating, but right away, I knew I was right, that it had something to do with this
... thing
that’s come to town. She said they were supposed to be researchers, but she wasn’t sure she believed them. I asked what they were researching and that made her uncomfortable. She squirmed a lot.”

Karen was getting impatient. “What did she tell you?”

“That she wasn’t supposed to talk about it. She wouldn’t say why. But she was worried because whatever these people were doing on her property, it was involving other people, she said. And children.”

“
How
does it involve children?” Gavin said.

“I don’t know. Talking about it made her so nervous that she left before her session was over.”

Burgess said, “I think—and Crystal agrees with me on this—that the people from Km Services are either the ones on the Mahler property or they’re behind it.”

“But why?” Karen said.

Burgess said, “I suggested to Crystal that Km Services was what she was sensing, the bad thing that’s come to Mt. Shasta. But she thinks they’ve come
because
of the bad thing that’s come to Mt. Shasta.”

“To use it,” Crystal said.

Karen turned to Gavin and said, “To use what? How?” Burgess smiled. “That’s what I want you to find out.”

T
he black Cadillac Escalade Burgess provided them drove well and even though he wasn’t a fan of SUVs, Gavin found himself wishing he had one. In the passenger seat, Karen smoked a cigarette and held her iPhone, reading the material Burgess had provided about the lore of Mt. Shasta. Crystal was ahead of them in her metallic red Prius as they drove north on Interstate 5.

“Mt. Shasta sounds like Crazy Central,” Karen said.

“It always has been.”

“I get the feeling that Crystal is right at home there.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw her looking at him and turned to find her smirking. “What?” he said, turning to her.

She chuckled.

“
What
?”

“I thought your tongue was going to hit the table and knock over the bottle of soy sauce.”

Gavin rolled his eyes.

“Come on, admit it. In your head, you were doing her right there on the table, weren’t you?”

He resisted the urge for a moment, but finally laughed. “Okay, look, I’d prefer this not get around, but I admit it—I’m a raging heterosexual.”

“I promise not to tell any of your friends.”

They said nothing for a while.

Burgess had informed them that a cottage awaited them in Mt. Shasta, fully furnished and stocked with food. They were writer friends of Crystal’s, mystery novelists who’d decided to set their new book in Mt. Shasta, so they’d rented a place there to get a feel for the town and the area.

“I’ve emailed you everything I’ve been able to learn about the people from Km Services,” Burgess had said, “as well as everything you need to know about the company itself. There’s also information about the mountain and some links, a kind of summary of the strange history of the place. And I’ve got a couple of books for you, too, if you’re interested.” Burgess always made sure they were well-prepared for whatever job he had for them. He had first hired them six years ago after conducting a search for two private investigators that suited his needs. He chose them. Prior to that, Gavin, who was based in San Francisco, and Karen in Los Angeles, had never met. Burgess wanted them to investigate the possibility that vampires were living in Los Angeles. Both of them had been deeply skeptical, but they couldn’t turn down the money Burgess offered. What they’d found had put an end to their skepticism—and it had nearly put an end to their lives. Still, that skepticism seemed to creep up on them with each assignment Burgess gave them. Over the course of several jobs for the writer, Gavin and Karen had developed a comfortable relationship.

Karen was very attractive in many ways. Gavin found himself thinking about her between jobs, when they weren’t together. But... he tried not to. He’d had some pretty bad luck with relationships in the past and for that reason, it had been a long time since he’d been in one. He liked Karen. He didn’t want to ruin a good thing.

The early November sky was filled with dark clouds and the freeway was wet, but it wasn’t raining at the moment.

“Have you ever put chains on tires before?” Burgess had asked him.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done it, but yeah.”

“You might have to again. They’re in the Caddy There’s been no snow yet, but we’re getting early rain and all the bonehead experts say it’s going to be an early winter, and a heavy one. So you might get some snow while you’re up there.”

Gavin wasn’t crazy about snow, but after the generous advance Burgess gave them for the job, he decided he could live with it.

Burgess had said, “Give me a call when you have an idea how long you might be there.”

Gavin had shrugged. “You know how it goes. It might take us a long time to get anywhere, if we do at all. Then again, we might get there and fall on our faces right in the middle of whatever it is we’re looking for. If we’re dealing with snow... who knows.”

The sky grew darker as they drove north on Interstate 5 behind Crystal.

“How much of this do you think is just the result of Burgess having the hots for Crystal?” Gavin said.

“Well, at the very least, I suspect he’s not thinking as clearly as he would without the contents of that sweater staring him in the face.”

Gavin chuckled. “When she said she was a ‘mystorian,’ I thought you were going to say something, um, pointed.” Karen shrugged. “I figured I might as well hear her out. But, really...‘mystorian?’ Burgess is thinking with his little head.”

“Maybe. But we’re probably the last people who should be skeptical about much of anything at this point. I mean, after what we’ve experienced in the past.”

“You mean, after what Burgess has
put us through
in the past?”

“Yeah. That.”

“Well, to be honest, that’s why I kept my mouth shut. I’m not as quick to dismiss the crazy stuff as I used to be.” She took a drag on her cigarette. “But at the same time, I don’t want to keep my mind so open that my brain falls out of my head. I have to admit, though, it’s pretty strange that there are people from Km Services in Mt. Shasta.”

“What does the file have to say about Km?”

“So far, I haven’t found anything I didn’t already know. All the details about the civilians they shot in Afghanistan, the criminal behavior they’ve engaged in over there while working for the Defense Department, their botched job of restoring order after that hurricane in Florida a few years ago, the female employees who’ve accused them of sexual harassment and even covering up incidents of rape among their employees, the lawsuits and charges, their bankruptcy, the fact that they changed their name from Quicksilver to Km Services. In addition to working for the Defense Department, they also do contract work for various corporations, the oil industry, the pharmaceutical industry and—wait, what the hell does the pharmaceutical industry need with
mercenaries
, for crying out loud? Anyway, all the usual stuff.”

“Does it say what ‘Km’ stands for?”

“No. And their website doesn’t explain, either. It’s a mystery, not unlike the fact that these guys aren’t all in prison. These are not nice people, Gavin. I have mixed feelings about dealing with them.”

“Mixed feelings?”

“Yes. Bad feelings mixed with worse feelings.”

“Well,” Gavin said with a big, artificial smile, “this should be fun.”

The word “cottage” was an accurate description of the house Burgess had rented for them. It had a rustic, almost storybook look to it—brown with tan trim, a neatly kept yard with ivy climbing a trellis on one side and a couple of plaster gnomes standing in the flower garden beneath the front window.

“We’re going to be living in a Disney movie,” Karen said. “Do you think cute woodland creatures will help me cook and clean?”

Gavin said, “If they do, we’re going to a hotel.”

“I stocked the fridge with food,” Crystal said as she led them inside. She showed them through the house, then led them to the kitchen, where she hung her purse on the back of a chair at the round wooden table. “And there’s a freezer on the back porch full of meat. I hope I got things you’ll want. I’m a vegetarian and, like, I don’t know much about meat, but I did my best. I didn’t know if you were coffee or tea drinkers, so I got both. There’s French roast and Colombian and half a dozen different kinds of tea in the cupboard. Would you like me to fix you something while you settle in? Coffee or tea?”

She made coffee while Gavin and Karen unpacked and put their clothes in the closets. The little house had only one bedroom with an enormous old cherry-wood bed with a beautiful canopy.