Because his guide had failed to warn him to duck; the only thing Liu got from Mohope mine was a cracked lip, from an overhang of rock he’d banged into. Since Liu didn’t sleep much, last night, he napped on the way to their next destination. Sing, Liu’s guide pulled off onto the verge near the road to Swinhope mine. “We’re here, John,” Sing said as he shook Liu awake.
Liu yawned and straightened in his seat. As he reached for his seatbelt buckle, his satellite phone rang. “Mr. Liu, this is Dr. Phorrestson, at Royal Victoria Infirmary. Mr. Forrest has suffered another stroke. He’s in ICU. He’s been asking for you. I’ve given him medication to bring his blood pressure down, and I’ve given him several units of whole blood, but there were complications. He’s not going to last much longer.”
Liu walked out of earshot. “I am very close to concluding my assignment. I know Mr. Forrest wouldn’t want me to stop now. Tell him I will be there as soon as I can.” He ended the call and walked back to the jeep. “Let’s get busy!”
------------
When they were done with breakfast, Richard escorted Donna to the infirmary. Sam stepped out of his office. “Well, how did your date with Sheila go?” Richard asked.
Sam grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Good morning, Pretty Lady,” he smiled. “Ready to get to work?”
“Yep.”
“No bending over the porcelain god before breakfast, I hope.”
“Not this morning. I explained the situation to Rich last night before I went to bed. ”
Sam arched an eyebrow. “Another one of those telepathic conversations, I assume?”
Donna frowned. “Yes, Sam. It was.” She turned to face Richard and kissed him.
Richard smiled. “I’ll see you later. Behave yourself, Sam,” he warned and left.
Sam waited until Richard had left the infirmary. He reached for Donna’s hand and led her to the scrub room. “You never told me what you said to Lady Triplet last night, to change her mind.”
“I reminded her that there were other people’s feelings to be considered.”
“Threatening to turn Richard against her didn’t hurt.”
Donna chuckled. “No, but I hope I don’t have to follow through with that!”
------------
Richard was walking across the corridor to the genetics lab when Sir Richard, John, and Gary came running toward them. He followed them to the security room. “What’s going on?”
“Someone is snooping around the old mine entrance,” Gary responded. “VICi’s proximity alarm went off.”
“VICi, access front entrance security cameras.”
The wallscreen showed two men, carrying torches and other equipment at the entrance of the complex. “They’re probably either tourists or cave explorers,” John said.
Sir Richard narrowed his eyes. “Just watch them for a while, to be sure.”
------------
Sheila was in the scrub room, when Sam and Donna got there. She looked up and grinned at Sam. “I see you managed to crawl out of bed, after all,” she chuckled.
Sam frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Joyce isn’t here. She wasn’t feeling well this morning. Said she had a migraine and asked if I would serve as your scrub nurse. Hadn’t you noticed she wasn’t here?”
“No,” Sam groaned. “I hadn’t.”
“Good morning, Dr. Rigden. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Donna turned on the water and started scrubbing her hands. “Morning, Sheila. I prefer Donna, if you don’t mind,” she responded tersely.
“No, that’s fine. Sam, you have a beautiful piano and you’re a very talented musician. When are you going to show me the rest… of your talents?”
Donna pretended not to listen. She hummed to herself, as she reached for a brush and started cleaning her nails.
Sam swallowed hard and glanced at Donna. “You’ve seen all you’re going to see, Sheila,” he said, holding up his hands to be gloved. Donna held up her hands. “That’s a beautiful ring, Donna. Richard’s grandmother obviously approves of you.”
Donna arched an eyebrow. “We tolerate each other,” she responded and went into the OR. She leaned down, so her patient could see her. “Are you feeling nice and relaxed, Lady Triplet?”
“Yes, Dear, thank you.”
“OK, we’re going to give you a little something to make you groggy.” Donna nodded.
“Lady Triplet, I want you to count backwards from ten for me,” the anaesthesiologist said.
------------
One man examined the pair of rusty narrow gauge rail tracks while another one concentrated on the huge concrete slab. Finding it unyielding, he took a digital camera from one of his pockets and snapped a few shots. He examined the side of the slab, looking directly into the camera lens.
Liu could see no evidence of recent visitors to the mine. After wandering around a little more, they got in their car and drove off.
A little less than a mile away, Liu stopped on the left where a dirt road led up the hill. Blocking vehicle access was a single-bar swing gate with a huge padlock on it. They walked round the gate, and down the narrow road. The road was wide enough for a truck but obviously didn’t get a lot of use. It wound around until it stopped at a huge circular gravel drive surrounded by a tall mound of earth.
There was a timber building with a porch off to the left. Walking around it, Liu discovered another building behind it. The door to that building wasn’t locked so he went inside. Apart from the low bench that surrounded the room, it was empty. Finding nothing of interest, he turned his attention back to the other building with the veranda. The windows were covered and padlocked, as was the door. He pressed his shoulder against the door, and gave it a couple of strong shoves. It wouldn’t budge.
Liu walked toward the gravel drive. Something shiny on the ground caught his attention, and he went to investigate. Kneeling down, he found a metal strip partially covered by the gravel. He attempted to rake the loose gravel aside, only to find it was embedded in the metal. Examining its edges he realised what he was standing on was a metal door about twelve feet wide, cleverly camouflaged with embedded and loose gravel.
------------
John watched them wandering about aimlessly, around and over the mound of earth. One of them tugged at the hatchway and traced its edge. There was little else to see. He took a short movie with his camera. They examined the backdoor entrance to the complex. It was originally an old missile silo briefly used, in the late 50’s, for the UK nuclear deterrent, the Blue Streak missile.
Sir Richard groaned. “Until the Internet mapping services started putting aerial photographs of the area on the web, no one knew that was there. Now we get a few visitors every year. It’s not a problem to us, since they can’t get in. These men have obviously seen the site on Internet, and have come to investigate.”
------------
Liu and his men retraced their steps back to the car. They drove back towards the mine about a thousand yards, and got out. Guided by a portable GPS system, they walked across the open fell up the hill. They could vaguely make out another road, much older than the other one. Eventually they reached a dry-stone wall surrounding a mineshaft.
The shaft was blocked with what appeared to be old, rusty mine rails. In places, concrete had been put over the bars, but most of it had fallen away. Liu’s assistant picked up a loose stone and dropped it down the shaft. They waited for it to hit bottom; there was no sound.
Walking back to the car, Liu noted that the shaft was almost in a direct line with the mine entrance over the brow of the hill. Liu and his assistant changed into their gear. They each had plastic helmets fitted with miner’s lamps, climbing equipment and a large coil of rope. Anticipating it would be cold and wet at the bottom of the shaft, they changed into wet suits and overalls. They put on climbing boots and harnesses and made their way back to the shaft.
------------
“It appears we are going to have some visitors,” John said. “Not the first time. We’ve had people visit before who gained access through the old lead mine entrance near the stream. They didn’t know they were being watched. Tim and I found it quite entertaining. The complex is blocked off behind a concealed doorway that looks like a rock fall. They couldn’t get in.”
Sir Richard sighed. “It seems these two plan to use the old ventilation shaft to get in past the block.”
The complex was secure. Intruders could only gain access to the upper levels. When they got to the main level, they would find their way blocked by another rock fall. This block was made up of bigger stones that were too heavy to shift. In order to supply the mine with clean air, gaps were left, but the gaps were too small for anyone to get through.
------------
Liu and his assistant, Sing, moved some of the bars covering the shaft. They anchored the end of their rope by tying it to one of the bars left, and dropped it down the shaft. Sing, an expert climber, went first. He clipped onto the rope, and started descending.
The vertical shaft was cased in stone blocks for the first ten feet, and then turned to solid rock. About a hundred and seventy feet down there was a ledge. Fastened to the wall from this ledge, were the remains of a wooden ladder going down. Sing called up to Liu. He knew, by pulling on the rope, he could slow Liu’s descent, if he got out of control.
“It’s a lot deeper than I thought,” Liu said peering over the ledge. He ran his hand along the solid rock wall. He couldn’t help but admire the men who sank the shaft using only hand drills and gunpowder.
Sing hammered a piton into a crack, and attached another rope to continue their descent.
“Is it normal to have a draft going down a shaft like this?” Liu asked.
“There’s normally a certain amount of air movement,” Sing replied. “Down here, the temperature stays, more or less, a constant ten degrees Celsius. If the temperature is hotter or colder up top, then you get air movement. This does seem stronger than normal though. Maybe something is pulling air in.”
Liu checked the gun in his overalls. “Like a ventilation system….”
It was another hundred and twenty feet to the base of the shaft. When they reached it, they found passages leading off northwest and southeast. A wooden door was fastened across the southeast tunnel. Sing tested it and found it still swung easily. The draft, however, blew northwest. “Let’s go this way first,” Liu said, and they headed in that direction.
------------
Richard pointed to the screen. “That shorter guy looks like he knows what he’s doing. The other one looks vaguely familiar. Notice how he ignored the southeast route, and chose to follow our ventilation draft.”
“Maybe we should shut the fans down,” Gary suggested.
“If we shut them down now, he’ll be even more suspicious,” Sir Richard responded.
John grinned. “Let’s see how they deal with the other block.”
------------
Sing and Liu rounded a bend in the tunnel and found themselves at the rock fall. “It can’t extend far,” Sing said. “The air current seems to be going through the rocks.”
Liu wasn’t surprised to find their way blocked. He reached between two of the rocks as though trying to pull them apart then gave up. They tried using a loose iron rail from the track to pry the rocks apart. Even with both of them hanging on the rail, the rocks wouldn’t budge. The only way they could get through the block would be to blast it. “Let’s explore through that doorway,” Liu suggested.
They walked back to the base of the shaft, and spent some more time exploring the southeast tunnels. Eventually, they made their way back. Sing showed Liu how to climb the rope using single-rope ascending technique. Even though they were reasonably fit, they were out of breath by the time they reached the top of the shaft. They sat and shared a canteen as they rested and discussed their exploration.
------------
“I still think they were just explorers,” John commented.
“Probably so,” Sir Richard said, straightening up and turning. “What did Donna say to Mum that made her change her mind about the pacemaker?”
Richard shrugged. “I don’t know Dad,” he said as he followed him out into the corridor. Gary and John followed close behind. “I wasn’t there. You’d have to ask Sam or Donna. I’ll see you later,” he said and followed Gary back to the genetics lab.
Richard’s cell phone rang. He put in his Bluetooth ear bud and continued to work. “Richard, it’s Jeff. I need to see you in the entertainment hall that we’re setting up for Donna.”
“Can you wait a little while? I just started working on something.”
“If you want everything working by tomorrow night, no. It can’t wait.”
Richard groaned. “All right. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.” He ended the call. “Gary, Mate, I’m sorry, but that was Jeff. He needs me in the entertainment hall.”
“Go on. I’ll take care of this. I still think you should have warned Donna. Building her an entertainment hall is one thing, but building one that’s exactly like Jared’s, might not get the reaction you’re hoping for.”
Richard grinned. “I’ll take that chance,” he said and headed for the door.
“OK, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Gary called out.
------------
Once Sam and Donna finished with Lady Triplet’s surgery, they went back to the changing room and put on fresh scrubs. “I think that went well,” Sam commented and pulled her close.
Donna loosely wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him and studying his eyes. “So… did you have a pleasant date, last night?”
Sam narrowed his eyes; one corner of his mouth turned up. “I knew you were jealous. You were jealous last night when you found out I was seeing Sheila, and you were jealous because I was talking to her in the scrub room.”
“I’m not jealous. I was just trying to understand why you felt you had to go out with her. I thought you were meeting in the cafeteria. You didn’t say you were taking her back to your quarters.”
Sam lifted her chin and tenderly kissed her. “We talked about work, sweetheart.”
Donna cocked her head to one side. “Since when has work had anything to do with you playing the piano for her?”
“…And singing – don’t forget that part,” Sheila interjected as she entered the room.
Donna’s eyes widened. “Shit!” She hissed. She and Sam slowly turned.
“Oh! Don’t mind me.”
“You’re not going to tell Richard?” Sam asked.
“If Richard slept around on Donna like he did with me, as far as I’m concerned, Richard is getting what he deserves. I haven’t seen a thing.”
Donna let her breath out, relieved. She stepped beside Sam, holding his hand. “I’m sorry, Sheila. My relationship with my… husband is complicated.”
“That’s an understatement,” Sam snorted.
Donna briefly explained the situation, leaving out the details about Jared and Sarabeth, and the fact that she believed Richard was blackmailing her. Sheila took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Wow – that is complicated. It explains why you behaved the way you did last night,” she said, turning her attention to Sam.
Sam grinned. “Well, I didn’t want to… disappoint you, Sheila, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m taken.”
“Oh, I understand. There’s something else I think you should know. It’s about Joyce.”
“What’s that?”
“Just between the three of us, I don’t think Joyce had a migraine. I think she’s trying to avoid Richard’s grandmother, for some reason.”
Sam furrowed his brow. “That’s strange. As far as I know, she’s never seen Lady Triplet, before we brought her here.”
“Yeah, well, anyway. I’m running back to my quarters and grabbing a few more hours sleep. I wasn’t supposed to start work until two this afternoon. I’ll see you two later.”
Donna waited until Sheila had left the room. “Do you think she’ll tell Richard what she saw?”
“She said she wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, but can we trust her?”