Chapter 6 - THE GHOST TOWN OF TONOPAH
-6-
The sky was bleeding a bruised, sickly shade of purple by the time we crossed the Nevada state line. The temperature gauge on my dashboard flashed 24 degrees, and a thin, crusted layer of frost coated the edges of the highway.
Lily was still fast asleep in the back, wrapped snugly in her blanket, completely unaware that we were driving straight into the heart of a dark, forgotten corporate wasteland.
According to the decrypted GPS coordinates in the Project Vanguard files, the subterranean server node was located five miles off the main highway down an unpaved mining access road, hidden beneath the rusted remains of the old Silver King water filtration plant outside Tonopah.
As I turned my sedan off the asphalt onto the rough, frozen gravel road, the tires crunched loudly against the frozen earth. The landscape here was desolate and beautiful in a terrifying way—vast expanses of gray sagebrush stretching out toward jagged, snow-capped mountain peaks under an immense, indifferent sky.
Ten minutes down the dirt track, the skeletal steel framework of the abandoned water plant materialized out of the gray morning mist. Concrete block buildings with shattered windows and peeling lead-paint warnings stood like silent tombstones of the 20th-century mining boom.
And parked right beside the main corrugated steel garage door of the facility was a vehicle that made my heart leap into my throat: a sleek, black corporate SUV with tinted windows and California license plates.
They were already here.
I killed my headlights a quarter-mile away, steering the car off the road into a dense thicket of tall sagebrush that completely concealed the sedan from view.
I turned around in my seat, looking back at Lily. Her chest rose and fell in a steady, peaceful rhythm. She was safe for the moment, tucked away out of sight, but I couldn't risk leaving her alone in the car while I investigated a facility tied to an international smuggling ring.
Unbuckling my seatbelt, I reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a heavy steel tire iron, and tucked it securely into the waistband of my jeans beneath my coat. Then I unlocked my door, stepped out into the freezing desert air, and walked back to the rear door to check on Lily. She didn't stir as I cracked her window an inch to let in fresh air and pulled my woolen scarf tighter around my neck.
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“Stay right here, baby,” I whispered against the glass. “Mommy’s going to find out what happened to Daddy.”
I turned my back to the car and began walking across the frozen ground toward the rusted corrugated steel garage door of the facility, every muscle in my body coiled tight, ready for whatever nightmare was waiting for me inside.
