Outcasts

| 7 |

"Shit." Heller said. "What else could happen?"

"We're not sure," Blume said.

"Where exactly is this disturbance?" A curtain of hair fell over her shoulder as Bronson tapped the keyboard and pulled up the correlating satellite feed. The information was sent in realtime as their instruments made their observations. Heller could practically hear the synapses firing in her brain as she assessed the situation.

Blume read off the coordinates, then gave the name of the state and town. "This is data streaming from Huntsville, Vermont."

She worried her lower lip. "Is this another location near water?"

He nodded. "Yes, but it's The Huntington river, not Lake Champlain. You shouldn't have much trouble reaching it." He tilted his head to the side. "Recovery might be more difficult.

"Why is that," Bronson asked.

He pulled up the specifics on the sixty-six square mile watershed area. "The main stem of the river is twenty-three miles long. The surrounding land is mostly second-growth forest with some agricultural land."

"The area's remote and hard to access, but it's more accessible than an underwater crater," Bronson said. This is the break we've been waiting for— a second anomaly."

"Yes, but the field is emanating from the deepest part of the river inside a narrow gorge."

Bronson sucked in her breath. "Damn, what are the odds? This could be worse than being under the ocean."

Heller was perplexed. "Why? It's a small river. We'll use a dive team."

Bronson shook her head. "No, it's not just a river, it's a gorge." When Heller kept looking at her at a loss, she explained. The current in a narrow gulch is deadly. One mistake and a diver attempting to recover the technology would be sucked under and stay wedged between the rocks."

"Can we find out who owns this land? We might have to excavate a section of the rock to make the area less narrow."

"It's privately owned," Blume whirled as Director Harvey Henderson entered the room. 

"Isn't that going to be problematic?" She asked.

"We have more than one problem. One of our researchers went rogue on us. It's a shame, he was one of our most brilliant scientists."

"What do you mean he went rogue?" Blume asked.

"Walter Sayers refused to share his latest research with the team."

"Why is that a problem? The Bureau owns all his research and stores it in the system."

"He started doing his most sensitive research off site a while back. A lab tech reported his illegal activity to Henderson. I believe he went off to study this anomaly on his own. He was fired but never debriefed. That will be one of your tasks if you find him."

"And afterwards?" Bronson looked at Henderson.

"No loose ends. You'll have to retire him."

"You said he's one of the government's most brilliant scientists."

"He was, all the more reason we can't let him fall into another country's hands. Just ensure you have all his research and anything new he's found regarding the Huntington anomaly."

Bronson nodded.

"And another thing," both agents waited. "There's chatter over the internet about the phenomenon. If anyone else besides Sayers knows about this force, they need to be silenced also."

Both agents nodded, their faces devoid of emotion.

Henderson looked at Geoffrey Blume. "If you're done here, I have some more data I'd like you to review.

The geophysicist's eye lit up. "Is this more data from the New England area?"

Henderson shook his head. "No, this analysis is from the Mexican Basin anomaly. The Mexican government is worried the anomaly might trigger disturb her earth's crust and trigger a tsunami."

Blume nodded. "A definite possibility."

"What's the percentage their modeling is calculating?"

"They don't have a system capable of capturing the data. They've sent what their equipment was able to record.

"Let's hope it's enough to work with." Blume said.

When Henderson and Blume had gone, Heller looked relieved he could contribute to the conversation without feeling foolish. "That's some heavy shit." He pulled out his phone. "I'll coordinate a team."

Bronson shook her head. "Let's wait. I don't like the shitstorm that ensued the last time we couldn't produce anything tangible. We're going to do some reconnaissance before we notify Henderson about anything. He's too quick to sanction the deaths of innocent people. It makes me wonder if he has anything to hide. Let him think he's in charge. I don't wan't any restrictions. If this anamoly is what I think it is, we'll not only get a pay rise, we might get his job."

Heller had learned to let Bronson take the lead early in their partnership. She was lethal in the field and had saved his life twice with her firearm skills and fearless determination. What he found even more invaluable about her was her uncanny ability to navigate the hierarchical maze of career politics in the bureau. She didn't have to know where all the bodies were buried. She put them there with fastidious ease.