Track of the Beast: A Brock Stone Adventure

When Alex walked into the general store, Moses was sipping coffee and bumping gums with Vince and Deb, regaling them with tales from his professional boxing career. A gifted storyteller when the mood struck him, he had the shopkeepers in stitches.

“And I said to the referee, ‘Ain’t a boxer this side of Gene Tunny can hit that hard. Check his gloves again.’ Sure enough, he had switched to gloves with half the padding hollowed out.” Moses broke off the story when he saw the expression on Alex’s face.

Alex began filling them in on what had transpired. As soon as he mentioned Harold Moss, the blood drained from Deb’s face. She glanced at Vince who shook his head.

“Did Moss tell you where Ape Canyon is?” Deb asked.

“Only that it’s somewhere on the other side of Mount Saint Helens,” Alex said. “Stone didn’t believe him and neither did Constance. They both ran off into the forest searching for it.”

Deb swore and Vince banged his fist on the counter.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“I was afraid this would happen,” Deb said. “Ape Canyon is close by and the Bigfoot is very real. Locals have done our best to hide its location.”

“Because of the Bigfoot?”

“That’s part of it,” she said. “But that’s not the main reason.” She turned and took a rifle down off the wall. “There’s something else going on in that canyon, and your friends are walking right into the middle of it.”

At the far end of Ape Canyon, a ramshackle wooden building stood in the shelter of a pine grove. The structure appeared to be on the verge of falling down. The weathered planks that formed the walls were warped and cracked. It appeared as if a stiff breeze would knock it over.

“It looks like a big miner’s shack.”

“That’s what they want you to think,” Trinity said.

“What who wants me to think?” Stone asked.

“I’m not sure. Either John Kane or the Illuminati. Or maybe Kane is Illuminati. There’s no evidence of that, but their symbology keeps cropping up in my work, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a connection.”

“You say that so calmly.” Stone couldn’t help but admire Trinity’s courage. He only wished her bravery didn’t get her into so many dangerous situations.

“Why be afraid when I have a gentleman friend who insists on following me across the country because he thinks I need to be rescued?”

Stone didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Only Trinity could get herself caught between Bigfoot and an Illuminati outpost and still believe she did not need help. And perhaps she didn’t.

“Those rickety walls are a façade. There’s a building inside of it. A block building that has been painted black to camouflage it. I’ve seen a few men from the mining camp come and go, carrying in supplies. I’ve been watching this place for days. I’ve also heard pleas for help, cries of pain, some of them so unearthly I can scarcely believe a human made them.”

“Any idea what they’re up to?”

“No, but I’m convinced that it is connected with that strange room underneath the Martha Washington School.”

“Medical or biological, then,” Stone said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “This has to be an inconvenient location to do that sort of thing.”

“Perhaps they want to keep it a secret.” Trinity’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“There are plenty of isolated locations that are much more convenient to Kane’s headquarters in New York City. Why go to the opposite coast?”

“That is where the Bigfoot comes in. About ten years ago, Kane started conducting covert research into the Bigfoot. That would be unusual enough, but he was only interested in the mountains of Washington. That led me to his logging business, which has never turned a profit, and a series of unusually high donations to a girls school in Seattle.”

“It was the Martha Washington School that brought it all together, wasn’t it?” Stone asked. “Kane’s money, Ward’s connection with the lumber camp, and Junina, the girl from Rockmire who had a Bigfoot sighting so traumatic that it drove her half-mad.”

“Look at who just caught up!” Trinity patted him on the arm. “I want to get inside but there’s always a guard at the door. That’s where you come in.”

“Me?”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you can’t disable a single guard. That’s all they ever post. I don’t think they have ever had an uninvited visitor before me. There are only two ways in. One is through the Bigfoot canyon which Moss guards year-round. He doesn’t want anyone finding their lair.”

“Let me guess. The other way in is guarded by the lumber camp.”

Trinity smiled. “I love the way my intelligence has rubbed off on you over the years.”

Stone grinned. “I was away for many of those years.”

“You don’t need to remind me.” Trinity grabbed him by the collar and pulled his head down until their noses were almost touching. “Something very bad is going on inside there. We need to find out what. Do it for me. And that’s not a request; it’s an order.” She kissed him firmly on the lips.

“I’ll do it, but only because you are such a good kisser,” Stone said.