Track of the Beast: A Brock Stone Adventure

“Meriwether Lewis discovered this canyon. Jefferson had regaled him with stories of a lost white tribe, so he was shocked to find what appeared to be primitive humans living here. He was fascinated by them and he knew there were those in his party that would hunt the creatures for sport or worse. He also suspected the so-called Corps of Discovery, which made up the backbone of the expedition, was under the sway of the Illuminati.”

Stone nodded. The Corps of Discovery was a special unit of the United States Army which had been commissioned by Thomas Jefferson specifically for the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Corps’ objectives were to study the plant and animal life and geography of the West and assess its economic potential.

“Was Jefferson an Illuminatus?” Stone asked. Jefferson’s political opponents had accused him of not only being connected to the clandestine society, but claimed that he was the head of the American sect of the Illuminati. They had even claimed that, if elected President, he and his fellow intellectuals would strip Americans of their religious freedoms and property rights.

“Not as far as I know. At times, he was forced to be their creature, but he tried to confound them as often as he could. Some of the clues Lewis followed were taken from an artifact discovered in a secret Illuminate temple in Virginia that Jefferson’s men raided. A runestone, I believe.”

Stone nodded, remembering the temple he and Alex had discovered.

“What happened after Lewis discovered the canyon?” Trinity said.

“The Illuminati found the creatures on their own, so Lewis kept his silence. As it turned out, the Madoc story was a cover. They had fully expected to find some form of intelligent ape or primitive human living in the West, and planned to study and experiment upon them.”

“What sorts of experiments?” Trinity asked.

“Blood transfusions, organ transplants, dissections, cross-breeding with the local native population.” Ward listed them with the casual indifference of a husband reading his shopping list aloud to the store clerk. “A group of Illuminati remained behind to conduct their experiments, and their names were expunged from the historical record.

“The experiments went nowhere and most of the men abandoned the project after a decade or so. But one man remained behind, a German immigrant named Gebhardt. He had married two native women and sired several children.”

“Two women?” Trinity scowled. She seemed more offended by that detail than the list of horrible experiments.

“Gebhardt brought his family in on the experiments and the work was passed down through the generations, the family becoming more secretive until only legend remained. That legend made its way to Mister Kane. We discovered the facility. One man was living here alone, trying to continue his family’s work, but he lacked the resources to do it well. The research conducted here was primitive, but we gained valuable insights which accelerated our timeline.”

“What happened to the man? Did you kill him?” Trinity asked.

“Hardly.” Ward laughed. “Last I heard, he is living in Germany with a lovely young wife.”

“So, you’ve resurrected all of the old Illuminati experiments?” Stone asked.

“After a fashion.” Ward blanched, hurried on. “But it is more humane. There is no more dissection.”

“Are you Illuminati?” Stone asked.

Ward made a small bob of the head.

“How about John Kane?” Trinity said.

Ward barked a laugh. “I am not important enough to have ever met John Kane, much less know his personal affiliations.”

“Who is the Worshipful Master?” Stone said quickly, trying to catch the man off guard. He succeeded.

Ward flinched, hesitated. “I don’t know.” He immediately held up his hands. “I’m telling the truth. He is so far above me in the order I will never know who he is. All I can tell you is John Kane is the butter and egg man, all the money comes from him, but the Worshipful Master calls the shots.”

Stone had a suspicion the two were one and the same.

“Did you abduct local women for your experiments?” Trinity demanded.

“The lumber camp acquires patients. I don’t ask about that. I am mostly a bookkeeper,” Ward said.

“A man was found beaten to death,” Trinity said. “Did your people do that or was it the Bigfoot?”

“I heard about that. He got drunk and wandered into the wrong area. Davis and his men dealt with them.”

“Were they responsible for causing the avalanche that nearly killed us?’ Stone asked.

“Probably. They have a man who goes around disguised as a Bigfoot and tries to discourage people from going places they shouldn’t.” Ward didn’t quite meet Stone’s eye.

“Show us the lab.” Stone’s words were calm, but inside he was raging.

Ward’s face went white as snow. He swayed, gulped, and cleared his throat. “No. I would be signing my own death warrant.”