Read Online Vortex by Ray Garton - Free Book Online Page A

trying to calm her down. But Penny is so calm it’s almost, like, creepy.”
    Crystal led them to the small dining room where two women sat at the rectangular table. One was heavyset with short, mussed, graying brown hair and puffy bags under protuberant eyes and the other was a slender, pretty girl with long red hair and a faint sprinkling of freckles on her cheeks. Each had a coffee mug and a third mug stood at the place where Crystal had been sitting across from them.
    Crystal made the introductions, told Gavin and Karen to sit down and brought them coffee.
    “You can talk to them,” Crystal said to Gertie and Penny. “They work for a good friend of mine. They’re here to help.”
    “Sorry for waking you,” Gertie said tremulously.
    “Stop apologizing, Gertie,” Crystal said. “I’m glad you came. Really.”
    “I-I just didn’t know what else to do, where else to go. Those people were after her,” she said, nodding toward Penny. “They spread out through the woods to find her, but I’d taken her into the house. She told me to hide her because they were going to come to the door.” She looked at Penny with admiration, even awe. “She knew. She knew they were coming and even what they would say.” She turned to Gavin and Karen again and continued. “I put her in an old hope chest we keep in the cellar. They came to the door and woke my parents. They asked if anyone had come to the door or if we’d heard anything. Mama and Papa didn’t know what was going on, and I lied. They left and Mama and Papa went back to bed. I waited a little while for them to go back to sleep and then I went down and got Penny out of the chest. I knew we needed help from someone who would understand, so I brought Penny here. I was so scared at first. When I got in the car and drove away, I expected them to follow us—Mr. Ryker and his people. But Penny said they were pretty preoccupied.”
    “Mr. Ryker?” Karen said. “Who’s Mr. Ryker?”
    “He’s in charge out there,” Gertie said. “They came to investigate the... um... what I found.”
    “What did you find?” Karen asked.
    Gertie frowned and lowered her gaze. She stared at her right arm, then touched it with her left hand. “It bit me,” she whispered.
    “She’s talking about Pyk,” Penny said. She spoke softly and calmly. “He came out of the mountain. Well, no... that’s not quite right. He came from underground. Under the mountain. I have a lot of time to kill in our hotel room and I’ve been reading up on Mt. Shasta. A lot of the things people believe about this area—I mean, the crazy stuff—a lot of it’s true. There is a city deep underground. A whole civilization of people who came here long, long ago from a continent that sank into the ocean. That’s where Pyk is from. But he’s not... he’s...” She frowned as she considered her words for a moment. “He’s a misfit. Maybe mutant is the right word. He’s angry, even mean. But mostly because he’s scared and confused. There are others like him down there, and they’re dealt with, these... misfits. Mutants. They’re isolated from the others. Like criminals here. They’re cared for, but they’re considered dangerous, so they’re kept separate from everyone else. For safety. But Pyk escaped, and he ended up here.”
    “Hold it,” Gavin said. “Let’s go back a little. Who are you, Penny? What are you doing here? How are you involved in all this.”
    “This is my latest assignment. I was brought here to help them communicate with Pyk.”
    “Help who communicate with him?” Karen said.
    “Mr. Ryker and his people from Km Services. When I first met him, he worked for the CIA.”
    Crystal turned to Karen and Gavin and said, “I’ve already put in a call to Marty and given him the name. He’s got somebody working on it. He’ll let us know what they turn up.”
    “Ryker worked for the CIA?” Gavin said, gently prodding Penny to continue.
    She nodded. “I went on a couple of