Inside Man | ONC2023

16. Getting closer

(Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to ravenwood666may and her supernatural romance, Unseen, written for the ONC2023)

Rik turned around and began to retrace his steps. He tried to gain some comfort from the thought that he should be able to move faster on the return journey, but the first tendrils of fear were beginning to creep in, curling around his confidence.

What if he had exactly the same problem if he went the other way? What if there were more than two pathways to choose from? He'd never know. The maze strategy was really only practical for small spaces, but he didn't feel he had a choice. It might take a long time if all the tunnels were lengthy, but surely this strategy was better than wandering about aimlessly. He had to believe that.

And to top things off, he kept thinking about Mikel, mourning more for the death of the relationship he'd believed they had, than for the man himself. It was hard to grieve sincerely for a man who had set him up to be falsely accused of a serious crime, and then slept with someone else the same night.

He supposed Mikel hadn't expected anyone to die, least of all himself, but he had taken a foolishly dangerous risk, consuming illegal street drugs and worse, giving them to Paul without his knowledge. Who knew what was in them, really? What if Paul had been the one to die, allergic to one of the ingredients? It was unforgivable.

Rik kept walking, one foot ahead of the other, his left hand trailing along the cave wall.

~~~~

Kam's hovercar was a vivid burnt orange with a bubble top, a model which had been the height of fashion six years ago, but which now looked simply flashy.

Using a tool from his bag of equipment, Paul took two minutes to break into it. The interior was surprisingly tidy, no loose objects lying around, or visible clues to a kidnapping for that matter. He searched it as thoroughly as he could, taking DNA samples from the controls and the storage compartment, where he guessed Rik had been carried. All the while his mind was ticking over.

"He comes and goes," the receptionist had said.

Did that mean Kam had another place? Somewhere off the grid perhaps, without his name attached to it? It made sense, thought Paul. He had been far too easy to find here. He thought maybe this address was a decoy, rather than a genuine residence. He wouldn't be surprised if Kam had a second vehicle either, a less conspicuous one, that he was probably using now instead of this. He could only hope the hovercar in front of him was the one Kam had used to transport Rik.

Paul took another device from his bag and focused it on the control panel. Technically, as a private investigator, he wasn't supposed to own this type of scanner, however, he was sure the Patrol could spare one and it came in very handy. A few moments later, he had the co-ordinates for the vehicle's last ten trips.

Now that was interesting.

Kam's last destination before this one, had been some point in Kadina Forest Park, over a hundred kays north. Surely that had to be where he had stashed Rik. He could think of no other reason for Kam to go there. He hadn't struck Paul as a serious nature lover.

He brought up a map of the area on his wristcom. His eyes widened as he saw a large cave system marked, close to where the hovercar had gone. He remembered from reading about the kidnapping, that Rik had been hidden inside a cave back then, six years ago. It seemed Kam had reverted to form.

Paul was as certain as he could be that Rik had been placed somewhere inside those caves. Another quick search told him that a small portion of the cave system was open to the general public but that most of it was restricted to trained cavers. The charted sections revealed long winding tunnels, some of them kilometres in length, with frequent branching chambers. He swallowed. This was going to be more challenging than he had expected.

He tried to contact Chris Maddon to share his findings, and co-opt some help, but he was only able to leave a message.

Too bad, he wasn't going to hang around waiting.

Paul hurried back to his hovercar and set the co-ordinates for those used by Kam. On the way, he stopped briefly at a camping store and bought a few items including two bottles of water and some chocolate.

He reached his destination in less than an hour and circled around, trying to spot exactly where Kam had landed. The area appeared uninhabited and he could see no sign of any buildings or the section which was supposedly open to the public. Trees and dense scrub covered most of the ground, but he soon found one place where leaves and twigs had been flattened and disturbed. That had to be it. He brought his own craft down on top, then gathered his bag and the items he had just bought.

Now all he had to do was find an entrance to the cave.