Kevin managed to pedal the rest of the way to the giant ball without taking another break. He stopped in the parking lot and they hopped off the bike, glad to be finished riding.
The thirty foot white ball sitting on top of a rickety looking stand dominated the area. Even though supporting cables were strung from it to the ground, it looked like it would blow over in the next big wind, like a dandelion that has gone to seed. On one side of the ball sat a small shed. It probably held the lawnmower that was used around the site and maybe some other maintenance tools, Adam thought. On the other side of the ball tower was a small office. The office was nothing more than a small square building with a door on the front between two windows. The yard was gravelled like the road and smelled like dust.
"Do you think they hid it in the ball?" asked Kevin.
"No. Elianora said they put it underground," said Adam, "so I'm betting there's a Sentinel League door around here somewhere. Besides, that thing is way too obvious.”
Kevin nodded. "Maybe the pebble opens the secret door," he said.
"Could be," Adam replied. "Let's look around and see what we can find.
They checked the office building first, but nothing stood out indicating the Sentinel League or a secret entrance. They started at the back and searched their way to the front, ending up at the only door.
The door was locked with a regular lock, so they looked in the window. It was almost empty except for a desk and chair. On the desk was a stack of paper, a stapler and a coffee mug filled with pens. Nothing unusual. There were no other doors that could be seen.
“I don’t think it’s in here,” said Adam.
Kevin nodded. “To the shed.”
The shed on the other side of the supporting structure was a small steel one with a single door and no windows. The door was unlocked, so they looked inside. A large riding lawnmower sat in the middle, surrounded by shelves packed full of tools and parts. One shelf held some chemicals and oil jugs while another held pulleys and drive belts. Every other shelf was jam packed with various items.
After looking around for a minute, Adam moved the lawnmower to make sure it wasn’t hiding a trapdoor. It wasn’t, so he pushed it back in place and stepped outside, certain there was no secret entrance in the shed.
“Are you sure this is where she hid it?” asked Kevin.
Adam thought for a moment. “This is where she pointed when Larix asked where the Heartstone was hidden. I guess we need to try the obvious.”
“Yep. Maybe being too obvious makes it easier to hide,” said Kevin.
“There’s only one way to find out. Let’s go up,” Adam said as he pointed at the ball, far off the ground.
“How about I keep watch down here and you go up. Let me know if you find anything,” said Kevin.
Adam chuckled and walked to middle of the structure holding the ball in the air. A plaque was attached to the center column. ‘Radome’ was written on it in big bold letters.
That’s what Elianora said – Radome! he thought.
Next to the plaque was a ladder attached to the center column. It was used to access the interior of the Radome through a hatch above. Adam climbed to the top and pushed up on the hatch, but it was locked, probably with the same type of lock as the attic hatch in Town Hall, he guessed. He searched his pocket, found the pin and opened the hatch exactly as he suspected.
He climbed into the Radome and looked around. It was empty. No radar equipment or electronics of any kind were left inside, not even a forgotten wire. At the top of the dome were a few clear panels that let in enough light to see, even though the sun was beginning to fade.
All around the inside of the Radome were small hatches, 4 feet from the floor. Adam opened the nearest one and looked out. He had a perfect view of the rocky field on the west side of the site, and as he brought his focus closer he saw that he was overlooking the shed.
On the opposite side, he looked out a hatch that was already open. He saw the field to the east with its scrub brush trees in the rocky field. Slowly, he brought his gaze closer and closer, seeing nothing much more than the office building.
The Radome had to be Elianora’s lookout, he thought, which meant he was in the right spot - but where was the entrance?
“Is the door in there?” Kevin called from below.
“I don’t think so,” said Adam.
He returned to looking out one of the hatches, but he looked just outside the Radome where the supporting wires attached to the frame. He noticed a middle wire that wasn’t anchored at the outer edge of the structure. It ran to a point underneath that he couldn’t see because of the curve of the Radome and the position of the hatch. He followed the wire down toward the ground and it disappeared on the far side of the office.
“Hey Kev,” Adam called down, “you see the wire that comes up here from the office?”
“Yeah,”
“Does it attach to the office or the ground?”
Through the hatch, Adam watched Kevin walk to the other side of the office.
“It looks like it attaches to the ground, but it really attaches to the office if you look close enough,” Kevin called back to Adam.
Adam climbed down the ladder again, pausing to look at the point where that particular cable made contact with the structure. It threaded into a large steel box and disappeared. Normally a person would assume the wire was attached inside the box, but now that Adam was looking closer, that supporting wire looked out of place, not having another one to balance it out on the other side.
As Adam made his way to the side of the office building, he saw the wire anchored to the ground and leading up to the top of the office.
“Look up there where they meet,” said Kevin.
Adam could clearly see a separation between the cable coming down from the Radome and the cable coming up from the ground. He started getting excited and began searching around the side of the office until he found a hole in the cement foundation about the size and shape of a small brick. He stuck his hand in the hole and felt around.
“What is it?” asked Kevin.
Adam pulled his hand from the hole and took out the bag carrying the pebble. He held the pebble in his hand and stuck it in the hole, pulling it upward. Nothing happened.
He pulled his hand out and looked at the pebble when another thought stuck him. He put the key pebble in his pocket, instead of the bag he had taken it from, and searched the gravel around the foundation of the office, picking up a small stone similar in size and shape to the key pebble. He put the piece of gravel into the bag, then back in his pocket as well.
Kevin smiled as he understood what Adam was doing.
“Just a little insurance,” said Adam.
Next, he took the pin from his pocket.
“Watch this. I have a feeling it’s gonna be cool,” said Adam smiling.
With the pin face up in his right hand, he reached into the hole and held it to the top edge. A mechanism operated for a couple of seconds and was silent. Adam pulled up and the entire building hinged upwards toward the Radome. Underneath the office foundation was a wide set of stairs leading down into darkness.
Kevin’s eyes were wide in wonder. “That’s…That’s…” he stuttered.
“I told you it would be cool,” said Adam, proud of himself for finding the entrance. He had guessed that the wire coming down from the Radome was most likely hooked up to a large weight in the center column of the structure, balancing out the weight of the office building.
Kevin stood still for a moment, looking down into the darkness and Adam could see a thought hit him. Kevin walked to the front of the building and looked in the lower window. “Come see this!” he called to Adam.
Adam walked over and looked through the window. Nothing in the office had moved, not a paper or a pen, let alone the desk or chair.
“It’s all fake,” exclaimed Kevin.
Adam smiled for a second, but soon his thoughts were back on target.
“We can look at the cool stuff later, I hope. We need to find the Heartstone fast and get out of here.”
Kevin agreed. “After you,” he said, ushering Adam toward the staircase, more than happy to be going second once more.
Adam led the way to the stairs and took a few steps down. He kept his hand on the wall, thinking he would probably find a touch location to fire up some Lumiens nearby. After feeling all over the wall for a while, he gave up and hoped there would be a panel lower down.
Down the stairs he went, at least 100 steps, when he finally hit the bottom. He hadn’t taken his hand off the wall the whole way, but still hadn’t found a panel.
“I made it to the bottom. Just wait there and I’ll see if I can find a Lumiens panel somewhere.
In the darkness, he ran his fingers over the wall up and down starting at the stairs and moving forward. Eventually, he came to a point where his feet felt an edge. It was probably more stairs, he thought. Deciding not to go down any further without some light, Adam made his way back to the stairs he had already come down and then followed them across to the other wall. He searched in the same way with no success.
“I can’t find a way to turn on the lights. What should we do? Keep going down or check the shed for a flashlight?” Adam asked.
Kevin hesitated for a moment. “Let’s try the shed. Maybe they didn’t put Lumiens in here for a reason.” His voice was far up the stairs.
Adam thought about it for a moment and agreed with Kevin’s suspicion. Larix had referred to the fact that Elianora most likely had traps around the Heartstone, so they were better off having a light than not.
“Let’s make it fast. We wasted a lot of time already,” said Adam. He heard Kevin turn and run up the stairs and realized that Kevin wasn’t more than halfway down.
Adam trudged up the stairs, glancing up once in a while to see the dimming light at the entrance. He kept a steady pace until he was near the top. Since Kevin had been at the top for a while, Adam hoped he had already found a flashlight in the shed.
Near the top, Adam’s pulse dulled his sense of hearing, but between a couple of heartbeats he clearly heard, “Adam, come out.”
It was his mother’s voice.
Without wondering why she was there, he ran up the stairs and turned in the direction of her voice, only to see her, Elianora and Kevin held by Larix’s men.
A man Adam didn’t recognize stood beside Mary. In a smooth British accent, he said, “Hello Adam. Please come out of there … and hand over the Keystone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN