The Demon Conspiracy Read Online Free PDF Page B

pockets. Plenty of dog biscuits.
Satisfied, he tossed his backpack over one shoulder and stopped by
the pen to give Ripper some love and a couple of biscuits. Then he
went inside the station.
    The head ranger, who
normally worked the day shift, was a serious looking, dark eyed
woman named Melinda Laarz. Laarz was in her forties, with a
friendly personality and a definite take-charge attitude,
especially during emergencies. Laarz was a full time, year round
ranger—a lifer, and that was okay with Ned. Somebody had to do it.
One reason he stuck with being a park ranger was because he wasn’t in charge. Being
a supervisor would make it seem too much like a real job. The only real job he
wanted was to be an accountant.
    “What’s up, Melinda?”
    “Hey, Ned,” she said, marking on the work
calendar. “Are you awake?”
    He yawned and nodded. “How about you? You
just pulled a double.”
    “I’ll live. I hope Eric’s
hot date is worth it. He’s the one pulling
a double tomorrow.”
    Ned laughed. “Eric’s never had any trouble
finding girls, so this one must be extra special. She’s that
Russian girl who goes caving around here. Is there coffee?”
    “That pot’s fresh. Russian girl? You mean
Anya? She’s a pretty one, all right. I didn’t realize they knew
each other.”
    “He met her at the summer camp.”
    Laarz dismissed the topic with a shrug.
“Keep an eye on the spotlights, okay? They went off twice last
night and I don’t know why. If they go off again pop the breaker
switch pronto. Are you going to stay awake?”
    “I got a test tomorrow. I’ll be awake.”
    “Good enough. I need a beer and some shrimp
fried rice. See ya later.”
    “G’night, Melinda.” When Laarz left, Ned got
out his books and poured a cup of coffee. Then he got to work
studying.
    Nearly three hours later Ned got up and made
a big, joint-popping stretch. He felt pretty good about the test
and decided to watch TV for a while.
    Five hours to go, he thought, searching for the TV remote. Not so bad .
    About then Ripper started
barking like crazy. Ned flinched. The dog never barked like that
unless someone, or something was close by. Ned swallowed hard and took up his
flashlight.
    Please don’t be a
skunk , he thought as he went out the
door.
    All the spotlights around the station were
off, including the ones in front of the cave. Ned gripped the
long-handled flashlight securely, like a short club. If somebody
was messing around with the breaker box he might have to bash some
heads in. He touched the cell phone in his pants pocket to make
sure it was there. Sometimes even rangers needed to call 911.
    Ned moved through the shrubs on the south
side of the station until he came to the breaker box under the
window. He removed the heavy padlock and opened the panel. Nothing
looked out of the ordinary. He flipped several switches off and
back on again. Everything outside stayed dark.
    “Dammit.”
    All the while Ripper continued to bark. Ned
shined the flashlight on the dog. Ripper’s full attention was on
Pandora’s Cave, about thirty yards away. Ned aimed the beam of
light at the cave entrance and finally saw what the dog saw. He was
so startled he jumped to his feet.
    A man stood alone near the cave entrance,
staring back at him. He was tall, at least six feet and wore a
dark, three-piece business suit with highly polished black leather
shoes. His fingers were interlaced in front of him in an
undertaker’s pose.
    “Can I help you, sir?” Ned glanced over his
shoulder at the parking lot. His Jeep was the only vehicle there.
How’d this clown even get here?
    Ned noticed some kind of metallic looking
object on the ground beside the man. It was shaped like a chrome
fire hydrant and stood about hip high. What the hell was that
supposed to be? He shined the light in the man’s face and
approached him warily.
    Ned stopped about ten feet away from the
stranger, but kept the light trained in the guy’s eyes. From that
distance, Ned