Project Threshold: Team Berger: Division 1: Project Threshold, #1

By Craig Crawford

In a multiverse where the walls are thin between our world and others, Project Threshold stands between humanity and monsters crossing over to threaten us. Harris Berger and his team intervenes on our behalf. Death waits around every corner but dying isn't the worst thing they have to endure. Berger wades in with his team: Sam, Billy, Jacks, Jessie, and their new recruit, Pendelhaven. Team Berger faces an unknown advanced civilization, mimics loose on the streets of Chicago killing homeless people, dealing with the aftermath of witnessing awful things, mermaids in the Midwest and an apartment where people start committing suicide for no apparent reason.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Cape Publishing
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223461968

Book preview

Project Threshold

Team Berger: Division 1

Craig Crawford

Copyright 2023 for Red Cape Publishing

Cover artwork by Red Cape Graphic Design

www.redcapepublishing.com

First Edition Published 2023 by Red Cape Publishing

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Acknowledgements

To Judith Whetstine—she indoctrinated me into horror in all its forms, and we’ve shared that in books, movies and more.  Thanks Mom—I’m better for it. 

Red Cape: For jumping in on these stories and getting excited enough to see them into publishing.  This kind of support from a great indie press is beyond words. Never ending thanks! 

The Dread Machine—made this real by loving the first story and suggesting I write more.  Much appreciated. 

Deidre Owen from Mannison Press: for your amazing creativity.  Between the P/T logo and the hotspots map, you just keep adding to the fun. 

Ron Linson from Mannison Press: For your pep talks and ideas and fleshing out all the possibilities to run with it. And co-authoring a P/T story we have yet to use. 

Shelby Herig for being my biggest Project Threshold fan  

Jeff Hess—insights, ideas and just being the rudder to keep steering me forward. 

Luana G: Thanks for your Latin assistance and being a sounding board for everything from BIO’s to background. And for encouraging another writer even when he was sure his website was trying to kill his sanity. 

And finally to my family who get excited during my victories and support me when I fail.  They’re good peeps. 

Makur J for helping with everything from websites to cheering me on during ups and downs. A good friend.

The Cave – A Project Threshold Story

They descended two by two into the cave system, six in all, led by Captain Harris Berger. He wanted to stamp the snow off his boots but knew silence was more important. Decidedly warmer in the tunnel than outside, he quietly descended further down through the stone shaft.

They were looking for a lost hiker—a professional photographer who took wildlife footage. He’d come to the Crater Lake region to tromp around in the winter landscape. He’d gone missing four days ago, and neither SAR nor cadaver dogs had been able to find him.

So, Berger’s team was sent in.

Berger held up a hand and they stopped. He turned back and talked in hushed tones. "We know the target was in the vicinity, and with the weather it's possible he came in here. I'm reminding you one more time; we proceed carefully. The cave system will open up after we reach the end of the passage. No one diverts down side tunnels. I don't care what you hear or see. Everyone stays within eyesight and within reach of each other. Wander off and we'll probably never see you again. Jacks? You're at the back, so watch yourself. Pendelhaven—it's your responsibility to look back on Jacks every four-count."

Berger looked them over. Only he and Sam Emples had been with Project Threshold more than four years. They were the veterans. Most transferred out or died. Billy Savin was closing in on three years. Jacks had just survived the two-year mark and so had Jessie Arnold, another recruit on Berger’s short list.

Pendelhaven was the newest to Project Threshold, and even though Berger had run through the scenario ten times, new people weren't always as careful as they should or could be—especially when something bad happened. He debated keeping her in the middle of the group, but Jacks kept his head in the game and was more capable of keeping his shit together when things went sideways. He’d pick up the slack if she bolted.

The team followed in tight formation. Berger glanced back, ensuring everyone carried their automatic assault shotguns properly. The cameras mounted to the chest pieces of their insulated armor couldn’t be obstructed. Their helmet cameras provided a secondary perspective, but none of it—the guns, the armor, the helmets, the cameras - were worth much. Losing people on these missions happened often. The gear and the tech helped ease minds as they stepped into the unknown.

The cavern tunnel wound around a bend—they'd mapped the place the last time out, and everyone had studied it until it was burned into their heads. Berger knew it would lead past side entrances, smaller and darker, but you couldn’t go down them, even with weapons. The previous time, he'd lost two troopers: one running off after seeing something, and the second following the first. Coming out of the bend, Berger heard a shuffle to his right. He looked and fleetingly saw something in the darkness, but it retreated. He turned away before he saw more of it.

A murmur in the back caught his attention. What the . . .?

It was Pendelhaven. What? Berger whispered, stopping.

I . . . I could have sworn I saw my grandmother. Down the side passage . . .

Turn away and keep moving, Berger ordered. "I warned you. It won't be the last time you see something down here, but it's not your grandmother. Don't wander off, or you'll never see her again."

She's dead, sir.

Head down a passage and you’ll join her. Keep moving.

The bend straightened out and Berger followed it for another two minutes. The walls weren't natural holes in the cavern. There was a buildup of grime and moisture, but clearly, the walls had been carved out a long time back by some device. The years and the regular wear made the tunnel look more natural, but Berger knew better. Something carved out the tunnel to the surface and it was long before people landed in America.

We know he’s in here? whispered Jessie.

No. It’s one of two spots we know of nearby. Command decided this was the most likely place, so we’re going here first. 

The tunnel slanted downward for a dozen steps and beyond, and Berger saw the opening to the cavern. The ceiling reached almost eight feet high before peeling away as they entered. Berger took two more steps and stopped dead, everyone fanning out on either side of him. 

The cavern stretched back and spread out at least one hundred yards wide, though they couldn’t see the far walls through the darkness. The roof of the cavern rose high above them, stalactites hanging down like jagged teeth in a