The Chasm

by Tom Hunter

  Miss Welker looked down to see the damage and as she did so, Thomas wrested the gun from her grasp, and threw her further into the room. The force sent her reeling as she collapsed in a heap near Noah’s bed.

  Her concern for Noah overtook her, but in the back of her mind, she knew the guards were on their way. “Noah!” she cried, shaking him. Miss Welker couldn’t believe he hadn’t woken with all the commotion in such close quarters, and wondered briefly if Knight had killed him.

  Thomas Knight leapt out of the RV, clearing the few steps easily. Dodging guards running toward him, he spotted his own guards and signaled to them to meet him outside Noah’s giant tent of a campsite.

  One of his guards tossed him a large bag. Thomas nodded a quick thanks as he realized it was the perfect size for the drum.

  Several of Noah’s guards converged on the RV, as Miss Welker shouted orders. “Thomas Knight has breached the campsite!” she exclaimed. She looked to the table where the drum should have been, and added, “He has the drum. Find him!”

  Without a sound, Thomas Knight and his guards dodged Noah’s guards. They kept to the shadows and stayed close to the perimeter of the camp as they raced against time to escape. Thomas was surprised to realize no shots had been fired and was beginning to breathe a sigh of relief when they came to the tent flap which would lead them back out into the desert and back to Alexia.

  A thought struck him. Why hadn’t she signaled? Had something happened? His mind raced as fast as his feet as he and his team retraced their steps back to the entrance. But, he stopped short at the sight that greeted them. Ramon stepped forward, his Brazilian manufactured Taurus CIA (Carry it Anywhere) gun aimed steadily at Thomas Knight and his team.

  He waved his gun toward the left, then the right, and Thomas followed it. Ramon was very good at his job, Thomas determined. His guards were stationed there already, and the only way anyone would get through would be through gunfire.

  Every exit was covered. They were trapped. Thomas took a deep breath and nodded. It was a signal he and his guards had worked out earlier. One nod meant “open fire”, and they did. Thomas grabbed Noah’s gun from his waistband and raised the one he’d wrested from Miss Welker and like something out of a shootout at the OK Corral, he opened fire.

  The sound of bullets filled his ears for a fleeting moment as both sides emptied their weapons. People dropped to the ground on both sides. When Thomas saw young Isaac lying on the ground, the guilt cut through him like a knife.

  Not another one. Too many lives. And for what? He bemoaned the loss, as he and the survivors muscled through the fallen on the other side. This wasn’t war. They weren’t fighting over oil or money… Thomas stopped himself. Of course, it’s money. It’s always about the goddamned money. Oh no, it couldn’t ever be for the knowledge gained, could it? His mind raced as he searched for other survivors.

  He raced to one fallen man.

  A guard from his own camp was hot on his heels. “Mr. Knight! Sir. Are you - ?”

  Thomas cut the guard’s words off, as he tore the bag with the drum from his shoulders and thrust it at the man. “Here, take this. Guard it with your life,” he said, gritting his teeth as he lifted the injured man to his shoulder.

  Where had Noah’s guards gone? They’d melted back into the campsite as quickly as they’d appeared. Ramon’s mercenaries were like ghosts, it seemed.

  With the injured man in a fireman’s carry and another guard tasked with guarding the drum, Thomas Knight and his team raced across the desert toward a car they could see parked, partially hidden behind a dune. He knew she wouldn’t be able to hear them, yet, but he shouted anyway, “Alexia! Start ‘er up!” he called. The engine roared to life.

  He risked a look back over his shoulder and immediately regretted it. The guard to whom he’d entrusted the drum collapsed, a bead of red spread quickly across his back. He’d been shot. A silenced gun, Thomas guessed, because he hadn’t heard a shot.

  To his horror, the dead man’s fingers loosened their grip on the bag which held the drum and on the downhill slide of the dune they’d just scaled, it rolled out of the bag.

  Like watching a slow-motion movie, everyone stopped, and watched as it rolled and bounced down the hill and along a path of its own making. Its bumping against loose rocks caused it to beat, a low thumping sound along the ground. The thumping caused a strange percussion they could feel under their feet.

  Alexia watched the drum roll, as she shifted the vehicle into drive, and drove toward Thomas. She felt the vibrations of its percussive march to a destination only it knew. Tearing her eyes from it, she called to Thomas, “The drum!”

  The injured guard began to slide from Thomas’s grasp. “I’ll get it. Let me get the drum!” he rasped.

  “No, soldier. You’ve done your part today,” said Thomas. He watched as one of Ramon’s guards approached them, his gun trained on them, as he waited for the drum to roll toward him.

  Thomas weighed his options and just as quickly scrapped them all. Any attempt to get the drum and they’d all be gunned down. This guard was on his own, which told Thomas other guns were trained on them, which he couldn’t see. Ramon was a mercenary. It was his job to kill with stealth. He wouldn’t leave it to one of his guards, and certainly not in full view of anyone.

  This guard’s job was simply to get them to back off, Thomas rationalized. It was just about then Alexia arrived. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Get in!” Thomas cursed, tossed the injured guard to the others already in the backseat, and took a last glance behind them as he jumped in.

  “We’ve got company,” he said, jerking his thumb behind them. Alexia glanced in the rearview mirror as the guards turned to look out the window. “So, that’s where they went,” muttered Thomas under his breath, as they all noted the large armored vehicle roaring toward them.

  Alexia offered a crooked smile, and exclaimed, “Okay boys, hold on!” She hit the gas hard and their hover vehicle lurched forward, its rear ducted fans straining, widening the distance between them and the armored vehicle.

  Nineteen

  As Mochni had instructed, Robbie and Pediah became well-versed in the handling of the Kisgar. They’d mounted the creatures smoothly, a new understanding and trust built between the gentle, infant-like Kisgar and the surfacers, under the watchful guidance of Mochni.

  “Your father has taught you well. You are a good teacher,” Pediah had remarked as he followed Mochni’s instruction and swung onto the creature’s back.

  Over the soft clop of the Kisgar’s steps, Robbie and Pediah heard another noise. Mochni sat up straighter. They were nearing the village. As the lights grew brighter and the darkness of the tunnels dimmed, the three could make out the first silhouettes.

  A tall man, flanked by two women, stood in front of a larger group. Robbie’s eyes brightened as they came into view and he saw Abby in a place of honor next Lt. Whipkey. On the man’s other side, stood his wife. But, the efforts of Mochni, Pediah, and Robbie to hide what they’d been through were stripped to bare bones, when Lt. Whipkey intoned something in a strange language.

  Robbie’s eyes had brightened at seeing Abby. But, her sharp look at Lt. Whipkey told him she knew what he’d said and was confirmed when she asked in English, “What happened?” The small band of villagers gathered around the Whipkey couple. Abby had at first craned her neck forward for a look at the drum, then recoiled at Lt. Whipkey’s question, and the realization the drum was not with the three who rode the Kisgar. There would be no victory to celebrate tonight.

  Lt. Whipkey looked apprehensively at his wife’s wide eyes as she saw first time the shape Mochni was in. Lt. Whipkey, more in control of emotions, swallowed as the lights from headlamps and flashlights showed Mochni hurt and patched together. “Who did this?” asked Lt. Whipkey.

  “I did,” began Robbie, half-heartedly raising his arm. Mochni’s eyes blazed and moved toward Robbie with anger in his eyes. Robbie’s eyes widened. “Wait!”

&nb
sp; Abby put a restraining hand on Lt. Whipkey’s arm to hold him back as Mochni’s mother rushed forward. Mochni had put on a good show, but the effort had taken a toll. “I don’t think he means he hurt Mochni,” offered Abby quietly. Raising her voice slightly, she waved to Robbie, and said, “Tell us what happened.” She looked from Pediah to Robbie and back again. “Either of you.”

  “Where is the drum?” asked Lt. Whipkey in unison to Abby’s question. Then, before that question was finished, he added, “And what happened to my son? Who patched him up?”

  “That’s what I meant,” explained Robbie. “I didn’t hurt him. I patched him up.”

  Abby raised an eyebrow. “When did you learn – oh,” Abby about to ask the question, stopped herself short as she remembered her daughter talking about Robbie taking some kind of EMT course. He’d always beat himself up about not being there for her when she needed him, and had been trying to prove himself ever since. Oh, the boy had rationalized, explaining he should know how to take care of himself – survival skills and such – but Abby knew better. Whoever Robbie tried to save, he would always be saving their Annie.

  At Pediah’s command, the Kisgar kneeled, allowing the men to more easily dismount. Lt. Whipkey raised an eyebrow as if to say “well done.”

  Robbie, closest to Mochni, offered the large youth a shoulder to lean on, and whispered, “You’ve been up too long. You need to rest.” Mochni only nodded as Robbie looked to Pediah. “I think you should tell them,” he suggested.

  A cocksure smile played at his lips as he added, “Besides, you’re in charge when Thomas isn’t around. Remember?”

  Abby suppressed a laugh at the look Pediah shot Robbie. Then, she quickly looked down and waited to hear what they had to say. “Fine,” muttered Pediah as he whispered another command in the Kisgar’s ear and it lay flat on the ground, resting its head as if sleeping. Robbie and Mochni followed suit as did their own mounts.

  Pediah began, “There’s been…” his voice trailed off. What would be the best way to start this? Do we tell them there’s been a theft? An incident? Ugh, where is Thomas Knight when you need him?

  Swallowing hard, the big man took a deep breath. “Thomas Knight sent us because…there has been a…theft.” His voice shook as he worried over the implications.

  “A theft?” deadpanned Lt. Whipkey. “Of?” he asked the question, though he was sure he knew the answer already and when Pediah answered, his heart sank.

  “The drum,” interjected Robbie.

  Abby lurched forward. “Someone stole…the drum,” she repeated. Mochni, Robbie, and Pediah locked eyes with her, their mouths set in a grim line, and nodded.

  Lt. Whipkey, ever the practical old soldier, asked, “Okay. But, what happened to you after you learned of the drum? I mean, why are you all here?”

  “Maybe we should start at the beginning,” posited Robbie with a sidelong glance toward Pediah.

  “Good idea,” said Lt. Whipkey, as he folded his arms. “I’m ready.”

  Between them, they explained what had happened, why they were back down there without the drum, and that they’d been ambushed by Noah’s men not long after entering the chamber.

  As they took turns telling their tale, Mochni nodded his agreement that what they said was true and accurate. When they’d finished, Mochni motioned to his hurts and added, “Robbie. Helped.”

  Lt. Whipkey’s frown had deepened at the news. Finally, when Robbie and Pediah stopped speaking, a long pause followed. After a while, his silence began to make people feel uncomfortable and Pediah realized with a start, he was nervously shuffling his feet. Finally, Lt. Whipkey spoke.

  “What is your Thomas Knight going to do about… this?” he asked.

  “He’s going to steal the drum back, of course,” explained Robbie. At the looks he got from Lt. Whipkey, Abby, and the villagers, Robbie continued. “He’s going to sneak into Noah’s camp. He thinks a prize like that is likely never far from Noah, and he’s going to take it back.” With a quick glance toward Abby, Robbie added, “Oh, and don’t worry. He’s got backup. Alexia and a small contingent of guards Dr. Cunningham hired just for the occasion.”

  “Okay…but, what are you doing down here?” asked Abby with a curious expression. “I thought you’d jump at the chance to get back at Noah and his people.”

  Robbie looked down, a pink flush crept up his neck and into his face. He scuffed a toe at the sand, his hands behind his back. “Oh, I wanted to,” he explained to the dirt. “Believe me, I wanted to, but –“ he looked up at Abby then and paused.

  “But?” she encouraged.

  Robbie smiled, “I couldn’t just leave you down here, now, could I?” He glanced to Pediah, and went on, “We – Pediah, Thomas, and I – “ Robbie paused and looked from Mochni to Lt. Whipkey before adding, “We had hoped to ask you, sir,” he said nodding to Lt. Whipkey. “We hoped Lt. Whipkey would release you per the condition Thomas retrieves the drum.”

  Pediah took up the thread, “Thomas Knight is as good as his word. If he says he’ll get something done, it gets done.”

  As Pediah spoke, Abby moved toward Robbie her hands held out to him. “That’s sweet, Robbie. But, I’m fine.” She looked around, then at Lt. Whipkey and his wife, and smiled “I’ve been fine.”

  “Listen, Abby. I know you can take care of yourself,” said Robbie. “But, I can’t lose you, too.”

  She sighed, “I know what you mean, son. I miss them, too.” Abby’s eyes filled with unshed tears and as she saw Robbie trying to stem the tide of his own tears, she went on. “I’ve said it a million times and I’ll probably say it a million times more,” Abby intoned. “You are the son I never had, the son who for a brief, fleeting moment was able to love my daughter the way her dad and I did.”

  Abby swallowed, then and released one of Robbie’s hands and reached for the coral brooch she wore at her throat. “I’ve lost a husband. You’ve lost a young wife. We’re bonded and always will be.” She turned her eyes toward Mochni, then, and smiled. “The love of family can span great distances.”

  Mochni stepped forward. He gestured toward Robbie and Pediah and, in his own language, explained how they had jumped into the fray of the ambush. Then, when he’d gotten hurt, they’d rushed to his aid. The selflessness of Pediah and Robbie and the loyalty they showed toward Thomas Knight was enough to convince Lt. Whipkey.

  “Yes,” agreed Lt. Whipkey. “Your Thomas Knight is a good man and a man of his word. I can feel this when we shake hands.” The Woidnuk leader paused for a long moment. “And it is in his eyes. His integrity.” He nodded toward the villagers and said something in the Woidnuk language. Abby’s subsequent nod and smile suggested he said much the same to his people.

  “So, you’ll release Abby?” asked Robbie.

  “With the understanding we’ll return with the drum?” added Pediah.

  Abby looked from Robbie to Pediah to Lt. Whipkey and back again, as they waited for his answer. With a glance at Mochni, who only smiled, Abby felt torn between clapping her hands like a child and wanting to stay. To continue the lessons they’d all come to enjoy. As her eyes circled the room, she almost missed Lt. Whipkey’s imperceptible nod. He turned to Abby with a smile, “If you wish. It is up to you,” he explained with a small bow.

  Robbie’s eyes lit up and Mochni signaled it was time to mount the Kisgar once more. But, a distant rumbling stopped him in mid-gesture. Without his command, the Kisgar who’d lain so quietly at their feet during the explanation snorted. Their mood seemed to grow darker.

  Pediah and Robbie watched in horror as their Kisgar’s scales deepened and their eyes took on a hardness that hadn’t been there before. The three creatures stood before their riders, their heads held high and began to beat a steady staccato with their feet.

  The rumblings Lt. Whipkey had sensed earlier grew louder and more intense as they neared their small village. There was no mistaking the sound. It was the steady beat of a drum. He swallowed hard, a knot in the pit
of his stomach. His worst fear was coming to life.

  Feeling oddly detached, he heard the shrieks of the villagers as they scattered for cover. The sound grew louder, and he felt rooted to the spot. He’d felt this way once before, and staying in one place had saved his life. Would it do the same now?

  He watched as Mochni, Pediah, and Robbie backed away from their Kisgar. Abby took hold of Mochni and Robbie’s hands and backed up with them in tow. Lt. Whipkey felt a cool hand take his and knew it was his wife. The energies from her fingertips were filled with love and comfort. Whatever happened, she would be at his side.

  Though many villagers had already run for cover, many more remained. They stayed because he stayed. Realizing the depths of their loyalty, he dug deep. This was one thing he knew he and Thomas Knight had in common. Neither wanted deaths on their hands, and the friends they made were for life.

  Digging deep, Lt. Whipkey found his voice. In a flash, the change in the Kisgar behavior and the fleeing villagers showed him a catastrophic future both below and above ground. Something had happened to the drum. “Ecknom’s Folly is active!” he bellowed. “Run!”

  Robbie switched grips with Abby and she tightened her grip on Mochni. Pediah moved toward Lt. Whipkey and his wife. Robbie, Mochni, and Abby were hot on their heels.

  The once docile Kisgar began to thrash, snarl, and with bared teeth began to attack. Villagers scattered, but the Kisgar pounced and crashed through the village, the swish of their tails sending Woidnuk flying. Lt. Whipkey, his wife, Abby, Mochni, Pediah, and Robbie watched in horror as the scene unfolded before them.