by Tom Hunter
At the sight of Thomas’s raised eyebrows, Pediah explained, his goofy smile struggling to break free, “in case you turn up missing as well.”
Thomas shook his head and sighed. “Please don’t joke about that. I might appear like I’m the Superman of archaeology, but really this search and rescue mission scares the living crap out of me. It’s extremely dangerous. But, we’re going in after our comrades anyway, fear be damned.”
Pediah nodded, his expression contrite. “Duly noted.”
“You don’t think…you don’t think we’ll actually need to shoot anyone, do you, Thomas?” Robbie asked in earnest.
Thomas did a double take when the punchline didn’t appear, and shrugged, “I sure hope not. But, if we can’t find anyone else to join us” – he locked eyes with Robbie – “I’m going to rely on you to keep your head on straight. No TV; er, YouTube, persona. Ya got me?”
In an instant, the serious Robbie had been replaced by devil-may-care Robbie, who declared cockily, “I’m cool,” as he flipped the collar of his imaginary leather jacket. “I can do more than just watch your back. Just you wait and see.”
Thomas rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m not as confident about this as I’d like to be. But, it seems I’ll have to put my faith and trust in you. Don’t let me down.”
Robbie offered a mock salute, as Thomas turned on his heel back toward camp, to get his guns.
Eighteen
The field lamps, now tested and fully operational, burned bright against the backdrop of night. The quiet crackle of radio patrols confirmed “all clear” and “safety checks complete,” as armed guards patrolled the camp. Thomas eyed his security force, glad of their presence. There would be no repeats of the month before.
At the sound of their approach, other guards nearby drew closer to the group. “Hello, Jones, Hauser, Page, Landers,” Thomas replied, nodding to each guard as they huddled around. “Not sure if base has filled you in, yet, but looks like we may be on a potential search and rescue.” At the guards’ raised eyebrows, Thomas went on, “Seems Johnson, and now all of Team 3, have gone radio silent. We’ll be on your standard long wave frequency so we, or you, can report back to base, as needed.” The guards nodded as he spoke.
“Sir,” chimed Landers, an older guard, his dark hair now more salt than pepper, “just so you know, we haven’t seen anyone come in or go out of this area in hours. But, we’ve got your back. Tell us what you need doin’.”
“Thanks. Thank you all.”
“‘And two lionesses stood sentry,’” quoted Pediah, smiling broadly.
“Abby! Alexia!” exclaimed Robbie, his arms raised, as if to grab them into a bear hug.
“Ladies,” said Thomas, tipping his head to them, beard comb in hand busily brushing away the windblown dust and dirt from his beard.
“Boys! Glad to see you,” exclaimed Abby, her smile and arms wide in greeting.
“Hello, boys.” Alexia’s mental wheels were turning. Furrowed brows and pinched lips gave way to a single finger tapping against her mouth, as she thought. “I’ve got to admit, guys, I’m a little worried. What if something happens to your radio? What if your equipment breaks down? I feel like I should be going in with you.”
“I – we – appreciate your concern, Alexia. Really, we do. But, you’ve got us set up well, and we worked out with security we’d be on their frequency. So, if they can’t raise us, they’ll know we’re in trouble. They’ve got our approximate route, and can come in for us,” explained Thomas, a hand on Alexia’s shoulder.
“Robbie,” Abby laid her hand on his arm, her long fingers gripped tight, a quiet warning to listen and obey. “Robbie,” she repeated, “listen carefully to what Thomas says, and do it exactly as he says. The three of you are like that rope you carry. The strands together depend one on the other and if one strand strays, it unravels quickly. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Robbie slid his arm from her grasp, red finger marks already beginning to fade. “Abby, I am no child. I understand we must all rely on each other.” In a quieter voice, heard only by Abby, “I know why you’re worried, and I know I hide behind my video persona. But, I’ll be careful. You won’t get rid of me that easily,” finished Robbie, a twinkle in his eye.
“I know. But, you’re all I have left. I cannot and will not lose you, too,” whispered Abby in return. A bittersweet smile played at the corners of her mouth.
Thomas Knight and his team stepped into the mine to follow Team 3’s route. Ghosts of a once active mine whispered their presence. Posted signs, each claiming ownership, bellowed of funding won and lost. Fortunes sought and made, by metals and gems now obsolete in the high tech digital world above. Thomas took in his native environment – the ancient and mysterious – as he lifted his head toward the ceiling and breathed in the past.
Lost in thought, something caught Thomas’s eye, as three flashlights pierced the darkness. Shadow and light played tricks on their eyes. A light breeze shifted the sands, adding to the illusions, and revealed impressions in the sand. Footprints? Thomas stopped to focus his flashlight.
“Pediah, come take a look at this,” Thomas motioned with his flashlight at the depression in the sand. “What does that look like to you?”
Robbie stacked his flashlight beam against the others, “Looks like a footprint to me,” Robbie confirmed, as Pediah stepped forward for a closer inspection.
“Maybe,” Pediah expressed slowly. Then, “calculating how close they were to the surface, the breeze, and how long Team 3’s been missing, it doesn’t seem to fit.”
“What do you mean?” asked Thomas, quizzically.
“Well, it’s too close. We’re too close to the surface. It was the slight wind, the night breeze, we can still feel… we’re not far enough in yet. The sand’s been disturbed,” Pediah tried to explain.
“Well, maybe so, ventured Robbie, but, one thing’s for sure.”
“What’s that?” Thomas and Pediah asked in unison as they looked toward Robbie.
“If this is one of theirs, we know we’re on the right track. Don’t you think?”
The tracks led them deeper into the mine, and they soon found themselves on another land bridge. Their flashlights revealed there was a wall to one side, and a deep drop on the other. Thomas in the lead, Robbie in the middle, and Pediah bringing up the rear, felt the revealing breeze pass away. The cool of being below ground now prevailed, the quiet stillness, broken only by Robbie’s voice.
“What do you think we’ll find at the end of this trail?” he asked, his low voice a loud echo in the cave.
“Team 3 is the plan,” retorted Thomas, deadpan.
“I know that. It’s just…don’t you guys feel, I don’t know, like there’s something else here? I mean, you guys and Team 3, too, found doors and stuff. Besides, we all know that the route Team 3 gave us in their recording may not be the route we’re following. There’s a spider’s web of directions in which they could have gone. Does anyone else find that strange? There was something else here.”
Thomas snorted. Pediah answered, “There are no boogey men down here, Robbie. I didn’t figure you for a scaredy cat.” At that, Thomas laughed, the sound echoing eerily, but said nothing.
Frustrated, Robbie huffed, exasperated with himself and the men he was with. He knew why they wouldn’t take him seriously, but he made good sense. He knew he did. Thomas waited like a comic waits to deliver a punchline, and held up a hand.
“Shhh. Quiet, you two. Does anyone else hear that?” Thomas asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“There is nothing else down here,” Pediah said, trying to convince himself. “For my part, I think we’ll find Team 3. Hopefully, whatever is behind those doors, and in the tunnels beside, and maybe some more old relics, from when the mine was aband…” Pediah stopped. He heard the noise now, too, and it sounded uncomfortably like the rumblings from the month before. And we made the mistake of saving that liar’s life. How did we not see it? I
– we – should have known.
“It sounds like stone breaking or grinding.” Robbie’s eyes darted between Thomas and Pediah. Their eyes, blinking in the beam of his flashlight, said it all. “Oh. Is this what happened when…?”
Thomas had been straining to hear if any other noises were being masked by the low rumblings of the earth. “Well,” he began, “there’s no footsteps I can hear or gun safetys clicking off… That’s a relief, but we still have no idea what caused the rumblings and unsteadiness the first time around. If you’ve got thoughts on it, don’t shout ‘em out, but get ‘em said.”
“I can’t get the song ‘London Bridge’ out of my head,” Pediah began. “But, I don’t think it’s a human presence. For the moment, we should be still. Stay near the wall to keep your balance,” Pediah directed.
“I hear – the sound of rocks, stone, getting louder. Are there boulders down here?” interjected Robbie.
“Boulders?” repeated Thomas. “Why…? Oh…” he suddenly understood what Robbie was asking. “I don’t think so…” Thomas had been listening, his flashlight squarely focused forward, along the precarious path. But, Robbie’s next sentence made him turn.
“Because, I think one’s coming.”
A loud thud reverberated in the walls, and in another instant, rocks fell like rain. The men crouched instinctively against the wall covering their heads. Luckily, they were under a slight overhang, and no one was hurt. When the deluge ended, Robbie finished: “for us.”
There was a long, fearful silence after the lethal barrage ended.
Visibly shaken, Pediah was the first to speak. “I think we should head back, Thom. We’re going to have to find another way, because that was way too close for comfort. It was just like last month, when we should have… I hate to sound uncharitable, but we should have let Ramon drop.”
Shaken, Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle. “Funny you should say that, Pediah. I’ve thought that exact thing since the day we plucked Ramon from the ledge. But, I don’t think we should turn back. We still have Team 3 to find and rescue. Right now, they’re our first priority.”
“Sorry, Pediah. I agree with Thomas,” voiced Robbie. “I know you guys think I’m just some goofy kid who landed a loaded wife, but when I asked to join this dig, I really did – I mean, I really do want to learn. The challenges you guys face, the stories you can tell, they’re, well, priceless.”
“Everything comes with a price, Robbie. Especially adventure stories. Even in real life. That’s why we need to think about this. Head back up and start over,” explained Pediah.
“You’re both right,” Thomas broke in. Yes, our kind of stories come with a price, but so does walking out your front door. What I need you both to remember is this: our mission, right now, is to find and figure out what happened to Team 3. One minute, they were peering around heavy stone doors and the next, they disappeared off the face – or bowels – of the earth.” His gaze traveled from Pediah to Robbie and back again as he spoke, until at last, by unspoken agreement, they began to walk again, down the tracks they’d been following.
Robbie’s gaze followed Thomas, as he looked back at the footprints leading the team farther into the cave. “Pediah,” Robbie’s voice, suddenly sounding much older than his years, drew both men’s attention. “Pediah,” he repeated, “Thomas is right. Team 3 is top priority. We never found…” Robbie gulped for air, “we never found her…them. No matter what’s happened, we need to be able to tell their story. The story of Team 3. To their families. Their children.”
Thomas and Pediah’s eyes widened at this new Robbie speaking. He seemed more mature with every minute that passed. Thomas remembered he was also a grieving widower. No wonder they bonded so quickly, Abby and Robbie. I should have remembered, but I had my own shit to deal with. Three deaths. For what?
Pediah held up a hand to stop, and broke into Thom’s reverie, “Okay, okay. You’ve made your points, and quite convincingly, I might add. Yes, we must continue the search. But, I suggest we move more slowly and carefully. These rumblings and falling rocks have me on tenterhooks. It’s like in that movie, where you have to solve a puzzle to take the next step, except we don’t have anything to follow. Nothing to solve.”
“You mean like that last Indiana Jones movie?” asked Robbie, his eyes twinkling.
“Yeah...rolling boulders, wild rides in mines, treasures, villains…the only thing we’re missing is… well, nothing!”
“Team 3,” Thomas cut into Pediah’s thoughts like a knife.
“Right, Team 3,” confirmed Pediah, snapping his suspenders in agreement.
Thomas Knight pat Pediah on the shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
Thomas reached for the beard comb in his pocket, his fingers brushing a piece of paper tucked behind it. He fished out the comb and paper, and handed the paper to Pediah, “Let’s check the notes again about the route,” and combed his beard, as Pediah unfolded the paper.
“So, according to these notes,” began Pediah, “Team 3 left themselves breadcrumbs.”
“Breadcrumbs…” Thomas mused, his comb halfway through his beard.
“Seems they left marks of some kind on the wall to guide them back out,” Pediah explained, as he finished reading the notes.
As they followed the markings, and continued along the trail, Pediah was the first to spot it. “Ugh! Another land bridge. I don’t know how many more of these I can take.”
“Well, to be fair,” Robbie piped up, partially in jest, “this is no land bridge. It’s an actual bridge. Connecting two parts, but not connected to a wall or something, like the other one we came down.”
“Perfect,” deadpanned Pediah. It would be extremely difficult to traverse. He held back, as first Thomas, then Robbie drew closer to its edge. He watched Thomas shine his flashlight along its expanse as far as the beam would reach.
“Looks like they crossed through here,” Thomas said over his shoulder, as he placed a foot lightly onto the bridge, to test its sturdiness. It wasn’t until both feet were on the bridge, and he confirmed it could hold his entire weight, that he turned and motioned to the others to follow.
Pediah and Robbie looked at each other nervously, and shook their heads at Thomas. Frozen to the ground at the start of the bridge, they wondered if perhaps they’d missed some tracks earlier. But, a peripheral view of something uncovered by Thomas’s light in the darkness, urged Robbie on. He stepped quickly onto the bridge to catch up, then back off onto solid ground. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Pediah was rooted in place. With fear holding him at bay, he watched Robbie and Thomas move forward.
As he raised his flashlight beam, Thomas noticed something – a glint, a flash, he couldn’t be sure. He inched along the land bridge, slowly and steadily, then stopped halfway across. Across his path, lay tiny lights fallen from the sky, darkened by the shadow of something. With his eyes still adjusting to the brightness reflecting back at him, it took him a moment to realize what sparkled was broken shards of glass, dropped in the sand like diamond chips.
Bending down to get a closer look, he was stunned to discover that laced across the shattered bits of glass were ribbons of what looked like congealed blood. “Good Lord,” began Thomas, as his mind tried to piece together what he’d found. Robbie, having worked up some courage, came closer.
From behind them, Pediah swung his light in a wide arc. His light caught not only the shimmering glass, but something else on the far side of the bridge. In the wall, just off to the side, there seemed to be a darker shadow, like a depression, or alcove in the wall. Over the years, he supposed the earth had shifted and made natural pockets and tunnels. But, through this one, Pediah thought he could see an opening.
“Hey Thomas,” Pediah called, I think I see something on the other side.”
Thomas looked back at Pediah, and followed the beam of his light. Revealed by Pediah’s lamp was what looked to be a natural incline leading upward. At the opening
to the incline, Thomas entered and walked several steps upward. Thomas’ light was soon joined with Robbie’s and Pediah’s. Their beams dimmer, as they were further away, illuminating a large area.
Thomas nearly tumbled backward in shock. “Guys!” he exclaimed, as his face drained of color.
“What is it?”
Thomas took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then in a whoosh exhaled and opened his eyes. He held up his light higher to confirm what he’d seen, and the scene hadn’t changed. In front of him lay the limp body of a man recently deceased. His body battered and broken, he looked like a rag doll someone might have tossed into the mud in anger. But he wasn’t on the ground. He was impaled, somehow, on a stalactite, overhead. The bent and broken body still wore its uniform: that of Thomas Knight’s survey team.
“Thom! What is it?” Pediah snapped. It wasn’t like Thomas to not answer him, and a sickening fear began to knot itself in the pit of his stomach. When Thomas did finally answer, their suspicions were confirmed, and things began to snap into focus.
“Sorry, Pediah. I’m just in a bit of…shock, I think,” Thomas explained evenly, working to keep his mind under control. “But, it looks like we’ve found Team 3.”
Nineteen
Robbie was nearly halfway across the bridge when he realized Pediah hadn’t followed him. “Come on,” he urged, motioning Pediah to come toward him.
He just shook his head, utter fear holding him in place. “I’m a spelunker, so why is this so hard? It’s not like I’ve never dealt with heights before,” Pediah spat, in an irritated tone.
Thomas knew he’d need them both if they were going to extricate the stricken man from his place in the cave. “You can do it, Pediah. Just one foot in front of the other,” Thomas encouraged.
Pediah’s nervous laugh began to fill the chamber as it came near to a crazed cackle, “Just like this one?” He repeated. “No, Thom. There is nothing ‘just like this one’. Not even last month’s, though the two do have a common thread: death.”
