by Tom Hunter
“What’s that?”
Robbie smiled genuinely. “You have a little thing we call restraint.”
Abby laughed and nodded.
“It’s good to hear you laugh,” said Robbie. “But the reason I stopped by was I heard an awful sighing and thought maybe a wildebeest had gotten to you. So, my initial question stands. You okay? Or, put another way, what’s wrong?”
A shadow of doubt crossed her features and her look soured. She took a sip of whiskey and sighed once more.
“Okay, so it was a bad joke. Got it. But, you can talk to me.” Abby arched an eyebrow, and this time, Robbie grinned sheepishly, “Fine, I listen most of the time.”
“I’m giving you a hard time, I know. You want to know what’s wrong?” Robbie nodded vigorously. “I’m worried about the animals, creatures, whatever. I’m worried about mysterious strangers in the caves. I’m worried about Noah being back on scene and so close by,” Abby admitted.
“I’m here, Abby. Whatever you need. I know I joke and tease, but when push comes to shove, I’m a standup guy.”
Abby’s smiled widened and she took his hands in hers, “You’re a great guy, Robbie. That’s why Annie married you. She told us all the time, all the ways she loved you. I give you a hard time because” – she shrugged – “well, I don’t really know, honestly! Maybe it’s because I see all your potential, and I see it so clearly, because Al and I always thought you were good for Annie. You two were a match made in heaven.”
Robbie smiled, his eyes welling with tears, “Thanks, Abby. I love you, too. Now, let’s see what we can do to ease your worries. First, I think – ” Robbie and Abby turned, as her tent flap opened, and the foreman poked his head inside.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Hogan. Robbie. Sorry to interrupt, but there was another explosion.” He took a deep breath. “It happened after Thomas, Pediah, and the young lady went to survey the new tunnel they found.”
Forty-Four
His temples pounding, Thomas slowly raised his hand to rub his forehead. His arm felt heavy. Even his eyelids seemed glued shut. Every fiber in him ached. His lungs were on fire and his eyes burned.
Thomas remembered the blast, and being thrown through the air like a ragdoll. How long had he been unconscious?
It was dark, Thomas realized, as he rolled up to a sitting position, and felt for his flashlight. His only reward, hard plastic shards, the cold of a D-cell battery, and sharper edges that could only have been the lens. Shit.
From the remains of his flashlight, he continued to feel his way in the dark, and called softly, “Pediah! Alexia!” He paused, listening for a response. None came. He called out again, half an octave higher, “Pediah! Alexia!”
Near enough to the wall, he used it to pull himself up to stand, grunting at the pain as every muscle protested, still calling out for his friends. Thomas took a couple of steps hoping he was heading in the right direction. The crunch of his feet on shattered rock grew quieter, and his next step met something soft; drawing from it a woman’s scream. “Oh! Owwwwcha!”
Thomas stumbled back, then bent forward. “Alexia?” he whispered. “Is that you?” As he spoke, his eyes began adjusting to the darkness. He made out a woman’s form crumpled at his feet. Her hands were outstretched above her head. Shit, that was the soft fleshy thing.
“Thomas?” Alexia moaned. Thomas bent down to help her to her feet. He held her for a moment to make sure she could stand on her own. She swayed slightly. Still reeling and dazed from the explosion, she lifted both her hands, which took turns slapping at Thomas in a flurry of beatings in the face and on his chest. In mid strike he caught her wrists and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. Her breathing slowed as she settled down.
“What happened? Do you have a flashlight?”
“No, my flashlight shattered in the blast,” he replied. “Or at least that’s my theory. I’ve only just woken up. We’re still missing Pediah. I thought you two were running together.”
“Glad you’re – oh, sorry about your hand. No flashlight and utter darkness. Such a joy.” He smiled and cupped her face. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Alexia flung her hand outward as if to fling the pain from it. “My hand’s throbbing!” At the look on Thomas’s face, Alexia explained further. “You didn’t shatter it or anything. It just hurts.” She brightened. “But, I can still move my fingers.” She demonstrated by waggling them in front of her face, then pressed her middle finger against his cheek.
“Smart ass,” Thomas deadpanned.
“Guess that’s why I’m not a favorite guest at Christmas dinner.” Alexia shrugged, her eyes angled up at him in wide-eyed innocence. Alexia couldn’t pull off coy for long, and they both laughed.
“Well, before we get too comfortable down here in the dark, maybe we should go find Pediah.”
“I’m with you one hundred percent. I just have one question.”
“What’s that?” asked Thomas.
“How are we going to find anything or anyone in the dark?” Alexia remarked.
“Well, my eyes have adjusted a little. With your help, we can gather some of the old mine equipment such as sticks and rags, and maybe we can fashion a torch.”
“Ancient technology, here we come,” began Alexia. “Um, one more question, how will you light the thing?”
Thomas patted his cargo pocket, unzipped it, and pulled out a small book of matches, “Cave man make fire.”
“Fire? Down here? Do you think that’s wise?” she asked.
“Well, if there was something dangerous down here, like gas or something else flammable, we’d all have wings and halos by now.”
“Point taken,” she conceded. She smiled devilishly at Thomas. “Maybe devil’s horns and tails?”
As she handed him what rags and sticks she could find, Thomas quipped as he fashioned the torch, “Are you a secret bad girl? Why, you seem so innocent!” he mocked in parody.
“Not exactly. I’m more of a…devil’s advocate. Let’s just say my professors were never fans. I’m an engineer, we have to look at all the angles.”
Thomas chuckled and nodded, smiling as he lit the torch.
“Hmmm…” commented Alexia, “I think that’s the first time you’ve really smiled and laughed at my jokes. I think you were just being polite before.”
Forty-Five
Robbie and Abby had raced from the tent at the foreman’s news, and found one of the guards patrolling near the cave’s entrance. “What happened?” demanded Abby.
The guard shook his head, “I don’t know. The three of them went in. A few hours later, the tremor hit.” He shrugged. “But, I’ve no idea what caused it and no one’s come out.”
“Okay, so no one came out. Did anyone go in?” she asked pointedly.
“I don’t think so,” the guard answered, and shrank back at the look in Abby’s eye.
“I’m sorry.” Toe to toe with the guard, she leveled her voice to a dull roar. “You don’t think so? Why don’t you know?” she asked. “Your job, your ONE job was to guard this door and those people!” her eyes wide with fear and rage. Robbie took her gently by the shoulders, and pulled her back.
“Abby,” Robbie wheedled softly.
“This one’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?” she quipped as they began to walk away, just loud enough for Robbie and the guard to hear.
Abby didn’t know where she was walking to, or what to do next.
“Abby, they’re okay,” Robbie offered in comfort. “I know it. Lighten up, huh?” He glanced at the guard, “The guy looks pretty ragged. Besides, I doubt there are any dangers out here beyond the heat, the wild animals, and Noah,” he finished resignedly. This was so not going well. He wished Annie were here to tell him what to do, what to say.
Abby turned once more to the guard, seeing him as if for the first time. He’s only a child! Tall and skinny, a headlight wrapped around his head, he wore a state ranger uniform.
“What’s yo
ur name?” Abby asked the guard.
“Peter. Peter Marx,” he answered, a yawn nearly swallowing his last name.
“Okay, Peter. Come with us.” She signaled for him to follow, as Robbie fell in step with her. At the mine’s entrance, Abby turned. Peter hadn’t moved.
“That was not a question, Peter. Come along,” she spoke as if to a young child and like a young child. He shuffled his feet in reluctance, but followed them as instructed.
He joined them at the entrance and they walked into the mine, following the route the team had planned to take. Before they knew it, they’d come upon a set of footprints. “So, is this them?” asked Peter.
“I – I don’t know. This isn’t my training…” Abby trailed off, and looked at Robbie, who shook his head. “So…none of us know or can tell if these prints are recent or not?” Abby asked. Everyone shook their head. Abby stared at the footprints and willed them to tell her something. Anything.
Robbie shrugged and moved forward to get a closer look.
“What are you doing? What do you know about tracking?” Abby asked him with an exaggerated sigh.
“I’ve been part of a number of extreme explorations for a while now. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to join the dig,” Robbie explained. “Anyway, he emphasized in answer to her consternation, my theory is this – even though I hire people to keep me from killing myself out there, I am assuming that after so many years, some of it had to have rubbed off.” He smiled his YouTube smile.
“Fair enough. Let’s see what you got, kiddo.”
Robbie crouched down and focused on the footprints. “I think these tracks are fresher, the ones that go in that direction,” and he extended an arm forward. “It looks like the route on the map Thomas showed me, it’s also where we saw those other men.”
As he spoke, he walked, Abby and Peter following him. He flipped on his flashlight. The others did the same, spotlighting the same areas touched by Thomas Knight and his teams’ beams before the blast. In the haze, dust curled and settled in the walls, the floor, and in the pores of their skin. They sneezed and coughed. Abby and Robbie prayed that Thomas and his team had survived.
Without warning, Robbie stopped. A niggling feeling at the base of his skull traveled down his spine. Something was wrong. He could feel it. He nearly jumped from his skin, when Peter spoke.
“What’s wrong?” asked Peter.
“I’m not sure. I’ve just got a bad feeling. My spidey senses are tingling and it feels like… it feels like we’re being watched.”
Three backs touched, as each walked backward into the other. They shone their flashlights outward into the dark. As one, they turned into a three person wide line, and advanced slightly to look for clues, when Robbie’s senses snapped into focus. His eyes adjusted. His mind on high alert, he realized that there were a dozen or so holes in the walls. Something might be able to break through and spring at them. They wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Thanks,” Abby began. “Like I didn’t have enough reason to be nervous.”
“Maybe we should go back,” suggested Peter. Just then, Robbie’s beam illuminated another set of tracks, still fresh, leading down a tunnel shaft. Robbie shook his head and motioned everyone forward with his flashlight. He held his finger to his lips, as voices echoed up the tunnel.
“Help! Help us!”
In a flash, Abby raced toward the voice, “Thomas Knight! Is that you?”
Forty-Six
“Yes! Abby? Yes, it’s Thomas and Alexia!” Thomas called out to them. With that, Robbie, Abby, and Peter raced toward Thomas’ voice.
Within half a minute, Robbie had rounded the corner. Thomas turned as he heard Abby gasp, said, “We found Pediah.”
Robbie made a mental note of where they’d run into. It seemed to be an unfinished excavation area, surrounded by natural rock formations, not too far from the land bridge where they’d found Johnson’s body. It was then he noticed where Pediah had landed. The blood drained from his face. “Oh God, not again.”
Pediah, slumped over a rock protrusion, had been thrown by the blast into a dense low forest of natural rock formations. He’d been propelled with such force that at first Robbie thought Pediah had met the same fate as Johnson from Team 3. But, as he drew nearer to Thomas and Alexia, he saw Pediah had been wedged into a crevice between the rocks. Pediah wasn’t moving.
“We think he’s unconscious, but we need to get him out. Ideas anyone?” Alexia asked.
Robbie and Abby raced to help, as Peter took a step back. “I’ll check things out. Make sure there’s no more surprises”.
Abby, Alexia, Thomas, and Robbie barely heard him as they concentrated on Pediah. “I have an idea,” ventured Robbie, half expecting them to look at him in surprise.
“We’re all ears, kid!” exclaimed Thomas.
“Well, it looks like he’s still got his ropes for spelunking and we’ve got ours. In fact, I hardly take mine off, except to sleep,” Robbie admitted sheepishly. He hadn’t realized until just then, how much of a family they’d become, in their few weeks together. “Anyway, what if we jury-rigged a ladder from the ropes and tied it off to some of the equipment over here. Something like a pulley system?”
Thomas looked at Abby who smiled proudly. As a mother-in-law, she couldn’t be prouder. Her girl had picked a winner.
Thomas nodded and gathered the ropes around himself, tied them off, and climbed down to Pediah. As the others grabbed on to the rope to help, Thomas shimmied down, wrapped his arms around the still limp Pediah, and ordered, “Got him! Pull us up.” As his team pulled them to safety, he continued his orders. “Great guys! Now, as soon as we’re back up there we’ll need water and medical supplies. He’s still out of it…”
Thomas’s voice trailed off as he looked at something behind them.
“Hang on, Thomas. We’ve almost got you. Heave!” Robbie called. Then, “What the -?” as he followed Thomas Knight’s gaze.
Robbie turned, and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Peter Marx, their guard, had drawn his pistol and leveled it at the group. “I repeat, what the hell is going on?” Robbie demanded, straining against the weight of the rope, holding both Thomas and Pediah.
“Nothing you need concern yourself with, preppy. Let’s just say, the pittance they pay me to guard you people pales in comparison to what I stand to make if your expedition leaders disappear.” Peter Marx took a step closer and barked, “cut the rope.”
“If we cut the rope –, “began Robbie, realization settling in like a freight train.
Peter nodded, “Right, when you cut the rope, your leaders die, your expedition fails, and I get a hefty payday. It’s a win for…well, not everyone. Just me.”
Robbie took a step toward the guard, a final heave of the rope, and let go with one hand, “Sure thing. You got a knife or something on you? Just don’t hurt me.”
Abby’s jaw dropped. What the hell are you doing?
Her eyes wide, asking the silent question. This wasn’t Robbie. What was that boy up to? She felt the rope. It was still taut. She and Alexia still had a pretty good grip, but without Robbie, Thomas and Pediah would fall anyway.
Shit! Shit. Shit.
Abby wasn’t prepared for when Robbie let go with his other hand and was surprised the rope still felt as if it were pulled taut. She watched Robbie back away from both her and the guard, stealing to the side. It left them exposed, and she braced herself for the shot. She’d lost her husband and her daughter. She’d come to terms with death. She wasn’t ready to die, but of them all, she would take the bullet. This she decided in an instant. Abby wasn’t really sure why, but committed to her decision all the same. But, what about Alexia? Thomas? Pediah? Robbie? There’s no way the guard would leave Robbie alive, even if he did cooperate.
Robbie kept up a steady stream of conversation, as he held out his hand, “Got a suitable weapon for a badass? You’re a badass, right? You must have weapons for just such an occasion.” Robbie smiled wic
kedly. “Besides, it would be poetic justice – Knight to Queen’s Rook four – ah good night, sweet prince.”
Abby couldn’t believe it, Robbie was getting closer to Peter Marx the Mall Cop, or whatever he was. She smiled as the purpose of Robbie’s antics finally dawned on her.
“Stand back!” Peter ordered, waving his gun at Robbie. Peter’s gaze followed Robbie, and soon his feet followed suit as he turned, putting Thomas Knight and his team in his blind spot. He realized his mistake too late.
Peter Marx swung himself back around; the preppy kid he could deal with later.
Peter leveled his gun at the women. Time stood still as he watched the emotions of fear, anger, terror, and resignation flash across their faces. Another movement caught his attention, but this time he turned only his head, to see Robbie still coming around to his side.
What was taking the kid so long? He wondered. In that instant, where he let his mind wander, Abby, Alexia, and Robbie saw their chance. Alexia and Abby flanked him and Robbie leaped for him, struggling to disarm him from behind.
The girls scratched and clawed at Peter Marx. Robbie wrapped his arm around him to get him into, what he learned later, was a reverse arm bar. Sheer adrenaline propelled him, with a hearty dose of fear and youthful bravado. But, in the fray, with the safety off, a stray bullet fired.
The shock at the sound gave Peter Marx the advantage he needed. Robbie was no fighter, but Peter had been chosen for security detail for a reason. He was one of Ramon’s, a well-trained fighter, and soon he’d retrieved his gun from the flailing preppy kid.
The last heave of the rope, before Robbie had tried to disarm the guard with sleight of hand, had been to pull Thomas and Pediah to safety. Slowly, Thomas had unwound himself from the ropes, taking care not to let Peter notice, and in the melee of Robbie and Peter’s struggle, Thomas, Abby, and Alexia had broken off a heavy stone from a stalactite. As Peter dropped Robbie, and tried to level his gun at them again, they moved stealthily behind him, raised the stone, and brought it crashing down on his head.
