"Okay, I'll be right behind you."
Tommy wiggled his way forward. The gap on either side only afforded him a couple of inches. The ceiling over his head was similarly close, and more than once he almost bumped it.
His light danced back and forth in the tunnel ahead, mingling with Sean's light from behind.
"Seems like we're moving down, all right," Sean said.
"Yeah. I wonder how far this thing goes.” Tommy tried to stay cool, but inside, his anxiety was going full throttle. He didn't like being in tight spaces, and so getting out of this squeeze was motivation enough for him to press on a little faster.
The passage twisted slightly, bending to the left and then straightened out, dropping more dramatically downhill.
"My sense of direction isn't always on point," Sean said, "but it feels like we're heading down toward the road."
"Yep," Tommy grunted as he pulled himself along. "Do you know if there's another entrance to this thing?"
"Probably a question you should have asked before we started crawling through a random cave tunnel. It's gonna suck if we have to go backward through here."
"I...yeah, I didn't really think about that."
"Hey, we had to do something. Couldn't sit there in the cave and wait for the cavalry to come rescue us."
Progress was slow for the two friends as they continued to belly crawl down through the tunnel. It didn't take long before their elbows and knees started to hurt from digging into the hard floor. Their winter coats helped cushion the joints a little, but they also caused the men to sweat profusely despite the cave temperature being in the fifties.
Around twenty minutes after leaving the main cavern, the men reached a part of the tunnel where it leveled off and snaked its way forward, bending to the left, right, and back again.
"I wonder how far this thing goes." Sean said.
"Shh," Tommy hushed his friend. "Do you hear that?"
They both stopped and listened closely. There were ten seconds of silence before they heard the noise again. It was a low, rumbling sound that seemed to come from above.
"There it was again."
"Yeah, I definitely heard that," Sean said. He wiped a jacket sleeve across his forehead to remove the sweat rolling down the skin. "Sounds like we're under the road."
"Or really close to it. Maybe there's a way out of here up ahead."
"I hope so. Because I do not want to try to back out of this."
Tommy started crawling again with renewed strength. "What's the problem? Not enjoying the view back there?"
"Now that you mention it..."
They pushed on, dragging themselves forward until the sounds of the road began to fade and were gradually overcome by a different noise.
"Is that water?" Tommy asked.
Sean wiped the sweat from his nose. "Probably. We must be getting close to the creek. Been a bunch of rain lately, so there's a lot more water than usual."
The two crawled another thirty feet before they were met with an obstacle. Thin cracks of light streamed into the dark space. They were nothing more than slivers, poking through tiny crevices around the edge of what appeared to be a giant stone.
"Someone put this here to block off the cave," Tommy said.
"You think?"
"Yeah. This rock is different than the walls and floor around us. It must have been brought up from the creek bed or maybe from a nearby quarry."
Sean shook his head. "I was kidding, Schultzie."
"Oh."
He inched his way closer to the big stone. He turned his head and reached out his left hand, pushing on the rock as hard as he could. After a minute of effort, he stopped and gasped for air. He rested until his breathing slowed, and then he craned his neck so he could see Sean.
"This thing ain't moving. It's too heavy."
Sean thought for a second and then contorted his body so he could reach his right foot. He'd been dragging his gear bag behind him through the entire tunnel. Inside one of the pouches was something he thought might help their situation.
"Hold on a sec," Sean said. He unzipped the front pouch and shoved his hand inside. He pulled out four little disks. Three were black and the other silver. After putting the three black ones back in the bag, he straightened his body and held the little object out for Tommy.
"Here," he said. "Press this twenty times, and then wedge it into the top of that rock. Try to get it in one of those narrow openings.”
"What good is one of your flash bangs going to do here? We need something more powerful to blow that thing out of the way."
Sean swallowed. "That isn't a flash bang. It's high-density RDX with compressed ammonia nitrate."
Tommy's confused look turned to one of fear. His eyes opened wide, and he nearly tossed the thing back to Sean.
"You brought C4?"
Sean sighed and shook his head. "It isn't C4."
"You said there's RDX in this thing. That's what they use in C4."
"It's a modified compound. Much more stable and way safer to use. If you wedge it properly between the mouth of the cave and that stone, the pressure it puts out should knock the stone over from the top."
Tommy was skeptical. He felt like there was something he didn't know but decided to trust his friend—a fact for which Sean was relieved since he didn't tell Tommy that the little device in his hand was twice as powerful as C4. Probably best if Tommy didn't know that.
"Hold it down for three seconds," Sean said. "Then press it twenty times. That will give us enough time to back up to a safe vantage point."
"Twenty times? Why not like fifty times? That would give us a chance to get farther away, you know, to an even safer distance."
"Twenty is the maximum number of seconds this explosive will allow. If you want to give my friend at DARPA some suggestions about his R&D weapons, be my guest."
Tommy took a deep breath and then gave a nod. "Fine. But do me a favor, and start backing up. I don't need you in my way when I'm trying to get clear of this thing."
Sean started scooting backward, pleased to find that moving that direction was easier than going forward. He doubted it would be if they were in the uphill section of the tunnel.
Tommy took a short glance back to make sure his friend was far enough away and then held the button for three seconds. The device gave off a subtle beep, signaling that it was ready for deployment. Tommy blinked rapidly and stared at the explosive before he started squeezing the device.
"You're sure this has been tested and won't explode sooner than expected, right?" Tommy's voice trembled with uncertainty.
"Oh yeah," Sean reassured him while he continued backing up. "They do a ton of testing on all their stuff. We'll be fine."
Tommy wasn't so confident, but he didn't have much choice.
"I'd do it myself, but I doubt I could squeeze by you in here," Sean said.
"I'm fine. Just need a second."
"Shoot. I almost forgot. You'll need to keep squeezing it until you have it in place, otherwise the internal timer will start, which means you'd have less time to get clear of the blast radius."
Tommy swallowed hard again and stared at the device. "You almost forgot?" he said with a tremor of irritation in his tone. "Don't you think that's maybe one of the more important facets of using one of these?"
Sean shrugged. "Hey, we're okay...for now."
Tommy took another in a long line of several deep breaths and looked up at the narrow seams between the cave rock and the stone blocking their exit. One appeared to be just wide enough to allow the disk to slip between.
He squeezed the device, counting carefully every time his thumb depressed the embedded button. When he reached twenty, he held it down and kept the thing squeezed tight, pinched between his finger and thumb as he worked it into the crack. He had to wiggle the disk to get it how he wanted. At the last second, he gave it one last shove before letting go of the button.
His fingers used too much force, though, and the disk slippe
d through the slim crevice and out onto the ground.
"Oops," he said.
"Oops?" Sean shouted. "What oops?"
"I dropped it. It fell outside."
"Get back here! Hurry!"
Tommy shimmied like a worm on twenty cups of coffee, working his way backward up the tunnel as fast as he could. His internal clock counted down the seconds, probably a little faster than reality.
He rounded the first bend in the tunnel near where Sean was tucked away and covered his head just as the device blew.
The cave shook violently for a split second, but the tunnel integrity stayed true. Even the sound of the explosive wasn't unbearable due to it being outside the tunnel entrance.
Tommy was about to ask Sean if he had another one of those disks, but decided to take a look at the damage first. He crept out of his hiding spot and pointed his light around the turn. Clouds of dust hung in the tunnel, illuminated by Tommy's beam and a greater source beyond the entrance: daylight.
"I've got another one of those in the bag somewhere," Sean said. "Let's just hope we can get it in a position where it will blow that rock away from the opening."
"Don't need it," Tommy said with a shake of the head. "That did the trick."
Sean wasn't sure what he meant, whether "the trick" was a good thing or a bad thing. He scooted forward and poked his head around the bend, staring through the tunnel just beyond his friend's bulk.
"You blew the whole thing to smithereens, Tommy."
The two crawled the rest of the way to the opening and out into the cold winter air. The sun did little to warm their faces, but just feeling it on their skin again was a huge relief.
Standing next to the new cave entrance, they inspected the damage Sean's explosive device had caused.
The stone that was covering the tunnel mouth lay strewn across the embankment, all the way to the creek twenty feet below.
"I thought it would just be strong enough to topple that thing over onto its side," Sean said, gazing in disbelief at the debris. "I guess it was a little stronger than I realized."
"You think?" Tommy said with arms outstretched. "We're lucky it didn't cause a cave-in."
Sean nodded. His friend was right. They were lucky. And there was no sense in pushing their luck any further.
"Speaking of good fortune, we need to get out of here. A passing car would have seen and heard that blast."
"Not to mention that someone tried to kill us by trapping us in there."
"Right. And they could still be at the top of the mountain, which means we need to take a different way back up. If anyone is up there, they're going to have some questions to answer."
Chapter 14
Ringgold
"It's done," Porter said into his phone.
He sat in his SUV, staring at the people going in and out of a local diner. No one would think anything of him, not in this little town. If people were nosy, it was with their neighbors, not strangers.
The explosives he and his men set had caused the cave entrance to collapse, trapping Wyatt and Schultz behind a wall of rock and dirt that would take a rescue crew more than a week to get through. With no other means of escape, their death was a certainty, and Porter's employer would be safe, as would his operation.
Porter waited for the man on the other end to say something affirming, a compliment perhaps. It wasn't necessary and Porter certainly didn't need it, though he did expect something along those lines.
Instead, he received more questions.
"Are you sure?" the man's voice said through the earpiece.
"Yes, I'm sure. Our friends Mr. Wyatt and Mr. Schultz had an unfortunate spelunking accident. Those things happen from time to time. I guess they should have had an experienced guide with them."
There was another pause before the other man spoke up again.
"I won't ask for too many details. I just need to know you're absolutely certain they will not be a problem again."
"They won't. I can assure you."
"Good, because after the fiasco in Washington, I'm starting to wonder if I brought on the right man for the job."
Porter frowned. Fiasco? What fiasco?
"I'm sorry?" he said. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
"You should be. Your man in the castle failed. The piece is still in play."
Porter knew what the code meant. The castle was Washington, DC. And the piece was the president of the United States.
He'd sent one of his best assassins to take out President Dawkins. As far as Porter knew, that asset had never failed a mission before and claimed twenty-three confirmed kills. Sure, taking out the leader of the free world was a tall order, but Porter knew his man was capable.
"What happened?" Porter asked.
"I'm not sure. You tell me. I wasn't there. All I've heard so far is that there was some kind of mechanical gun on site. The weapon fired, but someone dove on the president seconds before bullets tore the podium apart."
That wasn't good. Dawkins would be even more difficult to take out now that someone had made an attempt on his life. The president's security was already top flight. It would be impossible to get close to him for the foreseeable future. One detail about the story stuck out in Porter's mind.
"You said someone got the president out of the way in the nick of time."
"That's right," the man on the other end of the line said. "He was lucky. And that makes us unlucky."
Porter ignored the quip. "Who was the hero? One of his Secret Service men?"
"No. It was a woman. I don't have a name yet. My men are working on it, going through the surveillance footage as we speak."
"A woman?" Porter was surprised.
"Yes. I don't know anything else about her, but we will soon enough."
"I'll figure it out, sir."
"Don't bother. Stay on standby. Now that Wyatt and his partner are out of the way, I'll be handling things from here on out."
The comment blindsided Porter. Up to that point, he'd done everything his employer asked. Now he was being pulled off the job? The notion sent a fire through Porter's veins.
"I'm sorry? What did you say, sir?"
The other man only waited a second to respond. "I said I will be handling things now. Remain on standby until further instruction. I'll call you if and when you're needed again."
Before Porter could say anything else the call ended. "Hello? Sir?" He looked at the screen, confirming his employer had hung up.
His jaw clenched, and he ground his teeth.
"What's our next move, sir?" one of his men asked.
Porter spun around and faced the two guys standing by the SUV.
"Our friend no longer needs our services. At least for now. Our orders are to stand by and wait."
The two men looked at each other and then back at Porter. "Okay. What about our money?"
Their employer hadn't said anything about payment, a fact that Porter was unable to bring up due to the brevity of their conversation.
"Your money will be deposited in your accounts as usual. I would assume by the end of the week."
He waited to see if they bought the lie. There was no way of knowing if the money would be put in their accounts or not. If it wasn't, however, then there would be trouble. And they would bring it to their employer's doorstep if necessary.
"What should we do, then?" the other guy asked. He had a head of spiked black hair that bristled in the chilly wind.
Porter stared out across the hills and mountains. His eyes narrowed against the biting cold.
"He said there was trouble in DC. I say we go back there to wait. Maybe something will come up. If it does, we'll be close by and ready to go."
Chapter 15
Bowie, Maryland
The cop stared up from the hole in the ground.
His hands were tied behind his back. His ankles were bound as well. He'd been stripped of his shoes and socks. His feet and toes were almost numb from the cold. The same duct ta
pe used on his appendages had been slapped across his face as a makeshift gag in case the notion of calling out for help went through his mind.
He blinked his eyelids rapidly against the bright light. A figure was standing over him. At first, it was nothing more than a woman's silhouette, looming like a dark apparition in the snowy woods.
He struggled to turn his head right and left, suddenly realizing where he was: a shallow grave in a forest.
He squealed and screamed, but the noises were muffled by the duct tape. He tried to squirm and wiggle his way free, but the binds on his hands and feet were too tight.
After a minute of failed efforts, he let his head hit the dirt. He breathed heavily through his nose and stared up at the ghost hovering over him.
"Are you going to stay quiet?" the woman asked. "Or do I need to keep that tape over your mouth?"
He made several muted sounds that she took to mean he would do as told.
"Because if you start screaming for help or try something stupid, I'm going to bury you alive. Understand?"
"Mmm-hmm," he said.
His eyes dripped with fear.
She jumped into the grave, planting her feet on either side of his hips. When she did, the light shifted, bringing her face into full view.
It was the woman from the alley.
She reached down and jerked the tape off his face like a Band-Aid.
He let out a painful whimper.
"I hope you dug two of these graves," he spat. "You have no idea who you're messing with, lady."
Her eyebrows raised. "Oh? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like I'm messing with a dirty cop."
His head twisted back and forth slowly. "No. You don't understand. The people I work for aren't the types to accept failure. You might as well kill me now because they will. And they'll kill you, too."
Adriana leaned over close enough that he could smell the light, flowery scent of her perfume.
"That's a good start," she said in a cool tone.
The cop frowned. "What do you mean, a good start? Didn't you hear what I just said? They're going to kill you, lady. You're dead. If I was you, I'd get as far away as possible. And even then, that's not far enough. They'll find you. There's nowhere you can go where they won't get to you. Do you understand me? They control everything."
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