Liberty

by David Wood

  The chest was empty, with sides made of metal and bottom padded with cloth.

  “Look, the Randolph Coat of Arms.” Bones pointed to an image stitched into the padding.

  “We’re obviously on the right track. But what does it mean?”

  “I’ll tell you what it means—that is a bat at the top of the crest like we thought. Obviously we’re dealing with vampires.”

  Dane rolled his eyes and Bones laughed. “Just kidding, bro. It means we’re still playing catch-up. Our path lies in that direction.”

  His eyes followed the path of footprints. They moved to the door and opened it, Dane noting another broken lock lying on the ground on the other side. More footprints in the dirt extended down the hallway. Dane kept his Glock ready while Bones gripped the AR-15.

  “Is that light up there?” Dane switched off his light and confirmed the presence of natural light coming from a low staircase ahead. He turned to Bones.

  “How do you want to handle it?”

  “I’ll just poke my head up and see if the coast is clear. If I get decapitated, you’ll know not to follow.”

  Before Dane could think of an answer, Bones had eased his way up so his feet were on the third step from the top. He called down in a voice just above a whisper. “Seems okay. Wait, I see—”

  Automatic weapons fire interrupted him and suddenly his feet were no longer visible from the top step. Dane wanted to follow, but stopped himself. “Bones!”

  He heard what had to be Bones returning fire, and then a mix of weapons, which became impossible to distinguish. He was almost ready to poke his AR-15 out and join the fray when Bones came flying back down the stairs head first. The big man rolled into a crouch, rifle still in his hands.

  His eyes held a combination of anger and pain, the latter Dane figured was likely due to rolling on his injured shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Yep. Fire coming from three sides. Looks like we’re not going out that way.”

  Dane tightened his jaw. “It must be the Sons of the Republic again.”

  “You can take that to the bank. Did I forget to mention who I saw?”

  “You might have had other things on your mind, what with getting shot at and diving down a staircase. Spit it out.”

  “I’m seeing ghosts. Actually just one ghost: someone we both saw go down with a head wound in Boston.”

  “You don’t mean—”

  “That’s right. O’Meara was with them.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Forty minutes later, Dane and Bones were still underground. They had rushed back to where Bones originally fell through the roof, but Dane’s attempt to get out that way had met with gunfire as well. They were in a stalemate, with the Sons not willing to risk a shooting gallery coming down, and Dane and Bones unable to reach the surface.

  “Maybe there’s another way out.” Dane paced back and forth down the hallway.

  “Like a secret passageway? I thought I was the crazy one. I say we just shoot our way out.”

  “Well we have to do something. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “I figure if they had grenades or any kind of explosives, we’d know already.”

  “Sure, but they have other options. Create some sort of blaze with a big pile of spruce branches, toss it down here, then keep adding fuel to it so quickly we can’t put it out. Or find a nearby gravel pit or rock quarry and liberate something of theirs. Hell, they could even make a bomb out of fertilizer. Wouldn’t take much to make our position untenable.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when something clattered down the stairs. A glimpse of a sparking wick told him their time had run out. He considered sprinting to it and chopping off the wick before it went off. But it was thirty feet away and that kind of reckless action usually only paid off in action movies.

  Bones yelled, “Run!”

  One advantage of Dane’s shorter stature was that he could accelerate more quickly than Bones. He made the door to the room with the chest just in front of his friend, sprinting towards the opposite door. Before he could get through it, a hand on his shoulder jerked him to a stop.

  “Don’t go any further.”

  For a moment, Dane’s adrenaline got the better of him and he turned with raised fists. Then he cursed himself for not thinking of what Bones already had. The wick had been attached to sticks of dynamite, probably the best explosive the Sons could come up with on short notice. Almost certainly they’d be throwing more down the hole where Bones had first fallen in. He looked at Bones.

  “Duck and cover?”

  “No choice, man.”

  They both got to their knees and covered their heads with their hands. A few seconds later, loud pops assaulted their ears, followed by rumbling. The earth shook and the sound changed to that of stones crashing against each other.

  Stones popped out of the walls in the room, and Dane heard Bones curse. He wanted to look up, but he knew that would just put him at more risk.

  Then heat and light assaulted his brain and everything else fell away.

  The sound of chiseling shook Dane awake. He opened his eyes and realized that he was lying sideways with his cheek pressed into the dirt. When he moved his head, a flash of pain moved through his neck. He tried again more slowly and was able to rotate his whole body enough to see Bones kneeling a few feet away, his arm rising and falling in time with the chiseling sound. Bones had taken off his jacket, and Dane could see blood from the shoulder wound oozing through the t-shirt.

  “What are you doing?”

  Bones whirled and Dane could have sworn he saw an expression of concern. “Dude, you’re awake!”

  “Awake? What exactly happened?”

  “The room we were in collapsed from the explosion. A few seconds after it ended, the door back towards where I fell in was still clear, but before I could get there, they blew that end too. You got hit on the head with a rock I guess.”

  Dane looked around, trying to get his bearings. “How long was I out?”

  “Over an hour. Maybe closer to two, I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “Because you’re trying to dig us out. So are you trying to get us out towards the steps or towards where we fell in?”

  “Neither. Those doors are blocked by huge piles of rubble. But in that same corner where we took cover, I found a hollow space exposed by the collapse. That’s what you’re looking at right now in fact.”

  Dane realized that instead of the six feet of clearance they had enjoyed earlier, this space was barely tall enough to sit up in. He gestured to where Bones had been working. “So you’re trying to get us back in?”

  “Nope. I was for a little while, but it seemed like it might take a lot of hours. So I switched to that cave-in over there, which is where the hollow space ended. I’ve only been at it a few minutes, and I think it’ll only take a few minutes more to break through.”

  “Break through? How do you know there’s space on the other side?”

  “Ancient Indian secret. Trust me, a few more minutes and you’ll be amazed.”

  Dane pushed himself onto his knees, the neck pain now merely annoying instead of debilitating. He felt some bruises on his legs and back, but aside from that he seemed to have avoided major injury. “I’ll give you a hand.”

  Bones met his stare for a second before nodding. “Well you’ve obviously got a hard head, but I’d recommend grabbing a sharp stone and digging with that instead.”

  Working together, they cleared a space in short order. Bones was right, and it continued as a tunnel on the other side. It seemed like something natural as opposed to the structure that the Sons had just collapsed on them. The rock and dirt was uneven, with the top dipping as low as two feet and rising as high as five as they went.

  “It’s amazing that this tunnel has stayed intact, Bones.”

  Bones picked up a baseball-sized stone and rapped it in a few places on the ceiling, wall and floor. Instead of the thud of dirt, most of the strikes elicited the
echo of stone on stone. “This was hollowed out by water. Probably a while ago given how dry this dirt is. But basically this is a tunnel through rock.”

  “I’ll bet whoever built that cellar knew about this tunnel first. Which means—”

  “There may be another exit.”

  Bones finished Dane’s sentence. “Which is good, because with the amount of time it would take to get out through the collapsed cellar, I might wind up having to go all Donner Party on you.”

  Dane considered a comeback, but decided to save his breath. The movement was slow going due to the changes in tunnel height, but their training had prepared them well for this sort of exercise. They switched places a couple of times, until Dane in the lead stopped and put his hand back behind him.

  “Hold up. Something’s not right.”

  “You mean the smell?”

  Dane hadn’t quite nailed it down until Bones said it. “Yeah. Some kind of animal.”

  “Probably rats. The lights should scare them.”

  “I dunno, that doesn’t smell like rats. It seems. . . bigger.”

  “Man, how can something smell bigger? It’s my turn to lead anyway. If I see any elephants, you’ll be the second to know.”

  A few seconds later, two things happened: First, Dane spotted a tunnel branching off to the right, heading down at a steep angle.

  The second thing was Bones’ face appearing next to his, accompanied by a hand over Dane’s mouth. Bones put a finger next to his lips and waited for Dane to nod in agreement. Then he moved his light with what seemed to Dane ridiculous care. When the light settled in the direction they had been heading, Dane understood.

  Nestled in a hollow lay three slumbering bears.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Remind me never to question your sniffer again. You’re a regular hound dog,” Bones whispered.

  Dane ignored him, and slowly moved toward the branching tunnel. He could sense Bones moving soundlessly behind him. When he was about a foot from the tunnel, a throaty rumble punctuated the air. He summoned every ounce of willpower he possessed and did not shine his light back in that direction.

  Once onto the slope of the tunnel, Dane slid without any need to propel himself forward. The ride lasted only a few seconds before terminating with a painful crash into a large rock. He bounced sideways onto dirt and shined his light forward. He saw a few more feet of tunnel, muddier than what they’d been in so far. Beyond that was a mass of brown vines.

  He heard Bones land behind him. At least he assumed it was Bones, not one of the bears. “You okay?”

  “Never better. I think they’re awake, though.”

  The rumble came again, only this time it was followed by a full roar.

  “What gave it away?”

  Dane moved to the vines. He definitely saw light coming through, but they were very dense. He stuck a gloved hand into the mass and was able to penetrate almost to his shoulder, but he didn’t feel an end to it.

  “Stand back!”

  Dane jumped aside as Bones launched himself from a three point stance towards the vines. The low apex of the tunnel forced him to stay crouched, but he still made impact with tremendous force.

  Most of that force was repelled instantly. Bones crashed to the ground with one arm still stuck in the vines. Dane expected him to writhe in pain, but he looked up and his eyes shone with something not far from madness.

  When Bones pulled his hand out, more light came in. Dane grabbed the vines with both hands and was able to tear some out. He could now see the shadows of trees outside, fading in the dusk. They had a way out if only they could make the hole a little bigger.

  Bones backed up and Dane stepped aside again. The repeat charge finally broke through, and Bones disappeared through the hole, whooping as he did. Dane followed, hearing the sound of something crashing to the ground behind him. Even if he hadn’t known the bears were coming, the roar that accompanied the landing would have given it away.

  Outside, Bones was on his feet and backpedaling across snow-covered and rocky ground, once again holding the AR-15. Dane scrambled to his knees, but slipped on a slick rock. He rolled over and saw a bear emerge only a few feet away. The bear rose to its hind legs and opened its mouth.

  “Stay down Maddock.”

  The next sound Dane heard after the warning from Bones was a double gunshot. Chunks of stone flew near the bear’s feet, and the bear swatted at the ground with a paw. A moment later, Bones fired once more and the bear abruptly turned and bounded back through the vines.

  Dane got to his feet and looked at Bones. “Tell me that didn’t just happen.”

  “Okay. We didn’t just turn tail and run away from an angry mama bear and her two cubs.”

  “Those were cubs?” Dane marveled.

  “Half the size of the bear that came out, so that’s what I figure. Good thing a few shots scared her away.”

  Dane shook his head. “You realize that word of this can never reach our unit?”

  “Word of what?”

  “Exactly.”

  Dane moved his AR-15 from his shoulder to his hands. “Think the Sons of the Republic were still around to hear your shots?”

  “I almost hope they were. We’re probably only a couple hundred yards from there.”

  They kept their lights off, allowing their eyes to adapt to the darkness as they moved. Dusk wasn’t complete, and they moved slowly without any problem.

  Dane spotted the line of trees, which they had been following when Bones fell in. They found the spot, but still saw no sign of their adversaries.

  “Think we should turn on the light?”

  “No.”

  Dane was surprised at the uncharacteristically terse answer. “Do you have a plan?”

  “I’m considering shooting that guy over there.”

  Dane scanned until he saw a light bouncing in the distance. “Maybe we should question him first.”

  “Probably. Let’s get close.”

  The crunch of ice and snow made stealth more difficult, but soon enough they were only a few feet away from a figure shining a light down what Dane saw were the stairs from the far entrance to the cellar. He turned on his light and summoned his best impression of a television detective.

  “Turn around with your hands in the air.”

  The figure jumped a foot and tripped upon landing, sprawling into the snow. Dane exchanged a glance with Bones, who shrugged. Dane stepped forward.

  “Turn over slowly.” The figure complied, showing himself to be a man about fifty years old bundled in a dark colored parka. He wore glasses with thick frames, and his freckles were obvious even in the limited light. Before Dane could say anything else, the man spoke in a high pitched voice.

  “What are you guys doing here?”

  “How about you tell us what you’re doing here?”

  The man looked like he wanted to argue and then noticed the Glocks. He took a deep breath, but his voice sounded steady when he answered. “Would you believe I’m visiting my family’s ancestral land?”

  Bones snorted. “In the dead of winter after dark. How about you try again?”

  “It’s true.”

  The man mumbled something under his breath, which Dane didn’t understand. Dane shook his head. “Ancestral land, huh? What’s your name?”

  “Octavius Marshall. Who are you?”

  “You’re better off not knowing,” Dane said. “So why come out here now?”

  Even in the dark, Dane was struck by how still Marshall remained when he answered. “My twin brother Cornelius was killed a couple days ago. I tracked the killers here.”

  Dane frowned. “Killers? And you tracked them to your family’s ancestral land?”

  “I can understand you being skeptical when I talk about killers.”

  “Actually that part doesn’t surprise me. But what about the land?”

  “To be honest, I’m only speculating. But I know the family owned several properties out here in the nineteenth centu
ry and I know there was a fire and one of them was abandoned. I also know they killed Cornelius, so it’s a logical conclusion.”

  Dane felt exposed standing out in the open with his attention not on his surroundings. But he could sense that Marshall either had some useful information or was seriously playing them. He needed to find out. To Bones he said, “Can you keep an eye on our six?”

  Bones nodded and Dane looked at Marshall, unable to get much of a read on him in the dark. “Back up a second. Who killed Cornelius and what information? And how did you find them and follow them?”

  “How do I know you’re not with them?”

  “And how do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “Fine, fine, you’re the one with the gun. I went to see Cornelius yesterday and I found him dead.”

  Marshall’s voice caught a bit, but he continued. “I also found a couple of guys there searching the house. They didn’t see me, so I waited until one of them left and then I followed him. Last night, he got on a private plane with some other people. I found out where they were going and flew out here as well. I didn’t find them, but I discovered they came to this place.”

  He looked down at the descending stairs. “I guess I missed them.”

  Before answering, Dane took a moment to process what Marshall had just said. “Your story has some holes in it. Like how do you know these guys killed your brother? And what the hell were you doing trying to follow his killers? Not exactly a safe move.”

  Marshall reached into his pocket. Dane steadied his weapon. “Stop right there.”

  Marshall said, “Ah, right. I am reaching for a gun, that is true, but I was going to show you that I wasn’t totally defenseless following them. Can I take it out?”

  “Do that. Do it slowly and drop it on the ground.”

  Marshall did. Dane said, “Seems like you weren’t paying that much attention. We crept up on you easily enough.”

  Marshall shook his head. “Yeah, you’re right. I was just a little overwhelmed when I saw this place. But you asked me how I knew they killed my brother. When I got to his place, his body was slumped in a chair at his kitchen table. Before I followed the guy, I took my brother’s pulse. He was dead, no question. He was ice cold, too. I called 911 but I didn’t stick around. I wouldn’t have been able to follow the guy, plus what would have been the point?”