In Case of Death (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 3)

by J. T. Lewis

  I had already seen something with the flashlight that got my heart pumping, the stack of rocks in the center of the shed…exactly like the one in my vision.

  “There’s the rock pile,” Abby whispered when her eyes had acclimated to the darkness.

  I had filled her in on the first part of my dream this afternoon.

  Holstering my gun, I put my hand over the end of the flashlight, allowing a small sliver of light to escape through my fingers when I clicked it back on.

  We heard the door of the car close up the hill, followed by the starting of Nate’s engine as he backed out of the driveway.

  “No one home,” he said into the radio, “House was completely dark.”

  “Roger, standby,” Abby whispered back.

  Looking at me, “What do you want to do now Gabe?”

  “Let’s look around here a little more. If we don’t find anything, we’ll rendezvous with the others and figure out our next move.”

  Nodding at me, she looked down, following the sliver of light from my flashlight as I scanned it back and forth over the floor.

  “I don’t see anything,” I mumbled, turning to exit the shed.

  “Wait, turn your light back on,” Abby implored. Clicking on the light once more, “Move it to the left another foot,” Abby said excitedly.

  “There!” she whispered loudly.

  Barely discernable in the loose dirt floor of the shed, we could now see just a small corner of something metal. We had probably inadvertently exposed it while walking around in the shed.

  We both kneeled beside the metal, Abby using her hands to scrape off the loose dirt to reveal a metal door encased in a concrete frame.

  “Wow,” Abby grinned, “Secret escape hatch you think?”

  I shrugged. It would make sense, considering what our thoughts were on Bill’s psychological makeup.

  “Could be,” I admitted, “But we are probably 20’ below the level of the house…seems awful deep.”

  “He could have steps in there, or a ladder,” Abby reasoned. “Or maybe he really does live deep underground. You told me Raven had thought of that before.”

  We sat there staring at the door.

  “Let’s open it!” Abby said suddenly.

  “Could be alarmed, or even booby trapped,” I replied evenly, giving the door a closer scrutiny as I looked for anything that would give away what was underneath.

  Nothing!

  There were no bolts or warped spots that would indicate something welded to it underneath.

  “Let the guys know what we found, and to watch the house for any activity when we open the door. Grinning widely, Abby relayed the message, clipping the radio to her pants behind her when she was done.

  “Want me to do it? She asked anxiously.

  Shaking my head, I reached down for the handle, turning it slowly to the right.

  “Give me your light,” Abby whispered, laying on her belly and shining the light at the lip of the door.

  “Bring it up about a half inch and stop,” she ordered.

  Pulling at the door gently, it easily raised from its concrete frame. I held it in position as Abby looked through the crack.

  “I don’t see anything, go ahead and open it!”

  The metal door moved up easily, the well-oiled hinges giving off not even a squeak.

  “Awesome!” Abby whispered as she shone the light into the hole.

  The area below the door was approximately 3’ in every direction, with one side of it being a hole heading off in the direction of the house.

  “Let’s go!” Abby exclaimed anxiously as she got ready to drop down into the hole.

  “Hold it!” I whispered, “We should let the others know what we are doing.”

  Sighing, “Ok, what should I tell them?”

  I gave the plan some thought, gauging the distance to the house from where we stood.

  “Tell them we are going in, and will check in with them in fifteen minutes.”

  Thinking about it some more, “And if they don’t hear from us in twenty-five, to come into the house…guns blazing!”

  Abby grinned at me, and then repeated the plan to the others.

  “I’ll go first,” I mumbled as I let myself down in the hole.

  “Guys always wanna be first, you ever notice that,” she mumbled back as she too let herself down in the hole.

  “It’s like they have to prove their bravery or something,” I heard behind me as I crawled into the tunnel.

  The real reason I went first, of course was much more pragmatic.

  With the way my old knees felt lately, there was no way I was going to try and keep up with a twenty-five year old girl full of piss and vinegar.

  Chapter 81

  September 29, 1999

  Bill jerked awake, hearing a noise coming from his security monitor.

  Looking up at the screen, he saw someone knocking on his door.

  The guy looked lost.

  Bill didn’t care enough to help the guy out. In fact, he didn’t care about much of anything at the moment.

  The throbbing in his leg was still there as he looked down at the bandage. Blood was seeping through, but it had seemed to have slowed greatly.

  Looking down groggily at the scattered rags, clothes and blood strung before him on the floor, his ‘surgery’ came back to him.

  Arriving back at home earlier, he had gathered a sharp paring knife and a bottle of Vodka and headed to the fireplace. Lighting the gas logs for warmth, he quickly stripped off his clothes and sat down on a chair in front of the fire. Taking a swig of the Vodka, he then poured some on his wound, screaming loudly as the liquid hit the bullet hole.

  Gasping for breath for a few moments, he then took up the knife, making a quick slice in the skin above the bulge that was the bullet.

  He promptly passed out!

  Waking about an hour later, he was met with a leg full of dried blood. Pouring some more Vodka over the wound again, he worked through gritted teeth on his leg, finally extracting the bullet ten minutes later.

  Another dousing of Vodka had sent him once more into unconsciousness, where he had stayed until the blasted noise had wakened him.

  Shifting in his seat to get more comfortable, his eyelids grew heavy as he stared at the fire.

  He soon drifted off once again.

  Chapter 82

  September 29, 1999

  My knees were killing me by the time we reached the metal door on the other end of the tunnel.

  “Whatayathink?” Abby whispered as she slid up beside me at the door.

  “I don’t know.” I admitted, “Someone could be sitting right on the other side of this door, with a gun trained on it…waiting for us.”

  Abby was quiet for a few moments as she studied the door. “No alarm contacts on this door either, that’s a good sign.”

  Looking at me then, “Who gets the honors?”

  “I’ll go,” I replied immediately, my knees screaming for relief. “If this goes South right away, you hightail it outta here and call the cops…deal?”

  Nodding, Abby looked me in the eye. “Is that what you would do?”

  I ignored her question, instead reminding her to call Preacher and Nate and check in with them.

  Unclipping her radio off of her jeans, she tried several times to raise them with no luck.

  “Signal’s blocked, all of this concrete and being underground,” I stated the obvious. Glancing at my watch, “And we’ve got about ten minutes before they come busting in.”

  “I’ll call from inside the house once we clear the tunnel,” Abby declared.

  Nodding at her logic, I got ready to release the latch and stand up through the door.

  “Gabe?”

  “Yeah Abby?”

  “In case something happens….I just want you to know…”

  “I know kid, I love you too.”

  “Oh…well that goes without saying, but there’s something else you should know.”

&
nbsp; Concerned, I scooted back down into the tunnel.

  “Abby, what is it? Are you ok?”

  “Oh sure, it’s just…I think you and May should get together. I love both of those girls, but you and May really fit together.”

  “You stopped me from entering a probable killer’s house to tell me that?”

  Abby gave me a shy smile, “Is that inappropriate?”

  Shaking my head, I crawled back up to the door and turned the latch, ready to push open the door. I was armed with a gun in my hand, good backup, and my daughter’s opinion for a future girlfriend.

  What could go wrong?

  ***

  This hinge was also well-oiled, making little noise as I pushed myself up into some kind of dark space. Chancing the flashlight, I swung it around the area quickly.

  My mind froze.

  “Gabe! What is it…is it clear?” Abby questioned from the tunnel.

  Realizing I was frozen in my amazement, I continued out of the hole, offering a hand down to Abby to help her up.

  “Wow,” she whispered as her eyes took in the surroundings in the dim light.

  We were in what appeared to be a large vault, with shelves lining the walls that were filled with stacks of cash, bars of gold and silver, and other apparent treasures.

  “Talk about hidden treasure!” Abby oozed as she pulled herself out of the hole, closing the door behind her.

  “We may have the right guy,” I said quietly.

  “Ya think?” Abby answered in a loud whisper.

  Seeing a light switch close to the door, I clicked it on.

  The light revealed something that I hadn’t seen earlier. On one of the shelves closest to the door was a large collection of firearms. Some of these were antiques, others were new high-end automatics.

  “Only one problem,” I stated as I stared at the door.

  “What’s that?” Abby asked as she moved next to me.

  “That’s a vault door…it’s locked from the outside. I think we’re at a dead-end here.”

  Turning to head back to the hatch in the floor, Abby suddenly said, “Hold on.”

  Turning back toward Abby, I saw that she was deep in thought as her eyes darted quickly around the room.

  “It doesn’t make any sense Gabe, why have an escape route in here if he couldn’t use it to delay someone that may be pursuing him? It would be like a panic room.”

  It made good sense. “He must have some sort of release hidden in here somewhere,” I said excitedly.

  We started looking for something…anything that may be tied somehow into a release for the heavy door.

  “Got something!” Abby called out quietly.

  “There is a button under this shelf; I bet it releases the door.”

  “Or maybe sounds an alarm,” I added, unsure.

  Holding her gun up in her left hand, she reached under the shelf with her right.

  “What’s the worst that could happen?”

  ***

  The worst that could happen was being met by a blaringly loud alarm emanating throughout the house, repeating itself every five seconds.

  “Oh crap!” Abby whispered as she froze in place, “This is bad.”

  We appeared to be in a bedroom. The surroundings were plush, but it was definitely a man’s bedroom, with nothing frilly or unneeded in sleeping quarters apparent. Considering that the tunnel we just entered the house through seemed perfectly level, I also estimated that we were at least 20’ underground.

  “I guess he probably knows we are here now,” again stating the obvious.

  “Whatawedo?” Abby asked with her gun held in front of her toward the only door.

  “We attack,” I said after thinking through it quickly, “We may still have the element of surprise working for us.

  Nodding, Abby set off toward the door into the rest of the house, with me following closely behind.

  As she reached for the doorknob, I suddenly yelled, “Abby, wait!”

  At that moment the door flung open in front of Abby, a fist holding some sort of knife crossed the space between her and the door, landing squarely in her face.

  Chapter 83

  September 29, 1999

  I watched in horror as Abby flew across the room, her gun falling in the doorway as she landed hard on the floor with a grunt.

  Before I could react, a naked man sprinted into the room directly towards Abby. Effortlessly grabbing the front of Abby’s shirt, in one fluid motion he had her sitting up as he slid behind her.

  I could now see that what he held in his hand was a short sword. Positioning it on her neck, he looked at me with crazy eyes as he rested his chin on Abby’s head. A maniacal grin was plastered on his face as wrapped his arm around her chest.

  “Well if it isn’t the Celtics,” he said as he pulled Abby up to a standing position. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

  Abby looked dazed, with a trickle of blood making its way to her mouth from her nose. Both of her eyes were already slightly swelled, and she would probably have a nice pair of shiners the next day…if there was a next day for us…

  “Let her go Jones, or whatever your name is,” I said evenly as I looked for an opening. “Your house is being surrounded as we speak.”

  He giggled.

  One of those crazy sounding giggles that immediately told me he didn’t care.

  “You think that worries me Celtic?”

  Another crazy giggle.

  “You think that if I don’t kill you two, they will go easy on me?”

  Moving the sword slightly, Abby gasped as I saw a trickle of blood run down her neck.

  “Step up here dad, and hand me your gun, before I finish the job in front of your eyes.”

  My throat was suddenly so dry I couldn’t swallow as I turned the gun butt first and made my way slowly to their position.

  “That’s it, nice and slow dad. Now, toss it on the bed right here.”

  As I glanced at the bed to toss the weapon, he struck out at me with the sword, slicing into my thigh like it was made of butter. As my nerves reacted to the pain, I inadvertently threw the gun across the room. It struck the far wall with a loud thump and clattered behind the bed.

  Using all of my willpower not to scream, I was able to remain standing. Not bleeding badly, it nonetheless hurt like hell!

  “You still have time to get out of this without being shot on the spot Jones, let her go and we’ll protect you!”

  Another round of maniacal laughing then,

  “You’re an idiot Celtic. What you don’t realize, is that the whole place will go up in flames in another eight minutes! You set off a failsafe when you exited the vault. If I don’t disarm it in time…BOOM!”

  A look of fear crossed Abby’s face momentarily as she realized that Nate and Preacher would be walking into a trap!

  I was wracking my mind for a solution…a quick solution.

  “Go out with us Jones! You will be famous!” I was grasping at straws now. “People want to know what makes guys like you tick.”

  “There is no one like me you dumb bastard!” he reacted violently. “No one has ever accomplished what I have!”

  Something caught my eye!

  It was Abby; a small but unmistakable grin had appeared on her face, followed by the whisper of a wink.

  Get ready she seemed to be telling me.

  Suddenly she let out a yell, expanding her arms out as she simultaneously tromped down on Bill Jones’ foot.

  Jones howled loudly at the sudden pain as Abby slid down and out of his reach. Bringing her elbow back with another yell, she then connected squarely with his exposed testicles!

  Forgetting the pain in my leg momentarily, I jumped at Jones, grabbing his sword hand as I plunged a right cross into his jaw.

  Dropping the sword, he fell to the floor. I scrambled to where the sword lay and snatched it up, flipping on my back in time to see Jones sprint out of the room, scooping up Abby’s piece as he went.

  “Yo
u ok?” I asked, looking over at Abby.

  Nodding, she felt her throat with concern.

  “Get something on that, and find my gun, it’s behind the bed!”

  I registered her nodding as I jumped up to follow Jones out of the room. I let out a yelp the first time I put pressure on my injured leg, but pushed through it as I limped into the next room.

  I had entered into a large room, with a big screen TV on one wall and plush furniture throughout. I heard a noise above me, realizing that there was a loft that looked out over the big room. Seeing the stairs across the room, I started to make my way to them when a shot rang out…a bullet burying itself in the upholstered chair next to me. Quickly diving behind the chair, I heard two more shots plink into the floor around me.

  “You aren’t that good with guns are you Jones?” I taunted him. “You couldn’t even hit us with a spray of bullets this morning!”

  Three more bullets peppered the chair I was hiding behind in rapid succession. If it had been cheaper furniture, I would have probably been dead about then.

  That was also six shots…only three more left in Abby’s clip!

  Bringing my feet up underneath me, gritting my teeth in pain, I jumped to the next piece of furniture.

  Two more shots rang out in the room as he unsuccessfully shot at the movement.

  That was eight.

  But I was running out of time, the incessant beeping of the alarm filling the house every five seconds without fail!

  I needed something to goad him into shooting that last bullet!

  I glanced around the chair, seeing Jones standing naked at the rail of the loft, legs spread, gun held steady in his two-handed grip.

  “What makes you think your plan was all that unique?” I goaded him as I again readied myself to move.

  “Hah!” he shouted from above, “The world has never seen anything like it…until you figured it out.”

  “Wasn’t that hard,” I shouted out, “Two middle-aged ladies figured it out in their spare time.”

  “Bullshit!” he shouted.

  Hearing movement behind me, I glanced around the chair to see Abby in the bedroom doorway, ready to enter the fray.