“See you tomorrow.”
Castle walked out the door and it was closed behind him. The guard outside nodded at him, and Castle walked down the hall until he saw Kim. He nudged her from behind and she followed him, past the Chief of Staff’s office and turning the corner they went into his office and he closed the door.
“That son of a bitch,” Castle said.
“Jon, keep your voice down,” Kim said.
“I don’t care. Who’s gonna hear me anyway? Damn, that guy thinks he can walk all over me. If it wasn’t for adding me to his ballot, he wouldn’t even be in this position.”
Kim wanted to say, neither would you, but she held back. She walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders as he sat down at his desk. It was her turn to give the massage, but he was interrupted when his phone buzzed in his jacket pocket. He picked it up immediately.
“Where were you?” Kohler asked on the other line.
“Don’t worry about it, what have you got?”
“We’re outside the gates of Mount Vernon right now. They decided to sneak in after dark.”
“Good, let them do whatever they want. Listen to your scanners, and if the police get a call about intruders, call it off.”
“Gotcha, we’ll take them as they leave.”
“Good, keep me posted.”
He hung up the phone and walked back to Kim who was looking at him with curious interest.
“Police?” she asked, “What’s going on, Jon?”
“Don’t worry about it, Kim.” He smiled.
“It’s my job to worry about you, Jon.”
“That President of yours is going to have a lot more to worry about pretty soon.”
Kim had a look of shock on her face.
“For now, my dear, let’s worry about taking care of me.” He grabbed her hand and led her over to the couch.
CHAPTER 22
The most recent public pictures at Washington’s tomb were of George and Laura Bush. They’d gone there on February 19, 2007 to pay their respects to the man celebrating his 275th Birthday. Other than that, no one was allowed to take a picture. No one was allowed to enter the front of the tomb either, that’s why Willie didn’t have the keys, but he did have keys to the back storage closet. When he opened the door for them, Arthur quickly changed his mind and decided to stay outside with Willie. Seth and Madison entered the dark room with their flashlights off. The ground was sandy and gravelly. The crunch of their shoes echoed in the still darkness of the night.
Seth flicked his flashlight on and illuminated the floor, watching his careful steps as he made his way around the room. He stayed close to the walls at first with Madison trailing behind, flashlight off. He decided he needed to see more so he covered the flashlight lens with his hand and raised it waist-high. Seth slowly spread his fingers, bit by bit, allowing a little light to peak out, not knowing if this room had windows or not.
The walls were blank, just concrete blocks, but the floor wasn’t. As he made his way around the edge of the dark room, he saw small slightly raised bronze plaques on the floor. They were about half the size of a piece of standard typewriter paper. They were fastened into the floor with screws in all four corners. The floor was dusty so neither he nor Madison could make out anything on them, but he could tell that there was text engraved on the face.
Madison flipped her flashlight on, knelt down on one knee and scanned her flashlight across the floor to reveal the numerous bronze plaques. She dusted the first plaque off and read aloud to Seth, “Augustine Washington 1694-1793.” After she finished with that one, she crab-walked over to the next one, wiped her hand across it and read, “Mary Ball Washington 1708-1789.”
Seth followed her lead, found a plaque at the top and read, “Anna Blackburn Washington, Bushrod’s wife, we’re close!” Seth moved to the next closest plaque, the one directly in the middle and dusted it off. It was Bushrod’s.
“What now?” Madison asked?
Seth was caught off guard, yes, what now? He ran his fingers over the smooth plaque. There was no clasp or hook to lift it open. “Look around,” he said.
Madison got up and shone her flashlight all around the room. A chill ran along her neck as she noticed the cobwebs clustered in each corner. There were no windows and nothing else along the walls. She moved the beam from the light up and down along the four walls. On the third pass her light hit something near the corner.
“Here,” she said.
Seth was on the opposite wall and walked over to her. They both knelt down and lit up the floor with their flashlights. There was a cut out in a square approximately two feet by two feet, barely enough to fit a person through. It was a trap door. There was no handle, no lock, no knob, just four quarter-inch slits along the floor that connected into a square.
Seth grabbed the crowbar he brought and wedged the end under one of the slits. Its edge was slightly larger than the opening so it kept slipping. Madison held it in place, and Seth used the other end like a fulcrum and the piece popped loose. He slid the crowbar all the way under until the entire square was loose. Madison picked it up and moved it to the side. It was heavier than she thought it would be. It was not a piece of loose plywood but rather a three inch thick piece of oak. Dust particles rose from it and they waved their hands back and forth to clear the air in front of them. Madison held her nose tight and tried not to sneeze.
Without hesitation, they both shone their lights into the abyss below, but they couldn’t see anything but empty space and dust floating to the surface.
“What should we do?” asked Madison.
“I don’t see a ladder going down or anything,” Seth responded. “We gotta be quick whatever we do. It feels like we’ve been in here forever.”
When the dust started to clear, he noticed the floor of the new room. Except for the random piece of wood on the ground, there wasn’t much to see.
“I’m goin down,” Seth said. He slid himself over the edge of the drop and looked at Madison. “Drop my flashlight when I get down there.”
“I’m coming too,” she said.
“No,” Seth insisted. “You gotta stay here. I may need your help getting out or what if someone comes. We both can’t be down here. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” she said, “stay close to the opening where I can see you.”
He handed her the flashlight and stuck both legs through the opening. He gave her one last look then pushed off the edge into the blackness below. Madison didn’t have to wait very long to hear the thud when his feet hit the bottom. She peeked over the edge and saw that his head was less than a foot from the opening.
“Small room, eh?” she asked.
“Small ceiling, that’s for sure.” He grabbed the flashlight and winked. “Wish me luck,” he said.
He crouched low and disappeared.
<><><><><>
The trio from the UK and the twosome from the Secret Service parked their cars about two-hundred yards away from the entrance to Mount Vernon. They had arrived shortly after the gate was opened, but stayed in the shadows until now. Evan was the first out of the backseat of the car and he was quickly followed by Chloe and Max.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Max asked.
“Getting some air,” he responded harshly. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He offered one to his fellow partners and they both refused. He lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply while looking around. There was a slight breeze that came in off the Potomac that lowered the temperature to around fifty degrees. The trees nearby rustled their leaves causing everyone to feel a great anticipation for what lay ahead.
Evan took a second drag on his cigarette as he watched the feds exit their SUV and walk over.
Kohler spoke first, “What’s going on? You guys gotta stay outta sight.”
“We know what the hell we’re doin!” Max responded. “They can’t see us from way up there. Besides, I think it’s time we move on them. They’ve b
een up there long enough.”
“That’s a negative,” Kohler said, “We stay put until they exit the grounds.”
“Shit, man,” Evan said, “they could’ve found something by now and then hid it again. They will come down here, we’ll stop them, and they’ll tell us they haven’t found squat. I say we move.”
“I say,” Pierce jumped in, “you stay the hell put.” Pierce was overweight, that was for sure, but he did his time in the weight room and had been in his share of bar fights before.
“Oh,” Evan said, “Mr. Tough Guy has a set of balls now, is that it? You tryin’ to impress the lady here?”
“Screw you, the both of you,” Chloe said.
“One more word,” Pierce insinuated.
“Or what?”
The two men inched closer to each other. Kohler stepped back as did Chloe. Kohler would only jump in if he was double-teamed by Max too. He had seen Pierce in a couple of resisting arrests and knew he had some strength behind that girth. Kohler watched Evan extinguish the cigarette beneath his shoe and look up at Pierce who was still standing two feet away. Evan turned toward the top of the hill and took one step before saying, “I’m headin’ up, try and stop me.”
Pierce tried.
He closed the distance between them pretty quickly. Evan sensed this would happen and he was slightly uphill, so he was on higher ground and had a small advantage. As the footsteps of Pierce closed in, Evan ducked low and spun, avoiding the overhead punch of Pierce. Evan then thrust his right arm into the soft belly of Pierce who had not seen it coming. He doubled over and his nose ran straight into the uppercut of Evan.
Game. Set. Match.
Kohler made no attempt to help his partner. He was outnumbered two to one, not including the girl. He looked at Pierce on the ground, writhing in pain, holding his nose as blood poured out of both nostrils. He walked over to him, tossed him a handkerchief and said, “I guess we’re moving. Let’s go Pierce.”
Pierce struggled to get up and kept his hand on his nose, pinching the bridge, trying to stop the bleeding. He looked over at Chloe who smirked and he felt embarrassed. He didn’t say a word. He wanted to tell Evan that he was going to kick his ass later. Or that he got lucky. He thought better of it. Why taunt the guy that just kicked your own ass?
The five of them moved toward the entrance and the gate which was still open. They turned left and stayed on the walkway. Walking on the grass was too noisy with all of the plants, vegetation and leaves, so using the concrete was more discreet. As they crept up the hill, they could see one flashlight near the entrance to the tomb. Kohler pulled on the jackets of Max and Evan who walked in front of them, indicating to stop.
They stopped and looked back at Kohler who began, “Listen, you two go around the back. Take this trail here,” he pointed to his left, “and come up from behind. Pierce and I will approach from the front, right on that flashlight there. You,” he pointed to the woman, “stay right here in case anyone escapes and comes running down the hill to the cars. Actually, maybe you should go with one of the men.”
“You really don’t know me, do ya?” Chloe said. She gazed into his eyes without moving a muscle.
Kohler quickly changed his mind, “Okay, you stay here. Any questions?”
No one had any so he wrapped it up. “Let’s move out. First sign of someone running or escaping, shout it out. I want no discharging of weapons. That understood? Last thing I need is the local cops getting a call about gunshots in the park. It’ll be all over the news. Okay, let’s move.”
Two people went left, two went straight, one stayed put.
CHAPTER 23
It was darker than Seth expected. Granted, the room above him was pitch black, but when both flashlights were on, it wasn’t terrible. Now, in the pit that was below nine grave markers, his flashlight illuminated a four inch circle of decent light, surrounded by only an additional eight inches of blurred brightness. Still not enough light as he’d like. After dropping into the pit, he surveyed the area looking for four walls. He found three of them. He also shone his flashlight up at the ceiling but found nothing hidden there. The markers on the top were just that, markers.
He moved cautiously around the room, careful to avoid a two by four piece of wood here or a steel rod there. Other than that, the floor was empty. He started with the wall closest to him and felt his way along the edge, shining the flashlight sporadically up and down the wall as he moved to the corner. He heard something behind him and quickly turned his flashlight in the direction of the noise. The sound was like someone smacking their lips, the moisture keeping them together for just a bit longer, but it stopped as the light turned. The flashlight shook in his hand. Maybe it was Madison. Maybe she was walking around up top.
Seth side-stepped toward the corner keeping most of his back against the wall and his flashlight hand stretched in front of him. The room was about fifteen feet long, and it took him almost thirty seconds to cover the full amount. He reached the corner and turned right, again moving with his flashlight scanning ahead of him. There was that sound again. Smack-smack-smack. This time he shone the flashlight toward the other side of the room and rapidly moved it around—up and down and left and right but still, he didn’t see anything and the sound stopped. Although it was cold, he began to perspire. His hands were clammy and his armpits were damp. He took the sleeve of his jacket and wiped it along his forehead, removing the beads of sweat that had recently formed.
Another thirty seconds and he was at the end of the wall, except this time it didn’t have a corner extending right along another wall. This time, the corner made a sharp turn to the left. His flashlight told him there was no wall in front of him and nothing to the left. Seth was now the furthest distance away from the opening where safety was in his grasp. His flashlight fell on nothing as he made his way straight ahead. It wasn’t until he walked ten feet that he saw what was making the Smack-Smack-Smack sound: rats.
Seth wanted to run. His flashlight found two such creatures sitting on top of a box staring at him. When his flashlight found them, their eyes turned fluorescent red. He felt around in his pocket and brought out the little can of mace he’d bought from the hardware store. He didn’t take the flashlight off of the furry little things. He didn’t move either. He was paralyzed with fear. Mice, he was okay with, but a rat was like five mice standing on top of each other wearing a rat costume.
One scampered away. He was torn between staying with the rat on the box and following the one that ran away from him. He tailed the rat as it scampered deeper into the underground cavern. He had one hand on the flashlight and the other on the mace. He followed it with his flashlight and took baby steps toward whatever lied ahead. The rat stopped, turned back toward him and stared. It felt like twenty minutes to Seth, but it was only a few seconds before the rat hopped high into the air and landed on something large, about two feet off the ground. Seth took a few more steps and with his flashlight found what the rat had jumped on.
A casket.
<><><><><>
Max and Evan darted left into the trees west of the tomb while Kohler and Pierce walked straight ahead, as quietly as they could up the path. After thirty yards, Max could make out the presence of a light up ahead that was moving. It wasn’t the spotlights on the ground or the light posts in the air. This was something that was handheld and moving back and forth. He put a finger to his nose and whispered to Evan to move farther left, away from whoever was holding the light. They had to come around back and choke off any escape.
They moved toward the tomb and they were a good fifty yards to its left when they stopped at a small clearing. Max squatted down low and Evan did the same. They spotted the old man and the black security officer from earlier that day standing at the front of the tomb. The old man was shining his flashlight in, trying to see if there was anyone in there. Max noticed that the gates were shut. That meant that whoever was in there, must’ve gone in another way.
The back?
&nbs
p; They looked down the path and saw two figures less than twenty feet from the old guys. Situation in hand, they headed around back.
Kohler and Pierce saw the two Brits out of the corner of their eyes as they crouched low in the woods. When they came into view, they jumped from their cover and ran around the back. They too had been ducking between trees and behind tree stumps. They needed the element of surprise. He didn’t know who else was up there, and he certainly didn’t want a foot chase to ensue. He held up his hand to Pierce, who was on the other side of the path, indicating to wait. They waited.
They watched the old man shine his flashlight in and they overheard a snippet of conversation.
“They sure are…time.”
“Man, its cold.”
“We can’t…night.”
“What…do?”
Neither of them could make out much, but it seemed like they were alone for the moment as the two younger ones went into the tomb. Kohler debated calling the whole thing off. He could run around the back and grab the two Brits before anything happened. Let the kids find it and get them when they came out. What was the difference if they did it now or in fifteen minutes? That all changed when he heard a woman scream.
CHAPTER 24
Madison paced the dark enclosure of the cramped room waiting for some kind of update from Seth. She played with the pink rubber band in her hair at least three times. She kept taking it out, rolling her hair into a ponytail, taking it out, and then letting her hair bounce off her upper-back. She opened the door to go outside once, stepped through, listened for any sounds, and then stepped back in. The first time, she left the door open to let some light into the room. It didn’t help much as the night was just as dark as the room. She closed the door, leaving just a crack open, flicked on her flashlight and walked back toward the opening in the floor.
Madison stooped low so that she rested on her heels and whispered Seth’s name through the opening, but she received no response. She peeked her head through the opening and was barely able to see the intermittent light coming from his flashlight. That was a good sign at least. Seth was moving. Toward where, she had no idea. It was quiet in the room and she was alone. She even thought about leaving the room and heading to the front to find Willie and Arthur but decided she couldn’t leave Seth all alone.
The Lost Journal Page 13
