***
Victor and Dina advanced slowly. Both felt tired now. The tunnel narrowed, the walls looked wetter and more soggy as they proceeded. Dina looked at the print and tried to calculate the distance to the ‘Open Space’ catacomb room. Suddenly, the tunnel began twisting, winding to the left and then to the right and to the left again. At almost every turn new entrances to additional side tunnels appeared. Some were marked in the blueprints, some were missing altogether. It was becoming more difficult to keep track of their position. Victor asked Dina for directions more frequently. She knew from her memory exercise and from what she saw on the blueprint that the winding would end soon in a straight tunnel. The tunnel should be no longer than ten meters, ending with the entrance to the ‘Open Space’ room.
“I think we will reach the ‘Gallery’ soon and then we should rest.”
“How long do you think we should rest?” asked Dina.
“I think five or six hours of sleep would help us recuperate. After that we can try to reach our last room and make our way back in one day. Otherwise we will need to spend a second night here, underground.”
They turned left again, when Victor's flashlight finally exposed the straight section of the tunnel that they so eagerly awaited.
“We are on the right track. The ‘Open Space’ should be straight ahead,” uttered Dina.
Thirty steps later, they stood at the entry to the catacomb room. The room's nameplate was mounted on the wall on the left side of the entrance. Victor entered the ‘Open Space’; Dina followed him. This catacomb room was small, the smallest of all the rooms that they had seen before. Dina looked around and made a mental note that the exit door was positioned on the left wall and not directly opposite to the room's entry, like in ‘Captain Dom.’
“How far are we from ‘Gallery’?” asked Victor.
“Not far. It should be on the left side of the tunnel,” Dina said without looking at the blueprint. “I think we can reach it in fifteen or twenty minutes, tops.” She looked at the blueprint and continued, “Then ‘King's Table’ will be five to ten minutes from there.”
“Do you want to take a break or should we move ahead?” asked Victor.
Dina looked at him and smiled. Victor smiled back.
“Okay, Treasure Hunter, let's go then. We need to start looking for a dry spot on the floor, and also I think that it is better to sleep in the tunnel rather than in a catacomb room.”
“Why is that?” asked Dina, walking behind Victor.
“I don’t like to sleep in a closed space when underground. I prefer to have more than one way to escape.”
“Then maybe we can go directly to our last room, ‘Church.’ It has an entry and an exit too.”
“We'll see. Anyway, we need to look for a dry spot.”
The rest of their way to the ‘Gallery,’ they spent in silence. As Dina said, the entry to the ‘Gallery’ room was on the left. Victor stopped, removed the backpack from his shoulders and opened it, then kneeled as he looked for something deep inside it. After a short shuffling of the items inside the backpack, his right hand produced a small steel hammer. Dina also removed her backpack and moved closer to the stone nameplate with the name ‘Gallery’ engraved on it. Victor slowly and gently knocked with the hammer on the four sides of the nameplate, closer to its edges. Then he gave two short probing knocks in the center. He repeated the same procedure again. Dina noticed the obvious differences in the sound when the knocks were in the center.
“Doesn't it sound hollow inside? What do you think?” asked Victor.
“I think you are right. The sound in the center is different from the sides. How do you plan to get inside it?”
Victor examined the name plaque carefully from all sides, trying to understand how the plaque was connected to the wall.
“We have no other way. We will need to break it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I wish there was another way. It is your decision, but there is no way we can remove it from the wall without breaking it.”
Dina looked at the name plaque. She felt miserable at the thought that they would be destroying a historical artifact. She glanced at Victor and her heart sank at the thought of how awful and cruel this act might appear to this teacher of local history. Feeling her gaze, Victor turned his head slightly and nodded reassuringly.
“Look, I know what you are thinking. I’m also very much against destroying it. But think of it this way: Those nameplates were installed here only about twenty years ago. They are not the original ones. Based on our theory, your brother was here helping somebody mount them on the wall, so don't feel too guilty. I'm suggesting that we remove one and see whether something is hiding behind it. If we are wrong and we find nothing, we'll leave the others untouched. But I hope that we are right because we are here to get your family's diamonds back, remember? What do you think?”
Dina hesitated, but only for a moment. “Okay, let's remove one.”
Victor went back to his backpack and took out a blue blanket.
“It will dampen the sound of the braking plague. Loud noise can collapse the catacombs,” explained Victor.
He took one side of the blanket in his left hand and asked Dina to hold the other side of the blanket so that it was covering the plaque and the area around it. With his right hand holding the hammer, Victor made a few probing knocks again over the blanket, looking for the exact location of the nameplate. He measured and was ready now for the final blow in the center of the nameplate.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, I—”
Not giving Dina the chance to finish her sentence, Victor slammed his hammer in the exact center of the name plaque. The crumbling sound scattered in a repeated echo through the tunnel. A few small pieces of the fragmented stone fell to the floor. The blanket was ripped in the exact place where Victor’s hammer had landed. Dina and Victor lowered the blanket, revealing a small hole in the wall. Most of the pieces of the shattered stone had landed inside the hole. Victor put his gloves on and began to remove the broken pieces. A moment later and he reached with his hand deeper into the hole, and when it came out, he held a small brown tin container.
“Is that a can of sardines? Is it?” asked Dina, looking closely at the container.
“Yes, it is. We have a small importer in Derchany. They bring this stuff from the Baltic Republics. They've been here for generations.”
Victor gently jiggled the container, checking whether it held something inside. A small knife came out of his right pocket. He lowered his hand and was ready to open it. A greenish mold, some dirt and a lot of dust were all over the can. After Victor cleaned it from the filth, they discovered a small slot in the container's top. Victor placed the tip of his knife into the slot. It required a very little effort for the top of the container to give in and so Victor was able to lift the top wide enough to allow them a dazzling view of what was hiding inside of the container. Victor angled the can and a number of sparkling stones rolled out from the inside onto the palm of his hand.
“Nice. They look gorgeous,” said Victor as he handed the can to Dina.
“All yours, Dina. Eight out of thirty-two. Great catch.”
How does he know about thirty-two diamonds? thundered through Dina’s head. She tried hard to hide her emotions and not ask Victor about that.
“Yes, great catch. We should start moving to ‘King's Table’ now. It shouldn't be far from here, a couple of meters down the tunnel.” Dina replaced the lid of the can as much as was possible, put it inside the side pocket of her backpack, folded the blanket, turned around and began walking.
“You don't sound too happy. Aren't you excited?” asked Victor, following her.
“I’m happy, but I’m tired and we have a lot to cover still,” Dina replied curtly, and continued walking.
Relax, girl, don’t show him that you are suddenly suspicious of something.
“Let's get the rest of the diamonds from the
‘King's Table’ and have a good, relaxing break and a good look at our treasures after that,” she added more amicably, trying to smooth out, and defuse the tense and edgy mood that she had just created.
The ‘King's Table’ catacomb room was a couple of minutes away in a straight line from the ‘Gallery’.
The room's entry was on the left side. Victor and Dina did not look past the entrance of the room. They were interested in only the nameplate. Again, they followed the same procedure as in the ‘Gallery’, and with the help of Victor's hammer, another nameplate was soon shattered into small pieces. Another can with eight diamonds went peacefully into the side pocket of Dina’s backpack and soon they were on their way, moving towards the next stop.
Dina looked at the blueprints.
“The tunnel should veer to the left not far from here. The distance to the ‘Desert’ room should be around a ten to fifteen minute walk after we turn left. Actually I think that we can see the turn right there,” said Dina, raising her head. She pointed her finger to the corner at the end of the dark tunnel that became visible, cut out by their lights. “I think we should have a little break there and try to contact Igor to see what's going on with him,” she added.
“Good plan. Please, when you walk, pay attention to the ground. It's becoming pretty damp. I can see a couple of small puddles of water,” said Victor, taking the lead again. Dina put her hand on the side pocket with the cans, making sure that the cans were secured, sitting deep inside the pocket. They walked straight until the sharp turn to the left. Victor was right; the floor inside the tunnel had become so soggy with water that in some spots it had accumulated into small puddles. They walked silently for the first couple of minutes.
“What time is it?” asked Dina.
Victor stopped and lifted his left hand to the light, looking at his watch. “Quarter past eleven.”
“Thank you. I think that it is still not too late to contact Igor from ‘Desert’.” They continued walking, frequently producing splashing sounds with their boots.
“The entrance to the room will be on the left. You were right; it will be difficult to find a dry spot on the floor for an overnight stay.”
“I hope we'll find something inside one of the rooms,” replied Victor. He was looking onward into the distance, searching the wet wall, trying to get an indication of a wooden frame.
After a while, the entry to the ‘Desert’ room became visible at last.
“It sounds different from ‘Devil's Bridge,” Dina noticed when they came closer.
“Please stay here while I check for bats inside the room.”
Victor entered the room slowly.
“You can come in.”
She could hear his voice echoing from inside. Dina paused, folded the now-unnecessary blueprints and stepped into the room through the wooden frame of the entrance. This room was much larger than all the others. In the middle stood a square structure of about two meters high. On the top of the structure stood what looked like a cylindrical metal water tank. Pipes and cables ran in a straight line from the tank and into the ceiling. Victor was standing near one of the walls of the structure.
“Let's not skip any minute details on our tour. This is the most desired public washroom in the Derchany catacombs. The walls are built from wood and stone. Most of the wood is now rotten of course, but the structure is pretty sound thanks to the stones. As you can see, it has a water tank with a constant supply of water from underground; a technical marvel. I haven't checked whether we can flush the toilets, but it seems that we could try to use it. And I hope that it addresses your earlier concerns.”
Although all this was said jokingly, Dina could detect some proud undertones in Victor's voice. He approached the other wall of the toilet and after some serious pushing and shoving, opened the washroom's door.
“For a toilet that hasn't been cleaned for twenty-something years, it's not in bad condition. Oops.” Victor took a step back when he realized that he was standing in a big puddle of water.
Dina looked around in search of a dry spot on the ground. The corner on the left looked promising. She started walking towards it. As she came closer she saw that the floor in the corner was flat and elevated, thus creating a dry island surrounded by dampness. Dina was about to turn around, ready to share her discovery with Victor, when she felt that something was moving over her right ear, something wet and unpleasant. At first, she thought that it was a big bug, and then she was convinced that it felt more like a snake. She froze, then she quickly passed the folded blueprints from her right to her left hand, and with a brisk move, tried to remove the unwelcome creature from her ear.
“Don’t touch it!”
Dina could hear Victor's voice, but it was too late. Her right hand moved over her right ear, trying to brush off the unwelcome creature. She could feel the snake on her upper arm now. She tried to push it away again. All of a sudden, Dina felt a strong shock of pain running through her body. Her two legs gave way, her boots went up in the air, and she landed flat on her backpack, two arms stretched out, forming a perfect cross with her body.
Victor quickly rushed over to her, kneeling beside her body, which was lying in the middle of a shallow but large puddle.
“Are you okay? Did you feel any pain?”
“I feel fine. What was it?”
“You got electrocuted. Didn't I tell you to wear the gloves? A small electrical cable came loose and was dangling from the ceiling. How do you feel?” he asked again. “Can you stand up?”
Dina slowly, and with Victor’s help, managed to lift herself up, and although a little wobbly, stood on her feet. She took a couple of steps.
“I feel good. I was scared, thought that it was a snake.”
“Glad that you are okay.” His voice disclosed a little more tenderness than she anticipated. “Were you about to tell me something when you turned around?”
“Yes, I think that I've found a dry spot there.” Dina pointed to the corner.
Victor bent down and picked something up from the floor.
“As usual, we have good news and we have bad news. The good news is that our generator is working. You are the best proof of it. The bad news is that we have no blueprints anymore.”
He showed Dina the wet piece of paper, covered with mostly black or dark blue stains. Still hoping to be wrong, Victor tried to unfold it. Nothing was visible or recognizable. A few minutes under water were enough for the old ink to be smeared all over the paper. The wet blueprints had no use anymore.
“Sorry.” Dina removed her backpack and checked the contents of the side pocket. “We don’t need the blueprint, I can navigate without it. I memorized the tunnel and all of the rooms.”
Victor looked at her. She seemed calm and confident as she slowly walked to the dry corner.
“There is only one room left from which we need to collect the diamonds, the ‘Church’ room. After that we will be on our way back.”
“Are you sure you want to continue without the blueprints? It won't be too easy to find our way back without a map, let alone find and move to a new destination.” Victor approached Dina in the corner, removed his backpack and dropped it not far from her.
“If we collect the diamonds from ‘Captain Dom’ on our way back, I think you will have enough diamonds for the amnesty, even without the ones that are hidden in ‘Church.’ Why would you want to take the unnecessary risk of being lost in the catacombs?”
Dina felt surprised and shaken to the core by Victor's last few statements. Again she was facing the same question: How did he know about the amnesty?
“Firstly I would like to have a quick conversation with Igor, and then you and I will decide on our course of action.” Dina stood up, took the radio transmitter and walked towards the center of the room. She got around the washrooms to the opposite side from the corner where Victor was sitting. This gave her an illusion of privacy that she needed right now.
“Igor, can you hear me?”
A couple of seconds passed, and then the radio came to life with a crackling noise.
“Hello, Dina. I’m here. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, we are good. You were right about the template. It was the template Roman used. Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear. So mission accomplished then? Are you on your way out?” The cracking noise returned. Dina moved to the corner of the washroom structure and looked towards the dry corner on the other side of the room. Her light illuminated Victor, who was still sitting there searching for something inside his backpack. When he saw the light from Dina’s flashlight, he raised his head.
“Are you okay there?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m okay. Will be back soon,” Dina replied.
“Igor, please make sure that you are there when we come back. We lost our blueprint. Over.”
“Do you need any help getting out? Can you do it without the bluepri…”
“Igor, we are okay. Be there, meet us at the generator.”
“No pro… Will see you s…”
“I'll contact you when we approach the gate.”
Dina doubted that Igor heard her last sentence. She turned off the radio transmitter and slowly headed towards the corner.
Victor was sitting on top of a sleeping bag. Another one was waiting for Dina. She tried to fluff the bag, and then sat down on top of it.
“What is our plan?” asked Victor. For a moment Dina hesitated with the answer.
“It depends. I have some questions I would like to ask you first.” Dina looked directly at Victor's face. He raised his hand, covering his eyes.
“You are doing it again, you are blinding me. Please turn your light off.”
“Sorry.” Dina turned her head to the right and turned off her flashlight.
“Great. Thank you. That is much better. What exactly do you wish to ask me?”
Dina changed her sitting position in a way so she could watch at least part of Victor's face.
“I have more than one question. The first one is, how did you get out of ‘Corridor One’? You promised to explain that to us. I think that we have enough time on our hands now, so it feels like a good time for it. The second question is, how did you know that I was after my family diamonds? The exact number of diamonds? And the amnesty? Where is all this information coming from?”
Victor was looking at his boots intently. His face remained motionless, but the fingers on his left hand began a rhythmical drumming on his left knee, betraying his nervousness. Dina noticed it. Now, she was not so sure that she had chosen a good time for this conversation.
“You still don't trust me?” Victor drew a light sigh and then smiled. “I promised you that I would explain everything and I’m not planning on going back on my promise. But I’m not sure that now is a good time and place for it.”
“Why not?”
“I remember your first reaction when you saw me at Derchany's hotel. We don’t need any hysterics or panic or any other frenzied reactions now. Even though I believe – in fact, I know – that my explanations and my answers to your questions will make you happy, I still think that the place and time are wrong.” Victor forgot about the light on his helmet for a moment and looked directly at Dina’s face.
“Oiiiii.” She blinked, covering her eyes with both her palms.
“Oh, shoot. I’m sorry. We both keep on forgetting this stupid light. Maybe this way is better.” He removed his helmet from his head and placed it on the floor between them. Now the beam was safely directed away from them.
“At least tell me, how did you escape from Corridor One?”
“The answers to all your questions are connected into one story. Why can't you wait till we get out of the catacombs? I give you my word that I will answer all your questions then.”
Corridor One Page 10
