Diego didn’t bother to argue with him about who was going first—both were too conscious of the second sentry making his rounds. Diego stripped off his gear and jacket, handed them to Rubin and then stepped through the hole. It was definitely a tight fit and required a little engineering of shoulders and body to slide through. It wasn’t easy at all. Rubin watched his brother carefully and then handed him his rifle, gear and coat before stripping his own gear and passing it to Diego.
He slid the crate of potatoes as close to the hole as possible in the hopes it would slide in place and relock once they were inside. He followed Diego into that narrow opening. His boot found the rung on the ladder easily, but it took a lot of patient maneuvering to get his shoulders through the limited space. He was aware of minutes ticking by as he did so.
His head dropped below the hole when he heard the sentry at the door. Very slowly, he slid his hand to the knife concealed between his shoulder blades. It would be a very difficult kill. The last sentry hadn’t entered the house. He’d only taken a cursory look inside. They’d most likely looked in a hundred times. There was no bathroom, no reason to enter. Neither brother had disturbed anything other than the crate, and it was beneath the sink in the dark.
The sentry would have to actually enter, walk to the sink, crouch down and inspect underneath to find it. Rubin practiced, over and over in his mind, raising one arm and slitting the man’s throat. There was no way he could get his head and shoulders through that opening in time to make the kill. He’d have to do it blind, using instinct alone, the stubble embedded in his jaw guiding him, telling him exactly where his enemy was, how close, his shape and where to make his strike.
He waited in silence, the dark surrounding him, as he heard a grunt and then shuffling. The door to the shack closed and then there was silence again. Still, he waited. There was the faint smell of sweat. Heavy breathing. Measured treads coming closer. The water at the sink went on and then the soldier muttered something to himself. Water drops splashed on the floor. Rubin couldn’t see them, but he heard them. The sentry didn’t like the humidity. Abruptly, the man turned off the water and hastily left the shack.
Rubin shook his head. The sentry hadn’t been one of the elite soldiers. Rubin whispered the password a second time, and just as the floor had opened, it closed. He heard the crate slide into position.
That old man is a genius, Diego. He knows technology whether he’ll ever admit it or not. He built that little unit. He ordered the parts and he put it together.
They say not to judge a book by its cover and I guess they were right. Luther deliberately made himself an old stereotype, Diego agreed, climbing the rest of the way down the ladder.
There wasn’t a great distance to go before they were in the shaft itself. They had to bend down to walk through the man-made tunnel Luther had painstakingly dug to connect with the cave system he had discovered. He’d shored it up with metal, rebar and cement. The tunnel was long and dark, twisting and turning, going uphill and then down, taking them toward the woods and toward the Huntington Falls area.
How long do you think it took him to dig this from his house? Diego asked.
He obviously spent years on it, Rubin said. Luther was tenacious. His respect for the man just continued to grow. This had taken careful planning. The cement had to be brought in. The dirt had to be carried out and concealed. This is a feat beyond measure for one man.
It’s possible he caught trespassers and made them help him and then killed them, Diego said dryly.
Rubin laughed. If he could have, he would have made everyone believe that about him. He does so love his reputation.
The heat in the tunnel was giving way to cold air. Abruptly, they came to a wide-open cavern with layers of rock, beautifully and unexpectedly colored. It was the last thing either of them thought they’d see. It was as if it came out of nowhere. They both just stopped and stared in disbelief.
Rubin guessed they were near Huntington Falls, but very far underground, so their voices wouldn’t carry. Still, he spoke in a low tone. “Luther’s known this cave system has been here probably since he first bought this property, and he never told anyone but Lotty.”
“If he had, it would have been overrun. Look at it, Rubin. It’s beautiful.”
A stalactite hung from the ceiling like a chandelier, its color nearly a pure white with a bizarre red band running around it. The band was wider at the top, tapering as it came toward the bottom. He’d never seen anything like it. The red was more rust than an actual red, but it was really amazing. There were other stalactites on the ceiling of the cave, but none as large or as striking as the one with the red band.
The stalagmites rising from the cave floor looked like beautiful columns of pale blue, purple and rusty red. The stalagmite rising just beneath the stalactite hanging from the ceiling was close to reaching it to form one complete pillar.
They picked their way carefully around the limestone, trying not to touch anything, not wanting to disturb the fragile balance inside the cave. The sound of water dripping was continuous. The rocks gave way completely until there was only water on the floor of the cave, like a shallow stream. The rock wall appeared orangey, with rust along the edges of the water. The water was dark in places, but Rubin could see that the floor was solid rock.
There was nowhere to walk other than in the water. Rubin took lead, stepping into the water. The water was barely moving. Water trickled from the walls of the cave on either side of them, from up above and in various locations. As they went forward, the minerals mixing with the calcite had to have changed slightly, because so did the various formations and colors surrounding them.
Rubin felt he was walking on an alien planet—one that was ever changing. The walls were thick with the growth of what looked like tubes in various shades of yellow. Huge tubes that formed columns of what looked like shawls to him, rising from the floor. They were pencil thin or huge and round and fat.
Then there were the blue stalactites, ranging from pale to almost royal blue, hanging from the ceiling. They were large and thick, vying for space, so much so they practically looked like a wall dropping down on one side, adding to the extreme beauty of the cave.
He was so busy looking at the sights around him, he almost missed the narrow corridor that veered off from the main direction of the water bed. He stopped and indicated the darkened tunnel. It didn’t look quite so beautiful or inviting. Rubin stayed very still, right where he was in the center of the rocky water bed, studying the tight, shadowy passage that was really no more than a wide crack between two giant slips of rock.
He’s in there, Diego. If he’s wounded, he’s dangerous. If he’s dead, I’m not sure I want to know.
If he was dead, we’d smell him. Diego was pragmatic about it.
Rubin shot him a look that bounced right off his brother. They had no idea how far back that tunnel went, and it was very narrow. That meant they would have to go one at a time and Luther would have the advantage. If he was trigger-happy, they’d be dead.
Rubin sent out the call of an early morning songbird. It was one of Lotty’s favorite birds. Luther would know the brothers would remember that bit of information. He took a step toward the opening between the towering rocks. Diego got there first, smoothly cutting in front of him.
What the hell do you think you’re doing?