Janet Evanovich - Wicked Business

“We shall all die together in this hellhole, this stinking pit of misery,” Hatchet said.

“What’s with the rats?”

“They doth like me.”

We were on the far side of the room from Hatchet, and I wasn’t going any closer. Maybe if Hatchet was Pied Piper to hamsters I could manage, but these rats were as big as barn cats.

“Is that one of your special talents?” I asked Hatchet. “You attract vermin?”

“Apparently. They followed me here from one of the tunnels.”

There were four tunnel entrances in the room, plus the tunnel we just left. I tipped my head back and saw that the light was coming from a crack in the domed ceiling high overhead and reflecting off what looked like quartz crystals embedded in the walls of the cave.

“Have you tried all the tunnels?” Diesel asked.

“Yes. ’Tis a maze. I always return to this room. Some are booby-trapped. None are lit. And I cannot see in the dark.”

“Is there more water?” I asked him.

“Nay. None that I have found. Just the way we came.”

“And you came from Alpha Delta?”

“I did not. My sire doth open the back door to the Sphinx. It was all in the little book of sonnets. Where the key must fit in the wall to begin the journey to the stone. I was prepared to take the leap of faith. And I knew to find the stone and the stone’s tablet here.”

When Diesel and I found the first stone several months ago, we found a small tablet hidden with it. There was a power play between Diesel and Wulf, and Diesel got the stone but Wulf got the tablet. The tablet was written in an arcane language, but supposedly if the tablet could be translated it would lead to another stone.

“So why are you sitting here?” I asked Hatchet.

“When I returned to the secret entrance, it was closed and would not open. There was only silence. So I came back here to escape through one of the tunnels, but there is no escape I can find.”

“I’m surprised Wulf would entrust you with the stone,” I said. “I’d think he’d be the one to take possession of it.”

“He could not identify it,” Hatchet said. “Only you or I can identify the stone, and there are many stones here, as you can see. They could not all be brought back. It made sense that I would be the one to retrieve, and he would be the one to keep watch.”

“We tried to get into the Sphinx, but the back door was jammed,” I told Hatchet. “The lock was smashed and the tip of what looked like your sword was wedged into it.”

“I left my sword with my master,” Hatchet said. “I fear harm has come to him at the hand of the she-devil Anarchy.” He touched the gash on his head. “I met her here. She came from one of the many tunnels. She said she destroyed my liege lord and I was now her minion, but I refused. We fought, and she took the tablet and stone and ran into a tunnel, choosing unwisely.”

“Which tunnel?” Diesel asked.

“The tunnel marked N . She was perhaps ten feet into the tunnel when it gave way and she dropped out of sight.”

Diesel went to the tunnel and looked into the gaping hole. “It’s a long way down.”

“Do you see her?” I asked.

“No. I don’t see a body.”

“She’s very strong,” Hatchet said.

“Is this Deirdre Early we’re talking about?” I asked him.

“I only know her as Anarchy.”

“And she has the stone and the tablet?”

“Yes. I fear she does.”

I looked at Diesel and his face showed nothing, but I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. Anarchy wouldn’t know one stone from the next, and Hatchet would never give her the real stone. He’d keep the real stone on him and give her a substitute.

“There are four tunnels leading out,” Diesel said. “We know we don’t want to go in N , since it has a big hole in it. Did you try the other three?” he asked Hatchet.

“I did. And I always returned here.”

“The tunnels are labeled N, S, E, W ,” I said. “The points of the compass.” I pulled a totally drenched piece of paper out of my jeans pocket and carefully unfolded it. “This is what I copied off The Key House plaque. It made no sense when I copied it, but now I’m thinking it might be the way out of this chamber.”

Diesel took the paper from me. “It starts with W .”

Hatchet rushed to the W tunnel, and the rats ran with him.

“Dude,” Diesel said to Hatchet. “You have to go last. I don’t want to be stepping on your rats.”

Hatchet retreated, and Diesel led the way into the tunnel. We turned a corner, the light disappeared, and we were plunged into darkness. I put my hand to Diesel’s back and stayed close. I could hear Hatchet stumbling behind me, the rats squealing behind him.

Diesel stopped abruptly. I bumped into him, and Hatchet bumped into me, and I could feel the rats scurrying over my feet.

“Jeez Louise,” I said, chills running down my spine, a scream lodged halfway in my throat.

Hatchet stepped back, and the rats went with him.

“A little advance notice next time you stop,” I said to Diesel.

“Sorry. I forgot you can’t see. There are two tunnel choices here. If we follow the letters on the plaque, we take SW , so here goes.”

It’s easy to lose track of time in the dark. Without a watch ticking off minutes, time either stretches on into infinity or flies, depending on your level of enjoyment. In this case, we seemed to be walking forever. Stopping while Diesel read the paper, and continuing on. We came to a small chamber where there was another crack in the high domed ceiling and weak light filtered down. I could see that there were two tunnel choices, and Diesel wasn’t moving.

“Which way do we go?” I asked him.

“I don’t know,” Diesel said. “The ink is blurry on this one from the soaking. I wouldn’t want to send us into a booby-trapped tunnel.”

Some of the rats were abandoning Hatchet and wandering off into one of the tunnels.

“Follow the rats,” I said. “Hopefully, they’re heading for food.”

In a couple beats, we were again without light. I was close behind Diesel, both hands clutching his shirt. Twice I felt something brush against my leg and I thought rat! And by this time, I was hoping it was a rat, because I didn’t want to speculate what else it could be.

“I’m stopping,” Diesel said. “We’re at a ladder. And I can see a hatch above it. Everyone stay here until I open the hatch.”

I waited in the dark, listening to Diesel climb the ladder. There was a scraping sound, and Diesel told me to follow him. I climbed the ladder and Diesel lifted me out into a small dark chamber.

“I think we’re behind a false wall,” he said.

I felt him moving around, more scraping sounds, and the wall rotated to reveal a real room with a cement floor. Light was pouring through a couple half windows high on a cinder-block wall. Boxes and paint cans were stacked on one side of the room. Beyond the boxes, I saw what looked like a water heater.

“We’re in a storeroom,” Diesel said. “Either a classroom building or a dorm.”

Diesel yelled to Hatchet to come up, and Hatchet climbed out and scrambled to his feet. One of the rats came with him. The rat looked around, and went back down the ladder. We closed the trapdoor and the rotating wall, and I punched Hatchet in the face.

“That’s for Glo,” I said.

Hatchet’s nose was bleeding, and Diesel was smiling.

“Feel better?” Diesel asked me.

“No,” I said.

I was no longer dripping, but my clothes were wet and smudged with mud from brushing against the dirt walls. Now that I wasn’t quite so terrified, I was freezing.

“We need dry clothes,” Diesel said. “Good thing credit cards are waterproof.”