David Morrell - The Covenant Of The Flame

'Complete kill,' the taut voice said.

A rock toppled.

'But this ceiling's about to collapse.'

'Rig the charges,' Father Baldwin said. 'Everywhere.'

'I've already started.'

'The statue's my priority. I'll set a bomb and blow it to hell. Thank God, at last we found the central nest. There'll be other nests, but this one's the most important.'

'What about the woman and the detective? I still haven't found them.'

'Probably buried beneath the rubble. They might even still be breathing. Five minutes from now, it won't matter,' Father Baldwin said. 'If they're somehow still alive, they'll die when the explosions bring down the ceiling. We owe them a debt. But they can't be allowed to know our secrets. Their reward for their service will be in Heaven. The charges?'

'I just finished.'

'And I just finished planting a bomb at the foot of the statue. Like it , the bodies of the vermin will be blown to hell.'

'Let's go.' The taut-voiced man lunged from the cavern into the chapel.

Other footsteps scurried.

The rest of the charges?' Father Baldwin demanded, his voice receding.

'Ready. We'll need five minutes to get out of the cave. That's how long I've set the timers.'

'Hurry,' Father Baldwin again demanded, his voice even farther away. 'Set more charges as we leave. I want these caverns completely destroyed.'

'No problem. We'll be able to see the fireworks from the bottom of the outside slope.'

A final far-away scurry of footsteps.

Craig removed his hand from Tess's mouth. Their clothing soaked with blood, they squirmed up the steps and reached a slab of rock that lay across the exit. Groping, Craig found a gap and squeezed through, followed by Tess, who scraped her back on the rock. Although the chamber was dark, flames from burning oil in the chapel provided sufficient reflected light for them to be able to make their way through the rubble. Their wet clothes caused them to shiver.

'We have to get out of here,' Craig said.

'How?' Tess hugged her gore-drenched chest. 'Even if we reach the exit before the bombs go off, Father Baldwin's men will shoot us.'

'We can try to dismantle the bombs.'

'No. We'd never find them all.'

'But we can't just stay here and wait to die,' Craig said. There has to be a way to - '

'I just thought of something.' Tess gripped his arm. 'Remember when we entered the cave and Fulano locked the doors. He left three guards outside.'

Craig nodded. 'And if the guards were overpowered, if they didn't respond to a message from a walkie-talkie' – his voice quickened – 'Fulano said we could use another exit. There's another way out of here!'

'And it has to be close!' Tess said, heart pounding.

Craig sank against a rock.

'What's wrong?'

'In the dark, we'll never find the exit.' He suddenly straightened. 'Just a minute. I think I can get us some light. Stay here.'

Desperate, confused, Tess watched him climb over rubble, searching. 'What are you looking for?'

'A body. My clothes are too soaked,with blood. My jacket won't burn.'

'I don't understand.'

'You will. Here. I found a…" Yanking a jacket off a corpse, Craig left the cavern and reached the flames in the chapel. There, he touched one of the jacket's sleeves to a blaze, igniting it. Hurrying, he returned, the fire spreading up the sleeve of the jacket. The grenades knocked over the torches back here and extinguished the flames. But there has to be oil all over the floor. I can smell it.' He dragged the burning sleeve across the floor, trying various places among the rubble, and suddenly flames grew, oil igniting among the fallen rocks.

The flames spread. Tess and Craig backed away. The chamber became illuminated.

'Over there. On the left.' Craig pointed. 'A tunnel.'

As the ceiling groaned and more rocks fell, Tess scrambled over the rubble, frantic to reach the tunnel.

'Go slower,' Craig said. 'If you break an ankle…'

'I'm more worried about the bombs.' A section of roof collapsed, its impact thunderous. 'And being crushed.'

They came to the tunnel.

'This is probably where Kelly and his men brought the bull in,' Craig said. The entrance from the chapel is too narrow for the animal to have gotten through. And the bull would have been so difficult to handle that whoever designed this tunnel would have made the passageway as straight and short as possible.'

Craig was right. The fire from the oil in the cavern reflected into the tunnel and showed an exit twenty yards ahead. But Tess moaned when she saw that the exit was blocked by a metal door. She moaned ever worse when she and Craig strained to open the door but couldn't.

The damned thing's locked.' Angry, exhausted, Craig leaned against a wall, blood dripping from his clothes. 'We wasted our time. There's so little left.'

'Maybe there's another exit.' Jess's voice shook.

'Don't count on it. And even if there is, those bombs will go off before we find it.'

'We've got to try.'

Craig studied her with resolve. 'Yes.'

They rushed back along the tunnel, reaching the cavern. Another section of roof crashed. The force of its impact jolted them and made the flames from the oil waver.

'Over there. In back,' Tess said. 'Another tunnel.'

'Any minute now, those bombs will - '

'The flames, Craig! Look at the flames!'

'What about them?'

They're still wavering! They're leaning toward that tunnel. When we first entered the chapel, I noticed the torches waver, but I thought that was just because our movement created a breeze. Air's flowing into that tunnel. It has to be going outside.'

Craig nodded. 'But what if the hole's too small for us to - ?'

'It's our only choice!' The roof groaned again. 'Let's go! Before - !'

They scrambled toward the tunnel at the rear. The moment they entered, another huge slab of rock fell, barely missing them.

They stumbled forward, the light diminishing.

'If this tunnel branches out into other tunnels, we don't have a chance.' Craig breathed hard.

The light from the flames in the cavern became so weak that Tess had to grope along the walls. 'Do you feel a breeze? Does it seem to be getting stronger?'

'Yes! But what am I hearing?'

Ahead, something roared, constant, louder as they approached.

The tunnel curved and slanted down, blocking the light from the flames. In total darkness, they kept groping along the walls. The roar gained volume, so loud that Tess could hardly hear what Craig shouted.

' What ?' she yelled.

'I think it's a - !'

The blackness was absolute. She couldn't see him, grabbed for his hand, took another step, and abruptly lurched forward, the shock waves of repeated explosions shoving at her. The ceiling cracked, about to collapse. Propelled, she stepped into nothingness. With air instead of rock beneath her, she plummeted. The ceiling gave way, slamming down behind her. She screamed. Her stomach rose as she dropped. Clutching Craig's hand, she swooped toward the black, louder, closer, continuous roar.

The roar, she discovered, was an underground stream. Its icy current stunned her, drowning her scream. She went under, panicked, powerless, unable to see or breathe. Dimly, she understood that concussions behind her were slabs of rock hitting the stream, but the current's force sucked her away before the rocks could crush her. She tumbled beneath,the rushing surface, straining to raise her head, hoping frantically that the breeze she and Craig had followed meant that the stream had an open space above it. But no matter how hard she fought, she couldn't reach the surface.

The stream gained speed. She banged against a polished curve in the channel, twisted, slammed against another curve, lost her grip on Craig's hand, struggled again to reach the surface, and suddenly felt herself dropping. Oh, Jesus, she prayed, unable to hold her breath, about to inhale reflexively.