by Glenn Ball
A brief look toward the door told him there were no other attackers as of yet. Looking over the edge he saw that Nicolas was hanging on for dear life. He’d been fine until the rope jerked. Then the man falling just past him gave him a shock. Seeing his captain looking down at him again he realized it was safe to continue on.
Within the next few minutes both Aguilar and Robinhood had reached the roof. Valencia had Robinhood guard the door into the Castle while he pulled the rope up, untied it and brought it to the other side. There he refastened the rope for Lone Wolf, Cobra and Shadow. Seeing them already below waiting to come up, he dropped the rope over the edge.
In a matter of minutes, all six were successfully assembled outside the door to make their entry into the Castle. Adam estimated that they’d killed twenty-four to twenty-seven guards. Some forty more and the hard part would be over. “Cinch,” he muttered.
CHAPTER 43
Forty-Seven Meters Down
Endless nights in the horrors of the dungeon left Susanna detached from reality. The shock to her psyche, along with the hunger and thirst, were causing her to hallucinate. She was dizzy. It was too dark to see the nose on her face, yet she could feel the room spinning. She was falling helplessly into insanity, falling, floating forty-seven meters down in the ocean. She was crawling on the ocean floor, trying to evade sharks that had scattered human morsels in the dark about her.
Her hand stretched forward, half-swimming, half-crawling. It was met by the sloppy kiss of putrid flesh as her hand slid along a femur. The protection of her scuba gear had vanished. She was naked once again, able to feel the rotting flesh, its rancid smell assaulted her nose.
Swimming from one hallucination to another, she was now in the lair of a giant crocodile where it stored the human remains of its victims. With her throat swollen and parched she had long ago abandoned conversation with Pedro, but now she called out: “Pete, where are you?” The cry that escaped her wrinkled lips was barely a crackling gurgle. She had to find Pete. He knew the way out of the croc’s lair. She remembered seeing that. Michael Vartan somehow impaled the croc; or was he Pete?
She tried to shake herself back to reality. The movie “Rogue”; it was just a movie. In the movie there had been a way of escape. In her reality there was none. She and Pedro had made an exhaustive search and found no exit.
Her frail bones shivered. Reality was too harsh to face. Buried alive to starve to death among decaying corpses, she would die a slow and torturous death. There was no hope of escape, except one: to kill herself.
********
The door creaked. Cobra was the first to enter, followed by Shadow, then Robinhood, Adam, Nicolas and Lone Wolf bringing up the rear. Their shadows slithered through the black smoke of the candelabras on the stone wall next to them, like so many spirits creeping down to the depths of hell.
The marble steps were oddly cut, following the contour of the stone, yet the six phantom intruders moved silently as if gliding. Passing battle axes as they spiraled down the staircase they abruptly halted at Cobra’s upheld fist. They had arrived at the landing of the uppermost floor.
Peeking around the corner to the right Cobra could see the landing with the tower immediately beyond it. Two guards were sitting in wooden chairs in the tower chatting. At eye level there were openings in the wall where they had rifles at the ready.
Adam and Robinhood took up positions side-by-side. Both drew and fired. Their arrows swooshed in tandem, each piercing a man through the throat. Death was instant and silent.
An iron boot on the landing detained Adam’s attention. It had two iron plates hinged together. The plates had holes and prongs throughout. The prongs still had the flesh of their victims stuck to them. He had seen such a torture device in Iraq. His heart was in his throat as he considered the cruel irony of it all. He’d spent years trying to protect Perle from the horrors of war. What tortures had she already suffered?
One tower taken, three more to go on this floor. Cobra peered around the corner to the left, then took off, stalking like a cat.
Robinhood followed, moving along the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, ready with another arrow should anyone appear. Halfway down the hallway he positioned himself behind a column protruding from the wall.
The doors along this hallway were all closed and locked. Cobra was silent as he carefully checked each one. As he approached the far corner the tower became visible. Fitted onto his belt were a large assortment of throwing knives. Taking two, one in each hand, he dashed from the corner toward the two men who were at that moment peering out of their defense holes. Neither could hear his silent footfalls, nor see him as they had their backs to him. Something outside had their attention.
The steel knife cut the air, piercing the guard on the left at the base of the skull, exiting through his vocal cords. The guard on the right sensing movement turned to see his companion grabbing at his throat, blood spurting everywhere. Before he could spin to face the deadly intruder, Cobra was already slicing his throat open.
Returning to the corner he signaled Robinhood that the tower was taken. Robinhood in turn gave the thumbs up to Adam.
Shadow then moved down the opposite hallway armed with throwing knives, with Adam following on the far wall with an arrow drawn and ready. Nicolas and Lone Wolf remained to guard the stairwell. Nicolas kept an eye toward the roof, and Lone Wolf watched below, while both followed what was transpiring in the hallways.
Shadow advanced down the hallway as light-footed as a vapor. Adam took up his position behind a protruding column as had Robinhood. As Shadow neared the corner he paused in mid-step. A radio was squawking. A guard suddenly appeared rounding the corner. Before he could react to Shadow standing two feet from him there was an arrow in his throat. Shadow wasted no time. He raced toward the other guard at the tower. The guard was drawing a pistol. Shadow was quicker to the draw; his knife whistling through the air went straight through the guard’s eye. Death was instantaneous.
Checking all directions to confirm that there were no others, Shadow went back to the corner and signaled the all clear to Adam, who then passed the message back to Lone Wolf.
Lone Wolf then passed the go ahead to Robinhood who then caught up with Cobra. Both teams proceeded toward the fourth tower, outflanking it. It went down easily.
The six descended the dank stairwell past broadswords ornamenting the cold wall with death. Visions of Susanna with sword in hand during her training sessions with him arrested Adam’s thoughts. He watched to see if any were missing, hoping against hope.
The next floor went much as the first; taken with hardly a hitch. With only three floors to go they travelled down another set of stairs.
With each new floor Adam noted the torture devices and weapons becoming more prolific and more extravagant. Passing a coffin, he lifted the lid to be assured nobody was inside. A ghastly odor rushed up his nose, and countless claw marks captured his eye as he raised the otherwise beautiful mahogany lid. Apprehensive his wife might be dead inside, or some other corpse, he also prepared for the off chance someone awaited inside to attack him. Relieved by emptiness he let out a sigh.
The Castle was a maze of tunnels and rooms hidden behind locked doors. Occasionally they encountered a door unlocked and Adam’s stomach churned, sick with nervous anticipation. He suspected Nicolas was right that she would be in the dungeon. Nevertheless, he would leave no door untried, no stone unturned.
On the third floor all was still going well. Following the same strategy as the other floors they were in the process of flanking the fourth tower. As Cobra proceeded down the hall a door opened. The man was yawning as he stepped out into the hall. Seeing Cobra, his yawn immediately converted to yell. His outburst was cut short as an arrow pierced his vocal cords. Nevertheless, the guards at the tower had heard him.
One had grabbed his radio to alert the rest of the guards, and the other his gun to fend off the intruders. Adam, coming up from the other side, shot the radio guard wit
h an arrow. The radio clacked on the floor spewing empty static.
The other guard aimed his gun at Cobra, but Cobra struck him through the heart with a well-aimed knife. As the guard fell his gun went off. It ricocheted harmlessly off the stone wall down the hall, but the raucous had alerted the others on the floors below that something was amiss.
Knowing that all hell was about to break loose Adam’s team immediately put plan B into action.
Cobra and Robinhood ducked into the room where the yawning man had been. Adam returned to the coffin and cringing while holding his nose lied down inside.
Shadow scuttled to the stairwell. He joined Lone Wolf and Nicolas partway up toward the next floor where they ensconced themselves in the stairwell. The pounding of feet rushed upwards from the floors below. Then the sound of footsteps dissipated. “They’re checking out the third floor,” Nicolas whispered. Shadow crept downwards, positioning himself where he could peek below the ceiling and reconnoiter.
A man from the tower shouted back toward the stairwell. “Ya muertos! Los dos!” There was a grunt at the bottom of the stairwell. Footfalls followed, disappearing in the distance.
Shadow bent slightly. Seeing the feet of a guard by the stairwell he prepared a throwing knife. The man stepped toward the stairwell and looked up. Suspicious, his CZ 75 lifted to shoot, a brief whimper escaped him as a knife buried in his cranium sent his body crumpling to the floor.
********
Adam was lying in pitch black, hearing three sets of feet rush past him. They had already come upon the two bodies at the tower. He could hear the squawking of their radios growing fainter. Ducking into the coffin had been a momentary inspiration, but now he was regretting the hasty decision. If he lifted the lid slowly, they might spot him before he could get out and then they could easily trap him inside. If he lifted it too fast, they would have the drop on him.
Considering his options, he noted that he had not yet heard any shots. Stealth was still an ally, and he could not be the one to spoil that advantage. He lifted the coffin lid slightly to peek out.
He was in luck. The hallway appeared empty.
Like a zombie sitting up in its grave the lid squeaked upwards ever so slowly in the flickering candlelight. Dressed in all black, Adam climbed gracefully out of the coffin. Moving like a night breeze toward the next corner, a vampire on the hunt in Count Dracula’s Castle, he reached for a poison-tipped arrow to take out the enemy. But there was no arrow. The quiver must have come loose in the coffin. There was no time to turn back.
Grabbing a samurai sword from the wall he checked the blade. It was not just for show. A slight smile formed on his face as he thought about this irony.
One of the enemies had already turned back and was coming fast. He waited, flat against the wall behind a column protrusion. He timed the steps. Three, two, one, he stepped out and swung. The blade went through flesh and bone as if they were paper. As the body crumpled forward the head came off in a bloody roll.
Pointing the sword downward he advanced along the wall. Blood still dripped from the tip of the sword when he reached the corner. The stone was cold and hard against his cheek as he listened.
********
Cobra and Robinhood had checked the room. They were alone. With the light off and the door barely ajar they waited.
Robinhood knelt with an arrow at the ready. Cobra stood with his back to the door peering out over his shoulder. They could feel the chilly air move slightly as two guards hustled by. Cobra had his ear to the thick wooden door, listening intently. Another guard was coming fast.
Knife in hand he used his other to signal to Robinhood. Three, two, one…he slammed the door open, stepping beyond with left foot planted hard and swinging the knife in his right hand upward. The blade went under the chin of the man who had been running just as he collided with the door.
At that same instant Robinhood let fly his arrow. It shot straight through the skull of the man following the other. The leader had continued on at first, not even aware that the two had fallen behind him. He was focused on the bodies lying dead in the watchtower.
As he flew by the corner, he saw his compadre standing and staring at the two corpses. He came to a sudden halt, gazing bug-eyed toward the compadre. The compadre glanced up at him with a questioning squint. The sword slipped through the compadre’s throat like a whisper. The bug-eyes grew bigger as they glared at the ferocity of Adam’s imposing figure, then rolled back as an arrow burst through the middle of them.
Cobra and Robinhood were quick on the heal of the bug-eyed man. On meeting Adam there they convened for a moment. Time to set plan C into motion.
Cobra and Robinhood regrouped with the others at the stairwell. En route they snuffed out all the candles. Adam likewise retraced his steps down the other hallway putting out all the candles on the way. He also retrieved his quiver from the coffin.
At the stairway the six huddled for a moment. Like a quarterback Adam gave them their next moves.
********
Lone Wolf headed toward the roof. Shadow quietly descended the stairs.
The other four remained in the darkness of the third floor with night goggles on. Robinhood took up a position kneeling behind a column facing the stairway, with Cobra across the hallway from him. Adam likewise set up in similar fashion behind a column in the opposite hallway, and with Nicolas across from him.
Shadow was the fastest man that Adam had ever known. He was confident that Shadow could easily outrun and outclimb the stairs of anyone chasing after him. He was betting on it.
Aware that the men below would be keeping vigilant watch on the stairway, Shadow snuck halfway down the spiral, keeping to the wall. Glock in hand he peered down to the next floor. Two guards stood murmuring. He fired off two quick shots. Both guards collapsed with bullet holes in the head.
Shadow then scrambled up the stairs with footsteps in hot pursuit. Pulling out of the stairwell he ran several steps down the hallway then hit the deck. Several guards emerged moments after and charged down the hallway after him. As one of them went down with an arrow through his head the other two heard the body fall and stopped dead in their tracks. They suddenly realized they were being ambushed in the dark.
One of them let out a scream. The other was discombobulated and began to shout too, but only for an instant. An arrow went through his mouth and out the back of his neck.
The first man who screamed had stopped within a foot of Shadow but didn’t know it. Shadow had stabbed his foot, causing his outburst. Swift to follow up on the kill Shadow stabbed the man through the throat before retrieving the knife from the foot.
The sound of more footsteps coming up the stairs warned the ambushers to be ready. Five men emerged from the stairway. Unsure which hallway to pursue and flabbergasted by the sudden darkness they were more careful about their advance than the previous three.
Before advancing they attached flashlights to their Uzis. They split up, two following the hallway where Shadow had gone, and three going down the hallway where Adam and Nicolas awaited.
Shining their flashlights about the floor the two spotted the two corpses that had been their living partners just minutes previous. As they came upon the corpses one kept his flashlight sweeping ahead while the other trained his on the two bodies.
Something about the bodies did not look right. With his flashlight still trained on them the guard bent down cautiously to investigate the bodies. As he did the other turned his flashlight down for a moment toward the bodies to also get a better look.
In that instant two things happened. Shadow popped up from underneath the corpses, his knife expeditiously finding its mark, jabbing the bent investigator through his eye. Robinhood stepped out in the darkness and fired his arrow straight through the back of the skull of the man now lifting his Uzi toward Shadow. Both guards plopped to the ground.
In the other hallway the three guards made slow progress, the lights swinging this way and that.
They had e
very reason to be unnerved. Men had been dying left and right with no explanation. Ochoa Machado might be playing mind games with them. His twisted love for torture and psychological games were infamous among his troops. If it was him, they were in deep sh*t. Then again, they had long believed the Castle was cursed. Blood and horrors abounded in it. Some said the witch actually ran things behind the scenes, and her supernatural powers were without question.
A flash of light caught something strange. The coffin lid moved. There was a hollow thump of wood as it slammed shut. The light directed toward it was shaking, the flashlight rattled. Thoughts of ghosts and vampires both assaulted the minds of the superstitious guards. All three raised their Uzis toward the sinister coffin.
Nicolas shot two of them from behind before they could pull a trigger. The shots and falling bodies startled the third guard. He spun wildly to face Nicolas, but Adam swung the samurai sword downward slicing off the trigger arm with a swish and cracking of bone. The man let out a sustained screech that rang through the walls. As sudden as a collision the screeching halted in the smell of blood and gunpowder. Nicolas had shot him through the forehead.
Like unrelenting war drums more feet pounded up the stairs. Shadow played the scapegoat, running up the stairs ahead of them toward the roof where they knew there would be no escape. In the heat of the chase they did not even bother to stop at the third floor. They could hear his shoes slapping the marble steps less than a floor above them.
Shadow made sure they stayed close. Once on the roof he slipped to one side, then ducked down next to a wall halfway out of sight.