by Aman Gupta
Pete could only hand out a 1000 gifts, while he had another 15000. The truck drivers demanded that the packets be unloaded so that they could leave. Pete, on Kate’s and Eric’s insistence, got them to be kept in the main hallway that led to the study. The entire hallway was filled with blue paper bags.
As the food trucks started leaving, Bruno ordered his men to check the trucks. He was spooked that Pete and Chad had already solved the maze and stolen the treasure. He believed the party was organized by the mayor to safely smuggle out the treasure from the mansion. All the trucks that left were empty. Bruno received a call from Tony Sera, one of the leaders in the crime family. He told Bruno that Chad had reached out, saying that Bruno was working with the cops. Bruno denied it, saying Chad was the rat. Tony told Bruno to get concrete evidence. Bruno rallied his men and left for Morrow immediately.
Karen told the mayor that she would take Emily and Emma tomorrow, as they all left. Kate and Joey had left the party for West Gate, though in Bruno’s eyes, they had left a few hours ago with a drunk Emma.
Bruno ambushed Eric and the rest’s entourage around 1 AM, while they were returning to Morrow. Eric saw Bruno and his men had surrounded them from all sides. They were holding machine guns and rifles. Bruno ordered Eric and the rest to step out of their cars.
Eric stepped out of his car, raising his hands. Karen and Bill stayed in their car. Bruno fired a couple of shots on their windshield. They immediately stepped out of the car. One of Bruno’s men informed him that Bill had bluffed about a cavalry. Bruno realized Karen and Bill had played them. He was unsure about Eric.
Bruno ordered his men to check the cars for the fuel storage belts. A few minutes later, the men informed Bruno that all the cars were clean.
Bruno wanted to shoot them all dead but remembered Tony had advised that he didn’t want any heat on the family. Bruno left with his men.
“What now?” said Bill.
“Now, it’s up to them,” said Karen. “They got all night.”
Bruno called his men stationed at the mansion and told them to keep an eye on the mayor. He returned to 23rd street with his men.
*******************************************************
When Karen locked the door after escorting the mayor out, Vik stepped out of hiding, with a duffle bag that Karen and Bill had brought in their car. He untied Emily and Emma.
“Why were we tied up for real?” said Emma.
“So that it looked real,” said Vik. “Let’s go. We need to find the entrance.”
“I think I already found it,” said Emily. “Look behind that floor mirror on the north wall.”
Vik and Emma removed the mirror and saw a space cavity in the wall.
“How did you know?” asked Vik.
“He kept looking at himself in that mirror,” said Emily. “He’s not that good looking.”
Vik smiled.
Vik took out a thread spool from the bag and tied it to his wrist.
“So what now?” asked Emma.
“Do you remember the route?” asked Emily.
“Yes,” said Vik. “But I’m going alone. When I find it, I’ll pull the thread to send you a signal. You can follow the thread.”
“Okay,” said Emily.
“I was talking to Emma,” said Vik.
“I’m coming too,” said Emily.
“You’re claustrophobic. You could die down there. I’m not losing you over this. Plus, I need you here,” said Vik.
“Need me to do what?” asked Emily.
“I need you to create a new key,” said Vik. “Grab that bar of soap near the door that Karen dropped.”
Emily went to the door and picked up the soap.
“Why the soap?” asked Emily. “What happened to the portable 3D printer?”
“I guess she had to improvise,” said Vik, as he checked the bag.
“Yeah, the tools are in the bag,” said Emily.
Vik nodded. “Best of luck.”
“You too.”
Emma felt left out.
Vik grabbed a flashlight and went through the cavity in the ground inside the hidden room, and then down the vertical iron ladder. It took him fifteen minutes to get down to the tunnel maze, as the ladder was unhinged and kept shaking. He had memorized the maze, but as soon as he got down, he realized he had a problem.
As he pointed his flashlight deep into the tunnel, he faced his first challenge. Some of the walls that separated the various paths of the maze had been broken with a hammer. Vik suspected it was what Sera did, when they couldn’t figure out the solution.
The correct path to the secret warehouse was around 2000 steps from the entrance where Vik was standing. Vik took his first step and the next. As he walked ahead, he saw entire columns of paths being destroyed by the stupid, greedy treasure hunters. He took the best path he could estimate through the broken rocks, bricks, and walls. Vik was surprised that the entire tunnel didn’t collapse on top of the excavators.
Emma saw the thread spool spin in her hands, as Vik kept walking forward. It was a big spool, but Emma feared it would run out soon.
Emily was focused on melting lead onto the impression on the soap. The impressions were weak on certain spots, as the grooves were extremely detailed. Emily had to carve the impressions into a different soap, as she didn’t want to destroy the original, and the soap was too thin to make a key.
Around 10:30 PM, Vik had covered around 500 steps by his rough estimate. The tunnels were narrower than Morrow’s but wide enough to carry crates of fuel storage belts. He expected to see crates at the end of the tunnel. The maze had started to look like the one in the blueprints. It helped Vik pick up the pace. It wasn’t that difficult to breathe inside the tunnel, which surprised Vik. He was nearly 50 feet under the surface but could feel adequate air to survive. Clearly, the mining company knew what they were doing, Vik thought.
The tunnels were almost 7 feet high while their width varied from 5 feet to 7 feet at the turns. The walls were made of bricks plastered with mud and cement. Vik had to concentrate hard. He could close his eyes and still find his way. He was reading the blueprint imprinted in his head but he still used the flashlight to watch his way. He couldn’t afford to be overconfident at this point.
Around 11:30 PM, Vik ran into his next challenge. He had hit a dead end. Vik had walked just over 1800 steps, though they were uneven, so he might have walked 2000, he thought.
“This can’t be it,” said Vik.
He checked the entire wall with his flashlight. It looked like an ordinary rock wall. Vik tapped his hands all over it for an opening. Maybe he took the wrong route, he thought. The wall was cold, perhaps too cold. He put his ears on the wall while knocking on it with his knuckles to hear for a cavity or a space on the other side. The wall sounded hollow. He tried pushing the wall hard. It moved.
He kept pushing it forward. The movements of his wrist created sudden jerks in the thread spool. Emma figured that it was the signal.
“It’s the signal,” said Emma.
“Go. Be careful,” said Emily.
Emily grabbed the spool from Emma. Emma enclosed the thread in her fist. Grabbing a flashlight, she went through the cavity.
Vik managed to push the wall over 20 feet. Finally, the wall fell down, as Vik entered the secret warehouse.
It was as huge as he had imagined. The walls were padded with some substance that glowed like neon. There was only one problem. The treasure was missing, as the room was nearly empty. He saw few steel boxes on the floor over a hundred feet away. He walked towards them, looking around to see anything else that could justify such a scale of infrastructure for a couple of crates. He saw a matrix of four boxes, 2 rows high. There was a piece of paper on top of the stack. He picked it up and started reading it.
‘If you’re looking for the treasure, then it’s gone. I came here for it too. But I saw 8 boxes, or 40,000 belts as I counted. Maybe someone beat me to it but forgot to leave a note. Or maybe the mining com
pany created a fake legend. I’m taking half for my troubles. The rest I leave to you. I risked a lot when I came here from Astra, so I doubt I will return here again.
Death to Peace, Birth to Freedom. We live where the two meet.
Joie de vivre.
-ATZ’
Vik held the note and sat on the floor, his back against the stack. He knew he had enough to go forward with his deal with Xavi, but somewhere in his heart, he wanted to see the treasure. He hadn’t failed in his mission, but still, he was a little disappointed. He jerked his hand a couple of times, to suggest to Emma that he had reached.
Emma felt the thread slip in her hands when Vik pulled the thread. She picked up her pace.
Emily, who was nearly done creating the key, was patiently sitting on the chair, looking at the spool of thread in her hand. She felt a sudden jerk, which alarmed her.
Since Emma had already told about Vik’s signal earlier, Emily believed it was a request for assistance. She immediately stood up and went towards the hidden room. She looked down the hole in the ground. It was dark, like a doorway to the abyss. Her heart rate had already jumped, and her limbs started to go numb. She got out of the room and took huge deep breaths.
It took her a few seconds to regain composure. She tied the thread to the doorknob and again went to the secret room. She began climbing down the ladder one step at a time. As she went deep into the ground, panic set in her arms and legs. She started quivering. She remembered her promise to her husband that she would stay strong whenever she found herself in an impossible situation. She took deep breaths through her mouth as she started climbing down.
Around 20 minutes later, she reached the bottom. The shaking ladder didn’t help either.
As she set her foot in the tunnel, her heart collapsed in her body. She went down on the floor, on her knees, dropping the flashlight on the floor.
“Jace..!” said Emily. “Help me!”
She saw the thread wrapped around her wrist. It gave her a purpose. She couldn’t surrender yet. Her heart thumping, sweat dripping from her face onto the floor, she clenched her fist and stood up.
She knew she wasn’t alone. A friend was waiting for her on the other side, wherever the thread led her. Taking one step at a time, she stumbled forward past the rocks.
Her claustrophobia had started playing games with her mind. She felt like she could hear screams, whispers, and shrieks, all at once. That someone was following her. The walls were closing in on her, that they would collapse on top of her.
“Not today, Ems! Not today!” uttered Emily, with each step. She marched forward, hoping that the nightmare ended soon.
Chapter 31: Egregious
Emma reached the treasure room around 12:30 AM. Vik had moved the boxes to the entrance. Emma grinned when she saw Vik. The last hour had been a little daunting for her. The journey was a little scary and mentally scarring.
“That was quick,” said Vik, as she came earlier than he expected.
“Where’s the treasure?” asked Emma as she looked around.
“This is it,” said Vik.
“Is that enough?” asked Emma.
“It’s 20,000 belts,” said Vik.
Emma tried picking up a box. “It’s so heavy.”
“It is,” said Vik. “We can’t take it all at once. We’ll do it in multiple laps.”
Vik removed the thread from his hand and tied it to Emma’s.
“I’ll be back soon,” said Vik as he picked up a box.
“Shouldn’t we double team? That will save time,” said Emma.
“Okay,” said Vik.
They tied the thread to the base of one of the boxes. Emma and Vik picked up a box each and headed back. Emma walked ahead to set up the pace. The unforgiving tunnel and its coarse walls made the return journey troublesome.
Around halfway, Emma heard footsteps in the tunnel. Vik stopped moving, as the footsteps grew louder.
“Turn off your flashlight,” said Vik.
Emma put down her box and turned off her flashlight kept on top of her box.
A few seconds later, the person in front of them flashed a bright light on Emma’s face.
“Hey, stop!” yelled Emma.
“Vik?” said Emily.
“Emily? What are you doing here?” asked Vik.
“You gave the signal twice. I thought you or Emma needed my help,” said Emily.
Emily was sweating heavily. Vik was a little worried.
“That looks heavy,” said Emily. “Give me one.”
“No, it’s okay,” said Emma as she picked up her box.
“You know. Just keep both of these here,” said Emily. “I’ll take them one at a time. You can get the rest of these. How does the treasure look?”
“There are only two more,” said Vik.
“What?” said Emily. “That’s it? The treasure is 4 boxes?”
Vik laughed. “Yeah. Someone beat us to it. 20,000 belts. That’s our share.”
“So much for the legend,” said Emma.
Vik and Emma kept their boxes on the ground.
“Don’t carry them up the ladder alone. Just take it to the base,” said Vik.
Emily agreed.
They went back to get the remaining 2 boxes. When they returned, they saw Emily had already taken both of them. They went to the beginning of the maze, where Emily was waiting for them.
She was standing awkwardly, leaning a lot against the wall.
“What’s wrong?” asked Vik.
“Nothing. Just twisted my ankle,” said Emily.
Vik looked at Emily’s hands and saw minor bruises.
“I’m fine,” said Emily. “Just had a small panic attack when my foot got stuck in the rocks. But I’m fine now.”
“Are you sure?” asked Vik.
“You’re sweating like crazy,” said Emma.
“Can we just get out of here?” said Emily. “The boxes fit in the space. I checked.”
“We can’t carry them up like this,” said Emma.
“She’s right,” said Vik. “You both go upstairs. There’s a rope in the bag. Empty the bag and send it down. Tie the rope around.”
They nodded.
Emily and Emma went up the ladder. Emily struggled, as she couldn’t move her left leg much. Emma pulled her upwards every few steps. Vik abandoned the boxes and pushed Emily up the ladder.
It took them nearly forty minutes, but Emma and Emily managed to reach the top. Emily sat on the floor, breathing deeply and coughing. Emma realized Emily was hiding the panic attack all this time. Emily cared too much about Vik. She knew he wouldn’t concentrate on the plan if he was worried about her, and there was much left to do if they were to pull off the heist successfully.
Emma emptied the bag and tied a rope on its handle, while tying the other end of the rope to a heavy iron statue in the study. Vik, meanwhile, went down the ladder again.
Emma threw the bag down. Vik opened the box and pulled a cylinder containing the belts wrapped inside. There were 200cylindrical containers in one box. He put 100 of them in the bag and told Emma to pull the bag up.
It took them another thirty minutes to complete the entire thing.
Around 2:30 AM, they were all safely inside the study room, resting on the floor.
“What’s next?” asked Emma.
“Is the key ready?” asked Vik.
“Yeah,” said Emily.
Emily couldn’t walk at all. The light in the study room allowed Vik to see her feet more clearly. They were swollen and bruised badly. Emily cried whenever it touched the ground. Vik told Emily to keep sitting on the floor, but she hopped her way to the main hallway. They were cautious not to make much noise, as they didn’t want to wake the sleeping mayor.
He and Emma unlocked the door using the key. Vik opened the cylinders and took out the fuel belts. Each cylinder had 25 belts. The seal on the chip at the far end of the fuel belt was still intact, while all six fuel pellets were visible at the helm. Vik told Emma a
nd Emily to unroll the belts wrapped around the cylinder.
“Put the belts inside the steel box, and put the blue stones in the bag,” said Vik. “We have around 15,000 bags.”
Vik helped carry the cylinders and the stones back and forth from the study room to the main hallway, while Emily and Emma made the switch. While doing that, he realized he could easily fool the mayor with a simple trick.
Without telling Emma and Emily, he took the stones and put them in the crates left in the tunnel. He carried the boxes deep into the tunnel before leaving them mid-way. The mayor had never seen the treasure and would feel that the stones were the treasure itself. However, the stones were anything but treasure. The stones were found in abundance in the hills of West Gate and Old River. One could get a hundred stones for one single fuel pellet.
Around 6 AM, Emma and Emily had completed the switch. The treasure was hidden in plain sight, on the floor of mayor’s home. Vik kept the remaining 5,000 belts in his bag.
They again locked the door from the inside.
When the mayor woke up around 8 AM and went down to the ground floor, he couldn’t find anything amiss. He went towards the study room and unlocked the door. He saw Emma and Emily still tied to the chair, sleeping. The mirror was back at its place. The mayor smiled. He had successfully prevented the heist that Emily mentioned and was about to strike a deal with Vik a few hours later.
When he locked the door and left again, Vik came out of hiding behind the mirror.
“Where are the stones?” asked Emma.
“Somewhere in the tunnels,” said Vik.
“All of them?” asked Emma.
“Yeah,” smiled Vik.
Emily smiled too. “That’s better than laying them out in the study room to taunt the mayor.”
“Haha, yeah,” laughed Vik.
Karen and Bill arrived around 10 AM at the mayor’s mansion. Bill came in Vik’s car, while Karen came in hers. Karen only rolled down her tinted window partially while introducing herself. Bill was wearing glasses and hiding his face, as he didn’t want the guards to recognize him, but they did anyway. The guards let them in, while simultaneously informing Bruno that the US Marshals had arrived to meet the mayor.