Ryan made a sighing sound as his agreement. They inched along the ground, pulling and grunting. A cloud of dust surrounded them, getting into their lungs and eyes.
Ryan stopped. “I’m done. My arms are burning—my lungs—I can hardly breath.”
“It’s only a bit farther—you’ve got to keep going,” Bernadette yelled at him. Her voice made a croaking sound from the dust. She pushed his back foot with one hand, forcing him upwards.
They kept moving. Bernadette pushing Ryan ahead then pulled herself up, her lungs on fire from the dust, arms screaming in pain from the constant tension. She hoped she was right about being close. She had no idea.
There was no way to judge their movement in the darkness. They moved upwards. There was no light above. Fear began to creep into Bernadette’s brain, a small voice at first, then it began like a warning: You’ll die here. This will be your tomb. No one will find you. Your soul will drop into this pit of darkness and never be found.
“Shut up,” Bernadette yelled.
“What?” Ryan asked. “I didn’t say anything…”
“Never mind…keep moving.” Bernadette said. She couldn’t believe she’d let her inner dialogue out. She was going crazy in the darkness. She needed light soon or she’d be raving mad when…if…they reached the surface.
She went back to pushing Ryan and pulling herself along the cable. By throwing visions of junk food at her brain, she distracted it. Fried chicken and gravy with fries, followed by apple pie with Hagen Das ice cream filled her brain. The fear went on an eating binge and left her alone—for now.
There was no telling how long they’d been pushing and pulling their way up the tunnel. Bernadette had a wristwatch with a luminous dial. It needed light to work. She’d stared at her wristwatch a few times: nothing.
Ryan yelled, “I found it—it’s become flat.”
Bernadette was too tired to speak. She kept pushing Ryan until she felt the ground go from the steep incline to level. They lay there, breathing heavily.
“Should we light the candle? See where we are?” Ryan asked.
Bernadette had forgotten the candle. Did she still have it? She started to search frantically on her vest. It wasn’t in the top pocket were she’d left it. “I think it’s gone…no wait—found it.”
She pulled it out of her lower vest pocket. No idea how’d it got there, but happy to have it, she raised it up. “The candle’s here, light it.”
Ryan sparked the match. The candle caught flame. They could see the tunnel they’d just climbed out of. It had been some kind of a service tunnel for air and electricity. This tunnel was larger, one meant for personnel and machinery.
“Which way do we go?” Ryan asked.
“Up,” Bernadette said. She stood. Her legs felt wobbly. She helped Ryan up. They stood together, supporting each other. “We keep walking, and if this starts to go downwards we turnaround and go the other way.”
Ryan nodded. They moved slowly, feeling their way until they could feel the ground was rising in front of them. They walked on in silence. Bernadette held the candle with one hand cupped around it to keep the gentle breezes and their movement of walking from blowing it out.
Their feet crunched in the gravel. A soft light appeared up ahead. It was the exit of the mine. They walked with purpose, realizing they’d left the darkness of the mine that had held them so tightly.
As the light was growing, they came to the hole in the mine floor. “What happened here?” Ryan asked.
“Me,” Bernadette said. “I almost fell through coming after you.”
They stood at the edge of the hole. “It’s just over a metre. We take a run and jump over it,” Ryan said.
“What do we do with the candle?”
“We don’t need the candle anymore. The mine exit is maybe a hundred and fifty metres away; once we’re over the hole we’ll see just fine.” Ryan said. He was pulling Bernadette’s hand, trying to get her to back up to take the run.
“I’m…not sure…maybe we wait here…”
“Wait here in this damp mine. Are you kidding me? Look, after what we’ve just been through I’d like to live, and I don’t want to spend another minute in this dark place.”
Bernadette cringed. The thought of jumping over the hole terrified her. She’d almost dropped through it before. The thought of staying another minute in this mine with the exit so close was allowing the fear to creep back into her brain. There was no other way. They had to jump.
She set the candle down near the edge of the hole to get a marker for where they needed to take off. There was no half measure. One wrong step would be fatal for one or both of them.
They moved back. They only see the candle. It flickered, beckoning them forward to jump. What they couldn’t see was the gaping hole or where they had to land on the other side.
“How far did you say it was?” Bernadette asked.
“Just over a metre, maybe 1.2 at the most. You ever long jump?”
“Yeah, I was the best in my class in high school. I did 5.6 once.”
“Then this’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Sure. Only one thing…”
“What’s that?”
“You get to fall back in a long jump.”
“Right. Let’s block that thought. You ready?”
Bernadette took a deep breath. She scraped her boots over the ground like she was getting ready for a jump. “…I’m ready.”
“Take my hand,” Ryan said.
“You sure? What if I fall short?”
“You got me this far, officer. We’re leaving here together.”
“Now,” Ryan yelled. They charged. Bernadette’s feet felt like lead. She willed them to move, to rise up. They barely lifted off the ground. She wanted to stop. Ryan pulled her forward. The hole was coming. It was too soon. She wasn’t ready.
Her foot felt the end of the hole. She reached as far as she could with her other foot, hoping an angel would put solid ground on the other side. It wasn’t there. She was falling.
A scream escaped her lips. It didn’t sound like her. The scream came from somewhere deep inside her. Like someone giving one last voice before they died.
A hand gripped her. She stopped in mid-air. Dangling in blackness, she looked up. In the half-light of shadows she could see Ryan’s hand holding onto her arm.
“If I swing you, can you grab onto the side?” Ryan yelled down to her.
“Yes.” She wasn’t sure she could. A weight was pulling her down into the depths. Ryan swung her from side to side. She reached up and grabbed the wooden flooring.
Ryan grabbed the back of her vest when she had both hands on the floor. She pulled herself up with her arms. Halfway up Ryan yanked her forward. She collapsed on him.
“Oomph!” Ryan said as Bernadette landed on top of him.
“Sorry,” Bernadette said. “Thanks for saving my… hey…is that what I think I feel…?” Bernadette asked, rolling off of him.
Ryan let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Sorry, officer…kind of a male reaction. Happens on its own.”
Bernadette shook her head. “Let’s get out of here before I have to pistol whip that thing into submission.”
Ryan began to say something and changed his mind. He dusted himself off and joined Bernadette. The sun was shining as they exited the mine.
The gun lay on the ground where Ryan had thrown it. “Did you steal the gun as well?” Bernadette asked, picking it up.
“No, it’s my dad’s. I figured it’d be a message to him. Kind of dumb, but I wasn’t thinking too clearly,” Ryan said. He stared at the ground.
“Car theft is one thing, but firing a weapon in the direction of an officer…gets you into adult court.”
“Sorry, I…”
“Is this your dad’s favorite gun?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Stay here. Don’t move.” Bernadette said. She took the gun, moving as quickly as she could on her wobbly legs. She got to the hole, pulled the amm
unition clip out, ejected the shell in the chamber and tossed the gun into the hole, then threw the ammunition in as well. She listened to hear it hit bottom. It took a long time. It sent a chill down her spine. She walked out of the mine.
“Why’d you do that?” Ryan asked.
“You need a break. Stealing the car is one thing; firing the weapon…I’m the only one who saw it,” Bernadette said.
She looked down the slope. Sergeant Tremblay was coming towards them. “I need to put hand cuffs on you now, Ryan.”
“Yeah, guess so. All the fun’s over, huh,” he said, putting his hands in front of him.
Bernadette put the handcuffs on Ryan. She stood there for a moment, waiting for Tremblay to meet them, and then took out her cell phone.
“Cell phones don’t work here,” Ryan said.
“Not calling anyone,” Bernadette said. She turned the phone on then switched on her recording device and put it back in her top vest pocket.
“I see you’ve apprehended—Ryan…what the hell you doing here?” Tremblay said.
“Your son was the car thief, Sergeant. He tried to escape into the mine. I pulled him out.”
“What happened? You both look like you’ve fallen down the mine shaft,” Tremblay said.
“Just a bit of dust in the mine, sir,” Bernadette said.
Tremblay looked from Bernadette to Ryan. “I’ll take it from here Callahan. Take the cuffs off Ryan. I’ll escort him home.”
“Can’t do it, sir. I’m booking him for auto theft and evading a police officer…sir.”
“Ryan, go wait by my cruiser.” Tremblay yelled, “Callahan, you’ll release my son, and you will put in your report the suspect of the stolen car evaded capture. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you, sir, but I cannot obey that order. This is my suspect. I intend to bring him in.”
Ryan stood there beside this father the officer. He didn’t know what to do. Their eyes locked on each other, two bulldogs ready to fight. He finally said, “Dad, I did steal the car…sorry…but it was me. I was also intent on killing myself. If this officer hadn’t have stopped me…I wouldn’t be here now.”
“Bullshit. No son of my mine would do such a cowardly thing as suicide,” Tremblay said.
“You’re the coward, Dad,” Ryan said. “The moment Mom’s away you’re trying to hit on all the women in town. You’re too chicken shit to divorce Mom. You don’t love her—but you think you can screw around on her.”
Tremblay strode forward, raising his hand to strike Ryan. Bernadette caught his hand and held it. “You can’t strike a prisoner in my custody, sir.”
“Corporal, I told you to release him, now. You hear me? You think I’ll ever recommend you for detective when you subvert my command? You think you’ll ever be anything more than some pretty thing whose ass I watch when you go out the door? I’ll make sure you rot in this town. You copy that?”
Bernadette threw Tremblay’s arm aside. “Yeah, copy that.” She turned to Ryan. “You want to give us a moment?”
Ryan shrugged and walked away from the two of them, looking around the scenery as if something else might be of interest.
Bernadette pulled out her phone and hit the replay button. Sergeant’s Tremblay’s voice came out loud and clear. “Here’s what I got, Sergeant. I got you trying to subvert the Canadian criminal system and threatening me with job action.”
Tremblay grabbed Callahan’s arm. “That recording will never be heard. You understand me? I’m the law here.”
Bernadette’s knee rose up hard. Catching Tremblay’s groin. He dropped in a heap to the ground, gasping for breath.
She knelt down beside him. “Sergeant, here’ s the deal. I’m taking your son in for auto theft. Tomorrow morning you’re going to approve my promotion to detective and my transfer to a larger city…. or this recording gets sent to RCMP headquarters in Ottawa. You understand me?”
Tremblay nodded his head. He didn’t look up.
“Now, I’m out of here. If you want, you may watch my cute little ass walk away from you one last time. It’s okay. I won’t press charges that you’re a lecherous old fart.”
Bernadette walked down the hill and took Ryan by the arm. They walked in silence to her police cruiser. She opened the door and guided Ryan into the back seat.
A small deer watched them with interest. It stared at Ryan. When the car engine started, the deer bounded away into the forest. Ryan watched it until it disappeared. “You really nutted my old man. That took a lot of guts,” Ryan said, turning his head towards Bernadette.
Bernadette looked into her car mirror. “Getting out of the mine took guts, Ryan. For you and me both. What I did to you dad, I should have done long ago. Sorry you had to see it.”
“Don’t be sorry. He deserved it,” Ryan said. He shifted in his seat and looked at his handcuffs. “Am I going to do some serious time for this?”
Bernadette turned in her seat and looked at him. He looked so much younger now. The late afternoon sunlight showed his pimples bursting through his peach fuzz on his face.
“When we get to the station, I’m going to recommend you call Joe Christie. He’s a good lawyer. He’ll plead your case down to joy riding. It’s a summary offense. The judge will be a hard ass ‘cause your Sergeant Tremblay’s kid and will want you to do a few days lockup in juvenile detention and a fine, but you’ll okay. When you turn eighteen you can have your record pardoned. You’ll be fine.”
Ryan’s face lit up. “Will be waiting for me when I get out?”
Bernadette laughed. “ In your dreams kid. In your dreams.”
Dear Reader
I hope you enjoyed my short story of one day in the life of Constable Callahan. I originally wrote this in a writing class at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada, in 2011.
The goal was to create a character and put them in conflict. I had no idea that The Bernadette Callahan Series would be born that day.
I have produced a box set of the the first three in the series, Polar Bear Dawn, Pipeline Killers and Climate Killers where you’ll see Detective Bernadette Callahan in even deeper conflict.
Please click this link to see the special offer;
Bernadette Callahan 3 Book Reader Boxset
About the Author
Lyle Nicholson is the author of seven novels, two novellas and a short story, as well a contributor of freelance articles to several newspapers and magazines in Canada.
In his former life, he was a bad actor in a Johnny Cash movie, Gospel Road, a disobedient monk in a monastery and a failure in working for others.
He would start his own successful sales agency and retire to write full time in 2011. The many characters and stories that have resided inside his head for years are glad he did.
He lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada with his lovely wife of many years where he indulges in his passion for writing, cooking and fine wines.
Also by Lyle Nicholson
The Bernadette Callahan Series
Book 1 Polar Bear Dawn
Book 2 Pipeline Killers
Book 3 Climate Killers
Book 4 Caught in the Crossfire
Book 5 Deadly Ancestors
Prequel Black Wolf Rising
Other Standalone Fiction
Misdiagnosis Murder
Dolphin Dreams (Romantic Fantasy)
Non Fiction
Half Brother Blues (Personal Memoir)
Register your email on my website to be notified of my future books and to get a free book;
www.lylenicholson.com
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Treading Darkness: A day in the life of Officer Callahan (A Bernadette Callahan Short Story) Page 3