by John Mathews
She turned around and examined the rest of the room, which was empty except for a medieval-looking broad axe mounted to the wall. The large weapon had a long, curved steel blade on one end, and a pointed pick-like spear on the other. Tammy grabbed the axe and yanked it until it came free from the mounting device. She ran her hand over the steel blade and found it dull from wear. The weapon was far too heavy and cumbersome for her to use so she dropped it to the ground. Imagining this blade making the cuts in the concrete bed was overwhelming for her and she quickly exited the room back into the trench.
She had to sit down for a moment on the wrinkled clay ground. She was still holding the flail tightly in her sweaty palm. She checked to be sure that the jade dagger was still in her pocket, knowing that she might have to defend herself from whoever lurked in these tunnels. Her mind was racing and she felt utterly nauseous from the sight of the instruments of torture in the small chambers. Tammy was sleep-deprived and frustrated, but all she could think about was finding Stephen and Maria somewhere together and killing both of them.
She returned to the narrow path that she was on before. Tammy moved carefully, always looking ahead and behind her to be sure that nobody else was there. In a few moments she was back to the three-way fork. One down and two to go. She turned to her left and started down another narrow walkway.
NINETEEN
The path went straight ahead and the walls continued to narrow more and more. The tunnel had darkened a good bit but a flicker of light could be seen at a distance. Soon Tammy had to turn sideways to pass through the tunnel without bumping against the hard, clay walls. The ceiling also got lower and lower and she had to duck her head and bend her knees as she went. Nervous about not being able to run should she be confronted, Tammy kept a tight grip on the flail, while continually looking back behind her. She soon came to the end of the razor-thin tunnel where it spilled out into a large circular room. The entrance to the room was low and Tammy would have to crawl on all fours to pass through it. She knelt down for a moment and peered into the large room.
Three steps went down into the room from the end of the tunnel. There were four lit torches spaced evenly along curved walls made of stone. The ceiling also curved and was made of bricks of various sizes. Tammy’s eyes opened wide when she saw what was happening at one end of the room. Maria was standing on a wooden table, the end of which was against the back wall. Her hands were bound behind her back and her feet were tied together. Duct tape had been wound around her head several times covering her mouth and eyes, only leaving her nostrils open to breathe. A rope tied in the form of a noose was around her neck and was pulled tight and firmly secured to the ceiling. She was standing on her tip-toes to keep from strangling. Tammy winced seeing her look so helpless.
Wow, I can’t imagine that Stephen would fucking risk the life of his daughter like that. Who else is down in these damn tunnels? Has someone set up some kind of trap for me and done thinks he can get me to come out to save Maria? What kind of fool does he take me for? Tammy poked her head out further to look around more before venturing into the room. The ceilings were much higher up than she had thought initially. There was no other exit to the room and Tammy knew that she would have to come back out through the small tunnel. Then she looked down, and in front of the steps was an unopened carton of Capri Magenta 100’s cigarettes next to one of Tammy’s elegant nightgowns. The carton had a bow on it with the words “For You, My Darling” written in bright red lipstick.
If there was one thing that Tammy craved more than anything in the world it was a cigarette. She thought what the hell, and tried to grab the carton, but it was just out of her reach. Tammy put an arm through the narrow opening and slowly pushed herself inside the circular room onto the top step. She quickly glanced all around the room again and was sure that nobody else was there. She walked down the three stairs, sat on the bottom one, and took the carton of Capri cigarettes.
Tammy tore through the unopened cigarette carton. She put a cigarette in her mouth and felt a surge of pleasure just from having it between her lips. Then she lit the cigarette and inhaled some deep puffs of smoke. She took a good look again at the table underneath Maria. I don’t get it, what’s the catch? I could get her out of there or just as easily knock the table out from under that bitch. She needs to go anyways, at this point, all she can do is hurt me. And where in the hell is Stephen – has he just lost his fucking mind? When I find him all I can say is that hell hath no fury.
Tammy finished her cigarette, flicked the butt to the ground, and stood up. She made her way carefully towards the table, looking as she went both down at the floor and up at the ceiling. There were no signs of any traps. She got to the edge of the table and started giggling inside watching Maria sweat through her clothes and make little squealing noises from under the layers of duct tape. Maybe she knows where Stephen is? If I remove the tape from her mouth, what can she tell me? Tammy was racking her brain for answers. I doubt she could be of any help. Because either she would try to lure me into some kind of trap, or is just another piece in Stephen’s fucked up plan. Whatever the fuck someone has planned with her, I’m about to finish it. I came down here to kill whoever gets in my damn way, and I’m starting right here and now.
Tammy leaned against the edge of the table. She looked all around the empty room one more time, and then thrust all of her body weight into the table. It moved more than a foot and now Maria’s toes barely touched the corner of the table, inches from falling off completely. Maria was squealing as loud as she could from her covered mouth. Tammy smirked, took a deep breath, and thrust into the table one more time. It toppled over completely, falling in its side.
With nothing supporting her any longer, Maria kicked wildly as the noose pulled tighter strangling her. Tammy ignored the violent struggle knowing that it wouldn’t take long for Maria to die. Although the scene was grisly, Tammy had a rush of adrenaline pump through her, knowing that this was all part of her destiny to wealth and fame.
She turned away from where Maria was hanging and looked at the wall behind where the table had been. She noticed something intriguing – a carving etched into the wall. Tammy went over and ran her finger along the edge of the carving. The color of the otherwise dark brown clay was more reddish where it had been carved into, and the shape resembled a person’s head. Tammy wondered what the carving meant and if it could be a self-portrait of Oliver. She stepped back again to get a better overall look. Circles cut out of the wall for eyes were wide, almost perfectly round. A delicate protrusion looked like a tiny nose, and a line etched into the red clay would be a little mouth. The overall shape of the head was circular and two raised spots looked like puffy little cheeks. This looks like the face of a child. But who could it be? Then Tammy’s head burst with euphoria as she suddenly remembered what Darnell had told her about the Princess Treasure. My God, it’s the face of a doll. The rock in the shape of a doll that signaled the location of the buried gold!
Tammy examined the carving in detail, and noticed a fine line that outlined it in the rock. She knew that the face must somehow come out from inside the edge of the carving, and tried pulling on it. It jiggled ever so slightly but was otherwise very difficult to move. She took the dagger out from her back pocket and tried to wedge it into the clay along the edge of the fine line. The clay was hard and the dagger was too crude to fit into the hair-like opening. Tammy then decided to use the dagger as a hammer, hitting the carving along the edge, and then pulling on it. The doll face budged a bit more, and Tammy chipped away at the edge to allow more room for it to move. After repeating this process over and over, this piece of clay finally fell out from inside the wall onto the floor.
Tammy eagerly peeped into the empty space expecting to see her newfound riches. Instead, there was an exquisite hand-laid mural made from hundreds of pieces of polished minerals. The minerals were of every color and brilliance, and had been placed perfectly up against one another. Ok, so now what’s this? Another secret
compartment? There has to be a way for this to open. Tammy pushed and pulled on the mural, but it wouldn’t budge. Each polished stone was embedded into the back of the wall. She felt all over the brilliant mural with the palm of her hand. It was perfectly smooth to the touch, except for a few small pieces of mineral that protruded out from the others.
Tammy pulled, pushed, and twisted each of the small protrusions but nothing happened. Now she was sure that this mural could not be moved. She sat back down, totally exhausted from all of the digging into the clay. Ok, so what does this mean? There is every damn color of stone here – dark blue, violet, beet red, pine green, canary yellow. It is a code? Perhaps using the colors of the stones that are raised from the surface?
She counted the raised pieces of mineral – there were seven of them. They ran along a horizontal line near the center of the mural. Ok, so let’s see here. From left to right, these colors are – light greenish, milky clear white, deep dark blue, brilliant sea-blue, deep blue again, emerald green, and canary yellow. But the exact colors are not obvious. And some of the stones have traces of other colors in them. How the hell is that gonna help me? Tammy was racking her brain for ideas, paying no attention to the now lifeless Maria dangling from the noose.
These raised stones have GOT to mean something. Wait a moment – maybe it’s the names of them that are important. I’ve done taken some geology classes before, let me see….starting from the left….shit, I don’t even know the name of the first one. But the next almost clear colored one is quartz, that’s easy. Then we have….God, I’ve seen that beautiful dark blue rock before in shops…so brilliant….but what is it? Wait – I think that’s azurite. Yes, that’s it! Now, after that, there is a sea-blue mineral….shit, I don’t have any idea what it is. But next is azurite again, and then that dark green one is definitely malachite. She bent over and took a whiff of the yellow mineral. Yes, and that’s sulfur.
She took a deep breath to concentrate. So what do I have? Unknown – Quartz – Azurite – Unknown – Azurite – Malachite – Sulfur. Ok, using the first letter in their names gives me…__Q, A,__,A,M,S. What in the hell does that mean?
Tammy rubbed her temples gently to soothe the sharp pain in her head which was a result of having to focus so intensely. What’s the name of that first mineral? It’s light green with touches of violet. I think I’ve seen and even wore a bracelet made of that stone. Yes, I bought it in a jewelry shop back in Wilmington. What did the owner tell me? He said it was not actually jade but looked like it. That’s right! It had some name that sounded like jade…ok, so I am gonna use J. That gives me J,Q,A__A,M,S. Well what the fuck? That’s J.Q. Adams. Who is J.Q…Oh my God, it’s John Quincy Adams, and old time president. So what the hell did I need to know that for?
Confident that she had solved the puzzle, Tammy stood back up and looked all around where the table had been to make sure there weren’t any other clues. She circled the room and found nothing else of interest along any of the walls. She took one last look at the now lifeless Maria hanging from the rope. Then she pulled herself back through the entry into the narrow walkway.
Tammy hurried anxiously through the tunnel and back to the three-way fork. She spotted the two torches that were close to the entry into the cabin above. She walked past the torches over to the bottom of the ladder, looked up and saw darkness, indicating that the trap door above had been closed. She slowly made her way up the ladder to the top and indeed found that the way out was sealed from above. She pounded on the thick wooden boards above her and felt certain that she could not move them. So someone is playing me like a damn rat in a cage. But where the hell is Stephen and is someone helping him? I guess I ain’t got no damn choice but to keep looking. In a few moments she was back at the three-way fork and ready to head down the last tunnel.
TWENTY
Tammy started walking along attentively and found that this section of tunnel was not as narrow and easier to navigate. The dirt walkway curved around to the right and then back to the left illuminated by some more burning torches. Tammy kept checking behind her as she went, wary of the still air and eerie silence. After walking for another couple of minutes the path cut through a small rectangular room. There was a putrid odor coming from this room like nothing Tammy had ever smelled before. She held her nose and tried breathing through her mouth so as to avoid inhaling the terrible stench.
The space was quite dark since there were no torches inside. There was a flicker of light coming from the tunnel that continued along at the other end of the room. Tammy stepped gingerly into the room to have a better look around. On the right side she saw two old large rectangular ice boxes which were smeared with soot and grime on the outside. She remembered seeing a box just like these in her grandfather’s garage and knew that they were used to keep things cold before there was refrigeration. On top of one of the ice boxes was an old metal meat cleaver with a wooden handle. Tammy picked up the cleaver and carefully ran her finger along the blade. It was quite dull and worn down so she tossed it to the ground.
On top of the other ice box there was a rusty pair of metal pincers. Next to the pair of pincers were old teeth fragments stained with blood. The thought of yanking teeth from someone’s mouth with this primitive instrument gave Tammy goose bumps and a tingling sensation on her skin. Some large metal hooks were attached to the wall behind the freezers and one of them had what looked like dried entrails hanging from it.
With a feeling of nausea, Tammy turned to the left and then stepped back while holding her nose when she saw what was creating the terrible smell. Large slabs of decomposing meat were lying on the ground and completely infested with maggots. Most of the meat had become a vile grey sludge which Tammy had never seen the likes of before. The maggots wriggled and tore at the meat, hundreds of them moving all at once. It was as if the sludge was alive, squirming and oozing on the ground, yet slowly being digested by the hungry larvae. She squinted to see better to the other end of the room past the maggots. There were some skulls with their teeth missing scattered across the floor. The stench was overwhelming, and Tammy swiftly passed through the room and went into another well-lit stretch of the tunnel.
She took a few quick breaths to keep from puking as she felt the nausea way up inside her gut. The ceiling of the new stretch of tunnel was much lower and she ducked her head a bit as she went. She walked along slowly for several minutes as the tunnel wound underground like a snake in a vast meadow. Lit torches were attached to the hard clay walls in increments of about fifty feet. As Tammy walked, she felt some air coming into the tunnel from up ahead. In the blink of an eye, a vicious gust of wind blew down the walkway and extinguished the torches in the tunnel both behind and ahead of her. Tammy stopped in her tracks, as a cold sweat ran down her forehead from fear of the unknown darkness. Then she dropped to the floor and curled up into a little ball. A feeling of terror from being alone in a pitch black space had enveloped her.
Tammy frantically felt the ground around her. She didn’t want to move ahead and could only concentrate on the sounds that her breathing made. She felt as if time had stopped and she was trapped, unable to go anywhere. Then the pain started again. More intense than ever before, the pain shot into her head like a round of bullets fired from a machine gun. She tried to scream but no sounds came out. Goose bumps covered her skin and she buried her face in her hands. It brought her back, to that horrific day, more than eleven years ago…
***
“Where’s my baby brother and when will I be able to see him?” Tammy asked the receptionist at the hospital.
“He’s down in the intensive care nursery. He’s very fragile and will be kept in an incubator for a week. You know that he has a serious genetic breathing condition. It just isn’t the best time to see him right now.”
“But he’s my little brother and I want to make sure that he’s okay. I love him!”
“A nurse is watching him, dear. He requires ventilation support around the clock. There’s no need to w
orry, he’s in good hands. You will be able to see him when he is allowed to go home with your mother.”
“Just one nurse and no doctor?”
The receptionist nodded.
Tammy licked her lips and gave a wry smile. “Thank you.”
She walked out of the receptionist area, and over to where the elevators were. She knew that the intensive care nursery was just one floor up.
Tammy got off the elevator on the second floor, and moved quietly through the hallways. Medical staff personnel were busy tending to patients and nobody seemed to take notice of a girl her age who seemed to know where she was going. She looked around until she found the intensive care nursery. Then she looked back and forth to be sure that nobody else was coming her way, and peered through the glass. There were only two babies lying in incubators. The rest were empty and the nurse had evidently stepped out.
When she entered she made sure to identify her infant brother by the bracelet he wore on his tiny arm. She gazed at him, her blue eyes bulging with a calculated, penetrating look. I’ve done had to grow up with three other younger sisters taking all the damn attention away from me. I used to be the little princess and now nobody cares about me. Well, I’m not letting some retarded little brat come into my life to screw it up even more.
She grabbed a pillow from the bed along one side of the room and went back over to the incubator. Then she looked down again at the infant who seemed to her unbelievably small. She felt a rush of adrenaline surge through her. Still-faced, she raised the pillow and brought it down firmly over the side of the helpless baby’s face covering his nose and mouth…