Nick and Jason headed toward the small railroad car that brought them down to the cavern. They got into the car, and Jason fumbled around with the levers until he figured out how to start it up in reverse. The car lurched to life and slowly brought Nick and Jason up out of the cavern and back to the subbasement. The passageway it took them through was at nearly a 45 degree angle.
The whole car system was ingeniously built on a system of weighted pulleys and springs. Jason thought that whoever designed the access to the cavern had to be some sort of crazy genius.
When they arrived at the end of the line, Jason braked the car to a stop, and he and Nick got out. They were now in the subbasement that led to Angelo’s house, although they didn’t know their specific location, because both of them were brought here while they were unconscious. Jason held up his lantern and looked around.
“How do we get out of this place?” he asked out loud. “Do you see any kind of door or way to exit, Nick? When you were brought here did you see anything?”
“No, Jason, I didn’t wake up until I was in the cavern. Angelo was just starting to tie me to a chain when I regained consciousness.”
The subbasement room was partially carved out of rock, but on two sides there were cement man-made walls. Jason noticed a light switch on one of the walls and went to turn it on. Two bulbs came on, one down where they were and another inside an opening in the ceiling. The bulbs were only 75 watts, but they seemed almost blinding to the boys coming from the dark cavern.
“These lights are a good sign, Nick. We have to be close to the surface now!” They could now see where you had to go to leave the subbasement. On one wall there was a series of steps attached to it. On the other wall was another pulley-like device.
“I guess we will need to climb those stairs to get out of here. I don’t think I want to risk going in that cart thing over there. I guess it works by another pulley system.”
“Once we get to the top of the ladder, how do we get out, Jason? I don’t see a door, although there appears to be some sort of metal tracks or support structure up there.”
“There must be a latch, handle or doorknob, something that opens a way out. After all we were brought in here somehow. There has got to be a way out!”
“I guess that the only thing we can do at this point is to climb up there and look for the opening,” Nick said. “I’ll climb up there and take a look around.”
Nick went to the ladder and began the climb up. It was about twenty feet to the top. When he got close to the top, Nick could see that there was a set of tracks and on top of that a solid wood covering which had metal frames with wheels attached to it. “I see a set of tracks with wheels. The wheels are attached to some sort of wooden cover. What I can’t see yet is how they move! Opening this wooden cover must be the way out of here.”
“Do you see any kind of switch, lever, or handle, Nick?”
“I see a switch by the side of the ladder here. I’ll give that a try.” Nick flipped the switch but all it did was turn the lights out. He turned it back on. “That’s not it, obviously! I’ll look around for something else.”
Just as Nick said that, he heard a loud click and then the cover over the tracks started to move.
Chapter 29
The Half-Brother’s Revenge
(Friday)
Salvatore Butera had a concerned look on his face as he began the drive through the back roads to Angelo’s house. He was driving in a small white Subaru with four-wheel drive. It was the perfect vehicle for getting around in these hills when he didn’t want to go on any main roads. That certainly was the case right now. He was driving over to Angelo’s house to get Nick. So far the kidnapping had gone perfectly according to plan. They were able to spirit him away from that shopping center without anyone noticing.
Butera had carefully planned this week out, and that included monitoring the police radio bands after Nicolo was grabbed. The only clue that the police had to go on was Angelo’s tan pickup truck. It appeared that Angelo had followed directions to the letter, and even though they might suspect Angelo, they still had no direct evidence that Angelo had Nick in his subterranean chamber. The man who had built that place was a paranoid genius. From the outside, the house appeared to be a cheaply built cottage on a slab of concrete. The moveable cabinet that hid the entrance to the subterranean chamber was also ingenious. Unless you knew exactly where to look and what you had to do to enter it, you would have no idea that the subbasement even existed.
Sal was sure that there would be a huge uproar over another kidnapping and missing kid in the San Matthias area. He knew he had to be very careful at this point. One slipup by himself or Angelo could result in their arrest by the police who would not be in a forgiving mood. Even if that was the case, there was a good chance Sal could squirm out of the charges.
Angelo was the one who did most of the dirty work. Once a kid was snatched, Angelo took his victim down into that cavern to be softened up with his “training program” as he called it. After a few days of that, a kid was more than willing to go with Sal and submit to his every whim and perverted desire. The victim’s other choice would be to go back into the cave. Normally just the mention of that was enough to freak Sal’s current victim into immediate submission. Eventually Sal would get bored with the kid, or the kid would become so weakened and passive that he or she was no longer fun to “play with”, as Sal liked to describe his predatory behavior. At that point Sal would just return the child to Angelo’s cave. Angelo would then put the victim through another day or two of his “training program” before killing the child and disposing of his victim’s body. With all of the potential witnesses ending up dead at Angelo’s hands, no one would realize that Sal was responsible for molesting and torturing them also.
Sal didn’t really want to know too many of the details about how Angelo completed his dirty work, cutting up and disposing of their bodies. He had turned Angelo into a killing machine, a murderous “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” who blindly followed his orders and even seemed to enjoy his grim work. They had started with runaway kids they would pick up on the streets in poor sections of southern California and bring up here. After they perfected their “methodology”, they began grabbing some local kids. The whole reason that Sal started this reign of terror in the San Matthias community a few years ago was to make the current victim, Nick Feraducci, look like just another teenager who got caught in Angelo’s trap. Sal had waited for years to get revenge on the Feraducci family, and that day was at last here.
The transfer of Nick from the cave to Sal’s possession was supposed to happen last night. Their plan called for Angelo to call him on his prepaid anonymous cell phone last night, but he never did. Sal tried calling Angelo instead, but he never got an answer. That meant that Angelo was down in the cavern. Normally Angelo followed Sal’s instructions to the letter. One of his best traits was total loyalty. The fact that something had changed Angelo’s plans caused Sal great concern. Angelo was not capable of much in the way of creative thinking. He existed in a world of babbled clichés and doing things without any thought of their consequences. Even more troubling to Sal was his realization that Angelo was getting a little more mentally impaired as the months and years went by. Sooner or later he would do something stupid to blow his cover. Sal wanted to be long gone from here when that happened.
Sal drove the Subaru through some back roads and pathways to the storage shed where Angelo was supposed to have parked the Honda. He got out and unlocked the door. The Honda was in there. Late last night Sal had driven near the county park to see if the tan pickup truck had been left by the side of the road. Since it was, this meant that Angelo had to be here, but down in the cave since he still wasn’t answering the cell phone.
Sal approached the house cautiously and looked around. A bolt of fear hit him for a second as he saw that there were two policemen at Angelo’s house! He carefully surveyed the area to see if there were any other policemen around but saw no one else.
As he thought about things, Sal realized that they were just there to wait for Angelo or anyone approaching the house. If they had actually found something, there would be a whole team of officers investigating.
Sal knew the area quite well, and circled around to the side of the house. One officer was sitting in their patrol car, while the other was seated outside the kitchen door on a small deck. Sal decided to take the man by the door first. He got into position around the side of the house. He had his billy club with him that he had used to knock Nick out. Sal used the oldest trick in the book. He grabbed some pebbles and threw them into the area nearby the deck. Startled by the sounds, the policeman got on his walky-talky. “I am hearing some noises back here, I am going to check it out. I’ll let you know if I need backup.”
When the officer went by the side of the house, Sal was waiting for him, and with two swift blows, knocked the officer out. He picked the officer up by his shoulders and dragged him back to the deck, where he put him into a chair, slumped over. He then took the officer’s walky-talky, hit talk, and said, “Come check this out!”
Although the other officer tried to get a better response, there was no reply. Figuring that his partner could be in danger, he got out of the car to find out what his partner was talking about. Gun in hand, he searched around the house, but found nothing until he came around to the back of the house and saw his partner seated on the deck. He started to say “Charlie, what’s going on?” With his attention focused on Charlie, he was vulnerable for a moment. Sal took full advantage, coming out from his hiding place behind some trees in the yard and knocking him unconscious with the club.
Sal then took a few minutes to drag each of the police officers around the side of the house, so they couldn’t see him, if they regained consciousness before he was able to leave with Nick. Using their own handcuffs, he cuffed each of them to some utility poles on the side of the house.
Sal went to the back door of the house and entered into the kitchen. He went over to the cabinet, opened the bottom doors, and felt in there for the brake lever that released the cabinet.
As the cabinet glided back on its tracks, Sal saw that the light was on and that there were people climbing the ladder. “Who’s down there?” he shouted.
“My name is Nick!” came the response. “Who are you?”
“I’m with the police!” Sal lied. “Let me help you out of there!”
“Boy, are we glad to see you!” Nick said with relief in his voice. He put his hand up, and Sal grabbed it and helped boost Nick up and out of the opening and onto the kitchen floor.
“Just stay right there while I assist your friend. Who is he?” Sal asked.
“His name is Jason. He is the hero who rescued me!” Nick replied.
“Jason, give me your hand!” Sal yelled at him. Jason climbed up the ladder and gave Sal his hand. But instead of helping him up, he grabbed Jason’s outstretched hand with his left hand to pull his body away from the ladder. With his right foot, he gave Jason a vicious blow to the upper part of his body as he let go of his hand. This caused Jason to lose his balance and tumble back down to the bottom. Sal then pulled the cabinet back on its tracks and it clicked shut as the brake lever relocked it in place.
Nick was shocked by what he just observed. “What did you do that for? Jason is my friend!”
“Jason is no friend of mine, little brother!” Sal said. “He would just get in the way of our family reunion!”
“You are no relative of mine!” Nick exclaimed. “And it seems that you are no policeman either!”
“Very smart of you to figure that out! But you are wrong about our family relationship, Nicolo Feraducci! We both had the same father! The only difference is your side of the family got all the money and attention, while my side was cut off and my mother was treated very cruelly by Enrico Feraducci. Now the Feraducci’s are going to pay the price for their arrogance!”
Sal took out a revolver and pointed it at Nick. “We are going to have a nice long time together. Don’t move a muscle unless I say so, or I will shoot you! Now slowly and carefully put your hands out in front of you.”
Scared and still weak from his ordeal in the cavern, Nick had no choice but to obey. He put his hands out as ordered. Sal grabbed Nick’s right hand with his left hand and held it with a firm grip. He put the gun down for a moment, while he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. He quickly handcuffed Nick’s wrists in front of him. “Recognize these handcuffs, boy?”
A shock of horror hit Nicolo as he realized that this was the man who had attacked him! “Who are you?” Nick asked in a shaky voice. “I never did anything to hurt you! Why are you doing this to me?”
“You never did anything directly, but your grandfather sure did. You are his pride and joy! His talented grandson! The future of the Feraducci family! I will take great joy in slowly and brutally taking apart his pride and joy and then sending him photos of the results. My revenge will be thorough and final!”
“Who are you?” Nick asked with fear in his voice. “Why do you hate children so much?”
“We will have plenty of time to discuss that, Nicolo. Now come with me!” Sal grabbed Nick’s arm and directed him out of the kitchen door. He ordered Nick to go on the pathway that led back to his Subaru. He again pointed the gun at Nick’s head. “Don’t you dare make a sound, boy! Got it?” Nick nodded his head yes. Soon they arrived at the car. Sal had Nick get in the front seat, and then he re-handcuffed Nick so that his wrists were attached to one of the door handles. Sal got into the driver’s seat and started up the car.
As they were driving to Sal’s hideaway, Sal couldn’t resist bragging. “Yes, old Enrico is about to find out what it is like to suffer real pain. Of course, so will you, little brother. You will experience a lifetime of it!”
“What is your name?” Nick replied. “Why do you insist on calling me little brother? You’re no relative of mine!”
“My name is Salvatore Butera. My name should have been Salvatore Feraducci, but my real father, Gilberto Feraducci, our father, bribed someone else to give me his name and put it on the birth certificate! And you have another half brother. You have already met him! His name is Angelo Ciurro but again his real last name should be Feraducci for the same reasons.”
“You are telling me that that horrible creepy man who tortured me for the last few days and was about to kill me and cut my body to pieces is another blood relative?” Nick said with disbelief in his voice. “I find that very hard to believe! No person with real Feraducci blood in him would ever resort to torturing, molesting, or murdering children! It is totally against the family code of honor!”
“You shut up, boy!” Sal answered with anger in his voice. “What do you know about family honor?”
“I know that real men don’t go around kidnapping someone’s kid when they have a gripe against that person! I know that real men don’t take out their sexual desires on young children!”
“You are full of brave talk, boy! Let’s see how brave you are after I have had my way with you for a few days. I predict that you will be begging for a quicker death!”
That response had a very chilling effect on poor Nicolo. He realized that any more pointed conversation with Salvatore would only result in more bodily harm to himself. Somehow he had to survive until help could arrive. That was assuming that the tracking device Jason had given him was actually working and someone was still monitoring it. Thinking about Jason brought another chill to Nick. That fall he took had to have done some damage. Jason could be lying in that subbasement room with serious injuries like broken bones or a concussion, and would be helpless to get out unless Nick could tell the authorities about how to get in there.
Sal turned the Subaru onto a narrow gravel driveway that went up a steep hill. At the top of the hill the land became a lot flatter, and there was a small house with an attached garage. Sal got out of the car and opened the garage door. The house was a single story building with faded grey paint and white trim on the few
windows that it had.
Sal drove the car into the garage and got out. He opened Nick’s door and unlocked the handcuffs from his wrists. “Get out boy!” Angelo ordered. They went through an entry door and into the main house. “Welcome to part of the legacy of Gilberto Feraducci.” Sal directed Nicolo to a wooden chair at the kitchen table. He had Nicolo sit in the chair, and then he handcuffed Nicolo’s hands behind his back to the chair.
“Gilberto liked to buy little places like this around town where he could keep his mistresses,” Sal continued. “At least while he was alive he supported them and gave them money and a place to live. After he was killed, all money and support stopped, thanks to Enrico. He was very heartless in the way he did it too. My mother had to go back to working in bars as a waitress. We barely had enough money to survive on. Meanwhile you had a life of luxury, living on all that Feraducci money.”
“Not true!” Nick exclaimed, not able to resist responding to Sal’s taunt. “My mother decided that she no longer wanted anything to do with my grandfather after my father was killed! That’s why she moved us down here to San Matthias. Everything we have is due to her working hard at her real estate business. I’m sorry you had a rough life but that’s no reason to take your frustrations out on innocent kids. Why didn’t you just move on in your life, get an education, training for a career, or find a nice girl to settle down with? Lots of people have had to do that and become quite successful.”
“Shut up, boy!” Sal snapped back at Nick. “I think I’ve heard enough out of you!” Sal went into one of the bedrooms, opened a dresser drawer, and returned with a large wadded handkerchief, a long piece of rag, and two pieces of rope. “Recognize this, boy?” Sal said as he stuffed the wadded handkerchief into Nick’s mouth. He then tied the gag in place with the rag. Next he bound each of Nick’s feet to legs of the chair with the rope. “That should hold you for the time being! I have some things to do now. Thanks to the meddling of your friend we are going to have to leave here tomorrow. But before we go I will have my first day of revenge, just like I promised you a couple of weeks ago! You can sit here and think about all of the fun we are about to have!” Sal took out a small digital camera and took a picture of Nick. “Won’t this make a nice Christmas card photo to send to Enrico?” Sal laughed sarcastically at Nick as he walked away to take care of his chores.
Family Matters Page 21