by Gabe Sluis
Chapter 18- The Clock Tower
The streets we unnaturally empty. It wasn’t as if the townspeople were avoiding them, but few were seen outside as they made their way to the clock tower. Through windows of the small downtown, owners of businesses could be seen, looking back at the two young men. They didn’t look out of place, but the feeling that everyone else was on edge was clear. Within a few blocks of their departure from the Sheriff’s Office, they were into a more residential part of town. Single-family homes on small lots dominated the streets, with one-lane driveways leading to the back of the house where the one car garage/shed was built away from general street view. This seemed to have been a town built all at once, about forty years ago and maintained well, but never updated. They were soon able to see their destination, a tall structure with no real competitors. Even the whitewashed church a block down seemed to just be another pawn beneath the bishop.
The clock tower sat beside the road that became a bridge and crossed the Saint Anne River. The area looked like most historical monuments; paved groundwork surrounding the area with benches dedicated to past citizens. Close to the tower were a few shops and a gas station, taking advantage of the traffic that came across the bridge. The boys stopped at the edge of the nearest building, a small warehouse sized sporting goods store, and took a look around.
The first thing they noticed before even looking at the tower, was the tan shirt across the road, sitting under a big sun umbrella, looking out across the bridge. The deputy had a shotgun across his lap and appeared to be dosing rather than watching for people coming south across the bridge. They watched the man for a few moments and glided deliberately to the base of the main tower.
The architecture of the clock tower felt very different from the rest of the town’s classic sufferings. There was the main body, which was the largest of the four spires, and it held the three large faced clocks that could be seen from every direction. Three smaller spires, similar to the main, sat on an opposing triangulation from the clocks, their peaks just shorter than the bottoms of the clocks. The outsides were made of a smooth stone that looked as if it could withstand anything Mother Nature could throw at it. High up, below the clocks, three matching archways facing the small spires were visible, built smooth tower.
“Look at this,” Chris whispered to Jake. They stood at the base of the main tower, looking at a steel riveted door. It was painted in a cream color to match the stone, with a house door style deadbolt holding it securely shut.
Jake put his back to the tower and kept his head swiveling as Chris played with the lock. “I don’t think we can get up this way. We’d need the keys and to…”
Without a word, Jake took three steps over to the spire that was out of sight from the snoozing deputy. A similar but smaller version of the riveted steel door was situated at the base of that spire as well. There was no lock on this door and it opened after the rust on the inside of the hasp hinge was broken free. Jake turned to Chris and flared wild eyes. Fingers wrapped around the free edge, he slowly began to pull the door open. Groans from the steel halted his progress and Chris bound over to join him.
“Spit on the hinges, quick.”
They spat. Jake tried again, and got the door open with no noise, and the two ducked inside. They were on a spiral stone staircase, but they were off the street, and out of any possible eyesight. Jake pulled the door closed.
“That was good. How did you think of that?”
“A book we read in high school. Some kids do it to go through a squeaky gate at night. I’ve just always remembered that part,” Chris said. What are we doing in here anyway,” he said looking up. “How is this going to help us get the key? Its gotta be in the top of the main one, right?”
“Gotta be. Why hide something in a tower and not put it top center? But if the main is locked, maybe we could jump from this one or something. I don’t know,” Jake said starting to climb, “I guess we can see how it looks up there.”
“That might be a long jump,” Chris breathed, continuing to climb after his friend. “Man, I’m outta breath.”
“Yeah, me to. All that adrenaline,” Jake said. “But you notice something funny, how long have we been awake? How long since we last ate something more than a single strawberry? Are you tired or hungry at all?”
“I’m getting winded climbing all these stairs, but exhaustion? No, I guess not. That’s really weird, it never even occurred to me.”
Jake peeked out one of the fist sized mini arch windows cut into the stone. The walls of the tower were thick, at least six inches to the outside. Ambient light mixed and fresh air came through, ventilating their tight winding space. “I think we are almost to the top,” Jake said. Chris was sweating, but nodded in response.
Twice more around the tower, they reached a small landing. An archway opened about the same size of the one at the base of the tower they entered, facing the main clock tower. Chris and Jake held up on the stairs, just before the opening, and considered their options. Looking across to the main tower, one of the three archways that Jake saw from below, gave him a view into the center of the clock tower.
“I think I see the key,” Jake whispered. “It’s in a glass bell dome, right there.”
“On that pedestal? Yeah, I think that’s it too.” Chris looked around, “It’s a long way across, and I don’t think we could jump it.”
“And look,” Jake pointed, “We are in direct view of the deputy down there. If we make too much noise, he could look up here and see us. So how are we going to do this?”
“Look at that. A cable above your head.”
Jake edged out to the threshold, and looked at the wire at the peak of the archway. The wire was thin and copper color, not surprising they hadn’t seen it from below. Jake ran his fingers over the taut wire that connected the two archways.
“I think it’s a ground wire for lightning strikes or something. But we will lose fingers if we try to shimmy across it…”
“Your gloves, man! If they can open that doorknob…”
“Yeah! Yeah!” Jake hissed, pulling the black gloves from his back pocket. Slipping them on his hands, he looked around the surrounding area below, to confirm that the area was clear. Jake tested the wire with the gloves. Finding it felt fine to place all his weight on, he turned to Chris.
“I’ll go first, and then you follow?”
“Do I need to? You are better at this kinda stuff. Can’t you just swing over there and get it?”
“I want you to come over, too. I got the gloves. This key can be your find. Come on man, you can totally do this. I won’t take no for an answer, here I go.”
Jake started out both hands on the wire, letting his feet dangle. He looked down at the pavement below him, not frightened by the height, but feeling it was important to get a sense of where he was in space. His arms wrapped around his head, slightly choking him, until he let go with one hand and swung it forward. Feeling that the momentum he gained from the first movement was similar to that of children’s monkey bars, and not wanting to loose any, Jake did not pause going across the wire. It took less than ten seconds for him to cross the gap and reach the key room of the clock tower.
Jake took to his knees, to avoid being seen and removed the finger saving gloves. He looked at his hand and was mildly amazed that there were no pressure lines from the thin cable. The whole way across the gap, it hadn’t even occurred to his senses the narrow gauge of the wire. He wadded up the priceless gloves, and tossed them over to Chris.
Chris put on the gloves, and also tested out the wire. Finding it at least possible, he began to inch out on the wire. But, leaving his feet on solid ground for as long as he could, the shock of total dependence on the wire was great. He had kept his arms flexed as he climbed out but found it hard to maintain with all his weight supported this way. Wishing he had the confidence and upper body strength of Jake, Chris struggled with his legs, his body tensing up in fear. He considered going back.
“You
are doing great. Just relax!” Jake hissed from what seemed a hundred miles away.
Chris turned with the wire, in a flailing move, rather than facing it as Jake had. He slid one hand in the direction of travel, and forced the other to follow. His arms began to feel week, a sharp burn developing in his shoulders. He moved again.
“Don’t fight it man, just keep going.”
Chris wanted to shout at his friend. He was doing the best he could and now his heat was racing as he tried to climb across a piano wire in the sky. He moved closer, moving his head around his arm to see how far more he had to go. Sweat poured into his right eye, causing blurriness and burning, causing him not to get a good look. The voice was closer now.
“Almost there, one more time dude.”
Chris flailed his whole body in the next attempt and felt hands find his clothes. He was hauled from the cable, crashing down onto wooden planks next to his best friend. He was across.
Down below, at the bridge, the deputy on guard duty looked around. He thought he had heard a noise, like a door shutting, and it roused him from his sleep. He blinked a few times, and looked all around him. Noticing nothing out of place in the deserted mid-morning town, he settled back into his chair and closed his eyes once again.
“You cool?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. I think I just psyched myself up too much because of the height,” Chris said.
“You going to be alright going back across?”
“I don’t know. I just need a minute.”
“Not a problem dude. Not a problem. But, look here. The key!”
Sitting atop of a round wooden table in the middle of the tower, was a dull bronze color old-fashioned key under a bell jar. Both boys climbed to their feet and examined their find.
“Look at this table,” Chris said in awe. “It’s just like to one we found in the house. It even has the rotating rings with numbers…”
Jake went to take the bell jar from the key, but found it held solidly in place.
“We could break it and take the key, but I suppose that’s the hard way. You think it takes the same numbers…” Jake said, looking for a crank.
Chris began sliding the rings by hand before Jake could finish his thought. They slid around making slight clicks, first the inner ring to the number two, then the middle to eleven and finally the outer to the six. He lined them up with the direction the teeth of the key faced, and the final click was more substantial. Jake removed the bell jar.
He set the glass aside and motioned to Chris.
“You wanted to go up the other ladder. You found the numbers in that library. This key is yours, just like the gloves are mine. Now take it and let’s go.”
Chris stared at the key for a moment. It was an unassuming key. Brown and small, the size of a half used lead pencil, it looked like it was meant to open an old fashioned door that had the keyhole you could see through. He wondered how it was supposed to help them get Donny out. Maybe it was magical like the gloves and would form to any key slot and open any door like a universal key. Then they could unlock the cell doors and…
Chris took the key from its place and stuffed it into his pocket. Jake nodded to him resolutely and pulled the gloves back on his hands. Checking on the deputy below, Jake swung back across the wire with the same swiftness as the last time. Turning back towards the clock tower once he reached the other side, Jake began to remove the gloves when he noticed the strange look on the face of his friend.
“Hey!” he hissed, getting Chris’s attention. “You okay? Ready for the gloves.”
“No, I don’t think I can go back that way again. I felt like I was going to slip the whole time. I’m not doing that again.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
It came to Chris all at once. “I’ll go down this way!” he said pointing to the stairway leading down to the base of the clock tower.
“But that door was locked… Ahh,” Jake interrupted himself. “Test out your new key. Good thinking. I’ll meet you down there.”
Jake and Chris parted ways, both descending stairs, heading in the same direction. Jake put his shoulder to the wall and spun round and round in the tight area all the way to the bottom, making himself dizzy in the process. Chris took his time going down his staircase, which was identical to the one in the smaller spire, but had much more room, as the central tower was larger than its subordinate companions.
When Chris finally reached the bottom he pulled the key from his pocket and inspected the steel door keeping him inside. He had to run his hands along its surface to find the lock, and was surprised by what he found. There was no slot to use a key like on the outside, but rather a latch that clicked to the left, unlocking the deadbolt manually. The door squealed as he opened it enough to slip out, and Jake was right outside, facing away from him.
“Oh dude, that one woke him up for sure. Shit! He is getting up and coming this way!”
Chris gripped the edge of the door and lifted up, best he could, and pushed the door back in its place. The tension on the hinges stopped the door from screaming until the last inch, but the damage was already done. The Sheriffs Deputy, shotgun cradled across his body, was walking in their direction, curious to find out what had made the noise that awakened him.
“Keep the tower between us and him, we gotta run. Come on, over to the edge of that building!”
Jake lead the way, running on the edge of his feet, making little noise as he crossed the distance. Chris was close behind, also making almost no noise as he ducked behind the edge of the building, and out of the view of the inspecting patrol. They kept their backs against the wall and caught their breath, as they waited for the blood to stop pounding in their ears. After 30 seconds, Jake got down on all fours and peaked his head out around the bottom of the corner of the building. After a quick glance, he pulled back and stood up.
“He is going back. I think we made it. So what happened? How did that key open the lock? It looked like there was no way it would fit.”
“I never got the chance,” Chris said. “The door locks from the inside, I just walked out.”
Jake shook his head in disappointment. “I hope we didn’t go through all that and it turns out the key is for something else, and that guy was just using us to get it.”
“Donny said he was cool…”
“Yeah, but Donny would say anyone he just met that was nice to him was cool, and then they would turn around and rob him blind.”
“What about the numbers?” Chris said, still catching his breath. “No coincidence we found the combination to unlock the key on our way through that house. Think about it. The gloves; if we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t have even gotten to the key in the first place. And now we have to use this key to get Donny out. I don’t think anyone is trying to trick us. It’s all falling into place too well.”
“Yeah, I guess you are right,” Jake admitted.
The clock tower bell went off, startling the two. Twelve long triplet tones played, indicating the time. It was noon and the boys seemed to have everything they now needed to break their friend out of the town jail, except for one critical thing.
“The escape plan,” Chris said. “What are we going to do?”
“Yeah, that guy Daniel was right. If we break them out, we have to get away clean, or they are going to be chasing us all the way up north.”
“So we just need to be really quiet when we do it. Use our famous stealth. Create a diversion and slip away.”
Jake considered this, but had bad feelings. If it were just himself breaking out of somewhere, he wouldn’t worry about it. He thought he could evade some trailing lawmen on foot in the town and especially in the woods. But it was the other factors he had no control over that gave him pause. Who was to know how the other two would perform under the worst-case scenario? And then they had Daniel. He was not with them. Jake considered everyone he met in this place, other than the two others he arrived with, to be like road signs. He didn’t want to mak
e their party any larger. He would have to establish the other prisoners’ intentions before they made their run. He had to factor the possibility that he could be captured and spill their escape route to the Sheriffs.
No, the plan had to be simple and brilliant, with only he and Chris in on it as they got away. And it had to account for the worst-case scenario, that way, even if things went great, they had all their bases covered. A plan was forming in his mind, and the best way to work out the kinks was to bring the structure to Chris and let him fill in the gaps that he couldn’t. But, first he had to make sure that they were both on the same page about what they were building.
“We can’t rely on stealth alone. We have to outsmart these guys. We have seen that they are not that bright,” he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the bridge guard, “but we also can’t totally underestimate them. They have the home field advantage and the numbers.”
“But, we do have the element of surprise.”
“Yeah, and that is going to help us immensely. But, you know what we have that is just as good? We have at least six hours to scout and plan the route we should take. We also have the fact that you and I are standing here thinking this out rather than running off half-cocked. We are going to thoughtfully plan this thing out until our plan and element of surprise outweigh any reaction or chase they can give. It’s why we stand a great chance of pulling this off.”
“So where do we start?” Chris said, letting it all sink in.
“Look in there,” Jake said, moving over to the picture window of the building they had hidden behind.
“It’s a outdoors store,” Chris answered. “What are we going to use in there?”
Jake pointed in and up, making Chris turn to him with a skeptical look.
“So, tell me what you think about this…”