He eyed the journal suspiciously. “What makes you think I want to do that?”
“You stole the Bell over thirty years ago. You and the rest of the Sand Demons kept it out of the public eye all this time. I’m guessing you want to get rid of it just as much as we do. Now, let’s get moving. We need to see the Bell if we’re going to figure out how to destroy it.”
“If there’s something to destroy around here, we’ll handle it.”
“Yeah, you’ve doing a great job of that,” I retorted. “Over thirty years and you’ve got nothing to show for it.”
“That’s enough.”
“Let me tell you something else. Right now, a man named Jack Chase and his private army are scouring these tunnels for the Bell. Now, he’s on your doorstep. And if he finds it, he’ll unleash hell upon the earth.”
“You’re lying.”
I stared him straight in the eye. “Do I look like I’m lying?”
“It’s impossible.” He shook his head. “No one’s ever breached our defenses.”
“We did. And if we can find these tunnels, so can Chase.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“I don’t care if you believe me or not. But at least prepare yourselves for Chase. He’s coming, whether you like it or not.”
Cartwright considered me for a moment. Then he glanced over my shoulder again. “Put your guns down.”
One of the Sand Demons cleared his throat. “But, Cap –”
“Do as you’re told.”
I heard soft metallic noises as the Sand Demons holstered their weapons. I nodded in appreciation at Cartwright. “Do you have a contingency plan in case Chase arrives before we destroy the Bell?”
He gave me a dirty look. “Did you see a third rail in any of the tubes? Of course not. This place is our contingency plan, you moron.”
“Then take us to the
Omega
. Maybe we can destroy the Bell before he gets here.”
Cartwright stared into my eyes, carefully evaluating my every move. “First things first. You need to see something. Walk toward that door.”
“But –”
“Not another word. I still don’t know if I can trust you. So, if you want to see the Bell, do as I say. Otherwise, I’ll shoot you dead where you stand.”
Chapter 51
I felt tension flowing through me as I stepped through the door. But it wasn’t external.
It was internal.
I’d been so caught up in getting my way that I hadn’t stopped to consider things from Cartwright’s point of view. He and the Sand Demons had risked their lives to acquire the
Omega
. And then they’d spent more than thirty years watching over it and the Bell.
Thirty years.
I let that number sink into my brain. It was an astounding level of commitment and dedication. Despite Cartwright’s contention, the Sand Demons reminded me more and more of a secret society. Brought together by friendship, a single fateful day back in 1976 had melded them into a determined, unified force.
When considered from that angle, Cartwright’s attitude made perfect sense. He and other sandhogs had spent decades protecting a secret, one that could irrevocably change the world. But it went even deeper than that. The Bell was the glue that linked the Sand Demons together. It gave them a purpose beyond their normal lives. He wouldn’t just give up its location on a whim.
I glanced at Beverly. Her attention was directed at the ground. I looked over my shoulder at Cartwright. He returned my look with a stern one of his own.
Since no one seemed interested in talking, I started to think about other things. My mind drifted to a question, one that had plagued me for some time.
Why did they steal the Bell in the first place?
“Turn left.”
I angled my footsteps in line with Cartwright’s instructions. But my brain remained focused on the question at hand. The answer seemed obvious. The Sand Demons stole the Bell to keep Chase from getting it.
But why? And furthermore, why had they hidden it away in a maze of underground tunnels rather than turned it over to the authorities?
I mulled it over in my mind. Maybe the sandhogs were pacifists. Maybe they, like myself, just wanted to keep the Bell from hurting anyone. But if that was the case, why hadn’t they dismantled it? Was it true that the Bell couldn’t be destroyed?
That’s impossible.
Isn’t it?
Plagued by questions I couldn’t answer, I forced my mind to switch gears. Ultimately, none of those things mattered unless I could get my hands on the Bell. But to do that, I’d have to earn Cartwright’s trust.
“Turn right.”
I complied, leading our group through yet another passageway. If I was going to earn his trust, I needed to get him talking. I needed to build a connection to him. “How did you find this place anyways? I ran a dig down here a few years back and I had no idea something like this even existed.”
He didn’t respond. Frustrated, I sorted through my mind for another question. “Well, how –?”
“Research.” He interrupted me. “And a whole lot of luck.”
It wasn’t much of an olive branch, but I seized it anyway. “So you didn’t just stumble on it one day. You guys deliberately looked for it.”
“Don’t you ever stop asking questions?”
“Nope.”
He grunted in annoyance as he directed us down a different tunnel. “Me and the Sand Demons, we were different than the other sandhogs. For them, the tunnels were just a place to work. But for us, they were our lives. While everyone else hit the bars after quitting time, we stayed down here, exploring the underground.”
“I get it. I used to be an urban archaeologist. There’s just something about the underground that’s addictive. It’s raw, real. More real than what’s above ground.”
“Save your sucking up for someone else. That crap won’t work on me.”
He seemed eager to talk. But his guard remained up. I decided to provoke him a little bit. “You talk a good game. People like you always do. But I’m willing to bet you didn’t do a damn thing to find this place. Admit it. You and your friends got wasted one night and stumbled onto it, probably fell flat on your faces in the process.”
“We worked our butts off to find this place.”
I laughed. “And you think I’m just going to take your word for it?”
He glared at me. “While you were still a nightmare in your mother’s eyes, we were exploring every nook of this city. I can’t even count how many speakeasies, cellars, and crypts we discovered over the years.”
“Some guys chased skirts, you chased the past.” I felt admiration toward him, tempered by pity. “Frankly, I think you would’ve been happier if you just got yourself a girlfriend.”
He shot me a contemptuous look. “We originally set our sites on Alfred Ely Beach’s demonstration tube. But it had been destroyed. A few years later, I got my hands on some of his papers. I found a couple of maps and plans related to a new subway tube.”
“And that led you here?”
He nodded. “For three straight days, my buddies and I chipped away at the cement. Eventually, we discovered a small natural crevice in the bedrock. When we looked through it, we knew there was a manmade tunnel on the other side. We hollowed out a space to crawl through the bedrock. And when I finally set foot in here, well, it was the greatest day of my life.”
“Who cares?” Beverly’s tone turned exasperated. “Can we move on to something more interesting? Namely, how the hell did you get involved in this mess?”
Cartwright looked at her and then looked away. I took the opportunity to glance at Beverly. She shot me a wink and a crafty smile.
Cartwright grumbled quietly for a couple of seconds. I sensed his internal struggle. He wanted to talk, but felt guilty doing so. I knew we could break him, but we needed to keep applying pressure. If we played our cards right, he’d open up to us. If not, he’d shut down for good.
“Yeah,” I said. “What happened that day? Wrong place, wrong time?”
“How much do you know about what happened down here?” he asked.
“Just about everything.” I shrugged. “We know about Hartek’s laboratory, Rictor stealing the Bell, and the
Omega
. What we don’t know is your side of the story.”
“Rictor’s brothers were friends of ours. We met Rictor and Hartek through them and they also became good friends. When Hartek needed help building his lab, we agreed to do it. And when he needed something delivered, we’d make the arrangements and handle it.”
Beverly kicked a pebble. “Did you know what he was doing at the time?”
“Only that he was building some kind of device. One day, I overheard a conversation between Rictor’s brothers. They planned to kill Hartek and seize his invention. They said it was some kind of nuclear weapon.”
“Did you warn Hartek?”
“We were too late. By the time we reached the laboratory, Rictor had already killed the other assistants, kidnapped Hartek, and stolen the Bell. We ventured back into the tunnel and covered the tracks with debris. When they stopped, we opened fire.”
“On your own friends?”
He paused and his eyes grew distant. “We wanted to rescue Hartek. He’d been tied up in a burlap bag and moved into the
Omega
. But during the fight, Rictor shot him. After it was over, Hartek used his dying breaths to tell me about the Bell, about Red Mercury.”
“What exactly did he tell you?”
“After he came to America, he spent decades researching and testing the Bell in secrecy, hoping to discover at least one peaceful purpose for it. He never wanted to add another weapon to the world. He saw enough pain and suffering during the war to last a lifetime.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I found an old Nazi badge in his desk.”
“He used to carry that around with him. He said it was to remind him of the horrors of war.”
Beverly coughed. “Did he tell you that the Bell couldn’t be destroyed?”
“He warned us not to play with it.” Cartwright’s face hardened. “It’s a nuclear device in its own right. Unless dismantled properly, it’ll explode.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not exactly good news. But why’d you stay down here all this time? Why didn’t you just abandon it?”
“He told us one other thing before he died. He said we needed to keep operating the Bell or it would explode. Every one hundred and fifty-five days, we remove the decayed Red Mercury particles and refuel the Bell with a special mixture.”
“What’s in the mixture?” Beverly asked.
“Gold, mercury, and a few other things. Fortunately, we’ve never had to make it from scratch. We’re still using some of the fuel we got from his lab.”
I walked around a bend. “So, after Hartek died, you sealed up his laboratory and started to hide the
Omega
in a side tunnel. But when Fred Jenson showed up, you knew you had to move it. You’d already cut out a small tunnel to Beach’s system. So you just needed to expand it. Am I right?”
“One hundred percent.” He sounded impressed. “How’d you know about Jenson?”
“We met him. Just before Chase killed him.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Jenson was a good man. We ran into him from time to time. To the best of my knowledge, he never told anyone where we had hid the
Omega
.”
“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” Beverly adopted an accusatory tone. “I know why you sealed up the lab. But couldn’t you have at least returned the bodies to the surface? Did you ever consider the pain their families must’ve felt?”
“It was Hartek’s final wish. He wanted us to seal off everything, bury all traces of him and his work. I don’t know if it was the right decision, but I listened to him all the same.”
I stopped as I entered a small room. There was nowhere else to go. I examined the space. It was covered with dirt. Chunks of stone stuck out in seven areas. My heart raced as I saw etching upon the stones. They weren’t ordinary stones.
They were gravestones.
I whirled around and looked at Cartwright. He returned my stare with cold, calculating eyes. I needed to buy time. “One more thing. What’s the deal with that alligator?”
“We found her in here some time ago. She was a lot smaller then. We didn’t know what to with her so we blocked up the tube with the grating and kept her as a pet. To feed her, we poured fish into the river. As she got bigger, she got meaner. I guess you could say she’s become our guard dog.”
“Let’s cut the small talk.” Beverly placed her hands on her hips. “We know why you brought us here. And you’re making a mistake. We’re on the same side. If you kill us, you’re throwing away valuable allies.”
“I’m not going to kill you. I brought you here to show you something. Do you see those graves?”
I nodded.
“Three are for Rictor and his brothers. Three more are for Sand Demons who died in the gunfight. The big one belongs to Hartek.”
I knelt down next to Hartek’s tombstone and quickly read the engraving. It was just his name, date of birth, and date of death. There was no inscription or flowery sentiment. But I still sensed the passion that the Sand Demons felt toward the man.
“I want you two to understand something,” Cartwright said. “We’ve taken a vow to keep the Bell hidden until we can find a way to destroy it. We’d sooner die than give it up to anyone else. So, I’m sorry. You’re not going to see it, not today, not ever.”
I’m going to end this, Hartek. One way or the other, I’m going to find your Bell and destroy it.
Distorted, splattering noises erupted from the room’s entrance. They bounced off the walls and were distorted even further. But I recognized them all the same.
Gunshots.
Chapter 52
I sensed two presences as I raced through the passageways, hot on Cartwright’s heels.
Standish.
Chase.
They’re here. They’re in the damn control room.
My blood curdled as screams filled the air. Part of me knew I was listening to the death throes of the Sand Demons. Part of me tried to deny my ears.
I roared around a curve at top speed. On one level, it was practical. Cartwright flew through the corridors like a 747. If I lost him, I might never find him again. But on another level, it was entirely emotional. The faster we moved, the sooner we’d find survivors and rescue them. The sooner we’d stop Chase and Standish.