In Case of Death (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 3) (33 page)

Abby reached the door to the shed first, waiting on me to get close before opening it. Grabbing my gun, I held it before me and nodded to Abby, who opened the door quickly. Flicking on the flashlight I held beside the gun, I stepped inside as the door creaked slightly beside me.

Abby was with me in seconds, I could hear her anxious breathing on my left side.

“You can probably see the flashlight from the house through the gaps in the wood,” Abby whispered. Nodding, I flicked the flashlight off and we stood there silently, our eyes adjusting to the dim light filtering in through the siding.

I had already seen something with the flashlight that got my heart pumping, the stack of rocks in the center of the shed…exactly like the one in my vision.

“There’s the rock pile,” Abby whispered when her eyes had acclimated to the darkness.

I had filled her in on the first part of my dream this afternoon.

Holstering my gun, I put my hand over the end of the flashlight, allowing a small sliver of light to escape through my fingers when I clicked it back on.

We heard the door of the car close up the hill, followed by the starting of Nate’s engine as he backed out of the driveway.

“No one home,” he said into the radio, “House was completely dark.”

“Roger, standby,” Abby whispered back.

Looking at me, “What do you want to do now Gabe?”

“Let’s look around here a little more. If we don’t find anything, we’ll rendezvous with the others and figure out our next move.”

Nodding at me, she looked down, following the sliver of light from my flashlight as I scanned it back and forth over the floor.

“I don’t see anything,” I mumbled, turning to exit the shed.

“Wait, turn your light back on,” Abby implored. Clicking on the light once more, “Move it to the left another foot,” Abby said excitedly.

“There!” she whispered loudly.

Barely discernable in the loose dirt floor of the shed, we could now see just a small corner of something metal. We had probably inadvertently exposed it while walking around in the shed.

We both kneeled beside the metal, Abby using her hands to scrape off the loose dirt to reveal a metal door encased in a concrete frame.

“Wow,” Abby grinned, “Secret escape hatch you think?”

I shrugged. It would make sense, considering what our thoughts were on Bill’s psychological makeup.

“Could be,” I admitted, “But we are probably 20’ below the level of the house…seems awful deep.”

“He could have steps in there, or a ladder,” Abby reasoned. “Or maybe he really
does
live deep underground. You told me Raven had thought of that before.”

We sat there staring at the door.

“Let’s open it!” Abby said suddenly.

“Could be alarmed, or even booby trapped,” I replied evenly, giving the door a closer scrutiny as I looked for anything that would give away what was underneath.

Nothing!

There were no bolts or warped spots that would indicate something welded to it underneath.

“Let the guys know what we found, and to watch the house for any activity when we open the door. Grinning widely, Abby relayed the message, clipping the radio to her pants behind her when she was done.

“Want me to do it? She asked anxiously.

Shaking my head, I reached down for the handle, turning it slowly to the right.

“Give me your light,” Abby whispered, laying on her belly and shining the light at the lip of the door.

“Bring it up about a half inch and stop,” she ordered.

Pulling at the door gently, it easily raised from its concrete frame. I held it in position as Abby looked through the crack.

“I don’t see anything, go ahead and open it!”

The metal door moved up easily, the well-oiled hinges giving off not even a squeak.

“Awesome!” Abby whispered as she shone the light into the hole.

The area below the door was approximately 3’ in every direction, with one side of it being a hole heading off in the direction of the house.

“Let’s go!” Abby exclaimed anxiously as she got ready to drop down into the hole.

“Hold it!” I whispered, “We should let the others know what we are doing.”

Sighing, “Ok, what should I tell them?”

I gave the plan some thought, gauging the distance to the house from where we stood.

“Tell them we are going in, and will check in with them in fifteen minutes.”

Thinking about it some more, “And if they don’t hear from us in twenty-five, to come into the house…guns blazing!”

Abby grinned at me, and then repeated the plan to the others.

“I’ll go first,” I mumbled as I let myself down in the hole.

“Guys always wanna be first, you ever notice that,” she mumbled back as she too let herself down in the hole.

“It’s like they have to prove their bravery or something,” I heard behind me as I crawled into the tunnel.

The real reason I went first, of course was much more pragmatic.

With the way my old knees felt lately, there was no way I was going to try and keep up with a twenty-five year old girl full of piss and vinegar.

Chapter 81

September 29, 1999

Bill jerked awake, hearing a noise coming from his security monitor.

Looking up at the screen, he saw someone knocking on his door.

The guy looked lost.

Bill didn’t care enough to help the guy out. In fact, he didn’t care about much of anything at the moment.

The throbbing in his leg was still there as he looked down at the bandage. Blood was seeping through, but it had seemed to have slowed greatly.

Looking down groggily at the scattered rags, clothes and blood strung before him on the floor, his ‘surgery’ came back to him.

Arriving back at home earlier, he had gathered a sharp paring knife and a bottle of Vodka and headed to the fireplace. Lighting the gas logs for warmth, he quickly stripped off his clothes and sat down on a chair in front of the fire. Taking a swig of the Vodka, he then poured some on his wound, screaming loudly as the liquid hit the bullet hole. 

Gasping for breath for a few moments, he then took up the knife, making a quick slice in the skin above the bulge that was the bullet.

He promptly passed out!

Waking about an hour later, he was met with a leg full of dried blood. Pouring some more Vodka over the wound again, he worked through gritted teeth on his leg, finally extracting the bullet ten minutes later.

Another dousing of Vodka had sent him once more into unconsciousness, where he had stayed until the blasted noise had wakened him.

Shifting in his seat to get more comfortable, his eyelids grew heavy as he stared at the fire.

He soon drifted off once again.

Chapter 82

September 29, 1999

My knees were killing me by the time we reached the metal door on the other end of the tunnel.

“Whatayathink?” Abby whispered as she slid up beside me at the door.

“I don’t know.” I admitted, “Someone could be sitting right on the other side of this door, with a gun trained on it…waiting for us.”

Abby was quiet for a few moments as she studied the door. “No alarm contacts on this door either, that’s a good sign.”

Looking at me then, “Who gets the honors?”

“I’ll go,” I replied immediately, my knees screaming for relief. “If this goes South right away, you hightail it outta here and call the cops…deal?”

Nodding, Abby looked me in the eye. “Is that what you would do?”

I ignored her question, instead reminding her to call Preacher and Nate and check in with them.

Unclipping her radio off of her jeans, she tried several times to raise them with no luck.

“Signal’s blocked, all of this concrete and being underground,” I stated the obvious. Glancing at my watch, “And we’ve got about ten minutes before they come busting in.”

“I’ll call from inside the house once we clear the tunnel,” Abby declared.

Nodding at her logic, I got ready to release the latch and stand up through the door.

“Gabe?”

“Yeah Abby?”

“In case something happens….I just want you to know…”

“I know kid, I love you too.”

“Oh…well that goes without saying, but there’s something else you should know.”

Concerned, I scooted back down into the tunnel.

“Abby, what is it? Are you ok?”

“Oh sure, it’s just…I think you and May should get together. I love both of those girls, but you and May really fit together.”

“You stopped me from entering a probable killer’s house to tell me that?”

Abby gave me a shy smile, “Is that inappropriate?”

Shaking my head, I crawled back up to the door and turned the latch, ready to push open the door. I was armed with a gun in my hand, good backup, and my daughter’s opinion for a future girlfriend.

What could go wrong?

***

This hinge was also well-oiled, making little noise as I pushed myself up into some kind of dark space. Chancing the flashlight, I swung it around the area quickly.

My mind froze.

“Gabe! What is it…is it clear?” Abby questioned from the tunnel.

Realizing I was frozen in my amazement, I continued out of the hole, offering a hand down to Abby to help her up.

“Wow,” she whispered as her eyes took in the surroundings in the dim light.

We were in what appeared to be a large vault, with shelves lining the walls that were filled with stacks of cash, bars of gold and silver, and other apparent treasures.

“Talk about hidden treasure!” Abby oozed as she pulled herself out of the hole, closing the door behind her.

“We may have the right guy,” I said quietly.

“Ya think?” Abby answered in a loud whisper.

Seeing a light switch close to the door, I clicked it on.

The light revealed something that I hadn’t seen earlier. On one of the shelves closest to the door was a large collection of firearms. Some of these were antiques, others were new high-end automatics.

“Only one problem,” I stated as I stared at the door.

“What’s that?” Abby asked as she moved next to me.

“That’s a vault door…it’s locked from the outside. I think we’re at a dead-end here.”

Turning to head back to the hatch in the floor, Abby suddenly said, “Hold on.”

Turning back toward Abby, I saw that she was deep in thought as her eyes darted quickly around the room.

“It doesn’t make any sense Gabe, why have an escape route in here if he couldn’t use it to delay someone that may be pursuing him? It would be like a panic room.”

It made good sense. “He must have some sort of release hidden in here somewhere,” I said excitedly.

We started looking for something…anything that may be tied somehow into a release for the heavy door.

“Got something!” Abby called out quietly.

“There is a button under this shelf; I bet it releases the door.”

“Or maybe sounds an alarm,” I added, unsure.

Holding her gun up in her left hand, she reached under the shelf with her right.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

***

The worst that could happen was being met by a blaringly loud alarm emanating throughout the house, repeating itself every five seconds.

“Oh crap!” Abby whispered as she froze in place, “This is bad.”

We appeared to be in a bedroom. The surroundings were plush, but it was definitely a
man’s
bedroom, with nothing frilly or unneeded in sleeping quarters apparent. Considering that the tunnel we just entered the house through seemed perfectly level, I also estimated that we were at least 20’ underground.

“I guess he probably knows we are here now,” again stating the obvious.

“Whatawedo?” Abby asked with her gun held in front of her toward the only door.

“We attack,” I said after thinking through it quickly, “We may still have the element of surprise working for us.

Nodding, Abby set off toward the door into the rest of the house, with me following closely behind. 

As she reached for the doorknob, I suddenly yelled, “Abby, wait!”

At that moment the door flung open in front of Abby, a fist holding some sort of knife crossed the space between her and the door, landing squarely in her face.

Chapter 83

September 29, 1999

I watched in horror as Abby flew across the room, her gun falling in the doorway as she landed hard on the floor with a grunt.