Soon, a small, jagged gap formed in front of me. I pushed on, my attention solely focused on widening the hole. I swung over and over again, until my arms began to ache and the scabs on my fingers started to bleed all over again.
My mind began to drift. I thought about Diane. I thought about Beverly. I thought about the alligator. I thought about Standish. I thought about Chase and his long search for the Bell. I was so deep in thought that I barely noticed what was going on around me.
Abruptly, my machete sliced through the wall. The boundary collapsed in a heap of rock and I stumbled forward. Dust curled into the air, blanketing everything. Particles stung my eyes and slipped into my throat. But I refused to turn my head. Instead, I peered through the dust cloud. I saw a small tunnel, lined with rusted tracks.
But that was it.
There was no Omega.
No Bell.
Nothing.
It was empty. Completely, utterly empty.
Chapter 42
Two hours and all I’ve got to show for it is an empty tunnel.
Exhaling, I stood up and stared into the small, dark space. I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. I felt irritated. Annoyed.
Downright pissed-off.
I’d wasted two hours locating and unearthing the hidden passage. Two, long, tiring hours. It was an utter waste of time.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Beverly glanced at me. “Let’s check it out.”
“Maybe you didn’t notice, but it’s empty.”
“But the fact that it even exists tells me that you were right all along. At some point, this passage contained the Omega. And the Bell.”
“A lot of good that does us now.”
“We might find some clues inside. Clues that could lead us to the Bell’s final resting place.”
“I doubt it.”
She shook her head. “I get it. You feel like you wasted your time. But feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
Before I could respond, she stepped over the crumbled cement and vanished into the small passage.
I was wrong and I knew it. Coupled with Jenson’s statement, the passage’s existence constituted significant proof. And the skull and pickaxe button, even though it didn’t open the wall, was impossible to ignore.
I walked over to the bellmouth and climbed into the passage. The bright glow of my flashlight illuminated the space. It was about the same height as the main tunnel and about two-thirds its width. However, while the Lexington Avenue Line ran for miles, the passage only penetrated about a hundred feet into the bedrock.
As my frustration ebbed, I found myself fascinated by the passage. But something about it also bothered me. Kneeling down, I examined the trackbed. Piles of gravel separated long planks of dark wood. Two metal rails ran across the boards, extending the length of the tunnel. Overall, the configuration looked normal for a typical subway tunnel. There was just one difference.
One big difference.
“No third rail,” I remarked.
“Maybe the Sand Demons removed it after they disconnected the tracks from the main tunnel.”
I nodded slowly. “You’re probably right.”
“Let’s back up for a second. What happened here?”
I shrugged. “It looks pretty cut and dried to me. The Sand Demons once stored the Omega in here. Now it’s missing.”
“But why is it missing? Did someone else take it?”
I shone my flashlight to the side of the passage, casting light upon several armfuls of wadded up material. “Maybe.” Walking over to the pile, I noticed that a thin concrete-like substance covered one side of the material. “Or maybe the Sand Demons only used this passage as a temporary storage area. Once the coast was clear, they moved the Omega to a permanent location.”
“But why would they go to all that trouble?”
I thought for a moment. “They originally planned to wall it up in here. But then Jenson showed up. They didn’t like him knowing about the Bell’s location. So, the first chance they got, they hid it somewhere else.”
We lapsed into silence. For the next few minutes, I scoured the space, searching for evidence that could lead us to the Omega. Unfortunately, I didn’t see much in the way of clues.
But I pressed on, passing by discarded tools, a workbench, and building supplies. It wasn’t until I reached the far end of the passage that I found something interesting.
The flashlight illuminated a couple of gouges in the wall. My heart skipped a beat. “Beverly. Come over here.”
She appeared at my side. “What’s up?”
“Take a look at this drawing.”
“My God.” Her voice became hushed. “It’s a map. A detailed map of Manhattan.”
“And it’s accurate. Right down to the block.”
She pointed at the wall. “That deep line, the one on the east side, is probably the Lexington Avenue Line. But I don’t recognize the other one that connects to it.”
I stared at the map. A single line began at the southern tip of the island and extended north to Union Square. From there, it branched out into two lines, one of which continued straight up the east side while the other one angled to the west before traveling up the west side.
“Actually, I don’t think it is the Lexington Line.” I traced my finger along the map. “It travels straight up Park Avenue. The Lexington Line, for the most part, runs to the east of this one.”
“So, the Sand Demons made a mistake.”
“The rest of the map is accurate. Why would they mess up the subway tunnels? Heck, they worked down here.”
“Well, I…”
Her voice trailed off. I stared into her face for a second, waiting for her to finish. But she just stood still.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She lifted a finger and pointed it toward the mouth of the passage. I shifted, following her lead.
Then I froze.
Something was moving south just outside the tunnel.
Something big.
Something alive.
My feet pounded against the trackbed. Simultaneously, my hand flew to my holster, yanking out my pistol. I hadn’t caught a full look at it yet, but I knew what was out there.
And I was going to kill it.
At the front of the tunnel, I vaulted over the broken concrete wall, landing on top of a pile of debris. My flashlight shifted to the flooded trackbed.
And then I saw it.
The brownish-green mass was over twelve feet long. Its body was thick and scaly. It moved in crazed fashion, twisting and thrashing about from one side of the tunnel to the next.
“Good lord,” Beverly whispered. “It’s huge.”
Adrenaline completely consumed me. All I could think about was the horror the beast had unleashed upon the city.
Upon Javier Kolen.
I aimed my gun into the darkness, trying to target its head.
“Don’t be a fool,” Beverly hissed. “If you fire that thing, Jack will hear it.”
My finger tightened around the trigger. “It needs to die.”
Suddenly, the alligator reared upward. The movement was so fast I didn’t have time to react.
Its head turned toward me and I saw its eyes. They were red as blood, yet dark as night. As I stared into them, I felt like I was looking into the soul of the devil himself.
The gator lunged at me. My instincts took over and I dove to the south. As I rolled through the water, I seized the machete from my waist with my free hand.
I rose to my feet. The gigantic alligator was just a few feet away. I backed up, trying to get some breathing room.