Standish walked toward the mouth of the passage and disappeared. A few moments later, he returned to the hole with Diane’s struggling body in his arms. He climbed into the room, walked across the tracks, and dumped her on the ground. “Cyclone has something we want.” Standish grinned. “We have something he wants.”
Leaning down, Chase removed Diane’s blindfold and gag.
She blinked and stared at him for a few seconds. “Who are you?”
Her gaze shifted to Standish. Her eyes popped open. “Ryan? What are you —?”
“Be quiet,” Standish said harshly. “Otherwise, your chances of survival go way down.”
Chase crossed his arms. “What can you tell us about Cyclone Reed?”
“Don’t know him.”
“Don’t lie to us.” Standish growled. “I saw you guys at the Explorer’s Society. I even followed him to your apartment.”
“You’re mistaken.”
Chase felt his anger grow. He wanted to slap her right across her pretty mouth. But he kept his temper under lock and key. “Ryan, please leave us for a moment.”
Standish shrugged and walked to the mouth of the tunnel. He stepped over the broken wall and disappeared from view.
Chase looked at Diane. “I don’t like having my time wasted. If you can’t help me, I don’t need you. And that means you’re expendable. Do you understand?”
Her face softened and Chase smirked to himself. He’d broken her.
Suddenly, she leaned back.
Her head flew forward.
Spittle landed all over Chase’s face.
Chase felt his heart darken and his self-control vaporize. His arm shot out and his powerful fingers wrapped around her neck. She choked and struggled but was no match for his strength.
He wrenched her to the side and smashed her up against the wall. “If you ever do something like that again…”
She gasped for air. “Go to hell.”
His hand flew to his waist and he removed a long knife. He brandished it for a second and then brought it close to her stomach.
“Jack!”
Chase didn’t move a muscle. “I told you to leave us alone, Ryan.”
Standish peered into the tunnel. “Your engineers found something that you need to see. They uncovered an 1873 proposal for something called the Beach Pneumatic Transit route. It’s an almost perfect match with the map.”
“Thank you, Ryan. I’ll join you in a minute.”
As Standish left the passage, Chase felt a surge of triumph. He stared into Diane’s eyes, enjoying the mixture of horror and powerlessness he saw. Abruptly, he whipped his hand to the side. She doubled over in shock and pain.
Chase slid his bloody knife back into its scabbard as he watched her collapse on the ground. She would live.
But not for long.
Chapter 49
“Get out of there!”
Vaguely, I heard Beverly’s shout. But I couldn’t move. I stood frozen to the spot, utterly hypnotized by what I saw in the gator’s eyes.
I was in danger. I knew that.
But everything seemed to move so slowly, so sluggishly. Try as I might, I couldn’t jerk myself into action.
The alligator pulled itself onto the shore. It stayed there for a few seconds, half-in, half-out of the roiling river.
Water sprayed on my face.
My brain suddenly awoke. My hand reached to my waist as the alligator lunged at me.
Grabbing my machete, I stabbed it at the beast.
The gator roared as the blade penetrated its thick skin. Its tail whipped to the side, striking me with tremendous force.
I crashed into the western wall and fell to the ground in a heap. My mind clouded. My body hurt everywhere. I didn’t want to get up. I just wanted to lie there. I wanted to let go of my pain and drift off to sleep. Maybe then, the nightmare would end.
Get up, you bastard. Keep fighting!
I tried to ignore the voice in my brain but it wouldn’t stop screaming at me. My head lifted off the rocky, uneven ground and I saw the alligator turn toward me. My gaze flew past its scaly face, its large jaw, and its gigantic teeth, all the way to the back of its head, to its eyes.
Adrenaline surged through me. I planted my hands on the rough ground and pushed myself to a kneeling position. My body protested but I shouted it down.
Loud bursts of gunfire filled the grotto. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Beverly crouching low, moving toward me. Her gun, angled to the side, recoiled abruptly with another ear-splitting blast.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” she called out. “Can you move?”
I spit out some blood and worked my mouth. “I…”
The alligator paused. Its jaw dropped and for a moment, I almost expected it to roar.
Suddenly, it lashed forward like a bolt of lightning. Before I knew what was happening, its humongous body vanished into the carved out tunnel.
I looked around.
My stomach shot up to my chest.
Beverly lay on the ground, unmoving.
I ran to her side. Her eyes were closed, her face covered with blood. Kneeling down, I felt her pulse. It was beating but not at a normal pace.
She looked hurt. Badly hurt. I didn’t want to move her. But I didn’t have much of a choice. I shook her shoulders. “Wake up.”
She groaned and shifted away from me. I pulled her back and clapped my hands above her face.
She groaned and started to flail about, looking for something to grab, to help her to her feet. Grasping her hand, I hoisted her to a standing position.
“You all right?” I asked.
“What do you think?”
Abruptly, the alligator poked its head out of the tunnel. Its body jerked with every movement yet remained utterly smooth. My eyes burned as I watched its tough, leathery body slide toward us, leaving a trail of water and soft mud in its wake.
I felt a strange sense of excitement. Thanks to generations of explorers and the rise of satellite technology, the world often felt like it lacked mystery. And yet, here I was staring at a giant alligator in the middle of a lost subway system, far beneath the earth’s surface.
I remained in total awe of the beast’s size, strength, and speed. I’d never seen anything like it and I feared what it could do to me.
And to Beverly.
As I stared at it, I felt my emotions change. My anticipation and awe slowly melted away. The alligator was an incredible breathtaking specimen. And it was a powerful, dangerous hunter that had earned the right to be feared.
But I felt none of those things as it faced me. I felt only contempt.
Cold, hard contempt.
You killed my friend. Now, I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch.
I yanked the pistol out of my holster. “Get to safety.”
Before Beverly could argue, I sprinted forward. The beast cast a wary eye in my direction. It slipped backward a foot and angled its neck toward me.
I squeezed the trigger as I ran. The alligator was so damn big that I couldn’t have missed it if I’d tried. But I wasn’t looking to hit it just anywhere.
I wanted it to feel pain.
The gun unleashed a barrage of bullets into the air. They sailed forward, twisting toward the ferocious gator. Some bullets found their mark. Others bounced off the tough hide like arrows off a shield. The alligator thrashed about but seemed more angry than hurt by my attack.
That is, until I fired the last bullet in my magazine. It cut through the air like a homing missile, slicing right through the monster’s jaw. Bits of rubbery brown flesh flew through the air, splattering onto the ground. A moment later, the bullet spiraled out the other end of the gator’s face and burrowed its way into the wall.
The beast slammed backward and to the side, bashing its head against the far wall. It gnashed its teeth, trying to open and close its mouth. But one end of its jaw hung grotesquely in the air, refusing to operate.