I swung for myself.
My fist smashed into his jaw. His head flew backward. He lost his grip. As I watched, he tumbled end over end into the bottomless chasm.
My body sagged with relief.
Suddenly, the machete moved. I turned toward the wall.
It moved again.
Reaching up, I scrabbled for a grip. But the onrushing water thwarted my efforts.
Fingers enclosed around my waist. They were smaller than Standish’s, yet larger in number. I felt myself dragged away from the chasm, the machete still stuck in my left hand.
I fell to the ground. My eyes focused and I saw Beverly and Diane leaning over me.
Diane shook her head. “Can’t you do anything the easy way?”
Her tone was filled with annoyance, but I saw the smile etched across her face.
I grinned. “That’s just not my style.”
With their help, I rose to my feet. As I retrieved my pistol, I heard loud shuddering noises. Then a large bedrock slab broke off from the ceiling and crashed onto the ground.
As if on cue, the western wall burst into pieces, sending hundreds of pounds of rock hurtling into the grotto. It seemed to start a chain reaction and the entire area along with the tube began to implode.
Beverly shot me a look. “I guess we wore out our welcome.”
“I think that happened a few hours ago.”
She took off running. I pushed Diane in front of me and then raced after them, driven by the sound of crashing rock.
In a few minutes, we reached the intersection leading to the main subway system. As I darted into the connecting tunnel, I stole one last glance over my shoulder. The entire collection of tubes was rapidly vanishing under a mountain of broken bedrock. Memories of the last few days flashed through my brain, but one face stayed prominent. It was a face that belonged to a man I’d never met. And yet, I felt like I knew him all the same.
“Sorry, Alfred,” I said quietly. “You built one hell of a subway system.”
EPILOGUE
HARTEK’S CACHE
“Are you sure you’re up for this?”
Diane narrowed her eyes. “I should be asking you that question. You’re the one with his arm in a sling.”
I walked to the edge of the platform. It was well after midnight. Other than a few college kids, the area was empty.
I stopped next to the wall and waited for Diane to join me. After nearly a week in the hospital, she looked like a whole new woman. Her face exhibited a rosy complexion and the spark in her eyes had returned with a vengeance.
After she joined me, I looked both ways and then hopped down to the tracks. Setting a course due south, I led her down the Lexington Avenue Line.
The track bed was dry. And thanks to Chase’s unexplained disappearance, temporary control over the MTA had fallen into new hands. Those new hands saw fit to settle affairs with the labor unions. It was just a temporary settlement of course. As Chase’s memory faded into oblivion, I had no doubt that negotiations and conflicts would begin anew.
But for the time being, the lockout was over. And that meant a return to normalcy of a sort. Subway trains flew through the tunnels on a semi-regular basis. City traffic decreased to pre-lockout levels. Foot traffic also declined as large numbers of people stopped walking to work and instead, returned to the relative comfort and speed of the subway system.
Even the rain finally came to an end.
Of course, there was still the small matter of the recent earthquake. Just a few days earlier, a rash of buildings, primarily situated in the midtown area, experienced strange ground shifts. It was nothing serious of course, since steel pilings supported the buildings in that area. Engineers and architects were investigating the phenomenon but so far, hadn’t announced an explanation.
I wasn’t worried. It would take a lot of digging to unearth Beach’s tubes, even more to excavate the Bell. And I doubted that would happen anytime soon.
“So, you couldn’t get in touch with Beverly huh?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“She just left?”
“That’s right.”
“Strange. Very strange.”
Agreed. Where are you, Beverly?
After escaping Beach’s subway system, she’d vanished. I never even saw her leave. One minute she stood right next to me.
The next minute, she was gone.
While Diane recovered in the hospital, I searched the entire island of Manhattan for her. I even staked out ShadowFire’s headquarters. But I never found her.
Although she never mentioned it, I knew the reason for her disappearance. I saw it in her stormy violet eyes back in the tunnels.
She knew I had feelings for Diane, feelings that were too complicated to dismiss. But what she didn’t realize was that my feelings for her were just as strong and just as complicated.
Diane was beautiful, loyal, accomplished, graceful, and driven. She lived her life by a firm moral code, which I begrudgingly admired. She was everything the archaeologist in me desired in a lady.
Beverly was similar in many ways, yet different in so many others. She was sexy as all hell, endowed with a daredevil’s spirit, and mysterious to boot. Coupled with her unbridled passion, she was everything the treasure hunter inside of me wanted in a woman.
How do you choose between two sides of yourself?
As I turned to follow the 42nd Street Shuttle’s non-pedestrian track, I peeked over my shoulder. Diane flashed me a winning smile. She was so much. But was she enough? Would anything ever be enough to satisfy my conflicting personas? Or was I doomed to walk the earth alone, always caught between two worlds, part of both, but belonging to neither?
I stopped in the middle of the tunnel. I heard clanging machinery and hissing pipes. But there were no signs of life.
I looked at the smooth, slightly discolored wall. It was closed, revealing no sign of the hidden door.
Diane halted next to me. “I don’t see anything.”
“You will in a minute,” I replied. “Chase must’ve covered up Hartek’s laboratory after he realized that the Bell wasn’t inside.”
I hoisted myself onto the concrete ledge and walked across it until I reached a crack. On the other side, the surface changed. It looked newer and thicker than the rest of the ledge.
Kneeling down, I felt along the wall. My fingers brushed up against the etching of a skull and two crossed pickaxes. Placing my thumb against the symbol, I pushed.
The button depressed. I heard a click and the ground started to rumble. I grabbed onto the wall as the ledge shifted inward, revealing the hidden corridor.
Taking out my flashlight, I slid into the space. I held my breath, preparing myself for the stench of death.
Instead, I was greeted with a strong odor of disinfectant. Surprised, I shone my light around in all directions. The bodies were gone as were most of the lab’s materials. The room was now empty, save for some scattered bricks in the corner.
I grunted in disappointment. “Well, if there was anything here, it’s gone now.”
“What were you hoping to find?”
“Gold. Nazi gold. According to Chase, Karl Hartek was entrusted with a supply of gold bars from ODESSA. I figured we might find them here.”
“Always the treasure hunter.” She shook her head but there was a small smile on her face. Then, her expression changed to one of puzzlement. “Why did you think it would be in here?”
“Something Jenson said to me before he died. He said, ‘Don’t forget the gold…it’s the foundation…the foundation of Hartek’s…”
“Hartek’s what?”
I shrugged. “I thought I’d find the answer in here.”