Battle the Dark: Chapter 39

Patrick and Todd struggled to get the latter to his feet.  Todd cried out, swore, and heaved.  Throwing up some of the water he just took from Patrick, he looked up at him, dangling in the other man's arms, "You might have to go on without me.  Can you see us doing this all the way through these tunnels?"


"Stop with the doomsday, I thought you may have gotten past that, spoiled American, to the core."


"Well, what do you expect us to do?"  He hung out of Patrick's arms like a discarded toy.


"I'll carry ya, if I must.  But if ya stop complaining and try..."


Todd became quiet, having passed out again.  Patrick, running out of patience and ideas, set him back down on the rock ledge.  Getting more water into the two empties that were discarded around the rock room, he packed them into his sack, loading his gun and putting it in the front of  his pants.  Then, he went back to Todd, and hoisted him over his shoulder, like a very large sack of potatoes.  "You're getting fat, Manning," he said to no one, and proceeded out of the rock cage.


Taking it in stride, Thornhart, with Todd over his shoulder, pushed through the tunnels toward the exit.  He knew, from experience, he did not have far to go, possibly another forty-five minutes.  Positive he could accomplish it, he turned a small corner, and heard voices.


"The boss wants Manning.  He's going to set him free tonight."


"At the meeting place?"


"It's supposed to be our entertainment."


"So we are going to get him, now, why?"


"I guess he wants to play with him a bit first, or try one last time to extract information."


The voices died off, as the two must have entered the meeting room.  Patrick, who had been holding his breath, was grateful for two things:  A silent, passed out Manning, and the fact that they were not going to the cage now, or they would have discovered them.  Pushing forward, he struggled on, headed for the exit into the theater.


***


"All right, we're in the left tunnel now, Blair, it won't be long.  We will find him," the nun said, trudging along.  Blair's feet ached, but she imagined how her Todd must be aching, and pushed it away.


"Sister, how much longer?"


"There's a little alcove soon.   Sort of a large open area.  Then the tunnels go on a bit.  A few more rooms, and the end.  There might be another well.  A bit further down."


"All right."  She kept her goal, of seeing Todd's stunning hazel eyes again, with life in them, in her mind.  "I won't desert you, Todd, never again."


The nun heard, "He knows that, dear."


"I just have to keep saying it."


They heard voices again, and ducked inside a small side nook and hid.  "I told you, we're supposed to go get him now."


"Look, I have to use the restroom. If you can't wait for that..."


"Hurry up, will you?  Hesser's waiting.  He wants Manning now."


Blair almost screamed, but Sister Rebecca Katherine covered her mouth quickly enough to stop her.  Her eyes were wide with fear.


Sister brought her finger to her own mouth, to silence her.  Blair nodded.  The nun took her hand away, as the men, stopping inside the meeting area, did their business.  When they exited and continued on, Blair mouthed, "Todd's that way!"


The sister nodded, and they kept on.  Until, they heard whispering voices again, and ran back, ducking into the meeting area.  They prayed no one would come in.


"Where do you expect to place the firebomb, ay?"


"Wherever it will do the most damage.  They'll be here in a few minutes, any time after that."


"All right," the men traipsed by.


Blair and Sister Rebecca Katherine followed the men with the firebomb, who were following the men sent to get Todd.  At a certain point in the channels, there was a three way split.  "That one leads to another room, with no other trails beyond.  This one in the center, I believe leads to the well.  And this, to the right, leads deeper in to the catacombs."


"The question is which one?"


Abruptly, Blair and the nun were face to face with the two men sent to get Todd.  They had proceeded to the left and found the room empty.   In their surprise, Blair flashed a smile at them and said, "Is there a ladies room nearby?"


Thrown off guard, the men were faulty to react, but one pulled his gun, as Blair, drawing her gun out of her waistband, shot him through the head, and held the gun on the other.  


"Jesus have mercy!"  The nun cried, "Bridgette, my Lord!"


"Can it, sister, and get your piece out!"


The nun pulled her .22 from her apron and with a quizzical look, said, "Hands up, buster."


Blair said, "Where's Todd?"


The man, hands up, stood, dumbfounded.  "I don't know a Todd."


"I heard you talking about him."  She cocked the gun and re-aimed.  "Now where is he?"


"He's gone.  He escaped.  He killed his keeper."


The Slice and Dice.  He didn't get the best of you, babe.  He couldn't.  Not Todd Manning.  How did I ever doubt that?


"Move over there."  She signaled to him to get into the meeting room and into the bathroom.  She knocked him over the head with the gun, while Sister Rebecca Katherine tied his hands with her spare rosary, and gagged him with a piece of her wimple.  She locked him into the bathroom.  


"That'll only hold him until they get here.  Seems there is some kind of meeting."  Blair said.


"We haven't got much time, let's go!"  The nun said, rushing along, and taking Blair by the hand.  Blair wondered to herself how the older woman was remaining so energetic and strong.  
"Reflecting back on what just happened, dear, you certainly know how to use your wiles."


"I suppose that is all I knew, most of my life.  I first landed Todd that way."


"I don't doubtcha.  But now, it's a whole different thing with ya both, anyone can see."


"We have to find him.  Shouldn't we go back?  To the exit? They said he was not in his holding cell?"


"What if they are lying?  No, dear, we cannot take a chance.  We must go see for ourselves.  We should go to the right, to the deeper catacombs.  That is most likely where he is being held."  Sister said.


"We can't be sure, but let's hurry."  And, racing a long a few feet, they again heard voices.  Blair could see the well, that the nun described, off to the side in another small rock compartment.  They pushed themselves into the area by it, and waited, listening.  "Light it, now, and drop it here.  The Men of 21 are just arriving.  By the time the fuse is burned out, they all would have perished."


"Will we have time to run out?"


"I've made the fuse long enough, we should have time to get back out.  They heard the scratching sound of a match, and realized how primitive their materials were.  The men ran by them not even noticing, and Sister Rebecca Katherine said, "I am stuck!  My foot is jammed in between this damn well and the wall.  Good Lord, forgive my language.  Quickly, throw it in the well, Blair!"


Blair, in a panic, listened and grabbed the explosive mass, with the long fuse lit and squirming, and threw it down into the shaft.  It was a long time before they heard it hit the water below.  They paused, waiting for a tremor or explosion, but it never came.  The men of the RA21 group were long gone; Blair and Sister Rebecca Katherine breathed a sigh of relief.  Blair helped the nun untwist her foot from the rock hold, and the two pushed forward.  Within another half hour of walking, they, both tired and filthy, rested against a rock ledge, as they reached the end of the tunnels.  "We chose the wrong way,"  Blair said.


"No, in the light of things, the Good Lord sent us the right way.  If we hadn't found those explosives, all of us would have been buried alive in here, dear."


"You're the silver lining, I'll say, Sister."


"I try my best.  Now, back we go?"


"Yes, back we go.  One tunnel left.  The other side of the well."


"Yes, and when I stuck my foot, I noticed that we might be able to cut through.  A small passageway."


"All right."


They went back to investigate, and Blair was of the belief that Todd had gotten away, somehow, but something inside her was still gnawing at her.  They moved through the channels, looking into each cubbyhole and passageway, without a sign of life.  Seeing the entrance to the meeting area sending light into the rock halls, they stood still, listening.  Blair's heart jumped when she heard the men talking, and it was about Todd.  They had found the man she shot, and the other, they had knocked out, tied up, gagged and put into the bathroom, was obviously still not talking.  They were close enough to hear the men.


"Manning's loose.  If he's gotten away from the likes of Leona, I say we cut our losses.  He's probably miles from here already."



"Hesser promised us his execution, at midnight.  Where is Hesser?  I'm starting not to respect that man, or to trust him."


"He's not here, as if he abandoned ship."


"Cut our losses, I said it before, I'll say it again.  We need to get out of here before Manning brings the Feds down on us."


Within a few moments, some of the men headed back out to the theater.  Others remained, talking, but all expressing their desire to desert Carlo, and the mission, and find safety.  


Blair recognized the next voice, as the reactions in the room signaled the arrival of another member.  "Gentlemen, please, what seems to be the trouble."  It was Hesser.


"Manning, he's foiled your plan.  Leona's dead, Manning's gone."


Carlo did not speak, and Blair knew he was seething.  She could picture his face in disgrace in front of the group.  "Todd Manning," his voice was poison. 


The nun and Blair both jolted to a halt when they heard a familiar voice, "Freeze, American police, FBI."  It was John McBain.


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