Eleven, Twelve ... Dig and delve (Rebekka Franck Book 6) (21 page)

Benjamin was sitting with Malene. He was concerned about her, and didn’t leave her side. I wished I could give him good news, but there wasn’t any to give. His mother brought him a bottle of water, and he wet Malene’s lips using his finger. I couldn’t stop wondering who had hurt her this badly. We had all been in the cave when we heard the screams, hadn’t we? Could someone have snuck out? And where had she been for more than a week? She seemed well nourished. Had she found food somewhere, before encountering whoever beat her?

The earpiece was lowered every day when they wanted to speak to us. Basically, they told us the same thing every day. They were still working on getting us out, but we had to be patient. Every day, the same damn story. They asked us if we were all right. We told them three kids were almost dying; they told us they were working as hard as they could, but we had to be patient. There was nothing they could do to make it faster.

The earpiece was lowered again. This time Kurt took it.

“Hello? This is Kurt. Kurt Hansen. I used to live in number eleven. If we’re still fine? Well, it depends on how you see it. How many? Well no one has died since yesterday, if that’s what you’re asking me. There are still twelve of us left. Yes, we lost some that survived the crash. Some got lost in the mines; we don’t know what happened to them. What? Let me just ask a second.”

“Hey, listen up, everybody,” he yelled. “Apparently, we’ve become some kind of celebrities up on the surface. There are journalists that want to talk to us, does anyone want to say something to them?”

Brian jumped up. “Give me that,” he said, and pulled the earpiece out of Kurt’s hand. “Yes, this is Brian Jansen. I used to live in number five. Yes, I’m good, but I want to get out of here. Why aren’t we getting out? What do you mean you don’t know? You’re just a journalist from a newspaper? Then go ask them why we’re not getting out faster. Lord knows we’ve been here long enough. What did you say? Spokesperson? Yeah, definitely. More like a leader. Yeah, I guess you could say I’ve been kind of the leader of the pack down here. Yes, you can quote me saying that. TV deals? I don’t know. Who’s saying anything about that? Aha…aha…yes, well I guess I might be interested. Oh, they’re talking about making a movie as well, are they? Well, I might be interested in helping them. Yes, I am the man they should discuss the rights to our story with.”

We all looked at each other. Lars got up and walked towards Brian. He reached out to grab the earpiece. Brian pulled away.

“I want in on this,” he said, and reached out for the phone again.

Brian didn’t let him take it. “I’m talking to them,” he said.

“Give it to me. You’re no more the leader down here than I am,” Lars said.

“Who said any of you are the leader?” Irene said. “I say Rebekka is the leader.”

Please leave me out of this. I don’t want anything to do with it.

Irene looked at me. “You talk to them,” she said. “You’ll make a great deal for all of us. I want you to represent me.”

“Nonsense,” Brian said. “I’m a better negotiator. I was born to lead.” Brian returned to the conversation in the earpiece while holding Lars back with his hand. “No…no, we’re not quarreling down here. We’re fine. You tell any TV producer, reality show, or movie producer that we’re willing to talk money. Lots of money. Have them ask to talk to Brian and no one else. Now, goodnight.” With a grin, he let go of the earpiece and it was pulled out of the pipe.

Lars clenched his fists and looked at Brian.

“You better not try and cheat any of us out of the deal,” he said.

“Easy there, buddy. I’ll take good care of all of you; I’ll even make you rich. The journalist told me they are very eager to get all of us in on TV deals and reality shows; anything about
the trapped twelve
is in high demand. Yes, that’s what they call us. Isn’t it great?” Brian Jansen slammed his hands together with a satisfied grin.

I wasn’t sure if he was still grinning after the lights suddenly went out.

66

“
W
HAT HAPPENED?”

Kurt yelled in the darkness.

“Hey! Who turned out the lamp? It’s not time to go to sleep yet,” Lars yelled. “We still have a couple of hours left. Turn the light back on.”

I moved towards the place where I knew the lamp was, while wondering what had made it go out, who had made it go out, when I heard a yell and a loud thud, sounding like someone falling to the ground. Then there was a yell and a gasp.

“What the hell?”

It sounded like Brian.

I reached the lamp and turned the knob. The light immediately went back on. The first thing I saw was Brian Jansen. He was up against the limestone wall with a strange expression on his face and a fire poker pierced through his chest. Blood was flowing from the wound to the ground.

“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed and cupped my mouth.

Right in front of him, still with the fire poker between her hands, stood a woman I recognized from the day of the collapse. She had been in the street debating with Mrs. Sigumfeldt.

“Mrs. Jansen?” Afrim yelled with terror in his voice.

The woman didn’t answer. She grunted and growled, while looking into the eyes of her husband, who was pierced on a fire poker. David sprang to her and grabbed her. He pulled her away. Brian looked perplexed. He stared at the blood and the big hole in his chest where the fire poker was still stuck. He tried to speak, but nothing but blood spluttered out of his mouth. I looked into his eyes and saw the horror when he realized that this was it. Everybody stared, paralyzed, at him, while he slowly and painfully left this earth.

“Don’t pity him!” Mrs. Jansen screamed like a wild beast, while David held her down. “He’s only getting what he deserves. Like the rest of them.”

Kurt approached her. “What have you done, Gitte?” he asked. “You killed him. Why?”

“I should have killed all of you. You and this neighborhood. You think I don’t know what you did, huh? You think I don’t know? You closed the curtains on me. You and your wife. You didn’t want to look at me. You didn’t want to see. You are all monsters!”

“What are you talking about?” Annette asked.

“Like you don’t know. That Saturday night three months ago when I was in the street, asking for help, ringing all the doorbells, and screaming. No one helped me. No one cared enough. I was bleeding…there was blood running from my…running down my legs because of that…pig over there.” Gitte Jansen was sobbing heavily now. I was trying hard to keep track of her story and what was going on.

“He hurt you?” I asked. “And then you ran for help?”

“He beat me. But there was nothing new about that. Everyone knew that’s what he did. But, that time, he kicked me in the stomach.”

Gitte Jansen had a hard time breathing. David let go of her. She bent over and started crying hard.

“He kicked you in the stomach?” I asked.

She lifted her head and looked at me. “I was with child,” she whispered.

Annette and Kurt gasped.

“Don’t give me that,” Gitte Jansen said. “You knew. You all knew.”

Annette kneeled in front of her. “I didn’t know,” Annette said. “I swear, I didn’t know.”

“Then why did you leave me out there in your front yard? I was crying for help. I had no phone. I needed an ambulance. I saw you in the window. I saw all of you. You closed your curtains, so you didn’t have to look at me.”

“I…” Annette looked at Kurt for help.

“We thought you were drunk,” he said. “It was late. You were screaming and acting crazy. We thought you were high on those pills you sometimes take. They make you do things like that. It wasn’t the first time. I swear, we didn’t see the blood. Annette wanted to help, but I told her not to. I told her to leave you alone. I can see now that it was wrong.”

“I’m so sorry,” Annette said. She was about to cry.

“You said they all got what they deserved,” I said. “Did you kill others down here?”

Gitte Jansen nodded. “Mr. Bjerrehus, Michael West, and that bitch, Tine Sigumfeldt. They all played a part in me losing my child. See, Brian was in the house; he had kicked me out, so when I realized I was bleeding, the first place I ran to was my neighbor across the street, Mr. Bjerrehus. There was light in his windows. I pounded on his door, and rang the doorbell, yelling for help, but he didn’t open the door. I saw him, though. I saw him standing in the window, right before he closed the curtain on me. I couldn’t believe anyone could be that cruel. When I realized I wouldn’t get any help from him, I ran down the street. Mr. and Mrs. Frandsen weren’t home, so I passed their house and ran to knock on Mrs. Sigumfeldt’s door. I knew she had her lover visiting, that Michael West guy, who has a wife and a kid across town. I rang the bell and screamed for them to help, but they did the exact same thing. They looked at me from the window, then closed the curtain. I ran from door to door, but no one helped. It wasn’t until I reached the Berisha’s house, sweet little Afrim’s parents’ house that I received help. They called for an ambulance right away. But when I reached the hospital, it was too late. I lost my child.”

“So, when you hit Mrs. Sigumfeldt’s car that morning and blocked the road, I take it that it wasn’t an accident?” I said.

“Hell no. I wanted that bitch to suffer for what she had done to me. But I got my revenge later on down here. I was trapped for a long time under the debris of a house. Once I managed to dig myself out, I found a lot of stuff. I found food and water bottles enough for a long time, along with a flashlight, and I found this fire poker. I grabbed it, thinking I could use it for digging if I needed to, but one day, while exploring the tunnels, I saw you. I saw all of you. I heard voices and followed them. Then I saw you in this cave. I was so angry. It occurred to me this would be the perfect place for my revenge. Even though I was going to die down here as well, at least I would get my revenge. No one would ever question me afterwards. No police would ever come after me. Ha. I even ate some of Mrs. Sigumfeldt, just to stay alive, after I had run out of food.”

“So, you were the one, not Brian?” I asked, puzzled. It began to make sense.

She nodded.

“I had to. To survive.”

“But did you also beat up Malene?” I asked.

“No. Thomas Soe did that. The bastard. Beating the crap out of the poor girl. It doesn’t matter. He’s gone now. Take my word for it.”

Okay
, I thought to myself, trying to get the story straight. So, Gitte Jansen was the one who had been killing people in the tunnels, not Brian. It made a lot of sense. I turned to look at his dead body, still pierced into the limestone wall. People around Gitte Jansen were in shock, staring at her with eyes wide and hands covering their mouths. What a mess. It was unbelievable. I was happy that we had finally figured out what had been going on in the tunnels, but I was puzzled to know how we were supposed to stay down here for yet another month with a murderer in our group. How were we to keep her from killing more people?

67

I
COULDN’T SLEEP
at all that night. We had decided to take turns sleeping, David and I. We had to keep an eye on the sick and on our prisoner. David had tied her hands with some rope the surface had provided us. It had come in a survival case that contained a lot of things, among them, a first aid kit, a knife, and a rope.

David came to me and sat down. “You’re supposed to sleep,” he whispered.

“I know,” I said. “I just can’t.”

“Too many thoughts, huh?”

“A lot of questions and things I simply don’t understand, yes.”

“It’s a lot to take in at once, this story,” he said.

“You can say that again. Now, I wonder how we’re supposed to make it an entire month. Don’t you think she’ll try and escape? If she does, we’ll never find her again. It seems like she knows the tunnels better than any of us.”

David shrugged with a soft smile. “I don’t know. Let’s just say that then we have a new situation. We’ll deal with it if it gets to that.”

I smiled. I liked that about David. He didn’t worry. He took things as they came…if they came his way. It was a rare quality in people.

“You think they’ll start digging the hole tomorrow?” I asked.

They had told us they would need to dig a big shaft to get us all out of, and that was why it was going to take a long time. But, much to our frustration, they hadn’t even started yet. And it had been three days already. It was devastating. I thought about Sune, Julie, Tobias and William and suddenly missed them terribly. I felt so sad thinking about what they had to be going through. They had probably heard by now that I was alive, but that they had to wait a month to be able to see me again. How did that make them feel? Was it as unbearable for them as it was for me? We had asked if we could speak to our relatives, but they hadn’t granted us that permission yet. They just said they’d
look into it
. Kenneth said that they might be afraid to let people, especially children, into the crash-site, since they weren’t very sure of the stability of the ground. The thought didn’t make me particularly comfortable…to think we had made it this far and then it might all crash on us anyway.

We’ll deal with it if it gets to that
.

David could tell I was sad and he put his arm around me. He pulled me closer and held me in his warm embrace for a long time. I enjoyed it and closed my eyes. He talked to me about his family, about his brother and parents, about him growing up and how his brother had always been there for him, how he had always gotten him out of trouble.

I had finally dozed off when someone entered the cave. The last person I would ever have expected to see down here.

“Rebekka?”

68

I
STARED AT
Sune, while still being held in David’s arms.

“Sune?”

He was dirty and seemed tired. But it was definitely him. Next to him stood a guy I had never seen before.