The Faithful (33 page)

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

“Hang on Ora, you’re not dead yet.”

“You better keep yourself under control, Phoenix!”

Being enclosed in flames was almost as scary as being pummeled by rocks. It beat against her skin in waves of intense heat. It singed the hair on top of her head as well as her brows and eyelashes. She kept her eyes closed, afraid her eyeballs would dry up and pop out of her face like tiny raisins.

But she had a bigger problem: breathing was almost impossible. Every time she tried to gulp in some air, she seared her lungs instead. She could feel it burning a path down her throat and sizzling its way to the tips of her bronchi.

“I can’t breathe! Phoenix, I can’t breathe!”

“Don’t panic.”

“Easy for you to say, fucker! I’m a human marshmallow!”

“You really want to name-call right now, Ora?”

“Ora! Don’t panic, we’re coming for you!”
That was Lexy. Her voice was a cool balm, and Ora tucked her face into her chest and tried to hold on.

“Lexy . . .”

Ora couldn’t hear anything above the roar of the flames, and she was still afraid to open her eyes. But Lexy’s words had calmed her, as they always did. She sent out her awareness, trying to gain some understanding of what was going on around her. Bit by bit, little nuggets of information came to her.

Phoenix is over by the fence, with Ashlyn.
That was good.

Lexy is in the crowd. She’s maybe ten feet away, on the left.
Okay, that was also good.

Sumner has turned assassin. He’s taken out four of the Priests so far.
Ora paused there, trying to wrap her mind around it. He’d taken out Fathers Manning, Javan, Khoury, and Angelo. At that moment, he was moving in on Father Sachiel.

“Get that bastard Palidor if you get the chance, Sumner!”

He responded with a wild cackle.

The next nugget not only stunned her, but also started that infernal hope brewing within her once again.

Sumner found the redhead! Not only that, she’s heading for the Underground to free Jack.

“Sumner, you’re my fucking hero!”

“That’s right, baby doll. I’m the stuff men are made of!”

“You do the worst John Wayne impersonation I’ve ever heard.”

If she could have spared the oxygen, she would have laughed with relief and delight. But really, breathing was becoming a serious concern.

“Um, Phoenix?”

It was Lexy who answered.
“Can you undo your bonds, Ora?”

Ora tried.

“No, I’m still too drugged.”

Neither Lexy nor Phoenix was telekinetic, and panic clenched at her gut. But then a new voice chimed in.

“No problem.”
It was Ashlyn.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

One by one, the shackles released their hold. Ora stumbled forward, veering dangerously close to the flames before she managed to regain her balance.

“Get down, and hold on to something,”
Ashlyn warned.

Ora barely had time to obey, wrapping her arms around the bottom of the post. She heard the water before she felt it. It was a thundering answer to the fire’s roar. She heard the screaming as its flooding force swept people away. And then it hit her. It wasn’t like being doused by a cool gush of water—it was like being hit by a Mack truck. The only thing that saved her was the fact that she’d positioned herself with her back to the onslaught. She was pushed chest-first into the post.

The cart wasn’t tied to anything, and it was swept away with her pinned to it. She held on, lungs burning.

“Oops. Sorry about that, Ora,”
Ashlyn chimed in.

Her head broke the surface of the water. She sucked in great, gasping breaths. And then she was sobbing with relief.

To breathe! It was glorious!

The horse cart came to a slow, spinning stop as the water released its hold. She opened her eyes and watched in awe as the torrent churned away from her. There were heads bobbing in the current as people were swept downhill.

“Holy
shit
, Ashlyn,” she croaked.

And then they were there: Lexy and Phoenix and Ashlyn and Sumner. Ora was a drowned rat, but at least most of the blood had washed off. Unfortunately, she was still naked.

“Can someone lend me some clothes or something?” she managed.

Sumner handed over his shirt. Underneath, he was wearing another T-shirt with a corn dog on it.

“Thanks.” She pulled it over her head. It hit her midthigh and was blessedly warm.

“Ora, are you all right?” Lexy asked. Her brown eyes were huge and beautiful in the moonlight.

“Oh, Lex. Are you?” she asked.

Lexy nodded, her face tight. But she didn’t touch her, and Ora couldn’t seem to reach across the distance that separated them. The silence stretched out, wounded and uncomfortable.

“Okay,” Sumner jumped in. “Shall we hit the road, folks?”

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Josh followed Ryanne through the forest. She didn’t stick to a path, but rather seemed to be following some inner radar. He found it interesting that the girl who had clumsily trailed him not long before was walking with the grace and agility of a deer, while he stumbled over tree roots and slipped across slick patches of the forest floor.

Intermittent tongues of ground fog licked at his feet, which didn’t help. They added to the dreamlike quality of their movement, and after a time he wondered if Ryanne was sleepwalking, or if he was. He followed her silently, trusting her to take them where they needed to go.

To Jack. His stomach tightened with excitement, and he almost walked into her.

“Why did we stop?”

“We’re walking along untouched forest, right? And without thinking, we put our trust in what we can’t see. So we trust there’s nothing below us but dirt and rock. Thousands of miles of solidity, supporting us up here on the surface.”

“Okay . . .”

“And so far you’d be right.” She took his hand and led him forward. After ten paces, she stopped. “Does it feel any different?”

“No.”

“Of course not. You never know what’s just below the surface. Not with people and not with the earth. Not unless you dig a little.”

“I get the metaphor. But what’s below us right here?”

“A whole world.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are plants growing and flowers blooming. There’s a river flowing, and generators humming. There are bees buzzing and animals nursing their young. And somewhere under our feet, there’s a young boy with the answers to everything.”

Josh opened his mouth, but no words would form. The notion that he was standing above a secret world was so huge he couldn’t cram it all into his head.

“I . . . don’t understand.”

“It’s a giant fallout shelter, like those built in the fifties to protect against nuclear bombs. But it’s huge. It’s able to sustain all forms of life thanks to an underground river, which provides fresh water and is used to power thousands of generators. The generators run a grid of natural lights and thousands of air purifiers and heaters.”

“But . . . why?” he croaked.

“That’s the million-dollar question. Isn’t it?”

“I guess it is. How long have you known about this?”

“Since Lexy mentioned it. Or most of my life, depending on your perspective.”

“How do we get in there?”

“There are many ways in and out. You just have to know where they are.”

“And do you?”

“Some of them. The one closest to where they’re keeping Jack is right in front of you.”

He looked down at his feet, half expecting to see the neat outline of a trapdoor disguised with dirt and branches.

“Not there. It’s the tree. See it?”

Josh examined the tree carefully. It was an ancient ponderosa pine. It looked no different from the others.

“Look at the ground near the base. Do you see the hole?”

He bent over for a closer look. Hidden underneath a thickly gnarled tree root, Josh could just make it out. He could have passed by it a million times and missed it. Crouching down, Josh tried to get a better look.

“We have to crawl in there?” He didn’t much like the idea.

“What’s the problem, Agent Metcalf?”

“Um. Spiders,” he admitted. “I’m not a big fan.”

“Oh wow. I would have bet you weren’t afraid of anything.”

“I’m not
afraid
of them. I just don’t like them,” he said defensively.

She bent down and kissed his cheek. “It’s okay. It just makes you more human.” Her kiss burned against his skin long after she took her lips away.

“To hell with it,” he said gruffly. “Lead the way.”

Ryanne eased under the root feet-first and disappeared into the hole one inch at a time, her back scraping along the earth. Soon she was just a head sticking out of the ground.

“It looks pretty tight in there. Are you sure I won’t get stuck?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have Sumner shoot down the tree if you do.” And with that she disappeared.

“Great. That’s great.” Josh followed her example, sliding his feet into the hole and shuffling forward. His legs dropped in, and then his hips. Around shoulder height, his feet hit soft ground and he had to bend his knees to continue. He took one last gulp of cool night air and slid in the rest of the way.

Ryanne was waiting for him, barely visible in the dark. It smelled of rich earth and pine needles. They were in a space about five feet across by four feet wide. She had no trouble standing, but Josh had to crouch so his head didn’t touch the earth above.

That’s where the spiders will be, he thought, and sucked in a deep breath. “Where to?”

She moved away from him into the black and he followed before he lost sight of her. Whatever moonlight had seeped under the tree root quickly disappeared, and he was blind. He could hear her advancing ahead of him, but he couldn’t see a thing.

Josh silently wished for his thermal-vision goggles, but he’d lost them when the explosion of fire had practically blinded him. He’d yanked them away from his eyes, and then dropped them to save Ryanne from being trampled.

The ground beneath his feet was solid, though. It dipped down at a gentle slope as he followed Ryanne blindly into the cool earth. But what if the tunnel collapsed? He shook his head; surely it was reinforced. After a moment’s hesitation, he reached out and felt the wall beside him. His fingers brushed over a rough wooden beam and, within several feet, another. That was good enough for him. He pulled his hand back and wiped it against his pants, shuddering.

“Just ahead. There’s a door,” she whispered. “Damn, it’s locked.”

Josh felt his way along until he was beside her. “I have key picks.” He rummaged inside his utility vest until he felt the small leather package. The lock felt like a normal dead bolt. “Let’s give this a try. I’ve never picked a lock blind, just so you know.”

A simple dead bolt was quite easy to pick, even with a couple of bobby pins. Josh wiggled the wrench into place, placing light tension on the lock. He used the pick to wiggle the pins up and down, working backward until there was a satisfying click.

“Impressive.”

Josh tucked the picks back into his vest, unholstered his gun, and opened the door. After what felt like an eternity in the absolute darkness of the tunnel, even the dim light that greeted them made him squint. Ahead was a long hallway, carved out of rock and strung with long fluorescent bulbs that let off only the faintest glow, likely to conserve power.

Their feet made scritching sounds against the gritty floor, echoing off the walls in the most unnerving way. Two hundred feet down there was a T-junction. Josh hesitated, but Ryanne didn’t. She turned left and he followed. At the end of that hall, there was a thick metal door. But this time there was no lock.

It led to yet another hallway, and then another. Each one brought them deeper within the labyrinth, and Josh grew nervous about finding their way back out. Ryanne seemed sure-footed and unconcerned, so he followed helplessly behind her.

Another T-junction, and this time she turned right. Several hundred yards down there was another metal door, also unmarked. Josh began to pick up a new sound. It grew in volume, becoming a dull roar.

“Is that fire?” he asked nervously. It sounded eerily like the bonfire party they had just left.

“It’s the river.” She opened the door. The dull roar exploded into booming thunder. He half expected the water to tumble through and sweep them away.

When they stepped through the doorway, he understood. Although the river was deep and fierce, the noise doubled or even tripled as it rolled and echoed along the arched rock walls. The water was onyx edged with silver.

Ryanne turned right and followed the shoreline, moving upriver. They passed metal door after metal door, and his curiosity began to get the better of him. What was behind all those doors? Animals, she’d said. Plants and bees. Generators and air purifiers. The place was immense, and he got the feeling they had barely scratched the surface.

Finally, she opened a door to expose another dimly lit hallway. Plain gray doors marched along either side, spaced ten feet apart. The doors were numbered, starting at Q-1 and counting up, odd numbers on the left and even numbers on the right. Ryanne stopped in front of Q-17 and placed a trembling hand on the doorknob. In the dim light she looked slightly green.

“Here goes nothing,” she whispered, and opened the door.

It was a bedroom. Sparse and utilitarian, like a dorm room before any personal flair had been added. A small dresser sat against the left wall. On the right was a single bed with a nightstand and metal lamp.

The boy lay on the bed. He wasn’t tied down. He wasn’t bandaged. He didn’t stir at their arrival.

Ryanne pointed to a metal pole beside the bed. An IV. Josh’s gaze followed the line from the bag of dark liquid to the needle that disappeared into Jack’s hand.

A fierce burst of anger propelled Josh forward. As gently as he could, he pulled off the tape. He slid the needle out of the boy’s vein. Jack’s hand was so small, and covered in bruises. His skin was ashy and his hair was long and matted.

“Jack,” Josh said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Jack, can you hear me? We’re here to rescue you. We’re here to take you home, to your dad.”

“If only that were possible,” a voice said from the doorway. “But I’m afraid that won’t do
at all
.”

The man was shrouded within a crimson robe. His eyes were sparkling with some dark amusement, but beneath that Josh sensed an abyss that could swallow a person whole.

Josh knew those eyes. He’d seen them bleeding through the clear green eyes of the woman next to him, tormenting and taunting him.

He’d raised his gun toward them once before, but hadn’t pulled the trigger. This time, he vowed he would.