Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
He takes off and goes back to the heavy machinery, starting it up again. So Collin pulls me back into the woods so we can talk. “I think,” he says once we get there, “that this is somehow connected to whatever they’re doin’ in Blackberry Hill.”
“Well, if that’s the case, why didn’t they buy up our compound themselves? Why’d they let us buy it? I mean, this whole thing was Charlie’s idea, remember? He’s the one who slipped me that listing.”
“I don’t think Charlie knew about it when he planted that seed in your head.”
“How could he not? And why would he send that Sawyer up here to investigate if he didn’t?”
“I think maybe he heard his own rumors, but wasn’t able to suss out the details.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that he and Penny don’t know each other then, huh?”
Collin laughs. “It almost feels like fate, doesn’t it?” But then his face goes serious. “Listen, I’m sorry about Rosie and Cross. I don’t know what’s goin’ on, but I know you’re falling for her. And the boy too.”
“I was. I have. But I’m not giving up hope yet. He got in touch with her this morning.”
“Who?”
“Cross’s daddy. He met her down in Revenant and they had a chat. He’s got Cross in Blackberry Hill. But what we saw up there, Collin, that’s not what Blackberry Hill is. It’s some kind of secret underground base.”
“I figured it was all leading in that direction. From the moment those assholes ambushed me up at the boneyard with Mercy, I knew there were tunnels. And Lowyn told me she saw some control room in Ike Monroe’s basement when she was up there years back. That’s what scared her off and how she got herself mixed up in all that trouble.”
“Well, the worst part of all is that Erol got Cross all riled up and excited about joining their secret military bullshit. And, of course, this is every twelve-year-old boy’s dream, ya know?”
“He wants to stay, doesn’t he?”
I nod. “It gets worse, though. Erol wants Rosie to join them.”
Collin makes a face. “What?”
“Yeah. He’s using Cross to lure her down there.”
“Oh, Amon, that sucks.”
“Tell me about it. It’s very hard to compete with that kid’s father, ya know? I don’t believe for a second that Rosie wants to go, or that she still loves Erol. I think she wants to be with me. But given the choice…” I trail off.
“Given the choice between you or her son?” Collin finishes. “She’ll choose the boy.”
I throw up my hands. “As she should.”
“Don’t lose hope yet, Amon. We’ll figure something out.”
“Well, we better do it quick because she’s only got twenty-four hours to make up her mind. Then the offer goes away forever.”
Collin is just about to open his mouth and say some well-meaning, yet still meaningless, placating words when Nash starts yelling for us to come back to the tunnel. “We got it. We got it open!”
After thirty minutes of fuckin’ around with headlamps and two-way radios, Collin, Nash, Ryan, and I start picking our way through the rubble and squeezing ourselves through cracks and crevices. About a dozen Edge men follow, one of them dragging a rope behind him like breadcrumbs, just in case this cave system tries to get the best of us.
At first, I think there’s not gonna be nothing here because every time we get past an obstruction, there’s just a dark space ahead. Which leads to another obstruction.
But Ryan keeps muttering, “They don’t fill in tunnels like this if there’s nothing here. They just don’t.”
Which makes sense. So we push on. It’s gotta be at least an hour later before we finally break through to a new space and find something interesting.
A door. A very industrial-looking door, which also looks like it’s a hundred years old. Collin is reading my mind, I think, because he says, “Well, that makes sense. If the military started using this place in the twenties.”
“Yep,” Ryan says. “This is it.” He looks my way, temporarily blinding me with his headlight before he covers it with his hand. “Now we just gotta get it open.” Ryan pulls on the thick steel handle, but it’s locked. “Don’t worry. I would not come this far into a cave on some Goonies expedition without being prepared.” And from his pocket he pulls a bit of C4 explosive.
“Ryan,” Nash says. “Are you out of your fuckin’ mind? You can’t blow a door inside an old abandoned cave! The whole thing will come down around us.”
But Ryan is shaking his head. “Nah. If the door is made of steel, then the whole thing is shored up with steel. And besides”—he gets a little glint in his eyes—“I’m like a fuckin’ C4 virtuoso.” Then he wiggles his fingers at us. “I got the magic touch.”