Freedom

CHAPTER 18

The falling ceiling chased Dane and Bones the length of the meeting hall. Their lights bobbed in front of them, slicing through the dusty air. Dane searched frantically for an escape route.

“There has to be another way out!” he shouted over the din. “They wouldn’t want to be stuck in here if someone triggered the booby trap!” He winced as a chunk of falling stone the size of his head smashed a chair into sawdust.

“Any ideas where?” Bones called.

“Have you seen the crossed circle anywhere?” He dodged to his right to avoid being crushed by more falling debris.

“I have! On the tomb. Grab the lanterns.” Bones left Dane behind, his long legs eating up the distance between them and Washington’s tomb. He scooped up one of the fallen lanterns and dashed ahead.

Dane grabbed the other, hoping against hope that Bones was right. He hadn’t noticed any crossed circles on the tomb.

“Up here!” Bones pointed to the top of the pedestal. “There’s an indentation on each corner, just like the ones at the entrance.”

Although the world crashed down around him, Dane managed a smile. Bones was just tall enough to see over the top of the pedestal. “Guess I need to keep you around,” Dane shouted and felt for the indentation. Finding it, he slid the lantern home.

“I’m also good for reaching things on high shelves. Still got my Zippo?”

Dane fished the lighter out of his pocket and, praying that all the kicking around hadn’t destroyed the lanterns, lit the wicks.

It seemed the chamber would surely collapse on them long before the passageway opened. They stood there in the dust-choked air, shielding their heads from falling debris. He looked back and saw what looked like a wall of stone creeping toward them. They had only seconds.

And then the face of the tomb slid open. Dane and Bones squeezed inside, grateful to be out of immediate danger.

“See a way out?” Dane asked.

“All I see is a coffin.”

Despite the peril, Dane couldn’t help but pause to look at Washington’s final resting place. He’d been to Mount Vernon and visited Washington’s tomb, but now he knew the truth. He and Bones were the only living men to see the true tomb of the father of their country. It both thrilled and saddened him.

“Maddock! Back there.” Bones trained his light on the far end of the tomb, where a trapdoor had opened. They crawled through and found themselves in a tunnel twin to the one through which they had entered the meeting hall.

Dane regained his feet and sprinted up the passageway. The sound of the collapsing room faded as they climbed higher, racing toward freedom. They rounded a turn and came to a sudden halt.

A heap of rubble barred their way. That had run directly into one of the many passages that had collapsed decades, maybe centuries ago.

“Now what?” Dane couldn’t believe they’d escaped with their lives, only to have their way barred.

“We can’t go back. The ceiling came down over the trapdoor we came through. The only way is forward.”

Dane sighed. “We’d better roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

Holding their Maglites in their teeth, they set to clearing the rubble. They worked in silence, sweat and dust coating them from head to foot. It seemed a Sisyphean task. Every stone they cleared revealed only more rubble, but neither spoke of giving up.

While they labored, Dane reflected on the whirlwind events of the past few days. He realized that, though he and Bones certainly had their differences, they were shallow, superficial things. Bones had no reason to join Dane on this crazy adventure, and could have abandoned the chase at any point. But no matter the danger, his resolve had never wavered. And now, faced with a seemingly hopeless situation, he worked with a single-minded determination.

Dane grabbed hold of a chunk of bricks and mortar the size of a scuba tank, and heaved. Cool air blew across his face, and his light shone into an open passageway.

“I think we did it!”

“Hell yes!” Bones exclaimed. “But if we come across another blockage, I’m going to need a couple of beers before we get to work.”

Laughing with relief, they cleared a hole large enough to worm their way through, and soon found themselves back in the passageway they’d followed into Faneuil Hall. That had been only hours ago, but it seemed like days, weeks even.

They reached the exit at the base of Paul Revere’s statue and paused.

“It’s the middle of the day on the Fourth of July. What are people going to think when we climb out of here?”

“You know what, Maddock? I don’t care.”

They pushed the cover aside and Bones gave Dane a leg up. Blinded by daylight after so many hours in the dark, he squeezed his eyes closed against the glare, and opened them to find himself surrounded by a crowd of men, women, and children, all decked out in star spangled attire and gaping at him.

“City inspectors. Checking out some problems with the sewer system.” Dane reached down, grabbed Bones’ hand, and hauled him up.

“You folks enjoy your holiday,” Bones added. “And remember us poor suckers who don’t get a day off on the Fourth. Gotta love Uncle Sam.” He winked at a leggy blonde who giggled and blushed.

The crowd broke apart as Dane replaced the trail marker. When he stood and turned around, Bones was chatting up the blonde, who had been joined by her friend, a curvy brunette with big, brown eyes.

“Maddock, this is Courtney and her friend Melissa. I think we should blow off work and hang out with them.”

Dane managed a nod, transfixed by Melissa, the brunette. He’d never seen eyes so beautiful. “Yeah, how about Bones and I get cleaned up and we’ll meet up in a couple of hours?”

“Where should we meet?” Courtney asked.

“How about that bar where they film Cheers?” Bones asked. “I’ve always liked Sam. That dude is a player.”

“The Bull and Finch?” Melissa said. “You know they don’t actually film…”

Dane cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Don’t bother,” he whispered as Bones and Courtney debated the merits of Coach versus Woody. “He’ll pretend he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. He’s not dumb, but he’ll drive you nuts pretending he is.”

“You two make an odd pair.” Melissa looked him up and down, but Dane kept his eyes locked on hers. How did she manage to hold his gaze like that? “Of course, so do Courtney and I.” She lowered her voice, “Unfortunately, she is as dumb as she acts, but she’s sweet.”

“I wouldn’t call Bones ‘sweet,’ but he’s all right.”

“Sometimes, the Yin and Yang friendships are the ones that last.” Melissa took his hand and held it up, frowning at the black dirt beneath his fingernails. “You’ve got a seriously dirty job. I’d find a new line of work if I were you.”

“Actually, that was just a cover story so people wouldn’t wonder why we were down in the tunnels.”

“Really? This sounds interesting.”

“It is, but it’ll take a long time to explain.” He glanced over her shoulder to see Bones fix him with a disapproving look. “Actually, it won’t take that long. We’re history junkies and we heard there were old tunnels under the city that dated back to Colonial times. We decided to check it out and the ceiling fell in.”

Melissa laughed. “I can see why you’d want to make up a cover story.” She checked her watch. “We’ll meet you in two hours. And don’t you dare stand me up.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

As they made their way back to the spot where they’d left Andrews’ car, they discussed their options.

“What do we do?” Bones asked. “I mean, do we report what happened?”

Dane considered the question. His first instinct was, and had always been, to trust in the truth. In this case, however, he couldn’t see any way that telling the truth would accomplish anything other than complicating their lives. He sighed.

“I think we should forget the headquarters even exists. There’s nothing left of it anyway, and if it were excavated, we’d have to explain two dead bodies.”

“So the plan is?”

“We run Andrews’ car through a carwash, take it back to his house, put it in the garage, and wipe it down for fingerprints, just to be on the safe side. Of course, as far as anyone knows, his death was an accident, so it’s not like there’ll be an investigation.”

“And Jillian?”

“The crazy cat lady who never puts down roots? She skipped out on her lease and moved a little earlier than expected. She doesn’t have any relatives who’ll come looking for her. I suppose the Sons of the Republic might miss her.”

“But they’ll figure she’s just another victim of their twisted game of King of the Mountain.” Bones clapped a hand on Dane’s shoulder. “I think you’ve got all the bases covered. Maddock, I am definitely rubbing off on you.”