Michael replied, “We were just about to find out what was at the top of this set of stairs.”
Portagee looked up the stairs and said, “I’ll bet nothing but the cavern wall.”
Sam said, “That’s silly. W
hy would you have a beautiful set of stairs going nowhere?”
Michael added, “I don’t know, but let’s go find out.”
The Spinners made their way up the stairs. Once at the top Portagee yelled out, “Holy smoke! Look at that!” They all stared in disbelief. Standing in front of them was a beautiful ivory marble arch with a spiral column on each side that was also made of marble. They could not see very far into the tunnel because of the downward slope and the darkness of the tunnel. The walls of the tunnel were lined with marble, and every fifty feet there was a bronze torch which would have lit the tunnel.
Sam broke the silence saying, “This is not just a tunnel. It’s a grand entrance to something very spectacular.”
Graham added, “Could the ancient Greeks
have been in this part of the world long before
Christopher Columbus
or the Vikings? This must be thousands of years old.”
Michael asked, “Do you think this could be another gateway into the Bermuda Triangle?”
Keno replied, “That’s a cool idea. I know we would have friends there who would help us, but I don’t think this connects to the Bermuda Triangle.”
A voice behind them said, “Who the bloody hell cares? There are some bad dudes not far behind us. We’d better quit staring at this gateway, and get our damn butts moving.”
The surprised Spinners turned around to see Savage and Storm both standing there with their arms folded. Sam ran over to Savage giving him a hug. Looking at him she said, “Daddy, I was so worried about you.”
Savage laughed saying
, “That’s an understatement as to what I was thinking about you, little one.”
Storm asked, “Wasn’t anyone worried about me?” Portagee ran over to Storm and gave him a hug. Storm pushing him back said, “Alright, alright. I get the message.” The other Spinners started laughing.
Savage interrupted the others by saying, “I think this reunion is over. Those bloody South Africans can’t be far behind us. No matter what’s down that tunnel, it’s got to be better than what is behind us.” Savage turned to Storm saying, “I’ll lead the way, and you bring up the rear.” Storm nodded in agreement, and the small group walked towards the archway.
The Tunnel of Death
One after another the small group passed under the archway. As each one
walked under the arch they felt like they were stepping through a time machine. Knowing their world history the Spinners each felt that they were now somewhere in the Mediterranean region of the ancient world.
Savage took one of the torches from the wall. As he lit the torch he said, “Let’s use these torches, and save our flashlight power.” Savage was actually surprised his torch lit. As the group passed other torches Keno and Graham also grabbed them.
B
eing the last in line Storm also took a torch and lit it. As he lit it he said, “Well, there’s now a few less torches for those goons following us to use. Because of the steep downward slope the group was soon out of sight of the archway entrance.
Lynch and his band of paramilitary goons were not far behind Storm, Savage, and the Spinners. As Lynch and his goons closed in on what they thought was the end of the cavern Lynch whispered out, “Men, spread out and shoot to kill. They have weapons so watch out for an ambush.” The South Africans spread out over the broad width of the cavern. In a single line they swept across the cavern just like their ancestors, the Boer’s, would have done in tracking down the mighty Zulu warriors in the rolling hills of South Africa. Also like the Boers Lynch and his goons would not hesitate to massacre enemies. As they closed in Lynch noticed the stairway on the back wall of the cavern. With hand signals he communicated to his goons to form a ‘pincer’ type of maneuver with the stairway being the centre point of focus. The plan was to flank both sides of the stairway and force Storm, Savage, and the Spinners to try to breakout down the stairway. Lynch knew that if they tried to escape this way he would kill them in seconds. But what he didn’t know was that his prey were not waiting around for Lynch and his men to kill them.
Once in position Lynch decided to toss a teargas grenade up on the platform to force his prey out of hiding. After waiting for five minutes with no reaction to the teargas Lynch yelled out, “Fire in the hole!” He grabbed a grenade from his vest, pulled out the pin and threw it up on the platform. The grenade was thrown so hard that upon landing on the platform it bounced off the platform and down the tunnel.
A short distance away
the Spinners were all making small talk as they walked down the tunnel. Storm bringing up the rear of the group heard a strange sound. In a low tone Storm said, “Quit talking, and stop walking!” Everyone in the group froze instantly. Storm could tell that a metal object was bouncing off the marble walls of the tunnel. He yelled out, “It’s a grenade! Hug up to the wall as close as you can. When the grenade bounces by drop to the floor, and keep your heads down.”
As the grenade was bouncing by it hit Michaels’s foot and stopped. Michael froze for a split second, but before he could move Savage flung himself from the other side of the tunnel stretching his body out. He hit the tunnel floor and slid toward Michael. Without hesitation he grabbed the grenade and threw it as hard as he could down the tunnel. The grenade traveled about twenty feet and then exploded sending an ear-splitting sound in all directions. Smoke and debris flew everywhere. Bits of marble fragments struck the Spinners, Storm, and Savage. As the smoke cleared away the small group checked each other for injuries. Fortunately all they received were minor cuts and scratches and a bad case of the jitters.
Storm and Savage walked off by themselves while the Spinners were composing themselves. Storm whispered to Savage, “This is a military action for these South Africans. They’re not trying to take us prisoners or hold us for ransom. They’re just trying to eliminate us.”
Savage replied, “Yeah, I know. We’re their bloody objective. Then they can secure the Death Diamonds.”
Storm added, “Not only do we have to stop these killers, but we also have to keep these kids out of harm’s way.”
Savage continued, “These kids have been through more than you’ll ever know. They’re survivors. Let’s just keep focused and the kids will actually help us out. They won’t hinder us.” Savage turned to the Spinners, “Alright, kids. Daylight’s burning, I think.” He smiled and added, “Let’s get the bloody hell out of here before our friends send us another present.” The Spinners needed no additional reminders. They picked up their torches and moved out hurriedly.
Meanwhile, back up in the cavern Lynch had waited long enough. He signaled half his men to keep their weapons trained on the platform while he and the rest of his goons slowly walked up the stairs. With only a few steps left Lynch pointed to one of his men to go onto the platform by himself and see what the damage was. The man did just that and turned back to Lynch yelling, “The coast is clear. There’s no one here.”
As Lynch made his way to the platform, it was clear Storm and the others had escaped through the archway. Lynch stomped his foot and yelled, “Damn! Now I know why the explosion echoed so much. The grenade blew up in the tunnel. I just hope we blew them all to hell.” He waved to his men to follow him as he walked through the archway. He also added, “If you find a target shoot first and don’t ask any questions.” Within minutes all the South Africans were slowly moving down the tunnel.
After a short hike down the tunnel, Lynch and his men found the site of the explosion. They looked around, but all they could find was shattered marble and a few tiny spots of blood. Lynch said to his men, “It looks like we may have caused a few injuries, but nothing life-threatening. Let’s move on. They can’t have more than a thirty-minute lead on us.” Lynch and his men picked up a few torches and continued down the tunnel. The only difference was now the safeties were off their Uzis, and they were ready to fire at anything that moved.
Savage, Storm, and the Spinners were making great time. Finally after two hours of hiking in a downward direction the tunnel took a ninety degree right turn. Savage was about fifty feet ahead of the rest of the group. He turned the corner first and was temporarily out of sight of the others for a few minutes. Savage was shocked at what he saw after turning the corner of the tunnel. Slightly dumbfounded he walked over to what was an arched iron gate. The gate reminded him of one that would have been on a medieval castle. He laid down the torch and placed both hands through the bars of the iron gate just staring in disbelief.
The Spinners and Storm were not far behind Savage. They were also stunned at the sights they were seeing just beyond the gate. Storm walked up to Savage patting him on the back and said, “Well, good buddy, I think we just made the discovery of a lifetime.”
Savage replied, “I think you’re right, mate. I sure hope we’ll live to tell the world about it. There’s only one bloody problem that I can see.”
Storm asked, “What’s that?”
Savage snapped back, “How the hell are we going to open this bloody gate? Don’t forget we’ve got those wannabe Boer soldiers behind us.”
Storm added, “You’ve got a point.” He then turned to Michael and Portagee saying, “You two go back to the bend in the tunnel and keep an eye out for Lynch and his men. The second you see them or their lights let us know.”
Portagee responded, “Roger that, boss.” The two quickly ran back to the bend in the tunnel.
Savage then said, “Alright, Sam, Keno, and Graham give us a hand and we’ll see if we can push this old rusty gate open.” They all pushed, shoved and even kicked at the ancient gate, but it didn’t budge---not even a fraction of an inch.
Keno looked up and said, “What’s holding this gate? I don’t see any locks or latches on it.”
Sam replied, “It’s probably thousands of years of rust and corrosion that’s got this gate stuck.”
It wasn’t five minutes later that Portagee came running back to the others yelling, “They’re coming! They’re coming! We can see their torches off in the distance.’
Savage looked at Storm and said, “Well, mate, who’s it going to be?”
Storm looked at the Spinners and turned back to Savage saying, “I’ll volunteer for this one. You guys get this damn gate open. He reached down picking up his Uzi and ran back to the bend in the tunnel. Once there he said to Michael, “Get on back to the gate and help the others. I’ll hold these bastards at bay while you figure out how to get it open. .”
Michael nodded his head and made a dead run to give his friends a hand with the gate. Storm knelt down on one knee and with a finger released the safety on his Uzi and waited.
Guardian of the Tunnel
Lynch and his thugs felt they were closing in on Storm, Savage and the Spinners, but they didn’t know how close they were. Lynch had no idea that his prey was trapped with their backs against the wall. This was not a scenario Storm and Savage were looking forward to. Not only were they significantly outgunned, they also had to protect the Spinners from harm.
As Lynch and his thugs came into view of Storm, he yelled out, “Hey, cowboys! You’d better back off before we blast you to pieces.” Before Storm could say another word he got his answer in a hail storm of bullets. Bullets and fragmented marble pieces from the vicious attack were ripping through the air. Storm could do nothing, but fall to the ground and cover up to avoid being struck.
Lynch waved his arm after about thirty seconds of firing. Once his men stopped and the smoke cleared, Lynch yelled out, “Did you say something?”
Storm was livid. He rolled out into the tunnel and yelled, “Yeah!” He then fired off a clip of bullets from his Uzi causing the South Africans to hit the tunnel floor. They quickly returned fire, but Storm had already rolled back to the protection of the cave wall.
Savage and the Spinners had heard the firing in the tunnel and were desperately trying to open the iron gate with no success. Savage finally said, “Why in the hell would someone have a gate that is impassable??”
