"That sucks," said Jimmy. "We've gotta get out of here, lock up Town Hall, and get the keys back to my place before my parents get home."
"We won't be going through that door to get out. I pulled as hard as I can and it didn't even budge,” said Kevin
Adam was thinking. He pulled the pin out of the impression and put it back in again. He heard the distinct sound of mechanisms working, but not quite the same as when it was activated on the other side of the door.
"Something isn't the same when I try it from this side. It sounds different. That’s strange because the track looks well-maintained. I would think that whoever does the maintenance would have fixed that problem."
"Regardless," replied Jimmy, "we need to get out of here somehow, so we’ll have to follow the tunnels. There has to be another exit somewhere.”
“Jeff said that they had the same door in the Fire Hall. Maybe we could go that direction?" asked Kevin.
"Good thought, but even if we could get into the Fire Hall we don’t know the code for the alarm," said Adam.
"Well, I say we go right," suggested Jimmy, "unless one of you has breadcrumbs or a really long string."
"Why right?" asked Kevin.
"Ok, then left. I don't care, as long as we can make it back here somehow. If we always go one way, we just do the reverse so we don’t get lost if we can’t find an exit."
Adam nodded. "If we get to any intersections where we can turn or go straight, I say we just go straight. It’ll be less confusing."
Kevin and Jimmy agreed.
"Lead on." Jimmy motioned for Adam to go first.
Adam led them to the opening where all the tunnels met. He pointed the flashlight down the first tunnel on the right and continued. The others stayed close behind.
After passing another intersection, Kevin spoke.
"These tunnels are bothering me."
"In what way?" asked Adam.
"Well, some of our farmland is around here. We pick stones that are baseball sized and larger and put them on piles. Once in a while, when the piles get too big, Dad hires Ron Nagy to dig a big hole and bury them with his excavator. He digs a hole that's 10 to 15 feet deep, and I've never seen him hit bedrock."
Adam and Jimmy weren't following Kevin's logic.
“We aren’t 10 feet underground, so these caves aren't in natural bedrock. They were built, not chiseled out of rock, is what I think. How do you make this rock,” he patted the wall, “in dirt and sand mixed with clay? Plus, you have to have it seal enough to keep the water out.”
Adam stopped and looked at Kevin. "That's pretty observant of you! I am honestly surprised by you right now."
Kevin wasn't sure if Adam was mocking him or paying a genuine compliment, so he replied indignantly, "I'm not as dumb as you think I am!"
"I'm not kidding. I think that's a great observation. These tunnels have been bothering me too, and I couldn't figure out why, but you figured it out faster than we did."
Kevin's expression changed to one of pride.
Adam continued, "Just look at this wall," he shone his flashlight to his right. "It's not like concrete, and it's not like solid rock either. I've never seen anything like it, have either of you?"
Jimmy and Kevin both shook their heads, indicating they hadn’t.
Jimmy looked at the other two and tapped his watch, reminding them that they needed to get moving.
The tunnel continued on its curve to the right for a while, switching to curving left for about the same distance. It curved back to the right once more before straightening out for a short stretch. In the straight section they reached a tunnel branching to the left, but they kept walking straight.
"How far do you think we've gone?" asked Jimmy.
"I haven't got a clue. It seems like 10 blocks, but might only be one," replied Adam, "this place makes it hard to judge."
Jimmy tripped and hit the ground with a hard slap. As he fell, he let out a loud scream that echoed through he tunnels. Adam whipped around and shone the flashlight at him.
"You ok man," asked Kevin.
"I'm ok, just tripped on my shoelace."
Adam felt strange, suddenly remembering the advice Aggie had given Jimmy near the Fire Hall earlier.
“I guess you should have listened to Aggie after all,” said Kevin. He obviously remembered Aggie’s advice as well, but it didn’t bother him the same way.
After helping Jimmy to his feet once his shoe was tied, Adam started down the tunnel at a faster pace. "Let's make some time. If anyone’s down here with us, they know we're here now."
After one more curve in each direction, the tunnel straightened out and they could see another sliding door in the distance. It seemed like it was a mile away, but only took them a minute to get there.
Adam shone the light at the door, then around the sides and bottom. It appeared the same as the other sliding door they had come through. Even the impression of the pin was in the same spot.
"I hope this works," said Adam, feeling in his pocket for the pin.
"I hope this door leads out and nowhere else," added Kevin.
They pondered the possibilities as Adam placed the pin. The sound of mechanisms moved in the wall for a second and then stopped.
"Here goes," said Adam, as he pulled sideways on the handle.
The door slid open easily. Cold air rushed past their feet.
Adam shone the flashlight down and saw that the rollers the door travelled on were freshly greased, just like the first door. As he shone the light through the doorway, it revealed a small room on the other side. The room was stacked with boxes, all about the same size and shape. They were beer boxes.
“The hotel!” exclaimed Jimmy. “This has to be the cooler for the bar!”
No sooner had he finished his sentence when they heard a loud bang echo in the tunnel behind them. It sounded the same as the sliding door slamming shut earlier, but much closer.
"Someone's coming! Go!" said Kevin, quiet, but with panic in his voice.
There wasn't a clear path to the main cooler door, but they climbed carefully and stepped quickly. Thankfully, the cooler wasn't locked from the outside, probably because it was Friday night and the hotel bar would be busy.
The three boys ran down a short hallway and sprinted up the stairs. The sight at the top stopped them immediately as they realized they had entered the bar. It was only luck that no one had noticed them.
Jimmy moved slowly toward the exit door. There were no people or tables in the way, so they walked as inconspicuously as possible. They were going to get out without being noticed.
"Hey, you're not allowed in here!" The voice of the hotel owner boomed as he stepped through the door connecting the bar to the hotel. All heads turned to look after hearing the outburst.
Lorne Argue was a large man with a large voice. Some of his size was from being overweight, but most of it was purely genetic. He rarely had trouble in his bar because his size intimidated even the bravest drunk patron.
Lorne stared at the boys, chasing them out the door with his eyes.
Jimmy spoke in a timid voice, "We...we were hoping to buy a couple of bags of Doritos. This is the only place open in town right now, and we were just walking past."
Jimmy's cover story sounded pretty reasonable, at least to Kevin and Adam. Lorne continued staring at them, making those few moments seem like hours to the three boys.
"You're all underage. You can not be in here, understand?" Lorne’s voice had dropped in volume, but was still powerful.
They shook their heads in agreement and walked toward the door. The only thing they wanted was to get out before whoever was chasing them in the tunnel caught them.
"So, what kind do you want?" asked Lorne.
They stumbled to a stop, surprised. "Uh, just nacho cheese?" Jimmy managed to say.
"How many bags?"
They fumbled through their pockets and found some money.
"Whatever this buys," said Jimmy, hand
ing over a couple of bills and some coins, "and keep the change."
Every second they stood there felt like a minute. Lorne turned, then paused and turned back again.
"You go wait outside," he pointed to the side door, "I'll bring them out to you."
The three nodded and made their way out through the side door like speed walkers in a race, each one trying to get out first.
"Wow, that was too close for me," said Kevin once the door closed securely behind them.
"We're not safe yet. Whoever followed us might be in the bar looking for us right now," said Adam, his heart still pounding.
"They won't know it was us. They didn't see us. We were just walking past and went in to buy some Doritos, right?" Jimmy repeated the sentence slowly.
"Yeah, and we're going back to Jimmy's after," Kevin replied. Adam nodded in agreement.
They waited in silence. When the door finally opened, it startled the boys. They had so much adrenaline in their veins that none of them would sleep well that night, if at all.
Lorne stepped out, holding 3 bags of Doritos.
"Next time, just call first and someone will meet you at the side door," he said. "That way, I don't get in trouble if the police are here. I'm sure one of you has a cell phone, right?"
The boys nodded their heads in agreement.
Lorne paused and examined them. "So...did you happen to see anyone leaving here in a hurry? You did come in this door, right?"
"Nope, no one. Not since we came in and left again," replied Jimmy. Jimmy wasn't really lying, as they hadn't seen anyone leave.
Lorne watched them for another few moments. "Ok...now go." He waved them away, and they moved without hesitation.
They walked south toward the old Lumber Yard and stopped just past Ben Casey's.
“Let’s not do that again,” said Kevin.
“Yeah, that was too close,” said Adam.
Jimmy looked at his watch.
"10:47," he said in a quiet voice, "we need to keep moving. My parents will be home soon."
"I'm more worried that whoever was in the tunnels will be waiting at Town Hall," said Adam, with Kevin nodding in agreement, "but you'll just have to risk it."
Jimmy looked like he was going to reply, but realized they were right. Normally, that comment would have been a jab at Jimmy, but at that moment it was merely a fact - it was better if he went alone. It would be easier to talk his way out of trouble if it was only him and not the group.
"You two are so gonna owe me for this."
"No way. You suckered us into fixing your bike. This makes us square," said Kevin standing firm.
Jimmy muttered a quiet, "Yeah, I guess."
"If we run, we'll draw attention, so let's just walk fast," said Adam.
With that, they started off to Town Hall.
CHAPTER EIGHT