CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Being from a small town, most of them recognized the sound of a shotgun loading a shell into the chamber.
"Don't move 'cause I don't wanna clean your brains off the walls," said the gruff voice.
Having never been held at gunpoint before, the four boys were completely stunned and silent. Adam almost lost control of his bladder, and somewhere in the back of his mind he was intrigued by that fact, as he thought it was only a myth. At that moment it was no myth, and he wondered if anyone else in his group wasn't as lucky as he.
Adam snapped back to reality.
"I said what the hell are you doing here and how the hell did you get in? Hurry up!"
"M..m..mister Casey?" Mark mumbled. "Is that you?" Mark stepped to the front.
"Answer the questions!" The voice yelled back, lower and gruffer.
Adam's brain was racing. He had to come up with something quick, before they got shot. Jimmy spoke before him, though.
"We were just going to Kevin's house and decided to check out the old elevator."
He paused for a second, and the voice was all over him. "That does NOT explain how you got in here!"
"Hang on… just a second. We're nervous... and... you have a gun..." Adam spit out the words, giving Jimmy a chance to think. If there was any time he needed Jimmy's talent for creativity it was right then.
Jimmy continued, “We were bored so we came here to look around. I jiggled the handle on the door at the top of the stairs and it opened. We came down the stairs and that sliding door opened a little when we pulled on the handle.”
The story sounded logical to Adam. Most days he didn’t like Jimmy’s ability to come up with a story in an instant and have it sound completely natural. That moment wasn’t like most days, and Adam just hoped the story worked.
“…told them to seal that bloody door…” grumbled the voice. “Nice story kid, but I’m taking you to the boss.”
Adam’s heart missed a beat. He’s taking us to Mr. Gupta. Mark’s in big trouble! he thought.
“Follow me and be quiet…Now!”
The light moved down the tunnel.
Slowly, they followed the light back toward the junction. Adam was first, followed by Mark, then Jimmy and Kevin. When they reached the intersection to the ring tunnel, the light moved right.
Adam followed, the others tight behind him. Mark’s breathing was intense and sounded like it was right in Adam’s ear. Mark was obviously afraid of what was going to happen.
After they passed the first intersection, the light turned right at the second. “Not much further,” said the voice.
Adam thought the tunnel they were in had to be the one that ended up at the hotel. When they reached the intersection where they had gone straight the first time, the light went left.
“Come on…quick now!”
Mark let out an odd noise that was pure fear. It sent a shudder up everyone else’s backs, but they continued following. The intensity of the light made it impossible to see anything beyond.
“Stop,” the voice commanded. “Wait.”
Adam heard a familiar mechanism working, followed by the sound of a sliding door.
“Come here and hold this door,” another command came from the captor.
Adam held the door with his foot while squinting in the light that was pointed straight in his face.
“Put these on.” A hand shot into view and handed something to Adam. “Take one, hand the rest back. Put them over your head and pull the string tight around your neck, but not too tight.”
Mark whimpered as he slipped the bag over his head and tightened the string. The others did the same - without the whimper.
“Grab the hand behind you and follow.”
The rough hand of the captor grabbed Adam’s hand, and Adam grabbed Mark’s. They walked forward a few steps and stopped. The sound of creaking metal moving, like a heavy door opening, echoed in the room. The hand holding Adam’s pulled him forward some more and then let go. Adam felt the captor walk past, back in the direction they had come from.
“Take a few steps forward and stop when you find the wall.”
Adam did as he was told and soon bumped into the wall. Mark wasn’t paying attention and bumped into Adam, causing Jimmy to stumble as well. They heard the metal on metal creaking again, sounding like a door closing.
“You just hold tight here until I get back. You’re locked in a jail cell. If you try and pull the hoods off, the cords will just keep getting tighter until you go unconscious. I won’t tell you what happens after that.”
With that, they heard him walk away. A door opened and then closed. Muffled footsteps sounded on the stairs, getting quieter and quieter until they couldn’t be heard anymore.
“I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead,” Mark kept repeating, making himself a nervous wreck.
“Quit that,” snapped Kevin.
“It’s not your dad coming back here to find you in a jail cell with a bag on your head!”
“Who knows, maybe it is my dad,” answered Kevin.
Adam interrupted. “Mark, are you sure it’s Mr. Casey?”
Based on where the tunnel branched, Adam thought it could have led to Ben Casey’s house, or any other house on that block.
“Pretty sure. He never did talk to me much. Did you hear him change his voice after I said his name?”
“I always thought he was the type of guy who would have a jail cell in his basement,” added Jimmy. “Probably collects torture devices too, like these hoods.”
Mark whimpered again. “You don’t think – he wouldn’t – you know –“
“He’ll probably start with you first,” said Jimmy, picking up on Mark’s fear. “I’ll bet he’s still angry at the way you cut his lawn.”
“Y---y—you’re k-k-kidding, right? Just trying to scare me?”
“If I were like him, I would definitely start with you. Easiest nut to crack. He’s probably got old dental equipment he’ll use on you with no freezing.” Jimmy was starting to enjoy teasing Mark.
“Ok Jimmy,” said Adam, stopping Jimmy from continuing. “He’s just teasing you Mark.”
“Not funny - at all,” stated Mark.
“Sorry man, just trying to lighten the mood. Didn’t think you would take me that seriously,” said Jimmy sounding sheepish.
Silence surrounded them again, each boy listening for their captor’s return.
“Can anyone see anything out of these hoods?” asked Kevin, breaking the silence.
“Not me,” replied Adam.
“Nope,” replied Mark.
“I think I can make out something,” said Jimmy.
“What can you see?” Adam asked, excited.
“Umm, well, it looks like a cat.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“What color? What’s it doing?” asked Adam.
“I think it’s a black cat. It’s in a coal mine at night,” said Jimmy, laughing at his own joke.
“We’re stuck in a jail cell, our heads are in hoods that will choke us if we struggle, and you have to come up with that lame joke? I hope it’s your mom that comes here and finds us,” said Mark.
Jimmy chuckled, “Sorry, but I get a little giddy when I’m in trouble.”
“Ok, no more joking around,” said Adam. “We need to be ready for the Boss.”
“You mean my dad,” said Mark.
“Whoever. We need to stick to Jimmy’s story,” Adam responded. “We’ve never been in the tunnels before, right?”
The others agreed.
Soon, they heard faint footsteps on stairs. Their captor wasn’t alone. By the sound of the footsteps there were 2 sets of feet, the captor and the Boss.
The door opened and closed again. Footsteps approached and stopped, followed by silence for a few seconds.
“How did you get into the tunnel?” the captor’s gruff voice asked, startling them.
“We already told you,” replied Kevin.
>
“I don’t care! Tell me again!” demanded the captor.
Jimmy spoke up, "We were bored. We were going to Kevin's house and decided to check out the old elevator. We were just gonna look around. I saw the door at the top of the stairs and tried the handle. It opened. We came down the stairs and tried the handle on the sliding door. It opened a little when we pulled on it, but it was stuck, so we worked it back and forth for a while.”
He paused and took a breath. “After we got it open wide enough, we stepped inside to check it out. You pointed a gun at us after that.”
The captor and the boss whispered to each other.
“How long did it take you to get the door open?”
Adam listened as Jimmy paused, trying to understand the reason for the question.
“Oh, I don’t know. I guess it was a while. That door was good and stuck.”
Good answer, thought Adam
“Did you see anyone else by that door?” questioned the captor.
“No,” answered Jimmy. It was the truth, but Adam had a feeling in his stomach as if Jimmy were still lying, even though he knew different.
“No strange noises, no strange sounds?”
“Nope. Nothing other than the squeal of the door,” Jimmy answered in a definite tone.
Silence. Adam had heard the term ‘deafening silence’ but only then understood what it meant.
“Get them out of there,” the voice of the other man said. It wasn’t Gurpreet Gupta, but they all recognized it right away.
“Mr. Chen?” Mark asked, surprised. Without thinking, he tried to pull his hood off and it began to choke him. He made an awful gagging sound and bumped hard into Adam.
The captor moved quickly. The door to the cell opened and a moment later Mark was taking in deep breaths, coughing as he exhaled.
“Thanks – cough – Mr. Casey – cough cough,” Mark managed to say.
Soon Adam felt a hand circle his neck with a strange shaking motion. The hood loosened immediately, and Mr. Casey pulled it from his head.
The light in the room hurt his eyes. He hadn’t realized just how well the hoods blocked the light. He had thought they were in a dark or dimly lit room, but the one he was looking at was bright and sterile. His mind had pictured an old steel cage, twisted and battered. In reality, it looked futuristic, with an odd design of round steel bars wrapped tightly together diagonally, painted bright white. The floor was so white and shiny that it was hard to look at for long. He looked up and realized that the ceiling was glowing in the same way as the ones inside the tunnels.
Don Chen stood in front of them, smiling kindly. It seemed odd but genuine to Adam. Ben Casey stood next to Don, distrust showing from every line on his face.
“Why don’t we all grab a seat,” said Don, motioning the boys to sit on a bench attached to the wall near the cell. He grabbed a wooden chair that had been sitting near the desk in the corner of the room, but Ben remained standing, arms crossed.
“…too young…troublemakers…shouldn’t tell them nothin’...” Ben grumbled.
“Thanks for your concern, Ben. Ben here is the head of security. You’d be surprised to hear some of the things he’s done in his lifetime,” said Don.
Probably not too surprised, thought Adam as he sat down.
“Ben shouldn’t have brought you through the tunnels, but it would have been worse to have him march you through town with a shotgun at your backs,” said Don, giving Ben a disapproving look.
Ben shrugged like he didn’t care and Don turned back to the boys.
“I’ll bet you have some questions,” he said.
Some questions? thought Adam, that’s an understatement.
“I can answer some of them, but not all,” Don continued. “We usually don’t tell anyone what exactly goes on here until they are at least 16, sometimes up to 18.”
“Who is ‘we’? And why not before 16, Mr. Chen?” asked Adam
Don paused. “Don. Call me Don. Well, as far as the age is concerned, we feel that we need to wait until people are responsible enough to make informed decisions before they hear the full story, that’s all. The age of 16 seems to be where that has already happened for the majority. That’s why I’m not telling you everything right now. We’ve always had plans in place for this exact situation - where someone underage finds out about us, either accidentally or on purpose, but we’ll get to that part later.”
Ben grunted again, as though he didn’t approve of the plan.
Don continued, “I can tell you that we are members of an organization called the Sentinel League, and, as the name implies, we keep watch on things. In fact, the entire town was built by members of the League.”
“And you’re the head of the Sentinel League?” asked Mark.
“No, not me. I’m Third in command here.”
“Who’s the leader?” asked Mark, curious about his dad.
“I’m not going to tell you that. I will tell you that your dad is second in command, though, because that’s what you’re really asking. I wish he could have been here so he could have told you himself.”
“What about my dad?” asked Adam.
Don frowned at the question. “He was Number 2. Gurpreet took over when he…” Don didn’t finish his sentence.
“So George was right! I just thought he was completely crazy,” said Mark.
“Actually,” said Don, “George was a high ranking member of the League in his day.”
The boys were surprised by the news.
“How can that be? He obviously doesn’t remember anything,” said Mark.
“Well, he had an accident and lost some of his memory. Because of that, he became suspicious of everyone. We keep him here to watch him; make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble. That’s why he’s your neighbor, Mark. He was put there so your dad could watch him back when your dad was Number 3.”
“But George left because he thinks we’re all going to disappear next,” said Mark.
Don smiled and nodded, “He’s been ‘directed’ to another site of the Sentinel League. He’s fine.”
Thoughts raced through Adam’s head. It was difficult to decide what to ask next, especially with all the information he was hearing.
“It seems pretty strange to have these tunnels under the town,” said Adam.
“Well, they aren’t here to bootleg alcohol like the ones in Moose Jaw, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Don answered.
Actually, Adam hadn’t been thinking that at all, but it would have been a great cover story.
“So, why are they here?” Adam pushed for some answers.
“The tunnels were built in order to help hide a secret and let us do things without being seen. They are constructed to confuse and are easy to get lost in. They are also difficult to get into in the first place, which is why Ben was so rough with you. The door you came through hasn’t been used since the rail line was taken out. We were sure it was locked, but we never check it from the other side.” Don looked at Ben, as if to say Ben needed to add that to his list of duties.
“What are you hiding down there?” asked Mark.
Don laughed, “Sorry, but I’m not going to tell you that.”
“Does everyone in town that’s over 16 know about the Sentinel League?” asked Adam.
“No. Over the years, due to births and marriages, we have a number of people who live here that have no idea. Usually, you inherit the honor from your parents, but the Senior League members ultimately decide who gets invited to join. We’ve had a few people who never quite measured up.”
“Jeff Wyndum. There’s no way he knows about this,” stated Jimmy. “He’d have told everyone he ever met about it.”
Don’s smile weakened. “Yes, sadly, Jeff has been left out. It’s a shame, because his father was part of us and was a really great man. We don’t know what happened with Jeff. He had lots of potential.”
Adam tried to ask the next question, but was too slow.
“Ho
w is the ceiling glowing? I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Kevin, pointing up. Adam was glad Kevin referenced the ceiling above them, not the one in the tunnel.
“Ahh, yes. I’m so used to them that I forget that they are unique. Well, they are basically living organisms that give off light.”
“Bio-luminescence?” asked Adam.
“Why, yes. Exactly.”
“But that’s only in the beginning phases of scientific research,” Adam stated.
Don looked impressed. “You’re right, Adam. In the rest of the world, yes - but not here. Here, we’ve been using it since the tunnels were constructed at the beginning of the 1900’s.”
Adam was shocked by the news. One of his favorite things was to sit in the school library and read different magazines featuring cutting edge science. He knew that, as far as was being reported, that kind of bio-technology was years away.
Don continued, “I see you’re surprised, but don’t think into it too much. It works great in the tunnels. The organisms live off the carbon dioxide and water in the air, and release oxygen into the tunnels. Part of what we protect here is information, such as this bio-luminescence.”
“Why wouldn’t you release that kind of technology to the world? It could do a lot of good,” said Adam.
Don thought for a moment before he responded. “I know that’s what you think. It seems perfectly logical that releasing technology like that would do no harm. The problem is you can’t think about how the general population would benefit; you have to think about those who would try to harness it as a weapon. What if, instead of releasing oxygen, you modified it to do the opposite – consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide? Or something worse? You could harm a lot of people.”
Adam and the boys nodded in understanding.
Don continued. “It’s been proven in history, time and again, that most technological leaps are first used to gain power over others before becoming part of society. Some things are better off not being in the hands of the general public until they are ready.”
Adam thought about that for a moment. “Do you mean that the Sentinel League releases knowledge when they think people can use it properly?” he asked.
“No. I’ve probably said too much already. It is a continuous philosophical debate in the League, and I’m not the best qualified to answer that question. Let’s just say that there are people strongly on both sides. Being able to see both sides of the debate comes with time and it’s a good example of why we wait to induct new members.”
Adam nodded his head and another question popped up.
“Are Langenburg and Waldron connected to Grayson somehow?” asked Adam
Adam’s question caught Don off guard. He paused to compose himself and responded, “Langenburg and Waldron are both sites of the Sentinel League. When we came to this country at the beginning of the last century, we found sites that we could use for various activities. Those two sites were set up for different reasons.”
“So, that means we’re in danger as well,” said Adam
Don looked Adam straight in the eyes. “Yes.” He paused for a couple of seconds, “The good news is that Grayson is a special site, and we have a few strategic advantages that the others did not. Of course, I can’t tell you about any of those right now.”
“What happened to all the people?” asked Adam.
“We aren’t sure. We haven’t been able to get any of our people into the sites yet to investigate.”
“You must have an idea what’s happening there,” stated Jimmy.
“We do.”
“But you’re not going to tell us,” stated Jimmy again.
“Right.”
“You think the people are safe?”
“We don’t know.”
“Who is doing this?”
“Well, I can give you a partial answer for that. You see, there is a group of people out there who are searching for something that the Sentinel League is protecting. They’ve been looking for a long time.”
“What is it?” asked Mark
“I can’t tell you,” said Don. “Only Number 1 knows that.”
“Why only Number 1?” asked Mark.
“The fewer people who know about something, the easier it is to keep secret.”
“What if something happens to Number 1? The secret will be lost forever,” said Adam.
Don smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Everything has been thought of.”
Don’s words didn’t comfort Adam.
“Are you going to tell us any more about it?” asked Mark.
“No. You know almost as much as I do now,” said Don.
Adam was curious about the secret. Did his dad know what it was?
“You’ve heard enough from me for now. Let’s move on to our current problem - what to do with you?” Don pointed at each of the boys, one at a time. “As I said earlier, we’ve had a plan in place for a long time to deal with this exact situation.”
Adam was nervous, as were the others. They weren’t 16 yet, so they wondered what the Sentinel League would do to them.
“You know what I would do with them,” said Ben with an eerie look on his face.
Don looked at Ben as though he were considering whatever Ben was thinking. After a pause he continued, “Well, here is what we’ve decided. You aren’t old enough to be full members of the League, so we’re going to make you all ‘Junior Initiates’. That means you will be watched carefully for the next few years until you can become full initiates. How does that sound?”
Adam went from nervous to excited in a flash. Becoming a member of a secret organization was better than anything he could think of. He was sure his friends felt the same way. Besides, anything would be better than being handed over to Ben.
“Can we talk to our parents about the League?” asked Kevin.
Don paused to think. “Yes, but absolutely no one else. If you do, Ben will be allowed to implement his plan.”
Ben grunted what Adam thought was a happy grunt, although his face didn’t change. Adam didn’t want to know what Ben’s plan was, but thought Jimmy wasn’t far off about Ben and torture devices.
“…and maybe Adam shouldn’t say too much to his mother yet,” Don continued.
Adam was surprised. He assumed that she knew about the League, being married to the former Number 2.
“Why not?” Adam asked.
“Well, your mom has been out-of-sorts with the League ever since your dad died. She blames the League for…things that happened. We’ve offered her help - but you know her, she’s pretty stubborn sometimes.”
Suddenly, Adam recalled what he overheard in the tunnels, although his mother wasn’t any older than Don. “She’s not Number 1, is she?”
Don laughed, “No. Why would you think that? She wants absolutely nothing to do with the League.”
Adam shrugged, happy with the answer. He was a little angry with his mother, though. The League could have helped her, maybe gotten her a better job, but instead she made Adam go without a lot of things.
“She knows you will find out in a few years anyway, but she may not be too thrilled that you are part of the first ever ‘Junior’ members here in Grayson.”
“I won’t say anything to her,” Adam said shaking his head. Even if I did, she never listens anyway, he thought.
“Good. So I take it that you’re all interested in becoming members?”
All four heads nodded in agreement.
“Well then, I guess we have to make an oath,” said Don.
“You’re really going to do this?” Ben asked, sounding upset at the thought.
Don nodded.
“We’ll make it simple. Just repeat after me, ‘I solemnly swear that I will give my life in service to the Sentinel League’.”
Life? thought Adam.
They repeated the oath. Ben grunted.
“Ok then. When you turn 16 there’s a more lengthy and involved oath.”
"So when do we get keys to the
tunnels?" asked Jimmy.
Don laughed, "In about ten years if you work hard! Not everyone in the League has keys, and very few have access to everything."
Jimmy looked disappointed.
"For now, you'll be part of the surface division of the League. You'll do odd jobs and we'll see how it goes from there."
"Will we learn more about the League?" asked Kevin.
"Definitely. You'll get to understand the ranks, responsibilities and history. Some of it is pretty exciting. A lot of it is pretty boring, except when the old timers get together and talk about how they passed the time on watch," he laughed again, "like the time Ben and Gurpreet were on patrol and thought they heard..."
"Ahem," Ben interrupted, "not an appropriate story for these young boys." Ben shook his head back and forth slowly.
Don thought for a second. "Yeah, you're probably right Ben. Anyway, there are lots of stories you'll hear. Some are almost true," Don grinned at Ben, who returned nothing but a cold stare.
"What sort of things will we have to do?" asked Mark.
"Well, considering that you are technically lower than the newest initiates, it's not going to be anything glamorous."
Mark groaned at the idea of more manual labor.
"I have some ideas, but I'll have to discuss them with other Senior members. We'll start you off tomorrow morning, just after lunch. How does that sound?"
"Where should we meet?" asked Kevin.
"Let’s meet at Town Hall. I'll make sure it's open before you get there."
All agreed in one way or another, Mark with a nod of his head, Kevin with an enthusiastic 'yes sir', Adam and Jimmy with a simple 'ok'."
"If Ben will be kind enough to lead us out, we can continue this tomorrow." Don motioned for Ben to lead.
Adam wanted to ask more questions, like who was Ellie and how were the door locks made, but he knew those questions would reveal that they had been in the tunnels already. He hoped they would learn some of those answers in the near future.
Ben led them through the door and up the stairs. At the top, there was a small landing before another door. Ben hid the fact that he used a familiar pin to unlock it, and they all stepped into a room on the other side.
When they were all through the doorway, Ben closed the door behind them and they saw it wasn't a door at all. It was a workbench, and the room they were in was the tool shed behind Ben's house. It contained an assortment of hand tools, power tools, and gardening equipment.
Mark was shocked. "No way! I was in here when I did all that work for you," he directed his words at Ben, "and I never would have believed if you told me there was a secret staircase off the back of this shed."
Adam had a thought pop into his head. "Why would you get Mark to cut your grass and not some initiate to the League?"
Ben looked at Adam and answered in the way only he would. "Because there were no initiates last year."
That surprised Adam, as there were a few 16 to 18 year olds in Grayson he could think of.
"What about this year?" he asked.
"There's a couple."
"Who?" Adam continued
Ben looked at Don, who gave him an agreeing nod.
"His brother and his sister." Ben pointed at Kevin and Jimmy.
They all realized why Trevor and Kassie had become so close so quickly.
"But Trevor is closer to 19 and Kassie is barely 16. Why wasn't he an initiate before?" asked Jimmy.
"Because he was a dip...," started Ben until Don cut him off.
"He wasn't ready yet. That's all. It seems that boys usually do take a little longer to get to that point than girls. All of you have been watched as well, waiting for the right time to induct you."
"What about Dave?" asked Kevin, referring to their classmate and friend who was also Don's son.
"He will be inducted in time, hopefully, but not for a couple of years."
"I'm sure I don't need to escort you home, right?" said Ben, ending the conversation.
They all nodded.
"Then go." He pointed to the shed door.
They didn't waste any time leaving the shed, walking down Ben's driveway. They walked across the street to the front of Mark’s house and stopped.
"I am dreading this," said Mark, looking at his house.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," said Adam. "Just don't slip up so they find out we have the key to the tunnels."
"When do we get the bikes?" asked Jimmy.
Adam had forgotten about the bikes at the monitoring station.
"We better get them in the morning. This whole evening tired me out," said Kevin.
"You think you're tired! Try getting choked out by one of those freaky hoods," said Mark.
"That was your own fault. He told you it would choke if you struggled," Kevin shot back at him.
"I'm too tired to argue now. See you tomorrow,” said Mark.
"Meet us at 11 behind the gas station," Adam called out as he walked away. Mark gave him a thumbs-up and disappeared into the house.
"Sure is a happy little guy," said Kevin.
Jimmy and Adam chuckled as the three walked home.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN