Chapter 6 - The Ledger of the Lost
Martha moved.
Caleb caught her.
“Wait.”
“That’s my mother.”
“I know.”
“He has a gun.”
“And if we run straight down, he has seven more.”
Martha looked at the guards.
Caleb was right.
She hated him for it.
Only because she needed him to be wrong.
Jacob crouched beside them.
“There’s another entrance.”
Samuel stared.
“The mine.”
Jacob nodded.
“Tunnel runs beneath the building.”
“Stable?”
“Probably not.”
Caleb gave him a look.
“That word is becoming popular today.”
Martha said, “We use it.”
Caleb immediately shook his head.
“You stay here.”
Martha turned.
“No.”
“You’re injured.”
“She is my mother.”
“And you are my wife.”
“Exactly. So stop behaving like I’m luggage.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“Martha—”
“If your father were in that building, would I stop you?”
He had no answer.
“Then don’t ask me to stay.”
Samuel whispered, “She has a point.”
Caleb glared.
Samuel raised his hands.
“I enjoy being alive. I retract it.”
They entered the old mine through a collapsed service opening.
Jacob carried the lantern.
Caleb kept Martha directly behind him.
Samuel covered the rear.
The tunnel descended.
Timbers groaned.
Dust fell.
Martha’s strength was returning slowly, but every step reminded her what her body had endured.
Caleb checked her constantly.
“Stop looking at me.”
“I’m checking.”
“I’m still here.”
“Good.”
“Was that humor?”
“No.”
“Pity.”
Jacob glanced back.
“You two really have been married six days?”
“Unfortunately,” Caleb said.
Martha hit his shoulder.
He almost smiled.
The humor died when they reached the first body.
A man lay beside the tracks.
Dead several days.
Samuel crouched.
“Mercer’s?”
Jacob nodded.
“Probably.”
“What happened?”
Jacob examined the wall.
“Collapse.”
Caleb looked upward.
“Wonderful.”
They continued.
Finally, faint voices carried through wooden boards above.
Jacob pointed toward a ladder.
“Storage room.”
Caleb climbed first.
He pushed the hatch.
Unlocked.
They entered.
The room smelled of oil and dust.
Through the wall, Mercer’s voice carried.
“…should have killed Bell when I had the chance.”
Martha froze.
Anna answered.
“You tried.”
Her voice.
Older.
Weaker.
But unmistakable.
Martha covered her mouth.
Tears filled her eyes.
Caleb touched her shoulder.
She nodded.
She was all right.
Not really.
But enough.
Mercer said, “Your husband ruined everything.”
Anna laughed.
“My husband ruined you.”
“He died begging.”
Martha’s fist tightened.
Anna responded calmly.
“Another lie you’ve repeated so long you believe it.”
Mercer slammed something.
Martha flinched.
Caleb whispered, “We move now.”
Samuel went toward the rear exit.
Jacob caught his arm.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
Jacob looked frightened.
For the first time since arriving, genuinely frightened.
“He knows I’m here.”
Caleb stared.
“How?”
“I told him.”
Martha’s blood chilled.
Samuel raised his pistol.
“You led us into a trap.”
Jacob shook his head.
“No.”
“You expect—”
“I needed him to believe I was still loyal.”
Caleb grabbed Jacob.
“You gamble with my wife again and—”
“I gave him the wrong information.”
“What information?”
Jacob pulled something from his pocket.
A small leather notebook.
Martha recognized it.
“The Bible?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Mercer thinks this contains Thomas Bell’s code.”
Samuel stared.
“You brought a decoy.”
“Yes.”
Martha looked at him differently.
“Why?”
Jacob’s eyes moved to Caleb.
“Because I’m tired of being his son.”
Silence.
Then footsteps approached.
No time.
Caleb positioned everyone.
The door opened.
A guard entered.
Samuel struck him.
Caleb caught him before he fell.
They dragged him inside.
Jacob put on the guard’s coat.
Then walked into the main room.
Martha watched through the crack.
Mercer sat in a heavy chair.
He looked ancient.
But his eyes were alive.
Sharp.
Cruel.
Anna sat beside the window.
Her wrists were tied.
Jacob entered.
Mercer smiled.
“My boy.”
Jacob’s face remained blank.
“I brought it.”
He held up the notebook.
Mercer’s entire body changed.
Hunger.
“Come.”
Jacob approached.
Mercer extended his hand.
At that moment, Caleb entered from the opposite door.
“Not another step.”
Mercer stared.
For one second, old age disappeared.
“So.”
His eyes moved between brothers.
“Elias’s mistakes together again.”
Caleb leveled the rifle.
“Release her.”
Mercer laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
“Good.”
“No. He died badly.”
Samuel entered.
Mercer’s smile faded.
“You.”
“Miss me?”
“No.”
Martha stepped through the doorway.
Caleb turned sharply.
He had told her to wait.
Her expression told him the discussion could occur during some later marriage.
Mercer stared at Martha.
“Thomas Bell’s daughter.”
Anna looked up.
Their eyes met.
“Martha?”
One word.
Twenty years of grief collapsed.
“Mother.”
Anna began crying.
Martha crossed the room.
Mercer lifted the pistol.
Caleb fired.
The bullet struck Mercer’s hand.
The pistol flew across the floor.
Chaos erupted.
Men outside shouted.
Jacob barred the front door.
Samuel freed Anna.
Caleb moved a cabinet against the entrance.
Martha fell to her knees beside her mother.
Anna touched her face.
“My baby.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“To keep them from you.”
“I waited.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
Anna broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Martha held her.
For several seconds, no one could separate grief from joy.
Then bullets struck the door.
Samuel shouted, “We need another exit!”
Jacob pointed.
“The mine.”
They retreated through the storage room.
Mercer, wounded but alive, screamed after them.
“You cannot bury this!”
Samuel laughed.
“We’re not planning to.”
They entered the mine.
Caleb helped Anna.
Jacob led again.
But halfway through, a blast shook the tunnel.
Dust exploded.
Martha screamed.
A timber collapsed between Caleb and the others.
“Caleb!”
“I’m here!”
She could hear him.
Could not see him.
“Move back!” he shouted.
Another collapse.
Samuel grabbed Martha.
“We have to go!”
“No!”
“The tunnel is coming down!”
“Caleb!”
His voice came through dust.
“Take her!”
Martha fought Samuel.
“NO!”
Then another voice came from behind Caleb.
Mercer.
“You always were the wrong brother.”
A gunshot echoed through the darkness.
Martha stopped struggling.
Silence followed.
“Caleb?”
Nothing.
She stepped toward the fallen timber.
“Caleb!”
Still nothing.
Then, from somewhere beyond the collapse, a man screamed.
May you like
Martha could not tell whose voice it was.
And the tunnel began to fall.
