We decided that we needed to scout the entrance to the tunnels before going any further. Hopefully, DMA had figured that the tunnel entrances were in the middle of nowhere and just boarded them up. Worst case, they might have backfilled the tunnels with rubble. In which case, I’d need to come up with a new brilliant plan.
Kieran and I arranged to go out there Saturday night. I left a note for my parents saying that I was staying over at Jake’s house. As long as I told them where I was going, and had my cell, they never seemed to worry. A fringe benefit of my responsible “nice guy” image.
I’d been putting off telling Kieran about adding Jake to our team. But I didn’t have a choice now. Jake and I arrived at Kieran’s house together. When Kieran opened the door, he looked at Jake, then turned to me.
“It’s not a slumber party, Bex. What the hell is he doing here?”
“Nice to see you too, Kieran. It’s such a pleasure,” said Jake. It was obvious what he really meant.
“Jake’s coming with us,” I said. “We need him.”
“You told him?” said Kieran with disbelief. I nodded. Kieran swore and stomped away from the open door. Jake and I looked at each other, then entered the dark house. There was no sign of Kieran’s dad this time.
Kieran was pacing back and forth across the living room.
“What the hell gave you the right to tell him about our plans?” said Kieran.
“It’s my plan,” I said. “And it’s my call if we need extra help. Jake is good. The three of us can cover more ground than just you and me.”
“We don’t need him. We don’t need anybody else.”
“What’s your problem?” said Jake. He lowered himself into an armchair. He looked absolutely cool and calm. Jake was a rock. “You worried about your money? Because I don’t want any of the take. I’m just here to back up Bex.”
“What the hell? Are you serious? You’re here for your BFF? What are you, in kindergarten?” snapped Kieran. He’d stopped pacing now. “And, no, it’s not about the money. I don’t give a crap about the money. Bex is the only one who seems to really care about that.” He spun to face me. What the hell did that mean?
“Let me break it down for you,” Kieran said. “I don’t know if you figured this out, but we’re committing a crime. You get that? We are breaking into a ‘secure facility.’ And then stealing stuff. We’re criminals. And criminals don’t invite their besties along for the ride.” He pointed a finger at me. “You and me are the entire team, end of story.”
I shook my head. “Not anymore.”
“Bex, grow up, leave your buddy here behind and join the big leagues!” Kieran said, eyes bright with anger.
Jake looked at me calmly from the armchair. It was up to me. For the first time in a long while, the decision I had to make was clear. I dropped down into the other overstuffed armchair, facing Jake.
“How about I break it down for you, Kieran?” I said. “You said you can’t get in there without me? I don’t do this without Jake. It’s that simple.” Kieran just stood there, chest heaving.
“So, you want to try this alone?” I said. “Or do you want some help?”
Kieran looked like he was about to explode, go mental on me. But he held it together and took a deep, ragged breath.
“Fine. Whatever,” he hissed. “Just get me in there.”
Kieran drove fast, slaloming between cars on the highway. The glow of the city was behind us, the dark city limits ahead. The DMA site was less than forty-five minutes away from the city center. But it felt like I was heading off the map, away from everything that I knew.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Asha.
I’ll make everything all right again, I texted. Promise.
I hit the Send key, then put the phone back in my jacket pocket. The rest of the ride, I waited for the vibration from the phone that might be Asha texting back. But I felt nothing.
It was a warm spring night. The full moon was bright enough for us to see, even without our headlamps. We left the car by the side of a dirt road and picked our way through the thin woods on the edge of the DMA facility. The only sound was the hollow roar of traffic on the highway in the distance.
I’d taken some maps we needed from Kieran’s laptop and dumped them onto my smartphone. The maps were pretty good, and I was able to quickly lead us to where I thought the tunnel entrance might be. Then it was a matter of hunting around to actually find them in all the bushes and undergrowth. After about an hour, I was starting to get cold. Then I heard a low whistle from Jake.
Kieran and I arrived at the same time. Jake was pulling overgrown black-berry bushes from a huge round metal grate made of thick rebar. It was set into the slope of a hill that rose gently toward the DMA facility, about half a mile away.
The metal bars of the grate were about the thickness of my finger. I clicked on my headlamp and shined it in. All I could see were the concrete sides of a tunnel, heading off into murky shadows. I flicked on my phone, activated the gps and checked the digital map on the screen.
“This would make sense,” I said. “This is it.” I saw Kieran smile in the faint moonlight. All that stopped us from lifting the grate aside was some thin wire attached to the concrete. Jake snapped that with bolt cutters. Then we all grabbed part of the grate.
“On the count of three,” I said. It was heavy, almost too heavy to move. We grunted and heaved. The grate finally flipped away from the tunnel entrance onto the ground. It made a ringing sound that quickly died away. Just the same, we turned off the head-lamps right away. I scanned the moonlit darkness around us to make sure no one heard. There was no sign of anything, just a bit of wind rustling the leaves.
We went in.
The tunnel was big enough that I could stand up and stretch out my arms, no problem. But that didn’t make it easy to travel through. The floor and walls were curved and slimy. There was a steady stream of knee-deep water running down the middle of the big concrete tube. I tried to stay to one side but kept slipping and landing in the stream, swearing at the shock of the cold water every time.
Occasionally there was a weird gust of damp wind like the tunnel was taking a deep breath. Single file, we kept marching through the tunnel in silence.
Fifteen minutes later the only thing different was that the stream was deeper, up to our waists. The water was cold, but we got used to it. The deeper it was, though, the harder it was to push against the current. To keep me going, I kept thinking about Asha. What she’d say when I gave her the money. What we could do in the summer, the places we could explore together.
We were all getting tired and cold. I wasn’t sure how much farther we could go on tonight. I was pretty sure we’d have to turn back. We hadn’t brought the right gear for something this wet. Beyond bolt cutters and a few other basic tools, we hadn’t brought anything serious.
“Kieran,” I finally said. “Kieran!” I saw his headlamp stop up ahead in the tunnel, then spin around toward me.
“What?”
“We need to go back and take another run at this tomorrow. The water’s getting deeper, we need different equipment. I’m not even sure if this tunnel is going the right way.”
“Can’t you check the map on your phone?”
“No. The GPS doesn’t work underground.”
“Hey.” Jake had slogged back toward us as well. “Did you guys see that?”
“What?” said Kieran.
“Turn off your headlamps, then look up ahead.” We did. At first, the darkness was complete. The gurgle of water around us sounded louder than ever. Then, faintly, a circle of moonlight appeared, way up ahead.
“That’s the exit to DMA!” shouted Kieran. “Let’s go!” With new energy, we splashed up the tunnel.
We were exhausted and not thinking straight. We were sloppy. So when things went wrong, we were totally unprepared for it.
It started with a slight splash up ahead, almost like a small rock dropping in the water. I didn’t think anything of it. It took me a second to realize that the light from Jake’s headlamp had disappeared.
“Jake!” I screamed. Kieran spun around to face me, then back toward where Jake had been a second ago. We both shouted his name.
But he was gone.