The Chair (16 page)

Both of us held onto Ara, helping her out of the compartment quietly walking down the passageway and up the ladders to the main deck; then heading again toward the rope ladder at the rear of the ship.

“Richard, is my father alright? Where is he, did he make it back?”

“Not yet Ara but he should be just fine; I’ll tell you about it as soon as we can get off this ship.”

We passed by two massive canvass covered objects at the center of the ship and I told Dorn to continue on with Ara while I checked them out. Untying the rope lashings around one of them, I lifted the canvass up enough to get a good look. They were two immense shore battery guns on wheels and their weight must have been in the tons. I wasn’t sure what size the barrels were, but they too were bloody huge. These, I thought, were going to be put in place on the island probably for the defense of the submarine base the German Nazi’s were planning to build. It was becoming apparent what our next battle would be; somehow ensuring their plans concerning this island were entirely wiped out.

Ara seemed to go in and out of coherency while still under the influence of whatever they gave her, but managed to hold onto the rope ladder with both of us helping her down. We continued descending carefully to the small platform at the waters edge, gently set her down in the skiff and paddled off in the dark toward shore. We had done the impossible! Getting her off the ship without a shot being fired! I’m not one to brag but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when we finally reached the shore safely with Ara.

It was still dark but it wouldn’t be long till the rest of the crew members discovered Ara had escaped and sounded an alarm. Anders, Paxton and the rest of their renegade Nazi goons would be all over the island looking for her.

“We need to get to fathers apartment without being seen,” Ara mumbled half coherently.

Dorn gently took her arm. “What is it they did to you Ara?”

“It wasn’t so much what they
did
, as what they were about to do, if it wasn’t for
you
coming to get me Eric.”

Again, I was becoming a little irritated at the way she seemed to be fawning over Dorn so I unconsciously blurted out, “Hey, I was there too?”

She walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “Of course Richard, I meant you too!

If you follow me, there is a little known shortcut to the conduit we should take to avoid the main cave entrance at the beach where there is certain to be a guard there.”

She was a little unsteady but we all walked inland over a rocky area leading through a swampy overgrown inlet where we were eventually up to our ankles in water. Finally we came to an opening on the side of a steep cliff and Ara began searching around for something hidden by the entrance and it was there that I began explaining to her all that had taken place in Munich after she left. I told her of our great accomplishment destroying the machine and I made it clear her father was in a safe place waiting for us to return, which seemed to calm her for the meantime.

She continued looking around. “There is a switch somewhere here; it’s been awhile; ah ha, here it is!”

 She pulled straight down on a slotted lever and one light after another began illuminating all the way down a very narrow craggy passageway.

“It’s not far; this leads to the conduit in almost a straight line. Father told me it was built as another emergency escape route which has rarely been used.”

I stood at the entrance trying to see the end of it. “Where exactly does this lead?”

“Directly into the main tunnel; its opening is disguised behind the armory locker across from it. It’s fathers apartment we need to get to now using the tram again.”

“What are we going to do there, hide out?”

“No Richard, it is important now that we hike from there up to Tower Point, the summit of the highest peak on the island. We need to find the old man, William Dunford; He’s been living alone up there for years he’s the only surviving successor of the original founding families.”

Dorn glanced at her with a puzzled look. “Why him?”

 I, also had to throw in a bit of common sense to her idea. “Ara, a hermit isn’t going to be much help to us at this point. We need to gather support from some of the people of the Sanctuary, along with what’s left of your security team, arm all of them and take back the island!”

Ara’s eyes narrowed. “Look you two; William Dunford is one of the key people to develop the chair along with help from my father. He is still a very bright and intelligent man and knows this island like the back of his hand. I have a feeling he will know how to help us with this threat.”

Dorn quickly interjected. “But time is critical here,  how long will it take for us to get up there?”

“If we gather what we need at father’s apartment, we can leave just before dawn and get there by tomorrow evening.”

I objected again. “Ara, come to your senses here. A long hike up to who knows where and… and we may not even find him!”

Dorn walked around for a moment, then looked up at her with a Cheshire cat grin. “Ok, I’m with you Ara, let’s go find him.”

Ara placed her hands on her hips standing alongside Dorn, both of them staring at me. “Well Richard?”

I thought for a moment more; but looking at the two of their faces, I could see I was out voted. “Well, it’s your island, if you want to take the chance let’s do it.”

We started down the narrow passageway leading to the main tunnel. The lights hadn’t been used for sometime but were illuminating the mossy walls. It wasn’t long till we reached the very end which looked like a wood slatted door embedded in the rock wall. Ara reached up and pulled an identical lever to the one at the entrance. Now the lights went
off
one at a time back down the passageway and the wooden wall jarred slightly to the side.

She grabbed onto the side of it and I helped her slowly pull it to the side, away from the entrance exposing the main tunnel. There on the other side of the main tunnel was the elevator door and heard voices coming further down the passageway. The three of us made our way to the conduit where two of their guards were sleeping until we startled them as we ran in. Both of them quickly sat up but we had the drop on them and they dropped their weapons to the ground.

We tied them up and dragged them out of the tunnel to a remote section on the beach. This time we didn’t bother to gag them knowing the pounding surf would disguise any of their yelling.

There was still time till daybreak as we moved quickly to the conduit and onto the tram leading us to her father’s apartment once again. Upon arriving, the door slid open to his apartment and we all went in and sat down to rest. As we were catching our breath we had to decide what to take with us on the hike to Tower Point.

Ara gave us all some water and we all sat down questioning the difficulty of our next move.

“Don’t worry, it’s a hike we can do easily enough. There
are
a couple of rocky cliffs to get up, but most of it is just steep climbing.

“We’ll need some climbing rope my father has stored in the far room;  We’ll pack some food and be off at daybreak; right now, though I don’t know about you two, but I’m tired; we need to get some rest for a few hours.

CHAPTER

TWENTY THREE

D
awn came quickly. I had been dreaming of something strange but it was suddenly interrupted by my hand limply falling to the floor. I rubbed my eyes glaring at the window. The early light was just beginning to spread on the sanctuary. I stood up and walked to the veranda looking down at the village and there were only one or two figures slowly moving about on the street. Ara and Dorn both woke at the same time slowly sitting up stretching and rubbing their eyes.

“It’s about that time,” I said, as I rummaged through some of the drawers. “Anyone care for some tea?”

“Coffee for me thanks.” Dorn replied with a sleepy voice.

 “I put rope on the veranda along with some food and water in a backpack. We need to leave soon if were going to make it there before dark,” Ara advised.

We both agreed and put on a few extra bits of warm clothing. After gulping down our tea and coffee, we closed the veranda door, went down the steps into the village and began heading for the outskirts of Sanctuary. We passed by a few more sleepy people getting ready for the day and moved on through to a forested area just outside the village. Above the trees we could see the rising cliffs and we were headed straight for them.

“Those tall cliffs are at the base of the mountain that will lead us to Tower Peak,” Ara pointed out.

“Where exactly
does
he live up there?”

Ara shrugged her shoulders and slightly chuckled. “Beats me, I’ve never been there.”

I exploded. “Oh that’s rich! You’re taking us up somewhere you’ve never been?”

Then Dorn calmly questioned. “Ara, I thought you told us you knew where he was!”

“Yes, father told me over the years that William had always desired to work and live alone so he chose Tower Peak; that I knew, but I never said I went there.”

We kept working our way through bush and marshy areas as we talked, still heading toward the high cliffs.

 “Oh this is great! Your father told you he lived up there but do you know if he is still alive? Maybe he died years ago or maybe he is visiting the village this month.”

“No Richard. We’ve had word from Mr. Dunford not long ago from his assistant, a young man who has helped him for several years now. Every so often he treks up the mountain with his companions to bring the professor supplies and such.”

“What is he doing up there, some type of experiments?”

“Actually, he has remained fairly quiet concerning his work; but after having a conversation with his assistant awhile back, he said Dunford was working on something special, a discovery he made in the same location the chair was found.”

“Humph, interesting. I’d be willing to bet the queen’s crown that the chair was not the only discovery he found in that cave; now you really have me bloody well intrigued!”

We continued toward the smaller cliffs where most of our hiking had ended and the steeper climbing began. From then on it was nothing but up ever growing cliffs. I leaned back at one point, shielding my eyes from the sun to view the summit of Tower Peak but with no luck. It seemed to climb up high enough to recede from view. Dorn actually climbed fairly well for a security man and I pondered for awhile if I wasn’t in some sort of competition with him or not. Ara seemed concentrated on her climbing and hadn’t been showing me any special attention up to this point since her rescue and I wagered this had been fueling his hopes once more. There was now no mistaking; Eric Dorn was again in the picture concerning her attentions. I had to jump through one hoop at a time for now though, and the current hoop confronting me was just getting us all to the top.

Before our climbing turned strictly vertical there was a small plateau and forested area we had to cross with patches of tall grass waving in the wind. As we started out through this area I could have sworn I heard some sort of odd noise, like grunting. It began to get louder, now with a strange rustling in the grass. Suddenly it flashed through my head just what it was.

I quickly caught their attention. “Hey, get down and don’t move. It’s a wild boar!”

We all three got down on our knees remaining as quiet as possible. The movement of the tall grass began to approach our location with snorting and grunting increasing in intensity as if this boar had a quarrel with us. We pulled out our weapons and waited.

I threw out two possibilities for any takers. “We were either close to a mother’s young piglet, which has put her in protective mode, or―”

Dorn quickly interjected. “Or, it could be just one mean pig… Run!”

That said, we all three got up and began running across the field of tall grass but the snorting kept pace with us. Ara suddenly tripped, falling head first straight down and toppling into the grass; then quickly recovering,  she got up on her knees.

The bore was headed straight for her and before I could change my direction in order to get to her, Dorn was already on his way. She barely had time to stand and as she fumbled for her weapon, it dropped as the bore began to charge at her. It was a big one, at least one hundred fifty pounds with some nice sized tusks and in no mood for company.

Dorn was on an intercept course and much to my surprise, dove in the air straight at it yelling at the top of his lungs. He hit the bore smack on its side knocking it down to its knees and it let out a squeal; dazed, it got up breathing hard. I took out my weapon firing it twice in the air and it turned and ran.

Dorn yelled. “You should have killed it Richard?”

“We wouldn’t want to deprive young piglets of their mother now would we?”

He looked at me puzzled and I looked at Ara as her anxious face turned to a laugh. “Richard, you could tell she was a mommy when she was knocked over on her side!”

Dorn piped up. “What’s so funny about that? I could have been mauled by that thing saving your bacon Ara!”

She walked up to Dorn giving him a hug and kiss looking at him with a smile. “Thanks again Eric, that’s twice you’ve rescued me and I’m very grateful.”

This time it was obvious the way she looked at him had changed and it was then It had dawned on me that something had somehow turned around for both of us. I myself was even growing a little softer toward Dorn. He was actually becoming a likeable guy for the first time, even though I knew he preferred to be seen as a tough guy. 

We pulled ourselves together and leaving the forested area, began to climb the side of the mountain. It was loose shale at the base, then turning to a steep climb up rocky crags traversing back and forth while keeping an upward course. I kept looking up to see how far we had to go but the summit would not make itself visible. We stopped at the base of a tall shear rock wall and would now need rope. It was time though for a break, something to eat and drink before finishing the climb and this was the place to do it.