The Lost Treasure Map Series (27 page)

Bryson saw that none of them knew, and that
they had not been able to trace the direction with all the bends
that had been in it.

Inspector Bailey started feeling along the
edge of the wall, where there was a crack, going around it.

“
We could shove it
over,
”
Merton spoke, looking at it, showing Bryson a
smile.

“
That
’ll
not be
necessary,
”
Inspector Bailey answered.
“
Even though that may do ... I
believe that the reporter has been here. And perhaps someone
else!
”

Bryson waited to see what he was talking
about before doing anything. And he watched Inspector Bailey touch
something, hidden between the side bricks, and push the wall. He
then shifted it, showing them that it was a hidden door, made of
bricks and cement, with thick metal hinges.

Behind it, a set of steps went upwards,
somewhere, and Inspector Bailey crept up them.

Maybe it even led into the
killer
’s
home, or hiding place. By the stones in the walls, he was
sure that it was a large ancient structure.

Bryson realized that it would now be very
dark outside, and that they would need to go back through the dark
wood.

The stairs were perpendicular, while the
height that they moved up to grew unrealistic, until his
imagination could not stretch that far.

Suddenly, Inspector Bailey became aware of
something, and had them climbing back down.

Once he arrived at the bottom, he tried to
see the other tunnel, at the side of it.

“
Why was that camouflaged to resemble
part of the tunnel?
”
he declared, astonished.

Bryson then recognized the wall next to it,
at the front of the stairs, and he shoved it, and walked into the
brighter storeroom, at the back of the castle kitchen.

Chapter 49

Deadliest Menace

Bryson
’s
dreams had been surreal, and of an
incomprehensible nature. Shimmering lights and freakish sounds had
whirled about him like an immense vortex.

And he calmly sat upright on the end of the
bed!

He noted the air, and that it was cool and
calm in the room. But he spotted that there was a blanket of snow
falling outside. He remembered being in a huddled posture, with
blankets tightly wrapped about him.

An array of silent knocks made the door
vibrate. And he stopped breathing slowly.

Bryson sighed, and shifted across the floor,
listening for sounds from the outer corridor.

He swiftly unlocked it, and pulled it
slightly open.

Merton and Mortimer stood outside,
suggesting something was along the corridor. Bryson nodded, and
closed the door.

He quickly dressed, but when he opened the
door, they were gone. So he shut the door, and went to the room,
wondering what they were doing. It had to be significant, as they
had been positive about it being a good idea to wake him, in the
middle of the night.

Before he arrived at the room, he gasped,
hearing the sounds blaring out. It then mildly amused him, as it
were as if Merton and Mortimer had two creatures fighting each
other in the room. He tried to compare it to his dream, but he
could not notice any connection.

The disturbance seemed as if it had
different states.

He imagined it as a warp through space and
time, causing many different things to occur about the castle, and
in his dream he had seen inside the warp itself (and the room lay
somewhere beyond it, connected through it to many locations
throughout space and time).

But what he could never understand was what
the things were doing. Did the things, or whatever they were,
become part of the disturbance, while near it, when it
automatically opened, at night?

Bryson dragged himself to the doorway,
wondering what would happen if the source of the disturbance were
closer!

Three scientists rushed passed, and rushed
in, carrying cables, leading from all the rooms next to it.

Merton and Mortimer were standing at the
hole in the wall, where, to his astonishment, the sounds were
mainly emerging, blaring out from the depths of the shaft.

If the sounds had been astonishing before,
they now were mind-bending. They came screaming through the shaft
with fury. The things now sounded as though they were under the
castle, trapped in some form of field.

The scientists rushed about, setting up
their new equipment, connecting the equipment from room to
room.

“
What do think is down
there?
”
Merton carefully asked, giving him the impression that they
might be going to do something. And Mortimer then gave him the
impression that he had waited all his life to do it!

Bryson started to realize the implications
of the find, and that they would have to check what was there.

Bryson
quickly asked: “
Investigate all these
walls?
”

“
Yes!
” Mortimer replied.
“
We
’d
all the best equipment that we could get
hold of brought in
–
to examine inside the
walls.
”

“
What
did they find out?”

“
There are small shafts running
through them ...
”

“
Where did they lead? Did these shafts
go under the building?
”

“
They stopped just below ground
level!
”

“
All the shafts are connected
together,
” Merton
continued. “T
hey must run through most of the
building. We
’re
positive that they were for an ancient form of ventilation
...
”

Bryson did not like
Mortimer
’s
behavior: he had something planned. And he soon saw that he
had even underestimated them: as Merton removed a large roll of
nylon rope, from an old large nylon bag.

“
I
’m
going down ...!
”
Mortimer then spoke.

“
What
’s
wrong with lowering some
equipment?
”

Bryson then noticed that the scientists were
getting ready to do that later.

“
I want to experience and evaluate
what
’s
there first,
”
he said, putting on a harness.

Surely they had not brought that with them.
What had they been going to do with an old rope and harness?

“
Why not send down a camera, with a
few lights attached? We could easily obtain a good picture, and
sounds. And you
’ll
have evidence of what
’s
there!
”

“
After some consideration
–
over the last
hour!
–
I
’ve
decided to go down and experience what
’s
there.
It
’s
something I would very much like to do. And I shall take a
camera with me.
”

Once Merton had tested that the harness was
correctly fitted, he fixed the end of the rope to metal pegs that
they had attached to the wall at the window.

Mortimer slowly climbed through the gap, and
squeezed into the shaft.

It was no use:
Mortimer
’s
bewildered face disappeared into the blackness.

“
Where did you find that
...?
”
Bryson moaned, expecting to hear Mortimer
’s
screams in the
noises.

“
It was in a cupboard, in the kitchen.
I saw it there when we went through there.
”

Bryson tried to recognize any change to the
tones, which would indicate Mortimer was influencing anything.

“
What was climbing gear doing
there?
”
he
moaned aloud, wondering whose it was. It was old!

Bryson then noticed that the rope had
stopped moving, and he knew that Mortimer had reached the
bottom.

“
Perhaps one of the servants left it
there.
”

“
What would one of the servants be
doing with mountain climbing gear?
”

Bryson felt his tiredness, and wished that
he had stayed in bed.

“
They could have used it to climb up
something else.
”

The rope started swaying and vibrating
furiously, giving the impression that Mortimer was frantically
climbing up it
–
to escape.

He clearly had not realized how hard it
would be to climb out of it.

Bryson and Merton pulled the rope up, while
Mortimer used it to move out of it.

Suddenly, Mortimer
’s
frantic face appeared at
the edge, desperate to climb out, almost slipping.

“
Get me out of here!
”
he hollered, making Bryson
and Merton go as fast as they could to help him.

Even as he landed on the floor, he was
still rushing to remove the harness, shocking them even
further
–
and that they might now be in danger.

But, as he removed it, he rushed away
through the door, running towards the other rooms, leaving them
waiting for something terrible to appear. But he had not suggested
what.

At the edge of the doorway, they watched him
running along the corridor.

“
Where is he going?
”
Merton muttered, just
staring, bewildered.
“
This castle is one hell of a crazy
place!
”

Bryson watched the drifting currents of
snowflakes blow by the window.

He really felt like some rest, in bed. It
had been a long day, and the next day might be even longer.

What was Mortimer doing? Even though
he had done what he himself felt like doing
–
rushing away, without
saying anything (but to go to bed instead).

Why were they not tired like him? What had
they been doing at the room anyway?

In the darkness, at the end of the
corridor, he saw two figures rushing towards them
–
resembling a
sort of dream view, in his sleepy mental state.

He then saw Mortimer, and that he had
dragged Inspector Bailey out of his bed.

Bryson turned to observe the hole in the
wall, wondering what he had found. It had to be something real, as
he would not have awakened Inspector Bailey. Had Mortimer found
another body down there? He gasped, and looked along the
corridor.

“
Not again!
”
he moaned.

He could not stand it. And they might have
to stay up for a long time, to obtain the conclusion.

Bryson felt so sleepy that when they rushed
past, he was hardly aware that they were there.

Then, as they raced away, in the opposite
direction, he realized he had better follow.

He was sure that they had not wanted to tell
them what it was. But it might have just looked that way.

Bryson shrugged, and then followed Merton,
who started chasing after them.

In the sounds, from the room, he heard a
rhythmical tapping, increasing in volume, making him slow to
listen. Then he realized that it was footsteps rushing towards
him.

From the end of the corridor, behind him,
two policemen came running along, still fixing gun holsters on
their waists.

Bryson then saw that Inspector Bailey now
had his gun in his hand, as he arrived at the stairs. He also had a
torch, but it was switched off, keeping them in dark.

The situation was worse than he had
anticipated. If someone did not die, it would be surprising.

Bryson and Merton rushed towards them, and
crept down the stairs, which creaked loudly when they made rapid
movements.

At the bottom of the stairs, he watched
their figures creep from room to room, looking for something. But
there definitely was not anything there.

He finally was able to approach
Mortimer.

“
Let
’s
look in the
kitchen!
”
Inspector Bailey warned, and crept through to it.

The policemen went next to him. And one of
them switched on the light, and Inspector Bailey rushed into the
storeroom, holding out his gun, ready to shoot at anyone who
appeared.

Bryson felt awake again, but tired, and
avoided staggering.

“
I heard someone down
here,
”
Mortimer muttered to Merton, moving away from him.

How had he heard anyone down here? It had
been so noisy at the shaft that he would have thought that by the
time he had climbed to the surface that he would have needed a
hearing aid just to speak.

“
There
’s
a footprint!
”
one of the policemen
announced, standing at the hidden entrance.

Bryson mechanically recognized it, and
that it was the killer
’s
!