The hidden tunnel, p.16
The Hidden Tunnel, page 16
Rick went downstairs and listened outside the office door where he had once saved Josiah Collings. But instead of breaking down the door, Rick waited outside until the room was quiet.
Then, he picked the lock on the office door and slipped inside the dark room, finding his way to the trapdoor. He climbed down, closed the door behind him, and listened in the darkness of the basement. He heard voices and footsteps not far off down the secret passageway. Without a light, so as not to give himself away, Rick slowly followed the sounds of the men up ahead, until they stopped. When they stopped, Rick did too. He lingered in the darkness, listening.
Up ahead, Rick made out a circle of lantern light casting its glow on two men. Although Rick couldn’t see their victim, who was in a cell through a hole in the wall, he could tell the men were going through the motions of binding their victim’s hands and feet.
While they worked, one man said to the other, “How much you think we’ll get for him?”
“Five hundred, at least,” the other replied.
“Get out of here!” the other said, laughing.
“The captain will get twice that.”
“He gets a thousand a head?”
“If they’re young and strong, like this one.”
“That’s good money. How many men does a captain get in a year, do you think?”
“From this port, I’d say six to ten. But he’ll buy them all up and down the coast.”
“Maybe I should aspire to be a captain, then. That’s good money, if he makes a thousand a head.”
“The Hong Kong bookie will make ten times that, regardless of who wins.”
“Then maybe I should move to Hong Kong to be a bookie.” The man laughed.
The men stopped tying and began walking back toward Rick, where he hid in the darkness, flattened against the cool concrete wall of the tunnel.
“There’s only one, and he’s untouchable,” the other guy said. “And you can bet there are others waiting to take his place, trying to kill him off and steal his money. And he must contend with the dead body after the fight. It’s one thing to smuggle a living man in. It’s another to smuggle a dead one out.”
“I didn’t think about that.”
“You’re better off here, with me. Less money, but less risk.”
Rick held his breath as the men passed him in the tunnel.
“When do I see my two-fifty?”
“Two-fifty? Are you crazy, man? Do you think we’re equals?”
“I did half the work.”
“Which you couldn’t have done without my expertise. When we’re equals, you’ll get half. Until then, be grateful for your third.”
“All right. All right. Geez.”
The men disappeared through the hole to the basement. Rick listened as they climbed up through the trapdoor.
Using a flashlight, Rick found his way to where the men had been binding their victim, but he couldn’t find the cell. If the victim hadn’t been conscious and making sounds through his gag, Rick would have never found him. He felt along the concrete wall until his fingers brushed against a wooden ledge. The wood had been painted the same gray as the concrete so that it blended in with the rest of the tunnel wall.
Rick slid the panel to the side to reveal the cell where the victim had been tied to a chair. The man was dopey, but awake and mumbling. Rick took a few photographs and cut the man loose using a pocket knife. The man was too drugged to walk, so Rick had to carry him back toward the Ladd Carriage House. He found the entrance to the basement, where he hid the victim while he ran off to find the nearest phone. He telephoned the cops, but by the time they arrived, the victim had disappeared.
“That’s messed up,” Brian said, after Sue had finished reading the article to them.
“It’s weird that the deadfall in the loft is still there after all these years,” Ellen said.
“I doubt it’s been used for decades,” Brian said. “Not since 2007, anyway, when they built that parking garage.”
“You’re probably right,” Sue conceded, “but that doesn’t mean the tunnel isn’t in use.”
Brian sighed. “Suppose the PBC, or someone affiliated with it, is still using the underground to smuggle men to Hong Kong for blood sport. First of all, why would they be as far south as the Ladd Carriage House when their facility is out by Steel Bridge?”
“I don’t know,” Ellen said. “You’re right. That makes no sense.”
“And, second of all,” Brian continued, “why in the world would anyone smuggle my brother to a blood fight?”
“Like I said before,” Sue said. “Maybe he stumbled upon their scheme somehow.”
“But again, why the Ladd Carriage House?” Ellen wondered with a sigh.
“What if we’re chasing up the wrong tree?” Tanya asked.
“Denny Moyer said to look in the tunnels,” Ellen said. “Let’s not give up until we’ve done at least that.”
“Everything rests on the advice of a dead man,” Brian mumbled before he washed down the last of his beer.
Chapter Eighteen: The Chinaman’s Maze
After a quick stop at CVS Pharmacy for headlamps, batteries, bottled water, snacks, and a backpack, Kirk drove Ellen and her friends to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Brian told Kirk to wait for them at the Ladd Carriage House and to call the police if he didn’t hear from Brian by text every hour. Kirk agreed.
“But wouldn’t you ladies like to leave your purses in the car?” Kirk asked as he helped them out.
“We never go anywhere without them,” Sue said. “You never know when you might need something, like a toothpick or a hairbrush.”
“Or a bobby pin,” Ellen added. She almost added, “Or an EMF detector,” since she carried one in her purse, but decided against it, since Kirk probably wouldn’t know what she meant.
Kirk gave them a nod before he returned to the limo and drove off.
They waited ten minutes in the first courtyard for Glenn to finish up a tour before they could proposition him about access to the underground. He discretely took the five hundred dollars from Brian and, without asking questions, escorted them to the basement.
Ellen carried her EMF detector in one hand and the map she had drawn, based on the one from The Chinaman’s Maze, in the other. Sue consulted Google Maps on her phone to guide them in the right direction.
They left the basement of Lan Su and headed toward Second Avenue. The passageway was dark, except for the small circles of light created by their headlamps.
“Okay,” Sue said, stopping. “We need to take a right this time, if we want to go south.”
“How do we know the tunnels going in that direction are safe?” Tanya asked from the rear. “We don’t know if they’re even used by businesses like the one Glenn showed us. What if they aren’t stable? What if they cave in on us?”
“They’ve been here for decades,” Ellen said. “If they were going to cave in, they would have done so by now. And they may have. We’ll find out soon enough.”
“Just because it hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it won’t happen now,” Tanya argued.
“I think the tunnels caving in on us is the last thing we should be worried about,” Sue said. “We’re more likely to be killed by someone from the PBC.”
“Thanks, Sue,” Ellen said sarcastically. “Tanya, try to relax. I’m not expecting the tunnels to be compromised while we’re in them.”
“I’m sure miners don’t expect it, either, just before the mine collapses and kills them,” Tanya said.
“You don’t have to go with us,” Sue said. “Why don’t you go back and wait for us at the Lan Su Garden? You could have some hot tea and cakes while you wait.”
“No,” Tanya said. “It’s fine. I want to go with you.”
Sue gave Ellen a look of exasperation. Ellen had to admit that she hadn’t been sure whether Tanya would go along with her plan.
“If you don’t want to go, now’s the time to say so,” Ellen said.
“It’s fine. Keep going.”
Ellen noticed Tanya punching into her phone. “Are you texting someone?”
“Kirk. Just letting him know where we are.”
They’d only taken a few more steps when Tanya stopped again. “Can I have a water, Brian?”
“Already?” Sue asked. “We just got started, and, don’t forget, you have a bladder the size of a thimble.”
“Thanks for sharing that with everyone, Sue,” Tanya said with a frown. “It’s dusty down here, and the dust dries out my throat.”
“No worries.” Brian pulled off the backpack and took out a water bottle before handing it over to Tanya.
“Thanks,” Tanya said.
Ellen felt anxious. As slow as they were moving, it might take all night to get anywhere.
They walked on for another five minutes when Sue, who was in the lead, stopped again.
“What’s wrong?” Ellen asked, looking up from her map.
“The tunnel ends,” she said. “It doesn’t look like we can go this way, after all. I guess we’ll have to turn around.”
Ellen groaned. This wasn’t going as well as she had hoped.
“Maybe there’s a secret door.” Ellen felt along the concrete wall in front of them but found nothing unusual.
“This way,” Brian said to her left as he moved a piece of drywall to reveal another passageway.
“Good job, Brian,” Sue said. “I don’t know what we would have done if you weren’t here helping us.”
Brian laughed. “All I did was pick up a piece of drywall.”
“Now, don’t downplay your most important contribution so far,” Sue teased.
Ellen took the lead through the opening and noticed a door up ahead. It was a metal door and had a doorknob. She was surprised to find it unlocked. She pushed it open.
A row of file cabinets occupied the wall to her right. As she turned a corner, she passed a stack of metal chairs.
“I wonder where we are,” Tanya said from behind, still looking at her phone.
Sue consulted Google Maps. “It looks like we’re entering the basement of the Chinatown MAX Station.”
“Oh, I can hear the bus above us,” Tanya said. “Hear that?”
“Yes,” Ellen said. “We’re headed south, right Sue?”
“So far,” she said as they picked their way past a four-tiered metal shelving unit containing dozens of plastic storage containers. “Watch out for this cart, Brian and Tanya. I just bruised my knee on it. Ellen could do a better job up front by mentioning these things.”
“Sorry,” Ellen said.
They navigated through a narrow, crowded basement and then beneath a brick arched opening into what appeared to be a second basement. The only way out, other than the way in which they had entered, seemed up.
“There’s got to be another way,” Ellen grumbled.
“Over here,” Tanya called from behind.
Beside a rusty old file cabinet hung a curtain, which Tanya pulled aside, revealing another passageway.
Sue took the lead. “Good job, Tanya, though this seems to be taking us west instead of south.”
“I think that’s right,” Ellen said, consulting her hand-drawn map. “We’ll turn south again when we reach Fourth Avenue, I think.”
They hadn’t gotten very far when Brian said, “This looks familiar. Isn’t this one of the tunnels we toured with Michael P. Jones?”
“I think so!” Tanya said. “Yes! I remember that old chair in the corner.”
“According to Google Maps, we’re approaching the basement of Hobo’s Restaurant and Lounge,” Sue said. “So, yes.”
“It didn’t occur to me that we’d be trespassing through so many basements,” Ellen murmured. “I hope we don’t get into trouble.”
“I’d say we’re past the point of worrying about that,” Brian said with a laugh.
“Just act like you’re supposed to be here, like you know what you’re doing,” Sue suggested. “Maybe no one will question us if we carry an air of authority and confidence.”
“I’m not sure it works that way,” Tanya said.
“Not a good example of confidence, Tanya,” Sue said. “Maybe we should have left you behind.”
Tanya rolled her eyes.
Sue led them through the room where Michael P. Jones had shown them how a deadfall works, past the old opium den, past the display of old boots, through the narrow corridor, and past the set of wooden steps, which they had taken from the sidewalk outside of Hobo’s on the day of their tour.
“We’re crossing Third Avenue,” Sue reported. “Watch your head. This pipe is hanging fairly low.”
Sue stopped and turned back to Ellen, who nearly plowed into her. “That’s how you lead, Ellen. You warn people of things that might injure them.”
“Got it,” Ellen said. “How’s your knee?”
“Sore, but I’ll live.”
“Is that another door?” Ellen said of what was obviously a door---another gray metal one.
“Your powers of observation amaze me,” Sue teased as she reached for the knob. “It’s locked.”
“No way,” Ellen said, turning the knob only to find that Sue wasn’t kidding. Ellen jiggled the knob with frustration. “This can’t be how this journey ends.”
Ellen pulled on the door with all her might and fell back on her bottom when it suddenly gave and swung inward.
“You okay?” Brian asked her.
“Fine, but what is that?”
She peered through the door into what looked like a broiler room.
“This is the Portland Chinese Museum, I think,” Sue said.
Brian pointed. “Is that another door?”
“Looks like it,” Ellen said. “Come on.”
She led them past the loud, steaming pipes through a concrete chamber to another gray metal door. When it didn’t open, she unlocked it.
Another dark passageway loomed ahead.
“This way,” she said, entering the musty tunnel.
“Someone’s coming!” Tanya whispered loudly. “Run!”
Ellen and her friends rushed through the door and pulled it closed behind them before stumbling through the dark narrow tunnel as fast as they could go. Ellen’s heart raced as her feet shuffled along in the dark.
“Wait up!” Sue called from behind.
“Hurry up, Sue!” Tanya cried.
“You’ve gone too far,” Sue shouted back. “You missed the turn. We need to go this way.”
Ellen, Brian, and Tanya turned around and backtracked to Sue, who was panting and pointing to a hole in the wall.
“That’s the way we need to go,” she said. “That’s south, along Fourth Street.”
Ellen ducked beneath the brick arch and climbed through the opening. She could hear the faint sound of street noise overhead. According to her hand-drawn map, they needed to follow this tunnel for a mile before turning west again.
Her head hit against something hard, sending a sharp pain shooting across her scalp. “Ow!”
Brian touched her shoulder from behind. “What happened?”
She held her head for a moment. “Oh, gosh, that hurt. I hit my head.” Then she added, “Sue, Tanya, watch out for this low-hanging pipe up here. It’s the devil.”
“Sorry you had to learn how to lead the hard way,” Sue teased from behind. “Why don’t you put a cold water bottle on it, to help with the pain and swelling?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Brian said, slipping off the backpack.
“Well, I’ve never had one yet,” Sue said as she caught up to them.
“Let me see it,” Brian said to Ellen.
Ellen bent over, so Brian could see the top of her head.
“It’s bleeding a little,” he said, as he gently touched her hairline. “I wish I had a handkerchief.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Let’s keep going.”
Brian unzipped the backpack and handed her a water bottle. “Here.”
“Thanks.” She pressed the cool bottle against her head as she continued down the tunnel.
After a few more minutes of dodging the occasional cardboard box and piece of wood, Ellen came to a dead end.
“Just great,” she said, already tired of crouching in the dusty, dank underground. “This map says the tunnel continues. What do we do?”
“Can I take a look at it?” Brian reached out for the map.
Ellen passed it to him and began to feel around on the walls of the tunnel. Sue and Tanya did the same.
“There should be three different paths branching off of this,” Brian said. “Unless we’re no longer beneath Fourth Street.”
“Google Maps says we are,” Sue said. “Oh, look.”
Everyone turned in Sue’s direction. The light of their headlamps revealed a piece of cardboard leaning against an opening. Sue moved the cardboard, exposing a passageway.
“This turns west again,” Sue said, “but I don’t think we have a choice.”
“Hold on,” Tanya said from the other side of the tunnel. “Can someone help me move this iron grate?”
Brian returned the hand-drawn map to Ellen and then trekked a few paces back to Tanya. He grabbed one side of what was approximately a five-foot by five-foot dusty iron grate. Together, he and Tanya slid it to the side. It revealed a second passageway.
“That would take us east,” Ellen pointed out. “Which way should we go?”
“You’re the one with the Chinaman’s map,” Sue said.
Ellen studied the drawing. According to the map, this spot was where the passageways broke off into several directions, creating a true maze. She could see why Glenn had warned them that it was easy to get turned around in the Underground.
“The Ladd Carriage House is west of here,” Ellen said. “So, why don’t we try Sue’s tunnel, and see where it leads?”
“Sounds like as good a plan as any,” Brian said, taking the lead.
Less than a minute had passed when Sue said, “Oh, this is the right way. Fourth Avenue turns southwest for a bit. We’re still below it.”
