Click – Brothers At Arms #5

Half way down the hallway, Memphis motioned to the wall in front of him.

The group all walked down to where he stood.

 A hand smear of blood stood out on the panel. Memphis reached out, pushed the panel, and found it open. The panel swung into the tunnel freely. He shook his head and muttered, “He must not have made sure it was shut all the way.” He lifted his gun and poked his head inside the wall. He found the inside was too dark to see anything. He looked back and yelled at his brother, “I need some light. I can’t see shit in here.”

Captain came up behind him with a flashlight. The single beam of light didn’t make a great deal of difference in the darkness surrounding them. Then Captain handed Memphis another light, this one lit up the shadows as the two men stepped into the darkness beyond the hall. Each step they took brought them deeper into the darkness.

Suddenly, Captain tripped over something on the ground. He put out his hand to avoid smacking the wall hard. With a growl, he swung his flashlight down at the floor and found a bloody knife. He squatted down while tearing off a piece of his t-shirt. He picked up the knife carefully then looked up at Memphis and nodded.

Memphis stared at the knife then looked ahead of them and nodded. “Well, at least we know he came this way.” He grunted.

“Yeah, but where does this fucking tunnel come out at?” Captain growled. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“This whole fucking house is ridiculous, Cap. It’s nothing more than a god damned carnival funhouse.”

Captain nodded. “Yeah that’s no lie, but we’re slowly finding out our way around the roller coaster part.”

Memphis brought his finger up to his lips when he heard a sound from down the tunnel.

Captain heard the same sound, so he shut his light off and tightened his grip on his weapon.

After a moment, both men moved forward slowly. They couldn’t make themselves targets by using the light. Just ahead of where they were, the tunnel opened to another room. As they reached the opening in the tunnel, they could see Barrett was there.

Barrett had a lamp lit to check out the damage Desi had done to him when she shot him. A couple of boxes could be seen as well as the camping light he was using. He had obviously been staying here for a while or someone had been. “I can’t believe that crazy bitch shot me,” Barrett grumbled as he pushed up his sleeve to see the wound bleeding along his arm.

Memphis and Captain stayed in the shadows and listened.

 Barrett kept ranting to himself, “What I’d really like to know is why Rosie kept her a secret all these years? How the fuck did she do that? It’s too bad, she had a girl though. What the fuck am I supposed to do with another girl? Now another son I could have used. My first three sons couldn’t even keep their own asses wiped right and now they can’t do a damn thing for me. He swiped the blood from his arm with some old piece of cloth. “Well, I won’t be here much longer and before I go, I’m gonna set fire to this old house and watch it burn to the ground.”

Memphis and Captain glanced at each other then looked back at him.

 “Only they won’t see the fire coming until it’s too late to stop it. These fucking tunnels will come in handy to start the fire in and the airholes grandpa put in will feed the fire and make it grow. Those dummy bikers won’t know where the smoke and flames are coming from. By the time they figure it out, the whole place will be fucking toast.” Barrett leaned his head back and laughed. “I may lose what grandpa put aside for me but I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing they can’t get their hands on it either. I’ll just have to work harder to make it up. I just gotta wait three more days. My men will be here. Then I’ll get the money and get as far away from this fucked up place as I can.” Then he peered down at his arm again. The bleeding was slowing down and he grunted at that. “And fuck you too, grandpa. You told us nothing but lies about this place. I fucking hope Leon chokes on the money and gold he’s found already.”

Memphis glanced over at Captain and shook his head. Then they looked at Barrett again.

He had laid his head against the wall and his eyes were closed now. He had set his weapon down on the box he was sitting on.

Just then, they all heard a sound echoing through the tunnel.

Barrett snarled and doused the light.

Memphis and Captain heard the sounds of his footsteps, rushing away from the room. They turned around to face whoever was coming toward them. It didn’t take too long before they saw several lights coming from the clubhouse.

When the lights found them, Memphis saw Zeus and several other brothers coming their way. He growled as the sound echoed and carried in the tunnel. “Well, he was here until he heard you guys coming.”

“Did you see him?’ Zeus wanted to know.

Memphis nodded, “Yeah we saw him. We heard him too. He knows Desi shot him but he couldn’t believe it. He also knows she’s his kid. He was raving and ranting to himself like he was insane.”

“The man is insane,” Captain added. “He also can’t believe she shot him. He’s also got plans for her and the rest of us. His men are coming in three days but he’s got plans to get his loot tomorrow morning then starting a fire underground and burning the clubhouse to the ground. He figures the fire will burn faster from below because of the air holes his grandpa put in.”

Zeus snapped his head up to stare at Captain. “Airholes? What fucking airholes?”

Grave Digger shook his head, “Well he’d have to have air holes in these tunnels wouldn’t he? He’d have to have a way to get fresh air down here. With the tunnels stretching for miles, he would need a way to breathe down here.”

Zeus glanced around and then peered up at the ceiling. He flashed his light along the ceiling and found an air hole not far from where they all stood. “Well fuck, why didn’t we know about these air holes before?”

Memphis shrugged. “Maybe because we didn’t think about them before now? I don’t know. But he’s got plans to use them to keep the fire going and burn us out alive.”

“The hell he will.” Zeus growled.

“Unless we know where he’s hiding, there isn’t a fuck-of-alot we can do to stop him.” Captain shook his head.

Zeus snarled, “He isn’t going to burn us out. We got his sons in our cells. He wouldn’t dare.”

Memphis glared at him. “Oh yeah, he would dare, brother. His sons failed him and now he’s got no more use for them or his daughters. He would dare because the only one who matters to Barrett is Barrett himself, just like Delaney said. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself.”

Grave Digger sighed. “Then we have to find a way to make him care, don’t we?”

Zeus turned to stare at their doctor. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? How can we make a man like Barrett Raggetti care about anyone but himself?”

Grave Digger shrugged. “Hell I don’t know, but there must be something we can use to lure him to come in.”

“The only thing he wants from here is his own treasure,” Captain recalled. “I think he knows the rest of what his grandpa left for him is gone.”

Zeus curled his lip into a sneer. “Then let’s get our hands on his treasure and maybe he’ll come out of hiding to try and claim that.”

“Only problem is we aren’t sure where his treasure is,” Grave Digger pointed out.

“At this point, I could give a fuck. It looks like we’re going to be busy all fucking night long now.” Zeus growled. “And we know where to start first, don’t we?”

“And the threat of fire?” Memphis asked. “What the fuck are we going to do about that?”

Zeus growled low as he turned around and walked away, back into the shadows.

One by one, the rest of the men joined him, leaving Memphis and Captain behind.

 “Well shit, brother.” Captain shook his head.

Memphis nodded. “Zeus is more than pissed now and Barrett is about to have his ass handed to him. He won’t know what hit him by the time Zeus gets done with him. Barrett thinks he’s tough? Wait until he goes head to head with my brother. He very seldom reaches this stage but I remember one other time. We were just ambushed in the desert and we thought we lost everything. The men called it Zeus using his lightning rod and by god, he brought us all home. We might have been all shot to hell but he didn’t leave one of us behind to save his own ass either.”

“Is that where he got his road name?” Captain asked. “I’ve heard that story before. Way I heard it was he rode that lightning rod straight through the enemy camp and just annihilated everything that stood between him and the exit.”

Memphis nodded. “Yeah, and it was a fucking lightning rod if I ever saw one. We went to the arming supply center and Zeus had us haul out a fucking missile, a ground to air. Took 6 of us to carry it and he had us place it onto the roof of a Humvee. The supply men tried to stop him and he punched one of them out.” He laughed. “The other one just stepped back and let him have whatever he wanted. We hooked it up, and he surprised not only his own men but the enemy as well. They never thought he’d do it.”

“Better hold onto your horses then, cuz I got a feeling he’s gonna pound Barrett’s ass right into the ground and I want to be there when he does.” Captain grinned. He slapped Memphis on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go brother, this I gotta see.”

Memphis led the way back to the clubhouse.

By the time they got back, Zeus was giving orders.

Marty and the other women stood near the kitchen door and listened to Zeus and the others giving orders. Marty looked over at Lindy and nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Lindy shrugged. “I’m always there with you, cousin.”

Marty pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning against and walked over to Zeus. “Honey, can I make a suggestion here?”

Zeus turned to glare at her. “Maybe now is not the right time, babe.”

“Oh, I think now is exactly the right time, darlin.”

Her voice took on an edge that caught Zeus’ attention. He looked over at Leon.

The man nodded his head.

 Zeus looked impatient but he folded his arms across his chest and said, “Speak to me then.”

“I’ve been listening to your plans and while they are great, you seem to be forgetting something here.”

Zeus paused and dropped his arms down. “And just what am I forgetting here?” he demanded.

“Barrett has free access to this place through the tunnels. He’s probably been here a hundred times and he knows his way around through those tunnels, correct?” she asked.

Zeus nodded. “Probably.”

“So what do you suggest we do about that, my dear?” Leon asked.

“One of the companies we have is working with a foam that hardens into almost concrete when it dries,” she explained. “What if we closed down his access to the tunnels with the foam? He wouldn’t be able to get to where he needs to be if there’s a wall in his way. He and the boys found out the hard way that you can’t blow up a barrier in a closed space without blowing your own damnself up with it.”

“How does this stuff work?” Grave Digger asked.

“The spray is in a canister the guys wear on their backs,” Marty explained. “They spray it out in a foam-like substance and once it hardens it’s like cement. If they were to make their ways through the tunnels, they could close off one section at a time. They would close off his access to the tunnel and eventually to the house. He’ll be caught outside the gates with no access.”

Lindy now spoke up, “And that will give you more time to find his treasure.” She air quoted the word.

“We don’t have a whole lot of time here, sweetheart.” Zeus stared at Marty as he ran his hand over the back of his head. “In fact, time is real short right now. He could be anywhere, including right under our feet.”

“Then it’s a good thing this plant is really close isn’t it?” Marty grinned at him. “I may live in Montana but I have business interests all over the states. They can be here in about two hours and I’m willing to bet they can start closing off the tunnel system before the sun comes up, if you’ll let them.’

Leon stared at her. “Martine, will the wonder of you never cease?” He nodded then looked over at Zeus. “What do you have to lose?”

Zeus growled then nodded. “Make the call.”