A/N: thanks again for your wonderful reviews and your patience. I am going to be a good girl and not do any studying on Friday and Saturday, just to give myself a mental break and then it's back to the books on Sunday!

Chapter 37

As the group studied the wall, looking for any cracks or weaknesses, an elderly man emerged from the shadows near Nina, causing her to jump back in surprise.

"Sorry to scare you, ma'am," the ghost said politely, hands in the pockets of his overalls, "but are you trying to help the poor kids in there?"

Nina held up a hand, letting the men know they had another visitor. "And if I said 'yes', then what?"

"Then I think I can help you," the ghost said.

"Okay, I'm listening," Nina said.

"The yahoo who did this, he bribed my boss pretty heavily to let him dig into the earth and I watched as they sealed the doorway," the ghost said. "Boss said to leave 'em alone; they wanna die so much, ain't much we can do to about it."

"But you thought differently," Nina guessed.

"Dang right I did," the ghost said. "Figured I'd give 'em a few days and then bust 'em outta there."

"How come you didn't?" Nina asked.

"Ticker did a number on me," the ghost said, scowling.

Nina winced in sympathy. "Ouch."

The ghost continued. "Anyway, 'afore I died, I tucked a sledgehammer down here so the Transit Authority wouldn't catch me carryin' a tool with me an' bust me for it. It's still down here an' I reckon it's a dang sight bigger than your bitty hammer."

"Where is it?" Nina asked. He pointed to a ledge near the tracks. The ledge was roughly six feet up and, like the rest of the tunnel, shrouded in shadow. "We may have a bit of help," Nina explained to the group. She indicated Flack, who seemed a bit taller than Mac or Danny, and said, "You want to reach up there and see what you can find?"

"What am I looking for?" Flack asked, going over to the ledge. "Besides spiders and dust, that is."

"A heavy-duty sledgehammer, hidden here by an old-timer when Reverend Cameron sealed the door," Nina said. "He says the reverend bribed his boss big time to let them dig into the earth and watched as they sealed the door. He planned to go back a few days later and rescue the kids but his heart got to him first."

Flack carefully felt around the ledge and encountered what felt like a cloth-covered object. "Got something up here but I can't see what. Don't exactly want to pull it down and risk something cracking my head."

Nina managed to refrain herself from making a rather rude remark but she heard Danny snicker, earning himself a glare from Flack.

"You could always give me a leg-up and I'll have a look," Nina suggested.

"In that case, Danny..." Flack said. Danny came over and the two men laced their hands together for a foot-rest for Nina. She was lifted up to about waist-height, enabling her to see what was on the ledge easily enough.

"What did you do; eat the whole buffet for lunch?" Danny griped good-naturedly.

Reaching for the oil-cloth-covered object, Nina debated whether or not to kick Danny. Deciding it wouldn't be worth the ensuing accident, she settled for a glare. "Aiden was right about you," she said instead, grabbing the object and pulling it towards her.

"Oh?" Danny asked curiously.

"Yeah," Nina said as she hopped down, object in hand. "She said your mouth was bigger than your mind and if you weren't careful, you were going to find someone's foot in it."

Flack sniggered and Mac grinned. "That sounds like Aiden," Mac said.

"And we have one heavy-duty sledgehammer," Nina said, unwrapping the object. She stood well away from the men and took an experimental swing to make sure the head stayed on the handle; it did. "Who wants to do the honors?" she asked.

"I'll take first crack," Mac offered. "Then when I get tired, someone can take over."

"The problem we have is we don't know how thick the wall is," Danny said.

"I can answer that," the ghost said. "I saw 'em carting enough bricks for at least two, maybe three layers."

"Two, possibly three layers," Nina repeated. The men looked at her incredulously. She shrugged. "Hey, I'm just repeating what I was told."

As Mac attacked the wall, he admitted, "You said you were from Miami. I've been there; it's a nice city." He grunted as the sledgehammer hit home with a satisfying THUNK.

"It's home," Nina said. "How come you were in Miami?" she asked.

"Chasing after a murder named Henry Darius," Mac said, grunting again as he swung. This hit caused a fair portion of the wall to crumble inwards. Mac swung again and the hole opened wider. Taking a flashlight, he shined it inside the hole. "Yup, there's another wall," he reported. "If we can make this hole big enough, we can go after the next wall."

"There's another wall further down," Joe admitted, to which Nina relayed.

"Oh joy," Flack muttered.

"You didn't have to come along," Nina pointed out.

"'What? And miss all the excitement? Not a chance," Flack said.

"You think this is excitement? Wait until we actually get to where the kids and the parents are and we have to deal with Reverend Cameron," Nina said. "Something tells me he won't go gently into the light."

"The light?" Anna asked. "What's that?"

"The light, sweetie, is a wonderful place, or so I've been told. Others who've gone before you, they all describe it as being warm, peaceful, and happy," Nina said. "You'll see it when you're ready and when you do, don't be afraid of it; the light won't hurt you."

"Have you been there?" Joe asked.

"No," Nina said. "I can't see it either; only those who are ready to cross over can see it."

Because the tunnel entrance wasn't that big, it didn't take Mac long to get through it and clear it out enough to reach the next wall. After that, Danny took over and, just like the first wall, it didn't take long to get through. Nina lead the way, flashlight in hand, as the tunnel was only big enough for one person at a time. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to hunt a ghost we go," she muttered.

"Are you always this cheerful when you're doing this?" Flack asked, having heard the comment.

Nina just grinned. Flack was jumpy and it was starting to show in his voice; she could spot those kinds of people a mile away. Sure, they played big, tough, and 'You don't scare me' but dangle a rubber spider in front of them and they screamed like girls. She couldn't help but wonder, though, what was at the end of the tunnel and what she was walking into. Sure, she had a pretty good idea, but an idea and actually knowing were two different things. She reached up and rubbed her good luck charm, a gold Celtic cross decorated with semi-precious stones, for comfort and strength as she had a feeling she was going to need every bit of help she could get.