Disclaimer and beta thanks in part 1.
Hey, it's another short, action-filled chapter that ends in a cliffhanger! (Before you scream too loudly, it's the last one like that, I promise; we're almost at the end.)
Thanks again for your reviews!
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Chapter 10Friday, March 25, 2005
Don pounded up a switchback, straining his eyes to see the mud-covered road in front of him. The ground leveled off, and he sprinted on as the first of the red-tiled houses came into view.
In the moonlight, he could see fresh tire tracks in front of one of the nearly-finished houses, nestled against the steep hillside. He ran up to the front door, trying to catch his breath. "Charlie?" he yelled.
Faintly through the door, he heard, "Don? Don, be careful!"
"It's all right, I'm going to get you out of there." He slowly opened the front door, then nearly choked on the smell that greeted him. "Charlie, where are you?"
"In here," he heard off to his right. "He tied me up to the wall studs, and I can't get loose. Don, there's gas everywhere, and there's a timer set to go off in five minutes." The fear in his brother's voice was as thick as the scent of gas.
"All right. I'm going to take my shoes off so I don't set off a spark." He did so, laying his gun and car keys down on top of them. No sense in carrying around metal that could brush against something. "I'm coming in, Charlie. Stay calm, okay?"
"Okay," came the quiet response.
Don entered the dark house, not daring to feel his way in case he released static electricity by touching the wall. Across the main room he saw a dark shape huddled close the floor, against the wall. "Charlie."
He carefully made his way along the wood floor, stopping first at the timer on the wall. It wasn't an explosive device, but when the clock ran down, the two pieces of metal would come into contact and create a spark. Based on what his nose was telling him, that would probably be enough to send this house sky-high. After a few seconds, he realized he wasn't going to be able to disable it, and he was afraid to try and untangle the metal wires to remove it. Okay, that meant he had 3 minutes and 45 seconds to work with. He could do that.
"Don?" The quaver had deepened a little.
"I can't do anything about the timer, Charlie. But I can untie you and get us out of here, okay?" He saw his brother's head nod, and he made his way across the room to him. "You okay?"
"I will be once we're out of here." The moonlight coming in the front window was enough to illuminate Charlie's face, and the look of trust there amazed him. After all the crap they'd given each other this week, he still had absolute faith in him. He just hoped it was justified.
"All right, buddy. Hang on."
Don untied the ropes by feel, working as quickly as he dared. As the ropes came free, he cautioned Charlie against moving too quickly. Charlie obeyed, bringing his hands up and flexing his wrists, but not moving away from the wall.
Don cast a nervous glance at the timer. 2:30. "All right, let's go," he said calmly.
The brothers made their way across the room, stepping slowly and deliberately. Don was fighting the urge to run like hell as he watched the timer count down, and he could tell Charlie was doing the same. By the time they got to the foyer and the clock was out of sight, it had ticked down to 1:45. Don knew that wasn't enough time to get back down to the car, and he realized that might not be the safest place, anyway. "He's planning on bringing down the rest of the hillside, isn't he?"
Charlie nodded, offering him his shoulder for support as he shoved his feet back into his shoes. "I don't know where to go, Don. If we run for higher ground, the higher ground might start sliding when the house goes. If run down the street, we're putting ourselves below the existing slide, which might get set off again. If we -- "
He cut him off with a hand on his arm. "Calm down. You've gone over those geotechnical reports with a fine-tooth comb. There must be something that can help us. But we need to get out of here, now."
He nodded absently, staring out over the half-finished houses. Don grabbed his arm to start pulling him along, but he resisted. "Charlie! Come on, move it, would you? We've got less than a minute."
"I'm trying to picture…" his voice trailed off, and then he pointed. "There. The house below this one and over one. It's built on bedrock. The buyer was paranoid about mudslides and wanted extra-deep pilings. It'll withstand the hill collapsing."
Don looked him in the eye. "You're sure?"
Charlie gave a helpless shrug. "We don't have much choice, do we?"
"Come on, let's go!" And they took off down the hillside, slipping a little on the moist ground, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the house before the timer went off.
Don was counting down the seconds in his head, adding in a few just to be safe. By the time they reached the back door to the house, he figured they had less than thirty seconds left. He tugged on the doorknob, but it was locked. Damn it!
There was a set of glass French doors next to the back door, overlooking the level backyard and the hillside rising behind. Don eyed the doors, a plan forming. "Once the explosion happens, how much time do we have before the landslide?"
Charlie's gaze shifted over Don's shoulder as he calculated. "Depending on how unstable the slope is…between thirty and ninety seconds."
"Good. Now come on." He yanked on Charlie's arm and pulled him around to the front of the house. The front door was locked, too, but that didn't matter. All they had to do was wait a few seconds…
BOOM!
The explosion ripped into the night, sending shards of wood and glass flying. From their protected spot on the lee side of the house, they could see material rocketing into the air. The crash of glass from behind them told Don that their entry into the house was now clear. Sure enough, as the dust settled and they picked their way to the back of the building, they saw the French doors had splintered under the force of the debris that had come crashing into them.
Don felt Charlie pause behind him. He turned to see his brother staring up the hill at the smoldering ruin that stood where they had been just minutes before. The flickering flames reflected off Charlie's pale face.
"Hey, are you all right?"
Charlie shook his head as if to clear it. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Then come on. We're not out of the woods yet."
As Don spoke those words, he felt a low rumbling coming from the ground. Looking uphill, he could just make out by the light of the moon the hillside above the house where Charlie had been imprisoned.
And the entire hillside was moving.