The Lost Treasure Map Series (31 page)

Most of the scenes that it had filmed
were empty, and usually powerful wind or snow movements, except for
good views, after James
’s
friends had left, of the
reporter.

Then a faint view of the back of someone
appeared, at night, shifting through the snow, going into the
vault, which Mortimer activated the infrared image of, to make
clearer.

All of them knew that it was the killer,
and, as it went fast forward, they waited in breathtaking silence
for him to reappear.

Then his figure, in a blur of dim light,
crept back out, like a deformed silhouette of a hunchback.

Chapter 56

The Source

Sounds from the shaft blared out into the
night, as they headed away to the top floor.

They only delayed their progress to glance
through the windows in the rooms, at the wildly falling snow.

It now was incredible that they had
not recognized it at the start
–
that the sounds were mainly coming through a
system of shafts.

“
So,
”
Bryson muttered nervously,
“
this is it: we
may finally find out what all this is about.
”

They increased their progress at the stairs,
while occasionally listening for the intruder.

Ghostly cries came from behind them,
mingling with the howling winds. Frequent currents of air coming
from places where it had penetrated into the castle.

“
We may find
something,
”
Mortimer sighed, looking tired.

The top floor was exceedingly dark, but,
instead of turning on the lights, Merton and Mortimer illuminated
their path with torches.

The sounds were inconceivable, and they
could not distinguish where they were coming from, or if they were
as loud as below.

There were a few demon-like wails coming
from somewhere in its blackness, as they approached the place.

It was astounding how far they had gone.

As they came to where the equipment was, it
became obvious that there was something wrong. There definitely was
not enough noise.

“
It must be coming from below
then,
”
Merton instantly explained, recognizing that they must have
made a mistake.

The other scientists went around checking
the equipment, to confirm it.

At the door, Bryson rested on a seat, and
took a good look at his new surroundings. He could not even recall
the room. The others had obviously keenly searched it.

“
We don
’t
understand this
...”
Merton spoke to him,
after he had finished checking the results that the scientists had
pointed out, on some of the equipment.
“
It has to be from
below!
”

“
Perhaps we
’re
doing this all
wrong!
”
Bryson replied.

Merton and Mortimer stopped what they were
doing.

They sat on the bed, and considered the
problem.

“
We could climb up the vent in the
room below?
” Mortimer
replied.

“
But it
will be virtually impossible to check it
properly
!”
Merton spoke first.

“
Do we have any more metal pegs with
the climbing equipment to do it?
”
Bryson asked, as he stood, and glared at the
expensive wallpaper.

“
No!
”

“
Then we
’ll
just have to put a hole in that
wall.
”

It was their only option!

“
There are some tools still at the
entrance to that hidden passage,
”
Merton announced, standing.

Merton went straight along the corridor to
it, and returned with a large hammer, chisel, and crowbar.

“
That
’s
strange,
”
Merton muttered, as he put them on
the bed.
“
That sheet of wood should have been covering
the entrance!
”

Bryson wondered how long it would take to
enter the shaft.

Merton and Mortimer immediately started work
on a stone that they had decided to remove.

It was further down the wall than the stones
that they had removed in the other rooms. And it would allow them
to obtain a better observation of beneath them, where they
suspected it manifested.

Bryson did not know what Merton and Mortimer
expected to find any more.

Was it really some sort of warp or
something? He had never encountered anything like it, to compare it
with.

But he continued searching for the source of
the phenomenon, by listening.

The source could well be invisible. But was
it possible for anything to fall into it?

He would not know what to do if he found
himself in it, or stuck at the other side, where it could trap
things for eternity, or to the end of the universe. Even though he
did not understand it, the source could be capable of trapping them
as entities, as forms of energy.

It could be flaw in reality causing time to
pass at an immensely slow rate, suspending whatever fell in it. But
why would he hear those things at the same time speed?

What was it doing there, trapped in a
shaft in a castle? Had someone hidden it there for some reason?
Perhaps it had trapped the relatives and friends of William Randall
in it, and he had hidden it there, expecting them to return
...

But it should be somewhere near the bottom,
so that if it collapsed they would not fall to the ground.

However, it might have moved
there
–
proving that it was capable of escaping from its
confines.

Bryson realized how tired he had become, and
that his imagination had gone haywire. He sat just listening now,
to Mortimer taking his turn at removing the stone, and then he
heard it shifting out of the wall. And Merton started to help.

He rested a little longer though.

Merton and Mortimer would be famous if they
found anything. They would be the only scientists to come up with
hard evidence of anything, as far as he knew.

Bryson recalled his dream, the night before,
and the vortex spinning about him.

He considered if he had received a
vision of inside it. And if it had been, it would be more complex
than he had so far imagined (and it might have connections to all
of space and time
–
with things appearing in it from throughout
all of creation).

But, seriously, it might have been hidden
away for many reasons.

“
It moved!
”
Merton called out, startling
him.

In one glance, he saw him gripping the metal
bar, wedged between the stones, and the stone coming out.

Could the source have an intelligence of its
own? They might have thought that it had been a type of god.

Bryson watched them force it sideways, and
pull it, trying to loosen it, and he attempted to help them.

But as they shoved it, the wall
crumbled away, under the intense pressure, and as it fell, two
heavy chunks of stone fell away behind the wall
–
plunging down the
shaft.

The noise of them crashing below was
tremendous, and everyone in the castle would have heard it.

Merton and Mortimer could only stare at each
other, occasionally seeing the dust cloud in the shaft slowly
shifting about, as though something might appear out of it, with
the fury that they had subjected there.

“
We
’d
better tell the police down there what
happened,
”
Merton announced, moving away from the large hole.

Though Merton and Mortimer left, he was too
keen to find out where the sounds were coming from to leave
immediately.

The dust soon cleared, and he put his head
into the shaft.

He had never realized how hard it was to
find the location of some sounds, with an invisible source.

Yet, as he thought about collecting the rope
from the room below, he recognized a shape just under him, at a
damaged area of the shaft wall, where the boulders had smashed
down, and he knew that it was an electrical cable, leading to where
the sounds were emerging.

Chapter 57

The killer

At the secret passage, going down to the
kitchen, Bryson heard scrambling movements and panic-stricken
voices. The police clearly believed that they were chasing the
killer, over to the vault.

He considered shouting that it was a false
alarm, but it was too late.

A blue light flashed over the roof, and he
went over to the window. It was worse than he had imagined. The
police were rushing about outside, and two of them were in one of
the cars, contacting the rest of the police force.

He hoped that Merton and Mortimer were
moving there fast enough to prevent things escalating any
further.

Then he realized that he might be able
to arrive there before them, as they had
walked
down the stairs. So he rushed down the
tunnel.

At the bottom, Inspector Bailey was talking
to Merton and Mortimer, as Bryson pushed his way into the
storeroom.

“
They
’re
chasing him!
”
Mortimer declared, staring
at him, across the dark kitchen storeroom.

“
They heard him rush into the tunnel
from somewhere,
”
Merton continued.

“
Those boulders crashing down the
shaft must have scared him.
”

“
We think that he went up through that
hidden tunnel to the entrance at the top,
”
Merton announced.
“
Because they
sabotaged two of the microphones on the second
floor!
”

“
That guy was sneaking around up
there!
”
Bryson gasped.

“
If he escapes, we may never have a
chance to capture him.
”

“
I
’m
going after him!
”
Bryson announced, checking his
watch, and noticing that little time had actually passed since the
boulders had crashed down the shaft.

He then swiftly led them into the tunnel,
going to the vault.

He surely did not have that much of a head
start. If they moved fast enough, they might catch him in the
wood.

The police in the tunnel might give up. He
was sure that they could catch him, especially after he recollected
that image of him moving slowly out of the vault! Though none of
his face features had been properly visible, he had seen how unfit
looking he had been (even though he was thin and light). He also
knew that the police would be looking for his car on the roads. Yet
he believed that he did not have a car, and that he used a
hideout.

It was snowing heavily, and it could cover
his trail in the wood. They had to be as fast as they could. This
would be their only chance to catch him!

As he heard the police, not far ahead of
them, he realized that they had not been through the tunnel before,
and they were going slow, trying to see what was ahead.

Bryson regulated his breathing, blowing out
steam, into the beam from the torch, and rushed on.

He started to recall where all the obstacles
were, as he kept his eyes on everything in front.

He felt surprisingly awake now, with no need
to sleep.

If things went well, he intended to increase
their pace further.

The police were going slowly, and they
allowed them to pass, almost not believing that they could capture
him, probably put off by the length of the tunnel. And, as they
continued, Bryson saw that they were following them, from just
behind Mortimer, at the back.

But Bryson realized that he was now at the
front, and that the killer could even be nearby. It was a hideous
thought! It could be anyone, and be more different from what he had
accepted, from what he had seen on the camera from the vault.

He definitely did not want to confront him
in the tunnel, as he would shoot him, and it was better to wait
until they were outside. Even in the vault!

His eyes stayed on the most distant part of
the tunnel, searching for him, waiting for him to take a shot at
them, or to attempt to ambush them.

When he recognized the steps, he sprinted
there.

And, as he approached them, he considered
all the options open to them. Yet he could easily be waiting for
them to climb out of the tunnel.

Bryson rushed up the stairs, and waited for
the others to appear, from behind him.

“
Well, what will we do
now?
”
Mortimer asked, panting.

“
We
’d
better have the police here, with their
guns. We don
’t
know what this guy could do!
”

Once the police moved to his side, he pushed
the slab up, expecting a heavy weight to stop him.

Bryson climbed out, almost in complete
darkness, without his torch being on, considering everything that
he was up against, attempting to observe every place.