After about an hour of walking, the sounds of coqui frogs filled the otherwise eerie silence of the tunnel. Emerson looked up to see a skylight just ahead and about eight feet above them. He got a boost from Vernon and hoisted himself out of the hole in the ceiling.
“Nothing but more trees and ferns,” he called back into the hole. “I’m going to check with the helicopter.”
Alani looked at her watch. “I’m not feeling good about this,” she said to Vernon and Wayan Bagus. “It’s taking us too long. It’s three A.M. Riley is at the mercy of these psychopaths. We have no idea if she’s even alive. And if she is alive, heaven knows what they could be doing to her.”
“I know what you mean,” Vernon said. “My unagi is acting up. I’m feeling all tingly. That’s either a sign of a naked woman nearby or some kind of danger. And I don’t see no naked women. Although now that I think about it the tingling is pretty strong, so it could be some naked woman is in danger. I sure hope it isn’t Riley.”
“Silence is a great source of st
rength,” Wayan Bagus said to Vernon.
Emerson dropped back into the tunnel. “We’re close,” he said. “We’re walking in the right direction. Mr. Yakomura can’t circle overhead much longer without refueling so we’re on our own for a while.”
“I don’t like that,” Vernon said. “That feels real insecure being that my unagi is giving me a stomach cramp. There’s something bad happening up ahead. I know it for sure.”
“What’s with this unagi thing?” Alani asked Emerson. “Didn’t I see that on an episode of Friends?”
“Wait a minute,” Vernon said to Emerson. “You told me I had unagi. I mean, I got it, right? It’s not like the time Tom Hanks brought you the sculpture, is it? I never bought into that one.”
“As you believe, so will you be,” Emerson said, once again leading the way into the black tunnel.
“So what’s wrong with me if it’s not unagi?” Vernon said.
“Maybe you need a bathroom,” Alani suggested.
“It’s not the same thing,” Vernon said. “I’m all in a knot. It’s like in Star Wars when you hear the Darth Vader music and your heart gets real tight, like it’s squished into a little nugget.”
“My heart feels like that too,” Alani said. “I’m worried about Riley.”
Emerson stopped and held up his hand. “This is interesting,” he said. “We’ve come to a brick wall.”
Everyone sidled up next to Emerson and stared at the wall.
“Here’s something you don’t see all the time,” Alani said. “Not many brick walls in lava tubes.”
“I reckon we’re at a dead end,” Vernon said. “I guess the only choice is to go back to that skylight we passed a mile or so back and search aboveground.”
“It’s precisely because somebody has taken the trouble to erect a brick wall that it’s imperative we find a way through,” Emerson said.
Vernon waved his hands at the sealed tunnel. “It’s a brick wall. How the Sam Hill are we going to do that? You got explosives in your pack?”
“No explosives,” Emerson said. “I have a Swiss Army knife and a spoon.”
“There goes my unagi again,” Vernon said. “Now I got a cramp in my ass. I’m telling you something is wrong.”
“I hear a noise,” Wayan Bagus said. “It sounds like a machine.”
Everyone stood still, holding their breath, listening.
BANG! An object crashed into the other side of the brick wall, and everyone instinctively jumped back. The wall vibrated slightly, and some brick dust sifted down.
“I told you something bad was happening,” Vernon said. “They’re coming to get us.”
BANG! Another thunderous crash and a forklift exploded through the wall, sending bricks flying, raising a tremendous dust cloud. The forklift stopped short once it had demolished the wall, and Riley leaned forward in the driver’s seat, mouth open, eyes wide.
“Crap on a cracker,” Riley said. “I had no idea you guys were out here. I almost ran you over!”
“Holy cow,” Vernon said. “Holy guacamole.”