Chapter Twenty-four
Kari stared at the ceiling and walls around them. An earthquake shook everything. She looked for an opening in the rock, somewhere they could go. The dead-end wall was still a dead end. Hopefully not literally.
She whipped her head around to see the wall and ceiling from the turn in the path to where they stood disappear under tons of boulders and dirt. Bryon tackled her, keeping her away from the deadly pileup.
“What?” she yelled. “I can’t believe they would’ve answered no to that.” She pushed him off her and sprang to her feet. There was simply no way Nazi soldiers would’ve thought they’d lose the war. Maybe she’d interpreted it wrong. She grabbed the “no” rope and pulled. She wanted to see what would happen. Nothing? Was it a trick?
“Kari, don’t.” Bryon was airborne in a heartbeat, yanking her arm toward him as the ceiling above her gave way to more boulders. She screamed and ducked her head, landing on a soft body. Dust coated her throat and she coughed, her hand waving away the particles from her face.
“Those bastards cheated,” she said. “Both options were bad. Good thing they lost the damn war.” She stood in the small space between the second dump of rock and the dead-end wall and dusted her pants off. “Now what?”
The powder floating in the air swirled where there should be no breeze or movement. “Bryon?” she said.
He stood behind her and faced the wall. “I see it. Hold on a second.” He picked up the one torch that had survived the landslide and blew on the dying embers to reignite the flames. He held it in front of the wall and watched the smoke waft to the side. He handed the torch to her and put his hands on the wall. Bracing his feet against the floor, he shoved against one side.
The wall/door pivoted so quickly, the far side of the door whipped around and smacked him in the ass, throwing him into a new part of the tunnels. She almost peed her pants laughing so hard.
“I see now,” she started, “why both ropes were sabotaged. They didn’t have to solve it to make the door move. You just had to push it. Lightly.”
Bryon picked himself up off the floor and wiped his hands on his pants. “From your position, I can see this being funny. But not really from mine.” She laughed more and walked through the cleared doorway. She reached for his hand and continued forward.
“I hope this ends soon,” she said. “I’m so tired of this stupid tunnel. I want sunshine and fresh air.”
“Me, too, love. I’d really like a bed to take you in.” His brows slipped up and down. She laughed.
“Is that all you think about? Sex?” she teased.
He lifted her against the wall and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Until you pass out screaming my name, it is. You got a problem with that?”
“Not at all,” she said and kissed him.
Needing air, they parted, each panting. “We can do it right here on the floor,” she said.
“I don’t want to bruise your back or knees. It’ll have to wait until I can lick you from head to toe and eat your creamy center before making you come.”
Damn. She shivered from the image of that in her mind. Her legs unlocked from around him. “Let’s get going, then. Time’s a wastin’.” When he set her feet on the ground, she slapped his ass. “On your toes, soldier. Get me the hell outta here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He laughed, grabbing her hand. Despite the levity in their conversation, she knew he was careful of traps and surprises waiting for them. They turned a corner and were met with another dead-end wall. But this end sported designs different than any they’d seen. The rock was even different than the sidewalls. The ground was covered with dirt and sand. It looked much . . . newer.
Bryon held up the torch to the newest obstacle. From top to bottom, side to side, twelve circles lined up. “Well, damn,” she said, “yet another death-defying escape required. I’m so over this shit.”
Bryon’s brows drew down and his head tilted. “You hear that?”
She closed her eyes and focused on listening. “No. What is it?”
“Voices. I hear voices on the other side of the wall,” he said.
She lifted her arms into the air. “Hallelujah. It’s about freaking time.”
“We just need to solve this last riddle,” he said as he stepped back to see it all. “What do you think?”
She stared at the circles which all had straight lines zigzagging through them. As she gazed, her brain reproduced the images and mixed and matched them in her mind. When overlaying and turning the figures, a pattern slowly emerged.
It seemed to be a sequence in which each circle design built on the previous one by adding one more line. Various lines were here and there, but all circles had one path in common. The twelfth circle had three lines no others had sprouting from the previous circle’s line: one hooked left, one right, and the last pointed straight ahead. Obviously, they had to pick one of those. But which one? What was this diagram supposed to be?
“You know,” Bryon said, “if you rotate these, they all have matching lines.” He pointed to top left. “These three lines are identical to these three,” he pointed to the circle below it, “but this bottom one has one more length to it.”
Wow, she was impressed with him for recognizing that so quickly. Brawn and brains. She’d keep him. “You are correct, my dearest.” She pointed to a circle on the far right with a lot of lines. “This is the last one with these three lines being new to the circle.” She traced those lines for him. He nodded, brows down in concentration.
She thought the last three circles’ lines were like the path they’d taken since the food room: straight, left turn, straight, right turn, this dead-end wall. “Hold the phone,” she said. She knelt and drew a circle in dirt. She closed her eyes and visualized the path they’d taken since leaving the dungeon. Her finger mapped the lines in her mind into the sand, taking out the dead ends and blocked exits.
When finished, she stood back. Her diagram and the one on the wall matched, more or less. She never claimed to be an artist.
Bryon pointed to the last circle. “According to your drawing, this right turn is the correct choice.” He grinned. “Damn, woman. You are creepy smart.”
“Are you calling me creepy?” she asked, brows up to her hairline.
He put his arms around her and kissed her hair. “Yes, but you’re my creepy. Creepy is sexy.” His grin turned into a full-on smile with a twinkle in his eye.
She punched his chest. “Yeah, yeah. Come on, I want out of here.”
“All right,” he said, “we have the last line, but now what?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “The only thing I can see is to trace the correct path in the last circle, maybe?” Bryon stretched to the top left.
“This is the one.” Since she couldn’t begin to touch the diagram even standing on her toes, he gallantly took on that responsibility. He looked at the drawing on the floor. “Start here?” She nodded and guided him the rest of the way. When they came to the last line, he looked at her. She shrugged.
“Go for it,” she said.