Haitian Gold Page 9

  One at a time, we ran across the clearing to the shelter of the wall. Pierre had picked a spot near an inside corner of the battlement where it was almost impossible to be seen from above.

  We were at the wall now and Pierre started counting stones. Each block was roughly two feet long and we were halfway down the wall when he stopped and counted six high. With the handle of his dagger he started to work at the stone but nothing happened. Each chip at the mortar echoed into the night, and I stared up at the walls for any sign that we were heard.

  Finally the block moved and he called us to help lift the stone down. Immediately air shot out of the void and I knew we had found the passage. The stones around it moved easily and I could see the uncured mortar flake away when we moved them. Two more stones came free and we were able to squeeze through the opening.

  The passage was narrow with a low ceiling that forced us to walk hunched over. It was dark. With our hands against the rough-cut walls, we moved deeper into the building. The air grew colder as we descended and I almost fell against Rhames when we hit a series of stone steps. We stopped and waited while Pierre struck his flint and lit a branch wrapped with cloth that he had brought with him. It ignited, but from its sputtering light, I could tell there was not much air in the shaft. In the dim light I could barely see Pierre running his hands along the wall at the bottom of the last step. It looked like a dead end.

  He turned to me, confused, and shrugged.

  I squeezed ahead of Rhames and felt the wall. With the tip of my dagger I explored the crevices between the stones. The mortar was hard and cured throughout, not at all like the passage in the exterior wall.

  “Let me see the plan,” I said and took the paper from Pierre.

  The group backed up slightly to allow us some space to unfold the parchment. I oriented it to our present situation and stared at the lines, waiting for the answer to present itself. It didn’t and I turned away and stepped down the last step to the wall. I tried another stone and my dagger caught on something hard and stuck. The blade dropped and I bent down to pick it up. Just as I was about to rise, I saw a sliver of light from the adjacent wall.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I picked up the dagger and started to pry the block out. It was larger than the ones outside and I felt the blade start to bend, but before it broke, the stone began to slide. Rhames joined me on the ground and we worked together, using a back-and-forth motion to free the stone.

  I smelled the smoke of a cheroot just as the block moved free and knew something was wrong. Suddenly the entire chamber shuddered and something crashed above us. It was dark now and I suspected that we had triggered a booby trap.

  “Why don’t you come in and join us?”

  The French accented voice came from the next chamber. We looked at each other, not knowing what to do. The opening was barely large enough for one man to fit through and he would be helpless, having to enter by crawling on his belly.

  “Jean-Jean,” Pierre whispered and extended his hand to Rhames. “Pistol.”

  Without a better idea, I nodded to Rhames, who handed him his flintlock weapon and stepped aside. Pierre got on his hands and knees, trying to see through the opening.

  “Come, my old friend. I see you there,” the man said.

  Pierre reached an arm in and cocked the pistol.

  “Wait,” I called to him. “Quiet.” I could hear something from above.

  “It’s water,” Rhames said.

  Just as he said it a torrent of water entered the chamber. It didn’t take me long to figure out from the accumulation already at my feet that despite the size of the opening we could easily drown.

  “Hurry! Through the hole.”

  The water was getting deeper as I urged the men through the small opening. Pierre was first and with the gun extended in front of him, he entered the adjacent chamber. The water was well above the opening when Rhames disappeared, leaving me alone in the chamber. The level was almost to my head when I took a deep breath and dropped into the flooded chamber. My eyes were open, but it was so dark that I couldn’t tell. With my hands fanned out in front of me, I searched for the opening. My breath was almost gone when I found it and pulled myself through, gasping for air as I stood. Blinking the water out of my eyes, I saw the other men were already on their feet with their hands in the air. Two men moved behind me and slid the stone back into place.

  A tall skinny man with his hair groomed to cover his ears stood in front of us with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. Surrounding him were half a dozen uniformed men with rifles trained on us.

  Two of the men came behind us, collected our weapons and knocked us to our knees, where our hands were bound behind our backs.

  The leader slapped Pierre across the face. “You arrogant slave,” the man said in French and then turned to us and repeated it in English. “You may have hid the plan, but it was I who put the workers to death after the chamber was completed—but not before they told me its secrets.” He started pacing the room, his boots echoing off the stone walls with every step. He was about to turn away, but faced Pierre again. “So this is how you did it.” He pulled the doll from his neck and stuffed it in his pocket.

  I wondered how the women and Blue had fared above, hoping the general had focused all his resources on us. Slowly, I looked around the chamber, lit by several oil lamps. It was empty. Whatever treasure had once been here was no longer. The stone walls were damp from the moisture of the soil around them and there was one steel door barring the entry. From all indications, the room had never been used.

  “It is a shame, my old friend,” the general started. “Your life has been wasted. First as a dog to the king, then a slave, and now you stand before me, clearly not knowing where the gold is hidden. That was the only reason I have kept you alive this long.” He barked a command to the men, who followed him out of the room.

  The door slammed and seconds later the lock turned. We were trapped in the room and I searched for anything that might cut our ties. “There is nothing of use in here,” I said. It sounded like the water had stopped and Rhames helped me claw the stone from the opening. Water poured in, but quickly drained through a slot in the floor. I crawled back through the opening into the wet passage. Our torch was soaked and of no use. The corridor was pitch black, forcing me to climb the stairs hands first. At least the water had stopped, making it possible to reach the entrance.

  Water still dripped from the ceiling but it appeared that the reservoir it came from had emptied. I turned my back to the opening to use my hands and was surprised when they brushed against steel. I moved them from side to side and up and down, but found nothing but the rough metal that wasn’t there when we entered.

  In my head I saw the device, realizing that once the loose stone was removed, the steel plate, which had helped contain the water, dropped, sealing the entrance and releasing the water. If we were to escape it would have to be through the Citadel. Defeated, I climbed back down and slid into the chamber, where I sat against the damp wall.

  Several hours later we were awakened by a sound. The room was black. So dark that I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or closed. My legs were stiff and I had to use the cracks in the block to inch my way up the wall. Just as I reached my feet, the door banged open and I could hear men entering the chamber. The light was blinding and it took a minute for my eyes to adjust before I saw the tall man standing in front of me.

  “You are the captain of ships?” he asked in English.

  He was looking right at me. I wondered where he had gotten the information and was about to deny it when Shayla was pushed into the room and thrown to the floor. My stomach sank when I saw her condition: her clothes torn and face bloody. I knew in that moment that I would do anything for her safety and somehow get revenge for what he had done to her. Pierre stepped forward to confront the man, but with a practiced move, he drew his pistol and held it to Shayla’s head. My heart tightened in my chest and I tensed as if to move forw
ard. Rhames sensed my anxiety and brushed against me, whispering that this was not the time.

  “The woman tells me that you have some apparatus to dive underwater as well,” he said.

  “Yes,” I said. If nothing else I needed to soothe him enough for him to lower the weapon.

  “Very well, then. You have saved your lives—at least for now.” He left the room, the men following behind him, the last one slamming the door.

  I screamed for them to send food and water, but the door had already closed. I looked over at Shayla. “Are you all right? I swear I’ll get revenge on that bastard.”

  She crawled to me and I dropped to the floor, letting her head rest on my shoulder. She placed her arms around me and I pulled her close, oblivious to our condition until Rhames broke the silence.

  “Her hands?”

  I looked up but did not understand.

  “You lovestruck fool. They are not tied. Now save that for later and let’s figure a way out of this mess,” he said.

  I pulled away and looked at her. We had just caught our first break.

  “Untie us,” I asked her. She fought with the knots in the dark, apologizing when she had to dig her nails deep into my wrists before the tie came loose. I shook out my hands and wanted nothing more than to hug her, but we had more pressing matters. Several minutes later we had the others free.

  “I’m sorry. We got caught in the kitchens and they took us to the general. I didn’t want to tell him anything.” She started weeping.

  I hugged her now and quietly reassured her that she had done nothing wrong. When I could feel her breathing even out, I asked again about Lucy and Blue.

  “We split up in the kitchens. As far as I know they were not captured.”

  That did not surprise me and it gave me a glimmer of hope. Blue would know Shayla had been caught and would have followed. As if on cue, I heard scratching at the door and silenced the group. I put my ear against the steel and jumped back when the door vibrated, followed by a muted explosion. The door opened and Blue stood in the clearing smoke, waving us on. “Hurry, they must have heard the boom.”

  I was last from the room, looking back in the dull light to make sure everyone was out, and followed them up the narrow stairwell. At the top, Blue raised his hand to halt the group and we listened over our beating hearts for any sign of pursuit. He decided we were in the clear and he slowly opened the door and signaled us it was safe to proceed with a finger to his lips.

  We emerged in a dark passage and moved toward a sharp bend. Blue went around first and waved us on. I had no idea where we were in the fortress, but my mouth watered when I again smelled food. Another turn and we entered the kitchen. There were several people working, but from the low light and lack of activity I assumed it was deep into the night now. A basket of bread caught my eye and I reached for it, handing a loaf to everyone. We stayed low, moving through the kitchen, passing through unnoticed and entered another corridor with huge storerooms on either side, eating the loaves as we went. Pierre had told me the history of the building. Henri, in his paranoia, had built in provisions for enough water and food to be stored to last five thousand people a year, and looking into the cavernous rooms, I could believe it.

  Finally we reached a gate and I could smell the night air. Rhames went first and whispered back that it was locked. I shook the lock in frustration and was about to ask Pierre if there was another way out. My first thought was that they locked the gates during the night, which might have been accurate, except in this case it was a trap.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The echoes of the rifles and ricochets of bullets off the stone walls of the corridor made it hard to judge the force against us, but I knew there was no way out except for the gate. Smoke from the guns obscured us. I thought we were safe until I heard an order in French and the firing stopped. My ears rung from the noise, but I could still hear the sounds of boots coming toward us. The smoke still hung in the air, acting as a shield. I didn’t expect them to attack until they could see us.

  Rhames hurled himself against the steel gate to no avail and we waited in silence for the men to approach. “Is there no other way?” I asked Pierre but got no reply. The smoke was just a haze now and we had only seconds. With nothing to lose I ran my hand around the stone joints surrounding the door. It was a habit of Gasparilla to secrete a key near any locked door as he was forever misplacing his. I thought the attempt futile and prepared for the worst when my finger hit something. The sound of metal on stone echoed through the quiet corridor when the key hit the floor.

  Rhames and I bumped heads in our rush to retrieve it. It landed in my hand and I reached up for the lock. The key missed on my first try, but on my second, just as I heard the order to fire, it slid into the lock. I turned key, pushing the door at the same time, and we landed in a pile, with bullets flying over our heads. Pierre took the lead and Rhames the rear as we ran down the road. I grabbed Shayla’s hand. “Run!”

  Shots fired again. We ran on, but with each volley, I could tell they were getting closer. We were starting to slow and I was out of breath. With my last burst, I released Shayla’s hand and ran to the front, where I caught up with Pierre and motioned him off the road.

  “Our only chance is to lose them in the brush,” I said.

  He nodded and veered to the left just as another round of shots hit the rocks right behind us. We were in the brush now. I waited for Shayla and Lucy, who trailed about ten yards back, and pushed the women in front of me, urging them on. Blue was last and I asked him to cover our rear.

  I was looking behind me instead of in front, worried about the pursuit, when I failed to see the group had stopped and I ran into Rhames. We both fell and I felt his hand around my mouth. Huddled together in the scrub by a large tree, we waited for the men to pass. They would quickly figure out we had left the road, but those precious minutes could buy our freedom.

  Blue appeared at our rear. “Last man go,” he whispered.

  Slowly we started down the slope of the hill. We worked as quietly as possible, collecting scrapes and bruises as we stumbled on unseen roots and rocks. I was starting to get a good feeling about things when a bullet hit the tree by my head.

  “They’ve found us!” I yelled the obvious. Speed was more important than stealth now. We started to run, hearing voices behind us. Every few seconds a shot could be heard, but the branches obscured us, giving them nothing to aim at. Suddenly the group stopped as one and we found ourselves on the edge of a rock outcropping.

  The ravine was spread before us in the moonlight and I scanned the area for any escape. We were on a tongue of rock, projecting several feet from the cliff behind us and totally exposed. “Down,” I whispered. The best we could do was to lower our profiles and hopefully blend into the rock.

  An order was barked, breaking the momentary silence, and I clearly heard the simultaneous sound of muskets cocking. The sky lit behind us when the flints struck the primer pans and lead hit all around us. Red called out beside me and I looked over at him. Blood streamed from his arm where a bullet had caught him. Fortunately he was the only one injured.

  With only seconds before they reloaded and fired again, I slid back toward our attackers, looking for a way out. Crawling on my belly, I pulled myself off the outcropping and back onto the dirt at the top of the cliff. I looked over the edge but found it too high to jump. I slid further to the left and just ahead I saw the tip of the rock and what looked like a dirt chute just past it. I whispered back to the group to follow my lead.

  “Come on!” I called over my shoulder. There was no need for subterfuge now. I reached the chute and peered down the path, which looked like it had been carved out by the runoff from the storm. It gleamed in the low light, still wet from the melting snow following its course. One by one the group reached me. Shots fired again, but they were sporadic. We were flat on the ground and they hadn’t located us yet.

  “Go.” I tapped Rhames on the shoulder. “We’ll be right beh
ind you.” More shots fired, this time closer to our position.

  “Bloody right you will,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and placing his feet into the slick mud.

  I feared they would have their aim by the next round and pushed him forward, calling for Red and Swift to go next. The three men slid off the cliff. The women went next and then Blue. I took one last look behind me and saw the primer pans flash before pushing myself off.

  My stomach dropped immediately and I felt like I was falling through the air until I hit the first bush. One of the branches caught my arm and spun me around. I was sliding backwards now and could see the men leaning over the edge of the cliff above me. They fired down, but we were already out of range.

  I spun again after striking something hard and lost the feeling in one leg. The rock had slowed me enough to get my bearings and I sought out the rest of the group. Ahead of me I could see them all several feet apart, still sliding down the steep slope. I was able to use my feet to steer and soon found myself at the bottom of the ravine.

  We stood slowly, each of us checking for wounds. Lucy was already by Red, wrapping a strip of fabric she had torn from her muddy skirt around his arm.

  “You all right?” I asked him. He nodded and I looked at Lucy, who didn’t seem as sure. There was no time to treat him further. I turned to Shayla. “Ask him if there is a river in this ravine.”

  “He says the headwater for the river to the coast is in the next ravine,” Shayla said. “But there is one down there that flows by the capital. It is very busy and might be more dangerous.”