CHAPTER 27 - Amon

I 'm still sitting on the porch when Rosie pulls into the driveway. I stand up and meet her at the car. "You left work early? It's only ten o'clock."

She doesn't look at me. Just walks right by me. "I'm going upstairs to bed. You should go home, Amon."

"What? No. I'm not going home. I'm staying right here with you. The search has started again?—"

Rosie whirls around so fast, I stop talking. "They're not gonna find him, Amon. The search is pointless. He's with Erol. And he's not coming back."

"You don't know that."

"I do know it." She's glaring at me. Like I did something wrong. Or… like something happened.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Rosie sucks in a deep breath, then slowly lets it out. "Erol. I saw him. We talked."

"What? Where? When did this happen?"

"Just a little while ago. In Revenant. Jonesy told me to take a walk because I was acting like a zombie, I guess. So I went down to the river and Erol showed up."

"What did he say?"

She shrugs. "He's got Cross. He took him. He even called him on the phone and let me talk to him."

"To Cross? What did he say?" Rosie laughs, but a tear slips out and starts rolling down her cheek. "Rosie?" I pull her in and give her a hug. "It's OK. It's gonna be OK. We're gonna get him back."

But Rosie is shaking her head. "He doesn't wanna come back, Amon. He's happy this happened. He's happy as can be. Erol got him a gun. His daddy is back in his life and he got him a gun! What more could this boy want?"

"Well… we'll just go get him. Where are they staying?"

"You don't understand, Amon." She stops crying now and wipes the tears off her cheeks. "You don't understand. Erol? He's part of Blackberry Hill. Cross is with them ."

I turn around and stare at the valley across the street. I knew it.

"That's not all, either. It's much worse than that. Because this Blackberry Hill is some kind of secret military thing. There's like… a city underground." I turn back and she points to her feet. "Under us, Amon. There's some kind of secret city underneath us. And we all know that Lowyn saw something up there when she festival-married Ike and that's why she wanted to leave. That's what started that whole thing. So I don't care if you don't believe me, this is real. There's something weird and wrong going on here and my son is now a part of it. Do you know what Erol said? He said Cross is half his. Cross is half Blackberry Hill and he belongs with them. And it's not even a lie."

"Rosie—" I take a step towards her, ready to hug her again.

But she puts up a hand. "Don't. Just… just go home. Because it's over, Amon."

"What's over? Nothing's over."

"We're over." And she says this so seriously, my heart feels like it just got stabbed with a pitchfork. "We're over . Because he said that I can come with them."

"What does that even mean, Rosie?"

"Tomorrow. He said he'll call me at noon tomorrow to get my answer and then he'll pick me up and I can go to Blackberry Hill and be with him and Cross."

"But—"

"Oh, trust me. I would rather stay with you. But this is my son , Amon." She shakes her head. "He's my whole life. I cannot choose a man over my son, even if that man is you."

"So you're just… what, gonna go? Gonna give in? That's not the answer, Rosie."

"Then what's the answer? You tell me. What do I do? Because he's got him, Amon. He's got my boy and not only that, my boy wants to be there. He's not coming home! That's his daddy. This is like a fairy tale coming true to that kid. His father returns after twelve years and not only that, he's some kind of secret military guy?" Rosie scoffs. "There's no way he's coming back to Disciple. Not now. Not after seeing the secret underground city." Now she laughs. "It's so ridiculous, I can't believe those words just came out of my mouth. But there it is. That's what's happening. And you should leave now because I'm just gonna go upstairs and cry all day and I don't want anyone around while I do that."

Then she pushes past me, walks up the porch steps, throws the door open, goes inside, and slams the door closed behind her.

Then there's a click. The tell-tale click of that door being locked.

My head hangs low and I play back what just happened. Surely, this is some kind of dream. And if I could only wake up, it will all go away.

But when I look up again, it's not a dream.

It's just a nightmare.

I leave Rosie's house because there's not much I can do if she doesn't want me there. But I text Collin on the way back to the compound, telling him to call the men home because the search is over.

Cell service is spotty in the hills between Disciple and Edge, so I don't get the return text until I'm actually pulling into the driveway. All he says is, Come down to the mine .

That damn mine. I don't give a fuck about the damn mine.

I go into my house and stare at my phone for a good ten minutes before I actually work up the nerve to press that contact.

It rings and Charlie Beaufort answers. "What can I do for you, Amon?"

It's not a congenial ‘what can I do for you?' It's nothing like the way he talks to Collin. But that's because I'm not Collin. Charlie respects Collin because he knows what Collin is capable of. He needs Collin. Not today, not tomorrow. But there will come a day when Collin is the only man who can get the job done. So Charlie will maintain a relationship with Collin until such a time when Collin is no longer useful.

Me, though? He's got no respect for me. "Hey, Charlie. Yeah. So. I guess you've heard that we've had a little trouble over here with a missing boy?"

"I heard." He sounds bored. "But I don't know why you're calling me about it. I already told Collin we can't get involved in this."

"So you know what it's about though, right? And you know who this kid is? And who his daddy is?"

"I do. But Amon, this call is a waste of time. You're not gonna get any help from me."

"But the underground city? This is real?"

He doesn't say anything, but I can practically hear his anger.

"Because I was just told that it is. That Blackberry Hill isn't some little village in the mountains. It's not a hill at all, is it?"

"Amon, I'm gonna say this once and only once. You should forget you ever heard about that place."

"Should I forget I was up there too? Should I forget the fact that General Forbe rode in with us to save Lowyn McBride from Ike Monroe? Should I forget about him as well? How about Disciple? Should I forget I come from Disciple?" I snicker here. "You know what's funny, Charlie? The way you lied to Collin all those years ago. Talking him up and pretending you had no idea who he was or where he came from."

"Look, I'm sorry it turned out this way, I am. You might not believe it, but it's in the best interest of everybody that you, and Collin, and Ryan, and Nash all stay happy so you can play your parts. And that part is a pretty good gig, if you ask me. I mean, no prison time, right? Your names are in the clear. And we keep you alive, don't we? Every Monday you get that little cooler of fruit drinks, don't ya? You're gonna get one today, in fact. We do that for you, Amon. Us. The bad guys. We keep you alive with those drinks."

"Funny. Because the way I remember it, you're the whole reason we needed those drinks in the first place."

"I'm not having this discussion with you, son. I don't owe you a fuckin' thing. And as I said, the only reason you're not in prison, or dead, right now is because I need Collin. But if Collin doesn't play ball, then… one day, I might not need him. So you best remember that, boy. Because one day he might not be enough."

The call ends with three quick beeps.

I fume. I'm talkin' steam coming out my ears kinda fuming.

One day he might not be enough .

That fucker just threatened me.

I shake my head and pace my front room as I plan two dozen ways in which I could kill Charlie Beaufort and get away with it. If I tried a little harder, I could come up with four dozen. And that man talks to me like I am some kind of intellectually-challenged toddler.

"Amon!"

I turn as Collin comes up my porch steps. A moment later he's pulling the screen door open and it's slapping closed behind him. "What the hell did you just say to Charlie?"

"Me?" I point to myself and laugh. "He's got some fuckin' nerve."

"Well, I just got an earful. I'm supposed to take your phone and erase his contact." This sentence starts out serious but by the time it's over Collin is laughing. Even his eyes are smiling.

Which allows me the opportunity to release my anger and tension and chuckle back.

Because it's crazy.

If there is one man on this earth who's on my side, it's Collin Creed.

"Don't call him no more, OK? I swear, he's like a fuckin' child. Calling me up, bitching about you. I'm gonna lose my cool with him next time and we've got a good start here, Amon. We're not gonna need him for much longer, I promise. Six months, tops."

"Well before you just go and dismiss what he just said to me, you should know that he threatened me with those drinks."

"What?" Collin makes a face of confusion.

"The fruity drinks that we stopped drinkin'? Remember them?"

"Oh, by the way. Any side effects presenting?"

"Nah. I feel fine. What about you?"

He shrugs. "I feel good too. Better than fine, actually. So fuck him and his threats with those damn drinks. They're just another bullshit PSYOP, just like everything else about Charlie Beaufort. And anyway, we've got more important things going on out in the woods. You need to come with me right now."

"Don't tell me." I roll my eyes. "It's about that damn mine."

"Ya know, you're the one who got me all interested in that place. It was you who was all suspicious of Sawyer Martin, remember? This was your thing. If it were up to me, I'd have left it alone." He pauses here to look me in the eyes. Which can be quite disconcerting, because that means I have to stare back, and Collin Creed has the most unnatural-colored eyes I've ever seen. Little bits of turquoise and amber all swirling together in a way that when he's angry makes him come off as not quite human. I think ninety percent of Collin's don't-fuck-with-me factor is because of his eyes. "Let's just say your instincts were spot on the money."

"What do ya mean?"

"It's not a mine, Amon. It's a tunnel. And tunnels go places."

"Where's it go?"

"We haven't gotten that far yet." He claps a hand down on my shoulder. "Come on. You gotta see this."

So we go traipsing into the woods and even though this trail usually takes twenty minutes, it only takes ten. Because while I have been falling in love, Ryan has made a road using all that heavy equipment he made us buy last spring. He's just hopping out of a front loader when Collin and I enter the newly cleared area in front of the old mine.

We walk up to the entrance, which has been cleared and is indeed a tunnel. "Looks like a mine to me," I say.

"It's not a mine." Nash is holding up maps or something. "I've looked into the history of this place, and there was never a mine here."

"Well, what was it?" I ask. "Because clearly it was something."

"According to what I could dig up," Ryan continues, "this is a natural cave that was used as a munitions depot during the Civil War. Then it was a hideout for some outlaws called the Jesco Harmen Gang at the turn of the nineteenth century, and after that, this whole section was lumbered. There wasn't ever a coal mine here."

"What about the church camp?" I ask.

"Oh, that was real. But it was forty years after the lumbering, so the trees were just starting to get big again."

"All right." I look at Collin. "So what's that have to do with anything?"

"Well, interestingly enough, after the deforesting the US government bought this land in nineteen twenty-one and started digging tunnels for reasons unknown."

"Where'd you dig that info up from?" I ask.

Collin smiles at me. "Penny Rider. She's a history buff, don't ya know. So I called her up this morning and asked her about these parts and she went on for twenty minutes straight mentioning all kinds of places."

"Places like where?"

"Nothing more in Trinity County. But that's the weird part. She name-dropped Dixie Yonder."

"Dixie Yonder? Rosie and I were just there on Saturday night for a little one-on-one time."

"I know," Collin says. "And the reason it's so interesting—aside from the fact that one of our childhood friends is the events coordinator up there—is that it's got its own secret tunnels underneath all that grandeur and the rumor is, they go all the way to Washington, DC."

I whistle and look at our tunnel. "No shit."

"No shit," Collin says.

"So where do our tunnels go?" I look back at Collin to find him smiling.

"Take a guess, Amon. And you only get one."

I point to our little hole in the mountain. "Do not fuckin' tell me this tunnel goes to Blackberry Hill."

"That's what we're thinking," Ryan says. "We blew open that first door you and Collin saw through the rocks a few hours back, but there was nothing but more rocks on the other side so that's what we've been working on this morning. There's one more pile of rubble to get through before we break into the next open space. Give me and the guys a couple of hours and we'll find out for sure where the hell this things leads."

He takes off and goes back to the heavy machinery, starting it up again. So Collin pulls me back into the woods so we can talk. "I think," he says once we get there, "that this is somehow connected to whatever they're doin' in Blackberry Hill."

"Well, if that's the case, why didn't they buy up our compound themselves? Why'd they let us buy it? I mean, this whole thing was Charlie's idea, remember? He's the one who slipped me that listing."

"I don't think Charlie knew about it when he planted that seed in your head."

"How could he not? And why would he send that Sawyer up here to investigate if he didn't?"

"I think maybe he heard his own rumors, but wasn't able to suss out the details."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that he and Penny don't know each other then, huh?"

Collin laughs. "It almost feels like fate, doesn't it?" But then his face goes serious. "Listen, I'm sorry about Rosie and Cross. I don't know what's goin' on, but I know you're falling for her. And the boy too."

"I was. I have. But I'm not giving up hope yet. He got in touch with her this morning."

"Who?"

"Cross's daddy. He met her down in Revenant and they had a chat. He's got Cross in Blackberry Hill. But what we saw up there, Collin, that's not what Blackberry Hill is. It's some kind of secret underground base."

"I figured it was all leading in that direction. From the moment those assholes ambushed me up at the boneyard with Mercy, I knew there were tunnels. And Lowyn told me she saw some control room in Ike Monroe's basement when she was up there years back. That's what scared her off and how she got herself mixed up in all that trouble."

"Well, the worst part of all is that Erol got Cross all riled up and excited about joining their secret military bullshit. And, of course, this is every twelve-year-old boy's dream, ya know?"

"He wants to stay, doesn't he?"

I nod. "It gets worse, though. Erol wants Rosie to join them."

Collin makes a face. "What?"

"Yeah. He's using Cross to lure her down there."

"Oh, Amon, that sucks."

"Tell me about it. It's very hard to compete with that kid's father, ya know? I don't believe for a second that Rosie wants to go, or that she still loves Erol. I think she wants to be with me. But given the choice…" I trail off.

"Given the choice between you or her son?" Collin finishes. "She'll choose the boy."

I throw up my hands. "As she should."

"Don't lose hope yet, Amon. We'll figure something out."

"Well, we better do it quick because she's only got twenty-four hours to make up her mind. Then the offer goes away forever."

Collin is just about to open his mouth and say some well-meaning, yet still meaningless, placating words when Nash starts yelling for us to come back to the tunnel. "We got it. We got it open!"

After thirty minutes of fuckin' around with headlamps and two-way radios, Collin, Nash, Ryan, and I start picking our way through the rubble and squeezing ourselves through cracks and crevices. About a dozen Edge men follow, one of them dragging a rope behind him like breadcrumbs, just in case this cave system tries to get the best of us.

At first, I think there's not gonna be nothing here because every time we get past an obstruction, there's just a dark space ahead. Which leads to another obstruction.

But Ryan keeps muttering, "They don't fill in tunnels like this if there's nothing here. They just don't."

Which makes sense. So we push on. It's gotta be at least an hour later before we finally break through to a new space and find something interesting.

A door. A very industrial-looking door, which also looks like it's a hundred years old. Collin is reading my mind, I think, because he says, "Well, that makes sense. If the military started using this place in the twenties."

"Yep," Ryan says. "This is it." He looks my way, temporarily blinding me with his headlight before he covers it with his hand. "Now we just gotta get it open." Ryan pulls on the thick steel handle, but it's locked. "Don't worry. I would not come this far into a cave on some Goonies expedition without being prepared." And from his pocket he pulls a bit of C4 explosive.

"Ryan," Nash says. "Are you out of your fuckin' mind? You can't blow a door inside an old abandoned cave! The whole thing will come down around us."

But Ryan is shaking his head. "Nah. If the door is made of steel, then the whole thing is shored up with steel. And besides"—he gets a little glint in his eyes—"I'm like a fuckin' C4 virtuoso." Then he wiggles his fingers at us. "I got the magic touch."

Collin and I look at each other and roll our eyes. But he gives the go-ahead. Because the whole ‘shoring up with steel' thing actually makes sense.

"Step back," he says. To us, but also all the guys behind us.

So we retreat all the way back the way we came and give him the go head. Ten minutes later there's a boom and whoop on the radio.

Collin chuckles. "I guess that means he didn't die."

"And got the door open." I chuckle back.

"Oh, my fuckin' God!" Ryan yells through the talkie. "Guys! Get in here!"

We go all the way back in and make our way back to the door. Ryan's head pops out, and he's smiling like he just found his very own Goonies treasure. "You're not gonna believe what I found."