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.”
Riley swung down from the forklift. A handcuff dangled from her right wrist. “It’s not safe to stay here.”
“What’s with the bracelet?” Alani asked.
“Berta made the mistake of unshackling me for a bathroom break,” Riley said. “She might know how to build a bomb, but she sure can’t take a punch.”
“Who’s Berta?”
“She’s the woman who’s tied to the lab bench.”
Everyone peeked through the hole in the wall and stared at Berta, tied up and sitting on the floor. Several tables and chairs were knocked over, and there had clearly been some sort of a struggle.
Alani looked around the room. “What is this place?”
“It’s a weapons lab,” Riley said. She pointed at the bombs in the corner of the room. “They’re making a weapon capable of detonating and releasing a payload of the strange matter. They’ve got the Penning trap on the table by the bombs.”
“Where are Tin Man and Bart Young?” Emerson asked.
“I don’t know. They left me here with Berta. I’m sure they’re close. I barricaded the door to the lab but it won’t stop them for long. We should get out of here ASAP. I’m sure they heard me breaking through the wall.”
Emerson looked at the steel door on the other side of the room. It had a small reinforced-glass window at its top and a professional stainless steel refrigerator tipped over in front of the bottom.
Emerson kneeled next to Berta. “Does the Penning trap hold all of the strange matter?”
Berta stared at him in stony silence.
Emerson rose and walked over to the bombs. He studied them for a moment and set the timer on one of them to ten minutes.
“I assume that even without the strange matter loaded, these can still do some damage,” Emerson said.
“You don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll kill us all,” Berta said.
“Not all of us,” Emerson said. “Only those remaining in this lab. The rest of us will die only if we leave some strange matter behind.”
“You mean to steal the strange matter,” Berta said, eyes wide in disbelief and fear.
“Yes,” Emerson said. “All of it.”
“You might want to reconsider your priorities,” Riley said to Berta. “It might be better to be a poor live scientist than a rich dead empress.”
“I’ll ask you one more time,” Emerson said to Berta. “Does the Penning trap on the table hold all of the strange matter?”
“Yes,” Berta said. “Except for what you already have in the other trap. Just don’t leave me here.”
Emerson unplugged the trap, Vernon grabbed it, and Riley got Berta to her feet. Someone was banging on the lab door, trying to get in. Riley and Berta looked at the door. The enraged face of Tin Man filled the little window.
“He looks pretty angry,” Riley said.
“He’s insane,” Berta said. “If he catches us he’ll chop us into pieces, fingers and toes first, and then ears and breasts. I’ve seen him do it.”
Riley felt a wave of revulsion roll through her, and she pushed it away. No time for emotion, she told herself.
“Let’s get out of here,” she shouted above the banging.
Emerson lugged the Penning trap back into the tunnel and got into the passenger side of the forklift.
“What are you doing?” Riley asked.
“Making our getaway.”
Riley climbed into the driver’s side. “In a forklift that drives less than ten miles per hour?”
“The only way back to the main line of the Kazumura from here is through a crawl space. The Penning trap won’t fit.”
“And a forklift will?”
“There’s a skylight about a mile into the tunnel. We can use the forklift to lift the trap to the surface and make our escape.”
Vernon, Wayan Bagus, Alani, and Berta piled onto the blades of the forklift, and Riley turned the ignition. It reluctantly started up and rumbled slowly through the bricks, down the tunnel. By the time they reached the skylight, they could hear footsteps and voices echoing in the tunnel behind them.
“We have about a six-minute head start,” Emerson said. “Let’s get topside with the Penning trap.”
Riley raised Vernon, Alani, Wayan Bagus, and Berta close enough to the hole in the ceiling that they could scramble out and then lowered the blades so Emerson could get on, holding the Penning trap. Once the trap was safely aboveground Emerson slipped back into the lava tube.
A deafening explosion reverberated through the tunnel, followed by the sound of a cave-in coming from the direction of the lab.
“I guess the bombs work,” Emerson said.
Riley looked in the direction of the lab. “Do you think we got Tin Man?”
“Probably not,” Emerson said. “I imagine he’s leading the horde running after us.”
The sounds of footsteps and angry voices were getting closer.
“What have you got in your pack?” Riley asked. “Matches, flares?”
“Yes and yes.”
“Give me the Swiss Army knife you always carry.”
Riley took the knife from Emerson and flipped the large blade out into the locked position. She dropped to the tunnel floor and cut the fuel line on the forklift, allowing the diesel fuel to pour out.
“Brilliant,” Emerson said. “And impressively diabolical.”
Emerson and Riley scaled the forklift and joined the others topside in the pitch-black jungle. Emerson fished around in his backpack and pulled out a signal flare. He lit it and handed it to Riley.
“Do you want to do the honors?” he asked.
“It’s not like the universe provides you with the opportunity to blow up a forklift every day,” Riley said. “I suppose it would be negligent of me not to drop this flare.”
Emerson smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”
Riley tossed the flare into the hole, and everyone jumped back. Seconds later the lift exploded, and a fireball rose out of the skylight.
“Guess we don’t have to worry about the crew in the tunnel,” Alani said. “Between the debris from the explosion and the destroyed forklift, I imagine they’re trapped for a while.”
Emerson and Vernon tugged Berta over to a large ohia tree and tied her up so that she was hugging the tree.
“We’ll send the authorities to pick you up once we get the Penning trap to safety,” Emerson said.
“You said you’d take me with you!” Berta screamed. “You can’t leave me alone in this jungle.”
Emerson stuck a Post-it note to her back. It said “I’m an evil murderer. Please leave me tied to this tree until police arrive.”
“We did take you with us. And now we’re leaving you here,” Emerson said. “You’ll be perfectly safe. There aren’t any predators out here, assuming Tin Man doesn’t find you.”
“You don’t think he’s imprisoned below?” Riley asked.
Emerson shrugged. “No way to know for sure.”
The sound of ATVs and human voices carried from far off in the jungle.
“They’re organizing a search party,” Alani said. “They know we’re here and that we have the Penning trap. I’m sure reinforcements are on the way.”
“Bart Young is desperate,” Emerson said. “He’ll throw anything he can at us now. Soon this entire forest will be crawling with Rough Riders.”
Alani called her dad on her cellphone. “Is there a clearing where you can pick us up?” she asked. She nodded and turned to Emerson. “He’s refueled and is back in the air. He’s flying over Ola’a now. I’m going to give him our GPS coordinates so he can aim the infrared camera at our location, and you can link up to it on your iPad.”