“My house is the end or start of this tunnel, depending how you look at it. But every house along this route has tunnel access.” I say over my shoulder, keeping up my quick pace.
“All this to escape the feds?”
“Yup. It was either that or mass suicide, which I guess in some way they kinda chose that when they stuck around to fight Blanche and the DRMC,” I shrug.
“It’s so fucking weird that people would fall that deep into religion that they’d willingly give up their lives for it.”
I shrug one shoulder. “It’s less religion and more fear. Anyone can have faith and a belief system. What Eden’s Keep had were charismatic men who knew how to work a crowd. The prophet and his brother were snake oil salesmen. People would buy the pitch, the dream of the life that was sold to them. Then little by little Eden’s Keep would turn the screws, have you fearing going against them. You want to go to Heaven, right? Then you better do as the prophet says, he has God’s direct line. So you better keep in line. Oh, the prophet wants to marry your underaged daughter? Better hand her over. The prophet wants you to sacrifice your life for Eden’s Keep? Then it’s the least you can do. You’ll definitely go to Heaven then.” I roll my eyes.
Chef is quiet for a moment as he falls into step next to me. “And Sage, this is the place she comes from?” Chef asks quietly, his mind on my niece. The girl he left back in Texas.
“Sage is lucky in a way. She would have no memory of Eden’s Keep itself, but she will know what it took from her mother. I mean she grew up learning how to protect herself and her siblings should the Prophet or his brother come looking for them.”
“She’s a tough woman,” Chef says, scuffing his boot.
“Tougher than she looks. And tougher than you thought.” I eye him a little. “You love her?”
He blows out a breath. “With every breath. But I fucked up. God, I fucked up.” He stops and leans his head back on his shoulders with a groan.
I slap a hand on his shoulder. “Then unfuck up.”
“Oh sure. Easy.” He shoves my hand off his shoulder and starts walking again. “And how do you suggest I do that?”
“Honesty. Gifts. And so much fucking grovelling your knees will be skinned due to the amount of begging you’re going to do. I grin at him and dodge his boot as he tries to kick me in the ass. “You’re lucky.”
“How so?”
“Sage is a lot more agreeable than her mother.”
He snorts, shaking his head. “I have no idea how the hell Tav managed to win her over.”
I think about it for a moment, following the tunnel’s curve. “He was patient. And he’s a Tombs. Do those fuckers ever not get what they want?”
Chef barks out a laugh and we share a grin. If there is one thing spending time with the Tombs has taught me, it’s that if you’re really fucking annoying and relentless, you get everything you want.
Checking the time on my phone I figure that we should be coming close to where the tunnels all meet in the middle before merging to one last leg before it opens up underneath an old farmhouse on the far outskirts of Adonner.
“Do you hear that?” Chef asks in a low voice, head tilted to the side.
I stop in my tracks, listening, before tipping my head like Chef.
“Is that ‘O come O come Emmanuel?” Chef asks with a confused frown.
“What the fuck? It’s nowhere near Christmas?”
I press a finger to my lips and move closer to the sound of the Christmas carol quietly echoing down the tunnel. We move quickly on silent feet, getting closer to the tunnel convergence. From memory the pantry tunnel will be on my left in around 20 feet, and the tunnel that comes from the women’s dorm will open up on my right very soon.
“It’s getting louder,” Chef whispers and I nod, cursing that these tunnels are well lit and lined with fucking shiny tile. Aside from where the tunnels meet it’s just one long hall, with a few curves and bends here and there, meaning there are very few fucking places to hide or take someone by surprise.
“Do you hear that?”
I jump a fucking mile when Omen’s voice comes from the tunnel on my right.
“Yeah we heard it, you fucker,” I growl.
Omen doesn’t give a shit, he just grins at me before he and Justice join us in the main tunnel.
We move as one, Saint slipping into the back when he emerges from his tunnel on my other side.
