They piled through, one after the other due to the narrowness. Sharyn entered behind Duncan, who kept looking backward. A muffled rifle blast made her flinch. It sounded like it came from one of the towers. A single round, likely a warning shot to discourage trespassing.
“Keep going!” Gabriel crowded after Naomi and closed the door behind him.
Past the threshold, a short landing led to steep stairs heading downward. The path was lit by a series of caged bulbs wired across the roof. The walls appeared to be raw limestone, chiseled roughly.
“Wh... Where does this go?” Tag coughed out from ahead, struggling with the steepness, aided by Archie.
“Our family and allies used this hiding place during the Resistance,” Gabriel called forward, forcing them all onward.
They hurried down the steps. Laurent, who led them, finally reached a stout steel door, barricaded tightly on this side. He yanked the bar, flipping it aside, and opened the way.
Sharyn noted there was no hesitation on his part.
He knew about this exit.
She understood now why he had felt so confident about coming to the château. Angered by his silence, she shoved past him. Beyond the door, a cavernous space opened. Its dimensions were hard to discern due to the scarcity of lighting. Only a few lamps hung from the stone roof.
Still, it was clear this was no natural cavern, but a quarried space. The walls were too straight, the ceiling flat. Yet, like all true caves, the place was dank and humid. Only here, the air reeked strangely of manure.
Horse dung . . .
Earlier, she had noted a similar ripeness from the dried mud on Gabriel’s boots. He must have been down here before they arrived, preparing for this contingency.
The source of the smell was evident. The few lamps illuminated wide, raised trays full of manure and hay. Pale growths grew thickly over the surface. Farther on, she spotted plastic-wrapped bales that sprouted thick white fronds from their sides.
“Mushrooms,” Duncan mumbled.
Gabriel explained. “Part of the family business. It was from these old quarries that limestone was mined for the hundreds of châteaus in the region. Abandoned and nearly forgotten, they proved the perfect place for growing mushrooms.”
As he hurried through the labyrinth of interconnecting caves, he extoled on their inventory. “While other regions are famous forchampagne, we are known for ourchampignon. Or mushrooms. In thesemeules,” he waved to the wide trays, “we grow oysters and our legendary buttons. The bales all around are beds for shiitakes.”
He spoke in a rush, fear making him ramble, which was clear from his frequent glances back. He must hate leaving his family behind, but like all Barbiers, he knew his duty and the risks involved.
Naomi searched around. “Is the plan to hide down there?”
“The locals certainly did that during the Napoleonic Wars,” Gabriel said. “But no, I’ve made other arrangements.”
“We’re leaving again?” Tag asked, his face pale.
“We can’t stay,” Laurent explained. “Many know of this place. Both for its refuge in the past and its farming use today. Authorities will eventually think to search down here. None of us can be found.”
Sharyn understood why, and it no longer centered on murder charges. “We know where the Second Adage points.”
Lawrence nodded. “If captured, they’ll force it out of you.”
“What about the Barbiers?” Duncan glanced to Gabriel. “While his family doesn’t know what we learned, we’ve put them in danger.”
Gabriel shrugged. “With you all gone, we can claim ignorance. Laurent had already rented your van under our name. And my mother and sister’s defense of the château would be taken as nothing more than protecting our land. We rural French folk are a notoriously irascible lot, easily provoked to overreact. Plus, our family is well-respected in the area.”
After hiking another few minutes, they reached a cavern that held farm vehicles and equipment. A hangar-like steel door towered on the far side.
Gabriel led them to an old truck whose wide bed was stacked with hay bales. Likely the supply was meant for the dark garden inside here, but as Gabriel led them to the rear, it was clear that was not its purpose now. The stacked hay held a hollow pocket inside, clearly meant to hide them.
“We learned many tricks during the Resistance,” Gabriel offered and waved for them to climb inside. “You’ll find apériscopeat the back. To allow you to peek out as we travel. I’ll get you to the train station a few villages over. From there, I must wish you all well.”
Despite his brave words, the strain in his voice spoke to his anxiety to rejoin his family. To avoid delaying him any longer, they all clambered up and ducked into the cavity, which smelled of an earthy grassiness.
Tag kept his inhaler in hand, staring at the confinement with concern. None of them looked any less worried. Especially as Gabriel and Laurent lifted the final bale from the stone floor and filled in the remaining gap, trapping them inside. Plainly, Laurent intended to travel in the truck’s cab.
