THE TUNNEL
Then there was a frantic knock on the door and the Walf answered it. “What is up Walf?”
“Sorry about this. There is a maintenance issue at the power grid that I have to attend to. It simply cannot wait until morning. You don’t mind do you if we will catch up another time,” said the Walf, sounding exasperated.
“Okay,” I said, trying to avoid jumping into the air with sheer delight and glee. I was not going to spend the night chez the Walf after all!
“Here is a spare lot of clothes, Tam, and make sure you lock up when you leave,” he said, giving me a package and kissing me on my mouth.
“Thanks,” I said happily. I changed and the Walf’s secretary let me out of his penthouse, much to my relief. I really did feel like having a few stiff drinks to calm my nerves. I nearly ran to my quarters and as Spike said, he was waiting for me.
“Are you alright Tam?”
“Yes, apart from the Walf trying to make a move on me. I mean a serious move,” I said.
“You mean what I think you mean?”
“Yep,” I said bursting into tears.
“Hey, it is okay, Tam. Next time I will come with you,” said Spike seriously.
“Okay,” I said as I nuzzled into his arms.
“Now can I join you tonight?”
Without hesitation I said, “Make sure you lock the door and don't allow anyone in.”
Spike locked the door to my quarters and the both of us enjoyed a quiet night by ourselves.
The next day the sound of the morning food trolley awoke us. Spike was sound asleep on the floor. I guess we forgot to activate the pull-out bed. I dressed myself and so did Spike. We enjoyed our breakfast and made our way over to the other mountain to do more money laundering for the Walf.
I was thinking to myself that I should make a more concentrated effort in trying to get off the mountain and that I was becoming overly complacent about the Walf’s intentions, and that needed to be stopped as well. The only way I could get protection from the Walf was to get out of this mountain and see how far the tunnel would take me.
Also, I was fully aware that in the real world the things that I was doing were subject to a criminal conviction. I was absolutely disgusted with myself, but I really had no choice. I then pondered that there is always a choice no matter how dire the situation is. I thought that today was the first day of the rest of my life and I was going to find a way to get home...no matter what. I decided that I would feign being ill, so I collapsed on the floor.
“Are you alright, Tam,” asked Spike, tapping me on my shoulder and at the same time calling out for Dr Zalt. Soon, a few of the other workers were standing around in a circle. I tried my hardest to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing. This I achieved though the utilization of my mediation techniques to stimulate unconsciousness and slow my heart rate down, so it appeared that I had collapsed when the doctor did my obs.
I was brought to a small room, which was the Triads sick bay. “Okay Tam, how are we feeling today,” the doctor asked.
“Not too good, Doc, but where am I?”
“You are in the sick bay, Tam,” he said, examining me and frowning. “Now, I think you had better rest for the rest of the day. If you have any problems see me. I will get Spike to take you back to your quarters.”
Spike wheeled me to my room and popped me on my bed. “Take care, Tam,” he said as he gave me a soft peck. I peeked through my eyelids and saw his worried face. “I will pop in after, Tam.”
I started to almost drift off from all the excitement and then remembered that I feigned illness for a reason. I got up and made sure that everything was quiet and locked my door from the inside so that Spike would not come in while I was out. To ensure that people left me alone, I tape a sign that said, “Do Not Disturb,” on the outside of the door.
Then, I went back inside and put a few supplies in my bag, including bottles of water, some biscuits and my torch. I was just about to head into the tunnel when I remembered that the shoes given to us by the Walf had tracking devices in them, which were connected to his security system, so I took them off for good measure. I bent down near the bookcase. I fiddled around with the knob and saw that it controlled the opening as well the knob on the inside. Upon discovering that, I went inside the tunnel and closing the door behind me and making sure I did it as quiet as possible.
I gingerly walked up to the sign for Bhutan, as I had previously, and then walked a lot further until I thought I could hear a noise. I shook my head as I inched closer and heard people talking. I took a sip of water, as my heart was pounding like you would not believe, and thought to myself, “Impossible…this cannot be happening …what on earth lives here?” I saw a blue light further up and heard that the voices were getting louder and louder.