Detective Rez Chamba in... The Case of the Restless Shovel

Chapter 16: Mysterious Disappearances

"WE need to get them out of here," Amelia urged, her voice trembling with urgency. "But we have to be careful. The adults in the next chamber might be awakened and they'll alert the Lord Shadow."

They worked quickly and quietly, helping the children to their feet and guiding them towards the exit. Suddenly, one child slipped away and ran off, sounding the alarm.

"The Shadow!" Fred shouted, as the cult leader emerged from the darkness, his eyes glowing with a malevolent light.

Rez stepped forward and pressed the trigger of his speargun. The Shadow was hit which made him divert his rage toward Rez. "Go! Get them out of here!" he yelled, as he hit the Shadow again with his speargun, which made him stumble and hampered the others behind him. But the Shadow is relentless and seems to be not feeling any pain at all.

Rez dashed a different direction upon reaching an intersection, while the Shadow and his followers are in pursuit.

By then, Amelia and the others had reached the cistern, and with her extraordinary strength, blocked the iron door of the cistern with huge rocks, buying them precious time. Dacumog and Fred successfully urged the children to dive into the cistern, and guided them down into the underwater cave, with Amelia on the tail.

Meanwhile, Rez luckily found another way back to the cistern, crawling through a tube-like natural hole with rocky walls. It ended exactly above the exit-pool. He dove into the water and swam the five-meter underwater cave, resurfacing above the river where police cars and divers were already starting to investigate the tunnels.

On the riverbank, he saw Doc Caridad and his daughters were speaking urgently with the police, pointing towards the tunnel entrance. Police divers were already gearing up to dive into the tunnels, while others guarded the hidden lift in the Caridad's basement, prepared to intercept any escapees. He also saw Enrico, Amelia, Dacumog, Fred, and the children they rescued being attended by medical personnel.

Rez briskly walked near Fred. "Did you retrieve the shovel from where we hid it?"

The others heard his questions and they all shook their heads.

Still coughing, Rez approached the leader of the divers, "Sir, we left a shovel beside the cistern covered with sand and gravel behind huge rocky outcrops. Will you please retrieve it for us? It is very important for the Damúndo tribe. It is their missing heirloom."

The officer nodded hesitantly. "Don't worry. We'll do that after we apprehend this so-called Shadow gang."

But after a thorough search of the entire tunnel system, they found nothing. No Shadow gang and no illegal drugs. And the most frustrating of all is that, the restless shovel of the Damúndo people was nowhere to be found.

How was that possible? Rez wondered. Unless, the police are in cohorts with the Shadow's cult? Or, they did not thoroughly investigate the tunnel system, that they overlooked a secret chamber. Or, there is another secret exit for the tunnel system. Rez's mind raced.