Firebomb (The Jewel Project #2)

22.1|| Caverns of stone

Chapter twenty two
Caverns of Stone

It was so quiet inside the cave. Too quiet. Their footsteps echoed eerily off the wall and it reminded Sam of the temple and how they'd almost died in there. He was sure they would almost die in here, too. It was a pattern. An annoyingly predictable pattern he could do nothing about. Mission, crazy stuff, traitor, fighting Snitch Gravel, Snitch Gravel leaves, get the jewel. Or die trying.

This time, he could totally get why Snitch Gravel left. But he was right there, next to them. He didn't even make a move to pull his gun out, summon some men to deal with them. Do something. Just screw with them.

You guys are more like me every day.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? How were they like him? Because they started killing people? Except, they didn't. They did shoot at people, but mostly in non-vital areas, just to take them out. Destruction? That was Ron's doing. So how were they like him?

We started the fire. It was Tom shooting the boiler and making the building explode that gave Ron the idea to blow the place up in the first place. Or maybe Snitch Gravel just said that to screw with him mind because Sam was sure their enemy knew him well enough to anticipate what his words would do to him.

Interesting. I have an enemy. It felt like another lifetime completely, but he could remember his father telling them how he and Jerry were good kids and had no enemies. The word enemy had felt very dramatic at the time. Until dear old dad passed his enemy on to them. Gee, thanks Dad! Life would be so boring without Snitch Gravel in it.

"Um, Sam?" Jim said carefully.

Sam snapped out of his miserable thoughts and focused on his surroundings enough to realize that they'd stopped walking at a crossroad. And about eight tunnels lead away from that one point.

"Great. Now what?" Sam mumbled.

"Do we at least have any idea where this diamond is?" Jimmy asked, annoyed.

"In one of the caves. It's basically one giant maze," Tom recited. "We're on our own. No map, no leads, no clues."

"Do you think there might actually be some sort of center room?" Jerry asked.

"Is it even on the floor or inside the walls?" Billy asked. "Do we like have to mine for it?"

Sam clutched his head. God, they were so up a creek without a paddle. "Let's just start looking. We're a lot of people? How big could these caves be?"

"Um, enormous," Jim said. "But I do believe the tunnels do meet around and might lead to a common place where maybe the diamond is."

"Okay, so we split up. The sooner the better." Sam waved them away in different directions and picked a tunnel for himself.

But once he was alone in the dark cold corridor, he no longer felt so brave. Caves were creepy and greasy and wet. And he was tired. Like really, really tired. His adrenaline rush faded the moment they'd entered the caves and now all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep and no longer think. Not about the diamond, about Snitch Gravel and his parting words, about Tom being tortured.

Water dripped somewhere, and Sam wondered if there was actually water in the cave. Could be. Caves were damp and dreary by definition and made by water. A few more steps. Just a few more. He didn't want to make a few more steps. He dropped on the floor and brought his knees to his chest. His head buzzed, his body ached, and sweat covered him from head to foot as his brain suddenly decided it was the best time to process the last twenty four hours. He hadn't slept in over twenty four hours.