Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

“Yeah. He tore that up for some reason.” Rubin blinked rapidly to get his vision back to normal and then waited until his brother did the same before looking at him. “Are you thinking what I am?”

“That he put that still underground?”

“What else? Where is it? He would never get rid of it. You know he wouldn’t.” Rubin was certain of that.

“He’s got to be seventy or eighty. How could he possibly build an underground room for a still?” Diego demanded.

“Because he’s a genius,” Rubin said. “Everyone always underestimates him. Just because he doesn’t want to drive a car doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the ability. I’ll bet if those soldiers go to start up their equipment, none of it will work. Luther Gunthrie is intelligent and quite capable of building an underground maze if he chose.”

Diego’s head snapped up. “Rubin. He could have discovered a cave.”

“Or a cave system,” Rubin said. “We talked about it that one time at Huntington Falls. We were on that picnic with Lotty. She said something about Luther being so excited over someplace he liked to go. He’d taken her there, but she didn’t like him going because it seemed like a lot of mud and he had to crawl in places. Or pull himself through on his belly. That just terrified her, so she asked him not to go back there. She was afraid it would cave in on him. As far as she knew he never did again. She used the words ‘cave in on him.’ She used that as one of the examples of what a man might do for his wife when she was really afraid of something.”

Diego nodded. “Is that what you call it? A picnic? You were assessing her condition, as I recall, and had me chatting about everything and getting her to throw rocks into the water.” He fished around in his jacket until he came up with a packet. Tearing it open, he emptied part of the rations into his mouth and then zipped the packet closed and returned it to the pocket. “But, yeah, now that you say that, Lotty did mention he’d found some muddy place that was dangerous he liked to go. Luther never spoke of it. At least not to me. If he’d mentioned it to the Sawyers, they would have said something.”

“Luther’s closemouthed about anything on his property. He doesn’t like outsiders coming onto his land. Spelunkers like to explore caves. If they got wind there was even a small system, someone would try to find it. You know Luther. He’d shoot a trespasser if they didn’t get off his land when he told them to,” Rubin said. “If this muddy place he found was a cave system, he wouldn’t say a word.”

“He would have several ways to get to this underground hiding place, especially if he keeps his still there. He would keep supplies there. Weapons. Emergency equipment,” Diego speculated.

Rubin nodded. “He has an entrance in that section of land that he recently replanted. But he’s got one in his house. Lotty’s been dead for six years, Diego. He’s had time to prepare. He knew he would be getting old. He deliberately became a recluse and discouraged people from visiting, including Edward. Edward told us how Luther acted like he believed he was a government spy. Luther Gunthrie on his worst day would know Edward Sawyer isn’t a government spy. He didn’t want Edward to see what he was up to.”

Rubin was already considering the best way to get into Luther’s cabin without being seen by the sentries who were patrolling. He wasn’t worried about the two men hunting for Luther in the woods—they were already moving on, quartering another area, doing a thorough, systematic search.

Rubin sent the songbirds into the air, specifically looking for snipers, or any of the ground crew who might be sitting up high in the branches of a tree with high-powered lenses looking for signs of Luther—or even them. It was possible, even probable, the elite soldiers had warned them that Rubin and Diego might be on their way. How they could guess this would be their destination, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to rule it out.

Once the birds were in the air, he accessed their vision, studying the trees and tops of the highest boulders that might be used. He even sent one bird to check the ridge just to be safe. Once he was certain no one was watching, he called the birds back, waited until they settled once more on the branches of the trees around Luther’s home and then gave them the command to warn him if the sentries became interested in Diego or him.

We’ll time the two sentries and slide inside the cabin between their rounds. He signaled to Diego to move forward while he covered his brother.