“Dio mi assista!” May God help me, Benicio whispered after Jake and Matthew were gone. “Now what?”
He looked into the tunnel. The entrance was framed with old planks, but the wood looked rotten and damp. He stuck his head in and saw three passages, each about six feet high and four feet wide. He barely had room to move.
Benicio hoped one of the passages would go under the church to the front entrance, so he could get out and lead Maury and Jeremy away.
He would have to move quickly. If they found him down here he’d be trapped.
He chose the right-hand passage.
The floor was hard-packed dirt, and the walls were buttressed with rough timber, which to Benicio’s eye looked a bit chewed — probably rats. He hated rats. The plank floor of the church was just over his head, and occasional gaps let in a dim light.
He had only gone a few dozen yards when he came to a much narrower side passage. He could fit, but only just. He stuck his head in. There was almost no light. He heard a rustling sound, and before he could move something dropped from the wall to the dirt floor and scuttled between his feet, brushing against him. Then it darted into the main tunnel.
A rat.
“Che!” He jumped back. There was no way he was going down that dark, rat-infested passage. He looked into the main tunnel but could only see a foot or two; then it curved sharply to the right. He took three steps, rounded the curve — and came face to face with Maury.
Benicio took a step back and bumped into something soft. The something put a hand on his shoulder. It was Jeremy.
“Can we have a quick word with you, Father?” Jeremy asked.
Then Benicio felt something crash into the side of his head. He slumped to his knees and saw flashes of light cascading all around him. Jeremy hit him again, and Benicio fell to the ground.
Then everything went black.