Chapter Five The Tunnel Massacre #2
The professor pressed his palm against the faded red pigment. A deep click sounded inside the wall. Stone shifted. Dust poured from the mural as a narrow section moved inward. Cold air swept into the chamber.
Takeda stared into the darkness beyond.
"A passage."
"Take her," Haruki said.
Minamoto looked at him.
"You too."
"I'll follow."
The lie was poor. Minamoto recognised it immediately.
"No."
Haruki pointed towards the hidden opening.
"Get her out."
"There may be another exit."
"Then find it."
The leader moved. Haruki saw the shift in posture — a decision had been made.
Two attackers broke towards the mural. Haruki grabbed the nearest portable lamp and threw it.
The heavy metal base struck one attacker in the face; the mask cracked, the figure staggered.
Haruki met the second halfway, caught the attacker's knife arm and drove his forehead into the mask.
Pain exploded across his skull. The attacker barely reacted.
Haruki hooked one leg behind theirs and forced them to the ground.
A blade passed across his back. He felt cloth tear. Then skin. Heat spread between his shoulders. He turned and struck blindly. His fist connected with a throat. Someone hissed.
"Go," he shouted.
Minamoto pulled Takeda into the passage. She resisted.
"Haruki!"
"Go."
The leader crossed the chamber. Not quickly.
There was no need. Haruki seized a broken length of timber from the floor and swung it across the nearest attacker's knees.
Bone gave beneath the impact. The figure fell.
Haruki brought the timber down across the mask once — a crack — twice.
The mask split. Beneath it was a young man's face.
Too young. Perhaps twenty. His eyes were open and utterly calm. No hatred. No pleasure. Only purpose.
"You don't know what you're protecting," he said.
The words were barely audible. Haruki tightened his grip on the timber.
"I know who I'm protecting."
He struck again. The young man stopped moving.
Haruki looked towards the passage. Minamoto and Takeda had disappeared inside. One engineer remained near the wall, frozen beside the bones. Haruki could not remember his name. The man stared at him.
"Move," Haruki said.
"I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"My leg."
Haruki looked down. Blood soaked the engineer's trousers. A blade had gone through the thigh. He would not make it alone.
Haruki crossed the chamber. The leader stepped into his path. Up close, the mask was different — a fine black line curved across the forehead, the symbol of an open eye.
"You were not part of this," the leader said.
The voice was male. Calm. Educated.
"You could have walked away."
Haruki bent and picked up the engineer. The man cried out as Haruki dragged one arm over his shoulders.
"People say that when they want permission for what comes next."
The leader's head tilted slightly.
"What comes next was decided before you were born."
"Then you've had plenty of time to find a better excuse."
The leader moved. Haruki twisted aside. The knife intended for his heart entered his upper arm instead.
He grunted, but did not release the engineer.
He drove his shoulder into the attacker's chest. They hit the table.
The journal slid beneath its protective covering.
The leader caught it with one hand before it fell — again, protecting the object.
Haruki saw the contradiction. They wanted it destroyed. But not carelessly. Not anonymously. This was not vandalism. It was execution. Evidence had to be erased correctly.
The leader withdrew the blade from Haruki's arm. Blood ran down to his fingertips.
"You cannot preserve this," the man said.
Haruki looked at the journal.
"I don't care about the book."
The attacker paused. Haruki drove his knee into the man's abdomen, shifted the engineer's weight and ran for the hidden passage. A blade struck the stone beside his head. He ducked through the opening.
Behind him, the chamber erupted into flame. The accelerant caught at once. Fire raced across the table, climbed the scattered paper and spread along the ancient shelves. The journal vanished behind orange light.
Haruki heard the leader say something. Not a command. A phrase.
"The lie protects the peace."
Then the stone door began closing.
The hidden passage was barely wide enough for two people. Minamoto held his phone ahead of him, the weak torchlight revealing walls lined with old timber supports. Takeda followed close behind. When Haruki emerged carrying the injured engineer, she turned back.
"You're hurt."
"So is he."
"Put him down."
"No."
"Haruki, put him down."
The engineer's weight dragged against his wounded side. Every step sent fresh pain beneath Haruki's ribs. He could feel blood filling his shoe. He did not know which wound it came from.
"Find the exit," he said.
Takeda stared at him.
"Now."
Minamoto moved ahead. The stone door closed fully behind them. The firelight disappeared. Darkness swallowed the passage. For several seconds, the only sounds were breathing and the engineer's broken attempts not to cry out.
Then came a dull impact from the other side of the wall. The attackers had reached the hidden door.
"They'll open it," Takeda whispered.
"Can they?"
"If Minamoto knew—"
"They know more than I do," the professor called from ahead. "Assume they can."
Haruki adjusted the engineer's arm across his shoulders.
"What's your name?"
The man struggled to answer.
"Jun."
"Stay with me, Jun."
"My leg—"
"I know."
"I can't feel it."
"That is probably helping."
A laugh escaped Jun. It became a groan. Haruki kept moving.
The passage sloped down before turning sharply upward. The floor was uneven, slick with centuries of moisture. Roots pushed through cracks in the ceiling. Behind them, stone ground against stone. The door was opening.
"Faster," Minamoto said.
Takeda moved behind Haruki and supported Jun's other side. Together they dragged him forward. The passage narrowed. Jun's injured leg struck the wall. He screamed. Haruki nearly fell. Takeda caught his shoulder. Her hand came away wet with blood.
"You're bleeding badly."
"I'm aware."
"You need pressure on the wound."
"I need both hands."
"You'll collapse."
"Then keep me standing."
Something struck the wall behind them. A blade scraping through the narrow opening. The Unveiled were inside. Haruki heard no shouted pursuit, no hurried breaths — only footsteps. Steady. Patient.
The passage opened into a circular junction. Three routes split ahead. Minamoto stopped.
"Which way?" Haruki asked.
The professor turned slowly.
"I don't know."
"You said there was an exit."
"I said there may be."
Haruki looked at the walls. Each passage was identical — dark stone, timber supports, no markings. The footsteps behind them grew louder. Takeda's breathing quickened.
"Choose."
Minamoto lifted his light towards the ceiling.
"There."
A faded white lotus had been painted above the left passage. Almost invisible. Haruki did not hesitate.
"Left."
They moved. The passage climbed steeply. Haruki's strength began to leave him — not gradually. One moment he was carrying Jun. The next his knees struck the ground. Jun fell beside him. Takeda dropped with them.
"Haruki."
"I'm fine."
"You are not fine."
He tried to stand. His body refused. The wound beneath his ribs had stopped feeling hot. Now it felt cold. That frightened him.
Minamoto crouched nearby.
"We can't carry both of them."
Takeda looked at him.
"Don't."
"I am stating the problem."
"We are not leaving either."
"The attackers will catch us."
Haruki looked back along the passage. No movement yet. Only darkness. He reached into his coat. His hand found no pistol — lost in the chamber. He had a small folding knife in his inner pocket. Almost useless. Still, he drew it.
"Take Jun."
Takeda shook her head.
"No."
"Take him."
"We stay together."
"You die together."
Minamoto looked at Haruki. The older man understood.
"No," he said.
Haruki held out the knife.
"You know where this passage may lead. I don't."
"That does not mean—"
"You found the door."
"I studied rumours."
"And now those rumours are keeping us alive."
The footsteps entered the circular junction behind them. They had chosen the left passage.
Haruki pressed the knife into Minamoto's hand.
"Take them."
Takeda seized Haruki's coat.
"I won't leave you."
He looked at her. She had blood across one cheek. Not hers. Endo's, perhaps. Or Kameda's. Her fear was raw now, stripped of academic caution.
Haruki softened his voice.
"You came here because I asked."
"That doesn't make this your fault."
"It makes you my responsibility."
"I am not a child."
"No."
He glanced towards the approaching darkness.
"But right now, you are someone I can still get out."
The footsteps stopped. The silence that followed was worse. They were listening.
Haruki pushed himself upright against the wall. His vision narrowed.
"Go."
Minamoto gripped Takeda's arm. She fought him. Haruki looked at the professor.
"Drag her if you have to."
Minamoto did. He hauled Takeda away while Jun crawled after them, pulling himself forward with both hands. Takeda's voice echoed back through the passage.
"Haruki!"
He watched until their light disappeared around the bend. Then he turned towards the dark.
The first attacker appeared without sound.
Haruki raised the knife. The figure stopped several metres away.
A second emerged behind it. Then the leader.
The cracked mask had been discarded. He was older than Haruki expected — perhaps forty-five, dark hair, fine features, blood at the corner of his mouth from Haruki's strike.
He looked almost ordinary. That made everything worse.
"Your loyalty is misplaced," the leader said.
Haruki leaned against the wall.
"It keeps happening."
"You protect people who will betray you once they understand what was found."
"Maybe."
"The Accord will erase this."
"Maybe."
"The old bloodlines will kill for it."
"Apparently."
The leader studied him.
"You don't know what the journal proves."