THE MANHATTAN HUNT CLUB by John Saul

Author:John Saul [Saul, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2001-08-22T21:00:00+00:00

“What’s that?” Jagger asked.

They were walking along railroad tracks, and though Jeff couldn’t say why, he was almost certain they were moving south. He’d started counting his steps, too, so he was fairly sure they were about three-quarters of a mile from Tillie’s place. They’d taken the first passage they’d come to that led away from Tillie’s area and had enough light so they could see. A little while later they’d come to the tunnel they were in now, which had to be a railroad tunnel rather than one of the subways, since it had no third rail. It had been dead quiet, except for their own footsteps and the sound of their breathing.

Now, though, a faint rumbling could be heard.

A rumbling that got louder as they paused to listen.

“Train,” Jeff said. He glanced around, searching for a way out of the tunnel, but there was none. In both directions the track simply stretched endlessly away, and there wasn’t even a catwalk along the walls. He searched his memory, trying to remember the last time he’d seen one of the alcoves that were sunk into the walls at regular intervals.

Two hundred yards?

Three hundred?

The rumble grew louder. Far in the distance he thought he could make out a dim glow.

Jagger had seen it, too, and as the rumble grew into a roar and the glow began to brighten, he turned and started back the way they’d come.

“No!” Jeff shouted. “The other way! We have to go toward it!”

Jagger hesitated, turning back. “Are you nuts? We don’t know what’s up there!”

“I haven’t seen an alcove for a while, so there should be one not too far ahead.” The roar kept building, and then the glow began lighting up the wall to their right. Just before the engine swung so its headlight was aimed directly at them, he thought he saw what he was looking for. “Come on!” he yelled, starting to run into the stream of white light pouring out of the halogen headlight. He hurtled himself directly at the onrushing train, the roar so loud now that he couldn’t hear if Jagger responded, and he couldn’t risk looking back for fear of tripping over one of the ties. Though he was almost certain it had to be an illusion, the train seemed to be coming even faster now. He tried to keep his eyes on the ground ahead of him, tried to keep his stride perfectly controlled. His instincts screamed at him to run as fast as he could, to use every ounce of his energy to escape the oncoming juggernaut, but he didn’t dare. If he increased his stride even a couple of inches, he’d miss one of the ties, lose his footing, and sprawl onto the tracks.

Where was the alcove? What if he’d already passed it?

He had to look up, had to search for it.

The roar was deafening now, and he could feel the floor of the tunnel trembling under the weight of the locomotive. Shielding his eyes with his right hand, he glanced up.

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