“That was awful,” hissed Brandy.

Albert agreed. They both took a moment towipe their feet on the dry concrete, trying to rid themselves ofthat sliminess.

From there, they followed the green marksback the way they came.

For a long time, neither of them spoke.Brandy found herself staring at Albert and remembering the fearroom.

She never said anything to him as he wascarrying her away from that terrible place and she did not intendto say anything, at least not yet. But she knew what he did forher. She knew what he risked to save her. She saw it in his face.She saw the look in his eyes, the blank, distant expression, thetwitchy sort of panic that washed over them. She saw the way hislips quivered, the way his skin was flushed of color.

She lost control in there, just as they’dboth lost control in the sex room. She lost control and she losther ability to lead them. It was because of this, because shebecame so frightened, because she could not go on with her pooreyes, that he was forced to use his instead. He opened his eyes tofind the door so that he could carry her to safety.

She stopped suspecting him of any evil atthat moment, while staring up into his terrified face as he carriedher in his arms like some fairy tale hero, holding her, protectingher, even though he could hardly find the courage to protecthimself.

Albert caught her looking at him and askedwhat was on her mind.

“Nothing,” she replied. Somehow, it justdidn’t seem right to try and explain it to him. Not now,anyway.

He studied her expression for a moment,trying to read her, but soon gave up. He turned his attention backto the tunnel walls. His biggest concern was that they might haveforgotten to mark a passage somewhere. After all they’d beenthrough, he didn’t want to wind up getting lost now, but luck wascurrently with them. Soon they found the rusty ladder that wouldtake them back up into the service tunnels below the campus.

Neither of them ever imagined that theywould be so happy to see streetlights from the dark side of a sewergrate, but there it was, as wonderful and as welcome as alighthouse beacon to a fogged-in vessel.

They were almost out now. At the end of thistunnel lay the last. From there, one final ladder waited to takethem up into the world above.

After turning the final corner and taking afew hurried steps, they both stopped and stared. There, lying in aneat pile at the foot of the ladder, were their clothes.

They should have been thrilled to have themback. After all, without them they would be streaking back to theirhomes, risking humiliation, indecent exposure charges or both, butshadowing the excitement over having them back was the paranoia anduneasiness of knowing that they were beaten here.

“Albert…”

“I know.” He searched the tunnel in bothdirections, but nothing stirred.

Brandy knelt over the clothes and examinedthem. Their shirts, pants and shoes were all there. Only the itemsthey’d seen from the bridge were missing, and that certainly didnot surprise her.

“Here,” she said, handing Albert his jeansand shirt. “It feels like your wallet and keys are stillinside.”

“That’s good.” He watched with some sadnessas Brandy quickly pulled on her shirt and pants and then began toslip on her shoes. Such wasted beauty.

He put his own clothes on, not really likingthe feel of being without his underwear. Also, their shoes werestill damp from wading that flooded tunnel the first time, but hedared not complain. The ladder to the street was within reach, theywere no longer naked and they were alive. Now they had only to gohome.

Albert stepped up onto the ladder, listenedfor a moment for voices or footsteps, and then slid the covernoisily open, letting in the welcoming lamplight from above.

“Albert!”

He jumped down, alarmed, and spun towardBrandy, but when he saw her wide eyes fixed over his shoulder, heknew he’d looked the wrong way first. He turned around, his heartpounding, and found himself face to face with a man with noeyes.

He stood at least six and a half feet tall,with a thin, nearly lipless mouth, sharp nose and two shallow,fleshy craters where his eyes should have been. He had no hairanywhere on his body, and was as naked as he and Brandy had been amoment before.

Albert backed away, careful to keep himselfbetween this grotesque stranger and Brandy.

The man stepped toward them, sniffing at theair like an animal until he was mere inches from Albert’s face. Hethen paused, seeming almost to stare at him, blind yet somehowseeing.

He took Albert’s hand and placed somethingin it.

“Another day.” He spoke these words slowly,enunciating each syllable as if speaking were something he rarelydid, his voice hoarse and raw. Then he walked past them anddisappeared into the tunnel, apparently heading back to thelabyrinth from which they’d just come.

After watching him leave, Albert looked atwhat the blind man placed in his hand. It was an old leather pouch,about twice as big as the one in which Brandy found the key to thebox. It was heavy. He handed the flashlight to Brandy and dumpedthe contents into his open hand.

“Wow,” said Brandy.

In Albert’s palm were twenty-three very oldgold coins of various origins. Some of them were American, someSpanish, some French, some British, some impossible to identify,minted by hand in ages lost. He picked up one of these older onesand studied it. One side was blank. On the other was a symbol hedidn’t recognize, two lines twisted curiously together. It couldhave meant anything. He had no concept of the value of old coins,but they were all valuable, if only for the gold from which theywere minted. Yet the blind man gave them to him withouthesitation.

Albert put the coins back in their pouch.“Let’s get out of here,” he said.

Brandy climbed the ladder first and Alberttook the time to give a wondering gaze back they way they’dcome.

Chapter 23

Albert walked Brandy to her car. Some cloudswere moving in, and the eastern horizon was beginning to glow withthe first traces of dawn. They said little as they walked acrosscampus. Both of them were thinking about the eyeless man and thegold coins.

“Do you think that guy was the one who gaveyou the box?” Brandy asked as they crossed into the lot where hercar was parked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Seems logical.”

Brandy fished her keys out of her wet purseand unlocked her car door. She slid into the seat and reached overthe visor for the pack of cigarettes she kept there. “Thank god,”she sighed and punched in the cigarette lighter on the dash. “Ineed one of these so bad.” She opened the pack, took one out andput it in her mouth. She then leaned back while the lighter warmedup.

Albert couldn’t see anything through herheavy sweatshirt, but he knew she was not wearing a bra or pantiesand though he’d had intercourse with her and spent the past severalhours looking at her naked, this knowledge still turned him on.

“That was an incredible adventure,” shesaid. The lighter popped out and she paused to light hercigarette.

“Yeah. It was.” And it was even moreincredible because she had gone with him. Being with her was thebest part of it all. He almost wished that the adventure could goon forever, just so he could continue to be with her.

She looked at him through the smoke, hereyes sharp and sexy behind her glasses. “Think we should keep thisto ourselves?”

“Definitely.”

“Maybe we’ll go back sometime,” she said.She took the pouch from Albert’s hand and opened it, looking at theminiscule treasure within. It was by no means a gangster’s hideout,but it was pretty cool. “Maybe learn a little more about thatplace.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” But he did not think theywould. “I’ll do some research on those coins. See if I can find outwhat they’re worth.”

She handed him the pouch and then leanedback and stared up at the sky while she smoked. Albert did not likecigarettes, considered them poison, but there was something aboutthe way she smoked that was very sexy. Or perhaps it was only thesex room, the lingering after-effects that made everything she didsexy. Or maybe he was just naturally infatuated with her. It wasdifficult to tell for sure.