Faron seemed nervous when he parked next to her in front of the shopping center. He took his time getting out of the Jeep®, dropping his car keys into his pants pocket. She crept over to stand by him on the curb, trying to gauge his mood. He kept his blondish head down.
“I shouldn’t get scared in here,” she told him, trying to lighten the mood. “Unless the booths are up too high.”
He cracked a smile. “Especially if you need a booster seat. You are kind of short.”
“Hey,” she said, suppressing a laugh. “No picking on me.”
“Then don’t make it so easy.”
“Thanks for coming,” she said, playfully socking him in the chest.
He just nodded, thoughts still weighing heavy on him. The Five Points coffee shop was located in a strip mall near the base of Montesano. Nothing fancy—just a brown building with a long counter and several orange booths and tables. Not urban chic like Starbucks®, but more like a casual place to escape a rainy day. It served a purpose. The vague atmosphere depended on what you brought to it, and Faron and Fee carried undisclosed emotions through the door, causing the clientele to take notice. Sitting in the far booth at the end like a glamour queen in perfect makeup and blond curls, Jill alerted the others to their arrival, mouthing, “Oh my god!”
Niko shifted in his seat to see what she meant. His eyebrows rose. Maybe he noticed the fairly buff boy at her side, assuming they were a couple.
Next to Jill, Mai Pha beamed and waved. Unlike Jill, she and Niko wore coveralls, perfect for spelunking. Jill preferred tight black jeans and a low-cut top. Not appropriate caving attire. Of course, neither were Fee’s casual jeans and regular shoes.
“Hi,” Fee said, breaking the silence. “This is Faron. He works at Cathedral Caverns.”
“Hi, Faron. I’m Jill,” Jill gushed, tossing her golden hair behind her shoulder. “You look familiar. I think I’ve seen you there.”
“I’m there a lot.”
Niko retorted, “Yeah, but have you been in any real caves?”
“A few,” Faron remarked, taking in the situation.
Fee finished the introductions, “That is Niko and his best friend, Mai.”
“You are both soaked. Get some coffee and join us,” Mai suggested, taking a sip from a large cup.
“What can I get you?” Faron asked Fee.
Fee felt like the others instantly perceived “couple” status, not that that would be horrible. It was just too soon to wrap her mind around it or to know if it was even true.
“I’m not sure, yet. Let’s go see what they have.”
When they neared the counter—filled with a glass case of pastries—Fee noticed that options were few on the hand-colored sign. Her constant bodyguard stood close beside her—not that she minded.
“I can get my own,” she shrugged, before turning to the forty-ish barista in the apron. “I’ll just have a mocha cappuccino.”
“Sure thing, hon,” the woman in pointy glasses drawled.
“Make that two,” Faron added, pulling out his wallet to her dismay.
Fee scowled, though really appreciated it.
As the barista went to work, Faron said, “You can clear the air with your friends about us, if you want.”
“I’m not sure I even know. Things are moving too fast.”
A smile crept to the corner of his mouth, revealing a dimple. “Well, just so you know, you can tell them whatever you want.”
The barista placed two steaming cups on the counter. Fee
grabbed hers while Faron paid, so she could get back first to settle the whispers. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have allowed him to pay. At least, that is what she told herself.
“So, you and Faron?” Niko asked, while Mai giggled.
“Just friends,” she shrugged, peeking back to him to see if had read her lips.
His hurt expression confirmed it. He carried his cup toward her, gazing deep into her eyes with an intensity that gave her butterflies. She wondered if it was too late to retract her statement.
She quickly settled into the booth adjacent to her friends. Faron sat across from her with his hands settled on the table, near hers. Fee caught Jill focusing on that, while she herself tried not to.
“We’re thinking of going into the cave at Big Springs,” Niko explained, focusing on Faron, whose expression hardened, but he said nothing. “Ever been in it?”
Faron nodded, concentrating on his chocolatey drink like a portal to deep worries.
“You know it’s not open to the public,” the dark-haired boy continued, waiting to see if perhaps he should bail on them.
“I know.”
An unsettling feeling plagued Fee when Faron had answered, as if with a hint of doom. A deep sense of right and wrong was stamped into her brain.
“How do we get in if it’s not open?” Fee wondered.
“Illegally,” Jill laughed. “So, are you still in? It’s your choice.”
Fee searched Faron’s face, not sure of how to proceed. She didn’t want to drag him with her on a path of crime. He stayed quiet—not a good sign.
“Faron, what do you think?” Fee asked, suddenly scared and wondering if they should do the smart thing.
“I’m game if you are.”
“Oh,” she muttered, bearing the weight of their attention. “Then, okay. Let’s do it.”
She tasted the steaming coffee, hoping to hide behind her cup for a moment as Niko and Jill chatted about their adventures last time in the cave and how they almost got caught.
Faron watched Fee fidget.
“We can’t go until dark,” Niko reminded them. “We can’t be seen.”
“We could go to another one if you prefer,” Jill said. “But it is also illegal.”
“Where is it?” Fee asked, trying to formulate an excuse in her head if it was too far away.
Jill lowered her silky voice. “It’s under Huntsville Utilities. Actually the old, abandoned site downtown. There are secret tunnels under there, and that’s why the foundation keeps cracking. They built it over a cave, and the foundation is sinking, but folk tales say the secret tunnels are used by a cult.”
Fee tensed. This no longer sounded fun. Spelunking was bad enough. This was far worse.
“Do you know about the tunnels?” Fee asked Faron, whose silence alarmed her.
“I know enough.”
“But do you know what our government is doing?” Niko inquired, with a shade of irritation.
Faron and Fee shook their heads.
Jill dug into her oversized purse and pulled out a book entitled Karst Systems of Huntsville by Gregory Martin, and opened it to a bent page.
“Read this,” she said, passing the book across the aisle to Fee. “I marked the passage.”
Fee placed the worn hardback in front of her, focusing on the highlighted part. “4,100 known caves in Huntsville.”
“Now read this,” Niko said in a subdued tone, passing a sheet of paper to the other table.
Intercepting it, Faron read it aloud.
EYES ONLY:
NOTE: This document has been prepared for preliminary briefing only. It should be regarded as introductory to a full operations briefing intended to follow.
A covert investigative effort organized by the NGA and NSA has been implemented to seize and redact all known maps of the Alabama Karst systems in an effort to curtail the underground threat and to maintain its secrecy.
Therefore, new maps will be created and published, listing Alabama’s known caves as 2,000 for better control, and public cave access will be reduced, with all others being permanently sealed.
“Where did you get this?” Faron demanded.
“My Dad’s in the NGA. I got it from his home office. He’s not too happy about this decision. He was the one who got me interested in caves.”
“What’s the NGA?” Fee asked, hating to be out of the loop.
“The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. They do charting and mapping of the earth,” Niko explained. “And they make the NSA look like Boy Scouts.”
“Then how did you get it?” Faron skeptically asked. “I’m sure he wouldn’t leave sensitive information just lying around.”
“He was passed out drunk at his desk with this crumpled by his hand. I made a copy and put it back before waking him up, so Mom didn’t see him like that.”
They exchanged uncomfortable glances.
“Do you understand what we are doing?” Niko asked, peeking over his shoulder as if letting them in on a secret.
Fee shook her head, “No.”
“We want to preserve our rights,” Mai explained. “We want to map the caves for ourselves, in secret. One by one, before we lose them forever.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Faron told her. “This isn’t a game.”
“We have a right to know,” Niko said. “They can’t take this away from us.”
“So, are you still in?” Jill asked.
Fee squirmed, so Faron answered, “Sure.”
Mai glanced at her watch and said, “Let’s meet at Big Springs at 9:00 pm. It should be dark enough by then.”
Niko rose and Jill jumped up, accepting his hand. “We’ll meet you guys there, if you still want to come.”
Fee nodded, though she wasn’t sure why.
Mai assessed the situation and said, “I better go, too. I will catch up with you two later. Call me if you can’t make it.”
“Okay, see ya.”
With his mood stern, Faron waited until the door closed behind her friends before saying, “I knew you were getting yourself into trouble.”
“You don’t have to come.”
“Just promise me you won’t go into the tunnels under the utilities building.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say I know they’re dangerous.”
“Have you been in them?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Are there monsters in there?” Fee teased.
Faron didn’t answer.
“Okay, I won’t go in it…without giving it a lot of thought. I wouldn’t want the monsters to get me.”
“This is serious. You don’t know…”
“Don’t know what?”
Their eyes locked, stirring something deep in her as if trying to relay secrets that could never be spoken. Frustration was etched into his frown. She had the urge to accidentally bump her hand into his or to take hold of it, if only she had the nerve.
“Faron, if you don’t want to come tonight, I’ll understand.”
“Do you want me there?”
“I don’t want to end up getting you in trouble.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Do you want me there?”
Fee gulped. That good-natured face beckoned her. She nodded.
“Still trying to impress that guy?”
“He’s a friend. That’s all.”
“Like me.”
“You’re very intense…and much older. Give me some time.”
“What are we going to do for the next seven hours?”
“I better check in with my Mom.”
“That is the first reasonable thing you’ve said all day.”
Fee jerked back in her seat, retorting, “I can tell you don’t like my friends. I’m not holding a gun to your head, making you hang out with the foolish.”
“You are practically holding a gun to your own head, and you don’t even see it.”
Shaking her head, Fee snatched her cup and tossed it into the nearest trashcan. He did the same, but he caught her arm as she passed him.
“Wait.”
Fee’s cheeks reddened. She usually cried when angry. She held her breath, instead.
“I’m listening,” her voice cracked.
“I want to come with you. I said I would. If you do well in the cave, I’ll be able to sleep tonight. If not, then I want you to reconsider this.”
“That sounds rational,” she told him, “and reasonable. A sane person like me can see that.”
Faron’s expression softened. She waited to see if his face changed in any other way…like in a non-human way. Unless she was crazy… maybe it had never happened. He seemed solid and real.
“But, why do you seem to…care so much?”
“Like I said, I don’t want to get a call that I have to rescue a pretty girl in a cave.”
“It seems like you would enjoy that. Especially if it was Jill.”
“I don’t think I’d risk my life for her, but I’d make every effort to save her.”
“For me?”
“I think I’d have no choice,” he said. “Come on.”
Because you have feelings for me?
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you risk your life for me?”
“You don’t belong in a cave or its darkness.”
That’s not quite the answer she wanted.
Once outside, Faron hesitated on the sidewalk, twirling his keys in his fingers.
“Were you going home or calling to check in?”
“I was going home.”
“Before you do that, I want you to take a ride with me.”
“That doesn’t sound like a safe thing to do,” she teased.
“Now you’re learning,” he said. “Do your instincts tell you that you should get in my car?”
Her growing interest in him did. She wanted to spend more time with him.
“Not my instincts,” she sighed. “But the consensus is ‘yes.’”
“You’re doomed.”
“So, now what?”
“Since you are already doomed, get in.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
She hopped in his Jeep®, not wary in the least. This guy emanated integrity. His car also confirmed his character: spic and span. Where was the clutter? He had a can of Red Bull® in the cup holder and a blue cap on the floor. Very clean for a guy, she thought.
“So, where to?” Fee asked, suddenly jubilant. A change, he noticed.
“I thought we’d head to a sporting goods store and get you some gear for later.”
“So, nothing dangerous?”
“I thought we’d save that for tonight.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Being in this close proximity gave her time to try to figure him out. He drove in downtown traffic with ease. He had calmness about him when not being ruffled by her.
“Do you live around here?” she asked, realizing she knew little about him.
“Near the cavern.”
“That’s pretty far. I hope I’m not keeping you from whatever you have to do.”
“This is more interesting.”
“Really?”
“You aren’t like the girls I usually meet.”
“More neurotic?”
Faron laughed.
Now back to the kiss, which haunted the recesses of her mind. She worked up her nerve to broach that. She bit her fingernail, unsure how to work up some courage. He gave her a sideways glance.
“Is there something you want to ask me?”
“Do you…find me attractive? I’m no Jill.”
Finding a parking space in front of the huge store, he took a moment to answer. Much to her dismay. Her natural pessimism had her leaning to the worst.
“I have a weakness for green-eyed, stubborn girls who make me angry,” he said. “But especially those who have a sweet face like yours.”
“I’m not sweet,” she pouted, though she knew the word “hot” wouldn’t have left his lips. Something along those lines would have been nice, even if it wasn’t true.
“What about me? Too much of a boy scout, and not the dangerous ‘Niko’ sort?”
“That is a problem,” she teased. “I’m not sure I like tall, athletic, handsome boys whose gray eyes seem to be holding secrets.”
“You think I’m hiding something?”
She closed the car door and shrugged. He stayed silent until he entered a familiar realm: spelunking equipment. Then, his mood turned playful. He put a headlamp on her and told her how great she looked in it. She pushed out her lips and made a super model pose.
“Does it make me look sexy?”
He raised his eyebrows, saying, “Oh, yes.”
“You just want me to look as goofy as possible in front of Niko.”
“So, it is a competition,” he remarked.
She enjoyed hanging out with him, learning about what serious cavers used. They tossed the helmet with the light, gloves, and elbow and knee pads into the basket. She wasn’t ready for much more. Not until she was sure this was what she wanted to make a long-term hobby.
“You should do the Crystal Cave with me.” He told her as they put the bags in the trunk.
“But you said I wouldn’t be able to turn back once I started.”
“You can do it. I have faith.”
“You really think so?”
“Unless you are done trying to impress your friends, and you don’t need me anymore.”
Fee lifted up onto her toes and pressed a kiss onto his cool cheek. He stood staring at her, as if sorting through deep, troubling thoughts.
“We could still hang out,” she promised.
“And do what?” he asked, grinning.
“Something dangerous.”
“That’s anything with you,” he teased.
“Then collecting buttons, it is. We’ll have a safe hobby to share.”
He laughed.
After they got back to the coffee shop, Fee gathered her gear and returned to her car.
“Big Springs, don’t forget.”
“I won’t.”
Fee wanted to say that she preferred to hang out away from caves and just the two of them, but her friends would be waiting, and she wanted to put caving behind her as soon as possible.