Free Einstein's Secret by Irving Belateche Page B

the table over, slamming it up against the door just in time. Van Doran pushed on the door from the other side, but we leaned into the table, barricading ourselves in.
    “We’re going over there,” Eddie barked out, craning his head toward the back of the kitchen.
    Across the worn, yellowed linoleum floor, between grimy cupboards, I saw an open door leading into darkness. “If it’s the basement, we’ll be trapped.”
    Van Doran slammed against the door.
    “You bailed us out the first time,” Eddie said. “Let me return the favor. Trust me on this. Go on.”
    I let go of the table and raced toward the darkness. Eddie let go, and Van Doran’s next shove edged the table forward and left the door ajar. He fired a shot through the opening.
    Eddie sprinted my way as the table shrieked forward. Van Doran was barreling in—
    I bolted down the stairs and saw pure black ahead of me. But I didn’t stop running. There was no time to think about what was up ahead. So this is what I do with my career opportunity at UVA was my only thought as I sprinted farther into the dark. I glanced back to see if Eddie was behind me, when another shot rang out—
    I saw Eddie stumble at the bottom of the stairs, and just then, before I could react, everything around me went white and undulating, as if I were running through an ocean of pure, white, glowing energy.
    It felt hot and prickly, and went on into infinity in every direction.
    Had I been shot and not Eddie?
    There was nothing around me but this atmosphere of thick white sea. I kept running, even more panicked than before.
    Am I having a seizure?
    I was sweating hard, and the white ocean was getting even hotter. I couldn’t breathe—the oxygen around me was suddenly depleted.
    I doubled over, trying to suck in air, choking, surrounded by what felt like raging white flames. I was sure this pure white sea would burn me alive. But before it did, I passed out.

Chapter Ten
    “Jacob.”
    Someone was shaking my shoulder.
    “Jacob, let’s go.”
    I opened my eyes, and the memory of what had just happened flooded into my consciousness. I was already plenty confused and mighty groggy, and the fact that an anomaly was staring me right in the face didn’t help my condition—
    Alex was looking down at me. What the hell was he doing here?
    “We have to get out. Now,” he said.
    I slowly sat up and saw that I was in a small room equipped with a desk and bookshelves. Then I noticed the stone wall to my left. Was I in a carrel in the Caves? Impossible. This had to be Weldon’s basement. But his basement had seemed much bigger than this. And where was the staircase?
    “We’ve got to go,” Alex said.
    I wobbled as I tried to stand up, so Alex helped me to my feet. “What happened?” I asked.
    Alex moved to the door and opened it. “Come on.” He stepped out into a tunnel. One of those tunnels . The stone tunnels under the Lawn at UVA. The Caves.
    But I’m at Harold Weldon’s estate.
    I made my way out of the carrel and into the tunnel, and Alex locked up. He then started down the tunnel at a good clip. I tried to keep up, dragging a little. If there was any doubt left as to where I was, it dissipated when I saw the battery-powered lights and dead pipes.
    Was I hallucinating? Maybe I was lying on the floor in Weldon’s basement, dying from a gunshot wound. That made sense. The alternative didn’t: that I’d passed out in Weldon’s basement and awakened in the Caves.
    “Alex, what the hell is going on?”
    “Let’s just get out of here, first.”
    “What are you running from?”
    “It’s a ‘who’—not a ‘what.’”
    Van Doran , I thought. But why would Alex be running from Van Doran? He knew nothing about him. I was the one who was running from Van Doran.
    As we moved through the tunnels, I looked for signs that this was a dream. Unfortunately, my steps struck hard against the ground, and there was nothing dreamlike about that.
    The same with Alex. There was nothing