Font Size:  

A skylight in the domed ceiling threw a shadow and Hurley kept his eye on the guard’s as they began to ascend. The man was three steps back with his assault rifle held against his chest. The image got increasingly dim as they ascended, but not so dim that Hurley didn’t see the rifle suddenly begin to rise. He spun, lunging for the man just as the plastic butt caught him in the side of the head. The blow dazed him, but his momentum was still sufficient to send them both toppling down the steps.

When they hit the landing, Hurley’s head was swimming, and it felt like someone had jammed a hot knife in his hip joint. The other man had come through the fall in much better condition. Protected from the steps by his body armor and youth, he was on his feet before Hurley could even get to his knees.

This time when the rifle butt came down, there was nothing he could do.

CHAPTER 23

THE emergency lights bathed everything in red as Rapp pulled himself through the tunnel using his elbows. After a reasonably spacious entrance, the shaft had shrunk down to a cramped three feet wide by two feet high.

Rapp had suffered from mild claustrophobia since he was a kid. Years of fighting in the open spaces of America and the Middle East had made it worse for good reason: The speed, endurance, and accuracy that gave him his edge tended to be neutralized in these environments.

The fact that Gould’s feet were close enough to his face that he could smell the rubber soles offered some comfort. If anyone discovered them and hosed down the tunnel from the mansion side, the Frenchman would act as a reluctant shield. Even more important, the shaft was too tight for Gould to turn on him.

“I think I see it,” the Frenchman said, his whisper echoing through the narrow space. “Twenty meters.”

Rapp’s grip on his Glock tightened as they continued forward to a steel wall covered in surface rust. They found a keypad similar to the one at the tunnel’s entrance and Gould punched in another lengthy code. There was a moment of tense silence followed by the hum of an electric motor.

Rapp lowered the night-vision goggle mounted to his helmet and flipped it on. The next-generation system combined the light amplification of traditional starlight scopes with thermal imaging. Normally, he’d have refused it due to the bulk and weight, but there were enough unknowns about the basement they were about to enter to make it worthwhile. Tests at the Farm suggested the unit would give him a solid view of the ambient environment while highlighting the body heat of human targets.

“You ready, Mitch?”

“Go.”

Gould shoved the steel barrier outward and threw himself to the dirt floor on the other side. He rolled smoothly to the right while Rapp went left as planned.

The light amplification capability of the goggle was barely functional due to the depth of the darkness. Thermal picked up a little temperature variation, but other than Gould glowing orange, most everything just read as hazy shades of green. Rapp had to move far slower than he would have liked, avoiding the unidentifiable clutter on his way to an overturned barrel. Gould nearly tripped, but managed to save it and take cover behind something that looked vaguely like an ancient winepress. Rapp spotted a reddish smear at the edge of his peripheral vision but didn’t bother tracking it. Most likely a rat.

Other than that, nothing. No sound. No movement. In fact, nothing that would suggest anyone had been down there in years. Rapp swept his gun over a dark hole in the wall that he guessed was a -medieval well and then slipped around the left side of the barrel. He motioned Gould forward and the Frenchman moved cautiously to a low pile of rubble. They leapfrogged that way, moving purposefully until they found themselves at the base of the staircase that led up to the main house.

Gould pointed right to a rectangle in the wall that their goggles shaded blue. The cold steel of the entrance to Obrecht’s safe room.

Rapp covered the Frenchman as he ran to it and smeared a bead of epoxy into the narrow gap between the edge of the door and the jamb. Not exactly high-tech, but it would be enough to keep the Swiss banker from gaining access should things go south. Obrecht’s only option at that point would be the tunnel, where he would flee right into the welcoming arms of Joe Maslick.

Gould returned and led up the stairs with Rapp a few steps behind. They retracted their goggles and removed their helmets when the light bleeding around the basement door became strong enough for them to see. Rapp stowed the helmets beneath a stack of stained towels on the landing while the Frenchman slid a fiber-optic cable beneath the door. The image from the tiny camera read out on his phone, displaying -exactly what they’d hoped to see: an empty hallway.

Rapp activated his throat mike and spoke quietly. “We’re exiting the basement onto the first floor. Stan, give me a sitrep.”

No response.

It was one of the unavoidable drawbacks to their plan. His silence could mean that he was dead and that they were walking into an ambush, or it could mean that he was with Obrecht and not in a position to respond.

“Scott. Update.”

“Stan got called in to meet with Obrecht while you were offline. No communication from him since. We’re in position and ready to go.”

“Roger that. Stan, if you can hear this and you’re in Obrecht’s office, try to toggle your mike.”

He waited for a moment and then the banker’s accented voice came over his earpiece.

“I’ve had my people check on this, and I can assure you that my bank does no—”

The feed went dead and Rapp gave Gould a thumbs-up. Hurley was where he was supposed to be, but couldn’t communicate beyond briefly pressing the button on his key fob.

Gould eased the door open and slipped through with Rapp following. The main staircase was to their left, but it was the centerpiece of the mansion’s entry hall and in full view of no fewer than six windows. They went right, skirting the kitchen and entering a narrow servant’s staircase. Gould aimed his Glock upward as they ascended, with Rapp keeping an eye on their flank.

When they came to the door at the top, Gould did another quick search with the fiber-optic camera and then went through. They were halfway up the wide hallway when they heard a woman’s voice singing quietly. The two men ducked into a bedroom and pressed their backs against the wall behind the half-open door.

Of all the rooms in the mansion she could have chosen to clean that day, she picked that one.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like