The alarms rang all around them. Mitch dropped the ceiling tile back in place.
“Sam, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” her voice answered over his intercom.
“Which level has triggered the alarm?” Mitch asked.
“It’s the fourth floor.”
“OK, sit tight.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“Nothing, yet,” Mitch turned to Adam. “Any experience in shutdown mode? What happens next?”
“In these buildings, all emergency doors are locked, all exits and windows sealed.”
“For how long?”
“Until the code is put in and the room is secured again,” he answered.
“Sure?”
“Positive. They’ve had a few security scares in recent times here and other buildings in the area.”
Mitch sighed. “We might be here for the long haul.”
A light flashed on his watch. Mitch looked directly at it.
Nick’s tracker.
“Oh, God no,” he said alarmed.
“Trouble?” Adam asked.
“More of the same,” Mitch answered. “Alarms ringing on two fronts now.” He grabbed for his phone and called John.
It’s one p.m. in Eureka, that’ll make it four p.m. in D.C.
John answered on the first ring. “I’ve got it,” he said straight off.
“We need to get someone in there fast, John. Can you get a chopper?”
“Done. There is a chopper leaving from Elko now; it’s less than eighty miles to Broad Arrow. It’ll be there in no time. We’ll get some guys around the perimeter and check out the situation.”
“They’re not going to question Nick … it’s going to happen fast. Are they above ground?”
“Can’t tell from the signal. What the hell is going on there, I can hardly hear you?”
“We’re in the ceiling of Lawrence’s building waiting for the alarms to …”
Silence. The alarms stopped and Mitch dropped his voice.
“… go off.”
“What happened?”
“We’re waiting to find out.”
“Are you going to be able to get out of there?”
“Yeah, no drama. Can you call me back ASAP? John, don’t let them …”
“As soon as I know something,” John hung up.
Mitch ran his hand over his face.
A great night’s work. Two agents in trouble thousands of miles away, and three trapped in the ceiling.
He refocused. “Sam, is it all clear on the system panel?”
“Green like a Christmas tree; all’s back to normal,” she reported.
“Then what’s happening on the fourth floor?” Adam said.
“Let’s check it out.” Mitch led the way.
Samantha stayed on the ninth floor, putting bugs in place around the ceiling of Lawrence’s office and boardroom. Reaching in near the ceiling lights, she attached a small audio device, not noticeable from below. Her hands shook as she attached one at a time.
Don’t drop it … steady … that’s all we need is for one of these to drop into the blue light and set off the alarm again.
She bit her tongue with concentration.
His office is bigger than my whole apartment, she thought. Bet he’s seen some action in here.
She looked around.
That’s enough bugs.
She headed to the eighth floor.
Mitch and Adam made their way down to the fourth floor via the internal fire staircase. Mitch found the manhole and gave Adam a leg up into the ceiling. Adam reached down, pulling Mitch up behind him. They stood motionless, listening. Adam pulled out his phone and hit sensor. He waited for the reading.
“No movement in the room below, but there is heat in one corner. Something, someone’s sitting there,” Adam whispered. “It’s not moving, but it’s set off the alarms somehow.”
“What’s located on the fourth floor?” Mitch asked.
Adam pulled out a layout of Lawrence’s building from his vest.
“Fourth floor is admin and staff facilities, gym, sauna – nice.”
“Nothing better than sweating with your colleagues,” Mitch said.
“Photocopy room, binding room, lunchroom, that’s about it,” Adam concluded.
Mitch thought for a moment. Then glanced at his watch. “We’ve got thirty minutes left.”
“It’s probably that same kid photocopying something,” Adam shrugged.
“Yeah, we’ve got what we came for, let’s leave it. Agree?”
“Agree.”
Mitch whispered into his headset. “Sam, where are you?”
“On the eighth floor. I had one left so thought I’d bug the computer systems room for good measure.”
“Good thinking. How much longer do you need?”
“Hang on … I’m putting it in place now.”
Mitch waited.
“There!” Her voice came back on line. “I’ve done two in Lawrence’s office, two in the boardroom and one on the eighth floor. That should do us. They’re all recording to my laptop, as we speak.”
“Great work, Sam. Move out. We’ll meet you where we came in. Wait for us.”
“Check that.”
Adam opened the manhole and began to lower himself back down into the stairwell.
“Just give me a minute,” Mitch said. He went through a mental checklist in his mind. A minute later he joined Adam. “OK, we’re done. Let’s get out of here.”
Daniel heard it in the distance; the sound of a chopper. He saw Nick glance towards the hangar doors.
“What the hell is going on?” he roared shaking Nick.
Nick spat out a mouthful of blood and saliva. “How do I know?” he slurred.
“We’ve got to hide them,” Daniel turned to Colby and Westwood.
The two men moved in, dragging Nick to his feet. Daniel followed as they pushed Nick forward down the hallway. Westwood and Colby shoved him down onto a seat next to Ellen.
“Oh, my God! What have you done to him?” She gasped.
“Shut up or you’ll go the same way,” Westwood sneered.
“Let’s finish them off and dump them,” Colby addressed Daniel.
“We can’t. I need to talk to Lawrence first.”
“What for? He said to clean it up,” Colby snarled.
“Listen Einstein, there were two pilots. We’ve got one. I may need to keep these two for bartering. I’ve got my orders, you’ve got yours, so play the game.” Daniel looked up as the sound of the chopper drew closer. “Here’s the plan. Westwood, you and I will take care of these two, hide them somewhere in the mines – there is no shortage of tunnels below. Colby, you guard the perimeter, shoot whatever you like. Warn them if they come in, the girl dies first, followed by him,” he nodded towards Nick.
“Then?” Colby asked. “We can’t risk any connection to Lawrence.”
Daniel shook his head. “Don’t panic, I’ll speak with him. Let’s deal with it one step at a time.”
Westwood hauled Nick and Ellen to their feet and marched them towards the door leading to the tunnels.
Daniel followed behind.
Another bloody mess to explain, he ground his teeth.
Colby ran towards the front entrance of the Broad Arrow site, two automatic rifles at the ready. He closed the iron gates in front of him and set himself up beside a barrier near the gate. He watched as the chopper landed and four combat-dressed figures scuttled to the perimeters.
“Hurry up,” Westwood grunted as he pushed Nick down the stairs that lead to the mine.
Nick struggled to get his footing, bumping into Ellen in front of him. He could hear her breathing faster as they went underground.
This is not good. Who’s in the chopper and what the hell are they doing? He caught Ellen’s eye and held her gaze.
“It’s OK, Ellie,” he whispered.
“Keep moving.” Daniel ordered turning the torch onto the two captives.
Nick counted the number of steps they walked until they came to an underground concrete room with benches, a former underground lunchroom for the miners. Westwood pushed Nick down on a bench, Ellen dropped down beside him. The room was lit only by the glow from the torch.
“This’ll do,” Westwood said, checking the ties around their hands. He grabbed a torch from his belt.
“I’m going up to help Colby.”
Daniel nodded and shone his torch in Nick’s eyes.
“Might be a good time to talk, Nicholas,” he said. “Who was this other pilot friend of yours and where is he now?”
Nick glared at Daniel. Arrogant little prick.
“Nothing to say?”
“I thought you knew everything,” Nick watched him.
Daniel looked over at Ellen. Nick followed his gaze; she was white as a sheet and breathing fast.
“What if I take your girlfriend here for a walk further down into the tunnels. Think she’d like to sit somewhere in the dark in a closed in part of the mine all by herself?”
“Nick!” Ellen gasped.
“Ellie, it’s OK, close your eyes and breathe deeply,” he coached.
“Yeah, it’s OK, Ellie,” Daniel mimicked “Look at your boyfriend here, covered in blood, had the crap beaten out of him – but don’t worry, we’re really nice guys.”
Nick glared at Daniel. He bit his tongue for Ellen’s sake.
You couldn’t beat the shit out of anyone. Wouldn’t want to damage that expensive designer suit. Forget it … don’t get him angry, he’ll take it out on Ellie. Stay calm.
“Well?” Daniel said above Ellen’s breathing.
“I’ll tell you if you get her out of here.”
“You’ll tell me and I’ll leave her with you. That’s as good as it gets.”
Nick turned back to Ellen who was breathing in shallow gasps.
“OK,” he said. “Ellie, look at me, these tunnels go for miles and miles. There is so much space and air in here that we won’t run out.”
He saw Ellen’s eyes were huge as she stared at him.
“Breathe with me,” he instructed her.
“You can play doctors and nurses later. Who’s the other pilot and where is he?” Daniel demanded.
“He’s a friend of mine, totally trustworthy. Been flying for years and doesn’t know a thing about your stupid game,” Nick said through gritted teeth.
“Name?” Daniel kept the torch shining in Nick’s eyes.
He squinted. Hell, what was his name? The alias Mitch used?
“Name?” Daniel pushed.
Remembering in a rush he spat out the name.
“John Maxfield.” Dad’s friend.
“And where is Maxfield now?” Daniel asked.
“He’s in D.C. on a job,” Nick felt Ellen looking at him. Can’t give away the London connection.
“On a job or cleared out to save his ass?”
“From what?” Nick asked. “I’ve told you we didn’t come away with anything. He was a hired hand paid to do the run and he got paid for delivering his end of the deal.”
“How did he get paid? Wasn’t Johan arrested before the job was done?” Daniel smirked.
Shit! Forgot about that, slipped again. Think!
“I paid him his usual hourly fee in advance,” Nick announced.
“Well, he’s got twenty-four hours to get himself back here. We’ll do a bit of trading,” he said looking at Ellen. “Him for her. And if that doesn’t work, there is always your life.” Daniel pulled out his phone. “Good, still got some reception in this hell hole.”
“He’s not going to drop a job to come back to Nevada.”
“He had better if he’s any sort of friend. Phone number?” Daniel demanded.
Shit, Nick thought. I don’t know Mitch’s number.
“It’s … uh, it’s programmed into my phone, I don’t know it off the top of my head.”
Daniel eyes narrowed, then putting his own phone away, he patted Nick down, finding his phone. Daniel began to scroll through the address book looking for the name John Maxfield. Nick looked at Ellen; the only John in his phone book was John Windsor.
Thank God I put it in there with no surname. Nick swallowed.
“John! I assume that’s your John Maxfield?” Daniel flashed the screen at Nick for confirmation.
“That’s it.”
Daniel rang the number, pressing the phone to Nick’s ear.
“Don’t try anything stupid Nicholas; after all, it won’t be your life at stake.”
John answered. “Nick, we got your tracker call and sent reinforcements in. Have they arrived?”
“John, uh, it’s Nicholas Everett here,” he began.
“OK, Nick, tell me what you can.”
“I know you’ve taken a job there, but I need you back here. The person who hired us wants the two original pilots back for another job urgently and, trust me, it will be worth your while – much more lucrative than your current job.”
“Are either of you hurt?” John asked.
“No. I wouldn’t ask it of you, but he really wants the two original pilots and you would be doing me a huge favor.”
“How much time do we have?” John asked.
“In the next 24 hours. Can you pull out of that job? You’re costs will be covered and more,” he stressed again.
Daniel interrupted. “Tell your friend, we have someone who can identify him, so it must be him.”
Nick glared at him.
Who? Is he bluffing? He ran through potential witnesses in his head.
“I heard,” John said. “Does he?”
“Ah, it must be you,” Nick assured John. “Sorry, matter of life and death – he won’t accept anyone else. You know, top security stuff …”
“Where’s Ellen?”
“I’ll be here. I’m staying with a friend, she’ll head off when you arrive and we’ll get to work,” he said.
“Stall them, Nick, I’ll have to get Mitch back,” John said. “Hang in there, I’m onto it.”
“Thanks, John; I owe you.”
Daniel removed the phone from Nick’s ear and hung up.
“Well done, Nicholas, very well done.” Daniel turned and walked out, taking the torch with him. At the door he looked back. “Make yourselves comfortable, you’ll be staying overnight.”
Nick and Ellen sat in total darkness. Total pitch-black darkness. Nick was thinking.
Who could identify us? Ah, I know! The security guard, Luis Gamboa. He led Mitch to the plane. Could they find Gamboa?
“I hope John doesn’t risk sending someone in Mitch’s place,” Ellen said between breaths. “Poor Mitch, flying all the way back again.”
“He’ll be pissed.”
They sat in silence. Nick could smell the dirt around them. He heard Ellen draw in an enormous breath. He moved closer to her.
“I feel blind. It’s so dark my eyes can’t adjust to it,” she said.
“Ellie, listen to me. Are you listening?”
“Yes,” she said with labored breath.
“Think this through … the chopper’s here because I hit the tracker. Mitch and John know we’re in trouble. There are reinforcements outside.”
“I know, but they won’t move in unless ordered to. Who’s giving that order? And Daniel wants Mitch, and he’s on the other side of the world. It’s going to take longer than we’ve got.”
“John’s getting him back; it’s going to be OK. Daniel will wait … he’s got no choice.”
“Uh-huh,” she breathed. “But he doesn’t have to keep us both alive.”
Nick swallowed.
“Nick, I’m sorry …”
“It’s my fault, not yours. I’m an idiot, I wasn’t supposed to recognize him.”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference,” Ellen gasped. “Even if you had ignored him, he wouldn’t have waited until morning.”
“Maybe. If I’d given up smoking I wouldn’t have been out there,” he joked. Ellen drew another round of short, sharp breaths.
Just what I need; she’s going to pass out on me here, Nick thought feeling her head on his shoulder. He moved down, leaning back further against the wall to support her weight.
It’s going to be a long, indistinguishable day and night. Hurry up, Mitch.