Eli saw Malone at the same time Ivan had, and he’d not disagreed with firing a shot toward the ceiling.
It generated the desired effect.
People scattered in all directions, oblivious to the barrier that had held them back from the elevators. Like a stampede of cattle they formed a surging wall toward where Malone stood, allowing him, Munoz, and Ivan to join the crowd fleeing in the opposite direction.
They hustled down a wide, lit corridor, their walk alternately on salt and on wooden planks. These paths were nothing like those deep below, the walls polished smooth, the floors even smoother, with plenty of light. The route drained into a medium-sized chamber that displayed wooden chests, carts on iron wheels, and buckets used long ago in mining. The tourists kept going out the other exit, into the next tunnel.
But Ivan stopped.
And assumed a position behind one of the iron carts, gun in hand.
“We deal with Malone here.”
He motioned to Munoz, who crouched behind another of the old carts, armed too. He was about to find his own cover when Ivan said to him, “Stay there.”
Out in the open?
Which meant he was bait.
Cotton headed in the direction that Ivan and his two cohorts had gone. All of the people had fled, leaving the wood-lined corridor clear. He held the gun in his right hand, retrieved from beneath his coveralls. Stephanie and Patrycja waited back near the elevators. The path was a straight line for about fifty feet, where it drained into an open doorway with darkness beyond.
He approached the entrance and decided, as he had back in Bruges, that rushing in was foolish. Instead he hugged the salt wall on the left side of the portal and risked a look beyond.
He saw Reinhardt standing in the middle of a dimly lit chamber.
But no Ivan or Munoz.
Czajkowski had watched the mayhem that ensued after the Russian fired into the ceiling. Sonia had radioed the mine manager again and told him to shut off all the elevators going up. Too much chaos was happening to take a chance that their quarry might escape. This way, they were sealed belowground, along with everyone else.
Malone had gone in pursuit.
But Sonia had not insisted they follow.
And he understood.
So far their presence was unknown and it seemed better to keep it that way. But he did not want anyone hurt. Enough blood had been shed already.
He and Sonia had quickly climbed the stairs to Level II and, following the manager’s radio instructions, made their way to where the tunnels began a steady descent back down to Level III, hopefully on the opposite side of where Ivan had gone.
With luck, their target would come straight to them.
Eli froze.
He’d seen a shadow approaching from the brightly lit tunnel beyond, which had abruptly stopped. Then he’d seen a head take a quick look past the portal’s edge. Munoz and Ivan were ready with their weapons.
Malone was obviously being cautious.
He caught Munoz’s gaze and motioned for him to shift positions, placing his man closer to the doorway, on this side of the opening.
“I’m here, Malone,” he called out. “Why don’t we discuss this?”
Cotton smelled a trap, but decided to not alert Reinhardt. “All right. Let’s talk. Come on out.”
He waited.
Reinhardt appeared from the darkness.
He stayed to his side of the doorway, offering no one on the other side a clear line of sight. If they wanted him, they’d have to come get him.
“I’m a bit surprised to see you here,” Reinhardt said. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess.”
Reinhardt smiled. “A funny man? This is quite a serious situation. Yet you think humor in order?”
He shrugged. “It’s only serious for you. I’m on the side of might and right.”
“Come now, Malone. Can’t we be reasonable?”
“Where’s Ivan?”
“Doing what Russians do best.”
And Reinhardt added a sly smile.
Then dropped to the floor.
Shots rang out from inside the chamber.
Rounds whined past and found the salt and timbers farther down the tunnel, ricocheting off. He hoped Stephanie and Patrycja had taken cover. He stayed glued to the wall at the side of the opening.
Reinhardt crawled back inside.
He heard movement in the darkness beyond the doorway. A quick glance showed an empty chamber.
“Stephanie,” he called out behind him.
“We’re here.”
“I’m going after them.”
“The elevators are not working,” Patrycja told him. “They’ve been shut off from above.”
Which meant something more was happening here.
Stephanie and Patrycja appeared and hustled his way.
“Where does this route go?” he asked.
“It winds back around to the main areas, past the lakes,” Patrycja said. “To the stairs.”
“You two head up, any way you can. Keep these bastards down here. Don’t give them a way out.”
Stephanie nodded and she and Patrycja retreated toward the elevators.
He headed the opposite direction.