04

SAM

‘So, how do we escape Hans and his men?’ Zara said. ‘Wait—we’re not jumping again?’

Sam nearly laughed, remembering Zara’s reaction to them BASE-jumping from the Eiffel Tower. ‘I don’t think jumping to the street is a safe option this time,’ Sam said, looking out the window at the darkness below, occasionally broken by the headlights of passing traffic. ‘It wasn’t exactly a smooth, or accurate, landing last time, remember? And that was in broad daylight. There’s not much my Stealth Suit can do for us if we drop in front of a truck.’

He checked the room for anything they could use to help them escape. Like his room, this one was bare and the heavy wooden door was locked from the outside.

‘We could try climbing down the outside of the building,’ Sam said, gathering up the two short ropes from the floor.

‘That won’t get us down to the ground,’ Zara said, looking at the rope that had been used to tie her up.

‘Maybe it won’t have to,’ Sam said, looking out the window down to the next ledge below. ‘Yeah, maybe …’

Sam tied the two ropes together to make a single longer one. He tied one end of the rope to the iron handrail at the windowsill, then dangled it down to the window directly underneath. Too short. He glanced around the room, his eyes alighting on the broken mattress on the floor. A torn, dirty sheet lay across it. Sam pulled the sheet off and tied it onto the end of the rope, tossing it back out the window.

Yes!

‘We slide down the rope to the next level,’ Sam said, ‘then bust into that room, climb in and escape through the building, down to the ground floor.’

Zara looked down the rope and sheet dangling outside, and the long drop to the street.

‘Bust in?’

Sam nodded and smiled. ‘Trust me.’

Sam pushed hopefully against the window in front of him and was relieved when it swung open at his touch. Inside, it was dark and quiet. It was an apartment, or at least it used to be, but it was now as desolate as the rest of the building—unoccupied and deserted a long time ago … until Hans arrived.

So far, so good.

Sam looked up to Zara peering out from the window above and whispered, ‘Come on down.’

He watched as she tentatively put her weight on the rope and shimmied down towards the ledge where he waited and caught her, helping her into the room.

Sam put his finger to his lips and motioned for silence as they looked around the empty apartment, walking as quietly as they could across the creaking wooden floorboards.

It was much the same as the sparse rooms they’d been locked in, empty but for a few shadowy shapes of furniture, some draped in dusty sheets.

‘OK,’ Sam said, relaxing a little. They crept into what must have once been a spacious lounge room. An old coffee table still sat in the corner, complete with a stack of unopened mail, and most importantly, a phone.

I wonder …

Sam tentatively lifted the handpiece and, incredibly, heard the soft hum of the dial tone.

‘It’s still connected!’ he exclaimed in surprise, the unexpected stroke of luck making him inadvertently drop his guard.

‘Shhhh!’ Zara hissed worriedly. They both froze on the spot, listening for footsteps outside in the hallway. It was quiet.

‘I’ll call the Academy,’ Sam whispered.

‘Are you sure?’ Zara said, still sounding anxious. ‘Shouldn’t we get out of here first? What if they notice we’re missing?’

Sam thought for a moment. ‘My friends will be able to help us. We might not get the chance to call again,’ he said.

‘OK,’ Zara agreed, ‘but be quick.’ She continued to listen for noises beyond the front door, her face tense.

Sam dialled Lora’s phone number and she answered on the third ring.

‘Lora, it’s Sam—’

‘Sam! Where are you?’

‘I’m not sure,’ he replied, quickly running through what had happened since he’d seen her last—da Vinci’s workshop, trying to escape, Mac turning traitor and Solaris taking the Gear and the Bakhu machine. Finally he told her about Hans and the German Guardians kidnapping them.

‘You’ve been through so much,’ Lora said. ‘I know how devastated you must be that Solaris took the Gear. But you can’t imagine how relieved I am to hear from you.’

‘Yeah,’ Sam replied. ‘This time the Gear was in, or rather was part of, a box. And Zara’s Gear was some kind of, I don’t know, like a toothed axle—like it might form the middle part of the machine that all the other Gears work on or around.’

‘I’m just glad you’re OK. You need to get out of there, but you’ll have to leave the line open, so we can trace the call and find you. It may take some time.’ Lora hesitated, then continued, ‘Our equipment is down so I’m relying on a contact in the Swiss police until Jedi gets things up and running again. Can you get to someplace safe nearby to hide and call me back? As soon as we have a fix on your position, we’ll head there.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘But hang on, why is the Academy equipment not working?’ Hans’ words echoed in Sam’s head, ‘the Academy is no more … blown into dust …’

Surely it couldn’t be true? Could it?

There was a brief pause before Lora said anything and Zara could see the concern building on Sam’s face.

‘The Academy’s main campus was attacked,’ Lora said finally.

No!

Sam listened silently, shock etched on his face as Lora explained how Stella had led her team of Agents to the Swiss campus and destroyed it.

‘And Eva’s still up there?’ Sam said finally.

‘She is, but we’ll pick her up at first light as soon as the weather clears,’ Lora said. ‘Don’t worry, Tobias is there with her.’

‘What!’ Sam nearly dropped the phone in surprise.

‘He’s alive, Sam. He helped us. Without him, we would have had many more casualties.’

Where’s he been all this time—and why didn’t he let me know he was OK?

Sam turned to look at Zara, sensing the fear and impatience to leave, to escape this place.

‘Look, Lora, there’s something else. I think I’ve had my next dream, but I’ll have to tell you later, we need to get away from here.’

‘Agreed. I’ve just arrived in London so I’ll coordinate our efforts from here. Stay safe.’

‘We will.’

Sam turned to Zara. ‘They’re coming to get us, let’s go.’

They went to the front door of the apartment and listened intently.

‘What if those guys are out there?’ Zara whispered.

‘Don’t worry,’ Sam replied with a hushed voice. But he’d heard guards outside his room all night—talking and pacing. Sam hoped that there’d be no reason for Hans or his men to be on another floor.

Time to find out.

‘We’ll have to chance it,’ Sam whispered. ‘Besides, it seems like Hans is only using the floor above. This place looks like it’s been empty for a while, right?’

There was a quiet thud outside their door and Zara jumped in fright.

Sam again held his finger to his lips. Zara nodded and they stood there, silent, listening with their ears against the timber door. When all was dead quiet again, Sam took a breath, turned the lock and opened the door a couple of centimetres.

After peering out carefully into the corridor, they slipped out, the telephone receiver swinging on its cord in the room behind them.