Biowar

46

“Schönbrunn,” said Lia. “Where is it?”

“It’s a palace just outside the city,” said Telach. “There’s a lot of ground there.”

“It is near where you lost Dean?”

“A mile away.”

“Close enough,” said Lia.

“They wouldn’t land the helicopter there,” replied Telach.

“He’ll land it anywhere I want.”

“My point is that they wouldn’t have planned to go there. It’s filled with tourists during the day. And there’s all sorts of security.”

Lia put her pistol to the pilot’s head.

“Where the hell are you supposed to meet them?” she asked. She’d put on the radio headset to make it easier to speak.

“Schönbrunn,” said the pilot. His voice cracked twice; Lia decided he was telling the truth.

“Lia, their other helicopter is headed toward the airport,” said Telach. “We’re just not sure what he’s up to, but it looks like he’s out of the picture, at least for now.”

“That’s nice.” Lia pushed her gun closer to the man’s neck. “What are the words for ‘get the lead out’?” she asked Rockman. “I can never remember the idioms.” Unlike the first tunnel, this one was very poorly lit, and Dean kept stumbling as he went. He came to a Y intersection and ran right.

Within twenty feet the light gave out completely. With voices now echoing behind him, he decided it was better not to turn back, and so he kept going, resorting to feeling his way against the side of the wall.

After twenty or thirty yards, he came to a ladder. He was about five rungs up when the beam of a flashlight played across the space below. Dean froze, then reached for the small revolver he had taken from the driver earlier.

There were two lights, coming toward him from the distance. Dean watched and waited as they approached; he could get both bodies behind the lights, but it wasn’t clear to him whether there was a third or fourth man behind the front two; his first shots would leave him an easy target.

More shadows — a third man, maybe a fourth farther back.

One of the lights swung toward the ladder. They were ten yards away.

Dean fired his first shot into the skull of the man on the left. One of the men in the rear began returning fire. Dean took down the second man with the flashlight and then fired into the flashing rifle; it took two slugs before the gunfire stopped.

The flashlight rolled on the ground. Gunpowder filled Dean’s nostrils, mixing with the damp air and hot sweat pouring off him as he scrambled upward. Finally his arm smacked hard against something. He pushed; miraculously it gave way. He threw himself up as another gun began firing behind him.

He was in a tunnel.

A train tunnel.

There was a light behind him, and a loud rumble approaching.

Lia saw one of the vans that had been part of the Austrian contingent moving along Edelsinnstrasse, which ran roughly west-east at the southern part of the grounds.

“We see it, too,” said Rockman. “All right, what was he supposed to do?”

Lia asked in German. The pilot pointed to the ground. Lia realized that he was supposed to hover until Hercules appeared. If he didn’t come, then he was to return to the airport.

“Go over to the airport,” said Rockman. “Let’s get a line on that, see who else is working with them.”

“No way,” she told him. “If Hercules comes out and doesn’t see the helicopter, he’ll know something’s up.”

“Lia’s right,” said Telach. “Stay with him.”

Thank you, Lia thought, though she didn’t say anything. She looked through the windscreen, trying to see what the pilot was watching for.

“Is it the van?” she asked the pilot. “Van?”

The man shook his head.

“What then?”

Words sputtered from his mouth. He was looking at the Gloriette Monument overlooking the gardens. The massive stone structure looked like the ghost of an ancient castle.

“He’s supposed to be on the lawn near the monument?” asked Lia.

“Ja,” said the man. “Yes.”

“Go,” she said. “Now. Schnell gehen. Go!”

For a moment, Dean wasn’t sure whether to run or try to get back down the hole. Finally he saw a small ledge at the right side of the underground. As the subway train bore down on him, he threw himself over the rail and lay in the tiny coffin space between the track and wall.

The space had been carefully measured to provide clearance for workmen in case of an emergency. But Charlie didn’t know that. All he knew was that the air rushing around him felt like a tornado thrust sideways against his face. He couldn’t breathe, and even his heart seemed paralyzed from the shock of the train and the danger.

He heard the screech of brakes.

I’m dead, he thought to himself. I just got split in half and I’m dead. I’m seeing my own demise.

But no angel came for him. Instead, the train had cleared and gone on a few hundred yards to the station.

Dean unfolded himself, trembling, then started in the direction the train had taken. After two steps he began to run, realizing that his pursuers might still be after him. He could hear the train in the station ahead starting out, saw another track nearby. And then he was at the platform, pulling himself up.

He’d nearly gotten flattened in a subway in Moscow a week or two ago. Then Tommy Karr had been waiting by the steps. For some reason, Dean didn’t think he’d be waiting to bail him out now.