Black Rose

CHAPTER 60

The raft was a rental from a company in Geneva that specialized in supplying whatever was needed for tourists with a yen for seeing the Rhône up close and personal. Clouds covered the moon. The château was a dark mass looming out of the night. In their black gear, the three of them were just one more bit of darkness.

The raft bumped up against the rotting remains of the old dock. Ronnie tied off and they climbed up onto the flat area next to the wall of the château. Nick shone a light on the rusted metal of the ancient door. A metal plate in the center held a large keyhole.

"Can pick that lock?"

Ronnie peered into the keyhole. "It's solid rust. Be quicker if I cut it away."

He took the plasma unit from his pack. It was compact and self-contained, good for about twenty minutes, long enough for most uses in the field. Ronnie donned goggles, turned it on and began cutting. The torch made a bright, blue flame, showering sparks as he cut. The metal glowed red on either side of the cut as he moved the beam around the lock plate. After a few minutes he shut down the torch and took off his goggles.

"That should do it."

He stood and used his knife to pry the plate away from the door. It fell onto the ground.

"Give me a hand," Ronnie said.

Nick and Ronnie pulled on the door. Flakes of rust broke away but it didn't move.

"Again," Nick said. This time they felt movement. "Once more should do it."

They pulled. The door came open with a screeching sound of tortured metal.

"They must've heard that in Geneva," Nick said.

"As long as they didn't hear it up top," Selena said. "Are we going in or not?"

They stepped into the lowest vault of the château and brought out their flashlights. The arched ceiling of the vault was made of fitted stones. The floor was of stone. Old barrels and crates and pieces of lumber littered the floor. A thick layer of dust lay over everything. A narrow flight of steps rose at the far end to the next level.

"No one's been here in a long time," Nick said. "I wonder if they even know that door is there."

"They will after we leave," Ronnie said.

"Let's climb. Weapons free."

They charged their MP-5s. The sound of the bolts going home echoed in the stone space.

The steps led to a closed wooden door. Nick pushed against it until it showed dim light from the room beyond. They opened it further and stepped into another vault. This one had been converted into a furnace room. Three low wattage bulbs hung from the ceiling, shedding light enough to see a modern gas fired boiler positioned against one wall. A four inch gas main descended from the ceiling to a large, spoked valve and then over to a meter and control console on the side of the boiler. The panel held more valves and several gauges. They could hear the low sound of the pilot light burning. Pipes rose from the boiler and branched out along the ceiling.

"That's a serious furnace," Ronnie said. "Look at the size of that gas line. I'd hate to see the heating bill."

"Gutenberg can afford it," Nick said. "The next level up should be the ground floor. I don't see steps."

"There's another vault through there," Selena said. She pointed at an open archway on the wall opposite the furnace. They headed over to it. Nick held up his hand.

Wait.

He took a quick look into the next room and signaled them forward.

They entered a wine cellar lit by dim, overhead bulbs. On one side, racks of wine and liquor bottles stood in dusty rows, five shelves high. A wide aisle ran down the middle of the vault, toward another set of steps leading upward. On the other side of the aisle stood a dozen round, steel cylinders, each about four feet high. Nick had seen cylinders like that before. They were the kind used by crop dusters.

He walked over to them. Each one was marked in red.

Selena came up beside him. "SR. I'll bet it's short for Schwarze Rose, Black Rose. These are full of plague."

"Son of a bitch," Nick said.

"The bastard means to spray that stuff from the air," Ronnie said.

"This ends tonight," Nick said. His lips were pulled into a tight line.

He looked at the steps leading up from the wine cellar.

"If I remember those plans right, those steps lead to the kitchen."

"That makes sense," Selena said.

"Once we're inside it won't take long before they discover us. Anyone that's armed, shoot them. We don't know if there's any more of this stuff except what's down here, so don't kill Gutenberg. We have to try and take him alive."

The muffled sound of automatic weapons came through the closed door to the kitchen.

"What the hell is that?" Ronnie said. "Sounds like a firefight up there."

"Only one way to find out," Nick said.