Vienna Blood

75

Liebermann leaped to his feet and ran for the door. From the landing he directed the flashlight's beam down the stairs and saw Olbricht veer to the right. Without pausing to consider the wisdom of his actions, Liebermann threw himself into the darkness, using the wall as his guide. His descent was unsteady, and on the final step he stumbled. He was able to regain his balance as he burst through the open door.

Liebermann stopped and peered into the shadowy depths of the cul-de-sac. The single gas lamp sputtered. Could he see something moving? No more than a shimmer-a certain hint of instability in the fabric of the night?

He continued his pursuit, running across the damp cobbles. As he penetrated the pitchy shadows, he became aware that he was approaching a high wall, a daunting structure that linked the last houses in the cul-de-sac and effectively closed the street off. There was no sign of Olbricht, yet it was obvious that the artist, however agile, could not have scaled the precipitous wall. Liebermann leaned forward, rested his hands on his thighs, and attempted to catch his breath. As he did so he became conscious of Rheinhardt's approach.

The inspector ran right up to the wall, stopped, and looked around in all directions.

“Where is he?” Rheinhardt placed his palms against the brickwork and pressed, as though expecting to find a secret egress. “How on earth did he escape?”

“I don't know.”

“Are you sure he came this way?”

“I couldn't see very clearly, but yes.”

Rheinhardt took a step backward. “Perhaps he went into one of the other houses?”

“No-he was heading in this direction.”

“But he can't have just vanished!”

Rheinhardt turned on his heels. He looked distraught, desperate. His breathing was labored. In an uncharacteristic display of frustration he discharged a fusillade of curses and slapped his hand against a round advertisement pillar. It resonated like a gong-a deep thrumming made complex with internal beats. But as the reverberations faded, the pillar began to emit another sound, a metallic creaking. The two men stood aghast as a steel door slowly swung open on rusting hinges.

The inspector's response was surprisingly quick. In an instant his revolver was in his hand. He approached the door cautiously and gestured to Liebermann that he would need light. The young doctor followed. They made brief eye contact before Liebermann squeezed the bridging switch.

Flash-fade-darkness.

The light revealed a shabby corroded interior-but no Olbricht.

Liebermann stepped into the metal column and found that he was standing at the top of a spiral staircase that sank deep into the ground.

“He must have gone down there,” Liebermann whispered. “Where do you think it leads?”

“The sewers.”

“It's so dark… How could he find his way?”

“I very much doubt that he discovered this by chance. He must be familiar with it.”

Liebermann began his descent. Rheinhardt followed close behind, his pistol arm stretched out over the young doctor's shoulder. As they circled downward, the flashlight illuminated a thick canopy of cobwebs: not the usual network of gossamer threads but great rolls of densely matted spiders’ silk. It felt like being in a tent; however, secreted in the pleats and folds of this white-yellow fabric were hundreds of brown multilegged creatures-fat arachnid bodies, bloated with eggs, trembling in the miasma that rose from the depths. Liebermann shuddered as something dropped from above, hitting the iron handrail with an inordinately loud impact. As they continued their descent, the infested canopy gradually dropped lower until it was necessary for the two men to bow their heads and hunch their shoulders.

When they reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, the cobwebs suddenly vanished. But Liebermann, suffering from the illusion that his skin was crawling with spiders, felt compelled to beat at his clothes with his hands with considerable force.

Rheinhardt raised a finger to his lips. “Shhh.”

They were in a narrow corridor with an arched ceiling. The inspector tilted his head to one side. Almost at the limits of audibility, there was a faint sound, more a disturbance in the air than something that could be heard. Yet its regularity suggested a resolute step, receding into the distance.

“Come,” said Rheinhardt. “We can still catch him.”

It was impossible to determine the length of the corridor. The flashlight pushed the darkness back only by a few yards. They found themselves walking for some time. Deprived of any distinctive features whereby they could judge distance, it seemed to them that they were making no progress but simply treading the same strip of gravelly ground. As they proceeded, Liebermann thought that the walls appeared to be drawing closer together. He sensed the oppressive weight of the saturated clay above his head. The atmosphere was cold, dank, and claustrophobic. He felt a rush of anxiety rising from the center of his being. It swept away his powers of reason, and his mind became occupied by a fear of being trapped beneath the earth-buried alive.

Oblivion, the taste of soil in his mouth, suffocation.

Liebermann forced himself to continue, willing first one leaden leg to move forward, then the other, until the corridor mercifully disgorged him into a wide tunnel. He leaned back against a wall and sighed with relief.

“Are you all right?” Rheinhardt asked.

“Yes,” Liebermann replied. “It's nothing-a little nausea, that's all.”

The flashlight's illumination was reflected back by a slow-moving black canal. Its greasy, sluggish flow prompted Liebermann to recall the rivers of the underworld: Acheron, the river of woe; Cocytus, the river of lamentation; Styx, the river of hate. He hoped that he had not been visited by a predictive vision of his own death, that he would not soon see a ferryman's lamp approaching or hear the gentle lapping of a bow wave.

“Which way shall we go?” Liebermann asked, dismissing the dreadful image from his mind.

Rheinhardt shrugged.

“He's right-handed?” Liebermann asked.

“Yes-according to Professor Mathias's autopsy report.”

“In which case, all things being equal, right-handed people tend to favor turning to the right. Well, at least that is what I once read in a textbook of neurophysiology.”

“Then let us hope that its author was correct.”

Liebermann stood up straight and turned to the right, following a path that ran parallel with the subterranean canal. The stench of ordure became more intense-a malodorous reek that made every intake of breath a trial, and each shallow gasp a triumph of reflex over revulsion.

Their progress acquired an unwelcome accompaniment: the skittering of claws and a restless commentary of chirrups and squeals. Something large and sleek ran from a fading pulse of light and plopped into the water.

“Was that a rat?”

“I fear so.”

“But it was enormous.”

Concentric ripples identified the point where the creature had taken its plunge.

Rheinhardt touched Liebermann's shoulder and gave him a gentle push.

Only a short distance ahead, the flashlight's beam revealed a large iron door. Rheinhardt raised a finger to his lips. Liebermann positioned himself so that when the door was pulled open he would be able to direct the flashlight at whatever awaited them on the other side. Rheinhardt stood close by, his revolver raised. The inspector signaled, and Liebermann wrenched the door open. It emitted a torturous, metallic scream.

Flash-fade-darkness.

The light caught the distinctive reflective surface of the human eye. But it was returned not from a single pair belonging to Olbricht but from many pairs, all of them wide open, the whites glinting with fear.

“God in heaven,” breathed Rheinhardt.

They found themselves looking into a square stone-walled chamber. A motley collection of adults and young children were lying on the ground. Their clothes were little more than rags, and the acrid air smelled strongly of ammonia. Some of the children were not wearing shoes, and their pathetic little faces were striped with sooty smears. One of them began to cry.

Rheinhardt lowered his revolver.

A woman with long matted hair crawled forward, grabbed Rheinhardt's free hand, and kissed it. She was mumbling in a language that he could not understand. The relieved tone of her utterances suggested that she was thanking him, or God, for being merciful. Embarrassed, Rheinhardt took a few steps backward.

“Have any of you heard someone passing by… a few minutes ago, perhaps?”

None of the emaciated faces registered comprehension. They all looked blank: an old man with a long grizzled beard, a child with black hair, a youth wearing a flat cap There were more than a dozen in all, huddled together, trying to conserve their warmth. The old man coughed into his sleeve.

“Do any of you speak German?” Rheinhardt continued.

Nothing.

“Magyar… cestina?”

A woman at the back of the chamber called out-a string of harsh, abrasive syllables.

“Where on earth are they from?” asked Liebermann.

“I haven't a clue,” Rheinhardt replied. “Come-we should keep going.” The inspector turned to leave but suddenly stopped. It was an abrupt movement, as though his coat had caught on something, jerking him backward. He searched his pockets and pulled out a handful of loose change. He offered it to the woman at his feet, who, instead of appearing grateful, glanced fearfully at her associates.

“Take it,” said Rheinhardt. “Please. I want nothing in return.”

He allowed the silver coins to fall into the folds of her tattered dress, and made a swift departure.

“Who are they?” Liebermann asked.

“Unlicensed immigrants,” Rheinhardt replied. “They come down here in the winter to keep warm and avoid deportation. It's said that there are thousands of them.”

“Thousands?”

“Yes, tens of thousands. The sewers are immense, with as many thoroughfares, byways, and rivers as the city on the surface. It is a city beneath the city. Another Vienna that few, thankfully, ever see.”

“This place is hell,” said Liebermann, shaking his head. “Hell.”

“Indeed,” said Rheinhardt.

“I never realized… I never realized that under our glorious concert halls, palaces, and ballrooms…”

“I know-it is truly scandalous.”

The two men resumed their pursuit, walking side by side in pensive silence. Liebermann found himself remembering his encounter with Miss Lydgate in the Natural History Museum and her description of the scientific romance that she had been reading. The author, H. G. Wells, had speculated about a future division of the human race, the poor being driven underground-and the eventual splitting of humanity into two different species. Liebermann had thought the idea absurd, yet now, having witnessed human beings living in such deplorable conditions, he was forced to reconsider his position.

“What's that?” Rheinhardt's question interrupted Liebermann's vatic ruminations. “Listen! It sounds like a waterfall.”

As they progressed, the splashing and roiling sounds of water grew louder.

They arrived at a low archway adjoining their path, through which they could see stone stairs descending to a lower level.

Liebermann worked the flashlight's bridging switch.

Flash-fade-darkness.

The stairs were steep and the walls were damp to the touch. As the two men descended, the crashing and swoosh of churning water increased in volume and Liebermann became aware of a curious phenomenon. The walls were gleaming. He had become so used to the unrelenting night of the underworld that he had failed to recognize the cause: a weak light, emanating from below.

They entered a large chamber that was lit by electric bulbs suspended on cables. A large pipe, big enough for a man to walk through, projected out from one of the walls. It was a conduit for a steady stream of brown glutinous liquid that tumbled into a fast-flowing river. The river itself entered through an arch on one side of the chamber and exited through an identical opening on the opposite side.

Liebermann peered into the rushing torrent and observed slicks of oily effluent, lumps of excrement, and suds of yellow foam. He gagged on the vile spindrift that moistened the air.

Halfway up the wall on the other side of the noxious river was an elevated iron walkway. Looking down at them from it was Olbricht.

Rheinhardt immediately raised his revolver and shouted over the turbulent waters.

“Do not move, Herr Olbricht, or I shall shoot. Stay exactly where you are.”

The artist's expression was calm and his posture relaxed. From his lofty vantage point he seemed to be studying them with an air of detached inquisitiveness, like an emperor observing his subjects with imperial disdain.

“He could be armed, Oskar,” said Liebermann.

“Herr Olbricht,” Rheinhardt shouted again. “Raise your hands slowly and place them on your head.”

The artist did as he was told. But as soon as he had completed this action the chamber filled with the sound of raucous laughter. Two sewerage workers, holding lamps, suddenly appeared behind Rheinhardt and Liebermann.

“What's goin’ on 'ere, then?”

Rheinhardt was distracted only for an instant. But it was enough for Olbricht. He recognized the opportunity-and bolted. Rheinhardt pulled the revolver's trigger, but it was too late. Olbricht had escaped through an entrance at the end of the walkway.

Rheinhardt turned on the sewerage workers, who drew back, fearful of the gunman.

“I am Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt of the Viennese security office. Where does that walkway lead?” He pointed his smoking revolver upward.

“Upper tunnels,” replied the larger of the two men.

“Do they rise to the surface?”

“Yeah, they do.”

“Where do they come out?”

“Postgasse, Fleischmarkt, Parkring… lots of places.” He spoke in a rough dialect that Rheinhardt could hardly follow.

“How long would it take us to get up there?” Rheinhardt waved his revolver at the elevated walkway.

“Up there?” The worker raised his chin and jutted out his lower lip. “About half an hour?” He looked at his smaller colleague, who nodded but didn't speak.

“You are sure?”

The worker consulted his colleague again, who nodded vigorously.

Rheinhardt turned his tired, world-weary eyes toward his friend.

“Well, Max,” he said, sighing, “For the time being, I think, we must concede defeat.”