Hugo licked his lips. He didn’t have time for this. Things seemed to be quiet here, but the Spaniard could arrive any minute, and then all hell would break loose.
He stared at the guard and growled, “Listen to me. I need to come in and talk to your boss. Inspector Sánchez has been calling you for the last hour, but you’re not answering.”
The other guard frowned. “Not answering? What do you mean?”
Hugo lowered his hand, and the two guards roared. “Stop!”
But Hugo remained calm and held the other hand high in the air. “Take it easy. It’s just a phone. Look.”
Hugo let his hand slide into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He pressed it and held it up for the guards.
“Listen,” he said.
There was a click, and then a dark voice echoed from the phone.
“Sánchez.”
Hugo spoke loudly. “Inspector Sánchez, this is Hugo Xavier. I’m at the entrance to the research facility, but two guards are preventing me from entering. I’ve explained to them that you tried to call them and that they haven’t been answering.”
Sánchez’s voice rose clearly from the phone’s speaker. “That’s right. This is Chief Pedro Sánchez, and I’ve called you about twenty times, but there’s no answer. I’m ordering you to let Hugo and his team inside. The Spaniard is on his way and will be there any second!”
The guards stared at each other in confusion. One of them grabbed a walkie-talkie.
“Headquarters. Come on in.”
No answer.
The man tried again. Same.
Hugo shrugged. “Let us in,” he said.
The two guards trampled nervously as they stood. In the end, it was too much for one of them. He walked up to the gate, twisted a lock on the back, and pulled it aside. Hugo rushed back to the car.
“Good, good. Police are on their way. Let’s go up to the house and see if we can catch the bastard. Don’t let anyone in until the police get here.”
The guard nodded. Hugo pointed forward. “All right. Go!”
At the wheel, Freya didn’t need any further instructions. She drove up the entrance to the old, majestic castle. They arrived at a gravel-covered yard at the front. Hugo and the others looked around for movement but saw nothing.
Sussie swallowed and said, “It looks like a cemetery.”
Hugo nodded. Two of the floors of the castle were lit. No other cars were in the parking lot.
“Yeah, it certainly looks a bit strange.”
They got out of the car, and Hugo walked up to the main entrance. He felt the handle. Locked. Mikko came up to him.
“Now what?”
Hugo banged on the door. No answer. The seconds went by. “It looks like no one’s home.”
Freya came up behind them. “I don’t like this. Something’s wrong.”
Hugo listened. There was a desolateness about the place he hadn’t expected. He’d imagined that the castle would be full of armed men, but there wasn’t a living soul here. Mikko whistled, and they spun around. He stood at the corner and waved for them to come over, and they ran up to him.
Mikko pointed. “It looks like a kitchen entrance, maybe?”
Hugo patted him on the shoulder. “Good job.”
They made their way to the door Mikko had found, and Hugo put his ear to it. No noise came from inside. He grabbed the handle and opened the door. It was indeed a kitchen. Freya came in after him, and Hugo heard her gasp. Three bodies lay motionless on the floor. Hugo walked up to one of them, crouched, and felt for a pulse.
“Dead. But not for long. He’s still warm.”
They checked the other two—both dead. Hugo walked up to the doorway leading farther into the house. The hairs on his arms stood up. Some people developed a sense to detect danger. There was something inside him that alerted him. He let his eyes slide across the grand hall. The beautiful stone floor, the elegantly ornate staircase, and the ornamented mirrors gave the hall a brilliant luminance.
He motioned for the others to follow him as he moved into the hall. A doorway led to a library, and something seemed to pull him toward it. Hugo took a deep breath and walked in that direction, then froze when he saw Adnan Kosh—the Spaniard—holding a man in front of him like a human shield. His other hand held a knife, and it pointed at Hugo.
“Take one more step, and it’s over for our friend here!”
***
Hugo’s heart pounded, and the room swayed when he recognized the Spaniard.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said.
The Spaniard bared his teeth. “And now you’ve found me. What are you going to do next?”
The others came into the room behind Hugo. The Spaniard swooped with the knife.
“Not so fast. Stay where you are!”
Hugo motioned for them to stay. He pointed to the man the Spaniard was holding. The man’s face was bloody, and he looked dazed.
“You know you’re stuck. The police are on their way. So you might as well let him go, and you might get less punishment.”
The Spaniard stared at Hugo and then threw his head back in a gasping laugh.
“Give away Reinhard Argento? Are you crazy? Do you know what this man did? What lives he has destroyed?”
Hugo took a step closer. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? The only thing that matters is what we’re doing now.”
The Spaniard drew Argento closer to him. He hissed, “Not one more step.”
Hugo stopped. The Spaniard dragged Argento back toward the fireplace that dominated the room. Where the fireplace should have been was a round metal circle. Hugo had never seen anything like it. The Spaniard brought Argento closer to the fireplace. When they reached the edge, he struck Argento across the head.
“Let’s go!”
Before Hugo could do anything, Argento raised his hand and placed it on one of the twelve figurines that adorned the fireplace. The small statue gleamed, and the round metal door in the fireplace clicked and slid to the side. The hairs on Hugo’s arms rose again when the Spaniard dragged Argento into the massive fireplace and continued through the round opening.
A smile slid over the Spaniard’s mouth as Hugo and his team remained in the library, and the Spaniard and Argento disappeared through the hole.
***
One second too late. That was all. Hugo rushed after the Spaniard and threw himself against the round metal door, but to no avail. He slammed into the door the moment it snapped back into its place. He swore as he crawled back up onto his feet. Mikko rushed to him and helped him up.
“Are you okay?”
Hugo nodded. “I’m fine. But we have to get in there. He can’t get away.”
Freya rushed up to the same figurine that Argento had pressed and did the same. Nothing happened. She pushed harder—still nothing. She shook her head.
“He must have blocked it or something.”
Hugo’s brain rushed. They had to get through this door and fast. The two doctors were down there, and now that the Spaniard was in there with them, they wouldn’t survive long.
“Find another way in!”
Mikko frowned and nodded at the steel door. “What do you mean, another way in? Are there more ways than that?”
Hugo tried the other figurines in turn.
“We can only hope that there are and that we find one of them,” Hugo replied. “If not, the doctors and their families are dead.”
Sussie pulled an iPad out of her backpack. “Hugo’s right. Places like this always have more than one entrance to their secret areas.”
They methodically searched the library but found nothing that could help them find another entrance. Sussie stood at the desk, leaning over the iPad.
“Hugo. Can you look at this?”
Hugo went over to her. Sussie tapped the iPad. It displayed a blueprint.
“It’s the schematics of this place,” she said.
Hugo frowned. “Where did you get it?”
“Madeleine sent it.”
Hugo nodded. “Good work. What’s it look like?”
Sussie traced her finger along the edge of what marked the outer wall. “See this? It looks like a corridor or something. It’s hard to see. But it looks like it possibly goes from here down here,” she followed a thin corridor that stretched along the outer wall. “The door that the Spaniard disappeared through is here. But in the next room, there is perhaps a way.”
Hugo nodded. He’d heard enough. “Nice work.”
They ran out of the library into the hall. Sussie pointed to the left.
“There, in that room.”
Hugo rushed to the door Sussie pointed to. He tore it open and entered a long, narrow room where a wide bookcase covered the entire right side. The others were right behind him. Sussie ran her finger along the screen of the iPad.
“It’s hard to see, but maybe in that far corner,” she said, pointing.
Hugo approached the corner and let his eyes slide across the bookshelf for something that looked misplaced. The thick shelves were massive. Some of the shelves were filled with heavy cans of various kinds. He let his fingers slide across the shelves.
As they glided over the third shelf, he felt an almost imperceptible breeze. Leaning forward, Hugo studied the frame. It looked perfectly normal, but as he leaned closer, he saw a black line along the surface where it met the rest of the bookshelf. The sensation of moving air increased as he got closer. He placed both hands on the shelf and looked at the others.
“Watch out.”
He pushed. The shelf slipped in, and a loud click made him jump back. The entire shelf section gently moved back an inch and then slid to the side.
Mikko chuckled. “Nice!”
Hugo looked at him and bared his teeth. “Okay, get ready. Let’s go inside.”
Freya and Mikko checked their weapons. Hugo took a deep breath and went down into the dark corridor that had opened up behind the shelf. Narrow beams of light followed a set of stairs, and Hugo flexed every muscle as he headed down. Voices echoed far away, and he stopped. The others stopped behind him. The voices faded, and Hugo motioned for them to continue. When he came down to the foot of the stairs, he looked around the space. It was cramped, with old stone covering the floor and walls.
Sussie whispered, “This must be the original basement.”
Hugo motioned for her to be quiet. A doorway was on the right. He walked up to it and listened. Behind the door, a man shouted and screamed. Hugo gestured to the others that they should continue. They came out onto a long, stone-paved hallway that was a little more than ten meters in length. Along it stood two doorways. One was dark, and from the other fluttered light and shadows.
The voice got even angrier. “Give up now, Vimpel! You know it’s over! Give up now, and I’ll let your family live!”
Hugo snuck up to the doorway and leaned gently toward it. The room behind was a mix of medieval cellars and modern research labs. To the left were two stone walls, and there was also an old oak table. On the other side were four state-of-the-art lab sections with thick glass walls that shielded it.
The Spaniard stood by the glass wall, staring at a group of terrified people standing inside the lab. The Spaniard began rhythmically banging on the glass.
“Vimpel. You know it’s time. Come out now, and your family will live.”
A woman standing next to Vimpel looked terrified. She leaned on the doctor, who tried to stay calm. Her lips moved, but Hugo didn’t hear anything. It must be soundproofed, he thought, but it didn’t matter. He read her lips.
You can’t go out to him. The police must be on their way.
Vimpel nodded and put his arm around her. The Spaniard banged more intensely now.
“Vimpel! You know what’s going to happen!”
A young girl stood behind Vimpel and his wife. The girl was crying, and the woman kept pushing the girl behind her. Hugo stood and got ready. If he rushed forward and tackled him, they might have a chance to take him alive.
He flexed every muscle and counted down. Three. Two . . .
He saw something moving in the corner of his eye. He turned and flinched when he saw it was Argento. The man was still alive. He crawled up in a sitting position below the glass pane between the Spaniard and the people behind him. The Spaniard’s face is twisted in a grimace. He pulled Argento onto his feet and pushed him hard against the glass pane. He held the gun to Argento’s head.
“Come out now, before I count to three. If I put a bullet in his head, it will be your fault!”
Hugo’s mind raced while the Spaniard began to count backward.
“Three! Two!” He paused. “One!”
***
Instead of shooting, the Spaniard struck the glass window next to Argento’s head. The sharp bang caused Hugo to recoil. The Spaniard bellowed.
“Did you think I’d make it that easy for you?”
The people behind the glass pane screamed in horror as the Spaniard slammed Argento into the glass pane once more. The Spaniard pushed Argento back on the floor.
“No, no, no. I don’t want you to get away with it that easily. You’re going to suffer for this. For what you did to me.”
The woman next to Vimpel pulled the doctor closer and said something. Hugo didn’t see her lips, so he couldn’t read what she said. The Spaniard’s face was pale and sweat ran off him in torrents. If Hugo didn’t know any better, he’d think the Spaniard had taken something. A dark red spot on his shoulder loomed when the Spaniard turned around.
Hugo leaned to the side and saw four dark things sitting on the glass pane. Thin wires traveled from the objects down to the floor.
Someone pulled Hugo, and he looked away. Freya and Mikko leaned toward him.
“What’s going on?”
Hugo rapidly explained the situation. When he was done, he let his hand slide over his face. Muffled pain echoed through his shoulder.
“We have to get to him before he can shoot Argento. He’s about fifteen feet away.”
Freya grinded her teeth. “Armed?”
“Yes,” he said. “A gun. And it looks like he’s put explosives on the glass of the lab. If we shoot, they might go off. There might be more; it’s hard to say.”
Mikko looked at Hugo. “Your knives?”
Hugo bit his lip. “Yes, that may be the only option,” he said.
Freya looked at him. “Do it. If he detonates the bomb, it’s over anyway. At least now we have a chance to save them.”
Hugo nodded and turned back to the doorway. He pulled out a knife and weighed it in his hand. Its weight was like an extension of him. He leaned against the door. Inside the room, the Spaniard swayed back and forth like a frustrated wolf.
“This is the end. This is the end, Vimpel!”
The Spaniard turned around and rushed toward the glass pane. The people behind it recoiled. He raised the gun and fired. In the confined space, the shot boomed. The Spaniard worked his way up into a frenzy that Hugo had rarely seen. Sweat ran off the man, and he fired again. Hugo studied the Spaniard as he paced. Hugo tried to figure out where the wires went but couldn’t. The Spaniard shouted and screamed.
Hugo took a deep breath. He lifted the knife and followed his target. Everything else fell away. The only thing that existed was the man that paced in front of him.
He threw the knife.
It hit the Spaniard low on the shoulder. The Spaniard recoiled and stared down at the knife shaft protruding from his body. Hugo stared in amazement as the Spaniard, seemingly unfazed, brought his hand to the knife handle, grabbed it, and pulled it out. Hugo gawked, and someone said something behind him. His body switched to instincts, to years of training. He rushed forward. Like a living train, he ran straight for the Spaniard. Eight meters away, Adnan Kosh looked up with a puzzled expression. Hugo ran at him for all he was worth. He jumped into the air. The Spaniard tried to twist, but his injuries prevented him from turning fast enough.
Hugo’
s foot hit the Spaniard on the side and smashed him against the glass. Adnan screamed and dropped the gun. Hugo got up. Pain reverberated through his body. The Spaniard crawled up and glared at him hatefully.
“You! You won’t stop me from getting my revenge!”
Hugo kicked the gun away. “Yes, I will.”
The Spaniard took a step toward Hugo, and Hugo saw that the Spaniard’s gaze flickered. But even in his stoned, damaged state, the man was a formidable opponent.
Behind him, he sensed Freya and Mikko moving. They had their weapons pointed at the Spaniard.
“Get down on your knees!” Mikko bellowed.
The Spaniard’s gaze flickered between Mikko, Freya, and Hugo. Hugo nodded and took a step back.
“Best to do as he says.”
The people behind the glass stared at what was going on in front of them. The Spaniard moistened his lips.
“You’ll never take me alive.”
Mikko took a step closer and Freya one step aside.
“That can be arranged.”
Hugo nodded at Mikko as he watched the Spaniard. “He’s serious.”
The seconds passed, but then an imperceptible shiver slid through the Spaniard, and his shoulders sank slightly. Mikko smiled.
“Get down on your knees. Put your hands behind your head.”
The Spaniard bent down, and for a fraction of a second, Hugo thought they had him. But the hairs stood up on Hugo’s arms as the Spaniard bent down and then exploded forward, toward Hugo, who threw himself backward. Both Freya and Mikko pulled their triggers but only hit air when the Spaniard sailed through the air, kicked Hugo, and flew past. Hugo scuffled to the ground, and the Spaniard flew over him, writhing in the air as he’d done before, landed with a roll, and got up.
The Spaniard rushed out into the aisle and came under cover behind a stone wall. Mikko and Freya stopped shooting. Hugo swore and jumped up.
“Not again,” he groaned. “This guy is impossible!”
Hugo rushed into the hallway after the Spaniard as he shouted, “Take care of the others!”
A roar echoed in front of him in the corridor, and Hugo glimpsed blood on the stone floor. Thick drops of it. The Spaniard must have been hit. This time he wouldn’t get away. Dead or alive.
The Hugo Xavier Series: Book 1-3 Page 65