by Bobby Akart
In the single file cabinet, which was locked, there were several three-ring binders containing journal entries. She found it odd that the chief financial officer of a major international conglomerate would maintain any records in such an old-school format. The handwriting, written in German, would have been a challenge for her to translate anyway. All she could do was hold her camera in place as she thumbed through them at a frenetic pace.
After she completed recording, she received a text message from the Den.
Jackal: Barbarians at the gate. Suggest a change of location near your point of entry.
Cam: Roger that. Gunner?
Jackal: Unknown.
Cam wasn’t going to leave Gunner. Then she had an idea. They hadn’t used the sewer running beneath Salzburg to get in. However, they might be able to use it to get out.
Cam: Tell Bear to meet us at original insertion point. Lock down the building to bide time.
Jackal: The manhole?
Cam: Roger. Tunnel exit. Out.
She didn’t wait for a reply. She raced out into the hallway, where she heard excited voices emanating from the building’s main lobby. Cam didn’t hesitate as she raced for the door accessing the lower levels. When she reached level six, she slowly opened the door, leading the way with her pistol.
The hallway was quiet. She stepped in and shut the door behind her. With her weapon drawn, she rounded the corner leading to the server room before abruptly stopping. She’d come upon Gunner’s handiwork.
She picked up the guards’ weapons and took their identification badges. She tried to swipe them to gain entry into the technology room, but the guards didn’t have sufficient access to enter. She had to get Gunner’s attention, so she took a chance.
She pounded on the door with her fist and then knelt on the floor, where she slid one of the men’s bloodied access cards under the door for him to see. She knocked repeatedly with no response. Finally, she took a chance by calling out his name.
The door swung open and Gunner appeared, holding his gun and a keyboard. “I’m ready.”
“What are you gonna do with that?”
Gunner holstered his weapon and broke the keyboard over the top of his thigh. “Slow ’em down.”
He tossed the broken keyboard on one of the dead men as the two raced back to the emergency exit door.
“Change of plans,” said Cam as they slowly entered the stairwell. “We have to exit the way we planned to enter originally.”
“The tunnels?”
“Marvelous, right?”
Gunner led the way. “It’ll be an adventure.”
They moved quickly down to the basement of the eighteenth-century prison’s lower levels. In the past, some of Austria’s worst criminals had been incarcerated in the building. It had been turned into a museum in the 1950s before being acquired by Knight Gruppe for its worldwide headquarters. A major renovation in the 1980s required a set of engineered architectural drawings accessible by Jackal and her team. That was how they’d learned of the access point through the sewers.
The two ran through the dark bowels of the building, ducking below steam pipes and stepping over concrete curbs designed to keep water compartmentalized in the event of flooding. The Salzach River ran near the building and was prone to flooding when heavy rains were combined with snowmelts in the Alps. It was a known problem that the stormwater drainage and the sewer tunnels were both filled from time to time during these heavy rain events.
Access to the tunnels was through a series of grates and manhole covers similar to those found on the streets of Salzburg. Gunner and Cam raced along the dank walls of the basement in search of the single manhole cover that was located in the basement according to the engineering plans.
“There it is,” said Cam as she ran ahead. She arrived out of breath before dropping to her knees. She stuck her thumb and index fingers through the holes at the top and lifted. The cast-iron cover didn’t budge. “Jeez, this thing is sealed shut.”
Gunner stayed calm. “Nah, just heavy. Two-fifty, probably.”
“How are we gonna open it? Coming in, we would’ve just lifted it and pushed it out of the way.”
Gunner walked around in search of a pry bar or a manhole hook used to open the cover. There wasn’t anything around them that would work.
“Let’s try working together,” Gunner suggested. He pulled his knife out of the sheath strapped to his right leg. “The blade would never be strong enough to pry it open. If we can lift it with our hands, then I’ll slide the handle into the gap with my knee to hold it open. I can take it the rest of the way after that.”
“It’s all we’ve got,” said Cam.
The two operatives slid next to each other and stuck their fingers into the holes of the cast-iron cover as if they were positioning them into a bowling ball. Gunner positioned his knee over the blade of his knife so he could shove the handle into the gap created when they lifted.
“Ready?” he asked.
“On three?”
“Sure,” replied Gunner. He counted them down. “One. Two. Three.”
Both of them grunted and hoisted the manhole cover up an inch and a half. As planned, Gunner pushed his right knee forward until the knife wedged into the space created by their efforts. The cover dropped on top of the handle, but they’d accomplished their purpose.
“Hell yeah!” said Cam enthusiastically. She lowered her body to look at the small gap they’d created. “Um, is that enough to get your fingers in there?”
Gunner turned so that he straddled the cover. He bent over and carefully inserted his fingers into the gap. He was able to slide both hands in up to his knuckles.
“I think that’s all I need. Will you grab my knife when I lift it?”
Cam nodded and grabbed the serrated side of the blade. “Ready when you are.”
Gunner nodded, took a deep breath, and heaved the hundred-year-old solid cast-iron disc into the air as if he were executing a deadlift at the gym. A seal of dirt and dust caused some resistance, but Gunner grunted as his back muscles pulled it upward. Seconds later, the cover was free and set off to the side.
Cam spontaneously hugged her partner. Gunner laughed and said, “Yeah, that was fun.”
Cam looked into the darkened tunnel below, and then the excitement drained out of her body.
“Seriously?” she asked sarcastically.
“What?”
“No ladder.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Knight Gruppe AG
Salzburg, Austria
Gunner dropped to his knees next to Cam and peered into the dark tunnel. He retrieved his cell phone and activated the flashlight app. They were thirty feet above the murky waters of the sewer. Gunner sighed and turned to lay on his belly. He crawled and bent his upper body so it protruded through the manhole opening. Cam quickly slid behind him to sit on the backs of his thighs so he didn’t fall through.
“Whadya think?” she asked.
Gunner’s voice was muffled and sounded hollow as he responded, “Thirty-to-forty-foot drop. There’s water, but there’s no way to tell how deep it is and whether it will help break our fall.”
“I can’t believe the Den missed this,” complained Cam.
“This is what happens when you have to go into an operation on the fly. It sucks. Listen, I need to drop in a little farther so I can see the ceiling.”
Cam rose on her knees to allow Gunner to slide into the opening a little more. When he appeared to have too much momentum, she sat on the backs of his legs again and gripped the manhole cover for leverage.
“Anything?”
WOOF! WOOF!
A dog let out a deep, husky bark.
“Did you hear that?” asked Gunner.
“Yeah. It wasn’t down there?”
The dog barked again. It was excited now and closer.
Cam’s head swung back and forth to search for the source of the barking. “Dammit! It’s up here. Maybe in the stairwell. We gotta do s
omething.”
“There’s a pipe running underneath the concrete floor. I can reach one of its supports.”
Gunner studied the drainage pipe. It led up the slope of the tunnel for as far as his flashlight app would illuminate. It would make their drop to the ground much shorter if they could move in that direction.
On the one hand, he was relieved to see it was an ancient cast-iron pipe instead of a newer aluminum or even PVC material. However, he immediately wondered how long it had been there and whether it would hold their weight.
“I hear voices,” Cam warned in a voice just louder than a whisper.
“All right, let me down a little more so I can grab this pipe. Once I have ahold of it, I’ll set up for you to reach your arm through, and I’ll pull you over to it.”
“Like a freakin’ trapeze artist?”
“Yeah, something like that. Listen, just get ready. If it’ll hold me, it should hold us both.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“Do you remember when we used to jump off roofs as kids?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, don’t forget what to do. Now, ease up on my legs.”
Cam lifted her body off his, allowing gravity to pull him down. In a split second, Gunner slipped through the manhole and the layer of bedrock separating the tunnel from the building’s foundation.
With a powerful, viselike grip, he clamped his hand on the pipe’s cast-iron support. His body weight carried him down, and then he spun as his body turned upright. The momentum challenged Gunner’s strength, yet he held on. He hung in the air for a few seconds to allow the swinging to stop; then he grasped the pipe with both hands to relieve the pressure on his right arm.
“You still there?” asked Cam through the opening.
“Yeah. Give me a second.”
“That’s all we’ve got.”
Gunner positioned himself as close to the manhole as he could. He did a chin-up to wrap his legs around the pipe. Once his face and body were parallel to the ceiling, he turned so his body was inverted and the backs of his knees were wrapped over the pipe as if it were a trapeze swing. He extended his feet so his toes wedged against the ceiling to provide him additional leverage.
Using his abdominal muscles, Gunner lifted his upper body until he could grip the opening of the manhole. He stretched out his right hand so Cam could see it.
“I see it,” she whispered. “We’re out of time.”
Gunner could hear the dog’s bark echo through the concrete basement hallway. They were close.
“Okay, drop your legs down first. When I have your ankle, I’m gonna tell you to release.”
Cam reversed her position and sat on the edge of the opening. She slowly dropped through, holding onto the rim of the manhole opening with her hands. Suddenly, both of Gunner’s powerful hands gripped her ankles.
“Drop!” he shouted.
Trusting her friend and partner, Cam let go of the edge and fell downward. Her body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as she dropped into the dark tunnel until it jerked to a stop as if she’d just deployed a parachute.
She was now swinging back and forth, upside down, breathing heavily. Cam’s heart raced as she got her bearings and the swinging subsided.
“Now what?” she asked in a remarkably calm manner.
“Bend at the waist until you can grab my wrists,” Gunner replied.
Cam forced her upper torso toward Gunner, using her pants to pull herself closer to his wrists. With a final effort, she got a firm grasp on his arms.
“I’m good,” she said.
“Hold tight. I’m gonna slowly release your ankles. You need to use your abs to allow your legs to gradually descend. If you go too fast, your momentum may break our grip. After I release, I’ll be holding your wrists. Got it?”
Cam took a deep breath and tightened her abdominal muscles. “Okay.”
Gunner released her ankles and firmly grasped her wrists. Cam tried to lower her legs as slowly as possible. The barking dog in the hallway above distracted her.
“I’ve got you,” said Gunner. He encouraged her. “Easy. Easy.”
Once she was vertical again, he pulled her up until she could reach the iron support that affixed the pipe to the ceiling. He used his muscles to elevate her body to relieve some of her body weight as she got a grip.
“Jeez,” she said as she finally exhaled. “I’m good.”
Cam held onto the pipe with both hands, her legs dangling downward. She focused on keeping her grip.
“Good. Just one more thing.” Before turning his own body upright, he rummaged through his pockets. He used his ab muscles one more time to thrust his upper body toward the manhole opening. Then he tossed Kutcher’s thumb upward until it landed on the floor of the concrete hallway.
“Was that his—?”
“Yeah. They might think it’s one of ours and try to pull a print. Or the pup gets a treat. Either way, it might buy us a little time.”
Cam laughed. She slid her hands on the outside of the pipe and began to slowly move her way into the tunnel. Gunner swung his body around and followed a safe distance behind. He didn’t want to put too much weight on a single support.
Soon, the security guards could be heard talking excitedly. Their flashlights illuminated the inside of the tunnel directly below the manhole opening, but none of them bothered to lower themselves into the opening like Gunner had. As a result, they never saw the two Gray Fox operatives inching their way along until it was safer to drop.
After shimmying along for seventy feet or so, Cam delivered the bad news.
“We’re out of pipe.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Salzburg, Austria
The cast-iron pipe abruptly turned upward through the concrete and bedrock. They were still thirty feet above the tunnel and the gently flowing water. They both hung in the air, surveying their options.
Gunner and Cam had had an interesting childhood together. While others played video games or organized sports, they tested the bounds of their bodies by running long distances, climbing unexpected structures from trees to buildings, and dropping from roofs.
They’d always considered thirty feet as that unofficial boundary between survival and serious injury or death. Even a ten-foot jump could result in broken ankles, twisted knees, or hip pointers resulting from the impact. Of course, there had been a few recorded cases of people falling thousands of feet and miraculously surviving. Gunner used to point these instances out to Cam, who promptly responded they were deemed miraculous for a reason.
“You’ve got this, Cam.”
“I know. It’s been a while.” She took a deep breath and let out a long exhale. It was important to keep her body relaxed. If her joints tensed, the potential for injury increased.
Gunner continued to help his friend. “I think the actual drop will be more like a couple of dozen feet. You know, feet to ground.”
Cam looked downward. Gunner swung like a monkey, grasping the bar with one hand and holding his cell phone so the flashlight illuminated the landing area.
“I’m ready,” she declared.
“Okay. I’ll go first. I’ll hold the light on for you and help break your fall if necessary.”
Cam repeated what she’d learned as a child and perfected while in training at Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
“Knees bent and together. Torso steady. Body soft. Stick the landing, balls of my feet shoulder width.”
Gunner chuckled. “Like riding a bike, right?”
“Yeah. Let’s roll,” Cam replied confidently.
Gunner put away his phone right after Cam illuminated hers. He wasted no time in releasing the pipe. When his feet hit the water, he executed a perfect landing roll by pushing his body with one foot and forcing his right shoulder toward the bottom of the tunnel. This allowed the water to help break his fall.
The water was three feet deep and only slightly helped with the impact. However, the groan h
e let out was less about the pain that jolted through his body but rather the smell of the wastewater that covered him.
“You okay?” asked Cam.
Gunner wiped the sewer water off his face and brushed off his clothing. He didn’t dare tell Cam what was in store for her. She’d never let go of the pipe.
“Yeah. I decided to roll at the last second. It helped a little.”
“I’ll do the same,” said Cam.
Gunner powered on his flashlight so she could see the landing area better. “You’ve got about three feet of water. Just remember to keep your head tucked and let your shoulder take the impact.”
“Roger that. Now or never.”
Cam exhaled again and dropped. She hit the ground a little harder than she wanted to, rolling upon impact as Gunner had. She was submerged briefly and came up coughing. She spit water out of her mouth and then hurled expletives at Gunner he didn’t know existed.
“Anything broken?” he asked.
“Your jaw, asshole. Why didn’t you tell me this was shit water?”
“Um, you didn’t ask?” Gunner offered a lame response.
Cam angrily reached down and splashed the sewer water on Gunner. He was about to return the favor when the sound of a dog barking echoed through the tunnel.
Cam turned and began sloshing through the water up the slope toward the exit. “Come on. I’ll deal with you later.”
She clawed her way up the slight slope to a narrow pathway along the tunnel wall that remained dry. Gunner did the same on the other side of the tunnel so the two of them weren’t close to one another, thus providing a single target for their pursuers. They moved deliberately in the darkness, opting not to draw attention to themselves with their flashlights. Both operatives had been trained in moving stealthily in darkness, using dim light and their inner senses to maneuver.