“So Sveta is in the wind, too,” Katie says.
Joel’s father says, “I think he intended to take us with him as hostages, but changed his mind once we got in here. Maybe he figured we’d slow him down. The only reason my son isn’t dead…” He doesn’t finish the sentence, probably overwhelmed by the thought of it.
“Is because he heard you outside the door, moving the shelf, and got scared,” Joel says, finishing his father’s thought. He points to another door in the safe room opposite the one we entered. “He took off running through there.”
“With the encryption technology that protects us from launching a nuclear strike,” I say, the enormity of it sinking in.
Mr. Easter regains his composure and adds, “It must lead to a tunnel of some sort. Perhaps you can still catch him.”
When Mr. Easter says tunnel, it reminds me of something. Maybe we aren’t down for the count just yet.
“Jones, when I was on the roof, I remember seeing an old shed. I thought it was odd because it was too far away from the school to be of any use. If there are passageways down here, maybe that’s where it comes out above ground. And if I remember right, it’s just outside Berg’s perimeter.”
“Smith, I like the way you think,” Jones says. “I’ll try to reach the shed first and head him off above ground. You and Carmichael take the tunnel. Maybe you can catch up to him.”
It sounds like a good plan to me, but Katie doesn’t respond. In fact, she has been unusually quiet. When we look up to get Katie’s confirmation, she is gone.
CHAPTER 33
The tunnel is dark and I can’t see a thing, but at least it was built by professionals—it’s not one of the groundkeeper’s makeshift dirt tunnels. All kinds of fear are running through me right now—fear of being ambushed by Koval, of him unleashing Armageddon on the world, of losing Katie—but at least I don’t have to worry about the walls closing in on me—literally. I can stand at full height, which means I can move quickly—or I could if only I could see a damn thing.
Katie has her flashlight, but she must already be too far ahead for me to see it. Or maybe she decided against using it. All I have is my phone. The choice is between using it so I can see where I’m going—along with whoever might be waiting there for me—or stumbling around in total darkness. I assume Koval is trying to get the hell out and didn’t hang around in order to capture me, so I go with option one. My flashlight app isn’t great, but at least now I’m able to see whether the tunnel just goes straight ahead or has right angles, which would also explain why I can’t see the beam of Katie’s light.
She can’t be more than thirty seconds ahead of me, but so far, there are no signs of her. I want to call out her name, but that would broadcast to Koval that she’s on his tail. About ten yards into the tunnel, I come to a four-way stop. I figured it might happen, but it might as well be a brick wall.
Come on Jake, no freaking out. Choose one.
But choosing the wrong tunnel will cost me time. Plus, there are no markings to distinguish one tunnel from the others, so if I have to backtrack and I’m not careful, I might screw up and disorient myself.
Duh, Jake.
I pull the Sharpie from my pocket and draw an arrow on the floor pointing behind me, toward the safe room, a way out if the other three tunnels turn out to be dead ends.
Just as I’m about to choose a path, I hear something. Since I don’t know if the something is good or bad, I can’t call out. Using my flashlight is also a bad idea, so I make it go dark. The pitch blackness clears my thoughts, and I realize the sound can only be bad. Katie knew I would follow her. If she’d caught Koval and heard me coming, or if she’d seen the light from my phone, she would call out to me. At the very least, her flashlight would be shining.
Being in the dark also forces me to sharpen my other senses. I’m still standing at the intersection of the four tunnels. They’re close. I’d have heard their footsteps if they had moved on. I know they aren’t in the tunnel behind me, so I turn to my left, count off five paces, arms outstretched, and stop just inside the first tunnel. I hear nothing. Smell nothing. I walk backwards five paces, which should put me back in the center of the intersection. Then I turn right, and do the same thing in the second tunnel, the one I’d have taken in the first place had I just gone straight ahead. Again, I hear and smell nothing.
One tunnel left. Like my mind is on a delay, I realize the sound was familiar—a jangling of keys, but muted, as though Koval has put the keychain in his pocket rather than wearing it on his belt loop. In this final tunnel, I do the same thing, stepping just inside it. I don’t hear anything, but smell strawberries and creosote.
Katie smelled of both those things, but if she was here alone, she’d have called my name by now. If she’d taken down Koval, she’d be talking smack about how she bagged the bad guy first.
So they’re both close, except the bad guy has bagged her.
It feels like everything inside me drops at the same time: my stomach, my nerve, my heart. But I keep it together because that madman has Katie.
I step back as silently as I can, hoping Koval doesn’t have a dog-boy olfactory sense like I do. I need just a couple of seconds to think how this will play out in a way that doesn’t get Katie or me killed. The element of surprise would be great, but he must have seen my flashlight. Koval must assume I followed Katie. He knows I’m close. Probably knows what Katie means to me, so he has that advantage.
But where we both have a level playing ground is the pitch blackness. Except he’s been in the tunnels at least a minute longer, and without light longer. Less than a minute has passed since I had my phone on. My pupils have dilated, but not as much as his. Bright light will be more his enemy than mine.
“I know you’re there, kid,” Koval says, confirming my theories.
I guess he’s grown tired of waiting for me to make my move. I have to make one soon, because each second I don’t means losing the advantage of less sensitivity to light. But what if the move I make is the wrong one? Fear of getting it wrong nearly paralyzes me.
“And you know I have your girl.”
These are the words I need to kick me into gear, and they are enough sound from Koval that I can judge how close he is to me: just a few feet ahead in the tunnel and slightly to my left.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Koval thinks he has the advantage. Any other day, it would be true. He has more experience. He has no compassion. He has my girl.
But that last thing is what wills me to stop him. I raise my gun, ready to shoot in the direction just below his center of gravity. I need to already have my aim as close to the target as possible because I’ll only have a few seconds. But Katie is probably positioned in front of him, as a shield. Now I can hear her breathing. It isn’t elevated, but regular.
“Get out of here, Peter, while you can!”
Katie’s words confirm that she is being restrained, but she has all her senses about her, too.
“What are you waiting for?” Koval singsongs the words like we’re playing a game.
One last surge of doubt rises in my gut, trying to immobilize me, but I push it down with a single thought: If I don’t act, Katie will die.
I hold up my phone with my other hand and click the camera. The flash brightens the tunnel with intense light. It’s a bit brighter for Katie than it is for me, but brightest of all for Koval’s more dilated pupils.
In that briefest moment, I see Katie drop and roll right.
I flash the camera again, long enough to see Koval raise his weapon, but I have the jump. I’ve already aimed. When the bullet hits his left knee, he goes down before he can get off a single round.
I hear the sound of metal against bone. Maglite against skull. When I turn on my phone’s flashlight, Katie is standing over Koval, smiling.
I smile back. “Now we’re even.”