Hanna’s attention drifted across the floor. The wrench was just a few stretches away and looked more like a life preserver. She only needed a foot more. She stretched out across the floor on her stomach. Her fingers were only inches from the tool, but she needed it quickly. Dimitri continued his aggression, mounting her backside like a rabid dog. His hands slowly wrapped around her neck and gripped her throat like a handlebar. She gasped for air as his fingers tightened with the impact. The pressure was suffocating. His hands were collapsing her air passage with each movement, slowly squeezing out her consciousness. She reached out again for the tool. She only had one last attempt. Her index finger slowly caressed the handle of the wrench. Her fingernail clawed at the trim along the handle. Inch by inch, the tool slowly moved closer into her palm. However, her vision started to blur. Her head was rushing with blood. Her face began to puff up with asphyxiation. Dimitri continued his kung fu hold on her throat.
“Don’t leave me!” he shouted.
The victorious feeling of the wrench filled Hanna’s sweaty palm. She twisted her torso back and swung the wrench with her right arm. She used all the strength she could mount. The flat side of the heavy tool slammed into the temple of Dimitri’s head. Despite being only a modest swing, the impact was enough to topple the man over and make him release his stranglehold. Hanna reacted quickly and jumped to her feet. She cocked the tool back like a tennis player waiting for a chip shot. Dimitri’s body slowly pulled itself from the floor. A steady stream of thick blood poured from his hairline across the side of his unshaven face. Hanna waited patiently. Perhaps he’d come to his senses. Perhaps the impact of her wrench was enough to jar him back into some level of consciousness. Dear God, don’t make me do this.
The man stood up from the floor and glared at her with a raging black look.
“Dimitri, stop this.”
Despite her pleading words, Dimitri’s head lowered for the attack. He lunged toward her through the sour darkness for a second attempt.
Hanna took another swing, this time sending a terrific blow to the left side of the man’s dazed face. His fractured head whiplashed backward. His body crumpled back to the floor in less than a second. Hanna dropped to a knee and began bludgeoning the man. With each blow, Dimitri’s body fluttered into a stillness. As the last impact of the wrench ripped from the back of the man’s bloodied skull, his body toppled over to its final resting position.
Hanna fell back. She was spattered with blood, and she collapsed with exhaustion. She slid to her ass and pushed away from the carnage as quickly as she could. The room was dark, but she could see the outline of her handiwork. All that seemed to remain of the Russian was a pile of clothing and mangled bone and flesh. She had surprised herself, but she had done what she needed to. She understood that and felt little remorse. Perhaps Pierce had been correct when he attacked Dimitri the first time. It was clear there was no coming back.
Hanna caught her breath and looked above her head. The control panel was waiting to be pushed. She lifted her shaky hand and shoved in the bottom button. The elevator began shaking back to life, lowering a few more stories deeper until she felt the thrill of completion. The room landed into its final stop, rocking to a soft stillness. Light started to flood in from the outside hallway as the metal doors separated and opened. The light spilled across the messy floor, revealing the carnage before her. Hanna looked around. Dimitri’s second screwdriver was a few feet away. She picked up the tool and stuffed it in her pocket before grabbing her wrench and flashlight. She cautiously gazed out into the brightness. Her eyes adjusted to the light. A long tunnel stared back at her. My God. Where the hell do I go?
CHAPTER 16
It was the belly of the facility. It was long, drawn out, irrationally large, and unintentionally like a maze. Hanna took two steps out from two concrete pillars that separated the large elevator area like a fireplace mantel. She couldn’t help but feel exhausted noticing the sight before her. This goddamned place! It was an elaborate concrete tunnel system that seemed to go on for miles. This new place had a cared-for quality about it. It was clean and fully operational, unlike its rusty predecessor upstairs. Its walls looked like newly poured concrete. The lighting fixtures overhead were modern and fresh. They obnoxiously flooded the environment with blinding light. The corridors were large enough to drive a semi through. They were possibly large enough to store aircraft.
At first glance, Hanna knew what she was looking at. Dimitri and Pierce had referred to this place as the digs, but she had suspected it to be a covert place known to her people as QR-7.
Used to link various military infrastructures throughout the United States, QR-7 was a transportation system. It was ideal for moving troops and sensitive equipment safely underground without detection from the Soviets or the public. The system traveled miles underneath major cities and small towns and connected bases from the Eastern Seaboard to California. Its construction started after World War II, and it was the most expensive construction project the world had ever undertaken. It was one of the military’s most coveted secrets.
Hanna had to keep moving. She gravitated toward an open area that forked out into several different tunnels. She turned her flashlight off. There was no need for it anymore. The surroundings were blindingly bright and empty. Not a sign of life for miles. Hanna stood in the center of the tunnel intersection contemplating her direction. Which way to Richmond, Virginia? she thought with a humorous sniffle, struggling to keep her emotions light.
Every direction looked the same, but making a decision was important. Any decision. Time felt as if it was running out.
Five minutes had passed. Hanna had walked for almost a quarter mile. A split in the tunnel was slowly coming into view. Ahead of her was what looked like a machine room. Large turbines hummed steadily as a small series of pumps lifted up and down in a synchronized effort to create a rhythmic hydraulic beat. Hanna picked up the pace, closing the distance between her and the machine room within seconds. There had to be a way out somewhere nearby. Then she remembered the breakout shafts Dimitri had mentioned earlier. Where the hell are they? Hanna lifted her wrench and slowly stepped toward the threshold of the room. She gazed in and skimmed over the area. A long set of metal stairs twisted up the concrete wall about eight or nine stories before taking a sharp turn into a square section of the ceiling. Across the room, Hanna noticed more tunnels. She couldn’t decide if she should go up or continue on.
Hanna stepped behind two large hydraulic pumps as they whooshed back and forth. She took cover to investigate the room further. She glanced at the machines with indifference. They might as well have been the undercarriage of a rocket ship. Mechanics escaped her. Their purpose was obviously important, but for what was the question. All she knew was that the pungent smell of the axle grease was damn near unbearable. She cloaked her nose with the bend of her arm and dashed toward the staircase like a juggernaut. At the base of the stairwell, she stopped and looked straight up. Eight stories looked like a bargain. She started her ascent up to the first landing with ease.
A sound stopped her in her tracks. It was the spine-chilling cackle of a metal grate lifting up and slamming down with the force of a footstep. She flashed a look back, praying the clamor had something to do with the machinery.
The decision to look back was a mistake. Standing below her, at the base of the stairwell, were four creatures. Perhaps dozens more lurked in the shadows all around her. The blood in her head started to rush down. A sense of light-headedness almost caused her to fall. Don’t react too quickly. She tried to coach herself as she lifted her wrench in defense mode. If they wanted to hurt me, they would have done it already.