The man shrugged and then, noticing that one of his laces was undone, stooped to tie it. As he did so, he raised his eyes toward Tom's and winked.
It was Viktor.
CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT
Tom glanced at Archie, who gave a slight nod. He had seen who it was too. "I asked you a question," Hecht challenged the still crouching Viktor. "Get back to your work."
"You bastard," Tom shouted, rolling onto Archie and kneeing him in the stomach. "This is your fault. Your greed's going to get us both killed."
Archie kicked out as he tried to roll out from under him, flexing his back like a wrestler trying to break a hold. "If it's anyone's fault, it's yours," he shouted back. "I told you to drop it."
Hecht stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Tom's shoulder to yank him free. Tom, however, reached around and sank his teeth into the flesh between forefinger and thumb. Hecht cried out in pain.
Viktor, meanwhile, stood up behind the other guard, whose attention had been drawn to the fight. Taking careful aim, she landed a heavy blow on the back of his head, dashing his skull. He fell to the floor, unconscious.
Hecht spun around, his bleeding hand clasped to his chest, the other reaching for his gun. Lying beneath him, Archie kicked out and caught his arm, sending his gun clattering to the ground. With a furious roar, Hecht launched himself at Viktor, his huge frame covering the distance between them in no time and sending her sprawling with a punch to the side of the head.
Viktor lashed out from where she had fallen, catching Hecht in the groin with her knee and bringing him down to the ground crying in pain. He immediately spotted his gun lying on the mine floor, and scrambled toward it on his hands and knees.
Seeing this, Tom struggled to his feet, using the mine wall to help push himself upright. He threw himself at Hecht, stars exploding in front of his eyes as he landed heavily on his injured shoulder. Hecht shrugged him off, but the delay was just long enough for Viktor to struggle to her feet and scoop the gun up as Hecht's massive hands were about to close on it.
She stepped toward him, his eyes still flashing with defiance, the muzzle hovering only inches from his nose. Then, in one swift movement, she brought the butt of the gun down hard on Hecht's temple. His face slammed into the dirt floor.
"God, am I glad to see you!" Tom wheezed between pained breaths.
"We told you not to go inside." She smiled as she pulled a knife from her boot and sliced Tom's hands free.
"Where did you get the outfit?" Archie asked as she crouched down next to him and cut his cuffs off too.
"One of Volz's men decided to take a leak a little too close for comfort." She grinned. "Luckily, he fitted."
"How did you know we were in here?" asked Tom.
"I didn't, but Dominique guessed you would be. Said you wouldn't be able to help yourselves. Good thing for you she knows you both so well."
"Where is she?" Tom looked around in concern, as if half expecting her to leap out from the shadows. "She's okay, isn't she?"
"She's gone back down to phone that FBI number you gave her. She seemed to remember seeing a phone line running into that old man's house. Come on, let's get out of here."
"Hold on," said Tom. "We can't just leave them to it. Once Volz makes it out of here with that uranium, no one will ever hear from him again until it's too late."
"You're right," said Archie. "But there's only three of us and over twenty of them. What do you have in mind?"
"Four if you untie me," Renwick observed.
Tom ignored him, considering his options. In the end, it was the sight of Hecht's sprawled bulk that gave him an idea.
"The detonator," Tom exclaimed. "We can use Hecht's charges to collapse the mine and trap them until the police arrive. Search him. He must still have it on him."
Archie turned Hecht over and patted him down, recovering the detonator in one pocket and a folded piece of paper in the other. He smoothed the piece of paper out on the floor and held his flashlight over it.
"It's a schematic of where the charges are. They're numbered one to four. There seem to be two sets in each tunnel, one at the entrance and one near the chamber."
"So if we let off charges two and three, we'll seal off the chamber at both ends."
"I'm not an explosives expert," Archie said with a frown, "but that's what it seems to be saying."
"Well, that's good enough for me," said Tom. "Let's get clear and then we'll set them off. We can't let Volz unload that train."
"You know, there may well be some people in the tunnel when you let those charges off," Archie pointed out. "They probably won't make it."
"I know." Tom compressed his lips. "But a lot more people may not make it if we don't stop Volz now."
They turned to leave, but Renwick, called out and stopped them in their tracks. "Thomas, dear boy. Surely you are not just going to leave me here?"
"Aren't I?" said Tom drily. "Just watch me."
"They will shoot me, you know that."
"Good. Then it will save me the trouble," Archie said.
Renwick ignored him, his eyes boring instead into Tom's. "You cannot do this, Thomas. Think about the times we had together. Think about the way things used to be between us. Unless you help me now, it will be as if you pulled the trigger."
"Don't listen to him, Tom," Archie warned.
"Answer my question." Tom walked over to where Ren-wick was still propped up against the mine wall. "Did my father know who you were? Did he work with you?"
"Let me go, then I will tell you."
Tom shook his head. "No. I'm fed up with negotiating with your lies." He reached into Renwick's jacket pocket and pulled out the gold Patek Philippe pocket watch that had once belonged to his father. "I'll take this," he said, taking a quick look at it and then slipping it into his coat. "You won't be needing it anymore."
CHAPTER NINETY-NINE
They sprinted down the tunnel until the rectangle of blackness and the luminescent glow of the snow in the pale moonlight told them they were near the exit. Seconds later they spilled out into the fresh air, the relief of emerging from under the mountain's oppressive weight making them momentarily dizzy.
"Are you ready?" Tom asked when he had located a suitably broad tree to shelter behind, grasping the remote detonator in his right hand. They nodded, the mood suddenly somber. He flicked the unit on and extended the aerial. Four small lights glowed red, one next to each button.
"Two and three," Archie reminded him. "That'll seal either side of the chamber. Just two and three."
"Okay." Tom pressed the button marked 2. Far below them they heard a deep boom and then felt the ground shake. The snow that had accumulated on the upper branches of the fir trees above them fell to the ground with a thump. A stiff breeze blew up the mine shaft toward them, strong enough to ruffle Viktor's dark hair.
"Now three," she prompted him gently. Tom pressed button number 3. This time the sound was much closer, a throaty roar that seemed to grow louder and louder until it was chased out of the mine entrance in a cloud of smoke and dust that cloaked everything it came into contact with in a white shroud. Eventually, the smoke settled and they stepped toward the mine entrance, the air thick with dust.
"You still got your radio, Viktor?" Tom asked. "Let's call Dom and see whether she's managed to get down to that chalet yet."
Viktor located her radio and swapped it for the detonator. He turned it on and entered the encryption code that would allow him to tune it to the agreed frequency. But before he could speak into it, Viktor's voice rang out.
"Tom, look out."