Just before all this happened I had reached the maintenance man and demanded to see his clearance card. He showed it to me and it was in order.
"Where is the ventilation system leading to the Assembly Hall?" I asked him. "It's got to be down here someplace."
"End of this corridor, turn right," he said. "You'll see the ducts. They're screened, four of them, two over and two under. Why, something wrong up there?"
"Not yet," I said, racing down the corridor. "Not yet." I took the corner in a skid and raced down the next corridor. The ducts were there, the screens in place, and I peered at the small metal sign beneath them.
"Assembly Hall Vent System," it read. "Blower Controls in Boiler Room 3."
I put my ear to the screens and heard the sound of air being forced upwards. Two of the ducts carried fresh air up and two carried circulated air back down. It was the perfect place. All they had to do was open the vial into the duct and in seconds the deadly chemical would be blown into the Assembly Hall.
I walked to the end of the corridor. There was a small hallway that led to a fire exit. I tried it. The door was locked from the outside but opened from the hallway. I walked back, past rows of pipes level with my head, and turned the corner which led to the main corridor. I went back to where I'd met the maintenance man. There were no doorways or other corridors. Anyone reaching the ducts would have to pass this way. The maintenance man had gone and I took up a position at the corner.
I glanced at my watch. Nine fifty-five. In the green, gold and blue Assembly Hall, the World Leadership Conference was about to begin. Maybe it will go off without trouble, I muttered to myself.
I heard the sound just about that time. I looked up to see two men pushing a big closed wooden box on wheels. They moved down the corridor toward me and I read the stenciled letters on the side of the wheeled box: Superior Banquet Supplies.
"Hold it," I said as they reached me. "Let's see your clearance cards." The two men handed me their cards. The photos matched them. I recalled what the police captain had said about the outfit that would bring the banquet supplies.
"Go ahead," I said. They nodded and continued to push their huge, wheeled box down the hallway. I had turned away to keep my eye on the other end of the corridor when suddenly I realized something. There wasn't a damn reason for banquet supplies to be down here. There wasn't even a laundry room in this area.
I whirled just as one of the men fired, and I heard the dull, muffled sound of the silencer. I'd have been dead, shot through the back, it I hadn't whirled. As it was, the shot hit Wilhelmina in her shoulder holster under my jacket. The force of it knocked me backwards and hurt like hell as it drove the heavy Luger into my ribs. He fired again as I was falling and the shot cut into my temple and I felt the sharp, burning pain. I lay there feeling the waves of darkness trying to close in on me and the warm trickle of blood running down my temple. They figured they'd done it and pushed on.
I lay there, squeezing my eyes shut, gritting my teeth, fighting the darkness again. It was the shot that'd creased my temple that was doing the damage. I rose up on one elbow, saw the gray-white corridor spin and shook my head. It stopped spinning and I got to my feet. I took out Wilhelmina. The slug had struck the trigger and the release latch and twisted and jammed both. Wilhelmina would do no shooting for now.
I moved forward quickly on the balls of my feet. There'd be damned little place to hide in these barren corridors and they'd already rounded the corner. I still had those fancy socks in my pocket that Stewart had given me. But if I lit them and blew the three of them up, the X–V77 would go with them, blown right into the vent system by the explosion. And so I had a fancy weapon I couldn't use and a gun I couldn't shoot And time had run out.
A towering rage swept over me. They wouldn't empty that damned vial into the duct. Not now, not after all this. Chung Li wouldn't sit back and enjoy the triumph of his deceitful cleverness. I turned on the speed and when I hit the corner and careened around it like a car on two wheels, one of them had just removed the screen from one of the intake ducts. Carlsbad's huge Japanese buddy was emerging from inside the big wooden box, the vial in his hands; a third man was helping him out.
I had Wilhelmina in one hand and Hugo in the other. As I slammed into the side of the wall, I flung the stiletto at the one with the duct screen still in his hands. The blade imbedded itself in his temple. He stiffened and then crumpled and the screen fell on top of him. Wilhelmina flew through the air and caught the second bastard right in the middle of his forehead. He fell backwards as blood spewed out of a bad gash. The giant Japanese froze for an instant, one foot still in the wooden box. I started for him and he came to meet me. Just as I rushed, he threw the vial at the open vent duct. Remembering my football days in college, I twisted, reversed and leaped upwards and backwards at once.
I felt my fingers close around the vial as it flew through the air and I got a grip on it as I fell, holding it out from me. My head hit the concrete of the floor and I saw stars for an instant. The' Japanese slammed a shoe into my chest. I felt my breath catch on fire from the pain but I rolled away, still clutching the vial over my head. I couldn't let him get his huge hands on that. He was on top of me, all three hundred and twenty-five pounds of him, reaching out for the vial. My hand was still over my head. I opened it, let the vial roll onto the floor and with my fingers sent it skittering across the corridor.
The Japanese cursed and I felt his weight come off me as he started to dive after the vial. I wrapped both arms around one oak tree of a leg and twisted. He fell heavily to one knee as a grunt of pain escaped him. I hit him with my shoulder and he dropped to one side. He rolled away and reached out for the vial as it lay within reach against the other wall.
My foot got there first, coming down with all my might on his fingers. He screamed in pain and pulled his hand back automatically. I got one toe against the vial and sent it rolling farther down the corridor, hoping to hell it wouldn't break. The giant was on his feet, rushing at me. I knew better than to try to meet this human locomotive head on. I twisted and got only part of his rush. It was enough to knock me into the wall so hard I felt my bones shudder. He had a split second to decide whether to go after me or the vial. True to his mission, he went for the vial. As he rushed past me, I stuck out a foot and he stumbled to the floor and the building shook. I slammed another foot into his jaw and he rolled over and blinked. He saw that he'd have to take me out before he got the vial. I let him get to one knee and swung, hitting him on the point of the jaw with a perfect blow. His eyes crossed and he fell backwards but only for a moment It would have killed some men and taken out most others. This guy, though, was getting to his feet once more.
But some of the starch had been taken out of him. I swung again and opened a two-inch gash over his right eye with a sharp, slicing blow. I followed with a right and he turned his head in time to avoid taking it on the jaw. It caught his wide, flat cheekbone and I felt it break. He put his head down and leaped forward. I tried to dodge but didn't make it. His huge arms circled my body and I felt the grizzly-bear strength of the man at once. His head down, he pressed himself against my chest, pulling me forwards at the waist. I felt my ribs about to go. My arms were pinned to my sides and I couldn't break his hold.
I brought my knee up hard and fast, slamming it up into his groin. I felt him gasp in pain and I was flung across the corridor into the wall. I bounced off it and hit the floor. The pain had taken its toll but it had also sent him into a wild fury. He dived and came down on me. A building falling on me couldn't have felt much worse. My breath left me in one huge rush and pain shot up into every part of my body. He got up but I was seeing through a curtain of grayness, trying to find some breath. I felt his huge hands grab my neck and I was lifted like a child and slammed into the wall once again. This time the grayness turned black and I was only barely conscious as I hit the floor.