There was no sound whatsoever. The running had ceased completely, not even down to a trot — just gone. Costa was the first to dare peek around the entrance to determine their status. The other two held their breath as well as they could, considering their hearts were about to burst from fear-induced adrenaline.
“Clear,” Costa whispered.
“How sure are you?” Don asked while Nina wheezed audibly. “There is no way they could just not be there anymore. You heard them. There are only two flanking walls, man. There is nowhere they can hide.”
Costa shrugged, “Unless they are not actual soldiers.”
Nina shivered at the suggestion while Don went off on a tangent, bitching at Costa for bringing up ghosts while they were in the dark bowels of a concentration camp.
“Come on, let’s survey the floor first,” Nina urged. Although she sounded in control, she really only pushed them to get to the task so that she did not have to let her own imagination get the better of her.
The dank old chamber was huge, stretching over several divisions.
“Just remember, the Soviet Union reconstructed the original Krema I chamber,” Nina whispered. “That means that not everywhere we tread will be the original rooms.”
“Great,” Don remarked. “Just to make it more difficult they had to turn the bloody place into a Rubik’s Cube?”
“Try here,” Costa pointed to a place on the floor of the oven room where there was significant discoloration over a precise square area near the wall.
Don used the ground penetrating instrument, scanning the floor where Costa pointed out.
“No fucking way! Zorba, you genius!” Don shouted in an excited whisper as the screen yielded unmistakable images of a deep cavernous area under the first few meters of the floor.
“What did you find?” Nina asked.
“Look on the screen. This instrument uses radar to indicate fluctuations in the substructure. What does that look like to you, love?” Don asked her. Nina was astonished.
She gasped, “A flight of stairs!”
From the other chamber, the haunting footfalls started once more, pacing irregularly. Nina’s chest heaved as she realized that the sound of the boots were closer than before. She sank to her haunches and proceeded to utilize her laser cutter to burn hard into the concrete above the staircase.
“Hurry! Hurry!” the men pressed frantically. “Can’t you set it to a stronger beam?”
“This is the top setting, guys,” she hissed in frustration as the first side was cut halfway through the concrete.
“Listen!” Costa said.
In the next room, the boots were now accompanied by whispers.
“No ghosts?” Don asked.
Costa shook his head. “No, but they might turn us into ghosts soon.”
“Oh Christ, I cannot do this any faster!” Nina sneered, sweat trickling down her temple and cheek as she completed the second of three incisions.
“They are coming!” Don groaned. “Fuck that, I’ll deal with them. You guys get down there and find the stone. I’ll meet you at the minivan at dawn. Later than that, take off and get the stone to Dave.”
With that, he rounded the broken wall of the oven room and started a fight. Costa lunged to follow, but Nina grabbed him by his suit and pulled him back. “Please stay with me! Please! I cannot do this by myself.”
The third border was cut, leaving a roughly cut square in the floor.
“The laser did not cut right through,” he said.
They could hear a mighty altercation where Don was. Costa abandoned his efforts to do things quietly. With a hefty kick, he brought his foot down in the one corner where two incisions met, breaking the already sliced cement and forcing the thinner layer beneath it to fail under the pressure.
A shot rang out from the hallway, but Nina could not ascertain whether Don was dead or alive. Only gunshots and shouting ensued. Nina knew that museum security would not open fire like that.
“Hurry, Costa! We have unauthorized company, if you know what I mean!” she growled as she stomped her boots down on the other unbroken parts to speed things along. The floor caved in with a terrible rumbling, but in the cacophony of the firefight, the collapse went unnoticed.
Costa helped Nina into the hole and took her hand once they were under the floor. They could hear the heavy footfalls of the men in the chamber scuffle. As the shooting stopped, Nina and Costa could hear the footsteps running toward the outside of the building.
“That must be what we heard,” he told her. “The footsteps chasing us were a floor above us. That is why we couldn’t see them. Just like now. There they go, but it sounds like they are right here.”
“I just hope Don is alright. I hope those bullets fired were his, Costa” she said softly.
Costa comforted her, running his hand over her tied back hair. He pulled her against him and continuously stroked her crown a few times before he pulled the black scrunchy from her hair.
“What are you doi…?”
Costa pressed his lips on hers, snuffing her words in a deep kiss. Nina could not believe what was happening, but she had wanted it for so long that she abandoned all responsibility.
‘Sam’
In the pitch darkness, she allowed Costa to ravage her, her passionate moans contained by the hidden hall under the ground of the killing floor.
Chapter 34
Purdue was worried sick.
He could not get hold of Nina or Don, causing him even more stress. Everything in him screamed to return to Poland and seek them out. At least he knew where they were supposed to be, but he had to wait here in London for them. They would bring the Medusa stone so that he could arrange for Helen’s release. One thing he did have going for him was what he found on the security footage — which the kidnappers accessed the administration building with Soula Fidikos’ code.
But that only proved that the same people responsible for killing Soula were behind the abduction. And he already knew that just by deduction. Now his team members in Poland were off the radar, even from him, which was never a good thing. All he could do was hope that they were just delayed. Otherwise, he would be in for a long month of friends’ funerals to attend.
While he waited for the second of three calls from the Black Sun, he chugged back one Scotch after the other. It was a dumb idea that he knew, but it did not seem to matter to him if his friends were in trouble. His phone rang, like the expected tolling of an execution bell.
“Hello.”
“Mr. Purdue, how are you?” the distorted voice asked.
“I’m just peachy, thank you,” he answered casually.
“Do you have the Medusa stone?” the voice inquired.
“I have not been able to find it yet,” Purdue replied. He did not expect understanding from Helen’s captor, but he answered truthfully nonetheless because he had nothing else.
“That is a pity. Tomorrow is the last day, Mr. Purdue, as you know,” the voice reminded him. “Then we take Professor Barry.”
“I know. I know,” the exhausted billionaire slurred. “And if I don’t save Prof. Barry? You might kill her, but you will still not have the Medusa stone.”
A pause followed just as Purdue had hoped. He had them in a corner with that one, he thought.
“Then we kill Dr. Gould.”
Purdue’s heart stopped. He fought to keep from throwing up as the voice continued to clarify matters for him. “We have three men currently exploring Auschwitz with her, actually.”
Tears welled in his eyes and his voice cracked.
“Is she in their custody?” he asked.
“If she were, Mr. Purdue, she could not find the Medusa stone for us, could she? She is not in our custody, but she is in our sights. One word from me and Nina Gould joins Soula Fidikos,” the voice threatened.