by David Nees
The next morning, Friday, dawned cool and cloudy. The team met after breakfast in a parking lot on the northeast side of the airport, near the executive jet terminal. The two cars were left in the lot and the team transferred into the van and drove north to the mansion to scout the property while waiting for dark.
Evangeline seemed excited as if they were on a great adventure. The others were more somber, knowing how many ways the operation could go wrong. Warren sat fidgeting with his fingers, lacing and unlacing his hands. Marcus sat back with his eyes closed, not asleep but almost in a meditative state. Dan kept an alert posture, watching through the outside mirror for any tail.
In fifteen minutes, they were in Embrach. From there they changed to a small road that wound through the forest on the hillside overlooking the town. They passed the entrance to the mansion. Evangeline leaned over Dan’s shoulder to get a good look. He could hear her labored breathing in his ear as she saw the property, filled with so much trauma, that she left two years ago.
“Tell me where the escape tunnel comes out,” Jane said over her shoulder.
Evangeline studied the side of the road as the van slowly drove on. When they passed another estate, Jane stopped.
“It seems we’ve gone beyond the property at this point. We’re about to head down the other side of the hill.”
“It looks so different from the street side,” Evangeline said. “I’m not sure I can identify the spot.”
Dan turned to her, “You have to try again. We can drive back, more slowly, but we can’t go poking around the fencing for hours. This is not a neighborhood where strangers go unchecked.”
“Does he have something like a getaway car stashed near the tunnel exit?” Marcus asked. “If he just climbs out of the tunnel, he’s got a long walk to get anywhere and he’d be vulnerable.”
“I don’t know,” Evangeline said.
“Good point,” Dan added. Let’s watch the turnouts while Evangeline studies the grounds.”
Halfway around the property Evangeline spoke up. “I think this may be the spot.”
At the same time Dan touched Jane’s arm. “Look to the right. There’s a car hidden in the woods. Turn here.”
There was a narrow path leading off the road. Only about twenty yards into the woods, the path turned to the right and opened up. An SUV was parked there, facing out for a quick exit.
“There we are,” Jane said. She backed the van up and turned it around next to the other vehicle. “We can park here during the operation and wait for all of you to exit.”
Dan looked at Marcus. “Let’s check out the exit. We’ll have to pry it open tonight.”
Marcus nodded and the both got out.
“Be careful,” Jane called out. “You stay here!” She commanded Evangeline who was getting up to go with Dan.
“No you don’t,” Dan said. “You’re part of the team, so you follow orders. Just me and Marcus for now.”
He closed the door. They walked to the edge of the road and crouched behind a bush.
“We can get into the cover just off the road before we come to the fence. It’s ideal for us.” Dan said.
They sprinted across the quiet road and disappeared into the woods. Within twenty feet they came to the fence. It was made of black painted iron, about eight feet high with sharp spikes on top of the uprights. Both men carefully examined the material, trying to find any alarm triggers or evidence of electrification. The fence seemed to serve only as a mild notice of the privacy of the property.
“He’s probably relying on his security. This fence wouldn’t stop anyone.”
Marcus nodded and quickly climbed up and threw himself over, landing on his feet. Dan followed him.
“We’ll split up. Go about fifty feet, turn and come back,” Dan said.
Ten minutes of walking a grid through the undergrowth, Dan heard a whistle. He must have found it. He went towards the sound and found Marcus standing on the cast iron plate. It did look like a sewer cover.
“The girl said it was latched with a wheel she and her mother had to turn. The wheel probably opens and retracts pins locking the plate in place,” Marcus said. “That won’t be easy to just muscle open. There’s only two of us and we’d need a hell of a pry bar.”
“We can’t hammer on it from the outside either. That will ring through the tunnel and someone will notice.”
Marcus stared at the cover and scratched his head. “Maybe we can dig around the edge. There has to be a tube forming the exit. It’s probably made of concrete. Chipping that away won’t make so much noise and then we can get to the mechanism from below the lid.”
Dan thought for a few minutes. “That’s going to be a crap load of work, but looks like it’s the only way.”
Marcus smiled. “Afraid of getting some blisters on your hands?” He flexed his large arms. “I grew up doing construction while going through college. I’m not worried about a little digging.”
“Wow, look at those guns. Tell you what, you dig, I’ll supervise.”
“Not on your life buddy. We’re in this together. If I’ve got your back, you gotta help shovel. Let’s get going. I’ll make a list of what we need on the way back. We don’t have much time to waste.”
Chapter 37
___________________________________
B ack near the airport, they stopped at a hardware store. Marcus had a list of tools: shovels, a digging bar, two pry bars, two cold steel chisels along with a file to sharpen them and two hammers. He included a stout, thick wooden dowel rod and a pair of bolt cutters. Dan went in to make the purchase. His German accent was good enough to not raise any questions with the clerk.
“Can you get this done today?” Jane asked.
“Have to,” Dan replied. “We can work into the night with our headlamps.”
“But someone could see the lights from the road, even through the brush.”
“We’ll need you to give us an alert. If a car comes, just tell us, we’ll turn the lamps off until it’s clear.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t go that long.”
Dan’s face was set in a grim stare. “This is how things go. We improvise and make the plan work…somehow.”
The team grabbed a carryout lunch in Embrach. Evangeline went into the restaurant and ordered for the group. They ate in a hurry while driving up into the wooded area. After Jane parked the van, Marcus and Dan got out and collected their tools. They jogged across the road and disappeared into the brush.
“Now we just sit around and wait?” Evangeline asked.
Jane nodded. “Much of this work is waiting.”
“Are you all spies? Do you work for the CIA or something? Is that what Dan is, a spy?”
Jane looked at the girl. She was smart as well as beautiful. She seemed to Jane to have courage, or what might be called pluck. What her mother had experienced with Aebischer, and what he was capable of, seemed to be the only things that struck terror in her.
“You should not ask too many questions, especially questions I can’t answer.”
Evangeline looked back at Jane, unafraid. “Why, you’ll have to kill me then?”
“This is not something to joke about. Those two men are going into a deadly situation. We don’t have all the possible outcomes covered. One or both may not survive. You can tell we’re not normal thieves or intruders but I can’t tell you anything more. It’s partly for your protection and partly for ours.”
“What will happen afterwards, if Dan is successful?”
“We’ll bring Aebischer out and put him into the van. We’ll take him out of the country to interrogate him about the terror operation that is being planned. Hopefully we won’t be too late to interrupt it.”
“So you work for the U.S. government. You’re some sort of anti-terrorist group.”
Jane didn’t respond to Evangeline’s question. “Are you going to be okay with Aebischer in the van with you?”
She saw a brief look of fear cross the girl’s face. “
I’ll be okay. He’ll be tied up won’t he?”
Jane nodded.
“And now I’m not defenseless, I have friends, you and Dan and well as Marcus and Warren.” She turned to Warren and smiled at him.
Jane smiled at her. “Good. I don’t want you to be fearful. If we’re successful in capturing him, Aebischer won’t be able to hurt you.”
“You might not be successful?”
Jane shrugged. “There’s always a chance things can go wrong.”
“If you are successful, what will happen to him? What will happen to me?”
“I can’t answer either of those questions at this point. This operation is far looser and dangerous than any I have undertaken before.”
“That makes me feel good,” Warren said. “I’m nervous enough without you making comments like that.”
“You just do your part. That will give us time to complete the operation. You can’t let any communications get out.”
She turned back to Evangeline. “I understand Dan gave you a pistol, let me see it.”
Evangeline took the Glock 19 out of her jacket pocket. She started to hand it to Jane barrel first.
“Stop!” Her voice was sharp. “Turn it around and hand me the grip,” Jane said. “I don’t approve of you having a weapon. I don’t know why he would give it to you, it could endanger the mission.”
“He showed me how to use it.”
“Do you know how to empty it?”
Evangeline nodded. Jane handed the gun back to her. “Show me,” she commanded.
Evangeline pushed the release button and ejected the magazine, then she worked the slide back to clear the chamber.
“Now show me how to put the safety on as if there is a round in the chamber.”
Evangeline looked at the weapon and then back at Jane. “There’s no safety lever. Dan said that the weapon won’t go off if dropped. The trigger has to be pulled.”
“That’s correct. But you made a basic mistake. Your weapon shouldn’t have a round in the chamber until you’re ready to use it. You empty the gun, pull the trigger, it won’t re-cock, then put the loaded magazine back in. Now the trigger will be un-cocked and you’ll have to work the slide before your first shot. Got it?”
Evangeline nodded. Her face was serious. She didn’t seem reluctant to handle the gun and acted like she wanted to do it properly.
“You practiced with it?”
“Ja,” we spent an hour shooting trees in the woods.”
Jane gave her a sour look. “Just remember, if you have to use it in close quarters think of the gun as an extension of your finger. Just point like that and you’ll probably hit your target. This would be a last resort. I don’t expect you to get involved and I don’t expect you to use your weapon. Understand?”
Evangeline nodded solemnly.
Across the street Dan and Marcus got busy digging around the exit. In an hour they dug down three feet around the concrete tube forming the vertical tunnel.
“Now we start chiseling,” Marcus said. “Let’s hope no one is close. The sound shouldn’t carry since we’re going into concrete and it’s damped by the ground.”
“Warren,” Dan said into his throat mike, “We’re going to start hammering. If you hear anything suspicious, let me know so we can stop.”
“Roger that.”
The two men started hammering away, first gently, and when that didn’t produce much result, harder. Despite the cool, grey day, they were soon sweating profusely. After a half hour, Dan put down his hammer and chisel.
“We’re getting in each other’s way. Why don’t we do this in short shifts and the one not hammering can sharpen the second chisel?”
Marcus smiled at him. “And I suppose you want me to take the first shift?”
“Of course I do,” Dan replied with a smile. “I’m the ranking member of this team.”
“In your own mind maybe.”
Marcus adjusted his position to gain maximum effect from each blow to the chisel.
“Watch and learn,” he said as he efficiently chipped away at the concrete.
Ten minutes later he stopped.
“Your turn.”
Dan took up the sharpened chisel. They continued for the next hour, stopping only to cut the reinforcing rods. Two hours into the task and they had a crater two feet in diameter sloping to about six inches in depth at the center.
“How thick is this wall?” Dan asked.
“A foot thick, maybe less. We’re making good progress.”
The deeper they went, the more they worked to widen the hole. Finally, Marcus poked through and almost dropped the chisel into the shaft.
“Breakthrough!”
“Congratulations,” Dan said.
“Now we widen the hole.” Marcus peered through the hole with his flashlight. “I can see the wheel.”
“I’m guessing the dowel is to turn it?”
“You got it. The wheel probably has spokes. We can hammer them with the dowel and turn it from outside.”
“Clever man.”
“My dad was an engineer. I guess I absorbed some of his knowledge.”
“Master engineer and combatant. We make a good team.”
“I’m not as good at being as invisible as you. I stand out too much.”
“It could be the fact that you’re over six feet tall, north of two hundred pounds, and have a short, military haircut. Other than that, you blend in quite nicely.”
“Funny man,” Marcus replied with a snort. “I also don’t work as loosely as you.” He turned back to the shaft. “Let’s make this hole wider.”
An hour later, they could see the wheel and the spokes.
“Warren,” Dan called out, “We’re ready to try to unlock the cover. You neutralized the alarm?”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“It’s most likely to turn counter-clockwise to retract the pins,” Marcus said.
Dan poked the dowel through the hole and after a bit of adjusting, had it firmly against one of the spokes. Marcus gave the dowel a whack with the hammer. Nothing moved.
“Wait,” Dan said. Let me get it up against the spoke again. “Don’t miss or you’ll smash my hand.”
“That’s why I want to do the hammering.”
“Go ahead hot shot.”
Marcus struck the dowel again.
“Reset,” Dan said. “Okay go.”
It went on like that with Marcus taking ever increasing harder blows. Each blow produced a dull ring. The wooden dowel helped to deaden the sound. Still Dan worried about how long it was taking to make the wheel budge.
Finally, with a loud squeak, the wheel turned.
“Yay, we got motion,” Dan said.
“I could feel that through the hammer.”
They worked the wheel around with repeated blows. Every quarter turn they had to set on another spoke.
“We’ll get it unlocked and wait until we come back to lift the lid. The pry bars will make it easy to open.”
“Don’t want to try it now?” Marcus asked.
Dan shook his head. “We’ve made enough noise. Let’s wait until we’re going in. I don’t want someone exploring the tunnel before we’re in and realizing a breech is occurring. We come back, get in and deal with whatever crap comes at us.”
“We got to talk through this, you and me, so we’re on the same page.”
“We will, but it will be loose, you know that. Improvising is what we’re going to be doing after we enter.”
“At least let’s talk about key objectives along the way.”
After the wheel had been fully turned the men packed their tools and laid some brush over the dirt trench and the hole in the concrete. Five hours had passed since they had started. They were dirty and sweating but happy to have crossed this first hurdle.
“You boys need to wash up. We’ll go back to the airport area and you can clean up. Then Evangeline and I will do some shopping for food and drinks and we’ll review the plans again,” J
ane said after the men came back to the van.
She started the vehicle and drove out over the hill and back to the airport.
Chapter 38
___________________________________
B efore it gets dark we need to locate the phone lines so we can cut them,” Dan said. They were in the van eating carryout food Jane and Evangeline had purchased in a supermarket.
“Warren, how do you tell the phone line from the power line? I don’t want Marcus to electrocute himself,” Dan asked.
“We’re lucky the lines are above ground,” Warren replied. “It’s simple, really. When you look at the multiple lines on the pole, electric power is on top, cable, the thick tube is in the middle and phone is on the bottom. Since the house is fairly far from the road, all the lines probably run down from the pole and go underground to the junction box on the side of the building. You just track the line from the lower run on the pole and cut it before it goes underground.”
“But don’t cut the wrong one,” Marcus said.
“Yeah. That’ll give you a kick…probably kill you,” Warren said.
“How about we let you cut the line?” Dan asked with a smile.
Warren’s eyes got big. Jane laughed. “Don’t worry, Dan or Marcus will do the job.”
Warren exhaled a long breath in relief. “I’m okay in the van, but this is as close to field work as I want to get.”
“Warren, my boy, you’re in the middle of field work and if it gets messy, you’ll be in the middle of that as well,” Dan said. “So make sure you do your part and give us enough time to do ours.”
“Don’t panic him,” Jane said. “He’ll be okay here in the van.”
When they were finished eating, Jane headed back to the mansion. They drove slowly past the gate and noted the utility pole a hundred yards from the driveway.
