“Russians may have a Variant here,” Frank said curtly.
“Oh, Lord, no.”
Frank and Cal were quickly joined by Maggie, and the three of them looked around the room. “This is at the very edge of the complex,” Frank said. “I didn’t see Yushchenko circle back. Where’d he go?”
“There were three of ’em in here,” Cal said. “Three voices, all speaking Russian. Couldn’t make it out other than a few words. Then I heard someone say good-bye, and then nothing except this guy.”
Maggie put her hands on her hips. “God damn it. How’d we lose two Russians like that?”
“I don’t know, Miss Maggie…” Cal began.
He stopped when he felt something pulling at his belt.
Cal looked down and saw nothing — but felt it grow more intense, an invisible force that seemed to be wrapped around his waist now, like ghostly arms, pulling him physically away from the others.
He stumbled. “What the…”
And then in a blur, he was gone, receding into darkness.
“Cal!” Frank shouted as he ran toward the well in the cellar room. One moment, they were all standing there talking. The next, Cal was literally sucked down the well as if by a powerful magnet. Except he wasn’t made of metal, and… there was a lot wrong with the analogy, which was the point.
“He’s terrified,” Maggie said quickly. “Something’s got him, but I don’t sense anyone else.”
“No kidding,” Frank said. He quickly took stock of the room and, finding folded linens, began tying tablecloths together. “Shine a light down there and see where it goes.”
Maggie took a small flashlight from her clutch and pointed it into the well. “I see a bottom, I think. Maybe thirty feet down?”
Frank dashed over to the edge of the well and looked down. “Only about twenty-five feet. About four of these should do. Help me tie it off.”
They managed to affix the end of their crude rope to a thick wooden shelf stocked with heavy sacks of grain and large cans of food, and could only hope they wouldn’t knock it over. Time wasn’t on their side; it would have to do.
“I’ll go first,” Maggie said. “If there’s anybody down there, I can keep ’em in check until you join me.”
Frank opened his mouth to argue — then closed it. She was right. She could do a number on anybody down there: make them scared enough to run, or have a heart attack, or calm them into utter tranquility. Frank’s best defense would be to go in shooting. “All right. Go.”
Maggie kicked off her heels and tried to clamber up the side of the well in her dress, then swore vociferously and tore the gown’s slit all the way up to her hip. Frank tried to look away but didn’t quite get there in time, and winced in anticipation of her rebuff.
“Eyes ahead, soldier,” Maggie teased as she went over the edge and started rappelling down the well.
Frank waited at the top, gun drawn with suppressor attached, until Maggie tugged at the tablecloth-rope twice. All clear. Frank proceeded down after her, only to feel the tablecloth-rope suddenly give way about halfway down, followed by the sound of a crash above. Frank fell the last ten feet, remembering to roll with the impact — and nearly plowing into Maggie in the process.
“Careful!” she hissed.
Frank dragged himself to his feet — his legs would be sore in the morning, but otherwise he managed the fall pretty well. “Sorry. I weigh more than you.”
The two looked around to get their bearings in the low light. There was a roughhewn tunnel leading off to the… west, maybe. West and slightly south, if Frank’s memory of the palace’s upstairs layout was correct.
The tunnel was barely five feet high, just wide enough for them to walk single file. It looked old — easily a hundred years. “Ancient cistern,” Ibrahim’s memories whispered. “This may lead to the Basilica Cistern underneath Aya Sofia and the rest of the city.”
Frank checked his gun and held it in both hands, leaving Maggie with the torch. “These tunnels may get bigger. Might run all under the city,” Frank told her. “Old water supply.”
“Looks dry to me,” Maggie said quietly. “We gonna end up in sewage or something?”
“Well, if the Russians came down here, chances are they’ve scouted it out pretty well,” Frank whispered. “So, I don’t think we’ll drown. But sewage is possible. Let’s go.”
Frank led the way, using his lighter as a torch and pointing his gun ahead as much as possible while picking his way across the stone floor. Maggie followed, tsking silently from time to time; the stones were probably hell on her bare feet, but heels would’ve been worse. The tunnel remained straight but sloped ever so slightly upward as they went, which made sense to Frank if water had once flowed through there to Topkapi.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped around, but it was just Maggie, who had a finger to her lips. She pointed down the tunnel, then held up three fingers.
Frank cursed himself for being so jumpy — he ought to have known better — then mouthed, “Cal?”
She shrugged and made a so-so motion with her hand.
Motioning her to stay put, Frank flicked the lighter closed and allowed his eyes to adjust for several excruciating moments. Finally, a slightly less dark patch of something coalesced out of the blackness around him: another light source. And so, he carefully, slowly stepped forward, just as he was taught, sweeping each foot out in front of him to check for obstacles before setting it down on the floor again.
They hadn’t really told him in training how goddamn tedious it was to walk like that.
Finally, he was able to make out an archway ahead. Murmuring sounds reached his ears. He quickened his pace slightly, the archway now in range. They needed to find Cal or, if necessary, ensure that the Reds didn’t get their hands on him. Frank didn’t like that second option one bit but worried that Vandenberg, with Ellis at his ear, might prefer to deny Cal to the Russians and just get out of Dodge. And it was pretty likely the Russians had a Variant who could suck people down wells, apparently. Time to move fast.
In his haste, he kicked a stone.
It skittered loudly down the tunnel and then stopped, as if it dropped off into space. The murmuring immediately stopped.
Fuck.
Frank raised his weapon ahead of him even as he heard Maggie’s footsteps behind him, bare feet slapping against stone. Then he felt a strange tug at his midsection, then another…
… and then he shot forward as if being pulled by a goddamn rocket.
Frank shot through the tunnel so fast, his feet didn’t even drag. All he could see was the mouth of the tunnel getting closer at a phenomenal clip. Seconds later, he was through — and flying through the air in the middle of what seemed to be a huge cavern. Below him he saw a small light and at least two people blur past. But then he looked up and there was a pillar ahead of him — a huge, thick column of stone racing to greet him — and all he could do was ball up and swing his feet around.
He felt his shins bow… and break, sending lances of pain up his body.
Then the tugging sensation left… and he started falling.
As she dashed down the tunnel after Frank, Maggie felt his terror acutely as she saw his body fly out of the tunnel, then sheer horror and immense pain — and thank God she couldn’t actually feel the pain, just the emotions stemming from it — and finally felt everything wink out altogether as he lost consciousness. Hopefully it was just that, rather than something more permanent.