He turned to Gustaw and Sergei. “Follow Remi. I’ll bring up the rear.”
Sergei eyed the narrow space. “What if it doesn’t go all the way through?”
“At the very least, we can climb up and hope they’ll miss us.”
He gave Remi a boost and she disappeared inside. Sergei followed, then Gustaw. Sam was just about to climb in when he heard a shout of “Da!” behind him. He looked back. A half dozen men raced in his direction, their flashlights bouncing along the tunnel. One of them saw him and fired.
Sam shot back as Gustaw lowered his hand toward him. Sam grabbed it, pulling himself into the crevice, as a barrage of gunshots hit the tunnel.
Bracing himself in the narrow space, he waited for Gustaw to move before climbing up after him, grateful to hear Remi’s voice calling down, “There’s light. It leads out.”
The passage angled sharply to the left, then up, where sun filtered down. By the time he emerged from the tunnel, he heard the gunmen clambering up.
Outside, Sam looked around. The air shaft they’d just emerged from was completely hidden in the low brush growing at the edge of the forest. No wonder it’d never been found.
“Look,” Sergei said, pointing down the hill toward a sign near the railroad tracks. The sixty-fifth-kilometer marker. “I guess we can safely say the Gold Train isn’t in this tunnel.”
“Or,” Sam said, “it’s buried beneath all that rubble we saw down there.” He reloaded his revolver, then aimed at the air shaft, waiting to pick off anyone who emerged. “What’s the fastest way out of here?” he asked Gustaw.
“To the west,” the miner said over the low rumble of an approaching train. “But the Guard. They patrol these woods. If you shoot, they’ll hear.”
“Any other option?” Sam said, never moving his gaze from the opening. “I am open to suggestions.”
“Block the opening?” Sergei replied.
Before Sam could tell him there wasn’t enough time, it grew suddenly quiet in the shaft. He put his finger to his mouth. Grass around the hole rustled with movement. Sunlight glinted off the steel barrel of a handgun as well as the brown hair of the man holding it. The gunman looked around, his gaze widening when he saw Sam aiming at him.
Sam fired. The sharp crack echoed through the forest.
“It’s blocked now,” Remi said as the man fell down into the shaft.
“Not for long,” Sam replied, still hearing movement below. “Should buy us a few minutes, though. Let’s get out of here.”
They ran through the trees toward the tracks. Sam, hearing voices, glanced back, seeing a dozen armed men in the woods behind them.
“The train!” Gustaw called as a blue locomotive rounded the bend.
A shot whistled past them as they raced down the hill.
The four neared the tracks as the rails began to creak from the approaching drive wheels of an old 2-4-2 locomotive that struggled to pull a long freight train up the steep grade. The first few flatcars, empty and rattling, were followed by several tankers and a long line of boxcars, most covered with graffiti.
Sam leaped from the trees bordering the tracks, realizing if they didn’t cross to the other side, they’d be trapped. Luckily, he saw several boxcars that were empty with their doors open. Then a quick glance to see if the engineer and fireman were concentrating on the track ahead, and he took off running.
“Quick! Get in!” he called above the clatter of the wheels against the rails.
Sam ran and leaped to the floor of the boxcar, rolled to his knees and jumped to his feet in one motion. Then he leaned out and caught Remi by the wrist as she ran and pulled her in. Sergei followed as Gustaw tossed his rifle into the car but fell slightly behind.
Sergei grabbed Sam around the legs, allowing him to lean farther out the door and grasp Gustaw around one arm and haul him into the boxcar.
Sam found his gun, moved to the doorway, leaning out, as the Guard ran out to the tracks behind the last car. When they caught sight of Sam, they raced after the train, far too late.
Sam pushed away from the door, turning toward the others, glad to see everyone appeared unharmed. “Any chance you know where this stops next?”
38
Put the gun away,” Tatiana said to Viktor. “They’re gone.” She glanced down the hill through the trees at the handful of men who were catching their breath after chasing the train.
Wolf Guard.
She would have dismissed them outright if not for Rolfe’s involvement with them. “I’d be interested to know how long they’ve been in Rolfe’s pockets. Every time I turn around, that man surprises me.”
“Speaking of…” Viktor nodded toward their left.
She glanced in that direction and saw Rolfe with a half dozen Guardsmen tromping through the woods. His attention was fixed on the heavy brush where the Fargos had emerged and where a couple of the Guard were trying to extract the body of one of their fallen comrades.
Rolfe said something to the men, then continued on. When he reached her side, he stood next to her, his eyes on the departing train. “Not too bad. We only lost one man,” he said.
“Which would not have happened if you’d done as I asked and not shot at the Fargos. What’d you expect? That they were going to ignore the bullets flying past their heads?”
He gave her a thorough appraisal. “Whose side are you on? Not mine, apparently.”
“When it comes right down to it, mine. However, I’m not the only one searching for this treasure. Which makes it difficult when I have to work with—” She stopped at the look of warning from Viktor. He was right, of course. Making an enemy of Rolfe Wernher at this point wouldn’t be wise. “Let’s just say I’m not used to being the one who isn’t in charge.”
“So I’ve gathered.”
Time to deflect attention away from her. “Are you sure you can trust those men?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t trust anyone.”
“Then why are they working for you?”
“Their ability to gather forces anywhere in Western Europe at a moment’s notice, and their willingness to skirt the law, has been indispensable.” When Leopold and his men reached them, Rolfe gave a benign smile. “Any chance the Fargos found something down there?”
“Unfortunately,” Leopold said, “we believe so.”
“‘Believe’? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’ve long suspected the chamber was in one of these tunnels. Until today, we’ve never found it.”
“And the Fargos did?”
“No doubt. What we don’t know is whether or not it was sealed when they entered or if anyone else had been there before them.”
Leopold’s radio crackled as someone called in. He listened, then turned to Rolfe. “The train is headed to Wrocław.”
“Can you get it stopped before it gets there?”
“Possibly.”
“Good. Find them. I want to know everything they have in their possession.”
Leopold walked off, relaying Rolfe’s orders into his radio. Tatiana waited until he was out of earshot, then leveled her gaze on Rolfe, not about to let him skip over what she needed to know. “You were saying…?”
“About what?”
“About what the Fargos found down there. Clearly, it’s not the ransom. All they had was one backpack. So what is it?”
“I really don’t have time—”
“If you want to do business in my country, you’ll make time.”
Rolfe glanced at Viktor, then back at her. “I’ll tell you, but it goes no further.”