Chasing The Dawn (Luke Temple - Book 2) (Luke Temple Series) (40 page)

Feeling the press of time, Luke couldn’t wait any longer. He walked back up Corso San Giorgio toward the mysterious building. Before sleep had overtaken him Luke had been furiously running through scenarios,
assessing, rotating, changing, adapting.
Luke hoped Davison had left him a magic wand.

The flimsy trainers Luke had taken from Brun were now well and truly battered, and the snow clung to them, encasing his feet in a numbing liquid.

Luke felt the familiar anger rise within.
How did I not see Beltrano for what he is? You were slow, Luke! You forgot the basics.
Furthermore, Beltrano would now no longer be working to contain the situation and without that it left one dead Iranian and one dead Carabinieri: a simple criminal act.

Luke strode over to the wooden doors; they stood eight foot tall from bottom to peak. He gently pressed his hands against them and could feel they were solid. Running his eyes over the wood Luke could see no evidence of a handle.

Only opens from the inside …

Just as he was about to make his presence known by banging, his eye caught a small sunken button built into the stonework to the right-hand side of the doorway. He pressed it.Nothing.

Pausing for a moment, he went to bang on the wood and as his arm was on its backward motion a sharp click came from the other side of the door. Next moment, there was a swift shift of metal, and finally with a mechanical judder the door slowly opened.

Taking a last look around, Luke stepped inside.

***

Luke was stood in an unexpected room; in fact, it was more of a modern chamber. The floor was white-tiled and the soggy trainers squeaked as he took up position in the centre of the room. The small space could have been no more than twelve feet wide by twelve feet long, the ceiling was low and both flanking walls were covered with floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Directly in front was a sheet of glass that had been tinted; all Luke could make out beyond was the white-tiled floor stretching on. The whole space was lit by bright neon lights.

An x-ray chamber.

Now Luke’s senses were firing; this was no ordinary building. X-ray chambers were common in high-security buildings, but they were not cheap and it seemed completely out of place in a sleepy town in Italy.

Suddenly, the strip lights flickered to blue and the glass panel slid open. Luke took the cue and walked out into a very different kind of room.

The ceiling stretched to double height; from floor to ceiling the heavy stone was ornately decorated with hand-carved cherubs. Below the ancient carvings the marble floor was home to four large desks with computers on them. The desks were odd; they each had raised counters at their front, above waist height.

The room was silent except for the clicking of keyboard keys and Luke’s trainers on the marble. Two desks were manned, but both occupants were so engrossed in their work they didn’t even look up. Luke tuned in, absorbing every detail of the room.

No exits.

From around a hidden corner a suited gentleman appeared. He had a mop of grey hair and a tanned, leathery face. He was dressed in an immaculate light blue jacket, white trousers and brown leather loafers. He glided across the floor toward Luke.

“Good morning, Sir,” he spoke in English with a hard-edged German accent.

Now he was close, Luke saw he had piercing blue eyes and a distinct Alsatian look. He reminded Luke a little of Brun. Luke nodded a response but didn’t shake hands; he had no idea what he now needed to do. Before he could say anything the man spoke again. “Please Sir, come this way.”

Does he know who I am?
Luke’s natural disposition was cautious. He didn’t know if he had been plastered all over the news and this man was leading him to a firing squad.

“My name is Wynn and I am the manager here.”

Manager?
Luke thought. Wynn must have sensed his apprehension.

“Do not worry, Sir, I do not require your name.”

Wynn led them into a square space that had a metallic lift door. Wynn moved over to the lift and pressed the button.

“What is this place?” Luke asked.

“We like to think of ourselves as a ‘deposit’ service.”

The lift door pinged and slid silently open. They stepped inside.

“Like a bank?” asked Luke.

Wynn pressed the only button that was on the internal panel. “Yes, I suppose you could say that, a bank for people who do not trust other banks.”

They moved out into a very small box room. Directly opposite was another lift door. Wynn produced a metal device from his pocket and inserted it into a port and the lift opened.

“Security is our commodity,” Wynn stated with pride.

They both stepped into the new lift and Wynn again stuck the metal into an internal port. The lift closed and rattled into motion.

“Our clients pay a lot of money to assure that their property stays safe.’’

Luke tingled. Wynn went to talk, hesitated and then seemed to make up his mind to proceed anyway.

“Sorry sir, just so you are aware I have actually readied one of our larger pods as I was informed that it would be yourself and one other? A lady …”

Chung Su …

Luke felt an uncharacteristic pang of guilt as she entered his mind. Davison had made the assumption he would keep her close.

“You were informed wrong,” Luke said curtly.

The lift gently came to a stop and the doors opened onto a black void.

As Wynn stepped out, strip lights whined and flickered to life. They were stood in a circular room, in the centre of which was a black plinth glistening in the light.

Dotted around the outside of the room were at least a dozen solid metal doors, no handles, no locks. Wynn walked across to the plinth and Luke followed in silence. The room had the deep acoustics of a space covered by tonnes of rock and earth.

The plinth was a rectangular slab; it was as smooth as marble. There was a raised step on the nearest corner and Wynn motioned for Luke to stand on it.

“I have allotted you room seven.” Wynn walked up to the plinth and placed his hands on the flat surface. A high-pitched whining erupted from inside.
Is it an alarm?
Luke’s body tensed; there wasn’t anywhere he could run. The next moment a brilliant red glow filled the space. Luke glanced at Wynn; his smile looked demonic in the red light.

It is an alarm …

But as Luke was about to spring into action his eye caught the cause of the noise and light. A brilliant red beam was firing from the plinth and hitting one of the doors. After a moment the beam disappeared and the door slid open.

Wynn had a proud look.

“Please take your time in the pod. You have no time constraints; you have utter privacy, I assure you. Once in the pod, press the button on your left and the door will lock and the container will appear. When you are ready to exit press the button again.”

Wynn began walking back to the lift. “Once you are all finished down here press this switch by the lift and it will open a secure line to the top room. I shall then return to collect you.” With that, he jammed the metal into the port and stepped back inside the lift, and he was gone.

Luke entered the pod and moved over to the silver unit. He lifted the lid to reveal a haul of items inside a black dry bag. Luke had to admit that Davison was good. He delved in and began laying everything out neatly.

There was a black soft-shell jacket, trousers and waterproof plimsoles, as well as thick socks. Next up was a fourth-generation Glock 19 pistol.It was lighter than his preferred Sig Sauer but he knew it was a reliable weapon that had accuracy in the shot.

There are 105 bullets in total … let’s hope that is enough.

Tucked inside the container with the Glock was a black tactical scope mount. Designed to attach to the frame of the gun, a tactical scope mount was an S frame that slipped over the pistol. Tthe top portion of the S held a refined, bespoke sight, and the bottom section of the S housed a built-in torch.
Davison must have known I would be heading down into an abyss.

He then turned his attention to the surprise item … a climbing rope. Several cords of tough pieces of Mammut rope were tightly coiled and tied with a spring cord. Laid on top was a standard pair of abseiling gloves designed to take the friction and strain.

No fall arrester, no harness … but better than nothing.

Next to the rope was a small black box, it had a “Handle with Care” label stuck on it. Inside was an inner layer of soft lining used for safe transport and sat in two separate grooves were two small bulbous black circular objects. Luke took one out. It sat in one hand comfortably, and was dense and heavy. The casing was sleek black; facing him was a digital screen with three buttons in three separate colours, Red, green and yellow. Luke pressed and held the green button, and the small screen lit up with four green zeros.

They must think I am going to be waging a war …

Luke had not seen one of these devices with his own eyes before; he had read about them and heard them discussed around the corridors of Group 9. But now he held one he was impressed with its compact nature; it was hard to believe such a small device could cause so much damage.

An NNEMP device.

It stood for
Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse
, and it was a device that emitted an electromagnetic pulse once detonated. It was actually more accurately an explosively pumped flux compression generator. Luke’s knowledge on the subject was not extensive but it was a one-time use device that could exceed the power of a lightning strike by an order of magnitude. He placed it gently back into its casing.

Then there was a dangerous-looking knife; it looked army issue and had a black hilt that housed the blade. Luke’s mind wandered to the mission.
Today at 7 p.m.
time was slipping away fast. The more he considered it the more he knew he had one primary goal:
stop Beltrano by any means necessary.

It was clear, it was solid and most importantly it was simple. He could feel his lungs opening, the pain and exhaustion lifting and clarity returning. He was on his own, and he was about to start his hunt … exactly how Luke Temple liked it. He packed his supplies into the waterproof bag provided, changed into the new clothes and prepared to leave.

Taking a final deep breath, he felt a drop of sweat form on his forehead, and for the first time Luke marvelled at the construction of a place so far under the earth.

How do they keep the atmosphere livable?

There must be an array of vents that pump in fresh oxygen and expel stale air in a constant recycle … Luke suddenly froze.

Vents!

He smashed his hand on the button; the door slid open, and he moved out past the marble plinth. The strip lights flickered on as he entered. His eyes were scanning the ceiling; the air was cooler in this chamber. Then he saw it …

Over in the corner of the ceiling near the lift was a large silver vent. It was circular and had concentric circles running to the centre. Luke moved over to it, stood under it and raised a hand; he could feel a cold draught …
it’s connected to the outside world.
More importantly, it was large enough to fit a man inside. Luke knew he may have found his way into the laboratory. Being so far under the ground the laboratory had to have some connection with the outside world, some sort of ventilation system. If he could find a vent then he may be able to travel down it, no need for grand entrances.

It was a long shot, but he remembered what Chung Su had said in the hotel room about the key management of the underground laboratory not needing to be as deep as the nuclear detonation site. There must be a large ventilation system for the size of the operation and a way of maintaining with repair shafts. The idea had his blood pumping; he touched the dry-bag as his mind ran over the lengths of rope he had tucked away. Maybe Davison was psychic.

At that moment Luke was woken from his thoughts by the ping of the lift. Someone was coming down.

“Wake up! No more sleeping, Miss Chung … come on, wake up!”

Chung Su’s eyes snapped open, coming to rest on the man sat in front of her.

“Ah good morning, Miss Chung. I apologise for the abrupt wake-up call.”

Chung Su took a couple of moments to gather her thoughts; she couldn’t grasp where she was. All too quickly reality came crashing back down.

“Come on, Miss Chung, stay with me.” The man clicked his fingers.

Her stomach churned with crippling nausea, her back was aching, and she realised she was sat slumped on a chair, her body twisted to the right. With great effort she straightened herself, wincing at the agony of the muscles stretching in her stiffened back. Her head was swimming and the figure of Beltrano staring back at her made everything all too real.

“Miss Chung … welcome back.” Beltrano spoke in English.

“Wh … I don’t …” Chung Su struggled, her brain misfiring.

“It’s ok, the effects will wear off. I am sure you feel rather terrible at the moment.” Beltrano sat with a steaming coffee in front of him and a wide smile on his face. “Well … what an exciting few days we have had. I must say, you look as lovely as when we last met. You have been quite busy since then …”

“Where am I?” she finally managed.

“There will be time for that. I think you may even cheer up when you know where you are. But first, I have some questions for you.”

Chung Su felt sensation returning to her limbs; she flexed her toes and opened and closed her hands. Her breathing was heavy, but she could feel the sedative wearing away, her hands and feet were not bound and she could move freely.

“Miss Chung, I am sure you can appreciate my interest in the man you were with … the man who
kidnapped
you …”

Chung Su noted the strange tone in which he made the statement.

“… He is a very dangerous man, and I want you to help me understand who he is. Let’s start with his name.”

Chung Su looked at Beltrano; his eyes were fixed on her. His voice was calm but there was something about him that chilled Chung Su; she could not bring herself to say Luke’s name.