They were staring at a huge spool of cable against one wall. It was taller than Decker.
“What would this be doing down here?” asked Brown.
Decker peered through the opening in the middle of the spool where ordinarily a forklift’s tines would be inserted to
lift it. “I can’t see through.” He stuck his arm in and felt around. “It’s been filled with something. It feels like concrete.”
“Why would they have done that?” asked Brown.
Decker tried to look behind it, but the spool was set right against the wall. “One reason would be to completely cover up whatever might be behind it,” he replied. He looked at Mars. “Ready?”
He and Mars put their shoulders against one side of the spool, squatted down, and started pushing. The spool was immensely heavy, but the two men were enormously strong and, at least in their youths, accustomed to pushing large objects around. They strained and their feet slipped against the floor, and they swore and sweated and their veins bulged, but inch by inch the spool rolled.
Finally, a hole in the wall was revealed. It had been punched right through the concrete.
Decker peered into the dark tunnel that stretched ahead.
“Anybody got a flashlight?”
Brown held up her phone and clicked on its light. Then she pulled her gun. Decker did the same.
She led the way.
Mars looked at Decker. “You got any idea what’s going on here, Decker?”
Decker glanced at him, his expression probably as serious as Mars had ever seen on the man.
“The end of the chatter, Melvin. And maybe the end of everything else along with it.”
CHAPTER
80
THEY WORKED THEIR way down the tunnel, finally coming to a junction where they saw a single beam of light from far above them.
Brown pointed her phone light that way. “It’s the underside of the manhole,” she hissed. “The light is coming from the grab hole in the plate.”
“Which means we’re under the street,” said Decker. “Way under the street.”
“This must be what that manhole work was about,” said Brown. “They were somehow connecting up from the building we were in to this utility tunnel.” They hurried along and finally came to another junction. There was rubble and dirt piled up.
“They also broke through here,” said Decker. “This appears to be where the utility tunnel originally ended.”
They passed through the hole and into another tunnel.
“How did all this happen right under the street and no one notice?” said Mars.
“It’s not right under the street,” replied Brown. “We’ve been angling down this whole time. My guess is we’re over thirty feet down and there’s tons of dirt above us. Natural soundproofing.”
They kept walking.
“So where the hell are we now?” asked Mars, looking nervously around.
Decker glanced at Brown. She looked ominously back at him. She said, “I think we’re under the Hoover Building.”
They kept moving forward until they reached another hole punched in the wall. Only this one bled off to the side of the tunnel they were in.
They cautiously entered a large space. They moved forward and rounded a corner. Another hole had been broken through the wall here. As they drew closer to it all three immediately began to cough and wheeze.
“What the hell is that?” gasped Mars.
“It’s gas,” said Decker, who pulled his jacket over his nose and mouth.
He crouched and passed through the hole and into another room. There were enormous blackened concrete columns, a low ceiling, and a pile of rubble in the center of the room.
His mouth and nose still covered, Decker looked down at the hole next to the pile of rubble. An exposed pipe was lying in the trench. It looked to him like a long, venomous serpent.
Brown and Mars, their mouths and noses covered as well, joined him and stared down at the pipe. There was a hissing sound coming from the trench.
“The pipe’s been compromised,” Brown said hoarsely. “That’s where the gas is coming from.”
“Shouldn’t they have sensors or alarms for this?” said Decker.
Brown pointed to the ceiling where several white-domed devices were attached. “They do, both. But I bet they’ve been bypassed somehow.”
“What’s that thing?” said Mars, pointing to the right.
Brown and Decker looked there. And both of them froze.
It was a cylindrical metal device with wires coming out of the top. It looked like an oxygen tank that a scuba diver would use. It was attached to the pipe.
Brown immediately said, “It’s a bomb.”
“And it’s got a timer,” said Decker.
The flashing digital clock was counting down. There were four minutes to go.
“It looks too small to do too much damage,” said Mars. “Especially all the way down here.”
Brown shook her head and coughed. “The bomb’s only the trigger. This place is full of gas. That’s where the explosive punch is going to come from.” She looked over at the columns. “And I’m betting those are load-bearing. The bomb goes off, the gas ignites, and those columns are going to go.”
Decker added, “And the entire Hoover Building and everyone in it are going to come down. It’s like how they implode buildings scheduled for demolition.”
“Let’s just take the bomb and get it out of here, then,” said Mars.
He reached for it, but Brown grabbed his hand. “No. Do you see those blue wires? They’re accelerators. You take it off the pipe the countdown clock goes to zero. And boom.”
“How do you know that?”
“She was a bomb specialist in the Army,” answered Decker.
Brown said, “Decker, you’ve got to call Bogart and tell him to get the President out of here and then evacuate this place. Now. Don’t make the call from in here. I have no idea if something in the phone might either set off the gas or accelerate the countdown. And you probably can’t get reception here anyway.”
“But—”
“Decker, move your ass. This is what I did for a living. Go! It’s the President, for God’s sake.”
“Okay, but—”
“Just go!”
‘I’m staying with you,” said Mars. “I can help.”
“You can do jack shit. Now go with Decker. I’ll be along when I’m done.”
“But Harper—”
She screamed, “Dammit, Melvin, I’ve got three minutes to do this. Get out of here!”