TCB Part 34: Saturday Evening (cont.)

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Kostas saw Higgs out of the apartment and got to work on his escape. He ran around the apartment to each of the timers that he had placed strategically around the floor. The timing was absolutely essential. He had practiced this countless times in self-imposed evacuation drills. He couldn’t leave any evidence behind.

He stepped into the harness and tightened the straps around his waist and legs. He grabbed an iron pipe and smashed the window. He clipped a rope into the aluminum rings on the belt, held tight onto the rope and ran toward the broken window. Rain spattered his face, blown by the gusty winds high above the city. He dove head first out the window.

He fell down the side of the building, face down. The rope uncoiled rapidly from the bag at his waist, slowing his descent slightly as he fell. He took hold of the rope with a gloved hand and pulled it in front of his chest. The descender caught on the rope and his fall stopped. The elastic rope stretched to absorb the inertia of his fall. His feet slammed into the side of the building a full 20 stories below where he’d jumped.

Stationary now, he began to run down the side of the building, his face toward the ground. The rope fed through the descender as he ran. When he was at the ground level, he let go of the rope and fell to the ground. No sooner had he unclipped the descender than he heard the explosion from the room where he’d stood only thirty seconds earlier. He ran away from the building.

The police had surrounded all the known exits from the building, but they hadn’t covered the side of the building where Kostas had jumped. There were no exterior doors on that side. Kostas made his own doors. He ran down an alley and out into an old abandoned side road. Once, this road had held countless diners and boutiques, servicing the bankers that spent their days in the skyscrapers. Now it felt like a ghost town, empty and littered with trash. Kostas looked over his shoulder and noticed a man in a dark coat and hat running down the street toward him.

Kostas ran faster down the empty road. He would need to get out of this street. He turned into an alley and ran. The twilight provided just enough light that he could see that there was a chain link fence at the end of the alley. He leapt at the fence, grabbing the top with both hands and vaulting over the top. He hopped to the ground and kept running. He glanced back over his shoulder to see his pursuer climbing his way clumsily over the fence. Kostas turned a corner and headed for the nearest skyscraper entrance.

He burst into the lobby of the long-abandoned building and ran for the stairwell. He pulled a small kerosene flashlight from his pocket and clicked the piezo. He was about to go up when he saw the sign pointing downward, reading “Metro 6.” He switched gears and ran down the stairs. Three levels down, the stairs opened up to the lobby of an abandoned subway station. He hurdled the turnstile and ran for the southbound platform.

He heard the echo of footsteps from behind as he slid down the banister of a short flight of stairs. He sprinted across the platform, breathing heavily and growing tired. The only thing keeping him from stopping was the adrenaline that coursed through his blood and flooded his muscles with tension. The tunnel was pitch black.

He ran down the tunnel, but soon had to slow, unable to see far enough down the tunnel with his dim light. He saw a shadow in front of him as the other man’s light shone toward him. He picked up the pace and continued running. He didn’t know how long this tunnel would be. It could be miles to the next station.

He heard a loud crack from behind and saw sparks fly from the wall next to him. The guy was shooting at him! That did it! No more playing nice. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small timed explosive. He armed it and dropped it. He picked up his pace to clear the blast. He heard the explosive from behind and a second later felt the pressure wave as it threw him to the ground.

His face was driven into the rail in front of him. The pressure passed over him, pushing him further to the ground. He felt the heat of the blast ripple over his back, igniting his coat. The blast was past and Kostas jumped to his feet. He threw his coat off and to the ground. He felt the burns on his back and neck, and felt the aching from his face. His light had shattered in the fall and he couldn’t see anything anymore.

He tried to see down the tunnel, the only light he could see was the receding flames that passed away from him in both directions. When those had passed, the light was gone. He stood helpless, skin and face aching. He began to feel his way down the tunnel slowly. He didn’t know which way he’d come from or where he was going. He felt lost and disoriented.

Ahead of him, he saw a light peek out from a niche in the wall. Next to the light was a gun. The light shone in his eyes and momentarily blinded him. He heard a single word, “Freeze.”

Kostas leaned against the wall with a burnt shoulder and allowed himself to collapse to the tracks. He raised his hands in the air as best he could. He could taste the acrid saltiness of blood in his mouth. He spat and whispered to himself. “It is finished.”

***

When Higgs left Kostas’s building, he was nervous. He didn’t know if the search was related to their heist, but he couldn’t take any chances. When the man in the dark coat disappeared, he could only assume it was related to Kostas’s diversion. Higgs was thankful for that distraction. It gave him the opportunity to get out of that area without being noticed.

He didn’t make any stops. He made a direct trip to the safehouse. There was no time to mess around anymore. If they could find Kostas in his home, Higgs’s own home was no safer. He disabled the warning system and ran down the stairs into the abandoned rail station. He noticed another person waiting for him when he got there.

“Everton. We’re in trouble. They found Kostas.” Higgs was talking fast, hoping to make a move still tonight. He would grab as much as he could from the train car and find a safer place than this.

The inventor shook his head, a sad expression on his face. “This is terrible, Thurmond. Do you know where the others are?”

“No. I haven’t heard anything from them since we parted ways on Friday. Frankly, we don’t have time to worry about them.” Higgs tapped his foot anxiously.

“Do you have a place to go, Higgs? A safe place? We should not assume that this station is safe. If they have captured one of the others, I’m sure they will be tempted to give up our hideout.” Everton spoke calmly, as if the pressure and tension wasn’t his primary concern. Higgs picked up on it, but he chalked it up to his analytical nature.

“I don’t have anything in mind. I was going to leave town. Not sure where I’ll go.” Higgs replied. “I hadn’t been planning on this falling apart so fast.”

“Surely not.” Dr. Montebanque looked around conspiratorially. “I have some friends that may be able to help you hide until you can formulate a plan. I can give you directions to where they live. I will join you there shortly.”

Higgs didn’t like the sound of this. He wasn’t totally certain that he could trust Dr. Montebanque, but he knew he couldn’t trust any of Everton’s friends. He began to think of where he could go. If he left the city now, he wasn’t certain he could get anywhere before the daylight. Once morning broke, a simple airship flight could spot him easily running through the countryside.
The heist had come up so quickly, and now he was ashamed that he hadn’t spent more time planning for his getaway. In all the hustle and scrambling since, he hadn’t had time to make any concrete plans. He hated last minute changes. This was going to be his undoing, he was sure of it.
He looked up at the inventor, certain that the desperation was fully visible in his face. “Tell me about these friends.”

Part 35 >