Page 16 of Code Name: Admiral

7

ALICE

Iwatched the agent’s face as I opened the panel. His eyes widened. Good.

“The maintenance shaft connects to the old pneumatic mail system,” I explained, pulling out two climbing harnesses. “It runs through most of the building’s support structure.” I tossed him one of them. “You do know how to rappel, don’t you, G-man?”

His hands moved over the equipment with practiced ease. Military trained, just as I’d suspected from the way he carried himself.

I secured my backpack, making sure the envelope I retrieved from the safe was still inside.

“Your sister died a week ago. Why haven’t you opened what she left for you?”

I wanted to tell him it was none of his fucking business, but the words caught in my throat. God, Sarah, what had you gotten yourself into? Another thud echoed through the walls, followed by the distinct sound of metal grinding against metal.

“They’re in the elevator shaft,” he said, adjusting his comms piece. “Tank, status?”

I tuned out his conversation with his team, focusing on the digital readout near the panel. Air pressure was stable. No signs the space had been compromised.

“You coming?” I asked, securing my line to the anchor point.

For a moment, he looked like he might refuse. Then another crash echoed above us, closer this time. “Ladies first,” he said, checking his harness once more. I began my descent into the darkness, the cold air of the hoistway chilling me.

“Just remember, Agent Kane. You only have two bullets.” I paused, looking up at him as he started his own descent. “Try anything stupid, and I promise you’ll need more than that.”

The shaft swallowed us into its depths, our rappel lines humming against the metal anchors. He kept pace above me, his movements controlled and precise. No wasted energy. Definitely military—probably Special Forces, based on how he handled himself. I’d have to watch him even more carefully than I’d planned.

My headlamp carved a narrow beam through the darkness, illuminating decades of dust and abandoned infrastructure. Pneumatic tubes, their age evident in the dulled patina surfaces, ran parallel to our position.

I’d spent months mapping every possible escape route I could come up with, both from my apartment and the building, and hours studying the building’s original blueprints, tracing the forgotten pathways that had once carried mail between floors. Now, they’d bring us to freedom—assuming the thugs Castellano sent hadn’t figured out where we’d gone.

“How much farther?” Kane’s voice echoed in the confined space.

I checked the markings I’d painted on the wall during my practice runs. “Another couple hundred feet to the junction point. Then we go horizontal.” A distant crash reverberated through the shaft, followed by voices. They were sweeping floorby floor, methodically working their way up. We had maybe ten minutes before they found the maintenance panel.

My boots touched down on a narrow service platform. The metal grating creaked under my weight. Agent Kane landed beside me, his breathing steady despite the descent. I unclipped from the line and pulled out my tablet, checking the building’s security feeds. They’d disabled most of the cameras on the upper floors, but the basement levels were still active. Clear, for now.

“We need to move faster,” he said, his hand straying to his weapon. “They’re thorough. They won’t stop until?—”

“Until what?” I interrupted, turning to face him. “They kill me too?”

“Not just you.” The red emergency lights caught the tension in his jaw.

“I’m trusting you, G-man. Am I making a mistake?”

He met my gaze but didn’t speak.

“I could end you now, and they’d never find your body,” I said, mustering far more bravado than I felt.

He took a step, coming close enough to me that, when we both flipped up the NVGs, I could feel the warmth of his breath. “You can trust me, Alice. You know you can, or we would never have come this far.”

The platform shuddered as heavy footfalls from above us caused dust and debris to rain down the shaft, coating us in a fine layer of gray.

“This way,” I said, pulling a small canister from my pack. The thermite charge would seal the opening behind us, buying precious minutes. “The next part’s going to be cramped. Hope you’re not claustrophobic, G-man.”

He watched me set the charge, something unreadable flickering across his features. The close quarters made it impossible to ignore his presence, and the weight of his earlier words hung between us. He’d hit the mark when he said Sarahhad been dead a week and I hadn’t opened the envelope she left for me. Admitting I wasn’t brave enough to face the pain of losing my sole remaining relative, even to find out what she was involved in, wasn’t something I could do. Especially not now or to him.

“Ready?” I asked, checking the timer on the thermite. Three minutes. More than enough time to get clear.

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