The muted sounds of low voices and shuffling feet came through the tiny speaker.
He heard Remo and Heidi. But not Chiun.
When Remo had opted not to come along initially, Kluge thought he would have to abandon his plan. Not anymore. But it would still work only if both Masters of Sinanju were beyond the main corridor.
Feeling the chilly wetness of the cramped tunnel, Adolf Kluge sat patiently. And waited.
"THAT'S THE LAST OF IT," Remo said as he walked back into the first of the three chambers that had held the Nibelungen Hoard. The final batch of gold had been moved down the corridor and was waiting in a pile at the bottom of the stone staircase.
"I am just double-checking," Heidi said.
She had brought in one of the unlit stone torches from the hallway shelf. Heidi was using the handle end to push beneath the piles of smelly moss that had been left behind.
Now that there was no longer any treasure stored beneath them, the brownish green lumps of slime looked like deflated weed balloons. Although it didn't seem as if a scrap of the Hoard remained, Heidi was meticulous in her search.
Remo heard echoing laughter from inside the two adjacent rooms. Heidi had enlisted some of Kluge's men to help her in rummaging through the mildewy chambers.
"I wonder how much loot those felons have pocketed," Remo commented, nodding to the skinheads.
"I am certain Chiun will not allow them to take anything that is not theirs," Heidi commented absently.
"You got that right," Remo snorted. "I'm still wondering how he plans on hauling all of this junk out of the country."
"Half," Heidi said.
Remo smiled. "You still think you're getting a piece of the action?" he asked innocently.
Heidi stopped digging beneath the moss. She turned to Remo, her face unhappy. "We have a contract," she said.
"Are you sure he didn't write it in disappearing ink?"
She shook her head firmly. "Masters of Sinanju are not known for duplicity."
"That's 'cause no one lives to tell the tales," Remo said. He seemed genuinely surprised at her. "Do you mean to tell me that it honestly never occurred to you that Chiun might have considered your contract null and void the minute you and Kluge ditched him?"
"I barely escaped with my life," Heidi insisted.
"And Kluge?"
"We were never working together. At least, not after the gunfight. That man is a monster. His kind still thinks that they are some kind of master race. And he is the worst offender of all. He is an intellectual midget who fancies himself a giant. He is superior to nothing. Least of all to me." She thrust her chin forward angrily.
Remo was baffled by the passion in her voice. "Where the hell did that come from?" he asked.
Her embarrassment at her outburst was almost instantaneous. "I did not-" She paused, collecting herself. "I have a deal with the House of Sinanju," she said, firmly, coming back to her original point. "I expect the House to honor it."
Chiun came through the door at that moment. The radiant joy that beamed from every crevice in his wrinkled face was not diminished by the darkness in the dank underground.
"Have you finished?" he lilted.
"Not quite," Heidi replied. She redoubled her efforts searching through the slimy growth.
"Carry on," Chiun said. He waved a delighted hand as he skipped over to the other side of the room. Searching with his feet, he began kicking through the debris.
"Have you given any thought to how you're going to move all this garbage?" Remo complained to Chiun.
"I believe I have that taken care of," Heidi offered.
Surprised, Remo turned to her. "Oh?" he asked.
Chiun interrupted her before she could respond. "What is this?" the Master of Sinanju asked. He had just unearthed something from beneath a brackish green lump. Picking the object up, he displayed it to Heidi and Remo. Although strips of moss still clung to its surface, the device was visible enough. And it had clearly not been down there for fifteen hundred years.
"It looks like a walkie-talkie," Remo said, puzzled.
As he reached for the small instrument, Remo suddenly became aware of a low rumble above and around them. He had grown used to the sound of the rushing water directly over their heads. This was an entirely different noise.
Heidi got to her feet, curious. Remo glanced over at her, hoping that she might shed some light on what they were hearing. But she was clearly as puzzled as he was.
All at once, the room began to shake. As if from some unseen cue, a gigantic slab of rock fell with impossible slowness from above the door, tumbling to the floor with a room-shaking, thunderous crash. Chiun dropped the walkie-talkie.
"Run, Remo!" the Master of Sinanju shouted. His warning came too late.
As they raced for the exit, the wall before them began to buckle. It collapsed inward at the midpoint, scattering massive stones like toppled blocks. An avalanche of stone and muddy earth rained down from above, sealing the corridor.
They didn't have time to consider their options. Without the support of the far wall, the ceiling began to bulge downward with horrifying slowness. It creaked as the resettling earth pushed in on it. At a frantic run, the skinheads from the inner room joined them. They looked up in fear at the groaning roof.
"Is there another way out of here?" Remo asked warily.
Heidi's eyes were wide. "No," she said softly. And with that, the ceiling collapsed in a shower of dirt and crashing boulders. Like a deluge from some bygone era of biblical vengeance, the full fury of the Danube River exploded in all around them.
Chapter 26
Kluge felt the walls of the cramped tunnel rumble all around him as he made his frantic way back out to the staircase. He tore ragged holes in his coat and pants as he crawled recklessly through the pitch-dark wetness.
The support stone had kicked away with surprising ease. The series of key stones had interlocked like some ancient puzzle. As soon as the cornerstone was gone, the others began collapsing in around it. He had dropped his flashlight in his haste.
The walls drummed like thunder all around him as the corridor and rooms collapsed. He only knew he was going in the right direction because it was impossible to get lost in the long burrow.
His claustrophobia had nearly robbed him of all sense. He wanted to scream, wanted to panic. Logically he knew that it would do no good, but logic had nothing to do with the almost paralyzing terror he felt. It was like being trapped in the black epicenter of a massive earthquake.
Scurrying like a rat in a hole, Kluge suddenly slammed against something solid with his head.
Panicked now, he grabbed forward, shoving hard against the object. The stone toppled away. It was the same one he had pulled in place behind him upon entering the tunnel.
He scampered out beneath the stairs-lungs aching, heart pounding.
He was alive!