They moved quickly and quietly across the hall and into the small elevator. Rielly was in sweat socks and made no noise. When they arrived in the first basement, the doors slid open and Adams went to work with the snake. Rapp and Adams were working well as a team, but now with Rielly as the third wheel, it was another variable to worry about.
Adams retracted the snake, and over his shoulder he whispered, “All clear.” Rapp asked, “We go to the right, halfway down the hall?”
“Yep.”
“Good,” whispered Rapp.
“Here’s the routine.” Rapp looked to Rielly, who was no more than a foot away.
“When we open this door, I step out first. I sweep to the left and then the right. When I give you two the signal to move out, you go.
Milt in the lead; you with your right hand on his right shoulder.”
Rapp was happy to see that her eyes were open wide, a sign that she was paying attention.
“You keep that hand on his shoulder and keep your eyes on the back of his head. If he speeds up, you speed up; if he slows down, you slow down; and if he crouches, you get down. If I have to start shooting, I don’t want to worry about you jumping out in front of me.”
Rielly nodded and then blinked for the first time in a while. All of a sudden she didn’t think this was such a good idea. Either it was colder down here or she was getting the chills from fright. Rapp asked her something, and she stared back at him with a blank expression.
“Are you nervous?”
Rielly nodded, eyes wide open.
“Good.” Rapp grinned.
“You should be.” He grabbed her right hand and placed it on Adams’s shoulder.
“Just follow Milt, and everything will be fine.”
Rapp cracked the door just an inch at first and looked down the hallway.
With nothing in sight, he opened the door another foot and peered in the other direction. With his MP10 leveled in his left hand, he opened the door the rest of the way and stepped out into the hallway. After checking both directions again, his right hand shot up and pointed for Adams and Rielly to move out.
Adams started out on cue, his bald head scrunched down between his shoulders as if bullets might start whizzing over his cranium at any moment, the all important S-key in his right hand. Rielly mimicked his posture and scampered behind him on the balls of her stockinged feet. As soon as they were clear, Rapp closed the nondescript door that concealed the elevator and fell in behind them. Within seconds Adams had stopped at another door and was inserting his key.
He fumbled with it for a second, his hands shaking slightly.
After one misfire, he stuck the key all the way in and turned the knob.
Adams yanked the door open and was immediately pushed inside the room by Rielly, who was being pushed by Rapp.
Rapp pulled the door shut and looked around the rectangular-shaped
storage room. Rielly was doing the same and whispered,”I thought we were going to the China Room.”
“No.” Adams shook his head.
“The china storage room.”
He approached one of the many wheeled gray plastic containers that stood about four feet tall. Adams pulled off the protective cloth cover and revealed a collection of plates, saucers, and cups.
“These things are spring-loaded.” Adams picked up a china dinner plate.
“When they decide which china they want for an event, they just wheel this whole thing into the kitchen elevator and they take it upstairs.”
Rielly looked around the room.
“All of these contain sets of china?”
“Yep”
“That’s great.” Rapp was already moving several of the containers out of his way so he could get to the wall where the vent was located.
Adams joined in, and they passed the wheeled containers from one to the other. While they were doing so, Rapp looked at a second door, located on the wall to his right, and asked, “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yep.” Adams nodded as he looked up for a second.
“Good. I think it’s gonna come in real handy.” Rapp moved the last container and saw the vent cover on the bottom of the wall. It looked to be about a foot and a half wide and maybe a foot tall. Rapp stepped out of the way, and Adams moved in. Dropping down to one knee, he pulled out a small cordless drill and quickly backed out both screws.
With his fingers, he pulled the slatted cover off and dropped all the way down to his stomach With a flashlight in hand, he stuck his arm in first and then half of his head. After bouncing the light off the duct work for a couple of seconds, he found what he was looking for: the down chute that led to the lower floors and eventually to the HVAC unit in the basement.
Adams pulled his head out and looked at Rapp, who was kneeling next to him.
“It’s right where I thought it was. Ten feet down this way, go straight down two floors, and she has to crawl about a dozen feet, and there’s the vent.”
“Which way does she go when she hits the third level?”
Adams jerked his thumb.
“She keeps going the same way.” Rapp looked at his watch and said, “All right. “Then turning to Rielly, he said, “Last chance to back out.”
Rielly grinned reluctantly and looked at the small opening that Adams was lying next to.
“I’m ready.”
Rapp looked at her and again wondered what her motivation was. Standing there in the president’s oversized West Point sweats, she did not fit the image of the brave and bold. Rapp thought she looked scrawny. He had to hand it to her, though; whether it was professional motivation, sense of obligation to her fellow hostages, or just good old Catholic guilt, the woman was tough. She’d had the crap kicked out of her, was almost raped, and yet here she was, willing to go right back into the fray.
Rapp nodded at her with admiration and said, “Give me a couple of minutes, and we’ll get you on your way.”
Rapp took off his fanny pack and laid out the climbing rope and one of the surveillance units.
“Is she going to have enough light in there?”
Adams thought about it for a second.
“Yeah. It spills through the vents about every ten to fifteen feet.”
“Good.” Holding the rope up, Rapp turned to Rielly and said, “Go lie down over there by the vent, and we’ll tie this around your ankles.”
Rapp cut a four-foot section from the end of the rope and tied one end to Rielly’s right ankle and the other to her left. When he was satisfied with the knots, he tied the rope to the middle of the four-foot section.
This allowed Rielly to move her legs independently, which would have been impossible if her ankles were tied together.
After asking her how the knots felt, Rapp asked, “Any questions before we get started?”
Rielly looked up from her position on the floor.
“Yeah, how in the hell do I signal for you guys to pull me back up?”
Rapp frowned.
“That’s a good question. How about if you tug three times on the rope?”
“How?” Rielly craned her neck backward and looked into the duct.
“There isn’t enough room for me to do that.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Looking to Adams, Rapp asked, “Any ideas?”
Adams thought about it for a second, his lips scrunched up.
Finally he said, “Yeah. I got one.” Adams then sat and began taking his boots off. He took out the left boo dace then the right, then tied them together. He tied one end to the long rope and the other one he loosely knotted
