Page 25 of Silent Target

The entire house groans.

Dust pours from the ceiling.

A support beam snaps.

“They’re bringing the house down!” Evie shouts.

“They’re getting impatient.”

“They’re trying to kill us!”

“No. If they wanted us dead, they would have leveled the house with the first explosive.”

“What do they want?”

“The recording.”

“And after they have it?”

I don’t answer.

I don’t need to.

We both know.

I reach the back basement wall and shove against an old shelving unit. It rolls aside on concealed steel tracks, revealing a narrow concrete tunnel.

Evie stares into the darkness.

“There’s no way.”

“Inside.”

“You have a secret tunnel.”

“The government built it.”

“That’s supposed to make this less unbelievable?”

“This house was used by intelligence couriers during the Cold War. The tunnel leads to an abandoned maintenance building.”

“How many safehouses have secret escape tunnels?”

“The useful ones.”

Despite the smoke, explosions, and armed men trying to capture us, she laughs.

One short, breathless sound.

“I can’t believe I just laughed.”

“Good.”

“Why?”

“It means you’re still thinking.”

She looks at me as we enter the tunnel. “No. It means you’re impossible.”