Fugitives (The Silent Wars Book 2), page 24
When Eli and Ley got back to the office, Jade was sitting up and drinking something from a metal bottle. She grimaced. “That was a nasty bolt. Mercs?”
“They’ll be here in a few minutes,” Eli said. “I’ve barricaded the corridor the best I could.”
“Find the elevator shaft. I have an idea.”
“It’s at the end of the hall, next to the fossilised potted plants,” Ley said.
With Colter’s help, Jade hopped off the desk and shouldered her backpack and rifle. After prying open the elevator doors, she shone her flashlight down the shaft. The light reflected off something fifty metres below. Eli added his torch and spotted several men, probably mercs, climbing the shaft.
“Just what we need.”
“Here.”
Jade handed Ley and Eli a shiny metal object. It was heavier than Eli expected, and he hefted it in his hand a few times. “Clips onto the wire, and you two can ride the wires up. Battery charge should last for thirty minutes. That should get you to the service exit. Get through the doors and go to the end of the hallway. Escape pods are there. They’ll take you to the ocean surface.”
“There’s only two,” Ley said.
“That’s all I have.”
Raising his eyebrows, it dawned on Eli what Jade was implying. He shook his head vehemently. “No.”
“It’s okay. You guys go. We’ll hold them off. Me and Colter already discussed it.”
“No,” Eli said once more, clasping Ley’s hand. He took the moving trolley and grabbed one of the filing cabinets stacked against the wall. “We all go. Or no one goes.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Colter said.
Eli, ignoring him, shone his torch down the shaft again. He adjusted the cabinet on the trolley, then tipped it into the shaft. It tumbled a few times, and smashed into the head of a climbing merc, knocking him into another and sending them both tumbling down. Ley grabbed another cabinet and followed suit. Hers clipped three mercs, sending them plummeting to their deaths.
“Jade, can the winches carry two?” Ley said.
“Possible. Why?”
“We only need to go up above the net, right?”
“Of course.” Jade slapped her forehead with the heel of her palm. “What an idiot.”
It took a bit of adjusting, but she soon had one of the winches on the wires and was suspended from it with Colter clinging to her in a bear hug. Eli placed Nox over his shoulders in a fireman’s hold and Ley climbed on, wrapping her powerful legs around his waist. The small motor on the winch whirred to life and they began to crawl upwards. It was excruciatingly slow.
They had only ascended four floors before there was a crash from the filing cabinets they’d left behind. It gave Eli and Ley all the warning they needed.
Ley unholstered her taser pistol and waited for the first helmet to appear. “Let’s see if these assholes can handle thirty amps.”
The dull black of a merc helmet appeared below. Ley tugged the trigger and the merc flinched back.
“Here.”
Colter pulled them through the open doors, and Eli released the winch just as rifle fire sounded out, reverberating around the concrete shaft. The group didn’t stay around to check on their pursuers. They just ran.
Jade led the way back out into the stairwell — thankfully above the net. She had warned them the pulse could still affect them, and that they had to get as many floors above it as they could, and quickly. Nox sprinted ahead after yelping at the electrically charged air. Bullets chased them, but with the thick concrete of the stairs, Eli had no concerns. Upwards they ran, floor after floor. A torrent of sweat poured down Eli’s spine. The tips of his fingers buzzed from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He wasn’t sure how much more he could cope with. It seemed like they had been on the run from something ever since he and Ley had escaped their death sentence.
As they climbed higher, the light in the stairwell got brighter. Eli couldn’t see a light source until Ley pointed to the greenish hue above.
“The ocean,” Jade explained, and used her commpad to open the exit door on the top floor. Eli put his hand on his knees, sucking in deep, laboured breaths. How was she not exhausted?
The door opened onto another corridor beyond, but where the previous one had been dingy and unused, this one was wide, clean, and well-lit, with soft illumination that glowed with warmth. Eli whistled for Nox to heel as Jade took them to a row of ten escape pod doors.
Using her commpad again, she tried opening one of the escape pods. A red light flashed, and the control panel made a horrible beeping sound.
“What the…?”
She tried again, with the same result.
Laughter, deep and full of amusement, broke out from unseen speakers. Eli, Ley and Colter snapped their rifles up and hunted for hostiles. No mercs appeared. Nothing. The space was empty.
The laughter came again. “Thought you could get away? Nice try. This is my territory.” It was Zapata.
“Kint!” Ley spat.
“I figured you were going for the escape pods, so I changed the codes. You forget, Agent Wilson. Everything you see here belongs to Wey.”
“What an asshole.”
Ley swivelled her rifle, her finger resting on the trigger. Something clanged near them. Through a small viewport, Eli spotted a large sphere descending through a circular gate. It clanged again, bubbles blowing out.
“That’s the service lift to the surface rig. I’ve never seen it work before. Never had the codes. I’ve always rode the pods,” Jade said.
The heavy boots of the mercs sounded out from the stairwell. They were approaching fast. Eli pivoted back and forth, trying to decide which direction to go in. Not knowing who or what was in the surface elevator meant his group were trapped. They didn’t have any options.
The door at the opposite end of the corridor crashed open. Three mercs stepped out, rifles raised. That confirmed it. The Watchers were trapped.
“Colter. Work on that lock to the pod. We’ll distract.”
Jade turned towards the three mercs, arms raised, nudging Eli and Ley to copy her. Nox bared his teeth and growled. He only quieted when Eli let out a sharp whistle.
The three mercs stopped a couple of metres away and calmly spread out. They just stood there silently. Waiting for Zapata, Eli assumed. The sound of heavy boots grew louder, echoing off the walls. The noise was unnerving, knowing what was coming.
Two of the three mercs toppled forwards. One minute, they were standing; the next, their bodies slapped to the polished concrete like wet towels. The double crack that followed caused Eli to flinch. The third merc twisted and dived sideways, firing. In his peripheral vision, Eli spotted three figures emerging from the surface elevator as he looked for the third merc. He grabbed his taser pistol, but Ley found the last merc first and took him down with one shot. Eli added his taser. The merc’s body convulsed, jerking like a go-go dancer, then stilled.
The three figures broke into a run and Eli was stunned to see Kora. The red overalls suited her pale complexion.
She stared back at him, mouth hanging open. “It’s all a lie,” she said, tears welling. “Simon lied.”
Eli wrapped her in an embrace. “It’s okay. I know.”
Jade nodded at the other two newcomers as more mercs and The Nine soldiers flooded the corridor from the stairwell. “The surface elevator?”
“Negative. Oxygen tanks need filling. We’ll take a pod,” one of the newcomers said.
“Shit. Colter, what’s happening?” Jade asked.
“I’m working on it.”
Rifle fire broke out. A round struck one of the newcomers in the thigh and she staggered. As the Watchers returned fire, Ley shoved Colter out of the way and tasered the control panel. It crackled, white smoke billowed out, and the door opened. Nox sounded out a bark and was the first inside.
Retreating as he fired at the advancing mercs, Eli thought he spotted Zapata’s cold black eyes and gave him the middle finger. The thick steel door slammed shut, sealing them inside.
The pod shook as it released and floated for a moment. Jade’s fingers whirled over the pod’s commpad. As they left the sea floor, other pods began to lift off. “That should delay them a bit.”
One of the new women pressed the radio and spoke rapidly in Spanish, too fast for Eli to keep up. He didn’t much care anyway. He sat back, Kora on one side and Ley on the other, Nox at his feet. He had made a lot of promises over the last six weeks. Seeing Kora safe, and seemingly well, was one promise off the list.
After Jade introduced everyone, Kora turned to Eli and Ley as she ruffled Nox’s ears. The big Alsatian licked her hand and sniffed at her pocket. Kora giggled and gave him the cube of food she had.
“Bill and Maureen?”
“They’re safe. Most got out.”
Kora frowned, and Eli realised she wasn’t aware of what had transpired. “Zapata attacked Lincoln, killing hundreds. But Jade and Old Patty warned us in time. The evacuation plans worked.”
“Simon is Zapata.”
“We know. It’s okay. He lied to everyone.”
“I was coming back to warn you, the surface in western America isn’t paradise. It’s hell. We shouldn’t be going back up there.”
Eli pulled Kora’s pendant necklace out of his backpack. “If we don’t, all those who died in Lincoln would be for nothing.”
“Simon said I had to leave it behind. I couldn’t take anything up there. It was just a sentimental possession.”
“Finding it gave us hope,” Ley said.
“Do you know much about it?” Eli asked.
“Not much. I remember Mum wearing it. She said it was old. Came down here with the first workers. Her mother gave it to her, and I was going to get it when I was old enough, except she never had the chance to before she was reassigned. I found it in her belongings the council let me have.”
“That’s a long time ago. It’s more valuable than you think.” Eli waved to Jade, getting her attention. The former agent finished dressing Agnes’ wound, then crouched in front of Eli, Ley, Colter and Kora. “I’ve been wanting to tell you since you arrived. We figured out the first clue.”
“Down through the roots. In the hand of she that follows the traveller in the darkness. That which holds up the world is not what it seems,” Jade said.
Eli nodded and held out the pendant. “This has been in Kora’s family for centuries, always being passed down to the female offspring.”
Jade took it out and rolled it over in her hands. “Down through the roots. Of course. The moon follows the traveller in the darkness. It’s an optical illusion, but yeah.”
Holding out his hand, Eli took back the pendant and held it up. “The bridge. More specifically, the keystone.”
Colter passed him a screwdriver, and Eli pried the cable port open again.
“Holding up the world. A nice turn of phrase,” Jade said.
He used his new commpad to transfer the backup file on Nox’s collar, then handed his commpad to Jade. “Where the ripper walks on the bones of Etruscans. The dome of the bird can be seen. Two cities rest under. Heed them,” she read out loud. “That’s it? Well, that’s cryptic.”
She took it over to Rose and Agnes, who shrugged after reading it. Agnes was looking really pale from her bullet wound. For a moment, Eli felt guilty for not checking on the newcomer, for again getting distracted by the mystery of Stacy Fisher’s next clue.
“Does Zapata have this?” Jade asked.
“Probably. Mayor Sousa took my old commpad, and it had the clues in it. Any ideas?”
“Not really. The Etruscans were before the Romans, who adopted a lot of their culture. Italy would be the best starting point, but where, I don’t have a clue.”
“I can research it when we’re topside,” Rose said. “I studied a bit of history at university.”
The Echoes were saying a lot of words Eli didn’t understand. He knew of the Romans, but other than reading about them in the Julius Caesar play by William Shakespeare, he had no idea.
“First things first. We get somewhere safe, then plan our next move,” Jade said. She checked the digital readout on the escape pod wall. “Five hours, allowing for decompression stops. You guys will feel a bit sick.”
“Awesome,” Colter said. “I could use a beer to stave off the boredom.”
“You always want a beer,” Ley said.
“Do they even have beer on the surface?”
“Of course, they do. Where do you think it comes from?”
“We make it out in the farms, don’t we? Hops, water and yeast. Done.”
Shutting his eyes, Eli leaned back and took Ley’s hand in his. After the chaos of the last few days, the relaxed atmosphere was a welcome distraction.
Though the pod had a few tiny viewing windows, there wasn’t much to see. A few oddly shaped fish swam by. One even came up to the glass and peered in as the sphere ascended. It was slow going, and Jade kept checking the readouts on the control panel and asking if the residents of Lincoln were feeling okay.
Eli gave her a thumbs-up and connected his commpad to his earphones. He scrolled through his vast musical library before settling on his Alternative Nineties Rock playlist. The music from the era had always given him a sense of hope, even though most of the bands sang about angst and the situation of the world. Eli listened to the first few songs on autopilot, only hearing the melodies and the guitar. He had always been a guitar guy and could pick out most songs by the chord progression and melody.
Ley nudged him and he took out his earphones.
“Feeling okay?”
“All good. A little pressure in my head, around my ears.”
“Just swallow. Or hold your nose and blow through it. It should clear the sinuses,” Jade said.
“I thought the pods were pressurised?”
“They are. But in the mines, the air pressure is much higher than on the surface. Even though we treated you in the machine, your body still needs time to adjust.”
“Too much nitrogen, right?” Colter asked.
“That can be a major issue, yes.”
Eli shut out the rest of the conversation and turned his music back on. The next song started, and he focused on the guitars and tried to figure out the tuning. They both sounded sharp to his ears. The chorus of the song began, and he hummed along. Something caught his ear, and he skipped back twenty seconds and replayed it. There it was again. Euston. Sung clearly. Euston. Not quite the same as Etruscans, but it sounded the same. He played it five more times, then handed his earphones to Ley.
“Listen to the lyrics.”
“Okay.”
Eli played it for her, excitement spreading across his face as she listened. He was sure he was onto something now. An itch at the back of his mind was growing. Like a lightbulb going off, the second clue sprang to his mind. Where the ripper walks on the bones of Etruscans. The dome of the bird can be seen. Two cities rest under. Heed them.
“What about them?” Ley said.
“Euston.”
“Yeah.” Ley checked the screen. “‘Londinium’ by Catatonia. Sound a bit basic.”
“But the lyric, not the music. Euston sounds like Etruscan.”
“Maybe. Why not just say Etruscan?”
“I don’t think the singer is trying to say Etruscan. I just think it’s a similar word.” Eli took a gulp of water to buy some time while he got his racing thoughts in order. “You know how, in Lincoln, the Uppers say pa-sta, but the Lowers say pas-ta. Same word but sounds different.”
“Yeah. The accent on the vowel is different.”
“Eus-ton. Et-ru-scan.” Eli sang it to the melody of the song to emphasise his point.
“I don’t know. Could be. Is that song about a place?”
“No idea. We need some sort of database. Jade?”
The Echo glanced up from reading her commpad. “Yeah?”
“Any chance you can get us to somewhere with a database. Encyclopaedia-type stuff?”
“Here.” She tossed him her commpad. “App called ATK — All The Knowledge. Transfer it to yours.”
“Cheers.”
Activating his commpad, Eli scrolled through the screens and paired the devices. He transferred the data, then passed Jade’s commpad back. ATK was simple to navigate. He typed EUSTON into the search box, and dozens of options came up. He settled back, ruffled Nox’s ears, opened the first suggestion, and began to read.
CHAPTER 22
Inside the sphere, an hour passed in silence. Everyone was either too exhausted to talk or had nothing to say. Eli was concerned he had forgotten about the supposed virus that prevented Gnats from living on the surface, even though Jade had told him about the millions who lived around the world in servitude. Kora, who was snuggled against Ley and sleeping soundly, was living proof the virus wasn’t a threat. Unless she had received a vaccine? Jade had been thorough in preparing them for the trip to the surface. Surely, she wouldn’t have forgotten? He hesitated, the question for the Echo agent stalling on his tongue. He cast his thoughts back to the stories they were told in elementary school. His favourite had been the history of the people of Lincoln, their journey down underground, and why the surface was dangerous. Before his and Ley’s arrest, they had all sat in a bar and watched a prog metal band tell the same story that his teacher had. Her voice was still clear in Eli’s mind like it was yesterday.
“Remember, children: If you see the sky, you will surely die.” The teacher had sung it as she played her guitar, and all the children repeated it, over and over.
“You look deep in thought,” Ley said, ruffling Nox’s ears. The dog yawned and licked his nose.
“Yeah. Remember Mrs Brownlee?”
“The one with the guitar?”
“That’s her.”
“She was too sweet for us. I think I made her cry a few times.”
“That’s right. Man, we were awful.”
Shaking her head, Ley said, “Sorry, Mrs Brownlee.”
“I loved her stories, though.”
“Those were good. That one about the magic stones or beans.”
