Desmoterion, page 24
Trent dug into the duffel bag and pulled out a rifle and clips of bullets. “Come on, Girish, get ready.”
Girish leaned down to touch the floor with his fingers. He brushed a piece of wood more indented than the rest. His fingers reached underneath it and pulled back a cover into something below. “Trent, you need to see this.”
“Not now, Girish!”
Girish moved and pulled Trent away from his spot. “Look!”
“What the hell is that?” Trent stared at the square opening in the floor.
“No idea, but it looks like some kind of underground to this building.”
Trent thought for a moment and then pulled out a pack of matches. He lit one and tossed it down the hole. The match traveled several meters down before landing on the ground.
“I have an idea.” Girish touched Trent’s arm. “What if we hide underneath there, and when they enter, we could shoot them from below? They’d never expect it.”
“Get down there and take the flashlight.” Trent shoved Girish toward the hole. “I have a better idea if it’s a passage.”
“Why me? You can see in the dark.”
“Because I need to save our lives up here. Now do it.”
Girish got inside the opening and dropped down. He flashed the light away from him and gasped. “It’s never-ending down here. Where the hell does it go?”
Trent was about to answer when shots were fired outside the door. He crawled back to their duffels and threw them down to Girish after taking something out of one of them.
“What’s happening up there? Is it the field ops?”
Trent glanced out the window while he tied something together with his fingers. “Yes, and they’ll be here in about a minute, but I have a present for them.”
* * *
How would Trent get out of his predicament? It looked to be his last stand, and Kipper wondered if all of their best-laid plans would crumble in an instant.
Then the screen flashed, and a bomb exploded, knocking back the men surrounding the building.
The helicopter radioed in to scream about the use of bombs and why hadn’t they been told that Trent was in possession of them.
Kipper stood there, gaping at the destroyed building that was now in full-on flames.
The leader shook his head. “I didn’t want it to come to this, Trent. If you’d only stayed in line, none of this would have happened.”
Stevenson swore and radioed to the helicopter to see if there were any survivors on the ground.
All Kipper could do was stare and not comprehend what had happened. Nothing made sense at all. Trent had made his decision, and it was a disastrous one.
* * *
They raced through the darkness away from the explosion, the heat of it warming up the area over them.
“Dammit, Trent, why did you do that?” Girish swore and ran faster following the sound of Trent’s movement and trusting him to shout a warning if Girish approached anything that would trip him up.
“You know why. I want them off our backs once and for all. Now it’s just a matter of getting that tracking device out of you.”
Girish dodged the hot wood above their heads and headed into the cooler dirt areas in front. “Any idea how far this goes?”
“Not a clue. As far distant as I can see, my mapping guidance relies on satellites, and I can’t use it down here. At least they can’t track us either.”
“You do know we could be trapped down here forever.” Girish kept moving away from the heat.
“Not likely, as why would they build an underground passage to nowhere? I’m hoping it will take us well away from here, perhaps even across the border. That’s not likely, but I can have hope.”
Girish shook his head, the long ponytail swishing against his back. “That’s all well and good, but we can’t last days down here.”
“Well, we have food and water for at least a few days if we ration it. Somehow, I doubt it’s going to take that long.”
Once he felt the heat start to dissipate above him, Girish slowed down his pace.
Trent bumped into him from behind. “Why did you slow down?”
“Your breath is getting harsh again, and what’s the hurry? It’s not like they’ll figure out we’re down here until the building stops being on fire.”
Trent took a deep breath and changed his pace. “Okay.”
Girish swung the flashlight upward to check out what was in front. “A whole lot of nothing. Just pure darkness and dirt. What the hell would be the point of something like this?”
“A world war is probably the reason. Some kind of elaborate bomb shelter or hiding hole from the air raids. The fact that they dug out this much makes me think they worked on it for years.”
“Keep it together, Kannan. We’ll get out of here, eventually. If they think we’re dead, we can camp here to get some sleep. At least we won’t have to worry about being captured while we do that. The slightest bit of noise in here gets echoed a long distance, judging by how much my voice is bouncing off the walls.”
“What the hell will we do once we’re out?”
“I already told you that we’ll be a lot safer when we cross the border into a new country.”
“I mean after that.”
Trent shrugged, the sound of his coat brushing against his beard. “That’s up to you. I plan to head for a safe house picked out way in advance. Another of my stolen gains, so to speak.”
“Do I come with you to that place?”
“You can if you want.” Trent took a deep breath. “But I doubt you want to be with me longer than you have to. The area I picked is sparsely populated, but I’m sure you’re resourceful, and you’ll make it on your own.”
“I have no money, Trent. In fact, I have fuck all at the moment. No place to sleep, no money for food, and nowhere to go.”
Trent reached out to touch Girish’s shoulder and stopped walking. “Look, I can help you with that once we cross the border. If you want to stay with me for a while, that’s fine. The house is big enough for ten people, and it won’t be filled unless the others decide to bring someone else.”
“Others?” Girish shook his head. “I don’t know what I want to do. I’ve never had a choice in my life; I’ve always been living day by day with a focus on survival. Always had someone telling me what I can and cannot do for all of my life.”
Trent smiled, even if Girish couldn’t see it. “Well, now’s your chance. It’s scary at first, but I know you’ll be fine. You’ve been through a lot, and it’s time to enjoy it without worrying about pleasing others.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s just so much to take in right now when I never thought I’d be free again.”
Trent grabbed the duffel again to sling it over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s keep moving and get as far away as possible.”
* * *
Emyr wasn’t needed anywhere, so he took the opportunity to observe Mike’s class with the recruits. Mike glanced up and frowned; Emyr replied with a frown of his own.
There wasn’t much to be happy about. Trent was now dead, which put a huge damper on their plans of escape. They had to figure something out, but their leader was keeping an eye on anyone who interacted with Trent, making it more difficult than ever.
Mike looked up at the clock and clapped his hands. “All right, that’s it for today’s session. Keep practicing with other recruits if you can, and head to the workout area sometime today for strength training.”
The recruits shuffled away toward their respective rooms.
Mike approached Emyr but didn’t speak until they were very close. Then, in a hushed voice, he said, “Before you say anything, I refuse to believe Trent is foolish enough to blow himself up just because they were closing in on him. He’d have fought to the death for his freedom, and we all know it. Something else happened, I wouldn’t put it past Girish to fuck it up being a fucking idiot.”
“Or they somehow escaped?” Emyr said.
“Precisely. I refuse to believe Trent is dead until they drop his charred corpse in front of me.”
Emyr’s mouth opened at Mike’s statement.
“Trent is way smarter than that idiot Stevenson realizes. He’s always a step ahead of everyone, and that’s the case here. How the fuck he got out, I have no clue, but I believe he did. It’s one more thing to throw them off the trail when they think he’s dead.”
“You’re right,” Emyr nodded. “The man’s like a magician.”
“We just need to bide our time,” Mike looked away and rubbed his hand over his mouth, muffling his words. “The signal might be days or a month. Or never if he really is dead, but I can’t imagine they won’t comb through the wreckage to find clues.”
“They are. Kipper’s been watching them put out the fires so they can turn over the rubble and find bodies. It might take a day.”
“Then we wait. If Trent did escape, he’ll have covered his tracks.”
* * *
Boots trudging through the light dusting of loose soil on the ground and their own labored breathing was the only sound they heard as Girish and Trent walked on in silence.
“You have to wonder how the hell they did something like this? I’m always impressed by these big tunnels where they must have pulled the dirt and rocks out with each meter cut through. If there are only two entrances, the forestry place we destroyed and the end, then that’s a lot of backtracking to get the dirt out.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. A simple but impressive feat of engineering. Hell, maybe even prison inmates did it as hard labor.”
Trent ran his fingers over the wall to the right of him. “Yet, it feels like it was machined out; the walls are way too smooth for pickaxes and shovels.”
“Does it matter?”
“No, it’s odd, that’s all.”
Girish trudged forward, his stomach growling in protest, but he ignored it. He hadn’t thought about how that would echo back to Trent.
“Hungry?”
Girish shook his head, his long hair swishing along his back. “No, sort of. But I’m more eager to keep moving and get out of here first.”
* * *
Trent stumbled, his legs feeling like they were made of lead. “I need to rest a little.”
Girish dropped the duffel and shuffled around to sit on the ground. He pulled out the flashlight, blinding himself in the process, and looked down at his watch. “No wonder you’re tired; we’ve been walking for two hours.”
“Do you have the water?” Trent asked while digging into his duffel. “I think I only have the ammunition and guns.”
Girish opened his duffel and pulled out a bottle of water. “Here’s one of them.”
Trent drank and moaned as his dry throat lessened. “I’m sorry we even went this way. Who knows how far it goes.”
“At least we’re mostly safe. I mean, it’s not like they can find us down here. You can finally get some sleep for a few hours.
“No, we need to keep moving.” Trent stowed the water in his duffel.
“I’d rather you slept. I can guard you if need be, but I doubt we’ll have problems down here.”
Trent sighed, echoing down the tunnel. “Fine, I’ll try, but be sure to wake me when I start to spasm. It means I’m having a nightmare.”
Girish’s stomach grumbled again.
“Okay, and you might as well eat something. We’ve got nutrition bars, protein bars, and energy bars.”
“Good travel food, yummy.”
“I had the house stocked with different dried food with long shelf lives. It was about what was practical.”
“Well planned. But I hope wherever we end up has food because this won’t last us long.”
* * *
“Find any bodies yet?” Kipper looked down at Ward’s monitor.
“No, sir. I’m not finding much from the satellite images. It’s just a burning shell of a building. Do you think they were incinerated in the blast?”
Kipper shook his blond hair. “No, the fire wasn’t hot enough for that. He’d have to detonate a nuclear bomb for that to happen, and obviously, he didn’t.”
“Then did they escape? I’m just not finding anything indicating they were in the blast — no charred remains, no guns or ammunition pieces, or even burning clothes. There’s just nothing other than some charred paper and shelving. The only reason it went up so fast was that it was rotting away inside.”
“I honestly don’t know what to think. We’ll have to wait until they explore the inside in more detail, and that will only happen when it cools some more. I don’t know how long that’ll take. Our view is from the top, and maybe there was a back door.”
The leader appeared to Kipper’s left. “You should get some rest. In fact, all three of you should.”
Kipper turned to look at their leader. “You think I can sleep after something like that? I have to know what happened and if we need to track Trent any further.”
The leader’s eyebrow rose. “You don’t believe he’s dead?”
Ward piped up. “There are no bodies that I can see via the satellites. But we won’t know for sure until they can get inside to inspect the building.”
“And that could be hours from now. Get some rest in the meantime. We’ll call you if we need you.”
Ward glanced up at Kipper.
Kipper waved his hand at Ward. “Go, and tell Simon that he’ll be starting.”
Ward got up from his chair and headed off to the crew quarters with Delgado in tow.
The leader looked over at Kipper. “I mean you too, Renard.”
“Fine, I’ll try, but I can’t promise much.”
* * *
Instead of going to his room, Kipper made for the server room to tap into the satellites pointing at the cleanup. He zoomed in on the building and frowned. There was nothing inside the building.
He typed something out to pull up any cameras nearby to zoom in on them. There wasn’t much other than on the highway to the west of the forests. None of them were good enough to reach all that far.
Kipper sat back in the chair and frowned at the screen. Where did Trent go?
He’d already had Ward flip the model to see if there was a backdoor to the building. There wasn’t any, the walls all looking uniformly identical.
Kipper inverted the camera feed to show the building as black and the rest as white. He fiddled with the contrast to get something underneath to appear.
He gaped at the underground passage running below the building. With a flick of the mouse, he followed the passage out of the area for a while until that particular satellite lost the signal. By that point, he’d followed it for at least 10 kilometers, and it appeared to go even further than that.
Kipper took a deep breath to calm his body from freaking out. Maybe Trent had survived, after all, hiding in that passage when the bomb exploded and then proceeding through it.
If that was the case, then they might just come out on the other side of the border where Desmoterion was unlikely to follow. Unlikely, as it was a forbidding zone, but never say never. Going across the border in that direction, even with their leader’s high rank, would be forbidden and disastrous.
Kipper bit his lip. Who could he tell this information without having their leader find out later? Or should he not tell anyone until it’s absolutely necessary?
In all likelihood, his team would need to be more smart to invert the feed to discover the passageway. Even if they could, they’d only be able to follow it partially because of how the satellites cut off at 10 kilometers.
Kipper logged out of the console and got up from the chair.
The best course of action was to only do something if they figured it out.
* * *
Trent woke up with a start; everything around him looked strange and as black as his nightmares. It took him a few seconds to realize he was still in the tunnel. He was about to chastise Girish for not waking him, but he then realized Girish was snoring next to him.
He reached for his duffel to pull out the water bottle. With a sigh, he finished off the bottle. He knew they had to ration them, but the thirst was giving him a massive headache in the process. He scooted over to Girish to rummage inside his duffel for food, creating enough disturbance to wake Girish, who jerked upright.
“What the fuck... where am I?”
“I had the same thought when I woke up,” Trent whispered earnestly. There was no one to overhear them, but hushed voices seemed right at the time. “At least you got some sleep too.”
“A little too much sleep. The dreams were awful.” Girish stretched, arching his back. “I slept too hard on my back.”
“I haven’t heard anyone down here. It’s just us.” Trent grabbed a protein bar out of the bag. “We can continue to rest here. We need it. I’d imagine neither of us has had much sleep since the night before your mission to kill me.”
“I didn’t sleep at all that night. Too busy wondering if I should go through with it or not.”
“Well, you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t.” Trent munched on his sandwich. “The leader probably would have eliminated both of us for insubordination.”
Girish drank some water and leaned back against the wall. “Is this any better than that?”
“Yes; we’re still alive. I intend to stay that way until we get out of here. There’s no point in freaking out. We’ll reach our goal, Girish. No one ever said it was going to be easy.”
* * *
“Wait, what’s that?” Trent moved forward to stop short about an hour after they’d restarted their trek along the tunnel.
“What?”
“There’s light up ahead. Well, a sliver of it, at least.”
Girish blinked at the darkness. “Are you sure about that? I don’t see anything ahead.”
“It’s off to the right side.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Come on, let’s carry on, but be quiet; we don’t know what we’re coming up to.”
As they trudged closer, a faint light in the distance got brighter.
“How the hell did you see that from way back there?”
“Genetics.” Trent shrugged. “It might be the end of the tunnel.”
“No idea, maybe. Or a crossroads with paths to multiple locations?” Girish hurried his stride. “We might as well get this over with.”
