“So,” Cain said, ignoring the byplay. “You keep tabs on the kid, Giovanni. Let us know when he’s moved and where he next shows up next. Rain…” He turned to her. “Do you know these tunnels? Can you get us through them?”
“Absolutely.”
“I thought you didn’t belong to any of these gangs?” Torpedo shouldered his way forward, giving her an angry look.
“I don’t.” She gave the big man a steady look, meeting his eyes boldly.
“Then how could you possibly know your way around in their world?”
“I grew up there,” she said, doing her best not to flinch at the memory. “I know every single tunnel through there like the back of my hand. Even after I escaped, I went back to rescue others. Every time a new tunnel was dug, I made sure I explored it thoroughly. I cross the city using those tunnels regularly, and I’ve never once been caught.”
Torpedo continued to stare at her distrustfully. Had Arkham not been right behind her, his big hand on her shoulder, Rain might have backed down, intimidated by yet another man.
“Watch yourself, brother,” Arkham growled.
Torpedo turned his head to Cain. “What do you think?”
Cain didn’t hesitate in answering. “If Arkham trusts her, I’m good.”
“OK then.” Torpedo nodded once sharply. “Let’s get to work.”
* * *
The tunnels were dank and damp. The odor of everything from sewage to garbage to the pungent smell of something cooking over a campfire seemed to blanket everything. There were places where their steps echoed loudly if they weren’t careful, but mostly, sound was muffled and misdirected. Arkham could see how it would be very easy to get turned around and be lost in the vast network. He also could see the evidence of a forgotten population making a whole separate city beneath the city. Not only were there tunnels, but small “villages” of homeless or maybe people in charge of the controlling gang. They had to watch every single step they made, every breath they took, lest they be discovered.
“Stay quiet and out of the light.” Rain spoke quietly, the throat mike Arkham had given her picking up her words for all of them. “If they get so much as a whiff we’re down here they’ll descend on us like a plague.” He gave her an impatient look. As if she had to tell them something that rudimentary. She raised an eyebrow but otherwise ignored him.
It took the better part of an hour for Rain to get them close to their destination. She was likely right they were hiding the boy in the tunnels, because the closer she told them they were, the more heavily guarded the tunnels became. The team had to knock out several men and women who served as guards. They’d been restrained and gagged. A small storage area had served as a place to stash the guards instead of killing them. It didn’t give them a lot of time -- it wouldn’t be long before the guards were found -- but it would hopefully buy them enough time to get Tobie and get the hell out before they were spotted. Fighting in quarters this close would definitely get someone killed.
The further they went, the more agitated and restless Rain became. She wore a Kevlar vest over her shirt like they all did. The thing could get warm, but Arkham noticed her skin was drenched in sweat. She was having a visceral reaction to something. His mind seized on the scars she’d seen over her back and torso. She’d said she’d grown up in this world. He’d bet his life she knew these tunnels so well because she’d lived here. And been tortured here.
She never asked for a gun, probably because she knew Arkham wouldn’t give her one. Instead, she carried a Louisville Slugger. Rain stopped, kneeling down, her weapon at the ready. Arkham thought she’d wipe her arm over her face to stop the sweat from trickling into her eyes, but she ignored it. Holding her hand up, she indicated everyone should stop. After a couple of minutes, two men emerged from a wooden door. The second the door opened, an ear-splitting scream came from within, anguished and frightened. The child, Tobie, was ten, according to Azriel. It was entirely possible that scream had come from him.
The last thing Arkham wanted to do was to give away their position until he had a better sense of the layout of the area. He was used to scouting everything so he knew what to expect. Now? He had no idea exactly how many hostiles there were or where they were concentrated. There seemed to be no pattern to their patrols. His gut said they were inexperienced, but he wasn’t willing to put his team at risk based on his gut.
Rain wasn’t so discerning.
With a battle yell, she charged, bat over her shoulder. Both men whipped around, one with a gun at the ready. Rain slammed the bat down on the gun with ferocious intensity. The next swing was at the guy’s head. He blocked it but got his arm broken for the defensive gesture. The second man scurried back in the face of the Louisville Slugger and the woman not afraid to use it.
“Easy! Easy! I ain’t fightin’ you, Rain!” The man cowered against the wall, his hands up defensively.
“Damn fuckin’ straight you ain’t fightin’ me, bastard! Where’s the kid?”
“In there. We didn’t do nothin’ to him. Just scared him a little.”
“He’s a kid, you asshole!” Rain yelled at him, getting in the guy’s face as he pressed himself tighter against the wall. Arkham lunged for her, but she batted her hand at him, shoving him away.
“Didn’t you warn us not about drawin’ attention to ourselves?” Arkham hissed, looking around them to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed.
“If we’re attacked, I’ll beat the living fuck outta anyone doin’ the attacking.” She didn’t take her eyes off the young man she obviously knew and now had flat against the wall of the tunnel, the bat’s end pressed tightly into his throat. “Besides, I’m betting Jimmy here knows where everyone is and how many are down here. How well they’re armed. More importantly, who took the kid to begin with and where they can be found.” She pressed the bat into his throat hard. The guy winced. “Don’t you, you little fuck?”
“Yeah! Yeah! I can help you!”
Arkham had suspected there was fire in Rain, but this bordered on the darkness inside his own mind and body. She was spooked. Lashing out at an enemy unseen. Much as he didn’t really give a fuck about the little punk, Jimmy, he didn’t want Rain to really hurt the kid. If it needed doing, he’d be the one doing it. Or one of his brothers. Not his woman.
Fuck.
“Just tell me who took the kid and why.” Torpedo stepped close to the man and urged Rain to back off. Arkham recognized immediately what he was doing. Rain must have too because she gave one more hard shove of the bat against his throat and backed off.
“You keep that crazy bitch away from me!” Jimmy was posturing now, pointing his finger at Rain, who bared her teeth at him. “She’s crazy! Always was! Like a rabid dog! You better put her down before she bites one of you guys.”
“Tell me what I want to know or I’ll lock you in a room with her and that bat. Then you can fend for yourself.” Torpedo grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and shook the little punk. “You gonna talk?”
“All I know is the boss wants money. Money to buy weapons.”
“He got a supplier?”
Jimmy shrugged. “I ain’t in his circle. I just know he keeps saying he’s gettin’ the mother lode. Weapons like we ain’t never seen before. Not sure how one kid could be worth all that unless he’s some rich dude’s kid or somethin’.”
Torpedo grabbed Jimmy’s arm and spun him around. “Get the boy,” he said to Arkham. “Let Azriel know they’re made.” With quick, jerky movements, Torpedo zip-tied the kid’s wrists behind his back and shoved him to the floor, zip-tying his ankles. “One peep outta you before we’re gone, and I’ll personally come back here and put a bullet in your head. You get me?” Jimmy nodded, his eyes wide. He couldn’t be much older than Rain.
Arkham knew that was the last news the Shadow Demons wanted to hear. If the underground crime world here had figured out they were more than the wealthy men who owned Argent Tech, it was only a matter of time before others did.
Enemies would be coming for them.
“You know,” Shadow said softly to Torpedo, “could be they know the Shadow Demons own Argent Tech. Could be betting they can trade the kid for what Argent Tech has.”
“Argent Tech doesn’t make weapons, Shadow. They develop the technologies that go into the weapons.”
“Maybe they’re just misinformed.”
“You really believe that?”
“Well, shit.”
“Yeah. Chances are, these gangs have made the Shadow Demons.”
The journey out of the tunnels was largely uneventful. The kid, Tobie, was a real trouper. He never made a sound, though he was obviously terrified. He trembled continually, probably a result of shock. He was dirty and hungry. His lips looked dry and were beginning to crack at the corners. Considering he wasn’t sweating when everyone else was, Arkham figured he was dehydrated as well.
Though it was the height of winter, some areas of the tunnels were sweltering. Those sections between the hot spots where heat from the subway trickled over, and the colder sections near exits were, naturally, more crowded since the temperature was comfortable.
Rain skillfully led them through the maze of tunnels and people without blowing their cover. It seemed to take forever getting out, and he knew she didn’t take the same path out as they had in.
“You sure you trust her, brother?” Torpedo was at his ear, his voice a soft but menacing growl. “Seems like she’s deliberately trying to confuse us.”
“She’s being cautious,” he replied.
“Are you sure? Because it’s not just us. We’ve got a kid to protect.”
“Absolutely.” Arkham made his response quickly. Decisively. Yes, there was a niggling doubt in his mind, but he wasn’t going to acknowledge that to Torpedo. He would give Rain his full confidence unless she proved she wasn’t trustworthy. Besides, he figured it had something to do with the stress she was under. And it was obviously post-traumatic stress.
He eased his way to the front so he could be close to Rain. She gripped that bat like a lifeline while she crouched and scouted out the next tunnel series. There were four different directions, and she seemed to be torn on which way to go.
“You OK?”
“Fine.” Her response was clipped, and she didn’t look at him, just studied the way ahead.
“Don’t lie to me, Rain. Tell me what you need me to do.”
She closed her eyes. “Just give me a minute. We need to go down that tunnel. It’s only a few hundred yards, and we’ll come out on the other side of the city from where we entered. You should be able to contact your people then and have them pick you up.”
“Why did you go to the other side of the city? Why not just bring us back where we entered?”
“I didn’t want to backtrack in case they started missing the people we took out. I didn’t want to risk a fight with the child to protect. He’s been through enough.”
“You haven’t talked to him. He seems fine to me.”
“That’s because you’ve never been a prisoner of these gangs,” she snapped. “Trust me. He may not have a mark on him, but he’s been through enough.”
Arkham let the silence linger for a while, thinking she was ready to move on. She knew which way to go but seemed reluctant to move.
“Talk to me, Rain.”
She shuddered before she could stop herself. “I can’t seem to make myself move,” she finally admitted. “Even if there is a guard at the end of the tunnel there will be only one. Two at most. Your team can easily take them. The way is smooth walls. No offshoots or any way to sneak up on you. The only direction you need to worry about is straight ahead or straight behind.”
“Understood. Let’s go.” Arkham grabbed her by the arm, but she whimpered and resisted him, pulling away. Her eyes were wild, and she was clearly terrified. “Rain, you’re going to have to tell me what’s going on.”
“I can’t go in there,” she finally said in a whisper. “I can’t make myself go down that tunnel.”
“You’re not alone, Rain. I’ve got your back.”
She nodded several times. Arkham could see the pulse at her throat fluttering like mad.
“Everything OK up there?” Torpedo’s voice came through Arkham’s earpiece. The team was anxious to move. So was Arkham.
“Give me a minute.” She was freaking out. Arkham had seen it more than once, experienced it himself. If she couldn’t pull herself together, he’d have to carry her out. “Do you trust me, Rain?”
Her head whipped around, her large, round eyes meeting his. She opened her mouth but didn’t seem to be able to respond to him.
“Pull it together,” he hissed, gripping her shoulders when her gaze slid to the side away from him. “Look at me!” He waited until she met his gaze once more. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Lead us out. I’ll be right by your side. Understand me?”
Finally, she nodded. Arkham watched as her face hardened. She took a deep breath, fighting as hard as he’d ever seen anyone fight.
“Straight shot,” she muttered. “Straight shot, then I’m out.”
“I’m right here.” Arkham hooked his left hand into the top of her Kevlar vest, hoping it would reassure her. “You want a gun?” His team had decided against it because she was still an unknown, but he would do anything at this point to help her overcome this crippling fear.
She shook her head. “I’d never forgive myself if I killed someone who was innocent. I have a gun, I’m likely to pull the trigger at anything that moves.”
Arkham respected her all the more for the admission. “Let’s go,” he said. “Get out. Get home.”
“Get out. Get home,” she repeated. Then moved them into the tunnel.
Chapter Six
The last two hundred yards of that tunnel were the longest of Rain’s life. She’d been trapped in this very same tunnel three years earlier. Had fought until she’d finally been overwhelmed from both ends. She’d killed more than she thought she could, but they’d subdued her, and her life in hell began.
“Not much farther,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure if she was talking to Arkham or herself. His hand never once wavered from his hold at the back of her vest. His fingers were under her shirt against her skin. It was the only thing keeping her grounded. “Not much farther. I see the tunnel entrance…”
“Keep moving,” Arkham said at her ear. “I’m right here.”
Rain thought they might actually make it to the outside without incident. Then a beam of light flashed from the mouth of the tunnel. “Juarez? That you? Where you been, man?”
Rain froze. Arkham had to pull her back against the wall, putting himself between her and whoever was at the entrance.
“Juarez?”
Arkham eased forward, gun at the ready. Rain was trembling so hard she was afraid her knees were going to give out. Making herself move with Arkham was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She glanced behind her, expecting to see light coming from the other direction. There was a roaring in her ears, and she knew she was hyperventilating. One of Arkham’s men passed her. The next thing she knew, the child they’d rescued was at her side, tentatively taking her hand. She looked down at him and she could see the same fear in his eyes she knew was in hers. Rain squeezed his hand. They were in this together.
The men behind her and Tobie kept pushing them forward. Rain had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering, but she was in the midst of a full-blown panic attack. Her vision tunneled so that all she could see was the light shining from the flashlight at the tunnel entrance. There were heavy footfalls and sounds of a struggle somewhere around her, but she couldn’t process it. Someone pushed her down, and she and Tobie clung to each other as they sat with their backs to the wall.
Sometime later, Arkham urged her to her feet. “Come on, honey. Help’s on the way. They’ve got Tobie’s mother with them. Let’s get out of these tunnels.”
The second he led her into the cool January night, Rain took
a huge breath. She gasped and immediately started coughing as the icy air hit her lungs, sending her into a spasm. Her stomach heaved, and she puked over and over into the bushes. Again, she took a deep breath. The icy air made her lungs spasm again, which sent her into a coughing fit, but it felt good to breathe the clean, cold air. She could breathe now. Her heart rate slowed down gradually and she felt safer, though she was still out in the open. Tobie still clung to her hand, not convinced they were safe.
Finally, Rain’s knees gave out and she sank down onto the ground, pulling the little boy into her arms. She still clutched the bat, still looked around her wildly, expecting to find someone charging toward her or pointing a gun at her. Instead, she found Arkham, Torpedo, Shadow, and Goose surrounding her and Tobie, standing guard. They were inside an impenetrable circle of protection, the guards vicious in their duty. It was then she dropped the bat and comforted the little boy in her arms.
Rain lost track of time as they waited. She knew they were away from the tunnel but had no idea how far or exactly where. Once she’d stumbled out into the cold night she’d just let Arkham and his brothers lead her where they would. It was cold, but she hardly noticed. In fact, after being in the heat of the tunnels, the night felt good.
A Humvee pulled up, and Arkham conferred with the driver as the doors opened. Tobie’s mother leapt out and sprinted for her son. Rain surrendered him but had no idea what to do next. She was exhausted. Looking up, she saw Arkham standing over her, looking at her, his expression blank. Then he sighed, stooping to pick her up in his arms, cradling her against his chest with his chin resting on top of her head.
He climbed into the vehicle with her, holding her the entire way. It wasn’t until they reached his room that he finally set her on her feet and only once they were in the bathroom. He ran water for a bath then helped her out of her clothing. Surprisingly, he stripped right after her and put them both in the hot water. Positioning her in front of him between his legs, Arkham urged her to rest her head on his shoulder while he washed her, cleaning the sweat from her body gently and almost reverently.
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