The Seat of Power (The Securus Trilogy Book 3)

by Anthony Maldonado

  The area is relatively quiet when our transport comes to a full stop. Instead of Guards following barked out orders from Tauren, these men work quickly without instruction. They open up the compartments on the opposite side of the transport and unload all of the equipment. While they work, the Soldier Guards climb off the transport.

  “We’re going on patrol; you guys have fun with that,” they tell the others before their footsteps trail off into the tunnel.

  The unloading men do not reply as they continue their work. The quiet makes me increasingly nervous. We are relying on them not looking too deep. With their silent focus, the chances of them being fooled decreases significantly. When they get to our compartment, I hold my breath, not wanting to make any sound to give us away. The others do the same.

  The door opens. Our cloth mirror is reflective on both sides, only letting us see our own frightened reflections. The seal is tight enough that only stray flickers of light penetrate the edges. Whoever opened the door has not moved or made any sound. Is he looking at the mirror? Has he already figured it out and is signaling the others? My hand squeezes my rifle tightly. We may be able to fight our way out, but we need the contents of these containers. Without them, my plan will be useless.

  “This one’s empty,” a young voice says as he takes a tired breath.

  “Close them up and let’s get all this to storage,” someone replies.

  We hear shuffling steps and a gentle hum from what must be some sort of elevator. After that, everything goes quiet. The others slowly remove our protective barrier while I stretch out to force some circulation back to my extremities. Once we are ready, Auden slowly opens the compartment door. Instead of light flooding in, we remain in darkness. For once, I eagerly welcome the black shroud.

  Sayda turns on her illuminator to its lowest setting to scout our surroundings. The area is nearly identical to the loading station in Securus, with a platform and storage room nearby. Next to me, Arluin stands with a confused look on his face. Following his eyes tells me why. There is one difference between our loading area and this one. The tracks do not come to a dead end like they do in Securus. Instead, they keep going in the opposite direction. Maybe that is the way they go to Castellum, I rationalize in my mind.

  “Something’s not right,” Arluin says, as he looks over the rest of this area.

  “What is it?” I ask, even though I already know his answer.

  “This place is different than before,” he says.

  “They probably set it up different for getting Cargo instead of bringing in an outsider,” Hadwin says, offering his best guess.

  That would make sense, but I can tell Arluin is not convinced. He walks over to the storage room. After checking the inside, he turns to the rest of us.

  “I could’ve sworn the tracks came to an end, like in Securus,” he says. “And this room isn’t the same either. The one Seonah and I hid in had a computer terminal. This one doesn’t even have a connection for one.”

  There are only two possible explanations, and I do not like either one of them. They could have reconfigured the area, which means we do not have access to their computers. We were planning to use their computer terminal to contact Wakil’s friend. The other possibility is even worse. I cannot even bring myself to say it out loud. Of course, I am not the only one who has come to this conclusion. Sayda is the first to speak.

  “Don’t tell me this thing brought us to Castellum instead of Caelum,” she hisses, looking ready to dismantle the transport by hand.

  “I think it did,” Arluin replies in a low voice.

  “Great,” Auden says. “What do we do now?”

  I do not have an answer. If we really are in Castellum, we will never be able to make it through the tunnels to Caelum. I should have known better than to let this happen. In our rush, we must have somehow misread the transport schedules.

  “Before we make any plans, let’s look around some more and see what’s available to us,” I tell the others.

  We all turn on our illuminators and spread out. Unfortunately, nothing else of use appears. There seems to only be one exit from here. No doubt the door will be covered by security cameras. We could go through the tunnels and look for an exit hatch, but doing so would be an arduous hike. Especially since we would have to haul the containers we brought with us. Even worse, from the schematics Arluin has of Caelum, we would have to return to the tunnels to ever get inside the city.

  Every option seems impossible. The frustration causes crazy thoughts to creep into my mind. Just take your rifle along with some Persuaders, and go down that tunnel, the voice says. Intentionally confronting the Soldier Guards is not a good idea, but no other idea makes any more sense.

  I find myself staring down the tracks ahead of us, lost in my thoughts. The others have gathered behind me, desperately trying to come up with a plan. After a few minutes, Arluin notices where my attention lies.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Arluin says, forcefully turning me around.

  “Think about what?” Auden asks.

  “He wants to go down that tunnel alone,” Arluin answers while staring me in the eye.

  “I could clear the way so you guys could sneak in afterwards,” I say, becoming convinced that would be our only chance.

  “No,” Sayda says, joining Arluin. “You’re not going on a suicide mission.”

  “Sayda,” I say softly. “No matter what, there’s no way this ends well for me. Even if our plan works, do you really think Braeden won’t find a way to kill me?”

  The others stay silent. Even though we all know how risky going to Caelum is, I think they convinced themselves our plan will work perfectly. Deep down, they know better. Nothing ever really works out to plan. That is a hard lesson we have learned repeatedly since Merrick was killed in The Caves.

  “I’ve known from the start I don’t have any real hope of making it back, but that’s okay. As long as we get Talia back and you guys are safe,” I tell them, finally admitting my real intention. The dejected look in their collective eyes tells me deep down they always knew this, though they refuse to admit it.

  “Remember when we were stuck in that isolation room after we accidentally released The Agent from the poison box?” Hadwin asks while walking over to me.

  I nod my head, confused what that has to do with anything.

  He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Like you told me then, we’re in this together. No matter what, I’m staying with you.”

  The stubborn scowl on Sayda and Arluin’s faces silently deliver the same message. Even Auden stands firm with them. I should have known they would rather fight together than let me die alone, but their determination still catches me off guard. Lately I have felt like everyone has been conspiring against me, but they would never do that. With everything we have been through together, our bond runs too deep to ever give up on each other.

  Their support gives me strength, but does not change our predicament. If we are going to make it to Caelum, we need to come up with another plan soon.

  Chapter 23

  “Before you turn yourself into a martyr, let me see if there’s a signal for me to hack into Castellum’s system. Maybe I can find something useful,” Arluin says as he goes to get his Coden from the transport.

  The whisper in my mind continues to urge me to go ahead anyway. The only thing stopping me is my certainty the others would follow. So I sit down, waiting to see what Arluin finds. Assuming their computer systems are setup similarly to ours, he should not have much of a problem getting into their files.

  Arluin’s fingers glide across the translucent screen. The words and figures move too fast for me to follow. He appears to be getting good at this, but the puzzled wrinkle in his forehead tempers my confidence.

  “What is it?” Sayda asks, noticing Arluin’s contorted face.

  He keeps working as if he did not hear her. Before Sayda gets annoyed and hurts my brother, I tap him on the shoulder. “Problems getting in?”
<
br />   “Their firewalls are completely different than ours, but I’ve seen this before,” he says. “Let me try something.”

  After another minute of manipulating his Coden, Arluin looks up at us with a beaming smile. “You guys aren’t going to believe this.”

  Sayda’s frown reminds him that now is not the time for guessing games.

  “This isn’t Castellum,” he proudly informs us, almost sounding giddy. “It’s Caelum. Apparently they have two receiving areas. This one’s used for electronics and material goods because it’s closer to their main storage. The area we came in through last time is typically for food shipments because it’s closer to the surface.”

  “I knew there was some reason we let you come along,” I say, smacking him on the back.

  We planned to contact Wakil’s friend, Dehan, from an internal computer, limiting the chances of Caelum noticing an outside connection. Since we no longer have that option, Arluin will have to be careful when doing so from his Coden. He works on setting up the link while the rest of us get our equipment. We cannot waste any more time if we are to offload everything before anyone returns.

  We pull all the containers out and pile them on the platform, unsure of where to put them. Our intention was to hide them amongst the other supplies, but they are all gone. I stuff as many of the Persuaders as my pockets will hold and sling the rifle over my shoulder. The others make sure to arm themselves as well. By the time we are done, Arluin has an answer.

  “Dehan says to put the boxes in the storage room. He knows the loading workers’ supervisor, so he’ll have them moved later,” Arluin tells us.

  “What about us?” Hadwin asks, barely able to contain his fidgety feet.

  I understand how he feels. Knowing we are in the bowels of Caelum makes me feel anxious and exposed. We need to get to a safer location soon.

  “He’s sending someone to guide us.” Arluin says while looking down, intentionally avoiding eye contact.

  I do not have to be as perceptive as he is to know something about the plan bothers him. “What is it, Arluin?”

  “We’re gonna have to go through the tunnel to reach a hidden passage leading inside Caelum,” Arluin replies.

  Great, apparently I get to charge into the tunnel after all, I think to myself. We have some time before Dehan’s guide gets here, so we finish moving the boxes to the supply room and then hide behind the transport. The lone exit tempts me, but we would never get through. The door looks like a scaled down version of Securus’ outer doors, right down to the insignia stamped into the metal. Other than the smaller size, the only difference is the insignia does not have the biohazard component at all. Like their emblem, this one only has a lighted sun.

  While we wait, I stare into tunnel, wondering how all this will play out. Now that I actually look, the walls are not just machined smooth like in Securus. Here, the entire tunnel has been heavily fortified. The tunnel appears to be lined with solid metal. Even down here, where no threat could ever breech their inner borders, they have gone to great lengths to secure it from any threat.

  As we wait, light footsteps come from deep within the tunnel, beyond the end of the lighted tracks lining its edges. We shield ourselves from view and peer out around the side of the transport. The rhythmic thumping draws near. Instead of a menacing figure dressed in black armor and shielded behind a frightening mask, a younger boy appears. He has to be at least four or five years younger than Arluin. What is he doing down here? Because of the hurried steps, his thin glasses appear ready to fall off as he looks around. We do not know if he is meant to be our guide or simply someone from Caelum who wandered too far into the tunnels. So we stay hidden, watching him from our hiding spot.

  “Kagen? Are you there?” the boy calls out.

  Well, that answers my question, I think to myself while standing up and walking into view.

  “I’m Kagen,” I reply, keeping my hands in view so he does not get frightened.

  Even though I am trying to look unthreatening, the others are not. They remain hidden from view with their weapons out and ready. If this is not who we are waiting for, they are prepared.

  “I’m Manav,” the boy says. “My grandpa, Dehan, sent me to get you guys. We have to go now. The patrol will be back soon.”

  The others stand up, and I look back to Arluin. He nods at me to acknowledge this does seem to be what Dehan intended. I never expected him to send someone so young, but in a way this makes sense. Manav can probably sneak around much easier than the rest of us.

  “This is my brother Arluin,” I tell him, introducing the others. “And this is Hadwin, Sayda, and Auden.”

  Manav waves and then immediately heads back into the tunnel. We all follow him, eager to escape before the Soldier Guards find us. I should feel some relief since things are finally going to plan, but nothing about being here feels right. Knowing we are beneath the very source of our enslavement seems unreal.

  Soon, the steal walls around us are replaced by smoothed out rocks in-between intermittently placed supports. So far, there have been no signs of a ladder or an exit hatch. Being this deep in, that must be what we are looking for. I want to ask Manav, but would rather not make any unnecessary noise.

  The lights along the tracks have ended, leaving us in near complete darkness. I can barely see anything, so I put on my illuminator. Before I turn it on, Manav suddenly stops. The shadowy outline of his arm points ahead. My eyes follow the direction and see what caused him to pause. Further in the tunnel, a bright light flickers against the walls. I get a familiar sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, knowing how exposed we are. Unlike when we came back from Munitus, only small gouges in the smooth walls break up its uniformity.

  Arluin and I move forward and off to the left while the others go directly to the right. Sayda grabs Manav, making sure he is as hidden as possible. I push Arluin into the wall first and then squeeze in as far as possible. The gouge is deep enough that we will not be visible from an angle, but if the Soldier Guards shines his light on us as he passes, we cannot stay hidden.

  The Soldier’s light comes steadily closer. He appears to be alone. That puzzles me since they usually patrol in pairs. Soon, we hear him talking.

  “I’m almost back,” he says in a mechanically altered voice. “The others are continuing the night patrols.”

  The closer he gets, the more his lights fill the tunnel. At the moment, he seems to be focusing directly on Caelum. Just a little further, I think to myself, don’t look around. Just go home. He is close enough for me to see the vibrant insignia on his chest plate. His uniform has no distinguishing features from any other Soldier Guard. The one thing I am sure of is that he cannot be Malin. This man has no wolf on his shoulder, nor does he have Malin’s favored pistol. He keeps walking past Arluin and me.

  “I’m going home for the night,” he says, now past my line of sight.

  We only need him to go a little further and we will all be safe. I concentrate on his footsteps. Each one leads him closer to the loading station and farther from us. Not long after he walks past us, he stops moving. Looking out to see why would be too dangerous, so we wait to see what halted his movement.

  “Who are you?” the Soldier asks.

  I am not sure if this is a bluff or if he has actually seen us. We listen, but no reply comes. The Soldier Guard’s feet shuffle slowly forward. My heart pounds when I hear a second set of footsteps. Could someone else be coming out from Caelum?

  I risk a glance from our cover. Auden has been found. He runs from the Soldier, leading him away from the rest of us. Even if Auden distracts him long enough for us to get away, the damage will already be done. Leadership will know outsiders are here. So I abandon my cover, running after them.

  The Soldier quickly catches up to Auden. I immediately slow down, wanting to keep my steps unheard. Auden stands with his hands out to the side and his eyes fixed on the Soldier, who has his back turned to me.

  The Soldier repeats his questio
n, but Auden refuses to answer. Without warning, the Soldier jams the front end of his rifle into Auden’s upper chest. For some reason, the seemingly mild attack floors him. Auden’s face grimaces in pain while he clutches to his chest.

  “I will not ask again,” the Soldier demands. “Who are you, and where do you come from?”

  Hadwin comes out and cautiously moves toward me. Arluin tries to follow, but I point him to Sayda. She has stayed in place to keep Manav hidden. Sayda’s protective instincts are the only thing keeping her from attacking the Soldier herself.

  “Get on your feet. I’m taking you to the Detention Center. They’ll make sure you talk, no matter how long it takes,” the Soldier Guard says with an arrogant snort.

  Auden struggles to get to his feet, gasping for air. The blow must have knocked the breath out of him. Hadwin and I are getting close. I slowly pull my rifle forward. When Auden is upright, he looks past the Soldier and sees us coming. I motion for him to get back down. The Soldier notices Auden’s distracted focus and follows his eyes to us. As soon as he turns, I fire. The blinding flash from my weapon hits him directly in the chest. The Soldier Guard falls backward, landing on Auden. Hadwin pushes the dead Soldier off of Auden and helps him up.

  “Are you ok?” he asks.

  “No,” Auden replies in a weak voice. “Can’t… Can’t breathe.”

  Auden clutches to his chest with blood covering his hand. From my vantage point, the blow did not seem to have enough power to do that. Only when seeing the Soldier’s rifle lying on the floor do I understand. His weapon has a knife affixed to the end of it, dripping with Auden’s blood.

  Auden falls back to his knees. I wave Arluin over since he has my medical kit. Sweat forms on his forehead and when Auden coughs, bright red spatters cover his lower lip. I put my head on his chest and hear the pounding of his heart, but no breath sounds. As he continues to gasp for air, his trachea deviates to the right and the veins in his neck bulge out. That can only mean one thing. The stab wound has collapsed his lung. Every time he takes a breath, more air gets forced into his chest cavity, pushing his heart and lungs to the other side. If I do not do something soon, he will die.