Aran snarled and pointed the gun at her, but I could see his brain working.
“Don’t listen to her,” I said.
Aran hesitated, then reached behind him and pressed the button without taking his gun off the rest of us. Red light flashed. A thick metal door slid down over the elevator doors. There was a groan as it locked into place. Great. Now we were alone down here.
“Now,” Aran said, “get out of the way, Franco. Take the policeman and go sit in the corner. I’m finishing this.”
My heart pounded. I needed to calm him, let him know I had this under control without giving myself away to McCaffrey and Bohr. Too bad my brain was coming up empty for new ideas. I met Wade’s eyes. He gave a small shrug. He had nothing either.
McCaffrey wasn’t having the same trouble. “Aran, is it?” she said. “I know what it’s like to lose family.”
“Fuck you,” he said.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way, Aran. I can help you.”
Shit. I could see where she was going with this. “Aran, I’ve changed my mind. She’s trying to manipulate you. Kill her.”
Doc McCaffrey smiled. “You know what the crystals can do,” she said to Aran. “If you let me live, I can show you how to use them. I can help you get your family back.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but I knew it was already too late. There was only one way to convince him not to pay attention to her, but I couldn’t say it. So I shut my mouth and prayed he wouldn’t be an idiot.
His gaze flicked to me, then back to McCaffrey. The rage in his eyes dimmed, and I knew I had lost.
“You’ll regret this,” I said.
“Probably. But I have to try.” He waved the machine pistol at me. “Get out of the way, Franco. Bohr, drop the gun.”
Bohr twitched, but he didn’t have a choice. He let go of the pistol.
“You should remove Daniel from this situation,” McCaffrey said to Aran. “You know how he can be.”
“I’m not doing anything until I have this sorted out. Everyone lives. Everyone stays together.”
I pointed to Kowalski where he sat against the wall, arms across his chest. He looked scared half to death. “At least leave Kowalski and the cop behind. They’ll just be in the way. Tie them up, if you have to.”
“No. The cop comes with us.” Aran ran his tongue along his sharp teeth. “But Kowalski can stay. I’ll deal with him later. The cop can tie him up before we go.” He nodded, as if trying to convince himself of something. “Franco, where are the crystals?”
“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted, get some goggles on. We’ve got a little world-hopping to do.”
THIRTY-ONE
The sense of desire filled me again as soon as I opened the Tunnel. Even through the goggles, I could almost see the swirling colors. I tore my attention away from them long enough to take in McCaffrey’s twisted smile. My stomach clenched. Nice plan, Miles. Really worked out well. I shook my head and stepped into the Tunnel, letting the music engulf me.
I led the group down the Tunnel, Aran taking the rear. We were silent as we walked. Aran was brooding, Bohr’s forehead ridges were twitching in thought, and McCaffrey smiled serenely. Wade was directly behind me, too busy grunting through gritted teeth to talk. He stumbled once, nearly falling on top of me. I caught him, somehow managing to avoid grabbing his wounded shoulder. As he came close, he spoke in my ear.
“I hope you’ve got a plan, Franco.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Aran growled something at us, and we separated. The Vei was getting edgy. I didn’t want to see how far I could push him.
The end of the Tunnel appeared in my goggles. The artificial desire was doing wonders blocking out the feeling of rubber bands slowly tightening across my chest, but I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I was more sensitive to the pull of Tartarus than the others, and it wouldn’t be easy to get out of this while being high as an Ink junkie.
“This is it?” Aran said as we approached the Tunnel exit.
“Yeah. I’d tell you guys not to do anything stupid when we cross into Tartarus, but if you do it’ll probably make things easier for me, so what the hell, go crazy. Take a dip in the pools. They’re nice this time of year.”
“That’s enough,” he said. “You first, Franco.”
I glanced at Wade, tried to smile reassuringly at him even though I knew he’d barely be able to see me through his goggles, and nodded.
Then I stepped back into Tartarus.
The power of the place dug a hook in my navel and tugged me forward before I’d even touched the ground on the other side. Somehow, the feeling was even stronger than it had been the first time I was here. I’d taken half a dozen steps toward the nearest pool of shimmering fluid before I got a handle on myself and slammed on the brakes.
It didn’t help that I now knew the beauty of Tartarus without goggles on. I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep myself from tearing the goggles off. It almost would’ve been worth dying again just to see it one more time.
I’d engineered the Tunnel to bring us out more or less the same place we’d been last time. The cavern stretched out in all directions, filled with the echoes of fluid trickling down a thousand crevices. From here I could see the main pool, the place where I’d dived in and poisoned myself. Somehow, even after everything I’d been through, the idea still seemed appealing.
Wade came through a few seconds after me. The tension drained out of the cop’s body in an instant as he stared around at Tartarus like it was his first time at Disneyland. I grabbed his good arm and pulled him close.
“Don’t let it get to you,” I said. “And don’t do anything stupid until I tell you to.”
“What—?”
I cut him off as Doc McCaffrey came through the Tunnel. “What are you two conspiring about?”
I shoved Wade away from me and ignored her question. I could easily take her down, but Aran would be out any second, and I still intended to get out of this without being riddled with bullets.
Bohr was next out, head cocked. Aside from Aran and me, he was the only one with his hands unbound. He grabbed McCaffrey by the front of her blouse and showed her his teeth. “Whatever you’re doing—”
I took a step forward to intervene, but before I’d gone a foot, Aran swung out of the Tunnel and leveled his machine pistol at the two of them. “Get away from each other,” he said. “We’re doing this my way.”
Bohr’s teeth opened and closed inches from McCaffrey’s face, hissing. But after a moment, he released her and backed away.
Aran finally seemed to be taking in where he was, but he shook his head as if to shake off the feelings washing over him. “Good. Everyone stay calm. Franco, get the crystals.”
“Sure,” I said. “Just let me do one thing first.”
I released the knot of normalcy sitting in the back of my head. It unraveled, fading away. The white light in my goggles faded. It took the others a few seconds to notice anything had changed. But by then, it was far too late.
“He’s closing the Tunnel!” Bohr screeched.
Aran spun in time to see the last bit of the Tunnel contracted into nothing, leaving only Tartaran rock in its place.
“You wanted to be alone?” I said. “Now we’re really alone.”
Aran stalked over to me and leveled the gun at my head. “Open it again.”
“Gonna shoot me, Aran?” I said. “Who’ll get you out of here then? Assuming I had Kemia, which I don’t.”
Aran smacked me in the mouth with the butt of his gun. I went down, spat the blood from my mouth, and grinned at him.
“You shouldn’t’ve listened to McCaffrey,” I said. “She’s manipulating you.”
“Shut up!” he yelled, pointing the gun at me again. “Just…just shut up.” He backed up, rubbing his temple.
McCaffrey raised her bound hands in front of her. “It’s okay. Miles wouldn’t close the Tunnel without having another way out of here. Would you, Mi
les?”
I shrugged. “Staying here doesn’t seem so bad as long as I get to watch the rest of you starve to death.”
“No,” Aran said. “She’s right. What is it? How are you going to get out of here?”
“Try hitting me some more. Maybe I’ll feel like telling you then.”
“Forget that,” McCaffrey said. “The crystals are what’s important. You want your brothers and sister back, don’t you?”
Aran was calming down. It was hard to stay angry in a place like this. I was only managing it by imagining McCaffrey torturing puppies. Aran nodded and looked at me. “Get me the crystals.”
“They won’t do you any good, you know.”
“My family was everything to me. I have to try. I—Bohr!” The outlines of Aran’s face twisted.
I didn’t have to turn to see what got him so excited. Something cold and impossibly sharp pressed against the back of my neck, at the very top of my spine. My insides went cold.
“Everyone be quiet, yes?” Bohr said. “I kill Miles Franco, and none of us leave. Everyone, move over there. Do it!”
Detective Wade gave me an “Is this part of your plan?” look and limped over to join Aran and McCaffrey where they stood by a narrow stream of fluid, the reflections distorting their white outlines.
“Aran,” I said through gritted teeth, “how long did you work for this guy? How many times did he show you this pretty spike of his? And yet you didn’t take it away. You’re an idiot.”
“Good, good,” Bohr said. He switched to Vei to talk to Aran. “Hmm, you, throw the gun in the pool.”
Aran’s eyes were invisible behind his goggles, but I could see him thinking. Getting a good shot at Bohr with me in the way would be hard enough without the goggles distorting everything. He had no choice. He walked over to the main pool in the center of the cavern and tossed the gun in. It barely made a splash as it sunk.
“Good,” Bohr said again. “You all move apart and sit down, yes? The policeman over there. McCaffrey, over there. Franco…” The point of Bohr’s spike dug into my skin so hard I swore it was scraping the bone. “…the crystals.”
This keeps getting better.
Bohr stayed with me while I walked, the spike never far from my neck. I crouched at the base of the huge glittering stalagmite a few feet from the central pool and reached into a narrow crevice. My fingers closed around the glass jar. Goddamn it. How did it all go so wrong?
“Give them to me,” Bohr said, holding out his hand.
I passed him the jar. Even as it left my hand, I could hear the crystals singing in tune with the world. They glowed white in my goggles.
Bohr grinned and held the jar up to his face. “I hear it now, Miles Franco. You are right. It is beautiful.”
He was too busy staring at the crystals to look at me. I slipped my hand back into the crevice and grabbed another glass bottle. It sloshed as I pulled it out and slipped it into my pocket, but Bohr paid no notice. I’d only have one chance. I eyed the spike in his hands.
“We done?” I asked.
“Hmm? Yes, yes. I am sorry for the pain and the deaths. Unfortunate, yes. But you are free to—”
The sound was more of a ffuump than a crack. The noise was quickly swallowed up by the song of the cavern, but it was Bohr’s chest that swallowed the bullet.
The Vei stumbled and looked down at his shirt. Even through the goggles I could see the thin trail of blood crawling out of his ribcage like a snake.
Another ffump, then another. He said something that sounded like Vei, but I couldn’t make it out. He tried to take a step. He fell.
I don’t know why I caught him. I sure as hell had no love for the son of a bitch. Instinct, I guess. I awkwardly grabbed him around the shoulders and slowed his descent. His mouth was open, the point of each tooth shining in my goggles.
“A stupid idea, to bring us to such a dark place.” Doc McCaffrey said. “Makes it so easy for us all to conceal our weapons. Step away from him, Miles.”
I didn’t move except to look up. McCaffrey’s arms were outstretched in front of her, still joined at the wrist by her handcuffs. In her palm was a tiny pistol. It looked like a toy.
“Men are always hesitant to frisk an old woman properly,” she said. “Put down that bottle of Kemia you slipped into your pocket. I don’t want you getting any ideas.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re a heartless bitch?” I said. “You should knit yourself a sweater that says so.”
She gestured with the gun. I stood up and took the Kemia out of my pocket, setting it down in front of me. I wanted to scream.
McCaffrey smiled at me and nodded, then lowered her gun to hip level and brought it around to cover Wade and Aran. Wade looked like he was in too much pain to do anything about her anyway, and Aran still sat on the cavern floor.
“Bohr never was sensible,” she said. “He should have waited until he saw the crystals before he made his move. Oh well. Get the crystals out of his hand. Take five steps toward me, put down the crystals, and then move back.”
I gritted my teeth and pulled back Bohr’s fingers one by one. Rigor mortis wouldn’t set in for a while, but he’d been gripping the jar hard when he died. His skin was still warm. Not even the songs of Tartarus could make it pleasant.
I finally got the jar loose, stepped forward, and placed it on the cavern floor, then stepped back. McCaffrey’s shoulders relaxed. She made a noise like a satisfied cat.
This was far from ideal. I’d figured I’d only have one gun to deal with, and then I could shut down the Tunnel and wait them out. Use the Kemia to get them disarmed, get some answers. Then I could open up a new Tunnel to take us back to AISOR’s basement. By that time Vivian would be in place. She would’ve led the targeted raids to break up most of the remaining Collectivists, and she’d be ready to arrest McCaffrey and Bohr as soon as they came back to Earth.
But that was down the shitter now. Aran had screwed us with his cowboy act. Bohr was another corpse for the morgue, McCaffrey had fished a gun from God knows where, and if we got back too quick, the cops wouldn’t be waiting, thanks to that damn seal on the elevator.
“Thank you,” she said. “Aran, go and take it. It’s yours.”
“What?” he said. He glanced at me, but I had no more answers than him. She was just going to give it away after all this?
McCaffrey smiled. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? And without your intervention I never would have got free of Daniel. So go on, take it.”
Aran rose and carefully made his way toward it, like a wild animal being offered food. McCaffrey smiled and nodded encouragingly as he picked up the jar and clutched it to his chest.
“You think this buys your life back?” he said.
“You shouldn’t make threats when you’re not the one holding the gun,” she said, her voice hardening for a moment. Then she was her old motherly self. “I’m sorry for what I did. Truly. But this is a chance for us to move on.”
I snorted. Easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one surrounded by dead friends and family.
She ignored me and kept her eyes on Aran. His fingers curled protectively around the jar, his shoulders drooped, and he nodded. He moved back to his position and sat down. I couldn’t blame him. But I wanted to.
McCaffrey turned the gun back on me. I couldn’t see her eyes, but I could tell she was sizing me up for something. A noose, maybe. I shivered. She took a step toward me, moving in time to the song in my head. For an old lady with a gat, she was still more graceful than I’d ever managed to be.
“Miles,” she said. “Move over there, will you?”
She waved the gun toward the pool.
I did the mental arithmetic to work out if I could rush her. Old people had delayed reactions, right? Sure, there was no cover, but she could only shoot me, what, three, four times before I reached her. And how much damage could that tiny gun do?
I glanced at Bohr’s body splayed out on the stone, swallowed, and said, “Sinc
e you asked so politely.”
I backed up to the pool.
“You’re a survivor,” she said.
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
“I admire that. A dead man is only useful once. A live one…” She shrugged. “But it’s not just your propensity for living that I like about you, Miles. You have heart. You came after me hard and fast. You’re a man who doesn’t sit down and play quietly.”
“Put the gun down, we’ll see how I play,” I said.
She laughed. “I knew you’d come for me. You had things to make up for. How drunk were you that day when she called you, begging for your help?”
I took a step forward.
She raised the pistol to aim it at my head. “Don’t be silly.”
I stopped.
“All this time you’ve been chasing me,” she said, “you’ve really been chasing yourself, haven’t you? The chase is over now. But you can still make it all worthwhile.”
“Yeah?” I said. “How?”
“Take your goggles off. Go back in the pool.”
“I didn’t bring my swimsuit.”
“I can offer you the same deal I gave to Aran here,” she said, moving slowly closer. “You’re a survivor, Miles. Somehow you survived your last encounter with the fluid. You got the crystals out. You can do it again. Make us a Tunnel, then let yourself be taken by the fluid again, let us take you back to Earth. When it’s time, we’ll remove the crystals. We’ll all get what we want. You can even come back to Tartarus again, take the fluid once more. Have some crystals of your own. You can make it all okay.”
I swallowed, but my mouth was dry. “It will never be okay.”
“It can be,” she said. “You can bring her back. Claudia.”
I stared down the barrel of the gun. Aran and Wade were watching us, silent. They looked like they needed some popcorn. Tartarus sang in time with McCaffrey’s words, swirling around me like a stripper giving me a lap dance. Teasing me. Begging me to reach up and slip the goggles off. Just for a moment.
The Man Who Walked in Darkness (Miles Franco #2) (Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) Page 29