Jakob turned back to Walter and shook his head. “It’s got to be a coincidence. They wouldn’t be working with her, and no one would have been able to learn their language that well in such a short amount of time. Maybe they’re conducting searches on this level. We were worried something like this would happen.”
Walter hesitated and then lowered the weapon. He walked over to a nearby grate that was partially obscured by a shelving unit, pushed the furniture aside, and quickly unscrewed the cover. Walter gestured for them both to climb inside. She glanced into it and frowned. The minute she started climbing, either of them could look up to see the knives strapped to her inner thigh. She also needed to let Yuri know where they wanted to take her. Gesturing to the small duct, she feigned shock. “You want me to climb through that grate? In this dress?”
“Let’s go,” Jakob said and pulled her toward it. She pretended to stumble on her heels and fell to the ground with a pained cry.
Walter cursed and walked over to her. He scooped her up into his arms and said, “It’s not far. There’s a larger duct only a few yards away. You can scoot your way down. If you are who you say, you don’t want them to find you here.”
Valentina blinked at him and nodded. He carried her over to the grate and gently put her down. She slid backward into the duct, waiting until Walter was inside and busy replacing the shelving unit and grate cover behind them before crawling the rest of the way.
As soon as she reached the cross juncture, Jakob pulled her up the rest of the way into what appeared to be some sort of narrow service area. Pipes, electrical cabling, and wiring ran along the exposed walls illuminated with dim emergency lighting. She looked around, noting the lack of surveillance, and wondered how Sergei, Nikolai, and Yuri were going to follow her through here. From all appearances, she was likely on her own. They weren’t going to like that one bit.
Chapter Eight
Sergei’s earpiece squelched, and he yanked it from his ear. Something in the area where those two men had taken Valentina was causing too much interference for him to pick up on her dialogue. He glanced over at Yuri, who was also scowling.
Nikolai took a step toward Brant. “You need to locate her immediately. The signal’s completely gone. We’ve lost all contact.”
Brant entered a few commands on his tablet. “She’s not appearing on any of our security feeds. They must have entered an area of the towers that’s not monitored. You said she mentioned a grate?”
Sergei crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes. Can you find her?”
“I’m working on it. We have thousands of cameras in the towers.”
Yuri glanced down the corridor. “What do you know about these two men she’s with?”
“Nothing remarkable. Jakob manages a retail store on one of the lower levels. It appears Walter handles the distribution of merchandise and supplies for six different levels, including the store Jakob manages. If they’ve been smuggling weapons through that distribution center, Walter could have doctored the records to hide them.”
“That’s not enough,” Sergei said, trying to resist the urge to go after her right away. He’d give Brant five minutes to locate her, but that was all. “I want access to their personality assessments, arrest or detainment records, or anything else that can help us determine their propensity for causing her harm. Otherwise, I will damn this entire operation and go in after her.”
Brant frowned, typing furiously. “We’ve already pulled it up. There’s nothing out of the ordinary. They both stay under the radar. Jakob had one minor infraction for public intoxication, but that was over a year ago. It’s going to take more time to go through all their messages and electronics.”
Yuri glanced down the corridor toward the distribution center. “What about known associates?”
“A list is generating now,” Brant said, still studying the screen. “I’ll cross-check all names of associates for both men and focus on those first. That’ll help speed things up.”
Kayla frowned. “If you’re bonded to Valentina, can you pick up on anything? Alec was able to communicate with me telepathically when we shared a connection.”
Sergei shook his head. “No. She’s suppressing our bond to avoid detection. If she were in trouble, she would take the risk. Although, I can tell she’s irritated.”
“She’s not hurt,” Nikolai said, staring down the corridor with a faraway look in his eyes. He shook his head as though to clear it. “But Sergei’s right. She’s annoyed. I believe she’s walking through some sort of service area with them. I saw cabling and pipes. I didn’t see any distinguishing landmarks though.”
Kayla’s eyes widened. “You can see her?”
Nikolai shook his head. “My ability’s erratic. I occasionally get glimpses of future events, but I have them more often when it comes to Valentina. She’ll be walking down that area in the next few minutes.”
Yuri moved closer to them. “I don’t like it. We need to get into that office and find out where they took her. Even if she’s okay right now, they pulled a gun on her. She doesn’t know the layout of the towers, and if she comes into contact with anyone from the Inner Circle, we’re going to have a problem.”
Sergei nodded. “Brant, clear out the distribution center. We need access to that office but can’t risk anyone knowing that’s our focus.”
He nodded and barked out instructions on the commlink.
Kayla stepped closer. “I’m going with you guys.”
“Kayla,” Carl began, putting his hand on her back, “you may be familiar with the construction tower, but you don’t know this one very well. You won’t be able to help them navigate the area.”
“That’s true, but I can find lost or missing objects. Right now, Valentina’s missing. I might be able to help find her.”
Sergei cocked his head and studied Kayla for a long moment. He inclined his head and said, “I’d appreciate your help. Leave your shoes behind. It sounds as though we’ll need to crawl through a duct.”
Kayla huffed. “Are you kidding? Your girlfriend showed me how these could be used as a weapon. Check out the heels. I’m armed and dangerous. If she’s rocking her shoes, I’m doing the same thing.”
Sergei arched his brow. He should have known Kayla and Valentina would immediately have a sense of kinship with one another. Valentina seemed to like Ariana just as much. It was an interesting friendship between three very different women, but he wasn’t sure how far it would go. Valentina tended to be wary of letting anyone past her defenses. Anyone other than him, Nikolai, and Yuri, that is.
They waited another ten minutes until the distribution center was cleared out before they were able to enter. By that time, all of them were uneasy and their sense of urgency was growing. Valentina could be anywhere by now.
Sergei swept his gaze over the small office where they’d taken Valentina. There wasn’t much to it, and no grate was easily within sight. He grabbed a shelving unit leaning against the wall and shoved it to the side. Yuri started on the opposite side of the room. Nikolai opened drawers and began digging through the contents.
Kayla studied one of the shelving units and pointed to it. “Behind that one.”
Sergei immediately pulled the furniture to the side, exposing a metallic grate. Bending down, he withdrew one of his knives and used the edge of the blade to quickly unfasten it. The cover came off easily. It was narrow inside, but Valentina would have been able to navigate it easily. He continued climbing and paused at a small intersection, debating which direction to take.
“Go straight,” Kayla said from behind him.
“No good,” he replied. “It’s sealed. Left or right only.”
Kayla blew out a breath. “Then try going to the left. Everything’s getting confused in here, but she definitely went this way. Or at least her shoes did.”
Sergei took the left tunnel and continued climbing. “What do you mean?”
“I’m tracking her shoes,” Kayla retorted. “I don’t know how to t
rack people.”
Sergei opened his mouth to respond, but Kayla interrupted him. “Don’t you dare start bitching to me again about training and not practicing with my weapon. I’m working on it. Speaking of which, you guys could lessen up on your intensive training with all this woo-woo shit. You’re making me look bad. Alec’s been giving me grief again.”
He didn’t bother replying, too focused on finding Valentina than criticizing Kayla. Pulling himself out of the duct, he stepped down into a narrow service area. Something sparkling and red caught his attention and he walked over to investigate. Frowning, he bent down to pick up Valentina’s discarded shoes.
“Well, shit,” Kayla muttered. “I seem to have crap luck when it comes to people keeping on their shoes when I’m tracking them.”
Nikolai approached them and cursed. “She most likely left them as a marker to indicate the direction they were traveling.”
Sergei nodded, staring down the corridor in the direction the shoes had been pointing. There was no way to know how far it went or where they’d stopped. Valentina probably didn’t realize how far behind they were.
This whole thing made him uneasy. Valentina knew how to handle people, but she was in an unfamiliar environment with people they didn’t know. Even if she needed to use lethal force, OmniLab security didn’t know her identity. They could easily determine she was a threat since they were already on edge after the attack last night.
“Can you see her through our bond, Nikolai? Even an approximate location?”
Nikolai shook his head. “No, Sergei. I can’t sense her right now. Valya’s still suppressing our bond.”
Yuri swore under his breath. “I don’t like this. Let’s keep going. Maybe she’ll leave another clue up ahead. I don’t want to stay this far out of range. If she runs into trouble, she’ll need backup.”
Sergei glanced over at him. “I agree. Let’s go.”
“Hang on. I think I know how we can find her,” Kayla said and pressed a button on her commlink. Nothing happened. She frowned and glanced around at the wiring running up the walls. “Is there some sort of interference in here?”
Sergei nodded. “That’s why we lost communication with Valentina. It may reconnect once she leaves this area, but there’s no way to know.”
“I need to make a call,” she said, heading back toward the duct.
Sergei plucked the commlink from Kayla’s hand and ran a trace of his electrical energy through the device. “Go ahead. You have only a few minutes to talk before the energy fails.”
Her eyes widened. “That is a seriously cool trick. You’re going to have to show me how to do it.”
Without waiting for a response, Kayla pressed a button and said, “Hey, Alec. Are you with Ari? I need her.” She paused. “Yeah. Valentina’s missing. Can you run to Seara’s quarters and get the dragon? I have an idea of how to find her.” She paused again, listening. “Right. We’re with Brant. Hurry.”
She closed the device. “Okay. They’ll be here in a few minutes. We tried something a little earlier when we were getting dressed for the club. If my hunch is right, we should be able to track her with another type of connection.”
Nikolai shook his head. “We can’t wait. Sergei, you and Yuri should go ahead. I’ll stay with Brant and his team to continue searching the office. If I learn anything from his messages or pick up anything from Valentina, I’ll try to reach you.”
Sergei nodded. “I don’t know where this corridor goes. We don’t have the maps on it, but I’ll periodically enable the power on my commlink to check in with you. See if you can get the floorplans from Brant and send them to me.”
“I’m going with you,” Lars said, moving forward through the narrow hallway. “I might not have a tie to Valentina, but you’re still technically Coalition. If either of you run into a problem, I can help.”
“You have a weapon?”
Lars nodded. “Always. My time living with you taught me better than to walk around unarmed.”
“Good,” Sergei replied, moving forward. “Let’s go.”
Valentina continued following Jakob through the narrow service area with Walter right behind them. They’d passed several ducts, but based on Walter and Jakob’s confident footsteps, they were extremely familiar in navigating these tunnels. They were most likely using these service areas to transfer the weapons to various locations within the towers.
“Where are we going?”
“Just keep walking,” Walter said from behind her.
Valentina blew out a breath. She still hadn’t seen any surveillance cameras since they entered the tunnel, and it was starting to worry her. She didn’t know where she was, and even once she escaped, it would be challenging to get back to the Inner Sanctum without being identified. The dress she was wearing was far too conspicuous. At least she’d lost those shoes. Kayla had a point; they really weren’t very practical.
It was time to start demanding some answers before they took her much farther. At the very least, it would give Yuri a chance to catch up.
Halting in her tracks, she spun around and wrapped her arms around herself. “No. Jakob wanted me to meet you for some reason, and you pulled a weapon on me. Now I’m being dragged through the service alleys of the towers. Security is after us, and you expect me to just continue to follow you blindly? How do I know you’re not planning to kill me anyway?”
Walter frowned at her. “I scared you earlier, didn’t I?”
She hesitated and then nodded, slowly softening her expression. “Please tell me what’s going on or take me back to the construction tower.”
With a sigh, Walter pulled out the weapon and showed it to her. As she suspected, it was one of the Coalition’s weapons, but this was a newer model with a slightly modified design from previous versions. They’d only begun testing it in the past year, and distribution was still limited to high-ranking officials. This time, her surprise wasn’t feigned. It was a clear indicator they’d been right—one of their leaders was involved in the distribution of weapons to OmniLab’s residents.
Valentina frowned and looked up at Walter. “That’s a Coalition weapon. Why do you have it?”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Valentina,” Walter said, putting the weapon back into his pocket. “Your people have been supplying us weapons. We’re planning something, and the Coalition has agreed to help us.”
“Who’s ‘we’? Why would you need our weapons when OmniLab has their own?”
Jakob sighed. “Just tell her and let’s get the hell out of here. These tunnels smell weird.”
Walter ignored him. “Only certain people have access to weapons, and they’re strictly regulated. The Inner Circle is in control of the highest tiers of our government. We don’t even have a voice amongst the High Council. It’s time we forced a real change, and your people have agreed to give us the opportunity.”
Aha. That explained why Pavel was so willing to help them. According to what Sergei had shared, Pavel didn’t trust the Inner Circle’s abilities.
She cocked her head and frowned. “You want us to help overthrow your government?”
Walter nodded. “It’s been a long time coming. Between everyone living in this tower and your people, we far outnumber the Inner Circle. They’ll have to step aside.”
Valentina glanced back and forth between Walter and Jakob. “I’ve heard rumors about them. I don’t know what’s true.”
“They have different abilities,” Jakob began, his expression hardening. “They use them to control us. That’s why this needs to be done. They need to know we’re not defenseless.”
She bit her lip and lowered her gaze slightly. “I don’t know how I could help you. I only manage the inventory for the construction materials. If one of my people made this arrangement with you, would I get the weapons from them? Who would I need to contact?”
“Let’s keep going,” Walter began and motioned for her to keep walking. “Security might already be searching these tunnels, so we can�
��t stay here. Let me take you to Charles. He can explain the rest to you. We already have a system in place to move the items into the towers. We just need someone to alter the inventory records so no one becomes suspicious. Pavel used to do it for us, but it’s been held up since he disappeared. We’ll be there soon. It’s just a little farther now.”
She nodded and turned back around, continuing to follow Jakob. At least some of their questions had been answered, but most likely, she’d need to speak directly with this Charles to find out which of their people was orchestrating this smuggling operation. Until she had that answer and Sergei was cleared from any involvement, his life would continue to be at risk.
Valentina climbed down the ladder behind Jakob. Thankfully, his focus was on the ground below him, so she was in little danger of exposing the knives strapped to her inner thigh. Unfortunately, they were still in an area without surveillance, and she didn’t have a way to let Yuri know where they’d taken her. She’d left her shoes behind as a marker, but the only other clothing she could risk removing was her panties. Even though she was quite creative, she couldn’t think of a plausible explanation for slipping them off.
They’d gone down at least six levels, and she guessed they were probably near the main level, close to where one of the breezeways connected with the construction tower. Valentina stepped off the ladder and walked over to Jakob, who was studying another duct.
He turned around and gave her a sheepish smile. “Not your idea of the best first date, huh? I’ll make it up to you. I swear it.”
Valentina arched an eyebrow. He couldn’t seriously be thinking he still had a chance of getting lucky, could he? Based on his cocky grin, he was. No way in hell was she parting with her panties now. It would only encourage him. With a sigh, she gestured to the duct. “How much farther?”
The Omni Towers Boxed Set (Books 4-6): A Dystopian Fantasy Series Page 69