Revik frowned, but didn’t look over at Jon or Maygar. He trudged through the bottom of the pipe, still limping enough that he winced at every other step.
Clearly, the guards were on edge, too.
Even as he thought it, another hard jolt moved the floor under his feet.
It was the strongest one yet.
Revik found himself thrown roughly into the curved pipe wall.
Losing his balance with his bound arms, he fell to his bad knee, letting out a cry when he landed painfully on something hard under the few inches of water in the pipe’s curve. The shaking began to lessen as he was fighting to climb to his feet.
The guard behind him grabbed hold of the back of his collar before he was all the way upright. When the ground started shaking again, the muscular seer fell into the wall, yanking Revik sideways in the process and tearing at his neck.
Gasping a curse, Revik struggled to free himself when the seer yanked at him again.
As soon as the shaking stopped, he was forced roughly back to his feet, and shoved forward before he could take a step on his own. He nearly fell from the added pain in his knee.
He glanced at Jon and Maygar.
The guard holding Jon had fallen, but Jon was still on his feet, in a low crouch. Maygar had fallen to both knees, like Revik. His neck was bleeding near where one guard gripped his collar.
They were probably worried they’d try to use the earthquakes to escape.
Revik gritted his teeth as he resumed walking, feeling even more like a trapped animal.
“This is stupid,” he growled, unable to help himself. “You’re going to get us all fucking killed. And for what?” He glared when Ditrini turned. “Why are you taking us deeper? You must know there’ve been tsunami warnings all over the city. Do you have a death wish?”
Ditrini’s silver eyes didn’t flinch. They stared at him, flat, unfeeling.
After a pause, he looked away.
Revik glanced at the guards.
All of them looked afraid now. One glared openly at Ditrini’s back. Another gave Revik a thoughtful look, as if he were about to speak.
Ahead of them, Ditrini walked fast, his booted feet sloshing through the deepening water. He didn’t look back to ensure they were following.
After the barest pause, the guards did follow, pushing Revik and the others along.
In seconds, the only sound was their feet splashing and echoing through the tunnel.
Revik noted the silence behind them and realized Wreg and Balidor must be adjusting their strategy to account for the earthquakes. The fact that they were behind him and Allie wasn’t hit him hard suddenly, bringing a blinding pain to his chest, the worst he’d let himself feel.
For the first time since he’d been in the Tank, he found himself praying, only this time, it wasn’t for himself, or even for the will of the gods.
Please, gods… protect her. Let her be all right. Please, gods, let her be all right…
The words repeated like a mantra in his light.
Regret at how he’d told her about their child hit him in the same set of seconds.
Gods, what a coward he was.
Ditrini stopped dead in the tunnel.
Turning, he gave Revik a disbelieving look.
The guards halted disjointedly with him, splashing and jostling one another. From the expressions on their faces, they had no idea why Ditrini stopped.
Watching the Lao Hu infiltrator look at him, Revik fought his mind silent, forcing his consciousness back to those higher realms of his aleimi, but the sickness and pain in his chest only worsened. A part of him didn’t even care if Ditrini knew. If Cass and Shadow had Allie, what did it matter? Shadow would know as soon as he looked at her, assuming he hadn’t already known, likely the instant she entered his construct in Argentina.
He’d hardened his light against Ditrini’s reaction, but still found himself surprised at the expression rising to Ditrini’s face. Instead of being delighted with the intel Revik just provided, and the leverage he would have over both of them, a cold rage grew in the silver eyes.
That rage worsened until it made Revik uneasy.
Revik had gotten looks like that before, but not in a long time––mostly after he left the Rooks, and a lot of rumors flew around about his involvement with the Nazis.
Ditrini looked at him as if he’d just found out Revik killed his whole family and ate them––or fed them to his dogs. The look was hatred, disgust, disbelief, revulsion, fury, pain, maybe even grief. The Lao Hu infiltrator looked torn, too, as if fighting with whether to speak.
Instead, he turned around completely––and punched Revik in the face, hard.
The guards erupted in protests, even as Ditrini hit Revik again. That time, the blow was hard enough to rock Revik’s head on his neck, to nearly make him lose his balance. When the guards tried to get between the two of them, Ditrini snarled at them in that other tongue.
After a pause where they all looked at each other, they moved out of his way.
Only one guard, the one directly behind Revik, remained where he was. Gripping Revik tightly, he held him up by the chains and his shoulder, to keep him on his feet.
Ditrini punched him again. And again.
The guard’s hold on him slipped after four or five more hits. Revik dropped to his knees. While he was still down, Ditrini kicked him in the gut, knocking out his breath.
His boot swung again. And again.
At the fourth one, Revik felt something crack, and let out a groan.
Panting, Ditrini stopped, looming over him.
“Worthless, female-dominated, worm-fucking degenerate!” he spat in broken Prexci. “You dared to defile my precious girl with your disgusting seed? You?”
He kicked him again, harder, and Revik let out another groan.
“Stop!” Jon yelled. “You’ll kill him!”
Maygar lunged forward when Ditrini kicked him again. A guard wrenched him back by the collar, and Maygar gasped, his face white with pain. When he looked about to do it again, Revik held up a hand, giving Maygar a brief warning look.
Maygar frowned.
Ditrini didn’t give Jon or Maygar so much as a glance.
“Traitorous filth!” he snarled at Revik. “You’re wrong. You’re wrong, and I’ll prove it! I’d warrant I took a few more turns on her cunt this past year than you have… Illustrious Sword. We’ll just see whose seed she carries. We’ll just see whose gaos d’ jurekil’a child it is! What makes you think the bitch’s pup is yours at all?”
Revik gasped, fighting for breath.
For a few seconds, he had half a mind to answer him.
He didn’t, if only because he was trying to decide if the fucker had punctured one of his lungs. He was having a hard enough time restraining his light, and couldn’t afford to get knocked unconscious, especially if he was bleeding internally. When he glanced up, he saw Maygar watching him again, a look in his eyes that Revik didn’t recognize.
Then he realized it was anger––only for the first time, it wasn’t aimed at him.
Hell, it might even have been on his behalf.
The conflict returned to Maygar’s brown eyes even as Revik thought it, right before the younger seer looked away, shifting his gaze between Ditrini and the guards. He looked like he might be thinking about trying to escape, when––
Abruptly, the ground started to shake again, violently.
That time, the cement seemed to turn liquid under his hands, rolling under him in disturbingly high waves. Cracks grew lengthwise down the sides of the pipe as the rumbling sound grew louder, deafening.
Revik struggled to remain on his knees, bending over the fetid water.
Ditrini was thrown into the curved cement wall.
Revik could only remain where he was, gasping, watching the others careen and fall around him. Jon fell to the floor of the tunnel and brought one of the guards down with him. Maygar crashed into the opposite side of the pipe, falling into the wate
r with a splash. The guard holding his collar half-fell on him, still gripping him by the organic metal.
Revik saw Maygar try to hit the guard in the face with his shoulder when he landed on him. The guard tried to punch him in response and missed Maygar entirely when he got thrown off balance again by the shaking ground.
The guard who’d been behind Revik half-fell on him, too, landing next to Jon and two other guards struggling to keep ahold of their chains.
The shaking got even stronger, cresting before it once more began to recede.
Before it had disappeared entirely, the chain around Revik’s neck tightened.
He looked up, saw Ditrini on his feet, the greenish-silver chain gripped in his hands. Ditrini barked a command at someone behind him, and the guard grabbed hold of Revik’s collar and his cuffed arms, holding him still.
Ditrini straightened to his full height, yanking on the chain as he threw his weight behind it. Briefly, Revik choked to the point of unconsciousness. His vision blackened; he could see silver flickers in the corner of his eyes, the edges graying.
He heard Jon shouting, Maygar––
The pressure abruptly lifted.
He gasped, unable to breathe enough, fighting a splitting pain in his head and throat. Ditrini motioned him up with a wave of his hand, and the guard behind him yanked him to his feet.
Revik stood there, leaning on the guard, still gasping in thick gulps of air tasting of mold, cement powder and dirt from the pieces of pipe that fell from the cracked ceiling. When he looked up, spots still dancing in his eyes, Revik saw Jon fighting his way back to his feet, as well, leaning on the pipe wall next to Maygar for balance.
Abruptly, the shaking resumed.
Jon fell back into the water with a splash. Maygar held onto the pipe wall, still in a crouch, his pants soaking wet past his crotch now.
Revik barely had time to think about whether he could take advantage of the distraction when Ditrini shouted a series of commands, gesturing to the guards in quick flicks of his wrist and fingers.
The five infiltrators shakily regained their feet, all of them holding some portion of the cement walls. As the shaking began to recede, another, heavier chunk of ceiling fell out of the cracked pipe in front of them, opening a hole that rained down a brackish dump of silt and water.
Revik barely noticed. Now that the shaking was quieting, he could hear a different sound. It started off low, a faint, static-like roar in the background.
It grew louder the more intently he listened.
Unfortunately, he recognized the sound.
It was water.
THE ROAR ECHOED, swiftly growing loud enough that the guards had to raise their voices to talk over it.
The pipes were flooding.
Revik couldn’t yet tell from the echoes if it was happening in front of them or behind them, or even on another floor, but it was definitely getting louder.
Revik glanced behind him. He found Maygar watching him, too.
Revik’s mind spun around details, even as he tried to decide if he could count on either or both of them. A part of him couldn’t help thinking it wouldn’t matter. Hell, it might not matter to any of them, not anymore, including Ditrini and his pals.
They were going to drown down here.
Revik understood something else now, too.
The “wall” Ditrini referenced on the comm to Cass must refer to the containment fields that kept the island of Manhattan above ocean-level. For over a decade now, electronic force fields had protected New York City from rising sea levels and extreme storms, pushing back the water whenever there was a sudden jump in sea level.
Something must have happened. Maybe the earthquakes broke something, or created some kind of breach in the field, big enough to flood the island. Maybe the engineers hadn’t been able to get down to the source of the breach to fix it.
That, or the power grid was failing.
Revik glanced back down the tunnel, again noting the slope of the floor as he allowed the guards to pull him up to his feet.
Fuck. They were definitely going the wrong way.
His whole body hurt now; it hurt to breathe, but adrenaline must have been flooding his system because he could barely feel any of it except the pain in his chest, and his knee whenever he took a step in the curved pipe.
He glanced at Jon, who’d realized the urgency of their predicament before any of them. By now, Maygar clearly knew the danger, too. From the paleness of his face as he looked over Revik, he didn’t like their chances on escaping, either, even apart from the chains.
He wondered why Maygar would give a second thought to leaving him down here to die––then it hit him. The curse of the bond.
If he died, Allie died, too.
Still, looking at him, Revik couldn’t help wondering if maybe that wasn’t all of it. Maygar was seer, after all. He may not be thrilled about their biological ties, but Revik wondered if he was as indifferent to them as he pretended.
Before he could fully process the thought, another rumble from under the earth threw him into the pipe’s cement wall.
The rumbling hadn’t yet stopped when the same asshole guard jerked Revik upright, forcing him to support his own weight. Seemingly the instant he was on his feet, the chain tightened roughly around his neck, choking off his air.
It loosened faster that time, and Revik could breathe again, if still coughing dust and foul-smelling spray. He watched Ditrini throw the end of his leash to the guard who held his arm, right before he motioned them all forward.
He wondered again if the three of them could make a break for it.
If so, they had to do it soon.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his air abruptly cut off, knocking him into a second guard, whose grip tightened on his neck, hitting at pressure points that numbed his muscles.
When Revik could see again, Ditrini looked from him to Jon to Maygar.
“If the Sword tries to run, shoot this one first.” Ditrini pointed at Jon. “Shoot him in the head. We don’t need him. Or his deserter, terrorist mate.”
Swallowing, Revik glanced at Jon.
He could almost read the look on his brother-in-law’s face.
It wasn’t terror for himself. It was terror for Wreg. Jon was telling Revik, with his eyes at least, not to do anything really fucking stupid. Staring back at him, Revik bit his tongue, wanting to argue. They could really drown down here. They would all die anyway, if they did nothing. They couldn’t afford to play it safe.
Even so, he couldn’t help thinking Allie would probably agree with Jon.
The thought closed his throat, even as he nodded.
Another jolt from the cave floor threw all nine of them off-balance again, but not enough to knock anyone off their feet. The ground hadn’t yet stopped moving when Ditrini motioned the guards forward, his mouth set in a scowl.
The roaring sound echoing down the pipes was louder now.
Revik’s nerves rose, making it hard to think clearly. The instinct was almost animal. Allie’s face flashed behind his eyes. He saw her in his mind, felt the whispered presence of their unborn child. Without thinking, he looked at Ditrini.
“Warn the Adhipan,” he said. “Warn Wreg. They might not know. And they might let you through. If they think you’ll let me die, rather than be caught, they might––”
“Quiet!” The guard behind him yanked on the collar, bringing another fire-like bolt of pain. “Keep that fucking mouth of yours shut, traitor!”
Revik heard the emotion in the man’s words, felt the tension in his hands. He didn’t need to read him to know he was afraid. Glancing around at the other guards, he realized they all were.
Revik looked back at Ditrini. “Warn them!” he urged. “You don’t want her dead, do you? If I die down here, it’ll kill her, too––”
“Shut up!” the guard snapped.
Ditrini stared at Revik, his silver eyes shining in the half-light of the yissos.
“Sh
e’ll die,” Revik said, fighting the anger out of his voice when the guard again yanked roughly at the collar. “It’s not theory… it’s fact. It’s been tested. She’ll definitely die, if I do. We tested it a few years ago. Both of us nearly died.” Wrenching away from the hands of the guard, he kept his eyes on Ditrini. “Warn Balidor. Or you’ll never get what you want from either of us. Get me out of here alive and I’ll go with you. I’ll play your stupid game––”
“Jesus, man… shut up!” Jon stared at him. “Have you lost your mind?” His eyes were wide, holding an open fear. “Why the hell would you agree to something like that? Do you have any idea what that would do to Allie?”
Revik gave him a hard stare. “They already have her, Jon. Where the fuck do you think they’re taking us?”
“So what?” Jon said. “He’s not going to let us die! He would die, too!”
Revik felt his jaw harden. He looked back at Ditrini, watching those silver eyes as the seer seemed to be thinking about Revik’s offer.
Revik saw the indecision there, a flicker of what looked like a deeper confusion. He remembered suddenly that Ditrini had been on wires for days, and drugged. He hadn’t been unhooked from either thing for very long––not long enough for the effects to have dissipated totally.
Ditrini frowned, as if he’d heard him.
Then he motioned the guards forward.
They resumed their trudge through the pipes. Revik tried to decide if the water at the bottom of the curve had risen. It looked higher, maybe by a full inch.
A few minutes later, the yisso torches illuminated a Y-juncture in the pipes.
Ditrini led them into the pipe curving right, which had a lower ceiling and narrower walls. Revik couldn’t understand why the seer would risk putting them into an even more confined space, especially one that didn’t look particularly sound, structurally speaking. Then he realized the tributary sloped uphill.
Ditrini was trying to outrun the water.
Even as Revik thought it, the seer spoke into his headset, using heavily-accented English.
“We’re coming up,” Ditrini told whoever it was. “Get your people to control the group up there… or I promise you, I’ll make sure that neither of us gets what we want.”
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