The passage opened into a cavern. Huge. The ceiling disappeared into darkness above. Natural pillars rose from the floor. Water dripped somewhere in the distance.
I pointed to a passage at the far end. “There.”
“No,” Carys said. She pointed to a narrow, dark opening to our left. “We go that way. It goes this way.”
She bundled the torn dress, and threw it as hard as she could down the right-hand passage.
Behind us, lights appeared in the cavern. Tarsus’s guards, fanning out.
“There!” One of them shouted, his motion scanner pointing. “The signal. Northwest passage! Move!”
The entire unit, nine of them, charged past us and disappeared down the wrong tunnel, following the signal.
“You just bought us time,” I said.
“Let’s use it.” She was already running for the real exit.
We ran. The passage twisted. Rose. Then opened unexpectedly into daylight.
Daylight.
We were on the side of a cliff. The cave mouth behind us. A massive ravine ahead.
And spanning that ravine was a bridge. Ancient. Industrial. Rust and decay obvious even from here.
“Flinx, scan that bridge,” I said.
“Will it hold us?”
Behind us, we heard shouts of rage from the cave. They’d found the decoy.
“They’re coming back,” Carys said. “Maybe thirty seconds.”
I looked at the bridge. Looked at Carys. She was just in my shirt, her legs bare. “Can you make it across?”
“Can you?”
“I’m heavier. I go first. If it holds me, it holds you.”
“Brevan—”
“No argument. I test it. You follow if it’s safe.”
I moved toward the bridge. Tested the first few meters. The metal groaned but held.
“Stay here,” I told Flinx. “Go with her.”
I continued across. Each step careful. The bridge swayed. Creaked. But it held.
Ten meters. Twenty. I was maybe halfway when I heard Carys behind me.
“I said wait,” I called.
“And I don’t take orders from you.”
