There’s a huge screen taking up most of the wall to our left – when they put it up, they blocked an entrance I used to use to slip in and out of a back passageway – and to our right they’ve created a series of risers, and set out chairs facing the screen. There’s an abandoned pair of augment glasses on each seat, and the smell of popcorn lingers in the air. This place will probably smell of popcorn forever.
It’s almost pitch-dark in here, but there are little guidance lights stuck to the edge of each of the steps, and they provide just enough of a hint to see by, especially if you know the place.
If our stalker is just a few steps behind us, they’ll come out from the access passage into an empty hallway, and not know which way we went. But in case our luck doesn’t fall that way, I hurry up the steps toward the back of the room, then duck down to crawl along behind a row of chairs, Hunter on my tail.
A moment later the door opens, letting in a stream of brighter light from the hallway, and both of us freeze in place. I can see Sabrina silhouetted in the doorway, another slighter figure behind her. I canfeelthe adrenaline kick through my body as it returns to flight mode on pure instinct. I’ve run from Sabrina before. I know what she’s capable of.
She has a tablet in one hand and she pauses in the doorway as she glances down at it. The faintest hint of music escapes the headsets they’re wearing, and I hear the tinny tones of Victoriana Lu from a distance.Gonna blast into space, baby!
She smacks at the panel beside the door where the light switches are, then smacks at it again. Then I hear her voice: ‘Won’t turn on. Leave the door open.’
I can hear the soft, frustrated hum of the door trying to automatically close itself. Then Sabrina speaks again.
‘It’s a fucking cinema. The door won’t stay open. How does this job keep finding new ways to screw me?’
Her companion’s voice comes then, a woman crooning a singsong threat that makes my skin crawl. ‘We’re better in the dark than you are, little mice.’
Sabrina lets the door slide closed behind them and then hits the control panel, and the little guidance lights are gone.
The room’s plunged into darkness, and they begin to stalk forward. I can only tell where they are by the sound of their headsets, and I reach out in the blackness for Hunter.
I find his shoulder, and when I pull him toward me, he comes willingly. I run a hand up his warm arm to find his shoulder, then curve it around the back of his neck, so I can pull his ear in close to my mouth. I breathe my words into his ear, lips brushing his skin. ‘Turn off your headset.’
If I can hear their music, they’ll be able to hear ours. Right now, I’m the only person in the room without Victoriana Lu blasting in my ear. But if either of them thinks to turn their music down, they’ll be able to zero in on Hunter.
I feel him obey, rather than see him – his weight shifts slightly as he reaches up to the other side of his head, feeling for the switch and pressing on it.
They’re coming closer. The buzzing sound of the music is halfway up the steps to us now.
Let’s count down to a launch for two,
Let’s blast off, baby, me and you-ouuu!
With a gentle push, I send Hunter crawling along the row of chairs again, moving toward the other end. Maybe we can circle around and try for the access door now hidden behind the screen. If it’s still there.
I catch a flicker of light at the other end of the row as Sabrina’s tablet comes to life for a moment, and glimpse her face as she looks down at it. What’s she doing? She’ll lose her night vision.
Hunter reaches the end of the row and pauses in the dark, uncertain. He must be completely lost. I reach out to rest a hand on his back, and then with agonizing slowness, I squeeze between him and the row of chairs so I can take the lead.
How am I going to get him behind the screen when he can’t see a thing?
I take his hands to pull him to his feet, and he comes up silently, then stands unmoving. I weave my fingers through his for a moment and squeeze. A silenttrust me. He squeezes back.
Slowly, my ears straining for the faint sound of music, I turn away from him. Then I take his hands and settle them at my waist – they curve around the narrowest point, his fingertips pressing through the thin fabric of my tank. I can feel his breath on the back of my neck.
When I take a slow step forward, he follows, understanding. I can’t imagine what it’s like for him in this moment, in unfamiliar surroundings, in the pitch-black dark, knowing there are two people in this room who’ll shoot us if they can find us.
I ease down another step, and together we start making our way toward the front of the room. A part of my brain is alreadysetting to work a different problem. How did they find us? Did we miss a camera? Was it just a lucky guess? They seemed sure we were in here, though.
Another step down, and another, as we ease our way toward the screen. The ground levels off, and I stretch my hands out in front, feeling for the thick fabric of it, and then groping my way to the edge. Please,pleaselet the access door still be there.
Another snatch of music tickles the edges of my hearing, maybe as one of them turns their head in the darkness.
Gotta love this face, baby!
The headset.
We took the chief engineer’s headset, and they must have worked that out – they must have searched the areas around the workshop. And you can’t just scan the whole base for anyone using a headset, but youcantrack a specific headset. If you know which one you’re looking for.
