“True. But Sublevels -4 and -5 were built later, and the entrance upstairs”—he brushed his knuckles along the smooth gray stone—“was coated in some kind of experimental paint that makes the wall indistinguishable from its surroundings. Stops scanners, too.”
Aiden wondered about it, a part of him regretting that they didn’t have time to examine the structure. So many things had been invented here, so many discoveries had been made, and the world didn’t even know about it. Still, the only one that mattered right now was Dr. Batbayar’s.
“Right. So scans wouldn’t have shown it,” Aiden summed up belatedly.
“Probably. Or maybe Marcus’ men just did a shitty job of sweeping the place.”
Or maybe Marcushadfound the sublevels, that was a possibility too. But he’d searched them and come out empty-handed just as Aiden and Darren were about to if the clues they counted on simply weren’t there. Aiden tried not to worry about that outcome just yet, deciding he was going to believe that Marcus had simply missed the intricately hidden entrance.
Darren skipped Sublevel -4 altogether and led them to the one below. The door’s security was disengaged, granting them access without the need to fumble with its mechanism, which neither confirmed nor denied the theory swimming in Aiden’s head. It could’ve been left this way by the scientists after all, and not by Marcus.
Following pristine but dark corridors that resembled the one from Sara’s memory, they eventually stumbled upon Dr. Batbayar’s office. An old-style whiteboard littered withformulas, calculations and diagrams spanned the width of two of the walls, while four screens, two empty folders and a single framed photo occupied her desk. The overall orderly state of the room suggested that he and Darren were likely the first to make it down here after the fire, because if Marcus had beaten them to it, the place would either be messy or cleared of all research.
“Kesley, see if you can turn the computer on,” Darren said, then tilted his head at the door near the far end of the whiteboard. “I’ll check what’s in the back room.”
Folding himself under the desk, Aiden located the power adapter. He took out the power supply extension Bea had provided and plugged it into his tablet and then powered on the computer. The four screens came to life as he plopped into the scientist’s chair, and he used the hacking program Nyle had uploaded to his device to bypass the credentials’ check.
Once he had access, he began looking for any clues about Dr. Batbayar’s discovery, though his mind kept circling back to Darren and the distracted stares he’d let slip. To the way his shoulders seemed even tenser than usual, how he’d looked upstairs when he’d been lost in a memory of his childhood while he stood in the middle of his ruined palace.
And it suddenly clicked, what Aiden had to do. Wanted to do, despite not wanting to. His breathing turned erratic and his heart beat too fast, a wave of dizziness washing through him. He thought back on that night in the mess hall where he’d saved Darren from a breakdown, relived it just like he did almost every time he slept. He’d had no obligation, no reason to do it. He shouldn’t have cared. But the darkness which lived in Darren… it was so irresistible, so familiar and tempting, and Aiden was powerless against it, drawn to it like a moth to a candle. He craved to see more of it, to unravel it piece by piece until all that was left of the man who’d shattered his world was only the raw, naked truth he didn’t want anyone to see.
Aiden took a deep breath and forced himself to focus back on his task. He managed and yet that frustratingly pleasant hum in him only grew, spreading anticipation and want outwards from his chest as he decided that this time he had to let Darren come apart, to break him and push him over the edge.
And when that happened, when Darren reached the bottom, Aiden would be there to catch him.
