Ian is contained.
But so am I.
The tunnel is dark. I pull my phone out of the pockets of the sweatpants. My battery is low since I didn’t get to charge it last night and I have no bars for service. But the flashlight still works. I only need it to last until I get out of this tunnel.
IfI get out of this tunnel.
What Declan called an elevator is actually a rudimentary dumbwaiter that has barely enough space for me to fit. I worry it’s the original machine used when the tunnel was constructed a century and a half ago, but the rope holds my weight and lands softly on the earthen floor of the tunnel. The acrid air is still. It’s like I’m disturbing the tomb of long-buried secrets below the city.
My bare feet are tentative on the cold muddy ground. The passageway is unfinished. I’m not sure when the last person was here.
I have no sense of direction, so I go the only way I can: forwards.
My breath steadies. Ian is locked in. Declan will see the alarm.
My heart stutters as his image floods my mind. He’ll blame himself for leaving me. He’ll be angry at me a little for letting Ian in. I’m such an idiot. My blind trust has put me in a dangerous situation twice now.
And Ian.Ian!Of all people. I will have to figure out how he bypassed us this whole time. How he fooled not just me, but Declan and Oliver as well.
I have to get out of these tunnels. I try not to focus on the sounds around me. It’s likely vermin that would dwell below ground. My bare feet and arms are hypersensitive; I’m ready to jump at the first trace of any bugs, snakes, or worse.
Fifty feet later, I come to a wider passage where the air is less stale. I look up and see a ladder.A way out!
I pocket my phone and climb. The temperature rises with each rung. I can taste the fresh air, even if I can’t see daylight yet.
When I hit the top of the ladder, I balance and reach for the wheel lock. It’s stiff.
I try it again, terrified it may only unlock from the outside.
There’s no give. I try again and again.
I may have escaped Ian for now, but a new terror starts to sink in – that I may never be able to escape this tunnel. That once my phone dies and there is no light, I’ll be plunged into darkness. And then what? How long can I survive down here?
Panic sets in and I pull with everything I have. But it isn’t enough.
41
DECLAN
My body is resisting me today. I won’t hit my mile goal, so I’ll need to turn round at the fifteen-minute mark regardless of my distance. Lack of sleep is the cause. But I can’t be mad about it.
Getting out of the safehouse has helped me clear my mind and think. Charlie is a beautiful distraction. She has been since she showed up at FIRE. With what happened last night, I’m hoping she will be less of a distraction. That if we continue down this path, we’ll be able to focus at work on work, and focus outside of work on . . . other things.
This past week has changed everything. I used to think I wanted to be alone. Easier to tackle missions. Easier to train. Easier to have no connections. You can’t lose what you don’t have. But since that kiss in Copenhagen, it’s like everything I was pushing down, every thought and feeling I’d ignored, has forced itself to the surface. And it feels good to want someone, to have them – to have more than just a job or a calling. To have someone to share it with.
But first we need to stop the Order from carrying out the attack at the World Games – or elsewhere.
I run through the facts in my mind as I approach the end of Bayshore Boulevard and have to turn back toward Ybor. The sky is a brilliant cloudless blue, the kind they capture in postcards of Florida. This sun will only add to my biker’s tan.
As I hit the turn, my phone begins to buzz and beep.
The alarm at the safehouse was triggered.
I stop the bike and grab my phone from the mount.Did Charlie hit the button because she needed to or was it a mistake?
I read the notification. It’s the tunnel alarm. Someone went into the tunnel and locked the door, sealing the safehouse.That could not be a mistake.
I try to think like the Order.
