Aurora Blazing

by Jessie Mihalik

  “Hold this,” he told me.

  I stood and moved gingerly to the door. I purposefully did not look over the side of the elevator. I held the door open while Ian picked up Ferdinand again.

  “We need to move fast,” Ian said. “Before they have time to dig in further.”

  “You set the pace since you’re carrying Ferdinand,” I said. “I’ll keep up.”

  Ian nodded and set off at a ground-eating lope that was a flat-out run for me. I gritted my teeth and kept pace, even when it felt like my lungs would explode from my body. I didn’t get a break until we hit a gate, and even then, it was only the ten seconds it took for the codebreaker to unlock it.

  By the time we made it far enough that we could see the elevators at the end of the tunnel, I was plastered in sweat and Ian was barely breathing hard, despite carrying another full-grown person. I would hate him if I had the energy to spare. Still, we’d covered the distance in ten minutes instead of the thirty it’d taken us going the other way.

  Ian stepped into one of the side rooms and the lights came on. The room was a large rectangle, empty now. It could’ve been barracks or a mess hall. We checked all of the rooms clustered at the end of the tunnel, assuming that, like the level below, these used to be the soldiers’ rooms.

  They were all empty.

  “They could’ve left us a few blasters at least,” I grumbled. “Maybe some combat armor. A handful of grenades.”

  Ferdinand looked up from his position on Ian’s shoulder and smiled at me, then rolled his eyes. My heart twisted at this small sign that my brother was still in there somewhere, maybe bruised and battered, but not broken.

  I sobered. We were woefully underprepared to face a military unit in a fortified position. I’d hoped to be in and out before they realized I wasn’t who I said I was. Even if Ian was some sort of Genesis Project supersoldier, he couldn’t singlehandedly defeat a dozen soldiers and I was only of moderate help.

  I needed to give us a chance. I used the codebreaker to unlock the final gate, then stepped through and asked Ian to hold it open. I wedged the tip of my knife into the edge of the gate’s control panel. The face panel popped off, revealing the wiring underneath.

  There was no handy diagnostic port this time. I cut the network cable then carefully separated the individual strands of optic cable. I forced myself to work slowly even as the seconds ticked by, each one reducing our chances.

  I opened the cable port on the side of my secondary com and gently fed the correct cable into each slot. I’d taken this com to MineCorp in case I needed to use this same procedure, but I’d been lucky there. Now karma was swinging back around to punch me in the face. I didn’t have time for this right now.

  Once all the cables were in place, I set the com to fix the connections. Optical signals needed precise alignment and my just shoving the cable into the connector wasn’t good enough. The com would minutely adjust each cable until the signal worked. It could take up to five minutes.

  I set the com down on top of the control box. I could use it from that position and it wasn’t at too much risk of falling.

  “If you’re done on that side, you can come through and let the gate close. I just didn’t want it to lock you out if anything went wrong. This will take a few minutes, then I’ll need a few more. I’m planning to unleash a virus on the base that will take out any connected systems. How long do you think it will take us to reach the upper floor by elevator?”

  “You’re taking out the power?” Ian asked with raised eyebrows. He came through the gate and set Ferdinand down next to the elevators.

  “Ideally. Depends on how hardened their systems are.”

  “Fifteen minutes should be safe,” he said.

  I nodded. “Let’s get ready.”

  Ian and I wedged open the nearest elevator doors but found a car instead of empty space. “Can you go through the roof?” I asked.

  Ian grimaced. “I can, but it’ll be easier if I don’t have to.”

  We tried four more doors before we found an empty shaft. Ian hopped in and claimed the elevator to our right, where we’d already opened the door. He lowered the elevator until we could climb up through the gap.

  When I checked the com, the connection was good. I poked around on the network for a second just to see if anything obvious came up, but I didn’t see anything. It didn’t matter. If there was the smallest opening, the virus would find it. It was designed to penetrate military-grade installations.

  I set up a simple script that would release the virus then wipe the com. It would run after a fifteen-minute timer. I cut the connection to my smart glasses and triple-checked that everything was set up correctly directly on the com. I checked the current time then kicked off the script.

  “We have fifteen minutes. We need to be upstairs by then, just in case.”

  Ian climbed onto the elevator, then waved off my attempt to help Ferdinand up. “You first,” he said. Once I was on top of the elevator with him, he continued, “This is the control box.” He pointed at the control panel. “This switch needs to be flipped to up, and the manual override set, like so. Then you must hold this button to ascend.”

  “Why are you showing me this?” I asked slowly.

  “You’re going up on your own,” he said. “I’m taking Ferdinand up the stairs.”

  “No,” I said flatly.

  “Yes. If they ambush us on the landing, we’ll be sitting ducks if we’re both in the elevator. They won’t expect me to take the stairs.”

  “You plan to climb over four thousand stairs carrying another person? You won’t have to worry about me, I’ll be in a cell long before you make it to the top.”

  “Want to bet?” Ian asked softly. He had a confident, arrogant tilt to his head that was wildly compelling. “What are you willing to lose?”

  I huffed. “My life, apparently.”

  “Trust me, Bianca. You know I wouldn’t put you in unnecessary danger. You go up in the elevator and provide a distraction. You don’t even have to shoot at them. Give them some sort of sob story. Tell them I went crazy, but you escaped. Whatever, just keep them distracted. I’ll follow and take care of it.”

  “I left my com behind. I won’t be able to talk to you,” I said, grasping at straws.

  “But I can talk to you, right?” he asked, a speculative look in his eyes. He turned on his mike. “Testing.”

  I caught the signal, just as he’d intended, but I didn’t give in. “Everyone else in the base can hear you, too.”

  He turned the mike off again. “I’ll be careful with it. You can do this, love,” he said. “You know you can.”

  Maybe I had known that, once, but that same confidence had also gotten me in a world of trouble.

  He stepped closer and touched my jaw, a gentle press of fingers that tilted my head up so he could catch my gaze. “You are stronger than you know, Bianca.”

  Bitter laughter bubbled out and I couldn’t stop it. “I’m sorry to disappoint—”

  He pressed his finger against my lips, cutting off my words. “You do not disappoint me. Never. We are in a Rockhurst mine, rescuing your brother, because of you. Ferdinand is alive because of you. You can do anything you set your mind to. I would never, ever bet against you because that would be a sucker’s bet.”

  His expression showed exactly how serious he was. He really did believe I could do anything. I stared at him in wonder, and then let his confidence buoy my own.

  “Fine,” I agreed. “Show me how to open the door.”

  He did, then he kissed me, a hard press of his lips against mine that I felt in every cell of my body. While I was still reeling, he climbed down and vanished through the elevator doors.

  I touched my lips and firmed my resolve. I could do this.

  I would do this.

  Chapter 26

  Fourteen minutes had passed by the time the top of the elevator shaft appeared. I wasn’t sure what would happen if the power died while I was on the elevator an
d I really didn’t want to find out.

  When the elevator platform came even with the bottom of the door, I hesitantly removed my thumb from the button. The elevator stopped and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. We hadn’t plummeted to our death the last time, but then Ian had been at the controls. I still half expected to fall.

  I unlatched the doors and pulled them open a few centimeters. The hallway beyond appeared empty. Ian’s concern had been well-founded but unnecessary. I listened in on the signals I could hear, but the teams on this floor had gone silent.

  I eased out into the tunnel. There were three gates between me and the next set of elevators. The tunnel wasn’t perfectly straight, so I couldn’t see any of the gates from here. Several dark doorways lined either side of the main passage, smaller tunnels that led into the maze of the mine. I couldn’t possibly clear them all.

  If I was setting up an ambush to capture rather than kill, I’d position a few soldiers in the side tunnels to come in from behind and trap us against the main force of soldiers. It would also prevent us from retreating.

  I set off slowly, keeping a mental ear on the wireless signals, searching for Ian’s specific signature or for soldiers trying to flank me, but everything stayed quiet.

  The codebreaker opened the first gate in less than ten seconds. I wondered if the stairwell had locked doors, and if so, how Ian planned to get through them. I really should’ve asked more questions instead of letting that kiss scramble my brain. I left the gate open.

  A few meters farther down the tunnel, a flurry of messages spiked through my head. The virus had been loose for a little less than ten minutes. The cybersecurity team was trying to get ahead of it and not having a lot of success.

  Thirty seconds and several messages later, the lights went out. My smart glasses adjusted, then adjusted again when the intermittent emergency lighting came on. Vast sections of the hallway were now bathed in shadow.

  Coms went down and silence rang in my head. An emergency evacuation alarm went off, stopped, then went off again. I chuckled. I’d never seen this particular virus in use, but it was even better than advertised. I’d have to send my contact a bonus for a job well done.

  I moved toward the next gate, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Various alarms went off and were silenced, but the coms didn’t come back up. The second gate appeared in the distance. As I approached, I caught the whisper of a com signal. Someone was transmitting nearby, but no one was responding.

  I crept forward, trying to determine the location. Dark spots flashed in my vision. I was using my dubious gift too much and paying for the effort. Pain was my constant companion, but I needed every edge I could get.

  I peeked into the next tunnel and found a soldier, com to his ear. I’m not sure who was more surprised, him or me, but I recovered faster and shot first. I’d been aiming for center mass, but I must’ve pulled it at the last second. The soldier fell dead, a perfect shot through the middle of his head.

  Well, that was my allotment of luck for this century.

  That proved true a second later when the soldier behind him shot me twice with a stun pistol before I even realized she was there. I went down with a scream of agony. I clung to consciousness by the tiniest of threads. Stun pistols packed less of a wallop than stunsticks, but my brain implant still did not appreciate the jolt.

  “You stupid bitch! You killed Katz!” Her steel-toed boot to my stomach drove the breath from my lungs. She pulled back for another kick, but a third soldier stopped her. “Imbor wants her alive!” he said.

  “Imbor can fuck off,” she growled, struggling.

  The male soldier shook her. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, Private. Now help me cuff her before she regains muscle control.”

  The private rolled me over none too gently and drove a knee into my spine. I couldn’t prevent my groan. She wrenched my arms around and secured them behind my back. My left arm throbbed with pain as the blaster wound reopened.

  “You’re a dead woman,” she whispered into my ear.

  She would have to get in line.

  The male soldier searched me and took my blaster, smart glasses, and codebreaker. He left my inactive shielding cuff, thinking it jewelry. It dug into my arm above the restraints, but the pain meant I still had one form of protection if I needed it.

  The man picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. Blood rushed into my head and his shoulder dug into my bruised stomach. If I vomited on him he was totally going to deserve it.

  He moved briskly down the tunnel. Without my glasses, I couldn’t accurately judge time, but it felt like just a few minutes. If I remembered correctly, the second and third gates were fairly close together.

  At least eight soldiers filled the hallway, standing in a pool of light. “Is that the woman?” a male voice asked. “Where are the man and the miner?”

  “She was alone,” the female who kicked me said.

  I was unceremoniously dumped on the floor. I climbed to my feet and marched for the far elevators, the ones leading up to the base.

  An older man grabbed my injured arm in a tight grip and spun me around. He sneered at me. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  I think I’m getting you all to face away from the tunnel I just arrived through, I thought to myself. Out loud, I said, “I am returning to the base to contact MineCorp. That crazy son of a bitch I hired shot me! Me! He’ll never work again once my supervisors hear about this.”

  Keep talking. My brain caught the signal before I even realized who it was from. Ian was nearby.

  “And you all can kiss your jobs good-bye, too,” I said, my voice rising. “Who attacks a MineCorp representative? Don’t you know who I am? That bitch who stunned and kicked me is first in line for firing. She should be happy that I don’t demand her head. Release me this instant!”

  The soldier holding my arm released me and everyone else laughed, but it had a tinge of uneasiness. Command might’ve said I was a fake, but my tone and accent said I was high class. I just needed to sow enough doubt to keep them distracted.

  Keep talking and don’t move.

  I mentally rolled my eyes. Like I was going anywhere. I launched into another tirade. “I’m going to demand that MineCorp immediately revoke all House Rockhurst contracts. You clearly cannot be trusted—”

  The heat of a blaster bolt seared my left side. The soldier who had grabbed me dropped to the ground. The other soldiers in the hallway soon followed. Only two had managed to get shots off.

  “Time to go, princess,” Ian said, stepping out of the shadows.

  My whole body sagged in relief. “Can you find the key to the cuffs?”

  “No need.” Ian popped the plastech cuffs open with his bare hands, which should have been impossible. I was beginning to think the word didn’t apply to Ian. But when he touched my wounded arm, his grip was gentle.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “Is Ferdinand? Where is Ferdinand?” I looked Ian over, checking for injuries. He didn’t have any obvious wounds, but his shirt was soaked with sweat—what do you know, he was human after all.

  “We’re both fine. Ferdinand is a little way back. Thanks to your virus, we’re going to have to go up the stairs. Can you do it?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Can you? How did you get up here so fast?”

  His grin was sin and temptation. “Stamina.”

  A frisson of heat wove through me. “I see your ego didn’t take any damage,” I said with a laugh. “Go get my brother while I find my stuff.”

  I retrieved my stuff from the soldier who had searched me. Thanks to the smart glasses I could see the gate to the elevators in the distance. I kept an eye on it, but nothing moved. Based on the number of soldiers here, this was the sum total of everyone they’d sent down.

  Ian returned with Ferdinand draped over his shoulders.

  “Think they’ll send a squad down the stairs?” I asked.

  Ian shrugged. “Maybe. It seems like your virus is causi
ng enough chaos that they’ll try to deal with that first, though. Have you heard anything from Aoife?”

  “No. Coms are down. I only heard you because you were close.”

  “Do you have a plan for once we reach the base level?”

  “Keep climbing,” I said. “If the ship is still there, we take that. If not, we steal something.”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Ian set a grueling pace and I kept up out of sheer stubbornness. When I slowed, he took my hand and pulled me up a few floors until I recovered a little. He hadn’t been joking—his stamina seemed inexhaustible.

  When he stopped a floor below the top, I nearly collapsed in gratitude. My lungs burned, my stomach burned, my legs burned. Everything burned. Now that we’d stopped, my legs trembled uncontrollably.

  “This is the base level,” he said. “We’ll have to change stairwells to climb to the surface.”

  I listened for signals, but the coms were still down. “I don’t know what’s happening up there,” I said. “There could be a platoon of soldiers waiting for us for all I know.”

  “Your optimism knows no bounds,” Ian said drily.

  I shrugged. “I’m too tired for optimism.”

  “Activate your cuff,” Ian said. “We’ll run for the stairs, then run for the ship.”

  “What if they left already?”

  “Then we’ll improvise. Don’t borrow trouble.”

  I nodded and activated my cuff. I promised myself that once this was done, I’d spend a week on the pink sandy beaches of GCD One doing nothing more difficult than sipping a fruity drink with a tiny umbrella in it.

  We climbed the last floor to the base level. The codebreaker made short work of the door at the top of the stairwell and the door leading into the main part of the base.

  “I’ll cover you while you open the stairwell door to the surface,” Ian said. “It’s just past the elevator.”