“Dancer, listen to me,” Salvi said. “You have to trust me. As soon as we get into the open air, the SFPD AI will have our location and the cavalry will come. That’s more important right now. Travis and the others might figure out we’ve hit the sewers and block us before we can get the signal out. We need to get to the roof now. We have to get the signal out as soon as possible!”
“But they’ll definitely catch us if we do that!”
“Maybe so,” Salvi said, “but it won’t be for long. We need the SFPD to help us. Can you get us out onto the roof?”
Dancer nodded. “Yeah, but–”
“Dancer, trust me. It’s our best option.” Salvi turned and began moving up the stairs.
“Shit!” Dancer hissed, smacking his hand on the railing, before running to catch up to her.
Salvi glanced at him as he appeared alongside. “How did you know we would help you?”
He glanced back at her. “I knew once that other cop came here, that others would follow. Then I heard they brought you three in, three more cops.”
“Wait, you saw Caine?” Bronte asked, grabbing his arm and stopping him.
“Well, I didn’t see him,” Dancer said, “but I heard the guards talking about what went down. He tried to break out with MasterSlave-18.”
“Clare…” Salvi said.
Dancer nodded. “She was the Chief of Police’s daughter, right?”
Salvi nodded. “What did you mean ‘was’?”
Dancer shrugged. “I just mean she was his daughter. Now she’s MasterSlave-18. They watch her like a hawk and any customers who ask for her. Your guy Caine made it too obvious.”
“Clare’s alive,” Kara said, and looked at Salvi.
Salvi looked back to Dancer. “Come on!”
She started climbing the stairs again, but they stopped at the sound of a door opening below them. They peered over the stairwell railing, to see Travis and the guards entering. Travis looked up at her and smiled, then held up a data pane.
“Shit!” Salvi said, as they turned and started running again. She saw the exit door ahead, rimmed with daylight. Her freedom.
But suddenly the door turned on its side.
No, it was Salvi who turned on her side. Her shoulder hit the brick wall as she fell onto the stairs.
“Salvi!” Kara yelled. “Bronte!”
Salvi panted as she gained her bearings again, as Bronte groaned somewhere behind her. She heard the sound of his taser falling over the side of the stairs and smashing to the ground below.
“Hurry!” Dancer yelled, pulling Salvi to her feet, as Kara helped Bronte to his.
They kept running and made it to the top of the stairs.
“One either side!” Dancer yelled, pointing Salvi to the console by the door, while he moved to a second console further along the wall. “On the count of three, I’ll call out the code. Got it?”
Salvi nodded, but the world turned sideways again. She dropped her taser and grabbed the door handle to catch her fall, but felt her knees hit concrete.
“Salvi!” Kara yelled. “Let me do it!”
Kara pulled her out of the way, then moved to the console and looked to Dancer. “Go!”
Suddenly, the metal cuff around Dancer’s ankle lit up, there was a high-pitch alarm, then his ankle collapsed on a sharp ninety-degree angle. Dancer screamed in pain, as he fell sideways. Salvi filled with horror as his ankle looked to be completely snapped in half. She pulled herself to her feet and ran to him.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Dancer screamed, reaching for his foot which hung loosely at the end of his leg.
“Kara!” Bronte yelled. “Taser!”
Kara threw her taser to Bronte, who caught it and fired it over the stairwell railing, as Salvi grabbed Dancer and hauled him over to lean against the wall.
“What’s the code, Dancer? What’s the code?”
Tears streamed down his face as the shock faded away, though he still moaned in pain.
“Dancer!” she yelled grabbing his shirt and shaking him. “We’re going to get out of here, but you need to tell us the code. What is it!”
“N-nine, five–”
“Kara!” Salvi yelled, seeing her picking up Salvi’s taser, away from the console.
“Wait! Wait, start again!” she yelled, moving back to the console.
The world turned again, and Salvi and Bronte fell to the floor, as this time pain filled their skulls. Salvi breathed through it, then looked up to see Bronte’s taser had spilled down a few steps. He shook off his pain, thanks to the Fyte within him, and stumbled down to get it.
“Dancer,” Salvi panted, looking back at him. “Dancer, get up. Lean on me. Get up.” Salvi moved over to him on all fours and pressed her weight against him. “Use me. Get up. Bronte, help us!”
“They’re coming!” Bronte said as he moved up the steps to them, using the clear-headed moment to lift Dancer to the console.
Dancer clung to the console, glancing at Kara.
“Go!” Kara yelled.
“Nine! Five! Six…” Dancer yelled, as the world turned again for Salvi and Bronte. They groaned as the world spun and they fought hard to hold Dancer in place, but they all fell again, making Dancer scream in pain once more, and yet another taser went over the side of the stairs.
“Get up!” Kara yelled. “Get up!”
“We gotta stop ‘em, Salv,” Bronte said, getting to his feet and moving for the stairs.
“No!” she said, grabbing his arm. “You need to get outside!”
“We won’t get out like this!”
“You help him!” she pushed Bronte to Dancer again, grabbed Dancer’s taser, and fired it over the stairwell railing once more. She was too far away for it to hit its target, but it made Travis and the guards pause and cower. Anything to hold them back.
“Nine! Five! Six…” Dancer began again, “Four, three–”
The world turned more violently, and Salvi fell to the floor again, rolling down the first few steps, her stomach churning.
“Salvi!” Kara yelled, as Bronte dropped Dancer again with another scream of pain.
“Go..!” she managed, swaying as she dragged herself upright, before vomiting all over the steps.
“Goddamn it!” Dancer yelled in frustration. He pulled himself to his feet, standing on his snapped ankle, growling in pain as tears streamed down his face. “N-nine, five, six, four, three, seven, two!” he screamed, punching the digits on the console.
“Got it!” Kara yelled, as the door unlocked. She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open as gunfire sounded. Salvi looked up and saw Kara’s arm spray with blood. Kara dropped to the ground, seeking shelter.
“Kara!” Salvi yelled. “Bronte, run!”
Bronte was on his feet, grabbing on to Dancer to aid him.
But the world turned violently once more.
Salvi fell, hitting the back of her head on the steps. She hissed in pain and felt the blood staining her fingers. She looked up to Bronte, saw him vomiting on all fours.
“Kara! Get Bronte out of here!” Salvi yelled as she moved to the stairwell handrail again and fired down. She saw that Travis and the guards had pressed forward and were almost upon them now. Their tasers were put away and real handguns took their place. “Go!” she yelled back at her team. “I’ll get Dancer!”
Kara, arm bleeding, scrambled to grab Bronte and pull him toward the door, as Salvi moved for Dancer. She hauled the wounded man to the doorway, watching as Kara and Bronte disappeared through it.
But as they did, more blood sprayed the doorway. She heard Bronte yell. His side had been hit and both he and Kara fell to the ground.
“Bronte!” she yelled. She looked back to Dancer who crawled toward the doorway.
“They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me,” he whimpered, one hand clinging onto the cuff around his neck. Salvi eyed it, fear filling her.
“We just need to get outside, Dancer,” she said, eyeing the doorway right in
front of them.
Again the world span and pain twisted inside her skull. She released Dancer and slammed her hands against her head, screaming.
They were so close to freedom. They just had to hold on a little longer.
“We’re not going to make it,” Dancer said, more tears pouring down his face.
“We are,” Salvi said, dizzy. She wiped her nose and saw blood on her hand.
“We’re not,” he shook his head with hopelessness.
Salvi grabbed onto him, ignoring her throbbing head. “We’re are, goddamn it! We’re going to fight our way out if it’s the last thing we do, now move!”
She got to her feet and dragged Dancer through the doorway into the sunlight.
When Salvi hit the sunlight, she cried in pain at the brightness. She instantly shaded her eyes, dropping them to the ground, but when she made out blood splatter, she looked up again.
“Bronte! Kara!” she glanced around for them.
“Here!” Kara yelled.
Salvi saw Kara peering out from behind a large air vent. She looked around at Dancer’s pale, pained face, and grabbed him again.
“Come on, Dancer!” she said, hauling his arm around her shoulders. “We’re going to make it. Hold on.” She pulled him to stand and they began moving haphazardly for the air vent.
“Just leave me,” Dancer said. “Come back for me.”
“No. You know too much. You have to come with us.”
“If I go, they’ll kill me,” he said, dropping to the ground.
“Dancer, no!” Salvi stopped too.
“I thought these cuffs were a placebo,” he said, clasping the one around his neck. “I couldn’t find any trace of them in the system, so I thought they were fake. But they’re fucking real! They kept the details from me so I couldn’t figure out how to disarm them. They’re fucking real and if I don’t stay, they’re going to use the one around my neck and kill me!”
“Dancer, no!” Salvi said. “You can help us end these gu–”
The world turned again, and Salvi fell to the ground. She shook it off and looked up to see the two guards emerging from the doorway.
“Go!” Dancer pushed her. “Go!”
Salvi scrambled to her feet, but fell once more, as Travis stabbed his finger on the data pane. Dancer grabbed the taser from her hand and aimed it at Travis. It hit, his body locked up, he dropped the data pane and fell to the ground.
“Salvi! Run!” Kara yelled, taking aim at the other guards with her taser.
Salvi moved to get to her feet again, fighting the urge to vomit. Dancer suddenly grabbed her, pulled her close and whispered desperately in her ear.
“Remember Bacchus,” he said. “Anything to do with Bacchus or Bacchanalia. Find that and you’ll end the whole system.”
Salvi looked at him, confused.
“Go!” he yelled waving her away. “Go! Before they get up!”
Salvi grabbed him. “No! You’re coming with me!”
She grabbed Dancer’s arm and dragged him around the air vent, while Travis and the guards recovered from their tasering.
Salvi slumped down on the other side of Bronte to where Kara was, back to the air vent, pulling Dancer beside her. She looked at Bronte’s bleeding body. He was sweating and panting, but holding it together well; the Fyte doing its job.
“They’re getting up,” Kara said, pulling herself back behind the cover of the air vent. “My taser’s finished,” she said, eyeing its battery pack. “What do we do?”
“We just have to hold them off,” Salvi said, taking the taser in Dancer’s hand and throwing it to her. Kara caught it, then peered around the corner and fired again.
Salvi turned her eyes to the skies. “Where are you Riverton? Where are you?”
The world turned again and Salvi moaned in pain, falling onto Dancer.
“We’re not gonna make it,” Kara said, throwing the used taser away, panting and dripping with sweat and blood. “They’re gonna kill us.”
“No,” Salvi said, pulling herself back up and looking at Kara. “They’re going to keep us alive…”
Kara stared at her. “I’d rather death.”
“They’re too powerful,” Dancer whispered, as his eyes filled with tears again.
“No,” Salvi said shaking her head, swallowing, breathless. “We won’t let them win. We can’t!” She glanced around hopelessly, saw Dancer’s broken ankle, saw Kara’s bleeding arm, saw the blood spilling out from Bronte’s wounded side.
“Fuck,” Salvi said, pressing her hands against Bronte’s wound. As she did, she looked up into the sky, searching again. “Goddamit Riverton!” she yelled. “Where the fuck are you?”
Tears streamed down her face.
“Maybe they’re still blocking the beacon somehow?” Kara said, tears filling her eyes too.
Travis appeared with the guards, stepping casually around the air vent. He knew their prisoners had no more weapons. He smiled as he came to a stop in front of them, tapping his fingers on the side of the data pane like he was tapping along to a happy tune.
“You are going to regret the day you did this,” he said.
And then Salvi saw it.
Over Travis’ shoulder in the sky beyond.
Something in the distance.
Something small, and black, and hurtling toward them at great speed.
“Salvi!” Kara said, pointing, seeing it too.
“You think I’m going to fall for that?” Travis said to her.
“It’s a goddamn drone!” Kara said, eyes popping.
Travis looked around at it.
“Hey!” Salvi yelled, waving her arms at the drone. “Hey! Over here!”
“Shit…” Travis said, moving backwards from them.
“SFPD mother fucker,” Bronte said through gritted, bloodied teeth.
Salvi smiled venomously at Travis. “You’re the one who is going to regret what you did here.”
Travis glanced at Dancer nervously, before he looked back to his data pane and stabbed it. Then he ran back toward the stairs.
“No, no, no, no…!” Dancer whispered. Salvia looked back to him to see the cuff around his neck light up and the alarm sound. He looked at her wide-eyed in fear.
“No!” she reached out to him, as his neck suddenly snapped loudly, and he fell motionless against her. “No! No! No!”
The drone hurtled toward them so fast Salvi wasn’t sure it was going to stop, but it did, abruptly, a few feet from Bronte. She stiffened as a green light emanated from it, tracing over his face, confirming his identity.
Gunfire from the two guards suddenly ricocheted off it, forcing them all to cower.
The drone suddenly rose as a compartment in its belly slid back and the muzzle of its weapon lowered. Its digital voice projected toward the firing guards.
“This is the San Francisco Police Department. Drop your weapons. I repeat–”
More gunfire bounced off the drone as they curled themselves into balls once again to avoid being hit. Cracks appeared in the drone’s shell, but no internal damage had been sustained.
Then the drone fired back at the guards, hurtling toward them.
Salvi peered over the air vent to see the guards’ bodies riddled with bullets as they fell to the ground, and Travis disappeared inside the doorway, data pane still in hand.
“More!” Kara said pointing in the distance. Salvi looked to where she was pointing as more drones zoomed toward them.
Bronte’s beacon had been detected and Riverton was sending in the cavalry.
“Oh, thank god..,” Salvi breathed with utter relief. “Thank you, Riverton. Thank you…”
Bronte groaned again and Salvi turned to him. She thrust her hand out to his wounds to stem the bleeding.
“Help is coming,” she said. “Hold on, Bron–”
An incredibly intense pain suddenly shot through her skull, more intense than anything she had felt so far. She screamed as her whole body arched and seemed to lock up
in agony.
“Salvi!” Kara yelled in panic.
She let go of Bronte’s wounds and fell onto her back, clasping at the neural devices attached either side of her face. Kara’s blurred face came into view, but she couldn’t hear anything she said for the screaming.
And as the world spun and pain shot though her, a cacophony of sound and sensations clouded her mind and she instantly fell into blackness.
17: PERMANENT SCAR
Salvi heard the digital beeping. Her eyes shot open. She was in a bed, in another strange room, and scrambled back against the pillows, pulling her legs in defensively, and fighting the dizzy swirl in her head.
She saw movement beside her and flicked her face to see Mitch in a chair beside her bed, startled from sleep.
“Salvi?” he said, through groggy eyes, moving forward. “Salvi, it’s okay! You’re in hospital.”
“Where are they?”
“Who? Bronte and Kara? They’re here. They’re going to be okay.”
Salvi stared at him, stunned, trying to get her bearings, and with each second of being awake, her head hurt more and more.
“We’re safe?”
“You’re safe,” he nodded, moving closer to her slowly and placing his hand on her arm.
“What about the others?” she blurted. “In MasterSlave?”
Mitch held his hands out calmly to her. “We’ve cleared out MasterSlave. We found the Chief’s daughter and most of the missing girls. Dolson, the PI, has ID’d them all. They’re free.”
Salvi’s eyes darted around the room, her knees still clenched at her chest.
“Dancer?” she asked, looking back at Mitch, although she knew the answer.
He shook his head.
A tear rolled down Salvi’s cheek. She knew it was so, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. “He helped us get out of there.”
Mitch nodded. “I know. Kara told us everything.”
Salvi stared at him. “Tom Bradley. That’s his name. And Travis, and Kelvin, a-and Edward, and… and Ellis! They’re the ghosts. Did you get them?”
“The guys in the photo with Caine?” he said. “No. We haven’t identified them as yet. At least, Kara hasn’t.”
Salvi felt a dread wash over her. “They got away, didn’t they?”
The Sensation Page 29
