by Neil Hunter
He didn’t need to know any more. He had found Kate - and he had also found Lange.
The brothel owner was blond and tall, with a pale and narrow face that displayed a cruelness in the set of the mouth. His eyes were small, sharp and calculating. He was dressed all in black and wore knee-high boots that made him look taller and thinner than he was.
He uttered a wild howl of rage and lunged toward Cade with a thin-bladed knife. It sliced through Cade’s shirt, the blade scraping the flesh of his chest.
‘You’ve killed them! My most reliable guards! Murdered both of them!’
He hurled himself at Cade again, the glittering blade of the knife raised for another strike.
Cade threw up his arm to block Lange’s descending knife hand. He struck hard, bruising the man’s arm. Lange yelled with pain, then unexpectedly transferred the knife to his other hand and lashed out again.
Cade recoiled from the threat, his right hand shoving the muzzle of the Magnum against Lange’s chest. He fired without hesitation, and the .357 slug tunneled through the brothel keeper’s chest and erupted between his shoulders. Lange flew backward, crunching against the wall. He stared at Cade with a shocked expression and slid down the wall, falling forward on his face.
Cade ran to the cage and unbolted the door. He reached inside and started to release the manacles. He thought she was unconscious, but as he freed her from the last chain, she arched back from him, swinging her free arm in a wild punch that clipped his jaw.
‘You won’t have any better luck this time!’
Her head came up, eyes locking with Cade’s. She stared at him, seeing him but unable to accept what she was seeing.
Cade saw the ugly bruises on her face and body, the cuts and scratches, crusted with dried blood, and although the rage still made him tremble, he wanted to hold her close to make himself really believe he’d found her safe.
A soft, small sound rose in her throat.
She reached out to touch him. ‘Cade? It's you,’ she said hoarsely, and then her lovely face crumpled and she began to cry.
Chapter Eighteen
Accessing the mine complex proved easier for Janek than he’d imagined. Since there was nothing of great value in monetary terms to be stolen from the place, security was simple and straightforward. There were a couple of checkpoints on the approach road leading into the complex. Apart from those and a simple perimeter fence, the site was open.
The titanium ore was unlikely to be stolen in any significant quantities, and even if it had been, there was little opportunity to get it away from Lexus-9.
Janek had memorized the mine layout from computer readouts and knew exactly how to approach the complex by the least noticeable route. He made his way to the extreme corner of the complex, where the fence ran close to the base of the dome under which it was housed. Here he was able to hurdle the fence with ease, landing well inside the grounds. He was in a section used to store worn-out machines employed in the underground operation. Janek worked his way through the abandoned equipment toward his destination, the air-recycling plant in the eastern sector of the complex.
Here the air from the generating plant was drawn through cleansing filters and pushed into the tunnels. This continuous process was maintained in order that the shifts of miners could be provided with clean, fresh air. It enabled them to work without the need for masks or oxygen tanks. The generating plant was housed in a large block, and according to the information Janek had absorbed, was operated by a team of androids. They were capable of working without rest, monitoring the airflow and keeping the cleansing filters running at all times.
Janek had decided that he would use the air ducts to get himself into the underground tunnels. His appraisal of the layout had shown him which of the ducting systems he needed to locate.
He wasted no time in completing his penetration of the complex and reaching his access point. At the far side of the generating plant were the massive ducting terminals. Clusters of thick, corrugated aluminum pipes, six feet in diameter, curved out from the side of the building.
They ran across the surface for some two hundred feet before angling under the surface of the asteroid. Janek’s information had told him there were access hatches close to the place where the pipes went underground. The cyborg’s retentive memory allowed him to recall the detailed information he had absorbed and select the ducting pipe he wanted.
Releasing the service hatch, Janek climbed inside, closing and resealing the hatch behind him.
There were small emergency lights every fifty yards in case urgent repair work needed to be carried out. The light they provided was faint, but Janek was able to use his night-vision facility to enhance the low illumination.
He crouched and moved along the pipe. When he reached the section where the pipe angled sharply downward, Janek was able to use the corrugations to slow his descent. The downward slope leveled out at three hundred yards, the pipe stretching out ahead of him. He knew he had at least a quarter of a mile to cover before he reached his destination.
Janek crawled along as the pipe leveled out. Unlike his human partner, he had no need to rest. He kept up a steady pace for the next half hour, then stopped.
The main pipe divided at this point. The right-hand junction continued its journey to supply one of the regular tunnels.
According to Janek’s assessment, the left-hand pipe was a branch, angling sharply downward to the supposedly unworkable new seam. He took the left-hand pipe. It dropped for almost one-third of a mile before leveling off.
From this point Janek only covered another five hundred yards before he was faced by the metal cabinet housing the filtration and booster unit that gave the air its final push into the tunnels.
The main pipe continued on to feed other sections of the underground tunnel network.
Edging around the ten-foot-square cabinet, Janek reached the service hatch allowing access to the tunnel. He peered through the metal grille, scanning the dimly lit tunnel beyond. It appeared deserted. Opening the hatch, he eased his way through and dropped to the tunnel floor. He paused to close the service hatch before moving off along the tunnel.
It had been bored out of the solid strata by cutting machines, leaving an almost perfectly formed tunnel, ten feet high.
Janek followed the tunnel for a few hundred yards before he noticed a distinct change in its formation.
The uniformity of the tunnel began to be marred by frequent erosion of the strata. Patches of broken rock and earth began to show. Bracing frames had been inserted to support sagging portions of the tunnel roof. The smooth floor became littered with debris that slowed Janek’s progress. He moved ahead, his eyes adjusting to the gloom where the overhead lights had malfunctioned in sections. He became aware of faint sounds coming from deep within the strata itself. Restless groans and grating sounds as the strata moved and stressed.
The sounds were beyond the range of the human ear, but his sensitive audio system was able to pick them up. He noticed the occasional trickle of dust sifting down from the roof of the tunnel — another indication of the area’s instability.
Proof that Frakin’s geology report had been correct. The mine company should have heeded his warnings and stayed out of the new seam.
The tunnel ahead began to curve. Janek rounded it and found himself confronted by a partial blockage where the wall of the tunnel had caved in. He studied the piled-up debris, locating the lowest point.
Climbing the loose, shifting slope, he dragged away the uppermost rocks, expanding the gap so he could crawl through. Janek had no difficulty moving the heavy chunks of shattered rock. His only cause for concern was the damage the work did to the synthetic skin of his hands.
On the far side he noticed the tunnel widening and expanding. The air inlets feeding the tunnel became more frequent.
Janek walked on. He began to pick up other sounds now, the scrape of metal on rock and mingled voices.
Minutes later Janek noticed that the tunnel ahe
ad was becoming lighter. The sounds were getting louder, too. He spotted movement ahead. Pressing himself against the tunnel wall, Janek focused in on the vague shape. It sharpened into the form of a man. Clad in a dusty jumpsuit and wearing a hard hat, the man was armed.
Janek eased forward yard by yard, keeping close to the tunnel wall, watching the armed man as he wandered back and forth.
The tunnel began to widen. Janek found he was on the edge of a wide, circular cavern that had been carved out of the rock. It was at least fifty feet across, rising to a good twenty feet high.
Lights were embedded in the walls and ceiling, illuminating the area well.
Directly across from where Janek stood was a twenty-foot portable cabin. To the left a section of the cavern had been closed off by a chain-link fence. The fence reached to the roof of the cavern.
Janek saw a large number of people behind the fence. He estimated there were more than a hundred. He studied them carefully. Even allowing for the artificial atmosphere in the cavern, the captives had the same facial appearance. They all had the same pale, ghostly white flesh.
Janek had found his Darksiders.
A closer look showed a few young women in among the majority of men.
They looked as haggard as the men.
Janek set the transmitter on a ledge some six feet up the tunnel side and activated the signal. Then he did the same with the unit in his pocket.
He moved back to the entrance to the cavern and checked the lone guard’s movements. The guard had his back to Janek, and he was at the far side of the cavern where an open area looked out over a lower level.
Janek crossed the cavern on silent feet, coming up behind the unsuspecting guard. He struck the man above his ear, hard enough to stun him. From one of his pockets Janek produced a pair of plastic handcuffs. He secured the guard’s hands behind his back, then dragged him into the shadows behind the cabin. Arming himself with the man’s squat SMG, Janek checked out the cabin. It was deserted.
The cabin was equipped with cooking facilities and a rest area. There was even a TV set.
Outside the cabin again Janek crossed to the secure compound. The Darksiders watched him with detached curiosity as he checked the locked gate in the fence. Closing his fingers over the lock, Janek wrenched it free and dragged open the gate.
The Darksiders remained where they were, still watching him silently.
‘I don’t expect to get trampled in the rush,’ Janek said. ‘But don’t you want to get out?’
‘Who are you?’ a gaunt-faced man asked.
Janek pulled out his badge and held it up. ‘The name’s Janek. I’m with the New York City Justice Department. Lexus has been busted over the hijacking of you people. The problem is they don’t know that on Lexus-9, so the best thing we can do is get the hell out of here.’
‘What about the rest of us?’ someone said. ‘Those already working?’
‘I haven’t forgotten about them,’ Janek said. ‘How many guards are there?’
‘Twenty. Maybe twenty-five.’
‘Don’t forget the crew on the elevator.’
‘What kind of numbers are we talking about for those working?’
‘Close to a hundred and fifty. Maybe less if there are any more cave-ins.’
‘Does that happen often?’
‘Sometimes daily. Depends on how far into a seam we go.’
A young man pushed his way to the front of the crowd. ‘How did you find out about us?’
‘A tip-off. We followed it through until we had the whole story.’
‘Did you talk to our people back in New York?’ the man asked.
‘Yes. I went into the tunnels with my partner.’
The young man’s face gave away what he was about to ask. ‘I have a girl down there.’
‘Are you Harry?’ Janek asked.
The man nodded vigorously. ‘Did you speak to...?’
‘Lisa?’ Janek said. ‘She helped us. And she told us about you. She’s all right.’
‘Janek, get us out of here. Those bastards are killing us every day. All they want to do is get the titanium ore out before anyone discovers what they’re up to. They make us work without safety gear. We have to dig the ore out with picks and shovels because they can’t risk power tools. The tunnels are crumbling all around us.’
‘How are they getting the stuff out without being discovered?’
‘It’s all a big cover-up. They have a makeshift loading dock at the far end of the main tunnel. It’s on the far side of a range of hills so nothing can be seen from any of the domes. None of the regular miners know anything about us. They’d tear the place apart if they did.’
‘Did they bring you in through this loading dock?’ Janek asked.
Harry nodded. ‘We didn’t know what was going on, and even when we did, what choice did we have? They told us from the start. Work or starve or get dumped out the airlock. They did that to a couple just to show they meant business. The mothers don’t give a damn how many of us die.’
‘Time we changed the odds,’ Janek said. ‘There has to be a way out of here up to the domes.’
‘There’s an elevator,’ Harry said. ‘The guards use it when they change shifts, but it’s guarded and on a coded lock. They showed us in case anyone got ideas about breaking out.’
‘Good,’ Janek said. ‘Harry, can you use this?’
Harry took the SMG. ‘One of the first things they teach you in the army.’
Janek turned to the assembled Darksiders.
‘We’re getting out of here. It isn’t going to be easy. Those guards aren’t going to walk away and let us. So there could be some trouble. Some of you will get hurt. But we have to release the rest of your people before we can leave.’
A muttering went through the Darksiders, but it was one of approval. ‘So let’s get to it.’
‘I’d sooner die fighting than be buried under a rock-fall.’
‘Harry, I’ll need you to guide me. The rest will have to stay back until we can gain a few weapons. Once we have the others free, we can make a break for the elevator.’
Harry led the way across the cavern to the spot where the guard had been standing. It overlooked the main work area. In a gaping basin, twenty feet below where Janek stood, Darksiders worked ceaselessly under the watchful gaze of armed guards. A number of tunnels led off from the main area, and Darksiders could be seen entering and leaving these tunnels. They pushed ore trucks mounted on narrow rails. Loaded trucks were transferred onto a separate set of rails that vanished along a wider tunnel.
‘That one goes to the loading dock,’ Harry explained. ‘The ore is dropped into a hopper that feeds into the cargo hold of a freighter. Very basic and simple, but it gets a lot of ore out. The shifts never stop. As soon as one finishes, a new shift starts.’
‘It’s slave labor,’ Janek said. ‘And cheap for Lexus.’
‘Look,’ Harry said, pointing.
At the mouth of one tunnel a guard was beating a Darksider who had collapsed. The man, weak from the arduous work, offered no resistance.
When he ceased moving, he was dragged to one side by the guard, who pushed another Darksider in to take up the workload.
‘We lose too many that way,’ Harry said tonelessly. He stiffened suddenly. ‘Dammit, no more, Janek. No more.’
‘Wait,’ Janek said, but Harry had already moved, running for the sloping ramp that led to the lower level.
Janek followed, aware that the wheels had started rolling now. There was nothing he could do to stop it. He pulled his auto pistol, slipping off the safety as he went after Harry.
Due to the dim light and the noise from the work in progress, Harry’s descent wasn’t noticed until he was almost at the bottom of the ramp.
Then one of the guards, turning to cross the floor, happened to glance in the direction of the ramp. He saw Harry, did a double take, but quickly recovered to raise a shout and open fire.
His shooting was noisy but inaccura
te.
The stream of slugs struck the rock wall over Harry’s head. Harry threw himself off the ramp, landing behind a heap of debris.
Janek swung the big auto pistol up, tracking the guard who was approaching Harry’s hiding place. Stroking the trigger, Janek put hot lead through the guard’s skull. The impact hurled the man to the ground, and the SMG bounced from dead fingers.
In seconds the whole area erupted.
The Darksiders scattered as the guards opened up, firing on anything that moved. The cavern echoed loudly to the heavy bursts of auto fire, the sounds amplified to the extreme.
Harry put his SMG to work, his first volley cutting down a pair of guards. The moment they hit the ground, Darksiders converged on them, using their digging tools as they made sure they wouldn’t give any more trouble.
As Janek reached the end of the ramp, he was faced by a guard who had just burst out from one of the tunnels. Janek responded first, triggering his auto pistol.
The powerful weapon drove a pair of bullets into the guard’s chest. He staggered, slamming into the wall at his back.
Before he hit the ground, a Darksider was on him, using his shovel as a club to batter the man’s skull.
Stone chips exploded from the rock face inches from Janek. He lunged forward, bodily slamming into a pair of Darksiders who were in range. One fell clear, but the second man gave a stunned cry as burning bullets chewed into the flesh of his upper chest. The man tumbled back, clawing at the fatal wounds, his hands turning red. Crouching over the Darksider he had pushed clear, Janek swung his auto pistol across his body, triggering a fast trio of shots at the guard who had fired the deadly volley. The impact picked the guard up and tossed him aside.
Behind Janek the Darksiders he had freed started down the ramp, oblivious to the danger from the guards’ weapons.
Underfoot, Janek felt the floor tremble, then he felt something drop against his shoulder. Glancing up, he saw dust trailing down from the cavern roof. Focusing his eyes on the roof, he spotted fine cracks spreading across the rock. The floor rippled beneath his feet.
