by Jack Heath
Even watching the ground, Doug nearly stepped in a ditch that was almost completely hidden by ferns and fallen branches. He was still looking for a way around it when he heard the footsteps up ahead.
Priya. She must have left only minutes before he woke up. This gave him a second chance. If he could catch up with her, he could talk her out of leaving.
'Priya!' he yelled.
The footsteps stopped.
Doug waited for Priya to call back, but she didn't. There was a long silence.
Then the footsteps started again. Getting louder. Closer. They were heavy. Too heavy to be Priya.
Doug jumped down into the ditch. The prickly ferns swallowed him up. He found himself enclosed in green, like a seed in a pod.
He waited.
BLACKDAMP
'A lot of coal miners died down here,' Eaton told Jarli and Bess as they walked. 'Mine collapses, fires, explosions, suffocations. There was talk of getting a nuclear power plant instead, but then the Chernobyl reactor melted down in Russia. That scared everyone, so they kept mining coal until the late nineties. One big disaster gets more attention than a hundred smaller ones. Just like how a plane crash gets more attention than a hundred car accidents.'
Jarli didn't know if she was trying to scare them, or if this was just how army people talked. They were walking downhill, which worried him. Going deeper and deeper underground. He could hear Bess's crutches clacking on the rough stone behind him.
'You know the way out, right?' Bess said.
'I know five ways out. Only two of them are a significant distance from the school though. I think it's time for you to tell me who's after you.'
Jarli was still wondering how much to reveal when Bess spoke up.
'We think they work for a crime lord called Viper,' she said. 'Have you heard of him?'
There was a pause. Eaton's footsteps echoed through the darkness. Water dripped somewhere in the distance.
'There are rumours,' Eaton said finally, 'of a man with terrible scars all over his face. Burns, like you get from a bomb blast. People say he's based in Kelton and has criminals working for him all over the country. But I don't believe the rumours are true.'
LIE Jarli's phone beeped. It must have turned itself back on. Could that mean Eaton did believe the stories she'd heard?
'Where did you hear these rumours?' he asked.
'I don't appreciate you using that app on me,' Eaton said.
'We think Viper brought down the plane,' Bess said, 'because it crashed into the house of a witness working against him. But we don't know Viper's real name, or anything about his organisation.'
'It doesn't sound like you're much of a threat to Viper,' Eaton said thoughtfully.
Jarli had been thinking the same thing. 'But he doesn't know that,' he said. 'And if we're right, he must have police working for him, because otherwise he wouldn't know where the witness lived. And now the police are chasing us.'
'Wait. The people we're running from are cops?' It sounded like Eaton was second-guessing her decision to help them.
'Cops who work for a crime boss,' Jarli said.
'Jarli found the pilot,' Bess said. 'She says some kind of laser beam crashed her plane. And we know Viper met with someone from Magnotech about a year ago to order a magnetic laser. We have a journalist trying to find out more.'
'Is the pilot okay?' Eaton asked. 'Do you have her hidden somewhere safe?'
'Safe-ish,' Bess said. 'We probably shouldn't tell you where.'
'Smart. Watch your head.'
Jarli ducked just in time to avoid a low-hanging rock. He wondered how many miners had been injured by it.
'Can you trust this journalist?' Eaton asked. 'Who is it?'
'Dana Reynolds,' Jarli said cautiously. 'Why wouldn't we trust her?'
'Well, she's not helping you out of the goodness of her heart.' Eaton hesitated at a fork in the tunnel and then turned left. Jarli followed, hoping she wasn't lost.
'You think she might work for Viper?' Bess asked.
'Probably not,' Eaton said. 'But even if her goals line up with yours, Viper might get to her. Then she might decide to sacrifice you to save herself.'
Jarli felt like he was descending too fast in a lift. 'You think we should have gone to the police instead?'
'You have no way of knowing which cops can be trusted. So, no. You're in a tight spot. If I were you, I wouldn't trust anybody. That's rule number five.'
It was hard to tell, but Jarli thought Eaton sounded sad. He wondered what sort of person only felt safe if her office had a locked door and a secret tunnel. Maybe her trust rating was so high because she almost never had anyone to talk to.
'Sounds like a lonely way to live,' Bess said, echoing Jarli's thoughts.
'Yes,' Eaton said. 'But you'll live. Jarli, can I borrow your phone?'
Jarli handed it over.
'If you guys or your pilot need a safer hideout,' Eaton said as she typed, 'call me on this number. I know a place you could use, at least in the short term.'
'Thanks.'
A ladder was mounted on the tunnel wall. Jarli didn't see it until Eaton pointed. It stretched up and up into the darkness.
'Jarli, this will take you to the industrial district just north of town,' she said. 'Bess, can you climb ladders?'
Bess looked at the floor.
'I thought not,' Eaton said. 'You'll have to come with me to the other exit.'
'Why can't I stay with you?' Jarli asked, trying to keep his voice steady. 'Where am I going?'
'The Magnotech factory is a ten-minute walk from the top of this ladder. And the guy who owns the company, Kellin Plowman—'
'Wait. Kellin Plowman owns Magnotech?' Kellin Plowman was the richest person in Kelton, and maybe the state. But Jarli had thought he earned all his money from cryptocurrencies, not magnets.
'He does,' Eaton said. 'It's an unmanned factory, but I think he often visits. Could be a good place to look for clues about this laser device.'
'What about me?' Bess asked.
'I can get you to an exit near Warbydale Farm. No ladders, and it should still be outside the search radius. I can't help any more than that. I should get back to the school before anyone realises I'm missing and finds my air vent. Rule number three— keep access points a secret.' She met Jarli's gaze. 'You won't tell anyone?'
Jarli shook his head.
Eaton looked at Bess.
'You can trust us,' Bess said.
Eaton half-smiled. 'Rule number five. Good luck, Jarli.' She gestured up the ladder.
Bess hugged Jarli and then followed Eaton into the darkness, with only a brief glance back. Their footsteps faded away to nothing.
Without them, the dark, enclosed space became unbearable. Jarli raced up the ladder as though he was being chased by tigers. Once he was a few rungs up, he couldn't see the ground below.
Soon he bumped his head on a metal lid. There was no handle, and it was heavy. Jarli braced his feet against the ladder and pushed with both hands. The lid popped out and grated along the asphalt around the hole.
Jarli poked his head out like a gopher. The manhole was in the middle of a street he didn't immediately recognise. There was no traffic and no parked cars. Just hulking warehouses and abandoned coal refineries behind chain-link fences.
Jarli crawled out of the hole. Now that he was above the surface, his phone pinged. He had missed a call from Mum at two-thirty.
He called her back, and she picked up right away. 'Jarli! Are you OK?'
It was a relief to hear her voice. 'I'm fine,' he said. 'What about you?'
'We're OK. But you need to come home right away.'
'Why?'
'I'll explain when you get here.'
'I can't. Some bad people are looking for me. Totally not my fault, by the way.'
'That's why you need to come home.'
Something in her voice made the hairs on Jarli's arms stand up.
'Mum,' he said. 'Is someone there with you?'
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Silence.
'The people looking for me,' Jarli said, 'they look like cops. Or maybe they are cops, but they're bad. They work for Viper. Are they there? Just answer yes or no.'
The line went dead.
NOWHERE TO RUN
As Jarli turned around and around, wondering what to do, he saw two helicopters in the distance. They were circling Kelton's town centre like blowflies looking for food.
Other than when a bushfire came too close a few years ago, Jarli had never seen a helicopter in Kelton. These ones were black—not firefighters, not media. More Feds.
Jarli dragged the manhole cover shut. It fell into place with a permanent-sounding thunk. He crossed the street and stood in the shade of the only tree on the block. Then he called Dana Reynolds.
She picked up after only two rings. 'Jarli. Are you somewhere safe?'
Jarli hesitated. Under a tree in an industrial district didn't seem especially safe. But he wasn't in any immediate danger. 'Yes,' he said finally.
'Good. I half-suspected that you'd sent me on a wild-goose chase,' Reynolds said. 'But you were right. Journos, criminals, cops—everyone is looking for your friend.'
It took Jarli a second to work out that she meant Doug. He still didn't feel like a friend.
'I think the bad guys have my family,' Jarli said. 'I just called Mum, and it sounded like someone was there.'
'Was she at home?'
'Yeah, I think so.'
Reynolds sounded excited. 'I'm on my way.'
Jarli heard a thump as a car door closed. An engine kicked into gear. The sound of Reynolds' voice changed as her phone automatically switched to hands-free.
'I know it doesn't feel like it,' she said, 'but this is good news. They're exposed. If I can get to your place before they leave, I can get pictures of them. Identify them.'
'I don't care about that,' Jarli said. 'I just want my family to be safe.'
'I'll do what I can,' Reynolds said. 'Did you know the police have put Kelton on lockdown? They're searching the town and the surrounding lands. They've put checkpoints on the highways. No vehicles can leave town without a thorough inspection. And since you know where Doug is, they're looking for you, too.'
'I know,' Jarli said. 'They were at my school.'
'Who was?'
'Two men. They looked like pólice. Federal. But I think one of them works for Viper.'
'That's bad,' Reynolds said. 'We thought Viper found out where Doug's family lived because he was monitoring police Communications. But what if he has actual police officers working for him, and he used them to bring the family to Kelton? We know he's based here. He might have wanted to keep an eye on them.'
Jarli could see a plume of dust on the horizon. A car was coming. Could be police, or could be no-one. Either way, he wanted to get out of sight.
He ran down a narrow alley between two warehouses. Old newspapers blew past like tumbleweeds.
'I've been looking into Steven Fussell,' Reynolds was saying. 'The passenger who was supposed to board the plane. As far as I can tell, there's no such person. No birth record, no past addresses, no phone number.'
Jarli had to admit that Dana Reynolds was much more than just makeup and big hair. She was good at this spy stuff.
'What does that mean?' Jarli asked.
'Probably just that it's a false name. But I did find a police report. A man named Steven Fussell claimed that he had seen Viper in person and could identify him. The Feds put him on a flight to Kelton.'
'Why?'
'That's complicated,' Reynolds said. 'The magnetic laser is called a reverse coilgun, or RCG. It was manufactured at the Magnotech factory in Kelton, and the cops believe Viper picked it up in person. They wanted to put Fussell in a room with Maayke Hennessey—Doug's mother—and show them both a video from the factory security cameras. Maayke knows plenty about Magnotech's operations and its customers. The cops hoped that once Fussell pointed Viper out, Maayke might be able to provide some more details about him. Maybe even his real name. But thanks to his source in the police, Viper got wind of the plan and crashed Fussell's plane into Maayke's house, supposedly killing two birds with one stone.'
'But Fussell got wind of that plan, so he didn't get on the plane.' Jarli's head was starting to hurt. 'Why didn't he warn them not to take off?'
'I'm still trying to figure that out,' Reynolds said. 'I'll keep you posted.'
The engine noise got louder and louder. A blue car sped past the alley without slowing down. It was gone too quickly for Jarli to get a good look at it. The engine noise faded away.
'Jarli, you need to stay out of sight for a while.' Reynolds said. 'Don't trust anyone.'
Even you, Jarli thought, remembering Eaton's advice.
A droning sound caught his attention. He looked up, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun with one hand. One of the helicopters had stopped circling the town and was headed his way.
Jarli felt his insides go watery.
'There's a helicopter coming towards me,' he said.
'One of the choppers circling the town?'
'Right. What do I do?'
'They must be tracking your phone. Ditch it and run! Go, now!'
A RAT IN A TRAP
Even with a helicopter racing towards him, Jarli couldn't bring himself to just throw his phone away. Instead, he quickly buried it under a nearby pile of garbage bags. Maybe he could come back for it later. Or at least make whoever was tracking it waste a few minutes looking for it.
No time to get back to the manhole. Jarli sprinted up the alley, looking for a way to get out of sight. The whopping of the helicopter blades got louder and louder.
There was a skip bin up ahead, paint flaking off the steel sides. A harsh chemical smell floated around it. The lid was chained shut. Jarli tried to lift it anyway, but he couldn't get it open wide enough to climb through the gap. He kept running.
The warehouse to his left had a roller door. Jarli grabbed the handle at the bottom and pulled.
LOCKED.
He pounded on the shutters. 'Hey!' he yelled Can anyone hear me? I need help!'
No response from inside. Jarli looked back at the helicopter. It was close enough now that he could see the landing skis and the bulbous windscreen gleaming in the sun. The occupants might not have seen him yet, but they would soon.
He ran out of the alley and turned right, desperate to get out of sight. He found himself on another dusty street. No people, no trees, no open doors. No cover. Locked gates and chain-link fences separated the street from the surrounding buildings.
Most of the fences had barbed wire on top, but one didn't. Behind it was a row of self-storage units and a van with a smashed windscreen. The van was wrapped in police tape like a birthday present.
WHOP-WHOP-WHOP. The helicopter was getting closer. Jarli ran over and started climbing the fence. The wire rattled, digging into his hands and leaving red creases on his fingers as he scrambled over the top. He dropped down on the other side and crawled under the smashed-up van.
There wasn't as much room as he had expected. Even with his face pressed against the concrete, the undercarriage of the van—black metal spattered with oil and dirt—was only centimetres above his head.
Jarli lay still, his heart pounding. He didn't know what to do next. He was trapped. If he ran in any direction, he would be visible from the air. He was still in his cheery blue school uniform. And he had no phone now, so he couldn't call anyone for help.
The engine noise from the helicopter rose to a deafening shriek—
Then four ropes appeared, dangling over the street. There was a zipping sound as four people slid down the ropes and landed on the asphalt.
Each of them wore black combat fatigues and tough-looking boots. Their faces were invisible behind helmets with mirrored visors.
All four were carrying machine guns. Jarli was terrified. He'd never seen a machine gun in real life. Were these people Federal Police or Viper's soldiers? Or both?
The four ropes were pulled up out of sight. The helicopter noise faded as the aircraft moved away. Nobody spoke. One of the soldiers went left up the street. Another went right. The other two disappeared into the alley.
Jarli trembled. If they were tracking his phone, they would find it soon. They would realise that he had ditched it and that he was hiding somewhere nearby. Jarli had to move before they came back.
He scrambled out from under the van and ran towards the row of self-storage units. They looked like garages and probably contained the same kinds of things. Tax files, old computers, cobwebs and dust. Surely someone would have left one unlocked.
Jarli reached the first unit. The roller door was padlocked closed. So was the next. And the next.
The fourth unit along was locked just like the others. But the padlock had a three-digit combination rather than a keyhole. Jarli used a padlock just like this on his locker at school. Whenever he closed it, he rotated one of the number wheels a single notch, so it was easy to open again. Maybe the owner of this unit was equally lazy.
Jarli crouched down and squinted at the padlock. The wheels were set at 724. He turned one, so the combination read 624. The padlock wouldn't open. He tried 824. No luck. 714. Nothing. 734. Still nothing.
Then a different door rolled open in the opposite row.
Jarli whirled around, expecting to see a stranger cleaning out a locker—or one of Viper's soldiers, who had somehow gotten behind him.
He saw neither of those things.
The person staring at him from inside the storage unit was Doug.
BUNKER DOWN
'Jarli?' Doug said. He was wearing a big coat and carrying a heavy bag. 'What are you doing here?'
'We have to hide,' Jarli said. 'People are after me!'
Doug looked around, confused. Jarli pushed past him into the storage unit.
'Close the door,' he said. 'Quick!'
Doug hurriedly pulled the roller door shut, plunging the unit into darkness.
'Who's after you?' Doug asked. 'The hazmat suit guys?'
'I don't know,' Jarli said. 'There's four of them now. They have a helicopter and guns. The whole shebang. They might be police—Dana Reynolds says they have Kelton locked down.'
