“Everyone ready?” Flik asked.
Selene nodded and braced her feet for the lurch of the ground. “Bring us in, Rem,” she said into the comset stuck in her ear.
“Yes ma’am,” Rem replied through the link.
The ground jerked below them, artificial gravity dying as the lift opened. The floor descended a good foot before retracting to reveal the lab’s roof below.
Wind pushed inside, stirring her hair. As adrenaline rushed through her veins, she glanced at the others, sure to get their ready nods before she waved.
“See you down there.” Selene leapt from the cruiser, wind rushing all around her. She freefell for several moments, sending her heart up into her throat. Then her entire body lurched up as her harness caught. She grabbed the thick cord, grinning as she righted herself midair.
Slowly, she descended to the roof. Her boots hit the thick cement and she yanked off the buckle before stepping aside for the others to join her.
Once they were all on the roof, she made her way to the rooftop exit, beside which stood the silver air filtration system.
Rikkard arrived first, shutting down the system before prying off the grate in front of the large air duct. He looked up at her with the grate in hand, worry flashing through his eyes.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. Selene handed him her rifle. It’d be easier to crawl through it with only her pistols. “I’ll see you guys soon.” She paused, glancing at each of them. “Keep each other safe. No heroics.”
Flik flashed a grin, and Sav nodded solemnly. Once she received a meaningful look from Rikkard, she took that as the go ahead, and slipped her shoulders inside the duct, shimmying until she could brace herself in a handstand, before lowering herself to the duct floor.
Cold metal pressed in on all sides. She took a deep breath.
This wasn’t the first time she’d crawled through an air duct, and she doubted it’d be the last. But still, every time the cool steel squeezed her shoulders, her stomach dropped and her heart hammered against her ribs.
She took a deep breath, and crawled.
Picturing the building in her mind’s eye, she went west toward the center of the building. Selene was sure the Icarus would be there, but she wanted to get confirmation before the others joined her. She didn’t want Rikkard, or anyone for that matter, to get hurt.
Lanny’s face flashed before her eyes, and she stopped crawling. She closed her eyes, embracing the dark for a moment. Lanny’s death had been an accident. It wasn’t her fault, or Rem’s, or anyone’s.
She opened her eyes, metal surrounding her. Light filtered in from grates every few feet, but otherwise, it was fairly dark inside.
The pound of boots rushed below, and shouts echoed in the wide white halls.
Selene glanced through a grate to the fourth floor. Security clad in black, toting laser rifles and electric batons, rushed by.
She leaned back out of sight, and waited until their footsteps faded before she continued. One false move and someone might hear her. If they did, it was all over. Though Flik and Sav might second guess coming for her, if Rikkard knew she was in trouble, he’d come running.
She shook her head. She couldn’t let him get shot. Not for her. Not ever.
Selene worked her way down to the third floor. Every room she glanced in was empty, from regular offices, to bathrooms and labs. Each passed by in a string of dark nothingness.
Her eyebrows furrowed and sweat dripped down her temples as she squeezed her way through another junction. Two empty labs passed below, dark with only faint light drifting under the doors. She sighed and crawled on, her heart pounding in her ears.
Each lab held a vat, and the familiar medical spider hovering above it. The sterile scent of bleach and other cleaning products wafted up her nostrils, and she had to bite down on her tongue to keep from spinning into memories she couldn’t deal with right now.
Selene glanced into another lab. Nothing. She moved to keep going when a sound stopped her.
Her eyebrows furrowed as the soft plink of water hit her ears again. Someone had left a tap going? She glanced back inside, scanning the darkened vat, the tables full of medical instruments, and the lab coats hanging on the wall. A sink was embedded in a row of counters on one edge of the room.
Another soft sound, like a whimper, echoed off the walls.
Her eyebrows shot up as she scanned the room. Where was the sound coming from? She looked inside the vat. Nothing.
Then where else could someone be? Beneath the counters?
A large, clear box sat in the shadows at one edge of the room, something dark inside. Her heart raced as she forced the grate open and leaned out. Lights flickered on, and she squeezed her eyes shut as white spots danced across her vision.
When she opened them again, she stared directly at a glass box with a human inside.
Her gasp filled the silence. Before she knew what she was doing, she’d grabbed the lip of the air duct and swung down, landing soundlessly on the tiled floor.
Green eyes glanced out of the box. Several air holes were carved from the thick glass or plastic. The surface fogged slightly by the thick lips of the boy.
Tears burned the back of her eyes as she crouched beside the box, feeling for some sort of switch to open it.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, though she knew it was a stupid question. Who would be all right stuffed inside that thing like an animal?
The whimpers increased in volume until they became staggered gasps of breath.
“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you.” Selene paused her search, placing her fingers on the glass. She met the boy’s green gaze. Her eyebrows furrowed. “I’m a friend.”
His hyperventilating calmed to whimpering, and she took that as a sign to continue. Cold metal pressed against her fingers on the back of the glass cage. Her heart leapt, and she quickly flung the latch.
The entire box unravelled, flattening into one large sheet of glass.
Though she’d thought the person a boy, he was actually a man with stubble darkening jaw, and thick black hair. He had to be around her age, though he was maybe a few inches taller.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she soothed, reaching out to help him up.
The man flinched, and glanced around the room as his limbs slowly spread out. “This is another damn trick,” he whispered. He started to shake, and Selene stood, grabbing a lab coat from a hook and wrapping it around his shoulders.
“This isn’t a trick,” she said. Her heart ached with understanding. She knew the feeling. Time and time again Icarus had pretended to rescue her, freeing her from her cell, only to betray her. It had all been a lie; a trick conjured by the Dominion, or Pate to break her.
“Just another trick.” He shook his head, his fingers quivering as they locked around his skull.
Selene rested her hand on his shoulder. “I promise this isn’t a trick. I know that doesn’t mean much after all the others who’ve said it to you, but I’m going to get you out of here.”
He didn’t look at her, only shook back and forth, rocking as he twisted into the fetal position.
“I’m a friend of Ivy’s,” she said. “Can you tell me where she is?”
His eyes widened, and he looked at her sharply. That got his attention. “You’re a friend of Ivy’s?”
“That’s right. I’m Selene.” She smiled to reassure him, though every inch of her ached with sadness. “Did she tell you I was coming?”
The man nodded, and his tensed shoulders lowered. He stopped shaking. “Yes, but we didn’t think you’d come.”
Selene squeezed his shoulder. “Well I’m here now. Can you tell me how to get to the others?”
He dipped his chin, fire sparking in his eyes, chasing away the fear that had nearly consumed him. His jaw hardened, and his limbs trembled as he moved to stand. Selene took his arm, and helped him to his feet. “The others are on the second floor, but Ivy was taken away some time ago.”
Her heart leapt.
“What?”
“She’s probably in another lab.”
Selene nodded. “Okay.” She turned, holding her fingers to her ear. “Guys, I’ve found one of them. The rest are on the second floor. Can you make it to the third floor labs?”
“On our way,” Rikkard buzzed in her ear.
She sighed and turned back to the man.
His eyes widened with fear and suspicion. “Who was that?”
“My crew,” she said. “They’re going to help us get the rest of you out of here.”
He nodded slowly, though his eyes told her he didn’t quite believe her.
They waited for several long minutes in silence until the door whooshed open. Selene reached for her pistol, her heart flying into her throat.
“Selene,” Rikkard said. He stepped inside, and her body relaxed.
“Rikkard.” She took a deep breath to still her pounding heart.
“Is this one of them?” Flik asked.
She nodded. “Yep.” She looked at the man, ready to introduce him, but realized she didn’t know his name. “What’s your name?”
He looked at her, his jaw hard, and his eyes sharp. “Jared.”
Selene smiled. “Nice to meet you, Jared. This is Rikkard, Flik, and Sav.” She motioned at each of them. Jared’s gaze lingered on Sav. “Sav is another Icarus,” she explained.
Jared didn’t take his eyes off Sav, and Selene had a feeling he was still regarding Sav as the enemy.
“Take Jared and find the others,” Selene said. “I’m going after Ivy. She’s somewhere on this floor.”
Rikkard narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you sure about that?”
Selene tensed. If she said no, he’d try to stop her. “Yes.”
He glared. He didn’t believe her.
“Go,” she said.
Rikkard took one last long look at her before he nodded and followed the others to the door.
“You’ll be safe with them,” Selene assured Jared.
All the man did was nod and follow them cautiously. She sighed, feeling bad for sending Jared off with people he didn’t know he could trust, but she had to find Ivy. Then she’d meet up with the others and get the hell out of there.
Selene heaved herself back up into the air duct, cold metal once again pressing in on her shoulders. She took a deep breath and crawled. Footsteps disappeared down the hall as Jared led the others away. By the time the sound vanished she was at the next lab.
Narrowing her eyes, Selene peered through the grate to assess the lab. The room was dark, the vat empty, and not a sound echoed inside. She moved on. Time was precious, and if she wanted to save the Icarus, she needed to hurry.
At the next grate, she checked again, waiting and listening. Nothing.
Before the third, she heard soft voices rise inside the duct, echoing faintly. She couldn’t discern their words, so she quickly shimmied further, careful not to cause any noise.
Light filtered in between the next grate, brushing her cheeks with cold light. She blinked to rid the white stars from her vision, letting her eyes adjust to the bright white light inside before she looked into the room.
Selene stifled a gasp, her whole body tensing.
Inside the lab, the vat was filled to the brim with blue gel. Ivy lay within.
Fury tore through her and made her see red. Her fists shook and her teeth ground together. She was so sick of the Dominion and Pate thinking they could torture the Icarus for research and amusement. It was sick. Wrong. It was time she put a stop to it.
Taking a deep breath, Selene reigned in her anger. She’d unleash it soon enough. Slowly, she popped the grate open, letting it dangle from the duct.
There were three lab workers inside, all wearing masks and lab coats—all with their backs to her.
A smirk quirked her lips as she gingerly slipped around to lower her feet through first. She gripped the edge of the duct and descended with the stealth of a jungle cat stalking its prey. Her heart pounded hard as her feet hit the floor.
The sound of choking filled her ears as Ivy struggled against the thick blue gel. Selene’s chest tightened. Just a few more minutes, she promised silently.
“Lower the machine,” a female lab attendant said, motioning to the spider above the vat. One of the other technicians, a tall man with grey hair, hit a button on a small silver remote, and the spider began to descend.
“Don’t you think we should wait until we hear from the guards before we continue?” the other man, younger, maybe in his thirties by the sounds of it, asked.
The woman scoffed. “It’s probably just Pate’s men doing drills again. I won’t let them waste my time.”
A blue screen popped up in front of the woman with a thousand buttons and unique codes to manipulate the spider.
While they spoke, Selene crept up behind them, slowing her breathing as she pulled her pistol from its holster. It wasn’t charged, and as soon as she flipped the switch it’d whine with power.
She gritted her teeth. She had no other choice.
The switch clicked as she flipped it. A high-pitched whine broke the stillness of the lab. The three lab workers froze, and then the younger man spun to face her, his eyes wide behind plastic safety goggles.
Selene aimed at his forehead and shot without mercy.
The older man screamed as her pistol whined again. She squeezed the trigger, blasting a hole through his skull. The woman turned last, her hands trembling.
Selene’s clammy hands gripped her pistol until her knuckles went white. “I hope I haven’t wasted your time.”
The woman’s blue eyes widened for a fraction of a second before Selene shot her through the head.
Silence lay heavy on her shoulders until the technician’s body hit the ground with a thud. She winced. It had gotten so easy to kill these people over the last few months. But all the Dominion had ever done was torture and kill innocent people. They showed no remorse—no sense of guilt for what they were doing. So why should she?
They deserved to die.
The sound of choking ripped her from her thoughts.
Ivy tried desperately to move inside the vat, her eyes wide and glued on Selene, her mouth open as she tried to scream.
Selene leapt over the bodies she’d left, and flipped the switch at the side of the vat. With a click, the side opened and gel turned to liquid as it spilled across the dead bodies and through the grated floor.
Ivy fell with it, grunting as she landed hard on her side. Selene grabbed her slick shoulders and helped her over the bodies to sit on the cold floor.
Coughs racked Ivy’s body and she shook from head to toe. Pale ginger hair fell over her shoulders, tendrils whisping out like seaweed.
“Hey,” Selene said, taking Ivy’s face in her hands. Ivy’s green gaze met hers. “It’s me. Selene. I’m here to rescue you.”
Tears welled in Ivy’s eyes, burning lines through the remaining gel clinging to her face. Selene rubbed her thumbs over the woman’s cheeks to remove it. She’d always hated the sticky cold feeling it left her with.
“You came,” Ivy croaked.
Selene grimaced. Her throat must still be raw from choking. “Of course I did.” Selene smiled and stood, grabbing a lab coat from the wall before wrapping it around Ivy’s frail shoulders.
Though Ivy put up a strong, even sadistic face almost every time Selene had ever seen her, she could hardly believe this frail woman was capable of murder, let alone trying to murder Selene many, many times.
Ivy wiped her cheeks, and pulled her arms inside the lab coat before securing it around her waist, fastening the buttons from her thighs to her chest. It’d have to do for now.
“What’s the plan?” Ivy asked. Color began to return to her pale cheeks, and her eyes blazed with fire. She was ready for revenge.
“We get your people and get the hell out of here,” Selene said.
Ivy shrugged as Selene helped her to her feet. “Works for me.”
Selene nodded and headed ba
ck to the air duct before she realized that Ivy wasn’t following. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder.
Ivy glared at the lab technicians on the floor, her jaw tensed. She spit on the dead bodies of the people who did this to her, then turned and followed Selene.
“Think you can get up into this duct?” Selene pointed at the dangling grate.
Ivy blanched. She still trembled like sand flying across the desert in high winds. Selene remembered how weak she felt after being in the vat. It’d take Ivy awhile to get her full strength back.
“No worries.” Selene smiled. “We can take the stairs.”
Ivy nodded gratefully, and together they stepped into the hall, but not before Selene grabbed a keycard bracelet from around the wrist of the female technician.
Out in the hall, red lights flashed. Selene looked at either side of the corridor, calling back the schematics of the building to her mind. Then she realized something. Ivy had been there for a few days now. She probably knew the way.
Selene looked back at Ivy, and the small Icarus woman took the lead.
They took off at a light jog, Selene keeping pace right behind Ivy. She didn’t want to push her more than she had to, so she let Ivy set their speed.
“You can lead us to the others?” Selene asked quietly. Only a faint alarm sounded through the complex, distant, like there weren’t any speakers for it in this hallway.
Ivy glanced back. “Yes. They’re on the second floor.”
Selene nodded. Though Jared had already confirmed her suspicions, she felt as if she’d known all along that the small rooms near the center of the building were cells. Her hands balled into fists as she recalled the schematics. “Let’s hurry.”
Ivy agreed and their strides lengthened.
A few turns later, they both froze as they rounded a bend, right near where Selene remembered a stairwell being. Ivy dug in her heels, and Selene had to pull back quickly to keep from running into her.
“What is it?” Selene snapped. They didn’t have time for breaks.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 5
