Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  “I’m fine,” I say, stripping the other op of his weapon.

  “The upside to this,” Drape says, coming closer, “is that we have more food and water now. We could probably last another few days down here.”

  “No way,” I say. “We may not have Yasay to lead us out of here, but there’s no way I’m going to spend another night in this tunnel.”

  Sky nods. “Agreed.”

  “There was no other option,” Elias chimes in as we head back to the camp.

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  He sighs. “Emma was right. Yasay would have found a way to sabotage us the minute he got the chance.”

  “We could have traded him,” Drape says. “You know, as a hostage or something.”

  “Like Reinhart really wanted him,” Sky says. “He’d probably have put a bullet in his head long before Emma did it if he didn’t think Yasay might stand a chance of finding us.”

  I check my gun to make sure there are bullets in it, then head over to Emma, who’s tinkering with the communications device. I watch in amazement as she pops open the back and fiddles with the wires. She gently pulls out two blue wires, cuts them, and then connects them deeper into the device.

  “I’m in.”

  The others join us and listen as she secures the back and taps on the digital display to hone in on the EHC’s chatter. Mostly what comes out are garbled voices and static, so Emma works on the display again.

  “It’s more difficult to get a clear transmission underground,” she says, “but I think I can.”

  A few moments later, the static fades and the overlapping voices separate until there’s only one man speaking.

  “The combatant’s location has been found.”

  The hairs lift on the back of my neck and my eyes flash to Elias.

  “Commander Reinhart has been sent in.”

  “What?” Drape gasps. “We’ve got to get out of here. They’re already on their way!”

  Elias grabs the bag of salvaged gear and slings it over his shoulder. “We have to move. Now!”

  My thoughts come rapidly as I follow the others. Run! Don’t stop! They’re on their way!

  We manage to get three tunnel markers away before an explosion rocks through the air ahead of us, sending tunnel fragments crashing to the ground. Ten feet in front of us the ceiling dangles in jagged pieces. The walls of the tunnel lay in crumbled piles. Smoke, dirt, and dust swirl toward us.

  There’s no escape.

  CHAPTER 11

  “WE HAVE TO keep moving!” I shout.

  “How?” Drape wipes dirt from his eyes. “If we go back the way we came, we’re dead.”

  I grit my teeth and clench my fists. We can’t be caught again.

  “We don’t have a choice.” Elias steps away from the fallen debris. “We have to go back.”

  My stomach clenches at the thought of running for my life again. I slowly rise, keeping one hand pressed against the cold tunnel wall and the other on my chest in the hopes I can somehow slow my panic.

  Just as we turn, another explosion rips through the ceiling and side walls of the tunnel. I fall back into Sky’s arms. Elias, Drape, and Emma step closer together as a flash of fire shoots out of the wall.

  “Relax,” Talen says. He steps closer to survey the damage. Wires dangle and snap with electricity. “The tunnel is still stable enough.”

  Even so, there’s the smell of something burning in the hollow space above the tunnel, and black smoke begins to gather in the updraft.

  Drape coughs and holds his face to his sleeve. “What now?”

  I settle my nerves and run my fingers through my hair, analyzing the possibilities of escaping this disaster. They’re not good.

  The comm in Emma’s hand crackles to life. “Heat signals have been detected,” comes an op’s monotone voice. “The group has been detected near tunnel marker A15.”

  “We need to find water—now,” Emma urges.

  Drape pulls at his shirt. “What? We need to get out of here!”

  Emma scans the tunnel. “Not with the heat detectors. We won’t get far with that tech. We have to find a way to cool down and trick the sensors. It’s the only way to throw them off from finding us.”

  “But, there’s no water down here,” Drape protests.

  “What about the sewage shafts?” Sky rushes to the end of the tunnel. Several cracks run lengthwise down to a grate that covers an opening at the bottom of the wall.

  Sewage shaft? I cringe, but what other choice do we have? “Hurry,” I say to him. “Open it up.”

  Sky rips off the grate. He sticks his head inside and then sits back on his heels. “It’s old,” he says. “The water has been sitting there for a while. Maybe a few years.”

  “We’ll take our chances,” Emma says, holstering her gun.

  “There’s only a few feet of space.” Sky slowly stands. “The chamber’s clogged up, so we’ll have to all squeeze in tight.”

  “It’ll have to do,” Elias says. “Just don’t get it in your mouth if you can help it.”

  He moves Sky aside and climbs in. I hitch up my pants and sling my gun over my shoulder. One by one, we follow Elias into the dark, dank tunnel. The smell of stale, filthy water invades my nose. My stomach heaves, but the water feels strangely cool, and I know it’ll only be a matter of minutes before all of our body temps drop.

  “Close it,” Emma orders Talen once he squeezes inside.

  He pulls the grate closed behind us and suddenly we’re immersed in a three-foot-wide chamber, closer to each other than I’d ever thought we’d be.

  I try to focus on staying quiet while the sewage soaks into my pants and dampens my shirt and hair.

  “Someone’s coming,” Talen whispers.

  Between his arms, dim light shines through the grate’s slats. I hold my breath and steady myself against the side of the chamber. The sound of clunking boots echoes into the tunnel just beyond the grate.

  “Get someone down here to put out that fire!” a male voice yells. “Move those beams. Get through and find them!”

  It’s Reinhart.

  A shiver runs up my spine. After a few moments, there are more sounds of boot soles hitting the ground—the ops darting from side-to-side just outside the grate.

  “This has to end now,” Reinhart calls. “Where are they?”

  My chest tightens. I press myself harder into the slimy wall and shiver.

  “Our heat sensors had them targeted to this point,” an op from farther away shouts, “They must have backtracked deeper into the tunnel before the second explosion.”

  “I don’t care if there’s a trial anymore,” Bellaton says through a comm. “I just want them purged from Ethos.”

  Reinhart growls and clicks the comm. “We can all agree on that.”

  “Then do it!” her voice growls, then cuts out.

  “What are my orders?”

  I close my eyes and wince. That’s Lacy’s voice.

  Beside me, Sky’s hand creeps into mine. I slowly turn my head. My eyes search his. He must know it’s her, too. I bite down on my lip and turn back to face the grate, waiting for them to find us any second.

  Reinhart slams something, maybe his fist, against the tunnel wall. The sound of it seems to vibrate deep into my wet skin. “I’ve had enough—kill them on sight.”

  I strain to get a very limited view of them through the slats. Lacy pulls back from Reinhart and opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. A split second later she clamps her mouth shut and nods. “Yes, sir.”

  The pounding in my chest is almost too much. I’m sure Reinhart will hear it. A bead of nervous sweat trickles down my forehead and drips into the water. My eyes dart from the grate to Emma and Elias, wedged deeper into the chamber.

  Reinhart directs several ops toward one of the tunnels up ahead, then orders the others to clear another path. A few moments later the noisy tunnel grows quiet. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to assess if it’s saf
e enough to return to the tunnel. Before I can say anything though, Elias orders us back out.

  “We don’t have much time,” he says, waving us forward.

  Talen pries open the grate and we climb out. I’ve never been so grateful for clean air. I take a deep breath. Every part of me reeks of scummy water. Thick slime clings to my body, and I run my hand over my clothes to wipe off as much as I can. The others do the same while Elias replaces the grate.

  I check my gun. “Did you hear Lacy?” I ask Drape.

  Drape raises a brow. “Yeah. She hesitated.”

  “Somewhere inside her, she’s still there.”

  Sky smiles. “See... same defiant girl you’ve always known.”

  I nod. “We have to get her back.”

  “If she’s not reprogrammed,” Talen says, sliding back into his boots. “There’s no chance you will get your friend back. Don’t even think about trying to reason with her. It won’t work. She’s blinded by the nanos.”

  “Talen’s right,” Emma says. “Confronting her now would be stupid. It could only get us all killed.” She presses the receiver on the comm. A moment later, the chatter begins again, announcing their location.

  “They’re heading deeper into the old tunnel network,” Elias says.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I say. “It feels like we’re in a giant trap. A maze of tunnels. If we stay down here, they’re going to find us one way or another.”

  Drape shrugs. “At least outside we could hide better. Get out of the city or something—”

  “We can’t leave Ethos.” I wipe a smudge of dirt from my arm.

  “I’m tired of hiding all the time from the EHC,” Drape adds. The non-stop fighting is wearing all of us down.

  Emma taps the comm’s display. “There’s an EHC data center nearby. Maybe we can go there.”

  “Shouldn’t be hard to get access to that,” Talen says. “We could get in and regroup, figure a way out of here.”

  “Maybe we can hack into the system and get off their radar,” I suggest.

  “Good idea.” Elias zips up the gear bag and follows Emma ahead.

  There’s nothing but tunnel for what seems like forever. Using the comm’s navigation system, we walk at least twenty tunnel markers. Everything looks the same—lights, tracks, and lots of building materials as we move toward a staircase up ahead. Slinging my gun over my shoulder, I grab hold of the rails and begin to work my way up, following Sky and Drape as we quickly climb from the cold darkness of the underground into a lighter, more industrial part of the tunnel system beneath Ethos.

  “Is that the data center?” Drape points to a door ahead where a bright light shines from behind a window. An access system is built into the wall beside it.

  “How do we get in?” Sky asks.

  Emma presses her lips together. “Maybe the comm will give us access.” She begins to configure it again, tapping on the display and accessing its operating system while we catch our breath and look around. “A bit of reprogramming and I can make this device emit an EHC command token. That should get us in.”

  I gnaw on the inside of my cheek, glancing back down the staircase to make sure no ops have followed us.

  “Got it,” she says. Emma holds the device up to the access system. A moment later the door slides open and we rush inside.

  We’re no more than five feet in when a guard’s voice calls out, “Stop there!”

  My eyes flash to the guard, who quickly jumps to his feet from behind a desk. A second guard appears from behind a wall of flashing displays and panels. They’re non-EHC guards, but still a threat.

  “We’ve got this.” Sky waves to Drape and they rush ahead with their guns drawn. The first guard holds up his hands. With one swift move, Sky knocks the guard out with the butt of his gun.

  “What do you want?” the second guard demands.

  Drape marches forward, backing the second guard into a corner, then slams his gun across the man’s head, knocking him out in one blow.

  Elias rushes to a half-opened closet and swings the door wide. “Get them in here.”

  Sky and Drape drag the guards inside. Drape locks the door and leans against it, breathing hard.

  “You okay?” I ask.

  “I’m getting tired of all this,” he says. “I don’t want to have to keep hurting people.”

  “None of us want to be doing this, but we have to keep going.”

  He sighs and turns his gaze to the massive room where we stand. “What is all this stuff?”

  Emma heads to a giant display terminal in the center of the room. “It’s amazing,” she breathes. “A holographic data center.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Elias says.

  Emma shakes her head. “Neither can I. In twenty-five years, the EHC has certainly made progress.”

  Tech devices surround us. Green light glows from crystal-like cubes, illuminating the machines around us. The room is cool and charged with energy.

  My gaze moves from one instrument to the next. “How does it work?” I ask.

  Running a hand along the side of a machine, Emma explains, “The data cubes are connected to quantum computers. The laser lights can access every possible dimension, providing massive data storage.”

  Elias steps closer to one of the beams of light. “They’ve managed to connect their entire force and every possible bit of information they can get their hands on.”

  Emma stares in amazement. “In all my years, I’ve never seen such a powerful system.”

  We move deeper into the facility. My mind scans the breadth of the room, what must be three thousand square feet of advanced systems. I open doors and examine everything.

  “How long do you think we have?” Drape asks. “You know, before they find us again?”

  “We shouldn’t stay too long,” Talen says. “The cameras will triangulate our location soon.”

  One of the doors opens to a bathroom. I head inside and use the sink to clean as much of the sewage from my hands and hair as I can. There’s no sense in pretending it’s all going to come out any time soon, so I quickly wrap my hair back into a tight bun, grab my gun, and head back out to the others. Just beyond a wall of storage systems, Emma stands tinkering with a digital device.

  I make my way to her. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to hack the network terminal.”

  Ahead of us of us, information flashes on the screen—a series of numbers and code.

  “What is all of that?”

  “It’s classified root data.” She stops scrolling and points to something on the screen. “There.”

  “What?” Elias asks as he and Talen head over to us.

  “There’s a deeply buried directory with classified briefing reports. They didn’t want anyone to see this. It’s using old encryption protocols. Luckily for us, I was around when this encryption was commonplace.”

  She’s brilliant, and not even modified. Amazing.

  Emma leans in and reads, “‘The EHC has been in a growing conflict with a large conglomerate from what was formally Asia.’”

  “Formally Asia?” I echo, raising a brow.

  “Countries fell into disarray during the Flip,” Talen says, as if he’s pulling up old records from memory. “The standard old-world politics and geography were re-written as new powers emerged from the ongoing chaos and destruction.”

  “Keep going,” Elias tells Emma. “What else does it say?”

  Using her hands, Emma slides screens and pulls up three more. “Here, ‘A group called the Sovereign Nerics Alliance has long argued against the EHC’s treatment of its people. For years, they have been peacefully engaging with the EHC to change their ways, but the EHC has denied them and banned all access to their region of the world.’”

  My breath catches. There are others who disagree with the EHC. I turn to look for Sky. He and Drape head toward us. A smile broadens over my face. Maybe there is hope.

  “There.” Elias points out something to E
mma. “Bring that up.”

  Emma widens the screen. “‘Recently, the SNA has been moving on the EHC territories to offer aid to those left behind by the EHC,’” she reads.

  “What?” Drape says. “Who’s offering aid?”

  I turn to face him. “Another organization—maybe one that’s as big as the EHC.” My eyes flash to Elias. “I never thought any one group could survive the EHC’s attacks.”

  “We did,” Elias says.

  I turn to Emma. “Can we communicate with the SNA?”

  She shakes her head. “It’s impossible from this data center. They’ve blocked any chance at communication with them. I’m sure the EHC has regulated communication use to only its territories.”

  Drape eyes the comm in Emma’s hand. “I think we should check it again, you know, just in case they’re on their way or something.”

  Emma presses the display. Again, the familiar chatter begins. The ops’ voices overlap each other. Each reporting back more information to Reinhart.

  “They’re getting closer,” Talen says. “We have to move.”

  Elias picks up the gear bag.

  “No.” I cross my arms, refusing to budge as the others gather. “We need to act now. No more hiding.”

  Sky comes back to my side. “How can we? It’s just us. You saw how many of them there are.”

  “We can do it. We’ve done it before. They’re not going to stop. I’m tired of running, and I’m not going to do it again.”

  Emma raises a brow and smiles. “What do you suggest?”

  “We still take on the EHC headquarters, but we’re not putting them on ‘trial’ anymore,” I say. “We need to destroy the leadership, starting with Bellaton. Sever the head of the beast.”

  CHAPTER 12

  “No holding back, huh?” Sky says to me, a wry grin spreading across his face.

  “It makes sense,” I say. “We’ve been fighting for too long. Pretty soon we’re all going to be exhausted from running. It has to be now. We’ll take out Bellaton. It’s the only way to make them understand they need to take us seriously.”

  Elias rubs his forehead, then drops the gear bag again. “We need a tactical plan to breach the EHC main building.”