Fate of Devotion (Finding Paradise Book 2) Page 19

  “Gregon did, too,” Danissa said.

  “There is a void on the map.” Millicent angled it so Ryker could see. “We could try it. Otherwise, we’re going to have to make a run for it in the stairwell.”

  “Dagger, inform the others to stay put,” Ryker said.

  “Yes, sir. Should I hang out near the door?”

  “No. We can use a siren for that. Put it high, though.”

  “What’s a siren?” Danissa asked, getting to her feet.

  “It’s a device that’ll give us a warning when it’s disturbed.” Millicent tried to familiarize herself with the level beneath them, but all the information was the same. Toton didn’t keep thorough records of these floors—at least, not in the files Millicent and the crew had hacked. If they weren’t in the right place, they would be trapped in the belly of Toton’s empire.

  “I hate this,” she said in distaste. “I had a nice life set up back home. Boring, but paradise compared to this. Now I’m stuck in this trash heap, in danger, trying to save a planet that sucks.”

  “Well, if you think about it—”

  “Don’t.” Ryker shook his head at Dagger, cutting him off. “She gets aggressive if you try to reason with her venting.”

  Dagger’s mouth snapped shut, but his eyes twinkled.

  “Let’s go,” Millicent said, setting a fast pace.

  The floor creaked under their footfalls, weakened from the blast of the heavy flames Toton must have laid down.

  “They must’ve used a lot of explosives to get the floor looking like this,” Trent said softly.

  “I’d say a flame thrower, or else there would be craters in the floor.” Dagger looked down as if to check.

  “Twenty feet or so,” Millicent whispered, looking down at her map. Ryker’s hand stopped her. She glanced up at a gaping hole, closer than her map had said it should be. If there had been a banister once upon a time, there wasn’t one anymore. Nor were there stairs—just a hole in the ceiling, and one in the floor.

  “I got a strap,” a trooper whispered, stepping forward while digging in his utility belt.

  A strap was thicker and more durable than a rope. It responded to mental commands—attaching and detaching at the user’s will. They were fantastic devices that had saved Millicent and Ryker on multiple occasions in their initial escape from Earth.

  “We all do,” Roe said, edging up to the opening.

  Click.

  “Roe, run!” Millicent backed away from what was surely one of those bombs.

  “No! Don’t move!” Danissa held up her hand before pointing at a floor-level panel at the edge of the hole.

  “Well, which is it?” Roe demanded.

  Millicent squinted into the gloom. The small panel flashed red, reminding her of those smart doors from so long ago. No other lights blinked to life.

  “What is that, do you reckon?” Millicent asked.

  “Is it dangerous?” Roe followed their gazes. “Because I’m sitting here like an idiot with my balls out if it is.”

  Ryker crossed around behind it. He bent and grabbed the edges. “It’s partially embedded in the wood.”

  Click.

  “Do you feel anything?” Millicent asked, breaking out in a sweat.

  “My head is buzzing.” Ryker and Roe both touched their implants.

  “That’s their mental warfare device.” Danissa checked her wrist screen. “We need to move on. It will eventually overcome the implants.”

  “Why did they use this to protect an interior stairwell and not the one we were just descending?” Dagger asked.

  Danissa shook her head. “I don’t know, unless this is acting as a sort of sentry. Maybe spiders don’t patrol in here . . .”

  “Just step away,” Millicent told Roe. “They work based on proximity.” To Dagger, she said, “Tell the people on the upper floor to swing down to us. Then we can all swing down to the next floor.”

  “It’s the proximity to the edge of the hole that’s the problem, not this control-panel thing.” Ryker checked the far side of the hole, and nodded at something that must’ve validated his theory. He stepped back and his hand came away from behind his ear.

  “What about the former clones?” Roe asked, moving back. “They’ll have to cross that threshold when they swing down, but they don’t have implants.”

  “Why did you bring untrained clones instead of rebel troops?” Trent asked incredulously.

  “I wanted to encourage the rest of the former clones to join the ranks.” Roe braced his hands on his hips. “Had I known we would only get a few choice picks on this venture, rather than the three craft loads we’d started with, I would’ve done things a little differently . . .”

  “What about the children?” someone asked as someone else said, “How long does it work? My implant was disabled.”

  “Does anyone hear that?” Dagger tilted his head, looking behind him.

  Everyone fell silent. Only then did Millicent hear the deep hum vibrating through the floors and up the walls around them. Something sputtered high up, off to the side. The same sputter then came from the other side, on the wall.

  “Get moving,” Ryker said, suddenly all action.

  The troopers rushed toward him, yanking out their black straps. Dagger stooped down to tie a strap around Terik’s waist. Then he looped it around Zanda, tying them together.

  Billy stomped on the ground. “Tek. Just like Tek!” He stomped again. “Ouch!” He hit his head.

  “What’s just like Tek?” Ryker asked.

  “We don’t always know what he means.” Terik clutched his strap.

  Dagger stopped in front of Trent. “Can you lift your body weight?”

  “How should I know?” he answered with a blanched face.

  “Normal people know that information.” Dagger wrapped a line around Trent’s middle. “I’ll assume you can’t.”

  Billy skipped toward Ryker.

  “Someone grab the little boy,” Danissa called.

  A roar drew their attention to the far wall.

  “Was that metal pole always there?” Trent pointed a shaking finger at a sort of nozzle made of shiny metal protruding from the blackened wall.

  “They’re all along the walls, look!” The trooper pointed to add emphasis to his words.

  Something dripped out of the farthest nozzle, barely seen because of the distance. Then flames erupted. The nozzle started to turn, sweeping the air and ground, as another roar sounded from the other side of the room. The vibration of the floor increased. The hum got louder. Closer.

  “They’re going to burn us out!” Millicent dug into her utility belt. “Hurry!”

  Chapter 18

  Flames shot out of another pole. And then another. Heat blasted them. Ryker anchored a line and threw someone off the side. Trent screamed as he plummeted through the air. Ryker didn’t stop there. He anchored another line and threw in a trooper holding Billy. And then another.

  “Step right up for your chance to ride the strap of death!” Dagger grabbed a trooper, anchored him, and pushed. The trooper screamed, but he managed to clutch on to the rope as it swung downward. “Oops. He didn’t have an implant, I guess.”

  Sweat dribbled down Millicent’s temples as the closer poles flared to life, pushing more heat at them. Working fast, she dug through Toton’s systems, trying to find the logs that pertained to blasting fire.

  “Hold on, bro-yo,” Dagger said, grabbing Terik. “Hold that little lady tightly.”

  Terik didn’t reply. He was frowning as he stared at the fire. A second later, he was flying through the air. Zanda cried out in fear and pain. Terik didn’t make a sound.

  “What’s going on down there?” someone yelled from above. “We’re still getting ready.”

  “Get away from the edge!” Ryker yelled. He slapped down a black strap and handed the line to a clone. “Tie yourself in and jump. It’ll probably hurt like hell.”

  Surprisingly, the clone didn’t hesitate. She tie
d herself in with quick but calm movements and jumped. If she made any sound, it was washed away by the roaring of the flames behind them.

  “Time is running out,” Ryker said, handing off lines. “Best get jumping or you’ll be toasty. Tie in, cupcake. I’d hate for you to let go and drop like a stone.”

  “Oh, lovely image, thank you.”

  Ryker grinned at her, tightened the strap, kissed her, then flung. She barely kept from squealing as she flew out over empty space. A face looked down at her from the floor above, a trooper who clearly hadn’t heeded the warning of his buzzing implant. Or maybe he was safe on that floor.

  The strap tightened around her gut and squeezed. Holding her breath as pain flared in her middle, she swung. Her feet scraped the char and a trooper pulled her in. Flames were already roaring from another nozzle at the far end of the floor.

  “Oh shit,” she said, breathing hard. The other end of her strap snaked through the air as people gathered around the opening above, waiting.

  Danissa grunted as her strap tightened, and then she swung in. Another nozzle coughed out more flames.

  “We can’t wait much longer,” one of the troopers yelled at Millicent before looking behind him.

  “Thanks for waiting at all.” Millicent was jostled to the side as Danissa was hauled in. Dagger sailed through the air next, followed by Ryker, each holding a child. Billy punched Ryker in the face instead of screaming with fright or pain.

  “Why are we waiting?” one of the troopers asked. “Shouldn’t we keep moving down?”

  “Because the fires are triggered by our presence. We can’t send someone out too far ahead, because then the people who come last will land on a fiery floor.” Millicent pushed at the troopers near her. “Okay, go. Go, go, go.”

  The clones slapped down their black straps and jumped down first, not needing prompting. The troopers, clearly harried by the fire coming up behind them, went next. The one without an implant screamed again.

  A trooper fell down through the empty space above them, his arms windmilling. One of the men who’d gone up a floor in the stairwell. He hadn’t reacted quickly enough to the shock of the fire blasts to get his black strap properly secured in time.

  Ryker set Billy down for a second time and flicked his wrist. His strap released from above. He shook his head. “The people on the floors above us aren’t moving fast enough. They’re going to get caught.”

  Dagger set down Suzi. “Unless they use a—”

  Another body fell down the gap, screaming. His hair was on fire. The second soldier from the other floor. A third came down on the end of a strap, but he was engulfed in flame. He swung down toward them, screaming. Ryker and Dagger both stepped up to grab him, but the trooper didn’t make it that far. He slammed into an invisible barrier. Blood spurted from his nose and mouth. His screams cut off and his body went limp, knocked out or dead, it was hard to say.

  “Probably for the best,” Dagger said evenly.

  “Release that invisible barrier, Suzi, and I’ll cut him down.” Ryker waited a moment before stepping forward and grabbing the strap. The body fell a moment later.

  The roar of flames behind them increased in intensity.

  “We gotta go!” Ryker slapped a strap down and flung the person attached to it.

  “Why don’t you ever warn me!” Trent screamed, once again swinging out over the abyss.

  Ryker chuckled as he reached for Terik.

  Millicent secured her own strap and then swung out over the void. Ryker followed a moment later.

  “I have no idea why this kid keeps punching me,” he said as he skidded to a stop and put Billy down.

  “You deserve it, that’s why.” Millicent glanced back at the first sputter of flames on their floor.

  “What awaits us at the bottom of this?” Ryker asked ominously.

  “No escape,” Millicent said through a tight throat. “I need to figure out how to stop the chain reaction.”

  Roe peered out over the edge as the next wave of people swung down. He shook his head. “Better think fast. The fun ends two floors down.”

  “This whole trip has been nothing but bad news,” Millicent muttered, hunting through Toton’s logs. Danissa bent over her screen as well.

  “Here we go, ladies.” Dagger scooped up Danissa and flung her down. Millicent was next. But Millicent was just as stumped when they reached the next floor.

  “What about that sensor?” Danissa asked, clutching a trooper by the suit and keeping him on the floor. “Can we physically get into it?”

  “Try,” Ryker said.

  Millicent nodded and flung herself down to the next floor, Danissa right behind her. Without someone to catch them, they skidded across the burned ground. Millicent rolled to her stomach and crawled to the sensor, thankfully in the opposite direction of the bodies littering the floor. Her implant buzzed from the mental warfare.

  “The invisibility device,” Danissa said, looking around her as though it might have followed them like a pet.

  “Crushed in the tunnel.” Millicent ran the pad of her finger over the smooth cover of the panel. She hooked her fingernail under the edge, and then took out a utility knife and popped the cover. Wires and more sensors greeted her, not controlled from this location but vulnerable to damage.

  “You need to hurry, princess,” Ryker yelled.

  “I’ll say,” Roe’s voice drifted down.

  “I need your strength, Ryker,” she hollered back.

  A moment later, he swung down, Billy once again in his arms. As soon as they stopped moving, the little boy gave Ryker a good kick.

  “This is the first time I am intensely curious about breeding,” Ryker said as he stooped near Millicent. The roar above them now competed with the one behind. “What do you need, love?”

  “Rip these out.” She circled her finger over the wires.

  Ryker’s arm bulged as he grabbed hold of them and yanked. His jaw clenched. “It’s shocking me.”

  “Can you bear it?”

  “Cupcake, I can bear anything.” He yanked again, ripping the wiring. His grunt almost sounded like a groan as he flexed his fingers. His hand shook.

  “Hurt a little, huh?” Millicent dug into the mess of wires with her pliers. She cut two connections that had stayed intact. The buzzing in her head stopped. A long low beep sounded in the distance. It repeated—and kept on repeating. “That’s not good,” she said, looking for the source. But it was hidden in the blackness of the floor.

  “We gotta come down,” Roe yelled.

  “You first, old man,” they heard.

  “There is nothing wrong with my trigger finger. Remember that.” Roe swung down.

  The fire roared behind him as more people jumped out over the void and swung down. Ryker pushed Millicent to the side before helping to bring the others in safely.

  “It didn’t turn off the fire,” Trent said, gasping for breath.

  “No crap, Trent.” Millicent went back on her wrist screen. She looked up, panic starting to overcome her determination to stay calm. “We can run. There is an elevator at the very end. Even if it’s not working, we can crouch in the shaft until the fire stops.”

  “What else do we have?” Ryker said, glancing behind. Another nozzle roared to life, spurting fire into the air.

  “Me. You have me.” Terik stared at the flames, curling his fists into balls, his skin covered in a sheen of sweat. “I can feel what is creating the fire. There are chemicals involved. But I can . . .”

  Half of the nozzles stopped blasting fire, followed by another three. Liquid dripped from them.

  “Mommy,” Millicent heard.

  She unmuted her implant comms. “Yes, honey.”

  “There are a whole bunch of notices posted to their system. Warnings and lots of activity. And a malfunction with some sort of weaponry.”

  One of the nozzles near them sputtered. Terik’s fists clenched. “I can squelch the fire for a time, but the device needs to be turned
off.” His voice was laced with strain. “I don’t know how long I can hold it.”

  “Can I help?” Suzi asked, sitting down next to Terik. She peered at him anxiously.

  “What is the malfunction,” Millicent asked Marie. “Quick, honey.”

  “Something with the plumbing . . .”

  “Shut it off. Or break it,” Millicent said as the closest nozzle sputtered. “Shut it down, honey.”

  “Does she have it?” Danissa asked in an urgent voice. The group had moved away from the flames, except for the children, the programmers, Ryker, and Dagger.

  “She has something. She called it plumbing.”

  “Could be,” Danissa said, scowling down at her wrist. “I can’t find anything. I can’t find anything! Where are they keeping this info?”

  “Behind thicker walls, I’d imagine.” Dagger reached down for Danissa. “We need to move, pretty lady.”

  “You, too, Millie,” Ryker warned.

  There was a hiss as the rest of the nozzles died down, then cut off. Liquid dripped, pooling.

  Terik heaved a big sigh.

  “Did that work, Mommy?” Marie asked.

  “Yes, baby.” Millicent matched Terik’s relief. “Yes, it did.”

  “She did that?” Terik’s brow furrowed. “From a remote location?”

  Millicent didn’t have time to answer as someone shouted, “We got company!”

  “Run!” Trent yelled. Billy started screaming about heading toward the stairs and slapping at Toad Man.

  “What is it?” Millicent hopped up.

  Ryker grabbed Zanda and shoved her at Danissa. “Help her.”

  “Spiders! A ton of robot spiders!” Trent sprinted by with Mira hanging around his neck.

  Millicent ripped out her EMP gun as troopers rushed past her. Ryker grabbed her shoulder and yanked. “Let’s see if we can get out first. Save the charge!”

  Millicent let him turn her. She ran, following the others. Their feet pounded against the creaking and wobbly floor. It would probably only take another few blasts of fire to eat away the ground entirely. Breathing heavily, fear tingling up her spine, she caught up with Roe.

  “Keep going,” Roe said as Millicent matched his speed, slower than everyone else. “Keep going.”