Chapter Eleven

LAZ

As we plummeted into the darkness, I desperately looped an arm around the first thing I saw - a glint of metal. I clung to the side of the pipe and hauled Gabriella close to me with an outstretched arm. She was petite, but the stiffness of her frozen arms and legs made it seem like she weighed more than she did. I swung my leg over the top of the pipe and secured her in front of me.

"Sit up straight and keep your hands on both sides so you don't fall off."

"Thanks, like I didn't know that already," Gabriella snapped. She trembled as she looked over at me and shot me a blistering glance. At least the shaking meant she was able to move again. "Hurry up with whatever you're doing back there. I can feel my hands starting to slip."

I ignored Gabriella's hysterical cries and took out the only light source I had left. The cylinders were small enough to keep in my pocket, but they only lasted about half an hour. I twisted it open and activated the light.

"Just hold on a little longer."

I took out a grappling hook and extendable rope, tying a knot in the center of the claw. Securing the line, I attached the end of the rope to my belt loop. I pulled both ends to make sure it was secure.

"I don't have a choice if I want to stay alive. Can you just get me down from here? Please?"

I pulled Gabriella close to me and placed her arms on my shoulders. She was swinging dangerously, and she couldn't stop looking at the depths underneath us. Her icy fingers trembled as they tightened around my neck. As soon as the hook was anchored, I held her chin in my hand.

"You can do this. Don't look down. Trust me."

Gabriella nodded weakly. Holding her in front of me, I carefully released my legs from the sides of the pipe. We smoothly slid down with the assistance of the extendable rope. I held out my light to guide the path. When we approached the ground, I adjusted our descent and moved to the side. We touched down on the landing next to a flowing passage of sewer sludge.

She lifted her new satchel and bent down. With her hands cupped over her kneecaps, she fought to catch her breath. I reached over to take her bag and stepped back to give her some room.

"Do you need some water?"

She didn't answer for a minute. "No, I'll be all right, thank you," Gabriella replied, panting. She straightened her back and took her satchel back. "I'm sorry for barking at you like that. Heights and I don't mix."

"I gathered as much," I quickly said as I turned my head away. "If you can move, we should get out of here. I don't know how much longer this light is going to last. Are you ready?"

"I'm good enough to go," said Gabriella. She removed her gas mask from the satchel and placed it over her head. "Let's do it."

Even though the Xylox sewage system smelled like excrement and death, it was less toxic than the air above ground. There were different dangers in the sewers. Discolored water constantly dripped from the leaky overhead pipes. Damp rats with crooked spines and shrunken heads were everywhere. They weren't afraid of us. Instead, they looked up at us curiously with glowing red eyes as they scurried over our boots.

I knew Gabriella remained tense behind me, but she was a good soldier. Her desire to get out of here made her move faster than before. We headed east and forged ahead until we saw a sliver of light coming from a loose manhole cover above us. I shined the light around, revealing a set of steps bolted to the wall.

"Here we go."

I shoved the light into Gabriella's hand and pulled out the pouch containing my communicator pieces. Gabriella crouched next to me and shined the blinking light on my hands. I tore off the seal to the Morse board with my teeth and started reassembling the communicator. But as I squinted at the electronics in front of me, I realized there was a problem.

"Damn it!" My angry cry echoed through the tunnel.

"What's wrong?" asked Gabriella softly. She removed her mask and blankly stared at the communicator in my hands. "Are you missing something?"

"One of the pins must have snapped off when this thing fell apart," I grumbled. I kicked a piece of gravel to my left. The rock briefly floated on the sludge before it started to smoke and disappeared below the dark surface. Next to me, Gabriella began to fiddle with her right ear. She removed an earring and held it out to me in the palm of her hands.

I pinched the post of the small diamond earring between my fingers and examined it carefully.

"This might work." My forehead wrinkled as I gazed at her intently. "Are you sure you're okay with letting me use this? I'm going to have to break it apart. Is it a family heirloom?"

"It's fine," said Gabriella, waving a hand. "I'm not concerned with having matching earrings right now, if you know what I mean."

"Your sacrifice will be long remembered by the Maztek."

I twisted off the diamond and slipped it into my chest pocket. The repair would require delicate precision and a steady hand. I pushed the gold earring post against the resistor and manipulated the earring back on its side to hold the resistor in place. As soon as I heard a gratifying click, I puffed out my chest and beat my thigh twice with my fist. It was a silent and watered-down version of a Maztek victory bellow.

"Was that good?"

"It means I've set it in place. Half the screen has been shattered, so now we're going to find out if this thing even works."

I turned a knob on the communicator and adjusted it from side to side. The green light on the top of the screen blinked, giving me hope. Gabriella cheered enthusiastically over my shoulder. But when a deep crackling came out of the speaker, I groaned.

"There's no signal down here. I'm going to have to climb to the top. Stay close to me, and don't move any further unless I tell you to. Understood?"

"Yes, commander," Gabriella mumbled. She rose from the ground and looked me in the eye. "Lighten up a little. You can live life without everything being an order."

I stared at her for a moment but swallowed my snippy retort.

"While we're down here, give me a second to change out of these nasty clothes."

"You have two minutes."

I aimed the light toward her body and turned away to face the opposite wall. Gabriella shimmied out of her torn dress. She rolled it into a ball and casually tossed it into the sewer sludge. I could hear a soft unzipping behind me, and I couldn't control my thoughts. I knew she was naked and she would look fantastic.

My eyes focused on the distinct shadow of her body cast against the wall. The side view of her silhouette showed off the rounded curve of her breasts contrasted against her flat stomach. Her hourglass figure bent forward. As she rolled the pants of her jumpsuit over her leg, the shadow of her jiggling breasts shook along with her body. The lustful sight was enough to bring my cock to attention. I averted my eyes and relocated them to a smudge on my boot.

"I'm all set now."

I turned around. All my years spent playing cards were put to good use when I made eye contact with her without revealing my thoughts. She looked good enough to devour in her skintight black jumpsuit. The zipper which ran down the middle of the suit was open over her chest. Seeing the globes of her perky breasts made me want to reach out and touch them.

She ran a hand through her hair and shook it loose over her shoulders. I turned away, ostensibly to investigate the manhole steps but secretly to adjust the sudden tightness in my crotch.

Gabriella handed me a fresh rag for my face before putting her gas mask on again. I grunted at her in appreciation and tied it over my head. With Gabriella behind me, I moved up the cold steps and scaled the length of the wall. I stopped before the manhole opening and held the communicator to my ear.

"Hold."

The crackling continued. Either we weren't high enough, or the cover itself was interfering with the transmission. I reached out and pushed off the cover with the tips of my fingers. The thick metal disc made a loud noise when I moved it aside. I climbed to the top and lifted Gabriella out of the hole by the waist, setting her down next to me.

I was still squatting when the crackling subsided. I distinctly heard a beep from the device before the faint sounds of scrambled voices started to come over the communicator. As I tinkered some more, trying to make the voices even clearer, Gabriella began to poke at my side with her finger. Anger flooded my mind. I needed to concentrate. I turned around to face her.

"What are you doing?"

"Behind you, Laz – watch out!"

I had been so immersed in getting the communicator to work that I had completely missed a figure waddling toward us. Gabriella jumped to her feet and clumsily swung her fist over my head. The figure lifted her off the ground instantly and flung her aside. Gabriella's airborne body hit a crooked street pole before falling limply to the ground.

A Xylo security officer wearing tinted red goggles beat his chest with gloved fists. He seemed pretty excited for taking down a girl. I bounced off the ground and sprang on top of him before he could draw his holstered weapon. We crashed to the dirt, rolling around as we wrestled for his pistol.

More adrenaline pumped into my system. I managed to get my hand on the weapon on the other side of his belt. Slipping my fingers over the trigger, I pulled back, aimed, and fired in a single motion. An electric charge shot from the mouth of the gun and incapacitated him. The Xylo convulsed briefly before his arms and legs became immobilized, and he fell over on his side.

Turning on my heel, I vaulted toward Gabriella. She lay unconscious by the base of the dented street pole. I lifted the side of her head and laid it in my lap. There was a small gash over her eyebrow, but there were no other visible signs of injury. I pressed two fingers against her neck. Feeling her faint but steady pulse beating against my fingertips, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

I heard shouting behind me. My neck creaked as I looked over my shoulder. Either the Xylo weapon was undercharged, or the security officer weighed too much for the shock to knock him out for long. The Xylo was regaining sensation in his limbs. He snaked his way across the asphalt, rolling on his greasy stomach and heading toward his hover bike, which was still running. It was on standby a few inches off the ground.

I hooked Gabriella's satchel over my shoulder. Scooping her off the ground, I carried her to the hover bike and carefully positioned her in the seat. The security officer tried to pull me off his bike, but he was still crawling around on the ground. I trampled over his fingers. The sickening crunch of breaking bones mixed with his agonizing screams in the air.

Grabbing the keys from his belt, I secured Gabriella before mounting the hover bike myself. Black smog coughed out of the tailpipe as the bike lifted off the ground, blowing in the Xylo's unconscious face.