Frustration bit at Sawyer. Whatever the cause of the power failure, his gut wanted to drag Julia from the cold room and take her above ground to the safety of the open air. At least there he had a chance of spotting a ten-foot-tall Chittrix and protecting her. Here, threats lurked in every cramped, worn-out corner. Eight months of living underground in the safety of the CB was taking its toll on him.

A muscle ticked in his jaw as Julia’s gaze connected with his.

“Definitely down there?”

Julia turned and glared at him and his doubtful voice. “Yes.”

He ignored the dismissive tone, blocking his automatic response to her continued use of his surname. No matter how many times he’d asked her to call him by his first name, she stubbornly refused.

The entrance door slammed across the room, and the slim shape of another woman came jogging up the access pathway.

Garrick’s sister Violet was tall like her brother, but that was where the similarity ended. Her hair was a cascade of red-blonde hair that refused to be tamed even when she tied it up. Violet had been an army sniper before the invasion and weapons were perpetually attached to her body. Tonight was no exception. A pulse rifle hung ready and charged across her chest as she flexed her hands into smooth, black leather gloves.

Sawyer raised his eyebrows and sighed at the dark space on the other side of the safety barrier. “No emergency lighting. That would be too easy, wouldn’t it? I love how whenever something stops working, it's thirty feet down in the dark where are there are no lights, and you can't see jack shit.”

“That’s what flashlights are for,” interrupted Violet, drawing near to the small group.

She walked past him, hesitating near the middle of the rail. With a screech of metal, the gate was open. She leaned out into the darkness, her body tensed for anything untoward below.

Violet grimaced. “Can’t see a damn thing.” She switched on her flashlight and swung her lithe body out onto the ladder and began to descend. “Are you going to get your backsides in gear, guys?” she shouted up from the darkness, her steps echoing on the metal rungs of the ladder.

Garrick rolled his eyes as he clipped his flashlight to his belt. “She only does this to show us up.”

* * *

Sawyer’s feet hit the steel grate of the lower platform with a metallic clang. He traced the edge of the platform with his flashlight beam. It was approximately sixty feet long and ten feet deep, with a thick, enameled railing providing safety from the roaring water below. Ahead, light beams bobbed and stabbed as Garrick and Violet scoured the far end of the platform.

This far below the base, the surrounding walls were rough-hewn rock, a combination of man-made and natural excavation. Jagged crags gleamed on the walls, sparkling with mineral deposits interspersed with nimble-footed lichens in a shadowy mulch of ochre and rusty red.

On the far western side, the ancient river flowed through a low, wide archway. It swirled into the cave, entering the hydroelectric power grid before exiting on the eastern side. Water spun and foamed, filling the air with a wet mist that tasted metallic on his tongue. The rushing boom of the water as it surged into the cavern echoed in Sawyer’s ears, making it difficult to concentrate.

Julia followed him onto the platform, rubbing her forearms. She stepped in front of him, her hands fumbling for the safety rail. As her fingers grabbed the metal, her flashlight slipped, bouncing off the toe of his boot and going dark.

Sawyer picked up the flashlight and returned it to her grip. His thumb flicked the switch and yellow light spilled out again. “You okay?”

Her breath tickled the hairs on his hand as she held onto him for a second longer than necessary.

“I’m fine,” she muttered.

His hand slipped to her hip, pressing gently.

“All clear.” Violet’s voice sounded far away, her flashlight bobbing on the far end of the raised platform. The beam danced over a multitude of pipes. Thick as a man’s thigh, they rose from the water to the plant machinery above.

Julia shivered under his touch, trembling through the curve of her hip to his fingertips. Her breath fluttered, her chest heaving, but she straightened and eased away from him. Just the usual. He wanted to show the world she was his, while Julia kept insisting they needed to keep everything under wraps.

She edged past him to the rear of the platform where the control panels were stationed. An original analog system, they were composed of numerous small glass-fronted dials. Silent black and white counters that should have been ticking in steady movement were motionless and thin needles were rammed to the far right of each dial, pressed against the red warning bars.

Julia tapped her fingers on the glass, her fingers automatically flicking the required switches nearby. “The entire system’s overheated.” She squatted, tracing the body of the machinery with her fingers as if sensing the fault within.

Sawyer marveled at the quickness of her mind as she processed everything in front of her. He could reassemble a pulse rifle blindfolded with one hand, but engineering was Julia’s baby.

“The emergency stops have kicked in and shut everything down. We’re lucky they still work on a system as archaic as this one,” she said.

“Can you fix it?” Sawyer asked.

“Probably, but the intake valves need checked.” Her glasses slipped as she bent, forcing her to push them back up her nose in the sweet way that drove him crazy. She hummed in concentration.

Sawyer knelt beside her, cold metal digging into the flesh of his knees. Julia stuck her hand through the railing. “Some of the intake taps are visible, but there are more submerged.”

Sawyer followed suit, his fingertips brushing taps just below the water line. “They feel ragged to me. Damaged.”

Garrick and Violet came up behind them.

Julia directed their attention with her flashlight. “There’s a problem in the lower intake valves. There’s a grill under the waterline, so we can walk in without being fully submerged. I reckon it’s about waist deep.”

Violet inclined her head in acknowledgment. “You going to go in and check them then?”

Sawyer glanced at Julia.

“I…” Even in the grim lighting, she blanched, her fingertips snatching protectively at the base of her throat. “Of course.” She dropped her hand from her neck and hugged her shoulder, taking a faltering step toward the rail.

Sawyer had spent his entire working life as a Police Officer and protection came second nature to him. He interrupted. “I can do it.” His gaze never left her. “Julia should be keeping an eye on the systems up here.”

She fired him the briefest glance of gratitude as she retreated to the control panel. Maybe later she would tell him what was up.

He exhaled noisily. “Seems I’m going swimming.”