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“Is this…”
“Yup.” I grinned. “Exactly what you think it is.”
“What do you want us to do with it?”
“Whatever you want. Personally, I think it would be funny if everyone got a chance to see what’s on that spike.” I shrugged. “But not everyone gets my jokes.”
A low hiss of agitation. “That would mean chaos.”
“You say that like chaos is a bad thing.”
I stood up. “You’ve got the spike. Now tell me how to get to Emma.”
They sketched a quick map on a scrap of synthplas, detailing a circuitous pathway through rarely-used maintenance tunnels and ductwork.
I committed the maze of turns to memory before igniting the synthplas with a quick twist.
“Many branching paths lie along the way,” they warned. “Follow only where I’ve mapped, else become lost forever.”
Not going to happen.
I cut through the station, heading for Conii’s compound.
Emma was so close now, near enough I practically felt our connection thrumming. Each step brought me closer to where she was imprisoned. Soon I would steal inside the viper’s nest and catch Conii off guard for once.
But I had to be smart, not simply tear through walls roaring Emma’s name. The element of surprise was crucial with the limited forces at my disposal. I needed a thief’s cunning, not a berserker’s savagery. Not yet.
Up ahead, the alley split around an awkwardly jutting maintenance shaft. I scanned the sparse space for anything amiss. And there, half-buried in debris near the shaft—the glint of metal and glass shards.
My heart seized as I raced over and gently lifted the ruined percomm from the muck.
A twisted shred of metal was all that remained of the delicate filigree pendant I gave Emma.
She’d been here.
Have patience just a while longer, Emma. I’m coming for you.
EMMA
There must have been some sort of gas in the transit pod. My head throbbed dully, and my mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. I blinked several times trying to clear the fog from my brain and figure out where I was, but all I could make out was a dim overhead light and featureless metal walls surrounding me.
Fighting down panic, I took stock of my surroundings. The room was tiny, just a few paces across, and utterly devoid of features aside from a rickety cot along one wall and a basic toilet and sink in the corner. Thick metal comprised the walls on all sides, seamless except for the heavy locked door.
I racked my brain trying to figure out how I could have ended up here. The impersonators who arrested me had seemed experienced, their disguises and gear all convincing. This had to have been a carefully planned operation. And that meant whoever was behind it had extensive resources.
A creeping suspicion wormed its way into my mind, but I tried to ignore it, not wanting to consider the horrific implications. I needed to stay calm and focused if I was going to find a way out of this nightmare. There had to be something I could use, some weakness I could exploit. I just had to search every inch of this cell.
I checked under the cot’s thin mattress, shoving the piece of furniture around, even inspected the exposed toilet pipes, but found absolutely nothing helpful. These walls were engineered to be escape-proof, even for someone as motivated as I was. Despair threatened to crush me as I realized I truly was trapped.
Fighting the panic rising in my chest, I forced myself to breathe deeply. What would Sherlock Holmes do in my situation?
Stay cool under pressure, keep observing and analyzing rationally.
What would Tazhr do?
Break things.
Between the two of them, there had to be a way.
