stone passage leading upward. Lights came on in the tunnel, showing the way. Hazel was quietly impressed.
'It leads to another secret door in what used to be my old bedchamber,' said Owen. 'From there we have access to all the main areas of the castle. Internal security is mostly human rather than tech. Aristocrats don't like being spied on. Keep your hand near your sword, but leave your guns alone. The sound of a gun would bring guards running from all directions. And I don't want a war. I just want Valentine.'
Anywhen else, Hazel would have snapped at Owen for lecturing her on something so obvious, but she kept her peace. Talking helped distract him. She followed him into the tunnel, and the door swung shut behind them. Their footsteps seemed very loud in the quiet. And then Owen stopped suddenly, turning his head back and forth.
'What is it?' Hazel said quietly.
'Something's wrong,' said Owen.
Hazel looked up the tunnel. 'I can't see anything.'
'Neither can I. But I can feel it. Can't you?'
Hazel concentrated, trying to reach out in the strange directions her mind was capable of, and then Owen grabbed her roughly and threw her to the floor. She landed hard, driving the breath from her lungs. Owen hit the ground beside her a moment later, one arm flung across her to hold her down. And from every side disrupter beams filled the tunnel from hidden gun ports. If they'd stayed standing, they'd have been shot to mincemeat.
'So much for your secret passage, Deathstalker,' Hazel hissed, trying to burrow down into the solid stone floor.
'They must have got it out of David before he died,' said Owen. 'Try to wriggle backward toward the door.'
'Hell with that,' said Hazel. 'I have my dignity. Wait till the beams shut off, and then we'll make a run for it while they're recharging.'
'One, they're staggered. They're not going to cut off. Two, the beams are angling lower. Now wriggle, dammit.'
They moved back down the tunnel to the door as fast as they were able, the disrupter beams passing barely an inch or so above their bodies. The lowering energy beams seared through the air just above them, filling the tunnel with the stench of ionized air. Owen's clothes rucked up around him as he crawled backward, slowing him down, and he could hear Hazel's many guns and ammo belts scraping along the floor. He risked a glance at her, just in time to see a disrupter beam clip her raised elbow, vaporizing the sleeve and burning the exposed flesh. She grimaced, but didn't make a sound, and kept moving. The smell of burnt meat mingled briefly with the ozone.
Owen redoubled his efforts, scrambling backward as fast as he could force himself. He could almost feel the energy beams cutting through the air directly above him. And then he lurched to a halt as his feet slammed up against the closed steel door. He pushed against the door with all his weight, but it wouldn't budge. Owen's temper flared, and he kicked out with both feet. The heavy steel door flew open, half torn off its hinges. He looked back at Hazel again. She'd raised her head slightly at the noise, and a disrupter beam was heading right for her forehead.
For Owen time seemed to slow and stop, the energy beam crawling slowly through the air. And it was the simplest thing in the world for him to lunge forward and thrust his golden Hadenman hand between Hazel and the beam, and the disrupter beam ricocheted harmlessly away. Time crashed back to normal. Owen grabbed Hazel and then threw himself out of the tunnel and back into the main cave, dragging her with him. They hit the floor hard and rolled away from the opening, putting as much room as they could between themselves and the deadly tunnel. They lay together for a while, getting their breath back, and then rose just a little shakily to their feet.
'So,' said Owen. 'Still feel invulnerable?'
'Oh, shut up, Deathstalker. Don't you get tired of being right all the time?' She raised her arm gingerly and studied the burn with a curled lip. 'Nasty. But it'll heal. Thanks for the save, stud.'
'Any time,' said Owen.
Hazel looked at his golden hand. 'I have to say I'm impressed. Your average disrupter beam can vaporize steel plating in under a second, but it just bounced off that golden fashion accessory of yours.'
'The Hadenmen do good work.' Owen flexed the golden metal fingers just a little self-consciously. 'One of these days I really ought to sit down with some human scientists and have them analyze the hell out of this thing, but I never seem to have the time. It's all rush, rush, rush when you're a rebel hero.'
'And a bounty hunter.'
'That too. Speaking of which, I have another idea on how to get to dear Valentine.'
'Hold everything. Your last idea didn't turn out so damned hot.'
'And you're not going to like this new one much either. But we can't hang around here; those disrupters must have set off all kinds of alarms once they were triggered. There'll be guards here soon. Lots of them, armed to the teeth.'
'Let them come,' said Hazel. 'Let them all come. I could use something to work off my frustrations on.'
'Not for the first time, you're missing the point. The guards could pin us down here while Valentine and his cronies make their escape. And I'll see this place reduced to rubble before I let that happen. This time Valentine is going to pay for his crimes. In blood.'
'Every now and again you remind me of why I like you,' said Hazel. 'All right, Deathstalker. I'm going to regret asking, but what is this marvelous new plan of yours?'
'There's another secret passage. One I never told David about. A Deathstalker always keeps some secrets to himself.'
'There's a catch,' said Hazel. 'I just know there's a catch.'
'Oh, yes. The entrance to this tunnel is on the other side of the first cave on the left. The only way to get to it is past the piled-up bodies of the dead.'
'Oh, nice one, Owen. How the hell are we supposed to do that? Drag the bodies out one at a time?'
'Too long. The guards would be upon us before we'd barely started. No, there's only one way. We're going to have to crawl through.'
'No,' said Hazel flatly.
'Hazel…'
'No! Are you crazy? Dig our way through corpses, hand over hand? I won't do it, Owen. I'd rather stand and fight here.'
'And die?'
'I'm not doing it!'
'You used to be a clonelegger!'
'I was already planning to leave the cloneleggers even before I met you. We can't do this, Owen. It's freezing in there. Near zero.'
'We've withstood worse,' said Owen. 'The guards will never think to look for us among the dead.'
'That's because no sane person would even think of doing it. I can't, Owen. I just can't. It would be like crawling through the contents of the freezer units on the clonelegger ship. Just like my nightmares.'
'No, it won't. This time I'll be there with you. You have to do this. Hazel. It's the only way. And I can't do it without you.'
'You bastard, Deathstalker. You always did know how to fight dirty.' Hazel drew in a long, ragged breath and let it out slowly. 'All right. Let's do it. Before I get a rush of brains to the head and tell you to go to hell.'
'Just follow me. I'll lead the way.'
'Damn right you will.'
Owen led the way to the cave. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Hazel staring straight ahead, her face a cold mask, but her eyes were those of a frightened child. Owen had never seen her scared before, really scared.
'So,' he said, searching for the right words to say, 'you were already thinking of leaving the cloneleggers before we met?'
'Yeah,' said Hazel. 'They were too gross even for me. And the pay was lousy.'
'Silly me. I thought it might have something to do with morality.'
'Don't you use the m-word in my presence, Deathstalker.'
They stopped before the entrance to the cave. Beyond the shimmering transparent force field, dead faces
