“Why haven’t you tried this before?” Salvi asked. “Why now?”
“Because it’s taken me this long to figure it all out and set it up. You think they’re going to just grant me access to their systems and let me poke around in there? I had to do it piece by piece in small grabs of time, waiting for my guard to check his phone or talk to another about game scores.”
“But why now?” Salvi asked. “Why risk coming for us?”
“Because I can’t do it alone and everyone here is too scared to do it with me. The power is about to trip out, which will get us through this door, but the generator will kick in and restore it, and the doors this end of the building will lock again. Our final door to the outside will be locked, and it has a twin security measure, two consoles two codes, that have to be entered at the same time. I’m good but I’m not that good, so I need you.”
“What do we do when we hit the outside?” Bronte asked, still checking both sides of the corridor.
“We run like hell,” Dancer said.
“That’s it?” Kara asked. “That’s your plan?”
“Hey, it’s the best I can do. You got a better idea?”
Salvi raised her hand in calm. “We just need to get outside. If we get outside, the cavalry will come.”
Suddenly the building plunged into darkness and they heard the door beside them unlock.
“Hurry!” Dancer said, pulling it open and disappearing inside. Salvi grabbed for the opened door and followed the sound of Dancer’s feet, unsure of where they were headed in the darkness, but soon enough the lights came on again and she heard the door behind them locking. She glanced around seeking proof that Kara and Bronte were inside with them. They were. She breathed a sigh of relief and glanced back around to what appeared to be a stairwell.
Dancer started heading down the steps.
“Wait!” she called “Where are you going?”
“The basement. There’s a sewer that will lead us away from the building out of sight.”
“No,” Salvi said.
“Salvi?” Kara screwed her face up.
“We need to get into the open air as soon as possible.”
“The only other way out is the roof,” Dancer said. “If we go up there, we’ll be trapped. They’ll see us.”
“Dancer, listen to me,” Salvi said. “You have to trust me. As soon as we get into the open air, the SFPD AI will have our location and the cavalry will come. That’s more important right now. Travis and the others might figure out we’ve hit the sewers and block us before we can get the signal out. We need to get to the roof now. We have to get the signal out as soon as possible!”
“But they’ll definitely catch us if we do that!”
“Maybe so,” Salvi said, “but it won’t be for long. We need the SFPD to help us. Can you get us out onto the roof?”
Dancer nodded. “Yeah, but–”
“Dancer, trust me. It’s our best option.” Salvi turned and began moving up the stairs.
“Shit!” Dancer hissed, smacking his hand on the railing, before running to catch up to her.
Salvi glanced at him as he appeared alongside. “How did you know we would help you?”
He glanced back at her. “I knew once that other cop came here, that others would follow. Then I heard they brought you three in, three more cops.”
“Wait, you saw Caine?” Bronte asked, grabbing his arm and stopping him.
“Well, I didn’t see him,” Dancer said, “but I heard the guards talking about what went down. He tried to break out with MasterSlave-18.”
“Clare…” Salvi said.
Dancer nodded. “She was the Chief of Police’s daughter, right?”
Salvi nodded. “What did you mean ‘was’?”
Dancer shrugged. “I just mean she was his daughter. Now she’s MasterSlave-18. They watch her like a hawk and any customers who ask for her. Your guy Caine made it too obvious.”
“Clare’s alive,” Kara said, and looked at Salvi.
Salvi looked back to Dancer. “Come on!”
She started climbing the stairs again, but they stopped at the sound of a door opening below them. They peered over the stairwell railing, to see Travis and the guards entering. Travis looked up at her and smiled, then held up a data pane.
“Shit!” Salvi said, as they turned and started running again. She saw the exit door ahead, rimmed with daylight. Her freedom.
But suddenly the door turned on its side.
No, it was Salvi who turned on her side. Her shoulder hit the brick wall as she fell onto the stairs.
“Salvi!” Kara yelled. “Bronte!”
Salvi panted as she gained her bearings again, as Bronte groaned somewhere behind her. She heard the sound of his taser falling over the side of the stairs and smashing to the ground below.
“Hurry!” Dancer yelled, pulling Salvi to her feet, as Kara helped Bronte to his.
They kept running and made it to the top of the stairs.
“One either side!” Dancer yelled, pointing Salvi to the console by the door, while he moved to a second console further along the wall. “On the count of three, I’ll call out the code. Got it?”
Salvi nodded, but the world turned sideways again. She dropped her taser and grabbed the door handle to catch her fall, but felt her knees hit concrete.
“Salvi!” Kara yelled. “Let me do it!”
Kara pulled her out of the way, then moved to the console and looked to Dancer. “Go!”
Suddenly, the metal cuff around Dancer’s ankle lit up, there was a high-pitch alarm, then his ankle collapsed on a sharp ninety-degree angle. Dancer screamed in pain, as he fell sideways. Salvi filled with horror as his ankle looked to be completely snapped in half. She pulled herself to her feet and ran to him.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Dancer screamed, reaching for his foot which hung loosely at the end of his leg.
“Kara!” Bronte yelled. “Taser!”
Kara threw her taser to Bronte, who caught it and fired it over the stairwell railing, as Salvi grabbed Dancer and hauled him over to lean against the wall.
“What’s the code, Dancer?
