Chapter 6: The Trap Is Set
The tunnel swallowed them whole.
Marco, Jahir, and Kael sprinted through the waist-deep water of the abandoned drainage system as the deafening metallic barks of the cyber-hounds echoed behind them. Every pounding footstep sent ripples across the black water while rusted pipes dripped from the ceiling like rain.
"They're gaining!" Kael gasped.
"I know!" Marco shouted without looking back.
Jahir's data-pad flashed with a crude map of the underground channels. Most of the tunnels had collapsed decades earlier, leaving only a handful of passages that still connected to the Government's fortress.
"Left!" Jahir yelled. "The main tunnel dead-ends. The overflow pipe is our only chance!"
The three boys slid around the corner just as one of the cyber-hounds burst into view.
Its glowing crimson eyes locked onto them.
Steel jaws snapped shut only inches behind Kael's heel.
Kael swung his alloy sword without breaking stride. The blade scraped across the machine's armored skull, sending sparks into the darkness but barely slowing the beast.
"They're tougher than I thought!"
Marco suddenly stopped.
"What are you doing?" Jahir shouted.
Marco planted the fire axe into a large, rusted support valve beside the tunnel wall.
"Cover your ears!"
With every ounce of strength he had, he drove the axe deeper.
The ancient pressure pipe exploded.
Thousands of gallons of filthy water erupted through the tunnel, smashing into the charging cyber-hounds with incredible force. The torrent ripped several machines off their feet, carrying them backward into twisted concrete and shattered steel.
"Move!" Marco yelled.
The boys ran before the floodwaters could catch them.
For several precious minutes, the only sounds were rushing water and exhausted breathing.
Finally, they reached a massive vertical shaft.
Above them towered the cooling system of the Citadel.
Steam drifted through enormous exhaust pipes disappearing into the darkness.
Jahir smiled for the first time in days.
"We made it."
Marco stared upward.
"Then let's finish this."
Far above them, inside the Citadel, alarms remained silent.
Commander Voss stood in the central command room, watching dozens of surveillance screens.
One monitor suddenly flickered.
Three heat signatures had appeared beneath the cooling complex.
Voss smiled.
"So... they came."
An officer looked over.
"Sir?"
"I knew the older ones wouldn't abandon their friends."
He pressed a button on the control console.
"Seal every exit except Cooling Tunnel Seven."
Another officer frowned.
"But sir... that's the only route into the detention level."
"Exactly."
The commander folded his hands behind his back.
"Hope is the easiest weapon to manipulate."
Red warning lights flashed across hidden corridors.
Heavy blast doors quietly locked into place.
Automated gun turrets powered online.
Hunter drones detached from their charging racks.
Elite soldiers took up concealed firing positions.
Every movement had been anticipated.
Every escape route had been calculated.
It was never a rescue mission.
It was bait.
Deep below the Citadel, Marco studied the massive ventilation shaft.
"This is it."
Jahir nodded.
"Four minutes once we breach the valve."
Kael tightened his grip on his sword.
"And after we get Chloe and Sam?"
Marco looked toward the darkness above.
"We fight our way out."
None of them realized that every word they spoke...
Every step they took...
Every heartbeat...
was already being watched.
Far above, Commander Voss smiled as the three blinking dots moved exactly where he wanted them.
"The trap," he whispered, "is finally set."