High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,77

to be objecting.

He ignored the camp leader and stepped through the arched entrance, into the dappled gloom.

“They'll be right behind us,” Hana warned.

He nodded in agreement, but kept going. The holes in the roof let in enough light to see by, but there were big pools of shadows, too, and he tread carefully.

He could hear talking up ahead, and slowed his pace even more, keeping close to the wall.

Hana was right beside him, head cocked in the direction of the noise. A beam of light from a break in the roof overhead lit her face, and he felt something rise up in him that was almost too big to contain.

“What are they saying?” he forced himself to ask, his voice rough.

“They're trying to work out how to carry the engine out. Sounds like it's too heavy.” Hana's voice was barely a whisper.

The conversation was coming from up ahead, echoing and bouncing through the building as if the acoustics of the room they were in were unusual.

Hana reached out and touched the oddly angled protrusions on the wall in the passageway, the oblongs and rectangles sticking out in uneven, asymmetrical patterns.

They reminded Iver of something, but he couldn't quite remember what.

“The problem is the two minute limit.” Craven's voice was suddenly clear, as if he'd moved closer.

“I know that.” Barre sounded impatient. “We can't get the engine in place, though. Not with the equipment we have. Nothing works here. The magfields are too strong.”

“The crew who were hired to take the environmental generator off Cepi were considering dismantling it when they encountered this problem. Better to have it in bits, and get someone to try put it back together, than not have it at all.”

“Sugotti knows about it now, so we have to destroy it or take it with us, nothing in between.” Barre audibly spat after he spoke.

“Sugotti can't live to see another day, whatever Jake thinks his value as a hostage is, so it doesn't matter what he knows.”

Craven's response didn't surprise Iver at all. He expected it. What he hadn't expected was mention of Cepi. He'd told Hana the day before that the shield engine in the camp reminded him of Cepi's mysterious generator, but it sounded as if Craven had inside knowledge.

And the strange protrusions on the wall . . . he suddenly remembered where he recognized them from. The ruins of Cepi had looked very similar.

Craven and Barre must have been told what to look for in these ruins to get to the engine. And they could only have been told by whoever had funded the attempted theft of Cepi's environmental generator.

“Problem is, Sugotti is a way out if we're stopped by the VSC when we try to leave. He does have value as a hostage, Jake's right about that. We can't get rid of him yet.” Barre's voice went softer as if he had turned. “Not that it matters now. We're not going anywhere until we solve this problem.”

“We're not going anywhere anyway, with the Dynastra down.” Craven sounded bitter. “What the hell were they doing, buzzing the valley like a VSC strike-team in the war?”

“Probably that asshole, Linnel.” The sound of a stone skittering over the floor made Iver think Barre had kicked it.

He looked over at Hana, saw her eyes were a little wider, her mouth open in shock at the mention of Linnel's name.

“Damn,” she mouthed. “Thought we'd gotten rid of him.”

Iver nodded. He had, too.

The head administrator of Touka City had obviously not managed to hang on to the lieutenant after she'd arrested him. Most likely the mysterious Banyon had something to do with getting him free.

It also looked like Linnel had been playing Bret and his team, just the same as Lancaster had been. Because until right now, Iver thought he was in Bret's camp, but here he was, helping Jake and Craven. Either he was in with Lancaster from the beginning, or he knew what Lancaster was up to, and decided to throw in with the other side when things blew up for him in Touka City.

Iver motioned Hana to leave, and she gave a nod.

The engine wasn't going anywhere.

It sounded as though they didn't have a way to get the engine out, and as Craven said, even if they did, until the Dynastra was running again, they were stuck here.

Hana led the way back down the passage.

She stopped just before the arched door and pressed up against the wall. Iver followed her lead.

Bret and Baxter stepped through, Baxter