Ellyssa pulled back. He was safe…for now.
Twenty-five minutes from now, he’d arm the explosives. Afterward, they’d have fifteen minutes to clear the building.
Silently, Ellyssa moved to the middle of the hall, to a wall grate. Six screws held the plate in place. Withdrawing a small toolset from her pocket, she set to work, dislodging the grate.
She removed her shoes and socks, and stripped out of the jumpsuit, down to a soft cotton shirt and a pair of sweatpants. She put the uniform inside the duct and crawled in feet first.
Warm air brushed Ellyssa’s face and caressed the skin of her arms. Metallic odors, and the scent of oil, hung heavy in the recycled air.
Hoping no one would notice the missing screws, she positioned the grid back in place. Her arms extended out in front of her, she pulled herself forward. The process was painstakingly slow. The duct left little room for movement, and jagged metal edges scratched her skin and snagged her clothes.
For the most part, darkness kept her company except for slivers of light from other grates. Occasionally, she’d see machinery or the occasional pair of legs through the crisscrossing bars. She crawled as quickly as she could.
Ten meters in, she reached the vertical framework where airflow traveled to the labs below. The whirling fwomp, fwomp, fwomp of the large fan blades sucked warm air from the higher levels.
Poking her head over the edge, Ellyssa peered down the chute. Dim, filtered light illuminated the next section three meters below. Dust particles danced in the greyish glow.
She wiggled her body over the gaping hole until her toes dangled down. Then she backed down, legs swinging through the vertical duct, followed by her chest. Pressing her knees against one side of the airway and her back against the other, Ellyssa wedged herself in. Then she started the painstaking process of wriggling down.
One little slip, and Ellyssa knew she’d shoot down the shaft, like a bullet through a gun barrel. Only she wouldn’t be projected over a long distance, but would instead end up broken and bleeding at the bottom of the duct.
Two meters down, her muscles started to quiver under the exertion of holding her body weight over the aluminum precipice. Using her legs, she pressed herself tighter against the side and relaxed her arms, gently shaking them. She’d done many similar exercises that called for intense exertion, but none had proved as taxing as duct-climbing.
Her endurance in question, Ellyssa wondered how much further she had to go, how much time had passed, and vaguely, if anyone had found the guard yet.
Ellyssa repositioned her hands and shifted down another half meter, her back and knees sliding along the framework. She paused, scooted, paused, and scooted until her feet and buttocks found open space. Carefully, she locked her arms, holding herself in place, and lowered one of her legs, her toes searching for the edge.
As she slowly stretched her leg, the muscles in her arms spasmed, and before she could correct her grasp, her back slid. Suddenly, air was rushing past her, and her knees banged against the edge. A tinging echoed through the ductwork. Suppressing a startled cry, her fingers latched onto the side and gained purchase before she plummeted downward.
Ellyssa dangled in the long chute, arms tense against the pull of gravity, breath locked in her chest. She listened for any activity. Nothing, so far. No shouts of surprise, no blaring alarms.
With a low grunt, Ellyssa hefted herself up and over into the cross-section. Using her shaky arms, she slithered forward, snakelike, through the L3 duct, until she reached light filtering through a grate in little jagged rectangles. She twisted onto her side.
Ellyssa closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. Like fingers searching for a hold, her gift stretched, looking for Rein. Emptiness extended beyond, behind, and to the sides. Further and further she searched, until his energy, his signature, pulsed, like a flash of light in a dark corner of a room.
Ellyssa exhaled. Her heart reacted with relief, and the link sizzled and weakened.
She redoubled her efforts and latched onto him. Except for a spark of life, there were no images, no thoughts, no feelings. His eyes were closed, and she swam in black ink with him. Something was wrong.
An unpleasant physical sensation suddenly hit her, like a wave battering against rocks. Pain. The feeling was strong and intense, unlike anything she’d felt before. It enveloped her, twisting within her veins.
Horrified, Ellyssa yanked herself away, and Rein’s tormented scream traveled back with her, piercing the empty hall, reverberating in her ears, in her bones. Then it was gone. An eerie quiet settled.
He was somewhere on the north side, where vacant rooms were used for storage…and for torturing the one man who meant more to her than life itself. His scream still echoed in her head.
All fear of being caught vanished as she bludgeoned the grate, striking again and again with her fist until it gave way. The grille dropped to the floor with a clang that shattered the silence.
If they had not known of her presence before, they did now.
Ellyssa twisted her body and struggled out until her legs spilled onto the cold linoleum floor. She popped up, ready for someone to spring out at her. No one did, but every hair on her body tingled.
Two doors, both leading to classrooms, stood directly in front of her. To the right, the hall dead-ended at a closet marked Utilities. To the left was the main hall, connecting the south, where she stood now, to the north. Closest to her was the one and only elevator that led to her father’s office and her old apartment floor, their only source of escape… if they were given the opportunity.
Ellyssa checked her watch. Eight minutes had passed. It seemed as if an eternity had crept by since she’d crawled through the opening of the grating in the floor above.
That gave her seventeen minutes until Woody’s job was completed, then fifteen to leave the building.
Not enough time.
Panic popping, her heart pounded uncontrollably, thudding against her ribcage. Logical thought scampered away. Indecision plagued her.
She couldn’t work like this.
Control.
She breathed in and slowly blew out the air. In and out. In and out.
Rein. She had to find him.
She shut her eyes, quieting her whirling mind, her rapid pulse.
Calm.
With her back pressed against the wall, Ellyssa crept to the corner, bare feet padding noiselessly. She peered down the uninviting main hall. Long fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, just like in the cavern, and reflected off the white tile floors and walls. Every few meters, doors opened into rooms.
She slunk around the corner and into the hall, her steps sure and silent. She opened her mind for Rein. For any signature at all. Rein flickered in the distance, softly pulsing, alone. That didn’t make sense. If no one was on the floor, who had caused him to scream?
Ellyssa checked her watch again. Fifteen minutes until Woody armed the bombs. Two minutes gone, disappeared, never to be reclaimed, as if time had finally sped up to make up for its lag within the confines of the ventilation system.
Quickening her pace, she slipped through the shadows of the hall. The corridor seemed to lengthen before her as she hurried, every intersection posing new threats. Still listening, still watching, keeping her mind open, Ellyssa continued without hesitation.
Time moved forward; she lengthened her stride, her bare feet slapping against the tile. The sound echoed along the walls, but she no longer cared.