From deep within piles of fabric, a muffled “okay” emerged. Buried with Zed was a gun we’d found in Billy’s desk as well as a knife. I’d have felt a lot better with one of them against my skin, but we couldn’t risk a guard patting me down on my way into the main building. As it was, we were praying none of them thought to search the cart.
I knew from Matri’s instructions that Dr. Death’s lab was located in the fourth subbasement of the main building. His personal apartments were connected to the lab rooms, and could only be accessed through a heavily guarded corridor. Because of his exalted position within the camp and the Troika, no humans were allowed to serve him. He had his own staff of servants that saw to all of his personal needs.
However, humans were allowed to collect his laundry. All of his garments were sent up to the main level via a mechanized chute. The items were collected by prisoners who then transported them to the laundry facilities, where they were washed in separate machines by a squad of vampire workers.
The sun was still up, but not for long. If we could kill Dr. Death and get out of the building before the sun was down we’d stand a better chance of making it to the station. The sun wouldn’t kill them, but ultra-violet light wreaked havoc on their immune systems and weakened them substantially. That’s why they relied on human guards to patrol during the day. If the human prisoners rose up together against sun-weakened vampire guards they’d stand a much better chance of winning than they would have at night.
I made it through the tunnel and pushed the cart into the first basement level of the main building. A vampire guard stood just inside, but waved us through without a word. I’d worried a guard might think it was odd for us to bring dirty clothes into the building, but clearly this one was too bored to care about anything.
A freight elevator stood about twenty feet beyond where I entered. I walked slowly so as not to attract too much attention, but not slow enough to earn me a reprimand for being lazy. As I walked, I spotted other workers bustling around to prepare for the evening meal and the night’s activities. A couple cast looks in my direction that made me wonder if they were in on what was about to happen.
The elevator opened and I pushed the cart inside. As the doors closed, a starburst of fear popped in my stomach. If one of the prisoners decided to try to curry favor with the vamps, they could easily blow the whistle on our plan. Images of Dr. Death lying in wait several floors below my feet paraded through my mind’s eye.
The rub was there would be no way of knowing if there would be an ambush until it was too late. At that point, I had no choice but to move forward and deliver myself into fate’s hands. I just hoped Zed had that gun ready to go when we got off the elevator. I didn’t dare speak to him to confirm that, though, because I knew I was being watched by some faceless v
ampire in a control room somewhere in the building. That was also why I needed to act fast once we got into Dr. Death’s lab. The minute shit started going down, there’d be a phalanx of guards deployed to take us out.
The elevator stopped on the right floor. I sucked in a deep breath. The floor indicator dinged. I exhaled and white-knuckled the cart as the doors opened.
But instead of seeing a squad of death dealers on the other side, an empty hallway greeted us. My heart didn’t stop galloping until I pushed the cart into the hallway and realized we really were alone. By the looks of it, this level was filled with storerooms. No living quarters or offices in sight.
Under my breath, I whispered, “We’re alone, but be ready.”
A whisper of sound emerged from the pile of uniforms.
I moved down the hall as quickly as I could without calling too much attention to myself if anyone was watching. At the end of that hall, there was a turn, and halfway down the next hall a metal door was cut into the wall. Each floor had a door to the dumbwaiter, so clothing, food, or supplies could easily be delivered directly to Dr. Death from almost any floor in the building without him needing to leave his rooms.
I looked around for any telltale red lights that might indicate a camera hidden in any of the vents or nooks in the hallway but didn’t see any. I knew better than to trust that thought so I took a moment to collect myself before I got started.
I opened the door and cursed. Inside, the space was barely large enough for a child. Even Rabbit would have had a hard time squeezing into the cube. “Shit,” I whispered.
The uniforms moved until there was a hole just large enough for Zed to speak through. “What’s wrong?”
“Change of plans.” While he lifted his head just enough to see the problem, I got busy pushing buttons to send the dumbwaiter up a floor. “We’re going to have to climb down the chute.”
By that point, anyone watching would have already deployed guards, but there were no sirens or alarms echoing through the building. It was possible they wouldn’t raise a general alarm, but just send guards to dispose of us quietly and quickly. Either way, we needed to get moving.
“You go first,” I said. “Take the gun but give me the knife.”
He climbed out of the cart and glanced down into the chute. “Six, it’s a sheer drop to the next floor. I’ll break a leg.”
We didn’t have time to argue, so I just started grabbing uniforms and tying the legs together to create a makeshift rope. He instantly caught on and pitched in without arguing. I had to admit working with Zed was a pleasant change from being with Icarus and Dare, who questioned everything I did—loudly. With both of us working, it only took a couple of minutes to create a long enough rope to lower Zed down.
“What are you going to do once I’m down?” he asked.
“I’ll tie it to the handle. Even if it breaks as I go down, it’ll reduce the length of my fall.”
He didn’t look happy about my solution, but he was smart enough to know there was no other choice. “Let’s go.”
He grabbed one end of the rope and waited until I’d put the other end around my waist as a counterweight. Without another word, he began rappelling down the long, metal throat. I braced one leg against the wall and leaned back against the pull of the rough fabric loop around my waist. Once he was down, I needed to be ready to move quickly or he’d be trapped down there alone with Dr. Death. There wasn’t a place to land and wait for me, so he’d basically have to climb out the door and into the rooms below before I could begin my descent.
It took less time than I expected for him to reach the spot two floors below. Before I was ready, he pushed off the wall and kicked open the door into Dr. Death’s inner sanctum. “Now, Six!”
I fumbled for a moment with the rope but quickly tied it to the door handle. I stuck the knife he’d given me in the waistband of my uniform. I was just swinging my feet over the edge of the hole when shouts sounded below.
As I leaped into the chute, a gunshot exploded below me.
Twenty