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Chapter 9

Tunnel Network, Level Eight

The chamber was huge, a long oval shape around fifty metres long and fifteen wide and two levels high. A railed walkway ran around the outside halfway up and it was here that Sami and I were crouched, looking down through the mesh grating at the open space in the centre of this vast space.

At the floor level were a motley crew of men and women, dressed in grey or blue coveralls with red and black jackets over the top. I counted thirteen of the Redbacks in total, including Oscar with his distinctive yellow hair. They were surrounding three captives bound and seated on the cold concrete floor - Vinny, Earl and Eleanor. I could see bruises and scratches on the two men but thankfully Eleanor appeared scared but otherwise unharmed.

The perimeter of the chamber was littered with a mix of self-erecting tents, improvised shelters made of plastic sheets and even some cargo boxes used as makeshift sleeping quarters. Scattered all about were the spoils of their raids in the form of opened crates, boxes and drums, pilfered goods laying atop every available surface where they had been pawed over.

"Are our new friends in position?" Sami asked me in a low voice, her right arm cradling the submachine gun. She had tied the left to her waist, wincing every time she had to move as the pain lanced through her broken bones.

"Yes" I replied as quietly as I could. The lighting in the wide chamber was harshly bright in the centre but left deep shadows against the walls and openings that dotted the perimeter. With my enhanced optics I could make out the stealthy shapes of numerous Skitterbugs massing in the dim corners and high on the roof, waiting for our signal.

From below I could hear the gloating laughter of Oscar Haynes, the Porter who I had first encountered when he and his men captured Earl. He was taunting the young man with the tip of a faintly humming Shock Rod, bringing it close to Earl's bared hands and face, laughing meanly as the youngster flinched back from the device.

"If you want to hurt somebody, pick on me, Oscar!" I heard Vinny growl, a low and menacing tone I had not expected from the always affable man. "The kid is just a puppy"

"Maybe I like to kick puppies, Vincent" Oscar spoke like his voice was oiled poison, slippery and dangerous with barely suppressed anger. "Maybe I like to hear them whine and cry, begging for their master to stop"

"You aren't my master, asshole!" Earl called out bravely. His moment of rebellion was brief though as Oscar rammed the Shock Rod against his neck, the crackling hum of the discharge overlaid by the agonised scream from Earl. The young man convulsed in his bonds and collapsed to the ground, muscles still spasming as the massive charge dissipated through his body.

"Bastard!" growled Sami and I saw her muscles tense, ready to leap into the open, finger already laid on the trigger of her gun.

"Wait!" I hissed, my vocoder giving strange sibilance to the hurried command. "I hear something else coming from the main tunnel. We need all of them in the one place for this to work"

Sami grunted softly in reluctant agreement, settling onto her haunches, eyes filled with a burning intensity. In the middle of the chamber, Eleanor and Vinny had cradled the whimpering Earl, glaring at the Redback and his laughing cronies with pure hatred. With my enhanced sight I could see Vinny and Eleanor flexing against their bonds, the skin beneath the plastic ties red and raw from where they had struggled to free themselves.

"You should've stayed away from our turf, Vincent" Oscar taunted the Scavenger. "Sung-Tae was mighty pissed when you took off like that, leaving us without a word. The Redbacks don't take kindly to traitors"

He stepped up close to Vinny, holding the Shock Rod before him like it was an instrument of pleasure and not torture. Vinny didn't flinch, keeping himself interposed between Eleanor and Earl, his eyes hard as stone.