"There's plenty of twists and turns ahead," I said to Brian. "He probably won't realise anything amiss for at least a few miles."
I suddenly remembered that the ignition was still missing. I pulled out the handle and hex shaft from where I had left them in the footwell and hand-started the car again. Using parking skills gained from nearly five years of living in the historic part of Corviston, I reversed and carefully extricated myself from our impromptu parking spot, and set off in the direction from which we had come. At the fork we had passed earlier, I turned left.
Once we were far enough down the road, we stopped on the side of the road to inspect the damage. The bodywork was dented in some places, the right-hand-side rear quarter panel was gone, and one of the tyres was flat. but the car seemed mechanically sound, and none of the hydraulic lines had been impacted.
"Look. It's cross-eyed."
I stepped out. Surely enough, one of the swivelling front headlights had detached itself from its linkage and was now facing the other.
I stared into the silly-faced gaze of the Moon Goddess. "Mike is going to kill me. This car is like his son. I'm going to be the first Alpha to be killed by his pack omega."
"Now that's what I call changing the game."
"Did they do anything, Brian?"
"Nothing. They knocked me out, drove me here and put me in the dungeon and that was it."
"Did you see anything weird?"
"Where's everyone?"
"I'll get to that later. I need to make some phone calls first."
Brian looked up at the overcast night sky. "There's probably not even any reception here."
"That's where you're wrong, Brian. Go back inside and undo the bonnet latch. On both sides."
I lifted the bonnet up on its hinges and reached behind the right headlight. "See, Brian,
sometimes these headlights get quite dirty. So they designed a little door so you can put your hand into the lens and clean it"- I opened the little door and put my hand in, revealing the satellite phone, which I had taped to the back of one of the swivelling inner headlights, which now swung free.
Brian whistled. "Nifty."
"Now. Let's change the tyre." I reached into the driver's footwell and pulled the suspension adjustment lever to its highest setting.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Brian looked warily down the road, at the darkness beyond, then back at the way we had come.
"Relax. It'll take two minutes if we work fast."
***
We set off, back to the Industrial Zone. Brian drove while I made some phone calls. I suddenly realised that both Brian and I hadn't changed clothes or washed in almost two days. We looked - and smelt - like two rogues.
I called Thurgood. The news was good. Thunder Falls had not discovered their hideout in the hydroelectric plant. There had also been a water quality testing facility in the hydro plant room, and Thurber had managed to use some of the lab equipment to do a basic autopsy. He had confirmed my suspicions. They were currently in the process of making their way down to the Industrial Zone as well.
I caught Brian up on the events after he had been abducted. My argument with his father, the Tim thing, throwing the Thunder Falls people off the trail.
"What kind of documents were they?" Brian asked.
"Bank statements, confidential information, that kind of stuff."
"I'll deal with him when this is over," he said. "He's not going to get away with this. But first I want to talk to my dad."
"There'll be a time for that, Brian, very soon. They're currently in the middle of something."
"OK, Jim. What's this 'something?"
"Remember when the Silver Moon pack were crowing about how they had sewage treatment?"
"Not really?" Brian replied. "A bit before my time."
"Well, it turns out they just illegally connected their pack's toilets to the Industrial Zone's system."
"How's that even possible? They live like 30 kilometres away."
"They built a very long tunnel. Apparently Alpha Alphonse stole a bunch of pipes while he was a subcontractor for the Industrial Zone's sewers."
"I remember him," Brian chuckled. "He was a crazy one. Always paranoid the Zirconians would get him. Hang on." He thought for a moment. "Wouldn't that be more expensive than just building a small sewage treatment plant for your own pack?"
"My thoughts precisely. Crazy and bad at maths. The worst combination."
So what does all of this have to do with where we're going?"
"Well, the Silver Moon pack is just below Lake Galt, where everyone who came to help after the attack went after I found the tracking chip."
Brian put two and two together. "So, we're meeting them in the sewers, and then we're going to overthrow Thunder Falls, or something like that?"
"Something like that."
***
I killed the headlights as we approached the Industrial Zone. The bridge over the Arrowhead hove into sight in the distance. I could see the ugly silhouettes of the armoured cars parked across it. They had no doubt been alerted to our escape.
I pulled off the road and onto a little dirt path that led down to a fishing spot popular among the rogues, a narrow band of dirt surrounded by the tall shadows of vegetation.
I parked the Moon Goddess in a small clearing not far from the road. I got a tarpaulin out of the boot and began to conceal it, pulling branches off the surrounding shrubs. With Brian's help, it was soon indistinguishable from the shrubbery around it. We would come back for it later.
We pushed through the brush down towards the riverbank, crouching down, careful to make as little noise as possible. Several times, we stopped, sure that someone on the bridge Soon we were safely in the shadow of the bridge.
We stopped for a moment, listening, watching. It was a warm night. There was the surprisingly loud burbling of the river, and the sound of the Thunder Falls people on the bridge. The night sky was more overcast than ever, the moon invisible except for an ethereal glow coming from behind the cloud cover. The clouds seemed to be darker, closer, more overbearing than before, when we had been changing the tire.
There was a mugginess, also, in the air now. The rains were a long time coming.
We stepped into the cold dark water. Months of dry weather meant that the Arrowhead was a mere shadow of its usual, fast-flowing self. Even in the middle, it barely came up to our waists; the leisurely current meant that there was little chance of us being swept away.
The riverbank on the other side was a long sandy strip, backing up onto sheer cliffs onto which the water would be lapping, had the river been at its usual level. We kept as close to the cliff as possible, moving slowly to not attract the attention of the patrols on the bridge above us.
The silty ground turned to concrete as the main sewer outlet loomed up ahead, a concrete pipe protruding from the cliff, almost as high as the rock face itself, a circle of pure darkness, a trickle of water emptying from its base into the river.
We entered, into the pitch-black. A faint smell of decay emanated from further in the tunnel. I held the flashlight I had filched from Adlai's garage in my hand. I switched it on, illuminating the darkness.
Thurgood had not been particularly clear in his directions. We knew the tunnel was to the north, but that was about it.
We came to a vast Y-shaped intersection, where two tunnels merged into one. I shone the light into one tunnel, then the other.
I gave a start as the light caught a dark figure in the second tunnel, heading in our direction. To my surprise, I recognised the figure. Even in the dim light, I could see that Herman's eyes were bloodshot and ringed with bags.
"Herman!" I called.
"I've been expecting you guys," he replied.
"Everyone's in the sewers tonight, eh?"
"Well, the people who matter." Herman replied. "The tunnels are the last place that Thunder Falls haven't conquered."
Someone coughed, the sound reverberating off the walls. I shone the flashlight in Herman's direction again, and I suddenly noticed there were more people behind Herman. Hundreds. Thousands, maybe. More people than I could possibly imagine. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
One of the people stepped forward to meet me, stepping past Herman as if he was not there. He was unnaturally calm. There was no fear at all in his eyes, even at the sight of me. "Ah. You are the one who loses arguments to his pack members." A few people behind him sniggered. "How do you know that?" I was taken aback.
The mysterious fearless wolf shrugged. "Maybe you should tell your bus drivers not to gossip."I looked to Herman, as did Brian. "Who are these people?"
"They," Herman said in a quiet voice, "are the East Side." He looked even more tired now.
The penny dropped. "You led us to them."
"They forced me to lead you to them."
I turned my attention back to the wolf before me. "Who are you? Are you the leader?"
"I am Roman. We do not have a leader. I am simply the one speaking."
"Do you know where the tunnel to the Silver Moon Pack is?" I ventured.
"Ah. The illegal tunnel. Thinking of meeting somebody? Who are they, Jim? The other alphas, coming to reclaim their injured pride?"
I immediately regretted my words. I had said too much. There was no taking it back now. I nodded, slowly.
"Follow me," Roman commanded.