The three Magistrates stood rooted in place, overwhelmed by the brutal shock of their superior officer’s murder. In a clear, cold voice, Baron Sharpe announced, “All of you will follow me. New friends and games await. If you disobey me, you will not be allowed to play.”
Not bothering to gauge their reactions, the baron heeled around to face the door, stepping to the keypad. With exaggerated stabs of his index finger, he entered 3-5-2.
Chapter 11
Kane’s vision went dark, and the steps vanished from beneath his feet. Legs flailing, top-heavy with the dead, unresponsive weight of the troll, he pitched headlong down the stairwell. He clawed out for a handrail, missed it by inches, then tried to hurl the corpse off ahead of him.
A shattering impact numbed his body, and he tumbled head over heels into darkness, bouncing and caroming off and down the steps. Dimly, from behind and above him, he heard Brigid’s alarmed, questioning outcry.
Kane slammed down onto the landing with a clatter of polycarbonate and an explosive exhalation of profanity-salted air. A flare of pain blossomed in his right knee, so fierce and excruciating that nausea surged.
He managed to push himself into a half-sitting posture, the troll’s corpse still draped limply around his shoulders. He dragged it off, its skull striking the concrete with a hollow chock.
Brigid loped down to the landing, shining her light into his face. “Are you all right? What happened?”
Gingerly rubbing his knee, Kane said between clenched teeth, “My night-vision gear went out. Missed my step.”
Lakesh joined them, saying breathlessly, “Taking two and three steps at a time jostled loose the in-feed circuit. Could have been worse.”
Voice hoarse with barely repressed pain, Kane demanded, “How?”
“You could have been behind us. Brigid and I might have gone down with you and broken our necks.”
“That puts it all in perspective,” Kane retorted with icy sarcasm. Unlocking the under-jaw guard, he yanked the helmet up and off his head, glaring at the tiny image enhancer mounted above the visor. “Piece of shit.”
“That piece of shit probably saved you from a fractured skull,” Brigid observed. “Can you walk?”
A faint, distant murmur of voices reached them, wafting down the stairwell. He said, “Guess I have no choice.”
Hoisting himself erect with the handrail and using the wall as a brace, he got to his feet. Experimentally he rested his weight on his right leg. The pain was sharp, but not quite as knife-edged as it had been.
“I don’t think it’s broken,” he said quietly, “but I’ll slow you up. You two get going. I’ll cover your backsides.”
Brigid and Lakesh regarded him with troubled eyes. The muted overhead lights and the amber glow of the Nighthawk cast wavering, stark shadows over their features. Voices echoed above them, this time a bit louder, but the words were indistinguishable.
“Get going.” Kane gestured to the corpse. “Leave that thing to me.”
Brigid shook her head, reaching down to secure a grip on an ankle. “You don’t need to be any further encumbered. Lakesh”
Reluctantly Lakesh grasped the troll’s other ankle. “We’ll wait for you in the gateway.”
Kane nodded. “If you see a Mag that isn’t me, make the jump. I may have to go to ground somewhere.”
“Then what?” asked Brigid.
“You know what. If my transponder is still transmitting my vitals, then tell Grant to come a-jumping. And if they’re not” He shrugged, and his teeth flashed in a hard, humorless grin. “If they’re not, then tell Rouch she’ll get over it.”
Brigid’s lips worked as if she were about to spit at him. Then she matched his expression with a to-hell-with-you grin of her own. “I will. I’ll also tell her she won’t be missing much.”
Kane almost demanded, “How would you know?” but a scuttling noise from above turned his question into a barked command. “Go!”
They went, dragging the body with them, its head bumping against the steps with a castanetlike knocking rhythm.
Consulting the motion detector, he saw five green dots marching across the LCD. He frowned slightly. He had counted six people disembarking from the Deathbirds. At the bottom edge of the display, digits changed and flickered as the distance between him and the intruders narrowed.