Free Wiped by Nicola Claire

throughout my entire body.
    “Calvin,” I said softly, the uncertainty clear in my tone.
    “I can’t help you under there, Trent,” the Shiloh answered. “I have no eyes nor ears to scout.”
    “You let us go down there before,” I pointed out.
    “I let Lena do what she had to do to make contact with the indigenous of this city.”
    “And now we have?” I pressed.
    “You’re on your own.”
    Great. No vid-cams to hook Calvin into. No Net to allow him access to visual feeds or pick through various media for clues. Even the fact nightfall had arrived curtailed his assistance. Something was out there. Something that made the kids run, leading us… where?
    These were just children. They might have been raised in a world that didn’t care, become tough enough to exist there, but they were still kids. Minors. Barely out of nappies. Snotty noses, shitty bums, and all the rest.
    And what do kids do when they’re scared?
    They go home. They go to their safe place. They run and hide.
    Well, fuck. If it was the u-Pol who hunted us, who expected these kids to hand us over without a care, then they’d know where these kids lived, right?
    Fuck.
    “Calvin,” I whispered, as the tunnels narrowed and the ceiling closed in.
    “Yes, Trent,” he said just as quietly, as if his voice could cary farther than my ear.
    “Let Carstairs know we’re about to be FUBARed.”
    “I’ll advise him, Trent,” the computer said. I had the feeling he’d isolated our conversation. Better to land me in it later with Lena? Without a doubt. But I couldn’t complain. We were heading towards a whole lot of trouble, and I never went into a fucked up situation without a plan.
    And the plan? Shoot first, ask questions later, and hope like hell that Carstairs’ Merrikan soldiers could dig us out after the fact.

Ten

What Have You Done?
Lena
    T his was not good . Even I could see that. And if I could, then Trent sure as hell could, too. Anticipation and anxiety rolled off him in waves. His trigger finger twitching. If I didn’t calm him down, our one chance at reaching these people would be lost to us forever.
    But the more wound up he got, the more I did too. I’d told him I trusted the children. It wasn’t entirely the truth. I trusted that this was our only chance at making peace with the Lunnoners. I trusted in our ability to win them over, given that chance. But I did not trust them completely.
    Despite that lack of trust, though, I ached for them. So small. So alone. So fragile. And facing up to odds that made my heart weep.
    Nirbhay led the way, continually looking over his shoulder at me, as if I might evaporate in the stifling heat down here. Every now and then he’d reached out for my hand. Squeeze my fingers, as though he could see I needed encouragement. Shouldn’t it have been the other way around? He couldn’t have been older than ten.
    But as he led us through the dark of The Underground it was the child who consoled the adult.
    “Movement at the entrance to your tunnel,” Calvin advised over the earpieces. Trent swore softly. Alan snarled something indecipherable, and Cardinal Beck started issuing orders to his men making up the rearguard.
    There was no way we were going to make it to wherever it was the children were leading us. Not now. The thought was sobering. And regretful. How much danger were we bringing to their world? To ours?
    “Nirbhay,” I whispered, gaining our guide’s attention. “We’re being followed.”
    He nodded his head, but whether he understood what I’d said, or simply wanted to make me feel better by agreeing, I couldn’t say.
    The tunnel branched off suddenly. The fork appearing out of nowhere in the gloom. Both avenues looked dark and foreboding. Nirhbay chattered in that pidgin Anglisc to a couple of his friends, and then several split off in one direction, while Nirbhay reached out and tugged my hand in the other.
    “Lena,” Trent growled in warning.
    “I know, I know,” I