Chapter 9
The blue electrical arc roared through the abandoned bakery like an untamed dragon of pure energy. It jumped from the stainless steel dough mixer to the exposed overhead conduits, shattering the dust-caked windows with a series of concussive pops. The three enforcers staggered backward, their biometric visors short-circuiting as the electromagnetic feedback surged through their HUDs, blinding their targeting systems with blinding flashes of white static.
"System failure! Critical override!" the lead enforcer screamed, dropping his rifle as his helmet locked up and began smoking from the crown.
Marcus fell to one knee, panting heavily. The compliance collar around his neck gave off one final, deafening screech before popping open with a mechanical snap, falling clattering to the concrete floor in two smoking pieces. He ripped it away from his throat, gasping in great, lungfuls of clean, dusty air for the first time in six months.
Toby looked up, his big brown eyes wide with awe as he watched the glowing blue sparks fade into the gloom. "Sparkles... pretty," the toddler whispered, clapping his small hands together once.
"Come on, Toby. We have to move," Marcus urged, scooping the baby back into his arms and sprinting toward the rear of the bakery where a rusted freight elevator shaft stood open.
Behind them, the enforcers were floundering blindly in the dark, cursing into dead comms systems as they clawed at their malfunctioning helmets. Marcus didn't look back. He reached the elevator shaft and peered down into the pitch-black abyss. A heavy counterweight cable hung down the center, thick and braided with steel.
"Hold on tight to my neck, buddy. This is going to be a bumpy ride," Marcus whispered, wrapping his legs around the thick steel cable and gripping it with his bare hands.
With a deep breath, Marcus pushed off the edge of the platform, sliding rapidly down the grease-slicked cable into the subterranean depths beneath the bakery. The friction burned his palms through his uniform sleeves, but he refused to let go. Toby buried his face in Marcus’s shoulder, holding his plastic toy truck like a talisman against the roaring wind rushing past them.
They plummeted downward for what felt like endless seconds before slamming feet-first onto the spring-loaded safety buffers at the bottom of the shaft, collapsing in a heap of dust and tangled limbs on the cold concrete floor of a forgotten underground maintenance tunnel.
Marcus groaned, pushing himself up and clicking his tactical flashlight back on. The beam cut through a long, brick-lined tunnel that stretched out into absolute darkness in both directions.
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"Where... are we?" Toby asked softly, rubbing his nose.
Marcus wiped a smear of soot from his forehead, looking down the endless subterranean corridor. "We're underneath the city, Toby. Where the algorithm can't see us."
