Dangerous by Default

64. The dancing queen

"We've made a huge mistake" was the first thing out of Ami's mouth when they plunged into the dark tunnels underneath Dimensions. The probing flashlights of a group of police officers could be seen bouncing jumpily against the damp brick. A woman's voice could be heard echoing from one of the radios. "What's your location?" it commanded through the officer's walkie.

"Janus! She's rejoined the police search." Ami said angrily, recognizing her former lover's voice.

Caine beamed his phone light down the tunnel as they crept forward, carefully avoiding the broken glass and the small stream of rainwater that was coursing across the chalky-white tunnel floor. Mina eyes were scanning settings on her wrist when she bumped clumsily into Caine's back, who had momentarily stopped.

"Be careful, Mina!" He said nervously. "I've never ventured through this part of the tunnels. In theory we can trace this to follow the coursing water to an exit point, but we should get out of here as soon as possible. if we see a ladder or a stairwell we should take it."

"Let's get clear out of the Tenderloin first," Mina said. The shuffle of boots and water splashing ricocheted around the twisting walls behind her, and a girlish voice cried out in disgust, piercing through the quiet darkness. The model she thought, recognizing the blond-haired dove's voice.

"Any chance we could get some backup?" Caine asked Mina.

"I'm working on it. She was still scrolling through the settings on the dog's demo features. Fuck. I need to think. She put a light hand on Caine's shoulder and held tightly. She needed him to be her eyes for a moment. An imaginary castle filled her mind, each chamber a different section of pipe filled with police officers and doves and the three of them in every possible arrangement. Imaginary sparring sessions with her minion of dogs broke out in each one, varying the details by a single factor in each room, accounting for the fact that the Doves have already learned a great deal about the logic of how the dogs plan and act. At least they know about the dogs in Sparring mode. There are other modes I can use. Mina selected one of the demo modes on her display and quickly traced a course from Dimensions to where she wanted them to appear. Please, god, hurry.

"Hurry!" Caine shouted to her. They saw a narrow stairwell leading off of the tunnel just a few hundred feet down the pipe. They broke out into a run towards it, avoiding the water in the middle which would splash and give away their location. The ground rumbled under their feet. They must be getting close to Market Street. Mina hoped the rumble was a passing subway. What if the stairway led to a Metro station? Up meant freedom. If they made it to a train, it would make for a speedy getaway. They just needed to get out of the Tenderloin, then they were free. They could take the BART to Oakland, from there hail a car. She'd need to text the pilot to be ready. Plans were racing through her mind. She didn't yet want to consider the system of plans she'd have to hatch in case the rumble wasn't a rushing train puling away from the nearby Market Street BART station. In the back of her mind she knew the rumble could mean something much worse, the opposite of escape. A torrent of stormwater rushing through the pipes would mean death. They only had to make it to the stairs. They were almost there.

"Hi gorg!" The voice shot through the dark tunnel and sent shivers through Mina's body like the fingernails of the grim reaper. They slowed their pace. The voice was coming from further down. Somehow Janus had guessed which way they had tried to escape and was heading them off.

"You're surrounded by my babies" Her voice became deep and sultry, like a blues singer at the end of a long show. "Better stop running now" A gunblast erupted in the darkness, shattering loose layers of brick from the ceiling. The crimson robe was just visible in the spidersilk traces of light cast from Caine's phone. Then he suddenly turned the light off.

Caine protectively held up his arms, firmly gripping a piece of both Mina and Ami, but continued to edge forward slowly, inch by inch. We are getting to that stairwell no matter what! Ami thought to herself. She could tell by the hardened clutch of Caine's hands, and his smooth determined steps, that he was thinking the same thing. Water splashed behind them. Trace beams of distant flashlights flickered the damp surfaces, briefly illuminating Mina, Caine, and Ami's silhouette.

"I see you gorgeous." Another gunblast was released into the tunnel, this time ricocheting into the floor a few yards from Mina's foot. She's trying to scare us, but she can't risk hitting anything valuable. Mina gritted her teeth and kept walking. The flashlight beams behind them became more franting, and the water splashes that must have been the other Doves were kicked into a fast tempo. Shouts could be heard, and more gunfire. "Hold it right there!" a police officer was heard shouting, followed by a sharp pained cry. "Stop!" yelled another, the grunts of of highly skilled assassins who didn't need guns to kill in close quarters.

"God, stop, please! Oh no, why!"

"You don't have to hurt him, god!" cried the second police officer.

"Wow, sounds like my babies are feeling a little sadistic! I can only imagine they are compensating for being humiliated by a bunch of robo doggies." Janus cackled in the dark. The flashlights resumed their flickering in the halls, as did the quick-tempoed splashes of feet in the coursing water.

"Caine, the water" Mina whispered. What was before a thin trickle had in mere minutes grown to over a foot deep. They edged further to the side to keep their footfalls out of the noisy liquid. "We need to move!" Mina shot her hands over her face as the blinding ray of a flashlight was now shining directly at her.

"Well! Whadya know! It's the little lady! And the dancing queen!" shouted the meathead. He was running now, the beam of his flashlight catching the tip of his razor sharp bowie knife in stride. Janus broke into a run from the other direction. "No!" shouted Caine. A dark circle whipped up in the dark as Janus raised her gun. Caine dove threw himself between Janus and Mina.

"You are more trouble than your worth, little missie!" shouted the meathead at the top of his lungs as he lunged towards Mina, his bowie knife aimed straight at her back. The blade slid effortlessly into flesh. He pulled it up, eviscerating the internal organs of his victim.

"Ami, no!" screamed Mina as her friend collapsed into the current, pushing her lifeless body against Mina's legs. Senegalinesis lunged again, landing firmly against Mina's back. The ground began to shake again, then the pitter-patter of dozens of mechanical legs. It didn't last long. A thick sheet of water crashed through the pipe. Mina was thrown onto her back and in the last seconds of light illuminated by Senegalinesis' flashlight, watched him pulled over a metal handrail to the safety of the stairwell where Janus and Pulchellus waited. She called for Caine, then a wall of water crashed over her head and it all went black.