Chapter Forty-Three

 

The somber quiet as they advanced through rocky passages was not just out of necessity, but from the weight of Vasilisa's injury. When it was clear that Choo-Choo wasn't capable of directing the group, Yara took over, making the hand signals required to keep them moving as a unit.

It was a comfortable return with the three of them, reminiscent of the years of guerilla warfare against the Alliance. If they were successful in the next few days then she'd either no longer care because she was dead, or she could finally return to the life she'd known before Dominion entered the Undercity.

When they neared the wastelands, she slowed their advance, not wanting to rush into a firefight that would leave them outnumbered. It meant sending Koro ahead to scout while they stayed back, huddled against the cavern wall. She felt alone in those times because Choo-Choo was staring at his feet, clearly thinking about his sister, and Tick was linked to the flying snake.

The excavation site was heavily guarded upon their return, requiring backtracking until they could find a spot unguarded. The camp was at the corner next to the cliff where the elevator was located. They were looking down from the opposite corner, the edge of the camp at least thirty meters across a nearly flat wall. Floodlights made the idea of sneaking through the shadows impossible. Guards stood at every conceivable entry point, including the top of the ramp that went into the Dark Depths. Generators rumbled from multiple points.

"Any different from last time?" she asked Choo-Choo, waking him out of his stupor.

"More guards. More lights. They split up the generators, or maybe I'm remembering them wrong." He squinted. "Is it just me or do they seem happy? Last time it was like I'd walked into a funeral."

Yara exhaled. "I hope that doesn't mean they found what they're looking for."

"Probably not found, or they'd be closing up shop. But close. Might have a shot at shutting them down then," he said.

"We're here for a distraction, not to stop them from finding whatever they're looking for," she reminded him.

"Yeah, I get it," he said.

"We're not actually going to try to sneak over there are we?" asked Tick. "This is ten times worse than before. Every passage into the camp is guarded with triple the numbers, and not with those stupid new waku that seem to be everywhere else. These are Titus' gang, or real waku that were around before Dominion."

"They're not guarding every passage," said Yara with a smirk.

"What?" asked Tick, then realization set in. "No. No way. I did enough climbing back when we were preparing to hit the Alliance complex, and this time the fall is, I don't know, forever?"

Yara angled her arm towards the cliff wall between them and the camp.

"If we climb down from here and then over, staying below the edge, we could come up near that generator building which isn't too far from the elevator. If we blew those up, that would set them back and surely bring Titus and more guards down," said Yara.

"It could be done," said Choo-Choo.

Tick's face was pale. "We should have brought harnesses and climbing gear."

Yara put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll need a lookout, and Koro provides a flying guard should someone discover us."

"It's not that I don't want to go," said Tick. "But I don't have a topaz like you two."

"We should get moving," said Choo-Choo. "Every second we delay is a greater chance that—"

The words died in his throat. He swallowed with nostrils flaring.

"You go first," said Yara. "If I fall I can switch to Light and you can catch me. The other way around, well..."

He didn't wait to answer, swinging his leg over the edge. Yara let him continue before following. She preferred climbing up as you started at the safest spot and grew more dangerous over time. Starting at the top meant one was faced with the worst-case scenario. Yara steadied her nerves and shifted her weight over, using a lump of connected rock as a good handhold.

Once she was moving, focused on the next hand placement rather than the yawning expanse beneath, she forgot about the danger. To stay out of sight, they had to climb down for sixty feet, then move lateral, staying under the edge of the cliff. She couldn’t see Tick hiding on the ledge, but knew that he would keep a lookout. Halfway across, she remembered that they'd left some of the explosives in Tick's bag, but decided the extra weight would have been too unbalancing.

The rumble of the generators grew louder as they neared the other side. Yara could see Tick peering over the ledge. He gave her a thumbs-up. She made a point of checking back every few feet now that they were nearing the top of the cliff. Yara stopped next to Choo-Choo once they were directly beneath the edge. The elevator was about thirty feet to their right, but the outer casing blocked sight from the cage, so they were safe, even if someone decided to use it.

Peeking over the edge revealed canvas tents and a single building with a lock on the front. She spotted four guards within fifty feet. Two stood at the top of the ramp, which was on the opposite side of the elevator, and the other two were standing to the left on the other side of the building, resting their arms on the automatic weapons held around their necks with a strap. The two men were chatting quiet enough not to be heard over the generators. Workers moved through the camp in hard hats, and further out there were more guards. If something happened they'd have a dozen men and women with guns on them in a few seconds

"Let's pack half the explosives on the elevator and the other half on that building. Set the timer for ten minutes. That should give us enough time to get back to the other side before they explode," she told Choo-Choo.

He looked distracted, but eventually nodded. His mind was on his sister's injury. She hoped he could pull it together for this last bit. When he started to climb over the edge, she tugged on his arm and pointed to the elevator. As he started climbing to the right, she pulled herself over, checking each direction to make sure she wasn't spotted.

Reaching the building without incident, Yara unzipped the bag and pulled out the bricks of explosives. She didn't want to leave them out in the open. The flat roof had an overhang which had space to hide the explosives using sticky tape to hold them upside down. Four bricks would turn the building into splinters, obliterating every tent within a hundred feet, and hopefully, bring part of the ceiling down. Yara set the timer for eleven minutes to give her a little extra room since she was further from the edge and locked the settings, which would prevent anyone from turning it off should it be discovered. She was going to return when Tick signaled her, pointing towards the elevator. The door opened up twenty feet to her left, leaving her exposed. Yara started to cross the open space but saw that the guards on the other side had turned slightly.

Yara thought about making a run for it, but once they were on the wall, it'd be easy to bring them down with a well-placed shot. Not even Koro could save them.

The elevator lights flashed, signaling the doors were about to open. Through the front cage material she could see at least four people in the lift.

As the doors prepared to open, Yara switched to Lightness, leaping onto the building roof and lying flat. The noise of the generators hid her impact. The four workers left the elevator, three men and one woman, but stopped right outside, continuing their conversation. Using her amber, she could hear them discussing the excavation site at the bottom. They seemed excited about the new dig.

In Yara's head the timer was counting down. Even with the extra minute, she was running out of time to escape the explosives. She peeked over the edge to see the workers hadn't moved.