Tunnels 05 - Spiral

thoughtfully. “Don’t worry — you’ve given me enough of a confirmation. All those people must have been bused in for the breeding program. What else would they be doing there?” He started toward Eddie. “Even if there’s a full regiment of Limiters inside, we’ve got to get the job done.”
    “No, wait!” Mrs. Burrows said sharply. “You don’t understand — there’s something in there that doesn’t
want
me to find it. Something more than Styx. Something dark.”
    Parry merely nodded.
    “OK, everybody downstairs with me,” Drake said to Will and the others.
    Eddie held up a hand. “Before you go . . . Elliott’s in the rooftop Observation Post, and if it’s all right with you, she’s made a request.”
    “What’s that?” Drake said as Will and Chester exchanged glances. They both began to move toward Eddie, believing that Elliott would want them with her.
    “She’s asked that Stephanie join her up there,” Eddie said.
    Will froze as he heard Chester whisper, “Wha —?”

    Once up on the flat roof, Stephanie and Parry kept low as they approached the parapet with Eddie. The former Limiters were there in force and had strung a light blue camo net a few feet above the parapet so that their silhouettes wouldn’t be outlined against the sky.
    “Commander,” Harry Handscombe said when Parry ducked under the camo net, and they shook hands vigorously. “Piece of luck, wasn’t it — me locating the target so early in the running?”
    “Certainly was,” Parry said, smiling at his old friend. “But not so lucky that you almost got yourself slotted by those Darklit troops. I never asked you to stick your neck that far out, you know.”
    Harry would have shaken his head if he’d been able, but instead gave Parry a wry grin. “Enough of the neck jokes, you old reprobate!”
    Parry moved to the edge of the roof, his binoculars in hand. He checked the position of the pale sun to make sure there’d be no telltale reflection from his lenses before he began to scrutinize the factory opposite. “Ah, yes, there they are,” he said under his breath when he located the Limiters and New Germanian guards patrolling the parking area.
    Stephanie had been standing back from the parapet, not sure what she was meant to be doing, when Elliott beckoned her over. As she crept to Elliott’s side, Stephanie eyed all the former Limiters with some trepidation.
    “Don’t mind them. They may look pretty spooky, but they’re on our side,” Elliott confided in her.
    “Cool,” Stephanie swallowed, then frowned at Elliott. “But why do you want me here? Your two boyfriends are, like, gagging to be with you.”
    “Back in the Complex you told me that you could deal with anything. So here’s your chance to prove it.” Elliott wasn’t being confrontational, and Stephanie recognized this as the girl continued to speak. “In a moment, we’re going to neutralize every single living thing outside that building opposite.”
    “Neutralize?” Stephanie said.
    Elliott inclined her head. “We’re going to snipe all those men as quickly and as cleanly as we can. Will you help me?”
    “Is this some sort of sisters’ thing?”
    “If you want to call it that.” Elliott shrugged. “I never had a sister.”
    “You want me to shoot people, too?” Stephanie asked, glancing at Elliott’s long rifle, which she’d camouflaged with white tape and now had a chunky silencer affixed to the end of the barrel.
    “No, I want you to spot for me,” Elliott said, indicating the scope beside her. “I’m relying on you to get a fix on the guards’ positions, because when we open fire from up here, we can’t afford any slipups. If one of them raises the alarm, we lose the element of surprise.”
    “OK, I suppose I could do that,” Stephanie said, going over to the scope.

    Will was surprised by the sheer number of Old Guard present in the dimly lit basement. Although their faces were obscured by ski masks, he sensed the nervous expectation that hung over them as they chatted quietly among themselves.
    “Shotguns?” he asked as he noticed what some of them were carrying.
    “We don’t know what’s waiting for us across the road,” Drake explained. “For close-quarters combat, a semiauto twelve-bore is right on the money.”
    “And what are those tanks they’ve got?” Chester asked, observing that a number of men had twin cylinders on their backs.
    “Flamethrowers, for the final stage of the offensive,”