Page 118 of Jace 4Ever
“It should take us just about an hour to get to the Junction from where we are,” Tony said. “We’ll be coming from the south tunnel, and neither of us is armed. We didn’t want to take the weapons away from the group for this.”
“Flashlight off as you come around the last curve,” Aaron said.
“Got it,” I answered. “Flush against the west wall.”
“Excellent.” I could almost see Aaron nodding. “We’ll be waiting for you guys. And, Jace?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t ever fucking scare us like this again,” Aaron said, but he wasn’t mad. Not really.
It tookus an hour to get to the Junction, about a quarter mile down from the Freedom Tunnel entrance, because Tony took us a roundabout way.
We both reasoned that if two LEOs were talking like that about a man named the Shoemaker, there was reason to be concerned. And he was right.
We passed at least four men wearing fancy suits, swinging a flashlight around, up the walls, and down the halls. Because both of us had been down here long enough, it was easy to avoid the lights and the men. They were dressed too slick to be anything but the Shoemaker’s men, and clearly not that slick because they were wearing fancy loafers in what was basically the sewers of New York City.
Finally, the last tunnel came into view and we pressed against the west wall. It would keep us out of the light, if any was leaking in from the Freedom Tunnel or above.
We kept our steps quiet and pushed into the shadows as much as possible. I had no idea where anyone was up ahead, and I didn’t want to push our luck by leaning out to look.
I was terrified. I didn’t know what was going to be out there. One half of me wanted to stay here because I knew this place and I could adapt again. The other half of me wanted nothing more than Nelson’s massive shower and the big plush robe of his I had been wearing for the past few weeks, and to curl up in his arms.
“You okay?” Tony asked quietly.
Tony. Who had been living down here for years, who had never come to the surface to try to make it. What could he have done with his life if he hadn’t hidden down here? He was clearly intelligent, but it was mostly unrecognized because…he’d hidden away.
I didn’t want to hide. Even if I didn’t make it out of here alive, I’d hidden down here once. I had a life, afiancé, waiting for me. I’d set Jerrod straight, I’d sort my shit, and I would spend my life with the man I loved.
Or, I’d die trying.
“I’m good.”
He gave a firm nod and we started forward slowly.
We didn’t even make it three steps before I heard the click of the gun behind us.
I dove forward into Tony, knocking us both to the ground, and the bullet went wide.
The whole tunnel flooded with light in the next instant, blinding us, including the gunman. I wrapped my arms around Tony and rolled across the tunnel away from where we had been. There were two more gunshots and someone grabbed our ankles, dragging us backward.
As soon as we were around a corner, Tony threw himself to his feet and swung at whoever was dragging us. I heard his fist connect as I climbed to my feet.
“Run,” he snapped.
I knew they couldn’t see well because of the light in the tunnel. My eyes were watering, but I used the dark to place a hard kick into the knee of the person standing there.
They went down hard, jerking away from Tony. I grabbed his arm and yanked him back into the bright tunnel, running as fast as I could, dragging him until he caught his feet.
“Run to the light, Carol Anne.” I laughed, the sound hysterical and detached to my own ears. Tony’s wasn’t much better.
We were nearly to the other end when a gunshot sounded, and the light exploded. They probably had a crack shot at the other end.
But again, whoever was shooting forgot again that the change in light levels would blind everyone involved. This time, Tony and I were close enough to the other end that we could see daylight. I dropped his arm and we both started running as fast as we possible could.
“Right tunnel!” It was Aaron’s voice, directing us to take the right tunnel. It was a short tunnel that curved back toward the west and met up to the one we were in a few hundred feet north.
As soon as we were at the Junction, Tony and I turned to head that way, but Smoke was standing there and stopped us. “Throw them off, go the other way.”
