doubts aside and tumbled forward into thin air.
I landed in a pool of fine dry powder. It felt almost too soft to bear my weight, and when Vincente landed on top of me, he drove me under the surface. I shut my eyes, held my breath and fought my way up. But it seemed the more I kicked and squirmed, the deeper I sank into the powder. At last I felt Vincente’s grip pulling me upward. I couldn’t see in the blackness, but I could feel when my face broke the surface. For several minutes, I spit and coughed and sneezed. The powder tasted like ashes.
Vincente must have crawled into some structure suspended above the powder. Even in total darkness, I could sense him hanging above me, holding my wrist, letting me dangle chest deep in the soot.
“Now we bargain, chica. Give me the device you wear, and I save you, sí?”
I lifted my left arm free of the soot, slung open the Net node cover and spoke a command. The screen glowed. “Luc, this is Jolie. You have my coordinates. A man named Vincente is threatening to kill me. Track him down, Luc!”
Vincente laughed. “You’re play-acting, chica. No beam can escape this place.”
“You’ve never seen a device like this before,” I reminded him.
Suddenly, light flooded the well from above. The troopers had found us. Before I realized what was happening, Vincente hauled me out of the ashes and swung me onto a ledge. Lasers flashed, and bullets rang out. “Quick!” He shoved me toward a narrow slot in the wall. I had to edge sideways to get through, and looking back toward the light, I saw Vincente sucking in his gut to force his large body through after me. Then we dropped about three meters down, in total darkness again. After a few tentative steps, I sensed an uneven stone floor.
“Run!” he said.
“Which way?”
He grabbed my arm, and we ran together blindly, stumbling over broken stones and trash, supporting each other as best we could. Our steps echoed like gunshot. At last, we entered a passage, rounded a bend, and passed through a door. Vincente slammed the door with all his might. Then he switched on a light, and I saw him activate an electronic lock. We were back in his cube again. He sagged against the door panting for breath. Vincente was a strong man, but old.
“How do we get out of here?” I asked desperately. “We can’t hide from Nome.Com troopers.”
“You led them here.” He wiped his sweaty face and scowled at me.
I said, “That’s right. It’s me they want. Show me the way out, and I’ll lead them off.”
“Sí,” he nodded. “Give me the box.”
“The damned box! Is that all you can think of? I need this. I’ll send you another one later. It’s just a Net node. It’s nothing.”
“Then give it to me,” he said again. Mes dieux, but the man was persistent.
“Look, Vincente, we don’t have time for this. I can’t survive without my Net node. Show me how to leave, or the troopers will kill us both.”
“You cousin, El principe, he is no longer important to you?”
“You said he’s not here.”
“I know where he lies sleeping. Shall I tell you?”
9 The Cliff
9
The Cliff
LETTING GO OF that Net node may have been the most difficult choice I’ve ever made. And the dumbest, Adrienne would add. That node was my link to everything I needed to make this venture succeed—my location finder, schematics, reference pages, and, most important, my friends. How on earth did I, think I could pull this off alone? Maybe I expected to find another Net node drifting around in the Pacific Ocean.
But if I hadn’t traded that node to Vincente, he would never have told me where they’d taken Jin. So I didn’t have a choice, did I?
Twenty minutes later, I found myself flushed out to sea in a load of clotted effluent. Vincente had stuffed me inside an old diving sphere and ejected me with the weekly waste. The sphere looked like a hot-air balloon made of glass, about two meters in diameter, with a hatch and a knot of clunky hoses
I landed in a pool of fine dry powder. It felt almost too soft to bear my weight, and when Vincente landed on top of me, he drove me under the surface. I shut my eyes, held my breath and fought my way up. But it seemed the more I kicked and squirmed, the deeper I sank into the powder. At last I felt Vincente’s grip pulling me upward. I couldn’t see in the blackness, but I could feel when my face broke the surface. For several minutes, I spit and coughed and sneezed. The powder tasted like ashes.
Vincente must have crawled into some structure suspended above the powder. Even in total darkness, I could sense him hanging above me, holding my wrist, letting me dangle chest deep in the soot.
“Now we bargain, chica. Give me the device you wear, and I save you, sí?”
I lifted my left arm free of the soot, slung open the Net node cover and spoke a command. The screen glowed. “Luc, this is Jolie. You have my coordinates. A man named Vincente is threatening to kill me. Track him down, Luc!”
Vincente laughed. “You’re play-acting, chica. No beam can escape this place.”
“You’ve never seen a device like this before,” I reminded him.
Suddenly, light flooded the well from above. The troopers had found us. Before I realized what was happening, Vincente hauled me out of the ashes and swung me onto a ledge. Lasers flashed, and bullets rang out. “Quick!” He shoved me toward a narrow slot in the wall. I had to edge sideways to get through, and looking back toward the light, I saw Vincente sucking in his gut to force his large body through after me. Then we dropped about three meters down, in total darkness again. After a few tentative steps, I sensed an uneven stone floor.
“Run!” he said.
“Which way?”
He grabbed my arm, and we ran together blindly, stumbling over broken stones and trash, supporting each other as best we could. Our steps echoed like gunshot. At last, we entered a passage, rounded a bend, and passed through a door. Vincente slammed the door with all his might. Then he switched on a light, and I saw him activate an electronic lock. We were back in his cube again. He sagged against the door panting for breath. Vincente was a strong man, but old.
“How do we get out of here?” I asked desperately. “We can’t hide from Nome.Com troopers.”
“You led them here.” He wiped his sweaty face and scowled at me.
I said, “That’s right. It’s me they want. Show me the way out, and I’ll lead them off.”
“Sí,” he nodded. “Give me the box.”
“The damned box! Is that all you can think of? I need this. I’ll send you another one later. It’s just a Net node. It’s nothing.”
“Then give it to me,” he said again. Mes dieux, but the man was persistent.
“Look, Vincente, we don’t have time for this. I can’t survive without my Net node. Show me how to leave, or the troopers will kill us both.”
“You cousin, El principe, he is no longer important to you?”
“You said he’s not here.”
“I know where he lies sleeping. Shall I tell you?”
9 The Cliff
9
The Cliff
LETTING GO OF that Net node may have been the most difficult choice I’ve ever made. And the dumbest, Adrienne would add. That node was my link to everything I needed to make this venture succeed—my location finder, schematics, reference pages, and, most important, my friends. How on earth did I, think I could pull this off alone? Maybe I expected to find another Net node drifting around in the Pacific Ocean.
But if I hadn’t traded that node to Vincente, he would never have told me where they’d taken Jin. So I didn’t have a choice, did I?
Twenty minutes later, I found myself flushed out to sea in a load of clotted effluent. Vincente had stuffed me inside an old diving sphere and ejected me with the weekly waste. The sphere looked like a hot-air balloon made of glass, about two meters in diameter, with a hatch and a knot of clunky hoses
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