Steamsworn (Steamborn Series Book 3) by Eric Asher Page B

clicked the button. “Water beetle, over.”
    “Received.”
    “Water beetle?” Jacob asked, remembering that horrifying creature that almost smashed the life out of him beneath Ancora. “Are those things here too?”
    “Never seen one here before,” Charles said. “I’d never seen one in Ancora before either, so take that as you will. Good news is, the signal reaches us here. The detonators should both be in range from the library or the safe house. We can decide which route is better once we finish with the explosives.”
    Charles slid his backpack off and pulled something out. It looked more like a Sky Pirate’s grappling gun from one of the stories he’d read when he was a kid than anything they’d use here.
    “What is that?”
    “Grappling gun, of course.”
    “Are you serious?” Jacob asked, half annoyed and half giddy. “What do we need that for?”
    “Step up here and take a look.”
    Jacob did, and then he froze as Charles raised the lantern. The only word that came to his mind was chasm . It was deep—so deep the lantern’s light couldn’t reach the bottom. A few thin beams of sunlight pierced the top of the cavern, but that was it. Everything else was darkness, and shadows, and the menacing sound of a rushing river.
    When Jacob’s brain managed to start working again, he cursed. “I won’t have to worry about drowning if I fall into that river.”
    “No, I reckon you won’t,” Charles said. He offered Jacob a grin. “You’ll either have a heart attack before you reach the bottom, or you’ll break apart like a fine china bowl on those rocks. See where the lamplight breaks on the stone up there?”
    Jacob nodded.
    “Those are the supports we need to wire with the charges.”
    “Gods, tell me you’re joking. Could we have dropped onto them from above?”
    Charles shook his head. “Perhaps in one or two spots, but they would likely be locked. Underground is our best option. When we get closer, you’ll see the branching supports that bear the extra load from the base. Some hatches have a ladder leading to the surface. If we have an emergency, that’s where you go. You get out and head for the safe house or the library. I don’t care what’s happening, you understand me?” Charles turned to Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder. His voice was darker, almost menacing. “You get out. This is war now, and these people won’t hesitate to kill us. You have to remember that. Them or us, that’s your mantra in war. It’s them or us . It has to be, or you die.
    “Now then,” Charles said, changing the tone of his voice so fast it made Jacob’s head spin. “This is one of my favorite inventions, but it has about as many uses as a strainer. By that, I mean it has one use, and it’s worthless for everything else.”
    Jacob had heard what the old tinker said, but all that was really going through his mind at that point was, It’s them or us.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    “W hat?” Drakkar asked, unwilling to believe the words Lottie had spoken.
    “We have a mole. Someone leaked our plans. We have to leave now . Morgan and the others should be at the old library.”
    “How do you know this?”
    “We can find them there. I have the rations in the base. I …”
    Drakkar blew out a breath and let Lottie ramble. She was gone, locked into the routine her training had taught her, gathering weapons, gathering food. Whether the threat was real or imagined, Drakkar could not risk himself and Samuel by staying in the safe house. He looked up and met the Spider Knight’s eyes. Samuel nodded and buckled his greaves before tightening his chest plate.
    “We have to warn Archibald,” Drakkar said. “If we have been compromised, his communications may have been overheard as well.”
    Drakkar opened the closet door, revealing the hidden radio with its tower of glass tubes and brass fittings. He had seen enough people use it now to understand the simplicity of the thing, even if he did not understand