Subterranean by Jacob Gralnick Page B

punctuated his directions with a finger, “follow the bridge here and then take the stairs to the elevator…”
    While the guards were entirely engrossed in providing Lisa with directions, Flynn slipped by undetected into the tunnel, where he followed the well-lit cavern walls through a long hallway. At the end, he was dumped into a massive room that appeared to be some sort of loading bay, with doors leading to storage hangars on the left and right.
    One of these doors is the right one , he said to himself, scrutinizing each metal door for any indicators of special importance.
    Maybe this one . He pressed a button that parted the two slabs of metal and unveiled a spacious room dotted by piles of random scrap metal and old tools.
    No, maybe this one . Eventually, he resorted to opening all of the hangar doors to see which one was locked, discovering in the end that all of them were only simple storage hangars.
    Where is this special hangar?
    Maybe this is all a trap by Radovan… He hadn’t seen any guards yet, which contradicted his claim of patrols, further adding to the probability. He felt nervous being in a place he shouldn’t be and wanted to limit his time as short as possible so as not to worry Lisa. Every aching second that ticked away was another reminder of how he was betraying the Subterranean’s trust, if he could say he had earned any by now.
    Finally, he threw up his hands, completely confounded by the mystery encircling him. Just when he turned to leave the whole big mistake behind, he heard an affirmative beep coming from the very end of the tunnel. It was an elevator. The doors opened with two armed Subterraneans, who stepped out and headed his way. His back pressed against a small fold in the wall, he tensed all his muscles as they passed, hoping he wouldn’t make any noise to attract them.
    Once they were gone, he breathed a sigh of relief and ran briskly to the elevator. The symbols painted on the buttons were incomprehensible to him, so he picked one at random and pressed it, feeling the ascension of his success. Much to his surprise, when the elevator doors opened again with a whoosh , he entered a room laced with control consoles, computer terminals, and monitors.
    He froze in place when he saw the control room operator typing away at the keys.
    “You are late; we were supposed to have the new runtimes configured half an hour ago. Where were you?” His nonchalant inquiry over his shoulder fell on deaf ears as Flynn hid from view. The silence alone was enough to make the operator stand up and investigate the elevator. “Hello? Daalen?”
    Flynn had the drop on him, able to take him by surprise if he needed to, but that would cause an incredible amount of trouble. Tural would go straight for Flynn upon hearing that one of his technicians in a restricted area had been knocked unconscious; how would he even begin to defend himself against such an accusation?
    Then again, if Flynn found something that could have serious ramifications for Tural, he could use it as leverage. Maybe? No, it was not a possibility, he concluded, although the technician gradually neared the threshold of the elevator doors and threatened to discover him.
    This is not going to be good .
    As hard as he could, he swung his fist right into the technician’s face and felt bone collide with bone. The blow sent the technician crashing to the ground on his back, where Flynn scrambled on top of him and grabbed his neck, ready to deliver a hail of punches. Fortunately, however, the Subterranean was already out cold, so Flynn dropped his raised fist with a relieved sigh, although still regretful of having committed violence against his hosts.
    Damn it, whatever’s in here better be worth it.. . He got to his feet and brushed himself off, shaking the stinging pain from his hand.
    “Now, what am I looking for?” He asked himself with the generous array of computers in front of him.
    He examined each for a second, seeking one that