The Man Who Walked in Darkness (Miles Franco #2) (Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) (11 page)

We moved past the computer desks until I finally saw what was occupying center stage. Someone had painted a huge Tunneling circle on the floor in red paint. Standard Tunneling symbols filled the interior of the circle, but in an arrangement I’d never seen before. They were trying to get it open for five people and equipment, by the looks of it, but the coordinates were all screwy.

“That’s not going to Heaven,” I said.

“No.”

I walked in a slow circle around the closed Tunnel. It was big enough that I could almost sense it even when it wasn’t open, like a noise on the edge of hearing. Something was off about it. Like a violin that’s not tuned quite right. Even if you don’t know exactly what it is, something grates inside you, makes you uncomfortable.

“It’s not going to Limbus either,” I said when I got back to Zhi’s side.

She smiled. “No.”

A couple of the scientists had looked up from their computer screens. I didn’t like audiences. I resisted the urge to get into a staring contest with them.

I put my hands in my pockets and tapped two Pin Hole coins against each other. “You going to tell me where the hell you’re going?”

“A new world, Mr. Franco,” someone behind me said.

I hadn’t noticed the elevator opening, but I recognized the voice from last night. Jozef Kowalski was so small it took me a moment to spot the little man in his gold-rimmed spectacles. The scientists shuffled in their chairs to make room for the CEO to pass, not that he needed it. His pencil mustache was looking particularly fetching this morning.

“Why?” I said. “Three ain’t enough?”

“Not nearly.” He took off his glasses, polished them, and put them back on. I bet he did it just to look sophisticated. “Heaven is an old cow, and what milk she does have left goes into the pockets of corrupt bureaucrats.”

“I won’t argue with you there,” I said.

“As for Limbus, the place is likely remarkable, but we have decided to abandon attempts to exploit the world for resources. Our people are important to us, and we will not have them torn apart by those creatures.”

“That’s an attitude I like in a boss.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Is everything a joke with you, Mr. Franco?”

Claudia’s face flashed in front of me. “No. Not everything.”

He pursed his lips and walked around to inspect the Tunnel. The scientists were working hard at looking like they were working hard. All of them kept one ear pointed to us, though.

“Our Tunneler is missing,” Kowalski said after a moment.

I nodded. “Zhi told me. Did he design this Tunnel?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Then you’re better off without him. This is a piece of crap.”

He clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth. I glanced at Zhi, but she was inspecting the back wall for defects.

“You believe you can do better, Mr. Franco?” Kowalski said.

I studied the Tunnel. “I can’t do worse. You offering me a job?”

“Perhaps. If you really can do what you claim.”

“You know I’m on a suspended Tunneling license, right? You could get in trouble hiring me.”

He strolled away and stared at the faulty Tunneling circle, as if he could fix it with just his eyes. “I’m well aware. But we’re getting desperate. We cannot delay. I’m willing to risk any legal trouble if we are able to establish a stable Tunnel.”

“Headstrong. A man after my own heart. Where do you want to go?”

He turned to me, and his lenses flashed. “The world of temptation.”

“Sounds like a strip club.”

“We call it Tartarus.”

“Sounds like a dipping sauce.”

Kowalski glared, and I smiled. Was it him? Did this little guy cause Claudia’s death? My hands formed fists in my pocket. I grinned wider to keep my face turning into a scowl.

“Give me some Kemia,” I said. I wasn’t going to empty my private stash to impress him.

He studied me, licking his lips. Then he nodded. Zhi hurried away to a refrigerated cabinet and came back carrying a bottle the size of a gallon milk jug. Inside, the silvery fluid sloshed unnaturally. I took the bottle in both hands, unscrewed the cap, and upended it.

The liquid moved to fill the circle the instant it touched it, never going outside the line. The scientists weren’t even pretending to be working now. Everyone watched.

It took half the bottle to fill the circle. The song that no one else in the room could hear got louder, the discord stronger. I gave it a splash extra for good luck and shoved the bottle back into Zhi’s hands.

I let the discord wash around my mind. I was operating by instinct here; if this Tunnel was going somewhere no one outside AISOR had been before, there sure as hell wasn’t any formal training. The sound grew louder in my head. I realized I was humming back in response. But something else was happening that I’d never felt before. It was like someone had put a hole in my big toe, hooked up a vacuum cleaner, and turned it on. All the pain of my bruises, all my thoughts, all my higher emotions fled from me. And I wasn’t sure I liked what remained.

I understood Zhi’s comment about the facility being underground for shielding purposes now. If this was on the surface, every Tunneler within the city limits would be able to sense it. A few of them might be able to recreate it. And there would go Mr. Kowalski’s competitive advantage.

There was no pulsing, no reluctance as the floor dropped away in the center of the Tunnel. It just opened like a whore’s legs while something primal throbbed in my chest. I wasn’t me anymore. I just
wanted.
Exactly what I wanted, I had no idea.

Physically, the circle resembled a Tunnel to Heaven. The same blackness, the same unnatural sheen. No, not quite the same. The edges were indistinct, and the surface shivered. Every second I kept the Tunnel open, it sucked more energy from me. I didn’t feel exhausted or drained, just pleasantly sleepy. The discord strummed in my head, over and over again.

It’s wrong.
My first instinct about the Tunnel was correct. The design wasn’t right. It was like trying to drive a car with four flats. You could do it, but not fast, and it wouldn’t hold forever. The Tunnel was calling to me. I realized I was swaying on the edge of the circle. No. It wasn’t ready yet. With all the willpower I could muster, I severed the connection.

The hole in the floor grew smaller and finally vanished. The Kemia was gone, gobbled up by the Tunnel. The sense of desire in me was snuffed out like a cigarette butt. Something grabbed hold of the world and gave it a spin. I dropped to my knees, desperately gulping down air.

The room exploded with applause. Zhi wrapped her arms around me and planted a moist kiss on my cheek. I was too leeched of strength to stop her. Truth be told, the afterimage of desire still lingered within me and left me wanting more than a kiss from her.

I forced myself to stand. When that didn’t work, Zhi added some force of her own, and with her help I got to my feet. Kowalski was the only one who didn’t look impressed. He probably wore that same look when he went to restaurants and his steak wasn’t pink enough.

“You did it,” Zhi said. “No one but Giles has got it open. We can start making expeditions again.”

I shook my head, and the world shook back. “I told you. That Tunnel’s a piece of shit. I’m not doing a thing with that.”

Kowalski narrowed his eyes. “Then it appears we have wasted your time.”

“No,” I said. “You’ve been wasting
your
time with that. The thing’s one stray thought away from collapse. This Giles of yours was trying to adapt an Earth-Heaven Tunnel into something that goes to…what did you call it?”

“Tartarus,” he said.

I felt like I could stand on my own now, so I stepped away from Zhi. My legs thought I was on a boat, but at least I didn’t fall. “This is a new world you’re going to. You need a new kind of Tunnel. Give me a while to think on it. I’ll get your teams there. Safely.”

The light caught his spectacles again, and I couldn’t make out his expression. He was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke. “If you do that, Mr. Franco, this company will be in your debt.”

“I take checks and cash money. No credit cards, though.”

“Miles,” Zhi said. Something in her voice made made my back tense. She pointed at my face.

I touched a finger to my upper lip, and it came away wet. My nose was bleeding again.

“Let’s get you to Doc McCaffrey,” she said, glancing at Kowalski as she spoke. He nodded, and she took my arm. I let my blood trail behind me as we went.

My gut spoke to me as we walked. It told me there was something very wrong about this Tartarus business. It told me Claudia was linked to this, but I couldn’t work out how. And it told me it was nearly lunch time.

But despite all that, an insidious excitement was spreading through my chest. It wasn’t every day you found a new world. Not even for me.

ELEVEN

Based on nothing more than the name, I was expecting Doc McCaffrey to be a fifty-year-old man with a round, kindly face, a white coat, and a pair of reading glasses he kept on a string around his neck. I was right, except he was a she.

I lay back on the hard bed with my head turned to the side. The scent of alcohol stung my nostrils as she rubbed my ear with a swab. The dampness evaporated, leaving the skin cold and the wound burning.

“This is going to hurt like a son of a bitch,” she said, brushing a stray brown hair out of her face with her forearm. Then something sharp bit into the front of the loop of my ear. She was right.

“God damn,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut. She kept the needle in there for a few seconds, and I swear I could feel the liquid seeping below the surface. Then came a tug. I opened my eyes in time to see her throw the empty syringe into a small yellow bin. “Do I at least get a lollipop?”

She smiled behind her oversized glasses. It made her face crinkle, but not in a bad way. “Only if you’re good and brave.” I liked her already. She consulted her suturing kit and picked up what looked like a pair of blunt scissors and some clear thread attached to half a fishhook. I decided to look out the window instead.

“Tell me how this happened again,” she said.

“Mike Tyson bit me. You know how it goes.”

“Mm-hm. And your nose?”

“Ninjas.”

My ear felt weird. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her moving, and every time her arm moved a certain way it felt like someone was gently but persistently pulling on my ear.

“So tell me,” I said, “is this company a front for a supervillain’s evil plot to take over the world?”

“Do you think that’s likely?” Another tug on my ear.

“I get that vibe. You know they’re conducting secret research in the basement, right?”

On the other side of the room were a computer desk and a poster that asked,
Could YOU Have Chlamydia? Ask Your Doctor!
I wondered if that ever worked.

There was a snip, and then she rolled away from me on her office chair with the remaining thread and the hook, which she tossed into the yellow bin as well. “You mean his Tartarus project,” she said. “It’s his pet project. But have you met Mr. Kowalski? I can’t see him as a supervillain.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I sat up and swung my legs around to dangle over the side of the bed. “Probably not tall enough for any diabolical speeches. He’s more hands-on than I expected. Came down to meet me in the basement. I would’ve thought he had important CEO stuff to do.”

“Important CEO stuff?”

“You know. Practicing his golf putting in his office. Downsizing. Upsizing. That sort of thing.”

She smiled and touched the bridge of my nose. “Jozef’s very involved in the Tunneling side of the business. He studied it at university. Does that hurt?”

“Ow,” I said. “Kowalski’s a Tunneler?”

“No. An interdimensional physicist by training. He published some important papers a few years ago, before he started AISOR.” She released my nose. “It’s not broken. I’ll give you something for the pain.”

“Don’t worry about it. What sort of research was he doing?”

She stripped off her latex gloves and washed her hands. I caught a glimpse of a gold wedding band on her finger. “I think I’ve got copies of some of them on the computer,” she said. “Would you like me to email them to you?”

“Uh…any chance you can print them out?”

“Not a computer lover? Sure.”

I gave my ear a few experimental pokes while she found the files.
I should tell Doc McCaffrey about the hallucinations,
I thought. She’d be used to that sort of stuff; people going off their rocker. She’d understand. Maybe get me a padded room with a nice view. Three meals a day, some new pills, maybe a chance to play ping pong with a guy with multiple personalities. Maybe, in time, I wouldn’t feel guilty anymore.

Doc McCaffrey put staples in the papers and handed them to me. There were three of them, none shorter than thirty pages. Just looking at them put me to sleep.

“Anything else?” she asked.

One more thing. I’m crazy, Doc. Round the bend. Three cards short of a straight flush. I see goddamn dead people.

“That’s it.” I rolled up the papers and shoved them in my jacket pocket. “Thanks for sewing me up.”

“Are you sure you won’t take a prescription for some painkillers?”

“Tough guy like me? Wouldn’t dream of it. See you round, Doc.”

“Not too soon, I hope.” She gave me one last motherly smile. I waved and pulled the door closed behind me.

I went through the tiny medical center toward the hallway. Doc McCaffrey had her practice on the first floor of the AISOR building. She can’t have been very busy, because there was only one person in the waiting room, blowing his lungs out into a tissue. I stayed clear of any aerial virus particles and found a nice wall to lean on out in the hallway, next to a window that took up most of one side of the building.

I pulled the papers from my pocket and leafed through them. Kowalski’s name was the first author on all of them. Two other names were common to the three papers as well: F. Weyer and D. Bohr. They didn’t ring any bells. Their work couldn’t have been important enough for me to study it back in school. The first paper was titled: “More Things than Heaven and Earth: Pandimensional Theory and Its Impacts on the Future of Tunneling.” I flicked through it. It’d been a long time since I’d studied Tunneling theory, but I was pretty sure his ideas were way outside of the accepted views. Or they would have been six months ago.