Lockdown

Ninety-two

A hand clamped down on to Lock’s shoulder. He spun round.

‘Chill,’ said Ty. ‘It’s me.’

‘You see her?’

‘Can’t see shit down here. Got some good news, though.’

‘Oh yeah?’

‘They’ve switched off the juice to the third rail and we’ve got JTTF making a push on up from 34th Street. She’s got nowhere to go.’

‘Remember who we’re dealing with here. You got a flashlight?’

‘Yeah. Hang on.’

Ty pulled a Mini-Mag from his belt and rotated the end ring. He shone it down the tunnel, but the beam died ten yards out.

‘Have to do,’ said Lock, with a complete lack of conviction.

Ty lowered the beam so the light pooled at their feet, just enough so they could pick their way over the rails and assorted debris.

Lock glanced back over his shoulder as voices echoed behind them. Reinforcements. Four Transit Authority cops. No bio-suits. Their courage not in question, their judgement less so.

The beam from one of their flashlights caught Lock flush in the eyes. He put his hand up. The cop on point motioned to his colleague to lower it. ‘Jesus, put that damn thing down.’

Ty jogged back to liaise. ‘You guys should have bio-suits on if you’re gonna be down here.’

‘Yours must be invisible,’ said the cop with the flashlight.

‘Our situation’s a little different.’

‘How so?’

‘We’ve both already been exposed,’ Ty told them.

Two of the cops took a step back. The cop with the flashlight made a point of standing his ground. ‘We had a fellow officer killed tonight,’ he said, his voice cracking.

‘All the more reason to let us do this right,’ Ty responded.

One of the flashlight cop’s colleagues started to pull him away. ‘Let’s go.’

The flashlight cop shrugged him off, slowly raising the beam of light and angling it past Lock. ‘So if everyone down here should be in bio-suits, maybe you and your buddy should tell all those people.’

Ty spun back round and tracked the light all the way to where it dead-ended, illuminating a subway train packed with people.