Markus stepped out of the transporter and onto the first floor of the chalet to find Nathias waiting for him. A quick glance showed a dozen of his men positioned around the foyer and ready for any trouble that might try to step through the front door.

  “What happened to holding up at the secondary position?” Nathias asked as he stepped forward as he aimed his rifle down and toward the ground.

  “Change of plans,” Markus growled.

  Nathias raised a bushy red eyebrow. “Who pissed you off this time?”

  Markus felt the urge to snap at his friend. He didn’t need a reminder that he’d been out maneuvered by his own father’s Protector with Tetki solidly backing him up. Markus had nothing against Jamiss, as far as Protectors go, the man was as competent as they came, though sometimes he liked to play it a little too safe. Instead of addressing the comment, he changed the subject. They didn’t have time to be messing around any ways.

  “Jamiss and Tetki are staying with pavi in suite 202. You are to remain here as first line, while I take the Heir through the back way.”

  “There’s a back way?”

  “Apparently, and I need two of your guys as backup.”

  Nathias pivoted on his heels and shouted out behind him. “Kyser and Lavi!”

  Two men dressed in grey Vanguard uniforms rushed over with their riffles at their sides and pointed to the floor. The Arch-Major jerked his head toward Markus and Adar who had stepped from the transporter and stopped a few steps behind Markus.

  “You’re with them on rear guard. Follow any orders Nador gives you.”

  “Yes, sir,” the two Guardians replied.

  Markus nodded to his friend, and then said, “See you on the other side.”

  “Always,” Nathias responded.

  Markus turned from his friend and marched away from the front entrance. He had not even known about the lower floor, but Tetki told Markus where to find the door and the code to get into the tunnel. Or at least the code the Protector had used five years ago when they’d finished the tunnel. Markus just hoped it still worked.

  Around the corner from the transporter and in the furthest corner of the building, Markus spotted the small diamond shape mark Tetki had told him about. Markus walked up to the wall, pressed the diamond indent, and immediately a portion of the wall slid back revealing a dark entry. He turned to give Adar a quick nod, and then addressed the two Guardians that had followed.

  “Stay close and alert. It’s going to be a bit of a walk once we hit the tunnel.”

  The Guardians both nodded, and without further preamble, Markus stepped through. As he did, a dim light lit up a stairwell, which he hurriedly moved down. As he touched the bottom of the stairs, riffle fire opened up above. Markus moved aside to let the others down. Once they were all in the lower level, Markus hit the diamond shape at the bottom of the stairs just where Tetki said it would be. The door above slid shut, cutting down the sound of the fighting.

  “Not a moment too soon,” Markus said to no one in particular as he gave a quick look around the small space.

  There wasn’t much down here expect for some shelving and stacked crates. But across the room, he could clearly see a door with a palm scanner. He quickly moved toward it and didn’t even bother with the scanner. His print would not be in the system. He was sure the College had already purged his credentials when they revoked his membership. Instead, he popped open the cover of the scanner and input an override code Tetki had given him into the dial pad underneath. The door slid open, and Markus let out a small sound of relief. He locked the door into open status.

  He put up a hand to let the others know to wait a minute. Markus then stepped through the door. It was a tunnel alright. There was nothing special about it. It didn’t even have proper walls. It was just tight packed sand with a string of tiny yellow lights running up near the ceiling of the tunnel as far out as Markus could see, which wasn’t more than a few feet, because the tunnel took a significant dip making it impossible to see past the drop and into the rest of the tunnel.

  An explosion rocked the room, causing some of the packed sand in the ceiling to rain down around him. It was enough to spur Markus into action as he moved back into the basement area, and then waved Adar and his two guards in.

  “This yavit tunnel better not collapse on us,” Markus muttered under his breath as he unlocked the open status, and then made sure the cover was secured on the palm scanner. He then stepped through, allowing the door to close behind him.

  Their group had gathered just before the drop. Markus pushed past them to get to the lead position, which was a tight squeeze. The tunnel was barely wide enough for one person to walk through. Once there, he could see a short set of stairs taking the tunnel deeper into the ground.

  Markus quickly descended the stairs and could see the corridor stretching out a long ways before them. It looked like they should be clear all the way to the administration building, but something bothered him, though he could not quite name what it was. He stopped a moment and spoke into his unity ring.

  “Voice Comm Lieutenant Yendo.”

  A moment later, the familiar voice of one of his teachers and now the security head of the College’s administration building spoke. “Nador, Jamiss said you were coming this way.”

  “Affirmative. We just entered the tunnel. Is your side secure?”

  “That it is. Come on over.”

  That at least made Markus feel better, but it did not make his unease go away completely. Though the fighting overhead and the constant falling of the sand from the violence going on upstairs wasn’t helping.

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  “Attackers are breaching the chalet now, and causing some shifting sand down here. How well will this tunnel hold?”

  “It will hold,” came the firm reply for him old teacher.

  Another explosion rocked them sending a large chunk of sand down on Markus’s head. He shook it off very much doubting the Lieutenant’s reassurance, but it was far too dangerous to turn back. He gave Adar a quick look who looked just as uneasy at the sand raining down around them.

  “Copy that. Be there in a few minutes.” Markus then dropped his arm and gave his friend what he hoped was an encouraging look.

  “I’m going to move fast. Keep up.”

  Adar nodded. “Yeah, the sooner we get out of here the better.”

  That was Markus’s sentiments exactly, and without another word, he started a quick jog down the tunnel.

  It didn’t take long to get into a steady rhythm as he moved down the tunnel. After the steep decent just past the entrance of the tunnel, the rest of the way appeared to be much more level, which made for an easy jog. Even still, despite what Markus told Adar, he held back on a full out run. He knew Adar wasn’t completely healed from the lung injury he’d received earlier in the week, and didn’t want to push him too hard.

  As close as he could tell, they had reached about a mile when he heard Adar’s breathing become heavier and more labored. Markus slowed his pace, but they didn’t go far before it became much worse.

  “Markus, I need a break,” Add managed to rasp out.

  He stopped, and had to jog back a few feet to catch up to Adar. He was leaning forward with his hands on his knees and panting. Markus joined him and threw a look back from where they had come. Nathias’s two men had stopped about fifty feet away. They turned and positioned themselves for anything that might be coming from the chalet.

  This far into the tunnel, Markus knew they had to be just on the other side of the large dunes that lay overhead. They hadn’t been able to hear the fighting from the chalet for a little bit now and the sand had stopped falling from the ceiling. Either the fighting had stopped, or they were too far away from it to have an effect on this part of the tunnel. It was at least comforting to know the tunnel wouldn’t fall on them after all.

  Markus stood near Adar and let the man catch his breath. After a minute, he was able to stand up straight with his breathing was much easier. After a few more moments, Adar was finally able to speak.

  “Sorry about that. I’m usually a much better jogger than that. It’s this damn lung.”

  “It’s alright,” Markus reassured him. “I figured this wouldn’t be an easy run for you. At least we are through most of it. There shouldn’t be much more to go. Do you think you can do at least a fast walk?”

  Adar nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Just let me know if you need to stop again,” Markus said as he set out, this time at a much reduced rate.

  He didn’t like slowing things down, but it was better than having to carry Adar. And so far, it seemed the fighting hadn’t come down into the tunnel. They had time, though how much, Markus wasn’t sure.

  An entirely too long of a span of time passed before Markus spotted a set of stairs just like the ones at the beginning of the tunnel. He gave a look back at Adar. He was still walking, but Markus could see the exhaustion on his face. Markus stopped to let his friend catch up.

  “Looks like we are almost there. You going to make it?”

  Adar just nodded as relief showed on his face when he saw the stairs beyond Markus. He eyed his friend with concern, not sure if Adar would be able to make it the rest of the way. Markus threw a look back into the tunnel they had traveled. It was still quiet, which made it easier to make a decision he’d been considering the last stretch of their journey.

  “Adar, I want you to keep going until you get to the stairs,” Markus said,” and then wait there until I come back for you. I’m going to run up ahead and make sure our exit is secure and maybe get some of Yendo’s men to go for a hover chair.”

  “I’m fine, Markus. The Caretaker cleared me for my usual activity, remember? I can make it,” Adar said, but the paleness of his face made Markus doubt that very much.

  Markus laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Maybe so, but don’t forget that you recently had a major injury and that requires a little time to come back from. And sure, the Caretaker gave you permission to be up and about, but I doubt he knew you’d be straining yourself so hard this soon. If he’d known, he would have highly discouraged this little tunnel adventure.

  “Since he isn’t here and I am your newly hired head of security, that makes me in charge of all decisions related to your well-being. So whether you like it or not, you are getting some assistance. You have one of two choices. I can go get you a hover chair, or I can carry you. Your choice.”

  Adar gave Markus an indignant look. “I’d rather take the chair.”

  Markus grinned at his small victory. “See. That wasn’t so hard, now was it? One hover chair coming up.”

  He threw a hand signal to Nathias’s men who were hanging back to keep watch on the way they’d come. One of them had looked Markus way so caught the signal and gave a nod he’d received the be back and stay alert message. Markus then turned and raced up the stairs.

  Sure enough, the tunnel door leading to the administration building was just a few quick strides away from the top of the short staircase. He walked up to the door and spotted the palm reader. Like he’d done before, Markus popped the top of the casing off to uncover the override pad underneath. He input the code as before, but this time nothing happened.

  Markus figured he’d punched in the wrong number and tried again. Still the door remained closed. He stood there a long moment with the unease he’d felt earlier come back, but much stronger this time.

  “Maybe the code for this door is different?” Markus muttered allowed. Though the code Markus had used was five years old. Maybe they had updated this side and neglected to do the one attached to the chalet.

  Markus lifted his right arm and said, “Voice Comm Yendo.”

  He waited for the Lieutenant to answer, but the there was just the standard beeping that sounded when waiting for the other end to pick up. What was taking so long? Yendo should have been waiting for his call.

  His unease blossomed to alarm. He reached for the stun baton strapped to his thigh and thought better of it and grabbed the blaster pistol instead. A moment later, the door unexpectedly slid open. The pistol was already rising up as the door retracted, but it still wasn’t fast enough.

  A small cylinder device flew into the tunnel and past Markus. A moment later, a flash of white light consumed Markus’s senses. His mind registered that it was a sleeper, a device made to shock the nervous system with light and sound. Since he was so close there was nothing he could do to overcome the effect as he dropped to his knees and covered his ears from the piercing assault.

  He knew it would be a matter of moments and his body would shut down from the abrupt shock. The best he could do was reach for his unity ring to press and hold the call button. A ten second hold would automatically call crisis management. When he did not respond, hopefully they would send someone out to investigate. It was the best Markus could do as he felt his body seize up.

  He felt himself fall the rest of the way to the cold tunnel floor. Markus could sense unconsciousness creeping in, but was determined to at least get the identity of who had done this. Once he woke up, he wanted to know who he was going to be going after.

  From his position on the dirt floor, the first thing he noticed was a pair of black boots stepping at the level with his gaze. Markus struggled to move his head to peer upward, but the boot helped him as it kicked at Markus and caused him to be flipped to his back.

  He now had a clear view of the man standing over him. At first he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as the face above shimmered and changed, but those eyes––there was no mistaking them. The sight above him caused the blood to freeze in Markus’s veins.

  His first thought was––How? And his next thoughts were in a panic frenzy. No! He had to get up. He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t fail his friend. Not like this. Not again. Markus tried to move, but his body refused to cooperate. It even refused to stay conscious, and as he slipped into the blackness, his last vision was of Zorren’s cold merciless smile.