Bray regarded her coldly. “Coming with me could still mean death,” he warned.
The commotion at the front of the building grew louder. It sounded as if the police were using a battering ram. Angry voices could be heard yelling at anyone inside to open up.
“How are we going to get out? They’ve got us cornered,” Elora pointed out.
“Always have an escape route. Now make your choice,” Bray said, coldly.
Elora preferred him as the mechanic. He seemed friendlier than this heartless Shaigun. Good-looking he may be, but he was harder than coffin nails.
“I’ll take my chances with you.”
He nodded once. “Follow me,” he said, stepping over to a man hole cover that was on the floor beneath the sink.
He pulled it up and slid it to the side revealing a circular black hole. Elora guessed it must be part of a drainage system yet she couldn’t see beyond its rim.
Without a second glance, Bray dropped into the hole. Elora waited for the sound of him landing but there was nothing. It seemed unreal as if he simply jumped into a silent vacuum in space. Could it be a vortex or something? A hidden gate between worlds. She doubted it as she stepped closer to the hole, but her vision still couldn’t penetrate the blackness.
The roller door rattled again making her jump and she was sure she heard Reuben murmur as he began to wake from unconsciousness. Time for a leap of faith. She edged closer until her toes were over the rim, folded her arms so she wouldn’t bang them on the sides of the hole and readied herself to jump.
“Use the ladder. I’m not going to carry you if you break your legs,” Bray said from the darkness below.
Elora bent down and could barely make out the dull grey metal of a rung bolted half a foot below her. She wasted no time in lowering herself, putting one foot on the rung and climbing down. What an idiot she must have looked, about to jump blindly into the hole.
“And pull the cover back over,” he ordered as she was a few rungs down.
“Yes sir,” she whispered under her breath as she climbed back up to pull the cover back over and block the light out completely.
The rungs were cold and wet to the touch, her feet splashing into what must be a stream of water less than an inch deep when she reached the bottom. It didn’t smell like the sewers, more like a run-off for the drains that most likely fed into the sewer system someway ahead. She guessed they must be about ten feet below ground and was glad she used the ladder and hadn’t jumped. It would more likely have been her neck that would have broken as well as her legs. How had Bray dropped down and landed in the water without making a sound?
The darkness was impenetrable, there wasn’t even a sliver of light from the opening above and she wondered if Bray had left her alone to find her own way. Judging by his rudeness, she wouldn’t be surprised.
She pressed the wall with the fingers of one hand whilst reaching out with the other, trying to build a mental image of her surroundings. The tunnel was circular with a diameter of about five foot, meaning that she would need to bend over to make her way along. That is, if the water level didn’t get any deeper. She took a few steps along the tunnel, left hand trailing the one side like the boy in the labyrinth of the Minotaur, and having no idea if Bray was in front or at the end of the tunnel. He already proved how silent he could be, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her ask for help, and so plodded on determined to reach the end. She would show him she wasn’t just a little girl with odd eyes.
After what must have been about ten minutes, yet seemed more like an hour, the tunnel walls abruptly ended, the hand trailing it meeting empty air and taking her off balance. Almost about to topple over into the water, a hand grasped hers as it flailed wildly.
“Nearly there. Keep quiet,” came Bray’s voice from beside her.
She could feel his warm breath brushing her ear. Had he been that close the entire length of the tunnel? She squinted, trying desperately to see him through the blackness but failed. His hand felt warm and gave her reassurance as he pulled her down a different direction. She put out her other hand to the wall for guidance, waiting for him to let go, but thankfully he held on and so she followed with a more confident stride.
Grey shadows began to appear along the roof and she could make out the top of Bray as he walked in front, bending over so as not to bang his head. But it didn’t stop her from walking straight into his back when he halted.
“Wait here,” he said, then began to climb up a ladder to the side which she hadn’t noticed.
A painfully bright crescent of light shone down as Bray scraped back a cover at the top of the shaft. A moment later and the crescent was a circle and she could see the silhouette of him climbing out. Then the shape of his head, face hidden in darkness as it peered down again.
“Come on up.”
Chapter 6
Diavel
They emerged from the tunnel and onto a street surrounded by red brick houses. The top of the tall grey silos of the dairy producer could be seen poking above the roofs of another street behind them. Elora knew they were still close to the industrial estate, but at least they would be harder to find.
Bray didn’t waste any time sliding the man hole cover back into place before leading her down a path between the dwellings. Luckily there was nobody about to see the strange scene of the pair of them emerging out of the road.
The pathway led behind the street and across a back lane to a row of garages that must have belonged to the homes. Bray paced along the front of them until he reached one with a steel door. He unlocked a padlock and swung up the door before gesturing for her to enter, all the time scanning up the road for any signs they were being watched. Once inside he shut the door and flicked on a light.
Elora took in the small garage. A roll mat and sleeping bag lay on the floor - had Bray been sleeping in here? A large double-breasted wardrobe stood against the far wall with shelves clinging to either side. It appeared to be more of a bedroom than a garage, although the huge black motorbike standing in the middle and taking up most of the room proved otherwise.
She had never seen a bike look so mean; with huge exhaust pipes and a rear tyre thicker than a truck’s. Ducati was spelt out in silver letters along the sleek fuel tank. It faced the wardrobe, leaning to the side and resting on a side stand that looked too thin to hold its weight.
“This is where you live?” she asked.
Bray shrugged “Sometimes,” he replied as he stepped out of his rigger boots and pulled the boiler suit completely off revealing blue jeans. He tossed the suit over a chair and put the riggers back on. Then stretched his arms out. Elora heard a grating sound as Bray winced.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Think I’ve broke a rib,” he replied as he wandered over to the wardrobe and pulled it open, revealing a mirror on the inside of the door.
He put his back to her and pulled his t-shirt over his head. Elora found it hard to pull her eyes away from his muscled back as he lifted an arm and pressed a rib that was red and ready for bruises. She looked away before he caught her staring although he didn’t seem to notice that she was even there. He pressed the injury a couple more times before taking a fresh t-shirt from the wardrobe and sliding it on.
“Is it broken?” she asked, knowing that if it was somebody the size of Pinky throwing punches then it probably was.
He nodded. “Nothing much I can do about it though. It’ll heal by tomorrow.”
Elora frowned. It would take more than a day for a rib to heal. More like several weeks but didn’t say anything. She sat on the chair and tried not to get oil from the boiler suit onto her vest and wished that she had brought spare clothes from the Molly.
“So, where’s the Shadojak?” she asked, feeling anxious. Surely, he wouldn’t kill her, it wasn’t as if she was dangerous although Nat had warned her that there were people searching, wanting to kill her. Maybe the Shadojak was one of them.
