The Descent

'My sentiments exactly,'  a reedy  voice piped out from the laptop computer.

Thomas  turned  his  head  as  if  hearing  a  fly  buzzing.  He  scowled  at  the  computer.

'What's this?' he hissed.

'A man called Shoat,' Ike  said. 'He wants to talk with you.'

'Montgomery Shoat?' Thomas spoke the  name  as  if  expelling  a  fetid  stench.  'I  know you.'

'I don't know how,' Shoat said. 'But we do have  mutual concerns.'

Thomas grabbed Ike's  arm and spun him face-out to the distant  cliffs.  'Where  is  this man? Is  he near? Is  he watching us?'

'Ah-ah,  careful,  Ike.  Not  a  word  more,'  Shoat  warned.  His  finger  wagged  at  them from the screen.

Thomas stood rooted behind Ike,  motionless except  for his head  switching  from  side to side, piercing the twilight. 'Join us, please, Mr Shoat,' he said.

'Thanks anyhow,' Shoat's image said on the screen. 'This is close enough for me.'

The  surreality  was breathtaking, a computer screen in this  underworld.  The  ancient speaking  to  the  modern.  Then  Ali  noticed  Ike's  eyes  darting  about.  He  was  gathering in the broken chamber, estimating it.

'You'll  be  down  soon  enough,  Mr  Shoat,'  Thomas  said  to  the  computer.  'Until  then, there's  something you wanted to talk about?'

'A piece of Helios property  has fallen into your  hands.'

'What does this fool want?' Thomas asked Ike.

'It's a locator. A homing device,' Ike  said. 'He claims it was taken  from him.'

'I'm lost without it,' Shoat said. 'Return it to me and I'll be out of your  hair.'

'That's all you want?' asked Thomas. Shoat considered. 'A head start?'

Thomas's face filled with rage, but he regulated his  voice.  'I  know  what  you've  done, Shoat. I know what Prion-9 is. You're  going to show me  where  you've  placed  it.  Every single location.'

Ali glanced at Ike,  and he looked equally puzzled.

'Common   ground,'   Shoat   enthused,   'the   basis   for   every   negotiation.   I've   got information you want, and you've  got a guarantee  of my  safe passage. Quid pro quo.'

'You mustn't fear for your  life, Mr Shoat,' Thomas stated.  'You're going to live a  very long time in our company. Longer than you ever  dreamed possible.'

It  was  plain  to  Ali  that  he  was  stalling,  searching.  Beside  him,  Isaac,   too,  was scanning  the  gloom  for  any   evidence   of  the   hidden  man.  The   girl  stood  at   one shoulder, whispering, guiding his examination.

'My homing device,' Shoat said.

'I visited your  mother recently,'  Thomas said, as if just remembering a courtesy. Murmuring  to  the  side,  Isaac  had  begun  dispatching  hadal  warriors.  Their  fluid shapes were  indiscernible from the shadows. They  streamed  down from the ruins.

'My mother?' Shoat was disconcerted.

'Eva.  Three  months  ago.  An  elegant  hostess.  It  was  at  her  estate  in  the  Hamptons. We  had  a  long  chat  about  you,  Montgomery.  She  was  dismayed  to  hear  about  what you've  been up to.'

'That's not possible.'

'Come down, Monty. We have  things to talk about.'

'What have  you done to my  mother?'

'Why  make  this  difficult?  We're  going  to  find  you.  In  an  hour  or  a  week,  it  doesn't matter.  You're  not leaving, though.'

'I asked you about my  mother.'

Ike's  eyes  quit roaming. Ali saw  them  fix  on  hers,  intent,  waiting.  She  took  a  breath and tried to still her confusion and fear. She anchored herself to his eyes.

'Quid pro quo?' said Thomas.

'What have  you done to her?'

'Where to begin,'  Thomas  said  lightly.  'In  the  beginning?  Your  beginning?  You  were born by  C-section...'

'My mother would never  share such a –' Thomas's voice grew  hard. 'She didn't, Monty.'

'Then how...' Shoat's voice faded.

'I  found  the  scar  myself,'  Thomas  said.  'And  then  I  opened  it.  That  wound  through which you crept  into the world.'

Shoat had fallen silent.

'Come down,' Thomas repeated.  'I'll tell you which landfill I left her in.' Shoat's eyes  filled the screen, then backed away.  The  screen went blank. What now? wondered Ali.

'He's started  to run,' Thomas said to Isaac. 'Bring him to me. Alive.'

A  look  of  peace  flickered  across  Ike's  face.  With  Thomas  lurking  over  one  shoulder, he raised his eyes  to the faraway  cliffs. Ali had  no  idea  what  he  was  searching  for.  She looked  around  at  the  dark  cliffs,  and  there  it  was,  a  twinkle  of  light.  A  momentary north star.

Ike  dove.

In the same instant, Thomas ignited.

The  hadal armor and Crusader's chain mail and the shirt of gold did nothing to shield him.  Normally  the  round  would  have  punched  through  his  back  and  then  quickened into  a  fireball  and  phosphorous  shrapnel.  But  in  Thomas,  clad  in  back  as  well  as  in front,  it  found  no  exit.  The  heat  and  fléchettes  went  wild  inside  him.  His  flesh  burst into flame. His spine snapped. And yet  his fall seemed  infinite.

Ali  was  mesmerized.  Flames  leaped  up  from  the  neck  of  Thomas's  armor,  and  he