Never Forgive (Christopher Wren Thrillers Book 8) by Mike Grist & Michael John Grist

Author:Mike Grist & Michael John Grist [Grist, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shotgun Books
Published: 2022-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

30

INTO THE DARK

Wren broke into an instant sprint.

The tunnel walls flew by as his feet pounded the damp concrete flooring, lights flickering to life ahead as he ran. The tide of illumination snapped at the heels of the receding figure, just barely keeping him in sight. Toyama's voice rang out in back, but he couldn't hear it over the sudden rushing of blood in his ears.

An akaname!

The figure ran all-out, and Wren gave everything he had to keep pace, elbows and knees pumping for thirty seconds, a minute.

Then the figure disappeared.

In ten seconds Wren saw the reason; the tunnel split left and right. Lights were dappling to life on the left, while on the right lay in darkness. He had only seconds left to choose. Get it wrong and the lead was gone. Delay, and the moment was lost.

He chose right and plunged into the thick dark.

Lights burst up around him, barely keeping pace as he charged full tilt at the shadows. The wild racket of his own footfalls and racing heart eliminated any chance of picking out the akaname, but he had a feeling. On opening the door to the sewer, the akaname had been in darkness. There was no patch of light already lit. Only as the lights rippled out ahead had it been exposed.

They were creatures of the dark, after all.

Then he saw it. Heels racing at the feathery edge of the flickering lights.

"Stop!" he shouted.

Then it was gone.

Wren reached the point where it had vanished and spun. He saw pipes, cables, and just before all the lights went dead, ladder rungs leading up.

Instant darkness, all-consuming.

There was no time to bring up his phone and bring up the flashlight. He remembered where the rungs were, three steps ahead and off to the left, and went for them. The second he laid his fingers around the knurled metal, he felt the vibrations trembling down from above.

The akaname was escaping.

Wren launched himself upward. Powerful arms pulled, powerful legs pushed, and he skipped multiple rungs at a time, catching the next handhold and foothold by feel. Jump, catch, pull, push, jump, catch.

The darkness became a cacophony of footfalls, grunts, caught breaths. His back brushed a wall in the dark, his shoulder rang dizzily off some metal outcropping, but he kept on leapfrogging upward. The akaname was right there. He could feel it. Fifty feet already gone and climbing higher. How far up was street level? Maybe a hundred, max two hundred feet? They'd come down thirty or so steps to the ticketing area, ridden an escalator another hundred's worth, so that meant-

Light cracked ahead as a trapdoor of some sort opened. Wren heard a familiar roaring sound, echoing crazily down the chute, saw the akaname clambering out, and redoubled his bursts of upward speed.

Jump, catch, jump, catch. Just as the trapdoor was hammering down, Wren ducked his head in and burst through it like a rocket launch. His back crashed into the metal hatch and sent it peeling away with a wild clang.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.