Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(52)

“Would you? I’ll just fill it out for you, if you’ll take it to Supply.”

“Certainly. My pleasure.”

Waiting for the women to finally leave, I have to listen to their chattering about the men in their lives and clothes. And they called me daft.

When they finally leave, we sneak back into the booth and Gavin bursts into laughter. I stare at him in shock.

“You should have seen your face after they called you daft. I thought you were going to strangle them,” he says, practically doubled over with laughter.

“I wanted to,” I say with clenched teeth.

“Apparently they don’t know you too well.”

With a tilt to my head, I ask, “Why is that?”

“If they did, they would know you’re far from daft. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re the smartest woman I know.”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m not so smart after all.”

He squeezes my good shoulder. “Hey, you’ve gotten us this far and we’re not dead yet. That’s saying something. They don’t even know where we are exactly. We just need a way to get our DNA back in the system, right?”

I stare at him in disbelief. He’s absolutely right. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

“Um, Evie? Am I wrong?”

“No. That’s brilliant. Especially for a Surface Dweller.” I grin when he scowls at me. “And I know what our next step is.”

“Oh, great. What is it?”

“We have to find Macie. She’ll get our DNA back into the computer. And she can probably check while we’re there to see if there’s a real evacuation map. The scientist said that the others had different evacuation plans. That must mean there are other ways out of here. Maybe there’s something close and we won’t have to go to Three. The only problem is getting to her lab. Hopefully she’s there and not at Festival.” Plus, I’d like to find out how to bypass that EMF. The scientist never did say whether or not he found a way around that.

He doesn’t look as relieved as I feel. “Can you trust her?”

“I would trust her with my life,” I say.

He crosses his arm over his chest. “Oh. That’s good, because that’s exactly what you’re doing, you know. And, not to be selfish or anything, I’m also worried about my life.”

He’s right. Again. I know I can trust her with my life, but what about Gavin’s? Will she help me help him? Or will she turn him in?

She did help us once, when she thought I liked him. Would she do it again now that everyone thinks he kidnapped me?

Like everything else lately, it’s not like I have much of a choice. I have to try. I have to trust her. She’s our only hope. Our only chance. If we have any chance at all.

Now I have to figure out how to get from here to there. There has to be a way to get to Macie without being detected. I study the area around the turret, trying to figure out how to turn it off without Mother noticing. Then I narrow my eyes. How do they get it up there? Where do the wires run? How do they replace the ammo? Perform maintenance?

A small grin grows slowly on my face as it dawns on me. It’s so obvious I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me before.

“The maintenance tunnels,” I say.

“Huh?” Gavin asks.

I turn back to him. I’m so excited about this plan, I’m practically bouncing on my toes. “The maintenance tunnels. That’s how we’re going to get to Macie. Follow me.”

“Wait. If we’re going to use maintenance tunnels to get to Macie, how come we can’t just take them to Sector Three?” Gavin asks.

“Because the tunnels don’t reach from here to Three. The only way to get there is via the Tube.”

“That seems kinda stupid. What happens if the Tube breaks?”

“Then we wait until it’s fixed.”

“And if there’s an emergency … Oh, right, never mind.”

I laugh and pat his arm before turning to find the tunnel entrance.

Along the bottom of the wall that the booth is attached to is a small metal door. It’s gray, almost the same color as the concrete, and barely visible. If I hadn’t known it was there, I’d never have seen it. Actually.… how did I know it was there?

The hole is small, but large enough for a grown man to crawl through. Even someone Gavin’s size. There’s a code box instead of handprint verification next to the door and using the same instinct that guided me to the abandoned Sector, I pull off the face of it and reconnect some wires. The door lock opens with a clunk and I pull the door open and crawl in. I’m expecting it to be pitch dark, but while it is darker than the Tube station, there are small red lights set every few meters so it’s bright enough to see. It dead-ends immediately, but a ladder leads up to another larger tunnel toward the top.

Taking a deep breath to relax my nerves, I start up the ladder. It’s hard work since my right arm doesn’t want to cooperate very well, but at least the medication Gavin gave me earlier has dulled the pain and I’m able to slowly make my way up. Gavin follows, making sure the door shuts behind him. It locks again with another clunk that echoes. I wince and hope no one is in the tunnels.

We’re halfway up the ladder when Gavin curses under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, pausing.