“Absolutely not—”
He pulled her aside, toward the fireplace, and spoke in a low tone. “They lost their sons to the plague. They will take the boys. If the Immari here follow their previous purge protocol, families with young children will be spared—if they take the pledge. Only teens and childless adults are conscripted.”
Kate looked around, her mind searching for a rebuttal. On the mantel above the fireplace, she noticed a photo of the man and woman standing on a beach, their hands on the shoulders of two smiling boys who were about the same ages as Adi and Surya. The hair color and skin tones were roughly the same as well.
She glanced between the couple and the boys, who were hunched over their notebooks, quietly working in the corner by a stack of candles. She squinted and tried to think. “They don’t speak Spanish…”
“Kate, they barely speak at all. These people will care for them as best they can. This is our only play. Think about it: we are saving four lives here.” He motioned to the two adults. “If they catch the boys with you or me, they will instantly know who they are. We put them at further risk. We have to do this. We will come back for them. And besides, we can’t take them where we’re going. It would be… more stressful.”
“Where are we—”
But Martin didn’t let her finish. He spoke quickly to the couple, who started out of the living room.
Kate didn’t follow them. She walked to the boys in the corner and pulled them into a hug. They fought at her, grabbing for the notebooks, but after a moment, they settled down. She kissed each of them on the top of the head and released them.
Outside the living room, the couple led Martin and Kate down a narrow hallway to a cramped study with a large oak desk and floor-to-ceiling bookcases. The man marched to a bookcase along the back wall and began throwing the heavy volumes onto the floor. The woman joined him, and soon the shelves were empty. The man planted his feet and pulled the bookcase away from the wall. He pressed a button in the adjoining bookcase and the wall snapped and receded slightly. He pushed and the section of wall swung open, revealing a dark, grimy stone tunnel.
CHAPTER 24
Old Town District
Marbella, Spain
Kate hated the tunnels. They were filthy; the stone walls were moist and seemed to ooze a blackish slush that brushed onto her at every turn, and there had been too many turns to count. Some time ago, she had whispered to Martin, asking him if he knew where he was going, but he had quickly shushed her, which she took to mean no. But where else could they go? Martin led the way with a bright LED bar that illuminated just enough of the tunnel to keep them from running headfirst into a grimy stone wall.
Up ahead, the cramped tunnel opened onto a circular intersection that branched in three directions. Martin stopped and held the light bar to his face. “Are you hungry?”
Kate nodded. Martin unslung the pack and dug out a protein bar and a bottle of water.
Kate chewed the bar, chugged the water, and when her mouth was clear, said in a low tone, “You have no idea where you’re going, do you?”
Martin shook his head as if the question were irrelevant. “Not really. In fact, I’m not sure the tunnels go anywhere at all.”
Kate looked at him curiously.
Martin set the light bar on the ground between them and sipped his water. “Like most old cities on the Mediterranean, humans have been fighting over Marbella for thousands of years. The Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Muslims. The list goes on. Marbella has been sacked a hundred times. I knew we were in the old town and that the old merchant houses would have escape tunnels so that the wealthy could avoid… could escape all the nasty things that happen when a city gets sacked. Some tunnels are just shelters—for hiding. Some might lead out of the city, but I doubt it. Best case, they link up with the newer city’s sewer system. But I think we’re safe down here. For now.”
“The Immari won’t search the tunnels?”
“I doubt it. They’ll do a house-by-house sweep, but it’s cursory. They’re mostly looking for troublemakers and anyone they didn’t catch with the wider sweep. I imagine the worst we’ll face down here will be rats and snakes.”
Kate cringed at the thought of an unseen snake crawling across her in the darkness. The thought of sleeping down here, with snakes and rats… She held her hands out in a pleading gesture. “You might hold back on some of the details.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” He grabbed for the pack. “More food?”
“No. Thanks, though. What now? How long do we wait?”
Martin considered it for a moment. “Based on the size of Marbella, I would say two days.”
“What’s happening out there?”
“They’ll round everyone up and do a preliminary sort.”
“Sort?”
“First they separate the dying and devolving from the survivors. Every survivor faces a choice. Take the Immari pledge or refuse.”