Red Widow (Vivian Xu, Book 1) (14 page)

“
Wasn’t anyone watching
him?”

“
It’s not as easy as you
think, Vivian. We don’t stick him in a corner and babysit the boy.
He’s free to come and go as he pleases. But he’s never gone for
very long. He’s been missing for nearly a day now.”

“
Are you sure he’s lost in
the sewers?” He nodded vigorously, running a hand through his
unkempt hair. The motion exposed several gnarled scars underneath,
glowing angrily against his skin. Vivian almost swallowed her
tongue in revulsion.

“
It’s the only place we
haven’t completely searched.”

“
Which way to the sewers?”
she asked after a strangled pause. They followed his stare down a
side tunnel scarred with circular rings.

“
After the earthquake,
portions of Line C slipped into the sewers,” he murmured, his mind
careening to the moment of disaster. “I will never forget the sound
of metal grating against flesh, the flames boiling in the tunnels…”
He shook his head. “I’m not even sure how Mikhael survived. He was
trapped under several bodies as flames rolled through the tunnels.
I managed to save his soul once, but what if I fail this time? What
if he’s lost to the sewers?”

“
Mikhael’s going to be
okay. He helped me navigate the tunnels all by himself.”

Joakim crumpled by the rails, his eyes
sunken with despair.

“
We’re not leaving until we
find him,” Vivian said, turning to Camilla.

“
We’re going into the
sewers?”

“
Mikhael’s just a little
kid. He could be hopelessly lost down there.”

“
Okay, fine, I’ll tag
along. Just don’t get us lost, too.”

“
You know damn well I can’t
make that promise.” Vivian seized Joakim by the shoulder and shook
him. “Keep up the search. I’ll take my chances in the sewers and
look for Mikhael.”

“
Bless you, Vivian. You
have no idea how much this means to me. That boy is my son—I don’t
care if we aren’t tied by blood! If you can’t find him, I don’t
know what—”

“
I
will
find him.” Joakim didn’t dispute
the finality in her voice. He simply nodded.

“
Thank you.”

“
Now get up, for Mikhael’s
sake, and keep looking. You won’t be any help to him sitting on
your ass.”

“
Just a moment. Let me
collect myself.”

Steeling herself for the abominations
ahead, Vivian marched toward the sewers. She wouldn’t dare voice
the fears bouncing around in her head, but she also reserved
serious doubts about Mikhael’s fate. Joakim was already clinging to
a sliver a hope, and her anxieties would only drive him over the
edge.

Joakim’s voice rang out behind
her.

“
Vivian, before you go…
Rats will be the least of your concerns in the sewers. You would be
wise to steer clear of the scavengers.”

“
Scavengers? Like animals?”
Camilla asked.

“
You might say they are
animals, but they look just like you and me. There are men who even
we consider outcasts. They are so incompatible with society that
they find asylum in the sewers, in places no one would dream of
inhabiting. They wouldn’t think twice about … well…”

His eyes roamed across the exposed
flesh on Camilla’s arms and legs.

“
If you find one, turn back
immediately.”

* * *

The sewers swallowed Camilla and
Vivian in all its filth and excess. A fluorescent green tinge
wavered across the brick tunnels.

So many tempting ladders beckoned
Camilla, promising an escape from this treacherous abyss. Brown
shapes swarmed across the catwalks, presumably rats disturbed by
intruders.

If Vivian was put off by the smells,
she balled up that weakness deep inside and crushed it.

Forked tunnels merged into a larger,
arched passage toward the Vltava River. Tidal water sloshed across
their feet like a hundred thousand creeping fingers. Even stranger
hair-like tendrils dangled from the ceiling, but Vivian couldn’t
imagine what birthed them. Camilla cringed as she felt the sewage
soak into her shoes like cold blades between her toes.

“
I don’t suppose you could
give me a piggyback ride through the congealed sewage?”

“
Ha!
Don’t
even go there.”

The touch of 1850s architectural
ingenuity was rich in the sewers—along with the incense of decay.
Camilla eyeballed ancient machinery once used to manually open
floodgates weighing over several tons. They silently trod down a
side tunnel only two feet in width, leading to a dead end with
rusted manholes.

“
So Mikhael heard a woman
crying?” Camilla asked.

“
Supposedly. Mikhael lost
his parents in a train crash during last year’s earthquake.
According to Joakim, he’s been searching for his parents ever
since.”

“
If I heard someone crying
in the sewers, I would be running in the
opposite
direction.”

“
What if you had the chance
to see your parents again? Would you still run away?”

“
There isn’t any chance of
that happening. They’re dead.”

“
So are Mikhael’s, but that
doesn’t stop him.”

They stopped short of immense doors
inset with valves splayed like gigantic iron webs.

“
The floodgates,” Camilla
murmured. “It leads to the Vltava River.”

“
Do you think the city
still uses the sewers?”

“
These sewer lines have
been cut off for over seventy years. Now the sewers have been
abandoned to scavengers.”

“
I suppose we all have to
make the best of shitty situations.”

“
Yeah,
literally.”

Just as they turned to follow the
catwalk, Camilla stumbled in the dark. Instead of collapsing in the
water, she landed in an array of soiled blankets, trinkets, and
dirty bottles. She scrambled to her feet before something could
scamper out from under the blankets and maul her.

“
I’m fine,” she said,
brushing off her clothes.

Components from defunct machinery
littered the scavenger campsite. Among all the trash hoarded, one
object in particular gleaned their attention. A small rowboat was
bobbing in the inky water.

“
Well, come on,” Camilla
chirped, eagerly taking the paddle.

“
Someone’s feeling
adventurous.”

“
Is tramping through the
sewers your idea of adventure? I just want to leave before the
scavengers come out to play.”

Cutting the rope tethering the boat to
shore, they drifted into oblivion. Vivian craned her head to the
ceiling, half-expecting to see stars populating the darkness. While
the night was eternal in the sewers, no light would ever grace
these depths. Vivian had no way to guide them to safety—not that
she could read the stars in the first place. She almost didn’t
realize they reached solid ground until the boat rumbled to a
stop.

Camilla silently pointed at
something.

Through the menacing shadows, Vivian
saw a ladder descending into a pit. That hole seemed to erode the
floor, drawing her in one step at a time. Her hands traced the
ladder as she lowered into the sewer basement.

Water dripped from the pipes in the
honeycomb of foul chambers. The shape of a little boy was huddled
on the floor.

“
Mikhael!” Vivian screamed.
The boy unfolded from his fetal position, his eyes glistening with
tears. In one fluid motion, he sprang up and ran toward Vivian’s
open arms. He collided against her with the force of a blow,
squeezing her tight.

“
Mikhael! You shouldn’t be
down here!”

“
How did he get across the
water?” Camilla exclaimed. The trembling boy pointed at a pair of
vaulted doors, but no words escaped him.

Camilla hesitated and ventured toward
the entrance.

“
Don’t!
” She turned around to see the ferocity in Vivian’s eyes.
“Camilla, will you take him back?”

“
What about you?” She
retreated as Vivian drew the gun from her waistband.

“
I’ll be okay. Just get him
out of here.” Without a word of protest, Camilla seized the boy’s
hand and ushered him toward the tunnels.

“
Promise you won’t venture
ahead until I come back, okay?” her voice echoed.

“
I’ll be careful.” Their
gangly shadows disappeared beyond the tunnel and Vivian reluctantly
faced the doors. Seizing the rusted valve in her hands, she
expelled every ounce of strength just to turn it an inch. “Damn
it,” she grunted as the valve stuck. It growled and she felt the
vault give way. The doors swung inward and a tide of black water
pulsed out of the room, lapping at her calves.

She staggered inside, trying to find
her footing among the raw sludge.

“
No…”

Her pupils dilated in the eerie light,
and strange images swam before her. A figure was kneeling perfectly
still on the floor. Her arms were bound behind her with barbed
wire, its rust fusing with her blood in an exquisite color. Her
head was oddly shaped, and something fleshy stretched from her to
the ceiling. Only then did she realize a gas mask encased her head.
The horrible stench of sewage assaulted Vivian.

A hose was rigged up to the sewer
system, entangled among pipes that spanned the ceiling like
capillaries. The girl’s body convulsed with such violence. At once,
Vivian realized what was happening to her. She dashed toward the
woman and squeezed the hose to prevent the influx of sewage. Vivian
tore at the device, trying desperately to pry it from the contours
of her face.

“
Stop it!” she yelled
futilely. “Get off her!”

The gas mask finally slipped free, and
Vivian staggered back when she saw the woman’s face. A dental gag
forced her jaws wide apart with its spindly, metallic
limbs.

Vivian’s skin prickled and a sinking
nausea attacked her. She could barely breathe as those oily, black
eyes pierced hers.

Vivian looked down at her shaking
hands as the initial waves of panic seeped through.

* * *

Nikolai glanced down at his phone as
it rang. He would call back once he reviewed his findings from
Krista’s autopsy.

After compiling a public profile of
Krista based on interviews with her family, friends, and coworkers,
she struck him as a typical girl. Young, white, employed, attending
college, in a relationship.

Unfortunately, her relationship could
be considered anything but typical. Nikolai shook his head in a
combination of disbelief and amusement. No matter how many years
remained of his life, he would never comprehend how Krista hooked
up with a subhuman organism like Patrik.

“
The sweet naiveté of
love,” he smiled.

Police continued to comb the outlying
towns for Patrik after he fled Prague. His flight didn’t
necessarily indicate a guilty conscience, just the damnable
cowardice that stains every abuser.

By all accounts, he was a degenerate
who made a profession of bullying others. His path in life led him
to become a bouncer for strip clubs.

Courtesy of Patrik, Krista had been
summoned to the hospital ER three times over the past nine months.
During her last stay, she was treated for several fractured ribs.
Her medical records indicated a previous mild concussion and
multiple contusions to her arms and face. Yet, something
unimaginable compelled her to stay with Patrik.

Warranting further concern, Krista
would vanish from the city without a trace. It was as though she
dissolved into another world where not even her family could reach
her. If only Nikolai knew what lured her away from home.

The phone pealed angrily, refusing to
sit idly on the cradle. He snatched it up and blew out a
sigh.

“
Hello?”

“
Come down to the sewers
now!
” The command startled Nikolai,
lighting the ends of his nerves on fire. “I’m in the sewers under
Nádraži Metro! There’s another one!” Vivian yelled. Suddenly,
Krista’s autopsy was the furthest thing from his mind.

“
What do you mean
another one
? A fifth
victim?”

“
Yes! She’s—just get your
ass down here! I’m in the sewers!”

“
Stay where you are, I’m on
my way—”

He looked up to behold a
professional-looking woman in the doorway. She cut a stunning
figure in tailored pants and a crisp, dark blazer with a white
collar popping out underneath. Raven hair tumbled down to her
shoulders. Her prominent, green eyes glowed in the sunlight lancing
through the blinds. The touch of dark strawberry lipstick dabbed on
her mouth did not escape Nikolai either. Reluctant though he was to
dismiss such beauty, more important matters awaited him.

“
Nikolai Koslov?” The phone
landed on the cradle, snuffing out his conversation with
Vivian.