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Adan bravely went first, disappearing into the darkness, followed by a distant thump that made Serene holler, “You okay?”

“Yeah!” he yelled back. “It’s not a far drop. Smells like shit, though.”

Brock and Spade helped lower the others. Spade gestured for Takeshi to go next, but he shook his head. “Her first.”

Spade turned to Khalani. She adjusted the pack on her back and stepped forward, eyeing the hole as panic swelled in her chest.

“It’s alright,” Spade said. “The first jump is the hardest.”

Khalani took a deep breath and nodded.

She’d fought off men twice her size, escaped an inescapable prison, and stared death in the face more times than she could count.

Dropping through a ten-foot hole should be easy.

She sat and her legs dangled over the opening as Brock and Spade grabbed her arms, lowering her down.

“You ready?” Spade yelled as she hung over the void.

No.

“Yes!”

As soon as the word left her mouth, both men dropped her.

She yelped, her heart plummeting to her stomach when she fell, landing with a hard thud. Unknown hands caught her in the pitch-black, steadying her.

“I got you,” Serene’s voice echoed through the dark, rubbing the top of Khalani’s arm.

A moment later, another body dropped, brushing past her quickly, as if they didn’t require any assistance. The familiar, commanding presence sent tingles racing down her spine.

Spade and Brock dropped in shortly after, and the dim light from Spade’s lantern revealed their grim surroundings.

A shallow stream of water ran at their feet and her nose crinkled at the stench. The smell was all too familiar, a cruel reminder of the months she’d spent in prison.

“This way,” Spade commanded, immediately marching forward with Brock trailing behind him. Winnie and Serene flanked her on either side, with Adan close by.

Takeshi took up the rear as usual.

She wasn’t sure if he preferred having a full view of everyone or if he just wanted to be as far from her as possible. Maybe it was a combination of both.

Winnie linked her arm through Khalani’s and wrinkled her nose. “The first thing Winnie would do to this place is add some color to the walls. Things tend to smell better when they feel beautiful.”

A small grin tugged at Khalani’s mouth. Spade glanced over his shoulder, clearly not used to Winnie’s rambling like the rest of them were.

They walked for what felt like hours through the long tunnels, climbing down rickety ladders that groaned unnervingly undertheir weight. Her body was exhausted, but her mind raced like a transport, the edginess refusing to dissipate.

Khalani’s eyes widened when they approached a white door with a metal latch. Spade heaved it open, and as they stepped through the tunnel, she was startled to find a large glass tube hanging to her right, with a showerhead inside.

“What’s this for?” she asked.

The sound of plastic stretching reverberated along the sewer walls, and she turned to see Spade taking off his radiation suit, revealing a handsome, middle-aged man with short, light blond hair and gray eyes that held a quiet intelligence.

Beneath the plastic covering, he wore a well-fitted black tuxedo and a clean white shirt that looked entirely out of place in the sewers.

He tossed the radiation suit into the glass tube and turned the showerhead on.

“Just in case,” he murmured, almost to himself.