“Understood, Colonel.” Marco confirmed with just a hint of a smile, which the Colonel returned. Sergio, too, thought that he could understand their intonations about the bold and fearless Sacco, hoping that Marco was not similarly about to walk head-on towards unknown dangers.
“Alright, so check the tunnel towards Naples proper before you head up, our The Subway-2 stop connects to a service corridor near there but it isn’t fully explored, let alone manned. It’s too complex to bring an entire regiment through there, anyway, but if they’re encroaching towards Sario congregating in the tavern then I want to know about it!”
Vera lifted a few of the maps on the table and picked out an ordinary piece of paper, handing it to Sergio and sizing him up. It appeared to be a mediocre hand-drawn blueprint of the aforementioned service passage near Verona, with directions to guide them through the maze of interconnected rooms.
“Sergio, do you understand your position in all this?” Vera turned his steely gaze towards him.
“Yes, sir. Maro relayed the details to me as well.” Sergio confirmed in the most authoritative voice as he could. And he wasn’t lying; Maro had filled his head with all the notable tenets of being a senior partner on their way to the mess hall earlier, even though it had included plenty of cheeky humor and probably some half-true stories of Makarov’s own enlistment.
“Good, then. Any other questions?” Vera looked back and forth at the two but focused more on Marco.
Sergio had nothing more to say, but when glancing over at Marco after Vera had settled on her, he could tell that she was holding something back. Her lips were slightly open as if she was going to speak, but then she closed her mouth and shook her head. Maybe she had answered her own question as she was thinking it, or maybe she deemed the thought unnecessary to bring up at that moment.
“Off you go then. Track three. Good luck.” Vera gestured towards the elevator to the right of the glass enclosure which led up to the Subway-2 platforms at the top of the D6 bunker.
Marco saluted stiffly and silently and Sergio followed suit before they walked off in unison. Once they were in the elevator and the doors had closed, he turned to her and blurted out his inquiry.
“What were you about to say back there?” He raised an eyebrow, looking down at her from the side.
“I’ll tell you later.” She didn’t look back at him. And he had that sinking feeling again.
Chapter 26: Betrayal
The gleaming monorail carriage slid smoothly along the track, stopping automatically at their predestined station barely five minutes after its departure. Sergio glanced over at Marco who had been excitedly watching the tunnel through the front windscreen as she had the previous time but now looked back at him eagerly, as if waiting for him to lead the way out to the platform. He quickly disembarked and unfolded the paper that the Colonel had given him and buried his face in it so he wouldn’t have to attempt conversation right away.
This small station was the same as the other few he had seen along the monorail system, a rectangular cave carved into the earth beside the track, simple light blue square tiles on the walls and square columns. Everything was square, and the floor was bare without so much as a box or bench to sit on, with only cobwebs and small piles of dust and debris in the corners along the floor and ceiling. He had come through this way with Maro barely a week ago when they were headed to the church, so he knew that there was nothing threatening nearby. The lights weren’t on here now, but Sergio didn’t bother to head for the control room to turn them on; instead switching on the small light attached to his helmet and swiveling his head around in search for the door that would lead away from the D6 territory and back into the regular The Subway tunnels.
Marco didn’t make a sound and followed him closely and complacently, methodically loading a full magazine into the Vintorez and checking her corners with its attached tac-light even though the place was empty even of rats.
Sergio spotted the exit on the far side of the platform, and wasted no time in turning the hand crank to unlock the heavy bolt system which kept the Subway-2 permanently sealed off from the normal one. He figured they would have to return the exact same way in order to properly lock it again, unless someone would show up after them to continue mapping the passage or to stand watch if Realm soldiers had taken up a post at Verona. Sergio sincerely hoped that they wouldn’t come face to face with anyone when they eventually exited the maze of hallways out to the regular The Subway.
The door gave way to a tall staircase, spiraling upwards around a central column filled with pipes and wires; in here at least the emergency lights were shining at spaced intervals along their climb. Reaching the top after a long minute, they paused to catch their breath and Sergio tried to compare this new hallway to the map on the paper after noticing that there were five open doors to choose from.
“Always… stairs…” Marco huffed, “Ugh.”
“Stairs… and sewer pipes.” Sergio parroted absentmindedly, as his attention was focused on the instructions.
“Ew, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Marco wrinkled her nose at the idea as she could probably imagine the smell. “I prefer ventilation shafts myself. In fact I was planning on scouting into Verona like that, if possible.”
“What for? You don’t think we can just walk towards the station and see who’s there?” Sergio lowered the map for a moment and paused his examination. They hadn’t yet discussed any specific details of how they would accomplish their tasks, and he wasn’t entirely certain which one of them should be the one in charge. Was he supposed to let her take the lead and then simply report back to Vera about how she had handled herself? Maro hadn’t been a huge help in explaining any of this to Sergio, he had mostly just recounted his own experiences with new recruits and Sergio couldn’t relate to them at all. Marco had already proven to be a sly tactician, with plans and backup plans for everything, and Sergio was certainly no military strategist.
“But what if there’s a guard post? Even if there isn’t a watch on duty, we can’t go in there with full kit in the name of the Order, we’re supposed to remain unseen, remember? So, if I can crawl into the air ducts and just get far enough towards the tavern to overhear what’s going on then nobody will be the wiser – except for us.” She winked playfully.
“And I’m supposed to just let you go and do that alone, am I?” Sergio said sarcastically, hoping his loaded question would make her rethink her plan, or at least understand his position. He was ultimately responsible for her safety – ordered not only by Vera but by Nikolai as well, not to mention what Sacco would have to say about it all. How would he have handled this kind of assignment?
“Well I’m a better fit for that kind of approach, don’t you think? Literally. If you want to walk the tunnel then I won’t argue, at least you have your passport to back you up… but they aren’t going to just let us waltz in and then go up the escalators to the surface either, so we’re going to have to sneak through somehow. Even if there’s no one from Realm, there could still be bandits in there.” She pushed her brows together angrily and pressured him to agree with her.
“Well this map says there should be a way to the surface through here,” Sergio pointed to the blueprint. “We shouldn’t need to go all the way into the station to exit if we can get out through there.”
“Alright then, we’ll check that, too.” Marco gave a nod and softened, trying to give him reassurance and a sense of choice. “Which do you want to do first?”