I wasn't fast enough.
And because I wasn't fast enough, the bullet slammed into her and sent her crashing against the wall. She tried to stay on her feet, but gravity pulled her down to the floor as Twelve disappeared from sight. The sound of his footsteps echoed up the narrow corridor as he escaped. Kneeling beside Anna, I took her hand. It was horribly reminiscent of when I awoke in the hotel room with Doctor Richards on the floor. History was repeating itself.
I tried to staunch the bleeding. 'Anna,' I said. 'I'll get help.'
Ferdy's small hand touched Anna's forehead as she struggled to speak.
'The average resting pulse of a human is sixty to ninety beats per minute,' he said softly. 'Doctor Anna is a friend to Ferdy.'
A blast erupted down the passageway behind us. I instantly threw up a shield to protect us from the worst of it as dust exploded everywhere, and the walls cracked. The lights died, and for a long moment, I thought the ceiling was about to fall in.
Gradually, holding my breath, the echo of the blast subsided, and the darkness gathered around us. The situation slowly settled on me as effectively as the gloom. I may have been superpowered, but there was no way I could navigate us out of a black hole a hundred feet under the ground.
Mercifully, the feeble light bulb flickered back on. I stared at it, daring it to die out. It faded once, but returned to life, casting its faint yellow glow around the cell. My hand was still pressed against the wound in Anna's chest. It was like trying to plug a hole in a dam. I peered into her face. She was pale and had lost a lot of blood. I'm not sure even a doctor could save her now.
'You have to leave The Agency,' she urged. 'It's…'
'Just hold on. I'll get us…'
'It's too late for me. Take Ferdy.' She swallowed hard as a spasm of pain rippled through her body. 'We didn't know…the children…wrong, but I never realized…'
'Anna…'
Her eyes opened wide. 'You should know…you have…'
She struggled to speak.
'…a brother…'
The silence closed in around us. Ferdy stroked her face, murmuring details about chemical compounds and how Anna was his friend. I fell back against the wall. This was how it all started. A small room. A dying person. Enigmatic words.
The same, but different.
I have a brother.
I shook my head. Now wasn't the time. Peering about the small chamber, I wondered how much air we had left.
We've got to get out of here.
'Ferdy?' I looked at the other door. 'Where does that lead?'
Ferdy was still holding Anna's hand. 'Rigor mortis sets in approximately three hours after death—'
'Ferdy? Listen to me—'
'—and lasts approximately twelve hours.' He looked at the door. 'Ferdy doesn't know.'
Crossing to it, I pressed my face against the metal bars. I inhaled cold air, but there was no breeze. The way we'd just come had been reduced to fallen rock and debris. It was impassable. Focusing on this door, it gave a loud whine and broke free of its hinges. It disappeared into the darkness beyond with a crash.
Ferdy came to me and pressed his head against my shoulder.
'Do you know where this leads?' I asked.
'We are only a hundred feet from the ocean,' Ferdy said. 'Jellyfish have no heart or brain.'
'Okay. That's handy to know.'
A light suddenly flickered on, illuminating the inky blackness. I let out a sigh of relief. Ferdy has a torch. I played it around the room beyond. At first, it looked like things had gone from bad to worse. We were at the edge of a naturally occurring cave. The ceiling sloped down to the floor at the back.
A pile of rocks and debris sat to our left. I examined the debris, not sure of what I expected to find. A secret tunnel? An elevator? There was nothing.
A ping interrupted the silence.
I looked back to the rear of the cave where the ceiling met the floor. The earth was as smooth as glass, except it wasn't earth.
It's water.
'Ferdy,' I said. 'Is that a pool?'
'The speed of light is two hundred and ninety-nine—'
'Yeah, that's great, but is—oh, never mind.'
The water was dead cold to the touch. Tasting it, my hopes rose when I tasted—
'Salt,' I said. 'Ferdy, this is saltwater.'
'We are only one hundred feet from the ocean,' Ferdy said.
Okay. That's what you've been trying to tell me.
'Is this an underground river?' I said. 'Does it lead to the ocean?'
'David Blane broke the world record when he held his breath for seventeen minutes and four seconds.'
'Hopefully, we won't have to break that record.'
I snapped off the torch. At first, all I could see was darkness, but after a few seconds, I slowly became aware of a faint glow coming from the rear of the underground pond. I turned the torch back on.
'Ferdy?' I said. 'You understand what we have to do? We have to swim through the water to the other side. Can you swim?'
'The world record for backstroke is—'
'But can you swim?'
'The deepest part of the earth's oceans is the Marianas Trench—'
'That's great.' I let out a long sigh. 'Ferdy. We've got to get out of here. You hold onto my belt with one hand while I swim. With your other hand, I need you to light the way. Do you understand?'
'The deepest part of the trench—' He stopped. 'Ferdy understands.'
I stared into his eyes, hoping he understood. The modification had left him with savant syndrome. It was a particular type of autism which gave him unlimited amounts of knowledge, but barely unable to function in the real world. He probably understood exactly how a car worked, but it was unlikely that he'd ever drive one.
I gripped his shoulder. 'We'll be okay.'
'Okay.'
He couldn't let go of me in the water. If he did, I'd never find him again. For that matter, if the torch failed, we'd drown in the dark. If I couldn't hold my breath for long enough, we'd drown. A hundred things could go wrong. Latching his hand onto the back of my belt, I explained to him again what we were doing. He was still looking straight through me but occasionally nodded as I spoke. I stepped into the water, and he obediently followed me into the cold, clear fluid. We walked until it reached our waists.
'We need to take deep breaths,' I said. 'Do you understand?' He nodded. 'We're going to take three deep breaths, and then we'll dive in. We'll swim until we reach the ocean on the other side. Okay?'
'Okay,' he said. 'Pictichromis Diadema is a type of fish.'
'I'll keep that in mind.' We took another step further into the water. And another. 'Take a deep breath. That's it. One. And two. And now…three!'
The black water closed in around us.