Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

"You can get another," interrupted Hayden. "And I'd hardly call myself an 'expert,' most of what I know is self-taught. I'm no Adeptus Mechanicus priest. But who better to send as I may be able to disarm whatever I find."

Wesley shrugged. "Yeah, can't argue with that logic."

Hayden approached the elevator door and said over his shoulder, "that's because logic, true logic cannot be argued with."

"True," I said. "Good luck, Hayden."

Hayden gave a rare grin. "I bet you're glad that, for once, it's not all up to you, Attelus," he said. "And keep the luck; I'm sure you'll need it more than me. I may need a second pair of hands; I might need your help."

My eyes widened, and I pointed to myself. "What, why me?"

He shrugged. "Because I might need your unique perspective."

I frowned brow in bemusement.

"Yes, Emperor, be with you," said Wesley. "And please make haste; every second wasted, more die."

Hayden nodded, then shot his grappling hook, tested it with a tug and said, "I'll be on channel fifty-six; there, I'll keep you posted on my progress. Oh, and if I were you, I'd keep far away from the elevator shaft, you know, just in case."

He didn't wait for a reply before he jumped, caught the cord and began climbing.

I waited and watched Hayden ascend for a few seconds; he made it look easy; he paused about ten metres up and waved me to follow.

With yet another sigh, I leapt and caught the cord, which was no mean feat when it was so close to the wall and, with my feet, stopped myself from smashing against the surface. There was a slight shock of pain up my legs which made me grunt.

My teeth clenched, hand over hand, I climbed after Hayden; I was light, no more than sixty kilograms, so it didn't take much effort on my arms, but I wasn't as seasoned a climber as Hayden, so I struggled to keep pace. I wasn't that afraid of heights but knew the danger, so I struggled to keep my attention from dropping down.

After what my wrist chron claimed to be just over seven minutes, we managed to reach the underside of the first elevator. Hayden had stopped and stood, back against the wall in a broader ledge; he'd shot the hook into. Once I'd reached it, he helped me up, and with one swift tug, tore out the hook, then shot it further up the shaft, attaching it into the ceiling, this time straight upward.

He tested with another tug and said, "be careful, Attelus, do not even slightly touch the elevator; it might be rigged to go off at the slightest touch."

I frowned and looked pointedly at the small space between the wall and the elevator; it mustn't have been barely a metre wide. Easier said than done.

It was Hayden's turn to sigh, and he rolled his eyes. "Attelus, you're as skinny as a pole," he hissed. "If anyone can get through there, it's you. Have some damned confidence for once."

I started. "Uhh yeah, sorry," I stammered. "I'm sorry."

He clenched his teeth, starkly white in the dark. "Don't apologise. You don't need to apologise. Alright, I'll go first. There's another ledge just over the elevator; we'll check it from there."

I raised an eyebrow. "How?"

Hayden grinned, pulled out another hook shot, unclasped a larger pouch on his belt and took out a small safety harness.

"I'm a sniper," he said unnecessarily. "Getting up on high is all part of my job."

I sniggered and shook my head as Hayden began to climb again; now, he used only his arms to pull himself up, keeping his feet strictly together the entire time.

Despite his size and weight, he stayed as still as a stone, yet he climbed quickly, making the approximate two metres within only a few seconds, and he did it without making a single sound.

Gracefully, he slipped onto the ledge then, without a hint of lost breath, said, "see? If I can do it, I'm sure you can too."

I nodded, still not exactly enthused but grabbed the rope anyway and started hauling myself up in a similar way to Hayden, except I kept the cable between my feet and my body straight to prevent the line from moving and only used my arms. It caused me more resistance, but I was confident I had the strength. With each pull, pain flared from the wound in my side, and I found myself wishing the damn Farseer would work her magic and heal me already.

Because of this, my climb wasn't quite as quick or quiet as Hayden's, but I was just as still. I barely touched the wall, let alone the elevator, and again Hayden helped me onto the ledge.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he said. "I don't think you needed to keep your feet together on the rope like that, though, but I am impressed you have the upper body strength to manage that. Even someone of your lightweight would've found that hard. Keep it up."

All I could manage was a nod; that climb tired me much more than I thought it would.

Hayden smiled and shook his head, then pointed to the cord, holding the elevator up. "Looks like that Wesley fellow was correct, see there? That thing taped to the cord only a few inches up from the elevator? That's a bomb, looks like a small, low yield tube charge. Strong enough to blow the rope and nothing else. There's a cord running down from it, going down the other side of the elevator. It's tied to the det tape, looks like it's connected to the rope running under the elevator, so if anyone grabs onto that, the extra weight will cause this cord to pull down, so pull off the det tape. I'm guessing...and it's an educated guess, kid. This elevator and maybe the other one is filled with explosives which are rigged to blow if it hits the ground floor. Simple but effective, and I'd bet there's enough high yield explosives in there to take out the entire bottom floor."

I gaped. "But wouldn't that collapse the building?"

Hayden shook his head. "I doubt it; this place is built to take such a blast, most of the walls would get destroyed, sure. But the important ones, the retaining walls, would stay intact or at least I would hope so. Depends on what type of explosive they'd used."

"So can we use the elevator? Even after we've disarmed the tube charge?"

"Depends on the sensitivity of whatever pressure plate they're using in the elevator," said Hayden. "But to be safe, I'll need to get inside there and disarm it there."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what about the other one?"

He shook his head. "Once we get to the ninth floor, I can program it that only this elevator will run. I barely have the time to check and disarm this one, let alone both."

With that, Hayden then slipped on his safety harness, raised his second hook shot and fired it into the ceiling. He tested it then slid it through the harness clip.

"I need you to hold me by the ankles, keep me steady while I disarm it," said Hayden.

"Well, that won't be awkward at all," I said and looked pointedly down the shaft. "And not at all dangerous for me."

Hayden didn't deign to respond. Slowly, carefully he swung into the empty air, then with agility belying his size, tilted forward, and I quickly caught his ankles before he could tilt back.

"Alright! Attelus, lift me further forward!" Hayden growled as he pulled a pair of clippers from his pouch.

"Yeah!" I said. "This isn't awkward at all! Lucky it's you and not Garrakson!"

"What?"

"Sorry, never mind!" I blurted out as I did as told. "Just being an arse."

"Alright! Further! Further! There! Stop! Perfect!"

Then without hesitation, he reached out and cut the cord tied to the det tape.

"Got it!" he yelled. "Now, let me go. I can handle it from here!"

I let go, and he abruptly swung himself back onto the ledge.

"So, what now?" I asked. "How the hell are you gonna get inside the elevator?"

Hayden's usual grim demeanour disappeared as he glared at me, then he unclipped his harness and attached it to the other rope.

"Wait here and cover me," he said, then quickly began to climb.

It only took him a few minutes to make it to the top as I watched with my autogun raised and with bated breath.

Once there, he unattached the other rope, then swung further left, over where the elevator lid was and reattached it. He then went back and forth a few times, building momentum. He was on his third when I realised what he was doing.

"And people call me insane," I breathed as Hayden unattached his harness and lunged, catching the second rope, then clipped the harness using only one hand while holding on with the other.

To say it was an impressive feat would've been quite the understatement.

He zip-lined down, stopping just over the elevator.

"Kid, you think you can get to the other side?" he said as he grabbed the tied up end of the rope and untied the extra bit of line holding it. "You can try to sidle along the ledge..."

Hayden never finished his sentence as I suddenly jumped, easily making the good three-metre space and neatly landed on the ledge on the other side.

"Yes, yes, I think I can," I said.

For a brief moment, Hayden's eyes were wide with surprise; then, it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Maybe you should be doing this," he said.

I shrugged. "Unlike you, I don't know everything, Mr jack of all trades. My father neglected to teach me much about explosives."

Hayden sniggered. "When you're in the game as long as me. You pick up on a few things. You're lucky, me unlike you, Darrance and Castella, I never had an assassin master teaching me how to do everything."

"But you were in the Arbites, right?" I said. 'Surely they'd have taught you these skills there?"

Hayden shook his head then tossed me the rope slack, which I caught with both hands. "No, on my world, our squads were very specialised. I was in the sniper division, so I was only trained in skills deemed necessary to sniper work; all this other stuff was self-taught over the years after I left the precinct. You, Darrance and Castella are also kind of specialised, though. In combat anyway, you're close combatants, true swordsmen and a true swordswoman. I know I can never be a match for any of you in swordwork or even in hand to hand, despite my size. But I have accepted that."

He twisted on the rope so I could grab his legs again, and he tilted forward, and without hesitation, I grabbed his ankle and kept him steady as he studied over the elevator hatch with a torch in his teeth.

"No sign of any wiring running from the hatch," he said. "I'm betting that if I try to lift this thing, it's tied to a cord and will set off the explosives inside."

I hissed through clenched teeth and looked up. "You think they've detected us yet?" I asked.

"No," he said with his trademark sternness. "Barring the obviousness of them not already trying to kill us. We've got syn-skin body gloves on, so our heat signatures are pretty much undetectable on auspex or any similar device, and if the shaft were alarmed, I would've noticed, I assure you."

I furrowed my brow. "But our allies won't be as undetectable when they climb up after us."

"True," said Hayden as he opened another pouch and carefully pulled out a Lascutter. "But we'll worry about that when we come to that. Don't look directly at the cutter. Bad for the eyes."

I nodded, although Hayden couldn't see it as he activated his Lascutter then began to cut through the hatch methodically.

Without any goggles.

I could barely see from the sparks and feel the heat from here, but Hayden was fine, despite it all going on right in his face. Was