“Luca, you next,” I said.

Luca shook his head. “I will cover the rear.”

“No arguments,” I said. “Move.”

Luca squeezed his broad frame through the narrow opening.

I turned back to the dark platform.

A thin red line of a laser sight sliced through the haze, painting a bright dot on the concrete wall beside me.

The dot bounced, searching.

Then, another red line appeared.

They were already on the platform.

I squeezed through the gate, my jacket tearing on the metal.

On the other side, the air was even colder, smelling of the frozen river nearby.

We were in a narrow passage, the ceiling so low I had to duck my head.

“This way,” Isabella whispered.

She was moving fast now, her boots slipping on the icy concrete.

I kept my hand on Eli’s shoulder, steering him through the dark.

Behind us, the gate we had just passed groaned again.

They had reached it.

A bright white light flared behind the iron bars, casting long, skeletal shadows down our corridor.

“Stop,” a voice called out from the dark.